Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Gamasutra has posted an interesting piece that deals with a topic close to (most of) our hearts: the frequency of Wii Shop releases in North America. Its findings seem to support the popular view that Nintendo has slowed down when it comes to digital releases these last few months; as the above graph demonstrates, only 47 items (ten of which are WiiWare titles) have been placed on the Wii Shop during the first five months of this year. That compares with the 81 items (all Virtual Console releases) that appeared in the last six months of 2007.

Before you get too angrified about this, know Nintendo is not alone in its recent relaxed approach to digital distribution. Gamasutra also profiled Xbox Live Arcade and the PSN Store and discovered similar results -- only whereas Nintendo is padding out its downloadable releases with more WiiWare releases, XBLA is filling more space with Xbox Originals (while lowering the number of XBLA titles), and the PSN Store is carrying more PSP titles (as it reduces the number of PS1 and PS3 games that also appear on the service).

So what's going on? Well, it beats us. As Gamasutra points out, digital releases are ideal for filling an empty spring/summer schedule, so you'd think Nintendo and its rivals would be stocking up on their digital wares at this time of year -- but apparently not! Hit the "Source" link below for more informative and colorful graphs.

Dip your toes even further into the ever-growing pool of WiiWare goodies and you might just go insane. Well, RiverMan Media hopes you'll remain right in the head just long enough to check out their upcoming puzzler MadStone.

Use your Wiimote to bust these giant concrete blocks (or stones, then) to release gooey moon-balls of spirit gunk called SkySigns into the mana pools below. Why, it's even touted as not one of, but "the most intense, dynamic, and relentless puzzle game ever created." Sure, there might be a bit of ego coming into play there, but if it results in a great game, score one for confidence.

Along with the gameplay video we've dug up, hit the gallery for some high quality stone-smashing screens.

We've got the goods on the Nintendo Channel. We're experts. With all the killer stuff available online elsewhere around the world, Nintendo also falls into the "expert" category for having the good sense to launch the service in Australia and Europe. Why, it's not even very late!

PAL gamers can now catch up on a bunch of videos and interviews they have been eagerly waiting for, including the highly-anticipated DS demo download service, which should prove to be a hit for those tech-savvy kids and grandmas. It's a free download, so make sure to get connected and updated for the release on May 30. Like, tomorrow. Cancel all those dates, fellas!

IGN has a rather extensive interview, along with other media, for WiiWare title Defend Your Castle. We don't have to tell you how good this new downloadable title is looking, so when we hear the developers behind it made a conscious effort not to do a quick port of the PC Flash game and instead are working to completely overhaul it, adding in 4-player co-op and the new graphical style we all love, we fall in love.

XGen Studios, your chocolates and roses are in the mail.

We'd like to point out that the only Bomberman we know about is the Wii Ware Bomberman game announced via the Japanese Wii Ware page. This scan is interesting, though, because it reveals some details about this upcoming Bomberman game we're assuming is the Wii Ware version.

This latest scan shows the game will retain that Bomberman look and we're crossing our fingers that it will retain that classic feel, as well. And, thanks to this same magazine scan, we can confirm the game has 8-player support for online fun. It will also include 39 different stages and is scheduled for release on Wii Ware in Japan this June. Oh, and it will also feature Mii integration.

Like we said, this could be a new retail Bomberman game being developed for the Wii, or it could be the Wii Ware title. We're leaning toward the Wii Ware game, but it's not like Hudson hasn't hooked us up with retail discs containing Bomberman in the past.

Following yesterday's news of developer Engine Software's Project Bang! being the next title to hit Wii Ware, many were wondering what was up with the blurb about Wii Ware launching in March of this year. Personally, we'd like to see the service launch in March. It's as good a time as any for us.

But, Nintendo isn't willing to confirm or deny that is the launch window for their download service. "Nintendo has not made any official announcement regarding the launch of the WiiWare service," Nintendo commented. So, with no news on what exactly Project Bang! is and no solid launch date for Nintendo's service, we're left where we started. And that place is desperately waiting for the day we can download Dr. Mario on our Wii.

[Via Go Nintendo]

Sad smiley faces at the ready, everybody -- looks like Masahiro Sakurai has remembered he has an actual game to make, as this is going to be the last dojo update until January 7th. The good news is that it's a pretty decent one, with two pieces of news and tons of screenshots.

First up, we have a new item to purr over: the Dragoon. Capable of one-hit KOs, this powerful addition to the Brawl armory comes in three parts: the nosecone, the hull, and the tail. Collecting all three lets you target your fleeing foes, before unleashing all sorts of crazy havoc on them. Like the Smash Ball, however, Dragoon components can be fumbled if the holder is hit, and the parts are also dropped if you lose a life.

Secondly, we're given the skinny on the new "Smash Service," which you'll have to switch on if you want to receive data from Nintendo (including snapshots and the daily fan-made stage) and your friends. The stuff you'll get from Ninty gradually cleans itself out, freeing up your memory in the process, though anything sent by your friends will have to be either deleted manually, or saved to an SD card.

And that's it. See you again for more dojo delights on January 7th, when we'll finally have something to read again on these cold, lonely winter mornings.

Here in Europe, we have our own version of Japan's Club Nintendo loyalty scheme, with one critical difference: while Japanese gamers are routinely given access to completely rad bonuses, the past few years have thrown up few treats for those in Euroland. Nothing but a natty selection of wallpapers, ringtones, and stationary templates.

Happily, that just changed for the better. From today, European Wii owners will be able to exchange their Star Points for Wii Points, giving themselves access to a whole world of nutritious, retro-flavored goodness, via the Virtual Console.

Four Star Points will apparently be worth one Wii Point, but what does that mean in monetary terms? Well, each Wii game is worth 250 Star Points, the equivalent of 62.5 Wii Points. Hence, buying eight Wii games will net you 500 Wii Points, the cost of a NES game on the Virtual Console.

That's a fair number of Wii games just to download a single NES title, but we still embrace this development whole-heartedly. Some of us have been saving Star Points for years, patiently waiting for the day that Nintendo of Europe would make collecting the things worth our time and effort. Today, we got our reward. Read how to convert your Points at the link below.

[Via Eurogamer]

Not only have we (potentially) had a year with the Wii, we've also had a year with the Virtual Console. We've seen some great classics released this year in all regions, from the original Legend of Zelda to Super Mario Bros. 3, and some more obscure titles, like Devil's Crush. Of course, there are a few that we've love to see that are thus far no-shows, but even so, we feel pretty satisfied overall with the Virtual Console in its debut year. How about you? How many games have you downloaded? Would you like to download more, if you had an endless supply of storage space and Wii points?

We were sitting in our sound-proof Concentration Room, just pondering stuff, when we had a thought: why did we have this room built? Immediately following that, we had another thought: where was Wii Ware at E3? There was this huge trade show for video game companies to show off their video games, which Nintendo totally did, and they didn't mention Wii Ware at all.

In fact, other than a single game announcement immediately before E3, we've heard shockingly little about what should be a very big deal. What's your take on Nintendo's silence? Why didn't they show any Wii Ware stuff at E3? Maybe there wasn't enough to show. Or maybe what there is will completely upstage boring, everyday stuff like Super Mario Galaxy.

The Wii Ware gold rush seems to have started. Austrian developer Bplus announced that they have the official okay from Nintendo to release a game on the download service. The game, Plattchen Twist 'n' Paint, is a "puzzle shooter ... which has been designed specifically for Wii and its innovative new controller." No idea when it'll come out, of course, since that would inadvertently tip Nintendo's hand about the real Wii Ware release timeline. Assume a release date between "2007 holiday season!" and "When monkeys fly out of my butt."

Bplus was smart to make this announcement now when it'll get the most attention. We get the feeling that there will be a massive influx of Wii Ware announcements in a few days.

[Via 4cr]

Chris Kohler of Game|Life interviewed Nintendo of America VP George Harrison about the future of the Wii system, and his responses were, well, generally unsurprising. We wouldn't expect Nintendo to suddenly change their strategy in the midst of such success.

Harrison said that because of the high prices of the Wii's competitors, he expected the Wii to have a lifecycle longer than the traditional five years. (Would that mean more than 35 million installed units in the US?) And it'll continue to have a pack-in for some of that lifecycle, since Wii Sports is a "cultural phenomenon" that is helping to draw people in to the system.

Harrison also mentioned that more Wii software targeted at Nintendo's new "expanded" audience would be revealed at E3, and that a game download channel is in development.

There's more, including some weird comments about localizing Virtual Console games and a response to the continuing shortages. Go read the whole thing, if you are so inclined.

Aeropause's Stephen Munn, reacting to a recent Everybody Votes Channel question about how people preferred to buy music, suspects that the Everybody Votes Channel may not be just about harmless fun.

He believes that this question is aimed at gauging interest in a future music download channel, implying that the Everybody Votes Channel has always been an attempt to get marketing data from Wii users and pretend it's a game. We're going to have to add this plausible theory to our our own list of Everybody Votes conspiracy theories.

What do you think? If this is true, are you outraged? Or does the intent of the service not matter as long as you're having a good time?

Four new games up this week on the VC, and despite the fact that three of them are from Sega's Mega Drive, Nintendo still manages a fair amount of diversity in this week's selection. By diversity, we mean that they don't all involve outer space or badassery ... well, okay, you got us. These games actually are about space and/or fighting, because what the Virtual Console really needed was more beatdowns. In space.

• Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle - Mega Drive - 800 Wii points
• Shockman - TurboGrafx - 600 Wii points
• Virtua Fighter 2 - 800 Wii points
• Wonder Boy in Monster World - 800 Wii points