Bloomberg is reporting on the publisher scramble for Wii titles, prompted by the console's explosive popularity since its launch late last year. Though the article focuses on EA's initial coolness on the console, they certainly weren't the only company that initially missed the bus. "Electronic Arts wasn't the only publisher slow to see Wii's appeal. New York-based Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., maker of Grand Theft Auto games, had no Wii titles when the player was released and now plans to have three this year, said spokesman Jim Ankner. Activision Inc., based in Santa Monica, California, plans to release six Wii games this year, giving the second-largest publisher a total of 11, said spokeswoman Maryanne Lataif." Though that's great news for Wii gamers, the question is: how many of these titles are going to be 'shovelware'?

Croakyvoice writes "Rodolfo Portillo has released a port of ScummVM for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Gamecube. ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games like Simon the Sorcerer, Broken Sword and Flight of the Amazon Queen. You will have to use SD Load to run this on your console." No offense to Broken Sword, but it's all about Day of the Tentacle for me. Update: 04/10 16:45 GMT by Z : Technically, this is a GameCube port. The Wii's backwards compatibility allows it to work there anyway, but it's worth clarifying.

AbsoluteXyro writes "IGN reports that the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 was confirmed earlier today, as Famitsu spilled the beans on the title in its latest issue. The new version boasts point-and-shoot gameplay, along with a bevy of motion controlled actions that Capcom hopes will put you in the game. Better yet, the game features the visuals of the Gamecube version and all the bonus content of the PS2 version. Famitsu also delivers some info that IGN apparently missed in their translation, including new enemies and bosses, as well as a retail price point of about $30 USD. The game reportedly hits shelves (overseas anyhow) on May 31st."

CVG is reporting that Microsoft has developed a 'wait and see' attitude toward the concept of incorporating motion controls into Xbox 360 games. Despite the popularity of the Wii, and the inclusion of the system in the PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Chris Satchell stated in an interview with the website that the company is still cool on the idea. Says Satchell, "There's no point building the hardware if nobody really wants it ... One thing I'm not certain of is that third-parties are super-excited about that motion control - or at least they're not showing it with the games that are hitting the shelves yet ... We're yet to see a really good game on Wii that really says 'OK that control kicked ass'." This is at odds with statements from Peter Moore from earlier this year, who stated that the company does have motion control plans in the works. CVG will have the complete interview up soon, which might give more context to his statements.

Wowzer writes "Sega Europe updated their NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams page, and in doing so accidentally briefly listed the new features the Wii-exclusive will have when it gets released in winter 2007. From the article: 'Wii connect 24 features: Exchange items with friends via the network and change the scenery according to real-world seasons using the Forecast Channel.' You'll also get three new shape-shifting masks (dragon, dolphin, rocket) to explore the game's seven worlds."

1up has details on the week's new content from Nintendo's Virtual Console and Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade. The 360's offering this week is Luxor 2 . A Zuma-like puzzle game, it was published previously on the PSP and PC. The 360 version will offer new levels and more complexity, and will set you back 800 points. On the Virtual Console side, we've got Star Fox 64 (1000 points), the old NES TMNT game (600 points), and the TurboGrafx title Dragon's Curse (600 points). The blurb for TMNT is retro-tastic: "Cowabunga! Players take control of the turtles in a half shell and rescue reporter April O'Neil from the clutches of the evil Shredder. Battle against the Foot Ninja Clan as Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael with their trademark weapons and ninja abilities. Search through five stages and dozens of areas throughout the New York City sewers, rooftops and ultimately Shredder's Technodrome to save April. Players must scarf down some pizza to keep up their energy, as they'll need it to defeat Shredder. Turtle Power!"

The classic Sega Saturn title NiGHTS Into Dreams is finally, finally, getting a sequel. Joystiq reports on news at Famitsu, saying that a NiD sequel will be coming to the Wii this winter. "Takashi Izuka of Sonic Team USA is Producer of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. He leaves Famitsu, and the rest of the weeping-with-tears-of-joy world, with this comment: 'In 1996, we created the NiGHTS character to achieve a concept of being refreshed from being able to fly in the sky. 11 years later, at last, we have broken our silence. NiGHTS will now fly in a new dream world: new stages, new story, and on the new Wii platform.'"

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eldavojohn writes "ThinkGeek (Owned by same parent corporation as Slashdot) has recently started selling WiiHelms which allows the user to effortlessly play the Wii without tirelessly moving their arms around. An added foot pedal controls the A, B button pushing to minimize activity. According to the article, "After extensive scientific study it was found that manipulating muscles in your neck for 10 minutes uses 64% less energy than waving your arms about like a lunatic." Indeed, after watching the demonstration video, I myself will order four or five — I'm sick of flailing my arms around like a chump. Don't forget to check out ThinkGeek's other offerings today including inhalable caffeine sticks, the 8-bit tie and the most amazing T-shirt ever."

Nintendo has responded to accusations leveled against it earlier this week by GameStop, saying that Wii shortages are due to demand. Nintendo's George Harrison told Next-Gen.biz in a phone interview that "That's not at all the case. We have worldwide territories that are all competing over the available production. The Japan and European markets are doing extremely well with the Wii. People in Japan at NCL [Nintendo Co. Ltd.] are making the best decisions that they can about which products get shipped to which market and when." An EU marketing director is also quoted at GamesIndustry.biz responding to criticism about the lack of new Wii titles, as well as the supply shortage. Nintendo's Laurent Fischer asserts that the company has a 'release it when it's ready' attitude, and that they'll release products when they meet the company's standards.

bedake writes "The New York Times has up an article discussing the increase in retired people getting interested in online computer games. 'PopCap Games in Seattle, the maker of the diversions so popular at St. Mary, says its games have been downloaded more than 200 million times since the company was founded in 2000. A spokesman said that the company was stunned by results of a customer survey last year: 71 percent of its players were older than 40, 47 percent were older than 50, and 76 percent of PopCap players were women.' The piece goes on to discuss the popularity of the Wii console, as well, a subject discussed on Slashdot before."

MTV's Stephen Totilo has a simple, common-sense solution to the issue of friend codes on the Wii: friend sentences. Using a tool like PhoneSpell.org, he advocates turning your incomprehensible code into something a bit more manageable. Instead of the sixteen digit mishmash that the Wii offers me, I can instead offer up "a-010-lure-texsku-50". Not a heck of a lot better, but certainly more memorable. "Each time, I had to send them my code, input theirs, and then wait for the Nintendo network to recognize we both wanted to be on each other's friends lists. A couple of months ago, however, my Wii broke. I got a new one. I was excited, but then spotted the dark lining to my silver cloud: My new system would force a new Friend Code on me, a Friend Code that I'd need to send out to everyone and hope they'd be willing to cancel my old listing and type in the new. That's when I realized the true pain of these 16-digit codes."

YokimaSun writes "SEGA. and Nintendo today made a historical announcement that two of the biggest icons in the entertainment industry, Mario and Sonic, are joining forces to star in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. 'In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, players will compete in events that take place in environments based on the official venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Using a supporting cast of characters from the amazing worlds of both Mario and Sonic, gamers will be able to compete as or against a range of lovable personalities including Mario, Sonic, Luigi, Knuckles, Yoshi, Tails and more. Innovative usage of the Wii and DS control systems to maneuver a favourite character will allow players to race the likes of Mario and Sonic down the 100m track, engage in exhilarating rallies in table tennis and churn water in a swimming heat, all while competing for the much sought after gold medal.'" Has to be better than the usual Olympic Game titles, which have been categorically awful.

In GameStop's quarterly public conference call, company COO Dan DeMatteo called out Nintendo on what he sees as intentional supply shortages. Along with the news that the company hit $5.3 Billion in 2006, Next Gen reports that the call contained several remarks on the next gen systems. The Wii, Dematteo thinks, has been short supplied because 'they made their numbers for the year ... [Nintendo's] new year starts April 1st, and I think we're going to see supply flowing.' They also commented on the Euro launch of the PS3, with CEO R. Richard Fontaine saying, 'I think the summary of that was that it was a very good launch falling somewhat short of what [GameStop's Euro managing directors] would call a great launch.'

Aided by racing titles MotorStorm and Formula One, the PlayStation 3 had the best UK console launch ever, according to Joystiq and MCVUK. This generation saw the Wii kick off with 105,000 units and the Xbox 360's sell through 70,000. The PSP still holds the record at 185,000 for a portable console, but I imagine Sony's pretty happy about this either way. "With plenty of consoles left in the 220,000 strong initial shipment, it would appear that a strong supply is the key to launch victory. Will sales remain brisk in the foreseeable future? We'll find out soon enough, but until then, expect some elaborately spun responses from Sony's competitors. Perhaps UK journalists ought to return those stacks of beer to Microsoft -- then again, alcohol already seems a likely explanation for steering the Xboat to the wrong continent."

superdan2k writes "When Nintendo brought the Wii to market, one of their stated goals was to get people who didn't normally play video games using their console. Based on an article from the AP, it seems they've made some headway in capturing the senior citizen market. With the Wii's price point, and it being a good way to get people engaged in physical exercise, it's easy to envision it catching on with other retirement homes beyond the one mentioned in the article."

Next Generation has up an interesting piece considering ways to make the ultra-successful Nintendo DS even better. Thoughts include streamlining the needlessly complicated 'friend code' system, adding internal flash ram to the device, and rolling out a virtual console system ala the Wii. Their best idea, I think, is to use the GBA slot on the system for a cartridge including all of these new elements: "The advantage over typical 'system upgrades', like the ram expansion for the N64 or the PS2 hard drive, is that this cartridge should have little direct effect on game software; it would simply transform the DS into a more useful and personal tool. Such an update would also weed out the necessity to offer a whole new DS model, further annoying people who felt forced to upgrade to the DS Lite - itself only a cosmetic adjustment."

Via Next Generation, an interview with CEO of Sony Corporation Sir Howard Stringer on the site CEO Exchange. In the piece they report that Stringer has gone on record as saying the PS3's price may be its downfall. This is the first indication we've had from Sony's upper management that the console's price may just be too high. "Wii is a wonderful device, but has a different target audience. If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the videogame field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants -- a home server, game device, even a computer." Relatedly, a Goldmann Sachs analyst has opined that a PS3 price cut could come this year. Assuming they drop the price by $100 or more, this might blunt the objections many have to the console's lofty pricetag.

Gamasutra has the NPD numbers for last month, which shows a continuation of Nintendo's sales dominance. Overall the new consoles have again meant that industry sales were up, some 28% over last year's same-month figures. Hardware sales were up some 98%, with much of that performance attributable to the DS and Wii. Here's the breakdown: "Turning to hardware, the DS headed overall hardware sell-through with an impressive 485,000 units, followed by Nintendo's Wii, which sold 335,000 units despite continued issues with shortages. The Xbox 360 sold through a reasonable, if not spectacular 228,000 copies, and the PlayStation 3 slumped to a disappointing 127,000 units, despite no apparent shortages. Elsewhere, the PlayStation 2 moved a still impressive 295,000 at its relatively cheap current price, and the PlayStation Portable sold 176,000, markedly behind the DS. Finally, the various varieties of the Game Boy Advance sold a not unreasonable 136,000 units."

It's with a sigh of relief that 1up is reporting on forward progress in the Wii's online service. GameSpy announced today that it is collaborating with Nintendo, using their middleware to allow players to meet up in online-enabled Wii titles. The first title to utilize the service will be Pokemon Battle Revolution, which releases on June 25th. The news is unfortunately not all good. "The technology will also be placed in the hands of third-party developers, although the announcement gives no indication how long companies have been working with the GameSpy middleware. Either way, it doesn't appear we'll be seeing online-enabled third-party releases until the fall, at the earliest." Here's hoping that this marks the beginning of moving beyond 'friend codes'.

GameDaily is reporting on comments made to them by EA Los Angeles General Manager Neil Young, stating that Steven Spielberg is working on a Wii title. Spielberg's relationship to the games giant is well known; we discussed it last year during E3. The site promises a more thorough interview next week, but for now just offers the promise of a Wii title with Spielberg's storytelling magic. "The first one, what I can tell you is what you'd expect, sort of, from a Steven Spielberg production. Steven's stories are intimate stories that take place around huge, world-changing events... sort of, big stories shown through the eyes of a small group. Doug Church is producing it... The second project is something Lou Castle is producing, one of the great producers in this industry, and that's one of the products we're building for the Wii. Very exciting and interesting..."