Namco Bandai just sent off a bunch of new screens for Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard. The screens feature everything from splitscreen gameplay down to penguins on skis. If you were wondering, yes, we do approve of penguins on skis. It defintely gets them around faster than walking and, boy, are they cute. Click on the image above or hit up the gallery below for the new screens.

For a cutesy game about cartoony, low-detail characters in vast expanses of snow, Namco Bandai's We Ski series looks a lot better than it needs to. Not that we're complaining! We'd always prefer to enjoy looking at a Wii game whenever possible, and developers don't always enable us to do so.

The latest screenshots of We Ski & Snowboard are a bit small, but the nice lighting and detailed mountain backdrops are still clearly visible. We might be crazy (for snowboards!), but we think this one looks better than its predecessor! Again, not like we can make such judgments based on tiny-ish screens. We can safely say it looks nice!

One more Wii game announcement from Atari! The company has announced plans to bring Namco Bandai's Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard to Europe in February of 2009, one month before We Ski & Snowboard is released in the US. The sequel will be released under the streamlined title Family Ski & Snowboard. Like its predecessor, which was used as a sort of proof of concept for the Balance Board, Family Ski & Snowboard supports both Wiimote/Nunchuk controls and the Wii Fit accessory.

Two new locales, Mt. Angrio and Jamboree Snow Resort, are playable in the sequel, which also adds new features like half pipes, animal search and rescue tasks, and, of course, snowboarding.

The new followup to We Ski may improve on the reality of the snowboarding and/or skiing experience. Aside from the obviously reduced costs associated with playing a Wii game versus taking a vacation, and the sharply reduced likelihood of serious falling-off-a-mountain-related injury, Family Ski: World Ski and Snowboard allows you to play a game of snowboard tag under the supervision of a guy in a dinosaur suit. We're glad to see the silly suits return.

Speaking of silliness, the new course in World Ski and Snowboard also features a gigantic donut to jump through. Also there are normal races and half-pipes and such, if you're interested in stuff like that.

Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard looks cute and fun, sure -- mostly because it looks a lot like We Ski. In fact, it pretty much is We Ski, just with the option of turning the Balance Board sideways and some new levels, and yet we're oddly compelled by these screenshots. Whether or not you enjoyed the games' predecessor, which got mixed reviews, we'll guess you'll find these shots as appealing as we do.

Nintendo announced a lot of games last night at their Japanese conference. Many of them, like Punch-Out!! here, were brand new. Some, like Supan Smasher and Cosmic Walker, we still don't know anything about. But we've got screenshots. So many screenshots.

After the break, you'll find galleries of all the new games, along with new screens of some upcoming games we've known about for a while. Of special interest to us: the previously-announced Oboro Muramasa Youtouden, coming to the US as Muramasa: The Demon Blade, because it looks super hot, Karaoke Joysound Wii, which appears to have art by Parappa creator Rodney Alan Greenblat, and Takuto of Magic (Wand of Magic), which appears to be a followup to Taito's LostMagic on the DS.

Nintendo used the first Family Ski from Namco Bandai (called We Ski here) as a showcase for the Balance Board, to show that the board could be used for more than exergaming. One of the next titles to use the Wii Fit peripheral will be ... the sequel to Family Ski!

Called Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard, the new game adds (obviously) one new method of downhill transport, the snowboard. The snowboard can be operated like the snowboard in Wii Fit, using a rotated Balance Board, or with the Wiimote alone. The new game also features a new locale, the Jamboree Snow Resort, with all-new courses.

We've already witnessed Europe (and particularly Britain) going absolutely potty for Wii Fit, and it won't be long before the region gets its next Balance Board compatible game.

Luckily for Namco Bandai, it's one of their games. Family Ski (it'll be keeping the Japanese name for its European release, though whether it gets the angry U.S. boxart is still a mystery) will be reaching the pistes of Europe on June 13th, just in time for when the folks there start getting bored of Wii Fit, and disused Balance Boards begin to clog up closets and attics.

We Ski continues to take the tundra lightly look like an infectious bundle of fun. Just check out the folks in this first English-language trailer for Namco Bandai's ski-me-do, giddy with excitement as their chibi avatars pull off stunts and swerve effortlessly across the slopes. That'll be us! Soon! With each passing trailer, we find ourselves wanting to play this more and more -- with the Balance Board, naturally (though four Balance Boards won't be cheap).

This latest round of footage came from Namco Bandai's Editor Day event, and there's more past the break.

To most of us, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is old news. The U.S. has had it since last summer, and even Europe has been enjoying the game for a few months now. It only debuted in Japan last week, though, and we were happily surprised to see it make the top five. It only sold 32,000 copies in its first week, but that's still not too shabby for a Metroid game in Japan. Hopefully, the game will have some legs and not plunge off the charts after its first week, like many other first-person shooters tend to do.

As for other software, the Wii didn't have too many games in the top thirty -- only eight, in fact -- yet it was still the second most represented gaming system on the charts. With the exception of the aforementioned Metroid and Everyone's General Knowledge Training TV, all the Wiis top games have consistently stuck around for (at least) a few weeks.

In other news, Smash Bros. once again failed to take the first place spot. The game beat out last week's chart champ, the new Gundam for the PS2, but fell behind the newly released Yakuza 3.

In hardware, the Wii claimed the top spot once again as Japan is clearly so over the Mint Green PSP (that was so five minutes ago). You can check out the hardware and software numbers for last week in Japan after the break -- we recommend that you do so.

The Japanese boxart for We Ski (Family Ski over there) used a simple ski-resort signage theme. It may not have been the most exciting boxart, but it's pretty nice-looking, and kind of serene. Very vacation-y. The American boxart dials the serenity way down and the excitement way up. We expect the totally extreme skiers here to be headed back to the lodge to slam some Chibi Mountain Dew. Except for the guy in the back, who just came along because there was an extra ticket, even though he doesn't really like skiing.

The facial expressions remind us of Nintendo of America's frequent edits of Kirby boxarts. Nintendo knows that if we're going to buy a game about a spherical pink baby, he had better be one angry baby. A few examples can be found after the break.

People interested in Japanese game sales probably have one question on their minds: Did Super Smash Bros. Brawl hold onto the top spot last week?

Well, the answer is, no. The new Gundam game for the PS2 managed to end Brawl's reign, and end it convincingly. In fact, Smash barely stayed in second, with Wii Fit being right up the fighter's grill.

The Wii itself also lost the top spot last week, overtaken by the PSP in hardware for the first time since Brawl's release. Aside from those major changes, though, everything looks to be what we'd expect, with Winning Eleven and Family Ski continuing to champion the cause for third parties.

Go on and take a look at the numbers after the break ... or else.

Yep, the sport itself might be the preserve of those wealthy enough to blow $800 on a jacket, but it looks like Namco Bandai may have paupers like us in mind when it comes to We Ski. The game just appeared on GameStop sporting a bargain-basement price of $29.99. That's our kind of sport!

Of course, in skiing it's the extras which really hit your wallet, and that seems to hold true in the case of Namco Bandai's game. Throw in a Balance Board and enough Wiimotes and Nunchuks for all the family to get involved, and suddenly We Ski starts to sound about as expensive as skiing again. Oh well.

[Via Go Nintendo]

After hitting up the slopes for a few hours, some fresh screens for We Ski have settled down by the fireplace in the lodge. As we sip hot cocoa and enjoy the crackling fire together, we ask what kind of multiplayer features We Ski has. "4-player fun, you say?" we excitingly inquire, taking care to pour our eyes over every single last screenshot.

You, too, may join us at the fireplace. All you need to do is check out the screenshots in our gallery below and you will be whisked away to a fantasy land of splendor. Or, you know, to a ski mountain.

Narrowly avoiding the obvious and overused pun, Namco Bandai has announced intentions to bring its Japanese Wii title Family Ski over to North America as We Ski. Like the Japanese version, We Ski will be fully compatible with the Wii Balance Board, allowing players to shimmy and slalom their way down the virtual mountains.

We Ski matches Nintendo's family-friendly aesthetic with cutesy customizable characters, and the option to import your Mii's and let them join in on all the snowy action. In addition to the standard ski modes, the game also includes free-style and photography modes, and allows up to four players to ski free on over a dozen courses.

With the title announced for a spring 2008 release, and the Wii Balance Board making its way to North America on May 19, We Ski will undoubtedly become the unofficial companion game to the Wii Fit package, as the first third-party software to support the peripheral.