Wii Forecast channel out today, Opera on Friday

This is shaping up to be a great week to be a Nintendo Wii owner. Today, many people are reporting seeing that familiar blue glow this morning. The glow heralds a message from Nintendo informing the Wii masses that the new Forecast channel is available and will become active once your Wii unit receives a firmware update.

And from Opera comes word that a “trial version” of the Opera 9 browser for the Wii will be available for download from the Wii Shop channel starting this Friday, December 22nd. They even have a short webcomic of the announcement that states that the “full version” of the browser could be expected to drop sometime in the spring. Nintendo Europe also put out a press release about the browser, stating that it would be available for a free download until June 2007 (which we already knew), and that after that date, the browser would be available for 500 Wii points. Nintendo also states that the final version will be available in March 2007.

You call this “support”, Ubisoft?

So, Ubisoft is creating a “new” Prince of Persia game entitled Rival Swords, huh? Oh, wait! Is it just me, or does this look suspiciously like Two Thrones with Wii controls nailed on? Uh…yep. That’s it all right.

This is utterly depressing. Ubisoft came out after E3 2006 crying out in favor of the Nintendo Wii. They sang songs of its impending excellence. They pledged to bring dozens of games to the system within its first year. They were creating new IP, redesigning old favorites. Nintendo fans rejoiced at the prospect of the mountain of gaming goodness that Ubisoft was being poured out over the little Nintendo console that could.

Hmmm. Let’s just take a look at Ubisoft’s Wii “support”, shall we?

Far Cry Vengeance: 40%
Red Steel: 65%
Monster 4×4: World Circuit: 51%
GT Pro Series: 43%
Splinter Cell Double Agent: 61%

Ugh. Half-baked rehashes of games people were done with two years ago. Poor quality racers. New game concepts that really could have done with an extra year of spit and polish. At least Rayman is somehow managing an 80%.

Man, this is the Capcom Five all over again. So many broken promises. So many lies.

Nintendojo – breaking Wiimote wrist straps so you don’t have to

Dave Magliano over at Nintendojo went about seeing if the news reports on Wiimote wrist straps being apparently manufactured out of dental floss were anywhere near accurate. He performed numerous strength tests and general play tests. He has pictures of the tests he performed, and the results were pretty much what we all expected.

In my scientific opinion, breaking wrist straps must be limited to those using the remote far, far beyond even the most wildly extreme playing condition, or those actually trying to break them. Reports of broken TV screens and ceiling fans are likely due to people not even using the wrist strap, which is their own fault.

As for me, my experiment has left me with one less wrist strap than I have remotes, this editorial and a sore nose. All in the interest of science, I suppose. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that my remote is much more fun when it’s used to play games.

There you have it, folks. Scientific analysis done right.

GigaGamez? No, Om. Just…no.

I don’t know how this slipped past me the other day, but I’ve just now caught up with the realization that Om Malik will be calling his new gaming-related blog GigaGamez.

Om. No. I’m 99.9% certain you will never read this blog, but nonetheless, I implore you. No.

Drop the z. Replace it with an s. Please.

I have a lot of respect for Om. I read GigaOM and Web Worker Daily. Wagner James Au–who writes a good portion of Om’s content for his current online games channel–has fantastic insights into the industry. He can write from both a journalist and gamer focus and sound completely legitimate in either capacity. If he moves over to the GigaGamez, as I assume he would, we will do great things for the site.

But not if it’s still called “GigaGamez”. Nothing can save that, really.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what audience Om is hoping to reach with GigaGamez. Maybe he’s only speaking to VCs about gaming-related investment opportunities. I’m not really sure. But I can pretty much guarantee you that with this lame “leet speak” hack title alone, there won’t be many gamers that bother with it. We gamers can spot posers and their laughable attempts at pseudo-coolness. I can promise you that.

Here’s something you might not realize. No gamers actually use “leet speak” anymore. We don’t spell words ending them in z when there really should be an s. Especially when that word might be “games” (a word we happen to value greatly). These days we really just stick to a concatenated (or castrated, as the case may be) form of language. People becomes ppl. What the fuck becomes wtf. You get the idea.

Just do yourself a favor and call it GigaGames. That’s all I ask. Your future audience will thank you.

Evil Avatar Webcomic 41: An EvAv Christmas Carol (part one)

Sit down, children. Rest your weary heads. Snuggle up next to the fireplace and let me tell you a cherished Christmas story. It’s the story of greedy bapenguin (an Evil Avatar admin) and his foul, black heart. One particularly cold Christmas, old bapenguin considered abandoning the EvAv Holiday Giveaway. That is, until he was visited by the ghost of Christmas past! Part one of a three-part series.

Read more Evil Avatar Webcomics @ evilavatarcomics.com! A new comic is posted every week!

New header graphic

If it’s even remotely possible, I believe that Alex gets cuter as he gets older. He’s just now hit 10 months, as of yesterday, and the kid is simply damned adorable.

And yes, I’m biased. But I really don’t care.

The wife took great photos of Caleb and Alex having bathtime together the other day. One of those will definitely become the next header graphic.