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    VC Tuesday: Reopening the case

    January 6, 2009 - 10:00am

    Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles on the DS didn't really set the American gaming community on fire, in terms of sales or critical response. The American debut of Workjam's detective series was marred by text errors and omitted content that caused the game to lose points with reviewers, and it just flew too far under the radar for even the Phoenix Wright audience to hear much about it. All of that is just a roundabout way of saying this: the third Tantei Jinguuji Saburo game, with a scenario by Final Fantasy VII/VIII/X and Super Smash Bros. Brawl scenario writer Kazushige Nojima is out in Japan today, and we shouldn't expect Aksys to pay to translate it for the few people who would drop $5. Prospects are significantly better for Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair -- so much better, in fact, that it's already out in the US and Europe, albeit on a different console. Rastan Saga 2, an awkward-looking Taito action-platformer about a big barbarian dude, is pretty much a lock as well, because Hudson is nice. As for WiiWare, judging by Nintendo of Japan's WiiWare page at the time of writing ... nothin'.

    Nintendo serves up Mario Tennis trailers

    January 5, 2009 - 10:00pm

    Over at the official site for the Wii de Asobu (Play on Wii, or NEW PLAY CONTROL!) series, there's a pair of Japanese commercials for the Mario Power Tennis remake, as well as a far lengthier gameplay trailer.The adverts we can take or leave, consisting as they do of the usual telegenic Japanese families bouncing around their pristine living rooms. The gameplay clip is worth watching, as it displays the various shots that can be achieved through a well-timed flick of the wrist (top-spin, side-spin, slices, drop shots, etc.). We hope mixing up our shots actually has an effect on the game, because we always found Wii Sports tennis to be not-quite-as-advertised in this respect (though we're willing to accept we just may be rubbish at Wii Sports tennis).Oh yes, and these are non-embeddable, so you'll have to go to the site to watch them. And they call this 2009!Source: TV commercial 1Source: TV commercial 2Source: Gameplay trailer[Via NeoGAF]

    Eduardo the WiiWare-bound Toaster

    January 5, 2009 - 9:00pm


    Semnat Studios has announced that their Independent Games Festival 2007 entry, Eduardo the Samurai Toaster, will now be released exclusively on WiiWare "this winter." The run-and-gun shooter features a unique mixed-media look and wildly varying gameplay in which one to four players "Jump, shoot, whip, drive, fly and throw your way through hordes of Peking Opera pastries, spear toting carrots, robotic mangos, and more." The co-op mode also allows players to "be annoying by throwing each other around the screen and attacking one another."We couldn't be happier to see an original WiiWare run-and-gun on the way, especially one with desirable features like "incredible funness" and "insane action that will give you tears of joy. no longer will your tears taste like sad." Taste the happy! After World of Goo, we expect to see a lot more of these indie projects on WiiWare, where they can be sold and make money.

    Another Code Resplendent

    January 5, 2009 - 8:00pm

    With the release of Another Code R just one month away, Nintendo has started posting brief clips of the game in action. It seems every bit as relaxed and laid-back as the DS titles, though we suspect the soft-focus visuals and mellow soundtrack are a cunning facade for some brutally hard puzzles. The 3D character models look great, and we are officially amused by protagonist Ashley miming all of her actions.Another three videos follow the break, and we've a dozen new screens in our gallery. Also after the jump, because we've not yet had an opportunity to post it: the amaaazing Japanese boxart.

    Capcom details Euro, North American releases for Q1

    January 5, 2009 - 7:00pm


    Capcom is set to release two high-profile Wii titles during Q1 of next year: MotoGP and Dead Rising: Chop 'Til You Drop. Even though the latter has caught some flack for its failure to populate each and every screen with countless zombies, it's still a pretty important title for Capcom.So, when should we expect these? Well, for those of us in North America, Dead Rising releases on February 27th, with MotoGP dropping sometime in March. In Europe, Dead Rising will be available on February 27th, and MotoGP will release sometime in mid-March.

    We concur: Edge's most promising Wii games of 2009

    January 5, 2009 - 6:00pm


    We don't usually post about the various end-of-year lists that appear on other sites (we much prefer composing our own), but Edge's "ten most promising Wii titles of 2009" chart was so close to our own 2009 wishlist that we felt it warranted a nod.Understandably, only super-confirmed 2009 releases are included, so this selection may change over time (if, say, a Fragile localization is announced, or No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle makes this year, or -- LOL -- we get a new Pilotwings), but so far we think this is spot-on. Check out which ten titles made the list after the break, and take note of the strong third-party showing!

    Wii Sports best-selling game of all time?

    January 5, 2009 - 5:00pm


    Super Mario Bros. has been the best-selling game of all time for years now, but that throne may have been usurped by another Nintendo title: Wii Sports. According to VGChartz, Wii Sports has surpassed that coveted 40.24 million mark.We're keeping this a rumor because, uh, it's VGChartz. They're never too good about sourcing their stuff and, to tell the truth, we've only ever heard one person claim their data was correct (it was in our interview with 2D Boy here). It's not that we don't believe Wii Sports could top the original NES game, we're just skeptical of VGChartz.[Via Joystiq]

    Animal Crossing: City Photo Contest

    January 5, 2009 - 4:00pm


    One of the more fun, and less discussed, new gameplay additions in Animal Crossing: City Folk is the ability to take snapshots and save them to an SD card for sharing. Nintendo and their Digicam Print Channel partner, Fujifilm, are taking advantage of the new functionality with a new contest for Japan designed to encourage online photo sharing.Until January 28, photos uploaded to the special Animal Crossing section of Fuji's photo sharing site, Fotonoma, will be eligible for entry in a contest. Winners in each of two themes (favorite photos and shots showing off fashion) will receive prizes, including a new Fuji digital camera, a Wiimote and Nunchuk, or Animal Crossing postcards. It sounds like a fun and novel way to interact with other Animal Crossing fans while possibly winning stuff!

    Sorry, no VC Monday Madness video today

    January 5, 2009 - 3:30pm


    Sadly, we won't be able to provide our usual video coverage of this week's Virtual Console release. While we'd like to blame something technical, in fact it's a person that is keeping the video from being made. Sadly, Dave is under the weather, and as such has a pretty sore throat and can't really speak correctly. We apologize for this and hope you'll eventually forgive us, being the amazing, sexy readers that you are.

    Wii sales up 100% over Christmas, says Pachter

    January 5, 2009 - 3:00pm

    A dry but happy piece of business news to start your week off: Wedbush Morgan's all-seeing analyst Michael Pachter reckons Wii sales in the U.S. accelerated dramatically over the holidays, with Christmas figures "up more than 100%."According to Pachter, that translates into "around 3 million" Wiis sold during December. As we previously mentioned, the record for U.S. hardware sales in a single month is 2.7 million, a figure set by the PlayStation 2 in December 2002. When the latest NPD figures are released on January 15, it looks like we'll have a new record-holder. Nintendo obviously didn't get the "recession" memo.