Nintendo Wii Fanboy

FFCC: My Life as a King's director, Kenichiro Yuji, commented to 1UP that fans of My Life as a King (and fans of spending money on DLC) aren't going to get downloads anytime soon. "All DLC has been available since May 30. That's everything for now, and we have no plans for future DLC at the moment." So much for more downloadable bikini outfits!

How many of you have picked up some DLC for My Life as a King? Want more? Could care less?

We can't help but be skeptical about the DLC in Guitar Hero World Tour. As Wii owners, we're used to being burned when it comes to this kind of thing, and we hate getting our hopes up. "Fool me once ..." and so on, right?

Vicarious Visions is trying to assuage our fears, though, confirming to MTV Multiplayer that Wii version will have downloadable content. According to Karthik Bala, CEO of the company, the DLC will even be actual songs (as opposed to the user-created content that's also a feature in Guitar Hero World Tour).

Bala didn't elaborate on that last feature (called GH Tunes), so we're not sure if it will make an appearance on the Wii; the CEO says that more details on GH Tunes are still to come. We do feel better about the downloadable content though -- at least a little bit (old habits die hard).

Proof that Japan gets everything awesome -- including first dibs on new releases, Super Famicom Classic Controllers, and giant mechas piloted by bratty kids -- the island country's Minna no Nintendo Channel (Everybody's Nintendo Channel) has started to post student-developed games in its DS downloads section.

For those of you unfamiliar with these titles, Nintendo hosts a 10-month seminar every year in which 40 students take courses on programming and game design, eventually working in teams to develop small DS games to be featured through download stations in Japan. This year's batch consisted of four different titles, including Wakerai no Heya Tsuzuki, a Hotel Dusk-styled horror adventure, and Nan de Momo Koko Yasan, a touchscreen coloring game.

Wakerai no Heya Tsuzuki has already been posted on the Japan-only (for now) Minna no Nintendo Channel, available for free until April 22nd. Presumably, the other three student-developed titles will be set up with a similar arrangement in the coming weeks. Though we doubt Nintendo of America will bring these Japanese releases over when it finally releases Everybody's Nintendo Channel in the states, at this point, we would be happy just to have the dang channel! It has been almost five months since the channel debuted in Japan!

While you already know our stance on Lonpos's downloadable content, you probably didn't realize how much wallet maiming would actually be going on.

In Japan, nine puzzle packs were released this week. While that might seem like good news at first for the puzzle lovers in us all, it's not. Each puzzle pack costs 500 Wii Points (or $5, if you will), meaning that all nine packs come to a total of $45. Let's not forget the $10 to download the starter pack of Lonpos to begin with.

A puzzle pack includes twenty-five puzzles, which means that all nine packs would admittedly be a lot of content, but this still doesn't sit right with us. At the very least, the initial gimped version should be cheaper to download off of WiiWare.

With this much DLC at these prices, we'd have preferred that Genki released a disc-based game instead. Think about it: if you don't think you'd like Lonpos, you won't want to download it in the first place. If Lonpos interests you, though, you're going to want as many puzzle packs as possible, and feel completely deflated by the money Genki is asking for.

It seems that Genki has gotten the concept of nickel-and-diming down to a T.

Don't get us wrong -- we're not against downloadable content by any means. Yet, the way in which microtransactions were presented during the WiiWare launch for games like Lonpos and My Life as a King seems really ... cheap. And by cheap, we mean the DLC is a total cheap shot, because it's actually expensive. Take Square Enix's title, for example, which released $13 worth of downloadable content on its first week. Yes, we're familiar with the "If you don't want it, then don't buy it" argument (and we won't), but all of that just sours us on the game in general.

What do you think, though? Are we being to hard on Lonpos and My Life as a King? Or, is there a wrong and right way to present DLC? Then again, it could also be possible that you don't support any microtransactions. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Here's the good news:

Nintendo project leader Takashi Aoyama recently announced that Wii games would soon feature downloadable content. If you're unfamiliar with this service (which is currently prevalent in the other current-gen systems, the PS3 and Xbox 360), this means that you'll be able to download additional content for your games via Wi-Fi.

There's no word on what games will offer DLC (though we can make guesses on a few that will and won't), nor have we heard about potential memory limitations with the inclusion of this service. Add-ons will be available for both Wii Ware titles and disc-based games, though.

As per usual, Wii owners will be able to purchase such content with Wii Points or a credit card.

Now, are you ready for the bad news?

While you already know tons of information about the upcoming Smash Bros. game, you should probably know what not to expect. Many of your hopes and dreams have given birth to compelling rumors, but it's time to put those rumors to rest (and never wake them again).

Masahiro Sakurai managed to clear up some things in a recent interview with IGN -- things we may have already known, but didn't necessarily want to believe -- so check after the break to see what's not in store for you this March (or June).

Further proof that the Wii is truly a next-gen system: Wii Ware will bring the nightmare of for-pay downloadable content to Wii games. Mojipittan, which we were just being all positive about, will be the first downloadable game to include (or, well, exclude until you pay for it) extra downloadables, including stages and items. Why include the stages you've made when you can sell them later?

From there, it's only a matter of time before the slippery slope delivers us straight into unfinished games with content held back for more money, "premium" Mii parts and Wii Menu colors. Welcome to the future! Hope you brought money.