In an E3 presentation positively rammed with new titles, information and three grown men prancing around the stage with wands like fairies, one of the most exciting announcements at Nintendo's press event concerned WiiConnect24. However, such was the sheer reckless pace of the conference, we didn't really get to learn as much as we'd have liked.

Now, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has divulged a few new snippets of information concerning Wii's permanent internet connection, speaking to Japanese website TechOn.

Previously, we'd known that WiiConnect 24 could be used for things like enabling other visitors to scope out your Animal Crossing village while you're tucked up in bed, but now Iwata has revealed that the company plans to offer new content for both Wii and DS on a regular basis.

Iwata explains that Nintendo intends to make games last beyond their normal shelf-life by adding new content to its titles regularly. His hope is that by offering new content, people will slap on a game every day to see what's new, expanding its life way beyond the initial period after purchase. Elaborating further, Iwata says, "To lead users to do that, we need to offer something new each day. That is why we thought of a system that would allow us to change our offerings during the night.

"I feel that allowing the system to stay connected to the Net throughout the night is a valid application of semiconductor technology."

What's more, Nintendo also suggests it will offer downloadable DS demos, which will arrive automatically overnight on Wii (you'll know you've got new content if the special front-panel LED is on when you wake up in the morning). The demos can then be transferred over to the DS and, presumably, played around on the tube to work. Hoorah!

"This will, of course, be possible in gaming stores too," Iwata states, "but I think users will enjoy being able to do this within their homes. The key merit here is having promotional material delivered to your home, instead of having to go collect it yourself..."

Perhaps even more interestingly, Iwata gave what could be considered an indication of how much games on the Virtual Console might cost. "When creating a packaged game to be priced at 5,000 yen, developers tend to feel the need to create a rich game. Yet it is possible to create a reasonably entertaining game in 2 months with a team of three. Offering such games for 500 yen [2.40 GBP approx] over a network could lead to a reasonable number of people purchasing it. By offering an environment that allows this, we hope to encourage more developers to pursue basic yet enjoyable gameplay."

Having said that, Iwata is still keen to point out that there's still a place on Wii for traditional console games with plenty of depth: "Such games are important in their own right, and will continue to be in demand. Still - think about it - eating French cuisine or a full dinner each day would quickly lead to boredom, wouldn't it? You'll want a simple bowl of rice and soup every now and then."

Needless to say, every time we hear more about what Nintendo's got in store for Wii, we get increasingly excited. November, if the latest Wii release rumours are to be believed, can't come soon enough as far as we're concerned.

Via CVG ...

We would say hat's off to our esteemed colleagues over at top technology and gadget guide T3 this morning, with the wider wilder internet suggesting they have dug up some inside info from Nintendo itself, which says that the Wii will debut in Europe on November 6 this year.

But, as is often the case with the smoke and mirrors of the internet rumour mill, you can't quite believe everything you read. A quick call to the T3 office quickly cleared the confusion up, with the T3-ers stressing that this is just a rumour - not established fact.

Despite the date and story coming from impeccable sources inside Nintendo, T3 are saying that it is just that, a strong rumour and definitely not a confirmed date.

Advertisement:Still it's a fascinating one to speculate on, because if true, the Wii would beat the PS3 (which launches on Nov 17) to market by nearly two weeks - and with a price point expected to be in the 150-200 GBP region, it would look a damn attractive proposition.

However, a Monday (which Nov 6 is) is probably not the best day to launch a brand new gaming platform so this one strikes us as fishier than a fishmonger's apron. Besides, Nintendo would probably prefer to get the Wii in shops as soon as it possibly can to put clear blue water between itself and Sony's launch.

So we hope that's cleared things up for you, but there'll no doubt be further Wii launch date speculation to come. We'll keep you posted with all the latest.

Via CVG ...

UK high street retailer HMV has announced the launch of its latest initiative for delivering games, music and movies to customers - with the Txt2Buy system set to allow customers to order products from their mobile phones.

The service, which has been launched by the retail giant in cooperation with mobile CRM technology provider Digital Rum, means that customers will be able to buy products simply by texting in shortcodes found in HMV's advertising.

After texting in their shortcode, users will receive a reply with a mobile Internet link that will allow them to securely pay for purchases on credit cards. Customers will also be able to store their credit card details to avoid re-entering them.\

"By combining SMS ordering with secure credit/debit card payment via the mobile internet, HMV is able to extend the order and payment capability of its high value product portfolio across any promotional medium - print, radio and television - simply by adding an SMS short code," Digital Rum's VP of sales, Russell Tarr, told financial technology publication Finextra.

The move makes HMV into one of the first companies to leverage the mobile phone platform as a way of selling boxed games in the UK. The retailer has previously stated that it hopes to target a significantly larger share of the UK games market; although it is a market leader in music and movies, in the games sector HMV is dwarfed by specialist rival GAME.

Via Gamesindustry ...

Emus, emus, and more emus, your a one man porting machine. Which is great because I like old school games. Thanks for another one. ...

The contest has been extended to June 10, 2006. I have already recieved 3 entries from project-firestorm and qatmix, patbier and poche, and Imerion.

There are 2 entries in the works (I'm not sure if they want to be revealed or not).

The three submitted parties are free to continue their games until the 10th. I'm not home right now, so the FTP is down, but once I get back on the 5th, you're free to upload any changes to the FTP at any time.

Anyone else who would like to enter the contest, but didn't make themselves known due to lack of progress on their projects, or anyone who would like to challenge themselves and start now - or anyone who has a project that is near completion and didn't intend to submit it to the contest, but would like to do so now, you've got plenty of time left. Just PM me after the 5th, and I'll get you guys set up with an FTP account. ...

I've been flooded with emails about "Where's PSPWeekly?!" so I thought it was only appropiate to inform you that PSPWeekly is not cancelled, it has only been delayed. The following template images are only mock-ups of Issue 13 by Sony PSP so any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks and enjoy!

...

Floppydrive posted this news/release:


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aeolusc has released a new version of Ereader for the PSP, ereader is a text and html and supports a wealth of graphical formats, heres whats new via translation

1.1 update :
[+] pack increase shrinking and enlarging the double high / width (at cut over shrinking and enlarging Kin)
[+] increase reading choice : retain width disturbed
Remove the flashing cut over [!] catalogue
[!] amendments introduced within leakage 1.08
[!] removal menu cut over the boundary line

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Mikesena has released a new lua game for the PSP, heres the details:


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