Sorry, couldn't resist.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3163152

The part that makes no sense, however, is that this game is being developed by Gearbox, best known for the Brothers in Arms series of WWII FPS games.  Huh?

Samba de Amigo was amazing, WOO!

Glad to see music-rhythm games slowly building momentum for the Wii.  DDR: Hottest Party comes out this week, if I'm not mistaken; need to check it out. 

I wonder what type of game Samba Wii will turn out to be?  Part of me would love to see an all-new game with brand new songs, while the other part would be perfectly content with a straight and faithful port of the original game and ver. 2000.  (Which, of course, would include the old song selections, plus the downloadables.)

How about brand new game with the originals also included on the disc?  ...we can dream, right? 

I like the pun, actually

And this is one game I would actually buy one of those cheap clip-on accessories for.

This thread deserves a bump.  And what better way than with a real-life maracas-wielding monkey?

http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/966047/s … 52108.html

Smart use of a trained gorilla for this trailer.

Man, that was one bad commercial.  It looked like something that would have been played between Saturday morning cartoons in the 1980s.

If you're talking about the marketing guy that came up with this concept, then maybe.  Otherwise, that looks more like a chimpanzee to me.

I read a feature about the game in Nintendo Power last year, and if I remember right Gearbox is basically trying to do a completely faithful remake.  That is to say, it's all supposed to be the same as the original, but with high quality graphics and a mix of new and old songs.  Of course it's been a few months since I read the piece, so my memory is a bit fuzzy.

Nintendo Power's June 2008 has a new write-up on the game.  As you say, Gearbox is aiming to bring back almost everything from the original games, save for Challenge Mode, which is replaced by a new Career Mode now.  Remade graphics (which look GREAT so far), new poses in Hustle Mode, and a reported 40+ tracklisting, featuring old and new songs. (With the new so far including Low Rider and Conga.... yes!)

Of course, the game could be shit if they don't tweak the controls just right.  At last count, there are a couple of bugs with the Wii motions that they're trying to iron out.   Here's hoping they nail it before the the tentative August 2008 release date.

I always get this "gorilla or chimpanzee" topic mixed up.  Thanks for correcting me.

Here's something to help you remember:
Gorilla = big f---ing thing, like King Kong.
Chimp = little skinny wannabee chump.

New preview up on IGN.  Sounds like it's really coming along:

http://wii.ign.com/articles/882/882877p1.html

Europe's still got a targeted August 2008 release date.  U.S. is September 23rd.

Wii Fanboy link

Sweet, maraca attachments for the Wiimote are confirmed.

Hopefully they don't actually fit like they do in that pic though.  Looks like they'd be too weighty and prone to fall off.  Yea, more broken TV sets!

Well, this is good news, assuming what he's saying is accurate and not just raving fanboy stuff.  Either way, Sega needs to nix the awful commericals with the uncoordinated white family and diaper monkey.

Looks like they've nailed the final tracklisting down:

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/54310

          All-New Wii-Exclusive Songs:
          o Pon de Replay - Rihanna
          o Smooth - Santana*
          o Mambo No. 5 - Lou Bega*
          o Oye Como Va - Santana*
          o Baila Me - Gipsy Kings
          o Do It Well - Jennifer Lopez*
          o Papa Loves Mambo - Perry Como*
          o Mambo No. 8 - Perez Prado
          o Conga - Miami Sound Machine*
          o Low Rider - War
          o Asereje - Las Ketchup*
          o Arriba Allez - Bellini
          o Magalenha - Bellini and Mondonca Do Rio
          o Ran Kan Ran - Tito Puento*
          o Groove Is In the Heart - Dee Lite
          o Jump in the Line - Harry Belafonte*
          o Como Ves - Ozomatli
          o Cha Cha - Chelo
          o Mexican Flyer - Ken Woodman*
          o Borriquito - Charo
          o Un Aguardiente - WaveGroup
          o Solo Tu - WaveGroup
          o Tango With Me - WaveGroup

          Returning Classic songs from the original Samba de Amigo:
          o Vamos A Carnaval - WaveMaster*
          o Volare - Gypsy Kings
          o Hot Hot Hot - Arrow*
          o Salome - Chayanne*
          o Tubthumping - Chumbawumba*
          o The Cup of Life - R. Martin*
          o Samba de Janeiro - Bellini
          o Mambo Beat - Perez Prado*
          o Livin' La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin*
          o Bamboleo - Gipsy Kings
          o Take On Me - Reel Big Fish
          o El Ritmo Tropical - Dixie's Gang*
          o Macarena - Los Del Rio*
          o La Bamba - Ritchie Valens*
          o Tequila - Chuck Rio*
          o Soul Bossa Nova - Quincy Jones
          o Samba De Amigo - Bellini
          o The Theme of Rocky - Bill Conti*
          o Mas Que Nada - Jorge Ben*
          o Sway - Gimbel and Ruiz*
          o El Mambo - Solemar

          * Denotes the song is performed by a cover band

I'm ok with that tracklist, although I wish SOS was on it.  Hm, and I hope some Sega game tunes make it, old ones and new ones, as DLC.

Kotaku has pics of Ulala appearing in Samba de Wiimigo!  Nice.

http://kotaku.com/5039700/you-seem-to-h … st-details

I have to say that I've really lost interest in this game, and I'm not sure entirely why.  I think my problem is that it just looks too similar to the first two and isn't showing any real evolution.  I'll probably wait until it's $20 before picking it up.

Considering the amount of people that paid the entry fee for both the games and the maracas (the dozens of them) and the fact that the Wiimote is way better suited towards the game, more of the same might not be a bad thing in this situation.

Agreed.  From the beginning, the project really wasn't making itself out to be anything more than a faithful port of the original titles - for the main purpose of exposing the game to a wider audience.  As long as they're able to pull this off, that would be perfectly cool by me. 

Besides, other than brand new songs (which we're obviously getting), I can't see the Samba formula going through any real drastic evolution.

I agree with both of you.  I hope it plays great on the Wii, and they have some good DLC coming.

Uh-oh, Spaghetti-Os.......

---

IGN Review: 7.5

"This version attempts to recreate that shaking feeling with two Wii remotes or a remote and nunchuck, and kind of succeeds. The motion controls aren't perfect and on harder difficulties they won't recognize many of your moves."

"The problem is you'll find your shakes aren't always recognized, and the game will mistake other movements for shakes. Sometimes just lowering your hands from the upper to the middle zone will trick the game into thinking you're giving a shake. Sometimes you'll clearly have your remote pointed down for the lower zone, but the game will disagree. It's not a problem on the lower difficulties because the symbols don't come fast enough and you have time to compensate, but once you get to hard you'll find Samba de Amigo just can't keep up with your movements. On the Dreamcast the maraca peripheral was height sensitive and did a much better job of reading your movements. This Wii version puts all its hopes on the remote's accelerometer and it turns out it's not up to the job. There are onscreen indicators that show which zone your remotes are currently held in, but the game moves too quickly on hard for these to be much help."

"In the end, I think this is a really good game for casual gamers. I showed it to some non-gamer friends this weekend and they had a blast just playing on easy. I had to practically rip the remotes out of their hands to get them to stop. But here in the IGN office, fans of the original Samba pick up the remotes, crank up the difficulty, and find the controls to be almost unworkable. This monkey is still a charmer, but his Wii controls need refining."

And that'll do it.  I think it's funny that IGN seems to think it's the Wii's fault the hard difficulty doesn't recognize the movements properly.  Wouldn't this be the DEVELOPER's fault for not properly testing the game at all difficulty settings to make sure it works within the limitations of the hardware?  Sigh...

Hrrmm...  that's a bit disappointing to hear.  I'm not sure if I want to pick up this now if the wiimote/nunchuks have difficulty reading moves...

So... has anyone here actually picked this up?  I'd really like to hear from people that have actually played the game to see if the control scheme is a skewed as the reviews say...

I tried this out at Nintendo World.  I agree with the professional reviewers about the nunchuck/remote sensitivity not being good enough.  I don't think Gearbox could do anything about it.  This game likely would play better with the Wii Motion Plus adapter.

To hit the 2 red upper targets, the Wii remote and nunchuk need to point directly up.
To hit the 2 yellow middle targets, the Wii remote and nunchuk need to point at the sensor bar.
To hit the 2 green lower targets, the Wii remote and nunchuk need to point directly down.

To "pose" in one of these targets, you have to turn the remote or nunchuk 90 degrees and then point them left/right/up down.  (It relies on rotation).  In this case, the remote abnd nunchuk are not pointing at the sensor bar.

The nunchuk is especially bad, because it has only a gyroscope to help determine its position and orientation.

If your nunchuk or remote is in between these positions and orientations, the game does not always pick the right target.  The on-screen cursor does not help, since the game is trying to figure out where your hands are.  The cursor is on one target at one moment, and in the next moment, it "jumps" to another target.  This makes it difficult to play this game in a more fluid manner.  Yes, the game is playable, but then you aren't dancing as the commercials would have you believe.

I never played the Dreamcast version, but I read that the maracas had a way to determine height.  From seeing the Wii Motion Plus product demo, I think that adapter is need to make this game work fluidly.  Drop the nunchuk entirely and use two remotes instead.

My advice is to rent it first or try it out at a store that has a demo set up.

It's a damned shame, really.  I was looking forward to this so much, but the level of accuracy in the controls sounds way too wonky to make it a worthwhile experience.  I'll give it a rental sometime.

The DC maracas used ultrasound with a sensor bar on the floor in front of your feet and an ultrasound transmitter on each maraca.  You also have one of three possible height choices that you must select each time you play the game.  They worked well enough, but they still weren't perfect.

Bonus hit: Samba de Amigo is the only game I've ever owned that said pregnant women shouldn't play.  Also, no pacemakers if you want to live.

Got this for $5 new at Best Buy the other day, and have been having a blast.  Sure, the controls are wonky, but it's still fun.  I'm glad I didn't pay full price, but I'm also glad I finally got it.

I got Samba de Amigo Wii before the price drop hit for $40 and I'm still completely happy with my purchase.  Honestly I think it's worth $20 for the soundtrack alone, more if you never got the Dreamcast version and have the chance to play with casual gamer-type friends.

Regarding the controls, I don't think they're nearly as bad as everybody claims once you learn to work with them.  Keeping these tips in mind I can clear all the difficulty settings, and have some fun in the process.

1) The most important thing to remember is it's not nearly as much about the location of the controllers as it is their orientation.  Controllers pointed upwards for the vertical position, straight forward for the middle, downwards for the lower position.

2) I find it much easier to control via the wiimote and nunchuk than with two wiimotes, even with the cable occasionally becoming a nuisance.  Either the weight or the rumble of using two wiimotes throws me off.

3) The way you hold the controllers in your hands makes a big difference.  It's not entirely consistent so you have to work with it, but generally holding the controllers sideways facing inwards works better than the usual facing up position, and holding both controllers faced upside down works even better.  This will throw off some of the pose positions but it's worth the sacrifice.

4) Getting into the music and movement - aside from making the game more fun - often seems to help with the controls.  It can be hard on the more frantic levels but slightly exaggerated movements for the upper and especially lower positions helps a lot.  It sometimes helps to kind of jut the controllers forward for the upper and middle positions and to both shake and slightly push them down for the lower one.

5) It's not as much a control tip, but on the levels where the targets come fast and furious and alternate between using a single controller and both, it can be a lot easier if you move both controllers to the same tempo even when only one target is up.  The game doesn't seem to penalize you much for hitting targets that aren't there (only for missing ones that are), and even when the timing for the left and right beats are slightly staggered, you're better off hitting them both at the same time even with the timing a bit off than missing them altogether.

I'd encourage those of you who got fed up with the controls to give the game another go with these tips in mind, especially #3, and see how it goes.

Oh and looking at this post I realize there's all sorts of sexual innuendo to be found but I assure you it's purely coincidental.