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Guitar Hero is the rhythm game of choice for most Wii owners, so this truly strange bit from a recent MTV interview with Canadian bland-rock stars Nickelback seems highly relevant. In it, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger claims that Guitar Hero and games like it are destroying the future of American rock n' roll.

"I feel like there's not enough rock bands out there, especially when we go on the road," said Kroeger, who performs with the Canadian rock outfit on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Wednesday night. "It's tough to find other bands out there, because either they're making a record, or they just got done touring. So kids: Start rock bands. Set down the 'Guitar Hero,' learn how to play an actual guitar and start a band, because it's hard to find more bands to put a solid rock-and-roll package together, to get out there. It's getting harder and harder, but I think we've done it."

Somehow I think the terrible economy and the death of school music programs is more to blame than Guitar Hero, but what do I know? I haven't even recorded one Top 40 hit.

There was much speculation over whether the Spielberg-created Boom Blox title was actually a failure or a success for EA. The sales weren't great, but EA claimed to be just fine with them. It seems that however Boom Blox did, it was good enough for EA to decide to commission a sequel. According to a report by Variety, Boom Blox 2 is in production right now.

The Blueprint model is also being used on a previously undisclosed, but none-too-surprising, project: "Boom Blox 2." (not the official title) Apparently work is already underway on a sequel to the spring's innovative Wii puzzle game, which got very good reviews (especially from me) and and sold decently, last we heard. But while development is being led out of EALA, where the first "Boom Blox" was made, people are working on it together from all over the world. "Everybody is integrated, regardless of whether they're in the same physical location," explained the ex-Blueprinter. "It's truly the spirit of what Blueprint was going to be."

I knew it was only a matter of time until someone snapped up Trackmania DS, the racing game built around robust online support and the ability to create tracks loaded with death-defying loops. It's a pleasant surprise to see Atlus step up for the North American publishing duties. Most people associate Atlus with RPGs of varying sorts, but in practice Atlus mostly just cuts deals to bring small-press games to North America. The only thing odd about Trackmania DS in the Atlus catalog is that it's a European instead of Japanese indy darling. Right now Trackmania DS is set for a March 17, 2009 release date. Above is the official trailer, which I think I might have posted before without the Atlus branding attached.

You know, I thought the worst of this was in the past, but this may the stupidest of all Stupid Wii Accessories. Yes, these gloves are very nicely made (being official Everlast manufacture), although they will contribute exactly nothing to your gameplay experience. No, what makes the Wii Everlast Boxing Gloves monumentally stupid is the bizarre write-up they received in the New York Times article announcing their availability:

For gaming enthusiasts, the Wii Everlast Boxing Gloves fulfill the promise that the Power Glove for Nintendo offered in 1989.

The Power Glove initially generated a huge buzz, before people found it difficult to use  especially to simulate boxing in games like Mike Tysons Punch-Out!!

While the standard Wii remote was a major improvement in interactive gaming, the gloves, created by Everlast Worldwide and Company X Accessories and priced at $30, offer a much better virtual-boxing experience.

No it doesn't, you stupid, stupid person.

Believe it or not, I saw this game back at E3. It was far and away one of my favorites of the show, but the fact that it lacked a title meant I couldn't actually write anything about it. Now that The Chase: Felix Meets Felicity has a name and an official trailer, I can finally tell you guys about what a cool little game it is!

Basically in The Chase, cute girl protag Felicity or cute guy Felix run around in levels doing the platformer thing-- beating up enemies, grabbing items, hitting checkpoints -- to try and impress their love interest (the other character). So simple, so brilliant-- is this one of the first action games for girls that isn't a total embarrassment? If it's as cool as the E3 demo I saw, it definitely is.

The Wii system library is a wasteland of great third-party titles that end up just not selling: Elebits, Zack & Wiki, Boom Blox. What's the problem? If you listen to Nintendo of America President ,Reggie Fils-Aime, the answer is apparently "all of those games are lousy and third-party publishers need to try harder." Yeah, he totally went there:

Speaking to Forbes, Fils-Aime conceded that the Wii hosts a range of third-party titles which, with a few exceptions, largely do not exemplify quality software for the platform. The reason for this, he says, is that certain developers and publishers still don't 'get' the Wii's design philosophy.

"I will be able to say our licensees 'get it' when their very best content is on our platform," he says. "And with very few exceptions today, that's not the case."

With Nintendo of America's head honcho making cracks like that about the efforts thus far, I have a hard imagining many more third-parties are going to want to invest in the Wii instead of the more lucrative 360, either. Seriously, just not a classy move in any way.

The old NES and SNES Tecmo Bowl games were so much fun that I liked them, and I don't think I've sat through a real football game in my entire life. They just had a fast-paced, arcade appeal that transcended really needing to know what you were supposed to be doing or why.

Football games have grown quite a bit more nuanced since then, to the point where I don't even try to understand Madden games without a developer at my shoulder explaining everything. You'd think there'd be a market for a simpler, arcadey alternative, and a lot of people with long memories got excited about Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff maybe being that game.

It seems like Tecmo has dropped the ball, or at least didn't get everything quite right this time. A 64% Metacritic average is very rarely attached to a game based on mass misunderstanding. The real question is what developet Polygon Magic botched, and if the game is still worth its while despite the fumbles. Let's take a look at the reviews and see what patterns emerge...

Animal Crossing: City Folk officially goes on sale this week, although I'm sure some of you reading this are going to have it already. This game proved quite controversial when I covered it back at E3, as some of the features people expected to be there... well, weren't. And this seems to be the big deciding factor in terms of whether or not you want City Folk: do you mind that it's pretty much the same thing as the prior DS and GameCube Animal Crossing games?

What's interesting is that no one is even attempting to argue that, no, City Folk really is a new and different Animal Crossing experience. I've yet to come across a professional or fan review that doesn't simply start with the premise that City Folk is entirely identical to the DS's Wild World, save for a handful of new features. What seems to decide whether or not a given person has any interest in City Folk is whether or not they think the new features are worth it.

I don't plan on buying or playing Animal Crossing: City Folk, since I figured out the hard way with Wild World that the game's structure is not for me. You're probably wondering, though, is City Folk a game for you? Read on and see if some reviews help you make up your mind.

It would be impossible to let November 18th pass without noting that today is a very special day: it's the Wii's birthday! Today Nintendo's Wii has turned two years old, and I'm realizing I've had mine nearly that long (mine showed up as a Christmas present, but got bought during the launch wave).

This seems like as good a time as any to ask people: how do you feel about the Wii right now? Are you happy with it, or have you long since sold off your console because you weren't using it? Do you have one that collects dust, or do you still play your Wii every day? Are you still a fan of the Virtual Console and WiiWare, or are you bitter and angry about floods of low-quality titles?

Basically, what I want to hear is everyone who reads this post sounding off with their opinions of the Wii on its anniversary. No real reason besides me being curious. I'm still pretty happy with my Wii, all things considered, but I think there are a few things Nintendo could be doing a lot better. I wonder if you guys are noticing the same stuff...?

Most gamers, I think, have a certain Pavlovian reaction to the music from our favorite games. They remind us of fantastic moments in games past (and perhaps fantastic moments to come), and sometimes just hearing a song from a game is enough to get you totally psyched to play more. For Nintendo fans, game music becomes especially important thanks to the NES and Super NES. Both had sound chips that were, with a few exceptions, superior to most other things on the market at time of release.

The composers who wrung soundtracks out of those bleeps and bloops created a whole generation of chiptune addicts. This list is a tribute to what I think are some of the absolute greatest, most memorable video game songs ever produced by Nintendo hardware. To this day, they send chills down my spine and make me want to pick up a controller and go kill something made out of pixels. In some cases they're musically interesting in their own right, just for being able to squeeze compelling melodies out of hardware that's unimaginably primitive to the modern gamer.