My prayers (may) have been answered: New Tingle game coming soon?

The latest issue of Famitsu includes an ad that suggests the folks at Nintendo of Japan may be about to unveil a new Tingle game. Here's a scan of the ad, from http://wiieveryday.blogspot.com:



Considering the DS logo in the upper-left-hand corner, it seems to be a safe bet that the game will appear on Nintendo's world-dominating handheld (as opposed to its world-dominating console, the Wii), but that's about all that can be gleaned from the ad.

Hopefully more will be revealed soon - and hopefully this title will be released in North America, unlike the Japan-and-Europe-only Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. I'll be getting it regardless, I'm sure...

Upsate #1: The Japanese text above Tingle says, "Fairy?"

Update #2: Nintendo of Japan has launched a website for this as-yet-unnamed game. Apparently, a trailer will be added to the site on June 18.

More Muscle March (WiiWare) footage

Namco-Bandai's Muscle March has hit WiiWare, and at least one Japanese gamer has given it a go, as evidenced by this video:



An in-the-know gamer over on the NeoGAF forums says the title recalls the PS2 classic Katamari Damacy (also created by Namco) thanks to its hilarious premise, addictive gameplay and twee music.

Here's to hoping the game is released in the U.S. at some point, though I'm not holding my breath until that happens...

Made in Ore: Please tell me this game will be released in North America

OK, today appears to be the day to post YouTube videos of games I desperately want to play. This one is for Made in Ore, the latest entry in what is known on this side of the pond as the Wario Ware series.

The hook this time around: Made is Ore allows gamers to make their own microgames, not just play ones created by the folks at Nintendo of Japan. Here's a perfect example of what gamers can come up with:



Hopefully Nintendo of America will announce a North American release date for this sucker soon. I can't take these teases much longer!

A quick look at Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

I have to say, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is one of the titles I'm most looking forward to playing this summer (along with Little King's Story, which is looking extremely promising in its own right).

Today, Square Enix released the first official trailer for the WiiWare title, which will be released in North America on June 1, and it looks very, very good - though I still don't like the font or the fact that the battle backgrounds and menus are of different widths (yeah, I'm a bit anal like that).

Anyway, if you're at all interested in the follow up to what has to be one of the best RPGs ever made, check out the trailer:

Muscle March: The game that will get me to buy a Japanese Wii

Captain Rainbow. Fatal Frame IV. Fragile. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. I've been tempted to buy a Japanese Wii system to play each of these titles - none of which have been or likely will be localized for the North American market - but so far I've fought the urge and held on to my hard-earned cash.

A soon-to-be-released WiiWare game may force me, finally, to cave in, though. The name of that game: Muscle March, by Namco-Bandai. I could craft a few paragraphs explaining why this game has me all atwitter, but I think the following teaser/trailer will suffice:



Other than that, all you need to know is that the game will be released (in Japan only, of course) on May 26th and will cost 800 Nintendo points. That sounds more than fair to me, though I guess in my case the cost will be whatever a Japanese Wii goes for these days ($329 at Play-Asia.com - yikes!) *plus* 800 Nintendo points. Oh, well, you can't put a price on happiness, right? :)