Wii Games of Winter 2010

Got time to kill during the chilly winter months? Nintendo and its third party publishers have got you covered so you can spend your freezing days indoors enjoying the warmth with some engaging videogame experiences. We've gone through the release schedule over the next three months and pulled out some key Wii titles you should be keeping your eye on.


Batman: The Brave & The Bold
There are few cultural icons as transcendent as Batman, a hero whose appeal rarely seems to diminish -- even though he's reinvented and re-envisioned about 17 times per year. His latest animated version, drawn from Cartoon Network's The Brave & The Bold series, is now inspiring this new 2D adventure for the Caped Crusader. And whether you play it on Wii or DS, you can expect excellence -- both editions are being developed by the talented team at WayForward.


Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest
After the E3 reveal of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, it seems like this lighthearted take on the Lord of the Rings trilogy might get a bit of a boost -- the styles of both games are pretty similar. The sort-of cel-shaded visuals, shield thrusting with the Nunchuk, Wii Remote archery. Fans of the would-be King of Gondor were probably already going to flock to this one, but now even those who'd only swear allegiance to Hyrule might want to give it another glance this September.


Madden NFL 11
Madden's big hook this year is Online Team Play. Now you can play with up to six players with a maximum of three on either side. The developers have revamped both the camera and the way players choose their position on the field, making this year's new mode already work far better than last year's attempt at co-op. Add in stat boosts that are awarded for good performance and you have the makings of some great multiplayer football.


Metroid: Other M
Samus Aran's latest expedition into the unknown reaches of outer space begins very soon here in the States, and it's guaranteed to be the Wii's biggest game of the summer season. Team Ninja's collaboration with Nintendo has given our favorite bounty hunter a new and quicker pace, with speed never before seen in any of her previous outings -- combine that with the in-depth storyline and the dynamic switching between 2D and 3D perspectives and you've got a game that 2010 will be remembered for.


TrackMania Wii
The franchise that revolutionized both the racing genre and the custom content creation culture in the video game industry is finally speeding onto Wii this winter. All of the TrackMania series' signature outlandish track designs will be here, with freakishly unrealistic loops, jumps, twists, turns and pitfalls that you'd never be able to see in real life. Hope you've already made progress on new custom course design ideas, too, because the competition there will certainly be heated.