Pop Buzz UK

Who would have thunk it? The Queen, yes that dear old 80 year old woman who somehow manages to get her face on our stamps, is a closet gamer, and enjoys a bit of Wii every now and again.

According to reports this week, she became fascinated with the Nintendo Wii console after seeing her grandson William playing with the one he received from on-off girlfriend Kate Middleton for Christmas. So she did what any self respecting grandmother and pensioner would do, and had a go.

The game in question was Wii Sports, and she was said to specifically enjoy the ten pin bowling mini game.

According to Blorge, a royal insider told tabloid news reporters that:

“When she saw William playing a game after lunch at Sandringham she thought the Nintendo looked tremendous fun and begged to join in. His only difficulty now is prising it away from the Queen’s clutches. She showed all the signs of becoming a Nintendo addict.”

I just can’t see this happening so it’s either made up entirely or an invention by Nintendo to keep their console in the news.

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I wrote last week about the lack of available Wii consoles in the UK this Christmas. Unlike the PS3 and Xbox 360, which are both in ready supply everywhere around the country, you’d be hard pushed to find a Wii in any store.

It seems that now, retailers are making the most of the lack of supply, and great deal of demand. When they do get stocks of the Wii in, instead of just offering it on a first come, first serve basis, they are bundling the basic console with games and accessories, which consumers have to buy, and pay a high rate for, if they want to get their hands on a Wii.

MCV carried out research that shows some retailers charging £400 ($850) for a Wii, and extras, which is over double the recommended retail price of the stand alone system.

The trade paper found GameStation, Zavvi, HMV, Toys R Us and Woolworths refused to sell just the consol on its own, selling them only as part of bundle, charging from £250 with two games at HMV to a £400 bundle with five games at GameStation.

Ths has obviously caused controversy and anger amongst gamers, and also parents of children who want nothing more than a Wii for Christmas, and won’t settle for the alternatives such as PS3 and Xbox 360.

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The Nintendo Wii has been an incredible success so far, selling in huge quantities, and surprising gamers, pundits and games developers alike.

The problem (not a bad one for Nintendo) is that demand continues to outstrip supply, meaning there are millions of disappointed kids and adults alike around the world who are unable to get hold of a console.

In the UK, the situation has been terrible, with Wiis in short or no supply ever since they were released last year. There was a short period during the summer when you could maybe have got one by bribing a shop to put you at the front of the waiting list, but otherwise, no chance.

This problem looks set to continue to in the run up to Christmas and beyond, with shops already displaying ‘Sold Out’ signs.

Nothing has demonstrated the demand better than the news that HMV’s flagship store in Oxford Street, London, sold out of their latest delivery in just 34 minutes.

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I’m so stoked right now as I’ve just found out that Samba De Amigo is coming to the Wii. WooHoo!

You may have missed out on this gem of a party game when it was originally released on the Dreamcast in 1999 but it’s now coming to the Nintendo Wii and I for one can’t wait.

We all know by now what the fate of the unfortunate Dreamcast was, as Sega’s last foray in to the games hardware market ended in failure and huge losses for the company. One of the unfortunate consequences of this was that so many people missed out on some classic games, one of which was Samba De Amigo.

Now, with Sega cuddling up to Nintendo in a match seemingly made in heaven, the maraca shaking party game will finally reach a bigger audience as it gets a brand new release on the Wii next year.

The game was originally developed by Sonic team, those purveyors of every piece of gaming goodness this side of Sonic The Hedgehog, but will now be ported over by Gearbox, the guys behind many a first person shooter.

Let’s hope they don’t screw this conversion up as it stands a chance of being a must buy, and yet another reason for people to buy a Wii.

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Manhunt 2, the controversial Rockstar game, was banned from being released in the UK last month by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification). The game was due out on both the Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii, but the BBFC’s decision meant it couldn’t be sold anywhere in the UK. Well, now Rockstar are appealing the decision, by going to the Video Appeals Committee in the UK.

This game is the first to be banned from sale in the UK for 10 years, the last being the gory but light hearted Carmageddon in 1997. I can see why the decision was made, as it is reportedly a sick, violent game where people are killed in a variety of ways just for the sake of it. Graphics have moved on so considerably that while in Carmageddon you would run someone over and basically be killing a group of undefinable pixels, Manhunt features lifelike humans being slaughtered.

The thing is, they are still just graphical representations rather than real living people, so is there that much of a difference?

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Rumours are growing of a universal price drop for the XBox 360 by Christmas, with some time in September looking increasingly likely. Peter Moore, the head of Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business division, is reported to have stated that $199 (£100) is a console’s “sweet spot”, and that is what the company hope to achieve sooner rather than later.
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The BBC Money Programme conducted a study in to one of the new generation of ways to make money online. After the boom and bust of the dotcom era fading in to the past, there’s now many more ways than just setting up a business, and selling stuff online. The programme was a mix of real talking heads, and reporter Max Flint’s spiky haired avatar showing us around the new and exciting virtual realms.

The first instances they looked at were individuals making money from Second Life, the place where people with no real lives go to hang out. There was an American guy on there who now lives in Birmingham, England who described how he was making a very good living by offering to make anything you wanted on Second Life. He’d set himself up as an entrepreneur (at least a virtual one) and people came to him to construct something they wanted but didn’t have. Apparently on Second Life, you can make anything you desire, as long as you have the technical knowledge and creative spark. This guy would make you anything from a table, to a swimming pool, right up to a whole city, and charge you real money for the privilege. The reason he moved to the UK? He met and fell in love with someone on Second Life of course, although neither of them resembled their avatars in the slightest.
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We all know Sony have had problems with their launch of the Ps3, and now there’s the devastating news that prisoners will not be allowed to play the new console in British jails! I’m kidding of course, Sony probably see it as a good thing, it certainly won’t hurt their sales much as Britain’s prisons are so overcrowded it was going to be like…hmm one console for 5,000 prisoners or something stupid. (more…)

Let’s be honest, Sony have had more than their fair share of problems and bad PR with the new Ps3. From the high price point, the three-month delay, and finally the removal of the PlayStation 2’s chipset meaning only some older games will work on the new console, they have been many and varied. But all that was put to bed last Friday night, Saturday morning at midnight when the behemoth that is the Ps3 finally reached these shores. (more…)

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The release date gets closer every day, now being less than 2 months away but that doesn’t stop Sony seeming to want to put even more people off buying their latest console. The Playstation 3 has now got a confirmed and concrete release date of March 23rd, and pre-orders are being accepted all across the board, from main game shops, media outlets and web based comanies such as Amazon.

Unfortunately Sony have put a major foot in it over the last few days by announcing/admitting that the Ps3 that us Europeans get foisted upon us will NOT have full backwards compatability with all Ps2 or Ps1 games. They won’t reveal which games will work or what proportion we should be expecting but that the hardware released in Europe will be different than that in Japan and America. In those territories 98% of all older games work on the new format, but that is guaranteed to be less here. Once again Europe is being short changed by Sony, a real kick in the teeth seeing as we already pay more money than the rest of the world. (more…)

I don’t know if any of these are in the UK but I’m warranted in posting them as they are just so mighty impressive. What had me searching for Christmas lights displays in the first place was an advert currently doing the rounds on British TV for the National Lottery. It shows a house display which is synched to the music, and I smiled when I saw it and thought it was good. Cue a quick look on You Tube and oh my god, there’s some goodies. So without further ado, here are 3 of the best… (more…)

Guitar Hero 2 was released last Friday in the UK and has received an even better reception than the first game did. My first sight of it was in the local GameStation on Saturday where it was apparently ‘Guitar Hero’ day in the store. All the staff had dressed up in their best rocker gear; this ranged from denim skirts for the girls to the boys all having their faces painted as Gene Simmons from Kiss. They had a TV set up in the window, in full view of the passing public, and were playing/demonstrating the new version. The best contest I saw was one of the staff versus a 12-year-old kid who proceeded to jump and slide on his knees during Police – Message In A Bottle. Nice, top marks for effort and a certain kudos for showing off to that extent in front of his friends. Needless to say he lost against the staff member who was taking it all a bit too seriously.

The first game was a classic, taking the rhythm action game to a new level of interaction and pleasing people of all ages. This 2nd instalment is pretty much more of the same, after all, why spoil a winning formula that has sold the idea of being a guitar hero in their own living room to millions. If you’re a complete newcomer to the game, the basic premise is to mimic the guitar legends on screen by pressing the correct fret button/s on the guitar peripheral’s neck and strumming the button at the exact moment on screen. It’s simpler in practice than describing, and is actually quite intuitive whether a bona fide guitar player yourself or not. The easiest way to see what the game is about is to watch this guy on You Tube who is awesome. Here he is playing Even Rats by The Slips from the first game… (more…)

Which is the only next generation games console that is going to have stocks aplenty for UK gamers this Christmas? Well unfortunately the correct answer now is none. It was to be the Xbox 360, out for a year already and gearing up for the important 2nd year sales push. But last week there were 2 separate lorry loads of 360s stolen on their way to retail outlets, and this could hit the potential Microsoft consumer hard. (more…)

I want one, I need one, I’m desperate for one, and this particular Wii needs more than a toilet to solve the problem. The Nintendo Wii came out in the States yesterday and has been received with pretty much universal praise. The problem is this piece of gaming innovation isn’t out in the UK and the rest of Europe until the 8th of December. I can’t wait that long, it means keeping my legs crossed in a very sad and unfunny metaphor for another 3 weeks! (more…)