Have you been able to find a Wii? Yeah, me neither. Then again, I stopped trying back in August, though after Christmas I’m definitely going to be getting back on the hunt for one, as I am dying to play Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. Even more than Super Mario Galaxy. It’s no secret to anyone that there is a definite shortage of Wii consoles on the market.
Even though George Harrison (I’ve got my mind set on you…) has said Nintendo is producing 1.8 million consoles a month, Nintendo has simply not been able to meet the demand for the Wii and, according to one analyst, could lose upwards of $1 Billion.
With a ‘B’. Nine zeros after the number one. One billion dollars.
Now thankfully the Wii prints money so Nintendo should survive without too much trouble, however this shortage is really riling up a lot of people.

Original post by
http://www.1pstart.com/nintendo-could-lose-1-billion-due-to-shortage/

The BBC (holy crap, a real news source?) is reporting that Nintendo is pulling advertisements off of British television in an attempt to help battle demand for the console. As we all know, Nintendo has said in the past that they are doing the best they can, and it’s George Harrison has gone on record as saying that Nintendo manufactures 1.8 million Wiis every month.
However, Nintendo believes that it is the “responsible” decision to pull the ads until 2008, that way they will be able to better handle the demand during this, the most festive time of year.
[BBC]

Movie playback is just one of those things I never found appealing with a handheld gaming system. No doubt that the PSP’s ability to play movies and television shows is cool, but come on. Who finds it practical to watch those movies on that tiny screen?
Apparently, Nintendo does.

DSVision (which for now is exclusively in Japan) is the name for the service, and what it is, in essence, is a microSD card that you insert into a DS cartridge, and then load it onto the console. Movies, TV Programs, Comics and even e-books will be able for use on the device.

While it is unknown what codecs Nintendo will use, and the card will initially be available only in Japan. The Starter Pack will contain the DS cartridge adapter and a 512MB microSD card. The starting asking price is ¥4000 ($36), and so far no mention of a US release has been announced.

Original post by http://www.1pstart.com/nintendo-wants-in-on-movie-playback/

Wow. A surprise hit has come to the Wii. Unlike Halo 3 or to a lesser extent, Bioshock, this is one game that is living up to the hype and then some (I would have easily accepted a tacked on multiplayer for Bioshock.. look at what it did for Gears of War.. I mean c’mon.. anyways, this is Marios time). I waited until I beat Bowser for my first time before writing this, and I had to quickly open up my notepad.exe and start typing away. For the nostalgic, this is awesome.

The game is all new territory, but if you have played your share of older Mario games, you will notice some throwback Mario feel in characters (of course) and music worked into gameplay (wait until you are chasing notes, you will know precisely what i mean).

Enterbrain, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, is reporting that for the four week period leading up until November 25th, the PlayStation 3 outsold the Wii in Japan.
That’s right. The PS3 outsold the Wii. In Japan. In fact, the PlayStation 3 (183,217 units) outsold the Wii (159,193) by 24,024 units.
While this is hardly indicitive of a possible trend shift in Sony’s favor, you almost have to look at this as a good sign for the big black box. While I would expect the numbers to fall off for the Christmas season due to a lack of software, this could be a good sign going into 2008.
Either way, congrats to Sony for knocking Nintendo off the top of Mt. Fuji. For the moment, as it is.

Samuel L. Jackson has once again been tapped to host this year’s Spike “Video Game Awards” show, and we couldn’t be more excited. Just the very idea that we might get a chance to hear Jackson use words like “motherf**ker” and “b**ch” in person are enough to get us all hot and bothered.
That’s right, team Destruction will be on hand next week, when the awards tape on December 7 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Riding on our coattails will be the likes of Criss Angel, Tia Carrere, Tony Hawk, and Dave Navarro. The show will air Sunday night, December 9 (9:00 - 11:00 PM, ET/PT).
Oh, so what does this have to do with videogames? Right, I thought you wouldn’t ask. Spike are promising world premieres of trailers for Borderlands, Grand Turismo 5 Prologue, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and TNA iMPACT!

Actor Charles Martinet, the man behind the voice of Mario, has revealed that he’s working on an autobiography. The book, which Marninet hopes to have ready for a 2008 release, will focus on his time working with Nintendo.
“I’ve actually started workign a little bit on a book,” he tells CVG, “but it’s about finding the discipline to keep going. But I will be inspired [to finish it] by the fans.”
As the voice of the one of the most iconic characters of our time (next to Mr. Destructoid, of course), an autobiography could provide a good deal of insight on what it’s like to work for the videogames giant. We would also like to request that Martinet explain why Mario has an Italian accent, when we’ve all been given the impression that he was a plumber from Brooklyn.

In an interview with Reuters, Activision Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said that, in order for Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony to reach great mass-market appeal they will have to reach the ever-coveted $199 price point in the next two years.
In the next 24 months they all will need to be at that $199 price point, and you can imagine Nintendo will be down to the $129 price point over the next few years

I see where Kotick is coming from. Once the PlayStation 2 dropped to the $199 price point, it became the best selling console of all time. Could you just imagine what the Wii would do sales wise if it were to drop to the $129 price point as Kotick suggested? It’d be pandemonium.
[Reuters]

As expected, Super Mario Galaxy was a pretty great game. We’re pretty sure it could have been an epic disaster, and still sold a ton, so we’re not surprised when Nintendo’s George Harrison brags about its success.
“Super Mario Galaxy had the strongest one-week debut of any Wii game to date and has also become the best-selling Mario title ever in its first week, with U.S. sales of more than 500,000, based on internal sales figures,” he says in a press release issued today.
It’s not over yet — consumers are still tearing apart retail outlets in Wii rages, looking for the elusive console. It would be criminal is the game didn’t sell one-to-one with every installed unit, and when the smoke clears, that will likely be the case.

Original post by mrdestructoid@gmail.com (Destructoid.com)

By looking at Soundscan’s sales figures for various songs included in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock before and after the rhythm game was released, Ars Technica has discovered that “increased sales for labels and bands” is just one of the benefits of having your music featured in the immensely popular franchise.
“It doesn’t appear to matter if you’re in the main game or are a bonus song; huge gains are seen everywhere. As long as your song ships with the game and you offer the track to be downloaded digitally, you see an increase,” the source explained.

I’ve learned to love new songs with the help of Guitar Hero, and according to this research, many of you have too. No word on whether or not Rock Band will have a similar effect on digital music sales, but it’s safe to assume that it will.
Does this news mean that Activision will load […]

Original post by mrdestructoid@gmail.com (Destructoid.com)