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ENGADGET.COM - Yeah, so we already know most, if not all, of the gory details, but we're here live in New York for Nintendo's US press conference for the Wii anyway. We'll have updates on the regular, stay tuned! 9:20AM EST - Perrin Kaplan is on stage doing an introduction. 9:21AM - Reggie! He walks on, "We will reveal all the relevant information for the Wii." "Today marks our next planned step in driving this industry forward." 9:23AM - "Our strategy is based on one core belief: brining gaming back to the masses. It's literally that simple. Appealing to current gamers as well as broadening the market. Four landmarks we've brought to market. Today marks the fifth. The first, the Nintendo DS." 9:26AM - "How we changed the user interface, with two screens, voice activated microphone, changed the definition of what a video game could be. 2nd: Introduction of touch-sensitive games. Nintendogs, Brain Age. DS supplements your life instead of replacing it. Is it working? Definitely. New Super Mario Bros. exclusively for DS. Sold to 1M players in less than two weeks. What's driving growth are new players enjoying new types of games. In past four months, New Super Mario Bros. represents 35% of first party sales. Touch-generation represents 39% of sales." 9:27AM - "So far in 2006 everyone is pleased with industry revenue growth at 8%. Nintendo DS is up 142% over last year. Take away DS, industry only at 2% growth. Nintendo WiFi Connection is the 3rd. 4th, the Wii controller." 9:29AM - "The Wii Remote. The reaction has been astounding. The 5th step is today. We're not just altering the interface between player and game, but in the household. Here's the hard news: Wii November 19th, worldwide debut happens right here in the Americas, same place as Nintendo DS. On Nov. 19th, avail. in 25,000 retailers in the Americas." 9:30AM - "MSRP: $249. One price, one config, one color: white. This simplicity allows us to maximize volume throughout the Americas. Our shipment goal worldwide is 4M consoles during the 43 days between launch and Dec 31. The Americas will receive the largest share, a continuous flow of units." Continued...
ENGADGET.COM - If you've tossed around the idea of modding your DS, but never bit the bullet due to the ridiculous amount of loopholes you had to jump through to get your homebrew game on, DS-Xtreme has got you covered. While the precise details of how this thing works its magic are a bit scarce, we do know that the company claims this wonder-working cart will allow you to not only run your favorite homebrew applications on your DS without any software / hardware hacks or workarounds whatsoever, but it also rocks a built-in GUI that interfaces with Windows XP via USB 2.0 for some remarkably easy drag 'n drop action. All this sounds mighty impressive, especially compared to the PassMe alternative that required a old fashion GBA flash card, linker, and a DS game just to get you up and running; the DS-shaped cartridge features 512MB (4Gb) of built-in storage space, USB 2.0 connectivity, a full sized onboard EEprom "complete with some serious custom engineering," and a snazzy GUI that apparently makes managing your apps a breeze. If you've been fantisizing over an easier way to get homebrew material on your Nintendo DS or DS Lite, the DS-X flash cart appears to a dream come true, but considering there's no specific release date nor price, we're forced to play the "wait and see" game on this one.
GAMESPOT.COM - Famitsu.com hit the streets of Tokyo today to find out how the new Noble Pink Nintendo DS Lite was selling. Rather well, it turns out.  At the Ikebukuro electronics shop Big Camera in Japan, customers began arriving as early as 3 a.m., forming a line that grew to 160 people by opening time and to over 400 by 11:30 a.m. It also seems that many Noble Pink buyers purchased it along with Nintendo's new talking cookbook software, Shaberu! DS Ryori Navi, which also launched today. The popularity of the new color was not limited to the Ikebukuro area. A Big Camera representative told the site that lines reached 130 people at the company's Yurakucho branch. Over in Akihabara, Famitsu.com conducted an impromptu demographic survey at the Yodobashi Camera Multimedia store, where lines swelled to nearly 200 people by 9 a.m. Although a store representative said there were almost twice as many women in line for a DS Lite than usual, Famitsu observed that men still outnumbered the ladies by a wide margin. When asked why they were purchasing the pearly pink DS Lite, many of the guys said they were buying on behalf of female family members. Out of the 25 men Famitsu spot-interviewed, 16 said they were buying the item as a gift.
GAMESPOT.COM - Nintendo's Animal Crossing franchise is unique in that it doesn't have a traditional story, there's no real beginning or end, and the main character is unique to each individual. However, those factors won't stop the game from being made into a movie. The Web site for the movie adaptation of the game has launched, and it reveals some basic details of the film. Doubutsu No Muri (the Japanese title for the film and its game inspiration) will be released on December 16 this year and will be fully animated. Handling the directing will be Jouji Shimura, who directed the anime movie Shin Angyo Onshi, and screenwriting duties were filled by Aya Matsui (Marmalade Boy, Ranma 1/2). According to the Web site, the movie will feature much of the spirit of the Animal Crossing games. The plot summary on the site reads: "Doubutsu (Animal) Village is a place where humans and animals live together in friendship. One day, a girl named Ai moves to the village. She gets a part time job, and gradually starts making friends in the village. Then, one night she finds a mysterious letter in a bottle on the beach. Opening the bottle, she finds the message reads 'A miracle will occur the night of the Snow Festival'..." In addition to Ai, Kappei, the taxi driver from the games, will make an appearance. Also featured in the film will be Kotobuki, the town's mayor; Tanukichi, the raccoon shop owner; and Alberto, a mellow alligator. There is no word yet of a North American release for the movie.
JOYSTIQ.COM - Nintendo finally got back to us about reports of cracked DS Lite hinges. Here's the official statement we were sent: "In the U.S., the reported number of small cosmetic cracks in the plastic hinge of DS Lite systems represents less than 0.02 percent of the total units sold. This cosmetic issue in no way impacts the gameplay or integrity of the DS Lite. Nintendo stands behind the quality of our products and encourages DS Lite owners to contact our Customer Service Department if they are not happy with the functionality of their systems."The 0.02% figure is based solely on reported cracked hinges, and as such, does not reflect the actual percentage of defective DS Lites. While merely cosmetic -- know that some reports claim the damage can worsen -- the crack, in our opinion, should be considered under the DS Lite's warranty. But don't go crying to Customer Service just yet ... if the instance is as rare -- and harmless -- as Nintendo claims, these imperfections will no doubt end up as collector's items sold on eBay. Who wants to place the first bid on ours?
GAMASUTRA.COM - Nintendo of America announced a publicity event to take place during the grand opening of the Solera at Stallion Mountain Recreation Center in Las Vegas, showcasing its Brain Age DS software's interest for a retirement-age demographic. During the event, hundreds of seniors aged 55 and older will have an opportunity to play Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, a game designed to keep people's minds active with mental workouts that incorporate the voice-command and touch-screen capabilities of Nintendo DS. In addition, Nintendo noted that ten individuals will win a Nintendo DS Lite and a copy of Brain Age. The event will take place Saturday, July 15, between 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. PDT.
GIZMODO.COM - Kotaku is giving Nintendo DS Lites every Friday in June. If that weren’t hot enough, each one comes with one or two games and there will be a drawing for the grand prize winner—who will get an even hotter black DS from Ireland. Interested? All you have to do is crack the code. Some of the clues are hidden in the posts of Kotaku, and remember: “nrytt xrfwy ktwdt zuzsd ptyfp znyjx.” Anyone have their copy of Codebreaker handy? Kotaku’s Summer of Prizes: Weekly DS Lite Give-Away [Kotaku]
YAHOO.COM - Gamers still mulling their options following the unveiling of cool new consoles from Nintendo and Sony at the recent E3 2006 conference might want to take a closer look at the Wii, given that Nintendo has formally priced the machine well below the competing boxes. The price, $250, is half the cost of Sony's $499 PlayStation 3 console and considerably less than Microsoft's top-end Xbox 360 that sells for about $400. Nintendo has set its sights on shipping six million Wii systems worldwide between its launch later this year and the end of March 2007. The company also said it expects to sell 17 million Wii games during that period. The lower price tag could help the company gain some ground on Microsoft, which effectively is a year ahead of both Nintendo and Sony in introducing the Xbox 360 late last year.
GAMASUTRA.COM - In a brief English-language press release following the company's financial results, Nintendo has reconfirmed several details regarding the forthcoming launch of its Wii next-console, including prospective pricing and overall unit predictions/sales growth.
Coming off a successful year as the only major console/game manufacturer to regularly and explicitly make a profit, and with lifetime sales of Game Boy Advance at 75 million, and 16 million units already shipped for the DS/DS Lite, it's clear that Nintendo is continuing to target its goal of expanding the game market through alternate control systems, game styles, and concepts with gusto.
Specifically, the Nintendo of America-released statement states: "Nintendo also confirmed that the price of the Wii system, which incorporates unique freehand control, will not exceed $250 in America, or 25,000 yen in Japan." This figure is obviously far cheaper than the $299/$399 launch pricing for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and $499/$599 for PlayStation 3.
It's also specified: "The company plans to ship 6 million systems to retailers around the world between its launch in the fourth quarter of 2006 and the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2007." Sony has announced a cumulative 6 million units by March 31, 2007 for PS3, and Microsoft, having a headstart, has not yet predicted forward that far for Xbox 360.
Finally, it's also noted: "The company also said it expects to sell 17 million Wii games in the period. Exact launch dates, identification of the launch library of titles and details on the unique Virtual Console aspect of Wii will be announced soon."
GAMASUTRA.COM - Online fans have discovered that Nintendo of America has registered a large number of Wii-related Web domains, including a number of provocatively named URLs such as WiiKaraoke.com and WiiBreeding.com.
Over forty separate domains have so far been uncovered including WiiSports.com, WiiCooking.com, WiiVC.com (presumably a reference to the virtual console), WiiWorld.com, WiiConnect24.com (the always-on download service described at Nintendo’s E3 media briefing), WiiActive24.com and WiiAlive24.com.
Although it is likely that many of the domains may have been acquired simply to prevent other parties from registering them first, many - such as WiiSchool.com, WiiChallenger.com and WiiCreator.com - are obscure enough to imply a specific intended use on Nintendo’s part.
The domain which has excited the greatest amount of online speculation though is WiiKaraoke.com, which some have seen as confirmation of rumors that the Wii remote has a built-in microphone as well as speaker. In reality though a microphone could easily be a separate attachment – either a headset or a new peripheral which attaches to the Wii remote instead of the “nunchuck” controller.
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Live at Nintendo's NYC Wii Press Conference
9:21AM - Reggie! He walks on, "We will reveal all the relevant information for the Wii." "Today marks our next planned step in driving this industry forward."