Nintendo shows Sony Wii are the champions

From: London Free Press
Wii love it!
Wii, Nintendo's latest video game console, is a runaway hit and is far outselling its more expensive competitor, Sony's PlayStation 3.
Both were released to long lineups and much hoopla in November, but only the Wii is still hard to find in London-area stores. Even in Japan, Wii sales are double that of Play- Station 3.
Sony sat solidly on top of the previous generation of game consoles, garnering 70 per cent of the global market by selling 35 million PlayStation 2 consoles. Nintendo was a distant third, behind Sony and Microsoft's 15-million seller Xbox, selling just 11 million GameCubes.
Both Sony and Nintendo say they will sell six million new-generation consoles worldwide by the end of March.
Allan John, manager of EB Games in White Oaks Mall, said his store has been getting as many as 200 calls a day for the Wii, which sells for about $279. The weekly shipment of about 10 to 15 consoles are usually gone in five minutes.
In contrast, the PlayStation 3 is usually in stock.
John said there's no mystery to Wii's wild popularity
"It's the most interactive, fun thing I've bought in the last 10 years. No matter who you are, chances are you're going to like playing it," he said.
The Wii's big innovation is a wand-like controller (Wii-mote) that detects and mimics the hand and body motions of the player, translating them to TV-screen action.
Buyers of the Wii console get a free game called Wii Sports. It gets couch potatoes up and thrashing around in simulated games of golf, tennis, baseball, boxing and bowling.
Parents who have never played video games tell him they've spent hours playing Wii games with children.
"That's something unheard of in the gaming industry. The whole point of this system was to bring in people who don't play video games," said John.
Carol Bennett, of Head 2 Head Games on Dundas Street, said customers sometimes wait an hour on weekends to play on her Wii station consoles.
Head 2 Head has had to clear a bigger space for the Wii players, she said.
"We don't keep them side by side or they (the players) would hit someone. They get right into it."
There have been reports that enthusiastic Wii players have broken the wrist straps attached to the controllers and sent them flying into TVs or other players' faces.
But Bennett is skeptical, saying Head 2 Head has had no such incidents.
There have been more games released for the Wii than the PlayStation 3 and they are easier to play and less violent, appealing to a wider audience, said Bennett.
Playstation 3 has far superior graphics for serious gamers and can play Blu-ray discs, she added.
"But graphics isn't everything. I think that's what Sony is learning," said Bennett.

SanDisk V-Mate gets a wii firmware upgrade

SanDisk’s V-mate was actually first announced back at IFA last year and it’s European launch was really a bit of an understated affair. However, although SanDisk is strongly rumoured to be putting some really exciting kit on display at its proper booth, the V-mate was really all it had on show at today’s unveiled session. Normally this wouldn’t really have merited a mention, but as I was chatting to the rep I noticed an interesting new feature in the menu – Wii compatibility.

When you chose the recording format, it looks like we’ll soon be able to record video straight to a memory card and then play it back using the Wii’s memory card reader. Current V-Mate owners are also in luck to because adding this functionality only requires a firmware upgrade, not a whole new unit.

For those who haven’t seen the V-mate before, it is basically a video recorder that connects up to any A/V device with a composite output and records straight to memory cards (SD, MMC, MMCplus MMCmobile, SDHC, MiniSDHC, MicroSDHC, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick PRO Duo). Because of its wide range of format support and recording styles, it works with a very large number of portable devices such as the Nokia handset and teh SanDisk sansa player in the picture, and apparently the Nintendo Wii also soon be able to join in, which is pretty good.

Came straight to this page? Visit www.TechDigest.tv for all the latest news.

New Nintendo Wii & DS Titles On The Horizon

Wii and DS both have a wonderful library of games as it is, but the big question is: What’s coming during this first quarter of 2007 for Europe? Thankfully, Nintendo Wii and DS owners will have to wait no longer to find out, since the company has released a list of what’s to come.

Here’s the schedule straight from Nintendo Europe:

January

WarioWare: Smooth Moves - What’s wacky and will have you twisting, turning, waving and even hula-hooping with your Wii Remote? Wario’s back with more than 200 crazy microgames made specifically for Wii, for up to 12 players to enjoy.

Children of Mana - Role-playing game masters Square-Enix return to their roots in the latest instalment of the classic Mana series of action-RPGs. Go it alone or join with up to three friends wirelessly.

Star Fox Command - The Star Fox series blasts onto Nintendo DS! Part action shooter, part turn-based strategy game, Star Fox Command puts an armada of ships under your touch screen control.

Actionloop - Puzzle games don’t come any faster and more furious than this! Use the stylus to flick the magnetic marbles into like-coloured groups, testing your brainpower and reactions in equal measure.

February

Magical Starsign - An out-of-this world, astrological adventure! Journey across the galaxy to find missing members of a magic academy and their teacher, using spells that grow more powerful when stars are in alignment.

Excite Truck - Grip the Wii Remote like a steering wheel and boost, swerve and jump your way across wild terrain that morphs beneath your wheels. As the name implies, Excite Truck is a wild ride.

Kororinpa - In this action/puzzle game, you’ll need a steady hand and a cool head to roll the ball through the 3D maze to the goal by tilting the Wii Remote.

Wing Island- Take to the skies and engage in a range of diverse missions, from fire-fighting to wildlife photography, controlling your plane’s flight with simple movements of the Wii Remote.

The following games are currently planned for release by the end of March 2007:

Trauma Center: Second Opinion - The hit Nintendo DS surgical simulator makes its Wii debut, with hands-on controls using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

Sonic and the Secret Rings - Made exclusively for Wii, Sonic’s new outing is a super-fast action game that unleashes the power of the Wii Remote.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Play as two characters at once, skilled in combat and magic, in this brand new action-adventure for DS.

Mario Slam Basketball - With gorgeous graphics and intense, comical action, Mario’s hoop-shooting debut is set to be a Spring scorcher.

Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis - Guide a team of Mini Mario toys through obstacle filled levels or even make your own levels and upload them to the world with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Also coming in 2007…

There’s lots more to look forward to this year including the Wii debuts of Mario and Metroid in Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, plus the eagerly awaited Super Smash Bros. Brawl featuring new fighters like Wario and Solid Snake. Also watch out for the arrival of Big Brain Academy for Wii, Battalion Wars II and Mario Strikers Charged bringing strategy and soccer action to Wii, and seafaring adventure The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass coming to Nintendo DS.


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