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Virtual Console sales up in the period post-Ninja Spirit
Big Virtual Console sales numbers make us happy. Nintendo reported today that they've sold 4.7 million Virtual Console downloads worldwide. Game|Life's Chris Kohler did the math (as he did for the last release of VC sales data) and found that the 1.4 million games sold in May is more than twice the average sales for any month in the previous quarter. What got you guys buying last month? It was Dave's videos, wasn't it? Or was it the bounty of ninja games? Either way, we're delighted.
A tiny look at the new Naruto
You've seen the screenshots. Now, see the first footage of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes. The trailer is brief, but it manages to tantalize us with furious ninja action. One thing to note: Let's hope the trailer's cheesy narrator isn't indicative of the game's final voice acting.
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: Ninja Appreciation Day
This week, pirates are getting all the attention. Let's not forget, of course, who the real ultimate power is. Or who you can talk to for all of life's answers. Those rum-filled scallywags can struggle with a fleet of tea drinkers, the ninjas are just waiting to kill everyone left while flipping out. Just because they can.Filler Important announcements aside, here are our picks for the week's best webcomics. Be sure to vote for your favorite! Beta testing For Aiur Preyed upon Hey guys! My pokemans The keeping of secrets Over the top Alpha geek Swallow everything [Image Source]
International demo week continues with Tenchu Z
You're probably already familiar with the lengths you'll have to go through to download an Xbox Live demo that hasn't been cleared for the U.S., a phenomenon we've covered fairly extensively this week. But this time it's a Japanese demo for Tenchu Z, and it's one case in which we can whole-heartedly endorse the use of clandestine tactics. You see, this is a ninja game.You know what ninjas do with regional barriers? They slice them with a katana. If they live in America and they want a Japanese demo, they don't even pretend to be from Japan when they make a dummy Gamertag. If you ever play Uno against someone named "ThisIsNotARealTagIJustMadeItToGetUnauthorizedDemos" be glad you made it out with your jugular intact. We know you're just a regular guy waiting for the Halo 3 beta to get rolling and it can be awfully scary getting illicit demos, but ask yourself ... WWND?
But I need that for my alt!
Mingka of Dath'Remar shares her story of genuinely needing an item that dropped on a Sunken Temple run, the Robes of Insight, only to have it snatched away by greed. The hunter in the group rolled need on the item as well, with the excuse that his alt/friend/guildmate/girlfriend needs it also. The bottom line question: who is allowed to roll on an item that drops while grouped? The debate continues, but people are very united in the answer that items should always go to players who were present for the drop and need the item as a direct upgrade. What happens if nobody directly needs the item is still a question. I personally think that loot should be discussed if a clear upgrade situation is not present. Many people have alts, and would like to outfit those characters. But All of us have mains that require funding and gear/enchant/gem upgrades to progress further.
Turtle power envy
Seeing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game on the ESRB's list of upcoming Virtual Console titles should bring joy to our nostalgia-ruled hearts, but we're finding it hard to not be pessimistic about this particular release. We've put more hours into Konami's beat'em up than you can shake a bo staff at, so it's not the actual game that we have problems with. No, it's just outright jealousy over the XBLA port of the arcade version. While we're stuck with 8-bit graphics and support for only two players, the 360's turtle fans have the original cut scenes, arcade graphics, and online co-op for up to four players! Inconceivable! To add insult to injury, we might have to shell out 600 Wii points for the NES game instead of the usual 500 because of licensing issues. If that'll be the case, we would actually be spending more than what 360 gamers are paying! We can at least find solace in the NES version's extended levels, extra stages, and Pizza Hut advertising. Also, TMNT II wasn't the only new ninja release spotted on the ESRB's Virtual Console catalog. Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo's 1989 platformer, will also be stabbing its way onto the Wii. Let's see the Xbox try to top us with a game like that! Oh wait...
The golden age of ninjas
We won't look down on you if Tecmo's announcement for Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword was the first time you'd ever heard of ninjas sneaking onto a handheld console. The stealthy assasins carry out their orders so efficiently and silently, most people aren't even aware of a ninja's presence until they see their own blood on the wall sprayed from an expert slash across their necks. Modojo has a lengthy feature tracking portable appearances by ninjas like Shinobi and Goemon, following their shuriken-throwing adventures from the Game Boy all the way up to the Nintendo DS. Our favorite game from the bunch is Ninja Five-O, a Bionic Commando-esque side scroller that was released for the GBA. If there's one thing terrorists fear, it's ninja cops swinging through their defenses!
Ninja Spirit headed to VC, we take full credit
Have we mentioned recently how much we love Hudson? Not only did they make tons and tons of incredible games for the Turbografx-16 (and lots of other systems!), but they're better than anyone else about actually releasing their games on the Virtual Console. And now we have news that some of the best Turbografx-16 games are coming to the US in May! Also some stuff for Nintendo consoles in Japan, but we'll get to that. It finally happened. A game we profiled in Virtually Overlooked has been officially announced for the Virtual Console. Even though IREM's Ninja Spirit was one of the best and most popular TG16 games, we're going to go ahead and declare this as a victory. As if that weren't exciting enough, Hudson announced plans to release a personal favorite, Blazing Lazers, as well as Ordyne (excellent, adorable shmup) and World Sports Competition (we haven't played it, but we'll assume it's great because we're in a good mood). Nintendo of Japan also has some fantastic stuff planned, including Super Mario Bros. 2 and F-Zero X, either of which would no doubt be the headline if anyone else were writing this. That's Super Mario Bros. 2, the Japanese version, released here as Lost Levels. The really, really hard one, as opposed to the silly one about throwing vegetables.
Guildwatch: A long struggle with raid cancer
I would say that I'm sorry that Guildwatch is running a little late this week, but you didn't really notice, did you? No worries, we're here now, with all the drama, downings, and recruiting that any one man (or woman, or orc, or undead) can handle!And please-- please!-- remember that this column runs on your tips, so throw any and all news you have about drama going on around the servers, guild progression, or recruiting notices in the box at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. You do it-- we just report on it, right after the jump.
Forum post of the day: Worst ninja excuse
Ninjas -- we know them, we hate them, we laugh at how they'll never get a group on the server again. Most serious ninjas tend to go linkdead immediately after looting, to spare themselves being yelled at and reported. But some try to justify their behavior by whatever thin threads of logic they can dredge up. Thorsgaard of Moonglade-EU has started a forum thread of the best and worst excuses for unneeded need rolls, and there are some doozies:
