Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We think we're going to have to start reading or watching Bleach so we know what's going on in Bleach Versus Crusade and the DS fighting games. Our interest in the DS games has been motivated mostly by love of developer Treasure, and that is certainly driving our desire to play the Wii game as well. But we can't help but think that it would be nice to know who all these people are and why they're fighting.

Even as a context-free fighting game, however, we think Versus Crusade looks pretty nice. You can see for yourself in the latest batch of screens, originally posted on the official site, but visible in a much less annoying Flash interface on Wiiz.

If Treasure is going to continue making Bleach fighting games -- Bleach: Versus Crusade is the third, a very unusual occurrence for a developer that shuns sequels in general -- we're going to have to start learning things about the Bleach series. Right now it's "that one anime with the Treasure fighting games." Actually, now that we think about it, that's enough. We don't really care who all these people are; we're quite satisfied to know them only as cool-looking cel-shaded characters in this game, who often fight in tag teams.

It's possible that this game will play much like the DS Bleach games. Versus Crusade, according to this Famitsu post, supports both the Classic Controller and the GameCube controller. That doesn't rule out a continuation of the existing Wii Bleach style, but the Treasure involvement suggests otherwise.

Sega has announced a followup to its Bleach GameCube/Wii fighting game series, as pretty much everyone expected -- it's a manga license, for one, and other consoles' Bleach series have been prone to sequelitis. The latest fighting game is called Bleach: Versus Crusade, which is maybe the most straightforward name for a fighting game ever. It looks sufficiently like Shattered Blade that we're going to guess that Polygon Magic is still developing.

These scans from Shonen Jump reveal the first screens of the new 3D fighter, which features online battles. In addition, Sega's Versus Crusade site has opened in teaser form, promising new content on the 29th. The Sega x Bleach portal site already has a short video of the game in action (it's chapter 2 on the sidebar).

Want to try the Wii fighting game that Gamespot rated a 3.5 "bad"? No? What if we told you that it was based on an anime series? Actually, Gamespot's review score for Bleach: Shattered Blade is way on the low end of a fairly equal distribution of scores from 35% all the way up to 80%. What does that mean for us? It means we have no idea whether or not we'd like it, and neither does the reviewing community in general.

If you ever wanted to try Shattered Blade, either due to Bleach fandom or love of fighting, today would be a good day for it. It's Amazon's Deal of the Day for $20.

Gamefly is having a sale on some of its used-but-in-great-condition games again, also offering free shipping to spice up the deal a bit. As always, we're passings these savings along to you, while picking out a few we think are worth highlighting for their respective prices:

• Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire for $12.99
  
• Dewy's Adventure for $14.99
  
• NiGHTS for $14.99
  
• Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law for $14.99
  
• Manhunt 2 for $14.99
  
• Victorious Boxers: Revolution for $15.99
  
• Soulcalibur Legends for $15.99
  
• Bleach: Shattered Blade for $17.99
  
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for $27.99
  
• Super Mario Galaxy for $36.99
  

Click on the picture or "source" link to see the full list of Wii games, but keep in mind that you might be able to find some of them cheaper elsewhere.

When we say screenshot explosion, we mean it. JeuxVideo put up fifty screens from Bleach for everyone outside Japan to sigh over. It's been out there for months, and we haven't seen any sign of a non-Japanese release, which we think is a travesty, particularly after seeing the trailer. Hit the jump for a selection of screens, and let us know what you think the odds are that we'll ever see this in an English-language version.

Loads of people, especially Nintendo haters, have been questioning the quality of the Wii graphics. French site, NGCFrance, has put up 13 sets of images from games featured on the GameCube and Wii one after the other to compare the difference, if any.

We wouldn't completely trust these screens, fellow Wii fanboys/gals. We aren't saying that the site intentionally altered screens to try and make a negative point nor that the pictures are wrong due to our Nintendo fandom, we are just saying to look with an open mind. We especially love the Fire Emblem comparison. Magic blast vs. magic blast. Sweet.

On a lighter note, Google translator is teh awesome. Check out what a Nintendo Fanboy from France had to say in Nintendo's defense:

me yesterday I played there the mgs and DIFFERENCE EAST MUCH CLEARER than that!!!!!!!! because laWii same on a screen of 120cm reacted very well and remains super beautiful!! and sonic be superb!!! not no concern it above Wii will be more beautiful, more powerful and heuresement!! ^^ zelda tp pouwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwa!!! brilliant comamdes!!!

Whether or not you're a fan of the anime Bleach, it's hard to argue with a good round of ass kickery. One of the first things we thought of when the WiiVolution was first introduced, way back in the long ago time of 2005, was a fighting game. What better use for the controller than beating down your best good friends?

Bleach looks to do just that. This new trailer is equal parts gameplay footage and hot Wiimote-swinging action. Check it out after the jump.

For those of you who've seen the anime and/or read the manga, the characters from Bleach need no introduction. For the rest of us, I guess they're dudes with swords? Regardless, the newest screenshots and information released clearly show an emphasis on maintaining the visual style and events depicted in the anime and manga. The article also confirms that the Wiimote will be used to dictate the direction of your character's slash.

Honestly, we think we deserve some sort of prize for resisting the temptation to concoct a hilarious headline that involves the words "Bleach" and "Wii". Feel free to make your own--just be careful when you choose to inflict them upon us and the countless fans of the manga and anime series.

Sega has unveiled a teaser website for a forthcoming Wii Bleach adaptation, though "teaser" may be somewhat of a strong word to apply to a single image and some cryptic text. We can only assume (and hope) that it promises a hyper-stylized, cel-shaded adventure with plenty of wiimote-waving swordplay. The Wii won't be a success until someone makes one of those, right?

[Via 4cr, Thanks Hobbes!]