[05.04.11] Wii gets a refresher

As much expected, the Nintendo's Wii has finally taken an official price drop to $149.99 USD. Although the local Target store has had them at that price for the last few weeks, you should now start seeing it drop at other local retailers and nation-wide. Nintendo still plans to offer both the white and black versions of their console; however the systems are getting a new package. Their ever-popular Wii Sports title will no longer be offered as a freebie; instead, taking its place, is the also popular (and currently $49.99 USD) Mario Kart Wii, wheel accessory included.

The fun doesn't stop there though, as Nintendo also announced a new "Nintendo Select" line, similar to its competitors "Greatest Hits" and "Platinum Hits" lines. Nintendo Select won't feature any new games, but will instead have long-standing favorites reintroduced with a sleek new case sporting red trim and a gold "Nintendo Select" approval badge in its top left corner. It also has a wallet friendly price point of just $19.99 USD. The line-up is set to include hits like Super Smash Brothers Brawl, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Warioware, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Wii Sports, and Mario Super Sluggers, among others. Selection does vary by region though, so don't cry foul at your local retailer if they don't have your title on hand. All of the aforementioned titles stuck to their release price until this point, so those of you who have been holding out for years can finally go crazy!

[04.25.11] The next generation of gaming from Nintendo

Its official, ‘Project Café’ is under way. Today, Nintendo has finally confirmed that they are developing the next generation home console to follow the incredibly successful Wii from November 2006. Not much has been confirmed yet, although many rumors have been circling for quite some time. IGN has a whole bunch of information on the currently unnamed console which all seems to point to one thing: The ‘Wii 2’ will be much more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3 - something that the originally Wii definitely was not. One of the most interesting and unique features of the Wii’s successor is actually the controller. It’s been reported that it will utilize a design similar to the ‘classic controller’ from the Wii, however, it will also contain a full touch-screen, perhaps to stream game images to or incorporate interactive elements.

One question on many people’s mind is, “Will it include 3-D elements like the just-released 3DS?”According to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, “It's difficult to make 3-D images a key feature, because 3-D televisions haven't obtained wide acceptance yet.” Aside from that, Nintendo has only released a statement saying, “We will show a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications at the E3 Expo, which will be held from June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles." It sounds like you’ll just have to wait until then to get your first real look at the system.

Original Article: Kotaku