Yeah, that’s right. Once you’ve got this baby in your arms, it’ll shoot off constant fire crackers that will explode. Talk about complete mayhem. In addition, you’ll be able to walk around and jump with the launcher, just as you’ll be able to do so with the Super Scope. But here’s the most interesting part of the official blog post:

“You can also aim the launcher at different angles by tilting the Control Stick up or down.”

So to all those who kept thinking, “Oh! The blog shows the Wii remote on it’s side! It’s going to play that way!” - you’re a bit off the mark. I don’t know exactly what their plans for a control scheme are yet, but that’s the big mystery, isn’t it?

My inclination is to think that it WILL support the Wii remote and nunchuk, simply because it’s the standard included with the console. Why ship a console without the controllers necessary to play perhaps your biggest seller? Of course, if Sakurai is really trying to go for a traditional control scheme, the Classic will probably be preferred/optimal, while the GameCube controller will also be supported. But those of you with simply Wii remotes and nunchuks, I don’t think you have to worry.

Smash Bros. DOJO!!

This July, Pokémon trainers (and fans) from all over the Australia region will be invited to compete and battle it out in the event of the summer. The tour will run through various parts of Australia from June 30 to July 21, though you’re encouraged to register early at each site, as space will be limited. Locations and times are listed for your convenience after the break. Check out Nintendo Australia’s site for more information.

Nintendo Australia
via Vooks

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So summer’s practically here (as are the cicadas…) and I’m sure most of us are going to want to find ways to cool down. If you’re not lucky enough to have a swimming pool or to afford blasting your AC at freezing temperatures, you might want to try those Tetris ice cubes. But for some, that might not be enough.

You’re also starting to get a little hungry. You don’t want anything healthy, though. You want something so delicious and tasty that you forget about everything else around you and forget how much you’ve eaten. Unfortunately, your fridge is empty and you don’t really want to go to the store - especially since your car’s been sitting in the sun for hours and we all know what it would be like to get in there.

All of a sudden, you hear the divine call of angels. No wait, it’s that Pop Goes the Weasel song. The ice cream man is here! The ice cream man is here! Accounting for inflation these days, you run outside waving good ol’ Andrew Jackson for the ice cream man to see. He pulls up, and you realize you’re in for a treat: it’s Donkey Kone with THE BEST IN TOWN.

Flickr

What would Brawl have looked like if it came out 15 years ago?

Surprise, surprise. It seems that France loves the Wii. Since the launch of the Nintendo DS and the Wii, the systems have sold 2.54 million units and 410,000 units, respectively. Of course, everything is relative. How does the duo stack up against the competition? Well, below are the first quarter numbers for hardware sales in France.

• DS: 398,000
• Wii: 230,000
• PS2: 92,000
• PSP: 90,000
• PS3: 81,000
• 360: 43,000

Basically, Nintendo romped that market just like it’s doing everywhere else. On to the rest of the night!

Kotaku

Ah, poor soul. Pirates of the Caribbean star Geoffrey Rush was given the chance to try out the Wii game based on his recent movie. He was actually at a Japanese press event at the time, so we don’t know exactly what he thought of the game, but here’s a loose translation from Google.

“Present ……Don’t you think? you do not play almost. The son who becomes 11 years old is in me, but it is as for my finger that way in order to be able to move quickly, because it is not developed, (laughing). As for I being able to play ‘pack man’ extent kana.”

Original Article
via Wii Fanboy

Just how big and important is Super Smash Bros. Brawl this year? Most of us can’t even comprehend the impact that this game is having and will have. WiiChat has a great article up demonstrating how the third entry into this relatively new series is carrying a lot of weight on its shoulders and is poised to deliver - assuming the controls are manageable and the game stays true to its roots.

The game is following up Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game that sold to roughly a third of the GameCube’s entire userbase and outsold the system’s primary Mario and Zelda games. Brawl has become a collective effort of seemingly the most important developers in Japan in one way or another, and the game (while being assisted by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario & Sonic at the Olympics) has become Nintendo’s greatest asset on the Wii to counter Halo 3 this year.

Head on over to read the article, and get a sense of just how big this game is going to be.

WiiChat

It’s summer in Chicago (and the rest of the hemisphere, I guess) and if it’s not pouring rain, then it’s sunny and blazing hot around here. Luckily, Tetranitrate over at Instructables has come up with a fun way to cool off your drinks and play with your food.

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Those are Tetris blocks, right? WRONG. They’re Tetris ice cubes. The link below shows Tetranitrate’s How-to instructions for making these yourself, but essentially you create the mold, and then use food coloring to get the ice to be the color you want. If you’ve got enough in your drink already, why not let the kiddies play with the leftovers? Maybe they’ll get some Tetris action in before they start whipping them at each other or sticking them down each others’ clothes.

Instructables
via Kotaku

You know, as a Pokémon IV/moveset breeder and EV trainer, I’ve racked up many, many hours simply trying to hatch eggs, battle specific Pokémon, occasionally set out to find shiny Pokémon. Luckily, not all those hours have gone to waste - it’s easy to play the Game Boy micro with a single hand, so I can often work on my computer or do other homework or projects while simultaneously wandering around Hoenn.

One of the more annoying hassles is trying to raise a Pokémon’s happiness, and my most recent efforts to make Pokémon happy involved a Cleffa and an Igglybuff, because I needed their evolutions in order to breed more of them. Now, I currently only have Pokémon Emerald, but now it seems I should wait until I pick up the DS games before I spend another minute on a Pokémon’s happiness.

Our friends over at N+ seem to have stumbled upon someone’s resourcefulness (and laziness) in raising a Pokémon’s happiness stat. There’s a place in the new games at Fuego Ironworks where you could hold down the D-pad and you’d automatically keep walking 13 steps every 6 seconds due to the moving floor tiles. So what do you do? Fasten down the D-pad with a wrench and go to sleep for the night! Assuming your battery doesn’t drain over night, you should wake up with you entire party beaming with happiness! Level them up and you’ve got yourself some evolved Pokémon.

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N +
via Joystiq

…and good for them. While Ubisoft’s Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids garnered at least some positive acclaim, their other Wii outings haven’t fared as well. Did you forget they made a Prince of Persia port for the Wii already? Yeah, same here. In an effort to stay ahead of their competitors in capitalizing on the Wii’s success, Ubisoft has released several Wii games that haven’t even grasped the slightest bit of attention. Most importantly, however, they haven’t been taking advantage of the Wii’s strengths to provide unique and enjoyable titles.

“We made mistakes,” according to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and Ubisoft’s European head Alain Corre. The two spoke with Spiegel, a German magazine, on how they realized their rush to cash in on the Wii had the negative effect of impacting the overall presentation and quality of their games. They’ve recognized the problem and are promising that their future projects headed to the Wii should be “significantly” better in quality.

IGN Wii