I'll tell you a secret: I got kicked out of arts and crafts in fourth grade. I was too busy beating up flirting with Patrick McHellen to pay attention to stuff like glue sticks and foldable tabs. But if I hadn't gotten booted, maybe I would've been able to make this...
Look like this:
That right there is a papercraft version of the new Wing controller for the Wii, made by Nyko. Normally, I wouldn't blog about third-party controllers – but I was lured to this press event by the residual guilt I feel at being cast out of arts and crafts all those years ago, and by the promise of hands-on with Mega Man 9. Well, Nyko delivered. I got my time with Mega Man 9, although it was the same build Capcom demoed at E3 (where they were caught on live feed by IGN, epically failing at their own game, apparently). And I also got to try out their new controller – which syncs with your Wii mote to take the place of that itsy-bitsy Classic Controller. I wasn't too impressed with Mega Man 9 – but that's just because I hate dying over and over again until I learn something. As evidenced by getting kicked out of arts and crafts, I hate learning. But I do dig the retro graphics and I'm really looking forward to the evil robot chick. It's about time Mega Man had some gender equality in the villain lineup. According to Capcom PR dude Tim Ng, there were going to be two female robot villains – but the second girl was scrapped because the developers didn't want fans to feel like the series was changing too much. (Oooh, scary! Two grils!) Something that needed to change, though, was that Classic Controller. It's just too damned retro. We didn't like the SNES controllers all that much to begin with (which is why they evolved into N64 controllers), so why shove a throwback down our throats when we want to play retro games? The Wing is out this October and look for Mega Man 9 this month.