1up‘s Jeremy Parish and Wired‘s Chris Kohler take a look at some of the good and not good on Wii’s download service in Japan.

Activision has formally announced some of the details of the forthcoming game based on the Transformers movie. IGN reports the Xbox 360, Wii, and DS will be joined by Sony’s systems as well: PS3, PS2 and PSP. Oh and theres a PC one too. So, just about anything you’ve got.

Better yet, the console developer has been revealed as Traveler’s Tales, who are responsible for LEGO Star Wars, arguably one of the best movie games in the past few years. They’ve confirmed seperate Autobot and Decepticon campaigns, along with massive destructable environments, and on-the-fly transformations. IGN has a short interview with producer Andy Burrows, who hints that they’ll mix in some non-movie bots inspired classic Generation One characters. Confirmed playable characters right now include Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Starscream.

Transformers on DS will be handeled by Vicarious Visions, who have a massive catalog of successful ports for Activison, including Doom 3 for Xbox, Tony Hawk and Marvel Ultimate Alliance for portables. Savage Entertainment(developer of Star Wars: Battlefront II) takes the PSP, and is promising a very different game with over 20 (!) playable Transformers spanning further into the movie’s extended universe.

A playable demo of the game will be available at Toy Fair in New York City this weekend. Since this is an industry/press affair, we’re hoping to see a video come along soon. We’ll keep an eye on the official site.

In the meantime, here is the first screenshot from the game. It’s a picture someone took of a catalog of Transformers merchandise that just happened to have a tiny page advertising the game. If you can’t make it out, it’s Bumblebee fighting the Decepticon Barricade in the first shot, and then a single shot of Barricade. Its not much, but we’re starving for info here, so give me a break.

UPDATE! IGN has added lengthy impressions of the demo, but still no screens. Read it all here.

Konami is desiging a new Dance Dance Revolution game exclusively for the Wii. The game will use classic DDR pads which plug into the Gamecube’s controller ports in conjunction with hand movements using the Wii Remote and Nunchuck.

With support of up to 4 players it’s a good thing the Gamecube pads for Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix are also compatible. Since this is a more traditional Dance Dance Revolution game when compared to the Mario Mix variation this will be the first standard DDR game made available on a Nintendo system. Many of the more classic modes of play will also be available in this title.

This IGN articles gives us a very in depth look at the prelimenary game though as they note many aspects could be changed or polished before this title is actually released.

As I promised, this week I’m doubling up on the $20 GOTW. One game brings back something that hasn’t been seen since the days of the SNES: a pack in game. The other is yet another good gaming compilation that may seem familiar to some PSP owners. If you have yet to spend the money grandpa gave you for X-mas, here are a few good cheap games.
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Yesterday’s weekly update on Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console saw the release of Super Mario Bros. This is considered by some to be the most important game of all time, and odds are you already own a copy of it. Maybe 2 copies. Probably 5. You might as well get it again so you can play with that sweet VC controller, and maybe work on your speed running.

Just to add a little value to your 500 Wii Point purchase, try going to the Negative world. This hidden glitch was covered up in many of the remakes and re-releases of the game, but is intact on the Wii since its the original NES code faithfully emulated. You’ve probably seen this trick before, in world 1-2 you break the bricks above the pipe at the end of the underwold (as seen at left) and then carefully jump backwards to the right without breaking the brick, so you slide off to the right and enter a warp pipe that takes you to a weird underwater world.

A top story on digg right now announces “How to Get to the Illusive Negative World in SMB!” but the link to the World -2, -3, and -4 is completely fake. Amazing that 21 years after the release of Super Mario Bros, players can still be falling for bogus tips like slackjawed schoolyard simpletons.

A free trial of the Wii Internet Channel is now available for download from the Wii Wares section of the Wii Shop Channel.

It is surprisingly easy to use. So much so that I easily posted this news update with it.

And don’t worry! Powet and it’s YouTube videos work fine with it.

Thanks to forum member spooie, we have this blurb in the most recent issue of Nintendo Power:

“Based on the upcoming Michael Bay flick, Transformers will let you play as either the heroic Autobots or evil Decepticons. Each ‘bot will come equipped with unique weapons, moves, and transformations. Activision is planning a Wii version and two DS versions of the game.”

Hmm, game based on a license published by Activision? This sounds like a job for Raven Software.

Our coverage of BotCon 2006 has Powet’s very own Zac Shipley registering for more information at the Activision table (5:45). Activision made a point of showing up to the convention, despite not being able to release any information about their upcoming Transformers games. As Zac says in the video, all they could confirm at that time was there would be an Xbox 360 version. Hmm, I wonder why the Nintendo article failed to mention that…

Atari did a great job with the Armada-inspired PS2 Transformers game. If Activision makes a game that’s even half as good, it should be quite enjoyable.

So why two DS games…? Why haven’t we heard anything about a PS3 version? Come join the discussion at the forums and share your theories!

Wii Remote Wrist Strap Replacement Request Form

Note: you will need to submit your Wii’s serial number in order to be eligible.

An admission of guilt? A small gesture to appease the few who think it’d be fun to let go of the controller and “see what happens”? I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a problem with a flying Wiimote. Heck, most of the time I don’t even use the strap. But seeing some of my friends play and after totally pwning a drinking glass during Wii bowling, maybe there’s more to this than I’m admitting. In other words, I already ordered a couple.

Check out a comparison of the new straps to the older ones after the break:

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