It's been a long while...

Hi! Remember me?

Well, I haven't posted on this blog in a long while. Sorry I've been sort of busy with my life. Sold my car, got another one, and already damaged it too. I've only been playing Pokémon SoulSilver since the day of release. I got Red Steel 2 from a trading site called Goozex, just won a copy of Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon on Ebay, and bought Bayonetta from Kmart.com.

They are having a sale on certain 360/PS3 games Nier $44.99; Darksiders, Final Fantasy 13, Bayonetta, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Alien vs Predator, and Metro 2033 are all $29.99 each.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 also comes out on May 23rd. Amazon.com is doing a $20 credit deal on your next purchase when you preorder the game from them, so be sure to hop on that. If you buy Trauma Team before May 18th you'll receive a $10 credit from them as well.

3D Dot Game Heroes also releases in a few days, May 11th on the PS3. It's an RPG that is very nostalgic of classic NES/SNES and other games from that era. You can even design your own characters to look like Link!

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor was pushed back in the US until June 27th from June 7th, because of the delay of Metroid Other M which has been pushed back to August 31st. The game is still set for release in Europe in just 3 days, May 7th.

Next month is E3, so we'll get to see the Nintendo 3DS, Zelda Wii, Vitality Sensor, and hopefully Golden Sun DS. I hope we see localization news of Zangeki no Reginleiv, the Hotel Dusk sequel, Xenoblade (Monado got a name change), The Last Story, Pokémon Ranger 3 and finally PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure.

Jam With The Band is finally being released after 5 years of being cancelled in the past, but only announced in Europe. Picross 3D came out today for the DS in the US.

XSEED Games is bringing over Prope's next game Ivy the Kiwi to the US for DS & Wii this Summer. It turns out hackers already discovered the game has an English version built in, but of course they had to hack to bring it out. Maybe that's why the turn around is so quick?

Also, Arc Rise Fantasia is being released on June 22nd in the US and Ignition is doing a terrible job on localization with the horrendous voice acting. I've heard this isn't the first time they've messed up.

So yeah that's all I can think of to report for news and my ranting and stuff. I also really love the iPhone, I bought a Pokédex app for it called AAAA Pokédex, yall should get it too!

Wii and Nintendo DS Set Historic New U.S. Sales Records

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– With more than 3.6 million combined systems sold in November, Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ set new hardware sales records, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. The Wii console sold more than 2 million in November, a new all-time record for a non-December month. The Nintendo DS system sold more than 1.56 million in November, which is now the second-highest total for a non-December month in history. The Wii console has sold 15.4 million in the United States since it launched in November 2006, and Nintendo DS has sold nearly 24.6 million in the United States since it launched in November 2004.

“Nintendo’s record-breaking sales demonstrate that consumers are looking for the best value not only among video games, but also among all entertainment options,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Shoppers are looking for gifts that can be enjoyed by the whole family, and Nintendo provides an incomparable range of experiences that gets the whole family involved.”

Four games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top 10 U.S. best-sellers for November, representing the diversity of people who play Nintendo games. These included Wii Play™ (for casual and lapsed players) at No. 3 with more than 796,000 sold, Wii Fit™ (for new gamers) at No. 4 with more than 697,000 sold, Mario Kart™ Wii (for both core and casual payers) at No. 5 with nearly 637,000 sold and Wii Music™ (for everyone) placed at No. 9 with more than 297,000 sold, following its long-tail trend.

Looking at the industry as a whole, Nintendo products continue to fuel the engine of the video game industry. In November alone, Nintendo represented 198 percent of industry growth over 2007. Nintendo systems represented 66 percent of all hardware sales in November, including 59 percent of all console sales and 79 percent of all portable hardware sales.

For more information about Nintendo, visit www.Nintendo.com.

I know most everyone doesn't care about sales numbers, but I really wanted to point out how Nintendo is hypocritical. They say they don't generalize their games into categories like "core, hardcore, casual" yet look at their press release. I mean this is exciting that Nintendo is number 1 (but they have been for a while), so hopefully we keep seeing some great "hardcore" games in the future.

I think Nintendo provides enough for both crowds, but they should've released Disaster: Day of Crisis as their "hardcore" game during Fall 2008. Wii Music & Animal Crossing aren't hardcore...

Oh well guess I'm a hypocrite, I already said I love Nintendo today yet now I'm criticizing them, lol.

Nintendo releasing less games in US

Anyone notice how Disaster Day of Crisis still hasn't officially been revealed for US release? Well I certainly have. I mean the game was announced before Wii was released for the US then it disappeared off the radar. Then just a couple weeks/months ago it fly's into the radar once again so we were all expecting it to be released soon.

Well, the game has been released in Japan (Sep. 25th) and coming to Europe on October 24th. Nintendo just had a stripped down media conference of what was announced in Japan (DSi and tons of other games.) Now the only games revealed for release for next year on DS is Mario & Luigi 3, Rhythm Heaven, and Fire Emblem: Shadow Light. For Wii next year...only Sin & Punishment 2 and Punch Out Wii. Nintendo announced like 13 games for Wii they are publishing in Japan, and we only get 2 of them, what the ****!?

Anyone notice how Europe is starting to get alot more games before the US, after years of neglect by Nintendo of Europe. Now that NOE is getting games, looks like the US is getting the short end of the stick.

Also, notice how tons more games were localized in 2006 than in 2007, and it's gotten even worse in 2008. Nintendo going on without several months of game releases? I think part of it is to blame on our weak economy, which makes the dollar weak. The housing market collapsed, and we are in a recession. I also think there is another unknown reason why Nintendo is releasing less and less here. Maybe for fear of oversaturation of the market? Where are all those cool DS games that came out in Japan like We Are Fossil Diggers, Glory of Heracles, Card Hero, etc? Also, why the heck hasn't Pokémon Platinum been announced for the US? >_>;

Today Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, was asked about Disaster Day of Crisis & Fatal Frame IV. Reggie stated that they are waiting to see how Disaster does in Europe before they consider US release. (The game is set in America, has an American former marine character, and American English voice acting, seriously WTF?.) He also said to ask the Publisher about Fatal Frame IV. If one recalls the past, Tecmo told the fans to ask the Publisher about Fatal Frame IV (Nintendo) So which is it...who the hell is bringing over Fatal Frame IV if at all?

This rant was inspired by this topic over at the NeoGAF forums.