In another interesting Iwata Asks interview, something that has been possibly overlooked was announced. Hideki Konno, the producer of Mario Kart Wii, teased Satoru Iwata during the end of the discussion. When told to leave a message for the players, Konno states:

We would be very happy if people could play it with their family and friends, and also with people from around the world. By the way, a new character has joined in from Super Mario Galaxy, so I hope you look forward to it…

Did you catch that? So there’s someone new from Super Mario Galaxy that will be making their debut in Mario Kart Wii, but who is it? Rosalina, maybe? We’ll just have to wait a little bit longer to find out!

Wii.com

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Personally, I think it just seems impractical to have extra bulk on something that is already fine the way it is. That is, if it was “fine” to begin with…

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Thought it was bad enough that you had to stand in line for hours to get your hands on Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Well, just be happy yours works. According to Nintendo, there is a small percentage of Wii’s out there that may not be able to read the Brawl disc.

“Super Smash Bros. Brawl utilizes a double-layer disc which has a large memory capacity. A very small percentage of Wii consoles may have trouble consistently reading data off this large capacity disc if there is some contamination on the lens of the disc drive. Nintendo has specialized cleaning equipment that can resolve this problem. (Please do NOT attempt to clean the lens yourself, as you may damage the system.)”

At least Nintendo is very open about the problem and is offering to fix any affected Wii’s for free. Good ol’ Nintendo.

Nintendo.com

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It looks like the Balance Board is for more than just virtual pilates. Namco Bandai has officially announced the new Balance Board compatible Wii title for North America: We Ski. As the name implies, owners will be racing and adventuring down snowy landscapes, entering races, exploring, and completing specific challenges.

To control your skier, players will hold the Wii Remote and Nunchuck at their sides and rotate them in order to turn. For the more willing (and skilled) players, the Wii Remote and Nunchuck can be used with the Balance Board to steer. Mii usage has also been implemented into the game, so if you’ve never gone skiing before, you can see how cool (or goofy) you look in colorful layers of clothes.

We Ski is expected to ship sometime this spring, although it is speculated to be released in May, along with Wii Fit.

Nintendic

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The Japan-only (and it seems that it will stay like this) Wii channel, Television Friend Channel, is now available for download. Possibly one of the most interesting channels, you can view a TV Guide schedule. What’s so interesting about that? Well, here are some of the other things you can now do with your Wii:

• Highlight or rate programs of interest
• Send programs of interest to friends
• Send alerts to mobile devices and e-mails when your favorite shows are on
• Change channels, adjust your television volume, and switch between the TV and Television Friend Channel with your Wii Remote

Check after the break for more screenshots and a video of the Television Friend Channel in action!

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Vooks

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Or is is just the only Nintendo DS holder out there? Either way, this one is a must-have for hardcore Nintendo collectors. This one foot tall Mario statue has a smile on his face and his hand ready to keep your DS safe. The PVC Mario figure will be sold sometime this month and will be going for $29.99.

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Mario fan Brian recently revealed to the world a great possession: A Mario quilt hanging in his basement. His wife made it for him five years ago using sixteen different fabrics, which is 4-bit color. It’s 36 columns wide and 44 rows tall, making it about 6 feet by 8 feet tall!

Brian is very lucky to have a wife dedicated to making such a fine work of Mario craftsmanship. Check after the break for some up-close shots.

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Thanks to Jeremy for the tip!

BoingBoing via
Kotaku

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WayForward, the company responsible for the Game Boy Color title Shantae, may bring the young genie to the Wii. Voldi Way, the founder of WayForward said in an interview that the plan is to bring a new Shantae game to the Wii, following the WiiWare route. Matt Bozon, Creative Director of the girl-genie platformer said back in May 2007:

“…We’ve started to update her design in anticipation of something on Wii, maybe Risky Waters or something similar.”

Shantae’s only appearance was on the Game Boy Color, and a Game Boy Advance Sequel was in development but was eventually scrapped. However, it seems that she will soon make a return.

Thanks to Jeremy for the tip!

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The WiiWare title, Everyone’s Pokémon Ranch (formerly known as simply Pokémon Ranch), is returning to the spotlight with some new details:

• It will be available for download in March for Japan, although the price is still unknown.
• You will be able to store up to 1000 Pokémon that you transfer from Diamond and Pearl.
• You may sort your Pokémon in a similar manner to the PC system in Diamond and Pearl.
• Interaction with your Pokémon and your Mii is possible, such as sitting around a bonfire.
• You may take pictures of your Pokemon and save them to an SD card or post them on the Wii Message Board.
• The Ranch is owned by Yukari, a friend of the PC technician in Diamond and Pearl.

Check after the break for some new screenshots.

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It seems that some of the owners of Super Smash Bros. Brawl already became tired of the normal game modes. So why not make some new rules of your own? Using the stage builder, the soccer ball item, and Training Mode, this player created a soccer mini-game. Just add some sound effects from Mario Strikers Charged, and you’ve got YouTube gold.

YouTube

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Game Developers Conference: an event that reveals some great new information from all different companies, but Nintendo’s project leader, Takashi Aoyama, revealed some real interesting news. There is some great news about Nintendo’s Wi-Fi service that was revealed, but unfortunately, there was also some not-so great news.

The Good News: Nintendo will be soon offering downloadable add-on content for some upcoming Wii games. Downloadable content is commonplace among Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and even Sony’s Playstation 3, but not for the Wii, and that barrier will soon be broken. Aoyama said that Wii owners will be able to use Wii Points to purchase content for both disc-based games and future Wii-ware downloadable titles. However, the content would be purchased within the game.

The Bad News: Nintendo will soon be charging money through a pay-to-play system for the online content of certain games. Takashi Aoyama said that the “Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay And Play” service will allow owners to subscribe to certain online features, despite not announcing which games will use the service and how much it will cost. In order to avoid confusion, games that take advantage of this feature will have a red circle that reads “Pay and Play” in the place of where the traditional blue Wi-Fi logo is located. Hopefully, Mario Kart Wii will stay free of the red circle.

Game Life

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Sure, we’ve seen the Wii Remote key chain, but why stop there? Novelty flash drives have been around for a little while, including the poker chip and LEGO brick styled drive, but nothing like this. Solarmemo, the wacky company responsible for this item, brings us the Wedisk Wii Remote flash drive, a little guy with lots of style. The USB connector is hidden within the remote and pressing the A-button releases it. Holding the A-button while pushing the connector will return it to its hidden position. When plugged into a USB port, the home button will blink red.

Unfortunately, that’s all it can do in terms of playing with it, but these remotes come in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB models, and even in black if you don’t care for the white model. Prices have not been revealed. Check after the break for a closer look at both the white and black models plus a video of the Wii-drive in action.

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One adult Wii player got a lot more than he was expecting from his Wii experience: a real-life injury. Anthony Williams, an MTA bus driver was diagnosed with a case of severe tendinitis after playing countless hours of Wii. Williams recalls:

“As time went on it was waking me up at night, the soreness. That’s when I went to see my doctor.”

Supposedly, Williams was ignoring the messages telling him to take a break for a short time. Nintendo didn’t include those messages for nothing…

Guardian

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