Japan Gaming Guide

Schoolkids in a Tokyo school got hit with the lucky stick recently. The Nintendo DS is being used to teach them English in classes. The whole thing is part of a trial by Nintendo – participating schools get 40 free DS consoles and English training software.

English teaching is a bit patchy in Japanese schools, it’s not uncommon to have teachers with little practical experience of using the language backed up by the occasional foreign kid on a gap year. Anything that gives them a little variety is bound to be an improvement.

The kids say they love it, but teachers have understandably mixed feelings. We think it’s great, there’s loads of potential for using games in schools, and if English teachers can be consigned to the wicked dustbin of history then hurrah!

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Rainy season is in full swing – so why walk to the shops when you can download these:

Famicom (500 points)

Chack ‘n Pop
Donkey Kong 3

Super Famicom (900 points)

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Master System (500 points)

Space Harrier

Mega Drive (700 points)

Shining Force 2: The Ancient Seal

PC Engine (600 points)

Kiki Kaikai
Darius Plus
Blood Gear

Neo Geo (900 points)

Shin Samurai Spirits
Big Tournament Golf

MSX

Relics (800 points)
Eggy (700 points)

Sega Japan have archived their old newsletter, Joy Joy News. The archives are full of cheerful pics and screenshots from the days of the Master System/Sega Mark III. There’s also a load of info about their old consoles from the SC-3000 through to the Saturn. This is a real nostalgia fest, we found a few long forgotten favourites in here (Thunderblade anyone?). Take a look.

[Sega, via Insert Credit]

Here’s our pick of this months releases. Not a bad line up for June is it?

PS3
3rd – Grid, Kung Fu Panda, Lego Indiana Jones
12th – Metal Gear Solid 4
23rd – Battlefield: Bad Company

Wii
3rd – Kung Fu Panda, Lego Indiana Jones
24th – Alone in the Dark

Xbox 360
3rd – Grid, Kung Fu Panda, Lego Indiana Jones, Ninja Gaiden II
23rd – Command & Conquer 3, Battlefield: Bad Company
24th – Alone in the Dark

PSP
3rd – Lego Indiana Jones

DS
3rd – Grid, Kung Fu Panda, Lego Indiana Jones

Those of you looking to play some Japanese indie games might want to check out EngRish games. It’s a new site aiming to highlight games that English speakers might miss. There a few games listed on the site already, including plenty of shooters, and some RPGs.

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Thanks to the magic of the Wii Download Channel I was able to check out a demo of Winning Eleven: Goal x Goal. The demo lets you play a full match as Barcelona vs Real Madrid.

Apologies for the blurry video – it was pretty tricky playing the game with a camera between my head and the screen.

The graphics are functional – not beautiful, but quite impressive considering the limitations of the platform. It’s possible to recognize the more distinctive players, and the game is smooth and glitch free, unlike the earlier DS version of the game. The bottom screen is predictably used for map duty, again functional, but the way it’s positioned makes it much easier to take in what’s going on than in some other versions of the game. It really makes a difference to your play if you pay attention to the whole pitch and lets you make some defence splitting long passes. When you get a free kick the game switches to passable 3d, a nice touch – in fact all the basic gameplay features of the home versions seem to have been crammed in here. You can also use the touchscreen to change your tactics on the fly – and check which half of the pitch you’re supposed to be attacking – always good to know. There are only two shoulder buttons of course – I don’t know if the special moves made it into this version.The demo was pretty easy. I wasn’t able to tweak any settings, so I don’t know what difficulty options will be available in the full version, but I was able to score on my first game, and put 5 goals past Real Madrid on my third. Here’s hoping the final game will offer a decent challenge to series veterans.Aside from the difficulty, the gameplay seemed pretty much spot on. All the basic moves from the home versions seemed to work on this one. The game feels really fun to play and just right for the DS. It certainly doesn’t offer anything new, but it’s a really good translation of the game, and if that’s what you’re looking for, this should be a worth purchase. Read the rest of this entry »

The PS3 is to get a video on demand service. Starting from next year, players will be able to download motor racing videos for around 200 yen. The first videos are part of the Gran Turismo 5 hype machine, but we expect more to follow later.

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Wii Fit has launched in Japan, and had people queuing outside shops to buy it. The chance to play games and work out at the same time was a big part of Wii Sports’ appeal, and Nintendo will hope this is going to prove as popular, if not more so.

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We got the new Download channel working yesterday, and recorded a bit of what we saw.

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The guys at Siliconera spotted this on Japanese TV:

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