CPFace

Wow, they even discounted the Nintendo Points card all the way down to $20 (from $25)! ._.

Jan 20 is two weeks after Jan 5.

Just saying.

Retro Gaming Challenge and Scribblenauts top the list for me.

I don't know if there's a single thing coming out for the Wii that I'm really, truly excited about.

But I really have no room to complain. Smash Brothers remains awesome. Super Mario Galaxy remains awesome. I've still got two episodes of SBCG4AP to catch up on. Sam & Max Season One sits on my shelf, waiting for me to finish National Novel Writing Month.

Comes down to it, I'd rather have great games in my home than great games to look forward to later.

I completely agree with the sentiment that GH/RB is for casual play and Wii Music is much more involved. I put Rock Band in, pick up my guitar, and I'm playing. With Wii Music? First I want to come up with an idea that I want to implement -- an all-NES Horn version of Eine Klein Nachtmusik, a classical version of Daydream Believer, a rock version of Scarborough Fair -- and then I have to spend half an hour or more playing through all of the parts, trying to figure out how I want them to sound and then actually making them sound like that. The result is a lot more satisfying too -- I've got a couple remixes that I enjoy putting on as background music.

As far as the casual gamers in my life go? When I set up Rock Band, the whole family wanted in. When I popped in Wii Music, they wanted to bring Rock Band back out.

I guess I'm the only person who's excited about Orbient! That was quite a lovely surprise -- come home and find that Nintendo quietly localized the one Bit Generations game that fascinated me.

Hmmm. While the open world concept fascinates me, I just can't get over the fact that I have no interest in the subject matter.

This is the best one yet.

You know what I find interesting? Rather than getting us excited about games that aren't done yet, Nintendo seems to be focusing on getting us excited about games that they've already released. Look at the Nintendo Channel. What kinds of ads have they been putting out over the summer? Mostly stuff for Mario Kart and Wii Fit, and DS games like Nintendogs and New Super Mario Brothers.

It's a good tactic for them, obviously, because it helps give their games "legs", but I enjoy it personally because I can watch a video about Animal Crossing: Wild World, think to myself, "Huh, that looks kind of fun," then remember that I *own* it. And then I play it.

Hmmmm... I bought Rock Band, so I'm not likely to get Guitar and Drum and Also Microphone Hero anyway, but... No Fail option, eh? Hopefully they'll also include an option that'll make the music play correctly whether you get it wrong or not. Then you can sit in your living room, banging away at your plastic instruments and pretend that you're shredding it up with no rude interruptions whatsoever.

Or you can turn on the damned radio and play a damned air guitar.