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Videos of Wii Opera Web Browser in Action
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Internet, Rumors, Screenshots, Wii,
German site VideoSpiele recently posted some videos of the Wii Opera web browser in action. As expected, it’s probably not going to be the most efficient way to check your e-mail or post to your blog (for starters, the resolution on your standard-def TV is really going to hurt), but it looks to be at least faster and more useful than the DS browser released earlier this year. This could be a great way to share YouTube videos with your friends, or show off your Flickr photos.
Fortunately, the Wii web browser incarnation will have support for Flash and AJAX, and given that the Opera browser will be downloaded instead of loaded on a disc or cartridge, this also means that Opera may be able to upgrade any missing functionality over time. And given that the going price for this will be $FREE (at least until July 2007), we’ll definitely be willing to give it a shot!
Read More 
| VideoSpiele
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Rumored Best Buy Holiday Planning Presentation
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 3, Wii,
Over at the NeoGAF forums, a user has posted a couple of slides that purport to be from Best Buy’s upcoming holiday console roll-out. If the slides are accurate, gamers would see the Playstation 3 demo area set up by October 20th, and Nintendo’s Wii kiosks set up on October 29th. According to the slides the current Xbox 360 console demonstration areas would be removed, and demo consoles would be moved to the shelving areas like the Xbox and Playstation 2 are currently featured. The new demo area would basically be a complete Sony home theater solution, from a Sony Bravia flat-panel television, a 7.1 surround system, and, of course, the 60 GB Playstation 3. Matching the Bravia LCD with the Playstation 3 will ensure that gamers will be able to see for themselves if a full 1080P video path offers an improved gaming experience.
Read More | NeoGAF Forums
Opera Wii Free Worldwide Until July 2007
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Nintendo, Wii,
Opera Software announced that gamers with Nintendo’s Wii console will be able to download the Opera Browser from the “Wii Shop Channel” for free until July 2007. After this point, the browser will be available for a currently undetermined amount of Wii points. Opera also confirmed that Flash and AJAX support would be included in the browser, allowing gamers access to many of the client-based applications developed for the world wide web. Opera’s press release implies that the browser will be available at launch, but this would obviously also be dependent on the availability of Nintendo’s “Wii Shop Channel.”
The full press release continues below.
Click to continue reading Opera Wii Free Worldwide Until July 2007
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Wii Makes Toys R Us Holiday Hot Toy List
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo, Wii,
Reuters today is reporting that for the first time, Toys “R” Us has included a video game system on its “hot toy” list for the holidays, Nintendo’s Wii. Toys “R” Us spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh cited the mass appeal of the console, stating that “the Wii system appeals to young kids as well as adults.” Another factor in the toy seller’s selection was having sufficient stock of the item during the holidays, which seems to indicate that Nintendo will be making their target allotments of the Wii during the holidays. Other toys occupying the list include the new TMX Elmo and Lego’s Mindstorms NXT.
Read More | Reuters
Wii Nunchuck Up Close And Personal
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Wii,
GoNintendo managed to score a bunch of Wii nunchuck pictures, including an apparent autopsy shot showing the controller disassembled. The image watermarks indicate that they come from a site called ChinaGBA, which appears to be completely broken under load at this time. Still, GoNintendo is hosting a good portion of the images locally, so gamers can get a look at some close-ups of the nunchuck controller while they wait for the original site to recover.
Read More | GoNintendo
Survey Says: Rumble Important To Gamers
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360,
Market research company Ipsos Insight released the results of a survey conducted on behalf of Immersion Corporation indicating that gamers prefer to have vibration feedback in their gamers. Immersion, of course, is the current holder of a number of patents for vibration function in controllers, and recently won an injunction against Sony for their use of rumble technology. Some have suspected that this may be the reason that Sony’s Playstation 3 controllers will not feature rumble support.
So, the ground-breaking news from this survey is that 72 percent of gamers believe that vibration feedback enhances their game experience “most of the time.” According to their report, 74 percent of gamers were also unaware that Sony had removed rumble support and 58 percent were disappointed. Somewhat shockingly, 5 percent of the gamers polled would not buy a PS3 if rumble was not included. While many people like the rumble feature, it is hard to believe that this would end up being a deal breaker, despite Immersion’s wish that this would be true.
Ipsos also makes some interesting conclusions about the rumble/vibration feature. They claim that gamers are “unaware that this capability must be present in the console to experience vibration feedback with any gamepad controller…” Ipsos doesn’t seem to be aware of the genesis of the vibration feedback function. First, there is no indication that this support has been removed from the Playstation 3. Second, if this kind of support had to be built into the console then rumble could never have been added after the fact to the Nintendo 64 or the original Playstation. Certainly, one would have a hard time adding interactive rumble to a game that previously didn’t support the feature, but vibration feedback falls into the realm of support for software and the peripherals, not the base console itself.
Still, the survey does feature some interesting numbers about next generation console adoption. Separating the numbers from the vibration bias, it does appear that fewer previous generation console owners are going to be adopting the Playstation 3. The survey showed that among those owners, the marketshare numbers shift to 48 percent Playstation 3 owners, 37 percent Xbox 360, and 15 percent Wii. Ipsos doesn’t indicate if the option to purchase one or more consoles was given. Overall, the survey gives some interesting material for discussion, but given the relatively small sample size and the focus on vibration feedback, it is hard to give the survey a lot of weight.
Read More | Ipsos
Report: North America To Get One Million Wiis
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Wii,
A report from investment group Mackenzie Financial would have North America receiving one million Wii consoles on launch day. The report quotes Ron Bertram, Nintendo of Canada VP and General Manager as saying that they are “looking at a million (units) for North America at launch.” He then continues, “If we get what we’re supposed to get, this will be our most plentiful launch… in… 15 years…” The second qualifying statement makes the statement less firm. So, while nothing is completely confirmed for the launch numbers, at least Nintendo of Canada is aiming high. Launch numbers for the new console have ranged from a low of 400,000 to the current high, one million, and the actual numbers will probably fall somewhere in between. Still, it at least seems that Nintendo will be in a better position unit-wise than Sony in the US.
Update: Nintendo issued the following bizarre “correction” to this story at Gamespot.com:
A number of outlets have reported a misstatement about the number of Wii consoles that will be available in the Americas during the launch rollout. In fact, the truth is even better. After the Americas lead the worldwide launch on Nov. 19, Nintendo expects to sell 4 million Wii consoles globally by the end of 2006, with the largest allotment available in the Americas. Although we expect a huge demand for the consoles, we are working to ensure a plentiful supply and a consistent flow.
Does this mean more than one million consoles for launch, or is this just Nintendo being coy with the blogging world?
Read More | Mackenzie Financial via GameDaily
Ubisoft Leaks New Game Information Via FTP
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, First Person Shooters, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, PSP, Screenshots, Wii, Xbox 360,
Information on a bunch of Ubisoft’s future game releases was leaked through a public file on Ubisoft’s FTP server. The 2 GB RAR-compressed file included information on games like Far Cry 2, Far Cry PSP, a Star Wars PSP title, new TMNT games, a new entry in the Splinter Cell series called Conviction and much more. The file was pulled, but not before members of the NeoGAF forums could pull down a copy. Images and other assets have are being slowly posted into the forum thread by people with a copy of the archive file.
Read More | NeoGAF Forums
Nintendo has said that they have been throwing secret underground Wii events across the country, and Siliconera has a couple of links to gamers that have been able to attend a recent party in Los Angeles. People attending the party were lead to a secret location, where they were able to be among the first to play such titles as Wii Sports, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Rayman Raving Rabbits, Trauma Center: Second Opinion,Excite Truck, and more. Fairly lengthy impressions can be found in the blog and forum posts, but overall it seemed like the general feeling was good about the games presented. All attendees also got a coupon for a free Wii remote when they purchase a system later.
Update: Another Nintendo Underground Party Here
Read More 
| Nintendo Forums via Siliconera
Read More | eToychest via Siliconera
Gamestop Testing New Pre-Order Program
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 3, Rumors, Wii,
Word of a new test program for pre-orders at GameStop/EBGames surfaced this weekend. GoNintendo found a thread on the NeoGAF forums pointing to pre-orders for the Wii and Playstation 3 opening for one week, starting September 18. The key part of the pre-order program was the catch: gamers would only be able to place a pre-order by trading in $50 in games or accessories. However, this “improved” pre-order program would not actually fix any of the problems faced by gamers last year. The pre-order would not guarantee a system at launch (or even during the holidays) and effect doesn’t really even hold your place in line.
Since the initial report, it has been confirmed by GoNintendo that the trade-in program is going to be a test program, only for GameStop stores in Hawaii and Guam. GameStop is apparently trying to determine how effective a program would be.
It is pretty easy to understand why GameStop would want to make gamers trade in software and accessories to hold their place in line for a Wii or a Playstation 3; trade-in sales made up by far the largest percentage of gross profit on last year’s annual report. GameStop gets the highest gross margin from used software sales; so much so, that it appears that trade-in software is more valuable to the company than cash. Trade-ins are traditionally the worst possible deal for the consumer, giving meager amounts of money for software that is then turned around and sold for large profits.
So, GameStop has huge incentive to push gamers towards trade-ins. But along with this horrendously punishing trade-in program, little is being done to fix their broken pre-order system. Like last year, the pre-order only gives the customer a place in line at the store they pre-ordered from. Gamers also witnessed in-store hard sell programs, where people that put money down on more of the profit-generating software and accessories got to jump in line. The new program seems to address this somewhat, but a place in line means nothing if the stores never get the product. When the Xbox 360 launched, gamers holding pre-order tickets would see GameStop and EBGames place huge, expensive bundle systems online, while stores were crying for product. GameStop has shown in the past that they care little for the people that have given them money in the promise of a game console at or near launch, and these new moves would seem to indicate that they have learned little from the past.
Read More | NeoGAF
Read More | GoNintendo
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