FYI, 30 million is a lot. It’s also the number of Wii’s that have been sold in the United States alone. Worldwide the number is closer to 45 million. Yeah, those are crazy bonkers numbers. Nintendo is killing it this generation, and it’s only a matter of time before Wii surpasses Sony’s PlayStation 2 as the top selling console of all time. Don’t sleep, it’ll happen.

In other news, I was the lucky recipient of POWER A’s Pro Pack Mini Wiimote & Nunchuck combination recently, and I’ve got the full unboxing just for you guys. I’m not gonna lie, it was one of the most original, and thought out packages I’ve ever received from a company. The box containing the goodies had a letter attached to it that was from my Wii. It was basically my Wii saying that I neglect it, and that hopefully with the Mini’s included I’ll give it the attention it deserves.

Inside the box I was the Pro Pack Mini, some Swedish Fish, two movie tickets, and a picture frame with a picture of my Wii on vacation with someone that would be me once I glued my face into the picture. Told you it was original. I haven’t had enough time to review the Wiimote and Nunchuck yet, so expect that by Friday. I will say that they are definitely smaller, but they don’t feel too small. I have small hands, so I think they may actually work for what I need. The one problem so far is with WiiMotionPlus; it looks HUGE when attached. I’m sure WMP is fairly proprietary, but hopefully POWER A figures out a way to make a mini version of the peripheral. Once they get that sorted, I can’t imagine they’d have problem selling plenty of Wiimotes. I mean, there are 30 million Wii’s out there… Check the jump for more pictures, as well as the full press release from Nintendo about the sales numbers. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

Logo

Aug. 10, 2010

Nintendo’s Wii Video Game System Reaches 30 Million Sales Milestone

Nintendo’s internal sales figures show that the Wii™ video game system has now sold 30 million units in the United States alone. This significant milestone was reached in just 45 months. This further establishes Wii as the fastest-selling console in the history of the industry, reaching this milestone 15 months faster than the next best-selling console.

Wii launched in November 2006 and ushered in a new era of video games. The built-in motion controls of the iconic Wii Remote™ controller drew millions of new players to the world of video games. Kids started playing with their parents and grandparents, people got up off the couch and got active, and seniors and baby boomers formed virtual bowling leagues.

“More than any other video game system in history, Wii has expanded the world of video games to new audiences,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “This milestone is another reminder that people want fun games they can play with others – all at a value-minded price.”

To continue building on this foundation, Wii has a strong slate of games on the way for the fall. These include Metroid™: Other M on Aug. 31, Samurai Warriors™ 3 on Sept. 27, Kirby’s Epic Yarn™ and Wii Party™ this fall, and Donkey Kong Country™ Returns, FlingSmash™ and PokéPark™ Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure for the holidays. That’s in addition to New Carnival Games from 2K Play in September, NBA JAM from EA Sports in October, GoldenEye 007 from Activision and Just Dance 2 from Ubisoft this fall, and Disney Epic Mickey from Disney Interactive Studios and Sonic Colors from SEGA during the holidays.

The Wii video game system is now available in either black or white at a suggested retail price of $199.99. That price offers a great value to consumers, as it includes two engaging games, Wii Sports™ and Wii Sports Resort™, as well as the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers and a Wii MotionPlus™ accessory, which brings additional precision to specially designed games.

The 30 million milestone is a good time to look back at all the fun Wii games and experiences that are just not possible on any other system. One of the unique features of the Wii platform is that many games follow an evergreen sales trend that keep them selling over long periods of time.

According to the independent NPD Group, the top 10 best-selling Nintendo-published Wii games in the United States (through the end of June) are:

1. Wii Play™

2. Mario Kart™ Wii

3. Wii Fit™ (with Wii Balance Board™ accessory)

4. New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii

5. Wii Sports Resort

6. Super Smash Bros.™ Brawl

7. Super Mario Galaxy™

8. Wii Fit™ Plus (with Wii Balance Board™ accessory)

9. Mario Party™ 8

10. Link’s Crossbow Training

According to the independent NPD Group, the top 10 best-selling Wii games from third-party publishers in the United States (through the end of June) are:

1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock from Activision

2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games from SEGA

3. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga from LucasArts

4. Carnival Games from Take-Two Interactive

5. Game Party from Midway

6. EA Sports Active from Electronic Arts

7. Just Dance from Ubisoft

8. Rayman Raving Rabbids from Ubisoft

9. Deca Sports from Hudson Entertainment

10. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games from SEGA

For more information about Wii, visit http://wii.com.

Anyone looking for a major update for WiiWare or the Virtual Console will be disappointed this week, sorry. Well, I’m not sorry because it’s not on me, it’s on Nintendo. Unfortunately, I can’t “officially” offer apologies for Nintendo. I should be able to though, they would be some totally kick-ass apologies…

“On behalf on Nintendo I would like to make a statement on the lack of a satisfying update to our WiiWare and Virtual Console sections. I know many of you have been waiting for Pit Fighter to arrive, but it’s not going to. Even though we’d like to have a game that BadAss arrive to the VC, it just ain’t happenin’. Oh, and for those of you out there who are going to whine about any number of other issues, you can go suck it, gingers. Get to playing Pokemon and leave us alone!”

Seriously, I’d be such a BadAss PR person. Maybe it should be my new goal in life. If your goal in life is to read a real official press release, follow the jump for all the details on this week’s Nintendo Downloads. If you want something a bit more awesome, check out the new GoldenEye trailer below. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

Nintendo Download
Fins, Fur and Fabulous Puzzles Power the Latest Downloads for Wii and Nintendo DSi

The selection of downloadable games for the WiiWare™ service and the Nintendo DSiWare™ service keeps on growing, this time with a zoological twist. AquaSpace lets Wii™ owners transform their television into a mesmerizing aquarium filled with fascinating fish. Petz® Kittens provides Nintendo DSi™ users with lovable feline companions they can carry everywhere they go. Furry Legends features a cast of unusual creatures who dwell in an eye-popping 3D world. And for those who prefer a more human-oriented challenge Scrabble™ Tools gives puzzle fans a great way to show off those big brains and opposable thumbs.

We’ve also got new arrivals in the “Big Name Games” section of the WarioWare™: D.I.Y. series, which features downloadable microgames from some of the industry’s most talented figures. This week we have some new additions from the Treehouse, Nintendo’s game localization team. New “Big Name Games” are being added every Monday through July 26, all available to download for zero Nintendo DSi Points™ to anyone with broadband Internet access and a copy of either WarioWare: D.I.Y. for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems or WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase software for the WiiWare service. Visit the Nintendo Channel on your Wii system today to learn more about these games.

WiiWare

AquaSpace

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 600 Wii Points™

Description: Turn your television into a virtual aquarium with AquaSpace. You can simply relax and watch the fish or take the opportunity to read detailed information about them, such as scientific names and habitats, using the illustrated encyclopedia. If you want to get up close and personal with the fish, you can send your Mii™ character on a dive to swim with them, feed them or hunt for trivia icons to discover fish-related facts. Choose from eight aquarium themes and spruce them up with dozens of different fish and a variety of decorations, wallpaper and plant life. You can also change the background music by taking your pick from a selection of songs or using the sound of water. Then, once everything is set up, you can view your aquarium from a variety of camera angles (including a fish-eye view). Visit every day and watch your aquarium change – your fish will grow, and new fish may be born. Life continues in your aquarium even while the Wii console is turned off.

Furry Legends

Publisher: Gamelion

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief, Mild Language

Price: 1,000 Wii Points

Description: The legend starts here. Furry Legends is a dynamic platform adventure with the most fur ever seen in games. Solve fun, physics-based puzzles in a fantastic 3D world called Furland. It’s a humorous and weird place populated by funny creatures you’ve never seen before, including five-eyed crabs, round cows, crazy rabbits and the lovely Furballs. Players control fluffy characters, each with a different set of special skills, such as the ability to manipulate time. Save the Furballs from their doom and keep Furland safe from Lord Squarie. Are you ready for a crazy adventure? Can you save Furland and its lovely Furballs? Try the furriest game of the century!

HoopWorld™

Publisher: Virtual Toys

Players: 1-2

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes

Price: 1,000 Wii Points

Description: Long ago, a lost civilization called the Elders, who worshipped the magical power of Nature, built a network of sacred temples around the world. Millennia have since passed, and the temples now lie in ruins. But their energy still resonates from the land, attracting adventurers from distant lands. Drawn by the unknown force, friends have begun to rebuild the ruins into ball courts, knowing only that they must relive the time-honored test of the spirit of the Elders: the game now known as basketball. HoopWorld is a three-on-three basketball game with an arcade twist. Unique characters and beautiful natural locations set the stage, while fighting and random power-ups keep the game fast and rough. Choose your favorite team and basketbrawl across the globe to become the undisputed world champions. Play on your own or with a friend and see if you can beat the leaders of the HoopWorld global ranking.

Nintendo DSiWare

Petz Kittens

Publisher: Ubisoft

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief

Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: The cutest newborn kittens are here, and they need someone to care for them and love them. Adopt your very own kittens, bond with them and help them grow into strong and healthy cats. Choose from a variety of popular cat breeds including Siamese and Persian. Give your adorable baby kittens lots of loving care: Feed them warm milk, keep them clean and warm, and help them grow. Your kittens make cute faces and react in surprising ways when you play fun games with them, such as peek-a-boo or balloon games.

Scrabble Tools

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Players: 1-4

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Scrabble, long one of the world’s most popular board games, is enjoying a tremendous surge in popularity, both online and in the real world. Scrabble Tools for the Nintendo DSi system helps players hone their skills by strengthening their vocabulary, pattern recognition and point strategies through fun interactive training exercises.

Hospital Havoc

Publisher: Hands-On Mobile

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Cartoon Violence

Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Do you have what it takes to run your very own heart-pumping hospital? Help your doctor navigate through the havoc by admitting, diagnosing and treating some of the wackiest patients ever encountered. A comically fun time-management and strategy game, Hospital Havoc presents a challenging campaign with three levels of difficulty to choose from, plus 20 career levels, 19 possible illnesses, three-to-six bed conditions, 11 challenging scenarios (including zombies!), continuous play and rousing replay ability. Personalize your doctor and nurse, and utilize various power-ups and medical machines to help send those patients home.

Happy Birthday Mart

Publisher: Pixel Federation

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Have you ever dreamed of having your own shop where you sell the goods to your friends? You can make that dream come true in Happy Birthday Mart, and it’s no ordinary store. Animals come here to buy gifts for their friends. Manage and serve your customers, clean up and fix broken shelves. Happy Birthday Mart offers tons of fun in six different stores with 12 animals and 24 minigames. You can play the minigames through a separate menu screen.

Crazy Sudoku

Publisher: dtp entertainment

Players: 1-2

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Play sudoku on the go using your Nintendo DSi system. The game features five levels of difficulty, offering a fun challenge for beginners and pros alike. Choose from two different grid sizes: 9×9 or 6×6. Use the handy Note feature to add comments to each and every cell and solve even the hardest puzzles. Try challenging a friend with the brilliant two-player mode.

Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with broadband Internet access can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card™ can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Nintendo DSi Shop or the Wii Shop Channel. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.

Remember that both Wii and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://wii.com or http://www.nintendodsi.com.

Right, so I still haven’t tried out the Wii2HDMI. I know, there’s really no reason I haven’t except that I’ve been a bit tired. This weekend I should for sure though, so we’ll talk more about it next week. In the meantime, did you know Super Mario Galaxy 2 has sold more than 1 million copies already? No, well it has. When you think about it, that’s an insane amount of games sold in less than two months. But that’s what Nintendo does, sell an ass-ton of games. The Big N is dominating the monthly sales charts, with 6 of the top 10 titles being from Nintendo according to NPD. And if you didn’t know, five of those are Wii titles. Yeah, that shit is crazy!!!

Another thing that’s crazy is the Old Spice guy. Homey blew up on Twitter the other day posting something like 100 video responses to people’s tweets. I’m going to post a couple of my favorites, because I can’t find a Ninty related video worth posting today. Those will be just below, and you can follow the jump after them for the full press release on SMG2 killing the competition. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

July 15, 2010

Nintendo News

U.S. Sales of Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy 2 Cross the 1 Million Mark

In the month of June, U.S. sales of Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy™ 2 for the Wii™ system reached 548,000 units, according to the independent NPD Group, bringing the game’s cumulative nationwide sales to more than 1.1 million units. Also in June, Nintendo systems sold a combined 933,000 units, accounting for 50 percent of all gaming hardware units sold in the United States. The Nintendo DS™ family of hand-held systems topped the charts with more than 510,000 units sold, bringing life-to-date unit sales to nearly 42 million. Wii system sales totaled more than 422,000, closing in on a cumulative milestone of 30 million units sold in the United States alone.

“Consumers continue to look to Nintendo for exceptional value and one-of-a-kind gaming experiences,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Between games like Super Mario Galaxy 2, the pioneering motion controls of the Wii system and the portable fun of Nintendo DS systems, Nintendo offers something for everyone. As we prepare to launch a remarkable lineup of new games in the second half of the year, we are grateful that consumers are supporting Nintendo consoles to continue their run as the nation’s most popular game systems.”

Six of the top 10 best-selling games of June play on Nintendo systems. These include Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii at No. 2 with more than 548,000 sold, New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii at No. 4 with more than 200,000 sold, Just Dance™ for Wii at No. 5 with nearly 175,000 sold, Toy Story 3: The Video Game for Nintendo DS at No. 6 with more than 164,000 sold, Wii Fit™ Plus with the Wii Balance Board accessory at No. 7 with more than 148,000 sold and LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4 for Wii at No. 9 with more than 136,000 sold.

During E3 I mentioned the Wii2HDMI peripheral from Neoya, and today I’ve got my hands on the adapter. If you don’t recall, the Wii2HDMI is an adapter that plugs into the Wii’s AV port and allows you to connect to your TV via an HDMI cable. It’s still plugged into a Wii, so if you’re expecting solid HD graphics you’ll be disappointed. The Wii is only capable of outputting 480p, so the Wii2HDMI is simply something to get if you haven’t already converted to the component cables or if you want to replace them for a streamlined bit of sexy HDMI lovin’.

I haven’t tested Wii2HDMI in-game yet, so let’s talk about the device itself. First off, it sticks out of the back of the Wii by at least three inches or so. If you have your Wii setup somewhere with limited space in the back, you may have issues, especially considering you still need to have room for the HDMI cable to plug straight in. My other issue with the adapter so far is that it was fairly difficult getting my HDMI cable connected. I’m not talking about due to space, this is just plugging the male end of my cable into the female port. It was definitely a bit tight and almost needed to be forced in. The problem with that is it’s just a plastic adapter, so I worried I might mess it up. That could have just been my paranoia though, because it went in and nothing broke.

Notice how the Wii is upside down here?

The final small gripe I have, and this is all me being particular in my own special way, but the the way it’s setup seems backwards. With it plugged into the Wii, and the Wii laying flat (the way I have mine set) the text on the adapter are facing down. This is made more evident when you realize that the HDMI plug is also facing down at that point; the narrowest end faces down and that forced me to kind of twist my cable to get it in. If you have your Wii standing vertically, it probably doesn’t matter as there’s always going to be one side without text on it. Maybe they only had those who stood their Wii’s up in mind, hell, maybe in China it’s meant to face down. I’ll try to get some game time in tonight, if not, I’ll give my full review of how well the device works tomorrow. Honestly, all that really matters is how it performs when playing games, so we’ll see. This post is loaded with pics, so we’ll skip a video today. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

If you've got room for this beast, find out tomorrow if it's worth it!

You know what really sucks? Realizing that you can’t depend on other people. Don’t worry, I’m not going all emo on you; I’m not in danger of becoming a cutter or doing myself other bodily harm, like befriending a ginger. This isn’t about some childhood friend abandoning me in an hour of need. I’m talking about the sucky realization that, for the most part, you can’t depend on other people to do what they say. Let’s take contractors, for instance. I used to think was that unless you were Tim Taylor or Wilson, and you wanted to get some work done on your home, you had two routes you could take. You could either hire each individual person to do their one specific job, or you could hire a general contractor to deal with all the headaches and hiring for you. Well, when Mrs. Mike and I decided to redo our kitchen, we hired a GenCon; more specifically, we hired one that was recommended to us and that we had met several times before. We trusted that they wouldn’t ruin our shit. We were wrong, it’s been a total pain in the ass. In fact, it’s basically at the point where if I have to talk to them much more it’s going to be all cussing and yelling and shaking and crying, so I’m forcing myself to accept shoddy half-finished work instead. It’s stupid, right? I mean, how hard is it to make sure that the tile guys who took off a backdoor in order to cut it to fit in with the new flooring didn’t somehow mess up so bad that the door won’t even open anymore? And, if you’re the tile guys who cut said door, why would you put it back like that? Did you think I wouldn’t open my back door ever again?? What I’m trying to say is, if you’re in the Atlanta area, don’t use Callaway Homes to do any work you may need done.

Alright, sorry about that. I had to vent as that’s what I’ve been dealing with since the middle of last week. I feel like I’ve aged about 10 years in that time, which means I’m now almost 40. That fact was driven home today when I discovered something called the “Misquito Ringtone”. Apparently, only young’uns can hear certain pitches and my range ends at 14khz, which is for the 49-years-old and younger crowd. I wish I could look on the bright side and say that 29 is there, but I can’t hear past the 39 and younger setting. Yeah, apparently my ears are in their 40’s. Wow, this post actually is kinda emo. If I see a ginger later I’m freaking the eff out…

Before things go full cutter mode around here, let’s have some Wii news. Nothing like 450+ words into a post before the Wii is even mentioned. Maybe I should put the Wii stuff first and ramblings second? It shall be considered… Anyway, yesterday I posted the Japanese trailer for Lost in Shadow, the Wii-exclusive game from the creator of Final Fantasy. Well, today we have more of the game, and it looks freaking beautiful. Our dear friends at IGN have a nice little direct feed gameplay video that they put up, and I’m gonna share it with you guys. Lost in Shadow is set to launch “Q3 2010″; yeah, that means it should be here some time soon. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.