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Mojipittan DLC: You know, for kids!
We're glad to see Namco Bandai continuing to support the WiiWare version of Word Puzzle Mojipittan three months after its launch-day release. They've released another pack of new downloadable puzzles, this time aimed at children. The "Kantan Kids' Stage" (Simple Kids' Stage) pack features cutely-designed stages shaped like frogs, ladybugs, cats, and more, intended for elementary school kids. Like the last DLC, the new Mojipittan puzzles are priced to move at 200 Wii Points. Even with the 1,000 Points required to purchase the base game, the price isn't bad for quality educational gaming that happens to be conveniently downloadable. It also seems handy for beginning Japanese readers who happen to have Japanese Wiis.
First Mojipittan DLC spells 'money' for Namco Bandai
The WiiWare version of Namco Bandai's popular, impossible-to-localize puzzle game Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipittan (Word Puzzle Mojipittan) got its first add-on pack today. For 200 Wii Points, an additional 30 puzzles, along with new background music for those puzzles, can be downloaded from the Wii Shop, which actually doesn't seem like such a bad deal. The stages in the pack range from easy enough for children to "Ultra Hard," and have themes like "Countries of the World" and "Sweets." We aren't sure how themes in Mojipittan work -- spelling words in just the appropriate themes seems like it would be pretty hard!
Dubious WiiWare sales numbers
We don't know how a Ruliweb poster came across these statistics for Japanese sales of four WiiWare games. They could be inaccurate, they could be stolen from some analyst, or they could even be totally made up. Don't start writing any in-depth articles about these sales numbers or anything like that. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King is the biggest surprise here. We weren't sure how a very nontraditional Final Fantasy game (with grating DLC) would sell, even in Japan. If this report is to be believed, we have our answer: very well! Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipittan Wii: 72,971 Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King: 129,904 Dr. Mario & Virus Buster: 43,354 Pokemon Ranch: 234,745 [Via NeoGAF]
LONPOS joins the microtransactions conga line
Hold on tight to your wallets, purses, and Mario Coin Block Banks, everybody. With the Japanese launch of WiiWare less than a fortnight away, more news of microtransactions has begun to trickle in, with Genki confirming that LONPOS will feature extra DLC. The contents of this add-on pack are still a mystery, though we do know it will cost 500 Wii points. You probably don't need us to remind you that 500 Wii points will buy you River City Ransom. Or Phantasy Star II. Or Super Mario Bros. 3.News of pay DLC on the Wii is nothing new -- Bandai Namco confirmed that extra content would be available for Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipittan Wii months ago, in the form of extra stages. And, while neither title is likely to receive a western release, the likes of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King suddenly seem like prime candidates to receive DLC of their own.
Mojipittan supports Wi-Fi, still doesn't support English
We're a little wistful when we look at the new Wii Ware Kotoba Puzzle Mojipittan. It's a game built around making Japanese words, so there's kind of an inherent problem with localizing it. The Wii Ware version, just like every other version, is therefore locked away in Japan forever.But it looks so fun! And the use of the hiragana syllabary means that novice-to-intermediate Japanese learners could play it a little without having to worry about kanji. This particular iteration of Mojipittan, in addition to only costing 1,000 Wii Points, has another feature that makes it especially interesting: online play for two players.In addition to the normal Scrabble-like game, this Mojipittan features a "War Mode" in which players battle over board territory with their words, with the winner occupying the most space.
Wii Ware priced and dated for Japan
When it comes to Wii Ware in Japan, Nintendo is cutting it fine. Just this morning, the company announced that the service would launch in the region on March 25th, a mere fortnight from now. The U.S. launch of Wii Ware, you may recall, is down for May 12th.As well as a date, Nintendo revealed a launch line-up of nine titles with prices that ranged from 500 (Okiraku Ping-Pong Wii and Angel's Solitaire) to 1500 (My Life As A King: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles) Wii points: Okiraku Ping-Pong Wii (Arc System Works, 500 points) Word Puzzle Mojipittan Wii (Bandai Namco, 1000 points) Sakusaku Animal Panic (Konami, 1000 points) Star Soldier R (Hudson, 800 points) My Life As A King: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (Square Enix, 1500 points) Angel's Solitaire (G-Mode, 500 points) Dr. Mario & Bacillus Extermination (Nintendo, 1000 points) Everybody's Pokemon Ranch (Nintendo, 1000 points) Lonpos (Genki, 1000 points) Update 1: GameTrailers has just updated with videos of Everybody's Pokemon Ranch, Star Soldier R, Word Puzzle Mojipittan Wii, and Dr. Mario. Hit the break, people!
Japanese Wii Ware page debuts
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Japanese_Wii_Ware_page_debuts'; The steady stream of Wii Ware news continues, this time with Nintendo's launch of its official Japanese site for the video game download service. So far, the hub lists almost a dozen upcoming titles, attaching new screenshots to some of the releases: FFCC: The Young King and the Promised Land StarSoldierR Word Puzzle Mojipittan Wii Pokemon Ranch Dr. Mario's Virus Buster Marubou Shikaku Magnetica Bomberman Okiraku Ping-Pong Wii Angels' Solitaire Joysound Wii LostWinds and other western-developed games are noticeably missing, but that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't planned as launch or near-launch titles for other territories. Much to our disappointment, the page neglects to mention any specific pricing for the titles. One worthwhile detail that we spotted is the above screenof Dr. Mario's four-player cooperative mode. The puzzler was already perfect before -- now it's even perfecter. There's also a multiplayer shot for Magnetica (Puzzloop) worth checking out! [Via NeoGAF]
Welcome to next-generation online services: Wii Ware to have pay DLC
Further proof that the Wii is truly a next-gen system: Wii Ware will bring the nightmare of for-pay downloadable content to Wii games. Mojipittan, which we were just being all positive about, will be the first downloadable game to include (or, well, exclude until you pay for it) extra downloadables, including stages and items. Why include the stages you've made when you can sell them later?From there, it's only a matter of time before the slippery slope delivers us straight into unfinished games with content held back for more money, "premium" Mii parts and Wii Menu colors. Welcome to the future! Hope you brought money.
We wish we could play Mojipittan Wii
Namco Bandai's Wii Ware word game, Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipittan Wii, is exactly the kind of thing that would be up our alley. It's a tile-based word game, like Scrabble, with two important twists. First, it has multiple boards with different layouts, including the one in the screenshot in which every other board has a preplaced "n" on it. Second, it's, you know, Japanese. That's the real challenge of the thing. Our hiragana comprehension is fine, but we don't exactly have a large enough vocabulary to be able to build words from randomly-selected characters. Honestly, at a reduced Wii Ware price, we'd be tempted to jump on this like we wanted to for the PS2, PSP, and DS versions. Of course, there's no chance at all that Namco Bandai will allow that to happen.If you think Mojipittan is cute, check the official Mojipittan site for wallpapers and MP3's from the other games, and try your hand at the demo version!
Mojipittan will help you learn hiragana, humility
No, it's not another training game. Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipittan (Word Puzzle Mojipittan) is a Scrabble-style board game from Bandai Namco in which players use characters from the Japanese hiragana syllabary to spell words. Therefore, it's really, really, really hard to play if you don't know a load of Japanese words, and basically impossible if you can't read hiragana. Mojipittan has appeared on other platforms before, but as the Shockwave demo says, "The stylus makes it simple!" We suggest giving the demo a shot and seeing if you're up for some wordplay. The bouncy music and adorable tile mascots may convince you to enroll in Japanese classes.[Via GAME Watch]
