Miyamoto 'Banned' From Talking About Hobbies 256
walshy007 writes "After Shigeru Miyamoto developed a love of puzzles, the "brain-training" software that has proved to be an international "killer application" on the Nintendo DS console was born.
He became interested in taking more exercise, and Wii Fit was created. He took up music lessons, and Wii Music was the result.
Now, according to sources at Nintendo, the games designer has been banned by the company from speaking publicly about his hobbies."
Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Funny)
Depends on if they are working on a Wii BDSM game.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Funny)
Now THAT would be interesting, to say at least...
"Move your wiimote to control a virtual whip, and punish that nasty slave refusing to comply with your orders. Online supported!"
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WiiHentai?
That would take the platform into a whole new direction....
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The size of Wiimote, and the fact that it does vibrate, is a pretty good adhoc vibrator...Except that it's not water proof.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Funny)
CONDOME.
Two cocks enter, one cock leaves.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
Heh, really.
Given the fairly common nature of these hobbies, it strikes me not the hobbies themselves that make the game popular, but rather his twist on putting them into a game.
Seriously, how many people, honestly, could make games as popular as his, on these subject matters. The key factor is the creator, not the theme, I suspect.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
But you don't want the imitators coming out before you.
A crappy "We Like to Get Fit" Game coming out before Wii Fit could damage sales.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
But you don't want the imitators coming out before you.
Exactly. If you correctly read the summary let alone the article, it says they've banned him from talking about his hobbies. He's still being encouraged to develop ideas for the company, they just don't want other companies cashing in on his ideas before they do.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
I never suggested he wasn't allowed to continue with his efforts. I simply suggested that other companies are highly unlikely to be able to beat him to the punch with a sufficient quality work, such that it would warrant that restriction on him.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Interesting)
It doesn't have to be sufficient quality work; if someone releases the Next Big Thing before Nintendo can, but it happens to be spectacularly crappy, then Nintendo is cheated out of a market where people don't believe in the product any more.
Imagine if, a month before the announcement of the iPhone, an almost as good but not quite was released? People go crazy, buy it, are locked into a contract, and disappointed. Will they buy the iPhone? Nope, spent the cash, didn't think it was worth it, and don't want to risk it again.
Re:Well then... (Score:4, Informative)
That did happen, and it didn't lead to the iPhone failing:
http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=356 [htc.com]
Released a couple months prior to the iPhone.
Re:Well then... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Or because they are good.
I don't know, they aren't /my/ style of game, nonetheless, a lot of people enjoy them. Maybe it's the cult following of mario, maybe they are good games.
Where are you getting that it was suggested his name that made the games popular?
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I'm pretty sure they meant the skill of the creator. There are good games and bad games, regardless of genre. Just because someone makes a fitness game doesn't mean it's going to be good. Miyamoto, on the other hand, has a long history of making very popular games.
Miyamoto barely ever touches Mario anymore (Score:3, Interesting)
You still can't deny almost every single game [Miyamoto] comes up with stars Mario in some form or another.
Au contraire. The Nintendo fanboys are constantly complaining that Miyamoto has abandoned them because he has abandoned his old franchises such as Mario and Zelda. Miyamoto was only a producer on Galaxy, and he was barely involved in the development of New Super Mario Bros; I don't think he's made a Mario title in a decade or so.
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's amazing what people will put up with if they're paid enough. I image that Mr Miyamoto is very well paid by Nintendo, so much in fact that the outrageous imposition of not being able to discuss his hobbies with people is bearable.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's amazing what people will put up with if they're paid enough. I image that Mr Miyamoto is very well paid by Nintendo, so much in fact that the outrageous imposition of not being able to discuss his hobbies with people is bearable.
From the sound of it, it sounds like he's been with Nintendo for awhile. Long enough to have accumulated enough money to where he very likely doesn't need the income from Nintendo anymore. There's a point in which after a person accumulates enough money, the promise of more money to throw on top of the heap really stops becoming a motivating factor and one starts looking at the other niceties of life instead. Niceties such as discussing interesting subject matters (aka hobbies) to others....not to mention I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem finding a job that pays well and gives him this freedom elsewhere.
Re:Well then... (Score:4, Insightful)
or having access to most of the resources of Nintendo and a free hand to turn whatever his interest of the moment is into a game to force onto the rest of us as the next 'in thing'.
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There's a point in which after a person accumulates enough money, the promise of more money to throw on top of the heap really stops becoming a motivating factor
When the carrot stops working, you switch to the stick. As in, if you don't perform the work you're contracted for (or leak information about your hobbies that we're developing as games), we sue to reclaim a big chunk of your money heap.
It's when you give so many carrots that the stick doesn't work anymore that you really have problems.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
I work for a Japanese owned company.. it's quite different from an American company. You don't just leave because of some stupid politics, the company wants you to respect your co-workers like an extension of your family. It's a long term relationship. The company doesn't treat you like a disposable commodity (lay offs and firings are extremely rare) and in return most of the employees respect the wishes of their employer and do things "for the good of the company" rather than just walking away for greener pastures.
This is very much true of my own company which while in the US the Japanese corporate mentality is a big part of everything we do. Even though we're in aerospace manufacturing, with the horrible economy and every other company in our industrial park laying people off and going under, my company hasn't laid off or fired a single employee in my entire career here. the company is saving money buy dropping 3rd shift and moving those employees to 1st and 2nd, we're on a hiring freeze, we had a shut down (week of mandatory vacation), and hourly employees must reduce their over time.
Yes some of that stuff sucks, but in the good times the company does us right so in the bad times people are willing to make some personal sacrifices knowing that it will help the company overall.
While not a good times/bad time scenario Miyamoto is a very big part of the Nintendo family, he's not just some super star that is only interested in money... I wouldn't be half surprised if he was in agreement with the "no hobby discussion" rule or if it was even partly his idea.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a point in which after a person accumulates enough money, the promise of more money to throw on top of the heap really stops becoming a motivating factor and one starts looking at the other niceties of life instead.
Very true. And I'd be willing to bet that if asked, Mr Miyamoto's would say his #1 hobby is "working for Nintendo". If he no longer needs the money then why is he there?
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
Nintendo is not an American company. Mr. Miyamato is not an American. Why do you expect him to follow the values of American Culture. The Japanese tend to have more of a good of the company/community/family mind set while Americans have the what is good for me mind set. I am not saying one or the other is better or worse. In paradox to this article and thread the American Culture tends to be more creative and come up with new ideas (as they are trying to position themselves for promotion or noticed for the next big thing) while the Japanese are good at perfecting (for the good of the company product need to be perfect).
YES THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS! when talking about a culture there are always exceptions as we group a group of millions of people into a box. However a cultural norm tend to strongly influence people thoughts and feelings.
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Mod 'em up!
Also, so what if they "banned" him from discussing certain things? He can still talk about them all he wants, and lose his job. That's up to him. It's not like he'd go to jail or be killed for it. They aren't forbidding him, or limiting his choices/freedoms in any way. They changed the conditions of his employment. This isn't any different than you company handing a form saying "don't divulge company secrets", you can if you like, and the company will fire you. Social Contract: The indivi
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[Off Topic Question]
Could someone 'splain to me why something i posted seconds ago already has a score of 2?
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Re:Well then... (Score:5, Funny)
It's amazing what people will put up with if they're paid enough. I image that Mr Miyamoto is very well paid by Nintendo, so much in fact that the outrageous imposition of not being able to discuss his hobbies with people is bearable.
So for now on, he will post as AC?
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, he is paid (at his own insistence) a salary no higher than other developers. I've read it in numerous places over the years, but don't have a link handy.
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Funny)
self-imposed? (Score:2)
Re:Well then... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well then... (Score:4, Interesting)
I suspect this all centers on delaying competition from co-launching similar products.
It's common in all industries, the element of uniqueness adds value, and often that value is the difference between go / no-go for development.
So, I imagine he can talk about his hobbies all he wants, as long as he doesn't mind killing any associated projects. It would be the same at any other (established, successful, ossified bureaucratic) company. He could try going to a small, inexperienced independent who would let him blab all he wants about things that aren't going to be available for 5 years, but I bet he's better off where he is.
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I recommend that he comes with the hobby of curing cancer or feeding the hungry
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Pretty long, after all wii gardening, wii painting, and wii jellowrestling are all in development.
(er no not really is a joke.)
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..guess we'll just see how long Nintendo manages to keep him around with ridiculous policies like this in place..
How is this a ridiculous policy? The man takes his hobbies and interests and turns them into multi billion dollar franchises. And he has done this repeatedly!
I'm sure there are no end of Sony and Microsoft reps that would gladly throw $TEXAS at him to get him to switch teams, and no doubt they're paying several people $OREGON to watch what he says in interviews to try and figure out what new innovative game he's going to come out with next before they do.
Latest game (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Latest game (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Latest game (Score:5, Funny)
Waiting to have a shot at it.
Really? (Score:5, Funny)
And here I thought that it is the next logical evolutionary step for the Wii.
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=227 [vgcats.com]
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I guess wii Bukakke didn't quite catch on as well as the other Japanese classics did.
I swear, I thought the box said Buck Cake!
Re:Latest game (Score:5, Funny)
I just want to take this opportunity to point out that the Wikipedia article on Bukkake explicitly states that it "may require cleanup" [wikipedia.org] to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
That is all.
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Other hobbies (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Other hobbies (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, we already had Star Fox.
Animal Crossing (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, we already had Star Fox.
And Animal Crossing.
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And Donkey Kong Country.
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What most people don't know is that he has a strange fetish for women dressed up in furry animal costumes. I wonder what the next game would be like?
Probably something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHA9Ig7HOGA [youtube.com] (It's french, may be NSFW)
Hint at upcoming product? (Score:2)
I guess it'll be interesting, then, to see whether or not the "Wii Jack" makes it to retail...
So... (Score:3, Funny)
So the next game will be about somebody who has been banned from talking by his corporate overlords.
Furriest post (Score:3, Funny)
Me too (Score:4, Funny)
I'm barred from talking about my hobbies by my employer as well.
Might have something to do with all the razor blades and dismembered animal parts.
WTF kind of article is this? (Score:5, Interesting)
I do agree, that is an interesting tidbit there, but it's an idle story at best. Fark material IMO.
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Bizarre (Score:5, Insightful)
If knowing Miyamoto's hobbies is enough to scoop Nintendo, then why can't competitors even touch his track record?
I think Nintendo is confusing ideas with implementations. Having ideas is great. Anyone can have ideas. In fact, they're a dime in quantities of tens of thousands. The problem is getting those ideas implemented. And without Miyamoto-san's insight into the implementation, I sincerely doubt competitors are going to be able to get ahead of Nintendo.
This seems like a case where Miyamoto should ignore his employer and just do his own thing. Unfortunately, I think he's too nice to take a stand on this. He will probably go along with his employer's request. Thankfully, however, I imagine that this requirement will loosen and fall off with time.
Which can only be good for fans. I can't speak for anyone else, but I have found the stories behind the development of Miis and Wii Fit to be fascinating. (And hilarious. [youtube.com] "You guys are useless!" :-P)
Future Ideas are at Stake (Score:4, Funny)
Clearly Nintendo is looking to base their future games on his personal interests:
"Super Eating Out Mario Bros"
"Wacky Workout"
"The Chronicles of Shopping"
"Watching Reruns on TV Fiesta"
"World of Internet Porn Surfing"
Re:Bizarre (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Nintendo is confusing ideas with implementations. Having ideas is great. Anyone can have ideas. In fact, they're a dime in quantities of tens of thousands. The problem is getting those ideas implemented. And without Miyamoto-san's insight into the implementation, I sincerely doubt competitors are going to be able to get ahead of Nintendo.
While I agree with you to a point, I would have to say that there are a lot of dollars at stake in being the trendsetter or the follower. Ideas are shopped around and cloned so blatantly in motion pictures, usually with much worse (cheaper) script and production values. Pixar: Finding Nemo / Dreamworks: Shark Tales. WarnerBros: Happy Feet / Sony: SurfsUp.
I think there was a Miyamoto interview recently where he jokingly mentioned what he was dabbling with some new hobby, after specifically being asked about this trend of his. If Nintendo came out with game idea first, it might be interesting primarily through its novelty. If some other house copies the idea faster and cheaper, they will probably get the most money from it, even if Nintendo's longer production leads to a hell of a lot better game. If they appear to be a "me too" on one title, then it's not just that title that suffers, but people might associate Nintendo with "me too" and assume it will be a poor knockoff of someone else's idea, instead of the reverse.
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- fit games are crap
- this is a blatant rip-off of company X
I heard he likes to eat. (Score:2, Funny)
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umm....
Cooking Momma anybody?
The people of Middle-Earth don't mind (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think a game based on Hobbits would do that well.
Puzzle Games (Score:5, Informative)
No one ever thought of doing puzzle games before.
And no ever thought of doing work-out games before (we actually own the XBox virtual personal trainer game that my wife used to work out with).
And no one ever did music games before.
And since when was Wii Music a big hit? I thought it hadn't even been released yet, and all the hype has been about Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour.
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Few of the ideas are original - but that's been the case in gaming since.... oooh, a very long time ago.
Most of the ideas are remarkably well executed - now that is something rather rarer.
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Exactly my point. Nintendo is worried about being scooped, and they shouldn't be. Nintendo and Apple are about style.
The wiimote isn't the best motion sensitive controller I've ever used. I have an ancient flight-stick from a Comdex about 10 years back or so that I move in the air to control a plane in a filght-sim. The controls are marvelous, and it never caught on.
The wiimote conversely isn't horribly accurate, doesn't feature enough buttons to offer the complexity I personally crave, and is very frus
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I remember a PS2 work-out program that was quite popular with some of my wife's friends, not to mention Dance Dance Revolution and how many mats Konami sold before the Wii introduced the balance board.
Many of these things are not new -- just don't tell that to the Wii fanatics :)
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Will WiiFit have the same cherished memories as using your hands on the NES track pad to achieve super human speed?
Will BrainAge be remembered for its minigames beyond something like Mario Party (shudder) or even Wario Ware?
Will Wii Music outshine any of the Guitar Hero,
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I tried out a DS in a WalMart and didn't like the interface. I didn't like juggling back and forth between holding it with two hands to reach buttons and then going for the stylus. There didn't seem to be any good, comfortable way to hold the device. That being said, they sell like mad.
My wife doesn't enjoy gaming on the PSP, but I imagine if I put a DS in her hand she'd love it. Retirement homes are going nuts over the Wii, where as I'm more interested in getting Fallout 3 and Force Unleashed on my PS3
It's not about being scooped, per se. (Score:2)
I don't think Nintendo is worried so much about someone coming out with a better game. Their worries probably run more along the lines that a rival company will come out with a game first and either sue or just saturate the market with an inferior pre-knockoff.
Nintendo.... (Score:2)
Dogs and Gardening (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't forget playing with his dogs (Nintendogs) and gardening (actually where his idea for Pikmin came from).
A lot of people know he does this, so many journalists like ask him what he's doing in his free time and then try to parse his words to figure out what future new games he may be working on. If they really are quelling that, I'm not very surprised, given how secretive the company likes to be.
So what are they going to do? (Score:2)
Not a dumb move (Score:2)
I'd venture that Nintendo just doesn't want others to try and do things first. I mean a lot of his previous hobbies and the way they translate into games aren't completely non-obvious; granted Miyamoto has great talent in that translation and what is really "fun" about them in a game, but if you follow that trend, someone's going to say "hey, how DO you make this into a game" and go from there. It's more of trying to prevent others from even getting the idea of "hey this _would_ make a cool game, wouldn't
We are all in trouble... (Score:2)
I know his hobbies (Score:2)
I think we can infer from his resume what he enjoys in his off time:
Popping mushrooms.
Dressing up in short green skirts and cutting up bushes with a sword.
Getting drunk and tossing empty kegs at frat boys.
Pretending to ride shotgun with forest animals in space.
Inhaling food with cheeks puffed.
obviously (Score:2)
Word has it... (Score:2)
...that he's moving to Massachusetts and taking up amateur chemistry. [slashdot.org]
Strategy (Score:4, Funny)
The next step is that Nintendo allows Miyamoto's hobbies to "accidentally" get leaked in order to get Microsoft and Sony to waste all their time.
Word on the street is that he's taken up knitting, and he's started a rock garden. Run with that, Xbox dev team!
How sensationalized has this been? (Score:4, Insightful)
Manager: "Please don't talk about your hobbies publicly."
Miyamoto: "OK"
Co-worker: "What was that about?"
Miyamoto: "They don't want me talking about my hobbies."
Co-worker: "They won't let Miyamoto talk about his hobbies."
[several layers of 'the telephone game' later]
"Miyamoto banned from talking about hobbies."
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American corporations often put limitations on what their employees can say to the press. Every major corporation has had a policy on what statements the company can make, and even then, only certain employees are allowed to talk to the press. Violation of such a policy is grounds for termination. It is pretty standard.
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This is not anything like that at all... Nintendo is saying that he cannot "speaking publicly about his hobbies". What if a hobby was reading books, oops, no book club for him. Hacking Linux... stay away from your local LUG. Drinking beer, can't do it socially.
Now I realize that the article is very vague on the terms of this, but I suspect that it is far broader than it needs to be.
I personally think this is just plain stupid anyway, all it does is give grounds for termination... which most employers can
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The simple fact is that Miyamoto is unfireable. Iwata is more fireable than Miyamoto. I would argue that the only reason Miyamoto is not President of Nintendo is that Nintendo (an Miyamoto himself) would rather he not waste his time on administrative things when he could be spending that time on game and system design.
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Yes, but they generally don't involve your personal life, what you can't talk about is work material and you're not allowed to make official company statements. Hobbies are part of your personal life, but early game concepts are work material for a game designer so he should certainly be careful. Legality aside, if your employer pulled you aside and asked you not to comment on your hobbies because it starts all kinds of crazy rumors of what the company will do I would. Not stop doing what I'm doing though,
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They're not saying he can't discuss his personal life with friends and family. They don't want him discussing his personal life with the press. It sounds odd, and yet at the same time, Steve Jobs won't allow pretty much anyone from Apple to give interviews other than him. Everyone controls exactly what the press gets to hear.
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Yes, but they generally don't involve your personal life, what you can't talk about is work material and you're not allowed to make official company statements. Hobbies are part of your personal life...
I'm not sure about this. The "intellectual property" terms of my current employer stipulate that they own everything that I produce, regardless of whether it's during off hours, etc. So, for example, all of the family pictures I've taken since I started here are technically owned by them.
Now, as a practical matter, AFAIK they haven't taken any interest in exercising these rights, and in fact they're reasonably generous about releasing Open Source software, etc. But still, I consider it to be one of the w
Re:Maybe not that silly (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, one thing that business has taught me is how little value ideas really have.
I know it's heretical to say this, but ideas just aren't that valuable. Discernment, discipline, patience, timing, creativity, craftsmanship, relationships with vendors and customers, and of course money have to be added before an idea generates a single penny of profit.
Take the idea of a car racing game with cute characters driving. Miyamoto's gone to that well multiple times, but nobody else has scored big with it, even though it isn't a copyrightable or patentable thing. He's got a team that gets the details right.
Sweeping generalizations (Score:2)
I thought Diddy Kong Racing [wikipedia.org] was pretty good. A lot of other people did too, from the article. Miyamoto is a good game designer, but he isn't the only one.
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Ah, it's possible. But maybe you're just unable to look beyond your sweeping generalization ("driving game with cute characters") to see the actual original ideas that made his games big.
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I seem to remember Crash Team Racing [metacritic.com] and Diddy Kong Racing [metacritic.com] being incredibly successful at the time, and both feature the idea of "car racing with cute characters."
Re:lets just hope (Score:5, Funny)
What if his hobbies are running around Tokyo carjacking, beating up ho's, and shooting wildly?
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I think Rockstar already has that covered
Which rockstar? It'd really freak me out to find out that Bono and I have the same hobby.
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Re:That's because new hobby = Surfing Pron (Score:5, Interesting)
There was a DS homebrew contest and I remember reading about a girl who won the contest by developing a game in which you stroked the fluffy parts of a bunny with your stylus just right to make the bunny happy, and then it exploded into a bunch of butterflies. The developer flat out said the game was a simulation of getting a girl off. I'm sure a similar homebrew game for the Wiimote will eventually come out.
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Because his latest hobby is directing Porn movies.
Wii Money Shot!©
Wii Stripper. Complete with brass pole.
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Wii Extreme Penetration. Playable with just the original nunchuks.