As nearly everyone and their grandmothers know, the Wii is still the hottest thing in the gaming world, despite the fact that Nintendo's little white console has been out for nearly two years. Thanks to the rise of casual or mainstream gaming (or whatever you like to call it), the system has made its way into living rooms, dorm rooms, and nursing homes all over the world. The only drawback to this explosion in popularity is the fact that developers and publishers are rushing to put games out for the system, occasionally at the expense of quality. With so many Wii titles hitting the market, GameSpy decided to separate the wheat from the chaff to give you a better idea of which games you should be getting excited about.



Ultimate Band

With the burgeoning plastic-instrument genre burning up the sales charts, Disney Interactive has come up with its own take on "bringing the band together." The big difference here is that you won't need to buy expensive plastic guitars in order to get your jam on. We played the game at E3 and got a good grasp of how the different sounds are generated. Vocals turned out to be the most interesting; you need to match the beats of the songs by performing something akin to a cheerleading routine.


The regular lead guitar and bass guitar routines are tackled by essentially playing air guitar with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck; button presses help modify the performance. It's skewed at a younger audience than the likes of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but the song list is solid, and there are some cool mechanics at work to make it different from the rest of the musical pack.

Deadly Creatures

Part film noir, part atmospheric adventure and wholly unique, in Deadly Creatures you observe a gold bullion crime unfold in a desert setting. The unique twist is that all this takes place from the perspectives of a tarantula and a black scorpion, both of which you control. Making your way through micro-scaled desert environments, you'll face off against all manner of creepy crawlies, feeding on small insects for food as you go.


While the obscure human plotline is unfolding, you'll be swapping between the two killer creatures and having small-scale adventures right up until the crazy climax takes place, when you'll finally interact with the gold-smuggling men. It's really like nothing else we've ever seen, making Deadly Creatures one of the most unique games coming out this year.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

This follow-up to Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube is tailor-made with Wii owners in mind, without force-feeding you silly motion-driven controls. The game picks up two years after the events of Tales of Symphonia, and chronicles the adventures of two young heroes on their quest to discover the cause of the world's current state of ruin.


New to this version is a Pokemon-like monster-recruiting feature where players will be able to capture over 200 enemies and raise them, evolve them, and train them for battle. With 10 character slots open for your party at any given time, there's plenty of room for you to bring your favorite monsters along to every battle.