Wii Shop Update: Ogre Battle, Family & Friends Party

8:20 AM on 03.02.2009   |   Nick Chester

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This weeks Wii Shop update features two games that, quite simply, couldn't be more opposite. So you have choices here ...

First, Family & Friends Party (Gammick Entertainment, 1-8 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points) is exactly what is sounds like -- a bunch of family-friendly mini-games wrapped in a neat little package. It's an "interactive board game" that up to eight people can play, with players being faced with challenges on each turn. It sounds a bit like a sterile version of Mario Party, no?

On the other end of the spectrum, there's Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (Super NES™, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points). Rated E, but not for everyone. Ogre Battle leans a bit more towards the "hardcore," a strategy-RPG that could scare off gamers who first picked up a Wii Remote so they could bowl in their living room. Magic, swords, tarot cards, ogres -- frightening stuff. 

Also: "Nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrds!"

 Wii-kly Update

One WiiWare Game and One Virtual Console Game Added to Wii Shop Channel

In like a lamb and out like a lion, or vice-versa? Whether March finds you digging out from a late-winter blizzard or reeling in the spring thaw, the fun is both mild and wild at the Wii™ Shop Channel. Even the littlest lambs in your household can take part in a cool new family-friendly WiiWare™ game, while strategy-loving gamers will be roaring like lions as they battle evil foes in a classic Virtual Console™ title.

Nintendo adds new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

WiiWare™

Family & Friends Party (Gammick Entertainment, 1-8 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Have fun with all your friends and family as you take on some very exciting challenges. This is an interactive board game for as many as eight players of all ages. The goal is to be the first to complete a series of challenges. During each turn, a challenge will be played by one or two players per team depending on the type of challenge you’ve been given. (Other players on your team can still help and support you). There are six different “Single” challenges that must be played cooperatively by members of the same team. Family & Friends Party can also suggest “Versus” challenges, which must be played competitively by all teams at the same time.

Virtual Console™

Ogre Battle™: The March of the Black Queen™ (Super NES™, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): It’s up to you to defeat the Empire. It’s been nearly a quarter of a century since the Zetegenian Empire first conquered the Kingdoms of Zenobia with a wrath of fear and bloodshed. You are the leader of a band of rebels who’ve fought to preserve the last shred of honor in this desperate time of treachery. Manage the ranks of a full-blown rebel army, complete with hundreds of characters, magic items, weapons and mystical Tarot cards. You must succeed in ousting the evil usurpers—your fate, and that of the entire population, depends on it.