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Yakuman Wii's weird non-Mii players
Normally, a bunch of screenshots of something like Yakuman Wii: Ide Yousuke no Kenkou Mahjong wouldn't be terribly interesting. Even if it's a new WiiWare game, mahjong is happening in most of these screens, and that doesn't translate into compelling preview content even for fans of the game.But we're fascinated by Nintendo's decision to use not-Miis as its AI opponents, in a game that includes Miis. Why do that? Why design characters that look sort of like Miis, have similar proportions, but aren't Miis? We understand why the Ide Yousuke character doesn't necessarily adhere to Mii guidelines (to more accurately depict a person), but even he's more Mii-like than these alternate-universe Miis.Each of the characters has a different play style, which is described in the profile next to the name. Atsuo, here, is a "defender." The stars, we believe, indicate a difficulty level. There are lots of other screens available at GAME Watch, ranging from mahjong happening to mahjong about to happen (Wi-Fi setup, lessons from Ide Yousuke) to mahjong just happened (multiplayer results).
Surprise mahjongg game hits Japanese WiiWare next week [update]
[Update: fixed the title. Thanks, Patrick!]Out of nowhere, a new WiiWare game showed up on Nintendo of Japan's WiiWare page. Yakuman Wii: Ide Yousuke no Kenjou Mahjongg (Ide Yousuke's Healthy Mahjongg) is a Nintendo-developed, multiplayer mahjongg game with Mii integration and online play. It also features hints from a Mii of Ide Yousuke (who is apparently a famous mahjongg player, and whose name appears in countless mahjongg game titles).Even though we just found out about it, Nintendo plans to launch it in Japan next week, at a cost of 1,000 Wii Points. However, because it's a mahjongg game, we would be even more surprised to see it released elsewhere. [Via Gamespot Japan]
Celebrating Simple series sales
Comprising 345 (and counting!) games, D3 Publisher's Simple series has sold over 20 million units since its inception in 1998. That's a lot of cheap junk. To celebrate this remarkable milestone, D3 is rereleasing the first Simple DS game, Simple DS Vol. 1 THE Mah-jongg, at a special price of 1,480 yen ($13.39), which is quite a bit nicer than the original 2,800 yen price.We've often lamented the lack of Simple games in the U.S., as we're in love with both the concept (low-cost games that are modest in scope) and the general quirkiness of the games. We can't think of a better celebration of a sales milestone than to expand the series worldwide.
