Get ready to use your wiimote to shoot down and hack through some zombie mallrats folks, Capcom today announced that Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is in development for the Wii.

The new title will be based on the previous Dead Rising videogame, but not be a port of that title.

Capcom promises that Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop will

"delivers a more immersive, intuitive and interactive experience as players use the Wii Remote to shoot, slash and bludgeon their way through a zombie infested shopping mall, fighting for survival.

In the game, you are Frank West, an overly zealous freelance journalist on a hunt for the scoop of a lifetime. While tracking a juicy lead, he makes his way to the small suburban town of Willamette only to find that it has become overrun by zombies. Frank escapes to the local shopping mall, thinking it will be a bastion of safety but it turns out to be anything but. It will be a true struggle to survive the endless stream of enemies, but players will have full reign of a realistic shopping centre and its varied stores offering an endless supply of real and makeshift weapons to fight off the flesh-hungry mob. If Frank is running low on health he can pay a visit to one of the many restaurants or cafes for a meal in order to restore his energy and continue the fight.

The game is split into a series of individual cases, all of which Frank must complete in order to gain mission critical info that will allow him to figure out what the hell is going on with all the zombie bastards.

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop’s infectious humor delivers some welcome relief from the incessant tide of zombies with players able to dress Frank up in a variety of comedic costumes and take on the undead hordes with a selection of improvised and sometimes highly ineffective weapons such as a toy sword or a football.

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is scheduled to hit store shelves this Winter.

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Ubisoft, announced that Protöthea is dropping in May for WiiWare here in the US. I'm not yet sure if I'm happy about that or not.

Protöthea is a 3D top-down vertical scrolling shooter game where the player pilots a spaceship using the WiiMoteote and Nunchuk in tandem.

"Ubisoft is excited to bring Protöthea exclusively to the platform and we feel it's a must-have WiiWare title,”

shared James Regan, VP of third party operations, Ubisoft.

The storyline isn't doesn't vary far from the standard scrolling shooters of your [and my] arcade days: destroy all comers. In Protöthea the evil thing you have to destroy is an asteroid called "Maqno 01,” and while you are at it, sabotage the plans of a political faction called "The Core.” Ubisoft promises that enemy AI is "...dynamic and will change based on the player's actions..." even going so far as to say that,

"there are no predictable enemy paths and therefore always a different game play experience."

Again, a claim that I will wait to see if it's genuine or just hopefully thinking.

In the game players will have eight different air-to-air weapons and two different air-to-ground bombs at their disposal, and can attack however they choose. There will also be a special power that decelerates time, allowing players to easily avoid enemy fire while they are able to move rapidly and attack enemies. I love vertical scrolling shooters as they take me back, back in the day when 10 bucks worth of quarters could provide you with an entire afternoon's worth of entertainment. Let's hope the implementation of the WiiMote and Nunchuk help bring that nostalgic feeling back instead of being a painful reminder that I ain't in no arcade no more!

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It's bad enough that Microsoft copies everything that Apple does and calls it its own, but now it appears that the company is trying to strike gold by Wii-ifying the Xbox.

Normally, I wouldn't consider MTV News to be a venerable source of hard-hitting journalism, but they did manage quite a scoop this week -- a sketch of a new Xbox controller that looks remarkably like a Wiimote.

I don't want to hear all that guff about Microsoft being the great innovators. They had a decent marketing department, but the real innovation was from companies like Apple and Sun. I could go on all day about Microsoft innovations that were either bought or stolen, like DOS (bought), Windows Media Player (stolen) and the Aero Glass interface (stolen).

In fact, I defy you to point out a Microsoft innovation that didn't appear earlier in Unix, Linux, the Amiga or the Macintosh. If you don't believe me, just Google the phrase "Microsoft steals."

Oh, and if you haven't seen it for a while, here's a representative scene from Pirates of Silicon Valley.

And now here's something that's gotta be really embarassing. It's from the January 2007 launch of Vista Office. Mike Sievert, the corporate vice president of Microsoft, shows off the online gaming capabilities of Vista, as he challenges his son, who is at home on his Xbox 360, playing (wait for it) UNO!

"And, of course, this is my Games Explorer. This is what Windows Vista does to make my gaming experience easier than it's ever been, because all of my games are here in one place where I can manage them the same way.

"I'm going to step into an upcoming release of Uno for Windows Vista, and I'm going to use my Xbox 360 controller plugged right into my Windows Vista machine, and I'm going to pull up a multiplayer game. Because what Uno for Windows Vista can do is something that games before have never been able to do, and that's cross-platform play. You're going to see the familiar Xbox 360 set of settings, and I'm going to use the Microsoft Live gaming platform to see if I can find my 10-year old son Jonathan at home in Seattle, Washington on his Xbox.

"Now, he goes by the alias, Ice Monkey, and you can see that he's online. That's good because I'm on stage, and this would be important at this point. (Laughter.) And I'm going to go ahead and select him and invite him to play this game of Uno with me.

"Now, you know, I travel quite a bit, and maybe I'm in a hotel room in Tokyo with my Windows Vista laptop, and it's really important that I'm able to have connections with my family when I'm gone. And this scenario is fantastic because it allows me to steal away a few minutes to play a game with Jonathan across thousands of miles, eight time zones, and two gaming platforms.

"Take a look at this as I press Start. We launch into a game together and in just a moment across all those times we'll be playing cross-platform game play.

"There it is. Now you need to applaud that, because I had to wait a minute. All right. (Applause.) And there it is, we're all in this game playing across the thousands of miles, me on my Windows Vista machine, and Jonathan on his Xbox."

The guy even has to beg for applause.

Sievert left Microsoft in February of this year. I guess you can take only so much UNO.

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This is getting ridiculous. It seems that if you want to improve sales of a product, all you have to do is put an iPod Dock in it. The latest example is the Razer Pro|Type keyboard, shown here. But that's not what would get me to buy a new keyboard, so I mocked up a picture of what would sell me on a new keyboard.

What are we likely to see in 2008? Well, one answer is certainly more products with iPod Docks in them. Here are some products I expect to see an iPod Dock added to this year:

Microwave oven
Lawnmower
Microsoft Zune
Electric toothbrush
Cuisinart food processor
Playstation 3
4GB thumb drive
Glade Plugin air freshener
Wii Nunchuck

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As reports keep pouring in (and YouTube videos keep pouring out) about windows, walls and televisions being destroyed by flying Wii remotes, Nintendo has introduced a new solution guaranteed to keep personal property safe. Voila! The Nintendo Wii-mote with Airbags! (An artist's rendition can be seen on the left.)

An accelerometer located inside the Wii-mote senses the speed at which the device is being waved. This action is compared with a heat sensor, which senses the loss of heat as the player loses his grip on the device. If the two actions occur simultaneously, the airbag action is triggered, causing more than a cubic meter of air to rapidly fill balloons on both sides of the device, allowing it to harmlessly bounce off most any household object it comes into contact with.

Analysts see some drawbacks to the device, of course. The need for indestructible balloons and compressed air cause the device to weigh about 16 pounds, making it virtually impossible for anyone to hold and wave around for more than a few seconds without tiring. In addition, the new accelleration and heat sensors cause the unit to cost more than the Wii itself. Unfortunately, once exploded, the remote control cannot be used again, forcing customers to have to buy replacement units.

And, even though the product has just been announced today, Nintendo says it already has a four-month backlog of orders. In the meantime, according to a Nintendo spokesman, Wii players using the original remote controls should "watch out."

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The Nintendo Wii has been extremely popular since it€™s release last year, but not just among humans. It seem as though man'€™s best friend has taken an interest in the system also, well at least in the Wii-mote, that is.

When the Becknells'€™ family dog began coughing up blood, they decided to take him to the veterinarian. An x-ray showed a remote-like device in the dog'€™s stomach, which the family thought to be a television remote, but they were wrong. It turns out that the canine swallowed a Wii-mote!!

"The Vet started massaging the dog's belly and it just came flying out of the dog," said owner Marie Becknell. "I knew what it was right away by the color and shape of it -- it was my son's video game remote. The dog had swallowed the boy's Nintendo Wii controller."

Although the dog is doing well, the controller didn'€™t quite make. It had to be tossed. Mrs. Becknell said that as punishment, the boy is out of two weeks allowance to cover the cost to replace the controller. The dog declined to speak with us.

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For those of you who are tired of reading bad news about everything, today we present the first in a series of Good News/Bad News stories. For those of you who just like good news, pay attention to the left side. For bad news junkies, enjoy the right side of the page.

News item: You can't go Home -- at least not until next year. Sony announced that it's Home virtual world for the PS3 will not be available until Spring 2008. "We want this to be a worldwide service," said Sony CEO Kaz Hirai. "We want to make sure that we have a range of services which can be satisfactory to our users throughout the world... so we decided to delay the service’s launch date... Please be patient in this regard."
GOOD NEWS	BAD NEWS
It leaves more time to design Mii's on your Nintendo Wii.	It leaves more time for Sony to develop add-ons to Home, such as in-game ads, email and other things gamers don't really want.
News item: Nintendo has announced that starting with the December issue, Nintendo Power Magazine will be published by Future US, the folks behind the Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer, and Mac|Life.
GOOD NEWS	BAD NEWS
Future already publishes a Nintendo magazine in Britain.	Chopping down treees, turning the wood into pulp, painting the pages and shipping the results by snail mail is so 1929. Wake up, people. Magazines are dead.
News item: Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, told the assembled audience at the Tokyo Game Show that he considers the PlayStation 3 to be "a game machine."
GOOD NEWS	BAD NEWS
After a year touting the wide and varied uses of the PS3, it was refreshing to hear someone at Sony admit that the primary purpose of the PS3 should be to play games.	From Wired: But outside of announcing the DualShock 3 controller, Hirai made no announcements of new products -- certainly nothing that would by itself represent a change in PlayStation 3's fortunes in Japan, where it is being outsold about three-to-one by the Wii.
News item: It doesn't look any different, but reports say it feels heavier. What is it? Why, the new DualShock 3, a new controller for the PS3 that brings back the force-feedback "rumble" functionality left out of the original controller.
GOOD NEWS	BAD NEWS
It'll be available in the U.S. in Spring 2008, and will replace the Sixaxis controller in new PS3 boxes. The list of games that will take advantage of the new rumble features is a long one.	Ya gotta buy a new %&*$@#! controller!
News item: LucasArts has announced Krome Studios will release a Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed that will let you use the Wii-mote as a lightsaber.
GOOD NEWS	BAD NEWS
Although some bloggers originally announced that the lightsaber action was available only in duel mode, in actuality you can use the Wii-mote as a lightsaber throughout the game.	You're going to have to push buttons to work the lightsaber in the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP and Nintendo DS versions. May the Thumb Doctor Be With You.
News item: More anime is coming to Xbox Live. From Joystiq: "Beginning today (and continuing over the coming weeks) you'll be able to find titles from the Starz anime library like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Seasons 1 & 2), Street Fighter II V, Noein, Tokko, Virus and Astro Boy on the service."
GOOD NEWS	BAD NEWS
Starz has a tremendous catalog of anime titles.	I'm trying to code this item in a way that NinjaSistah doesn't see it. Between Xbox Live and iTunes, she won't even have to walk the three blocks to the local anime store to get her fill.
News item: The E for All Show shoots itself in the foot by moving its 2008 date from October to the same weekend in August at the very popular Penny Arcade Expo.
GOOD NEWS	BAD NEWS
This should put the final nail in the coffin of the badly managed spin-off of the old E3 Expo. It is a fitting end for E for All show host IDG, which killed the summer Mac Expo a few years ago by moving it from New York to Boston.	This is all everyone is going to want to talk about in the run-up to the 2007 E for All event in October (which Sony and Microsoft have already vacated).

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Don't say I never did nothing for ya.

Travelling around ye olde interwebs again, and saw this article on Joystiq and saw this video.

Submitted for your perusal: The Mac Wiimote: Warcraft Style

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Finally got my shiny, oh-so-tiny, brand spankin'' new Nintendo Wii in this weekend y'all! First of all I have to say that it's [at least for me] more fun than I thought it would be.

No lie. No exaggeration. I swear to Bob that you would have to be completely against having fun while playing games to hate the Wii.

I know I have been talking about the Wii for months now with gleeful anticipation, and now that I finally have one I can compare my own personal hype to the Wiiality. [I couldn't help myself on the pun, please forgive me.]

The motion sensor is really interesting. I have been playing Wii Sports nearly non-stop since plugging the console into power and it's awfully addictive. I must preface the rest of my review with this statement: learning to accurately use the Wiimote will take time. For me it took a couple of hours to crest the learning curve. Going into the system settings and playing with the sensitivity is a huge help. While many people may think that Wii Sports is an easy or simplistic game, it is and it isn't. Each of the individual game concepts is simple [hit the ball, or hit your opponent] but using the Wiimote to control or function in the game can be complex. The bowling game is more about finesse than speed or strength. I can't tell you how many times I dropped my bowling ball behind me in the game before I got the swing of things. Within the golf game, even more concentration and delicate use of the Wiimote is required to not bogey a hole. I completely suck at golf, but what surprises me is how fun and enjoyable each of these games are.

Playing a game on the Wii is just such a new experience that it's hard to not find some aspect of gameplay that's not just cool. Wiggle the Wiimote while playing the Baseball game, and your bat in the game wiggles in real time. Physically throw and uppercut in the boxing game and your character on screen does the exact same thing. It's neat as hell!

Now, I have several other games that I need to play [which include Red Steel and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess] but I have to say, I've been pleasantly surprised by the Wii. I thought it would be fun, but I didn't expect the system to be as responsive, to honestly grab my attention and hold it from the moment I power it on until I actually have to shut it off.

Now, I have to wait to get my hands on a PS3 in order to share my first hand experiences on it with y'all. Any Wiiople out there that want to share their first impressions on the system, feel free to comment.

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NinJaSistah in the spot to be on a fine, fine, football afternoon to share with you some news about the Wii. [Don't get all in a tizzy, I wrote this originally at 2 in the afternoon... Blogger was havin' issues again so just be glad I finally got this thing posted.]

Moving on.

In between beers [Guinness if you're curious] and football games [can't BELIEVE New Orleans lost to Baltimore, dammit Reggie, you're a receiver, not a QB!] I've spared a few moments to share with you some wonderful news I've heard about the Wii. Well, more directly, the Wii Nunchaku remote.

There seems to be a debate about the Wii Nunchaku [the little analog stick dongle for the Wiimote] having a rumble feature. There was a post on the Gaming Tengoku blog that linked to a quote from the NeoGAF forum about a quote from the British magazine EDGE. The forum post didn't link directly to the EDGE article, but I'll help them confront all the naysayers out there. Nintendo's own website SAYS the Wiimote has a rumble feature. This should not be any big news. It's good to know, since SIXAXIS won't have the feature, and makes me curious if the lack of force feedback will be a big noticable difference or not. Now, from the looks of all the attention that this got on Digg with people calling this wrong, inaccurate, and a rumor, I thought I would run with my very own flaming rumors and unconfirmed speculative thoughts through untraceable links and pure flights of fancy, in order to show people what actual bullshit looks like. Maybe that way, when the real info hits, it won't be mistaken for bullshit. Let's test it.

What is to follow is totally unconfirmed, in all liklyhood never going to happen and as such, should be regarded as incorrect, impossible, or as blatant lies for the sake of entertainment only.

Not to be outdone by Nintendo, Sony has decided to add in the ability for your PSP to operate your PS3 wirelessly, anywhere. Got to pee? No need to stop the gaming fun, bring your PSP along and you can continue playing your game as you "drop the kids off at the pool." Gotta go to work? Again, not an issue as Sony has you covered with their new PLAYONOYALP system, you can continue to play your PS3 games from your cubical computer, LP2 printer, or fax machine! Sony really means it when they say "Play B3yond!" I heard this over at the forums on the d00dI'mJokin.net website

Not to be left behind in the race for next-gen game console dominance, Microsoft and Take 2 Interactive in a joint partnership with Dairy Queen are going to create a new XBlive experience for the Gold level members. The new "Just Dip It!" program, not to be confused with Nike's "Just Do It" campaign, will reward XBLive Gold members that (1) pre-pay for 4 years of the XBLive service and (2) can teabag Jack Thompson in public with free small Blizzards, Single-Dipped cones, or Sundays each Friday during their tenure as an XBLive Gold member. Dive right in to the fun with XB360, Take2 Games, and Dairy Queen, and "Just Dip It!"

You see my friends, THAT is what you can list as being "inaccurate" or "unreliable." Something that is listed on a manufacturers website that you can find by Googling the words "wii controller+rumble" and get in the FIRST FREAKIN RESULT... not bullshit.

You all my now return to your previous gaming playing, anime watchin', and general geekin' out.

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It's twoo, it's twoo, er true I mean.

According to SiliconEra the upcoming Pokemon Battle Revolution game will be the first Wii game to allow the DS to be used as a controller for the game instead of the Wiimote.

This Poke-game that they speak of is supposedly the first Wii game with online play and is slated to come out around the Japanese Wii launch date in 07. In the article they state that you will select the attack you want your Pokeslave, er, Pokemon to use, and then watch it carry out your orders on your TV. I'm not sure if that's fun or not as the mechanics sound a lot like that NFL Head Coach game that came out this year that NO ONE liked. Maybe it would sound like fun if I liked Poke-games even the least little bit, but I don't. You can sue me if you want, but I just don't find the Poke-games, or Poke-movies the least little bit interesting.

Still, you will be able to use your DS as a controller for the Wii, so maybe we will see some cool implementations by game developers. I think any game where your character gets update or maps via a PDA type device would be best served by allowing your DS to be your PDA where you could make item selections or check messages using the touch screen. That way you would get the sense of being immersed in the game.

Just a thought

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*note: if you get the title reference give yourself a pat on the back...you are a kindred spirit.

Amazon.com has put a halt on taking Wii pre-orders...all long before they could send out their "we are now taking pre-orders for the Wii" email. Yeah, I signed up for that email and didn't get messaged...I'm STILL pretty pissed about missing out on getting my pre-order in, but what can you do? They said they were sorry.

Still doesn't get me a Wii on launch day now does it?

Anywho, I know you've been patient, and I applaud you...you made it this far without complaining. Hurray for you! Wthout further adieu, I bring you my top three reasons to buy a Nintendo Wii!

Reason No.3: Virtual Console
You want to play Streets of Rage or Mike Tyson Boxing? Well, using the Wii Virtual Console now [well pretty soon] you can! NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, even Turbo Graffix 16 games will be on deck for your game-time enjoyment. Why is this a big deal? Well the NES games will be $5 bucks a piece, SNES games will be $8 a piece, and N64 games should run you about $10 a piece...all to be downloaded to your Wii...at which point you will own them for as long as you like. Altered Beast, Castlevania, Shinobi, Double Dragon, and the original Zelda game all available on the same console as Super Mario Galaxy and Spore. Dig it!

Reason No.2: Red Steel - The Game That Sold Me on the Console
During E3 I had my doubts about the Wii like most gamers that is, or was, until I saw the demo for the game Red Steel. As I watched the player title the Wiimote and the player characters hand mimicking the same movement [which resulted in the player character tilting their hand holding a gun to the side a la gang-banger] and I was sold. This implementation of motion sensor will allow me to be more accurate in first person shooter games and actually make them fun for me to play. I could go on and on about how good the game looks, or talk about how the swordplay works with the Wiimote and why that alone should make you want to play this game, but I won't. Go to the GameTrailers Red Steel and watch the videos yourself. Ubi Soft...you rock!

- and finally, to complete my Wii-Fangurl-dom -

Reason No.1: Dude, it's Only $250!
Seriously, that's cheap! I won't have to donate plasma, or my precious eggs for other people to make babies with in order to buy it like I probably will for the PS3. [Ok, I'm not going to donate eggs to get money together for the PS3, but I have thought about the plasma donation.] I've seen people talk about how "affordable" the PS3 is and it's just not the case. Their argument is if you make more than 500 bucks a week you should have it made, and this might be the case if you still lived at home with your parents, didn't pay room and board, didn't pay for insurance, and never went out to eat, on dates, or had a car. Sure, if you meet those criteria you have no excuse to not buy a PS3. I live in Virginia. I pay monthly rent on an apartment, I buy food to cook [mostly organic, which ain't cheap], pay for cable and high speed internet, insurance, cell phones, transportation, and actually do go out to do "date like" activities. Scrounging together $250 is a lot easier than $600...which won't even get me a game, or the proper high definition cables to connect my pricey lil PS3 buddy to my TV. While I'm sure the PS3 will be a great little console, it will probably be a bit before I can get my dollahs together to buy one, the right cables, and a game.

Until then, I'll be making Wiiople on my Wii.

Thus ends my Wiijoicing. Catch the repost tomorrow with all 10 reasons listed together. Can't wait that long? Well then, read reasons 10 thru 8 here and reasons 7 thru 4 here.

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With no further [than necessary] delay, here are reasons 7 through 4. Enjoy!

Reason No. 7: Zelda Dammit!
Haters can go on and hate on me, but Zelda by itself is a good enough reason to pony up $250 bucks. And I'm not just talking that fancy schmancy new Zelda game...[with the Virtual Console] I'm talking about being able to play every Zelda game that dared ever play that oh so familiar tune on one box. Try doing that with the DOA series.

Reason No. 6: It's All About Mii!
WIIIIIIOPLE....MOUNT UP! Yeah you heard me, I said make your Wiiople army and plop em on your Wiimote. I don't know how they interact or react yet, but I can't wait to find out. But if you are a naysayer and need some convincing...watch this video Blow a whistle and your army of Wiiople close ranks as you command. Customize, organize, deploy, command, conquer...what more could you want. AND, Wiiople are portable. They travel with you in your Wiimote. [The only wiisponsable place for Wiiople to live]

Reason No. 5: It comes WITH a Game
Yeah, in case you didn't get me the first go around, the console ships with Wii Sports. You remember that nifty little demo from E3 with Iwata-San playing tennis with the folks on the stage right? You know, the one where they demoed the backhand swing recognition? Yeah, that one COMES with the system. So you can get your Wiimote swinging around from day one...well, once you get your system that is. [Angrilly waives fist at Amazon yet again.]

Reason No. 4: Component Out!
Ok, for most people this would be a negative thing but frankly between the XB360 and PS3 I'm all out of HDMI ports...or at least I will be. The XB360 HD DVD drive uses HDMI and the only PS3 worth buying requires an HDMI cable and port on your TV as well. As wonderful as my TV is it only has two HDMI ports, so the Wii not requiring an HDMI port keeps me from having to switch cable connections on the fly until HDMI bridges become available. Seeing as how the "cheapie off brand" HDMI cables start around $80, I don't want to even start thinking about what a four or five port HDMI system selector will put me back.

Only 3 more to go! Catch reasons 3 through 1 tomorrow with a recap of 10 through 1 to follow a couple of hours later. I'm lazy, so sue me.

Catch reasons 10 through 8 here

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Well, it's official: November 19th is "Give us, us Wii" day!

According to the Destructoid website [whom I trust because they are teh b0mb] the Wii drops November 19th for $250. [Well $249, but you know the deal] and will include a Wiimote, nunchaku, batteries, console, and a copy of Wii Sports. Holy crap dood, they are shipping the system with a game...like consoles should be sold. It's funtime playtime right out of the box. Nintendo wanted to make one thing clear with today's announcement: Keep It Simple Stupid.

That doesn't mean that Nintendo is stupid, [they are quite brilliant actually] it just means the realize that keeping things simple often yields better results. Offering One system configuration means no buying confusion on launch day. No one will be standing in front of a sales person asking what the difference is between the core system and the premium one, or how those differences translate for them. Nope, on launch day you just, and knowing now that new first party games are going to be $50 [no more than new GameCube titles today and $10 less than current XB360 titles] If you think about it, that puts the price of the Wii console [by itself] at the predicted sub $200 value.

If you want more details about the customizable avatar stuff, Wii channels, and all that jazz, check out the Destructoid article...just keep a few things in mind while you are doing that:

1. Nintendo says they will ship 4 million units between launch day and Dec. 31st
2. the US is getting the bulk of those units
3. The Wii won't make it's Japanese debut until December, so the bulk of those 4 million units will be directed toward North America

Thumbs up to Nintendo for getting this launch thing right on the first try.

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