Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Instrumental extravaganza and current internet hate figure Wii Music will be launching in Japan this October 16th, dog suit and all. If anything, we were left slightly bemused and confused by the game when we tried it at E3, but remain open-minded towards the concept. Besides, we've no doubt whatsoever that it'll sell gangbusters in Japan and probably everywhere else. Now, hands up: anyone actually importing this?

Okay, we'd advise you take this news with a pinch huge damn barrel of salt, but UK-based retailer Play.com now has Pikmin 3 listed for release on March 27th, 2009. Our first thoughts upon spying this detail were as follows:

1. March 27th, 2009 is a rather random date to simply pluck out of thin air, don'cha think?
   
2. It's also a Friday, the day when games usually launch in Euroland.
3. Play is a UK-based site, so this may well be a European date (if it's even true).
4. The specificity of the date only makes it more convincing to us.
5. March 27th, 2009 really is quite a long way off. Boo hoo.
   

Heck, it's the weekend, so let the wanton speculation ensue!

Australians only have fifty-eight days (approximately five hamburgers, two milkshakes, eight orders of fries, and seven chocolate bars) before getting glute guilted into buying Wii Fit. Nintendo announced today that the fitness title, which is meant to imbue healthy lifestyles, will be coming to Australia on May 8th. That's just in time for you Aussies to give it to your mums for Mother's Day, but then again, a present like that has the potential to make any woman cry.

You'd also have to really love your mom to spend $149.95 AUD ($139 USD) on her, assuming that she already owns a Wii. Even the thought of spending that on yourself is daunting for a nongame, although the pricing isn't completely unexpected -- after all, the UK and European prices equate to about the same.

Does that make it okay, though? We suspect the answer to that is a resounding "no."

Though Europeans will get their hands and feet on Wii Fit as soon as April 25th, a month before us Yanks, they'll pay a premium for that privilege -- £69.99 (approx. $138) in the UK and €89.99 (approx. $133) in the rest of Europe.

These price points are a stark contrast to the results from a recent IGN poll asking readers how much they would be willing to pay for the exercise software and balance board peripheral. Of the 6116 people surveyed, 27.6% stated that they would not pay above $49.99, the lowest-price poll option, 15.9% claimed the same for $59.99, 18.9% chose $69.99, 22.5% set their limit at $79.99, and 7.4% still showed interest at the $89.99 and $99.99 marks.

It can be argued that European gamers are used to paying much higher prices than their North American counterparts and that Guitar Hero III bundles were also priced at £69.99/€89.99, but that's still a lot more expensive than how much we expected. At the recent Game Developers Conference, Nintendo of America mentioned that the Wii Fit bundle would be under $100 for the US.

Potential happy news from retailers: according to Amazon, GameCrazy, and Gamefly, the release date of No More Heroes has been moved ahead, from early February to late January. Amazon and GameCrazy list the game as releasing on January 22nd, while Gamefly places the game's release on the 24th.

We applaud this decision, if, in fact, it is a real decision that was made and not some weird error. From a sales perspective, any move to prevent No More Heroes' burial by Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a good move (even placing it where it will be buried by waiting for Super Smash Bros. Brawl). From a personal perspective, we might get to play it sooner and that's all that's important.

[Via GoNintendo]