The bundle goes on sale November 6th in the UK, Europe will have to wait until November 20th and will -- with any common sense -- run through the busy Christmas period. No word on pricing, however it's doubtful they'll charge any higher than what they're already charging for the Wii at this point in time (£179.99 RRP), especially in the UK. Black controllers, nunchaku, Wii Motion Plus and Classic Controllers will go on sale November 20th, so those looking for new controller colours; it'll be your lucky day in a month's time. Might be a good idea to go preorder it. Just a thought.
[Source: Nintendo]
Well, no surprises here folks. The kind men and women over at Nintendo Europe have announced today that they are to lower the trade price of each Nintendo Wii console back to it's initial starting point nearly 3 years ago. Many in the UK may remember the Wii's price rising earlier this year thanks to a weaker Pound against the Euro, however, while Europe enjoys a price reduction on the shelf, the UK will have a price normalisation and Wii Sports Resort and the Wii Motion Plus addon included with every Wii starting October 2nd 2009.
[Source: MCV]
If you've been reading any past posts on this blog, you probably would have realised I'm an unhappy, grumpy and cynical person. However, it must be said that this promotion from Nintendo is actually a pretty sweet deal. Of course, trying to find even one person around me who has a WiFi connection and a Wii which isn't connected to the internet already is pretty difficult. Other than cold-calling everyone in my neighbourhood asking if they would like to play, I don't think I'll be enjoying the splendours of free Virtual Console goodness any time soon.
[Source: Nintendo]
Back in 2006, Nintendo released the Wii's Internet Channel, a modified version of the Opera web browser (similar to the browser which appeared on the Nintendo DS and now on the Nintendo DSi) to anyone who bought a Wii in the first few months of it's release. After that trial period, the browser was put up for sale. And we all expected it would stay like that. However, in a surprise move, Nintendo made the browser free. Yesterday, actually.
The browser has also been updated, which has caused some minor inconvenience to UK users, as the BBC iPlayer no longer functions under the updated Flash Lite functionality which the browser now sports. The problem should be resolved fairly quickly, however users who already own the browser should fend off the shiny new version number for the time being. Speaking of users who already own the browser, good news! You're being refunded for your purchase of the browser! Well, kind of. Nintendo is very courteously giving you a free Virtual Console download. Unfortunately, it's only worth 500 Points, so that basically limits you to a NES title. Still, it's something.
Read up about specifics here.
Now, you look at this post and wonder "Hm, has this review been held off until the Ashes were over?" and the answer is: yes. I had wrote it from the position of England winning from the get-go, although that was more blind optimism rather than anything clinical or statistically biased. But look what happens, perhaps I should release the shackles of unpaid video game journalism and head into the depths of Fortune Telling. Maybe not.
Ashes Cricket 2009 (Nintendo Wii)
Developer: Codemasters / Publisher: Codemasters / Genre: Sports / Release Date: Out Now / Age Certificate: 3+ PEGI
"Now that the Aussies are packing their cases, minus one urn full of burnt wood, you're most likely going to want to stock up on memorabilia of this day in many forms. But why buy coins, DVDs and mugs proudly proclaiming our victory when you can relive the whole experience with Codemaster's take on the proceedings. Ashes Cricket 2009 comes in many flavours on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC, however I've decided to pick the Nintendo Wii version, just because it's much more fun."
Today saw the publication of Nintendo's lifetime sales in the United Kingdom. It's an interesting read, it shows that 5.5 million Wii units have been sold in our region alone. When the population of the United Kingdom is approximately 61 million, that means that at least 9.01% of the population of Britain owns a Wii. Of course, that doesn't factor into duplicate sales due to theft or squabbling, possibly spoilt; children/adults. Basing the population on an average family consisting of 2 adults, 2 children and one Wii between them all; approximately 36% of families in the UK own a Wii.
Of course, I'm dyslexic, so my mathematics may have to be taken with a liver solidifying measurement of salt, but that's still a pretty big figure. In comparison, the DS which was released a good 1 and 3/4 years prior to the Wii's appearance sold only 1.6 million units total, the DS lite shifted 7.5 million units which was released the same year as the Wii. Overall, the DS family has shifted 9.4 million units (370,000 DSi units included). Which equates to about 16% of the populace owning a DS of some sort. Overall, UK sales of the Nintendo Wii make up 10.5% of worldwide Wii sales and DS family sales make up 8% of worldwide DS sales.
[Source: GI.biz, sales data provided by vgchartz.com]
Look, I'm a stereotypical Briton: I moan a lot, I don't mind the odd cup of tea, I'll only clap if a lot of other people are clapping at the time and I think American Football is a watered-down Rugby. I also enjoy playing cricket, not so much watching it. I've long moaned to those around me that developers haven't taken it upon themselves to make a Cricket game for a console which is calling out for it; the Wii. There's been cricket games in the past... And I mean, the past; the last cricket game I recall seeing at all was Brian Lara's Cricket '96. That was 13 years ago. According to Wikipedia, there has been some as recent as 2007.
Codemasters will be using the up-coming Ashes tour to release the most recent iteration of the cricket game series on the Wii, complete with motion controls. With the lack of the keywords; "Motion Plus", don't expect to have incredible controls, however, from what one can gather, there will be someone accurate bowling controls... Although I could just imagine it be swinging the Wii Remote forward... There's also a lack of the Nintendo WiFi Connection logo on the box, meaning local multiplayer at best. On the up-side, the game is fully licensed so expect to see some of your favourite cricket heroes turn up... Like... ... Uh... ... Onions? The game's out in August.
[Source: CVG]
Hanabi Festival is an annual event for Nintendo now, the event which is named after the Japanese festival of fireworks, it is the only time of year in which Japanese or American titles, which weren't released in Europe, get added to the European Virtual Channel. Today saw the addition of the Megadrive title; Pulseman and SNES title; Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen.
In the coming weeks the following titles will also be added to the Wii Shop Channel; Bomberman '94 (Turbografx), Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Super Nintendo), Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II (NES), MUSHA (SEGA Megadrive), DETANA TWIN BEE (Turbografx), Smash Table Tennis (NES). They're priced as normal Virtual Console games, but word of caution, any Japanese titles will not have English screen-text, however, Nintendo does pick titles with minimal text in order to aid those who do not speak the magical tongue of Moon.
[Source: Nintendo]
If many had doubted the popularity of Wii Sports resort and thought everyone kept playing it because it came with the Nintendo Wii console, prepare to have your minds blown. Wii Sports Resort, the version of the game which you have to, you know, pay for. Has so far shifted a grand total of 353,827 units in four days according to data collected by Japanese company; Enterbrain (the people behind Famitsu). The sales aren't as impressive as other Wii titles in the same period, however, with Mario Kart Wii being served 608,000 times and Super Smash Bros. Brawl shifted 816,000 units.
In reality then, Wii Sports Resort sold half of what Mario Kart Wii sold, however, for a fairly new IP from Nintendo, 350k is a pretty big figure, especially for what is seen as a casual title. Some may question if it was just the most economical way to get the Wii Motion Plus accessory, as many will see this as being the future for the Wii. Sure, it's price at retail includes the price of the Wii Motion Plus controller, however, in my mind, there have been very few varied and fun uses of the Wii Remote's motion sensing capabilities outside of Wii Sports, those looking to take advantage of the Wii's new found Motion Plus peripheral will find safety in Wii Sports Resort too, I'm willing to bet.
[Source: Famitsu]
