Nintendo Wii Fanboy

When will the UK stop freaking out about Bully? If you guessed "Never," "Probably not anytime soon," "Not in this lifetime," or "Is that a rhetorical question?" then you're on the right track.

The newest slew of censorship whinings stemmed from a commercial for the game, which some people found "offensive," "distasteful," and (insert negative adjective here). The ad featured typical Bully shenanigans: destruction of property, wedgies, and so forth. The Advertising Standards Authority received thirty-one complaints about the commercial in question, as a handful of folks were upset that children could easily see it on their tellies.

Take Two blames sensationalist media coverage for the complaints, and as for the ASA? They don't seem too worried, as the organization declined to take any action regarding the ad. Even so, Take Two has no plans to run it again in the future.

To see the "offensive" commercial for yourself, just click past the break.

If British accents annoy you, do not click this link. This one. Right here. It will take you to the Feel Great Britain website, where group after group of chortling, crumpet-eating British lads and lasses have a go at Wii Fit. The site is designed to complement to upcoming Feel Great Britain tour, running through July and August.

Nintendo aren't just sitting back and letting Wii Fit sell itself (which it does quite nicely, thanks). It's good to see they understand that exercising is an ongoing activity, and they are willing to actively support the product during the months ahead. If you happen to be British and haven't balanced your way to fitness yet, check out the website for official tour dates.

It still puzzles us that the BBC was so keen to make its (admittedly excellent and very popular) iPlayer catch-up service compatible with the Wii. Are there really that many Wii owners out there with internet-ready PCs who would opt to use the service on the Wii's slightly clunky Opera browser? Why not just use your PC to watch the latest editions of Gavin & Stacey and The Apprentice? You know: the one you're using to read these words, right at this very second?

Not only that, but the iPlayer on the Wii is hardly user-friendly. Text is so small that it's almost unreadable, loading times are hardly ideal, and the low resolution of the Wii's browser makes navigation awkward. Cue the intervention of WiiPlayer, a hacked version of the iPlayer that has been optimized for Nintendo's console, and is now available for use at http://defaced.co.uk/wiiplayer.

It won't work on your PC, and it goes without saying you'll still have to reside in the UK to use this, but WiiPlayer does do a sterling job, replacing the iPlayer's teensy text and browser-taxing layout with pleasingly chunky, Wiimote-friendly icons and a cleaner, less cluttered appearance.


[Via Tech Digest]

Of course, we always expected as much. Preorders for Nintendo's fitness title were sky-high in Blighty, with the game pretty much selling out before it even appeared on store shelves. Even so, the record-breaking success of Wii Fit may have surprised the most optimistic of Nintendo executives.

Over the weekend, Wii Fit became the sixth fastest-selling UK videogame of all time. That's an impressive achievement for any title -- until you remember that the Wii Fit bundle costs almost as much as two games (£70). Then, the achievement stops being merely impressive, and becomes jaw-dropping. It also set a new record as Nintendo's fastest-selling game ever in the UK, beating out poor old Mario Kart Wii, which held that particular title for ... two weeks. Ouch.

Now we know what makes you people tick: the BBC. Our inboxes (and comments) have been flooded with news about the BBC iPlayer in one of our most-tipped stories ever.

If you're one of the five people who didn't send us this tip and don't know what's up, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) announced today that their iPlayer, which allows viewers to catch up with BBC shows online, is now compatible with the Wii. And yes, that means you'll be able to watch Dr. Who, EastEnders, and other such programmes on your TV to your tea-drinking heart's content.

Should this venture by the BBC become successful (which we think it will -- after the news was announced, the number of people using the iPlayer rose significantly), we wouldn't be surprised to see other major networks adopt their services to Nintendo's console.

That's not to say that the BBC isn't running into some problems with the idea, though. Right now, the network is quarreling with ISPs over who should pay the extra service costs. Even so, the player can be used as soon as today, with more polished video quality promised in the future. You'll probably also be relieved to know that the service is free, although it will cost you money to download Nintendo's internet channel if you haven't done so already.

The other catch? The BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK, for the time being, but BBC Worldwide is apparently working on getting an international player up and running.

[Via TVSquad; thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

It sounds as though the Wii has friends in high places, at least in the UK. Queen Elizabeth II recently talked about getting her Wii on, and now British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has revealed he's also a fan of Nintendo's console and that he and Liz get together for a spot of Wii Sports boxing every other Sunday.

Brown hasn't shied from criticizing video games in the past, but admitted in a BBC interview that the Wii was a hit at 10 Downing Street, and also that his four-year-old son could run rings around him at Wii Sports tennis: "I have played a game of tennis. It didn't leave me out of puff, but that was because I was beaten pretty early on by my son, and he's only four." Not your greatest moment, Gordon.

boomp3.com

[Via Go Nintendo]

If you're familiar with the Manhunt 2 saga, you'll know that things were looking good for Rockstar. The company recently won an appeal against the BBFC, meaning that the controversial game could finally be rated and sold in stores in the UK. The BBFC had one last trick up its sleeve, however. The board essentially appealed the appeal by bringing the Video Appeals Committee's decision under judicial review. That's where we last left off.

Unfortunately for Rockstar, the High Court sided with the BBFC. The VAC must now reconsider its appeal, which for all intents and purposes probably means, "Change your decision to agree with the BBFC, or else."

During the trial, the BBFC argued that the VAC's decision undermined the board's role as the watchdogs of entertainment. This may be true, but what is the point of having a Video Appeals Committee if it's not able to uphold appeals? This is also a huge blow to Rockstar, because it gives the company little hope of ever being able to sell the game in the UK.

Rockstar is also currently dealing with criticism in the UK for its new rendition of Bully, which is coming to the Wii and Xbox 360 later this year.

[Via Games Industry]

Poor Rockstar -- the games publisher and developer just can't get any love in the U.K. Britain not only bullied Bully the first time around, forcing the game to change its name to Canis Canem Edit, but The Telegraph is now criticizing the new Wii and Xbox 360 versions. The latest gripe comes fresh after the Manhunt 2 controversy, which has yet to be resolved completely.

The Telegraph disapproves of the game because it "features a shaven-headed pupil who torments fellow students and teachers at his school." Like many video game critiques, this opinion is mostly inaccurate and also alarmist. An organization known as BeatBullying is also unhappy with the new Bully, claiming that Rockstar tried to bribe them for their support with a donation. Certain retailers like PC World and Currys refuse to even carry the game.

Rockstar is known for pushing the envelope with edgy games, but we have to imagine that they're tired of all these headaches by now. We know we certainly are.

Remember back when we told you Nintendo was looking for families in the UK to try their hand at Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree? Well, turns out they found their family in the Chouhan family from Leicester, who recently won the event in London. They ended up walking away with £20,000 to put toward University fees. Nice!

Karen, 50, daughter Chhaya, 17 and son Amar, 10, won the contest by getting the highest score out of all the participants. The family plans on splitting the money, by using £10,000 to pay for Chhaya's University fees and setting aside the remaining money into a trust fund for son Amar. "We're both amazed and speechless. This is such an amazing prize and Chhaya and Amar will benefit so much from the free university fees," says Karen.

Congratulations to the winning family!


[Via Go Nintendo]

Nominations are open for this year's BAFTA game awards -- or perhaps we should call them the BAVGAs these days. And despite the fact that nominations close in July, games are eligible so long as they're going to be released in the UK sometime before December 31, 2007. So it's quite possible that games from the future could pick up awards.

This year's categories seem to have some room for Wii: Action and Adventure, Strategy and Simulation, Sports, Multiplayer, Casual, Use of Audio, Original Score, Technical Achievement, Artistic Achievement, Gameplay, Innovation, Story and Character, and Best Game. Casual? Sports? Gameplay? Innovation? Hell, we haven't even started thinking past Wii Sports yet, either. We'll keep an eye out for the full list of nominations and let you know when they're up. Have any Wii predictions? Let us know!

The final release of Harry Potter, one of the most widespread, wonderful literary series ever written, is coming to a close come July 21st. We'd like to take a moment and salute J. K. Rowling for reintroducing the better part of a world to the joys of reading, because hey, if no one read, we'd be out of our jobs. Pick up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as soon as you can, guys. Trust us.

Harry Potter and the Japanese Hardware Sales

"Harry," said Ron, slightly out of breath, "Snape'll go nutters if we're late again. Remember what he did to Neville?"

"Yeah," replied Harry, throwing himself down a shifting staircase and sprinting through the corridors. Snape had used a particularly nasty hex on the frequently tardy Neville, turning his hands into N-Gages. Harry allowed himself a momentary shudder.

They rounded a corner and began the descent into Snape's dungeon of a classroom, Harry's least favorite place at Hogwarts. Even disregarding his immense dislike of Severus Snape, Harry had never had much of a knack for Potions; it was always his lowest grade of the term.

Suddenly, Ron stopped dead ahead of him. Harry slammed into his back, nearly toppling the two down the hard, stone stairs.

Boris Johnson, a journalist and member of British Parliament, recently spoke out against video games in all shapes and forms, stating "as the strobing colours die away and the screen goes black, you listen to the wail of protest from the offspring and you know that you have just turned off their drug," later going so far as to call these kids "addicts." We wouldn't be so quick to label these kids as addicts, instead choosing to label said children as nothing other than "brats" and perhaps offering a solution in "beating some sense into their backsides." Perhaps we're horrible people or have no idea how to be proper parents, but we can honestly say, during our youth, that nothing of the sort occurred between us and our parental units.

Boris attempts to further strengthen his argument by reinforcing the addict stereotype of children who cry and crave video games, one which we would have to wholeheartedly disagree with. Anything, when looked at in a certain way, can be considered addicting, including the Tylenol we take for our head aches. Of course, he could just be incredibly out of touch with today's youth. Also, who's to say that these kids don't behave this way with everything else in their life, crying at a lack of chocolate or when they are denied purchase of a certain toy whilst shopping with their parents?

We cannot begin to assume what is going through this man's mind, but we know we do not agree with it. What say you, lovely Nintendo faithful, in response to his claims? Is he just a British version of our good friend Jack Thompson, choosing to attack gaming as a drug instead of violent games and their affect on youth?

According to the Guardian Unlimited, the UK site Play.com has been awash in Wii preorders -- 7000 in the first nine days, making it the "biggest and quickest launch ever on the site." With months to go yet until the console's release (December 8 in Europe), people are already jumping to reserve a Wii. In the vacuum left by Sony's decision to delay the PS3 in Europe, it looks like the Wii's going to be a little popular.

And, inadvertently, the Guardian reminds us why Wii Sports has been bundled with the console to push units outside gamer markets. In an attempt to explain what the Wii is and what can be done with it, they said, "you can play tennis, golf, or baseball, you can bowl or box or play something called Zelda Hands-on, which is a sword fighting game." The uh, emphasis would be ours. When you hit Play.com to reserve your Wii, don't forget Zelda Hands-on. We hear it's a real winner.