Just How Long Does A Wii Last On A Store Shelf, Anyways?

Reggie Teases Nintendo's "Big" Holiday Game Will Be Revealed At E3

Europe Doesn't Get Smash Bros. Brawl Until Fall? [Update]

Brace yourself, PAL region. We know you're used to long waits, but the wait for Super Smash Bros. Brawl may be longer than you thought. According to talk from EGM executive editor Shane Bettenhausen on the most recent 1UP Yours podcast, Europe and its associated colonies and countries may not get their hands on a localized version of Brawl until the Fall. Or Autumn, if that's your thing.

That bad news, which is apparently straight from Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime's mouth, may be one of those things one can chalk up to Wii allocations. That means there could be a strong Wii hardware roll out in the fall across the Atlantic, with a similar flood of Wiis hitting North America for Brawl's March launch. Good news for those still Wii-less, but Euro Wii fans will surely be rioting in the streets. Either that, or enjoying one of its many, many fine outdoor cafes.

Update: Hey, Europe! Put down your torches and rest your rock throwing arm. Nintendo wants to assure you that no official date has been provided for Super Smash Bros. Brawl in your region, a fact backed up by EGM's Shane Bettenhausen. He writes in his 1UP blog that Reggie gave him no such release date, only that Europe was getting Brawl after us Americans.

1UP Yours [1UP]
GDC: loose ends and clarifications [1UP]

Wii To Catch 360 By June, Says Reggie

We think here in the United States the reaction will be just as strong if not stronger given the American focus and psyche on being fit, and the game itself is going to be localized for our audience. We expect to have comparable success here in the U.S. if not a stronger result than what Japan has seen so far... Our sights are set very high for the this product so our goal is to make sure we have over a million units available at launch to support it... There are over 10 games in development that take advantage of the Balance Board. Certainly in terms of ongoing enjoyment, we believe that Wii Fit plus the Balance Board will provide that to the consumer.

Wow, it hasn't been a good week for the New York Times.

Turns out that New York Times story didn't just mix up the DS and PSP's features, oh and misspell Reggie's name twice, it also screwed up what exactly was downloadable to the Wii as a full-blown game and what was just for demos.

That's right, according to Nintendo, the Wii will NOT be able to transmit or download full DS games. Apparently the New York Times confused DS demos with WiiWare titles. So you can download full on Wii games (which we knew), but only wireless DS demo games (which we also knew).

From Nintendo:

An article about the Nintendo DS video game system in the Dec. 31 Business Day section of the New York Times incorrectly referred to future capabilities of the device. The statement that complete Nintendo DS games will eventually be able to be downloaded into the device via a wireless connection with the company's Wii game console is incorrect. Users can download games to play on Wii, and, in the future, the Nintendo DS will be able to receive demo versions of some DS games from Wii, but not the entire game. The demo will be erased once the Nintendo DS is turned off.

Good lord, that's four mistakes in one story, five if you include the correction to the correction they had to run. A new record?

See Correction Number 3 [NYT]

New York Times Corrects, Fils-Aime Correction

Correction: January 3, 2008
An article in Business Day on Monday about Nintendo's video game consoles misspelled the surname of the president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, and a correction in this space on Tuesday gave another incorrect spelling. He is Reggie Fils-Aime — not Fils-Amie or Fils-Aimee.

Good thing they didn't have to pronounce it.

With Wii and DS, Nintendo Has 2 Hit Game Devices [NYT]

Wii Demand Making Future Planning Difficult

Being Elvis seemed like a pretty great life. Rocking for thousands of adoring fans, "showing" a few your dressing room and then passing out on a firm pillow of half-eaten, fried peanut butter and banana and pill sandwiches. But when you're dealing with an insatiable public, it can be difficult to plan a more...sustainable...lifestyle than Elvis had. Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime explains my heavy-handed metaphor:

The level of demand we are facing complicates all of our future business planning,...all of that becomes a much tougher exercise until we have supply and demand curves that intersect.

Nintendo: Wiis Hit Shelves This Weekend

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed today what we first broke earlier this week, Best Buy and six other national retailers will be stocking Wii this weekend. And by stocking I mean they will be advertising the console in their weekly circulars (except Wal-Mart) and then throwing the consoles up on the shelves come the weekend and then running away.

Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us and Circuit City are all stocking the Wii this weekend for those still on the hunt. We had several tips after our rumor story ran about the stock issue.

According to Best Buy tipsters it sounds like all stores will have at least 21 of the consoles with some carrying as many as 100. I've also heard that Best Buy is expecting a second shipment next week which is supposed to go straight to shelves. Most stores will get them sometimes before noon. The bad news is that rumor has it that that will be the last pre-Christmas shipment for Best Buy, though they expect more in early January.

Target, another tipster tells me, has a big stockpile as well, some stores have more than 100. So this weekend sounds like your best chance to pick up a Wii, unless you don't mind buying a raincheck.

Nintendo Wii May Get Voice Chat, But No VC Online Capability

While the Wii isn't known for its particularly awesome online scene (*cough* friend codes *cough*), Nintendo is interested in improving the product. NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime said this morning during a conference call that while they have no interest in adding online multiplayer to Virtual Console titles, voice chat could be coming to the Wii all the same.

We do not anticipate making online gameplay for Virtual Console games. In terms of voice chat... certainly our system has the capability for online voice chat, what it comes down to is finalizing the peripheral... I would not be surprised to see that capability come to this system.

Reggie On Third-Party Wii Game Quality

"On any system you will have a range of quality. Publishers are working extremely hard to take advantage of the Wii and it's unique abilities. Those publishers who do a great job enjoy fantastic sales. As publishers understand how to take advantage of the unique aspects of the remote you will see better and better games. We already have a certification program and publishers need to conform with a number of key aspects to get certified. What we don't do is have some sort of filter for quality, because quality is so subjective. Nintendo is working hand in glove with publishers to share with them our level of expertise with the technology."

Nintendo Announces GameStop Wii Raincheck Program

OK, the call with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is set to start any second now. I'll be trying to liveblog what he has to say and the questions and answers as it happens on the jump.

The invitation said that Fils-Aime would be discussing the "overwhelming demand for the Wii" and Wii supplies through the holidays and beyond. I suspect he will also be talking about the increase in production and distribution we mentioned earlier today.

Reggie-lution on Fox News

I've never watched the new Fox News Channel. But if this interview with Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime is any indication, I don't need to watch. The interviewer can hardly say Reggie's title (chief operating officer) and she talks about how it's exceeding "anticipation" (I think she meant expectation). My favorite part, though, is when they post the Super Mario Galaxy metacritic at the bottom of the screen (a 96).

Nintendo Says 200 Virtual Console Titles By Year's End

Sony, Microsoft "Put Themselves in a Box"

The challenge that our competitors have is significant. They've gone down the path with building expensive machines that they lose money on. They've gone down the path with games that are hard to develop... They've put themselves in a box. I don't know how they're going to get out of it.

The latest issue of Brandweek names Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime the Grand Marketer of the Year, saying that the man behind Nintendo of America preached the gospel of gaming and converted moms and the elderly into Wii addicts.

The spread inside the magazine lays out in more detail why Fils-Aime got the top pick, but mostly it's all the stuff we already know: He's flamboyant, loves to smack talk and is riding the success of what Brandweek calls bottled lightning. The piece also includes quotes from both Kotaku and Joystiq as well as some Chuck Norris-esque quotes about the marketeer.

Now, what about that whole logistics problem Nintendo is having with getting their consoles onto shelves, when is that going to be solved?

You Too Can Say "Fils-Aime" Correctly