It was just announced that the upcoming Wii game NiGHTS™: Journey of Dreams will make use of the Wii’s built-in features in ways that have not been used before, bringing the integration with the system to a new level and finally making use of some of the Wii’s unique capabilities. The Wii Weather Channel can be used in the customizable sandbox area, so that the virtual in-game weather will reflect that of the actual weather in your region. Now, if you go inside to play your Wii because it’s raining and storming outside, you can experience the same conditions you were trying to avoid right on your own TV in Nightopia:

This feature enables the game’s “My Dream” area, a customizable sand-box environment that allows gamers to capture, raise, and even combine the inhabitants (A-Life) from the world of Nightopia, to generate real-time weather effects specific to the territory players previously registered with on the Wii. For example, if the current weather forecast is clear and sunny in the players’ resident territory, the “My Dream” environment will be clear and sunny as well

Flight will also be simulated “unlike any other game available today,” providing a better control system and a more advanced way to get motion sickness from a game:

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams will deliver the feeling of flight through the innovative Wii control system. With the help of Persona masks, players will glide, spiral and loop through a variety of mystical dream worlds packed with action and adventure as they dive and blast through rings, gather orbs and come up against fantastic and unforgettable boss battles. Anchored by a storyline about courage, hope and inspiration, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is the most unique experience on the Wii.

Hit the jump for the full press release.

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I didn’t think it could happen. Smash Bros. DOJO!! has proved itself to be worth the time that Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is pouring into it. Today, Sakurai announced that Brawl will be getting what he calls a “stage builder.” The feature allows you, as the creator, to use a series of simple tools to pick from a set list of items and create your own stage. The stage creator seems faintly reminiscent of the good old Tony Hawk skate park editors, except without the rambunctious, over-the-top faux skaters hitting each other with God knows what. Masahiro describes the different functions that you can perform using the editor:

Basically, you choose parts from the palette on the side and place them in the field.

The controls vary by controller, but each one can do the following:

* Flip parts left to right
* Enlarge or shrink parts
* Zoom in or out on the screen
* Swap palettes
* Erase

…Among other things.

Possibly the best part about this announcement is that, using the Wii’s online capabilities (a phrase that I thought I would never utter), you can send the levels that you create to your friends. Additionally, if you’re feeling lucky, you can send your stage into Nintendo, and hope that they release it as a part of the daily stage-giveaway that they will be doing.

I am truly excited for this update; with a little work, and a lot of patience, the stage creator will allow nearly endless replayability to a game that is almost assured limitless replayability in the first place. When the game drops in early 2008, be sure to clear out your schedule for the next few months.