After confusion arose yesterday from news that some Virtual Console games "can only be played with a Classic controller", according to Wii's instruction manual, Nintendo has explained the situation, as it currently stands, to GamesRadar.

GameCube pads will be the only way to control GameCube games, which can be played as normal with your existing game discs. You must also use GameCube memory cards, and cannot save to Wii's internal memory or SD memory card.

GameCube pads can also be used to play any NES, SNES and N64 titles downloaded from Wii's Virtual Console, although N64 games will not feature rumble capability.

The Wii-mote can be used as a controller for all NES and PC Engine/Turbografx games on Virtual Console. Finally - and obviously - all games on Nintendo's Virtual Console will be playable with Nintendo's Classic controller.

A sliver of good news is that multiplayer games can be mix-and-match. A NES game could be played by one person with a Wii-mote, one with a GameCube pad and a third gamer using a Classic controller, for instance; or a SNES game with two people using the Classic controller and two more using GameCube pads. ...

Rockstar Games today announced that it has finally found a publisher to bring its 2004 PlayStation 2 hit Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to the Land of the Rising Sun. Capcom will localize, publish, and distribute the game in Japan in January. Capcom has plenty of experience importing Rockstar's criminal elements into Japan. The company was also responsible for bringing Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to the country. ...

As unfortunate as it sounds to hardcore gamers, the next-gen war may not ultimately be decided by software or hardware, but marketing. Nintendo has prepared for such an instance, announcing that it will spend nearly $200 million promoting the console over the next year, the most expensive campaign ever initiated by the company.

Part of that multimillion dollar budget will be on display tonight, as the first Wii ad hits North American televisions. The 30-second spot, set to air during ABC's celebrity hoedown Dancing With the Stars, is the first of four ads in a series dubbed "Wii would like to play."

The ads depict a pair of Japanese men who show off the capabilities of the console to households across the US. The spots were directed by Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-award-winning scribe of Traffic and director of Syriana.

All four ads will be aired sequentially during MTV's Sucker Free on November 15. The Wii launches in North America on November 19. ...

As unfortunate as it sounds to hardcore gamers, the next-gen war may not ultimately be decided by software or hardware, but marketing. Nintendo has prepared for such an instance, announcing that it will spend nearly $200 million promoting the console over the next year, the most expensive campaign ever initiated by the company.

Part of that multimillion dollar budget will be on display tonight, as the first Wii ad hits North American televisions. The 30-second spot, set to air during ABC's celebrity hoedown Dancing With the Stars, is the first of four ads in a series dubbed "Wii would like to play."

The ads depict a pair of Japanese men who show off the capabilities of the console to households across the US. The spots were directed by Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-award-winning scribe of Traffic and director of Syriana.

All four ads will be aired sequentially during MTV's Sucker Free on November 15. The Wii launches in North America on November 19. ...

As unfortunate as it sounds to hardcore gamers, the next-gen war may not ultimately be decided by software or hardware, but marketing. Nintendo has prepared for such an instance, announcing that it will spend nearly $200 million promoting the console over the next year, the most expensive campaign ever initiated by the company.

Part of that multimillion dollar budget will be on display tonight, as the first Wii ad hits North American televisions. The 30-second spot, set to air during ABC's celebrity hoedown Dancing With the Stars, is the first of four ads in a series dubbed "Wii would like to play."

The ads depict a pair of Japanese men who show off the capabilities of the console to households across the US. The spots were directed by Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-award-winning scribe of Traffic and director of Syriana.

All four ads will be aired sequentially during MTV's Sucker Free on November 15. The Wii launches in North America on November 19. ...

This weekend is shaping up to be a hectic three days for gamers looking to get the newest additions to the next-gen console family. High demand and low supply are causing problems for retailers, with GameStop already admitting that it won't be able to fulfill the PlayStation 3 preorders it has taken.

Seeing the opportunity to avoid a potential nightmare, online retailer Amazon.com has opted to not take preorders for the PS3 and will not take further preorders for the Wii. A forum goer claiming to be a member of Amazon's video game editorial staff broke the news on the products' message boards.

"This was not an easy decision, but we made the decision because we want to ensure that we can fulfill all of the orders that are placed within a reasonable time period," reads the post.

For gamers hoping to get the new consoles in time for Christmas, Amazon cautioned that delivery by the end of 2006 wasn't a guarantee. "We understand your frustration, but we believe it would be extremely irresponsible if we took preorders for product that we may not be able to deliver until 2007."

The news was better for the Wii, though, as Amazon stated that customers who did preorder the Wii online should receive their systems "shortly after" the system's launch date of November 19.

Amazon was not available to confirm or deny the news as of press time. ...

This weekend is shaping up to be a hectic three days for gamers looking to get the newest additions to the next-gen console family. High demand and low supply are causing problems for retailers, with GameStop already admitting that it won't be able to fulfill the PlayStation 3 preorders it has taken.

Seeing the opportunity to avoid a potential nightmare, online retailer Amazon.com has opted to not take preorders for the PS3 and will not take further preorders for the Wii. A forum goer claiming to be a member of Amazon's video game editorial staff broke the news on the products' message boards.

"This was not an easy decision, but we made the decision because we want to ensure that we can fulfill all of the orders that are placed within a reasonable time period," reads the post.

For gamers hoping to get the new consoles in time for Christmas, Amazon cautioned that delivery by the end of 2006 wasn't a guarantee. "We understand your frustration, but we believe it would be extremely irresponsible if we took preorders for product that we may not be able to deliver until 2007."

The news was better for the Wii, though, as Amazon stated that customers who did preorder the Wii online should receive their systems "shortly after" the system's launch date of November 19.

Amazon was not available to confirm or deny the news as of press time. ...

This weekend is shaping up to be a hectic three days for gamers looking to get the newest additions to the next-gen console family. High demand and low supply are causing problems for retailers, with GameStop already admitting that it won't be able to fulfill the PlayStation 3 preorders it has taken.

Seeing the opportunity to avoid a potential nightmare, online retailer Amazon.com has opted to not take preorders for the PS3 and will not take further preorders for the Wii. A forum goer claiming to be a member of Amazon's video game editorial staff broke the news on the products' message boards.

"This was not an easy decision, but we made the decision because we want to ensure that we can fulfill all of the orders that are placed within a reasonable time period," reads the post.

For gamers hoping to get the new consoles in time for Christmas, Amazon cautioned that delivery by the end of 2006 wasn't a guarantee. "We understand your frustration, but we believe it would be extremely irresponsible if we took preorders for product that we may not be able to deliver until 2007."

The news was better for the Wii, though, as Amazon stated that customers who did preorder the Wii online should receive their systems "shortly after" the system's launch date of November 19.

Amazon was not available to confirm or deny the news as of press time. ...

Microsoft's casual games boss, Kim Pallister, has told GamesIndustry.biz that he doesn't believe the growth of digital distribution will have an effect on retailers - at least not in the near future.

Speaking in an interview at the Montréal International Games Summit last week, Pallister said, "In terms of the short term, I don't think they're going to suffer a great deal for a number of reasons.

"Number one, most of the digital distribution today, the vast majority of it is done in places like the casual games space where the download size is not so formidable as to limit that. We're still a ways away from a six gigabyte image being something you can easily transfer out.

"So in some ways, it doesn't overlap. It also grows the industry in different ways; it allows for titles that maybe couldn't do the volume for an individual retailer to justify the shelf space."

Pallister went on to suggest that an increase in digital distribution could even benefit retailers by allowing them to reach different types of consumer who wouldn't normally visit games shops.

"You see some of the more successful casual games that kind of bubble up eventually doing boxed products to tap into that type of consumer who likes to shop in that environment," he added.

"So in the short term, I don't think there's necessarily a threat; I think they complement one another, if anything... It'll cause some shifts, but I don't think [retailers are] doomed any day soon."

When asked about the possibility of full size Xbox 360 games being distributed digitally, Pallister replied, "Will we eventually get there one day? Possibly, but it's quite possible that the games grow in size and outsize the bandwidth growth or whatever.

"I think it's really a matter of giving consumers choice and different paths to getting to their content," he concluded. ...