Abot to head out for the day, but wanted to get some Wii Bits posted as there’s a few cool things I wanted to show you guys. I recently got in Call of Duty 3 for the Wii and I plan on playing that today for an upcoming review. Yeah, it’s an older title now, but I wanted to play some catch up so if you haven’t played it and need another look at it, I’ll have the review for it up shortly.

Anyone pick up Super Paper Mario yet? Let us know what you think about it in the comments here, what you like, don’t like, if you’ve beaten it how long it took, everything! There’s so much good news about the future of the Wii; I can’t wait for the Resident Evil titles, there’s rumors of SPM and DS connectivity, Guitar Hero coming to the system, the Metroid 3, Smash Bros titles, so much stuff coming and I didn’t even count the Virtual Console possibilities. Ok check out these Wii Bits and I’ll be back later to update more news as it comes:

- Want to listen to some music on your Wii from Virgin records? Follow this link and click the “Listen Now” button from your Wii and enjoy Virgin radio!

- The Tanooki has a look at a cool looking Donkey Kong replication using a few windows and tons of Post-It notes. They did an amazing job mapping out the level and characters with the notes, check the pics at the link there.

- Check out the little picture below or found here as some seem to think it means some kind of DS connectivity may be coming to Super Paper Mario. I haven’t played the title just yet to see what context the phrase is said in or what happens after that, but DS connectivity would be great!

- The NEOGaf forums have some interesting stats looking at software units sold for the PS3 and Wii systems with the Wii ending up selling twice as much hardware and 4 times as much software than the PS3. The PS3 has an attach rate of 1.35 while the Wii has an attach rate of 2.30 as well, check the link for the full breakdown and numbers.

- And lastly, I leave you with this 3 minute video showing off Mortal Kombat: Armageddon complete with tons of gameplay footage and explanations as to how the controls will work:

“Wii Bits on a Sunday?”, you may be asking? Ok or maybe you aren’t, but I normally don’t do too many updates over the weekend, especially on Sunday as we declare it “Family Day” around here with the wife and our brand spanking new 5 month old boy (who is just going to love video games, I can already tell). I didn’t update anything yesterday though and couldn’t stand not updating anything for today also so I figured I’d at least get a couple news bits up for you fine folks to enjoy.

I’ve also got a couple of reviews coming that I’ve been working on, one for SSX Blur and one for Tony Hawk Downhill Jam. I know I’m kinda late to the party with the Downhill Jam one but I have a backlog of games I wanted to play and get reviewed for the site and perhaps some of you haven’t played the earlier games in the Wii’s lifespan. I’ve also got Trauma Center I will be reviewing soon enough as it’s a pretty cool little puzzle type game that’s got some original stuff going on.

Alright, without further ado, let’s see what’s going on in the world of the Wii:

- If you’re looking for a replacement case for your Wii and are brave enough to tear it open to do so, you could check out the SHOCKii black Wii replacement cover. It looks cool enough, but I just don’t think I personally want to go about ripping open my Wii given how hard they are to find still and the fact it would void the great warranty the system offers. If you do mod it with this, take shots and let us know!

- Want to know how Spiderman for the Wii is going to work out? Check out this video and watch as the product manager for the game shows it off. In short, you use the remote and nunchuk to shoot out the web, swing around, and fight in the game, helping you feel like you are Spiderman! Check out the video as it shows off some gameplay from the upcoming Wii title.

- Get ready for Guitar Hero on the Nintendo Wii as it’s been just about confirmed at this point in the May issue of NGamer. Guitar Hero makes perfect sense for the system as the game itself is an amazing seller and can appeal to many owners of the Nintendo Wii that didn’t get to play it on the PS2 or now the 360. I’ve got GH1 for the PS2 and would still repurchase it for the Wii just to have this version (and my PS2 is dying a slow death lately). No release date is given, we’ll keep you up to date with any news or possible screens we find.

- Here’s a cool article over at 4ColorRebellion talking about a shop owner that is all too familiar with the Nintendo systems selling out. He speaks from experience from the days of the Famicon system and how it sold out for 3 years straight with people asking daily if he had any in stock. This is a strong parallel to the Nintendo DS and the Wii as you still cannot find them in stock anywhere and not because they aren’t making enough so much as they are just that popular. At last count, the Wii has sold over 6 million units in just under 5 months which is simply amazing. The DS has sold precisely 100 bajillionzillion units last I heard as well.

- And lastly, I leave you with this video of Tiger Woods impersonating Charles Barkley and his golf swing for a Tiger Woods 07 commercial for the Wii:

Some very cool things going on, we recently joined a new site that delivers games called NumbThumb.com as I wanted to start doing reviews and so far, so great! On Saturday, we got in two new titles, Sonic and the Secret Rings and SSX Blur and I can’t wait to check them out. Weekends are hectic around here so I didn’t get time to pop them into the Wii over the weekend, but I will be playing them today for sure. I’ll make some videos of the games in action and have a written review of them both very shortly with impressions on what I thought of them.

Lots of rumors going around about the Wii starting with the external hard drive and then there’s the magical mysterious game being announced next month from many gaming magazines. All bets are on NiGHTS at this point as for the secret game announcement and as for the hard drive, well Nintendo has apparently knocked that one down while announcing the official mic and headset coming to the DS.

There’s always something cool going on in the land of the Nintendo Wii, let’s check out some Wii Bits for today:

- Aussie-Nintendo has news of two new titles that have been rated by the OFLC; Mario and Yoshi and what is known in America as Ninja Gaiden, both from the NES. I think there is still a debate going on as to which version of Ninja Gaiden rocked more, the NES version or the original arcade version. I dug them both so it would rock to see Ninja Gaiden on the Virtual Console in any form.

- San Jose Mercury News has an interview up with Reggie Fils-Aimes which covers various topics including the demand for the system, how they were taken off guard by said demand, and how they plan on improving the situation. He also discusses the Wii Remotes going through the TV’s and how they address those instances.

- If you’re looking to change your Wii case, here’s a chromed out Wii case you could switch to if you want it to really stand out. I’m not brave enough to take apart my Wii system just yet as I’m afraid I’d break something and not be able to find another, but it still looks cool nonetheless. Almost Terminator-ish.

- Do you know the history of Nintendo? If not, check out this interesting article up at MSN.Com which covers the history of Nintendo starting with their humble roots as a card game maker and ending with our beloved Wii system.

- Here’s an interesting read covering the Power Source area back in the day on AOL and how Nintendo employees used to chat it up with the fans on the service. I was never a part of this sadly, but it would have been neat chatting it up with the Nintendo Game Counselors.

- Another rumor here, will Katamari Damacy make it to the Wii? Maybe so says a radio show named Orange Lounge Radio. OLR announced that “Beautiful Katamari” will be coming to the Wii in November, just after the PS3 and 360 versions with a $30 price point. This has not been confirmed by Namco, but it only seems like a natural fit given the gameplay that encompasses the Katamari series.

- And last, I leave you with this cool video of a high school drum line playing a few Nintendo hit songs:

Wednesday, hump day, here’s hoping I get some work done today! I’ve got some video reviews to bring, the Nintendo Power writeup, and a fresh, exciting track from Excitetruck to whip up for you fine folks and I should have all of that up by tonight. There’s also a couple of other article ideas I had which I’ll be fleshing out and getting started on soon.

You know what I forgot about? How freaking tough Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts was/is! The limited movement controls (no in air controls) really make the game tough, the double jump is nice, but man the game is brutal! Maybe I’m just getting old and feeble in my days.. Surely I got past level 1 when I was about 15 and playing it on the SNES? Last night, I gave the game a go and couldn’t even make it to the first checkpoint on level 1 after around 20 tries. Relentless! Tricky game you have here, Capcom, tricky game. It’s still fun times though, I enjoy alot of things from the game including it’s art and sound, the cool weapons, the enemy styles, and who doesn’t like romping through a graveyard killing zombies? As hard as the game is, I feel compelled to keep playing and trying as I want to see what’s coming next.

I was also checking out Elevator Action and for the time it was released, is a bit more in depth than say Burgertime. Using elevators and escalators, shooting and jump-kicking the enemies, shooting out the lights, gathering the secret documents, and finally reaching the bottom floor to escape is fun for a bit. Not that I would recommend it for everyone by any means, but it is a cool game that I could see myself playing now and again. I’m also a sucker for nostalgia so that carries some weight. Great, now I want to play Burgertime too.

Ok, here’s some Wii Bits for today!

- Cubed3.com has a bit of news stating that Sega plans on implementing both, Mii’s and online play into their upcoming pachinko game for the Wii. The game is set to hit Japan in May and would be good news if Sega was to use the Mii system and online play.

- Has Nintendo redefined the industry? An article over at TechDiversions.com discusses this and how Nintendo has handled themselves this time around. In the end, they agree Nintendo needs to keep things fresh and fun for the system to thrive in the market and make changes.

- NGCFrance has three new shots up from Blazing Angels showing off some scenes from the WWII fighter plane game. The game looks good, I just wonder how the controls will work with it.

- Here’s some very cool works of art using old NES cartridges as the canvas. Not only do I like the idea of using the NES carts, but the guy has some skills with his designs as well. Some very big name games, it’s be cool to have one of them framed and up on the wall in a box of some kind.

- And for our fun video for the day, check out Perrin Kaplan in this classic video showing off the Virtual Boy:

Welcome to Tuesday! I’ve got the video reviews for this weeks VC releases coming so if you want to see what they look like on the system or hear my take on the games, check back tomorrow, I should have them up and done by then. Not a terrible amount of Wii news going on today, but I’ll post what I can find. The GDC is going on so we’ll also be keeping an ear and both eyes open for any news coming from that.

Here’s some Wii Bits for today!

- The Chicago Redeye has a Nintendo Wii article up discussing it’s fitness benefits. It’s great to see outlets talking about gaming like this with health type angles being discussed; it’s a far cry from the couch potato, video game playing fatbody.

- Looks like Nintendo is using the Touch! Generations branding on the Wii system as well as the DS. Check out the link for pics of ads that are using the tagline for various Wii products.

- Blazing Angels to have online!? We spoke of the rumor before and it turns out that’s all it was. A low down, dirty, rotten, no good rumor. Wii-UK.net did some legwork and contacted Ubisoft themselves to put the issue to rest and in the end, the Wii version will not have any online capabilities what so ever.

- Want to know more about Bust-a-Move Bash! for the Wii? Check out GamePro’s fact sheet here!

- VideoGameVS has an interesting article up discussing why the Wii has had so many 1st party game delays and they seem to point at marketing. Not too far fetched and is easily understandable. Why does Nintendo need to sell Mario Party 8 any sooner when they are still selling systems like hotcakes and the third party lineup is growing every month? No need to saturate the market with their AAA titles so quickly, they can wait and time the releases. They know the average gamer could care less and us hardcore folks? Well.. We’ll still wait up, now won’t we? To quote Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka, “I want it NOW!!”

- Lastly, check out this guys skills when it comes to playing Super Monkey Ball for the Wii. Some impressive moves here!

Another Monday, another nice lineup of games for the Virtual Console! Expect a video review for all of these titles coming early this week from yours truly. We’ll also have more from our Excitetruck Marathon being posted daily, I spend Sunday with the family which explains why we skip a day there. I’ve also got my Nintendo Power in for this month and will be bringing you a post talking about what all is in that Wii news wise.

How cool would it be to see Killer Instinct from the SNES or N64 on the Wii Virtual Console in the future? Or Golden Eye? Yes, yes, Golden Eye with online multiplayer would be the best thing ever, but I think we all know that’s probably not going to happen. Just having Golden Eye in it’s original state would be nice to have some fun with as I remember the 4 player multi being quite fun and that was on a 22″ TV back in the day. Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, and Conkers Bad Fur Day would all be very cool to play through again on the system as well.

Other titles I’m looking forward to that are not quite Rare related for the Virtual Console are:

- Pilotwings for the SNES
- Punch-Out! for NES (Or Super-Punch Out! from the SNES)
- Zelda II from the NES (want to show the wife this one and how it was quite different)
- MegaMan series from the NES
- Wave Race from the N64
- Super Metroid
- Goonies II for NES
- Final Fantasy series from NES/Snes
- Super Mario 3 from the NES

Ok I just realized I have a ton of games I am looking forward to coming for the Wii VC. Tell you what, you let us know what games you’re looking forward to in our comments here, I’ll post some Wii Bits! Here we go:

- GameDaily has posted a review for Kororinpa and they seem to like it. Even if you already own Monkey Ball for the Wii, it appears to bring a few more ideas to the table making it worth checking out. I want to for sure as I’m a big fan of these kinds of games.

- The LA Times has an article talking about the Nintendo Wii and how it gets players moving, pushing them into mini-workouts and maybe even having them lose weight when they least expect it. They also talk about Mickey DeLorenzo and how he lost 9 lbs. playing the system.

- Saleswise, Nintendo is just over the 5 million mark according to VGCharts.org. This puts it right around the halfway mark compared to the 360’s overall sales in just 3 months.

- Here’s an interesting look at a pre-release version of Super Mario Bros 2 from the NES days. As you may know, SMB2 was not originally a Super Mario title, it was in fact based heavily on Doki Doki Panic which explains the new worlds, interface, and more to the game. Check out this page to see how the game looked originally, in pre-release, and then after release as comparisons.

- Funny picture of a guy selling Ocarina’s at a Renaissance Fair.

- And lastly, here’s some quick details on the upcoming title, Manhunt 2 from GamesRadar.com. Sounds very evil and crazy so far!

Alright, more news coming, I’m off to check out these VC games and work on that Nintendo Power writeup for you guys.

We got our Wii component cables in yesterday and while the picture is amazingly better, there is also a slight downside for my model of LCD TV that I’m still trying to workout. When playing Wii games, or in the Wii Channels menu, there is a 1/2″ black border around every side of the screen and it doesn’t fill my entire 37″ LCD. I’ve fiddled with settings on the TV and even found someone else on the internet in a HDTV forums with the same issue so I think I’ll just write it off as a nuisance, but by far nothing that would make me go back to the composite A/V cables.

The picture quality is much better across all games, almost too good in older N64 games like Zelda:OoT where some textures are very, very sharp to the point their faults stick out instead of blur just a bit the way they did using a standard definition TV with composite A/V cables. You’d have to see it to understand I suppose and again, it’s nothing that would make me not want to use the cables and 480p settings as the game overall looks much better. Super Nintendo games look incredibly sharp, certain icons and wording that used to be blurry or “smudged” looking is now crystal clear to the pixel. The colors look much better and overall Zelda:Link to the Past looks better than ever playing with the setup. I checked out Excitetruck and Wii Sports as well and they both looked much better, in Wii Sports Tennis, there is grass on the court that I hadn’t noticed before. Overall, if you have the component inputs on your TV, HD or not, get the cables and make the best out of the system and your TV.

Some interesting things going on in the world of the Wii, starting with that Blazing Angels rumor of it having online play and some other news I’ll be covering in the Wii Bits for today:

- John Dvorak has nothing but praise in his latest article titled “Ode to the Wii”. In it he discusses the unique controller, games that have caught his heart from the system, and the future of gaming and how the Wii sits.

- I’m still looking for a better source on this, but according to DigitalBattle.com, Epyx has announced they will be bringing a few of their Commodore 64 games to the Wii VC. Some possible games include Ballblazer, California Games, Final Assault, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Jumpman, Space Station Oblivion, Summer Games, and more.

- ComputerandVideoGames.com has an article up where Geoff Thomas, producer at Radical Entertainment has let them know that Scarface will make great use of the Wii, even rivaling the PS2 and XBOX version at times. He’s quoted as saying, “The Wii has a lot of horsepower under the hood and we’re making full use of it.” It will be interesting to see how the game turns out on the Wii system, I found it quite enjoyable on the XBOX personally.

- Would you like a Sheik figurine from the Legend of Zelda series? First4Figures has you covered with this 9″ tall figurine of the Shiek. Better get it quick as only 2,500 are going to be made.

- Couple of rumors going on as to what may be coming on Monday for the US VC release. First up there’s this post at GoNintendo.com saying Tecmo Bowl may be coming and then there’s this post at GoNintendo also talking about Super Ghouls N’ Ghosts showing up on a secret page. If true, these would be some fine additions for the VC for Monday. I’m hoping they bring one of the Punch-Out’s soon as those were some of my favorite games for the NES and SNES.

- And for the last bit here, check out this gameplay video from Alien Syndrome:

Welcome to March! Now that we’ve wrapped up our Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time review, we’re going to go back through and finish off all of the Zelda’s in the series, starting with Zelda:Link to the Past from the Virtual Console. We’ve already finished the NES version again although I suppose we could do the 2nd quest in the game for extra bonus. We eventually want to beat Link to the Past, then Ocarina of Time, then Wind Waker, and finally Twilight Princess. If they release Zelda II for the VC, we’ll tackle that one as well. I say “we” as the wife enjoys playing through them also and she’s been a great help burning through Ocarina of Time in the past week.

I’ve seen people in comment sections and other forums asking “Which game should I get for my Wii besides Zelda and Wii Sports?” and I normally reply “Excitetruck!!” I cannot hit home enough how most of the reviews about this game totally understated how much fun the game is. The game is a blast and to hit that point home, I’m going to start an “Excitetruck Video Marathon” for a couple of weeks where I go through each and every track in the game, videoing me racing one track per day, and posting the video here for everyone to enjoy. I’ll be playing on Excite Mode with various vehicles and start my way on the Bronze series and make my way on through Diamond. I hope the videos can entice at least one person into giving the game a shot through rental or purchase as you are missing out on a ton of fun if you don’t give the game a go. Look for the first video to show up today!

Ok, on with some Wii Bits:

- Looking for lots of friends for your Wii? Check out WiiPals.net, they have a huge list of folks adding their Wii Friends codes.

- If you’ve got the money, honey, he’s got the ride. Check out this eBay auction for the Scion XB, customized by Comedy Central and Nintendo for their “Thanksgiving Wiikend” promotion.

- Is there a ghost in the system? Or just some crazy burn in on this guys screen? Sites are reporting that a ghostly “Add Mic” feature can be seen on a certain Wii menu when you are running 480p and go through a simple routine. Anyone care to try it out and put this to rest? As of yet, it’s a huge rumor.

- More analysts, more predictions. This time, research firm IDC predicts that the Wii will reign supreme in 2007 and 2008 over the PS3 and 360 consoles. This is based on numbers of consoles shipped.

- Here’s an interview The Hub magazine did with Reggie Fils-Aimes in .pdf form. In it they discuss the Wii, the DS, and the future of both systems.

- And lastly, here’s a positive article concerning what Nintendo did right in 2006! It covers ignoring HD, following Apple’s design methodologies, taking risks, and more.

Ok, I’m off to check the mail, cmoooon Nintendo Power! Or my Component cables, I’d be happy with either one today. Look for the first Excitetruck video to show up today covering the Bronze Mexico track. Should take about a month to cover them all, hope they don’t annoy you guys and gals. The game rocks, I promise!!

We’ve almost finished up getting the footage for the Zelda: Ocarina of Time review and should have that up by tonight, maybe tomorrow. It’s a bit more in depth than I had originally planned as the more we played, the more we found stuff we felt like showing and just kept recording more and more. It’s not going to be as fast paced as the other VC game reviews, allowing you to check out plenty from the game and what it offers. For those that have played it before, I’m sure there will be alot of, “Hey oh yeah I remember that.” but for new folks, it should help flesh out what the game is about and some of the neat things inside.

Here’s some Wii Bits for today:

- IGN takes a look at some new Thrustmaster peripherals coming for the Wii to help protect your Wii Remotes and keep them charged.

- Check out these little paper craft models of Link from The Legend of Zelda over at PaperKraft.com. Amazing work!

- GamesRadar also has their review up for SSX Tricky giving it a very high mark (9.0) and loving it for the most part.

- The Nyko Wii Remote base station and chargers are available from EBGames now for a fairly affordable $30. We just use rechargeable batteries around here, but this setup also comes with rubberized grip battery packs which may be of interest to some.

- And here’s the off the wall video making it’s rounds today, the 8-bit death scene video:

Here’s hoping I get the latest issue of Nintendo Power in the mail today, I enjoy doing the write ups for the site covering what’s in the issue and seeing what’s coming around the corner. We’ve also got those component cables for the Wii coming in soon I do believe and I can’t wait to see the difference in the graphical output. I saw some 3rd party cables at Best Buy the other day but I think sticking with the official Nintendo cables is going to be best.

What did you guys think of the short but sweet Bio-Hazard Battle and Chew Man Fu reviews? I tried to keep them around 1 minute long as there’s really not much to some of these older games and after giving an overview and short opinion, I feel that’s about all you’d care to hear. I leave it up to you to decide if the game is worth purchasing and don’t really do scores or thumbs up or down or anything. I’ve got the Zelda:Ocarina of Time video review coming today as well, we just need to get some more of the game played for footage. I also have a couple of articles coming for the site, so keep an eye out for those.

In the meantime, here’s some short Wii bits from around the net for today:

- Kororinpa looks like it’s going to be a fun marble rolling game and Destructiod.com has a hands on from a Comic Con they attended recently. The game is alot like Marble Madness or Super Monkey Ball and involves making your way through various levels tilting the Wii Remote to manipulate your marble through the game.

- The MySims.com website is open and has a trailer video and some info on the game up. You can also check out some screenshots and sign up for their newsletter while you are there.

- Kotaku made a trip to a press conference held at an ice hotel up in Canada and got to spend some hands on time with SSX Blur. Check out their impressions here, it’s sounding really good.

- Here’s a very cool assortment of artwork featuring some video game icons including many Nintendo subjects.

- Check out the custom built Nintendo Famicom guitar! Pictures of the build process at the link there.

- And lastly I leave you with this cool video showing off Nintendo’s Duck Hunt from 1976:

Ah yes, another Monday, another day of Virtual Console gaming love. I still need to pick up Donkey Kong Country, especially now that I have my Classic controller. I don’t think the wife has played it before and it would be interesting to see what she thinks about the game as it had an amazing look to it for an SNES game at the time. I’m about to start doing video reviews of the weekly VC releases, starting with this weeks games. Expect a video up tomorrow some time showing off the three titles and what’s up with them.

Speaking of the VC, I had this crazy dream last night that Nintendo released some different items for the system like a package of games and a demo of a full on game. The package game was like Clubhouse Games for the DS, just a mish mash of games like checkers, chess, tic-tac-toe, connect 4, that kind of stuff, but worked with the Wii Remote and had multiplayer. The demo was for an upcoming game for the Wii, but I can’t remember which game, it was just interesting in the dream that Nintendo was taking this approach. And much like the Everybody Votes channel, this stuff was unexpected and quite a surprise. Now again, this was just a goofy dream, but it was pretty cool to wake up and ponder the possibilities that maybe Nintendo could have game demos and more up on the Wii Shop.

But enough about my crazy dreams, let’s get it on with some Wii Bits for the day!

- In case you’re looking for more info on MySims, IGN has you covered with this writeup. They go over what has been released from EA so far regarding the title and go into a little more detail.

- 1up has a cool feature up where the list their 10 most wanted Nintendo Wii games. Most of them on the list are probably on everyones list. If you’ve got another you’re looking forward to, let us know what it is in the comments here and let’s talk about it!

- Will Microsoft take an approach to gaming like Nintendo has with the Wii? Peter Moore hints at something in the works in this interview with CVG.com. What could they have up their sleeve? Our guess - magical mirrors and a system of pulleys that *really* get you into the game. Ok maybe not, we’ll find out more in the coming months I’m sure.

- If you’re still looking for a Wii, there’s rumblings around the internet talking about retailers holding systems getting ready to unleash them on this upcoming Sunday, March 4th. Good luck to all of you Wii hunters out there on scoring one soon!

- UK Wii owners have some new fun stuff in their Wii Shop (or Virtual Console) section according to this article at GWN.com. If you click on the little smiley face that is on the page while you’re in the channel, you will be whisked away in to a secret area titled the “Warp Zone” which is light on content now but is going to be an information hub for Nintendo’s past and their games. Cool stuff that I hope we US owners get to find soon.

- It’s-a-Me! Mario! In the Snowio! Ok that was bad, just click and check out what these guys did.

Alrighty then, I’m off to work on off to work on the video review a bit more from today’s VC games. I’ll also do more updates as the news comes in, thanks for reading!

Alright, we got our fancy schmancy new LCD HDTV hooked up and as to no surprise, it doesn’t look quite as good as it should using the normal A/V cables. No worries though, I’ve already put in an order for our Wii component cables and they should be here within the week. That’s going to have a great impact on the visual performance I’m told and while it doesn’t look bad right now by any means, I just know it will look as it should with the proper cables and clean up a few blurry/smudged looking areas.

Also got in the Classic controller and it makes playing Super Mario World so much more fun! I can’t wait to check out Zelda:LttP and Donkey Kong Country with it. I’m also working through RE4, but since getting the new TV and a larger memory card, I’m thinking of starting that all over again as well. Shouldn’t be that much of a restart as I wasn’t too far into chapter 2; I think I was at our 2nd encounter with El Gigante, who is a real toughie. Between that, Metroid Prime, our VC games, Trauma Center, and the games I’m getting through GameFly, I’ve been having an absolute blast with the Wii lately!

We even got a camera that supports SD memory cards and took some shots and video of our new baby boy with it and checked them out on the Wii. I was thinking of making a video showing off the Pictures Channel for those that don’t own a Wii and may not know about it’s features soon enough, showing off our son as well.

Let’s see what’s going on in the world of Nintendo with some Wii Bits:

- Need some SNES games, many of them still in box? Check out this Ebay auction, it’s got over 240 SNES games with 67 of them still in their original boxes. The auction is at $1215 right now, good luck bidders!

- Merrill Lynch is making some bold claims about the Nintendo Wii saying that by 2011, 30% of all US households will own a Nintendo Wii system. In Japan, the figure has been raised to about 33% of all households. These numbers are based on the current selling trends and the massive amount of hype still surrounding the console.

- Looking for some nostalgia? I still remember going through these pages of the past Sears catalogs looking at the video games available. Check that link for a site that has scans of old school Sears catalog video game sections, you can check out the NES, the Gameboy, and Super NES systems back in their heyday.

- NGCFrance.com has some new artwork up for Sadness showing off some rather creepy looking sketches.

- Kororinpa is coming to the Wii very soon and Eurogamer.net has a review of it up giving their impressions of the ball rolling game. Overall, they seemed to find it fun, but recommend renting it first. It’s a bit different from Monkey Ball in a few ways, read the article to see how.

Ok, more news coming throughout the day, stay tuned and thanks again for reading!

I’m pretty hyped today, the wife and I are entering the HD era of televisions and have a 37″ LCD coming from UPS and can’t wait to see how the Wii looks on it. I’m going to need to grab the component cables to get the best picture out of the setup which we’ll do next, but it should still be leaps and bounds better than our 27″ SD set we’ve been rockin’. I also have that Classic controller coming in the shipment so it’s going to be fun times as soon as the UPS guy gets here.

You know how those days go I’m sure, you’ve got a package coming from UPS or FedEx and it seems like they put your package on the last of the list of deliverables for the day. You see the “Out for Delivery” notice on their website and sit all day at home just waiting, full of excitement for your package(s) to arrive. It’s like Christmas! Only Santa is wearing a brown outfit in this case.

In Wii related news, how about those Eyeshield 21 screens, does that game look cool or what? I remember seeing a video of the game in action on the DS and since hearing about it coming to the Wii in Japan, it’s made me wish we would see more of those types of titles over here. I’m sure it would have a limited audience as it’s based on a Japanese Manga show and we like our football games in the US on the more realistic side, but I’d buy a copy and convince at least two others to do so as well! I promise! Ok I doubt begging will get me anywhere in this case but it’s still fun to dream.

Also, between Sega and Hudson, the VC lineup just keeps growing and growing. It seems every month Sega and Hudson are both announcing more and more titles coming, which is great. Keep that library growing. Although I would like to see more N64 and SNES titles, I’m not going to complain because I’m sure they will be here and the titles Sega and Hudson are bringing look like tons of fun. I’m overly just happy that the VC is as cool and easy to use as it is and Nintendo and partners have been good with release dates and every Monday we get new games like clockwork.

Ok, here’s some Wii Bits for today - the smaller Wii news stories that didn’t make for full posts:

- Perrin Kaplan, vice president of Nintendo America told GameDaily recently that Nintendo has stopped making GameCubes and there will be no more first party titles coming for the platform. Pour one out for the purple lunchbox shaped Nintendo console.

- Congrats to Nintendo on their Wii sales, the recent January sales announcement has put the sales of the system right at 5 million consoles so far. This is half of what the 360 has sold all together but pales in comparison to the DS which has sold 38 million units.

- Check out the latest cover of the Australian version of MAD magazine over at GoNintendo.com. The Wii made the front cover showing Link coming through the TV, lopping off the head of the magazine’s mascot.

- GameSpot has some new screens from Godfather: Blackhand Edition for the Wii up. Lots of things on fire in this round of shots.

- If you’re looking for some information on SSX, check out this page at Worthplaying.com. They have a nice fact summary up with a few shots and info on the title.

- And lastly, here’s a humorous video showing how you can bowl into the other lane in Wii Sports Bowling. Although he doesn’t knock down any pins, I hear you can and get credit for the ones you do:

Ok, catch you guys and gals later on, cmooon UPS! ;)