Enterbrain has revealed software sales figures for the Nintendo Wii in Japan, with first-party developed titles leading the pack on the first weekend of release.

Wii Sports was the best-selling game, racking up sales of 176,880 units, with Wii Play reaching 171,888 units.

Fan-favourite The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was the third best-selling game, shifting 145,068 copies, way ahead of the number four game, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, which reached 63,086 sales.

Tecmo's Super Swing Golf was the only third-party title in the top five, selling 12,673 copies, while Ubisoft's Red Steel, a title receiving a lot of press in the US and Europe, sold just under 9000 units to become the eighth most popular launch game.

The software tie-in ratio for the home console stands at 1.69, with Enterbrain reporting over 372,000 Wii's were sold over the first weekend in the region.
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Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata says the company could beat its most optimistic forecasts for the year, following strong sales of Wii and DS. Meanwhile, stats have been released on the top selling Wii games in Japan, with Wii Sports beating Zelda.

In an interview with Reuters, Iwata said, "We came up with the current earnings forecasts before we sold even a single unit of the Wii and when we were not so sure about the cannibalization effect between the Wii and the DS. Confidence could be too strong a word, but there is an emerging possibility [for better results]."

Current forecasts from Nintendo are for a profits increase of 60 percent with sales up 45 percent.

Iwata said some analysts had predicted that Wii and DS ¿ both of which are aimed at the 'expanded' games market - might take sales from one another. Iwata said this has not been the case.
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A list of Wii tidbits that you might not know.

· In the Photo Channel, you can catch the evil cat that runs across the screen to get tips! It appears in the Fun option, and you can grab the cat with the A and B button.

· You can have a 194 piece puzzle by holding down the 1 button before selecting any piece amount.

· If you don't have an SD card and still want to check out Photo Channel, you can e-mail a Jpg to your Wii Message Board. There is a size limit for any mail you send to it - possibly 1mb.

· In Bowling, you can throw your ball into other people's lanes.

· If you put mp3s in your SD card along with your photos, you can change the background music during a slideshow to one of your mp3s.

· When the messageboard records your play time, if you don't exit to the Wii Menu before you power off the machine, it records the play time as "other". If you properly exit to the menu and then shut off it will record it as the correct game.

· You can rearrange almost anything on the wii¿like the channels and messages by just holding the A and B

· The plasma burin reduction kicks in the second the wiimote shuts down.

· when you get an e-mail, not only does the disc drive light up and pulsate blue, but your Wiimote sends out a little chirp

· when you're in the Mii channel and you don't use the Wiimote for a little bit and your Mii's start walking around, if you then suddenly use the Wiimote, all the Mii stop and follow the 'hand' for about 3 seconds¿.

· when typing messages, and you need to go back and edit the message(while still typing) instead of deleting letters, just point to where you want to edit to move the type cursor.

· In Wii Sports Bowling, when you press up on the Directional Pad, it will zoom in on the lane. The zoom in sound is the exac...
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Released to coincide with the launch of the Wii console, the JOYTECH line of Wii compatible accessories promises to further enhance the innovative range of software planned for the Wii console. JOYTECH's initial line of Wii compatible accessories includes the following products:

- JOYTECH Wii Sports Pack
- JOYTECH Wii Power Station
- JOYTECH Wii Racing Grip
- JOYTECH Wii Controller Grip
- JOYTECH Wii Silicon Gloves
- JOYTECH Wii Silicon Glove Pack
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The Wii will hit stores in America this Sunday, along with 20 titles for gamers to get stuck into.

We've had the list of games due for release before Christmas for some time, but Nintendo has now confirmed which of those will land on day one, and they are:

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Wii Sports (Packaged with every Wii)

EXCITE TRUCK

Call of Duty 3

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2

Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Madden NFL '07

Rampage: Total Destruction

Happy Feet

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Cars

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Creature from the Krusty Krab

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz

GT Pro Series

Monster 4X4 World Circuit

Rayman Raving Rabbids

Red Steel
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Sure, Amazon's already been doing Wii pre-orders, but AsoBitCity must be the first bricks-and-mortal retailer in Japan to offer them. Starting last Friday, customers could reserve a Wii (limit one per-person) with no money down. It was also possible to reserve four game titles: Wario, Twilight Princess, Wii Sports and My First Wii. Pre-orders at AsoBitCity were closed by Saturday.
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After spending "several hours" with Wii Sports, IGN's Nintendo editor Matt Casamassina doesn't like the game due to flawed controls with the exception of Wii Bowling which he calls "totally rocking." Regarding Tennis, he had this to say: "You don't control anything except the swing of your player's racket. The movement of these Mii-alike athletes is all done automatically by the game. You simply swing the Wii remote back and forth to make your on-screen character do the same thing."
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I've been getting this question a lot. If I had to buy them -- which I don't, because I'm totally above the law and stuff -- which Wii launch titles would I choose for myself?

I've been thinking about it and based on what I've played, seen and know of the games thus far, I've compiled a preliminary list. Note that 1) Wii Sports is not on this list because it's included in the box and 2) as I get more play time with titles my opinion is subject to change. That said, here they are, and I've even ranked them for you, too. I do all of this out of love.
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The PS3 could launch with 24 titles and Wii with 30 titles according to new documents detailing the two companies' plans.

PlayStation 3
Resistance: Fall of Man - Sony
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - Sony
Genji: Days of the Blade - Sony
Gran Turismo HD - Sony
NBA 07 - Sony
Call of Duty 3 - Activision (600,000)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - Activision (300,000)
Tony Hawk's Project 8 - Activision (300,000)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Bethesda Softworks
Fight Night 3 - Electronic Arts (400,000)
Madden NFL 07 - Electronic Arts (700,000)
NBA Live 07 - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Need for Speed Carbon - Electronic Arts (800,000)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Electronic Arts (400,000)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Target In Sight - Namco Bandai
Ninja Gaiden Sigma - Namco Bandai
Ridge Racer 7 - Namco Bandai
Full Auto 2: Battlelines - Sega
Sonic the Hedgehog - Sega
NBA 2K7 - Take-Two Interactive (400,000)
NHL 2K7 - Take-Two Interactive (200,000)
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII - Ubisoft
Rainbow Six: Vegas - Ubisoft
F.E.A.R. - Vivendi

NINTENDO Wii
Wii Sports (bundled with hardware) - Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo
Excite Truck - Nintendo
Call of Duty 3 - Activision (200,000)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Activision (200,000)
Rapala Tournament Fishing ¿ Activision (50,000)
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - Activision (300,000)
World Series of Poker - Activision (50,000)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 - Atari (200,000)
Trauma Center: Second Opinion - Atlus
Madden NFL 07 - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Need for Speed: Carbon - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Elebits - Konami
The Ant Bully - Midway m (100,000)
The Grim Adventure...
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Nintendo Wii's sensor bar goes awry when confronted with natural light, according to a report by a "Warpstar Knight" on the Nintendo NSIDER Forums. The impressions, from OMBRENOIR17's September 14 visit to the Nintendo World (soon to be posted on Nintendo Gal), reveal that Mother Nature's carcinogen forced Metroid Prime 3 kiosks under curtains and completely shut down Wii Sports Tennis and Shooting Game. The kiosks returned to normal as soon as the bright star took a few steps back.
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What do Japanese game developers think about the next-gen consoles? Famitsu Mag took it upon themselves to ask 58 game developers (directors, programmers and designers) from 19 game companies about next-gen consoles and here are the results...

Which next-gen console will send cash registers ringing:
* Wii (60%)
* PS3 (37%)
* Xbox 360's (3%)

Which system they prefer for game development:
* Wii (63%)
* PS3 (32%)
* Xbox 360s (5%)

Which next-gen console they want for Christmas:
* Wii (49%)
* PS3 (42%)
* Xbox 360 (9%)

Most anticipated PS3's games:
* Metal Gear Solid 4 (12 votes)
* Final Fantasy XIII (10 votes)
* The Eye of Judgment (7 votes)
* Afrika (6 votes)
* Heavenly Sword (4 votes).
* Runners up: Bladestorm, Gran Turismo HD, Lair and Resistance: Fall of Man

Most anticipated Xbox360 games:
* Blue Dragon (18 votes)
* Lost Odyssey (14 votes)
* Culdecept Saga (8 votes)
* Dead Rising (4 votes)
* Gundam Operation Troy (4 votes).
* Runners up: Lost Planet, Gears of War, Riot Act and Idol Master
Most anticipated Wii games:
* The Legend of Zelda (26 votes)
* Super Mario Galaxy (8 votes)
* Wii Sports (5 votes)
* Animal Crossing (3 votes)
* Smash Brothers X (3 votes)
* Runners up: WarioWare, Fire Emblem, Sonic and the Secret Rings and Elebits

What they expect from PS3:
* Extremely high expectations (48%)
* High expectations (32%)
* Don't expect much (18%)

What they expect from Xbox 360:
* Not expecting much (45%)
* High expectations (40%)
* Extremely high expectations (13%)

What they expect from Wii:
* Extremely high...
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Wii Sports offers five distinct sports experiences, each using the Wii Remote to provide a natural, intuitive and realistic feel. Players can use their own Mii caricatures in the game and play them against their friends' Miis for a more personalized experience. As players improve, their Miis' skill levels will increase, so that they can see exactly how much better they've become.
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Nintendo finally dropped the bomb on most of the remaining details on their upcoming console launch ¿ Wii. Nintendo fans everywhere cheered over the low price point of $249.99, Wii Sports packed in, an easy to use interface, low priced virtual console games, and the fact that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will finally see the light of day at launch on November 19. While all this sounds great on paper, I'm still extremely skeptical. Even though I can't wait to get my hands on my own Wii and take Link through his latest adventure, Nintendo has a poor track record that still makes me nervous.
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Here's what Nintendo's promising in the European Wii bundle:

Wii Console (white)

Wii Remote with strap

Nunchuk

Wii AC Adapter

Wii Stereo AV Cable

Wii Stand

Wii Stand Plate

Wii Sensor Bar

Sensor Bar Stand

AA Battery

Wii Sports game (baseball, tennis, bowling, boxing, golf)

Accessories will also be available:

Wii Remote - EUR 39 / GBP 29

Nunchuk - EUR 19 / GBP 14

Classic Controller - EUR 19 / GBP 14
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Today at a press conference held in London's Docklands, Mr Iwata, Global President of Nintendo Co., Ltd. unveiled a new dimension in home entertainment. Nintendo announced ways to involve every member of the family in gaming via the new Wii console, as well as the much-anticipated price, date and software line-up for the console's European launch.
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Nintendo will reshape the home entertainment and video game landscape with the launch of its heralded Wii home video game console. Wii will go on sale in the Americas on November 19th and Japan on December 2nd - European launch date, price and software line up will be announced at a press conference in London tomorrow (Friday 15th).
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So the conference has been and gone, and the US release information for the Nintendo Wii is now well and truly available.

The US version will be released on November 19th, at a cost of $250 (£132), and will include the Wii Sports title as a bundled game. This is a bit strange given that the Japanese machine comes as hardware only, but we won't complain if Europe reflects the US version of events.
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Here it is folks, the confirmation you all wanted - the US box art for the console along with confirmation that Wii Sports is indeed included!
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Toys'R'Us in Australia are now taking pre-orders for the Wii at US$249, and that will include an unspecified free game! Could Nintendo be including Wii Sports as so many have speculated?
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US magazine Nintendo power claims that the Wii will launch with just 6 games later this year, They are Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Red Steel, Monkey Ball, Dragon Quest and Rayman. It seems strange that if this were true, Nintendo would release without Mario or Wii sports and I would expect that Tony Hawks and Madden 07 would also be launch titles along with excite truck.
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