Kotaku reports that using some quick reflexes will allow all you PAL gamers in Europe and Australia to play NTSC GameCube games from the US or Japan. The origin of this report claims it works 100% of the time for GameCube games, but no one else seems to have verified it yet. Maybe you can give it a try:

“Pop a PAL GameCube disc into the Wii, and head to the ‘Disc Channel’. A GameCube logo should be up on the screen. Point the Wii Remote’s cursor over the ‘Start’ option so it’s highlighted, and while keeping your hand steady, press the eject button on the Wii. For about one second, the ‘Start’ option will remain active. In this window of time, hit the A button on the Wii Remote and then swap out your ejected PAL GCN disc with an NTSC (Japanese or USA) disc, which the Wii will accept into the drive.”

If this is of any interest to our other readers and you decide to give it a try, let us know what happens. I suggest having a friend swap the discs while you hold the remote steady.

Kotaku

Developed by Wahoo Studios and published by Bandai-Namco, Space Station Tycoon will come to the Wii later this year and will only require the Wii remote itself. The game will be entirely original and made from scratch, allowing players to build and maintain their space stations and monitor their financial situations. They game will allow for co-op play, and Wahoo is looking into including WiiConnect24 support.

Wii’s World

Perhaps either Matt or I should subscribe to Nintendo Power, with the whole running a news site and all. According to the latest Nintendo Power, several games were confirmed for the DS and Wii, including Naruto: Clash of Ninja 3 for the Wii. The game is not known to be a port of another game or a brand new game, but the game will feature several Wii remote-based mini-games. In addition, Itachi, from the show, should be playable in the new game.

Nintendo World Report

Philip Pullman has created a decent amount of controversy with his His Dark Materials book series, but regardless they’re very famous books which are about to gain even more recognition. The first book, The Golden Compass already has a movie adaptation slated for a December 2007 release and will star Nicole Kidman and the new 007 himself, Daniel Craig.

Sega has announced that they will release The Golden Compass for multiple platforms including the Nintendo DS alongside the movie’s release. Players will assume the role of young Lyra, as she sets out on a quest for a friend and will have to save multiple worlds. The game will be developed by Shiny Entertainment.

Pocket Gamer

I’m not too sure I’m liking all these last-gen ports on the Wii. Sure, it’s more games, but we’re seeing a lot of the same things we saw in the first year of the DS - games that weren’t meant for the system and left or will leave us feeling cheated, given all the hardware’s potential.Regardless, Data Design Interactive wants to make a quick buck by using the Wii’s popularity to sell 13 PS2 ports. Check out the list below:

• Monster Trux Offroad
• Hamster Heroes
• Ninjabread Man
• Trixie In Toyland
• AnubisII
• Action Girlz Racing
• Mini Desktop Racing
• Myth Makers - Orbs Of Doom
• Myth Makers - SuperKart GP
• London Taxi Rushour
• Billy Wizard
• Earache Extreme Metal Racing
• Rock N Roll Adventures

Cubed3, based in Europe, is expecting half of the titles in the second quarter, with the rest coming in the remainder of the year. I wouldn’t expect a huge difference in American releases since they’re mere ports.

Cubed3

Here’s a short lil’ video for a bit of entertainment during school/work/sleeping. I’m just disappointed at the lack of Mega Man in the video…

Destructoid

During my late night excursions, I have come across that amazing Fox News report of the DS being used as a tool for child predators, again. It might be my lack of sleep talking, but this video is still hilarious! A true classic.

The highlight comes at the 5 second mark: “It has lots of graphics!”

Direct Link

Who says the Wii60 movement is dead? Far from it! Someone was able to get the Wii remote working with the Xbox 360, albeit only using the pointer function. Due to the coding of the current build of the demo, though, there’s significant lag in program. Still, nice to see motion sensing across all three major platforms now!

Xbox 360 Fanboy

Yesterday I posted about Teen Vogue embracing the Wii, and said that if Cosmo endorsed the Wii, that would be major publicity.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Without stating directly, Cosmo showed a picture of the Wii remote with the caption, “Wonder why your guy gets you the wrong gifts? Research says we often incorrectly assume someone close to us will want what we want, and we ignore cues that don’t support that idea.” and “The Wii: At least he’s excited about it.”

So basically, the Wii is the wrong gift, and because the guy probably wants it, the girl probably doesn’t. I guess Cosmo doesn’t see the revolution just yet. Give it time.

Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Sony of Australia’s Michael Ephraim said the PS3 and Wii shouldn’t be compared because they’re very different machines, which I agree with. How are they different? Well, apparently the Wii is a games console.

The other thing is, a digital hub in the home with such an intuitive operating system like the Cross Media Bar is just not available anywhere.

Back to the Wii comment, we have to compare apples with apples. They do not have these kind of applications. We think PS3 is not a product to be compared with Wii, it is a completely different product. This is a digital hub, that is a games console.

I would hope so…

MaxConsole