A History of Video Game Consoles, pt 2 of 2

a momentary break from actual gaming by Renzie Baluyut

Hey everyone. Welcome to my two-part special on the History of Gaming Consoles on my personal gaming blog: Get Your Game On | Renzie on Gaming.

I thought I'd do a public service discussing the history of video game consoles since me and a few friends were reminiscing about the good ol' days when we played our first ever video games- the Atari 2600, the Nintendo Family Computer, the Sega Saturn, and finally the first time the Sony Playstation blew our minds.

We're now moving on to the second part of our special on the History of Gaming Consoles. If you missed the first part, you may read it here. We covered the first four generations of gaming systems in our previous post on the subject, so we continue where we left off:

Fifth Generation (1993-2002)

Video games look so much better now as we enter the 32-bit era, and we see a new surge in not just consoles, but also handhelds and video games in general. The consoles that dominated this time period: the SEGA Saturn, the Sony Playstation, and the Nintendo 64. We all know how that turned out, right?

Many gaming systems have started shifting towards using CD-ROMs instead of game cartridges. Initially the loading times were slow, but as optical drives improved, this issue was addressed. Games in CD format were also cheaper to produce, and the lower costs were passed on to the consumers. Then again, it was also easy to pirate.

Of course, there were other fifth-gen consoles that weren't as commercially successful: The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, the Amiga CD32 and the Atari Jaguar.

The Sony Playstation was comparatively cheaper than the other consoles at the time, and benefited from an effective marketing campaign: positioning itself as a lifestyle accessory for males in the late teens to late 20's age bracket. Plus, games were easy to program for the Playstation, which made for a lot of games- far more than its closest competitor, the Sega Saturn.

Nintendo was the first to go 64-bit, and did rather well with Super Mario 64. It also came out with updated versions of the Game Boy: the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Light, and the Game Boy Pocket.

Nintendo did well, but not well enough to pass the Playstation in unit sales. It did have a strong hold on its market, appealing strongly to children and families.

Successful game titles at this time: Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil and Silent Hill, Super Mario 64, Panzer Dragoon Saga and GoldenEye 007.

Sixth Generation (1998-2006)

Enter the sixth generation of video game consoles. The sixth-gen era is also referred to as the 128-bit era, and therefore saw the rise of some awesome gaming hardware: Sega's Dreamcast, Sony's Playstation 2, the Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft's XBox.

The clear winner in this generation was Sony's PlayStation 2- having sold over 140 million units as of mid-July 2008. Those figures also make the PS2 the best-selling console in history.

Microsoft's XBox comes in second with over 24 million units sold, Nintendo's GameCube in third with over 21 million units sold. Sega's Dreamcast came in fourth with just under 11 million units sold, and was discontinued prematurely in 2001, just before the XBox and the GameCube were released later that year.

Handhelds had also become more sophisticated. Nintendo saw continued success with its various new GameBoys, and then you had Nokia coming out with a gaming handheld/mobile phone hybrid in 2003- the Nokia N-Gage, and then the N-Gage QD a year later.

By this era, many game publishers started developing a cross-platform strategy, releasing versions of their games over multiple systems- PC, major consoles, and sometimes, even handhelds.

We also saw the rise of online gaming. While the Dreamcast was the first to incorporate a modem and browsing software into its system, it was the XBox that enabled players to play with other gamers online with XBox Live.

Notable gaming titles in this era: Grand Theft Auto III, GTA: Vice City, and finally GTA: San Andreas, Resident Evil 4, Shenmue and Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast, Halo and Halo 2 for the XBox, Metroid Prime for the GameCube, and the Disney/Square-Enix collaboration, Kingdom Hearts.

Seventh Generation (2004- today)

The Seventh Generation of gaming consoles is pretty much what we have right now-- the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft's XBox 360, and the Sony PlayStation 3.

The XBox 360 came out in November 2005, almost a full year ahead of the other two, and continued to enjoy strong sales in North America and Europe. Its advantage over its competitors has been the quantity and quality of titles, with even more titles coming out by the end of the year.

Sony's Playstation 3 hit the shelves on 11 November 2006, and had come equipped with Blu-ray capabilities, a feature critical to the success of the Blu-ray format, according to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment execs.

The Nintendo Wii dropped in stores on 19 November 2006, and had turned out to be the biggest selling gaming system of all three seventh-gen consoles. The Wii positioned itself to capture not just hard-core gamers, but also casual gamers, non-gamers and lapsed gamers.

In addition to its popular franchises, and in line to make the console more appealing to casual gamers, the Nintendo Wii came out with the Wii Series of games- which simulated real-world activities, or played around with sports, music, or doing exercises- all making use of its new gaming controllers equipped with motion-sensors.

The Wii and certain (earlier) models of the PS3 are fully backwards compatible with titles from their earlier counterparts.

As for handheld systems, we have the Nintendo DS (and later, the DS Lite) and Sony's PlayStation Portable (or PSP, and the succeeding PSP Slim and PSP Lite). The DS proved to be more popular with both core gamers and new consumers, while the PSP was mainly marketed towards a 25+ year-old (core gamer) market.

Notable titles for the Seventh Generation: Halo 3, Gears of War, Mass Effect and BioShock for the XBox 360, God of War, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII for the PS3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Wii Sports for the Wii.

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. A crash course on the History of Gaming Consoles. Hope you learned something new today.

Cheers, everyone!

StarCraft II: It's a Trilogy!

news from the wonderful world of gaming by Renzie Baluyut.

It's official, ladies and gentlemen: Blizzard's StarCraft II is now a trilogy.

You heard it right: three separate standalone single-player campaigns have been laid out for the sequel to Blizzard's best-selling real-time strategy title.

At BlizzCon '08 in Anaheim, Blizzard's Rob Pardo admitted that StarCraft II was already shaping up to be an undertaking far larger than the previous game. Wings of Liberty- the first game in the Starcraft II series- will focus on the Terrans. We just might actually get to see some closure for Jim Raynor and Kerrigan, two of our main characters from the original StarCraft game.

The second and third installments are Heart of the Swarm, which deals with the Zerg, and Legacy of the Void, which is dedicated this time to the Protoss.

According to Pardo, every one is going to be a full standalone campaign (as opposed to two expansions to one standalone StarCraft game) with 26 to 30 missions apiece. Each of the three will still have multiplayer components, and while a game might have its own set ending, but Pardo was quick to assure attendees that the middle part of the game have been designed to accomodate player choices.

No word, however, on when the first game in the StarCraft II trilogy will be out in stores.

So get ready to fork over some more cash to Blizzard just to get your StarCraft fix, ladies and gentlemen.

Cheers, everyone!

Warhammer Online: 750,000 Strong and Growing

a quick gaming update from Renzie Baluyut.

No doubt about it: the whole gaming community's tuned in to the latest on what Blizzard has to offer on BlizzCon this weekend. But Mythic reveals the latest figures on its own MMORPG title- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning- which hit shelves just last September 18.

At the 2008 Tokyo Game Show, Turbine CEO James Crowley delivered a keynote address, and announced that EA Mythic now pegs the registered player total for the fantasy MMO title at 750,000. That's a full quarter-million up from when Warhammer Online came out just less than a month ago.

Already, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning may be "the fastest-selling new MMO of all-time," as EA Mythic claims. But can it sustain its subscribers after a couple of months?

Funcom's Age of Conan- another MMORPG- racked up a fairly impressive 400,000 subscribers in its first week upon dropping in stores. Three months after launching however, while Funcom may have sold some 800,000 copies of the game, only 415,000 subscribers stuck around.

Both Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and Age of Conan will be up against some pretty stiff competition in a few weeks. World of Warcraft's latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, comes out on November 13. WoW already has at least 11 million subscribers to its name- and those numbers are expected to shoot up once WotLK hits shelves next month.

Cheers, everyone!

Unveiled: Diablo III's Wizard Class

a quick time-out from gaming with Renzie Baluyut.

BlizzCon '08 is well under way at the Anaheim Convention Center, and Blizzard fills us in on the third of five classes you can play with its highly-anticipated hack-and-slash RPG: Diablo III.

You've probably already seen the demo gameplay for the first two classes: the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. As if paying homage to the old pen-and-paper role-playing games, Blizzard has decided to throw in our magic-wielding Wizard Class.

Unlike the Witch Doctor who supposedly draws his abilities from the spiritual realm, the Wizard taps into the raw power of the universe and channels it to do her bidding.

The good guys of Blizzard gave eager BlizzCon attendees a sneak peak of the workings of the new Wizard- essentially what sets her apart from the other classes- and had gone further to explain Diablo III's new skill system and skill tree, a new rune system, and new improved special effects based on your character's special abilities.

So what can the Diablo III Wizard class do?

- Early on, she is able to throw Magic Missiles- something Dungeons & Dragons players should be familiar with. It's really more like the old Firebolt of Diablo II- a very basic arcane ranged attack which presumably becomes more powerful as your character invests more skills into it.

- After gaining a few more levels, she can now unlock Electrocute- a quick zap of raw electrical energy that pretty much looks like a form of a lightning bolt, then maybe progressing to something like chain lightning at higher levels.

- Higher up the skill tree is Slow Time, which was implemented as a bubble effect that radiates outward from the Wizard.

- Lastly, the devastating Disintegrate was introduced. Described as "a real face-melter", this spell makes use of a charge mechanic which allows the player to hold down a button and sweep their mouse across a swath of opponents, dealing more damage to enemies unfortunate enough to be targeted longer by the Wizard.

While a lot of the gameplay aspects were already demonstrated at BlizzCon, the current version is by no means final, as some game mechanics are still being either worked in, fine-tuned or chucked out completely by Blizzard game designers.

No word yet on when Diablo III will be released. In the meantime, get blown away by this vid posted on Blizzard's YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Pictures from Gamespot. Check out more pics and screenshots on Gamespot's section on Diablo III.

Cheers, everyone!

Great Moments in Gaming: The Onyxia Wipe Video

a quick break from actual gaming by Renzie Baluyut

I don't know if you've already seen this video, but I just did a few months back.

Backgrounder: if you've been playing World of Warcraft, then you know that the later storyline brings in Onyxia, this big-ass black dragon boss, who has decided to take the southern part of Dustwallow Marsh as her lair.

It takes a massive effort to bring Onyxia down, with guilds organizing large raiding parties still getting wiped. Onyxia on her own is tough enough, but adventurers also have to deal with all kinds of Black Dragonspawn- among them, Black Dragon Whelps. Many, many whelps.

Now here's a disturbingly hilarious video of one such guild who had come knocking on Onyxia's lair. And promptly got wiped. Thanks to Alachas1985 for capturing this moment in viral video form- truly one of the greatest moments of gaming. Ever. Take a look.

Here's a transcription of what went down. Mind you, if you it's filled with expletives- so a word to the sensitive ones. Just had to stay faithful to the original material, is all. With that out of the way...

Odd groups go to the left, even groups go to the right. That means 1, 3, 5, 7 - left, 2, 4, 6, 8 - right. Seven and Eight are Whelp Groups.

Okay, now listen the fuck up: you're going to DPS very very slowly. Now... and by slowly, I mean fucking slow.

If you get aggro, it means you're going to lose 50 DKP 'coz you didn't know what the fuck to do!

And watch the fucking tail!

If you get kicked into the whelps, you lose 50 DKP again- for not being where the fuck you were supposed to be.

There is no aggro reset. The only... there's some shit about an aggro reset when some people don't know how to manage their aggro.

After 2 Sunders, you can basically start doing damage to it. Assuming you know how Aggro works, you son't over-Aggro.

OK, nuke it, DOT it, help the whelp groups...

When it's in phase 2, nuke it as hard as possible. You want to get it down as fast as possible. Have DOTs up on- on every time. 2 rows: Shadow Word: Pain, Warlock Curses, Rend, everything.

I don't see enough DOTs, more DOTs now! Come on, more DPS! Hit it like ya mean it! You'll get time to rest in Phase 3 while (down) getting Aggro.

Remember, save your Aggro-reducing abilities for when it lands. That means Feign Death, Vanish, -erm- fucking Fade, anything that you can use to reset Aggro.

At 40%, you will stop DOTs. Until then, you will throw more DOTs. Throw more DOTs, more DOTs, more DOTs. Come on, more DOTs! 'K, stop DOTs.

Now hit it very hard. And very fast!

Lee, run to the center! Mogrus, run to the center! Foresight, run to the center! Sarp, run to the center! Isis, run to the center! Whatever the fuck you do, don't stand next to other people!

Mogrus, center! Just heal me.

Lee, do NOT..! Go away from the head, Lee! Go away!
'K, DPS! Slowly! Come here, you fucking cunt! Watch the tail!

(Someone else) Whelps. (Somebody else) Crushim was Feared into...

WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT? Crushim, what the FUCK? Whelps- left side! Even side, many whelps! NOW, HANDLE it!

FUCK!

That's a FUCKING 50 DKP minus! What the FUCK was that SHIT?

If you stand in the right fucking place, there is NO WAY you are going to FUCKING get into the GODDAMNED whelps, whatever fucking FEAR, Tailswipe- whatever the FUCK! Okay?! It's like one in a fucking million!

From the- fucking north corner, to the middle, into the fucking Whelp cave, it's not even FUCKING remotely imaginable!

(end)

From Alachas1985's YouTube entry: The audio was created by "Dives" from Wipe Club, I had nothing to do with its creation, I only made the animation. Cheers to the guys from "Wipe Club" (http://www.wipeclub.eu) for making the sound clip!

Cheers indeed!

The 10 Highest Rated Nintendo Wii Games of All Time, pt 2 of 2.

yet another break from actual gaming by Renzie Baluyut

Welcome to Part 2 of my special report on the Top 10 Highest Rated Games for the Nintendo Wii of all time, according to Gamespot.com.

After checking out the Nintendo Wii in action at a recent bloggers' party, I thought I might just get one for myself. After all, the Wii is great family fun.

In Part 1 of our special report, we've already mentioned five games: No More Heroes, Super Mario Bros. 3, Paper Mario, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Paper Mario.

So let's get on with our report and take on the five highest-rated Nintendo games of all time, according to Gamespot.com. Here we go:

5. Okami (released 15 Apr 2008)

This nature adventure game sees players assuming the role of a sun god who's attempting to restore life to a world devoid of color.

Ōkami is an action-adventure video game that was initially released for the Sony PlayStation 2. The port for Nintendo's Wii console was released in North America on April 15, 2008,

Set in an unspecified period of classical Japanese history, Ōkami combines several Japanese myths, legends and folklore to tell the story of how the land was saved from darkness by the Shinto sun goddess, named Amaterasu, who has taken the form of a white wolf. It features a distinct sumi-e-inspired cel-shaded visual style and the Celestial Brush, a gesture-system to perform miracles.

Ōkami was one of the last few PlayStation 2 games selected for release prior to the release of the PlayStation 3. Although it suffered from poor sales, Ōkami earned high acclaim from reviewers and earned, among other awards, the title of IGN's 2006 Game of the Year. The Wii version has earned similar praise though the motion control scheme has received mixed reviews from both critics and gamers.

4. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (released 15 Jan 2007)

The first next-gen installment in Nintendo's series includes over 200 minigames that use the Wii's motion-sensing controller.

WarioWare: Smooth Moves is the fifth game of the WarioWare series of games.

Like its predecessors, WarioWare: Smooth Moves is a collection of microgames based on simple actions which usually last fewer than five seconds each.

The microgames are played in rapid succession, presenting the player with the gameplay screen and a short instruction hinting at the action that must be accomplished. Once the microgame is complete, the next one begins. If a player makes four mistakes over the course of one set of microgames, they usually must start over from the beginning of the set.

WarioWare: Smooth Moves has received favorable reviews from the gaming community, receiving a score of 83 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on the average scores of 58 press reviews. GameSpot rated the game 9.1 out of 10, their highest rating for a party game, and stated that "it's a terrific use of the Wii's unique control features, it looks amazing...".

3. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (released 19 Jun 2007)

Resident Evil 4 heads to the Wii, incorporating the control functionality of the Wii Remote and the additional content included in the Playstation 2 version.

Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, originally came out for the GameCube and then the PS2 later on, but was also released for the Wii on May 31, 2007 in Japan. While it features new controls involving the Wii Remote and Nunchuk extension, the game comes with the ability to use a Classic Controller instead.

The Wii Remote is able to aim and shoot anywhere on the screen with a reticle that replaces the laser sight found in the other versions. It can also be flicked in order to use the knife to instantly target an enemy.

The Wii Edition also includes the extra content from the PlayStation 2 and PC versions, and a trailer for Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

Resident Evil 4 has won numerous Game of the Year awards.

2. Super Mario Galaxy (released 12 Nov 2007)

Super Mario Galaxy finds Mario taking his adventures to new heights as he soars through space from planet to planet in search of stars.

Super Mario Galaxy is a 3D platform game developed and published by Nintendo for Wii. It is the third 3D platformer in the Mario series after Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.

The game follows Mario on his quest through space to save Princess Peach from his arch-nemesis Bowser. Levels take the form of galaxies filled with a variety of minor planets and worlds while gameplay is updated with a variety of gravity effects and new power-ups.

The game is one of the most critically acclaimed titles of all time,and has won numerous "Game of the Year" awards. By March 31, 2008, it had sold 6.10 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling standalone Wii game and the third best-selling game published by Nintendo for the Wii behind Wii Sports and Wii Play, respectively.

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (released 09 Mar 9, 2008)

Duke it out with your favorite Nintendo characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii!

Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or just simply SSBB, is the third installment in the Nintendo series of crossover fighting games.

Following its predecessors, Brawl uses a battle system unlike that of typical fighting games. Players can choose from a large selection of characters, each attempting to knock their opponents off the screen as they fight on various stages.

Instead of using traditional health bars that start at 100% and lose value, Brawl characters start the game with 0% and the value rises as they take damage. As a character's percentage increases, the character flies farther back when hit.

When a character is knocked beyond a stage's boundary and disappears from the screen, the character loses either a life or a point depending on the mode of play.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl had received an aggregate review score of 94% on Metacritic, and 93.3% on Game Rankings. As of March 31, 2008, it has sold a total of 4.85 million units worldwide.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, Part 2 of the Top 10 Highest Rated Games for the Nintendo Wii of all time, according to our dear friends from Gamespot. You can check out Part 1 of my special report here.

Here are five runner-ups that didn't quite make it to Gamespot's list of the ten highest-rated Wii games of all time. They're all good games, nevertheless, and probably worth your while checking out: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Mega Man 9, Mario Kart Wii, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

If you still want to know how your other favorite Nintendo Wii games fared against all the others, you can then check out the rest of Gamespot's top games for the Nintendo Wii here. Always a great reference if you're in the market for some really great games for the Wii, whether you're completing your collection, or just starting from scratch.

Game blurbs taken from Gamespot. Pictures and information courtesy of Wikipedia. Follow the links to read more about our featured 10 Highest Rated Nintendo Wii Games of All Time.

Cheers, everyone!

A History of Video Game Consoles, pt 1 of 2

a momentary break from actual gaming by Renzie Baluyut

Hey everyone. Just thought I'd do a public service discussing the History of Video Game Consoles. Some friends and I were talking about the days when we played our first ever video games- it was the Atari 2600 for me, and back then, if you had one at home, you were the coolest kid on the block.

Welcome to my two-part special on my personal gaming blog: Get Your Game On | Renzie on Gaming. Enjoy!

How It All Began

As early as 1951, a dude named Ralph Baer came up with the idea of interactive television, supposedly as he was building TVs from scratch back in New Youk. Baer was actually a television engineer, and so in 1966, created the first ever video game: two dots chasing each other around onscreen.

Sanders Associates, the company he was working for, gave Baer the go-ahead to go further, and threw some funding his way. Two other dudes were signed up: Bill Harrison, who came up with the idea of a light gun, aimed to hit a target moved by another player, and Bill Rusch who came up with the concept of the video ping-pong game.

The result was the protoype known as the "Brown Box" in 1968. It had 2 controllers, a light gun, and switches to determine which game you wanted to play.

The company Magnavox came on board in 1969 and used plug-in circuits to change the games instead of switches- giving birth to the first ever commercially released video game console in May 1972: The Magnavox Odyssey.

First Generation (1972-1977)

Aside from the Magnavox Odyssey, you also had the Pong game from Atari/Sears, which came out in the Christmas of 1975. You also had the Coleco Telstar, which also had its own line of games.

The first-gen consoles were not very successful commercially, however, owing to little support from their parent companies, and therefore not having a decent marketing push.

Second Gen (1976-1984)

Things started picking up though by 1977, when Atari came out with the Atari 2600, then later with the 5200.

You also had the Fairchild Channel F, the Magnavox Odyssey, Mattel's Intellivision, Milton Bradley's Vectrex, the Emerson Arcadia 2001, Colecovision, and the SEGA SG-100.

Though everyone enjoyed fairly brisk sales in the early 8-bit era, the most popular choice was still the Atari 2600, having a good selection of games that were also popular in the arcade.

We also saw the early handheld game consoles. Milton Bradly's Microvision was the first to come out in 1979, but didn't do so well commercially. You know what did though? Nintendo's Game and Watches, which came out in 1980.

The more popular games at the time? Pac-Man, Asteroids, Defender, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Space Invaders, Pitfall, Q*bert, Mario Brothers and Spy Hunter.

The video game crash happened in 1983, mainly because the market was oversaturated with all kinds of consoles, and mostly crappy games, as many companies only wish to just cash in on the video games craze of the early 80's, without really delivering much in the way of a great gaming experience.

For a time there, the future of gaming looked rather bleak- many companies have gone bankrupt and folded. Entire inventories had gone unsold, and were even used as landfill, the stories say.

Third Gen (1983-1992)

Nintendo's Family Computer (as it was known here in the Philippines), or Famicom (as it was known in Japan), or the Nintendo Entertainment System pretty much singlehandedly saved the video game industry, at least as far as consoles were concerned.

Its most popular titles? Super Mario Bros., the first Final Fantasy games, The Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest, Contra, Metroid, Mega Man, Castlevania and Bomberman.

Nintendo also introduced the Gameboy, which started to dominate the handheld market in the late 80's.

Despite Nintendo's success in North America and most of Asia, Sega's Master System was more popular in Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

Fourth Gen (1987-1996)

By this time, we saw the dominance of two new consoles: the Nintendo's SuperNES, and the SEGA Genesis.

We now saw 16-bit games, which looked so much better than their earlier counterparts. In fact, many of the popular titles from the third gen got themselves updated to 16-bit versions, but we also saw some newcomers- Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter were all popular fourth gen games.

Part 2 of my 2-part coverage of The History of Gaming Consoles comes up in a bit. We'll cover the rest of the gaming consoles all the way to the seventh gen, which would the consoles we have with us today.

Cheers, everyone!

The 10 Highest Rated Nintendo Wii Games of All Time, pt 1 of 2.

yet another break from actual gaming by Renzie Baluyut

If you're a dude like me who's just out to get a Nintendo Wii, you'd definitely want to fork over some extra cash in building up a decent enough games library. I'm really a PC games guy by default, but after checking out the Wii in action at a party I've been to recently, I just might reconsider getting one for myself.

Should be great when my cousins come dropping by the next time.

In any case, one of the best sites to do games research for me, has always been Gamespot. In their very own section for the Wii we can check out the highest-rated games that ever came out for Nintendo's seventh-gen console.

So ladies and gentlemen, here we have the first half of my 2-part special report on the Top 10 Highest Rated Games for the Nintendo Wii of all time, according to our dear friends from Gamespot. Starting off at number ten...

10. Super Paper Mario (released 09 Apr 2007)

Get ready for the next installment in Nintendo's Paper Mario RPG series, entitled Super Paper Mario.

Super Paper Mario is another role-playing game in Nintendo's Mario universe- the third in the Paper Mario series, in fact- but the style of gameplay is a combination of the previous Paper Mario titles AND Super Mario Bros. titles.

Unlike the RPG-style gameplay of previous Paper Mario games, the game combines platforming gameplay, RPG, and puzzle elements.

9. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (released 26 Feb 2007)

The N64 version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time makes an appearance on the Wii Virtual Console.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is an action-adventure video game, originally developed for the Nintendo N64. Ocarina of Time is the fifth game in the Legend of Zelda series, but is actually a prequel to the other four that came before it.

The game received wide critical acclaim and commercial success. Despite a November 1998 release, it was the best-selling game of that year, and has sold over 7.6 million copies.

8. Paper Mario (released for the Wii on 16 Jul 2007)

Mario's paper-thin debut comes to the Virtual Console.

Paper Mario, known in Japan as Mario Story is a role-playing video game developed originally for the Nintendo 64. Paper Mario was re-released for Nintendo's Virtual Console in 2007.

Paper Mario is set in the Mushroom Kingdom as the protagonist Mario tries to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. To do so, he must locate seven "Star Spirits" to negate the effects of the captured Star Rod, which grants invincibility to Bowser.

The game received a positive reaction from the media, attaining an aggregate score of 88% from Game Rankings and 93% from Metacritic.

7. Super Mario Bros. 3 (released for the Wii on 05 Nov 2007)

Mario ventures beyond the Mushroom Kingdom to battle Koopas across seven neighboring worlds using new power-ups like the Tanooki Suit.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is often considered one of the best Super Mario games.

It is the fifth release in the Super Mario video game series, which was first released for the Famicom in Japan and later on the NES in North America and PAL regions.

It is often regarded as one of the Nintendo Entertainment System's greatest games, and is the second best selling game for the NES, after Super Mario Bros.

The NES version was later re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console.

6. No More Heroes (released 22 Jan 2008)

From SUDA-51, creator of the surreal shooter Killer7, No More Heroes chronicles Travis Touchdown's rise to the top of the assassin's league.

No More Heroes is an action video game directed by Goichi Suda- or more known in Japan by the nickname Suda51.

Throughout the game, the player controls the character Travis Touchdown. The game has a free roaming world, allowing Travis to move around on foot or on his motorcycle, the "Schpeltiger". Gameplay is open-ended, with the concession that the player must kill the top ten assassins in order to make the storyline progress. There are numerous part time job side quests to earn money which can be spent on weapons, training sessions, clothes and video tapes.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, Part 1 of the Top 10 Highest Rated Games for the Nintendo Wii of all time, according to our dear friends from Gamespot. You can check out Part 2 of my special report here.

Here are five runner-ups that didn't quite make it to Gamespot's list of the ten highest-rated Wii games of all time. They're all good games, nevertheless, and probably worth your while checking out: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Mega Man 9, Mario Kart Wii, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

If you still want to know how your other favorite Nintendo Wii games fared against all the others, you can then check out the rest of Gamespot's top games for the Nintendo Wii here. Always a great reference if you're in the market for some really great games for the Wii, whether you're completing your collection, or just starting from scratch.

Game blurbs taken from Gamespot. Pictures and information courtesy of Wikipedia. Follow the links to read more about our featured 10 Highest Rated Nintendo Wii Games of All Time.

Cheers, everyone!