Kotaku

Trying to wrap one's head around the various incarnations of Westone's Wonder Boy series can be a bit confusing. Okay, it's downright mind numbing. Over the course of six games released across various platforms, it has arrived in various regions under the titles Adventure Island (which then spawned its own series of games), The Dynastic Hero, Monster Lair and Dragon's Curse. Fortunately, we have Wired's Chris Kohler to break it all down for us, Virtual Console style. He does his best to clear up the Wonder Boy confusion running wild with Wii Shop Channel surfers in a post at Game|Life.

Thanks to him, I think I finally get it. Wait. Nevermind, I lost it again. Still confused.

Virtual Console's Wonder Boy Games, Explained [Game|Life]

It's nice to feel smug and superior when comparing one's knowledge to that of New York Times reporters. Unfortunately, it's only for the geekiest of reasons, as we're feeling quite high and mighty taking comfort in the knowledge that our understanding of video games and console technology far outweighs that of the Times.

The NYT makes mention of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 both being powered by the Cell processor, with the latter listing for as low as $299. Furthermore, the paper refers to Gran Turismo 5 as "a hyper-realistic, high-speed journey, is one of the [PlayStation 3's] best sellers." At least they know that Halo 3 is the third episode in the series, a game that Dan Strack, a trader for a Wall Street bank, is quoted as calling the "latest and greatest game that people are walking on water over."

While this edition of the New York Times may be forgiven, as it may have come from the future, we can't excuse Strack's sloppy metaphor. Halo 3 doesn't make you Jesus.

Some Essential Hardware (Even Away From the Street) [New York Times - thanks, Aaron]

This is it, kids. The start of a new era of video gaming has begun as Nintendo has shipped Wii Fit in Japan. The 8800 yen (about $80 US) game with its custom controller, the Wii balance board, was revealed at E3 2007, with some expecting it to act as the Wii's answer to Nintendo DS-selling mega-hit Brain Age. North American and European gamers won't have access to Wii Fit until sometime in 2008, but Japan is burning calories as we speak (or will be within hours).

We'll know next Wednesday how well Wii Fit performed in its debut week as Media Create sales numbers are released. Friendly wagers are certainly welcome in the comments. For those with the means, did you pick it up? Import it? Let us know what you think, if so.

This week's Dojo Dump reads more like an instruction manual than anything else, so a pair of NES era remixes adds some nice welcome variety. I have to admit that I remember almost nothing from Zelda II, and hearing the Temple theme mix didn't help dust off any cobwebs. It really is a bit insane how much stuff the gang at Nintendo have packed into Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as the number of options available are approaching staggering. Of personal interest is hilarious detail on my favorite Nintendo character, Wario, and his amazing Final Smash. Don't miss it.

The Dojo Dump is right after this (and by this I mean that ->).

"It's been the longest, hardest transition in the history of the industry...Last Friday marked one of those points where you can say something's changed...Around the world, based on the data I've got, it was pretty clear that the transition is now over.

When Hudson isn't busy laying off chunks of their workforce, they spend their time readying new Bomberman games for the masses. Games like Bomberman Land Wii, which is a collection of mini-games that take advantage of the system's unique control scheme. It's about time we got a collection of mini-games on the Wii, isn't it? *sighs* Bomberman really needs to stick to mazes and bombs. The most successful Bomberman games of the past few years? Bomberman Live on Xbox Live Arcade and Bomberman DS. Mazes and bombs people. Mazes and bombs.

While they might have dipped a bit this past week, but you don't have to win every battle to win the war. According to Enterbrain, the PlayStation 3 came out on top in monthly sales over the Wii for the month of November, pushing 183,217 consoles to Nintendo's 159,193. This marks the first time Sony came out on top since the PS3's release last November. Is this an indication that Sony is returning to its former glory in Japan? Analyst Hiroshi Kamide of KBC Securities isn't convinced.

"It's nice to see the system selling much better than six months ago. But is it a sustainable trend? Is it going to really escalate from here? I'm not so sure."

Sony PS3 tops Nintendo Wii in Japan for first time [Reuters via Next Generation]

Sorry, Sony. You had a good run. After two weeks of the PlayStation 3 outselling the Wii, reversing a long running sales trend, Nintendo's little white console is back. The Wii outsold the PS3 last week in Japan, but only by a narrow margin. The Nintendo DS, on the other hand, enjoyed a surge in hardware sales on the release of Square-Enix's Dragon Quest IV remake. The Media Create weekly sales for November 19th to the 25th is below.

• Nintendo DS Lite - 116,694
• PSP - 75,027
• Wii - 54,362
• PlayStation 3 - 50,564
• PlayStation 2 - 14,875
• Xbox 360 - 7,117

Media Create Weekly Sales

As so many of you have seen fit to point out, Nintendo.com has gotten a huge overhaul in the past day or so, transforming from a rather cluttered mess into a more neat, orderly mess. Their web weasels have been working overtime to get the new serene blue, white, and gray site tuned up for their multitude of visitors, perhaps tuning it more towards a generic audience than your standard gaming audience. While the new site isn't without its little quirks, like spacing issues with Firefox that don't occur in IE - the bane of the web developer's existence - it is coming along quite nicely. One might complain about the overabundance of pictures depicting young, clean-cut, well mannered models playing with Nintendo products, but think about it. Would you buy a product with you in the advertisement? I know I wouldn't.

Nintendo.com - Mintier...Freshier. [Nintendo - Thanks Everyone!]

Game|Life's Chris Kohler recently sat down with Nintendo senior VP George Harrison to chat about the current state of Western development on the Wii and Nintendo DS. Harrison told Game|Life that he was unaware of any plans to bring in developers beyond those already working on Nintendo published software. Nintendo's more recent notable efforts from the West include Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Mario Strikers Charged. While those games, and their respective series, have performed quite well, as Kohler points out, N-Space's Geist for the Gamecube was a critical disaster for the company.

Harrison stated that the current market leader is instead looking to third parties such as Ubisoft and EA to appeal to non-Japanese gamers. The future plans of Retro are currently unknown, but N-Space was reported to be knee deep in Wii development some 18 months ago.

Nintendo: 'No Plans' To Increase Western Game Development [Game|Life]

The Xbox gang revealed today that they sold some 310,000 consoles last week, boosted by post-Thanksgiving sales. Not bad, especially when compared to sales of the Wii during the same time frame, which Nintendo reports was at 350,000. Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg told Next-Gen that sales of Xbox 360 Arcade were much better than expected and that Scene It? is selling out. The bad news? It's for Sony, whom Microsoft says was outsold two to one, comparing Xbox 360 sales to that of the PlayStation 3.

Good for Microsoft, I say. Those scrappy underdogs deserve to have a little walkin' around money.

360 Rivals Wii Black Friday Sales [Next-Gen]

Want to see what you're currently not enjoying via your Nintendo Wii? This promo clip shows the new, Japanese-only (for now) channel that lets Wii owners watch TV commercials, see Shigeru Miyamoto hawk Wii Fit and allows for the downloading of Nintendo DS demos. It's, of course, all in Japanese, but you may want to watch to get your Wii-mote strokes down before it launches.

According to a report from IGN, Nintendo exec Shinji Hatano told those at a recent press conference that the company has distributed some 7.8 million downloads via the Virtual Console service for total sales of 3.3 billion Wii Points. That works out to $33 million USD or 3.5 billion yen. Hatano said the figures were "not bad" but was unsure whether they were high or low. The numbers seem a bit low to me, personally, as that averages out to about $4.25 US per download, but I'm sure they'll be positioned next to a proudly erect bar chart in a future Nintendo PowerPoint presentation.

I for one welcome our new Nintendo overlords, It prints money, etc., etc.

Virtual Console Numbers Revealed [IGN]

More Club Nintendo stuff! Endless! Tired of seeing the Wii-mote left strewn around the house, Mrs. Bashcraft ordered this vinyl Wii-mote holder from Club Nintendo. Granted, this is way cooler Club Nintendo stuff, but this was free. There's another exciting pic of this exciting Club Nintendo product after the jump. Go ahead and click if you dare!

There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand. The company, after all, is trying to reach out to women and 40 and 50-year olds who aren't avid gamers.

Dear mainstream media,
Please listen up. Some senior citizens in some retirement homes play the Wii. We heard the story before, and it was really nice. And then we heard it about 1000 times since. This is no longer a story, along with these other topics:

1. The Wii is in demand this Christmas.
2. It will be tough to get a Wii this Christmas, especially for a senior.
3. Elvis is still alive, and he owns a Wii.

As an alternative, may we recommend that Wii causes cancer story you've prewritten for January.

Thank-you,
You friendly Kotaku staff.
Nintendo's Wii a surprise hit with seniors [msn] Thanks Colin!

"MiniCopter: Adventure Flight is a great game for budding RC modelers and children who enjoy playing with RC toys," said Akibo Shieh, President, Aksys Games. "MiniCopter allows kids to customize their helicopter without worrying about breaking their toy and seeing immediate results.

I hope our fiber-optic service becomes as popular as the Wii," NTT East Senior Executive Vice President Tetsuo Koga told a news conference. I think we have won a powerful ally to hit our target to boost fiber-optic subscribers to 20 million by the year ending March 2011.

There's a reason they pay Activision's chief executive officer Bobby Kotick the big bucks. He's got fresh insight on the video game buying consumer, a group whom he believes likes less expensive consoles. A progressive theory, to be sure, but Kotick wowed the financial community with his acumen, claiming that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 need a price drop to $199 within the next two years to remain competitive. Furthermore, he's got his sensitive fingers so well placed on the pulse of the market that he believes the much cheaper Wii " is now setting a standard and an expectation" on console pricing.

Sure, go ahead and laugh at the mentally unstable man! I have a sneaking suspicion that he might be right about this one. Kotick will be vindicated, you'll see. It's just crazy enough to work, I say.

Activision CEO: $199 for consoles critical [Reuters]

At the Montreal Games Summit, Retro Studios prez Michael Kelbaugh and game director Mark Pacini waxed nostalgically on the development of the Metroid Prime series. While opinion on the decision to change the series' direction from 2D action adventure to 3D, first-person shooter may be divided, what I think we can agree on is that behind the scenes look at how it all came to be is certifiably neat-o. Hearing tales of Shigeru Miyamoto shooting down game design concepts, the months long struggle to make the game's morph ball work and the last-minute decision to include the scan visor are the kinds of things one rarely hears about from Nintendo published games.

From the original Metroid Prime to Echoes to Corruption, some great internal-only moments are revealed. That first hands-on with the Nintendo "Revolution"? I'd have been giddy, too.

Gamasutra has a fantastic write up of the session, which fans of Metroid shouldn't miss.

MIGS 2007: Retro Studios On The Journey Of Metroid Prime [Gamasutra]

Last week was the Wii's second best since its launch and the DS broke the 600,000 record previously set by the Game Boy Advance by more than 50,000, Nintendo said today.

The company sold 350,000 consoles last week, 50,000 more than the previous week, but still not nearly as many as the launch week of the device when Nintendo sold more than 600,000 units.

Nintendo says they are on track to sell 17.5 million Wiis in the fiscal year ending March 31, up from the 14.5 million execs initially predicted last fall.

The company told the AP that they've pumped up production to about 1.8 million per a month, but still doesn't think that will be enough to meet demand and manufacturers cannot increase production again.

"I couldn't find a single Wii system on the shelves -- literally as I was walking into a Wal-Mart at 11 a.m., someone was walking out with the last one," Fils-Aime said in an interview at the company's new office here. "Consumers are buying every game we can put into the system."

Fils-Aime predicted a new sales record the week before Christmas, despite being "very concerned" about the U.S. economy and the rising price of gasoline. About 40 percent of Wii sales have been in North America and Latin America, while 35 percent were in Asia, primarily Japan, and the rest came from Europe and the Middle East.

Fils-Aime went on to say that Nintendo is not deliberately constraining supply.

The press release goes on to say that Nintendo sold 653,000 Nintendo DS last week, setting a new all-time sales record for Thanksgiving week, beating out the previous mark set by the Game Boy Advance when it sold 600,000.

George Harrison seemed downright giddy with the news:

"As shoppers look for ways to maximize their limited holiday spending money, they turn to gifts that can be used by the entire family," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Wii and Nintendo DS offer something for every member of the family. They're the most fun video game experiences at the most affordable price."

The Nintendo Wii may just be the best thing to happen to non-gamers since the invention of the... I don't know, let's say the polio vaccine. It not only gives retirement home detainees a replacement activity for staring longingly out the window, it gets them occasionally moving. It has given us the Alpha Mom, the laughing Wii Baby, and Wario Wario Smooth Moves. Now, it has transformed one hardline anti-gaming mom into a Wii devotee. In a new column, New York Times health reporter Tara Parker-Pope focuses on the cardiovascular silver lining of games like Wii Sports and the EyeToy series as the reason she's reversed her "no video games" policy at home.

Oh sure, she points to games that require physical interaction, say Dance Dance Revolution and Nicktoons Movin' Jellyfish Jam, as being heavy calorie burners, but I suspect ulterior motives. My guess is that she spent two hours in line to play Manhunt 2 as it was intended.

Moving Beyond Joysticks, and Off the Couch [New York Times]

I say this without a hint of sarcasm or humor, but it would seem that we have another fatal Wii contest on our hands. In the case of Patrick Coulter from Scituate, Massachusetts, however, it wasn't due to negligence on the part of others, but a longtime heart condition. The 14-year old was attending a Providence Bruins game and was the winner of a Nintendo Wii giveaway. Coulter suffered from a fatal heart attack while running to claim his raffle winnings following the American Hockey League game.

More on this sad story at the local Fox News affiliate.

Scituate Boy Dies at Providence Bruins Game [MyFox Boston - thanks, Andrew.]

We know only a few details about the Namco Bandai's Fragile for the Wii. Development is being handled by tri-Crescendo--they of Baiten Kaitos and Eternal Sonata fame--and it's packed with fabulous anime hairstyles. Plus, that flashlight from Fragile's teaser clip? It just screams Wii remote controls. One less mini-game collection for serious Wii gamers.

Maxconsole pointed out that two UK newspapers ran near identical stories...too identical (hit jump for big pic). Identical like...the sub headline is exactly the same: "A shortage of one of the year's must-have gifts is sure to cause tears and tantrums on Christmas morning." The quotes are the same...the exposition is mostly the same. Look, they're the freaking same story, for all intents and purposes. Maxconsole implied that Nintendo must have fed a press release to the two publications...which, reading between the lines a bit, might imply that Nintendo had not so indirectly written these two news stories. Nintendo has gone on record to state that, despite accusations, their PR did not supply the story to writers.