Wii Demos Kiosks have been shipped!

In the most recent edition of Nintendo Power (issue 210), Nintendo revealed that the much-anticipated Wii Demo Kiosks would can appear in your local store anywhere between November 15, 2006 and January 13, 2007. (Those of you who get in January, have my pity, and those who get it in November will feel my jealousy...)

And, as a side-note, they also revealed in the same issue that the Wii will come with a wrist-strap so you won't accidently drop your Wii-mote during gameplay.

Wii 2 Coming in 2007!

Though, the title states that a Wii 2 is coming in 2007, there is also a bit of news about the current Wii in this post as well...

1st off, Nintendo revealed what their Wii Point Cards will look like, check it:



CNN announced that it will be providing the news feed for the Nintendo Wii's News Channel, as their slogan states they are, "The Most Trusted Name in News"(personally I prefer the Today Show on NBC).

It has also been revealed that Nintendo wanted to sell its console at $199, but due to the competition, they felt forced to raise it, so we can expect a price drop pretty early on (my guess is around May 2007).

Nintendo of Japan is expected to be releasing a Wii 2 next year, which is capable of DVD-Playback, generally because of "peer pressure" (wow, Nintendo gives into peer pressure...), but no other features on the upgraded Wii have yet to have been released, but personally if you have to wait another year just to get DVD-Playback, then it ain't worth it.
Nintendo of America quickly commented after this announcement stating the following:

"In Europe (and the Americas), we have no plans for a DVD option either
internally or as an accessory at this time. DVD players are now sold so cheaply
and the penetration rate is so high that we did not think it was worth including
[DVD playback] and raising the price of Wii."

Sony wins lawsuit against Lik-Sang.com

Well, it's a tradgedy, but now, we may not be able to import our video games anymore from the land of the rising sun. The cause? Who else do you think is the cause!? The #1 video game import site on the web is closing down due to the several lawsuits filed by Sony, for selling PSPs on their website, and all that yada-yada-yada. But hey, since Lik-Sang.com will soon be non-existant, I would say that it's pretty safe for me to copy and paste the press release from their site... since it won't be there soon. But just remember.... Sony did this, so that you Americans couldn't escape the PS3 US price tag! (Or at least that's my theory...) Anyhow, here's the press report straight from Lik-Sang:

Important Notice: Lik-Sang.com Out of Business due to Multiple Sony Lawsuits
Tue Oct 24 2006 21:58:51 Hong Kong Time - Corporate Info

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - OUT OF BUSINESS NOTICE

Hong Kong, October 24th of 2006 - Lik-Sang.com, the popular gaming retailer from Hong Kong, has today announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed its trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers, and have recently obtained a judgment in the High Court of London (England) rendering Lik-Sang's sales of PSP consoles unlawful.

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.

A Sony spokesperson declined to comment directly on the lawsuit against Lik-Sang, but recently went on to tell Gamesindustry.biz that "ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera; is not - in PS3's case - backwards compatible with either PS1 or PS2 software; will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVDs; and will not be covered by warranty".

Lik Sang strongly disagrees with Sony's opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped from Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compatible world wide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations.

Furthermore, Sony have failed to disclose to the London High Court that not only the world wide gaming community in more than 100 countries relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs, but also Sony Europe's very own top directors repeatedly got their Sony PSP hard or software imports in nicely packed Lik-Sang parcels with free Lik-Sang Mugs or Lik-Sang Badge Holders, starting just two days after Japan's official release, as early as 14th of December 2004 (more than nine months earlier than the legal action). The list of PSP related Sony Europe orders reads like the who's who of the videogames industry, and includes Ray Maguire (Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Alan Duncan (UK Marketing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Chris Sorrell (Creative Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Rob Parkin (Development Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited), just to name a few.

"Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe’s ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don’t see fit. It’s the beginning of the end... of the World as we know it", stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as the Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com.

"Blame it on Sony! That's the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally 'won', few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today."

Wii Component Cables

Well, we know that Nintendo's Wii will not feature true 1080p high definition games as the Xbox 360, but we do know it will support 480p and 16:9 widescreen. Honestly, graphics don't matter much at all in the end the make the game, but if you have the option to have the graphics, why not get them. Keep in mind, that the system has the potential to support true high-definition, but from the way it's layed out right now, it's pretty unlikely to happen (if we can hack a way to do it, I'll let you know as soon as it happens!).

But anyhow, to get the 480p and the 16:9 widescreen graphic options, you will need your handy-dandy compnent cables. So, if you already got your component cables for Gamecube... it sucks to to be you because these cables were designed specifically for the Wii.

Once again, you can only by these special cables from online retailers, like Target.com and so forth, but your best bet is http://store.nintendo.com Lukily for you guys, these cables will be availible at launch for $30. But guys, if you do not currently own or plan to purchase a high-definition television set, than don't buy these cables because they will not work for you.

Keep in mind that in my review of the Wii games, I will be using these component cables. So, if I start raving about the graphics and you don't have the cables then what you see in that game, is the best you'll ever see without them. Just keep that in mind...

One more thing to keep in mind is that 95% of Wii games will be progrssive scan compatible, thus their graphics will be improved by using the cables. 30 of the launch titles will be compatible with progrssive scan, as of now.

Sony's Gamers Day 2006

Sony held their Gamers Day Event the other day, which is generally just their own little press event.... At the time of the event, it was exactly 29 days until the PS3 launch. Here are some of the highlights from the event:

• 6 Million PS3s expected to be shipped by March 2007 (most likely to compete with the abundance of Wiis)
• This year's shippments of PSPs dropped 3 million units, but don't worry, if you don't have a PSP, there's still plenty around, I mean 9 million is still a lot....
• 21 PS3 titles at launch
• Because you guys won't stop wining about the price, they included more goodies with the PS3 (see below post)
• Transfer files between PSP and PS3 wirelessly
• PSone game can be bought in the PlayStation Store and can be transferred wirelessly to your PSP for play
• External USB keyboard can be used to navigate through the PS3 interface
• PS3 can rip CDs, and send them to your PSP
• After desperately trying to avoid the question of the EyeToy, Sony's responses indicate their may not be an EyeToy on the PS3!

So, there you go guys! AT LONG LAST, there's something good to say about Sony (although 3 negatives were in the list). To me, it looks like their using PS3 as a selling point for their PSP, and then they lower their shippments during all these announcements!! Sorry to say it, but Sony needs some more common sense...

(The post below contains the information about what comes with the PS3)

Inside the PS3....

Well, at last we know everything that's in the box of the $600 PS3! So, now you guys know what will and what won't be in the box, so you don't have to pay $600 and be surprised.

• AC Cable (The Power Cord)
• 1 Controller (20 meter wireless range, 30 hours of battery life)
• USB mini-cable (for wired accessories)
• Ethernet Cable (for wired online play)
• Multi-AV Cable with composite with composite connectors
• A handle to hold the enormous box!

This... is the expensive 60GB HDD PS3. But just so they can get more people to come out and pick one up at launch they also offered a few extra little things that only last a limited time. Unlike the Wii's Free Opera Browser promotion, that has a free browser between launch and June 2007, the PS3's browser is already pre-installed (but you know the few is hidden in the $600 price tag somewhere). Anyway, here's what comes with your PS3, for a limited time....

A Blu-Ray disc of the movie: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

That is all....

Keep in mind, that is only going to the 1st 500,000 PS3s that are shipped.

As for the price of controllers and all that fun stuff, here you go (brace yourself...):

Memory Card: $15

Blu-Ray Remote: $25

Controller: $50

Games: $60

Only having enough money for Wii: Priceless

Sorry, guys I just had to through that in there! :D

And one more thing, the Blu-Ray Remote won't be availible until sometime in December.

LiveMove assists in Wii Development

Alright. The very first Wii games that were put into development used coding to simulate movements in games, which took much longer than it really should, and with no guarenteed chance of success. Though, very few issues have been seen with the Wiimote, we all know that there have been some, especially in that Wii Sports Tennis demo we've seen at both GC and E3 2006. Well, now there's a a solution! Nintendo had partnered up with Ailive to bring you... LiveMove!

What is LiveMove you ask? It is a program that does the coding for the motion controls for you! Rather than going for months coding a single move, developers just open up LiveMove, pick up the WiiMote, move it how they want, and they're done! It breaks down your motion perefectly into Wii Coding, and let's you get truely advanced into the form of each move. So, developers will have more time to put in some extra stuff into our Wii Games!

If you wanna know more about LiveMove, you can check out the official page at:

http://ailive.net/liveMove.html

Or see a detailed PDF at:

http://ailive.net/papers/wp.pdf

Or if you don't want to leave this page altogether, I embed their video for you right here:

Mii Flash Creator

Don't want your first Mii to misconfigured? Don't worry, GamersCast got your back! You can spend all the time you want practicing your Mii creating skills, on the Mii Flash Creator (made by Joystiq.com).


Click Here for a larger version

Want to show off the Mii(s) you made? Then, click here!

Mii Parade

Alright, I'm guilty, I did say the conference in New York would be about the last we would hear from Nintendo on the Wii reguarding any new features, but now we can all tell I was wrong. Nintendo has now just announced Mii Parade, which is once again yet another feature which is based upon Wi-Fi Connectivity...

Mii Parade is generally an online community of Mii that chill in the Mii Plaza, so it's like MySpace.com for your Wii. What I mean is, if you set your settings to permit it, your Mii can appear on any other Wii all over the world, and likewise other people's Mii can appear on your Wii. If your Mii is out somewhere and you want to go play a game using it, you can summon it back, so Nintendo guarentees your Mii will never go missing. The idea of bringing your Mii with you on your controller was a sweet idea, I'll admit. But really, what's the point of having your Mii take a trip to Tokyo for an hour? And what can you do with other people's Mii's when they get to your Wii? Obviously, we're gonna here more from Nintendo on this one...