Live in Australia? Live within driving distance of Melbourne, in particular the Highpoint Shopping Centre? A fan of Wii? If you have answered "yes" to all those three questions (with the last one being yes for certain since you're visiting a Wii blog) then your luck is in because Nintendo Australia has kicked off their Wii Roadshow at the Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne this weekend. The Roadshow gives wannabe Wii-gamers the chance to put the new next generation console from Nintendo to the test 'hands on' with the Australian public for the first time.

The Wii Roadshow will continue all across Australia, so don't worry if you've missed the first showing, which happened at the Highpoint Shopping Centre yesterday and today. After all, we have a range of pictures from the event. These photos make me wish I was in Australia this weekend, seeing the joy on the faces of everyone in the the Wii Roadshow event.

If you couldn't see the fun in using a motion-control...

Filed under: News

Wii Fanboy would like to know how our readers are fairing with all the Zelda information we are bombarding you with. You see, we geek out when it comes to Zelda. In fact, we geek out so much that we only have three Zelda titles left of those released in the US until our personal collection is complete. We would mention their names but we can't bring ourselves to. Told y'all we are nerds.
In case you didn't get enough of Link this week, we are here to save your day and get you your fix. The Japanese Zelda: Twilight Princess site is open and ready for your viewing. Unfortunately, there isn't much to drool at. Just the most recent trailer and some info that is, dur, in Japanese. It is a nice set up for a site and we can't wait to see where it goes before the launch of the most anticipated Zelda of all time.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs |&nbs...

Filed under: Gaming
Even though we're basically on the eve of Sony's big launch of the PlayStation 3, we still had a few outstanding questions about some of the minutiae of the console. Yeah, we're dorky sticklers for detail like that. So here are a few interesting facts about the PlayStation 3 you may (or may not) be interested in knowing:
After plenty of gameplay the console is cool -- or at worst warm -- to the touch on every surface. In a side by side test with the Xbox 360, the console is comparably virtually silent, and the Blu-ray drive is significantly quieter than the 360's DVD drive.
USB keyboards and mice will be plug-n-play, no fuss at all. Who really wants to browse the web with a PlayStation controller anyway?
Bluetooth mice and keyboards will not work with the system at launch. Any (A2DP) Bluetooth headset should theoretically work with the system, though Sony will have a recommended hardware list. The EyeToy is the only U...

  
 

We mentioned in a previous article about Australia's announcement that they'd be carrying the Nintendo Wii for their GAME1 expo. Well, they kept their word, and come launch day for GAME1 in Melbourne, we're seeing people lining up for their chance to get first dibs on some of the games being featured over there at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank.

As expected, the expo showcased the best (and most highly anticipated) titles the Wii had to offer, with titles like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Excite Truck, Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves up on display; the extra-long lines you'll see in the pics are definitely for Zelda. On a side note, there wasn't any sign of Red Steel at the con.

Also included in this expo was a showcasing of Nintendo's DS, which seemed to receive as warm a reception as the Wii. Well, the picture tells the story, so without any further delays, we give you the pics of Australia...

Kotaku speculates that Best Buy employee hoarding may very well be a thing of the past. They base this speculation on this particular snippet of the new official policy. Yeah, Best Buy likes their plans and their strategies.

Anyway, just in case you're a bit too lazy to read through things that sound "official," here's what the policy is basically saying. Employees can only buy a console when they're not on duty. When they're buying a console they're treated like any other customer. Only one console unit per employee. If you're an employee, no reselling of the console you bought.

It looks like they can't keep Wii and PS3 consoles to themselves on pain of termination. If this is true, then good: we need those consoles!

By the way, if in case you're a bit antsy about things like this, here's the official policy that Kotaku quoted:
Employee Purchase Policy Due to inventory levels of PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Nintendo Wii hardware, there are strict requir...

If you go to the Japanese site of Nintendo, you might be lucky enough to find three videos that show off the Wii menu in action. What's particularly nice about them is that you also get to see the intro that happens when you have Twilight Princess in your Wii.

Now instead of giving you guys links to click, we're just going to do our best to embed the videos into this post for your own viewing comfort. If the vids end up playing all at the same time, just pause the ones you don't want to play yet. Sorry, this writers .swf "embed skillz" aren't that good yet.

We've covered the Wii menu before, but we were a bit cautious about the pics we found because they might be fake. At least, we could find comfort in the cred of these vids. Enjoy people!

With the release of the Nintendo Wii a mere couple of days away, those who have managed to brave the cold and the crowds must be excited at the prospect of just walking up to the counter and picking up a console box which, quite literally, has their name written on it. However, not everyone was quite as sturdy or as lucky as these people, and he would still have to prepare himself for the expected chaos certain to ensue at most retail outlets come November 19. So, to help those poor souls, the people at WiiLoaded have compiled a short list of places which may or may not be good places to scout for a shiny, new Wii.

First up on their list to avoid would be EB Games and Gamestop as those shops are already completely SOLD OUT. These two have apparently received a delivery of consoles and then reserved each and every one. So, to get a Wii from either of these two, one would probably have to wait a few more weeks after launch, when the next shipment comes in.

Toys 'R Us i...

Normally, when a plumber invites us to his penthouse suite for a little tete-a-tete, we'd be halfway towards dialling 911 by now - if not peeing in our pants and skirts in fear. But since the plumber in this case is Mario, we won't have to worry about dialling 911. We'd still pee our pants and skirts, though, since it seems to be an open Wii party (LOL, a Wii pun).

According to this flyer, whose scan was posted - in all places - the Xbox Live-affiliated Gamertag Radio, Nintendo will be having a Wii party at the penthouse suite of the Tides South Beach Hotel in Miami, this November 11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. If it's a flyer, it's a safe bet that it's a more-or-less open party - at least to the holding capacity of a penthouse suite. Any of our Miami-based readers, can you help us out: Have you seen this flyer recently?

I guess Miami-based Ninty gearheads Wiill love to drop in for a hands-on experience with the Wii. Wait - isn't Jack Thompson Miami-based? Oh no...

With the launch of two of the industry's most-awaited gaming consoles just around the corner, the general excitement that has been building up can be felt almost everywhere. While the rest of us are painfully counting the days, hours, and minutes for those shiny, new machines to finally be available, Robert Workman from GameDaily takes a step back to assess the video game consoles of our time, to see which companies have actually done their homework.

Basing his comments on the console's price, game library, and lifespan, Workman then proceeds to grading the various gaming systems and issues a small prediction for that particular console.

Playstation 2: B
A solid gaming machine with a fair price, the PS2 has a good library of games, as well as one of the best controllers of its time, no thanks to the Dual Shock 2. Despite being cast in the shadow of its bigger relative, the Playstation3, many good games are still being published for this well-loved console, w...

Squeenix is at it again!

Yup, that's pretty much the general reaction whenever we hear of another Dragon Quest sequel, but please note that we mean that in a good way because we love Square Enix. And their latest treat for fans to look forward to? Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (a.k.a. Dragon Quest Swords: Kamen no Jo'o to Kagami no To), an RPG title that is currently still in development for the Nintendo Wii.

With characters bearing Akira Toriyama's signature design style, many familiar elements of the Dragon Quest universe are being reincarnated in this game for the next-gen console. So, as seen in one of the videos that we have here, we'll be seeing those ever-immortal (and uber-cute) slimes once again. Speaking of the videos, we're featuring two boss battles, one with a golem and one with a black knight (resisting the urge to insert Monty Python reference...), while the other two feature our player exploring a cave and go...