Latest Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy, and GameCube news, screenshots, and game previews

GamesRadar goes hands-on with the Wii exclusive, Deadly Creatures.

The tone and creativity involved definitely piqued our interest, and the gameplay seemed to offer a nice variety of exploration and tactical combat. Skittering around and discovering the nooks and crannies in the world of vermin will absolutely be interesting. What we can’t be sure of is whether the combat will hold up for the game’s entire length. From what we saw, it was not a mindless button masher – a good ways from it. If they can keep us on our toes by maintaining a continuous stream of imaginative environments and combat challenges, then Deadly Creatures will be a sleeper hit even for the hardcore Wii owners (and yes, we do exist).

I think it sounds pretty good! Deadly Creatures hits stores in February.

Tags: Deadly Creatures, Hands-on, Previews, Wii

Hardware sales for all consoles are falling in Japan and the Wii is dropping closer to the PlayStation 3.

Considering its price-point, Sony’s PS3 appears to have made the best impression. Though it continues to double the weekly turnover of the Xbox 360, Sony may be more interested in the fact that the console is now just 12,000 sales behind the Wii; the closest it has been to the home console market leader in months.

Nintendo, however, may be anxious about sales of the Wii, which have fallen disproportionately against the overall hardware decline. Two weeks ago Media Create reported it had sold close to 90,000 units more than its current rate.

Will the Wii bounce back?

Tags: Japan, Media Create, PlayStation 3, Sales, Wii, Xbox 360

Cowen analyst Doug Creutz has some new rough estimates based on Nintendo’s success and Sony’s struggle during last year’s holiday season:

• Sony will sell about 4 million PS3s in 2009, down from previous projections of 6.25 million units sold. Fewer PS3 sales in 2010 too, now projecting 4.5 million units sold vs 6.5 million previously.
• Wii picks up the slack: 8 million consoles to be sold in 2009 vs 6 million previous. More in 2010 too: 6 million vs old estimates of 4 million.
• Little change to Microsoft’s Xbox 360: Estimates fairly steady, Doug sees 4.25 million this year, and another 4 million in 2010.

The interesting thing is Doug sees total console sales fairly flat — it’s just Nintendo is grabbing more customers that otherwise would have been Sony’s.

Is Sony sure they aren’t in competition with Nintendo?

Tags: PlayStation 3, PS3, Sales, Sony, Wii

Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot today announced several new games for the 2009/2010 fiscal year and also mentioned “that Ubisoft is indeed working on a MotionPlus-sporting Red Steel 2, but declined to discuss any details about the game.” If all goes according to plan, expect to see Red Steel 2 on the Wii before March 2010.

Tags: Red Steel 2, Ubisoft, Wii, Wii MotionPlus

Sequel to the very successful Mario & Sonic at the Olympics for the Wii, Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics was hinted at by a Spanish Nintendo magazine and confirmed by sources talking to IGN.

IGN’s done a little digging, though, and has independently confirmed that the game is in development and set to be announced in the next month — which, by the way, really isn’t hard to believe given the astronomical sales figures for the first title in the franchise.

Look out for more coverage on the sequel when it’s officially unveiled. Until, let the speculation wars rage on about which winter games will and won’t make the cut, and just as importantly, whether the title will support Wii MotionPlus, as we all hope it will.

Tags: Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics, Rumors, Sega, Wii, Wii MotionPlus

Take a look at this excerpt from a recent Ubisoft job posting:

Ubisoft Entertainment, a global leader in the video games and entertainment software industry, is currently seeking a full-time Lead Designer. We are looking for a highly talented, motivated and experienced person to help guide the creation of an exciting new cross-platform music based game.

• Categories: Game / Level Designer / Creative Director
• Experience Required: 10 yrs
• Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii
• Minimum Education Level Required: Bachelor’s Degree
• Work Site: On site

Could this be Ubisoft’s answer to Rock Band and Guitar Hero?

Tags: Guitar Hero, Music, Rock Band, Ubisoft, Wii

Check out new screenshots of Sega’s Wii exclusive: The House of The Dead: Overkill.

Tags: House of the Dead, House of the Dead Overkill, Screenshots, Sega, Wii

For months now, Matt Casamassina of IGN Wii has been hinting at a dark game for the Wii with a lot of potential. Finally unveiled today, Winter is a survival-horror game with a similar atmosphere to the Silent Hill games. Developed by n-Space — creators of Geist for the Nintendo GameCube — Winter sadly never saw the light of day due to a lack of interest from publishers:

Winter was not to be — not due to any major shortcomings on the game’s part, but rather the restrictions imposed upon the Wii market by third-party publishers simply unwilling to take a gamble on a more traditional project.

“The idea of an ‘adult‘ game on what they perceived to be a ‘kids‘ console was simply too big a leap for them,” says n-Space president Dan O’Leary.

Hopefully the media attention Winter receives will help n-Space find a publisher for it soon.

Tags: N-Space, Silent Hill, Survival-horror, Wii, Winter

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced six new downloadable songs now available for Rock Band 2 on the Wii.

1. Nine Inch Nails “March of the Pigs”
2. Nine Inch Nails “The Collector”
3. Ramones “Rockaway Beach”
4. Clash “I Fought the Law”
5. Jimmy Buffett “Margaritaville”
6. Jimmy Buffett “Volcano”

Each song can be purchased for 200 Wii Points. All six tracks are already available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Tags: DLC, Harmonix, MTV Games, Rock Band 2, Wii

According to Shack News, THQ reports that Deadly Creatures will hit North American stores February 9th. Deadly Creatures is a third person action game built exclusively for the Wii.

Putting players in the role of either a tarantula or scorpion, Deadly Creatures is a single-player battle through hordes of dangerous insects and reptiles. Upgradeable attacks, and a voice cast including Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper, round out the features.

Tags: Deadly Creatures, THQ, Wii