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.
It seems like Japan always gets everything first, and while this may not always be the case, it sure is this time.
Today, Nintendo of Japan re-released a new, pearly white, GameCube controller. The Japanese text to the right states that the cable for the controller will be 3 meters long, which is a tiny bit longer than earlier iterations. With the GameCube already dead, it is clear to us that the newly launched controller isn’t trying to resurrect the GameCube, but giving Wii owners a chance to buy this controller to use with their Wii (Brawl anyone?). We all know how uncomfortable that Classic controller is, so this is good news for those of you who sold or threw away your old GameCube controllers.
While it is only out in Japan right now, we can only hope that the controller will make it to other countries sometime soon. But if you cannot wait, you can fly over to Japan and pick one up yourself for a retail price of 2000 yen (about 20 U.S. dollars).
Way back in February, MyWiiNews brought you news of the Chintendo Vii, as it was reviewed and compared to our lovable console, the Wii. Most of you guys may think it is funny and well… hilarious even. But really, with such rampant piracy in some parts of Asia, the Chintendo Vii can be very disturbing as hell.
Chintendo Vii in Japan
Yes, the Chintendo Vii has actually entered Japanese soil. The very same soil where Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario, and even Nintendo itself was born! And I’m guessing it has been that way since at least December 2007.
Just look at these recent pictures, including Vii Sports:
How About the Rest of Asia?
Living in the Philippines, I definitely saw some of these Chintendo Vii’s myself being sold on selected stores and even on some prominent malls all across Metro Manila. Too bad I haven’t got any pics, but I tell you, it’s not in any way funny. But you know what they say: Imitation is definitely the best form of flattery. So, I guess it’s all fine, right? Unless someone actually (and seriously) buys the system, which is when problems arise. I know I wont.
By the way, it’s already quite old, but you can always check out the Japanese’s reaction and thoughts on the Vii in the video below:
I’ve been checking out the ol’ My Wii News blog today and I was partially amazed and partially disappointed that Japan has sold only 5 Million Wii units. Not that I’m particularly crazy or anything, because I DO realize that 5 Million is a damn big number, but I was really hoping for the figures to show more for the Japanese fanboys…
Because Europe just hit 6 Million Wii sales!
This will really show Bucky why Wii consoles are very hard to find.
The story, derived from MCV, reported that the Nintendo Wii sales had just hit 6 Million as of January 2008 along with whopping 20 Million DS sales. That’s one hell of a lot of Nintendo cash if you can imagine just counting the sales from both Japan and Europe. And considering the fact that Nintendo has sold over 20 Million Wiis last year, Japan and Europe just bought an estimate of 55% of all Wii consoles manufactured for the whole world!
Honestly, I’m already at a lost for words…
Now, between Europe and Japan, I must say that the Europeans won in terms of Wii sales just because it’s a whole continent versus a single country filled with crazy people (Japan). But these are still very impressive figures since Nintendo support has been focused on Japan ever since its birth, and from what I have read, Nintendo even treats its European consumers like crap, so I guess this news is reason enough for them to give more support to the European market, no?
Besides the fact that they are very rich people too!
We all knew there would be more classic consoles coming to the Virtual Console at some point. Neo Geo was already added a while ago and now it looks like Sega is stepping up its game by giving Japanese gamers the chance to download Master System, Mark III and Game Gear games soon. Master System titles will begin appearing on the Japanese Virtual Console some time in February with Fist of the North Star (600 Wii points) and Fantasy Zone (500 Wii points). Don’t fear, IGN is also reporting that all three system’s games will become available in the U.S. and Europe too, though no exact dates have been released yet.
If you’re like me, you were a normal kid and didn’t really hear about Sega until the Genesis hit our shores with it’s incredible Blast processing (it’s OK to speak of Sega on a Nintendo site now, right?) so you never really go the chance to play some of the amazing games that came out on the Master System. I’m really looking forward to actually being able to get my hands on games like Alex Kidd, Wonderboy, and Phantasy Star without resorting to hunting down an increasingly rare Master System. Add to this some of the incredible games that came out on Game Gear and you’ve got even more classic games to pile onto the already impressive pile of must buys that the Virtual Console possesses.
Lukatoll | April 18, 2008
It seems like Japan always gets everything first, and while this may not always be the case, it sure is this time.
The story, derived from 
