According to an EA press release, Ronaldinho will be bicycle kicking his way onto various video game systems this fall with some exclusive content for the Wii. In addition to an exclusive Mii character of the soccer/football star, the game will also include a mode called “Footii Party” that features party games called Table Football and Shoot Off.

Ronaldinho commented on the character, “My character looks like he enjoys playing football and shares my passion for the game. This is important to me.”

If anything is extremely exciting about this for me, it’s the inclusion of an exclusive Wii foosball game. The one thing the press release didn’t mention was online play, but that goes for all systems and not just Wii or DS.

Now if only they had a Bicycle Kick Forever mini-game, Jack would finally be happy.

This looks fun, being the big baseball buff that I am. Hopefully the controls feel silky smooth. By the way, has anyone successfully hit 10 consecutive home runs on Wii Sports home run derby? I never could ding more than nine.

Game Wad is reporting that the following features will be included in Madden 08 for Wii when it’s released on August 14:

• Real-time ESPN ticker updates
• Online tournaments
• Worldwide quickplay multiplayer matches
• Promised roster updates not just for the 2008 season, but 2009 as well
• Mini-game party mode, with 22 mini-games
• Miis are used in minigames

To echo the sentiments of Eddie Inzauto, “That sure is a lot of online stuff for the Wii.” Indeed. Looking like an online blowout for Wii come this fall. Patience web fans. Patience.

While I can’t say the title they chose is very exciting, this announcement is pretty big.

SEGA® Corporation and Nintendo Co. Ltd. today made a historical announcement that two of the biggest icons in the entertainment industry, Mario™ and Sonic™, are joining forces to star in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Developed for the Wii™ video game system and the Nintendo DS™ system, this momentous agreement marks the first time these two renowned stars have appeared together in a game.

Published by SEGA across Europe and North America, and published by Nintendo in the Japanese market, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will be available for Holiday 2007 and is licensed through a worldwide partnership with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), the exclusive interactive entertainment software licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

An official Olympics game with Nintendo and SEGA characters sounds like a gold medal idea to me. How can they avoid screwing up this title?

[Update: added link to official site for the game.]

Note: I haven’t been interested in EA’s Tiger Woods in a long time. I’ve played it over the years at friends house, but never really enjoyed it in favor of arcade style golf games (Mario Golf, Hot Shots, etc). That said, Tiger Woods PGA ‘07 for Wii is a great game. It’s a 9 in my book. Easy. And I don’t even care for golf games or playing the sport all that much in real life. Hitting shots feels so good on this, and it does a great job building suspense on your close shots. I’ve played with a few friends and all of us were shouting aloud after hitting eagles, long birdies, even a hole in one. The game is far from perfect, but the fun level, the depth, and what initially appears to be a very lasting experience with lots to learn, this is a no brainer for most. I don’t care if I every play another golf game on a traditional controller again. It’s that good. Though a bit too complex for non-gamers (menus, settings, etc), this is a great gamer game. Nice job, EA. (Though we need to talk about some of these minor glitches, i.e. NES-like deer graphics, funkie hole camera angles, and slight controller hiccups once in a while…)

Well, this looks absolutely amazing and completely unplayable. Previous games in the series have been ported to the US and Europe, so it’s not entirely impossible that we’ll see it on our shores. Before you get too excited, notice that the hands don’t move freely between punches, which means that your movements will likely just be replacements for button presses. But, a man can dream.

Hit the source link for the Victorious Boxer (Hajime no Ippo) website.

Infendo and football* fan, Jason, watched Andrew Surman score a hat-trick for Southampton when they beat Barnsley this weekend. He also spotted a new promotion Nintendo is running in the UK. A couple lucky footie* fans get to play Wii in front of thousands of spectators. Click the image for more details.

Looks like there will be chances to play at matches across the UK through April.

*soccer, to us Americans
[Thanks, Jason!]

NOA Rufus from Nintendo.com came up with some Super Bowl predictions using the Wii version of Madden 07. The Colts ended up winning six out of the ten games he simulated, but the Bears’ defense didn’t make it easy for them. I can’t say I agree with his methods (2-minute quarters?), but I’ll definitely be comparing his report with the results come Monday morning.

Who are you rooting for on Sunday, or are you just watching for the commercials?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab-MbbAkL4E]
Neat video of a Wii Boxing glitch. Why the YouTube comment thread for this video turned into a racist schmorgisborg smörgåsbord I haven’t a clue. I blame Jack Thompson.

[Via Joystiq]

An Australian multimedia designer is starting a movement to get a Cricket game made for Wii. So far, he has contacted EA, created a website, and put together a promo video. It looks like a good number of Aussies are behind him, too. EA already makes a Cricket game, so I can’t see it being terribly impossible for them to port this to Wii. Are any of our international Infendonians out there interested in a Wii Cricket game?

[via thebbps - Thanks, DanZ!]