Nintendo's big E3 press conference has come and gone. While the mainstream media outlets will praise titles such as Wii Music and Wii Sports Resort, the hardcore gamer has reason to feel underwhelmed. Whenever the Big N fails to please its base, one might wonder how the seemingly impervious Nintendo could fail to deliver on expectations. However, like all that is human, the house Miyamoto built is not without its blemishes. When "mistake" and "Nintendo" are mentioned in the same sentence, those who aren't hurling bricks at the heretic are known to immediately think of the Virtual Boy. Nonetheless, Nintendo has had its fair share of publishing misfires involving some of its biggest licenses.
Often, the company will allow its intellectual properties to be used in games developed by second or even third parties. Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, and Metroid have all had titles outsourced. Like a mother bear protecting her cubs, Nintendo tends to insist on quality development. They will publish these games themselves in part to assure the consumer that the title is worthy of its featured IP (otherwise, things can get ugly). Nintendo is a business, however, and businesses need to make money. And what's one of the quickest ways to turn a profit? That's right: slap a well-known franchise onto a subpar piece of shovelware. The exemplar piece can be found in Pokémon Dash, a disastrous "scratch-your-DS-into-submission" racer.
At their E3 keynote, Nintendo revealed that the Pokémon Ranger series would be getting a second installment in the United States. Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia will be gracing the DS on November 10th of this year.
For those of you looking to check out some promo footage, hit up the video above. Otherwise, look to capture even more Pokémon later this year.
Before today, "Fall" was the most specific release date we had received for Pokémon Platinum, and that's not really specific at all. It's like, a whole damn season.
Three cheers for GAME Watch, then, as the Japanese site has revealed Platinum will launch in Japan on September 13th. That's a mere 60 days before (part of the world) gets addicted all over again! Fingers crossed we don't have another eight month wait for the localized version (as we did for Diamond and Pearl).
The most recent Japanese charts showed us that musical instruments have more legs than horses, as Band Brothers DXjumped up into the first place spot. Meanwhie, Nanashi no Game made its debut in the top ten, but only sold a total of 30,000 copies.
Hardware sales were also interesting, as the DS stubbornly held onto the second spot:
PSP: 56,439 (2,442)
Nintendo DS: 47,455 (1,429)
Wii: 44,525 (3,955)
PlayStation 3: 14,359 (3,614)
PlayStation 2: 11,768 ( 4,095)
Xbox 360: 4,776 (328)
With the Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G craze finally starting to quiet a bit, we don't think it will be too long before the PSP dips closer to DS sales (as long as Nintendo's handheld can maintain its own momentum). Enough about the future, though -- it's all about the now. So, go on and see how software fared last week in Japan by clicking past the break.
Remember last month when we reported on the team-up between Nintendo and Burger King? Well, now we get a glimpse at the Pokémon cards and toys being offered up by the fast food chain. You know, in case you wanted to take your little brother out to lunch or something. It's okay, your secret is safe with us.
Anywho, we can't really comment on how awesome the cards are (we're no Pokémon Trading Card Game aficionados), but the little figures and plushies look cool enough. Each one seems to hold a card and there are also specific caddies that are available, which hold quite a few cards, we imagine.
The latest issue of CoroCoro Comic features more exclusive Pokémon Platinumcontent, including new screens of the Battle Frontier area. Like the Battle Frontier in Pokémon Emerald, players will be able to fight in this area in order to earn Battle Points that can be traded in for prizes. Also like the GBA Battle Frontier, trainers will be able to challenge a Battle Tower, full of nonstop arena-style battles.
That's great and all, but check out the promotional art included in the article! We aren't sure who drew this, but it's not anyone responsible for the usual Pokémon art. The combination of super-smooth drawings and pixel Pokemans is super effective!
Members of Japan's Pokémon Daisuki Club will soon be able to (enter a raffle to potentially) buy a Giratina edition Nintendo DS Lite bundle, consisting of Pokémon Platinum and a swoon-worthy Lite that has been subtly branded with the Platinumcover star.
Like many limited edition DSes, supply is expected to be short, so hopeful owners will have to submit an entry form to enter the draw, where they could win the right to give Nintendo money -- ¥21,600 ($203), to be precise. The raffle ends on July 14th (and is for Japanese residents only), and 1,000 of the names drawn will be eligible for an even rarer metallic Giratina figurine. Remind us again, please: why are we still living in not-Japan?
The DS found itself back in cozy old third place in this week's chart, as the hype from Metal Gear Solid 4 died down a bit in Japan:
PSP: 59,531 (5,325)
Wii: 41,037 (4,527)
NDS: 36,599 (2,602)
PS3: 20,336 (54,975)
PS2: 6,346 (951)
Xbox 360: 2,555 (392)
Meanwhile, Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team's steady climb back into the top ten makes us wonder if supply just wasn't meeting demand a few weeks earlier, when the game fell out of the top thirty.
Yet overall, the DS had a relatively boring week in terms of software, with no exciting new releases to congratulate or poke fun at (unless you consider the budget-priced re-release of Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary "exciting" and "new").
If you want to see what Japanese gamers were buying last week, though, just click on past the break.
Hey, guess what? You can buy Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Amazon today (and today only) for $25.99!
What a minute -- why are we posting about a Brawl deal on DS Fanboy, of all places? Because, friends, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Amazon is offering up nine Nintendo deals today, which (if our guesses are correct) includes five DS games.
Since all of the said games are published by Nintendo you might own most of them already, but if not, they're games that are definitely worth getting for cheap. So, all you stingy folks that are able to order from Amazon.com should check past the break to see what Gold Box sales are in store for you today.
The Japanese site for the Pokémon 151 shirt series has opened, revealing in full the designs for all four shirts in the first set. We think it's interesting to see how different the styles are among the shirts: the Mewtwo and Articuno shirts look like promotional apparel for some European sports team, the Cubone shirt resembles a tattoo more than anything else, and the Hypno shirt has an interesting silhouette style.
Oh, and just in case you thought the shirt was a bit creepy before: the full design reveals that he is kidnapping children! Either that or two kids have just decided to follow the mind-controlling monster.
Europeans, rejoice! Today brings news regarding release dates for DS titles up until the beginning of next year. The list is populated with plenty of high-profile titles, yet is woefully absent of a certain Professor Layton. There's also a concrete confirmation that Trials & Tribulations is headed your way, even though we kind of knew that already.
Even more odd is the inclusion of Sonic Unleashed in the list past the break. Is the game coming to the DS? Maybe, but it seems more likely that this is nothing more than a typo.
The "self-help" era is upon us, even finding its way into the video game industry as of late. Aside from the obvious fitness awareness game on Nintendo's other system (we mean Wii Fit, of course), there have been quite a few attempts to help gamers improve their lifestyles and habits. Take, for example, the upcoming My Weight Loss Coach and Ubisoft's "Easyway" title to help people quit smoking.
Our favorite approach so far, though, was when DS Fanboy reader Dan used Pokémon to quit smoking. If there's anything we've learned from Dan's inspiring story, it's that the best way to curb an addiction is to replace it with another. We then decided that we wanted to help more of our fine readers that are suffering from such torments day in and day out. Pokémon may cure smoking, but what about other plaguing ailments? We're happy to say that after months of testing on monkeys and small children, we've finally come up with a few perfect video game cures.
So, look no further than Dr. DS Fanboy, and check out our ultimate self-help guide to find the fixes for your addictions.
Here's something unexpected: a line of Pokémon clothing that we wouldn't mind letting ourselves show people! The adult-focused "Pokémon 151" series of T-shirts presents selected Pokemans from the Red/Blue era in bold, artsy, The King of Games-style designs.
Four shirt designs, featuring Hypno, Mewtwo, Articuno, and Cubone, are now on sale in Japanese Pokémon Center locations. The official website for the line will open on the 26th. In the meantime, we're left battling the bizarre feeling that we might ... like a shirt with Hypno on it. Another picture, showing partial images of all four designs, follows the break.
Just as we were starting to get comfortable with the DS coming in third consistently on the Japanese hardware charts, Metal Gear Solid 4 came out and helped push our favorite handheld down to fourth. Fourth! Meaning, it only did better than the PS2 and 360. Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!
DS hardware did get a little boost, though, despite the fact that not much new software made its way into the charts:
Playstation 3: 75,311 (64,455)
PSP: 64,675 (2,659)
Wii: 45,564 (925)
Nintendo DS: 39,201 (4,181)
PlayStation 2: 7,297 (1,018)
Xbox 360: 2,163 (117)
There were some surprises this week, as Let's Make a Pro BaseballTeam! found itself back in the top thirty (so did Pokémon Diamond). But, you can just see all the hot software action for yourself after the break.
Can we just say, Nintendo: loving the boxart for Pokémon Platinum. Whereas the art for Diamond and Pearl relied on darker, more subdued colors, Platinum's box employs a striking combination of red, black, and white, blasting out in beams from the center of the cover. It's almost as though cover star Giratina is leaping right out of the box at the viewer/shopper. He's coming to get you, kids! That will be under your bed tonight! Muahaha.
As well as the cover, GAME Watch also has a small pool of character art (featuring Regice, Registeel, Regirock, and Regigigas) and screens (which can be found in our gallery). It looks ... well, pretty much like the samegame you bought last year. Will that stop you buying it? Nope, thought not.
2,442)
4,095)
