I think Jay-Z said it best. Mo’ Money. Mo’ Problems. Didn’t Jay-Z say that? I don’t keep up with you kids. From Nextgen:

Nintendo sold 981,000 Wii units in the US during November according to the NPD Group, but according to James Lin, senior analyst at the MDB Capital Group in Santa Monica, Calif., “they could easily sell double what they’re selling.” Along with other industry analysts and retailers, Lin believes Nintendo could be set to lose out on more than $1billion this holiday, not including missed revenue opportunities from associated software sales that won’t materialize.

Man. That sucks for Nintendo. They could be taking over the world, but because they can’t make enough systems (wink, wink) they won’t make nearly as much money as they could be. So sad! Hang on. Where’s my tissue? For all you people looking for a Wii, head to Bestbuy and grab the one I won’t be buying. Its waiting on you.

[via NextGen]

Jayslacks.

We all think it. Come on, you do. We all think that Nintendo is hording the Wiis ( I call them the Wii-Wiis. Cause its funny). Fils-Aime of Nintendo denies this with a clenched fist and an iron jaw. Stocking-piling? Sensation-rigging? Not on his watch!

“There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand. The company, after all, is trying to reach out to women and 40 and 50-year olds who aren’t avid gamers. They aren’t going to sleep outside of a store overnight or visit a retailer five or six times. It is literally a missed opportunity,” he said.

So there! The Wii might be using some old school tech, and it might be dvd-driveless and without a harddrive. But those damn things are hard to make. Wiis hold the magic of the innocent. Do you know how hard that is to capture? Do you?

[Via Games Industry]

Jayslacks

And by bitches, I mean goombas. That’s right, like many of you, I picked up Super Mario Galaxy today. Aegies will be sad when he learns that I failed to edit or put up a podcast–of which we have two new ones recorded–but I just got too caught up with the Mario. That, and it was a pretty epic evening of traveling and what not–just installing the update that came with the game took almost ten minutes.

Down to business…SMG is a great game. I have only played through the first galaxy, but I can already tell that the game is solid; it’s beautiful, it has mechanics to it that keep it fresh, and the music–sweet jesus, the music–is awesome. More than anything else, the score has been the thing that makes me want to keep playing.

The Wii remote mechanics are fun–though I do tire of waggling my wrist about. Really though, this game shows what a game that is truly designed for the Wii–to take advantage of all its pros, and hide its cons–can be like. The controls take advantage of both the movement and pointer sensors of the Wii remote, and somehow manage to never feel intrusive.

Ultimately though, just from my early impressions of the game, I already feel safe in saying that if you hated Mario 64, you might hate this game, too. The game isn’t the same, but it still relies on a lot of the same things that made that game fun (what else would you expect from Nintendo?).

I’ll have to play more of the game to find out if it makes it into my top releases of the year, but I can already tell that I could never argue with anyone who said it was in theirs.

Chufmoney

Because news is so slow as of late, I feel that it is high time for some game impressions. More over, I feel it is high time to sing some praises. Lately all the games that are coming out have been getting crushed or naysayed. Well, friends, I have found one game that makes me proud to have a little white box in my living room.

All hail, Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure.

This is the best looking Wii game out. Hell, I’ll go so far as to say that until Mario Galaxy comes out, it will be the uncontested leader in Wii graphics. No, it doesn’t push the boundaries of what looks “realistic,” but it does have the best style of any game on the Nintendo Wii.

In case you can’t tell, I really, really like the game. I like the game so much that I wish I could give you all 40$ to go out and buy it — even if you don’t have a Wii. After all, how many of you are going to be playing yet another fucking sequel? This is a new IP, and you should support it.

For those of you that have no idea what the game is about, let me break it down: Zack is a pirate, Wiki is his helper. Together, the duo solve various puzzles — a la all the classic SCUM games — meet some funny and unique characters, and go on an epic journey. Seriously, the game would have been interesting to me even if it was just a quirky puzzle-platformer; but it also has an interesting main story. Don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking this game is for babies.

The game is only 40$ — a budget title for the Wii — and is going to be one of those, “I wish I had bought it way back when” games. Don’t let the chance pass, bitches. Wipe the dust off the Wii, put in some fresh remotes, and let Zack and Wiki be your Wii palate cleanser prior to the launch of Mario.

Chufmoney