Namco's Wii wave exercises, cooks, and cheers

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Apr 29, 2009 5:00 pm PT

Peripheral-aided Active Life: Extreme Challenge, Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked, and We Cheer 2 all being readied by Japanese publisher for release this fall.

With M-for-Mature games faring poorly on the Wii, third-party publishers are embracing the most popular genres for Nintendo's console: exercise games, cooking games, and casual minigame compilations. Today, after both Activision and Sega announced sports anthologies, Namco Bandai has revealed a trio of exclusives geared at the mass market that has helped the Wii ship more than 50 million units worldwide.

Namco's first offering goes after the demographic targeted by Wii Fit, Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum and the forthcoming EA Sports Active. Titled Active Life: Extreme Challenge, the game will come bundled with a mat controller and an eight-button peripheral. In tandem with the Wii Remote, the add-ons will let players control the game with both their hands and feet. Early screens of the extreme-sports game, due out this fall, show such activities as rock climbing, parasurfing, BASE jumping, go-karting, BMX riding, and double-Dutch jump roping. No price or rating has yet been announced, but GameSpot's preview has more details.

For the more gastronomically oriented, Namco is also offering up Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked this fall. Unlike other cooking games such as Yoshinoya, Cooking Mama: Cook Off, or Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine, the game aims to actually help players hone their culinary skills. Developed by Red Fly, which is currently putting the finishing touches on the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of Ghostbusters, the game will offer introductory lessons on how to use utensils and will provide a range of recipes straight from the titular cable network's kitchen.

Last but not least on the Wii front, Namco has also announced a sequel to We Cheer, its 2008 Wii Balance Board-based cheerleader simulator. The game will combine rhythm game action and feature twice as many onscreen cheerleaders whose pom-poms are linked to movement with the Wii Remote. Besides a plethora of both male and female characters, the game will feature 30 licensed tracks and 20 multiplayer stages that support up to four players in co-op squad challenges. We Cheer 2 for the Wii will launch in fall 2009 with an MSRP of $39.99.

For more on Namco Bandai's lineup, check out GameSpot's full coverage of the 2009 Namco Bandai Gamers' Day.

26 Comments

  • MrG31

    Posted May 1, 2009 10:42 am PT

    Cooking games?!? Where did those come from? Go away, please.

  • nintendoboy16

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 3:17 pm PT

    Namco Bandai, what the heck? First you take D3 and now this. I miss the days when you were seperate.

  • Madmangamer364

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 3:08 pm PT

    Having a GameCube throughout all of last gen, Namco was my favorite third party developer for the system... What the heck happened? Just like every other publisher for the system, NamcoBandai has fallen under the "Me too" syndrome that is making me cringe more and more by the day. It doesn't help that I've already been disappointed by their installments of two series that I became a fan of last gen. The Wii version of both Soul Calibur and Tales of Symphonia were half-hearted compared to their amazing GCN predecessors.

    Man, is it really THAT hard to figure out the Wii userbase these days?

  • Blue-N-Yellow

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 12:47 pm PT

    This news would piss me off if the Wii '09 lineup wasn't already stellar, but it is, so this is meh. Only gripe I have is that Namco brings Soul Calibur to the PSP while not even attempting a SC fighting game on the Wii. I know 'hardcore' (please) SC fans would complain about a Motion+ SC fighter but I would kinda like to see that.

    I'm kinda disappointed in GS for posting this as well; developers making crappy games for Wii isn't news or anything, it happens all the time. Just sort of a lame attempt at creating a conversation by sowing the seeds for a Wii-bashing thread. Hey GS, did you ever get around to reviewing Rune Factory Frontier?

  • Mr_Versipellis

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 10:48 am PT

    Uh oh... Shovelware ahoy!

  • wiifan001

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 7:03 am PT

    You mean to tell me there was a Wii Cheer 1?

  • Rottenwood

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 6:48 am PT

    People buy this stuff, so it's silly to complain about them. It's the same reason they make reality television and slasher movies: they're cheap to make and have a reliable, built-in audience that almost guarantees a modest profit. Low risk, solid reward. We have to accept that there's a big wide world out there that doesn't revolve around us hardcore gamers, and that we're sharing a playspace with people that have an entirely different perspective on what the hobby is all about.

    Besides, look on the bright side. This stuff keeps the Wii around so we can savor the Mario Galaxies of the world. It's like the PlayStation 2, whose popularity made it a shovelware magnet, but also let it stick around so companies like Atlus could work their mojo during the later years.

  • TaMuK711

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 6:44 am PT

    Lol, guess they gotta put out a cheap cash-cow so they can have funds to work on a real game...

  • CamiKitten

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 5:46 am PT

    Namco you're letting me down man, letting me down. Tales of Graces better hit the States to make up for this garbage. And Tales of Vesperia better hit the PS3 in the States too. Pretty soon I'm gonna run out of sellable games on my Wii that already sits in dust since I've beaten Tales of Symphonia 2, so that I could purchase more titles on my PS3...... /sigh

  • aquabot

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 5:24 am PT

    @halowars86

    AHhahahahahaha... yeah, you're totally right.

  • Marcster1994

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 5:23 am PT

    You should blame THE DEVELOPER who are trying to put it on the wii, like Namco.

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 1:42 am PT

    It looks like utter garbage but this stuff sells so I guess we'll be seeing more of it.

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 12:53 am PT

    @corruptgamer so you want to insult me again well how many times do i have to tell you , on you flaming wii , you already did, last i checked e3 08 had cod world at war shaun white and animal crossing , lol not just wii music, and what came out after that quantu m of solace madworld dead rising house of the dead over kill deblob dr mario online rx etc like i said go to system wars , you blame nintendo for namcos short comings rotflol whens the last good game they came out with to begin with , pft on any system let me guess it was namco museum the same garbage thats played on every console known to man do you expect namco to take wii seriously when nothing they do is serious capcom and others have provided wii with games like quantum of solace red steel driver paralel lines bully madworld deblob give it a rest e3 08 is done with,

    punchout is coming or came thats a game every one and ther mother knew in the snes era , nintendo is the only one that knows what theyll announce you and i do not but seeing their last conference-zelda ds excite bots trick racing, the storage fix dsi etc it may end up better then 08 you like i said let one title decide for you , that e3 09 will be bad ,thats just bad practice oh really not even 1/3 of that list was on gc, not even driver paralel lines ,
    if you got some copy hiding give it to me than id gladly take it , and i wont waste my time listing each and every gem wii has to offer , thats not my specailty its your job to go look ,and stop relying on namco to do the dirty work for ya

  • firehawk998

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 12:36 am PT

    Boy here I was wishing that (when majority of gaming companies are making the Wii fit/party /resort/ etc clones) Namco would have the courage to come with something original. Heres hope that Sega who atleast did try something new doesnt do the same. Though Madworld didnt sell well on the Wii I loved it and will support fully if they decide to do a sequel.

  • Bigboi500

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 12:00 am PT

    Let us all not forget Namco/Bandai is also making Tales of Graces exclusive for the Wii.

  • halo_wars86

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 11:22 pm PT

    i smell the wii console game of the year : )

  • CorruptGamerGX

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 10:20 pm PT

    @mariokart64fan
    Please learn how to spell before saying I fail. Nintendo's crappy E3 last pretty much encouraged this outcome to happen. I mean, wasn't their big announcement WII MUSIC out of all things?

    Pulling a random game list out your *** won't save Nintendo from failing this year. For every good game you list, there are at least 5 bad titles to replace them. Oh wow, Mario Power Tennis and Pikmin. Why are you excited to list GAMECUBE games with tacked-on controls? In fact 1/3 of your list are GAMECUBE games from last-gen.

    How the heck I am flaming the Wii when the article clearly states Namco made these crappy game to challenge the Wii Fit clones and appeal to the casuals because it happens to be the Wii's specialty.

  • doomsoth

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 9:59 pm PT

    The PSP gets SC and the Wii gets crap. Way to support your fans Namco!

  • tamir1014

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 9:16 pm PT

    We need STAR FOX DAMIT i mean are u with me guys or what?

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