Nintendo of America has alerted that its statement that read "Despite spot shortages in some locations, well more than a million Wii systems will be available in the United States by the end of the year" has been retracted and should be ignored. Oh well, so much for that a million Wiis by January.

So what does this mean? Well, Nintendo did not say why the statement should be disregarded, but a lot assume that Nintendo is experiencing more difficulty manufacturing the Wii than they are letting people know about. That or they would rather divert shipments to locations other than the US.

Perhaps they're satisfied with the recent NPD figures already? Maybe they'll only be able to ship close to a million but not well over a million? Well, Reggie did say that they like to stay humble. Perhaps they felt that "more than a million" is too arrogant and boastful.

Well, for now, all we can do is speculate, and wait for further word from Nintendo. We'll update you as soon...

I personally like villains better than superheroes. Simply put, their characterization is deeper and much more complex. It is always easier to be the good guy. After all, everyone is expected by society to become law-abiding and good citizens. When it comes to villains however, I can't stop wondering how they ended up as such. I am curious about that specific turning point in their lives that lead to them completely embracing the dark side.

I think the same exact thing will be tackled in the third installment of the Spiderman movie. Given all the dark trailers and teasers, there's no doubt that Tobey Maguire's character is headed to the dark side. Anyway, if movie fans are anticipating the movie slated for a May 2007 release, gamers are also feeling the same towards the up and coming title, Spiderman 3 (X360, PS3, Wii).

Developer Activision is yet to release any material regarding this game. To our surprise, today we received an e-mail from reader JimmyT regarding som...

The weekend is finally here, but rather than spend it pushing your way through an electronics store as you desperately seek out a PS3 (it ain't gonna happen), why not sleep in, save some cash, and try to win one instead. So in addition to these contests, you can now win a PS3/Wii/Xbox 360 from Circuit City, ThinkGeek, Ignition.TV, DealNews, and Overstock. And don't forget, you have till the 13th to enter Kotaku's PSWii60 contest. Thanks to everyone who tipped us with new links and keep 'em coming if you spot any more. – Louis Ramirez
Gizmodo [Console Contest Roundup]

Happy news in the gaming world! The heads of Child's Play recently announced that they've been able to get over US 495,000 in toys and other assorted goodies for children's hospitals. This announcement was well-timed as one more event is expected to occur before year's end; hopefully the announcement should be able to up the number significantly.

The guys at Penny Arcade, the creators of the Child's Play charity organization, are quite pleased with the turnout. As Mike Krahulik, otherwise known as Penny Arcade's Gabe, put it, "I m not joking, you guys donated more than $230,000 in one f ing week!"

The final event for the year, the annual charity dinner, will also be a crowd-pleasing event, as various organizations have also put up items for auction during the dinner. Of these, perhaps the most noteworthy would be a Wii unit autographed by Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's head honcho, a PlayStation 3, an appearance in a future Penny Arcade strip, and an...

Filed under: News, Fan stuff

Well, now that the Wii has officially joined the Japanese hardware sales number game, all of you lovely NWF readers can enjoy the benefits that the DS Fanboy crew have so long enjoyed: my weekly edition posts! You're so lucky.

Really.

- Wii: 350,358 [New Entry!]
- DS Lite: 176,901 24,477 (12.15%)
- PS3: 31,436 1,226 (3.75%)
- PSP: 23,917 6,898 (22.39%)
- PS2: 23,115 3,148 (11.99%)
- Xbox 360: 4,053 2,954 (42.16%)
- GBA SP: 1,572 308 (24.37%)
- Game Boy Micro: 1,252 17 (1.38%)
- Gamecube: 821 245 (42.53%)
- DS Phat: 140 72 (33.96%)
- GBA: 22 5 (18.52%)
- Xbox: 11 11 (N / A)

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Five-hundred twenty-five thousand, six-hundred minutes. How do you measure a year in the life? How about love? For Nintendo Europe, however, they measure it in number of Wii console units sold (which is not much different from love, if you think about it). Yep, the numbers are in and they are just staggering, to say the least (and widely loved, apparently).

Now, before we reveal their total, let's do a bit of our math times table first. There are sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, and so on. Nintendo's sales figures record the number of Wii units sold during the first 12 hours, so here's our question: how many seconds are there in 12 hours?

[takes out calculator] 12 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds... Equals 43,200 seconds!

Ayt. So we have that figure. During the first 12 hours of the Wii's launch in UK (starting from the first unit sold at the midnight store opening of HMV in Oxford Street, London), they were able to rake in 50,000 units sol...

PRESS RELEASE One console sold every second since launch 8th December 2006 – Within just 12 hours of going on sale, the much anticipated launch of the Nintendo Wii console has reached new heights of success with 50,000 units sold. The staggering figure translates to one unit sold throughout the UK every second, since the very first [...]

Granted, this bath time radio is no Cell processor-powered beast, but it could make a good gift for a family member with a good sense of humor (or a passion for radio). It officially goes by the name of Shower Tap Radio and sticks to the wall of your shower thanks to a suction cup. Then, you tap it to turn the radio on, turn the knob to tune it to your station of choice. One last turn of the dial will adjust the volume. It's powered by two AA batteries and is completely waterproof. Otherwise you'd have quite a mess on your hands.
Again, the Shower Tap Radio probably won't win a Best in Show award at a consumer electronics trade show, but it's simple enough to work as a second or third gift. Plus, it's only $20. Much better than getting your kid a Wii. – Nicholas Deleon
Product Page [crazyaboutgadgets via Me, My Coke & I]

Filed under: News
The folks over at Bits Bytes Pixels Sprites have discovered that two new Virtual Console games, as of now unannounced, will be headed to the Wii sometime in the near future. See, in poking around Hudson Entertainment's website, they found pages for both Alien Crush and Dungeon Explorer, mentioning their inclusion into Nintendo's Virtual Console line of games.

For the unaware, Alien Crush is a pinball title with an extra-terrestrial theme, where Dungeon Explorer has playing as Detective John Gutter, a tough-as-nails cop with a dark past. As witness to a rather disgusting murder with no evidence left on the scene beside your testimony, you have 48 hours to find the one responsible before your fellow police officers toss you into the slammer.

OK, we're kidding. You do, in fact, explore dungeons.

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Filed under: Virtual Console

Another Friday and another question must be asked: What are you playing? For us, we plan on getting tons of time in with Donkey Kong Jr. on the Virtual Console. With few desirable releases available to us this week, we're forced to get our fix with some multiplayer Wii Sports and rock the Virtual Console. We plan on doing the usual thing, gathering some friends together and having a ball with our Wii.

What about you guys? Still hung up on Zelda or do you perhaps have your teeth sunk into another title and have yet to beat it?

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