Wiigator shares his homebrew app creation to the Wii homebrew community, the Backup Launcher 0.3 gamma. It's an app that allows you to play your Wii backups on your non-modded Wii.


Download: Backup Launcher 0.3 gamma

Numerical scores are like so last decade ago. So, breaking free from the supposed "one-size-fits-all" checklists of items to add up to a game's "score", we're going to be implementing a new five-star review system. See, we're trying to avoid having to quantify video games into arbitrary numbers. After all, many of us feel that a game isn't just the sum of all its parts (as in a checklist), but rather, the totality of the gaming experience itself! In the full article, we've come up with a handy FAQ to introduce this brand spanking new system to all of you QJ.NET readers. And yes, there're no half-stars about it! Rawr!

You've seen the video demonstration and maybe you've even run the beta version before. But now, the time of reckoning is at hand! The Wii Homebrew Channel has now been released. You can now launch Wii homebrew apps easily, right from your SD card! Make sure you read the full article so you guys know how to go about installing this brew.

Download: Wii Homebrew Channel

After a decidedly long wait, Nintendo Europe finally managed to implement that much-awaited star-swapping feature where gamers can exchange Wii Stars for Wii Points.

Read on to get more details!

Every game magazine collector knows that if there's a time of the year when you should think critically, it's the day when you grab your April issue of EGM and other popular mags. Once a year, the people behind theses periodicals print either a tip or an article regarding strange stuff in gaming with the absence of one tiny detail: the truth.

Of course they have a perfect excuse not to invoke flames from across the web. It's April Fool's silly! Pranks range from baseless rumors, fictitious FAQ's and cruel unlocking "secrets" that often have players spending long hours of fruitless play on a wild goose chase to obtain items which do not exist.

To make the lies even more believable, the perpetrators even include nicely-crafted screenshots to sell the whoppers. Infamous examples include the "Aeris Resurrection trick" for Final Fantasy VII, the "unlockable Akuma trick" for Resident Evil 2, and of course, unlocking Sonic and Tails in Super Smash Bros.

In this year's EGM April issue, there's an article that talks about an upcoming We (spelled this way on the article) exclusive spin-off of Kingdom Hearts called Mushroom Kingdom Hearts which combines the Nintendo and Disney world in one epic RPG. The details, of course, were pretty shady. The only specific was that Square Enix was publishing it, so go figure.

We have just heard news that Mike Verdone has once again updated his Wii application called WiiToMidi, which, as the name implies, allows users to convert signals from a Wii controller to MIDI signals.

WiiToMidi is a Cocoa application for Mac OS X that uses the DarwiinRemote WiiRemote framework to decode Wii controller signals. It also supports the Nunchuk controller. If this is your first time to encounter this app, then we strongly suggest you head on to Mike Verdone's website (click on the "Read" link below) to read the FAQ and other whatnots.

And as usual, make sure you read the all-important readme for more vital info on WiiToMidi. Got that? Good. Alright then go on and download WiiToMidi below. Have fun! Note: The download below also includes the source code.

Download: [WiiToMidi v0.4.1]

Snowboarding series SSX flourished back in the days of Gamecube. With the next installment - SSX Blur - coming to the Wii this March, everyone's been wondering to what extent the game is compatible with the Wiimote. It's a good thing Eric Chartrand, the game's lead designer from EA Montreal, was recently at hand and answered several FAQ's about the control scheme.

Basically, Chartrand explained that the Nunchuk is for the On the Ground control scheme. It will be used to enable a player's character to move down the slope by pitching the nunchuk left and right, therefore emulating turning. On the other hand, the Wiimote itself will be utilized with the In the Air control scheme and that involves tricks like spinning and flipping.

The lead designer also mentioned that the internal speaker will be used for non repetitive sounds like snowball throwing. The rumble functionality, he added, is used every time a players bails. Anyway, to make matters easier for you guys, here's a summary of the controllers' functionality:

Nunchuk:

• You simply tilt the nunchuk right and left to turn your character down the mountain, and the joystick is used for finer control adjustment if you really want to dig into a turn.
• You also use the nunchuk to jump by doing a quick up motion.
• In terms of buttons, the Z is for boost and the C is for a quick pivot on skis or a tail press on a board.
• You can perform a variety of grabs by pressing the Z button and tilting the nunchuk left/right/up/down.

Wiimote:

• To make your character spin, you swing the remote left/right and for flips you swing it up/down.
• In terms of buttons, the A and B buttons are used to finish your tricks and to "auto-land," which rights your character from mid-trick to the proper stance to hit the snow.
• You use both the nunchuk and the Wii remote together when you fill up your groove meter and are set to perform an Uber Trick.

During one of our daily forays into the World Wide Web, we stumbled upon a scan of a page which pretty much got us to sit up and pay attention. For one thing, the page was apparently taken from a book a couple of decades old, and contained predictions on how video games would be in the year 2000. We've read it, and it turns out that whoever wrote the prediction may actually turn out to be a video game prophet in his own right.

Upon doing a quick search, it turns out that the vintage page (sent in to Data of Data Realms from Prom) which contained the prophetic visions of the future was actually taken from the book "Usborne Guide To Computers", published around 1981. We also discovered after more Googling, that it's author, Brian Reffin Smith, was ahead of his time, but is also lucky enough to live to see that his predictions are actually spot on (so wherever you are, Mr. Smith, here's to you).

Now, just click on "Full Article" and let's see where he got it right as we go over the contents of the page...

For the basic, ordinary mortal such as myself, we do know that Wii is the next console that is going to be released by Nintendo later this year. We also know (mostly from looking at pictures and from watching clips on YouTube...or from listening to our gamer friends) that the console's natural position is vertical. And that it's white. And you can play some form of Mario game on it. And Zelda.

But then there are still a lot of questions about this thing referred to by hardcore fans as the "Wiimote". What is it exactly? What are the mysteries and wonders in this gadget that caused fans to drool and palpitate or roll on the carpet in pure, unadulterated excitement the world over?

If these are the questions that have been itching at the back of your head but you're too shy to ask your friends about them, fear no more as a kind game guru has patiently gathered information and compiled them into an FAQ for anyone who may need it.

Featuring the "101 most commonly asked Nintendo Wii questions" by i0n of the WiiChat Forums! In this FAQ, you can find the answers to questions such as what colors the Wii will come in, where and how to pre-order, as well as what game titles can be expected from this console. Topics that are covered also include its hardware, online capabilities, and controls.

So, the next time your Nintendo-head friends start getting into that heavy discussion, never be afraid to toss those two cents in again!

Free Radical, developer of the TimeSplitters games and the recently announced jungle FPS Haze for Xbox 360 and PS3, recently updated it's site with the following interesting FAQ snippet:

"Is there going to be a Wii version?

There are currently no plans for a Wii version of Haze. Sadly, the cutting-edge technology we're using requires more power than the Wii has available. If we could, we would."

Of course we all already know that Nintendo's Wii can't keep up with the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in terms of pure power. Still, many people (including me) held hopes that toned-down versions of true next-gen games like Haze would have been possible, seeing how some titles will indeed get the full service on all three consoles.

Alas, the gaps between the different consoles are apparently getting bigger this time. With the Wii having already attained it's special place as an incomparable piece of hardware yelling "We never wanted to keep up with you anyways", the question is how the Xbox 360 and PS3 are going to hold up compared to each other.