Wii Play Now Available in the U.S.

By Geoff Duncan Published February 15, 2007

Wii Play Now Available in the U.S.

Nintendo has finally unleashed Wii Play on the North American market, following strong launched in Europe and Japan. Like Wii Sports (bundled with Wii consoles here in the U.S.), Wii Play is a collection of nine simple games designed to offer hours of entertainment to gamers of all ages. To emphasize the multiplayer nature of the Wii console, Wii Play comes packaged with a Wii Remote—a shortage of Wii Remotes has been cited by some industry followers as a reason for the delay introducing Wii Play to the U.S. market.

“Wii Play builds on the types of games and experiences people have come to love in Wii Sports,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior VP of marketing and corporate communications, in a statement. “Millions of people around the world are recognizing Wii as the future of gaming. We are changing how people play games, who plays and how many play.”

Wii Play includes Fishing (which uses the Wii Remote like a fishing rod), Billiards, Tanks, Shooting Range, Duck Hunt, Table Tennis, Charge! (a game where players control a charging cow), and Laser Hockey. Two other games use player’s “Mii” caricatures/avatars: Pose Mii has players orient their Miis in positions to match silhouettes, and Find Mii has players locate specific Miis in an ever-expanding crowd. Nintendo characterizes the games as “easy to learn and difficult to put down,” following the company’s ethos of developing games which appeal to everyone from hard-core gamers to grandparents.

Wii Play is priced at $49.99 (compare that to the $39.99 suggested price for a Wii Remote) and is rated E for “Everyone” by the ESRB.

Topics

Nintendo

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Gaming

Before the Wii U eShop closes, pick up the best Zelda remaster ever

Link waving in Wind Waker HD.

As we approach the final days of the Wii U’s life span with the impending eShop closure, I’ve been reflecting on my time with that system. Although it’s considered a low point for Nintendo, the Wii U and 3DS era was when I truly became a fan of the company, closely following every new announcement and release. I enjoyed many great Nintendo games on Wii U, like Super Mario 3D World and Xenoblade Chronicles X. Still, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is the Wii U game I still come back to the most.

Maybe it’s because I got the Wind Waker-themed Wii U that included the game as a pack-in, but I fell in love with the HD remaster. Not only did it show off the console's power with gorgeous updated visuals, but it fixed a couple of issues with the original and used the system's GamePad seamlessly. On top of that, it's a charming and surprisingly bold game that still stands as one of the best games in the series 20 years after its North American release on GameCube.

Gaming

Download these rare Wii U games before they disappear

Nintendo's Wii U is notorious for how hard it flopped and for providing the Switch with some of its best ports, but that doesn't mean it didn't have worthwhile games that are still exclusive to it. While many Wii U games have escaped to other platforms and Game Boy Advance games are now coming to Nintendo Switch, some experiences are uniquely suited to the Wii U GamePad or aren't able to make the jump elsewhere due to other outside factors.

As such, when the Wii U and 3DS eShops shut down on March 27, there are some unique Wii U games that will become significantly more expensive and tougher, if not outright impossible, to play. If you're one of the 13.5 million people who actually have a Wii U and are wondering what to pick up before the eShop closes, we recommend these stranded games.
Affordable Space Adventures

Gaming

Ubisoft confirms Assassin’s Creed remakes are in the works

Basim perched on a ledge overlooking Baghdad

In a company interview with CEO Yves Guillemot posted on the Ubisoft website Thursday, the executive reveals that there are remakes of Assassin's Creed games in the works, although he doesn't specify which ones.

"Players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them," he says, implying that it could pertain to games made before Odyssey. "There are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich."