via Bloomberg.com

Nintendo Co. expects to sell as many as 35 million Wii video-game consoles in the U.S., close to the record 38.2 million PlayStation 2 players sold by Sony Corp.

The company will reach its goal by 2011 or 2012, George Harrison, marketing chief at Nintendo of America Inc., a unit of Kyoto-based Nintendo Co., said in an interview today.

Nintendo is increasing Wii production at factories in China to meet demand, Harrison said from Seattle. The company has sold 2.5 million Wii players in the U.S. since the console was introduced in November, making it the top-seller among the newest generation of machines.

``Demand is much greater than we anticipated,'' Harrison said. ``A year ago no one thought we would be in this position.''

U.S. consumers have purchased 1.3 million PlayStation 3s since it was introduced two days ahead of Wii. Microsoft Corp. has sold 5.4 million Xbox 360s, released in 2005, according to market researcher NPD Group Inc., based in Port Washington, New York.

The older PlayStation 2 remains popular, outselling both the PS3 and Xbox 360 in April. Consumers bought 194,000 PS2s during the month, according to NPD. That compares with 174,000 Xbox 360s and 82,000 PS3s. Wii was No. 1 at 360,000 units.

Demand for the PS2, introduced in 2000, has been bolstered by price cuts and the popularity of games such as Activision Inc.'s ``Guitar Hero.'' The console sells for $149.

Pricing also has helped sell the Wii. At $249, it costs less than half the price of a PlayStation 3 and is about $50 less than the cheapest Xbox 360. Nintendo has no plans to sell Wii for less, Harrison said.

New Games

Nintendo yesterday announced 14 new games for Wii, including the in-house title ``Mario Strikers Charged'' and ``Boogie,'' which allows players to sing and dance to music videos. The new games will be released in the third quarter.

Nintendo will continue to focus on titles that attract people who typically don't play video games. That means there's little reason for the company to upgrade the console with more powerful chips or better graphics, Harrison said.

``We're starting to see in the performance of the PS3 and Xbox 360 that that's not necessarily motivating the market the way it used to,'' he said. ``So we're going to start work on future technology only when we believe it's necessary.'' ...

via Wii-UK

According to an interview with a publisher, Nintendo are soon to launch a downloadable games channel, in a similar vein to the Xbox Live Arcade.

Whilst being able to download 'new' software for Wii would be excellent, I can't help but think that it might be a tiny bit late. Microsoft already dominate the online console scene completely, and Nintendo have little chance of catching up.

Of course, catching up might not be the point. Perhaps Nintendo just want to let us access more games. Either way, it's good news.

Here's the offending interview:

'"I wouldn't say Virtual Console, because they're not actually calling it the Virtual Console, but in the next few months there will be various announcements I'm sure made by Nintendo that will offer users a system that will be similar to that of what Microsoft is offering at present, which is the ability to download content, which you guys are able to do, but they've got to set up their various systems. Microsoft are years ahead of the other two major players in that regard. It really depends on when Nintendo are rolling out their strategy, which I expect will be within the next two months."'

This certainly isn't the first we've heard of this - an interview with Capcom recently also suggested the same thing. Spooky, eh. ...

via Buttonbasher

Nintendo Power has a small article announcing Geometry Wars Galaxies on The Wii and DS.

It’s being handled by the developers of Battalion Wars, and will feature an extensive single-player game. Wii version will use the motion control, and DS will use the touch control. This game is exclusive to these platforms (…for now). Each version will feature a multiplayer mode. Both Versions from Retro Evolved will be included.

Expect this to hit this fall. ...

via Buttonbasher

Nintendo Power has a small article announcing Geometry Wars Galaxies on The Wii and DS.

It’s being handled by the developers of Battalion Wars, and will feature an extensive single-player game. Wii version will use the motion control, and DS will use the touch control. This game is exclusive to these platforms (…for now). Each version will feature a multiplayer mode. Both Versions from Retro Evolved will be included.

Expect this to hit this fall. ...

via Game Freaks 365

Are you ready to careen around the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a hand-built 1960s speed machine that hits speeds of nearly 180 mph, yet rides only 7 inches off the ground? Can you survive a moving minefield of crashes, spinning cars, rolling tires, oil slicks and 32 rivals competing for the perfect racing line? You’ll learn these answers and more as Destineer today announces Indianapolis 500 Legends for the Wii console and Nintendo DS.

Set from 1961-1971, a period of loose rules and ever-faster cars, Indianapolis 500 Legends lets players experience the traditions, rivalries, terrifying speeds and jaw-dropping maneuvers of the world famous Brickyard as they take on the arcade-style gameplay inspired by the birth of modern racing.

"Indianapolis 500 Legends combines edge-of-your-seat Indy-style racing with the widespread appeal and accessibility of the Nintendo Wii and DS, making it the perfect choice for racing fans of any age and skill," said Paul Rinde, CEO of Destineer. ...

via Game Freaks 365

Are you ready to careen around the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a hand-built 1960s speed machine that hits speeds of nearly 180 mph, yet rides only 7 inches off the ground? Can you survive a moving minefield of crashes, spinning cars, rolling tires, oil slicks and 32 rivals competing for the perfect racing line? You’ll learn these answers and more as Destineer today announces Indianapolis 500 Legends for the Wii console and Nintendo DS.

Set from 1961-1971, a period of loose rules and ever-faster cars, Indianapolis 500 Legends lets players experience the traditions, rivalries, terrifying speeds and jaw-dropping maneuvers of the world famous Brickyard as they take on the arcade-style gameplay inspired by the birth of modern racing.

"Indianapolis 500 Legends combines edge-of-your-seat Indy-style racing with the widespread appeal and accessibility of the Nintendo Wii and DS, making it the perfect choice for racing fans of any age and skill," said Paul Rinde, CEO of Destineer. ...

via Kikizo

Nintendo has been doing a bang-up job of reaching out to casual gamers and even those who wouldn't think of playing games with the Wii, but what of the hardcore set?

There has not been much in the way of in-house Nintendo games for longtime fans since Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess launched alongside the console last autumn. Nintendo is now working on a plan to fix that.

Intergalactic butt-kicker Samus Aran continues her first-person shooter adventures in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which leads Nintendo's American Wii line-up for the summer. The game will be in stores on 20 August.

Wii owners in Europe will likely need to be patient a while longer. Nintendo could not confirm today when the game would be out over here.

Closer to home, this week sees the release of Mario Strikers Charged - the online-enabled Wii Mario-themed football game. ...

via GameInfowire

The concept of PAIN was derived from an extensive teen market research report. The findings of the report indicated that comedy, random chaos, creativity, community and competition were the central figures driving entertainment choices for the teen audience.

PAIN is much more than a game, it’s actually a creative, user-driven comedic experience that presents players with the unique opportunity to control and capture the irreverent style of humor found in television shows such as Jackass or Viva La Bam. The game boldly tackles a rarely explored area of video-gaming… comedy. Many games and products have allowed players to experience scripted, comedic scenes, but none have successfully allowed the end-user to actually be the architect of these situations… until now.

One thing is certain; gamers have never seen anything quite like PAIN…

The core, unique mechanic of the game allows the player to load a character into an extreme launching device, such as a human-sized, ultra-powerful slingshot, and fire the character into an active, physics-controlled environment, filled with precarious and humorous situations. The player receives points by stringing together painful collisions and inducing chaos in the environment. The player must achieve a wide variety of goals and / or reach various scoring milestones in each of the different modes of play.

Available exclusively via download on the PLAYSTATION Network for the PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) computer entertainment system, PAIN will feature a robust online community where players will be able to upload and share their comedic experiences; while other users can rank and comment on the content shared within the community.

KEY FEATURES

* Based on a teen research report indicating that chaos, comedy, creativity, and community are central themes to their entertainment choices, PAIN is the first game of its kind that allows the gamer to be the architect of theses comedic episodes.
* Multiple playable characters each with a very unique personality and attributes as well as character specific in-flight poses.
* Dozens of ways to play – over 9 different ways to play single player alone, including modes like Spank the Monkey and Mime Toss. With multiplayer modes like HORSE and online competition, PAIN provides both the challenges and the replayability gamers are searching for.
* Completely Interactive Gameplay Environment – regardless of what the player does within the PAIN thematic, the overall environment remains completely dynamic and fully destructible, waiting for the player to find new ways to create chaos, comedy or simply wait to see what happens next.
* Each time a player launches into the PAINful environment, the physics and animation data is stored on PS3’s HDD allowing the player to view a replay instantly. With control over various camera angles and the replay speed – slow motion and fast forward – users can edit and re-record each bruising launch.
* Unique physics model created on Havok powered events, allow for amazing ragdoll animations, while insuring that duplicating incidents is almost impossible. Keeping gameplay fresh over and over no matter how many times a player is launched into the same environment.
* Available exclusively via the PLAYSTATION Network, PAIN will have a robust online community feature set that will include: head-to- head and cooperative gameplay, leaderboards, the ability to upload and download user generated replays, and contests.
* With PAIN’s modular backbone, the game is made to expand. More characters, more themes, more gameplay modes and most importantly more PAINful fun! ...

sonicteam10 received an official reply from Planetweb and they said the website will be back maybe in the next week.

This is the email received:

"On Thu, 17 May 2007 22:24:07 -0700, "Ken Soohoo" <[email protected]>
said:
Dear Erik,

Sorry that you've been emailing pwsales, its really not the right place to make Dreamcast requests. The reason dreamcast.planetweb.com is down is that Planetweb moved locations and we don't have the same network capabilities in our new location. We're going to try to bring it back online next week, but we're quite busy and not sure we can get to it.

Please do check back regularly.

Thanks for your patience." ...