Nintendo has a lengthy tradition of playing its cards close to the vest, so it's not surprising that some of the company's fans may be expecting the console maker to have one last megaton bomb to drop on the gaming world in advance of the Wii launch. However, those holding their breath in anticipation of a world-rocking revelation surrounding the Wii can exhale, as Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told GameSpot sister site News.com in a video interview that the publisher has nothing left to hide.

Fils-Aime told News.com that everything that would come packed with the Wii was finalized, and that the few areas that hadn't been detailed (the company's Virtual Console content, packaged software) weren't actually finalized yet.

When asked if Nintendo was planning any last-minute surprises, Fils-Aime said, "No, no wonderful secret announcement. At least not one that I'm aware of, so then it would really be a secret."

Fils-Aime also responded to the Wii's appearance last week on the animated show South Park. Despite the frequently controversial and adult tone of the show, Fils-Aime expressed no reservations about the traditionally family-friendly Nintendo brand being featured in an episode.

"Obviously we love it," Fils-Aime said. "It's not something that they approached us for permission, though we were aware that they were working on it. It's fantastic to be in popular culture in that way."

The conclusion to last week's Wii-centric South Park episode is expected to air tonight on Comedy Central. ...

Nintendo has a lengthy tradition of playing its cards close to the vest, so it's not surprising that some of the company's fans may be expecting the console maker to have one last megaton bomb to drop on the gaming world in advance of the Wii launch. However, those holding their breath in anticipation of a world-rocking revelation surrounding the Wii can exhale, as Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told GameSpot sister site News.com in a video interview that the publisher has nothing left to hide.

Fils-Aime told News.com that everything that would come packed with the Wii was finalized, and that the few areas that hadn't been detailed (the company's Virtual Console content, packaged software) weren't actually finalized yet.

When asked if Nintendo was planning any last-minute surprises, Fils-Aime said, "No, no wonderful secret announcement. At least not one that I'm aware of, so then it would really be a secret."

Fils-Aime also responded to the Wii's appearance last week on the animated show South Park. Despite the frequently controversial and adult tone of the show, Fils-Aime expressed no reservations about the traditionally family-friendly Nintendo brand being featured in an episode.

"Obviously we love it," Fils-Aime said. "It's not something that they approached us for permission, though we were aware that they were working on it. It's fantastic to be in popular culture in that way."

The conclusion to last week's Wii-centric South Park episode is expected to air tonight on Comedy Central. ...

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell points out that PS and PS2 got lucky with their release, 'It wasn't anything brilliant that they did. With the PS and PS2 it was timing. They had the right pricing at the right time [and were] almost the accidental winner.' But he seeing things this time around different 'It would not surprise me if a year from now they'll be struggling to sell 1 million units.

I think hes going to be wrong :P ...

Every game on the PlayStation 3 will use the same universal sign-in and the same online ID, Sony has confirmed - even titles which do not use the central buddy list and messaging systems offered by the console.

Speaking to our sister site this morning, the UK producer on launch title Resistance, Dan Brooke, said that he "wishes to be clear that Resistance uses the PlayStation online ID to sign into the game. There is no separate login for Resistance and the online ID you create will be the same you use for all titles."

The clarification comes after Ted Price, head of Resistance developer Insomniac Games, revealed last week that despite having extensive online functionality, the game will not be using the central buddy list offered by the PS3; instead, players will build an in-game buddy list unique to the game.

Resistance is also set to offer advanced community features such as clan support, party support, match-making and ranking. At present the PlayStation 3 operating system does not offer centralised support for these features.

However, contrary to some reports which have appeared in recent weeks, gamers will not be expected to sign up new accounts for each game they play, as the PS3 will handle a single sign-in ID for this purpose.

This system is similar to how online games worked on the PlayStation 2, where users had a single Central Station ID which identified them in every game on the system - although unlike the PS2, the PS3's network adapter is built in and configures itself automatically in most network environments, and the system boasts persistent internal storage for network and sign-in details, as well as for downloaded content.

However, the PS3's service still falls significantly short of Microsoft's highly regarded Xbox Live system, whose voice chat, messaging, buddy lists and so on are not only a core part of the service, but are utilised by all online titles on the console. ...

Still rubbish at Need For Speed Carbon? Then EA's offering the chance to download a few cars that you're too rubbish to unlock in the Career mode. You disgust me.

Achievable without purchase through the Career mode, according to Major Nelson's blog, the NFS Carbon extras are the 2004 Mercedes SLR McLaren, the 2004 Porsche Carrera GT and the 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo.

All cost 80 Microsoft points, and all are presumably very shiny. ...

Eagle eyed web-spotters have noticed an update to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board website in America, perhaps unmasking the first post-release batch of Virtual Console titles for that territory.

Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, Kid Icarus, Kirby's Adventure, PilotWings, Pro Wrestling, Punch-Out and Wild Gunman all make the list of most recent Nintendo Wii ratings, but none has featured on the US Virtual Console line-up so far.

Nintendo has previously said it aims to release Virtual Console titles at the rate of about ten new additions each month, although it's come to light recently that its line-ups for individual regions will differ.

For example, the European line-up boasts SNES title Donkey Kong Country in addition to F-Zero and Sim City, whereas the US list does not, and the Japanese SNES line-up is altogether more expansive.

Virtual Console titles will need be purchased using Wii Points, for which you'll pay EUR 20 / GBP 14 for 2000. NES games will cost 500, SNES 800, N64 1000, Megadrive 800 and TurboGrafx-16 600 points.

Nintendo Wii launches in Europe on 8th December. ...

Eagle eyed web-spotters have noticed an update to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board website in America, perhaps unmasking the first post-release batch of Virtual Console titles for that territory.

Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, Kid Icarus, Kirby's Adventure, PilotWings, Pro Wrestling, Punch-Out and Wild Gunman all make the list of most recent Nintendo Wii ratings, but none has featured on the US Virtual Console line-up so far.

Nintendo has previously said it aims to release Virtual Console titles at the rate of about ten new additions each month, although it's come to light recently that its line-ups for individual regions will differ.

For example, the European line-up boasts SNES title Donkey Kong Country in addition to F-Zero and Sim City, whereas the US list does not, and the Japanese SNES line-up is altogether more expansive.

Virtual Console titles will need be purchased using Wii Points, for which you'll pay EUR 20 / GBP 14 for 2000. NES games will cost 500, SNES 800, N64 1000, Megadrive 800 and TurboGrafx-16 600 points.

Nintendo Wii launches in Europe on 8th December. ...

Eagle eyed web-spotters have noticed an update to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board website in America, perhaps unmasking the first post-release batch of Virtual Console titles for that territory.

Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, Kid Icarus, Kirby's Adventure, PilotWings, Pro Wrestling, Punch-Out and Wild Gunman all make the list of most recent Nintendo Wii ratings, but none has featured on the US Virtual Console line-up so far.

Nintendo has previously said it aims to release Virtual Console titles at the rate of about ten new additions each month, although it's come to light recently that its line-ups for individual regions will differ.

For example, the European line-up boasts SNES title Donkey Kong Country in addition to F-Zero and Sim City, whereas the US list does not, and the Japanese SNES line-up is altogether more expansive.

Virtual Console titles will need be purchased using Wii Points, for which you'll pay EUR 20 / GBP 14 for 2000. NES games will cost 500, SNES 800, N64 1000, Megadrive 800 and TurboGrafx-16 600 points.

Nintendo Wii launches in Europe on 8th December. ...

As much as we're going to miss covering the entertaining side show that has been the life of Bo Stefan Eriksson for the last nine months, we're relieved that the former Gizmondo Europe director has finally admitted some culpability in this strange saga -- and that he'll soon be forced to leave the country and become someone else's problem. After a Los Angeles jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in Eriksson's grand theft auto case last week -- resulting in a mistrial -- the imaginary friend-loving Swede apparently decided that a retrial coupled with the separate weapons charges would be too much to bear, and ended up receiving a pretty sweet deal from prosecutors. In exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of embezzlement and one count of illegal gun possession, the one-time mobster weaseled his way out of an auto theft charge and ended up receiving a three-year sentence plus three years of probation -- but because of the time he's already served as well as "other allowances," he should be free in about a year. Once he gives up his orange jumpsuit, Eriksson faces immediate deportation from the US, although his lawyer has stated that the now house-less and car-less felon was planning to leave anyway (expect us to be liveblogging his bon voyage party). The only matter that has yet to be settled is how much loot will have to be paid to the British banks who repo'd Eriksson's Mercedes and non-crumpled Ferrari, so after December 7th, ol' Stefan will be lucky to have enough money in his commissary account to afford a package of Twinkies. ...