Why would Japan want to play anything made by NoA?

Women that like Metroid are my kind of women.

Definitely not the ad I would have expected to see, will be interesting to see how it sells, I know Metroid isn't nearly as big in Japan as over here.

@UltimatePancakeSensation: Because it's a good game?

Ehh. Why do they keep appealing to the casual gamer when Metroid Prime clearly is not for them? They did the same thing with the American ads, I think.

It's just that one woman. They were bound to find the japanese version of Julia Roberts somewhere.

Well I'm not sure if _that_ woman likes Metroid, it being an ad and all but I think there are many women out there who like Metroid. Can't see why that is a bigger deal then us men liking it.

@celery: But without any jubblies?

Continuing Japan's proud tradition of supporting western-developed FPSs, I assume.

Anyone know if the japanese version will allow for english subtitles and/or audio (if there is any)?

@Aethyr: Because they're the only group they need to sell to; everyone else is going to buy the game anyway.

This game gives you arthritis due to the need to press A so rapidly.
And it's the best game on Wii :(

Lies. I'm sure there *are* women who like Metroid, and some of them are probably even Japanese. However, I would bet $1 that *that* woman doesn't like Metroid. And speaking from personal experiance I've found its hard to sell twitch based gameplay to the women in my life.

So why do other territories get REAL Wii commercials when we get stuck with the horridness we have now?

@Aethyr: I agree. I never understand that nonsense. Let's be real, there are some games that are just simply not for the casual audience. Wipeout, F-Zero, Armored Core, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil, MGS...if a developer tries to dumb down the gameplay for the casual audience then the title suffers.

Case in point...SSX Blur and to a lesser degree...Metroid Prime 3

I enjoyed MP3, but it's was painfully obvious that the worlds were smaller than Prime and Prime 2 and it was far easier than Prime 2. Personally, I enjoyed Prime 1 and 2 more because of the scale and the difficulty. Although Prime 3 will also get high marks in my book for the controls. It's a shame really. This push for the casual audience makes me truly believe that Nintendo is shunning the core audience for not supporting them for the last two generations.

@Kai_: Did you ever try Hypermode? I gave up before I even defeated the first boss because my hands hurt. You needed to shoot even the weakest enemies like a billion times before they go down.

@ostartero: Maybe that's why they're targeting women =P

@celery: You mean like how Japan played the God of War games, Uncharted, or Call of Duty 4?

Have the previous Metroid Prime games sold enough in Japan to warrant this level of marketing?

i love this game. It needs to sell more. People need to experience the best way to play any FPS on any console.

I however.. need to experience the end of this goddamn game. Im so behind!

@Atrius: Argh, that sounds awful. I like TOUGHER enemies, not enemies that take a thousand shots to defeat.

Bullshit. Before it's a Wii game, at least 3 other people have to be gathered around you, all of them talking or laughing loudly.

That pretty Japanese lady seem a TAD bit over dressed for staying at home for a night of Metorid gaming.

I wanna meet these women who play Metorid AND get all dressed up for it.

@Ashurahori: It was pretty bad, but I think I was doing it wrong. At that level of gameplay you are supposed to use charged shots and missles almost exclusively, and I'm not a good enough shot to make that work.

@Ashurahori: exactly. That's why I never played alot of HyperMode. It seemed too much like a bullshit cheap-ass way to increase difficulty especially when it cramps your hand something awful.

Why not just get us better AI or give the enemies new, powerful attacks instead of lame "I'm diesel, I can take a million shots" enemies. Still loved the game, didn't like Hypermode...just sayin'

@wildrabbit: are you suggesting dear sir, they used an 'actor' or something? pffftt. clearly a hardcore fan of aran.

:P

shocked it's JUST coming out there!

@Kai_: You should switch A and B buttons in the options menu. SO much easier, even though you can still get cramped up after extended sessions.

Also, set music to 20 and SFX to 100

serious japanese is serious

I love me some Metroid on the Wii, but WHY ON EARTH they take the most sluggish and ill-responsive aiming mode, make it the default and call it "Easy" - IN ADDITION to assigning the rapidly pressed trigger button to "A" instead of the ACTUAL TRIGGER ("B") and therefore putting your thumbs through agony before compelling you to find that option and CHANGE IT - is utterly beyond me!

BUT LIKE I SAID....
...still love me some Metroid on the Wii!
(What were you guys smokin'?)

@Lixie: A tv spot is too much of an investment for Nintendo these days? Take a look at what Microsoft did for Halo 3 in Japan if you want to see excessive advertising.

From what I understand CoD 4 didn't do too badly in Japan. Certainly not landslide numbers. I'm not sure about GoW or Uncharted, but the market shouldn't be ignored when all that is needed is localization and a bit of advertising. On the other hand, knee-jerk reactions like "OMG JAPAN HAET AMERICA" can be safely ignored without consequences.

They sure look like they're having a good time.

And the guy did not put enough effort into the lasso. Was it just me or did anyone else really whip their arm back when using that thing? Especially after some tough or frustrating fights. You have to put some feeling into it or it's not nearly as fun.

I think they're actually targeting ghosts.
That's the only thing that can explain the outfit she's wearing.

It's a pretty horrible ad.

i kinda crapped all over that game when it came out without actually "playing" or "looking at it"

but i gotta say, that asian writing made it look pretty neato.

I want to see these players versing the commando-rolling hero from the Red Steel commercial. MAN, would that be a fight.

@Lackshmana: That's overdressed? Looks like a nightgown or something.

Nothing's gonna top this Nintendo advertisement.

+ Watch video

Also, with the exception of Brawl, I would still say Metroid Prime 3 is the best game on the Wii right now. It better do good in Japan.

Striderhayasa, you may have liked Metroid Prime 2's difficulty, but the press and most everybody else thought it was too hard. 3 is just right on that front for me.

@ashjaw:

LOLcat right? can i has cookie?

OMG, Truth in Advertising!
Never thought I'd see the day where a video game commercial would show people playing video games, the way they actually play video games. High Five Japan

@Green-clad Gamer Dude: LMAO. I've never seen that before...how did the FCC even let that get on the air?

@Atrius: So you're faulting the game because you can't mash buttons? That's pretty much the long-held tradition of action games.

Go play Galaga and then tell me Metroid punishes you with the button mashing.

@Bigfoot: yea seriously.

I guess Samus could be a good role model for Japanese women, strong and independant etc etc

@eastx: Yeah I agree, MP2 was pretty dickishly hard, what with the limited ammo for the light, dark, and annihilator beams, the means of getting ammo for each, the fact that each needed ammo to begin with, and fighting bosses in Dark Aether while trying to stay inside those safe zones. I rate it as my least favorite in the trilogy. Good but not my favorite.

@SkutSkut: And why do you think they need such a "role model"? You don't think Japan has any real strong and independent women?

You're telling me it hadn't shipped yet in Japan? Is this bizarro Kotaku? Seems all kinds of backwards this Metroid business.

The mouse humping ad was in Canada only... and it was an awesome ad. No FCC involvement as we have what's called the CRTC and they aren't nearly as stuck up ;) In Canada Janet Jackson would have been shown uncensored and most people would have thought nothing of it.

@wonder6oy: it's white rhino (what i'm smokin)

@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: In every Metroid game that gave the option, Hard mode simply made you take a crapton more damage. I'm fine with tradition.

As far as Wii ads go, this is probably the best of the bunch for me. Only a woman can turn that handlebar with such finesse.

I'm playing this game right now and I'm working on the destruction of the second Leviathan seed. I cannot believe how much I love this game. This is probably the only jump from 2D to 3D in any series where the 3D version had that gave the same great feeling the old one did. I've played the first Prime, but I've yet to touch the second. From what people are saying about the jump in difficulty, I think I'm gonna have to pick it up. ;D I started Corruption out on Veteran mode and I'm quite comfortable with the difficulty. Word of advice to anyone playing Veteran: Hyperdrive more often. You may be wasting 1 bar of life, but you might end up wasting 3 more without it.

@SilentPredator: Ohhh yeah. XD Especially against those flying things that die when you pull em. I hit my sister in the head once, but she understood that it was for a good cause.

@MasterSauce: Actually yeah, while the American version came out in like, August, the Japanese version is coming out in March 2008. I believe they did the same with MP and MP2. Actually, it might be a sort of rule for NoA developed games? Dunno.

@Atrius: They needed to make lock-on toggle, not hold.
@Furious_Liver: Taking more damage works less well when you need to spend HP to activate hypermode, which is mandatory in boss battles.

@Bigfoot:

A fancy blouse, long dress skirt, and her hair done...
Yeah, I would say that is overdressed for staying home and playing video games.

Shes definitely not wearing any kind of nightgown I've ever seen..

Now that's a good commercial... can't go wrong with showing lots of real gameplay set to Gandrayda's music. The US Wii game commercials, MP3 included, are just blurs and they wouldn't tell anything to someone who hadn't previously heard of the games. I hope it'll sell well in Japan though... it's an awesome game with controls that make a dual analog FPS setup seem pretty lowsy.

I'm currently on my third playthrough of MP3. I took 22 hours to start on Veteran, bullied my way through Normal in 9+ hours, and now I'm up to Helios on Hyper. I love that it lets you keep your scans from game