WiiNintendo

from Biffsputnik:

My local Wal-Mart has a Wii Buyers Guide on display (sorry about blurry phone cam pic), a free guide for Wal-Mart customers packing in 30+ pages of Wii education, game profiles, an interview with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, and a few pages on “must-have games for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance�.

The guide, brought to you by Wal-Mart and IGN, devotes several pages to explaining exactly what the Wii is and how it works, with a full page dedicated to the Wii Remote, and another for the Nunchuck. The hardcore gamer that has been salivating over even the smallest Wii details (guilty) won’t find much new here, but there is a more extensive collection of games featured, with screenshots, than I have seen elsewhere so far.

The part of this that I find interesting is that Wal-Mart is in the Wii-promotion game now. Though I can’t say they wont exist, I didn’t see any PS3 or Xbox 360 buyers guides anywhere…

The whole guide here:

http://biffsputnik.com/bloggg/?p=55

Whole bunch of scans

Wii-K Oct. 27th

Wii Box Art Update

Super Monkey Ball: BB Blog

IGN Matt on Wii Play Testing

Nintendo’s Earnings

Densha de Go! Info

IGN Weekly: Episode 30

More Banana Blitz Minigames

Red Steel Multiplayer Video

 Need For Speed: Carbon Screens

Trauma Center: Second Opinion Videos

Splinter Cell Composer Interview

IGN Bozon’s Top 10 Wii Launch Games

Metal Slug Anthology Videos

Wii Displays at Target

Toys ‘R Us Pre-orders Tomorrow

Thompson Goes At It Again

NFT Play Test-GameSpy

WarioWare Wii Impressions

Excite Truck Impressions

Wii Sports Impressions

Super Monkey Ball: BB Impressions

 Super Monkey Ball: BB Screens

The Fading Of Rumble?

Touch Detective DS Review

Are Graphics Important?

eBay on Wii Preorders

Igarashi Predicts Wii Success

 Harker Screens

 Metal Slug Anthology Screens

Worst Gaming Ideas

Metal Slug Anthology Impressions

Harker Impressions

GameVideos

Activisions Earnings

What’s Important in Sales

Wii Kiosks in Japan

From Infendo

Today, we see yet another example that the Wii has infiltrated a non-traditional avenue: Men’s Health Magazine. In the monthly “Ask the Girl Next Door” section with Nicole Beland, a reader asks the buxom beauty, “How can I get my girlfriend into playing video games?”

Says Nicole: “Calling her over to watch you pistol whip a hooker in GTA or solve the riddle of the moon druids in Myst IV is not the way. Maybe you should buy that new Nintendo system with the stupid name, Wii. It was designed to suck video-dissing women into the virtual world. Personally, I’m addicted to Rockstar’s Table Tennis and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.”

Yeah, Nicole, whatever you say. But the Wii tidbit was golden. Names aside, it’s yet another example of some solid word of mouth marketing on Nintendo’s part. Anyone else planning on using the Wii as a “gateway drug” for friends and loved ones?

Top 10 Voice Mail Alert Game Sounds for Phones

IGN’s Top 10 Voted Upcoming Games This Week

Creating the Rayman Universe

Lik-Sang No More

Elebits Toys with Game Preorder

Matt Tests Out Twilight Princess Next Week

14 Ubi Soft Wii Games by March of 2007

Ubi Soft First/Second Quater Earnings

IGN Wii Launch Guide

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Video

More Banana Blitz Minigame Videos

 Rayman Raving Rabbids Screens

 Bleach Wii Screens

Red Steel Impressions

Nintendo Japan Wii Ads Taking Shape

 Wii Sports Screens

 Furu Furu Paku Screens

Mega Man ZX DS Review

Castlevania DS Preorder Goodies

Wii GameVideos

New Motion-Sensing Remote?

Thompson Facing Contempt of Court

This photo was originally leaked here:
http://gonintendo.com/?p=6989

Joystiq says:

A Best Buy employee who wishes to remain anonymous sent in the above pre-launch Wii setup for the retailer including a 22-page memo documenting which stores will participate in the promotion. The letter, written by VMSM (third-party Nintendo marketer?) and addressed to “Best Buy Retail Management,” names 249 participating stores and includes installation instructions for two, four-foot “Coming Soon” billboards with one count-down clock. Billboards are expected to hit stores on November 1.

While it looks big, keep in mind those white boxes could denote existing inventory. More interesting, however, is the display copy: “When you hit a drum, swing a raquet or a bat, why should you have to press a button?” A new slogan that perhaps effectively communicates Wii’s take on the game interface.

26 Wii Game boxes

IGN’s Wii-kly podcast:
I listened to the whole 40 minutes or so, some highlights include:
- Matt and some development team are working together to create a Virtual Console title (little details were mentioned)
- Matt talks about how awkward it was playing Red Steel on their tiny 5″ capture device and that was the reason for the shaky game play.
- Mark challenged any editor to a FPS dual
- Matt and Mark plan to go to NYC on launch night
- Matt and Mark talk about the new component cable and why Nintendo would do “web only” orders.
Listen here: Wii-kly IGN Podcast

Matt’s Top 10 Wii Launch Titles

IGN Reader’s Top 100 Games of All-Time

Ennichi no Tatsujin Details

Koei’s Mahjong Wii Details

Wii Game Pricing in Japan

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Costumes

Wii Sports Screens

THQ Wii Game Video

Gamecube Zelda Still Coming

Top 5 Wii Games-GameSpy

Contact DS Review

Touch Detective Interview DS

PS3 Predictions Opinion

Nintendo’s British Campaign

GameVideos

The kiosks are NOT playable yet, but if you want to get a first hand look at the system or the games on a 16:9 screen rather than YouTube, stop on by.

- Demo kiosks start operation on November 1st
- 12 Wii kiosks throughout the store
- Multiplayer wall has been replaced with three Wii’s
- Three egg chair with GameCube’s will be replaced with three Wii’s
- Where the big GameCube area is, there will be 6 Wii’s

Photos taken by: lotto996

480p a Go For Wii Launch
NOA confirms that component cables will be available to purchase.

From IGN:

October 19, 2006 - Nintendo last month revealed that its new Wii home console would ship with composite cables for standard resolution televisions. However, the company did not specify whether or not high-definition TV owners would be able to separately purchase Wii component cables to run games in progressive-scan, and hence we’ve been bombarded with a steady flow of questions from concerned readers.

Well, today you can finally stop flooding our e-mail boxes because Nintendo of America has commented on the subject and yes, your component cables are on the way.

A spokesperson for the company told IGN Wii this morning that the Wii component cables would be available for purchase with the launch of the console in November. The cables will cost $29.99 and will only be available through online retail outlets, including Nintendo’s store, Best Buy, Circuit City and EB Games.

If you already own GameCube component cables, you’re out of luck because these are not compatible with the Wii console.

Why Nintendo is again only selling its component cables via online retailers — as it did with GameCube — is a mystery, but at least the solution will be available immediately.

Ask WiiNintendo.

What is 480p?
480p refers to “480 progressive”, a form of standard definition digital television broadcast comparable to computer displays but not considered high definition. Each line of the screen is painted before the next line.

Ok, then what the hell is component mean?
A type of superior video input used for DVD players and game consoles. Picture quality is superior to s-video, composite and antenna-in.

How do I know my TV has an input for this?
You will have inputs that look like this:

Nearly all of the 30 or so Wii launch window games run in 480p and 16:9 modes.

Through mini-games and easy to learn tutorials, Madden ‘07 for the Wii brings a new level of immersion to sports games.