The Wii's front flap exposed

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Click on the pic for a very clear and blown up view of the dark slot. Is that really all it is? Reggie made a comment to support that we would be able to put different kinds of storage to use with that slot, so we will find out just how many and what they are soon.

R.I.P to the built in camera, we can move past all wondering about that.

Rockstar and Take Two have games for Wii?

NGCFrance is reporting that Take-Two has cemented their support for the Wii, with president Paul Eibeler giving the final word. Speculation on titles such as their sports lineup of games (Top Spin, NHL2K, NBA2K ect.) is now taking foot, and most of these titles have a fair chance of heading to the Wii. While we have already heard that Take-Two was interested in the Wii after E3, it is still good to hear a confirmation coming from their president.

The other half of the rumor states that Rockstar Games is bringing Table Tennis to the Wii. This title is already out for the 360, which is selling rather well. The table tennis gameplay lends itself perfectly to the Wiimote. While nothing is definite, the team at Rockstar is very excited with the possiblity of this project.

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Tennis is a no-brainer for Wii. What about Grand Theft Auto though? If the Wii does extremely well I don't see how Rockstar couldn't bring GTA to it in some form. I've never been a big fan of the GTA games, but the game just sells. The future is looking better and better for Nintendo.

Six (so far) confirmed Wii launch titles

According to numerous reports, Nintendo Power has confirmed six Wii launch titles:

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Square Enix)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo)

Rayman Raving Rabbits (Ubisoft)

Red Steel (Ubisoft)

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Sega)

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Ah only six? Not to worry because these titles are most likely the ones that are confirmed without a doubt that they are going to be there on launch day. There are many others that will be at launch, we are just waiting for developers to give the ok for them.

The Wii's hidden graphic power

Nintendo has been mum, more or less, as to the exact power and capabilities of their next console, Wii; however, slowly but surely, little hints are starting to drop in. The latest comes from Gamasutra, who report that electronics firm MoSys "will be using the company's patented 1T-SRAM technology to implement the high performance memory within the Wii's graphics system."

Worth noting: "The newest 1T-SRAM implementations embedded within the Wii console are fabricated using NEC Electronics' advanced 90nm CMOS-compatible embedded DRAM process technology. These high speed and ultra low latency memories are used as the main embedded memory on the graphics chip and in an additional external memory chip."

An official from MoSys goes on to say: "Designing the Wii console required an incredible list of breakthroughs in technology and innovation. ... The graphic performance of Wii benefits from MoSys' ability to develop highly innovative and dependable embedded memory products." Self promotion aside, it appears that Nintendo just may have a final ace up their sleeve as we come closer to seeing the final version of Wii.

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This is more confirmation that Nintendo knows how to make a powerful yet affordable console. As powerful as the other guys? No, but Nintendo looked for a way to get past the high specs while still being able to make great graphics that are comparable to the high end machines. Smart compact console design.

*Rumor* More Ubisoft games for Wii?

According to a list recently forwarded to North American retailers, Ubisoft has revealed a stunning 5 more games for Nintendo's Wii. The list is as follows:

• Blazing Angels (previously released on Xbox and Xbox 360)

• GT (racing game from the Asphalt: Urban GT series)

• Monster Trucks (brand new racing game)

• Prince of Persia

• Far Cry

As it appears, Ubisoft is a huge supporter of the Nintendo Wii and had previously only announced one game - the totally Wii-designed and exclusive, Red Steel.Apparently these games are all listed as 'launch window' releases, which means they will likely appear within the first few months of the Wii's release. As soon as we can grab a hold of more details, we'll keep you updated.

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Far Cry would be awesome and Blazing Saddles...er Angels would be cool too. Also if its true that developers are leaving PS3 development for Wii development, we may be hearing more and more announcements from other companies soon. Keep your Wii's crossed.

Wii60 the system of choice?

It seems the trend is that most people are going to get a Wii after they get an Xbo360, or vice-versa. This trend is becoming more and more accepted because the price of the PS3 is going to be about 3 times the price of a Wii, and the likely hood of people getting a PS3 and Xbox360 together are looking slim.

Peter Moore from Microsoft seems to see the relevance in this too.

Check out this new interview with him: here

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Nintendo announces new Pokemon game for Wii & launch details

Nintendo held a press conference today where they released some information about their company operations, the Wii, and DS as well. A few key points Mr. Iwata made were…

The Wii’s official price and launch date will be announced by September

Nintendo plans to supply 2 million DS units per month worldwide

Nintendo expects to sell through 16 million DS units by the end of the fiscal year, March 2007

“Although I will not call a certain sales goal for the Wii console, I can promise that we will reach sales clearly over those of the Gamecube.” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata (loose translation)

Mr. Iwata also stated that even if the Wii meets Nintendo’s sales projections, it will have little impact on Nintendo’s profit…as far as short term is concerned.

Pokemon will have wi-fi worldwide voicechat.
Shipping 4 million by the end of the calendar year (worldwide)

Pokemon Battle Revolution will be out a few months after Pearl/Diamond and will link with the DS game.

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As long as we can reserve the Wii before September, it should be ok for everyone. The price of this system should not be a huge concern because it will be cost effective for all.

ATI: Wii Graphics at E3 "Tip of the Iceberg"

While Microsoft and Sony are busy pushing polygons and stressing high-definition content, Nintendo has let graphics take a "backseat," if you will, to the unique functionality of the Wii-mote. Many people who viewed and played Wii games at E3 this year would tell you that the visuals looked roughly on par with what users already see on their GameCubes.

But that doesn't mean that Wii games will simply look like GameCube titles using a unique control method. Nintendo already told us that the hardware being used at E3 was not finalized. Moreover, during the show GameDaily BIZ met with ATI, which is providing the "Hollywood" GPU for the Wii, and John Swinimer, Senior Public Relations Manager of Consumer Products, emphasized that the Wii architecture is capable of producing far better results than what we've witnessed thus far. "I think what you saw [on Wii] was just the tip of the iceberg of what the Hollywood chip can bring to the Nintendo Wii," he said.

We tried to pry some design specs out of ATI, but Swinimer would only offer the following: "I'm really not here to talk about the design specs... other than the fact that ATI worked closely with Nintendo. The team that worked on this chip also worked on the Flipper chip that was in GameCube, and they've been working with Nintendo for a very long time so there's a great chemistry with the two teams working together."

He continued, "I really don't think that it's about the [specs]; I think it's about the innovation that it brings to the table—the motion-sensing, the always-on capability, which is really cool too—the fact that the chip is powerful enough and responsive enough to be there at a moment's notice, and I think that's pretty cool for the average gamer.

"Industry sources have said that the Wii GPU would be moderately more powerful than the GameCube's GPU, but how much more we don't know. Conservative estimates from developers have placed the Wii console as a whole at 2 - 2.5 times more powerful than the GameCube.

ATI is also responsible for providing the custom GPU for Microsoft's Xbox 360, so we tried to find out how the "Hollywood" chip compares to what's in the 360. Once again, however, Swinimer sidestepped the question. "They're different chips for different platforms and different uses. I don't think it's a fair comparison to put them on a chart [to analyze]. That's not what it's all about... I think if you focus on the capabilities that the chip will have for the average consumer, with the amazement and wow factor, I think that's the value that we bring."

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So the "just a little better than Xbox" graphics were only the tip of the iceberg of the Wii's graphic capability? You heard it from ATI themselves, now you must believe.

New Sonic Wild Fire demo screens

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