Jason Wishnov

Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

DS Daily: Common usage

It'd be cool to live in Japan, we've always said. The food, the culture, the fact that by 2011, 89% of the Japanese will own a DS ... wait, what?That's insane. Ridiculous. Incomprehensible. We're quite sure that not even close to 89% of Americans have a web-connected computer (2003 U.S. census figures showed 55%), and it's almost assumed in today's society that you've got access to the internet at home.With such a ubiquitous, portable, and interactive device, it's amazing that the Japanese haven't truly capitalized on its potential. They've got English dictionaries and day planners and all that, but everyone's got one! Why not introduce eBooks, or DS-enabled fast food drive-thrus, or ...! Well, we're maybe not so good at this. What would you guys do with that ridiculous penetration rate?

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Wii Warm Up: Composure

Videogame music has come a far cry from the beeps of yesteryear, with amazing works coming from both studios and independent remixers alike. A musical score is now a critical component of game design, and the big names in gaming are some of the most forward-thinking pioneers in the musical world today.Most classic Nintendo themes have been crafted by the well-known Koji Kondo, but Nintendo's consoles have been host to dozens upon dozens of brilliant composers. So, who's your favorite? There's a ridiculous list composing for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, found here (which interestingly omits the famed Nobuo Uematsu, who already composed the game's title theme). Which names stand your hair on end?

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Wonders never cease

The above picture shows one Stephen Fischbach, who suffers from cerebral palsy and is unable to walk or speak, enjoying a game of Wii Sports baseball with his family. It's a wonderful image, and one that we hope everyone, no matter their console allegiances, can fully appreciate.[via Digg]

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Gaming By Jason Wishnov

Japanese hardware sales, Jun. 4 - Jun. 10: Harry Potter edition

The final release of Harry Potter, one of the most widespread, wonderful literary series ever written, is coming to a close come July 21st. We'd like to take a moment and salute J. K. Rowling for reintroducing the better part of a world to the joys of reading, because hey, if no one read, we'd be out of our jobs. Pick up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as soon as you can, guys. Trust us.Harry Potter and the Japanese Hardware Sales"Harry," said Ron, slightly out of breath, "Snape'll go nutters if we're late again. Remember what he did to Neville?""Yeah," replied Harry, throwing himself down a shifting staircase and sprinting through the corridors. Snape had used a particularly nasty hex on the frequently tardy Neville, turning his hands into N-Gages. Harry allowed himself a momentary shudder.They rounded a corner and began the descent into Snape's dungeon of a classroom, Harry's least favorite place at Hogwarts. Even disregarding his immense dislike of Severus Snape, Harry had never had much of a knack for Potions; it was always his lowest grade of the term. Suddenly, Ron stopped dead ahead of him. Harry slammed into his back, nearly toppling the two down the hard, stone stairs.

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Pokemon cheaters banned

A primary concern of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (or, at least, that of this blogger) is the incredibly rampant cheating. In the past, use of an Action Replay wasn't a horrible offense ... your team would be uber, and a couple of your personal friends might be a bit ticked, but that was all.These days, in the era of Wi-Fi, ridiculously impossible trades litter the GTS. What, you don't have a Level 100 shiny Palkia? Well, hmph, you can't have my Level 7 Munchlax, then. For honest players, or those that don't have access to hacking tools, such Pokemon would take days to train up and impossible luck/determination for one with shiny status. That's why we're happy that Nintendo is cracking down on some Action Replay users, specifically ones using the "All 493 Pokemon," "All Shiny," and "National-Dex" cheats. They will henceforth be banned from online barter.Feel free to start a flamewar regarding the justification of cheating, by the way. We're pyros.

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

More Soul Calibur Legends details

Gaming mag Famitsu has revealed some more details about the upcoming Wii exclusive Soul Calibur Legends. We assume that the creators of this action title felt that choosing a main protagonist from the existing fighters would cause unnecessary flamefests, so they felt fit to introduce the sixteen year old Iska. Among playable characters are Taki, Mitsurugi, Ivy, and Siegfried (Nightmare), though interestingly, no one mentioned Iska himself. Traditionally, the A and B buttons have mapped to horizontal and vertical slices, respectively. In true waggle fashion, Namco has felt fit to physically map these actions to the Wiimote. We're wary; the recognition will probably be fine, but seeing as how at least two-thirds of all moves in previous Soul Calibur titles involved the use of one (or both? What the heck?) of these actions, this might wear out its welcome very, very quickly. Also, the nunchuck is shaken for "evasion," whatever that means (guard impact?).The title will allow for tag-teaming against a boss, as a second player can join in for cooperative fun. There's traps and obstacles and all that lovely goodness as well; for some more minor details, check out the in-depth IGN report. With the announcement of the true Soul Calibur 4 for the PS3 and 360 yesterday, are you guys still excited for this?

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Wii hits an unofficial eight million sold

Start your engines, fanboys. According to vgchartz.com, which is where we go to hang out when we're bored, the Wii just yesterday surpassed eight million units sold since its November 19th launch in North America. That's fast. That's really fast. Check out this graph with the option "align launches" enabled; it's staggering.So, here we go. By the end of year, Nintendo Wii sales will most likely have surpassed the Xbox 360's one-year head start to become the current generation leader, and heck, we might just "win" this thing. Who'd have thought such a turnaround was possible? And why the hell didn't we buy NTDOY stock? Dammit.Bask in the glory, guys. Most likely, one of those eight million is yours.

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News By Jason Wishnov

Virtually Overlooked Week: Jason's picks

Virtually Overlooked has taken over Wii Fanboy! All this week, members of the staff will be outlining their personal picks for future Virtual Console releases. Growing up with gaming is an interesting thing these days. Many of you are part of the first generation that was quite literally born into a household with a gaming console, as I was. In my experience, if you start off in life gaming hard, you don't stop. Therefore, in the very near future, I will able to ask a random middle-aged man if he wants to go play Guitar Hero 4, and it won't be totally weird.Who am I kidding? This isn't Japan, and that guy will probably think I am, in fact, totally weird. But man, screw those non-gamers. The hardcore, like you and I, have tons of gaming memories, and thus we frequently long for the games of yore to be released on the Virtual Console. But they have not yet appeased my feral hunger, and thus do I lay these games out in a commanding fashion for Nintendo's minions to take note.You, of course, may gaze as well.

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Wii Warm Up: Flash in the pan

Thanks to the Wii's internet browser, we can already enjoy plenty of flash-based games for the Wii. New flash games come out every day, and while most are simplistic and lacking in depth, some shine like diamonds in the rough.Tell ya what. Why don't you recommend a flash-based title that you'd like to see on the Wii? While you have already seen through our thinly veiled desire to simply waste away the day with your favorite flash titles, it's worth a look. Some many aspiring game designers would love to see their titles on an official Nintendo downloading service, so why not give it to them? Which ones do you guys want?

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

DS Daily: Dream fighter

Let's face it: there aren't many decent fighters for the DS. Japan received the superb Jump Superstars, featuring an insanely large cast of everyone's favorite anime characters, but was not seen fit for localization. While DS Fanboy is all about hopes and dreams, we're also about violence; with that in mind, what fictional characters would you like to see slug it out? We eliminate standard Nintendo characters; we already have Smash Bros. for those rivalries. We're talking real pirate vs. ninja stuff here. Suggestions among our staff have included Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea against Nemo from Finding Nemo, and the singer of Bananaphone against Charlie the Unicorn.

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News By Jason Wishnov

The Short Cuts entry that better freaking win

We thought we'd given up posting Nintendo Short Cuts entries as a veritable flood of applicants submitted their works shortly before the deadline, but sister site Joystiq posted one that's simply way, way too good.The above "movie trailer" for the NES classic Punch-Out!! is rife with 8-bit references, as the creators shrewdly blend recognizable game artwork into live-action scenes. The acting (especially Von Kaiser's) is top-notch, production values sky-high, and the music made us replay the last minute of the trailer nine times just to rock out. If Hollywood really knew what was up, this would have been made instead of the lukewarm Rocky Balboa last year. We officially stamp our vote of approval on Team Awesome, and wish them the best of luck.They probably won't need it.

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Gaming By Jason Wishnov

Japanese hardware sales, May 28 - Jun. 3: Explanatory Aqua Teen edition

We know, you were disappointed. Last night, as you happily refreshed Wii Fanboy every nine seconds or so looking for this week's Japanese hardware sales, the vim slowly faded from your eyes as the hours ticked into oblivion. We would never willingly deprive our readers so; we were unavoidably delayed! You see ....Thousands of years ago, before the dawn of man as we knew him ... there were the moon men, reigning over the Earth. But this was not the Earth you knew! It was covered in jelly and high-density motor oil, making the planet very slippery. The moon men blamed the corporations, and there was a war and many were killed. The battle raged for millennia until 8000 A.D., when the moon men realized they were not actually from the moon, but from rural Pennsylvania. They then built a monument to the moon but then the Quakers stole it and filled it with oatmeal, and no one knew what flavor. Californians were highly displeased and turned all the Quakers invisible, which is why you never see them anymore. And that ... is where babies come from.- DS Lite: 123,140 4,321 (3.39%) - Wii: 69,748 11,104 (18.93%) - PSP: 26,358 261 (1.00%) - PS2: 11,814 503 (4.45%) - PS3: 8,998 629 (6.53%) - Xbox 360: 2,219 175 (8.56%) - Game Boy Micro: 310 97 (23.83%) - GBA SP: 247 41 (14.24%) - Gamecube: 226 30 (11.72%) - DS Phat: 71 10 (12.35%) - GBA: 16 1 (5.88%)[Source: Media Create]

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Streaming

Streaming By Jason Wishnov

Stream iTunes to your Wii

As the console is generally hooked up to a far larger sound system than the computer, it generally behooves the player to make use of a system as a music- or movie-playing device. We admit, the 360's streaming capabilities put it in a class of its own, but the Wii's easy-to-use internet browser has landed it at the center of many a drunk YouTube gathering. We'd previously reported on the success of Last.fm on the Wii, but now you can get your own music collection playing through your five point one, via iTunes.The process is a bit lengthy, but it's very step-by-step. Would any readers like to test this out for us? It's kinda early, and there are gentle hobos living in the attic; we don't want to wake them, you see.[via GoNintendo]

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Accessories

Accessories By Jason Wishnov

Because two strange new forms of input just weren't enough

Not content with resting on their sensory laurels, Nintendo decided to just go ahead and make another bizarre form of input (since it seems to be working so well). The upcoming DS title Slide Adventure: Mag Kid (which could use a better marketing team) will feature a "slide sensor" that fits in the GBA slot of the DS. It extends outwards onto the back on the DS, and when the device is placed on a flat surface, the sensor can pick up the sliding motion of the entire unit on said surface. It's a little weird, but it's got some cool potential. It does, however, reduce the true portability of the device, rendering both bus-play and toilet-play completely useless. And we sure do love our toile ... you know what, never mind.[Via Joystiq]

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Rumor: Marketers head for the hills, a fond farewell to Kaplan and Harrison

It's a wild week in the world of Nintendo's upper management in marketing ... we think. Recently, Nintendo's marketing department was told they'd need to ship off to either New York or San Francisco from their current homes in Redmond. According to Game Informer, as astounding 90% decided to remain in the area and take severance pay. What's even more shocking are that Beth Llewelyn (senior director of public relations), Perrin Kaplan (vice president of marketing and corporate affairs) and George Harrison (senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications) are among the dearly departed. From Nintendo, we mean.Those are some big names dropping from Nintendo's ivory towers, and we've got to sad we're sad to see them go. George was always a nice, candid fellow, and who can forget drunk Perrin (pictured above)? Now that was a classic. We would like to reiterate that Game Informer's claim has not yet been corroborated, so we'll post an update with confirmation or denial when we get it.[Thanks, Jensonb!]

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Wii Warm Up: An aural discussion

The ESRB website typically reveals upcoming titles for the Virtual Console, and though it's by no means any sort of surprise, it looks like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will soon be coming to a Wii near you. This prompted some discussion among the staff, of course, and after several fingers were dislocated and a kidney stolen in the night, we reached no definite conclusion. Which of the four major Sonic titles of the 16-bit era was the best? Some say Sonic 3 (and what charming, handsome fellows they must be), but others say Sonic and Knuckles (the more crude, surly members of the staff, certainly). I mean, we already totally know what the right answer is, but do you guys agree? Which of the three remaining are you most excited for?

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Apps

Apps By Jason Wishnov

DS VoIP app available for testing

What's that? You're already two hundred minutes over your monthly limit and you just have to tell your friend the latest news? Well, practical solutions include borrowing another friend's cell phone and/or displaying a modicum of patience, but we never were much for practical around here.For those with homebrew capabilities, a new VoIP app has been written by JSR. It's still in the testing phase, but since we're too stupid to actually code anything, this is how we get those "we're contributing!" fuzzy feelings. Do what you can, we say, and if you also want to shout at your buddy through a DS, all the better. Check it out.

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Wii Warm Up: Tendencies

The sporting world is notorious for superstitious tendencies and odd behavior. Players always have the same meal preceding a game; they won't cut their hair until they lose; they'll wear the same jock str ... egh, never mind. The point is, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, people still continue to engage in silly habits for luck and good fortune.As a gamer, do you have any particular habits before tournaments? Barring competitive play, are there any strange habits you have while gaming in general? Some of us here tend to spin the Wiimote around our fingers when we perform something of note, and others blow on the DVD before insertion into the Wii, harkening back to the NES days. Man, we're weird.

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

DS Daily: Custom stylus

We've touched on the issue of the stylus before; many people use thicker, professional styluses from PDAs or whatnot, while others use some of the special edition ones seen around the internet. But it's a free-thinking world, guys and gals, and reality is such a ho-hum place.Let your mind drift and dream, and tell us, dear readers: in a penultimate world (that's a clever pun, see?), what would your stylus be? Any reasonably cylindrical shape will do. We're partial to the deadly eastern dragon above, of course.

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Nintendo files for "invitation system" patent [update 1]

[Update 1: Slightly altered the headline.]According to U.S. Patent No. 20070123353 (are there really that many patents? No. 1 must be for "fire"), Nintendo is contemplating an "invitation system for [online videogames]." A fairly standard feature of Xbox Live, this would enable Wii users to be automatically notified of any friends logged into Nintendo servers, and enable the ability to invite said player to join them in whatever wonderful fantasy land in which they currently reside.This technically may not even be for the Wii, but with rewritable firmware and a crapton of yen to replace their entire online infrastructure, hey, you never know. If you have ridiculous superstitious tendencies, please feel free to perform them ... now.

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Gaming By Jason Wishnov

Japanese hardware sales, May 21 - May 27: Step by Step edition

Some of our readers wonder exactly what they're supposed to do with the Japanese hardware sales every week. To promote enlightenment and worldwide harmony, we've taken the liberty of creating a step-by-step walkthrough of a proper response to the weekly figures. Adhere to these rules whenever possible, and if you must deviate, remember to at least properly remove all semblance of standard English grammar from your comments.1. Look for any obvious outliers in the sales data, such as the Nintendo DS falling out of first place. This will never occur; advance to step 2.2. Statistical variation causes slight fluctuations every week. Immediately look for numbers that come close to dividing evenly into one another; this enables comments such as, "lol, wii sold 5x of PS3s this week, pwnage."3. Should any Nintendo systems suffer a decrease in sales, come up with reasons as to why they dropped. The usually accurate "supply is unable to currently meet demand" excuse is no longer sufficient in most cases. Come up with creative replies like, "redirected shipments of software caused a temporary instability in the retail market," or "lol ghost of kutaragi put a curse on teh DS kekekekeke."4. There will invariably be a Sony or Microsoft troll, defending his or her own system while attacking your own. Henceforth, we'll be posting IP addresses and relevant contact information*; please take it upon yourselves to attack and/or maim the aforementioned troll, preferably with some kind of mace that grants +7 strength while fighting trolls.*Really.**- DS Lite: 127,461 16,248 (14.61%) - Wii: 58,644 6,451 (12.36%) - PSP: 26,097 1,408 (5.12%) - PS2: 11,311 430 (3.95%) - PS3: 9,627 968 (11.18%) - Xbox 360: 2,044 18 (0.89%) - Game Boy Micro: 407 21 (4.91%) - GBA SP: 288 42 (12.73%) - Gamecube: 256 20 (7.25%) - DS Phat: 81 55 (211.54%) - GBA: 17 16 (48.48%)[Source: Media Create]**Not really.

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Currently unused component found in Wiimote

Before you go running off to troll post on various message boards, we'd like to give you some specifics. A recent CNN technology feature details some of the various chips and components found within the forty-dollar Wiimote. Among the Bluetooth converters and accelerometers is a component listed as an "audio translator," which "converts analog data such as human speech into a digital data stream. This feature is unused now but will probably be employed in future games." The approximate cost is listed at $2.00.So, what's the deal? First, there is no actual microphone (a device capable of converting vibrational energy into electrical signals) found within the Wiimote. Though basic electrical engineering principals allow a standard speaker to act in such a fashion, the signal quality and frequency response would be unacceptably low. This chip actually requires an expansion device for it to be used at all. So why add it? It's only two dollars, but this rather unnecessary addition has cost the company several dozen million dollars. We can only assume that Nintendo or significant third parties are planning a title utilizing an expansion microphone, which will be presumably cheap enough to bundle with a title and incur no markup in price.God knows the masses need a mainstream karaoke game (we know about Karaoke Revolution for the PS2, but it never really took off), and the Wii is just the system to do it. Like a Virginnnnn ... hey!

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Tetris ice cubes for the remarkably unashamed

Some of us prefer to hide our geekiness, fearing a loss of social status and reduced favor with the opposite sex. Others know that such things are mere trifles, and display their dorkdom with honor and pride. For those of the latter, we would point you to a step-by-step walkthrough of how to make your very own tetromino ice cubes. Yes, it must be Tetris craft week all around the intertron.The steps are clearly written and easy to follow, but some woodwork and silicone supplies are required. If you're a handyman (or woman), go make yourself some cubes: they'll go wonderfully with that Russian vodka. Just kidding. We mean pop. (Punch Out!! reference FTW)

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Nintendo By Jason Wishnov

Super Smash Bros. Brawl tidbit roundup

For those not compulsively checking the official Smash Bros. website daily for bare snippets of information, we here at Wii Fanboy have decided to perform the service of coalescing tidbits into tidbigs. Over the past week, a few interesting details have surfaced.Most of the reveals are item-based: you may now move freely with projectile weapons (finally!), and as detailed earlier here, the new "Gooey Bomb" item was unveiled. The most interesting new item, however, is the Smash Ball, which activates character-specific "Final Smash" attacks. Mario's is entitled the "Mario Finale" attack, which unleashes a spread-fire explosion attack, and we've seen Link's Triforce blade attack in an earlier video. Since most competitive Smash Bros. players contend without the randomizing effect of items, it'll be interesting to see if this affects higher-level gameplay.Also unveiled are some of Pit's (of Kid Icarus fame) attacks, which include a controllable arrow of light and limited flight capabilities (most likely the Up+B special). Brawl looks like it's coming together nicely ... do you guys agree?

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Gaming By Jason Wishnov

Get RE4 only two years late, instead of two years and two weeks

Does your hunger rival that of the undead horde? Grab a Snickers. If that's the case, you'd probably be interested to know that the extremely anxious will (probably) be able to obtain the Wii version of the much-lauded Resident Evil 4 several weeks early, via the import site Play-Asia. Sure, it'll cost you twenty dollars more than the standard U.S. price of $29.99, and it'll probably highlight your incredible lack of patience and discipline, but those pale in comparison to the two weeks of additional ecstasy.This is not officially confirmed, so you might want to check back at their product page for updates if interested. If you do happen to obtain the game early ... or if you're reading this article from the far-flung future, in which RE4 has already undergone standard release, feel free to post your impressions.

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