Nintendo Wii Fanboy

The ever-antagonistic Jack Thompson is up to his usual business of publicly decrying anything remotely connected to video games. It doesn't get much more remote than Wendy's. According to GamePolitics, Jack sent an angry email to the CEO of the company about their association with the Wii.

As we know, Manhunt 2 will be released on the Wii. And as we also know, Wendy's has begun giving away promotional Wii-themed toys. It might be kind of hard to tell from the picture, but look closely and you'll see that the toys have nothing to do with Manhunt 2.

We may only be amateur logicians, but in addition to the inaccurate claim that the promotion of the Wii is an indirect endorsement of Manhunt 2, we think we see a hasty generalization here: one violent game doesn't mean that the entire set of Wii games (which contains the games promoted here) is violent, or that the Wii is a violent platform. Feel free to correct our analysis in the comments. We could always use more logic in our discussions of Mr. Thompson.

We don't want to make any value judgments, so we'll stick to the facts. A Wii game based on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End exists in some unreleased stage, and Jeux-France posted two screenshots of it, which we have posted here for you.

The screens depict characters from the movie in what appear to be situations from the whole series. Sometimes the characters engage in combat against enemy characters. There is a display on the screen of the appropriate Wii controller motions for the situation.

We don't want to speculate too much, but we're guessing that this game will be pressed onto discs and released to retailers near the time of the movie's release (late May). Should people want one of these discs containing the game, they will be able to obtain one in exchange for currency.

[Via NeoGAF]

Two superb Capcom fighting games are headed to the Virtual Console. Final Fight and the inevitable Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting have been spotted on the ESRB's list of rated Wii games.

The SNES version of Final Fight lacks co-op play and Guy, but has plenty of "Oh! My car" to satisfy us. Street Fighter II Turbo is just like Street Fighter II, but sped-up, with more moves, more characters, and some bizarre changes made to the color scheme. We aren't sure why we're explaining this, because everyone in the world has played enough Street Fighter II to know the different versions.

Oh, also new on the list was Tecmo's Mighty Bomb Jack. As obscure game advocates, we feel like we should be most excited about this one, but ... yeah, Final Fight is really, really awesome.

[Via Siliconera]

O', Jack Thompson, thou art gold for gaming journalists such as ourselves. Your wacky hijinks and unceasing, irrational behavior fill our lives with joy. But amidst his juvenile catcalling, logical fallacies, and overall rejection of sanity, we look at the upcoming Manhunt 2 and begin to wonder. This game might be, with the inclusion of the Wii controller, the most realistically violent game in the history of mankind. Though we still firmly believe that a game will never be the true cause of mental imbalances and disorders, we still have absolutely no system in place to prevent the sales of these games to minors; whatever you may think about Jack Thompson, this goal is an admirable one.

The industry is going to take heavy fire for this game regardless, but we feel as though his arguments hold a bit of water in this particular case. Do you feel strongly about the issue, and do you think we should have measures in place to prevent the acquisition of these games by kids who aren't equipped to properly process the violence in a nondestructive manner?

According to online reports, Jack Thomspon allegedly made a post on a Manhunt forum (we're unsure as to which forum) where he once again called Rockstar Games into question and implicated the original Manhunt as being responsible for the murder of one Stefan Pakeerah, who was murdered in the UK in 2004 by supposed friend Warren LeBlanc. The police, however, could not find sufficient evidence linking the game to the murder.

We've included this entire post, which Thompson allegedly made in the forum, after the post break.

[Thanks, Andrew; via WiiPals]

The ESRB ratings website is a veritable treasure trove of nuclear launch codes, CIA secrets, and unannounced Virtual Console games. Recently, ratings have popped up for Mighty Bomb Jack, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire. While not all of the ESRB rated games have yet arrived on the console, it's fairly certain that they'll get here eventually.

In addition, Super Ghouls n' Ghosts was announced not only for the Wii, but for the 360 and PS3. This would make it the first game to be released on all three systems' classic download services, which then brings up silly flame wars and pointless arguing.

But seriously, the Wii version will totally be the best.

(Note: The GameSpot article mentions that Galaga was also tagged for release, but we actually caught this back in January. We rock.)

We're not particular fans of EA, generally lackluster licensed games, or the mafia. Still, seeing this trailer excites us a little, if for nothing else than to beat the crap out of everything that moves. The gesture-based control system includes such perks at beer bottle throwing, choking, slapping, and throwing people into walls. Yep, our buddy J.T. is gonna have a grand ol' time with this one, and to be honest, we're a little worried. If hyper-paranoid parents get a look at this stuff, Nintendo could land in some hot soup. For now, though, simply kick back and enjoy the abject violence.

In the latest promotional trailer for Far Cry Vengeance, a new inhabitant of the island, and enemy to Jack Carver, is revealed. Frankly, we're absolutely frightened of this new enemy and anxiously await your input.

There are a lot of crackpot fans out there when it comes to Nintendo. You know the ones. They delve so deep into that world of Mario and Link that they often become unreachable. Kind of like the kid that beat Mario Bros. 3 in 11 minutes. Our new friend Jack here holds in his hands an often sought-after piece of gaming history -- the Virtual Boy. If you aren't familiar with the Virtual Boy, quickly re-educate yourself via Wikipedia.

The plot is simple. Jack has devised a plan to get a Wii. He started a site called Destroy My Virtual Boy that is dedicated to the destruction of this gaming antique. Jack has put the power of destruction in his donors hands. The highest bidder decides how Jack demolishes his Virtual Boy if enough money is raised. If he does not get the shining $250, he will cut his Virtual Boy in half. Why? Because he is a crazed Wii Fanboy.

The site is complete with donor names and their amounts given along with plenty of photos, videos, a bio and information about his Wii fund. Jack also has jumped on the self advertisement wagon and started a MySpace page.

In a way, this reminds us of Save Toby, minus the whole killing a live bunny act. What's worse is that people are going for it. So far the highest bidder is John G. who laid out $50 for Jack's cause. Though watching someone destroy video game systems can be visually arresting, we are on the fence. Do we call these donors baboons for giving in to a kid or do we call them muses for feeding his creativity?

[Thanks Dave Elliot!]