The Phoenix Wright musical that ran in Japan last month was a success for the all-female Takarazuka Revue theatre troupe, with tickets selling out on opening day. If you thought an operatic, all-female performance of stories based on video game characters couldn't be a hit, TAKE THAT! In its press release about the show, Capcom described this presentation as part of its "One Property with Multiple Uses" strategy, in which Capcom properties are marketed for multiple media.Because of the success of the courtroom crooning, Capcom and the Revue have announced plans for a sequel! The revue will perform Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 2 (which, like the first one, will probably be an original story) at the Takarazuka Bow Hall from August 20 through August 31, and at the Akasaka ACT Theatre from September 5 through September 15. We eagerly await the first pictures from the new show -- will we see a female Godot this time? A Female Dr. Hotti? A female Franziska von Karma -- oh, wait.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

There's certainly something comedic about a guy with 13 road signs sticking out of his head. There's something even funnier about launching that guy into a wall of spikes. Such is the over-the-top violence of next week's release, MadWorld. The developers behind the title aren't laughing with us, though. Platinum Games' Shigenori Nishikawa explains that the goal for the development team in Japan was to make the game over-the-top, but not to "ever aim to get laughs." He points to the first showing of the signpost-in-head maneuver, which was seen as "mean-spirited" and "left a bad taste" in Japanese mouths. When foreigners caught a glimpse, however, they were laughing it up, so Platinum Games decided to keep it in.Nishikawa further explains the gap between the Japanese and us in the West, saying he's never "heard of a Japanese comedian think of some kind of gag that will get laughs overseas and have it actually work out." Well, whether it was intentional or not, Nishikawa did get one thing right about us: We love to laugh at fat people in weird outfits.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

This week's downloadable titles on Wii are a mixed bag. We get what appears to be some shovel(Wii)ware, but a tried-and-true classic on the Virtual Console. Sure, it's a niche genre, but it's still 100% classic.Virtual ConsoleOgre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (SNES, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): The classic strategy title finally comes to the Virtual Console. Personally, our own experience with the franchise has been mainly through the N64 sequel, so we're anxious to give this one a whirl. Look for it in our VC in Brief segment later today.WiiWareFamily & Friends Party (Gammick Entertainment, 1-8 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Billed as "an interactive board game," this WiiWare title sounds a lot like Mario Party in its description and supports up to eight players.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Though the DSi's inclusion of music playback functionality and a digital camera may make it seem like Nintendo is attempting to compete with other multimedia devices (particularly ones whose brand names begin with a lowercase 'i'), this really isn't the case. At least, that's the sentiment of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who recently talked up the re-redesigned handheld in the latest installment of "Iwata Asks."Reaffirming a similar statement made around the announcement of the DSi, Iwata said Nintendo "doesn't have any intention of directly competing with existing products" such as cell phones or iPods, adding that the media has a tendency to make up inter-corporate rivalries that don't really exist (Panasonic vs. Atari! More at 11!). Sounds like Nintendo, the undeniable big fish in the small pond of handheld gaming, is hesitant to enter the vast, lucrative ocean of multimedia gadgetry.[Via 1UP]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments