OMG Nintendo

While I was off trying to survive family vacation season, it looks like a controversial bit of new information surfaced about the soon-to-be-released-in-Japan Dragon Quest IX: the game is going to give players exactly one save slot. Think back to Dragon Quest VIII and what a total pain in the butt that game would've been to play with one save.

The word from Square-Enix is that the one save slot is the result of technological limitations of the Nintendo DS. Basically, there's so much to do in the game that save data's size is huge relative to the overall size of the game cart. Series creator Yuji Hori also insisted that the game include an emergency back-up save, so a player whose DS battery dies during play doesn't lose all of their progress. According to Square-Enix, the emergency back-up save is basically what we're getting instead of a second save slot.

As another wrinkle to the debate going over the one save slot: it's actually becoming very common for new DS RPGs to only support one save slot, usually without any sort of courteous explanation from the developers. Pretty much all of the DS Pokemon games only support one save. So does Atlus's quite excellent Devil Survivor. So maybe the real question is: why is it okay when other games do it, and not okay with Dragon Quest IX ships with one save slot? Is it just because DQIX invites comparison to earlier console games? 

So after the first wave of buzz for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories passed, there was a second round of information that made my heart sink a little: Shattered Memories would also be appearing on PS2 and PSP. Now, nothing wrong with either system, but both are inferior to Wii in terms of hardware specs and use wildly different control schemes.

A really great game developed specifically for Wii is unlikely to play well on PS2 or run well at all on PSP. So if Shattered Memories is a good game on either of the PlayStation consoles... well, it's almost failing the Wii by definition, isn't it? 

While Ars Technica did a look at this and their article was pretty good, it was very business-oriented and ignored what I think is one of the most serious problems created by the massive proliferation of PS2/Wii titles appearing this late both system's lifespans. Namely: as long as publishers keep pushing PS2-caliber games onto Wii, both the console and its owners are by definition being underserved. 

The latest escapade of Mega64 was unleashed on the internet today, and the spotlight was on the super-rad DS rhythm game Elite Beat Agents. Mega64's specialty is trolling the real world with skits and performances inspired by video games, so not only do you get to see a full-on live-action Elite Beat Agents musical in the video about-- you get to see it confuse and terrify innocent bystanders!

I liked this one so much I decided to put up a gallery of Mega64's greatest video hits beyond the cut. Click and enjoy! I like the one where the cops get called.

A recent round of "Wii Fit doesn't work!" stories have lead to an even more recent round of "Wii Fit really works, you jerks!" stories, mostly success stories from people who've lost significant amounts of weight using Wii Fit. San Diego Padres relief pitcher Heath Bell is one of the most high-profile of such stories, as he credits his recent 25 pound weight loss to Wii Fit.

"It said I was obese," Bell said. "If you're obese, it makes (your character on screen) obese. I was disappointed that I was that big. I literally took the game to heart. I did the work but I kind of credit the Wii Fit."

I don't speak baseball-ese too well, but the article seems to give the impression that Bell's weight loss has improved his pitching and in-game performance somewhat. If so, that's pretty darned impressive. If not... well, the story is still interesting as one of Wii Fit's first "celebrity endorsements". 

Last week, Japanese site GAMEKO reported a rather strange story: Police in Kanagawa Prefecture are using a Mii portrait to track a suspect from a December hit-and-run case.

While the primary reaction to this story has been an understandable sense of incredulity, I can think of a couple of reasons why the use of a Mii on a wanted poster might be a good idea:

1.) It's eye-catching. Wanted signs are only as useful as the number of people who see them, so planting a Mii on a criminal notice board is an effective way to get people to stop and read what's posted there.

2.) As avatar creators go, Miis do a good job of breaking a face down into its identifying parts. The thirty seconds I looked at the Most Wanted Mii gave me a better impression of the criminal's face than I get from five minutes looking at the Most Wanted photographs at the local police station.

3.) The Wii's popularity means that most people who see this will have some experience making Miis. In other words, they're used to translating the visual shorthand of the Mii into a person's real life appearance. While this is a small thing, it may be why they opted for the Mii over a more detailed avatar creator.

Now, I can't leave the realm of speculation on this, since no one has followed up with the Kanagawa Police Department to ask them directly what they were thinking. But it's pretty easy to imagine a situation where a Mii could be genuinely helpful to a criminal investigation. If nothing else, it calls attention to an incident that otherwise might have gone largely ignored, and that can only be good for the investigation.

Nintendo keeps assuring us that they haven't forgotten the hardcore gamer, and here's the latest such assurance: an apology for the lack of core gamer favorites like Mario and Zelda at this year's E3 showing, from Iwata himself in a Forbes article.

"If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers, it's a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means," says Iwata. "We are sorry about [the E3] media briefings, specifically for those who were expecting to see Nintendo show something about 'Super Mario' or 'Legend of Zelda.'

"However, the fact of the matter is the so-called 'big titles' need a long, long development period. ... We really didn't think this year's E3 media briefing was the time to do so."

The article also confirms that North America may see another chronic Wii shortage this Christmas, and that they don't see Apple's iPhone as legitimate competition in the games sector.

Get ready to read something really depressing!

As reported by Time, and elaborated upon by GamePolitics, a small company called Fobis Technologies released a product called the Weemote in 2000. It's a cutesy TV remote for very little kids that lets parents block out channels.

In 2006, Nintendo announced the Wii Remote, which the Internet promptly nicknamed the 'Wiimote'. Suddenly sales of Fobis Technologies's Weemote sank. Fobis's president John Stephen argues this is because wide use of "Wiimote" for the Wii Remote on consumer sites dilutes visibility of the Weemote brand.

Stephen wants Nintendo to buy the Weemote brand so Fobis can then develop something new. Nintendo, however, has refused to do so. The company doesn't own the term 'Wiimote' and doesn't use it in their marketing. That leaves Fobis stuck spamming retailers with C&D letters to try and stop use of "Wiimote" in ads while sales get worse.

See? Depressing.

The R4 flash cart makes the thriving DS homebrew scene possible, but it's got a dirty secret: most people who pick it up just use it to pirate DS titles.

Sales of DS titles in the UK are believed to be suffering so badly from piracy that the ELSPA is considering legal action against all retailers who carry the R4 flash cart, an action that could very well pit them against major online retailers like Amazon. As reported by MCV:

ELSPA's IP Crime Unit manager John Hillier has warned the trade that unless the sale of these items halts, the trade body will be forced to act. ...

The supply of these items is an infringement and an offence under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Trade Marks Act 1994. ELSPA's IP Crime Unit works closely with the enforcement agencies to stop this supply and prevent instances of intellectual property theft.

Publishers of core titles like Square-Enix and Nintendo themselves are believed to be those hardest-hit by piracy, while sales of casual games are believed to be unaffected.

Nintendo's behavior regarding Frat Party Games seemed kind of fishy, and it turns out there's a big reason why. It was probably motivated by an ongoing battle between the ESRB and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

Blumenthal's feelings on any depictions of alcohol consumption in games are especially strong. He wanted the ESRB to rate the original Beer Pong version of Frat Party Games AO, instead of T13+. Quoth Blumenthal:

The rating T 13+ -- suitable for teens 13 and older -- is absolutely inappropriate. The video game rating board is under the influence -- rating frat party video drinking games suitable for minors. Even as JV Games agrees to alter its Beer Pong video game, both it and the rating board stubbornly deny the damaging influence of alcohol depiction in video games.

As seen in the Manhunt 2 controversy, Nintendo won't allow any AO material on its hardware. Forcing Frat Party Games to take the beer out of Beer Pong allows Nintendo to completely avoid that situation.