Image from IGN.com

Industry insiders know that EA, among other big publishers, decided that Wii was going to fail and didn't emphasize it. Well, those publishers were burned.

This is the primary reason why third party games on Wii have struggled. However, going forward we should expect better things as publishers have changed course and devoted more time and money to Wii, and Ninja Reflex is an early fruit of that result.

Taking the Wii Sports idea and making it about, well, ninja stuff, is a great idea. Apparently the development team traveled throughout the Far East to get ideas for the game, which include grabbing flies with chopsticks and Katana sword fights.

Wait a minute. The former is from karate Kid and the latter anyone could have thought of. Methinks they just took a big vacation on the company dime...

In any event, this IGN.com previewed the game at the GDC and had good things to say about it. I've been keeping an eye on it as well. Yes, it is getting released a week before Smash, but try to find a place in your heart for it!

IGN's preview.

P.S. Check out the comments after the IGN article; it is always hilarious to read people go into the predictable "here's what a Ninja REALLY IS" debate whenever any game uses that subject matter.