Chibi-Robo is a Wal-Mart exclusive. Means that if there’s no Wal-Mart near your place, if you don’t live near the Nintendo World Store or are down with this whole internet shopping business, you’re out. Of. Luck. It’s a curious decision for Nintendo to take, so MTV’s Stephen Totilo decided to ask just why it had been made. Nintendo’s response? For the new ‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ game for Nintendo DS, Nintendo partnered with Wal-Mart because of Wal-Mart’s strong environmental program and social giving campaign. ‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ has an environmental theme, and we wanted to make sure that it received exposure among a broad audience of consumers as we continue to get more and more people interested in the world of video games.
Um. Right. As Totilo says, this doesn’t really answer the question. So he seeks clarification.
Wal-Mart has a large green initiative at retail, so it made sense for us to partner with them on this environmentally-themed game.
OK. The game’s big on the environment, Wal-Mart are now big on the environment after a series of environmental blunders during the 90s and early 2000s, everything’s kosher, right? Well…maybe. Thing is, Wal-Mart aren’t marketing this game as some special environmentally-driven product. They don’t even mention it on their Green Products site. So…why exactly is it a Wal-Mart exclusive, then?
The game’s not exactly a AAA seller, so Wal-Mart wouldn’t have paid to secure the exclusivity on a sales basis. Yet they’re not making any special, environmental marketing use of the game. Nothing adds up. So let’s all shrug our shoulders and get back to playing Halo 3, shall we? This one doesn’t make enough sense.
Why Did Nintendo’s “Chibi Robo” Go Wal-Mart Exclusive? And Can It Save The Planet? [MTV]
So we can appreciate Halo 3‘s “Saved Films” feature, can we? Best add Forge to the list as well, then.
Larry Hryb has posted a heads-up over on his community site. A little notice, saying that if anyone has any suggestions as to what Microsoft can do better, please, suggest them. Of course, he’s talking about the company as a whole, but really, we couldn’t give a rat’s arse about Windows Media Player or the Zune. We give rat’s arses about the gaming stuff. For starters, crap that works would be nice: my 360 charge pack died today (it no longer charges, it just literally hisses at me), not six months after buying it, which between a dead wireless headset and a broken 360 means that out of my first-party gear only my steering wheel remains unscathed. And that’s only because I haven’t used it since this. I don’t want to die in a fire.
What would you say to leaders of services at Microsoft? [Microsoft]
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s upcoming turn-based RPG ASH hasn’t really been on my radar. But damn, it should’ve been! The Mistwalker game is sporting some of the best DS graphics I’ve ever seen. Just look how it impresses that barefoot lady in the above ad! This game is toe curling good.
Another clip after the jump.
There’s a bit of controversy involving Nintendo Australia at the moment, and those of you who own Wiis and love your first-party titles will have a fairly good idea what it’s about (and that the issue is far from new). I’m desperately seeking an honest comment from the company now, before I go bats**t crazy and start shooting up the joint… so to speak.
I was going to post the details today, but I’ve decided it’s best to give them until Monday to rally the troops. Watch this space.
UPDATE: For those of you who aren’t aware of the specifics of the delay issue, here are links to Aussie-Nintendo.com, who broke the news, and Aaron Davies extensive report on the subject. Good work guys.
Report into excessive Wii software delays in Australia / New Zealand [aaronights.com] Nintendo Australia responds to Wii game delays [Aussie-Nintendo.com]
As mentioned, I’ll be posting again on Monday, hopefully with a response from Nintendo Australia.
I posted a story yesterday confirming the contents of the Collector’s Edition of UT3, and promised to shake a boxshot out of distributor Red Ant. They weren’t able to deliver on Thursday, but they’ve more than made up for it by sending it through today. So, I present to you: The ANZ boxshot for UE3.
Okay, it’s not knee-tremblingly exciting, but at least you’ll know what to keep an eye out for. (As if you could miss it!)
That’s it. We’re done.
As surely as the Master Chief, right now, stands triumphant on his cloud base in the sky, we’re utterly and completely done with all things Halo. I know I am.
Of course, Microsoft says otherwise. It screams it, in fact.
If you’re wondering (or not) just how Australia faired under the vicious onslaught of Halo-mania, MS has gone to the trouble of compiling a number of statistics for us to gawk over, or, if you’re not in the gawking mood, contemplate with a glass of port in your own city of clouds.
All the fat and greasy numbers after the jump.
You hear the word SingStar, you see the suffix R&B, you get a little hesitant. No, you get concerned. SingStar‘s tracklists can be, Rock Ballads aside, a mixed bag of crap at best, but the prospect of a whole disc full of men with girly voices singing about their girls, Friday nights and making love is a horrifying one. Thankfully, Sony have decided to get liberal with the term R&B, including tracks from actual, real old-fashioned R&B artists as well as a sprinkling of hip-hop. Though frankly the lack of an ultra-cheesy Boyz II Men track is unforgivable.
Sadly still haven’t had a chance to play this, but I love this trailer. Why? Because the original Enemy Territory was as fantastic as a giant, fantastic box full of fantastic, so seeing the steps they’ve taken to not just maintain the teamwork aspect of it in Quake Wars but improve on it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Kane & Lynch isn’t even out yet. Too early to think about sequels? Pfft. Whatever. Eidos are full of swagger on this one: they’ve not only scored a film adaptation of the IP, they’re spending more on advertising it than they did on Tomb Raider: Legend and they’ve already got a sequel in production. Kane & Lynch 2. Let’s hope the final product’s actually decent, or they’re all going to look a little silly. Though how a co-operative Michael Mann movie couldn’t be decent (and a lot lot more) escapes me. Eidos prepares for biggest ever spend [MCV]
