s you know, last week we spent some quality time with the folks over at Nintendo during their fall media summit. Nintendo managed to impress us with the announcement of the DSi, a Wii memory storage solution and some new game debuts. If you missed our coverage, you can play catch-up here. If you are already up-to-date on all things Nintendo, read on for our hands-on impressions from the show floor.

Wii Titles

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
Available Winter
In all honesty – the Wii interpretation of Dead Rising may not be the best game to start with when it comes to Nintendo’s offerings. After some hands-on time, we can’t help but feel that Frank West’s zombie encounter has been watered down a bit for Nintendo’s console.

To start, Chop Till You Drop has significantly less zombies on screen at a time – so the intensity felt in the Xbox 360 version is sadly lacking. In our playtime, some areas of the mall were downright sparse when it came to undead patrons. In addition, the camera and magazine functionalities have been removed from the Wii port in order to keep the title “a pure-action zombie paradise.”

Missions are still the primary structure of the game, and as such Otis returns to clue you into the happenings of the mall. In Chop Till You Drop the clock is no longer constantly running – a move made in an attempt to eliminate the possibility of missing out on quests due to poor time-management skills.

We only got a few minutes hands-on with the title, but the above changes were significant from the start. The graphics are less-than-stellar and West has lost some of his more badass moves, including the basic ability to jump. While the primary reason for porting Dead Rising to the Wii was to utilize the motion-controls, you don’t even need to use them if you choose. Instead you can just hit A to attack – an option which was added because evidently Capcom found that most Japanese people do not enjoy waggling around the Wii remote. Interesting.

Not to be overly-harsh – there are some positive additions to Chop Till You Drop. There are several new baddies, including a seven-foot cop armed with a taser in both hands. Zombie poodles are also introduced to the mix, and a parrot flew by at one point in time. We have yet to determine if it was a zombie parrot. We will keep you informed as more information becomes available. 

In the end, we can’t imagine that Chop Till You Drop would be attractive to fans of the 360 version, but the game definitely has merit if your only console is the Nintendo Wii. If that is the case, we advise you to get your dose of Frank West in any way possible.

Madworld
Available Q1 2009
Moving onto another game full of blood and gore, we also had a chance to check out Sega’s Madworld. To our disappointment, Madworld was not playable at the Fall Media Summit. Instead we were walked through several areas by a representative who explained that the control system was not quite fine-tuned enough to merit us getting our hands on it. However, they did reveal that they will have some exciting new Madworld content to show us at this week’s Tokyo Game Show – so more news and impressions will be coming soon.

If you are new to the Madworld premise, the game essentially plays like a sick and twisted game show. The ultimate goal is to eliminate opponents using environmental hazards. The more gruesome the death – the more points you gain. Points are collected to help unlock additional areas and progress through the game.

There are a total of five cities to explore, all with weapons and hazards unique to that area. We snuck in a preview of one of the later cites, where it was revealed you will have the ability to drive a bike and hack ‘n slash your way through baddies. We also got to check out one of the many mini-games – the Death Press. In the Death Press our goal was to throw as many enemies into a giant spiked clamp as possible in an allotted period of time.
 
The AI was dumbed down for the demo, so what we saw did not do much to highlight the difficulty of the game. It looked more like a one-sided bloodbath than an actual competition – but we were assured that the baddies will put up a pretty good fight in the retail version. That is all the Madworld info we have for now, but check back later this week for more from Sega.

Animal Crossing: City Folk
Available November 16
In reality, we only needed a few minutes of time with Animal Crossing: City Folk because much of the core gameplay remains unchanged. After checking out the town for a bit, we move into the City to see the sights and sounds. We visited the theater and learned a new emoticon, and checked out the Happy Room Academy’s showroom floor in order to gander at their idea of the ideal room. Let’s just say that our taste in décor is quite different than theirs.

We also had our Mii face put on at Harriet’s Beauty Salon, checked out some new designs at the Able Sister’s Shop and got our shoes shined by Kicks the Shoe Shine Skunk.

Overall the controls work well in the Wii Animal Crossing translation, although we found it much easier to not point the Wii remote at the TV while walking. When using it that way, the A button functions as the action command instead of pointing at an item or person.

In her opening statement – Cammie Dunaway stated that Animal Crossing: City Folk will appeal to the hardcore gamers who fell for the original title. With the expanded Wi-Fi, Wii Speak compatibility and a new city to explore, she is probably right.