Add these Wii titles to you shopping carts 'cause Best Buy's dropped them price tags on this one. We've already reported on Ubisoft's Red Steel getting a price drop for US$ 29.99. And while that sale is still ongoing, there's a couple more for your budget.

Super Swing Golf for the first time has been marked under US$ 30, this time also at US$ 29.99. Meanwhile, the adorable Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz gets a US$ 10 mark down from US$ 49.99 to US$ 39.99. We're pretty sure these discounts will go a long way in boosting the sales of the Wii console. Now if only there'd be enough to go around.

Catch them while you can. To check out Best Buy Online, just click on the Read link below.

The minds behind GameStop have just come up with a new Wii bundle that's slated to ship on January 17. Called the "Nintendo Wii Most Wanted" bundle, it includes the Nintendo Wii system (system, remote controller, nunchuck, stand, sensor, and Wii Sports), a Wii 1GB memory card, and an extra Wiimote.

Apart from Wii Sports, six other titles also come with the bundle. Included are Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Red Steel, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz, and Madden NFL 2007. It also includes a 1 Year Product Replacement Plan.

You can order the Nintendo Wii Most Wanted bundle from GameStop for US$ 679.90. Yeah, the price is a bit high, but with 7 games, at least you won't get bored for quite some time.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz promises to lots of fun and wackiness to the gamers. Most of those who have previously played the other games can attest to that. But party game as it might be for the Wii, you can't help but have the party-poopers crashing into your blitz of bananas.

These big bosses look just as crazy as much as the game could get. Ranging from a cute little monkey that could telekinetically control a mace-fisted robot with hearts to a pink disco diva gorilla that can shake her booty like Tina Turner, the cast of villains are wacky, to say the least. Some of these, we've seen before in in-game footage pics, but Sega's giving us the bigger picture of their line up with these character renders.

Get ready for the December 8 blitz as the game comes out. There's more to life than just partying. A lot of it involves kicking out those gatecrashers also. Heads up!

   
  

EGM's not the only magazine to have a crack at Wii launch titles. The same Rocked of NeoGAF who last revealed what EDGE had to say about the Wii, now reveals what equally-Brit mag NGamer had to say about a couple of Wii launch titles, Ubisoft's Red Steel and Sega's Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. So they gave the monkeys a respectable 84%, God knows why, but pretty respectable.

For Red Steel they gave a 90%.

Too bad Rocked didn't give out any details on why NGamer gave Red Steel a 90%, other than one thing, which I can't say since I think it's gonna be a spoiler. Now don't get me wrong. I'm looking forward to  playing this game (at the risk of being torn apart by Linkites, I can safely say that I'm not that all agog to play Twilight Princess... *must hide!*). But we gotta put this 90% into perspective, especially since we can't read the magazine ourselves, anyway.

• Some of the people over at NeoGAF couldn't believe that "SMB got a lower score than Red Steel." Maybe they love their monkeys.
• Or their Pokemon, as one reply goes cross-platform to compare the DS Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (79%) with Red Steel.
• On the other hand, NGamer is an indie game mag, with a rep for being "pretty harsh" with their review scores.
• And one reply noted that before this review issue, "NGamer were going around saying some not to great things about Red Steel if I remember correctly."
• One reply may have gotten an important point: " Early Wii reviews have to have a novelty rating adjuster. Real scores will arrive as people get jaded about the whole thing."
  

Personally, I still want to get Red Steel, 90% or not, but that's only because I like playing with katanas. But sometimes it would be nice to know what each reviewer was thinking, don't it? Otherwise, the debates here, at NeoGAF, or elsewhere, would be endless.

Dear reader,

Have you seen these treasures? AiAi and friends just got robbed of their village's treasures and they want to get it back. Well, that's how the story of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz goes, anyways. And they're making sure that everyone here knows what to look for.

Sega's just released the mother-load of all screenshot bundles. There's a total of 150 screens for you to enjoy here. In these, you'd be able to see all sorts of mini-games in the monkey party - games like Number Ball, Fish Catch, High Wire Act, and Red Light Green Light, just to name some.

While we've posted just a couple of screens here, there's a download link below for your perusal. Don't blink. Make sure you look at these screens well. You've got to help the monkeys find their stolen treasures when the game finally comes out this November 17. If you've found the stolen treasure, please contact AiAi and friends...

Sincerely,
QJ

 

Download: [150 Banana Blitz screens]

Are you ready to rumble? Coming to Europe on December 8 is Nintendo's Wii, along with awesome launch titles, including Wii Sports and Wii Play. Soon, you'll be able to check out for yourself just how fine the Wiimote can be on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (it won't matter anymore that Link's already a rightie), EA Sports' Need For Speed Carbon, and Ubisoft's Red Steel. But wait, let's not forget about Activision's war-action game Call of Duty 3 and Ubisoft's Rayman Raving Rabbids.

That's a lot, right? But we're just getting started. We have here for you the list of Wii launch titles for Europe. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled out for your favored games, and mark that day red on your calendar! This is as good as a treasure hunt could get. Enjoy!

Wii Europe Launch Titles (December 8)

• Wii Sports Bundle
  
• The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess
• Wii Play (including Wii Remote)
• Call of Duty 3 (Activision)
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision)
• Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (Activision)
• Madden NFL 07 (EA)
• Need For Speed Carbon (EA)
• Happy Feet (Midway Games)
• Rampage: Total Destruction (Midway Games)
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Sega)
• Gottlieb Pinball Classics (System 3)
• Super Fruit Fall (System 3)
• Disney/ Pixar Cars (THQ)
• Barnyard (THQ)
• Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab (THQ)
• Blazing Angels Squadrons of WW II (Ubisoft)
• Far Cry Vengeance (Ubisoft)
• GT Pro Series (Ubisoft)
• Monster 4x4 World Circuit (Ubisoft)
• Open Season (Ubisoft)
• Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft)
• Red Steel (Ubisoft)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (Ubisoft)

December Titles (but without specified dates)

• Impossible Mission (System 3)
• Leaderboard Golf (System 3)
• Tennis Masters (System 3)

Within the last few months, our interest for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz has been flaming hot. We can no longer refer to this as infatuation as the more appropriate word is love. The banana-sweet screenshots, the rather funky official site and the no-monkey-business game details. Despite all of those, something's still lacking. We're still looking for that proverbial missing link.

And we've just found the answer to our question. Or should we say the answer found us? At any rate, we know now what we want. But of course, a game trailer! No game would be complete without a game trailer. Rather than spoil the fun, these one-minute videos increase excitement and eliminate last-minute doubts (if ever there are some) regarding gameplay, graphics and the like.

The trailer is around 45 seconds long and features the various mini-games included, like boxing. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz was developed by Sega and is actually a Wii launch title.

Download: [Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz Trailer]

As the clock ticks down to Wii launch day, more details on SEGA's Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz continue to roll out like a bat monkey out of heck. For example, Advanced Media Network got to chat a bit with SMB associate producer Andy Alamano about the game, and found out some interesting factoids that we can expect to see when those monkeys start messing with our Wiis and our sanities.

Like controls, for example. Just like the E3 demo, for the main part of the game you'll be holding the Wiimote like a paper airplane, Andy reveals. That hasn't changed. The tons of minigames on hand, however, will each have their own unique control setup. How many minigames? Oh about 50, immediately selectable (immediately? You mean to say there's more that is not immediately selectable? Whoa!).

The team has worked hard on providing finely precise gameplay control with the Wii, and they're proud of it. Andy claims it will be as good as controlling the game with a GameCube controller. Speaking of that, nope, neither the GameCube controller nor any other controller other than the Wiimote will work with SMB.

Two other things that we won't be expecting with Super Monkey Ball are online play and WiiConnect24. Multiplayer will most definitely be split-screen four-way. Neither will there be any downloadable content through WiiConnect24, though Andy says the team would love to include that in their next title, given the chance.

Better brush up on those Wiimote skills, because the game features one and only one difficulty level. The new Jump mechanic the Wiimote provides will in fact be your primary means of attack against the (new to the series) Boss characters. You'll be spending Boss battle time dodging their attacks and waiting for the right moment to hit them at a weak spot.

And one last item of note: the game supports widescreen (16x9) TVs.

With the Wii's launch drawing nearer, it's gonna be tough picking out a game to go with Nintendo's console. First impressions last, and before you even pull the game out, you bet it'll be sliding out of a brand new box cover. With that said, we've spotted some of the newer box covers for these Wii games:

1. Bleach - Sword-slashing anime with super moves + Wiimote + Nunchucks = one uber cool game, at least if you're following the trailers.
2. Red Steel - You've probably seen the trailers for this - twisting the wiimote translates into you firing the guns gangsta-style. Then there's the katanas... you get the idea.
3. Rampage: Total Destruction - Giant monsters, buildings, and panic-stricken citizens. You know what to do.
4. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz - Sega's platform-jumping, puzzle-solving sequel to this game series makes it to the Wii, and it promises over 99 levels + 50 minigame's worth of cute-monkey-goodness.

Well, enough of the intermission. Here are the new box covers, in the order of the said games above.

For some reason that we never could quite figure out, monkeys often equal big money. We're not just talking about books, movies, and street performances too. The videogame industry's got its own share of simian superstars. Donkey Kong, King Kong, and now here come those monkeys from Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz.

Okay, before we try to answer the questions surrounding the mass appeal of monkeys, let's talk a bit about the game first. In this latest - and quite possibly best - installment in the Monkey Ball franchise, you get to control AiAi and his friends as you wade through 99 levels of varying difficulty, and that's just the single-player mode. There are also 50 fun and challenging mini-games in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, making it one of those titles that you'll keep coming back to.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Is it the cuteness factor? The fear factor? Do we just identify with monkeys because Charles Darwin said we're basically cousins? Maybe the answer lies in the screenshots below. Check 'em out and leave a comment, guys.