Elebits: The Adventures of Kai & Zero, to give it its full title, is out in Japan in three weeks, and hits the US one week into the new year, with no confirmed date for Europe. The original Elebits was one of Wii’s early success stories (though not at retail) with an inventive conceit and simple, enjoyable gameplay. I dare say with Nintendo’s backing it could have done pretty well but hopefully this forthcoming DS game can have more success.

It looks to me not entirely dissimilar to Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and Dragon Quest Monsters: Rocket Slime - two innovative 2D adventures with some really nice character art. If it can match up to those two in gameplay terms, then we’re in for a portable treat early next year.

Let’s hope for no voice acting in this one, though, eh?

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You can debate whether it says more about me or the Xbox 360, but my New Xbox Experience is very… male.

Since the NXE transformed most of the Xbox 360 dashboards in the U.S. this week, I’ve witnessed a stark reminder that almost everyone my 360 is connected to is a guy. Or at least they play one as an Avatar.

I have 59 friends on my Xbox 360 friend’s list, 50 of whom have made Avatars. All but two of them have made male Avatars. When I flick through the NXE’s line-up of my friends’ Avatars, it seems like I’m looking at the line for the men’s room.

Microsoft’s creation of the Avatars has been seen as an attempt to emulate the approachability of the Wii brand and Nintendo’s Miis. But the gender balance of my friends’ Avatars and my friends’ Miis are as different as Microsoft and Nintendo’s apparent success at courting more than guy gamers.

Take a look at this:

This is a row of more of my 360 friends’ Avatars:

And this, below, is my Mii Plaza.

Which of these clusters of user-created people appears to be crafted by a more gender-mixed group?

I know I’m comparing apples to pears. Avatars and Miis don’t represent the same things. Each Avatar represents one gamer. Each Mii represents anything from a character a player made for themselves — like my Mii standing next to the Peanuts’ Lucy – to a character someone made for fun. Case in point: Condoleezza Rice didn’t make that Mii of her in my plaza.

And, yes, I know that the gender of an Avatar/Mii doesn’t indicate the gender of the person who made it — despite anecdotal evidence that 360 users are matching their Avatar’s gender to their own.

There may be differences, but I don’t think the comparison is unfair. In emulating a design idea that is so closely identified with Nintendo’s age-spanning, gender-spanning Wii, Microsoft has provided us a new tool to measure how mixed — or not — their player-base is.

Or do I just need more female friends?

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One of the greatest things about X-brand components is that they often do something that the brand components do not. For instance, rechargeable Wii Remotes are something that Nintendo should really pack in with the Wii. Not only would it save their customers money, but the environment would also thank them. Luckily companies like Nyko pick up Nintendo’s slack. Now, with the introduction of the Charge Station Quad, Nyko is picking up their own slack.

See, before the Quad you could only charge two Wii Remotes on the same Nyko base. The aptly named Quad now let’s people charge four. Nyko was clearly slacking off when they came out with the first iteration. That’s two more! I’m going too fast, I can tell. Here is a simple mathematical equation: 2+2 = 4, 4 = better. See, simple as pie. Other than having two more slots, the new charger is basically the old charger. You’ll get four rechargeable battery packs with it and four of their patented grippy back covers. It’s double the fun and all at a price of $49.99. The Quad hits in December, just in time for all those holiday Wii buyers.

GameDaily BIZ: What are your plans for the Nintendo DSi?

Gonzague de Vallois: We’re preparing for the North American launch. There’s nothing official on when this will be. We’ve heard spring-summer. We’ve heard Q3. I believe from Nintendo’s perspective there’s no hurry to release the device in North America because DS is still selling extremely well. If the DSi and DS are close in price, the DSi will kill DS sales.

BIZ: How will you support Nintendo DSi?

GdV: We’ll support both Nintendo DS and DSi. We’re working on some games that we’ll release at retail through our distribution partnership with Ubisoft. These games will come in a single package and will work on both DS and DSi, with the DSi version taking advantage of additional options like the cameras and advanced sound capabilities. We’ll be much more aggressive with the DSi Store than at retail.

BIZ: How has Nintendo’s WiiWare been working for Gameloft?

GdV: WiiWare is pretty open. We have eight games on WiiWare, including Brain Challenge, TV Show King and games like bowling and pool. Downloads depend on the title on WiiWare. We’re experimenting a little. Party games do really well. Simple mono-player titles like bowling or pool aren’t doing as well. The target is family or Nintendo fans only looking for Nintendo games. We’re learning on the platform.

BIZ: How has working with Nintendo been?

GdV: Nintendo still limits publishers to one title a month. They’re talking about removing this limit. Nintendo seems to be more open to more titles.

Please make sure to read the full interview. Almost the entire piece is about Nintendo, in regards to the DSi or WiiWare. Click here to check it out.

Mario and Zelda games take time to develop.

Well duh… There isn’t a serious Nintendo gamer out there that doesn’t realize that great games take time to create. However, this excuse has become the gloss-over for Nintendo’s failures on two fronts. They’ve failed (initially at least, there is hope for the future) to create an environment where 3rd party developers see incentive to pick up the slack, and they failed (initially) to see the demand for new core games this generation, and seemingly refuse to make an adjustment. Nintendo is becoming very politician-like in their constant stance of: “We’re doing everything right, even if we aren’t.”

I seriously believe the Wii gave core Nintendo fans a better lineup turnaround time than any Nintendo platform before it. I guess I was wrong! Check out the full article here.

One of Nintendo’s major reasons for not supporting HD and keeping the Wii’s specifications conservative was to make it a viable platform for original IPs. The argument was that developing games on machines with multi-core processors and complex architectures was increasing development costs to such a degree, that the appetite for risk was rapidly diminishing within the industry resulting in endless sequels and me-too titles. Two years have passed since the Wii was released and it has since gained many original IPs that allow us to see if Nintendo’s decision has borne fruit, or whether it was just an excuse to limit R&D expenses.

Red Steel

VGChartz estimated worldwide sales:1,006,000

As of April ‘07, Ubisoft reported that Red Steel had sold 950,000 copies, and VGChartz has current sales of the game at just over a million; likely well short of the true number. The success of Red Steel cannot be in doubt - a game that was hyped to be sure, but one that also ended as being a pretty mediocre shooter made enjoyable because of the Wii Remote. The question of why Ubisoft has not tried to replicate its success with other Wii FPS games can be explained with other successful Ubisoft games from the Petz/Imagine series. The latter required smaller teams and shorter development cycles, so that even minor sales resulted in strong profits. Nintendo’s own strategy seems to have backfired in this case, as Ubisoft has since become reluctant to release anything other than mini-game compilations, albeit quality ones in the form of Rayman Raving Rabbids, and expanded audience games on the Wii. Motion Plus seems to have provided Ubisoft the impetus to make the sequel that so many expected this year: Red Steel 2 should see a release in the ‘09 holiday season.

Boom Blox

VGChartz estimated worldwide sales:560,000

Initially deemed a failure at retail, Boom Blox sold a paltry 60,000 copies in its first week. Many worried that gamers would simply see a glorified version of Jenga and balk at the $50 price tag. Though, like many Wii games, despite not having the front loaded sales so typical of games on the 360, it’s shown real legs due to a solid advertising campaign and strong word-of-mouth buzz. EA stated that the game had sold 450,000 copies in their first fiscal quarter, so VGChartz current estimate of 560,000 copies sold is likely well short of the actual number. It’s tough to determine just how much cash EA plowed into Boom Blox; Steven Spielberg’s influence and the superb level design can’t have come cheap, but ultimately it didn’t feature the lavish visuals and presentation that are known to really elevate development costs. If its sales approach 750,000 worldwide, it will surely represent a very good return for EA who are also strongly rumored to be preparing a sequel.

Zack & Wiki

VGChartz estimated worldwide sales:450,000

Capcom clearly lavished a lot of time and money on Zack & Wiki - the game’s art direction, level design and sheer length show that the company also invested a lot of its top talent on the project. In February ‘08, 4 months after its release, Capcom announced that it had sold 300,000 copies of the game in the U.S and Japan. A surprising figure as it had sold a mere 35,000 in its first week on sale in the U.S. VGChartz has current sales for the game at 450,000, but once again this seems a conservative estimate, and shows the site’s general inability to properly track sales figures for games that fall out of the top 20 yet still maintain consistent sales. Despite this, Capcom has not seemed eager to announce a sequel. The success of both Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles seems to be at the heart of this. Both games have sold over a million copies each despite one being a direct port and the other reusing art assets from earlier games. This is further proven by Capcom’s decision to port the 360 title Dead Rising to the console. Compared to Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition’s sales and development cost/time, Zack & Wiki appears to be an apparent failure. Judged on its own however; with its niche point and click adventure gameplay, high difficulty and kid friendly sound and visuals, its sales begin to look a lot more impressive.

And a few that didn’t make it

Perhaps the best game to have completely flopped on the Wii is We Love Golf. Capcom acknowledged in a press release that its performance was ’sluggish’ and VGChartz has its current sales at 40,000, though this does not include Europe. Quite why it sold so badly is a bit of a mystery - Camelot, the game’s developer, has been responsible for numerous golf games that have been successful for both Nintendo and Sony in the past. Konami’s overly cute Dewy’s Adventure and Leftfield’s poorly designed Nitrobike are other notable failures of original IPs.

In part 2 of TVGB’s look at how original IPs perform on the Wii; De Blob and Okami will be covered, as well as a look at whether the high sales of ports and spin-offs could be shaping developers’ release lists a little too strongly.

EA Sports chief Peter Moore is no doubt proud of his team’s “Madden” and “Tiger Woods” games this year.

But when I asked him what the highlights and lowlights were for EA Sports this year during a quick sit-down interview in New York last week, the first positive thing that came to his mind was … a Korean version of “FIFA.”

Why?

“You hate to point to certain franchises, but I can’t overstate the importance of ‘FIFA,’” he told me while his PR handler was getting him a coffee. “Not only because, of course, we can sell ‘FIFA’ in just about any country in the world — particularly here in North America we’re selling very, very well. But the opportunities to iterate off our ‘FIFA’ franchise into a mid-session game [like] we gave you an example of with Asia [are] important.”

Moore was referring to a presentation he gave earlier in the day at the BMO Capital Markets Conference, during which he said that the “FIFA Online 2” game in South Korea has been a rousing success. The game is free to play on PC but, like many Asian multiplayer online PC games, offers players a bevy of cosmetic and gameplay items for small fees. Moore said that most people don’t buy any items, but those who do have bought an average of $28 of goods since the game’s launch.

It wasn’t just the Korean version of “FIFA” that has pleased Moore. It’s also the success EA has had in challenging Konami for soccer/football game dominance: “FIFA” vs. long-time global leader “Pro Evolution.”

“Three years ago, we were the second-place guy,” Moore said. “You may recall we took a big risk of jumping right in and spending on a new engine before Konami did…It’s one of those examples where we simply swallowed hard and said we have to go to a new engine. All of the grief, it costs you. And sometimes you don’t get it right the first time… I’m very proud of “FIFA.”

Thriving because of spirited competition? Some might see irony there, given that EA notoriously faces no formidable challengers in the making of American football games.

How could he say fitness games are the new music games?

However, EA will be facing tough competition next year in fitness games. The morning of Moore’s presentation in New York was also the morning EA announced “EA Sports Active,” a Wii-exclusive workout game designed to be used with specially packaged leg bands that can hold the Wii remote or nunchuk.

Moore maintains that the game is “complementary” to, rather than competitive with, Nintendo’s runaway hit “Wii Fit,” primarily because he characterizes “Wii Fit” as espousing a more balance-oriented fitness routine compared to EA’s emphasis on heart-pumping physicality. What was most striking in his presentation was Moore’s declaration that fitness games are the next big market, the new hot genre following the rise of the music game category exploding with “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.”

How could he say fitness games are the new music games? Moore feels it in his resume. He was a physical education teacher 30 years ago and then worked for nearly two decades at Reebok. Fitness, he said, is what people want.

“There are a huge number of people that need to work out, that want to work out, that recognize that they have some health challenges but are not comfortable, don’t like running, don’t want to go outside, are perhaps not comfortable in the gym and perhaps most importantly, don’t have time,” he said. “We looked at some stats: 61 percent of the U.S. population is overweight; 89 percent of all women in surveys say they need to lose weight. Whether they need to or not, their perception is they need to lose weight. We’re also looking at time compression. We’re looking at the cost of working out. Gym memberships and things of that nature. And then when you look at how many Wiis are embedded in homes around the world, and you do the correlation, it’s a strong business opportunity.”

But really, are these the new “Guitar Hero”s? “I’m bullish,” he said. “Do I have any basis for knowing what this market is? I really don’t. My only basis is having been involved with this market for 30 years in one way or the other. Seeing the innovation. We have driven this hard for the past 12 months.”

In our survey of highlights and trends, Moore also said he was proud of his division’s attempts to try new intellectual property this year, despite what he called “mixed results in some cases.”

So EA Sports sounds like a different division than the “Madden” factory some casual observers might take it to be. Is it a division headed in the right direction? Moore’s highlights, if nothing else, shows the track they’re running on.

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Article here

If there is one place the Wii has really disappointed just about everyone (and I’m sure there are many places, so let us just save the complaining for later) it’s the online. Even Super Smash Brothers Brawl, a game that seemed destined for greatness online, fell flat thanks to Nintendo’s friend codes and lack of voice support. Third party support of online functions has been even spottier. The one ray of hope Wii supporters have had is Wii Speak, which will at least let us talk with other players on a regular basis, finally.

Get ready for a little more hope all you Wii faithful out there who think that maybe, some day, the Wii could at least have an actual online community and functionality. Reggie speaks, and he speaks of the internets. Talking with Forbes Fils-Aime hits us up with the low down on Nintendo’s plans for community on the Wii. “Nintendo has always had a vision on community,” he said, “The issue is that we define community differently than our competitors. … Our consumers do want a sense of community, and we’re going to deliver that — but in a way that is unique to Nintendo.”

Hear that haters? Community… maybe… sometime… UNIQUENESS!!!! It’s nice to know they’re at least aware of the existence of online communities. Also mentioned in the article is that Fils-Aime notes that the Wii and Wii Fit will probably be in short supply. That’s what I like to call a non-story.

5. Bring Back Mario the Referee

This may sound trivial, but we’re completely sincere when we say that Super Punch-Out!! for the Super Nintendo felt a bit strange without Nintendo’s mustachioed mascot in the more minor role of the boxing referee.