Wii Family Health Check-Up Heads to Europe
Plus, DS Recipe Book and more. Full Wii update inside.
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise
After the recent spate of tabloid muck-raking stories regarding Rockstar’s Canis Canem Edit/Bully, it’s always nice to pick up the paper and read an unashamedly positive and enthusiastic piece about what a healthy future is in store for gamers, with today’s Guardian newspaper claiming that, “The launch of Nintendo's Wii console could be the most destructive videogame event for more than 20 years.”
That’s destructive in a good way, you understand. As in disruptive. As in 'bad meaning good'.
SPOnG’s also been speaking to various Nintendo reps this morning, who’ve given us the full lowdown on what’s happening in Wii-world – and we can confirm that the just-announced-in-Japan Family Health Pack for Wii and the new cooking guide (DS Menu Collection) will both be heading to Europe in 2007.
Our trusted and reliable source at Nintendo, who wished to remain anonymous, also confidently told us that Super Mario Galaxy is "...without a doubt one of the greatest games ever made", which made us hate him a little bit, for having played it through already.
Mr Miyamoto was very excited to unveil the 'Health Pack' (that's a codename for now) to the Japanese press earlier this week and SPOnG is keen to learn more. DS Menu Collection has over 1,000 recipes and is both Wi-Fi compatible (for downloadable recipe updates, SPOnG presumes) and comes bundled with a magnet stand so you can stick the DS on the fridge door while you cook.
So, while The Guardian’s positive puff piece for Nintendo is hardly news (hell, the thing might as well have been written by the company’s PR team) it’s good to be reminded about the biggest story in videogames in 2006. Whichever way it pans out for Nintendo in the long haul - success or failure - we will remember this year for the Wii.
Hilariously, the paper zones in on the potentially ‘devastating psychosexual consequences’ of the Wii noting that:
SPOnG’s also been speaking this morning to Rob Saunders, Nintendo’s PR Manager in the UK (he confirmed to us he didn’t really write The Guardian’s piece!) who made us aware of some great new Wii vids just up on the official Wii.com site – check out the older Japanese couple playing Wii Sports Golf in particular. Bless!
We’ll be bringing you the full news on the plans for the Wii’s roll-out in the UK next Thursday, when the company announces its final pre-Xmas retail plans and - most importantly for the casual gamers they are so keen to reach - its plans for a widespread events, sampling and demo campaign in stores and elsewhere.
If you haven’t yet pre-ordered your Wii, then SPOnG urges UK readers to check out a Game or Gamestation store very soon, as both chains are currently offering a '£20 off' pre-order deal, where you can even pay your £160 in instalments over the next couple of months. Do the maths, and you'll find that it works out at less than £20 a week, which is the cost of a decent cookbook - something you’ll never need to buy again as soon as you get your copy of DS Menu Collection. It's the future!
That’s destructive in a good way, you understand. As in disruptive. As in 'bad meaning good'.
SPOnG’s also been speaking to various Nintendo reps this morning, who’ve given us the full lowdown on what’s happening in Wii-world – and we can confirm that the just-announced-in-Japan Family Health Pack for Wii and the new cooking guide (DS Menu Collection) will both be heading to Europe in 2007.
Our trusted and reliable source at Nintendo, who wished to remain anonymous, also confidently told us that Super Mario Galaxy is "...without a doubt one of the greatest games ever made", which made us hate him a little bit, for having played it through already.
Mr Miyamoto was very excited to unveil the 'Health Pack' (that's a codename for now) to the Japanese press earlier this week and SPOnG is keen to learn more. DS Menu Collection has over 1,000 recipes and is both Wi-Fi compatible (for downloadable recipe updates, SPOnG presumes) and comes bundled with a magnet stand so you can stick the DS on the fridge door while you cook.
So, while The Guardian’s positive puff piece for Nintendo is hardly news (hell, the thing might as well have been written by the company’s PR team) it’s good to be reminded about the biggest story in videogames in 2006. Whichever way it pans out for Nintendo in the long haul - success or failure - we will remember this year for the Wii.
Hilariously, the paper zones in on the potentially ‘devastating psychosexual consequences’ of the Wii noting that:
“The barbarians - and by this I mean women and older people - are at the gates, armed with Wii Remotes. My wife will figure out how to use this device as quickly as I do, because it does not rely on the spatially illogical mapping of actions on to small plastic buttons. For many men this is a terrifying, emasculating prospect.”
SPOnG’s also been speaking this morning to Rob Saunders, Nintendo’s PR Manager in the UK (he confirmed to us he didn’t really write The Guardian’s piece!) who made us aware of some great new Wii vids just up on the official Wii.com site – check out the older Japanese couple playing Wii Sports Golf in particular. Bless!
We’ll be bringing you the full news on the plans for the Wii’s roll-out in the UK next Thursday, when the company announces its final pre-Xmas retail plans and - most importantly for the casual gamers they are so keen to reach - its plans for a widespread events, sampling and demo campaign in stores and elsewhere.
If you haven’t yet pre-ordered your Wii, then SPOnG urges UK readers to check out a Game or Gamestation store very soon, as both chains are currently offering a '£20 off' pre-order deal, where you can even pay your £160 in instalments over the next couple of months. Do the maths, and you'll find that it works out at less than £20 a week, which is the cost of a decent cookbook - something you’ll never need to buy again as soon as you get your copy of DS Menu Collection. It's the future!
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Comments
Joji 12 Oct 2006 15:14
1/2
I'll be picking mine up bright and early on December 8th. I'm glad that GAme and Gamestation are letting us pay for it early, leaves more money for games later on.
Good to see some positive press on games again, just wish the Guardian had covered the CCE bit too, but in a more objective light than the DM.
Health pack? Hope Nintendo include some mushrooms on that. Lol.
Good to see some positive press on games again, just wish the Guardian had covered the CCE bit too, but in a more objective light than the DM.
Health pack? Hope Nintendo include some mushrooms on that. Lol.
mrben43 13 Oct 2006 12:33
2/2
If you haven’t yet pre-ordered your Wii, then SPOnG urges UK readers to check out a Game or Gamestation store very soon, as both chains are currently offering a '£20 off' pre-order deal, where you can even pay your £160 in instalments over the next couple of months.
Are you guys sure about this? My local GAME (in Stevenage) charges £20 to preorder then you pay the remaining £160 on the day - that's still £180.