New Wii Series game, Wii Party, Announced by Nintendo

The “Wii Series” is perhaps the most iconic series for the console, having spanned across from different genres such as Fitness, Music, Sports and even Chess, with most of it's titles having been quite a huge success, with 5 games from the series being among the 10 best selling games list. So it comes as no surprise to see that Nintendo has announced a new game in the series, Wii Party and have released several screenshots alongside it.

The game looks set to be a spiritual successor to the Mario Party series, which, while it used to have a new game every year, has not seen a new entry since Mario Party DS back in 2007 and so far, nothing has been said about a new Mario Party 9 right now.


Speaking about the game, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata released this statement “The developers are spending significant time for this title so that they can include elements that are must-haves in a party game as well as making sure that adequate volume of game play are available. We are developing it with the intent that every Wii player will be able to find a game that can be enjoyed. In a game play mode called "Living Party," there is unique gameplay only available with the Wii Remote. “


Kotaku have translated the image above, which, to quote them, says

Kotaku wrote:Red bar: "Standard Party For 1-4 Players"
Red bar images: Sugoroku, "International Vacation Game", "Mii-jyan", Roulette, Bingo
Orange bar: "Pair Game Recommended for 2 players"
Orange bar images: Compatibility Check, Balance Ship, Match Mii
Green box: "Living Party"
Bottom row of icons: "Ask for a recommendation", "See the records/high scores", "Play mini-games"

What's most interesting here is what the Orange Bar images describe, particularly the part about the “Balance Ship”, which would imply that the game may feature Balance Board Support in some form.

No release date has yet been announced for the game, however Iwata has confirmed that it will be released during this fiscal year (Ending March 31st 2011). With E3 just a month away though, expect more news soon.

Source

I haven't had much experience with the Wii line of games. I only own the ones that were bundled with something: Wii Sports and Wii Play. I am planning on picking up Wii Sports Resort, and maybe Wii Fit (because the idea sounds interesting ). Likewise, I never touched a Mario Party game, so I'm not too sure whether I would like this.