Despite recent rumors, Nintendo has stated that there is no hard drive peripheral in the works for the Nintendo Wii.

Nintendo did confirm that there is a headset being planned for the Nintendo DS, to be released in conjunction with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

A GameSpy representative has confirmed that while the GameSpy technologies that will be used for online Wii games have the ability to span across multiple games, Nintendo has chosen to make it game specific.

Friends lists also, will be game specific much like the Nintendo DS, which has received criticism for not having a unified friends list like the PS3 and XBox 360.

Source: Spong

During a speech at GDC this past week, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto announced that they are working on a new Nintendo Wii Channel that would allow gamers to show off their Miis, and even vote on them in popularity contests.

It isn't known yet when this new channel will be available or what other features might be included.

Source: CNN

Nintendo today, surprisingly added a new channel to the Wii, an "Everybody Votes Channel". You will need to do a quick system update to be able to use the channel which is available for free from the Wii Shop. An unexpected message pops up on your Wii message board informing you:

Welcome to the Everybody Votes Channel. Here, you can provide your responses to popular questions and let your opinion be heard around your area, and even around the world!

The channel gives you questions with two possible answers to choose from, currently there are 4 questions available including "Which is a more romantic Valentine's Gift?"

Source: The Game Feed

Apparently Nintendo has more than just gaming up its sleeve, with the Nintendo Wii already branching away from the traditional 'games only' mantra of Nintendo. Zipping through the internet this week is a look at a patent filed by Nintendo in 2001 for a mobile phone that also plays video games. This of course comes on the heels of Apple announcing their iPhone earlier this year which brings up even more comparisons between the two companies.

The Nintendo phone is not expected to be released any time soon, if at all, but it is interesting nontheless.

Source: Engadget Mobile

The Wii News Channel which was scheduled for a Jan. 27 release is now available after performing a Wii system update.

The news content is provided by the Associated Press who has a 2 year agreement with Nintendo to provide news. The Channel is similar to the Weather Channel on the Wii, which includes a globe allowing users to views news from around the world.

Six Flags and Nintendo of America today announced a sponsorship and marketing agreement under which the Wii video game system will be the Official Gaming Console of Six Flags parks and Six Flags will offer complimentary game-playing at Wii Gaming Stations throughout select Six Flags-branded theme parks. In addition, the companies will collaborate on marketing initiatives, including a national sweepstakes promotion for Six Flags on Nintendo.com.

"This agreement with Nintendo enables us to partner with a company, and a product, that has major relevance in the lives of today's families. When this audience is not in our parks, more often than not they are at home playing video games -- and now they can do both in one place as we continue to build Six Flags into a supermarket of entertainment," said Mark Shapiro, Six Flags President and CEO.

As rumored this past weekend, Nintendo has released the much anticipated SNES game Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past to it's Wii Virtual Console lineup.

Today Nintendo adds one of the most popular games in its library of classics to the Wii video game system's Wii Shop Channel. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past goes live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): Return to an age of magic and heroes. When an evil magician named Agahnim begins kidnapping young maidens in Hyrule in a quest to break the imprisoning seal on Ganon, a young boy named Link is called upon to stop him. Link must venture into twisting mazes, dungeons, palaces and shadowy forests as he searches for the maidens and Princess Zelda. Traversing both Light and Dark Worlds, he must navigate eight dark dungeons, fighting evil enemies and huge bosses. Help our hero prevent Ganon and Agahnim from shattering Hyrule forever.

Following their sold out debut, gamers are now voicing their opinions on the Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3. Because of low supply on the part of the PS3, a lot of gamers are picking up a Wii and giving it rave reviews.

American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy states that Nintendo's launch "has been probably a little better than expected and Sony's has been a little bit more disappointing. If you have to rank on who won this holiday so far, Microsoft is first, Nintendo a close second and Sony a distant third, which is a rare statement."

According to New Media Strategies, web activity for both systems have shown that 49% of online discussions were favorable to the Wii, in comparison to 27% for the PS3.

Source: Yahoo News

Sonic Solutions, a digital media software company, has announced that it will use its CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator for DVD playback in a future version of the Nintendo Wii that is expected to be released in 2007.

The Nintendo Wii will be on sale in the US on November 19th but will not include DVD playback, a move Nintendo made to cut production costs and keep the Wii at a lucrative $249 price.

Toys "R" Us will be giving away 25,000 Nintendo Wii consoles in a promotion being held with NBC's Deal or No Deal. The promotion runs until October 28th and you can pick up a game piece in the weekly Toys "R" Us circular.

Bring in the game piece and choose "Deal" and get 10% off one item in the store, or choose "No Deal" and get a chance to win $1,000,000, a trip to LA, a Nintendo Wii, a Nintendo DS or other prizes.

Toys "R" Us Rules and Information

GameStop announced that they will start pre-orders for the Nintendo Wii on October 13th. Supplies are expected to go fast at GameStop and EB Games stores around the U.S, with a $50 deposit customers can save their place in line for a Wii this holiday season.

"Due to extremely limited supply, we expect to reach our limit very quickly, most likely in minutes. We will not accept additional pre-orders at that time," the company said in an e-mail.

Nintendo expects to ship 4 million Wii units by the end of the year.

Source: Washington Post

According to a new report from financial company UBS, Nintendo has already manufactured about 2 million Wii units and is on track to have 7 to 9 million ready for the end of the year.

Nintendo has previously stated they would have 6 million Wii units worldwide by the end of the year. While rival Sony has announced they will only have 400,000 PlayStation 3 units for North America.

Source: ars technica

According to GameStop, they will be the only retailer at the launch of the Nintendo Wii to have playable demo units in their stores. "Getting that controller into someone's hands is very important," stated GameStop's president Steve Morgan.

It isn't clear when other retailers will have demo units of the Wii for gamers to try out. GameStop has also said they are still cautious to start accepting preorders for the Wii because of problems with the XBox 360 where they did not have enough units to meet the demand.

Source: Dallas Morning News

The Opera browser for the Nintendo Wii will be available free of charge to all Wii owners until June 2007, the company has stated. After that time users can purchase the Opera browser for an unannounced price.

The Wii version of Opera will feature all the same standards as the current Opera 9 desktop client including "Zoom" and "Bookmark" functionality. It will also support Flash and AJAX-based web applications for a rich browsing experience on the Wii.

Nintendo fans might want to find a new place to try out the Wii this holiday season, rumor has it that Wal-Mart will not be putting up any Nintendo Wii demo units. The retail giant is concerned with safety from players swinging the Wiimote around while playing games.

While Wal-Mart apparently won't have any Wii units for demonstration, they will have the Wii for sale, so you can still pick one up on launch day.

Source: Engadget

There has been a lot of impatient people waiting for retailers to offer preorders on the Nintendo Wii. Amazon.com had to stop their preorders within the first few hours because of the high demand. Console launches during the holiday season are usually hectic with units in short supply.

Nintendo may be changing that however as it plans to have 1 million units ready to go for the North American launch of the Wii console. Rob Betram, Nintendo of Canada's Vice President explained:

"We're looking at a million (units) for North America at launch," said Bertram. "When Sony came out (with their PS3 announcement), they said 300,000.

"If we get what we're supposed to get, this will be our most plentiful launch in the 15 years I've been at Nintendo. All signs are actually extremely positive."

Betram added however that Nintendo was not concerned about going after Sony. With previous statements that Nintendo will make a profit on every system sold, a big marketing campaign planned, and plenty of supply to feed the demand, this could be a very good year for Nintendo.

Source: arstechnica

In an interview with CNET, Microsoft Vice President Peter Moore was asked his opinion on the competition from Nintendo Wii. Moore doesn't believe that the Nintendo Wii will outpace the Xbox 360, but does state that it will be more popular than the Playstation 3 based on price, he stated:

In a lot of instances, it will be a No. 2 box because it's priced accordingly. The fear I would have is that people will buy the box and only play a few games. I think you'll pull it out at parties. It's fun for a few minutes, but I'm not sure (how long that will last).

Source: CNET

According to a recent interview with Nintendo of America's President Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo is in talks with Take Two about supporting the Wii. Take Two, who is famous for their Rockstar branded Grand Theft Auto series, has not released a GTA game on any Nintendo home console in the past. However Nintendo seems determined to change their past image and take on more M-rate content. Fils-Aime stated:

"We're reaching out to every publisher, frankly every day. I'll be spending some time later today with the folks over at Take Two to see what type of support they can give our console. ... The fact is there will be M-rated content on the Wii console. EA has already announced that they're bringing 'The Godfather' to our console. And we want every single best-selling game to be available on Wii. Whatever that content is."

Source: MTV.com

Thanks to Japan's Famitsu magazine, some more information on the upcoming Resident Evil game on the Wii has been revealed.

With the title Biohazard: Umbrella Chronicles, it will be an action game and use the Wii remote to manipulate weapons. The project is headed by Kawada Masachika, the man behind the PS2 port of Resident Evil 4.

No other information regarding characters or story is known but with the Tokyo Game Show right around the corner, expect more information in the coming weeks.

Source: Nintendojo