Nintendo goes offbeat with Tomodachi Life marketing video

Newsbrief: Nintendo announced the June 6 overseas launch of Tomodachi Life , a 3DS life simulation game that's part of the popular Tomodachi franchise, in an uncharacteristically offbeat Nintendo Direct broadcast today.

The ten-minute Tomodachi Life Direct video, which we've taken the liberty of embedding above, stars Nintendo America senior marketing manager Bill Trinen playing the straight man while a steady stream of visual gags and awkward situations involving Mii avatars of Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aime and a smattering of Nintendo game characters play out around him.

It's a refreshing change of pace from Nintendo's typical approach to consumer marketing, which often involves one or more executives or developer leads speaking politely from script over gameplay footage.

Tomodachi Life was first released on 3DS in Japan last April, and it will be the first game in the series to be released in the U.S. and Europe.