Watch the vast majority of western game adverts, and they’ll have - at the very most - a tiny portion of in-game footage, alongside a boatload of CGI (with a caveat in the bottom corner proving that it’s not actually from the game). Now take a look at this Japanese ad for Link’s Crossbow Training (known as Bowgun Training over there) and see the difference. Okay, it’s not a TV spot, but it gives an idea of the different approach taken to advertising games in Japan. 

Now think recently how many Nintendo ads have taken a similar tack - showing plenty of in-game footage, so consumers know what they’re getting, and basically giving a rough idea of how to play the game. Now think how successful Nintendo has been recently - while its consoles themselves are undoubtedly the main reason for its rise back to the top, its marketing has clearly had a significant impact. While its prevalence is key, it’s also this new approach that’s garnered a lot of support. I mean, look at the success of this week’s Big Beach Sports - the game mightn’t be up to much, but it’s been trailed heavily, and the advert makes the game look like a lot of fun.

Advertisers - show the game as it is, not how you want it to be. And show people enjoying it. Let’s relegate this CGI fakery to the annals of history. 

(Aside: doesn’t that ad make you want to play the game again? Like, right now? Terrific stuff.)

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Some of you will have seen these, of course - after all, they’ve been available a fair old while. But having treated myself to a new monitor today, I opted for a brand new wallpaper, and happened across some particularly fantastic ones related to wonderful DS rhythm-actioner Ouendan 2.

The site’s here, if you’re interested - and there’s quite the selection there, too. And you can enjoy the thrill of having a desktop background of some of videogaming’s most altruistic protagonists - as well as looking forward to the third game, which surely must happen sooner or later. I’m holding out for an announcement at TGS in September.

OSU!

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You’re never quite certain of these things, but I’d say this was pretty much expected, despite the crazy lack of promotion. (Has anyone seen any telly ads yet? I’ve counted one so far.)

Yep, Super Smash Bros. Brawl has clobbered all comers to rise to the top of the All Formats Top 40, smacking LEGO Indy down to third place with the excellent Battlefield: Bad Company finishing in the runner-up spot. Only Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii beat Brawl’s first week total, and indeed both those games rise up the charts, with a new batch of stock responsible for a staggering 643% sales increase for the former, while the second moves up a few places, red shelling some rivals on the way, no doubt.

The other big Wii entry of the week is the heavily-advertised Big Beach Sports, kicking sand in the face of Solid Snake by moving into the Top 5.

Will Brawl have legs, though? In truth, there aren’t many massive releases for the rest of the summer, so it could well hang around the top positions for a few weeks, fingers crossed.

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Hi there, WiiWii readers.

At the moment, I’m strongly considering producing a podcast which will be hosted on this here site. And so I’m asking you lot what you’d particularly like to hear from such a venture. Would you like a weekly or monthly podcast? How long should it be? Should it be me on my lonesome, or should I rope in a few pals to chat about all things Nintendo? Basically, your feedback will help shape the format of these podcasts - so if you can please add your comments below and let me know what you’re after, then I’ll take it into consideration.

I’ll be sure to chip in too, and once I’ve sorted out how this is all going to work, I’ll produce a kind of pilot episode as a test run, and you can see what you think.

Deal?

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Yep, it arrived today - the game I’ve been banging on about for the past month or so. Daigasso! Band Bros. DX is here, and it’s ace.

So here it is in all its glory. I’ll hopefully be posting a few vids of this later in the week to show you how it all works. That loose slip of paper? That’s the 16-digit code for the free Speaker Channel you can download on your Wii’s Shop Channel, allowing you to wirelessly play your tunes through your telly, to make them sound much meatier. It’s still MIDI, of course, but you can’t have everything.

I’ve downloaded two songs so far (you can have up to 100, but due to licensing issues, you’re not allowed to delete and download any more, not that 100 isn’t perfectly generous as it is) - Ghostbusters and The Final Countdown. And the karaoke for those two has the English words and everything. DS Game of the Year? Could well be, folks. Could well be.

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Square-Enix has announced today that roguelike lite Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon will be released in PAL territories during the Autumn months. After all, there’s nothing like a semi-hardcore RPG for those cold, wet evenings, is there?

I’ve played a bit of the Japanese version, and it’s a nicely presented little game, with the kind of old-school dungeon crawling mechanics that you either adore or loathe. Chocobo moves one square, enemies move one square, you exchange hits, one of you falls over. That sort of thing. There’s a story about everyone’s memories being stolen, the dungeons actually formed from the fragmented psyches of these poor villagers, which the feathered one has to explore to find a missing jigsaw piece to see them right. It’s not as hard as your average roguelike, and has an intricate job system, a card-battling game (playable via Wi-Fi) and some minigames, too. Not a bad package all told, though it’s difficult to see anyone enjoying all those elements.

Anyway, should your interest be piqued by the above and you own a US Wii, it’s out on July 8th. Us Europeans have to wait a little longer. (But isn’t that always the way?)

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Oooh, please be true.

According to this post on NeoGAF, Bergsala - essentially Nintendo Norway - has sent out a release list which has Animal Crossing Wii down for a 2008 release. Not beyond the realms of possibility, but I’m waiting until E3 before I start getting excited.

Interestingly, the list also has Disaster: Day of Crisis (plausible - it was likely only postponed thanks to recent world disasters), and Project HAMMER - recently rumoured to have been resurrected.

And then there’s Wii Music, which was always likely to arrive this year. The DS list contains Suda 51 DS remake Flower Sun & Rain, apparently also down for a localisation in 2008, and Pokemon Platinum.

The list has Little King’s World (formerly Project O) and Mad World down for Q1 2009 releases, which makes it that bit more believable. I’m keeping everything crossed that it’s genuine. An Animal Crossing Christmas would be utterly magical.

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Some character art and a fair few screens of Namco’s forthcoming adventure-RPG have emerged. Looks very nice indeed.

Though it has a certain spookiness about it, something tells me it’s not going to really be horror tinged. Instead, I’m convinced there’ll be something of a melancholy overtone. Or perhaps that’s me reading too much into the gorgeous piano music on the official site.

It’s rare that a piece of music makes you excited about a game, but by golly, that’s just sent a few shivers up my spine.

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It’s all about the retro at the moment, people. Hot on the heels of Capcom’s 8-bit Mega Man 9, it seems as if Hudson is keen on resurrecting one of its old franchises for WiiWare too.

Takakashi Meijin - the man who was the inspiration for the game’s lead character - has revealed that Hudson is planning a new Adventure Island, and that it will likely be a WiiWare title. He suggested that motion controls wouldn’t really work, so it seems as if it’ll be NES-style controls once more.

And talking of Hudson, apparently two of the WiiWare triumvirate of Alien Crush, Blue Oasis and Karaoke Joysound will be making it to the US (and presumably the UK). Joysound might be the most problematic translation, so it looks like Alien Crush and Blue Oasis will be the ones to make the journey from east to west.

A bit more info here, if you fancy reading more.

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Just a quick post before bed to show this new pic of Wario Land: The Shake Dimension/Shake It!

Every shot of this I see, I want the game more and more. It really does look lovely. Please let it be great, and please let everyone buy it so we can have more 2D platformers on Wii in future.

It’s out here and in the US in September, though I’ll be importing the Japanese version next month, and will post hands-on impressions as soon as I get my hands on it.

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