Spread the word: #Miiquality

Those of you who read my recent "Open Letter to Nintendo of America" should be well aware of the fact that I'm pretty peeved the company's upcoming--and otherwise completely enticing--3DS title, Tomodachi Life, presumably won't allow players' Miis to form gay, lesbian or bisexual relationships.

I'm not the only gamer upset by all of this, of course. A number of people in this NeoGAF thread about the game, for instance, also have admitted to being disappointed by it--with one of them being someone who goes (there and elsewhere) by the username of Tyeforce.

Tyeforce has done more than just express on an Internet discussion forum his displeasure with Nintendo of America's handling of the situation, though; in the last few days, he's started a movement, basically, that's centered around the theme of "Miiquality."


#Miiquality from Tyeforce on Vimeo.

The gist: if you'd like the brass at Nintendo of America to add same-sex relationships to Tomodachi Life, let them know by using the hashtag #Miiquality while on sites like Facebook and Twitter. (Or, as commenter Rob_in_Baltimore suggested here last week, you also can let them know by contacting them via the company's website or by signing this petition.)

Oh, and don't forget to show your support for (and stay updated on) this issue by following the Miiquality Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages--if you're so inclined, of course.

See also: 'The day we've all (or at least three or four of us have) waited for has arrived: Tomodachi Collection is coming to Europe and North America this June'

Here's a pink-and-red equal sign I can get behind

I don't know about you, but my Facebook wall has been awash in pink-and-red equal signs like the one below since early yesterday.

For those of you who haven't experienced the same, here's the gist: in an effort to show that they support marriage equality (aka same-sex marriage), swarms of people have been changing their Facebook profile photos to that of a pink-and-red equal sign that apes the Human Rights Campaign's omnipresent--in my 'hood, at least--blue-and-yellow logo.

Although I haven't joined that crowd for a number of reasons (I'm not a fan of HRC, for starters), I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to do so after coming across this altered version:

By the way, as far as I can tell, a chap named Derek Eclavea is responsible for this awesome creation (while one of my Facebook friends, Eric Starker, is responsible for turning me onto it).

Should you want to read a bit more about these pink-and-red equal signs, may I suggest checking out the following blog posts: 'Don't Let That Red Equal Sign Become a Hollow Gesture' and 'HRC’s Branding Attempts'

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Xenoblade Chronicles edition)

The folks at Nintendo of America revealed Xenoblade Chronicles' box art yesterday afternoon (via the company's Facebook page). Unsurprisingly, said box art doesn't differ much from the box art created for this Wii game's Australian, European and Japanese counterparts.

Don't believe me? Well, here's the art that graced the cover of the Japanese version of the game, released as Xenoblade in June 2010:

Nintendo's crack team of designers zoomed in--just a bit--on the illustration and added the word "Chronicles" to the cover before releasing the game in Australia and throughout Europe a few months ago, as the image below makes abundantly clear:

So, how have they changed up Xenoblade Chronicles' box art in anticipation of this open-world RPG's North American release next April? (Read about it here.) They went back to the original, zoomed-out version of the illustration that appeared on the Japanese version's cover, for starters. After that, they added in a subtitle that's so subtle it's almost nonexistent.

Personally, I like the European and Japanese covers more than the North American one. Honestly, I'm surprised Nintendo of America's designers didn't just go with the more-than-fine Euro art, since all they had to do to it was replace the PEGI rating with an ESRB one. I guess they wanted to earn their paycheck.

Anyway, that's my opinion this time around. Which one do all of you prefer?

See also: Previous 'Which Box Art is Better?' posts

Nintendo's investors are idiots

I'm guessing you've heard by now that various analysts, experts and even investors are calling on Nintendo to make games for Facebook as well as for smartphones (Apple's iPhone, in particular). If not, you may want to read the article, "Mario Pressured to Jump to IPhone as Nintendo Wii, 3DS Slump," which caused quite a ruckus after it was published on bloomberg.com yesterday.

Personally, I can't think of anything worse--for investors or gamers--than Nintendo abandoning its heretofore-properous hardware business in favor of producing cheap Facebook and iPad/iPhone games. For instance, I'm not sure how the company would make more money by selling, say, an iPhone version of Super Mario Bros. for $.99 or even $5 a copy than it could by selling a Wii U version of Super Mario Bros. for $50 a copy.

I could see Nintendo having similar financial problems if it only took part of the above-mentioned investors' advice and made Facebook and/or iPhone games while also making 3DS and Wii U games. After all, surely a $.99 Super Mario Bros. game made for iPhone would negatively impact the sales of a similar Super Mario Bros. game made for Wii U, especially since the latter would sell for many times the price of the former?

Would you like to see any of these characters star 

in his or her own Facebook or iPhone game?

The only way I could see Nintendo benefitting from such a move would be if it produced and published only new IPs, or if it produced and published a mixture of new IPs and simplistic spin-offs of its existing IPs, for Facebook and/or smartphones.

That's just my opinion, of course--and I didn't exactly graduate with a degree in business or economics. Anyway, what do all of you think about these cries for Nintendo to enter the Facebook and smartphone spaces? Should the company follow that advice, or ignore it?

Which sites do you turn to when you're searching for Japanese box art?

Someone recently asked me (via Facebook) if I know of any websites that feature galleries of Japanese box art--especially of the retro variety.

Here are the ones that I've come up with thus far:

Box Art--An awesome tumblog that highlights box art from all countries, although it seems to favor Japanese covers, and all eras. (The Ninja Princess illustration to the right came from this site, by the way.)

Gamengai--I've spent so much time on this site--which features box-art scans and mini-reviews of all sorts of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit games--over the years that it's gone from being silly to being a bit sad. Also sad: It doesn't feature any Famicom box-art scans and mini-reviews.

The PC Engine Software Bible--The name of this site says it all, really. If you're looking for information--including box-art images--on a PC Engine game, this is where you'll find it.

Segagaga Domain--A Sega-centric counterpart to The PC Engine Software Bible, Segagaga Domain caters to folks looking for box-art scans and other tidbits of info on Master System, Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast titles.

Video Game Den--Much like Gamengai.com, this site features box-art scans and mini-reviews of tons of retro Japanese games. This one, though, focuses on just three systems: The Famicom, the PC Engine and the Super Famicom.

I don't suppose any of you can think of other such sites that should be added to this list?

Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story fans take out their frustrations on Nintendo of America via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

Well, it seems that a rather sizable contingent of North American Wii owners has had it with Nintendo's failure to localize its recent trio of top-shelf Japanese RPGs: The Last Story, Pandora's Tower and Xenoblade.

What are they doing about it? They're taking out their frustrations on the company via the usual channels--e-mail and snail mail, especially--but they're also doing so via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

For instance, nearly 3,500 comments in favor of a North American release for the above-mentioned games have been posted on Nintendo's Facebook wall in the last few days. Many similar comments have been aimed at the company's Twitter account thanks in large part to the folks behind Operation Rainfall.

Another way gamers are showing their support for a North American release of The Last Story, Pandora's Tower and Xenoblade: They're pre-ordering them (in the case of Xenoblade) and adding them (in the case of The Last Story and Pandora's Tower) to their wish lists on Amazon.com.

For more information on this campaign, check out this discussion thread at NeoGAF.com or click on the Operation Rainfall link above.

Follow me

I know this is hard to believe, but I don't actually spend all of my time blogging about games or reading about them on other blogs. (Oh, or playing them.) Lately, for instance, I've been tweeting about them, too. (Don't tell the husband.)

What? You didn't know I'm on Twitter? Well, I am! Here's where you can go to follow me, if you're interested: 

https://twitter.com/thegaygamer

Speaking of following: If you're a regular reader of this here blog, you may want to do yourself a favor and click on the little "follow" button on the right side of the screen. (You may have to scroll down a bit to see it.)

Don't worry if you're not at all interested in following me on either site. I won't mind. OK, maybe I will--just a little--but I won't cry. At least, not much...

See also: 'Tweets of the day'