What does one of the chief creators of "GoldenEye" do for his Nintendo console encore? He makes a barbershop game in which players cut the branching locks of shrubbery-creatures. Read more...

"World of Goo" + "Bit.Trip Beat" + "Cubello" + "Orbital" + "Bonsai Barber"... WiiWare is finally adding up to a satisfying amount of good games for me, as I argue in today's video.

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.)

This week's WiiWare release is a mini-game collection called "Family & Friends Party." As its name implies, it's meant for you to play with your family and friends. But for ten bucks, is this "Party" worth it? We tested it to find out. Read more...

"I feel it's a time where a lot of people who study games start to graduate and come into this field. It's a really good time for all these people to really push the boundaries of what games can be. With digital distribution -- PSN, Xbox Live, WiiWare, Steam -- all those [avenues]…Before, everything sold through retail. You can't even make a game that's below a million dollar budget. I think right now -- in the future, when people look back, I think it's the renaissance of video games."

-- thatgamecompany co-founder and "Flower" mastermind Jenova Chen in response to a question about the affect of digital distribution on games

I played three WiiWare games for fun in 2008 and finished none of them.

As I did last year, I've compiled a list of the games that I played for fun in 2008. One list per major gaming platform.

(Check out the rest of my 2008 Gaming Playlists for other platforms, updated daily until New Year's.)

Today's entry is all about WiiWare, Nintendo's new-in-'08 download service for original games.

What did I play? And why didn't I finish any?

Take a look below: Read more...

How come more people aren't talking about the amazing stuff Nintendo is doing with the new "Wario Ware" game for DSi?

As reported on the NeoGAF message boards, during a financial report today, Nintendo revealed "Made in Ore" as a DSi Store-only product -- not yet announced for outside Japan -- that lets you make your own "Wario Ware" mini-games.

That's already cool on its own. Here's the kicker: Nintendo's also releasing a WiiWare title called "Asobu! Made in Ore," which allows you to import that custom-tailored "Wario Ware" mini-game and play it on the Wii with friends.

For a company routinely criticized for their approach to online and previous attempts at connectivity, that's surprisingly progressive and cool, no?

"Cave Story," an old-school 2D platformer created and produced by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya, is one of gaming's biggest indie success stories.

But Amaya hasn't seen a dime from his work on "Cave Story." He released the game as freeware on the PC. Once people fell in love, they started porting "Cave Story" to others platforms -- PSP, Mac, everything.

There had been no movement on producing a proper port of "Cave Story" until Nicalis Inc. head honcho Tyrone Rodriguez decided to make Pixel a pitch.

His pitch started simple enough. Read more...

*The average "Super Smash Brother: Brawl" owner in America has played the game more than 61 hours since the game's February release.

*The average "Wii Fit" consumer has played that exercise game more times than the average "Okami" fan has played Capcom's wolf action-game.

*And "Sin & Punishment," a Nintendo 64 game that was never sold on a cartridge but just had a sequel announced for the Wii in part on the strength of its sales as a downloadable game through the Wii has sold more than 29,000 copies through the Wii Virtual Console.

These are just some of the findings in our second (well, third, sort of) number-filled breakdown of Wii software usage stats.  We're dong this monthly and we can pull numbers for any Wii game that's been out for at least a month. Who needs NPDs?

See below to learn a LOT about the performance of 14 Wii games, from "Boom Blox" to "Guitar Hero III" to "Rock Band" to... does anyone play those WiiWare games?

Read more...

You could have another use for that "Wii Fit" balance board gathering dust underneath the sofa when "Tetris Party" arrives later this year on WiiWare.

"Tetris Party" aims to provide "the ultimate 'Tetris' workout," joked Tetris Online VP of marketing Casey Pelkey to MTV Multiplayer at Nintendo's fall summit last week.

Incorporating the balance board into "Tetris Party" wasn't originally part of the plan for Tetris Online or developer Hudson Soft., but "Wii Fit"'s success started planting ideas in their head.

Read more...

All day long we're presenting Patrick Klepek's favorite games of last week's Nintendo of America media summit.

There were very few genuine surprises at Nintendo of America's event. "Cave Story," however, was one of them.

I've heard of "Cave Story" before -- but never played it.

Before touching the in-development WiiWare version -- much of the revised artwork isn't there -- all I knew about "Cave Story" was its legacy as an Internet indie sensation.

Now, I understand why everyone loves "Cave Story." It's a fantastically interesting throwback in sound, design and style to gaming's past (try telling that to "Mega Man 9") developed with a modern eye. Hardcore fans who have felt neglected on the Wii, "Cave Story" is the experience you've been looking for. It was initially described to me as "Metroid"-like and that's a very apt description.

I just still can't believe only one person developed the original version, but it's encouraging that one man's labor of love will soon become something more.

Plus, GoNintendo's Kevn Cassidy told me it's the only game that made him cry.

No game has ever made me pull out the waterworks. I wonder if "Cave Story" could change that. "Cave Story" should arrive before the end of 2008.