Let’s get right down to business. As you should all be aware of already, Netflix has officially announced that they are indeed bringing video streaming to the Wii. This is fairly big news, even if I’m a day late reporting it, and it’s been something that almost everyone has speculated on the past 6 months or so. It only makes sense seeing as how the Wii is considered a “family console”, and I’m guessing about 95% of them are located in the family living room. This makes the market huge for Netflix, and is another selling feature to the little console that could. The one flaw is that users will need to insert a streaming disk into the Wii (just like the PS3), and I can see this being a problem for families with kids. Kids lose things, break stuff, and pretty much run paths of ruinous destruction anywhere they go. If all we’re gonna get is the paper sleeve to store the disk in when it’s not in use, Netflix better plan on allowing you to get a free replacement as needed. I’ve contacted Netflix asking about that and a few other things, stay tuned to see if they give me the answers. In the meantime, check the trailer for the upcoming movie, “The A-Team”, which is just below here. One day it could be in Netflix’s Watch Instantly lineup, so it makes sense to put it here. That and the fact that it’s so BA. Oh, don’t forget to go ahead and order your streaming disk so you can join in the streaming fun when Netflix hits the Wii this spring.

One of these days The Spin is going to hit the big time. I don’t know when it’ll happen, and I don’t know how it will happen. I do know that our day will come. On that day I may be privy to preview games before their official release. Games like No More Heroes 2 for instance, a game for which I’d let Suda 51 punch me in the face for an early look at. Sadly, that day is not today. IGN, on the other hand, has those days all the time. I imagine their offices are gaming meccas in which you can find games before they are released, consoles before they are announced, and everything else one can dream of. Sure, it’s probably not that glamorous, but I don’t care. I want to bask in my tiny corner of the interwebs, shaking my fist at the corporate “man” that is IGN as they play hours upon hours of No More Heroes 2. It should be me, and one day it will. In the meantime, I just have to watch the three videos they posted up and try my best not to cry. You can join me if you’d like, the videos are right down there. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

I think my TV is breaking, or has already broke. It won’t turn on no matter how much I press the power button. Before you ask, yes, I have gotten up and tried to physically turn it on. I think we’re gonna need something like power-supply-transistor-thingy, or something stupidly technical like that. My initial thought is to look up to the heavens shouting, “Why God?!?! WHY ME!!?!?!”, but then I think it’d be easier to just pull the other TV from the guest bedroom into our room. Of course, by easier I mean, “this isn’t really easier in any way whatsoever since the TV in the guest room weighs like 100 pounds and may be the first TV ever invented and moving it into our room is not a solution at all because it’s going to take about two days before I get pissed that our good HDTV is broken and then I’m going to have to either A: buy a new one or B: pay to get it fixed.” Yeah, I’m not really looking forward to this….

We’re going to keep this post short and sweet since it also seems like my computer is thinking about giving up on me again, sorry. As you should all remember from last week, NBA Jam was expected to make it’s glorious return to households, and exclusively on the Wii. Nothing had been announced, and it was all a bit hearsay. Well, I’m pleased to officially announce that NBA Jam is in fact returning sometime this year! Jam will apparently have a few new game modes, I don’t care about that as long as I can get my Bill Clinton on!! Actually, forget that, I hope I can get my old school on with the Charlotte Hornets and Larry “Grandmama” Johnson & Alozon “Gonzo” Mourning!! I used to seriously dominate fools with that team. They were so nasty!! If you feel like checking out the official website, you know what to do.

I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that this is a two-parter. Two-parter is jargon that we in the biz use to identify a body of work that will have not one, but two parts. It’s all very complicated and I don’t expect you to understand. I digress…The second part of this two-parter is written with a heavy heart. Nintendo has announced that they will no longer be shipping, or publishing, “Metroid Prime Trilogy”. This was a collection of an extremely fine trilogy, and one that I was incredibly excited about. It is also one that I never got around to buying. (Side note: I totally just sighed there thinking that I may have missed out on Samus and all her Prime glory…) So, if you’re like me and are lamenting the fact that you never pulled the trigger on an awesome box set, I suggest keeping an eye out at Target & Best Buy in the coming weeks, I’d imagine the remaining copies may hit clearance. In the meantime check out some gameplay of the recently killed off title. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

Like most of the country, Atlanta is being battered by stupidly cold weather. We’re also getting snow and ice, which is kinda cool. I mean, it’s cold and annoying and dangerous, but it does look pretty. The thing is, Atlanta is not at all prepared to deal with ice and snow and stupidly cold weather. Airports, schools, government buildings all close down because we have no clue how to handle the ice that forms on the roads. Oh, we also have a ridiculous number of super old water mains that love to break all the time, which creates more mayhem. Like I said earlier, it’s all kinda cool until you get that email at 6am letting you know that even though you could die on the treacherous roads, you still have to come to work. Seriously, what the eff is with that?? Of course, they say if you’re unable to come then you don’t have to, but when you’re at the bottom of the food chain at a major lawfirm, messages like that really say you have no choice but to come to work. Fun times…

Something else that’s a lot of fun is CES, which I mentioned earlier this week. Between all the 3D TV’s, “super phones”, Tablets, E-Readers, and iPhone controlled helicopters, Nyko has managed to introduce another amazing controller. If you have a good memory you’ll remember last year I reported on Nyko introducing their take on the Wiimote called “Wand” at CES, and was very impressed with the controller like the rest of the world (the Wand one a Best of CES award). Well, the company that has a stranglehold on the peripheral market looks to one up Nintendo once again with their new controller the Wand+. I’m sure you can guess what the + is for, and you’d be right, it is most definitely signaling the inclusion WiiMotion Plus technology. The sweetest thing about it is, they’ve got it built right into the controller, and have managed to retain the standard size of the Wiimote. Yup, no more adding a dongle on and making your controller a bit bigger and kinda awkward. The controller is not only much sexier than last year’s offering, but it smashes the alternative Wiimote & WMP+ combo that Ninty offers us. It may be just me, but it seems that if Nyko can do this, and pull it off, then Nintendo has no reason to continue making consumers buy the add-on. I’ll post a couple of pics of the Wand+ along with the Nyko press release below. As an added bonus I’m including a video sent to me by Ben Hoffman who works for Al Gore’s Current TV, and may have as much love for Jenny McCarthy as yours truly. (Side note: Al Gore created the internets, invented global warming, and has his own television channel!?! I’m pretty sure Al Gore may be secretly running the world…). Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

The Wand + is designed to be the most advanced and user-friendly controller on the market for the Wii. Instead of requiring additional attachments or dongles for accurate motion control, the Wand + features Full Motion Technology™ built directly into the controller, allowing full 1:1 movement tracking that is compatible with all games that utilize the Wii Motion Plus™ attachment. By building the technology into the controller, the Wand + provides all the functionality Wii gamers expect, plus the versatility and convenience they deserve; no more dongles, no more custom sleeves or incompatibility with docks and other accessories not able to accommodate attached dongles. The Wand + also contains Nyko’s award-winning Trans-Port Technology, which allows key action buttons to be digitally replicated on other devices and pass sound and vibration signals to attached peripherals for the ultimate immersive gameplay experience. The Wand + features a fresh new design for a sleek, high-tech minimalist look.

The Wand + will be available at select retail stores nationwide in March 2010 and will retail for an MSRP of $39.99.

**I thought this post got put up earlier this week, but for some reason it didn’t show up. So, here it is a bit late.**

If you are anything like me, and I like to think you are, then you try to keep up on all sorts of gadgets and techy-gadgety type things. Adopting that aforementioned theory that you are in fact like me, once could assume that you’ve been paying attention to CES this week. If you haven’t, all you need to know is that it’s yet another super-cool conference that for some reason I was not asked to attend. Anyway, it’s basically the time of year when any company that has ever made anything technological shows off all their goodies for the coming year or two. It’s pretty much the E3 for TV’s, Cameras, Phones, and Blu-Ray manufacturers. I love CES and all the gadgets it brings to us, so expect to hear about it a bit more this week!

One of the first bits of news that hit this week was about NBA Jam! If any of you are around my age, you think of the epic 2-on-2 basketball and you probably just get happy, I know I do. Jam was the precursor to NBA Street, or really any of the super arcadey style of sports games that have been popular the past 10 years or so. Well, it was just announced that EA is planning on reviving the series. At first it was just a rumor but then it came out that the company has officially hired the creator of NBA Jam. The best part of all of this is that it’s going to be a Wii exclusive!! Man, this is big and I can’t wait for news on this. Good thing we won’t have to wait for long as it should be officially announced sometime this month. In the meantime check out an amazing Best of NBA Jam video, I’m also treating you to the epicness from where the title of this post is derived. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

So, it’s cold outside. Like, really, really, ridiculously cold outside. It’s almost mind-boggingly cold, I’m pretty sure my lips froze this morning and are still in recovery mode which is making them feel all chapped and icky. (Side-note: Yes, I just used the word icky. Get of my skittles…) I know most of the country is going though mind-numbing temperatures, but I live in Atlanta, and was raised in Florida. We don’t do well with this type of weather. What the eff is with this crazy weather anyway? It’s rained a stupid amount the past couple months, was like 70 in Florida over Christmas, and now it’s so cold I want to punch someone in the head everytime I step outside. Al Gore really screwed up when he invented Global Warming. It’s a shame too since he struck gold inventing the internets…

You guys know the saying, “No news is good news.”? Well, that’s not always the truth. Take sequels for instance, not hearing about them is only good some of the time, mostly when it’s related to SimAnimals. But, not hearing anything about sequels for the underrated (yet somehow overrated at the same time) and ultra-violent games “Mad World” & “House of the Dead:Overkill” could be bad. In fact, they are bad. Just take a journey over to Kotaku and check the post that deals with not only these two titles, but “mature” games as a whole. According to SEGA, they probably won’t be doing “mature” titles for the Wii anymore, and they blame this on EA’s “Dead Space:Extraction”. Yes, “mature” games don’t always sell a copious amounts of copies, but the market is there, SEGA just failed miserably to market their games, and EA is guilty of the same with Dead Space. To be honest, I’m okay with not having Mad World 2 or another HOTD title, but for SEGA to basically throw in the towel on a whole market is a bit disappointing, which is troubling since that’s all the company seems capable of doing these days. Don’t believe me? The only decent title the company has released on the Wii is The Conduit. Yes, that was a sure-fire winner, and yes, I do hope they don’t pull the plug on a sequel for that. But SEGA is also responsible for Daisy Fuentes Pilates and the God-awful turn for the worse the Sonic series has taken this generation. Maybe the should develop, AND MARKET, top-notch “mature” titles and stop pumping out games that serve no purpose whatsoever. Since we won’t be seeing anymore of Jack and his mighty chainsaw in the near future, I’ll post a couple gameplay vids of the bloody glory that was Mad World. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

There’s only two days left in 2009. Is there even any need for me to attempt putting the ridiculousness of that statement into words? I suppose I could trump it by saying not only are there two days left in ‘09, but two days left in the first decade of the 21st century. If I were the type to get all emo, I’d point out that this is also probably the last couple days of the first decade of the last century any of us will ever see. Wow, I just depressed myself a little bit there. The first draft of this post had the previous sentence followed with a bit more of me whining about time passing too fast and feeling a bit too old, but who wants to read that? I know I don’t, so I’m not going to make you…

I know there is an exorbitant amount of people out there who think that 2012 will see the end of days. You are all wrong. It seems that the end will come sometime in 2010 and that two of the horsemen of the apocalypse will be 4mm Games and my beloved Def Jam Records. (Side note: Way to play into the fear factor and stereotypical association between a genre of music and gun violence 4mm Games. You may as well be called “Pop-A-Cap Games” or “Murderin’ Suckas Games”. And just because a 4mm gun doesn’t really exist (I think…) doesn’t mean that it’s not slightly irresponsible to use that name to publish a rap game that is probably going to be marketed to the masses.) For those that don’t know, I am a beast of a hip-hop fanatic and, like all true heads, I hold a place near my heart for all that Def Jam stood for. The record label started in a dorm room in New York gave the world more than any other record label could have. With Run-DMC, The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J & Public Enemy by their side Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons gave birth to not only a genre of music, but a lifestyle for a whole generation to embrace. I don’t want to harp on about the social impact that hip-hop has had on the world, just turn on your TV and within 5 minutes you will find something South Bronx bred. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse. I’m not talking about Wheelchair Jimmy, I’m talking about the newly announced “Def Jam Rapstar”. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that the purpose of this atrocity is to make everyone a rapper, because apparently “Guitar Hero” made everyone a guitar player. I’m not even sure I can voice the disgust I have for this idea without heading into the R-rated light The Spin has avoided this past year. This is going to be ugly, and it’s an early favorite for worse game of the year. Yes, it’s fun to get drunk and rap along to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or The Humpty Dance. What’s not fun is when people take it seriously and think they are real rappers even though they are going to be playing with a toy. It’s going to be embarassing, kind of like when Nelly was famous. Damn, I hate this game already…Ugh. Anyway, if you feel the necessity to watch the trailer it’ll be below, and below that I’m going to post the rap song that started it all. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

I don’t know if there’s an official term for the post-Christmas hangover that everyone suffers, but there should be. I’ll even say that the person who thinks of such a term should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and pre-nominate the hero that does just that. Is it just me who feels sick after the holidays, or are there others? It could be going from cold weather in Atlanta to warm weather Florida, or it could be that my in-laws keep there house at like 65 degrees. (Side note: How come keyboards don’t have the degree symbol? I feel that it’s well known enough that we could try and fit it on there somewhere. Let’s give another Nobel to the genius who brings that to the masses.) I think it was hitting the 70’s outside, but inside I wore my PJ pants, hoodie (my thick sherpa lined hood) and socks non-stop. Pile all the temperature changes on top of the copious amounts of food, then mush it down with family induced stress, and you end up with a massive post holiday hangover. It didn’t help that I had to come into work today only to do almost absolutely nothing. Ugh…

Last night I was re-reading some of my old school “Do Work Friday” posts trying to think of things for this post, and I got nothing. I’ve accepted that Ninty doesn’t care at all about online play, something they proved with leaving it out of the massively amazing “New Super Mario Bros.” Wii Motion Plus is such a breath of fresh air that there’s no need for a PS3/360/Normal type of controller at all. Basically, I’m fairly happy with the Wii and it’s offerings. I would love to see some more VC and WiiWare games, but we’ll get them. I’d particularly love to see Starfox, and I’m sure Ninty will bring that out. I hope that Epic Mickey lives up to the hype, but I am on the fence about that. Don’t ask me why because at this point my brain isn’t functional enough to give a reason. I’m sure it has something to do with paint brushes or Mickey or both.

See More Epic Mickey Artwork at IGN.com

What I really want, if I had one wish, is for FIFA 11 to be what it can and should be. Pro Evo Wii is no kind of resting on its laurels, and I blame EA for that. PES ‘08 on the Wii is hands down the best footy you can play with a controller. FIFA ‘09 for the PS3/360 was so good that EA pushed the Wii aside, maybe PES being so epic played a part, who’s to say. Then came PES ‘09 which was the same as the first with the Champion’s League added in, and PES 10 quickly followed, which was the same….again. The problem was, EA concentrated all of its energy on FIFA 10 for the HD-Consoles, that it was like spitting in the face of the Wii gamers that were chomping at the bits for something better. Instead we got an arcadey ridiculous looking game that was geared towards, well I don’t know who it was geared towards. Not me, that’s for sure. The fact remains that Konami doesn’t see any competition from EA for the beautiful game on Wii, so they are going to fall into the trap of delivering the same, albeit great, package to the faithful players. What I’m trying to say is that there is a serious danger of this getting a bit stale. The Wii is about innovation, and that is something that Pro Evo ‘08 did on the Wii. Gaming, especially when it comes to sports titles, is about wanting to play titles that continually evolve and get better year after year, which is something EA did wonderfully with FIFA ‘09 on the HDC’s. I’m challenging one of these companies to man up and give this gamer what he wants, a new and amazing Football game for the Wii. I mean, I can only play PES ‘08 without feeling a bit ridiculous, I’m not talking the good kind of ridiculous either. If you want a bit of that, check out the video below of some of the best footballers ever getting stupid. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

Now, now my little babies, do not let the title of this post cause you distress. I promise I’m going to try to make this as enjoyable as possible. Approximately 24 hours ago I informed you all that today was going to be dedicated to the worst games of 2009. I’ve been debating how I should do this post. It’s kind of like a band-aid or a scab, should I just rip it off or slowly pick at it? You know what’s weird about that scenario? Both are somewhat enjoyable, at least to me. I mean, if you rip ‘em right off then the pain is severe but you’re done with it and can revel in your toughnitude (that’s all me, dibs). But, if you slowly peel them off then the pain is constant, yet not as severe, and you can play the mind game of, “Okay, I’m about to just rip. Nope, I have to stop, this hurts too bad. Eff it, just keep going, we’re almost done….” That basically goes on until someone tells you to stop, you wuss out from the pain, or you get the scab/band-aid removed in full. Or, this could all just be me and right now you think I’m some sort of sadomasochistic sicko. Oh yeah, we’re in for a treat tonight!!

I want to start this off with a caveat to all the publishing houses, producers and/or designers of any of the games I mention tonight: I know you worked hard on these games and I do appreciate that hard work. I also want you to know that you can feel free to send me any games you work on in the future, no matter the quality of the final product. Basically, don’t be mad at me for pointing out the ridiculousness that you put on store shelves. Now that’s done, and I’m pretty sure I should start looking for another site to write for, let’s get down to the dirty deed…

Let’s get things rolling with the babelicious combo of Jenny McCarthy & Daisy Fuentes. Both of them decided to cash in on their looks one final time, only this time it was at the behest of Wii owners. There are, unfortunately, tons of stupid games published for The Wii *cough* WiiCheer *cough*, but these two really took the cake when they released “Daisy Fuentes:Pilates” and “You Shape featuring Jenny McCarthy”. Do I really need an ex-playmate and the betty that was the host of House of Style teaching me Yoga? Does the ambiguous blue guy or pink lady (or whatever color they are) in Wii Fit not do a satisfactory job? I think I’d rather buy a game where Jenny, Daisy and the Wii Fit folks participate in an early 90’s WWF style cage match. (Side note: For the younger members of the audience, WWF is what WWE was when it was actually kinda awesome. Don’t believe me? Then google Bret “Hitman” Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock (yeah, dude used to wrestle), Owen Hart, or The Undertaker & Paul Bearer. Done? You’re welcome.) Now that sounds like something I could be interested in. Adolescent dreams of Ms. Fuentes aside, there was no need for these games and unless they cost less than $2000 to make, someone got ripped off. I won’t make you suffer through videos of the atrocities that I just spoke of, instead there’s a nice treat for all of us who want to remember Daisy Fuentes for being awesome.

Now, it’s time for the creme de la creme, ladies and gentleman. I’m not even going to front, it makes me a little sad to dub this game the worst of the year. This is mainly because I met the creators of the game, and spent time with all those involved in making it happen. All that said, SimAnimals:Africa is still a crap game. It just didn’t do anything for me whatsoever, and the fact that they told us during our hands-on that it ended with a dinosaur egg hatching in the African jungle somewhere, well that didn’t help. Even if I could get over the fact that I played “a hand” that could pet lions and then stuff them in my backpack only to move to another part of Africa, I can’t get over taking orders from some crazy ass parrot or toucan or annoying bird. Especially when all said bird is leading me to is the discovery of a mysterious dinosaur egg. Seriously, re-read this paragraph and try to filter out my wit, or sarcasm if you will, and tell me that Africa sounds like something you want to play. That’s what I thought. Side note: It also didn’t help that during my time with one of the producers of the game, he was kinda meh about the game. Almost like he just worked on it because EA said, “Hey, we need you to make SimAnimals: Africa”. (Side note: Yes, that was the first ever, and last, side note that was written un-paranthesized (that’s also all me, dibs.))

So there you have it folks, SimAnimals: Africa is WiiSpin’s Worst Game of 2009. Again, if anyone involved in making these games read this blog, don’t hate me. I’m really kind of a nice guy if you get to know me. Well, maybe not nice, but I do appreciate that it takes a lot of work to make a game. Hell, even crappy games take tons of work and people putting minds together to get the job of releasing a horrible game to the masses. So, congratulations, you did it! I’m going to spare you having to watch anything SimAnimals, but I am going to post the ridiculousness that is Jenny McCarthy. You know, just to show that I totally favor Daisy Fuentes. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.