So, Suda51's No More Heroes doesn't look like it's a breakout Japanese hit. That fact alone has made many people quite blue — glum, even! Reader Frank sends this:

I felt sad that NMH ain't doing good in Japan, I decided to show some love to Suda by asking you to post my Wii which is not finished yet but to show support and respect to Suda for making what I know to be a great game, already pre-ordered it but no keychain or toilet paper Damn It! Well thanks for listening!

Nintendo Wii owners may notice a haunting, pulsing glow emanating from their tiny white consoles tonight, as updated system software and Wii Shop goodies have arrived. The gift-giving feature that allows for Virtual Console games and Wii Ware titles to be sent to online friends is now available via the Wii Shop channel. Version 1.1 of the Photo Channel, which adds personalized icons and removes MP3 support is also live. Upgrading to the newest version of the Photo Channel is optional, for those who want to continue to use their Wiis for MP3 playback.

A handful of minor visual changes to the Wii Shop Channel have also been added, but nothing worth scrambling to the internet for. What is worth scrambling for is some Pokemon Snap! *downloads*

"We are incredibly excited to be working with talent of this caliber and believe our game shares the same broad mass market appeal as successful music-based products like Activision's Guitar Hero and MTV's Rock Band."

"In all my years working in professional boxing, I have never seen anything come as close to recreating the thrill, the intensity, the courage and the spectacle of the sport," said legendary boxing promoter Don King. "Don King Presents: Prizefighter is more than a game -- it is a glimpse at what life is like in and out of the ring for these incredible athletes."

Video games used to be taken far more seriously than they are now; over here the gaming culture was affected adversely by advancing mobile phone tech., which back in the late '90s and early '00s was years ahead of the West. Suddenly people were playing (not games) with their phones and being more sociable than before, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for the human race. However, the Japanese still think of themselves as a kind of gaming mecca because they have a few god-like presences. In reality though, gaming has become less central and more a standard commodity; the Wii and DS have proved this with their huge demographic range. People want to play games, but without the huge investment of time and money games used to take up.

Face it: Japanese Wii owners buy Wii Sports, Wii Fit and maybe Super Mario Galaxy. That's about it, really! So, when a third party company releases something that, well, isn't any of those three, what happens? Not much. That's No More Heroes executive producer and Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada and No More Heroes and Killer 7 creator Goichi Suda hoping to give out toilet paper and hoping to sign copies of NMH. Thing is, after twenty minutes of Suda and Wada standing in front of Akihabara's Sofmap, nobody bought the game. Keep in mind, that not only two well-known game creators were giving out toilet paper, but there was also a woman in a mini-skirt (that, after the jump). Talk about a tough crowd!

Japanese game press like IT Media, GA Graphic and Famitsu were at the bust of an event and didn't have any customers to photograph at the launch. According to Akiba Blog, a staffer from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain apparently went and bought a copy of No More Heroes for Wada and Suda to sign. Regardless of what you think of No More Heroes, stuff like this isn't just sad for Suda and co., but for Wii owners ultimately. No More Heroes isn't your typical Wii game, and it seems to be getting punished for that. Hope it does better in the States — for the Wii's sake.

Hit the jump for the mini-skirt cosplay girl.

One has to wonder if Sakurai and team are growing tired, at this point, of providing daily updates to the Smash Bros. Dojo. The game was supposed to have been released by now and there's seemingly little left to be revealed. Most of the characters have had their move sets, specials and Final Smashes detailed and we haven't had a new character reveal since the middle of October. They're troopers, though, and soldier on through another work week of what's new in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. We're given another week of nitty-gritty details, with a gaggle of Pokemon, more online gameplay specifics and even some X. What's X? The answer, and hints about more hidden characters, lies beneath.

On with the Dojo Dump!

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting piece on Wii shortages, you know, with all their fancy WSJ reporting. The overall consensus seems to be that you're better not having enough product on the shelves than too much. We're sure your minds are blown. From UCLA management professor Christopher Tang.

Psychologically, it's better if the customer is begging for the product.

In case you missed it, people want the Wii, there are shortages, Santa is dead and the world may end. So according to Marketing Week, Nintendo has decided to pull their UK Wii commercials in exchange for the promotion of another hot (but at least in stock) commodity, the DS. For as much as we may speculate that Nintendo must feel like they run the place by now, their marketing dollars speak differently. Because at some point Nintendo thought that they'd at some level need a holiday Wii campaign, and it's only now that they're seeing reason...or holding research proving soccer mom heartbreak can cause lasting, measurable side effects.

Nintendo pulls Wii ads due to demand [via cvg]

Masahiro Sakurai is a freaking genius. In the Smash Bros. Dojo!! update today he reveals details on the With Anyone mode of online brawling, which basically acts just like you were playing single-player - are no lobbies. Just connect and play. That's not the genius bit though. I've never played a fighting game online where I hadn't at some point had my opponent disconnect on me just as he was about to lose. That isn't happening in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. If you are in a With Anyone match and you drop connection, the computer takes over control of your player immediately. It doesn't even tell the other players you went offline, so you won't even get the satisfaction of them knowing you fled. In his own words:

That's epic! Can we really do this? Wouldn't you say it's way better than having all your opponents drop out?

With Anyone/Basic Brawl [Smash Bros. Dojo!! - Thanks SephirothYuyX!]

Last week's hardware numbers from Media Create showed that the Wii was back on track to regaining first place in the console races, having suffered displacement from a cheaper, Shin Sangoku Musou 5-equipped PlayStation 3. Now that Wii Fit's arrived, Nintendo is back in the lead. For the period between November 26th and December 2nd, the company sold more than it has on a weekly basis since July. Thanks, Wii Fit!

• Nintendo DS Lite - 124,591
• Wii - 74,764
• PSP - 74,626
• PlayStation 3 - 37,092
• PlayStation 2 - 13,703
• Xbox 360 - 6,632

Media Create Weekly Sales

Here's an interesting anecdote: some GameStops are no longer getting specific information regarding their next Wii shipments. Apparently overzealous shoppers are searching for Wiis with such ferocity that they've been stalking UPS drivers—we use that word only semi-loosely—as they've figured out delivery routes well enough to anticipate drop offs and harass UPS drivers beforehand. Wow. Freak. Eeeeee.

UPS carriers being hunted down like animals [gonintendo] [image]

Ready to see what's instead early next year Nintendo-wise? Game site CVG has apparently confirmed a big list of Wii and DS titles. Doesn't seem to include Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but there other games which certainly won't make up for its absence. On to the list!

Time for Japanese retailers to look into their crystal ball and see stuff. Stuff like which games and game hardware will sell this holiday season. Japanese game mag even made a top ten list of their predictions of the the hottest products. Let's dive right in and gaze at teh future:

1. Wii Fit (Wii)
2. Dragon Quest IV (DS)
3. DS Lite
4. Wii
5. Slim & Lite PSP
6. None (no response)
7. Professor Layton and the Devil's Box (DS)
8. Final Fantasy IV (DS)
9. Game Center CX (DS)
10. Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden (PS2)

Geez, wonder which retailers were BIG WET BLANKETS and refused to make unscientific predictions. Boo-hiss on them!
Japanese Retailers Predict Holiday Sales [1Up] [Image]

Wii Fit was released in Japan. Did you hear? It perform... admirably. Solid (if not spectacular) sales, some might say. In its defense, surpassing a quarter of a million copies is nothing to sneeze at, it's just that some of us expected to perform ridiculously. Granted, Wii Fit faced some hefty competition from Professor Layton and Pandora's Box and SD Gundam G Generation Spirits, so we'll cut it some slack.

And, hey, not a bad debut for the Xbox 360 version of Assassin's Creed. The PS3 version doesn't hit Japan for over a month, so we'll see if Sony fans help it chart well then, too. The following represent sales from November 26th to December 2nd.

01. Professor Layton and the Pandora's Box (DS) - 294,000 / NEW
02. Wii Fit (Wii) - 261,000 / NEW
03. SD Gundam G Generation Spirits (PS2) - 252,000 / NEW
04. Dragon Quest IV (DS) - 135,000 / 732,000
05. Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes (PS2) - 95,000 / NEW
06. Mario Party DS (DS) - 80,000 / 539,000
07. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2) - 74,000 / 368,000
08. Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360) - 41,000 / NEW
09. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) - 41,000 / 103,000
10. Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2008 (DS) - 35,000 / NEW

An alert Kotaku reader named Daniel was for some reason poking around over on Pokemon.com, where he discovered that the most voyeuristic of Pokemon games, Pokemon Snap - released just yesterday in Japan - would be coming to the North American Virtual Console this Monday, December 10th. Rejoice! I immediately got my copy of Snap for the Nintendo 64 in order to take a sexy photo of it for the article, but after I set it down for a moment I came back to find Rande had claimed it for his own, and every time I reached for it those talons would extend, as if daring me to take it from him. So instead I snapped him, which makes this story exactly the sort of snake eating its own tail, infinite mirror thing that gets my head going all dizzy. Anyway, Pokemon.com will have an exclusive wallpaper to mark the event on the 10th, so you'll have an excuse to go visit - unlike Daniel.

Pokemon.com - They Show You Their Pokemans [Nintendo - Thanks Daniel!]

In the eyes of Nintendo fans everywhere still desperately trying to get their hands on Nintendo's latest console, 9 year-old Brandyn Waterford just made the ultimate sacrifice. When he found out his father was helping with the Agape Villages Foster Family Services toy drive in California, he donated his Wii to the cause.

"I wanted to donate it to the foster care so other kids could have a really special Christmas," Brandyn Waterford said. "My teacher said foster kids don't really get toys."

Child Sacrifices To Make Holiday Merry For Foster Kids [KQCA Sacremento]

"Ninja Reflex channels the accessible multiplayer fun of Wii Sports and the self-improvement aspect of Brain Age into a martial arts universe that is ideally suited for the Wii and Nintendo DS," said David Luntz, President and CEO of Nunchuck Games. "Nunchuck Games is thrilled to team up with EA Partners to bring Ninja Reflex to gamers everywhere."

It may not have the allure of a new character announcement, say, Mega Man or Bubbles from Clu Clu Land, but I'm sure there are many Super Smash Bros. fans looking forward to inputting a series of Friend Codes in the Wii version. The Smash Bros. Dojo writes today of the exciting, and quite expected, implementation of Friend Codes that make online play in Super Smash Bros. Brawl possible. Absolution from claims of the corruption of minors is just a fun side effect. The Dojo even offers up helpful hints for Friend Code transmission: "Write a note, do it over the phone, or send it by e-mail." Brilliant!

Commence with with "Nooooooo!"-ing.

Friend List [Smash Bros. Dojo - thanks, Paco!]

My friends, there are mods and there are mods. But for a mod to be awarded the immortality of Kotakutalics, it need be something extraordinary. This Wii Zapper constructed (solely?) of legos (UPDATE: screw grammar, I say it this way) is indeed something extraordinary. Because at long last, Man has the proper peripheral to play an honest game of LEGO Duck Hunt. And we're sure it's every bit as wonderful as we thought it to be.

Here is my lego zapper! [via gonintendo]