Nintendo was a little late with getting us the info on VC releases this week so I am subsequently a little late with getting you the news. Not that there was anything to really rush out and tell you about anyway. As far as WiiWare and VC releases go, this week is looking kind of dull in my humble opinion. First, the WiiWare game is My Pokémon Ranch (Nintendo, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone—Comic Mischief, 1,000 Wii Points) which I never really wanted to be mine in the first place, and then the two VC games for the week are DIG DUG (NES, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points) and BIO MIRACLE BOKUTTE UPA (NES, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone—Comic Mischief, 600 Wii Points).

I’ll start with VC here since my interest in Pokémon is minimal and thus my interest in farming them is null and void. DIG DUG is awesome puzzling/platforming fun, I won’t lie, but with all the other great games out there it does little to excite me. At least it adds some classic name recognition to the list. Whereas BIO MIRACLE BOKUTTE UPA has never been seen outside Japan before and thus I’ve never played it and my excitement must be reserved. However the platforming game has an interesting mechanic in which the hero, Baby Upa, can inflate his enemies and use them as platforms and weapons. Sounds pretty unique but I don’t know if I’d go spending money on it without a little play time first.

My Pokémon Ranch appears to be a game that lets you watch your Mii wander around with Pokémon that you’ve caught via the DS Pokémon games or other nefarious means. You can take pictures and…watch them eat? I don’t know; unless you have a hankering for all things Pokémon this seems like a big waste of time and money. I’m sure it’ll sell well no matter what. All these games went live at 9 a.m. Pacific time today.