So how do we win the Madstone challenge WITHOUT any type of gaming skills?

Because that's my only option at this point in time.

Hey everyone!
Good luck with the challenge! It's always fun for us to hide little secrets in games to reward good players. Don't be discouraged if it takes you some time. I can't even pass savant mode, and I helped make the game!

And don't forget to use your Wii Remote jackets -- I don't want anyone breaking holes in their TVs from frustration

-Jacob

Glad to see the developers doing these contests-very nice. If only they did them for games I have and/or plan to buy in the near future.

Only in America =(

Heh, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes for twenty people to pass this mode.

I applaude Riverman Media for this, it's a great idea and something I hope other companies will also do in the future

Sounds pretty sweet. Good luck beating it, everyone!

Wow, that's pretty awesome!

Donning his Marvin The Martian impression:
This makes me very angry indeed.

@Riverman Jacob

Although I'm not able to play the game and participate to the contest, I'm very glad about the fact that you've put this kind of a "press certain button certain amount of times" secret to the game. It reminds me of some great NES and PlayStation games. It's always great to have hidden secrets and codes in a game.

This certainly makes me appreciate your team more!

I could use some more points as i only got 1900 points in my account at the moment But unfortunately this contest is not for Australians & the game not yet released here & my gamming skills are pretty c*** .

While im likely to buy this game when its released here but unfortunately this comption is not for me .

Is Savant mode like the Tetris Attack cheat where the titles won't stop rising (even during combos) by any chance?

Also, I noticed any other cheats mentioned...its nice to hear WiiWare hasn't forgotten about button press codes like the rest of gaming...

I can beat arcade mode on hard, I wonder how hard Savant mode is

Oh, someone's a comedian.
It's probably true though. I get lost in EVERY Zelda game. It's ridiculous.

That's pretty cool how the developers included this hidden thing in the game though.
It gives me hope that Tetris Party actually DOES have 18 different modes, and I just haven't discovered them yet.

I wonder if they'll do this again when the game is released in Europe. IF it's released in Europe...

Wow, I just ordered Masdtone with Tetris Party the other day, and I am so impressed with Riveman Meedia. I love this contest idea! I have to start practicing!

Awesome! great idea,
Button codes are cool, and so are wii points incentive based contests ("achievements?") Giving out some free points now and again is just great advertising, but Nintendo seems totally adverse to doing it at all. I know they aren't hurting for money, but still I think wiiware and VC would be huge if they included a little with consoles or gave some away. I think some "casuals" never even touch the shop channel stuff.

I know they aren't hurting for money, but still I think wiiware and VC would be huge if they included a little with consoles or gave some away. I think some "casuals" never even touch the shop channel stuff.
Nintendo are aware of the mistake they made...that is why with the DSi that will come with 1000 free DS points.

Prehaps they should do an points e-mail for registered Wiis bought before a certain date and bundle 1000 Wii points with new Wiis...but all that is wishful thinking as I think most people who registered their Wiis know how to use the internet and hence the Wii Shop...

Maybe when club Nintendo comes to America, you can get wii points via club Nintendo

@x.SuperMario.x: They counted the multiplayer and single player duplicates twice.

@Sonic_Spin08: I wouldn't count on it being any good though. ATM, a 1000 points card is going for 4000 points on the UK CN website - the equivalent of sixteen full priced Nintendo games (ie £33+), or several Wii consoles (I think). I just wish all my 6500 points weren't lost when they revamped the 'site (sob). When they introduce points for WiiWare / VC titles though, that'll be good.

I realy hope that the prices for things on CN will go down. 16 games for a 1000 points card! OMG!

If you only get cheap games, its a helluva lot more. And remember - only Ninty games apply.
Still, I got my 2200 pt Mario Kart Wii cap recently, whilst I point and laugh at those who immidiately purchased the 500pt Brain Training pen.
Nothing will be as expensive as that limited edition 15,000 point Zelda statue (60 full price games - £2,100/£2,400. Now if only we got what Japan get (Mario Galaxy soundtrack, Game & Watch DS compilation, SNES style Classic Controller etc).

dude i might buy the game now
idk yet i might wait a til 2moro to see what we get

I decided to write to say that i beat madstone in savant mode!

Took awhile for me to get my computer set up to send it. Also thought I sent it but hadn't. Luckley I checked back.Whew!

Proof?

@longtimegamer: I agree with x.SuperMario.x - we need better proof than "my arms are sore now". Oh, and combine your posts into one, please, rather than posting three times seconds after each other. UPDATE: Thanks.

Oh, and welcome to WiiWare-World!

@longtimegamer
is the madstone good?
i wonder if we`ll get gradius rebirth tomorrow
that`d make my week holmes.

Chill out wii. I had to check the site after i wrote up my score. Sorry if it bothers you. Deep breaths now.

@Longtimegamer. You're multi-posting is annoying me too. You know you can edit posts, right?

On another note, welcome to WWW!

Anyway, I am totally getting this game now! If only I could find the password on my router and get my Wii reconnected to the internets. By then it might be too late.

Now I leave. There's a project for school I need to work on.

Yeah, why no message boards here? we could totally run on some conversations here. Not that I need another new timewaster.
Also, I don't get why the US never got the "nintendo club" thing like other countries get with contests and gifts and stuff. Sounds like fun to me. Maybe they figure we are already TV/ Video game junkies so they don't need that level of marketing here. They'd be sorta right, but still wheres the love? So which do people who have both recommend: Madstone or Groovin' Blocks?

Oh....kay.
1.) There are forums here.
2.) You can edit your posts.
I'd suggest doing this, and adding posts together to refrain from annoying everyone.
3.) Having 10 out of the last 16 posts is highly unnecessary.

Sorry if it bothers you.
Bothers me too.

I just sent my score in

I thought that WWW were working on their own, seperate forums. What happened to those?

Actually Alex, I did. My arms were sore too.

I think i may be the first one one the board.

I talked to them to see if they got it. Sounded like a cool guy. He asked how long it took me. i told him i just saw this today. H e said i must have got good fast. If he saw this comment, he could verify it.
i just check and its not up yet. so that should prove it when you all see.
I wish that it had a way to save our scores. This contest made me come back to it though.
Chill out wii. I had to check the site after i wrote up my score. Sorry if it bothers you. Deep breaths now.
Seriously. I really wasn't trying to bother anyone. I am new to this, so i'll try to do the best I can. I just couldnt see why it would annoy someone

Seeing as this website is fairly new, I imagine the staff has a lot on their plate.
I recall Corbie saying several things were being looked at, and others being worked on.

As of now, VC-Forums has it's own WiiWare category, for those who like talking on this site.
So I don't see any immediate changes that need to be made at the moment.

@ longtimegamer -- It's cool. Just try to make one post with everything, instead of several short posts. It prevents these articles from being cluttered.

They probably deleted that Forums tab on this site because it was unnecessary.
We don't need a page telling us the forums are being worked on. I'm surprised that tab was ever there to begin with.

I know about the WW category, I just recall the button at the top that now says "comments" having a forum link at one point. I'm fine with the VC-Revs forum and all, I just wanted to know why they cancelled the other one.

@LTG: I'll forgive you if you edit your posts together and delete the old ones. Chop chop. UPDATE: You are forgiven.

Wow. It would be cool if CAPCOM (sorry, I like to spell the name in all caps) did something like this with Mega Man 9. The article could go as follows:
"Hey, if you're one of the first 20 to beat MM9 on Superhero mode, we'll give you 2000 Wii Points since it was lame of us to charge you for an extra difficulty anyway!"
I actually have been considering getting this. Too bad I only have 300 points. On another note, I got a new 1 gig SD card to add to my 512 mb one. The 512 ran out, so I had to get a new one. Hooray for horrible memory formats!

Oh, and I have a question... I just got Metroid Prime (a little late, huh?), and I popped it in my Wii, but it's acting stupid. The disc has few blemishes, but I've only played about 30 minutes and the game has already encountered an error with reading a cutscene. Does anyone know if there's a reason for this? My Wii was manufactured for/shortly after launch (got it on eBay), and it seems to have a bit of trouble with GCN games (sometimes encounter Disk read errors) and VC games (they'll run, but sometimes they take a minute to turn on). Would it be better to just play my GameCube games on my Cube; that is, is it more tolerant of minor blemishes?

@Ren - N says that North America will be getting Club Nintendo before the end of the year.

Anyone checked the scoreboard yet? Longtimegamer wasn't lying. Also another dude is there who did it on....October 14? How is that possible?

My scores up there now.us I just found out about the contest and beat it the same day, but this contest must have been out longer.us Wish i knew about this earlier so I could have done it first.
I'm just glad that I'm done. I was getting tired of trying to beat it(my arms especially.)
Oh and I tried to edit some of my posts.us I didn't realize that I could.us Thanks.

apocalypse: Yea I'm a little annoy about that. Could try to beat his hi score now, but I just don't feel like going through that so soon.

@Apocalypse

Its possible because he probably beat the mode before he even knew about the contest

@clayfrd
haha no sh*t right?
-what do you guys think is coming out tomorrow?
gradius rebirth maybe?...
GASP
Alien Crush Returns is supposed to come out in October sometime and next monday is november so YAAAAY IT COMES OUT TOMORROW I CALLED IT!!!!!

"To play the game on Savant Mode, choose a 1-Player game and Arcade Mode from the title screen. Then, on the "Choose Difficulty" screen, press down on the D-Pad about 10 times. If you enter the code correctly, the cursor will move below Master difficulty and the game will begin in Savant mode."

@breaderer: That's pretty much impossible if you ask me.

@Apocalypse

well then, whats your explanation?

apocalypse: actually he must have lucked out in discovering the code.us It actually tells you what to do at the end of the game.

Idk, longtimergamer is probably right. Still, it's pretty weird. Who presses 10 times down on a D-Pad on a difficulty screen without knowing what he's doing?

YES! I just got an extra 2000 points from this contest!

Who presses 10 times down on a D-Pad on a difficulty screen without knowing what he's doing?
Someone who doesn't know what he is doing does that would be my though. But I have to ask does the difficulty screen usually loop (as in pressing down on the bottom option takes you to the top one)? They might have had trouble deciding which to pick and stumbled upon it like that...

Now if only we got what Japan get (Mario Galaxy soundtrack, Game & Watch DS compilation, SNES style Classic Controller etc).
I remember Club Nintendo launched with some items Japan had (so the ones Europe got were probably the leftovers), things like the DS game racks and notebooks. It then degraded into outdated PR material (Wii fit Summer items on the first day of Autumn ). Iwata...send us over some old stuff, please But it seems that Nintendo has this idea to focus more on digital in Europe (to be fair their physical items come from the Netherlands and shipping from there isn't exactly free but in real terms so are the items as they are just a loyalty reward/retainer, also they might be on a tight Club Nintendo budget).

We've got our first three winners! Congratulations to Danny S, Caleb, and longtimegamer! I can't even beat savant, so you totally pwn me! Keep an eye on the MadStone Top Players board, it will be updated daily:

http://www.rivermanmedia.com/component/content/article/31

Jacob

PS: Danny S. found the Savant mode code on his own by beating master difficulty.

PPS: European Wii owners, don't worry. We'll be running the same contest again starting fresh when MadStone is released in Europe.

@Riverman Jacob- Will the competition be running in Oz?

@Riverman Jacob - and that will be when...?

@longtimegamer: Congrats, man. Oh, and thanks for editing your posts down. Also, are you using predictive text on your browser (hence .us appearing now and then).

@Starfox_UK: I noticed the bad timing of the Wii Fit items as well. Ninty lost out on some secondary marketing there. Plus, have you seen the new rip-off music voucher thingamajig? That one's really overpriced.

@Clayfrd: 512mb? Dude, that's old. I've just ordered a 2GB Wii branded card off Play.com for under a fiver (free delivery) - that's a pund cheaper than the one gig card!

@Breaderer: Well done.

@Shadows: I called it a while ago. And you were wrong anyway.

Congrats guys!!
So winners, how hard is it, really? Is it really that tiring? How long did it take you?

"PPS: European Wii owners, don't worry. We'll be running the same contest again starting fresh when MadStone is released in Europe."

That's good news!

Hi Knuckles. My arms were getting sore and working up a sweat. Also, I wanted to beat the top score but when I tried a second time to do that my hands were aching so bad that I had to take pain releaver for it. So I guess I'll put off trying to beat that as I don't think I want to suffer that kind of pain again today. Also it must have taken 4 or 5 hours maybe? not completly sure. Also the computer was a pain in the butt on the last level. I was worried that they were going to throw one more level at me.
Thanks wiilove and yes I was probably using it for some words.oops.

Wow. Nice to hear.
And just to double check, is this open to Canadian residents also? I thought it was only open to NA Wii Owners (which would include us as well) since we have it on our Wii Shop and no other region does as of yet. Can someone verify this for me? Preferrably, longtimegamer?

Hi guys-- the leader boards are open to anyone who can buy a copy of the game. However, due to regional restrictions on Wii Points, we are only able to give the awards to residents of the US and Canada. (I've updated the contest notification to add Canada, since I think we can transfer Wii Points there.)

We'll definitely figure out a way around this by the time it comes out in Europe.

Have fun!
Jacob

Hi Knuckles. I went to the site and it says"(US residents only)" but, someone here found that mode early and got their score in by October 14. Maybe you can get in ahead of time? Could always email them too.

Oops, I guess he answered before i did. ☆ Hopefully(once my hands are rested) Riverman media will allow me to post a new highscore.

Well there you go knuckles. I guess you can. Good luck. Also check out their site for strategy advice. That may help.

@longtimegamer: Wait - your arms/hands are aching? Well why didn't you tell us sooner?

Ha, ha funny wiilove. Well knuckles Did want to know about it and if it was tiring:)
Thanks mr.cheese.

@Longtime. #3? Congratulations, my friend!
Hopefully It'll stay up there. And I'm glad to see you've edited your posts together. It just keeps these threads nice and clean. I made a lot of double-posts during my first few weeks as a member too, so no hard feelings.

Wait a second... are you copying the fact that I changed my avatar, Cheesy? Ok... just don't tell Corbie.

I can't believe that there is still only 3 people on the madstone leaderboard. I wonder if anyone else is still trying to beat it? If I could do it, I would think others could. hmmmm. Just curious.

Its probably because many won't know of the contest and/or unlocked the mode and/or finished it but didn't realise there would be prizes for registering. I'm certainly giving it a shot. Now, could you tell me how hard it is compared to Galaxy Man (the only level I've completed) on MM9? Or, how hard would you say it was on a scale of one to ten (one being Nintendogs, ten being Cruel Brawl in SSmashBrosB and Mario Galaxy hovering around a six (possibly seven for the whole game).)

Hi wiilove. I have fun with this now that I know what I'm doing. I just put up a new highscore and it was alot easier this time around. I haven't played mm9 yet so I dont know, but based on how hard the games used to be. 8 ?? I don't know. the last boss (skull guy) is a real pain in the butt. I thought I did pretty good until I got to him. You really have to be able to make high combos if you really want to have a chance. Also shaking the controller at the right time (when hes got madstones on his side and having a big enough meter to really mess up the CPUs chance get of many stones in the manapool.) I could give more advise if you need it. Its pretty fun once you know what youre doing and start getting huge cascades of madstones coming done.

^ Just wondering whether I should give the contest a try at the EU release. As long as it's not in the next update (not enuff monies), then I'll definitely try - plus, I get a good game out of it as well!

Knuckles are you trying to do this contest or did you decide against it? There's still only 3 people up on the board.

This could be hard! O_o But I will prevail! Only 6 people on the leader board. ^_