Was it worth the wait? For me, it was. However, there are some obvious shortcomings when comparing the Wii version of Rock Band to those on the Xbox 360 and PS3, most of which were expected. Whether these were the fault of Harmonix (the developers) or Nintendo is a matter of debate.

Outsourcing

Similar to the PS2, the Wii version of Rock Band was outsourced by Harmonix to Pi Studios for development of the port. While Harmonix developed the in-house versions of Rock Band for Xbox 360 and PS3, I guess they felt that they didn’t have the expertise to fully develop other versions by themselves. With a completely different team of developers in charge of the Wii/PS2 versions, it was expected that they would be similar in content. Some notable features missing in the Wii/PS2 versions:

• No downloadable content (DLC)
• No character creation
• No Band World Tour gameplay mode

There are a few other differences, but these are the major gripes. The lack of downloadable content was quite a big disappointment, since that was a major reason behind Rock Band’s popularity; with DLC Rock Band became more of a platform for experiencing the music you like, rather than just a game. Whether you blame Nintendo or the developers is a matter of personal opinion. You do get five “bonus” tracks with the Wii edition, but the fact that each of these is already available as DLC for the PS3/Xbox 360 versions makes this seem like a sad consolation prize.

While character creation may seem like a minor thing and thus its absence a bit puzzling, there is a clear reason for this: performance. Performance? What? Well, it turns out that the gameplay footage (of your characters singing/jamming on instruments) is pre-rendered and is effectively just a video playing in the background. Obviously this static content could not match up with the dynamics of custom character creation. This is in stark contrast to the Xbox/PS3 versions, where the gameplay footage is rendered like in any other 3D game. Unfortunately, the pre-rendered video doesn’t look all that great, with some aliasing noticeable if you’re playing on a big screen.

Gameplay

However, visuals might be a somewhat minor point as you’re not likely to notice it much when you’re concentrating on hitting the notes. What matters then, is the gameplay. Rock Band for Wii preserves the same basic gameplay offered by the other versions. However, the glaring omission of the Band World Tour has me disappointed. This mode offered a non-linear way for you to progress through the songs, playing at various gigs in cities across the world and offering the ability to play through set lists. Instead, all that is left is the much more stripped-down version, which just has you playing through groups of songs in order of difficulty, very much like Guitar Hero III. Personally, I can’t see the reason why this mode was left out, as it was one of the features that set the game apart from GH3.

Audio performance is roughly the same, though obviously the game cannot support Dolby Digital 5.1 as the Wii doesn’t have the hardware for it; Pro Logic II is supported, however.

The lack of DLC is offset somewhat by news that they’ll soon be releasing a standalone track pack for Rock Band that adds 20 more songs. (An included paper insert in the game also broadcast this fact) Though you don’t get to choose the songs, as with DLC, the price of $30 is very attractive. The additional track pack won’t need the original game to play, probably because they needed to include the game engine and track data on one disc.

As expected, the game does not support the GH3 controller, with both of the parties involved blaming each other. Realistically, there’s no chance this will get resolved, as each side has no real incentive to do so. It’s unfortunate, because at $60 there’s no way I’m buying a second guitar for either game - plus, the thought of more plastic instruments in my living room doesn’t exactly fly with me.

In the end, the big question will likely be, “Could Rock Band have been written to better take advantage of the Wii?” Right now, it’s pretty much a straight port of the PS2 version, which says something about the Wii’s hardware considering the PS2 is an eight-year old platform. Clearly, a Wii-specific version would have taken much longer to release (the PS2 version itself was released a month later than the PS3/Xbox 360 versions) so perhaps a balance had to be struck. If Harmonix had waited any longer, there might not have been a need for Rock Band on Wii, with Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero IV just around the corner.

Check out more pictures of the Rock Band for Wii unboxing.

I was at EBGames last week and they were having a sale. Many of the titles with the red-discount mark (of shame?) were laughable and typical of the “shovelware” companies throw out just to capitalize on a popular gaming system like the Nintendo Wii. However, one caught my eye: Bully: Scholarship Edition for Wii was only $24.99 CAD. It’s easy to justify an impulse buy like that, especially when I had heard great things about the original, which was released for PS2-only back in 2006. (The “Scholarship Edition” is a re-released version for the Xbox 360 and Wii and contains additional content; it debuted on March 4th, 2008)

Turns out this “bargain-bin” game has been one of my better purchases for Wii. If you like the GTA-style of games, you’ll probably like Bully, as I learned.

Bully is not all about bullying

With a name like Bully you’d expect the game to be all about tormenting the helpless and the weak. However, that’s far from the truth. While the game’s does give you the freedom to be a tyrannical bully, your main objective is to rise in the social hierarchy by gaining the respect of your classmates, and the first group you’ll be courting are the nerds.

Make no mistake: Despite the original PS2 version being released almost two years ago, the Wii-port of Bully is no half-baked attempt to milk revenue from another platform. The control scheme has been completely redesigned to suit the Wii-remote and Nunchuk’s motion sensing capabilities. Find yourself in a fight? Start punching to defend yourself, in almost the same manner as boxing for Wii Sports.

The missions are varied enough to keep you interested; not every one is about transporting item ‘X’ from point A to B. (Though quite a few of them are) You might find yourself providing VIP protection to a member of the nerd clique so that he can safely get to the library. Or, you might find yourself trying to pull off the most ridiculous prank on unsuspecting classmates in the nighttime past curfew. Add in the bevy of classes you are to attend (you are at school, after all), and you’ll almost never find yourself with nothing to do. As is usual with Rockstar games, the game play is well-scripted and the voice acting superb.

An A- for gameplay

Some minor complaints are warranted, though. Firstly, the day-to-day routine of classes and curfew do get tedious at times. After all, it’s supposed to be a sandbox environment, but the rules do make you feel caged in at times. However, the sandbox mode is balanced with realism: You are at a strict preparatory school, after all - and it’s not as if you can’t skip class (truancy) or defy curfew, but such actions won’t go unnoticed by the patrolling prefects of the school - these are the Bully equivalent of the police in the GTA-series of games. Like GTA, you’ll find yourself frequently running from these authority figures.

It’s hard for me to define exactly what makes Bully: Scholarship Edition and other similar Rockstar games so great. Maybe it’s the sandbox-style environment or maybe it’s the right amount of realism coupled with just enough zany characters and over-the-top situations. Or, maybe it’s the attention to detail and great variety of game play offered (from the various mini-games) that make it never seem too boring. But, more than likely, Bully succeeds because it offers the perfect blend of these elements.

Bully has turned out to be one of my favourite games for Wii. While it’s true that Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart and Guitar Hero 3 have used up a lot of my time, Bully provides a refreshing break from the norm. If you’re looking to escape from the Mario-esque universe and pick up a more mature title, Bully is up for serious consideration, especially if you can find it at a good price.

Addendum: Memories of Skool Daze, anyone?

When I first started playing Bully, I was immediately reminded of an old Commodore-64 game I’d played in my younger years called Skool Daze. More than one person has also noticed the similarities. Bully is a modern-day incarnation of Skool Daze and worthy of the title; like the old game it features a good non-linear sandbox-style of gameplay that reveals excellent game design.

Addendum #2: Bully Soundtrack

The music in Bully is really quite great, one of the few soundtracks that’s made me interested, so I did a quick search. Turns out the soundtrack was composed by Shawn Lee and the entire track listing is available for free on eMusic. I do encourage you to download them and give them a listen!

After much anticipation and waiting, Wii Fit has finally arrived! I pre-ordered my copy from EBGames, which was good since it’s apparently sold out in many places. Wii Fit has been hyped up ever since the release day for North America was pushed back in order to increase the strength of the balance board to support more than the 300 lbs of the Japanese version. (The NA version supports 330 lbs) I picked it up on the release day, May 21st and have been using it on-and-off for the past few days.
Here are my initial impressions.

It’s easy to get started

A trademark of Nintendo’s games, being marketed towards a wide audience it’s very easy to get started with Wii Fit. You just have to sync the balance board with your Wii and then you’re ready to go through the first series of “tests” in order to get started with your own personal fitness profile.

Right away, you’re thrust into a series of simple balance tests that, along with your weight/BMI, are used to determine your “Wii Fit age”. This is basically a measure of how “fit” the game thinks you are; when taken into account along with your actual age, it serves as a guide of whether you are as physically fit as you should be for your age. If your “Wii Fit age” is greater than your actual age, this means you should be training/exercising more according to Wii Fit.

A physical version of Brain Age

All of this makes it seem very similar to Brain Age, the puzzle/mental/thinking game series made for Nintendo’s DS hand-held system. If you’ve played Brain Age before, you’ll be very familiar with the routine and format that Wii Fit presents. Instead of Dr. Kawashima’s avatar guiding you, there is an anthropomorphic Wii Fit balance board present to offer you tips and guide you through the game. Other similarities besides the “Wii Fit age” rating include a calendar that you “stamp” every day you’ve trained with Wii Fit to keep track of your progress and a graph to track your history/BMI. (As a side note, Nintendo has branded Brain Age and Wii Fit under the “Touch! Generations” name to indicate their appeal to more general audiences rather than just gamers)

Is it worth it?

With the considerable hype of Wii Fit it’s worthwhile to step back and take a hard look at it. It’s hard to recommend this title to hardcore gamers because the game is clearly not marketed towards them. It’s marketed towards casual gamers who are perhaps the polar opposite of hardcore. Wii Fit is meant to be used during breaks, several minutes at a time and not played for hours on end. This is reflected in the style of mini-games that are included with Wii Fit.

As an exercise device the Wii Fit is great for getting people off the couch and doing at least some sort of physical activity, but I have a hard time believing that it would offer the same benefits as the actual activities that the games are modeled on. This is especially noticeable for “Aerobic” mini-games; they won’t come close to the effectiveness of an actual aerobic workout.

Furthermore, the game only measures progress by calculating your BMI or Body Mass Index. Since BMI only takes into account your height and weight, it’s a vast oversimplification and generalization of “fitness” as this ignores measurements like waist size, body type and blood pressure. (All of which would be complicated to integrate into Wii Fit measurements)

However these criticisms may be unwarranted, as Wii Fit is designed to appeal to as large an audience as possible by getting them interested and started on an exercise routine, something that many people find boring, or worse, intimidating. Wii Fit manages to overcome these problems by offering fun workout routines in the undemanding privacy of your own home. (There’s even an option to password-protect your weight/BMI records on Wii Fit)

Other things to consider

From a pure-gaming standpoint, most of the games tend to be repetitive and lose their appeal quickly. (This is the nature of anything routine-based) However, the “Balance Games” stand out here. In particular, the Ski Jumping, Slalom, Table Tilt and Tightrope walking games are fun, especially in group settings. For families with children it’s an especially nice way to have some fun on a rainy day.

Technically, the Wii Fit’s balance board is quite accurate and straightforward to use. It basically serves as a precise measurement of your center of gravity; that is, how much to the left/right and front/back you are leaning. These measurements are used as the inputs to all of the mini games in a very seamless and intuitive fashion. The balance board has clearly been designed very well, which was expected since it’s apparently been worked on for close to two years. (And been through a slight redesign to support the extra weight of the North American Market) The balance board is wireless and uses four AA batteries (incl.) but this also means you’ll be buying even more batteries to satiate its energy appetite.

Wii Fit also allows you to install a slimmed-down version as the Wii Fit Channel. This allows you to do basic Wii Fitness tests without having the main game disc inserted so that you can quickly test your weight/BMI and balance skills every day. This is a nice feature which really allows the Wii to function as more than just a simple gaming system.

Conclusion

So, is it worth it? Well, I’m a hardcore Nintendo fan, so the answer from me is a resounding “Yes!” The games may be simple and repetitive, but the innovative style of play that is inline with the overall Wii-philosophy has me hooked and I can only hope that developers make more games based the balance board’s input.

Ordering from the online store was easy, so as long as you waited until after the huge surge following the announcement from Nintendo. As a side note, their site (at least the online store) looks horribly out of date, like it’s been stuck in 2002 or something. (Note the Gamecube image in the banner)

There was some speculation that Nintendo offered the free jackets not only as a sign of customer appreciation, but also to reduce possible damage and lawsuits from flying, out of control Wii-motes. Previously, they had to offer free replacement straps for Wii-motes, which were thicker and stronger than the originals, after reports of breaking straps and flying Wii-motes surfaced on the Internet.

This is certainly reflected in the jacket’s design. Not only do they add more grip, but they add substantial cushioning around the end of the Wii-mote. (where the IR sensor is) This added padding would reduce the damage from a flying Wii-mote, since if you lost grip of it while playing the end would be the most likely impact area. The improved grip also feels nicer, as it makes the Wii-mote slightly larger in your hands, and also reduces sweat buildup, something that’s definitely a problem with action-packed Wii games.

While the jacket doesn’t block access to any buttons or impede your use of the controller, it does block/cover the battery pack on the underside. This makes it more troublesome to change batteries, and may be a problem if you use your Wii a lot. Furthermore, people using third-party rechargeable battery packs will likely be prevented from using the jackets since they’ll block access to the contacts necessary to charge the batteries. Lastly, the jackets include a cover for the nunchuk connector, while in my opinion, wasn’t necessary. It gets in the way when you’re trying to connect/disconnect the nunchuk.

However, these complaints are all moot; the jackets are free and a nice gift from Nintendo. If you have a Wii and haven’t ordered them, go do so right now!

Perhaps that played a small part in my decision to pick one off the shelves at Wal-mart this week. Or, perhaps I was just tired of debating on whether or not I should get one. Thankfully, however, by buying during this summer season, I avoided the craziness during the Wii launch.

Revolution and not evolution

The Wii’s code-name was ‘Revolution’, and for good reason - instead of just making another console with more powerful graphics, Nintendo decided to put all aspects of the console onto the drawing board for redesign. The end result is the innovative Wii remote, which uses a combination of accelerometers and an IR sensor to determine position and orientation. This allows for game play that comes closer to imitating what you’re actually doing than any other console currently out there.

For me, there wasn’t too much that the Xbox 360 and PS3 were offering. Most of the types of games that are available for these consoles are also available for PC - and I’ve already invested heavily in that, so why bother shelling out for another system that offers the same sort of game play? The Nintendo Wii was different, since it promised to offer a completely new style of play, so that struck me as being worthwhile. Additionally, it’s the cheapest of the three console systems right now, being priced at only ~$280 CAD, while the Xbox 360 is still $500 CAD the PS3 was recently reduced to “only” $550 CAD.

It’s not perfect, but it’s fun!

There are a few drawbacks. As pointed out in the Ars Technica review, the Wii possesses outdated, last-gen graphics. A Microsoft V.P even stated that the Wii doesn’t have the graphical horsepower of the original Xbox. Additionally, the Wii can’t output HDTV-quality resolutions, meaning that nice, new 1080p or 720p TV you bought won’t be used to full-effect with the Wii.

However, these are minor drawbacks, in my opinion. If game play is fun and fast-paced, graphics will not play a big part. Graphics in games have improved by an immense amount in the past ten years, but have games really become that much more enjoyable? By focusing on game play, Nintendo has gone “back to the basics”, spending time and money on improving the way we game rather than just improving how the games look.

Also, about the only non-graceful aspect of the Wii is its sensor bar, which is basically just a bar with IR-emitting LEDs used to provide orientation information for the Wii-motes, so they know where and when they’re being pointed at the screen. It’s a thin bar that has to be placed either on top or below the TV, and adds another wire that must be plugged into the Wii. However, since all that’s needed is two sources of IR, some enterprising people have found replacements for this.

The included Wii Sports title does a good job of emphasizing the Wii’s strengths and is a perfect match for the system. However, the graphics are decidedly low-quality, even for Wii standards. Though the models have the same level of detail as you’d expect from a Nintendo 64 game, game play is very fun and addictive. In particular, I am addicted to Wii Tennis - I have to stop myself from playing too much every day, lest I get a nasty case of Wii elbow. While I don’t think I’ll get the more severe problems some have been experiencing, it’s worthwhile to ease into any new activity to prevent soreness or risk of RSI. (Those who’ve gotten sore thumbs from playing the original Nintendo will know what I mean.)

In many respects, the inclusion of Wii Sports (at least for the North American versions) was a very good decision on Nintendo’s part, and is reminiscent of Nintendo’s earlier bundles of Super Mario Bros with the original NES and Super Mario World with the SNES.

Hidden costs

Since the Wii is inherently a social system, you have to get at least two controllers for it. The system comes with only one Wii-mote and one Nunchuck attachment, forcing you to buy a second one of each of these. A separate Wii-mote costs $45 CAD and the Nunchuck $25 CAD! This automatically adds an additional cost of $70 CAD to the base system price, and you can now see where Nintendo is bringing in the big bucks. Couple this with the lost cost of manufacturing the system thanks to its low-specs, and you have a cash cow for Nintendo. I ended up buying the Wii Play game along with the system as well, since it came with another Wii remote and was only about $60 CAD.

I have yet to see third-party replacement for the Wii remotes, perhaps because the motion/axis sensor are hard to engineer into a device, or perhaps because of some proprietary communication being used by the Wii-motes. The end result is that there are no cheap or low-cost replacements, though apparently there are third-party Nunchucks available.

Availability of good games

It’s been 8 months since the Wii came out, yet there don’t appear to be any real “killer titles” out there. Indeed, on GameSpot’s Wii section, four of the 10 highest-rated games are Virtual-Console games, dating back to the N64, SNES and even NES era! This says something about the quality of games nowadays - or maybe is a testament to the lasting quality of these legendary Nintendo games!

Lastly, check out my Zooomr photostream for more pics of the Wii unboxing.