Looking through console sales figures for May I was struck by the fact that 4 of 5 Wii games listed for top sales were bundled with hardware. Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Play and Guitar Hero III all come bundled with various pieces of hardware. Three of those are hardware specific to that game or a subset of games.

This is a departure from previous systems, where games requiring non-standard hardware were mostly fringe games. The only parallel I can think of through history with such wide appeal is the original Nintendo Zapper. Even in my own perception, it was only recently that I found myself more accepting of additional hardware. The most probable cause is that the unique controllers enable unique gameplay that’s actually fun to play, better human interaction.

Here’s a video demoing exactly what I was hoping for in the Wii TV Guide channel:

The Wii TV Guide channel has debuted in Japan. It’s an interesting addition to the Wii, though my personal interest has been minimal because it is Japan only and I don’t watch TV. However, one feature caught my attention.

There is apparently an experimental option to use the Wiimote as a universal TV control. The [Google translation](http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/features/tv_no_tomo/

Somehow, despite watching Wii news carefully, I’d totally missed it. Completely off my radar. But today I discovered de Blob. The game has succeeded in being one of few unknown, third party Wii games that I immediately wanted to buy. Too bad it’s not out yet. Sounds like it’ll be out this year sometime.

Conceptually, the game is brilliant. The world has been drained of color. You control a blob. Your goal: paint the town. It’s a treat visually, too. To see it in action, check out this video:

As explained in the linked article above, de Blob for the Wii is actually based on a free PC Game created by some Dutch students. You can find that at GameDev.net.

While the PC game is fun, polish is needed to make it a full fledged Wii title. Changes to the gameplay for the Wii version look like they are favorable, from what I see in videos. That is a good sign.