No Nintendo Wii ads yet?

I have yet to see a Nintendo Wii ad on TV or anywhere yet and we are down to less than a month before launch. I am seeing more Xbox 360 ads and hearing all about the 6 million units that Microsoft has sold, but nothing from Nintendo. I don't know what they are doing, but they need to get the word out the the general public, not just the hardcore gamers that follow the industry.

In order to get all of you ready for the gaming season I will blog on some of the video game rental sites out there that can give you a cheaper way to play more games in less time. The new games for all systems are going to be from $50 to $60 and that gets really pricey after you have to shell out from $250 (for the Wii) to $600 (for the PS3). A great way to do it is to rent your games, conquer them, and send them back to where you rented them. These online game rental companies are great too because there are no late fees, and if you love the game, you can purchase it from them at a reduced price.

In this post I will talk about Gamefly. Gamefly has a great service and is one of the leading online video game rental sites out there. They ship you the games fast with pre-paid return envelopes and there are no due dates. The plans for Gamefly are as follows:

• 1 game out for $9.95 for the first month ($14.95 thereafter)
• 2 games out for $14.95 for the first month ($21.95 thereafter)

Or you can try the service out free for 10 days and then you will have convert to one of the above plans (without the first months lowered price).

I would recommend Gamefly for any gamer as it is cheaper to play more games. Who plays Zelda a lot after you have conquered it? Why not rent it and then send it back when you have conquered it. If you feel that itch to play the game again, you can rent it again. That is the beauty of these online video game rental services. I hope this has been helpful. Let me know your experiences with Gamefly.

Nintendo Wii Launch Date November 19, 2006

Today it was announced that the Wii will launch in the US on November 19, 2006. It comes just two days after the launch of the PS3. There will be a plethora of titles available at or near the launch date of the Wii. These are some exciting times for video game fans, let's hope that the Wii lives up to all of the hype that has surrounded it.

Madden 2007 for Gamecube

I recently purchased Madden 2007 for the Gamecube. This game hasn't change much from last year except for some minor tweaks. The running game is more robust. You can become a lead blocker to make sure you seal off a hole for the running back, then you switch back the running back after you make the block. There are some other tweaks to the menus and ability to switch your favorite receiver before the snap. Also, by default that stupid QB vision is off. QB vision was such a pain in the butt last year to navigate all over the field. I am pleased by the running game enhancements, because I love to use the running game. This is a solid game if you love Madden. I purchase it anyway every year because I love NFL football so much.

Back to blogging after a lapse in time

There have been a lot of great announcements for the Wii in my month and a half long haitus from blogging. Today, Ubisoft announced that there will be a bunch more games for the launch of the Wii, including a Far Cry game. This is great news for Nintendo. It shows that developers are ready to support a Nintendo console again. Also, while I was perusing the internet the other day, I saw a spec sheet of the Wii on Gamefly.com. This has the processor speed of the Wii at 729 Mghz on a 90 nanometer sized processor. This would tend to be spot on with the projections that the Wii would be about twice as powerful as the Gamecube. I don't know if these are the final specs of the GPU, but we will find out in a month or so when the announce the launch date and title. Let's hear it for the Wii.

Virtual Console Prices Revealed at IGN

It was posted on IGN that new Virtual Console games for the Nintendo Wii will be between $4.50 and $8.99. Note that is for new games and not existing games ported from NES, SNES, N64 or any other console that is supported via the Virtual Console. This is good news and is just more good news for the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo is positioning itself to take back more marketshare. Earlier this month Nintendo stated that they would ship 6 million consoles by the end of March 2007 and ship 4 million of those by the end of 2006. Those are the same numbers that Sony has put down for the Playstation 3 of which Sony has dominated the market for the past 5 or so years with the PS2. It would be interesting to see what the shipments will be like for the Xbox 360 during that same period of time. I will scour the internet for any tidbits of information so that we can get a comparison. Can anyone out there find something with the Xbox 360 numbers for the end of 2006?

Nintendo Wii voted best of show for consoles

Today Cnet news cited that the Nintendo Wii had been voted best of show by video game critics. This is good news and pub for Nintendo. Nintendo has to create a big buzz before the console launches to gain back some marketshare and to get more third party publishers online with them. I hope the gaming industry keeps heeping good news and awards on the console, Nintendo needs it.

Wii's new pricing announced

It looks like Nintendo is positioning itself in a good place to take back some market share from Sony. Today on CNET news, it was announced that the Wii will cost no more than $250 here in the United States. That is good news for gamers. That means that you could buy a Wii and an Xbox 360 for what a PS3 would cost. That is great for competition against the market share leader Sony.

E3 is over and Wii seems to be the winner

What a great E3 for Nintendo. I have read about most everything on Gamespot and IGN about the Wii and it seems that most of the editors at both sites have the Wii as the big winner of this year's E3. I agree with them. It was awesome to see what the controller will do for almost any genre of video games. Madden for Wii looks fantastic. Zelda:Twighlight Princess looks awesome, and last but not least Super Mario Galaxy looks amazing. I am really excited for this console to hit the streets and to get my hands on it. It looks as though this time around Nintendo was able to convince third party developers that their console with do amazing things, because right at launch an innovative game from Ubisoft called Red Steel which looks to be a great asset for Nintendo. Also there came some more great news about the Virtual Console at IGN. Hudson is coming out with more classics to download on to the Wii. This E3 has been one of the best in my memory for Nintendo. They really brought their A game and are ready to disrupt the industry again.

First post of many to come.

This blog comes just a week before the huge unveiling of the Nintendo Wii. There have been mixed reviews of the new naming of the Nintendo Revolution, but for me, I like it. It differentiates Nintendo and doesn't do the same crap as the rest of industry like PS3 or Xbox 360. How creative was it to come up with names for those two new next-gen consoles. I am as excited as I have ever been about the gaming industry and Nintendo has fueled this passion with innovation instead of bigger and better graphics. Those things are fun, but hey, if the games are really fun to play then that stuff becomes secondary. I am all about innovation over more horsepower. I am way excited about the Madden for Wii. Check out this interview with the EA general manager at ign.com. I think this game will revolutionize sports games. Check back soon for some revamped posts and some great feedback on e3 and other events.