NEWS

Nintendo to Ship Wii Play

Written by Aaron Auzins
Published February 10, 2007

Picking up where Wii Sports and Wario Ware left off, Nintendo will be launching yet another mini-game affair in Wii Play.

Scheduled to available in a bundle that includes an extra Wii Remote, Wii Play will feature a collection of nine games, each with support for up to two players. Much like the allure behind Wii Sports, simplified controls should allow anyone regardless of gaming experience to jump right into the game. Included in the collection are Shooting Range, Billiards, Find Mii, Tanks!, Pose Mii, Table Tennis, Fishing, Charge! and Laser Hockey.

Shooting Range is a point and fire game in the vein of the classic Duck Hunt. Players will be tasked with shooting down items such as clay pigeons and even UFOs that aim to abduct your onscreen created Mii character. Find Mii takes a page from Where's Waldo?, asking players to point out a specific Mii, from a crowd, which includes user-created Miis on the system, within a set amount of time.

Table Tennis asks players in the single-player mode to rally the ball back and forth to aim for the longest sustained rally while multiplayer mode reflects traditional scoring. The game operates opposite of Wii Tennis, requiring players to move their paddle to the appropriate spot on the table while the paddle swings automatically. Pose Mii has players moving their created Mii onscreen to match silhouettes, which appear in bubbles. Players must match the pose to pop the bubble before it hits the bottom of the screen.

Laser Hockey takes place on an air hockey table with the players' remotes controlling the paddles. The puck's physics will depend on the angle and speed at which it is hit while players try to manage it into each other's goals. The name of the game in Billiards is 9-ball, in which players will have to hit the cue ball into the lowest-numbered ball on the table. Players will aim the Wii Remote onto the cue ball and then move the remote back and forward again, just like a pool cue.

Players will have to catch indicated fish in Fishing by yanking the Wii Remote back when they have a bite. Charge! has players managing a charging cow in steering wheel fashion, much like Excite Trucks. In an attempt to knock over as many scarecrows as possible, players can also tilt the remote forward to speed up, back to slow down or even raise the remote quickly to jump.

Finally, Tanks! puts players inside of a tank in a turret battle against other tanks. The tank aims by pointing at the appropriate direction onscreen and can move using either the remote's directional pad or with a nunchuk attachment. The A button fires a cannon shot which can even bounce off walls and the B button will lay down a mine.

The game will feature some progression unlike Wii Sports, with only Shooting Range being available for play when players initially boot up Wii Play. By completing one game, another is unlocked for play. Through the course of playing each game, bronze, silver, gold or platinum medals are awarded based on performance, with high scores being posted on the Wii's message boards.

Nintendo currently plans to release Wii Play (a package complete with an extra remote) Feb. 12 for $69.99.

Aaron Auzins, better known as "nestlekwik," is an avid gamer and collector who resides in Ohio. He has written video gaming reviews for The Northwest Signal, The Disclaimer, personal Web sites, GameFAQs, BitSmack and on Sony's invitation-only Web log - The Gamer Advisory Panel.
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Nintendo to Ship Wii Play
Published: February 10, 2007
Type: News
Section: Gaming
Filed Under: Gaming: News
Writer: Aaron Auzins
Aaron Auzins's BC Writer page
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