Welcome to part two of this deluxe-sized edition of the PGC Mailbag! If you haven't yet already, reading part one is prerequisite for reading part two. I suppose you can read them in reverse, but that would be silly, wouldn't it?

Onward.

I was wondering about the shell that's supposed to resemble a regular controller. They aren't saying much about it and for me its the only chance I'll by the Wii (still hate the name) I refuse to swing my controller around like an idiot. Also, I'm sure someone has asked this but are you going to change the name of the site to Planet Wii after launch?

TOY

The “shell" actually turned out to be Wii classic style controller. There's still a way for the two to connect together as originally envisioned, but it doesn't mean that every game will support it. A Wii game needs to be programmed to accept input from the thing, and if there's a game that uses all of the available functionality of the remote and nunchaku combination (Red Steel or Metroid Prime 3), it would be impossible for the classic pad to work with it.

As for the name change, yes, we've been asked this many, many times before. Read the last question in this mailbag for the answer to that.

Shaolinkilla here, i just listened to a podcast from IGN, Matt talked stated stuff about Launch Window games vs. Launch games. He wasn't really in depth about what he thought was going to be a launch title or just a launch Window game. So what do you think we will see at launch for the Wii?

And for some bonus points!

The recent anal-lyst company Yankee group have predicted PS3 with 44% market share only 4% more than what Xbox360 will gain leaving Wii with a 16% share. If that is to become true what do you think will be the downfall of the Wii and what will become the x-factor for the PS3 and Xbox360?

There are so many games slated to be ready for the Wii launch, I'm starting to lose count. There are at least 20 games that will be there, and by the time the console is released there may very well be a total upwards of 30. Ubisoft is making it easy on us by telling everyone about the seven launch day titles they'll have out there. Metal Slug will be there on day one, as will Trauma Center. Of course, Nintendo is bringing Zelda and Metroid to the party on opening day, and will probably have others tagging along, like WarioWare and Excite Truck. Downhill Jam from Activision is looking like a launch title, as are a multitude of THQ ports. Electronic Arts will lead with the Wii version of Madden, and I'm sure they'll have others from their stable of sports games make it in time for the big day. It's giving me a headache thinking about all the games that'll be at launch, but the bigger headache is going to be when the system and games get here. That's a lot of titles to cover!

Moving on, don't pay any mind to anything analysts have to say. All of them are taking guesses at how well each console manufacturer is going to do in the next five years, and although they all have the same information to start with, they all come up with completely different estimates. Their analyses seem to change after every big announcement, too.

Anyway, there's still the possibility Wii won't perform as well as Nintendo thinks it will. The chances of that are slimmer because of Wii's great showing at E3, but it can still happen. The Wii will enjoy early success because of the killer launch lineup and forgiving price, but Nintendo needs to keep it going after coming out of the gate. Otherwise, it'll be GameCube all over again. If developers can't make games that use the Wii controller in intuitive ways, thereby making it seem like a gimmick, it could be worse than the GameCube. I really don't think Microsoft or Sony will be making any new ground with their systems, since it's pretty much more of the same. I believe Nintendo controls their own destiny with the Wii, and I get the feeling that they think that way, too.

The phrase "consider your source" comes to mind, but the Wikipedia entry for the Wii features an item that seems like an attachment for Wiimote that turns it into a NES-style Zapper. That was the first mention of that I've seen and I love rail shooters like Kel loves orange soda. Do you guys know anything about it?

Yeah, it was on display in the Wii area of Nintendo's E3 booth, with the caveat text “Work in Progress." No games on the floor used it, and Nintendo hasn't said which games would support such an accessory. Actually, there's no guarantee that it'll be released to the public at all, though that seems unlikely.

Sometimes your website gets exclusive interviews with some of the industries biggest names. Heck sometimes you have exclusive contest with your website supported by the big N. So, my question is how big are you guys? It seems very impressive that you guys compete with the big boys, and you do an acceptional job. Congratulations on that part.

Now my wife, has a question. Is the Wii having a Spyro game, and do you consider the only DS version of Spyro released on the DS worth purchasing? My wife loves Spyro, so I hope that you answer this question in your mailbag.

Charles Wayne

Well, PGC just happens to be the largest independent Nintendo news and information website on the Internet. We've been around in one form or another since 1999 (you can read all about that on our About page), and our founder, one Mr. Billy Berghammer, has moved on to work at Game Informer, one of the leading gaming mags in the world. We're pretty big (and have the staff to prove it, and we appreciate you and every one else that's reading for helping us to stay that way!

Enough of the shameless self-promotion, let's get that second question of yours answered. Please direct your attention to our review of Spyro DS, where you will discover that it is, unfortunately, a mediocre title. You can read the review and decide for yourself whether or not your wife's love of the purple dragon is enough to cancel out the problems in the game. I would recommend you skip it for now and get one of the better DS games out in the market, of which there are many. Spyro will make another inevitable appearance on the DS, and with any luck it'll be a better game that's worth the money.

What it Do PGC,

Just wanna say that you guys are doing a great job with the site (thats why i check out the site daily). I Have an ass load of questons but im sure you guys dont want to answer them all so i just hold it down with a couple of questons.

1. I was wondering whats up with Resident Evil Wii? I did some research and Nintendo UK magizine said they will have an exclusive on RE Wii on their next issue and that Leon Kennedy was a hint ( which was later not fufilled, them having the excuse of it wasnt in development long enough to release info on it, Bastards!) i dont know bout you guys but RE4 was simply amazing and i was thinkin that they should let you have he ability of using the zapper style remote with the pointer aiming the gun (duh) and swingin the knife (or even using another wii mote, which would be a hassal but i think very realistic) and it looked like on the zapper remote had an analog Stick (would be used to move) placed close to the trigger which would be used to fire. That would be one best damn games ever if they made it with that control and continued the story line of RE4. I was wondering what your input is on the possibilities of that and if it's not someone should tell capcom this asap (If they havent thought of this already).

2. damn that fist queston was long. anyways, Is there any info on Mario Tennis, Golf, and TopSpin for Wii. 2k Sports said they're developing for Wii but no confirmation yet on Topspin. Also I find it hard to believe that nintendo wouldnt make Mario T. and G. for Wii.

Ps. i have better questons that i cant think of now so i hit you guys up in the future. Take it Easy.

G.

1. Nothing on the Resident Evil Wii front has shown itself since the announcement of the game before E3. I believe it will be a while before we hear anything about it, because to me it seems like RE would be a second- or third-generation Wii title. Resident Evil 4 made the series a top-flight franchise again, and the best thing that Capcom can do to keep it that way is to not rush it.

2. 2K haven't said which games from their portfolio are Wii-bound, but you've got to assume their sports games will make an appearance. TopSpin is one of those games, and I would be very surprised if didn't eventually hit the Wii in one form or another. Nintendo has shown with WiiSports that basic Tennis controls are no problem, but I'd like to see what 2K can do when they apply the precision of the controller to a tennis sim.

What is with the lack of sport games on the DS? No hockey or baseball games and only one basketball game, Mario Hoops. Will this change any time soon or is the DS just not cut out for sport titles?

Handhelds in general have never been the best showcase for sports titles. One of the most important factors that determines the success of a game in the sports genre is how closely it resembles the real thing, and until the PSP came along, handhelds have never really been able to do that. The DS will see more sports games once the system's userbase grows to a point where publishers won't have a choice but to cash in on the audience. For now, though, the PSP is where handheld sports games will stay.

Dear Bag,

I'm having a bit of a crisis. I don't have the money to buy a DS Lite, but luckily enough, I bought a two-year replacement plan on my regular DS at Best Buy. The plan covers dead pixels as well as normal wear and tear, both of which afflict my poor DS. In order for my replacement to take place, I have to send in my old DS to their replacement offices, after which they'll send me a store credit card worth what I paid for it (150$), which I will use to buy a DS Lite. The problem is my Wi-Fi settings. I know you're supposed to transfer them wirelessly to your new DS when switching, but the replacement procedure won't allow for that. So my question is: just how badly do I need these settings? I play a few rounds of Mario Kart every week or so, but I'm not any sort of addict. On the other hand, if I don't transfer my settings, will the game not work online anymore? Will it erase my Wi-Fi records? Will it self-dematerialize as a safety precaution? Please assist.

If you lose your Wi-Fi settings, you lose your Wi-Fi ID, the magic number which lets Nintendo know who you are. You can boot up Mario Kart into a new DS system and get online without any problems, but because the game/system combo is different, your Wi-Fi ID will change and the NWC servers will recognize you as a different person. (Your personal name is for display purposes only, and has no bearing on how your system is recognized.) The change in ID will also give you a new friend code, making your old code worthless to anyone you've given it out to previously.

If you're worried about your Wi-Fi rankings or have handed out a lot of friend codes, you should worry about losing your Wi-Fi settings. If not, get your DS Lite and play Mario Kart online just like you have been.

Yo PGC whats up. This is a totally out there question, As we all know Wii wil lbe released soon but in the same fashion as years past will nintendo start the planning stages of its next system this year as well? We all know how long it takes to plan and produce a new system so is nintendo going to to see if the wii takes off or just start plannaing blind with out knowing the wii's success ?

- 46&2

Nintendo is 100% focused on Wii. They may have some ideas about next-next-gen hardware sticking around in the back of their collective minds, but until they've safely released Wii and established in the marketplace, Nintendo won't seriously start contemplating their next move. It's all the same, since we won't hear about it for four or five years, at least.

I know factor 5 have no games in development for the Wii at this time becasue they want to do games with loads of technology, but do they have anything to do with sound development on the Wii like they did with GCN and N64? If they ever did a Wii game I could not resist a new Rouge Squadron game with the Wii controller as a flight stick.

been reading a long time and miss "tEH BILLEH!!111"

hamby

Nope, Factor 5 and Nintendo have completely parted ways. There will be no more Rogue Squadron games, but you never know if some other developer can make a Star Wars game like Squadron for Wii, using the controller in an awesome way.

I'm just wanting to vent my frustration over Nintendo choosing not to include GCN controller-compatibility with the Wii version of Zelda. I hope you'll post this, because I want the Nintendo reps who frequent this site to know just how lame and tacky I think this move by their company is. Why am I not writing Nintendo directly? Because they would give me some generic "we know what we're doing" BS in response.

Smash Bros, DBZ, and I'm sure plenty of other games will give us the option to use the GCN controller. Why the hell can't we use it in Zelda? I do not want to have to pay for two versions of the game to get the full experience.

So basically, it comes to this: I buy the Gamecube version and get a time-tested scheme to use, but the trade off is the lack of widescreen, graphical enhancements, and so on. Or, I can get the better-looking, feature-rich Wii version of the game, yet take the risk of being stuck with a potentially-flawed and impractical control scheme. You see the dilemma?

And lastly, do you guys agree with me? Or are my greivances unfounded?

Twilight Princess on the Wii is going to be seen in one of two ways. We will either remember it as the Wii game that proves the Wii controller is the real deal, or the GameCube game that has Wii controls tacked-on. It is impossible for it to be both at the same time. People are citing concerns of developers getting lazy, with them just adding Wiimote controls to already-existing games to make an easy buck at the expense of creativity or innovation. GC controller support in Twilight Princess would echo those concerns to the letter, because in a way, it would be like Nintendo telling us they couldn't come up with something good enough using the Wii controls.

GameCube controller support for a Wii game wouldn't be the solution to “flawed and impractical" controls, it would be the cause of them. DBZ Budokai 2 for Wii will let you use the GC controller, but that was because the Atari test team said the Wii controls could be tiring. Was there a reason they couldn't come up with something better suited for the Wii controller, that wasn't as tiring? Could it be possible that they weren't going to have enough time before launch to change the game design in a way to better accommodate the Wii controller? They could probably make a game that used the controller in a non-tiring way, if they really wanted to. Getting pooped out by playing the game seems more impractical than it's worth to release the game on the console in the first place.

The way I see it, Nintendo has used the time since the original delay—maybe even more time than that—to redesign Twilight Princess around the Wii controller, so it works intuitively and naturally with it. It's the only logical thing they could have been doing in that span, which should be plenty long enough for Nintendo to figure out what works with Zelda and what doesn't, adjusting the game as they go along. If Nintendo has redesigned puzzles, dungeons or general gameplay actions that require the versatility of the Wii controller, how could you use the 'Cube controller?

People are assuming that Nintendo is simply retooling the GameCube version of Zelda to work on the Wii, and therefore the GC controller will be the better bet. Here's something to think about: What if Nintendo has completely overhauled Zelda to work best with the Wii controller, and the GameCube is getting a “watered-down" port of it? What if the Wii version is now the “full experience?" Obviously, the controls on the GC version will work flawlessly like always, but does that automatically mean the GC version will be the best overall experience, especially since there's the very real possibility that the Wii game has been changed to work best with the new controller? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Judging from what I saw at E3, Twilight Princess has the potential to trump anything that the GameCube controller, or any traditional pad, has ever done for the Zelda series. Yes, there were issues with how the Wii controls were mapped out, and yes, there were some problems with the controller hardware. From its E3 showing to the Wii launch, the game will have had five more months of development. That's a lot of time for Nintendo get take the feedback from the show and get things right.

Of course, there's no guarantee that the Wii controls for Twilight Princess will be better than the GameCube version. There's no way of knowing if they'll be worse, either. I'm going to fire up the Wii version of Zelda: Twilight Princess with high expectations—very high—and if Nintendo doesn't deliver, I'll be the first person to let them know about it. It's going to be the definitive version, whether those expectations are met or not; Nintendo needs to prove to me, and everyone else that their gonzo controller is capable of doing the series proud. I think they can do it, but no one will know until the Wii is released and both versions of the game are out there for everyone to compare. Until then, let's all give Nintendo a chance to prove themselves.

People ask me why I post the mailbag so late on Sunday. Well, it seems that I have a rather bad habit of answering any question that's worth answering. You guys sent in a lot of them, so I had to answer a lot of them! Go ahead and send in those questions any time of the week, and if it's a really good one, it'll show up on the bag. If it's not, well, I may just wind up answering it anyway. No guarantees, though.

I'm pooped out, so I'm going to take a break. I'll be back next Sunday with more questions, so look forward to that.

Toodles.

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