Just downloaded this. I'm excited for WiiWare. Also, I'm glad that Nintendo is showing Europe & Australia some love. If they could just get SSBB...

The one we got did not mention May 2008. This is in the US.

@RavingRabbid:
The one I got said "This Spring," not May.

And I'm in the US.

@DynoMite: You know, I am so hardly a fan of SSBB, and I still have to say that it's actually kind of terrible that Nintendo didn't just launch it in Europe at the same time as in America. I mean, seriously.

Woohoo, I sent a tip in about this,obviously to late though. Now all we have to do is see if we get the DS download service before wiiware. I do hope so as I don't get out of the house much now.
I love the way that they add the year because most PAL gamers would see May and think OOh nice, we get the service in the spring of 2009!

@DynoMite: I got that too. Sweetness another reason to go back on the Wii now, just got to go pick up my SSBB tomorrow.

@RavingRabbid: Are you 100% sure? If so then this almost certainly confirms it for May.

Hurray for Pal Wii Ware.

BTW: Is Kotaku hurting for money? The advertisement space seems to be expanding rapidly. That AceCombat Six banner in the middle of the posts is a whopper. At first I thought I had reached the bottom of the front page.

I'm sure this is a oversite nintendo NEVER shows love to pal regions ever, even mario karts so called compensation is laughable

Thanks everyone re the "Spring" message for US owners. Post updated.

I got his message while I was playing SSBB. I didn't even knew the wii got messages during games. My wiiconnect and standby connection is turned off. I got it like after 1 hour of play

@King Louse:
The update says the following-

"An update to your Wii Shop Channel is now available. This update is needed in order to access WiiWare games launching later this spring."

So yeah, this should be neat. Can't wait for some Tetris.

Woah... that launch is so close...
I *really* hope Nintendo releases an Hard Drive before it starts; I only have enough place for a few future savegames now...

@nlyonssmith: agreed. The advertising is really an eyesore right now.

@nlyonssmith:
Careful man, I already got some assholes calling for my head because I mentioned the same thing in the previous post. I agree with you, but a random story is (as I've learned) not the place to bring it up.

@nlyonssmith: Firefox + Adblock Plus = Kotaku has ads?

So, has anyone confirmed that this update kills the Freeloader?

Yes, I would like to know that too...

Any info about freeloader yet?

This seems to be an update just for the Wii Shop Channel. The console's version is still 3.2, and the FreeLoader still does the normal screen warping thing (I can't test it with any import games, as my copy of SSBB hasn't arrived yet).

I think it must be a translation error - what they mean is that WiiWare MAY be launched in 2008. And then again it may not.

I got this exact same message on my UK Wii, so who knows, maybe they are planning a PAL release. Although somehow I doubt It, maybe there just preparing all the Wiis regardless if WiiWare is going to be released anytime soon.

I got a download too, but I'm pretty sure it said "Later this Spring" instead of a solid release date. Thing is, I'm in AMERICA. I think they might have mixed up the messages for the territories.

I'm not joking.

Still waiting for that SSBB Euro release date.

@smitty1123: Firefox + Adblock + all Gawker sites slightly redesigning last week = having to browse Kotaku with Adblock turned off, lest I have it look like absolute, near-unreadable garbage :(

@NinjaMarion: Yeah, something about the Gawker-wide redesign did that. Got nothing to do with the ads. No idea when/if it'll be fixed, but for what it's worth, sorry :)

I don'y think Nintendo would send false information to so many Wiis. Shame I'm gonna be far too busy with GTA4 to take advantage of Pokemon Ranch...

Wooo! Im from Europe/Germany and it said May and the text was in german. Now just getting the same launch titles ...

NOOOOOOO!! Just ordereed a freeloader and a US Brawl.
and plan on getting a US No More Heroes.

I just got this message last night right at Midnight and I updated my Wii. I didn't notice any changes under the WiiWare section visually though. :P

@Luke Plunkett: Well obviously it's something in my filters blocking a major aspect of the site since the redesign, I just have no clue what specifically it would be, and my filter list is large enough that it'd be a huge pain to try to find out what exactly it is. So, for now, I'm just stuck leaving Adblock disabled on Kotaku. It's really not that bad that it's unbearable, but it annoyed the crap outta me at first since it took like 5 minutes to realize it was Adblock causing it.

Plus I'm sure it helps the site at least a little, which is something I've got no problem doing.

@Venusy: I guess that means there's no point trying to run channels from an SD card or hooking up a USB storage device yet.

@108: Mario Kart April 11, Wii Fit April 25th. I guess they'll throw it at us when there's a gap in the schedule

April 25th= also my birthday ^_^ WOO EXERCISE FOR A PRESENT!

I'm not updated until I absolutely have to, in case it's a disguised update that fucks with Brawl + Freeloader. :o

updating* four posts in a row, hell yeahhh

HOPE DREAM PRAY even I got the message very very excited.