Ouendan 2 Import Preview

Here is 1UP’s import preview of Ouendan 2 for the Nintendo DS.

89% of Japanese Households Using the DS by 2011?

As handily summarized by Chris Kohler in the Game|Life blog, one group of media analysts predicts that the Nintendo DS will penetrate 89% of Japanese households by 2011. Staggering, I know. But given that they still have supply problems in Japan, I can’t guess that they are way off base.

When last I was in Japan around Tokyo Game Show, DS supply seemed to be short in Tokyo but not in Shizuoka or the Nagoya area. One of the friends I met actually bought a DS while we were hanging out together. Or two if you count my ex-wife’s mother; we are still friendly. More surprising, however, was the sheer amount of non-gaming software available at the time; since then, I’m sure the number has multiplied by several factors. Yes, the Nintendo DS plays games, but more importantly, it is becoming established as a viable software platform.

I spoke recently with my girlfriend about this, and she wondered aloud, “Why would someone buy a Nintendo DS to use software when home computers are nearly ubiquitous?”

“Cost and portability,” I answered immediately. “Not everyone has a mobile computer, and the Nintendo DS is quite suited to simple software applications controlled by a pointing device. Though there is a fabled notebook computer that is priced around $100, I haven’t seen it and I bet you haven’t either. Most people, on the other hand, can spend $129 without thinking. I could buy another DS right now if I didn’t already have two of them and not think twice about it.”

More so than America, Japan has a culture that widely accepts electronic gadgetry and video gaming, and that isn’t just speaking of the male populace. Because of this, it isn’t a farfetched idea to use the Nintendo DS as an educational tool or sell yoga, cooking, and make-up software.

The good news is that Nintendo’s two major consoles selling like crack-laced hotcakes, and there is a chance that the DS may enjoy Japanese-like success riding on the coattails of the Wii in western countries. Should this happen, we can probably expect a lot more non-gaming software outside of Japan. That means more people buying. That means more DSes in the wild. And that means more great games.

BioWare Sonic RPG? Good God.

Less than 24 hours after lamenting that I might have to forego purchasing an XBox 360 even though I desperately want to play through BioWare’sMass Effect, along arrives the news that BioWare and Sega are teaming up to make a Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS. What?!?

I was late to the BioWare bandwagon, but Baldur’s Gate 2 is perhaps the most perfect RPG I’ve ever played. I’ve also heard nothing but good things about Knights of the Old Republic, KOTOR 2, and Jade Empire. It stands to reason, then, that I would anxiously anticipate Mass Effect. I never dreamed, however, that I might get a chance to play a BioWare game on my Nintendo DS using colorful characters. I can’t help but think that it’s going to be really good. Maybe Super Mario RPG good.

Well, I guess I had better finish Etrian Odyssey before then. Time to stop running from those second stratum FOEs!  

The Big Bleszinski

It really should have been a no-brainer for me to have posted a response to the Tyler Bleszinski public expression of fear of a casual game takeover due to Nintendo’s and other’s attempts to expand the video gaming market. In fact, it would have been so easy to attack his reasoning that I thought it wouldn’t be worth my time. The only reasons he’s even being paid attention are 1) that his brother is Mr. Gears of War and 2) that he’s very nearly attacking the most profitable video gaming company on the planet.I could also just wait until someone posted a response that I could stand behind and just save myself the trouble.

It looks like someone has done just that. 

Fear of Red Circles

This is almost off-topic but not quite. I’m going to post it anyway.

Though I do not foresee the decline of Nintendo Wii popularity, I have decided that I am interested in purchasing an XBox 360 as my third home console. My plan was first to buy a surround sound system, which I have done. Next is to buy an iPhone. Then an HD-capable TV to replace my 25″ Sony Trinitron. Finally I would buy a 360 and the first game I’d actually be sad if I didn’t play it for it: Mass Effect. My problem is this: I fear the red rings of death.

With as much complaining as there is online about the failure rate of 360s, I am not sure if I want to chance buying one from a place that doesn’t offer a 3-year product replacement plan. And it borders on lunacy in my mind to buy a used 360. The reputedly high defect rate of 360s has caught the eye of the gaming press recently as well, and Dean Takahashi conducted a very good interview to try to get to the bottom of the issue.

The interview is here.

I can’t say in my life when I’ve read so many words that didn’t provide a single answer to anything in my adult life. Seriously, the interviewee may have missed his calling to political office. Since not a single straight response was offered to the question of whether the XBox 360 has reliable hardware, I can only assume that everything I’ve read is true: a new 360 is a time-delayed brick.

So what do I do about this? If I’m not going to get a 360, I don’t really have a need for an HD television either. I could be saving myself potentially $1000 here, and I still have three viable platforms on which to play: the Wii, the DS, and the PlayStation 2. I also have a PSP, but I hesitate to call it viable (even though Crush is great).

2007 is shaping up to be one of the greatest years ever for gaming, and it looks like I’m just going to have to leave some games behind.

CNNMoney.com: Wii Will Rock You

Despite the cheesy title, this article from CNNMoney does an excellent job of explaining why Nintendo is the strongest business performer in this console generation. In particular, it explains very well a concept that almost completely lead to the conceptualization of this blog: that it isn’t very important what the hardcore gaming press thinks about the Wii and DS. Money tends to speak for itself.