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A man on the inside has told Eurogamer that Okami Wii will be out here in summer. He sleeps in the walls.

That sounds a bit uncomfortable! Surely the dude can afford an apartment?

His words scupper suggestions from retailers that it will be out the same week as the US version that arrives on 25th March.

This is great news for me because it’s one of the games I really wanted to see released for the Wii. The other one being guitar hero. Now that they are both going to be available on the Wii I can scrap my plans to buy a PS2.

But Capcom Europe has remained reluctant to comment, leaving us with an initial and probably US forecast of spring to go by.

Hold on a second. I thought the guy who lives in the walls said it was going to be out in the summer. So is its springtime or the summer? I’m pretty sure that in March the UK summer is a long way away!

Okami is an action-adventure that Kristan bangs on and on about, claiming it was his joint favourite game of 2007. Which is probably why he gave it 10/10.

Well I think he’s right to bang on about it. It’s definitely one of my favorite games of 2007 and I think it well deserves his 10 out of 10 rating. We in the office are really looking forward to the Wii version and we hope it has proper widescreen support.

The translation to Wii is being handled by Ready at Dawn of Daxter and God of War PSP fame. Its paintbrush flourishes should fit the controls immaculately.

As far as we know Capcom are pretty much only trying to port the game in the exact same format with a slightly new control scheme. It would be great if they could include some visual updates and some extra content. We’ll just have to wait and see. That’s not to say that the game is lacking content but it would be nice to see the extra power available in the Wii used effectively.

This little number is definitely on our wish list and we’re getting quite excited about this release. We can’t wait to play the game and are confident that Okami will get the critical acclaim it deserves this time around.

Source: eurogamer

In case it wasn’t already obvious, more figures have been released that show that the Nintendo Wii is selling quite well.

Having owned a Nintendo Wii for some time now and since I read Gamespot’s excellent review of No More Heroes I think we can honestly say that Nintendo are making a massive comeback in the home gaming console market. Sony and Microsoft should be worried; Nintendo has made a clear battle cry.

According to an article in Famitsu magazine that quotes data from Enterbrain, the Wii has now sold over five million units in Japan alone.

5 million units is quite an impressive number but ultimately the success of the Wii will obviously be down to how many third party game providers actually produce some quality titles for this unit.

The report also lists the five top-selling Nintendo Wii games in Japan. At number one is Wii Sports, which has so far sold 2,663,938 units; followed by Wii Play with 2,139,084; Mario Party 8 with 1,153,648; Wii Fit with 1,113,626; and last but not least Super Mario Galaxy with 843,961. In Japan, Wii Play comes bundled with an extra controller, as it does in the UK and America, but Wii Sports doesn’t come with the console and has to be purchased separately.

That’s a whole lot of games and those numbers should be enough to convince third party providers that coding games for the Nintendo Wii is a worthwhile pursuit. Many people have been claiming that the Nintendo Wii will sink to obscurity relatively quickly because of the lack of quality games. These people have been proven wrong and these are the same people who slated the Nintendo DS. Wrong on both counts folks; the Nintendo Wii goes from strength to strength it seems. The situation where we have a lack of games for this quality system is possibly because many people didn’t anticipate such a runaway success for this console.

Nintendo’s third-quarter financial results are due to be released tomorrow, and one analyst has stated that he thinks the company is likely to beat its “conservative” estimates of a $14.5 billion guidance, and that it will be announced that some seven million Wiis will have been sold globally.

These fantastic figures make the people who are still bashing the Nintendo Wii sound pretty stupid. It is now the worldwide leader in home console sales and this is a fact which you simply cannot argue with. Nintendo have proven that they can take the home gaming scene to a much wider audience and they have proven this in spectacular fashion. We are definitely rushing out and buying a copy of no more heroes as soon as we can and in the meantime there are a few of us still playing the Dance Dance Revolution Wii!

Source: gamespot

Looking for a Wii console for sale?

When Wal-Mart accidentally posted the pre-order price of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl at US 19.8, fans jumped on the “deal” with glee. Shortly after, Wal-Mart noticed it and cancelled all the pre-orders which tried to take advantage of the mistake.

The operative word being ‘mistake’. People make mistakes, it happens all the time. We were aware of this amazing price offer from Wal-Mart for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the fibre optics were buzzing all around our office with our users going crazy for this deal. We were caught up in it too and recommended the offer to plenty of gamers who duly pre-ordered.

Apparently, those who tried to pre-order the wrong-priced game got a generic email from Wal-Mart informing them that the retailer acknowledges the cancellation of the transaction on the part of the consumers. Upset, some trooped to the Internet to flame Uncle Wally.

Some of the comments we saw about this state of affairs were downright stupid with people saying Wal-Mart should be taken to court over this … oh please! It was a mistake. A store is well within its rights to amend mistakes which is exactly what Wal-Mart did. I’m not a big fan of the multi national retailer but some people go a little overboard when companies like this make a little error like this. I say we behead the CEO

Wal-Mart is now acknowledging their mistake and is offering a nice apology in the form of a US 10 electronic gift card. Those who had their pre-orders cancelled can use it to shave off 10 bucks when they order Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii at its real price.

Acknowledging that they made a mistake is more than some stores would even bother to do. Oftentimes, in a similar situation, many stores would simply cancel the pre-orders without any notice or explanation. Wal-Mart have actually gone above and beyond the call of duty to inform their customers who pre-ordered and not happy to leave it at that have offered nearly a third of the pricing error off a purchase. Grab it with both hands we say.

Source: qj

Chris Whitaker told this story about his mother-in-law and her purchase of several Wii’s for her grandchildren:

It was a stormy night in April, a tornado touched down in our neighborhood, two miles from Walmart. Dorothy (Chris’ mother-in-law), knowing the local Walmart was expecting some Wii’s on this date, called to see if they had arrived.

Note that the words, “a tornado touched down” was mentioned here. These are big, powerful things of nature. They kill people and destroy homes – literally!

The sales associate said they had and she could get them tomorrow. Dorothy stated she would come now. The sales associate said, “Maam we are having a tornado”. Dorothy said, “I know but I’ll be there anyway”.

There’s that tornado mentioned again. OK, find a place that actually has a Wii console for sale and getting the Wii’s for your grandchildren is important, and I certainly can’t fault her on that point, but – I mean, have you seen those tornados? Well, think back to the last time you watched “The Wizard Of Oz.” Yep, it was Kansas, but it was a big old tornado that started the story off. Anyway, here’s how Chris’ story ended…

She drove to Walmart during the tornado just to purchase your product. The tornado did over 1 million dollars damage across the street from Walmart, but no damage to my 71 year old mother in law as she walked out of the Walmart carrying her three Wii purchases (1 for herself).

Well, of course she had one for herself. If the Queen of England can play the Wii (she does!), and she’s 81, then a mere 71 year old can have no problem – regardless of tornadoes!

The news over at www.themanroom.com tells us that Nintendo Wii consoles have sold well. Wii all knew that already, of course, but it’s good to see it in print, isn’t it?

For the second year in a row, Nintendo Wii video game consoles have flown out of stores before they even reached a shelf. Online retailer Amazon.com sold an average of 17 Wiis per second in 2007. There is apparently no slowing down the cost-friendly giant, even as competitors scramble to develop their own answer to the Wii Remote and Nunchuck.

How do you sell 17 Wii consoles per second? I mean, that’s whizzing through them a bit! You’d be hard pushed to sell two discount wii systems a second if it were me, let alone normal priced ones, and 17 per second at that. OK, I guess it wasn’t always the same sales assistant. And if it was, then he or she certainly didn’t get too many bathroom breaks…

Now that Nintendo is predicting 14 million Wii consoles sold through March 2008, the bigger question becomes “what games do I plan on it?” Besides the obvious hot hits, there are approximately 65 new games in the pipeline for the first half of this year, and Nintendo has been kind enough to let everyone know what they are.

Well, March is but a matter of weeks away. So, who is going to buy the 14 million consoles? I’d have thought everyone who wants a Wii already has one. But apparently not. And 65 new games – more than one a week. Now, that’s the kind of game support I like to see!

The list reveals some previously postponed games have been given a new time line for release. Wii Fit, originally slated for this month, has now been lumped into Q2 2008. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, is on tap for this summer. And Mario Kart is on tap for this spring.

Nintendo have had their problems, mainly in getting their finger out and waggling. But it seems that they are finally getting it together. It will soon be spring. Mario Kart? Yes! For me at least…