Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Here it is, October already. 2007′s almost over now, isn’t it? Time to get your scary games fix. If you haven’t already picked up Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, maybe now’s the time. I’d avoid Escape from Bug Island, though, because it’s supposed to be terrible. On to this month’s releases on the Wii.

Guitar Hero III is coming out this month. Nothing else this month, despite some high-profile releases, catches my eye. I can’t count Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, which is supposed to hit the Wii sometime this month according the publisher Aksys Games, because they haven’t set a day, and who knows if it will end up a November title. I still need to pick up an arcade stick for that one… and I’m likely to wait for it to hit the bargain bin, which it will probably do very quickly, due to lack of promotion and brand recognition.

Airborne racer Donkey Kong Barrel Blast appears on October 8th. This is a game that started its life on the Gamecube (sound familiar? It ought to by now) as DK Jet. Originally, the game was meant to be played with the DK bongos, a peripheral that met with limited use on the Gamecube. The bongo pats have been replaced with hand waving, and for some reason, Nintendo pulled bongo support from the game completely, even though the barrels, which look like the bongos, are still on the vehicles. One theory is that the trick system that has been added is too complex for the simple control concept of patting two bongos. Keep in mind that the Wii does have Gamecube controller ports on it, so this decision seems even weirder. I haven’t enjoyed a Donkey Kong game since the original, including the overrated Donkey Kong Country games, so this one will blast right by me.

Guitar Hero III is due around the 28th on all platforms, including the Wii. If you’ve got $90 for the bundle, you should have everything you need. This will be the first Guitar Hero on a Nintendo platform, and the combination of Guitar Hero and the success of the Wii in all demographics could make for a pretty impressive slam-dunk for publisher RedOctane. I’m excited, and am planning to pick up the game, but it may be a little bit before I can come up with the scratch for such a pricey package.

Nintendo wraps up their month with a sequel to the Gamecube title Battalion Wars, called… you guessed it… Battalion Wars II. This is a real-time-strategy modern war game, with a stylized presentation, and this time around, it’s got online play via Nintendo WiFi Connection. The series is a kind of offshoot of the Advance Wars series, which is a turn-based-strategy franchise from handhelds. That, in turn, is the progression of the Famicom Wars series, which in its first few generations never made it to the US. Turn based strategy is more my cup of tea than this, so this battalion will be marching past my door.

Once Nintendo’s in bed, the real nightmare begins. The controversial and highly violent sneak and disembowel Rockstar title, Manhunt 2, is slated for a Halloween release. Since the high-profile AO rating mess, Rockstar went back in and, according to the most recent IGN Wii podcast, dramatically toned down the violence through the use of artful camera angles and heavy blurring and darkening effects. It remains to be seen what the final version will look like, of course, so stay tuned.