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Tokyo Game Show |
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Nintendo Moves, Carves, and Hulas |
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by Lisa Katayama |
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Still spinning from the buzz of a new DSi portable gaming console we headed to the Tokyo Game Show to get an early peek at cool new games. We roamed the floor and found four titles for current Nintendo consoles that will turn the ordinary gamer into a skating princess, a hula dancer, an expert gardener, and a year-round snowboarder.
Hula Wii
Hula Wii is Nintendo's first attempt to turn the Hawaiian native dance into a video game. The goals of the game are simple—to reach advanced stages, clear all 20-plus songs, and unlock your own Mii (personalized Wii avatar)—but the software is actually a real learning tool for those who want to learn to Hula. A full-motion video of a real professional Hula dancer on-screen guides your movements while the foot pattern is displayed at the bottom of the screen. The game detects your movements via the Wiimote, making sure the hand motions are graceful and the side steps smooth. In between songs are introductions to the Hawaiian Islands and the essence of aloha spirit. No word yet on when the game will be released in North America.
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Publisher: Milestone
Price: TBD
Expected Rating: E
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Gardening Mama
Gardening Mama, a spin-off of the popular Cooking Mama series, teaches enterprising young gardeners how to grow a green thumb. Mama teaches you real skills specific to cultivating tulips, corn, strawberries, grapes, and other plants through a series of mini-games such as watering to fertilizing to arranging a beautiful little planter. But if you neglect your plant for too long or give it too much water, Mama will come after you with an evil glare. Make sure to get rid of infectious plant viruses and keep an eye out for rainbows when watering on a sunny day. Players who don't like to garden alone can compare their horticulture skills in real time with up to four friends via Wi-Fi. No word yet on a North American release date.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Taito
Price: TBD
Expected Rating: E
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We Ski World:
Ski & Snowboard
It sucks that ski season lasts only five months. Lucky for us, Nintendo is coming out with We Ski World: Ski & Snowboard in March 2009. This winter sports game puts you back on the slopes—er, the Wii balance board (sold with Wii Fit, which goes for a list price of $90)—within seconds of getting out of bed. The upgraded version of this spring's We Ski, has two new mountains, 10,000 extra meters of vertical to carve on with the balance board, and dozens of tricks executable with a flick of the Wiimote. While you can't ski with your Mii, there are over 200 pre-set avatars to choose from. And for extra style points, choose from dozens of outfits and boards—just be careful not to hit any trees when you're doing back flips.
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Price: $30
Expected Rating: E
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Princess on Ice
Land triple axels on the virtual rink with Princess on Ice. Choose an avatar—Gabrielle, Kelly, Alyssa, or Madison—and dominate the ice to tunes like the Skaters Waltz and Swan Lake. Princess on Ice is actually a rhythm game—the closer you get to tapping the on-screen stars and flowers with your stylus right as their shadows shrink to size, the more trick points you get and the fancier your cutesy avatar's jumps become. The objective is to score a perfect routine and become the princess of the ice show.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Arc System Works
Price: TBD
Expected Rating: E
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"Tokyo Game Show" has been edited for shojobeat.com.
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