THE DSi XL!!!

Recently made available in Japan, Nintendo’s latest hand-held console (the DSi XL) is selling fast!

Featuring 4.2″ screens the DSi XL is due for release in the UK “early 2010″.  Rumoured to have built-in games and an additional larger stylus, Nintendo’s latest offering will no doubt be something to keep an eye out for!

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I went in to HMV, GameStation and Game and was dismayed and confused – where have all the games gone?  There wasn’t a single game that took my fancy.  I’d already had a quick look on the Internet so was expecting to find the latest Need For Speed game for sale but in those three stores I couldn’t see a single NFS game, let alone the latest one.  :(

As an absolute last resort I nipped up to Tesco Extra and was pleasantly surprised to see a much better game selection (namely a full chart plus a section of random titles) than that of the so called ‘proper’ games stores.

Not only did I find Need For Speed: Nitro (which claims to have been written from scratch just for the Wii) but I also saw Wii Sports Resort sitting on the shelf with the new sensor attachment thingy so I popped them both in to my shopping basket.

Is the Nintendo Wii reaching the end of its life-cycle?   If stores like HMV and Game aren’t stocking many new games and leaving it down to the supermarkets such as Tesco to fill the gap is the reign of the Nintendo Wii coming to an end?  I suppose only time will tell…

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You may not be able to rent games from the likes of Blockbusters as of yet but the following web sites offer Wii rentals:

• Boomerang Video Game Rental Online
• Gameflirt
• SwapGame
• Gametart

After looking at the different sites (they all seem to be pretty much the same thing) I have decided to sign up with boomerang rentals who offer a 21 day trial period that wont cost you a thing.  The way these sites work is that once you have chosen your subscription plan, you then create a list of games that you would like to rent and put them in order  of preference.  They tend to recommend that you have at least 5 (preferably 10) games in your list to enable them to give you the best possible service.  They then send you the first available game on your list along with a postage- paid envelope to send it back in.

You can keep the game for as long as you want and when you send it back to them they post out the next available game on your list.  The price plans range from just having one game at a time to having 2 or more games at a time with unlimited exchanges. Please check the relevant web sites listed above for full price plan details.  Now that I have chosen the required amount of games that now form my list, I should recieve my first rental game in the next couple of days.

If you decide that you like the game so much and want to buy it, then you can buy it from them at a discounted price and they then send you another game as part of your rental agreement. So its the best of both worlds – a try before you buy so to speak.  I’ve never rented games before but £9.99 a month for 2 games at a time, where you can send them back and get another game posted out to you as often as you like, seems like a pretty good idea to me.

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The last NFS game I played on was NFS Underground 2 on the PC and this game on the Wii is exactly the same, only better!!!  The graphics and in-game music and sound effects are of the high standard we have come to expect with the NFS series of games.  The premise is pretty much the same as before, you have to drive around winning races so you can upgrade you car to be able to win even more races!

When you are fed up with drifting, race wars, sprinting and racing through checkpoints you can simply drive around the places that you have unlocked and annoy the police and see how many cars you can destroy and how many road blocks you can evade!

How can you win a race but pass the finish line in 2nd place??? Crew racing, that’s how!  No longer are you racing alone, as you progress through the game you find yourself recruiting different crew members which you can hire for particular races.

The crew members come in 3 different varieties:

1) Drafters – as the name suggests, these crew members speed off ahead of you and allow you to make use of their slipstream.

2) Pathfinders – the name says it all really, these crew members will find all the shortcuts that you can take so make sure you follow them!

3) Blockers – these guys will take out your opponents that you see coming up close in your rear view mirror.

What really makes this game on the Wii standout is the gameplay, more importantly the unique way this game has made use of your Controller & Nunchuck!  Just when you thought playing Excite Truck by tilting your Controller was innovative, NFS Carbon goes one step further and offers you 5 different ways of controlling your car!

This is the standard way of controlling a car on the Wii and is just like the way you would do so if you were playing Excite Truck of GT Pro etc.

When I first started playing this game, this was the only control method I was using as I hadn’t realised I had another 4 more options to choose from!

The only thing I don’t like about this control set is that to turn round sharp corners you have to hold down the A button which is for over steering.

The method shown here on the right is the one I am currently using and it is absolutely awesome!

You tilt the nunchuck left and right for the analogue steering and (quite literally) use the controller as the excellerator pedal!

Without a doubt the control methods in this game make it stand out from the rest!

If you were umming and arring over this game and GT Pro then forget GT Pro and get yourself Carbon – you won’t regret it!

Wii Mans Game Rating

Fun Factor: 9/10 – If you like car racing games then buy this NOW!
Playability: 10/10 – With 5 different control methods you are bound to find one to suit.
Gameplay: 10/10 – Carbon makes full use of the Controller & Nunchuck!
Graphics: 8/10 – Fantastic graphics that we have come to expect on the NFS series of games.
Sound/Music: 8/10 – Nothing fancy but still quite good. I would have liked to see MP3s from your SD card being used in this game though…

Overall 45/50

*** A Wii Man Recommended Title For Car Racing Fans!***

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If you thought tilting your Wii Controller left/right to turn the car in GT Pro Series or Monster 4×4 was innovative then you will be even more pleasantly surprised when you play this game!

This makes full use of the Wii Controller (minus the nunchuck that is) as not only do you have to turn the controller left and and right, when you take off on a jump you have to rotate it forwards and backwards as well to ensure that you land correctly!

If you take a look at the image below (that I have found on the net), you will see what I mean.

Now if the innovative use of the controller wasn’t enough, this game is not all about going across the finish line in 1st place. It’s all about stars…

At the start of each race you are told the time limit, number of laps and the minimum number of stars required to move on to the next level.

You get stars for landing correctly after jumping in the air from the raised terrain, for going through ‘rings’ whilst in the air on certain jumps, for ramming in to your opponents at high speed, for performing 360, 720, 1080 or even 1800 degree turns in the air, for doing ‘tree runs’ and even for crashing spectacularly!!!

At the bottom-right of the screenshot you can see the temparature gauge. When you activate the turbo-boost (by pressing any direction on the digi-pad) the temparature gauge goes up. When it reaches maximum you must stop using it and let the engine cool down.

The fastest way to cool the engine down is either via jumping through the air or to drive through shallow water.

Overall this a fantastic game which makes full use of the Wii Controller! The graphics may not be outstanding but the gameplay more than makes up for it!

One thing I would recommend you think about buying (if you dont already have one) is a Joytech Controller as shown in the image on the right.

I found that it helped me to hold the controller in a more comfortable mannor and reduced the aching wrists!

One last thing is that there is now a proper use for the SD card that most of us seem to have brought (and then couldn’t find a real use for them)! Any MP3s stored on an SD card in your Wii system will be used during the game – this is why the music rating below is 10/10 as its your own music so you must like it…

Wii Mans Game Rating

Fun Factor: 8/10 – If you like fun car games then you’ll enjoy this!
Playability: 9/10 – The only feature that isn’t used is the nunchuck!
Gameplay: 9/10 – Great fun, great game.
Graphics: 8/10 – Reasonable graphics with good weather effects.
Sound/Music: 10/10 – If you have an SD card then it’s music of your choosing!

Overall 44/50

*** A Wii Man Recommended Title ***

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I have only found one use for this Controller Grip and that is for playing Excite Truck where after an hour or so’s gaming my wrists began to ache a bit – but with this accessory the aching is no more!

A nice simple product that does what it says on the tin.

Some places seem to be charging up to £12.99 for this piece of plastic but if you shop around you can get it for £7.99 or less.

Personally I think it is a bit over-priced for what it is and should be no more than £4.99. But then hey, what do I know? I paid £7.99 for it – go figure!

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The game is nothing more than a complete compilation of what seems like hundreds and hundreds of minigames that are over in the blink of an eyelid!

It makes full use of the Wii Controller with you having to perform such tasks as turning key to open a door to holding the controller on your head whilst you squat on the ground and then stand straight back up again!!!

The images below show just some of the minigames that you have to complete in (quite litterally) a matter of seconds! Just before the mini game begins you are shown how to hold the remote and in the few seconds that the game lasts, not only do you have to complete the task but you have to actually work out what the task is and how to move the controller!!! Mad I tell you , mad!!!

The image on the left shows someone holding the remote in the ‘mohican’ stance squating etc. the image above shows you using a saw with the remainging image showing how you can weightlift!!!

This game is a great party game as everyone can take part! I’m not sure which is more fun, taking part playing the game or watching someone playing the game!!!

Wii Man’s Reviews

Fun Factor: 9/10 – On your own 0/10 with a load of mates 9/10
Playability: 10/10 – Full use of the Wii controller
Gameplay: 9/10 – That’s all there is with this game, not much skill involved!
Graphics: 5/10 – Graphics are not what this game is about!!!
Sound/Music: 7/10 – Fun sounding music for a fun game.

Overall 40/50

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I still haven’t worked out the answer to this one, other than putting on specific types of Photos, a few MP3s and certain video files I can’t really see that a memory card for you Wii is much use?

It’s a console, so why would you want to put your photos on it??? I can kind of understand the MP3s as some games that are coming out later in the year will be able to read your MP3s and have them as the background music in the game.

It is not possible to directly save your games to an SD card. All your saves go directly on to the internal memory.

You can copy your saved games to it though and take it round a mates house to continue playing (or to show them a new level etc). But as you can only have one of each saved game you have to copy your mates saved game to another memory stick first, then delete the one on the system and then copy yours across and when you have finished you have to reverse the whole process!!!

A lot of needless messing about if you ask me… One important thing I need to point out is that you don’t have to buy a Wii branded SD card. A standard SD card will do. The Wii supports a maximum size of 2GB so don’t get any bigger than that as it wont work!

So all in all, no real need to rush out and buy an SD card for your Wii. Though I’m sure in time when Nintendo release new updates for the Wii in the future, a good use may be found, we shall have to wait and see…

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The nunchuk is required for this game and is used (along with the controller) in an ingenious way.

You have to point the controller at the screen and as you move the cross-hair around you move in that direction in conjunction with the nunchuk analogue stick which moves you forwards and backwards and sideways left and right.

Grenades and the like! To throw a stone, grenade or petrol bomb you hold down a button on the nunchuk, aim with the controller and then pretend the nunchuk is a grenade etc. and perform a throwing motion!

If you imagine the controller as being a knife all you have to do is perform a cutting/slicing/chopping motion and it will automatically change to the knife and start cutting things before changing back to your chosen weapon.

To jump you move the nunchuk quickly in an upward direction and to kick things you wiggle the controller in a kicking fashion.

The graphics are reasonable but can be a bit dodgy at times with some textures of the foliage being quite pixel Ted. On a few occasions I have noticed that the draw distance can be a bit poor sometimes too as on turning around it quickly tries to draw buildings that you are quite near to.

To start with I thought the sound/music was quite good as when you get to a tense part of the game some tense sounding music begins to play… it is when it gets to the end of the track and then starts again with no fade in or out that you realise it is badly joined together, which spoils it a little bit for me.

Overall this is quite a reasonable game, but the only thing that makes it stand a little bit out from the crowd is the way you use the controllers.

I think if you wanted to get this game then I would wait until it is re-released as a ‘budget’ title as I am sure it will be in the future…

Wii Mans Game Rating
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Fun Factor: 6/10 – Can Be Quite Repetitive & You May Get Bored Easily
Playability: 10/10 – The Controls Are Amazing, Unlike Anything Before!
Gameplay: 6/10 – The Game Is Playable, But Nothing Too Outstanding
Graphics: 7/10 – Some Poor Textures & Draw Distance Flaws
Sound/Music: 5/10 – Badly Joined Music When It Is Repeated

Overall: 34/50

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To steer the vehicles all you need to do is place the controller in to the steering wheel thingy and then simply rotate it left and right!

Then all you need to worry about is 2 buttons. Button 1 is the brake and button 2 is accellerate. It could’t be any simpler than that!!

You start off in what I like to call ‘easy mode’ and work your way up getting gold, silver and bronze cups as

you go!

In some aspects it is like the Need For Speed series of games as you collect upgrades that you can add to any of your vehicles as you progress through the game.

If your arms are aching from playing games like Raymans Raving Rabbids then this game is ideal for having a rest from all that shaking and thrusting about!!!

Wii Mans Game Rating

Fun Factor: 7/10 – If You Like Car Racing Games Then This Is For You!
Playability: 9/10 – The Steering Wheel Attachment Makes It An Even More Enjoyable Experience.
Gameplay: 7/10 – Similar To That Of The Need For Speed Type Of Game
Graphics: 7/10 – Good Graphics – Nothing Outstanding Though
Sound/Music: 7/10 – Good Music & Sound But Nothing Unexpected

Overall: 37/50

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