Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's keynote today was actually pretty nice. We got the long-awaited Wii storage solution, confirmation and reveals of a bunch of downloadable titles, the reveal of a new DS Zelda game, and some insight into just how creepy Shigeru Miyamoto really is to work with. As ecstatic as I am to see Nintendo committed to promoting Rhythm Heaven in America (my early pick for "game of the year"), it's still hard not to envy Japanese Nintendo fans. Of course they get many of the best games we never do (Captain Rainbow) or get very late (Professor Layton...still waiting on either of the sequels), and there are a few times when the tables are turned (Japan will likely never get MadWorld), but Nintendo of Japan just gets to do things that Nintendo of America would never dream of. Japanese Wiis can control television browsing and order business cards with your Mii on them. Nintendo of Japan even sponsors an annual student game developing seminar, 10 months of programming, sound and graphic design training for forty lucky applicants, with the best of the final student games distributed at Nintendo download centers. Not only do we in the west not get a program like this, we don't even get to enjoy the fruits of their awesome labors.
Just take a look at Fufu Kirarin, one of the games made available from the class of 2008:
Feel free to skip the first 1:50 of downloading the software.
Blow into the DS's microphone to launch the happy stars up into the top screen in the ADORABLE shooter. Look at this! This could be a finished product! Sure, it's only 24 minutes from beginning to end, but considering it's student work it's pretty amazing. Add a few more levels, stick it in a box and charge me twenty bucks, please!
Today's the last day users with access to Japanese download centers can access Fufu Kirarin, but upcoming student games include a hilarious sounding voice-acting sim with "unexpected videos", an action game where you control things by moving your body (I assume "you" is the character in the game and not the player), and a game where you goof around with a character with no body, creating goofy faces and photographing them. Plenty of mind-boggling screens available at Nintendo's game seminar website. I would probably be very happy to take ten months out of my life to learn things like this.
Thanks to Andria Sang for the translations!
Related articles:
Everything You Need To Know About The Wii Storage Solution
Nintendo Might Just Hate You
Crossing the Uncanny Valley part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5