Hothead Games is in the spotlight quite a bit these days. They’re responsible for highly anticipated Penny Arcade Adventures episodic game series. We all know that the duo behind Penny Arcade loves the Wii, and it turns out that both Hothead Games and Nintendo were looking forward to Penny Arcade Adventures on the WiiWare service.

It’s not gonna happen.

Turns out that Nintendo file size limit on WiiWare games stands between Adventures and a release on Nintendo’s new online game service. Even if the limit were increased, Nintendo would need to come up with a mass storage solution, seeing as Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One takes up 150MB, and Nintendo’s console can only hold 512MB of data. Sorry, guys.

NWR

Nintendo has gone ahead and released the European WiiWare launch list, something us American didn’t get–well, if you count press leaks. Perhaps they did it to ease the pain for the Smash Bros. Brawl release … oh, burn, yes. However, the European launch list is arguably better than the Stateside one since you get all the games we received (minus Defend Your Castle) and Toki Tori. Yes, I’m jealous, so what?

• Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo)
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix)
• Lost Winds (Frontier)
• Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen Interactive Ltd)
• Pop (Nnooo)
• Star Soldier R (Hudson Soft)
• Toki Tori (Two Tribes B.V.)
• TV Show King (Gameloft)

The service goes live on May 20th in Europe, so get your Wii’s and point cards ready.

IGN

Sheesh. With all these VC games and now, WiiWare titles, we are going to soon be dry of our precious internal memory. Sooner or later it’ll be on the black market ala moonshine during the days of prohibition. We must learn to ration our space until Nintendo releases a first-party storage device or unlocks the SD Card slot. Hit the jump for the games and the amount of space they take up to help you manage your available memory.

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Developer of LostWinds, Frontier, have already announced a sequel to their praised WiiWare title. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with the game with few complaints; my main quarrel is the lack of a map, but that’s just me being a spoiled, selfish gamer. The art direction and simplicity make the game thoroughly enjoyable.

Click here to REGISTER FOR ADVANCE INFORMATION on Frontier’s forthcoming LostWinds sequel containing amazing new gameplay as Toku and Enril’s incredible adventure to save Mistralis continues - Frontier is registered under the UK’s Data Protection Act and won’t use your details for any other reason.

Frontier
via GoNintendo

Just as planned, Nintendo has launched the long-awaited WiiWare service. A few of the launch titles are familiar (Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, Lost Winds) and some of them aren’t (V.I.P. Casino: BlackJack). To access WiiWare head over to Wii Shop Channel and select the newly-added icon, appropriately named “WiiWare.” Hit the jump for the press release that includes the games and their respective prices. Any of you purchasing a title today? If so, which?

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No, no, not Mario Is Missing the game. Monday’s press release from Nintendo has leaked, and it reveals that Dr. Mario Online RX won’t make the opening day roster. On top of that, there won’t be any Virtual Console games for North America this Monday. Looks like it’s a no-go for a Mother’s Day theme.

No need to pout, though. Final Fantasy headlines the launch list, shown below:

• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix, 1500 Wii Points)
• LostWinds (Frontier Developmen, 1000 Wii Points)
• Defend your Castle (XGen Studios, 500 Wii Points)
• Pop (Nnooo, 700 Wii Points)
• V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack (High Voltage Software, 700 Wii Points)
• TV Show King (Gameloft, 1000 Wii Points)

How are your wallets looking?

VC Reviews

I had to hold off on downloading the Nintendo Channel for a whole 24 hours while my Wii sat packed in a box, ready to head home from college. In the meantime, some keen eyes have already caught some new information popping up on the new channel.

It looks like Dr. Mario’s debut on WiiWare won’t be titled Dr. Mario’s Virus Buster or Dr. Mario & Bacteria Extermination, as translated from its original Japanese title, Dr. Mario & Saikin Bokumetsu. Instead, the new title looks to be Dr. Mario Online RX, and it’ll cost you $10 (1000 Wii Points) on WiiWare’s launch this Monday.

$10 for another Dr. Mario game? Even in the Mushroom Kingdom, it looks like medical doctors are raking it in.

Wii Fanboy
via N-Europe

Not too sure if you guys have noticed this or not, but if you select “What’s WiiWare?” in the just launched Nintendo Channel it gives you five titles — one of which is priced — that will be available at launch. The five titles are:

Dr. MARIO Online RX (1,000 points)
Lost Winds
Defend your Castle
Critter Round-Up
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronices: My Life as a King

The video concludes with a message saying that WiiWare is launching on May 12th. Thanks, Nintendo, for indirectly confirming some of your U.S. WiiWare launch titles. We are eternally grateful.

Ubisoft has announced that it is bringing its PC shooter from 2005 over to WiiWare. No pricing details have been revealed, but the game is expected to land right around the launch of the service. The Wii version will utilize the Wiimote and Nunchuk (obviously), and separates itself from most shooters by giving the enemies a little AI to move them out of predictable patterns and change the experience every time you play. I happen to like patterns. If you’re like me and this doesn’t suit your fancy, something tells me you might be able to find another shooter in the WiiWare line up. Or another 20. Ubisoft’s press release after the break.

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Is everybody looking forward to future Wii Ware titles? I know that I am definitely looking into a game entitled Animales de la Muerte, developed by High Voltage.

You take on the role of characters Marco and Maria Mendoza, Don Eduardo’s weapon-proficient grandchildren, and bring the fight back to the animals — the zombified ones, anyway. While the two will use a variety of powerful guns and items to mutilate the walking dead, they will also carry with them nets in order to capture and save the animals still unaffected by the outbreak

It looks like Smash TV Hit meets Conker’s Bad Fur Day. This title will definitely use up my hard earned Wii Points. I don’t think that my pet chihuahua “Pancho” will approve.

IGN