Japanese Gaming Store Pics Galore!

I’m afraid to say it, but honestly, Japan is gaming’s motherland. The origins of the great games we see today started from deep within the Land of the Rising Sun. Gaming legends, such as Nintendo’s very own Shigeru Miyamoto, appeared from nowhere to dominate and shape the gaming world with great franchises like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, Ice climbers, Wave Race, and well, basically every other first-party title ever created in the history of Nintendo. And while some hardcore gamers may disagree with this, the truth is that without Japanese developers (like Miyamoto) making our hobby what it is, our very own gaming community would be pretty dull. Mario, the mascot of gaming, and an inspiration to developers around the world, would not be here if it weren’t for Miyamoto. The Legend of Zelda franchise that every Nintendo fanboy has fallen in love with, would not be here without Miyamoto. But I’m not here praise all of Japan’s (or Miyamoto’s) accomplishments, I’m just here to show you some pictures of a Japanese gaming store.

Yes, pretty boring, I know. Especially after I just made Japan sound like the best thing since toilet paper. But I was just going with my parents to buy a microwave, and we stumbled upon this huge electronics store (which surprised me that there was one so big on the minuscule island of Okinawa, Japan.) But anyway, I am just going to share these with you, and this will probably lead to some good Japanese launch coverage of the next big games (Too bad I already missed smash bros!). Hopefully there is a good community here that will actually wait in line for hours and hours for a big game! Maybe I can interview some with my crappy Japanese skillz…

But anyways, enjoy!

(click picture to enlarge)

(wtf?)

(mmmm Wiiiii)

(Mario Kart? Nice!)

Well, there you go. Nothing special, but watch out for whatever the next big launch is because My Wii News is going to try to give some Japanese launch coverage! Stay tuned.

Check ‘Mii’ Body Out!

Though the concept of celebrity miis sounds completely dated, this is a new one.

Slobs of Gaming took their 14 favorite miis and gave them the bodies and surroundings that made them famous…

…except Miss Piggy. I don’t know what to think about that one.

Some of them could use some touching up, but I award two gold stars for creative mii usage. It’s rare these days.

You got PWND at YOGA, n00b!

Like most avid video gamers, I do not go out much and do that thing called exercise or play “real” sports. I prefer to stay inside and “pwn n00bs” in Super Smash Bros or Counter-Strike. So when I heard about the Wii Fit, I got a little bit excited about the fact that I can now have fun playing video games while getting exercise. It’s kind of like slipping vitamins into something tasty and unhealthy.

The current dilemma I face is the question of whether I really want to shell out $90+ for a fancy DDR pad which might make me look like even more of a fool than DDR already does. Wii Fit hits stores on May 21^st and is already on high demand for preorder, and will likely be another hard-to-find title in stores when it finally comes out. Amazon is offering the Wii Fit for $89.99 plus free shipping on their web site, which is a pretty good deal considering that you can save the money usually spent on gas and put it towards another game.

But the big question is whether or not I will actually enjoy Wii Fit. I mean, I’m sure it will be interesting and fun for a little while. But after the first week or two, will I just go back to playing Smash Bros and forget about about my overpriced toy, or will I call the guys up for an intense session of yoga? It is kind of hard to imagine the latter, and even so, I don’t think there would be any of the normal video game antics that go hand in hand with most games. I can just see my friends now yelling “YOU GOT PWND AT YOGA N00B!” at each other as they fail to assume the correct positions. Which brings up the question of multiplayer accessibility altogether, which ignores the underlying and more important question of how gamers will actually use Wii Fit? Will it be a fun multiplayer mess around sort of game (along the lines of DDR or Wario Ware), or will it be a gamer’s dirty little secret (like DOA: Beach Volleyball) that he keeps hidden because he doesn’t want anyone to know he enjoys a little Tai-Chi in the morning.

Skip the FreeLoader - Buy Twilight Princess Instead!

The Twilight Princess hack continues to bring us wonderful homebrew opportunities on an almost daily basis, with one of the most impressive uses so far being released yesterday over at TehSkeen. As bilingual and enthusiastic gamers worldwide have noticed, the Wii implores an annoying little thing that the Nintendo DS and GBA did not - regional lockouts. This archaic convention has long meant that games purchased in Europe or Japan won’t be playable in America, and vice versa. Transnational gamers have been forced to use products like Datel’s FreeLoader to bypass these regional lockouts and legally play copies of official games that haven’t come out in the player’s territory. With yesterday’s announcement of a single file that can be transferred to a SD memory card and loaded via the oft-reported Twilight Princess hack, players with the required materials now have a free solution to get their international game on.

Obviously this his huge news for the homebrew community, as the ability to get more original titles and play archival copies of games via a boot file can’t be too far off. Homebrewers have already successfully dumped the first virtual console game, as well as ported various emulators that will only improve with time. Even Tetris has found its way over to the system via the “soft mod,” making many curious homebrewers excited for the future.

For those a little worried about using their copy of Twilight Princess for ill, take a peek at this simple video walkthrough that tells you where to put files and how to work the necssary SD card. I’m assuming you can pop in the aforementioned “FreeLoader file” instead of the Tetris one in order to play your import games, but I can’t affirm 100% without a copy of Twilight Princess myself to test it out. Maybe sometime next week?

Either way, it’s the beginning of an exciting era for Wii Homebrew. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more here at My Wii News. Now to decide if I’m patient enough to wait another week and a half for Mario Kart Wii to come to the US…

The Worst Wii Games!

Guess who’s back! That’s right - its your old friend Canucklehead with another collection. While every Tom, Dick and Mario can pet together a best list (guilty as charged) - I’ve decided to put together a list of what I see as the absolute worst crap and shovelware currently available for the Wii (thus far). Luckily, there is no shortage - in fact, this list was so easy to put together that I’ve opted to not include downloadable content AND I know I’ve still missed some. So, on top of hiding your wallet when you see the titles below - please let me know what I’ve missed so we can warn the next guy from making the same mistake you did. I’ve decided not to number them as it seems a little — well, cruel, even for me. So, without any further ado, on with the list of craptacularity!

Anubis II: Did I miss the first incarnation of this? More importantly, if so - who thought it would be a good idea to make a second one? This may well be the suckiest suck that ever suckily sucked - and that is saying something! I for one do not want my mummy.

Chicken Shoot: Well, this is hardly surprising. Hey, I’m a Duck Hunt fan myself - and this good sir is no duck hunt. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this might be popular among the ’short schoolbus’ set. If you shelled out the cash for this rotten egg - well, the yolks on you.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: I put this in CAPS only because the makers of this did the same - I assume because it makes it more ‘X-TREME’. Those who thought the movie sucked will quickly realize it was oscar-worthy compared with this nausea-inspiring ‘game’. Look up shovelware in the dictionary and the same picture that appears below will be shown. Remorseful buyers will quickly be yelling “AAALLLLLVVIIIN!”

JUMPER: See above. Keywords: crap, shovelware, buyer’s remorse. Then subtract Alvin and add what’s-his-face. The umm, Jumper guy — okay, so I never saw the movie or played the game, but I heard things. These things were not good - no, in fact — bad. Very bad things. Next!

GT Pro Series: Rarely does a screen shot say it all - but in this case you can in fact judge a book by that cover. Universally despised for its poor graphics and subpar gameplay, this one makes any critics shortlist. If you’re a fan of racing games - you’d be better served playing Pole Position on your 2600.

Pool Party: Umm, yeah - this one is almost as good as the Wii Play (which also stinks) mini-game version. I’m sorry, you want how much? I’m going to take a pass. This my friends is NO party.

Rapala Tournament Fishing: A truly regretable game - I mean fishing and Wii seems like a natural fit. Clearly, a rush to get this game out can be the the only excuse for this game’s shoddy controls and terrible graphics. Look for this one in bargain bins around the globe, then quiety back away. In a word, Crapala.

Acme Arsenal: You have to know that the Looney Tunes guys likely meant that a lot of parents shelled out cash for this one. (Do kids nowadays even know Bugs?) One would have hoped that this would have been a good game — one would have been sorely disapointed.

Far Cry Vengeance: If any of my selections are going to generate any contoversy and feedback, I suppose by default this is going to be it. Sadly, there was initially some excitement generated by pre-release hype about this game. However, this hype wass quickly and violently quashed when gamers actually got their hands on this crapfest. I’ll admit that this game amazingly does appear to have a handful of fans, but it is worth noting that Fary Cry Vengeance can boast of having one of the worst scores of any Wii game to date (well Anubis II is close). That fact alone says it all.

ALSO RANS: Game Party, Legend of the Dragon, Escape From Bug Island, Tamagotchi: Party On!, Wing Island, Bust-A-Move Bash, World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions, Wii Play, cooking mama’s COOK OFF (you know the one - sadly they are making a sequel). Anyway … needless to say I could go on … but I think that is enough for today.

If I’ve saved just one person from making a mistake with this post then my work here is done. If nothing else, a good rule of thumb to take away form this is that if a title requires the use of ALL-CAPS on an exclamation point - it’s probably not for you. With a lot of great Wii titles under it’s belt, there where bound to be a few misses. Keep checking My Wii News for all the news, reviews and misques that are fit to print. Until next time, happy playing and may the good games be yours.

(Please let me know about any glaring omissions and I’ll happily add them. As well, I’m always looking for suggestions for future editions of ‘Canucklehead collections’ - hit me in the box below)