Nintendo Wii Fanboy

This probably doesn't affect any readers here (although, if you're a Japan-local Wii Fanboy, let us know!) but we discovered something interesting while drooling at the Japanese Virtual Console page.

Proving their absolute and irrational devotion to historical accuracy, the version of Castlevania going up on the VC this month will not be the same cartridge version that's already been released in the US and Europe. Instead, Japan is getting the original version, which was released for the Famicom Disk System in 1986. The differences include a save state feature and a name entry screen with music unheard in the US version! Which, unfortunately, we can't find. The idea that there's Castlevania music out there that we haven't heard makes us kind of uncomfortable.

Here's a bit of game history: when Super Mario Bros. was rereleased for the Japan-only Famicom Disk System, the "minus world" generated via a well-documented glitch changed along with the format. Instead of an infinite water level, players were treated to a whole suite of glitch-tastic levels, loaded with air-swimming and Princess Toadstool sprites floating in mid-air.
This kind of classic minutiae is exactly what we want out of the Virtual Console. We'd seriously buy Super Mario Bros. again for a crack at this new minus world. Check out the video after the break!

Late last night, shrieks of glee were coming from my living room. "Look!" cried Navi one of my roommates, urging me to the living room. "It's a system update!" Wonderful possibilities began running through our heads. Could it be an early activation of the news and/or forecast channels? Maybe they were adding new Mii features, or a proper .mp3 playing channel! Alas, such was not the case.

In fact, the update seemed to do very little, with only the cryptic message "Parental Controls updated" left as a clue. Since we (and most readers of this site, most likely) don't bother with parental controls, does any loving parent out there know what was changed?

Rumors also abound of the update fixing this little problem. HaX0rs?!

[Thanks to Brent, Sean, and all the other readers that sent this in!]

[Update 1: Our apologies; we had simply assumed the service was free. Thanks to our trusty commenters, we found a better one! For free! WiiSearcher.com!]

All right, well, maybe not us. We're too busy having way too much fun slamming our parents into the ground in Wii Tennis (except for Nikki, of course). The internet is a vast place, however, and the local denizens are sure to help you find your way if you ask nicely enough.

Welcome to NintendoFinder.com WiiSearcher.com, a wonderful place that uses voodoo and sorcery to immediately discern availability of the Wii at pretty much every retailer ever. As soon as a store restocks, torrents of E-mail are sent to any and all subscribers to the system, letting them know to get their click on. It's a great tool for those of you worried about getting a system before Christmas, and we recommend you tell your parents (nudge nudge) to check it out. You know. So they can let Santa know, too.

(Santa is a universally understood figure used for the purposes of a substandard joke. Please, no religious quarreling.)

[Thanks, Matt, for shamelessly plugging your own site! ^^]

A report over at Reuters is quoting Reggie Fils-ass kicker, name takerAime as saying that the Wii "will make a profit on the entire Wii proposition out of the box -- hardware and software." This is good news for Nintendo, who are not adapting the business models of their competition. With Sony and Microsoft, initial units sold are at a loss, so in this manner Nintendo has already managed to win in the next-gen console wars.

Now that we have the pricing on the hardware, is this the reason the Wiimote and nunchuk attachment cost a ridiculous amount of money, to ensure profit immediately?

[Via Joystiq]

During the recent interviews Satoru Iwata conducted with Japanese Wii designers and engineers, Genyo Takeda let slip that the Wii's operating system will be able to receive updates. Takeda, who is general manager of Nintendo's Integrated Research & Development division, let this little nugget slip during the third part of the first interview.

With this being a first for Nintendo as previous systems lacked this feature, the first thing one should do is try to interpret how this could benefit and/or harm Nintendo and their console's users. Of course, the benefits come in the added service of patches and including extra features for gamers. The harm, really, is nonexistent, at least in the eyes of the Wii Fanboy staff. Sure, maybe Nintendo could charge for features or something, but do we honestly expect this to be the case?

With Nintendo's press event tomorrow, we expect to hear more on the console's OS from New York city.

Development studio System 3 has scored rights to the old Epyx library of games and is already planning to bring popular titles Impossible Mission and California Games to the DS and PSP. Impossible Mission is due to grace the handhelds in January, while California Games will release in May including unlockable content in the form of older titles Winter Games and Summer Games. While these games will be remakes of their original, dust-covered cousins, System 3's founder Mark Kale said they will not be updated to 3D.

"You gotta keep the gameplay mechanics the same or else it ceases to be the original game and you're only using the game brand to sell games," Kale said. "It ceases to be Impossible Mission or California Games or what have you. ...What we're doing is we're incorporating the original gameplay and mechanics and bringing the gameplay up to date."

Kale also noted that versions of these remakes are also planned to release on the Wii, which he was quick to say had the ideal control scheme for these games. We assume the games will be sold independently via Nintendo's Virtual Console service, however the piece makes no mention of distribution plans.

Have you been a long-time poster at Joystiq or one of its awesome network-affiliated sites, only to see others have stars placed next to their name (or negatives) and wonder what exactly dictates that rewarding or stripping of star(s)?  Well, Joystiq's Vlad Cole has broken down the star system to show you exactly how it works. These guidelines apply to all the Joystiq network sites:

• Value: Does the comment enhance the topic at hand and add new perspective to the discussion? Is it a good question or interesting insight?
  
• Impartiality: This is hard, especially for Fanboy sites such as this, but as much as we loudly proclaim this system to be the superior, it detracts from the discussion at hand. It's OK to be touched with Fanboyitis, however try to curb it as best as you can as to not damage the topic at hand whilst commenting.
  
• Civility: This is just common sense. We all have opinions and want to share them, however as human beings we have the ability to exercise civility, even during the most heated debate.
• Other: Humor, wit, and bribes of cold, fresh chocolate milk. We like chocolate milk.

As such, these are the guidelines followed when hiring Bloggers for the network (you have no idea how much chocolate milk it took for me to get the job), so keep that in mind should you one day wish to kill me and take my place. Vlad is answering as many questions as he can over at Joystiq, but if you post any questions here, we'll try as best we can to answer.