Nintendo Wii Fanboy

A recent announcement that Europe would be getting a bloodless version of No More Heroes didn't go down well with many of our bloodthirsty commenters. At the time, PAL publisher Rising Star Games refused to reveal what was behind the decision, but more light was shed on the omission earlier today, in a joint statement from director Suda51 and producer Yasuhiro Wada (pictured above unsuccessfully trying to give away free toilet roll and autographs on the streets of Akihabara).

Turns out that it was Suda and Wada themselves who decided to drop the outrageous levels of gore from the European version, citing the "broadly growing Wii market" in the region.

Not that this affects many of you, as the U.S. version still contains plenty of the crimson stuff. Buckets of it, in fact.

Since the Manhunt 2 debacle, there's been a lot of discussion about the differences between graphic games and graphic films. Everyone seems to have a different opinion about which is worse. In fact, two recent articles were not only completely at odds with one another opinion-wise, but they used some of the same examples! However, they did focus on slightly different subjects.

Seth Schiesel of the New York Times thought movies were far ahead of games on the gore factor, and he cited comparisons between Saw II and Manhunt 2. Since the most graphic moments in the latter were short, and of course, animated, Schiesel found the lengthy, almost loving shots of "torture porn" in Saw II to be much more disturbing.

Clive Thompson of Wired, however, thinks that games are much better than most recent films at creating a frightening atmosphere. Movies rely far too much on gore, he said -- citing Saw as both example and possible progenitor of this phenomenon -- while horror games can recreate the chilling, anxiety-inducing feelings of the best horror films the genre has ever offered, because (Roger Ebert would hate this reason) horror games take a very artistic approach to mood and atmosphere. While he talks mostly about BioShock, the principles can be applied to many other games; he mentions Silent Hill and Resident Evil as well.

So our question today is: where do you stand on this? Can games go further and do more, or are films still the benchmark for horror and intensity?

As Infendo writes about one of the funniest headlines they've seen on the Nintendo News Channel, we imagine the title of this post as being the tag line for one of the greatest movies ever made: Clinton and Gore's Excellent Adventures. Move over Bill and Ted ...

Are we nuts, or does it look like they're going to kiss?

With all the Midway love for the Wii lately, it's no real surprise that they've announced another title for the console. However, the spine-ripping action of Mortal Kombat raises several other speculative possibilities. Will MK hit the other next-gen consoles? Will it use the Wiimote? How many of us will be jumping around in our living rooms screaming, "Fatality?"

In an odd twist, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is being released first for the original Xbox and the PS2, with the Wii version to follow several months later. This seems like a strange move, considering it will lead to inevitable comparisions to the similarity of the Wii, spec-wise, to the current gen systems. Of course, the Wii isn't designed to be an expensive powerhouse that brings slightly better graphics into our gaming experience, but intent and purpose don't always matter, after all. The comparisons will be made. On the other hand, however, as this is the first Nintendo Mortal Kombat since 2004, its presence, along with hyper-mature games like Sadness, point to Nintendo's dedication to support games that really are for everyone, from kid's titles on up. Way up.