Later in the day on Monday, Nintendo will make your holiday shopping just a little bit easier. If some people on your gift list have visions of classic video games dancing in their heads, you’re in luck. Starting this week, Wii Shop Channel patrons can use a new Gifting feature to send games to other Wii owners with whom they’ve traded Friend Codes. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to give your fellow Nintendo buffs the gift of a classic game—no wrapping paper required. And don’t worry about duplication. If your friend already has the game you’re trying to give, you’ll get a simple message and be bumped back into the catalog to continue shopping.

Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii™ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:
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This is the Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Official Press Release:

London, United Kingdom – 24 MAY 2007 – Yesterday, Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced Rayman Raving Rabbids™ 2 exclusively for the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ systems. Those mischievous bunnies are back in a hilarious sequel, a party comedy game that is guaranteed to be even crazier and funnier than the first with even more insane games to play. Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 will push the envelope of the Wii gameplay experience by continuing to make innovative use of the Wii Remote™. It will deliver fun, intuitive games that feature the wacky humor that Rayman and the Rabbids are known for. In development at Ubisoft’s Paris studio, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 is scheduled for a fall 2007 release.

“The first Rayman Raving Rabbids was a huge critical and commercial success worldwide,” said John Parkes, director of marketing for Ubisoft. “Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 is poised to continue that success, as gamers can’t seem to get enough of those crazy bunnies; they’re just so popular!”

About Rayman Raving Rabbids 2

After invading the world of Rayman, the insane Rabbids have a new objective: THE INVASION OF PLANET EARTH! Setting their home base at a shopping mall, the Rabbids try to study human behavior and mimic everything humans do in funny, illogical ways. As part of their training, the Rabbids must carry out several missions around the globe to prepare themselves for world domination. Rayman will attempt to infiltrate the Rabbids, disguised as one of them, in a mission to foil their crazy plans and save Earth. Game features include:

• New wacky games - 60 brand-new games that spoof popular culture and are even wackier than those featured in the first Rayman Raving Rabbids.

• Unique use of the Wii Remote – Discover new, innovative ways to play, with eight types of gameplay, including shaking, precision, dexterity and balance.

• Travel around the world - Take Rayman on a world tour to defend Earth from the Rabbids invasion. Travel to five different regions such as the USA, Europe and Asia, where players will challenge the Rabbids in the local environments.

• Customize Rayman and the Rabbids - Use more than 110 items (skins, hats, accessories and clothes) to dress Rayman and create your own Rabbids. Unleash your creativity with over 540K customization combinations.

• Multiplayer experience – Play co-op or battle up to three friends in all the games unlocked in the single-player campaign.

The Article:

GamesPress

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 for Wii confirmed in development. Here are some details:

• - Deeper storyline this time that details the history of the rabbids
• - Rabbids HQ is located under a shopping center
• - Graphics have gotten a bump up
• - One mini game has the rabbids laying on tables that have electrodes positioned above them
• - Another game has the rabbids in a theater talking on cell phones
• - Confirmed for Wii and DS

Kotaku’s article

More About: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Wii

This is the E For All Expo Official Nintendo Press Release:

Framingham, MA - March 29, 2007 - IDG World Expo today announced that Nintendo of America has signed on as an anchor exhibitor for IDG World Expo’s newest event: Entertainment for All™ Expo (E for All™), scheduled for October 18-21, 2007, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Nintendo leads an A-list of game companies signing on for a show that is rapidly shaping up to be the premiere event in interactive entertainment.

Entertainment for All Expo (E for All) is a new event created for people who are passionate about video games and everything related. The Expo was launched in response to strong demand within the consumer audience for an opportunity to see and try new products before they reach store shelves. Event organizers anticipate its mid-October dates will launch an early and successful holiday shopping season for the industry.

“The E for All Expo supports Nintendo’s mission to reach as many types of consumers as possible to expand the world of video games to new audiences,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Our Wii and Nintendo DS systems are all about gaming for the masses, and the E for All Expo will give consumers a chance to try out the hottest new Nintendo video games.”

“Nintendo’s early involvement in E for All demonstrates the importance of a broad consumer-focused event for this industry,” says Mary Dolaher, executive vice president of IDG World Expo. “E for All has been shaped from the ground up with all gamers in mind, and Nintendo has proven its commitment to embracing the spectrum of gamers, as we’ve seen with their launch of the Wii. In addition to being our flagship exhibitor, Nintendo of America Executive Vice President of Operations Don James has agreed to serve on our Exhibitor Advisory Board. I couldn’t ask for a more universally respected colleague in this new venture.”

E for All Expo will offer consumers the opportunity to test-drive the latest in games and gadgetry, as well as purchase products they enjoyed over the course of the 4-day event at on-site retail facilities. Additional attractions are in the works, including high-profile videogame tournaments; job fair/networking opportunities; and the acclaimed Video Games Live concert. In addition to the Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the event will take advantage of soon-to-be-expanded LA Live/NOKIA Theatre area directly adjacent.

E for All Expo has been endorsed by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish video and computer games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet. ESA members collectively account for more than 90 percent of the $7 billion in entertainment software sold in the U.S. in 2005, and billions more in export sales of U.S.-made entertainment software.

More About: E For All Expo, Nintendo Press Release

This is new video of  shopping in the Nintendo Wii

More About: shopping, Nintendo Wii

This is an extract of the interview by Ultima Vida with Melissa Wright Nintendo’s Manager of Sales and Marketing for Latin America:

UV: Is the price of the virtual console games (in Mexico and Latin America) going to be the same than the US?

Melissa: For the virtual console, yes. The Virtual Console will work in Latin America purchasing points trough the Wii Shopping channel; you will be using a credit card. And it will work the same than the US; the NES games will be 5 dollars, SNES games 8 dollars, and N64 10 dollars or their equivalent in your local currency at the time of the transaction. So you will have access to a lot of titles for a small fee, we think it will be a great option.

UV: Will be possible to buy a Wii Points cards in specialized stores in Mexico?

Melissa: We have chosen not to have on sale those cards in Mexico, and the reason is the same one that we have discussed the console price being so different here and in the US. If we offered the Wii Points card in Mexico we woldn’t be able to maintain a competitive price with the purchase of points. That’s why we did not want the consumers to buy more expensive points than the way they could be by buying them online.

UV: So the only way to buy Wii Points in Latin America will be by Internet?

Melissa: Yes it is.

UV: But.. is the channel going to be available in Spanish?

Melissa: Of course, so there will be no problem. It will be a great experience.

source: Ultima Vida

More About: Nintendo, Latin America, virtual console, Wii Points

Codaname Revolution has gotten their hands on the November issue of Nintendo Power and has done a summary of whats in it:

• UPDATE 1: One of the first Wii game ads: Trauma Center: Second Opinion. It shows an appointment note and at the bottom it states “General Surgeon’s Warning: Trauma Center and Wii are an addictive combination that may result in prolonged fun for everyone. Early detection and preordering are key to achieving all the possible entertainment that these items can provide.” Another ad appears which has been seen before for Red Steel.

• UPDATE 2: [I almost had the “big one” when I saw Star Wars: New Alliance right on top of the Prepare for (Wii) Launch and realized it was for handhelds, oh well] Most of the Prepare for Launch feature is already known. Also info on Strikers and BWii, but nothing new. However a list of 33 launch window games are listed! They are the following:

1. The Ant Bully
2. Avatar: The Last Airbender
3. Barnyard
4. Blazing Angels
5. Call of Duty 3
6. Cars
7. Chicken Little: Ace in Action
8. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
9. Elebits
10. Excite Truck
11. Far Cry: Vengeance
12. The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
13. GT Pro Series
14. Happy Feet
15. Ice Age 2
16. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
17. Madden NFL 07
18. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
19. Metal Slug Anthology
20. Monster 4×4 World Circuit
21. Need for Speed: Carbon
22. Open Season
23. Rampage
24. Rapala Tournament Fishing
25. Rayman Raving Rabbids
26. Red Steel
27. Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
28. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
29. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent
30. Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam
31. Trauma Center: Second Opinion
32. Wii Sports
33. World Series of Poker

• UPDATE 3: We should see more Commodore Games from Epyx on the Virtual Console which are confirmed to be in the works.

• UPDATE 4: News we have already heard about but it’s interesting that Nintendo Power points it out such as Spore possibly making it to the Wii and Lucasarts & Radical working on next-gen Game.

• UPDATE 5: Here comes the Wii previews. First is Elebits with new screens, it’ll have over 15 stages and a multi-player mode. Monster 4×4, not much new except that it will look better than its predecessor and that is good to know! Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, two new screens and the game will have areas like Chicago shopping mall, Edinburgh castle, Hong Kong waterfront and the game will have 100 events from 30sec-4min sprints/marathons. Far Cry: Vengeance, three new screens and the graphics are horrible, (N64-1.5 horrible) but it is obvious the game is in an early build. Avatar, three new screens and the game plays similar to X-men Legends. Rayman isn’t necessarily a Wario-ware like title as all the mini-games are part of the story. Barnyard will utlize the Wii-mote and you can do things like break boxes, shake jugs of milk to turn them into cream and in one screenshot it looks like a Golf mini-game feature as well.

• UPDATE 6: A four-page Madden NFL 07 feature. Most of it is known but the screenshots made me think of DS. Of course the graphics shown in video previews are a million times better than what is shown here. Game has as 2on2 Minigame where four athletes face off in a narrowed field and each team has four downs to make it to the end zone. Next mini-game is a Kicking Combine in which the player has to kick the ball and it has to land on what is displayed on the screen. Next is Y.A.C. Attack Minigame which rotates players into the quarterback position so you can pass and run. Defenders get points for stopping his own man and another. The game will look much better, it will have double the textures the GCN version had, more-realistic lighing/shadows and a higher polygon count. Grass is a great example which shows off a realistic treatment.

• UPDATE 7: Next is a three-page feature on Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. A Banana Blitz poster is included in this issue! Few new screens. Game has eight themed worlds and additional worlds to be unlocked and each world consists of eight puzzle stages plus a boss. Bosses like a pirate-like ape and a sasquatch. The rest of the feature shows off mini-games we may have already seen, except perhaps Squash mini-game where you wield the Wii-mote like a tennis racket and the great part is it is not on rails! Meaning you can control the character with the analog stick while playing Squash.

• UPDATE 8: Next up is a three-page feature on Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Many new screens. Game has 17 locations and Dr. Doom seems to be the main baddy. Rhino, Scropion, Shocker, Thunderball, Bulldozer, Piledriver, Mysterio and Dragon Man are some of the villains in the game. Galactus is in the game. Stan Lee interview reveals that The Watcher is in the game. Ultimate Alliance is Stan’s favorite game and a sequel will eventually happen. Nick Fury and Silver Surfer are two unlockable characters. Marvel Ultimate Comic Book fans will recognize some of the storylines and battles in the game.

• UPDATE 9: The Stuff of Legends (Zelda) Part 2 (continued from October Issue): Top 5 Minigames - Money Making, Fishing, Scenic Photo Spots, Private Oasis Puzzle and Tingle Tower Games. Top 5 Items/Weapons - Hookshot, Ocarina of Time, Mirror Shield, Master Sword and Bombs. Top 5 Dungeons - Death Mountain, Dark Palace, Forest Temple, Stone Tower Temple and Forsaken Fotress. Nintendo Power Playback features Ducktales (released September 1989) for the NES (definitely one of the greats). Mini-previews of Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck and Ducktales 2. Capcom is confirmed to support the VC, hopefully Ducktales will make it.

• UPDATE 10: Nintendo Power interviews Hawthorne Heights who are heading for the Fusion Tour. Matt from the group says “We already held the controller..it makes me happy that it’s not $8,000 like the other systems are going to be.“ JT (who is looking foward to Zelda) says “We were pretty impressed. I didn’t know that that’s what it was going to be like. I just thought it would just be, you know, the next Nintendo system. But it looks like it’s going to be something totally different than anybody’s done before.”

• UPDATE 11: Next Month - Countdown to Launch - “The Wii-volution is about to begin, and Nintendo Power is on the front lines. We’ll have complete coverage of launch plans, titles, and reasons why Wii will change gaming as we know it.”