It's Monday morning and I am typing to you live from Seattle, where the constant wetness makes it a perfect day to stay inside and screw around with the Wii Virtual Console. This week's offerings are actually three different shades of awesome. First comes pink-tinted awesome in the form of Kirby's Dream Course (SNES, 800 Points), which is one of the "Hey, he's a ball..." series of Kirby games. This time around he's a golf ball and you get to beat him with a stick until he goes into a hole. Awesome. Then comes Devil's Crush (TGFX16, 600 Points), which is the more Satanic version of the Alien Crush pinball game for the TurboGrafx. As I have stated previously, video game pinball is delicious. Finally we have Shining Force (Genesis, 800 Points), the second game in one of the most enduring and varied RPG series of all time, which Sega has only just recently gotten around to screwing up. Definitely three different flavors of awesome this week, whether you like to whack things with flippers, beat things with sticks, or carefully plan out your beating things with sticks. Enjoy!

WII-KLY UPDATE: THREE NEW CLASSIC GAMES ADDED TO WII SHOP CHANNEL

July 23, 2007

Ah, the three classic summer leisure activities: golf, pinball and battling hordes of evil creatures. Luckily, it's Monday and once again Nintendo has you covered. Players can hit the crazy links with the spherical Kirby, become a pinball wizard or just enjoy an afternoon of helping good triumph over evil. So pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade and settle in for some classic gaming fun.

Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wiiâ„¢ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Pointsâ„¢ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week's new games are:

Kirby's Dream Course™ (Super NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): Step up to the tee for the wackiest golf game of your life. This one- or two-player game features a floating golf course in the sky. High above Dream Land, players can pitch and putt the ever-popular puff ball, Kirby, through a maze of three-dimensional obstacles on a zany checkerboard course. Players must aim for the multitude of enemies that are spread throughout each fairway. Kirby must hit all the enemies to make them disappear, and the last one becomes the hole. Sink Kirby into the hole to advance to the next stage and clear all 8 courses - 64 holes in all.

Devil's Crush (TurboGrafx16, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone - Animated Blood, Mild Fantasy Violence, 600 Wii Points): Devil's Crush is the exciting sequel to the hit pinball game Alien Crush and features even smoother ball movement and enhanced special effects. Shoot the ball onto the board with the Devil Shooter, then use flippers and nudging to keep it in play and rack up a high score. Complete certain conditions to play up to six different bonus stages. Get a "Perfect Clear" on those to earn a huge amount of points. The game's ominous theme is enhanced by its enemies: wandering skeleton knights, sorcerers and even a giant face that changes from a goddess to a sinister serpent.

Shining Forceâ„¢ (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): In ages long forgotten, Light fought Darkness for control of the world. Finally, the Ancients defeated the evil ruler of the dark forces known as Dark Dragon and cast him into another dimension, though he vowed to return in 1,000 years. As time passed, all memory of Dark Dragon was buried, and the land of Rune enjoyed 10 centuries of peace. Yet, as promised, the dark ruler returned, along with hordes of evil creatures that ravaged the land. As chaos erupted, several strongholds of Good still held out, awaiting a hero who could wield the Powers of Light.