Nintendo Wii Fanboy

When you can't think of an original name for a new Wii title, simply add "party" to the end and call it a day. The Wii is great for parties, so reminding everyone of their obligation to entertain friends while gaming is standard issue these days. The upcoming Tetris game for WiiWare admirably follows this trend, with the latest information on Hudon's Japanese website displaying a name change and a lamentable delay.

Tetris Party is no longer released in July 2008; we're stuck with a "sometime 2008" instead. Well, that's for Japanese Wii owners, but hopefully the localization won't take a decade or something. All joking about the name aside, there's no reason this shouldn't be a great game. Tetris always is!



[Via Siliconera]

In Japan, game launch parties are associated with personal appearances from games' creators, free stuff, and huge lines. In the U.S., however, they're all business, generally just an opportunity to get a game a little early. The Nintendo World Store is an obvious exception to this rule, with crazy, publicized launch events taking place for every big Nintendo game.

Whether at the NWS or at your local Sam's, do you go in for these events? If so, do you go just to pick up your game, or is there a special appeal to hanging out at a store? We've never participated in the whole midnight-launch thing or really any other launch event, but that's only because they're, like, outside of our house.

We may be Wii experts, but we aren't exactly party experts. We hear a lot about the Wii being great in social settings, but since it doesn't come preloaded with friends, we e-hermits remain alone in our (separate) caves.

Lucky for you, then, that some real party people are willing to help you plan your shindig: NextPath, a newsletter about student loans, has compiled a list of helpful household hints for your next college Wii party. Who would know more about partying than a corporation that finances student loans? Besides anyone else.

The list of suggestions, which was probably generated by a computer and then focus-tested on other, younger computers with Mountain Dew logos on them, includes among its 15 essentials things, stuff like Icy Hot, headbands, Ace bandages and eye protection. That makes their ideal event sound a lot more like the kind of party we'd plan, and not the kind of party that someone who is successful at making friends would even deign to attend (guys wearing #8 "Ankle Support" are certain to be a big hit with #2 "Ladies.")

We wonder if this kind of mainstream coverage of the Wii is indicative of a real cultural phenomenon, or if Nintendo marketing just helped finance a few student loans.

[Via NeoGAF]