Great games blog

If you’ve been having a tough time accruing enough coins in Club Nintendo to get your very own copy of Game & Watch Collection for DS, know that Nintendo is planning to parcel out nine different Game & Watch classics to DSiWare in Japan. Kotaku reports that Nintendo will be offering each individual game for a very reasonable 200 DSi Points over the summer, meaning you can have your own piece of gaming history on the go for a measly $2.

There’s no word on these escaping Japan, but considering that a majority of the content offered on DSiWare there has made its way over here, it’s likely only a matter of time.

Game & Watch & DSiWare originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square Enix continues its assault on the Virtual Console in Japan with the third installment in the Final Fantasy series, as Game Watch is reporting FInal Fantasy III will be available on the Virtual Console for 500 Wii Points some time this month. We’d be super excited about this, if not for the DS remake that had already released, which gave those of us in the West our first taste of this game. But, hey, we get that some people might want to play the original, and not the enhanced DS remake. Are you one of them?

[Thanks, Justin!]

Final Fantasy III coming to the Virtual Console this month (in Japan) originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Japanese schools have integrated the Nintendo DS into their curricula before, but now there is a program specifically designed for that use. Demonstrating its commitment to make the DS a multifunctional lifestyle device, Nintendo announced a new educational program being made in collaboration with Sharp System Products. The DS Kyoushitsu (”DS Classroom”) program allows a teacher to use a PC to interface over local wireless with up to 50 DS systems in a classroom.

The system can be used for problem sets, with the answers checked automatically and sent to the teacher’s PC, surveys, tests, and other multiple-choice activities. In addition, non-multiple-choice questions can be answered by writing or drawing on the DS’s touch screen, with screen images sent to the teacher.

The program can be used with any DS, so presumably it’s up to schools whether or not they need to provide hardware. We’re pretty sure Japanese school kids have easy access to DS systems already.

[Via Andriasang]

Nintendo reveals specialized DS software for classrooms originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We were all set to gush over Super Mario Kart and the promise of some charmingly retro party gaming (for two players at a time, of course, which we suppose is part of the retro charm), but Gust disrupted our plans by releasing something on WiiWare that is weird and ill-advised enough to demand our attention. Game Sound Station is a subscription-based music streaming service available on WiiWare — almost exclusively for listening to Gust game soundtracks. If you’d like to pay for a week of unlimited Atelier and Ar Tonelico game music, here’s your chance!

The other WiiWare game, peakvox escape virus, is sort of a Snake crossed with Geometry Wars experience. As a DNA codon, you pick up other DNA around a level to form a chain, carefully navigating your increasingly long chain around enemy viruses. The game has a variety of other modes, including one that turns it into a shooter.

Virtual Console:

• Super Mario Kart (Super Famicom, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
• Assault (Arcade, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

WiiWare:

• Game Sound Station (1 player, 1,000 Wii Points)
• peakvox escape virus (1 player, 500 Wii Points)

VC/WiiWare Tuesday: Super Mario Kart and … streaming game music originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week’s Japanese Virtual Console releases aren’t going to thrill anybody: another Langrisser strategy game that we’re unlikely to see, and Mappy, which you can and should play on your North American or European system. But the WiiWare releases this week should prove pretty exciting — to Japan. Except for Onitore, which is Drill Sergeant Mindstrong.

Out of Galaxy: Koshika is a new manga from Leiji Matsumoto, creator of Galaxy Express 999 and Space Battleship Yamato (as well as, yes, that Daft Punk thing). It’s the first manga title to premiere on Wii, and it’s a big deal! Also exciting: the return of Tecmo’s classic Tsuppari Oozumo sumo wrestling series. The new 3D models are nowhere near as cute as the Famicom sprites, but we’re still happy to see the game’s return. Is WiiWare low-risk enough for a localized sumo game?

Virtual Console:

• Der Langrisser (Super Famicom, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
• Mappy (Arcade, 800 Wii Points)

WiiWare:

• Out of Galaxy: Koshika (1 player, 500 Wii Points)
• Onitore (1-4 players, 800 Wii Points)
• Tsuppari Oozumo Wii Heya (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)

VC/WiiWare Tuesday: Out of Galaxy, into the Wii Shop originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s plenty of essential sightseeing spots and activities any tourist must partake in during a visit to Japan, such as hitting up the local jumbo-sized arcades, dropping by the beautiful Sensoji Temple, and falling in love with a washed-up actor in a luxurious hotel. However, according to travel site TripAdvisor.com’s Top 20 most popular Japanese tourist destinations in 2008, the third-hottest locale for visitors was Tokyo’s Pokémon Center store.

It seems a little silly that a retail outlet dedicated to Poké-merch was so outrageously popular amongst Japan-bound travelers last year. Then again, where else are you supposed to heal your sick or injured pokémon — the veterinary hospital? Don’t be ridiculous.

[Via Kotaku]

Pokemon Center is a hot Japanese tourist destination originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo of Japan has announced plans to release the DSi console in three cheerful new colors: pink, lime green, and metallic blue. All three will be released on the same day, March 20, and will sell for 19,800 yen ($195), the same price as the currently available black and white DSi systems.

Haters of the North American blue version will now be able to direct their ire toward these garish new colors, out of our reach though they may be. Fans of the blue may find themselves envious of these even more vivid colors. We’re sorting out some rather complex emotions ourselves.

[Via Wii Everyday]

Three new colors for DSi in Japan originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this month, a Japanese trademark for World of Goo was spotted, registered by Nintendo of Japan. This lead to conjecture that Nintendo would publish the indie WiiWare hit in that territory. Nintendo’s Tom Prata has kindly confirmed the speculation, telling us that “Nintendo will distribute World of Goo for WiiWare in Japan starting in the second quarter of 2009.”

The company certainly seems taken with the game, which is now pretty much the poster child for WiiWare. At the DICE summit, 2D Boy’s Kyle Gabler even joined Prata onstage for a presentation about Nintendo’s interest in putting more indie games on WiiWare and DSiWare.

World of Goo coming to Japan in Q2 originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News, Imports, WiiWare

Fujisoft’s Minna no Theater Wii (Everybody’s Theater Wii), essentially a video rental service, will launch on January 27 in Japan, after slipping from its original December release date. We already knew that purchasing the video viewer cost 500 Wii Points, but now we have concrete prices for renting content:

• A single title for two days: 300 Wii Points
• Two titles for three days: 600 Wii Points
• Three titles for five days: 800 Wii Points

When it launches next month, 3,000 pieces of video content will be available. These span 150 franchises, including Astro Boy, Transformers, Hajime no Ippo, and Dogtanian. Anime currently dominates the line-up, though movies, drama, and educational shows will also be present, if a bit scarcer.

A further 50 pieces of content will be released every month following the launch, and Fujisoft claims its content comes “close” to delivering DVD quality. It’s just a shame we’ll probably never see this here to test that statement.

Everybody’s Wii Theater dated, priced in Japan originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News

Analysts think that due to the continuing decline of the U.S. dollar and the 13-year high for the Japanese Yen, you won’t be seeing too many hot deals on Nintendo’s Wii this holiday season. With the Yen being so high, it drives up the cost of Japanese goods for U.S. retailers. And, seeing as how the U.S. economy has been in such bad shape all year, merchants have discounted their goods to offset that fall to a point where they can’t afford to lower prices to attract customers any more.

Wii Fit, one of the items analysts see as being a must-have this season, could be most affected. With the profit margin on it so small (same goes for the Wii console itself), retailers can’t afford to cut prices. One positive thing to come out of this, however, is that the Euro has been on a decline, as well. This means that Nintendo should be shipping more to the U.S., whereas in the past, Nintendo focused on Europe first.

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