Japan Gaming Guide

Another multiplayer board game drops onto Wiiware today. This time it’s Othello. Othello is hugely popular in Japan, there are even TV shows discussing tactics and strategy, as with Shogi. Yours for 1000 Wii points.

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We’ve all been there. Halfway through a particularly impressive tripple jump Mario stops in midair, the Wii beeps, and up pops a little picture of an empty battery. Gaaah! Since wireless controllers became all the rage a few years ago we’ve started going through batteries like chimps go through bananas and it has to be said, the Wii is pretty much the worst offender when it comes to battery life, even the DS seems to last longer than the Wiimotes do, (although the Wii Fit board is a star performer).

Anyway, now help is at hand with this rechargable battery set. Get one of these and Mario will be spinning again in a mere 220 minutes.

[Read, via Engadget]

The Wii shopping channel now has a ‘redeem software’ area. As far as we know the feature isn’t in use yet, but it seems gamers will be able to enter codes they get with games and use them to get free Wii points or virtual console titles. This is an added bonus for Japanese Nintendo owners, who already get club Nintendo vouchers with every game they purchase.

[Read, via Wiiha!]

Summer treats for Wii owners:

Famicom (500 points)

Twinbee
Rockman 2: The Legend of Dr Wily (Mega Man 2)
Mysterious Murasame Castle

Super Famicom (800 points)

Gakou de ata kowai hanashi (Scary school stories)

Master System (500 points)

Sonic the Hedgehog

Megadrive (700 points)

Lord Monarch: Tokoton Sentou Densetsu

PC Engine (600 points)

Chase HQ
Dragon Saber
Parasol Stars
Eikowa Kimi no Mono Koko Yakyu Zen Koku Taikai (er, glorious high school baseball tournament)

The Japanese version of chess has a great deal to offer players of the Western variant. A number of the pieces share similar moves, although the character of the game is markedly different. All the pieces can be powered up when they get in the opponents half of the board which means sudden attacks can be decisive, and as long as you have a few pieces left on the board you still have a chance of getting in a quick finish and coming out victorious.

A version of the game is about to launch on Wiiware, and will let you play online against other people in Japan, for 1000 points.

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There’s a new Harvest Moon game coming to Wii this year. Famitsu published a whole bunch of screenshots. There are all sorts of animals to populate your farm with this time around. There are cows, sheep, horses, ducks, goats and of course your faithful pet dog. According to the text the farmyard animals will be joined by more exotic fare such as lions, elephants and ostriches. As if that’s not enough, there will also be a nature Goddess to keep happy if you want to ensure a fruitful harvest who will no doubt be handing you a few quests to break up the farming.

If previous games in the series are anything to go by, you’ll also be able to stride into town to get yourself what every good farmer needs: a wife. Impress her with vegetables, or by riding your goat.

The Harvest Moon series is always top quality and a nice break from all the shooting and maiming we get up to in most of our gaming hours. Can’t wait to try this out.

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The latest Wario game comes to Wii later this month, Wario Land: Shake is coming out July 24th. Unsurprisingly, the game will involve shaking the Wiimote. A lot. You’ll shake to attack, grab items and shake enemies so that they drop those o so lovely coins.

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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)

One of the downsides of the Wii is its draconian region protection. By design, you can’t play games from any other region. That’s a major headache for anyone foreign living in Japan because hardly any Wii games offer a choice of languages.

Fortunately Datel’s excellent Freeloader let’s you get round the protection and lets you play games from any region you want – until now that is.

The latest Wii firmware download has again stopped freeloader from working. You can choose not to download the firmware but newly released games may require it, leaving you with a nasty choice as to which games not to be able to play.

This is a fairly petulant move by Nintendo, do importers really do that much harm? Hopefully Datel will be able to issue a patch of their own soon.

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Band Brothers DX is coming to the DS in a couple of weeks. The DJ sim lets you pick any part of any song to play. You can also sing along via a karaoke mode and can take part in an 8 person multiplayer jam over wi-fi.

If you got a Wii you’ll be able to play the game sound on your TV via the new Wii Speaker Channel. Hundreds of new songs will be made available for wi-fi download.

A load of screens and info is on the official website now.

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