Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Here's a slightly random announcement: this September, those of us not in Japan will be treated to a Detective Conan (or, as it's known outside Japan, Case Closed) game, after publisher Nobilis snagged the rights to publish Marvelous' Meitantei Conan: Tsuioku no Gensou "all over the world."

Case Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation will see pint-sized manga detective and bespectacled, precocious sod Jimmy Kudo return to locate clues, attend crime scenes, collect evidence, and tackle mini-games. His aim? To finally catch a shadowy figure who crashes the opening of a new theme park with a series of crimes.

Truth be told, this is one for the kids (much like the Japan-only DS game), but Nobilis is doing what it can to keep the hardcore fans happy: the original Japanese anime voices, for example, will remain intact. Grab your magnifying glass and sleuth your way past the break for both a TV spot and trailer for the Japanese version.

After its laughable coverage of Brain Training's "discriminatory" stance on accents earlier this year, the BBC had some work to do to get back in our favor. The feature above, part of a recent edition of flagship news program Newsnight, does just that.

Rather than automatically accusing videogames of having a negative effect on children (a default position for countless media outlets), the piece suggests that games have helped to produce brighter kids now than at any stage in history. Leading the charge for this side of the debate is Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad Is Good for You. Johnson contends that because so much modern media (the internet, interactive television, games) is no longer consumed passively, many children grow up to be "more creative, more dynamic." Later in the piece, he also suggests that games help us to believe that "complex problem-solving is fun."

There's some solid evidence to support Johnson's claims, most notably in the IQ scores of children, which have climbed considerably over the last century. Could computer games truly be assisting in making today's kids the smartest yet? We're not certain there's a conclusive answer to that, but it delights us to see the BBC covering the debate in such a measured fashion.

[Update: Not actually shown in the UK on Friday, as original post stated.]

If you spent your days as a youngin' watching cartoons, you're probably familiar with Speed Racer. Yet, most fans of the series are all grown up now, considering that it aired over a decade ago. (Yes, Speed Racer X was around more recently, but that doesn't count since it got yanked after only a few episodes.)

That's why we were kind of baffled after watching this interview with the game's producer, Jeff Nachbaur. Nachbaur explains that the target audience for the upcoming Speed Racer title is 8-12 year olds, so the developers focused most of the game's testing on them. He also mentions that kids will love the roller coaster-esque tracks, in case you weren't sure that this game was made for kids. While we can definitely see those in a young age group becoming enamored with the new movie (which is what this game is based on), what about the gaggle of oldschool Speed Racer fans (like this blogger)? Will we enjoy it, too?

Perhaps -- after all, Mario Kart is an all-ages racer -- but the constant emphasis on this being a kids game has us a little less excited.

[Via GoNintendo]

And guess what company is at the top of the thing?

Yup, Nintendo ranks pretty high on the list, with Mario's latest outing on the Wii enjoying "top dog" status. Coming in at the bottom of the list is The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on the DS. The two sandwich in eight titles, mostly for the Wii, including Mario & Sonic at the Olympics and EA Playground.

We figured we'd mix Dean's list up a bit and have you all pick your favorite kid-friendly Wii games. What do you think is the best the system has to offer for younger gamers?

Brian McConnell left his son, Adam, alone with a game of Wii Sports: Tennis for only a few moments to fetch a drink, but that was all the time the little demon needed. Not even a Wii remote strap could've saved Brian's plasma TV once the three-year-old set his mind on avenging a lost match.

Brian came back to the living room to find his £1,000 television ruined, its 42-inch screen bashed by his Wiimote-wielding progeny. Queue up the darth_vader_nooo.jpg images.

The forgiving father let Adam off the hook with only a light lecture and a two-week Wii ban. That's a lot more lenient than the hanging, drawing, and quartering punishment one of our NintenDadz would've sought.

[Via Engadget]

Pandemic Studios, best known for big-kid games like Destroy All Humans and Full Spectrum Warrior, are working on a new children's game for Wii. According to a quote on Business Week's website from Pandemic Chief Executive Andrew Goldman, the game is the reflection of a desire to do something fresh and offer new gameplay, in a medium that they see as becoming stale. "The Wii does something new, and draws people back in."

We have to wonder, is it really wise to go on record with sound bites like that as they're promoting their Xbox 360/PS2/PS3/PC war game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames? We suppose it will sell anyway.

[Via NeoGAF]