Gamernode: Latest Wii News

Nintendo and GameStop offer Wii rain checks

Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo America, has a novel, if not so satisfying solution for the many who will go through yet another Wii-less Christmas this year--put a Wii rain check under the Christmas tree.

I'm not sure if little Johnny will shout with glee at finding a certificate in lieu of the real game machine, but at least it's something.

Nintendo is partnering up with GameStop to launch the first ever Wii rain check program. The way it works is that anyone who comes into GameStop between December 20 and 21, will be guaranteed a Wii for January by picking up a rain check. The catch is that you have to pay upfront for the full retail price and that you can only redeem the coupon at the point of purchase.

The rain checks are only redeemable for January 2008, so if you're a procra...

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PaRappa the Rapper coming to the Wii. Oui?

Before there was Rock Band and Guitar Hero, PaRappa the Rapper was the music game of choice back in the day. Some would argue that it was the precursor for all popular music based video games, but we'll leave that to the others to argue about this.

But the big news is that PaRappa is making a comeback with Rodney Alan Greenblat, the artist for the quirky game and Masaya Matsuura, the creative mind behind PaRappa the Rapper in a joint venture with Majesco to produce the new game for the Wii.

Majesco CEO, Jesse Sutton said, "Masaya Matsuura and Rodney Alan Greenblat are industry visionaries whose legacy was built on crafting groundbreaking, genre-defining entertainment experiences that everyone can enjoy. We are incredibly excited to be working with talent of this caliber and believe our game...

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December 10th Virtual Console releases

Who ever said that a Virtual Console game couldn't be altered from its original form? Was that Nintendo, when referring to the ghost data in Mario Kart 64? I think it was.

Well, with this week's Virtual Console update that claim has been almost completely invalidated, because headliner Pokemon Snap includes a Wii-only bonus feature.  Now, players can post their in-game pictures to the Wii Message Board and then send them to their friends.

Also available this week is Ghosts'n Goblins, a fun, yet challenging game, and the predecessor to Super Ghouls'n Ghosts. Lastly, Baseball Stars 2 for the Neo Geo will remind baseball fans that there are still about four months untl the beginning of baseball season.

Read on for the official details from Nintendo:

Pokémon Snap (Nintendo 64, 1 player, Rated...

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Special edition Darth Vader Wii for only $15,000

OK, I admit it. I am a Star Wars fan. I've got a first edition Darth Vader mug, an authentic and rare Star Wars Trilogy button, an assortment of various fast food giveaways, seen each episode a billzion times and of course, Star Wars comics and such.

But this item put up recently on eBay has got to be the most expensive piece of Star Wars collectable merchandise that I've ever seen--a Darth Vader edition Wii that the crook, oh sorry, eBay seller is trying to swindle, oh sorry again, sell for $15,000.He claims that the item was only one of four manufactured to promote Lucas Arts' "Unleash the Force" game. This alone should tip off anyone that this guy isn't too knowledgeable because the proper title is "The Force Unleashed."

I think anyone with a little artistic talent could go out and buy a...

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Wii ads cancelled by Nintendo. Why? Not enough Wii...

As it is with every holiday shopping season, companies try to drum up some extra business by bombarding the public with television ads.

But for Nintendo, this season is going to be different. The company is actually going to pull all of its Wii TV ads in the UK leading up to Christmas, because the demand is just too high and the company thinks it would be irresponsible to continue to advertise the scarce items.

Now that's a problem any business would just love to have.

Nintendo said, "We have been running the campaign all year round, but we want to take a responsible stance this Christmas and not fuel demand."

Mario and Company will replace the Wii ads with DS ads until the demand has died down. According to one industry insider, "You can tell what has been happening. They have a lot of spots...

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UPS delivery drivers in danger of Wii stalkers

Just how bad can it get with these Wii shortages? Plenty. According to gonintendo.com your friendly brown-clad UPS delivery person is now the target of Wii-stalkers. 

These unsavory individuals (not the drivers, the stalkers) learn the shipping dates from their local GameStop stores, note and memorize the UPS delivery routines and intercept the drivers on the day of delivery in the hopes that they'll be the first in line to score a Wii.

As a result, delivery dates for Wiis are being withheld from some GameStop stores in order to thwart these Wii-maniacs.

Come to think about it, I know my neighborhood delivery guy pretty well, so...

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Reggie talks about Wii supply

For the second holiday season in a row, the Wii is one of the most difficult consumer products to get ahold of - we are all aware of this fact. How does Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime feel about it, though? In an interview with MSNBC he covered topics ranging from his employment history to hardcore gamers to the future of the Nintendo DS, but also weighed in on Nintendo's current supply-and-demand dilemma.

With regard to the production of the Wii, and Nintendo's ability to meet market demand, he stated:

"You know, the very first annual estimate for Wii was 14.5 million units. No home console had ever sold that many in a first year. And so we were very aggressive at the start. Our issue is one of unprecedented demand and for this holiday season, we are putting more than twice as many W...

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Miis better than friends lists and gamertags?

That's what Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime says.

In a recent interview with MSNBC he claims that the mass market is much more interested in Mii creation than the features offered by Xbox Live or those planned for Sony's Home. The Regginator's exact words when asked to compare Nintendo's online services to those of the competition (such as friends' lists and gamertags) were as follows:

"Our view is that the online experience needs to be something that adds value to the consumer experience and enables them to have a more in-depth experience – especially with the Wii remote. When you talk about gamertags, that really is a hardcore desire versus activity like creating Miis and other functionality that in our view, is much more what the mass market wants in their video-game console....

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The Wii gets an IQ boost, Kynapse AI on the way

Everyone loves good artificial intelligence in their interactive virtual worlds, no? Well, if that is indeed the case, then Wii owners have something new to smile about. Middleware maker Kynogon has announced that the company will be bringing its Kynapse AI technology to Nintendo's little white box.

Said Kynogon CEO Pierre Pontevia:

"Wii is a remarkable success and we are proud to offer Kynapse to Wii game developers. The unique capabilities of Wii allow developers to produce creative forms of gameplay that require innovative AI. Kynapse has been selected by a very significant number of industry leaders for the development of AAA titles. With Kynapse, we feel Wii developers have another critical tool in their hands that helps them unleash the real magic of the Wii system."

Exactly when we ...

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Super Mario Galaxy director Koizumi--The interview...

Last week we brought you an interview with Mr. Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and big influence with the latest Mario game, Super Mario Galaxy. This week we have another interview, this time from Super Mario Galaxy director Yoshiaki Koizumi.

As always, reading the full article is probably best, but for those of you that still don't have enough spare time to read it (thought you would have learned your lesson from the last article) here is the basic gist.

The most interesting part of the whole interview is when Mr. Koizumi talks about how food influenced a lot of the level design in Mario Galaxy. Everything from pancakes with bean paste, from watermelons, to peanuts--is all present in some form in Mario Galaxy.

Turns out this food design implementation has stretched back all the way to Mar...

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Make your own Wii Zapper from Legos!

So if you're like us, most of you will be having quite a relaxing time catching up on video games and perhaps doing more of those late all-nighters during Christmas break. But if you want to put your time to some creative use, how about putting together your own Wii Zapper out of Legos?

Some retail stores are already gouging customers by raising the retail prices for the scarce Zapper so why not strike back at "The Man," by making your own? A forum member over at NeoGAF did just that.

He made the contraption by basing it on another manufacturer's game accessory. He left an opening at the rear of the gun to put the nunchuck in and presto change-o, you have a "Zapgo" gun.

From the looks of it, there probably could be some more work done on the design aspects of the project. But that's just us.

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December 3rd Virtual Console releases

Once again, the Wii Virtual Console has been updated with three classic titles. Once again, these games are nothing to scream about, leaving us all in the unthinkable situation of having to play retail releases such as Mass Effect, Unreal Tournament 3, Crysis, Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy, Uncharted, and the like this holiday season. It is truly a sad day in videogameland.

Today's update features shoot-em-up action, 2-D fighting, and insects' heroics, all brought together under the theme of "the most unrelated games we could find." Seeing Zanac on this list does bring on a hint of nostalgia, though, as I fondly remember the good old "Nick Arcade" TV show, where contestants were constantly offered the option of playing that game, but almost always went with a different choice.

Read on for...

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Mario working on an autobiography

According to CVG, Mario is currently working on an autobiography. No, not the fictional character himself: Charles Martinet, the man who has voiced Mario for over a decade now.

Martinet first voiced the iconic plumber in 1995's Mario's FUNdamentals, but most will remember him first as the voice of Mario in Super Mario 64. Since then, Martinet has voiced Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Toadsworth, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in Nintendo's games.

Martinet's book will talk about what it's like working with Nintendo from the inside, as well as the issues of voicing one of the most famous characters in the world. "I've actually started working a little bit on a book, but it's about finding the discipline to keep going.", he told CVG. "But I will be inspired by fans," such as one, explained Martinet,...

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Pokemon Snap coming to VC, bringing new features

If you owned a Nintendo 64 a few years back, you may remember Pokemon Snap. The on-rails camera-based FPS where the entire goal was to photograph Pokemon was a fairly popular game, and showed just how popular that Pokemon name was.

Nintendo is hoping some fans have fond memories of that game, as they plan to release it on Virtual Console on December 10th in North America. That itself isn't big news (surprising, maybe, but not big). What is big news about the release is that Nintendo is adding VC features to the game, such as allowing you to share your snapshots with friends and the Internet via the Wii's message boards.

One of the largest complaints about VC has been that - unlike XBLA - Nintendo doesn't really offer any updates on the games. With this addition to Snap, we may see a differe...

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Nintendo--no plans to expand in the U.S.

You'd think with the Wii's "sold-out" mystique and high demand, Nintendo would be milking the hell out of it. Maybe pump more games out, maybe come out with more peripherals, or maybe just get it over with and take over the world. 

Senior vice president George Harrison recently stated, "I'm not aware of any plans to push for more software development here in the U.S. The actual decision about producing more software and who should do it is driven by Satoru Iwata and the management team, including Mr. Miyamoto, in Japan."

The Wii is selling more here than it is in Japan... so what's the hold up?

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Nintendo's VC service earned $32.6 million

While Nintendo has remained mum on its Virtual Console sales, one number was revealed today that finally gave a hint to its "success." During a conference held by Nintendo in Tokyo, Shinji Hatano, a Nintendo executive, mentioned that the service earned 3.5 billion yen ($32.6 million) in sales so far.

So finally, something else to compare with the already known fact that the Virtual Console exceeded 7.8 million downloads so far. While $32.6 million may sound rather nice, Hatano said, "We're currently unsure if this is a lot or low. They're not bad figures."

But without more figures, most of us are left in the dark regarding download numbers of the Virtual Console service.

[Via IGN]

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New Japanese Wii channel, DS demos downloadable

A new channel has launched for Nintendo Wii systems of the Japanese variety. "Everybody's Nintendo" is a sort of promotional channel for the Big N's upcoming products, and will eventually be chock-full of videos, game information, and even demo versions of DS games.

The channel acts just like a DS download station, allowing users to stream the content via wi-fi from the Wii to the DS. This is just what many gamers have been looking forward to, and since the DS is in more Japanese pockets than Uncle Sam is in U.S. pockets, I'm certain the Everybody's Nintendo channel will be quite popular.

The video content available through the channel will consist of game footage, interviews, and commercials. Another section displays information on upcoming Wii and DS games, such as release dates, box ar...

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650,000 Wiis sold during past two weeks

Thanks to the past holiday, Nintendo announced they've sold 650,000 Wiis during the past two weeks. The Big N sold 350,000 last week and 300,000 the previous week.

In accordance with the sales figures, Nintendo is on track to sell 17.5 million Wiis once the company hits its next fiscal year starting on March 31st. While Nintendo increased its Wii production to 1.8 million units per month, retail stores will hit shortages till the new year begins.

Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America President, said, "Nintendo has ramped up production to about 1.8 million per month, but its manufacturers cannot increase production again. I couldn't find a single Wii system on the shelves - literally as I was walking into a Wal-Mart at 11 a.m., someone was walking out with the last one. Consumers are buying e...

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Retailers milking the Wii Zapper

Several chain stores, including the retail giants GameStop, EB games and Circuit City have begun to milk the Wii Zapper gun for its popularity.

The high demand of it has caused it to consistantly sell out (a lot like the Wii itself...) since its Nov. 19th release.

Like the vultures they are, these retailers began to sell the Zapper at $24.99, $5 more than the $19.99 MSRP.

Bastards. This isn't gas, it's a freaking Zapper. Give us a break here and stop thinking about the massive profit margins you're going to get off of this move.

If it wasn't always sold out online, I'd say look for it at the $19.99 MSRP price on Walmart.com and Amazon.com. Otherwise take the hit, and shake your fist at the guy selling it to you from across the counter. It's only 5 bucks after all.

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$677 Wii bundles sold out at Wal-mart

To prove that video gaming can be as expensive as other hobbies, Wal-mart is offering a $677 Wii bundle to online shoppers. You'd think that a price tag like this would drive away shoppers, but it hasn't 

The mega package is called the Wii Customer Choice Bundle and you get extra controllers, an accessory, Mario Party 8 and your choice of six game titles. The bad news to all this, (besides the pricey cost) is that the bundle is presently sold out.

No word on further replenishment of this uber bundle, but if the swiftness of how fast these specials sold is any indication of the Wii's continuing popularity, there's going to be a lot of crying in many households during the holidays as they experience Wiiless presents.

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