The Wii has pummeled its rivals in a head-to-head battle in next-generation video game consoles involving Sony's PlayStation 3, which has been plagued with production problems, and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Iwata refused to disclose the monthly production capacity for the Wii, and said it was too early to say by how much the production was being raised.

But he said efforts were underway to increase production, and more machines will get delivered to stores around the world.

"We will do our best to offer the machine for those who are waiting," he said at a Tokyo hall.

The Wii's motion-sensitive remote control wand has made it hit even with people unaccustomed to playing video games. It faced some minor problems early on with its wand, which flew out of the hands of some overzealous players, snapping the strap and at times crashing into TVs. But that hasn't dented profits, and the console is still flying off store shelves.

Published by SEGA across Europe and North America, and published by Nintendo in the Japanese market, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will be available for Holiday 2007 and is licensed through a worldwide partnership with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), the exclusive interactive entertainment software licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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 favorite 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.

"We are thrilled to partner with Nintendo and ISM on this groundbreaking title," said Hisao Oguchi, President and Chief Operating Officer, SEGA Corporation. "For the first time, two of the world's greatest games' characters come together to compete in the world's greatest sporting event and we couldn't be more excited."

"Mario and Sonic have been respectful rivals since the early days of video games," says Shigeru Miyamoto, Senior Managing Director and General Manager, Entertainment Analysis and Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd.. "In fact, for a long time they have been discussing the possibility of one day competing against each other. Now that they have been given the perfect opportunity to meet at the Olympic Games, we may finally learn who is actually faster, Mario or Sonic?"

In recent weeks, the Web has been full of reports of excited gamers losing their grip on the Wii's controller or smacking their arms into nearby objects.

After issuing a general ``calm down'' to its customers a week ago, Nintendo Co. responded by quietly beefing up the controller's fabric wrist strap, spokeswoman Beth Llewelyn said.

The recall was announced after Llewelyn made her comment.

The stories of damage and injury certainly haven't hurt sales. The market research company NPD Group estimates that U.S. consumers bought 476,000 Wiis in the two weeks following its Nov. 17 launch. That beat Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 console, which sold just under 200,000 units in roughly the same period amid widespread shortages.

It is learnt that the strap is connected to a motion sensitive controller that is used to control the on-screen action, and is used to mimic the motions of a tennis racket, golf club or sword, depending on the game. Besides, the Wii strap is an important safety feature of the controller, which is waved around vigorously in a typical game. And all the games for the Wii come with regular safety messages that remind players to keep the wrist strap on.

In a statement, Yasuhiro Minagawa, Company Spokesman, said that Nintendo will offer customers to exchange the old straps, which have a 0.6 millimeter (0.024 inch) diameter, for a beefed up strap that has a diameter of 1 millimeter (0.04 inch.)

Assuming that Reggie wasn't referring to the second quarter of fiscal year 2007 -- which ended, like, a few days ago -- when he made the commitment on SpikeTV's Game Head show, it sounds like the first, unnamed online titles will begin trickling out in the March/April time frame. As you're probably aware, Japan's already had a taste of networked Wii gaming in the form of launch title Pokemon Battle Revolution, but Reggie kept the details about future multiplayer games close to his chest -- those titles will be revealed early next year, he said. Reggie also let slip the fact that new Wii channels are in the works, though once again, he omitted any real concrete information concerning either their content or scheduled rollout. So there you have it: if all goes according to plan, we should be able to hold a Gears of Peace-style event for the Wii in early spring; still, we can't promise that pwning us in Mario Kart will be quite as rewarding as draining our Crimson Omen with a hail of machine gun fire.

But a big test of the company’s strategy will come this fall with the release of its new video game console, the Wii (pronounced WEE), which will be introduced Nov. 19 in North America and in December in the rest of the world. If the device does not sell better than the GameCube, it would consign Nintendo to a more distant third place in the console business. While the new Microsoft and Sony consoles will have faster chips and more extravagant features, Nintendo is steering clear of that technology in favor of a controller for Wii that senses motion in real space.

In the Wii game Red Steel, for example, the gamer jabs the controller as if it were a sword.

"Most of the game business is going down a similar path toward hyperrealistic graphics which recreate sports or movies," said Shigeru Miyamoto, a senior managing director at Nintendo and the designer of Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, and scores of the medium's biggest hits.

"We want to put a little more art into it and do it in a way that casual consumers can enjoy the games," Mr. Miyamoto said in an interview through a translator.

The Wii, which is about the size of a large paperback book, is both cheaper and smaller than Sony Corp.'s much-awaited PlayStation 3, which launches just two days earlier with $500 and $600 models.

The Wii (pronounced "wee") is the successor to Nintendo's GameCube, the third-best selling console of its generation after the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox. Nintendo's Game Boy and DS are dominant in the market for portable game machines, but the company hasn't been a market leader in consoles since the early 1990s.

The company had promised to launch the Wii sometime in the last quarter of this year. By bringing it out on time, it's avoiding Sony's embarrassing PlayStation 3 delays.

The Wii breaks the mold of console controllers: It's a slim wand that communicates the user's movements wirelessly to the main machine. Nintendo demonstrated a bowling game in which the player swings the wand like he's throwing a ball down the lane. The wand relies in part on a sensor bar that needs to be installed, with tape or other means, on the front of the TV set, adding somewhat to the complexity of the setup.

While Nintendo has not made any formal announcements about the launch date for the Wii, most of the industry has expected the machine to hit retail at approximately the same time as Sony's PlayStation 3 (which is set for November 17). Now, industry observers - and insiders - say they expect the system to be available in October, with late September a dark horse candidate.

Indeed, the company appears to be already manufacturing final retail units of the Wii, according to a June 21st analyst's note from P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research. That would give it a significant head start over Sony (Charts), which has yet to begin final manufacturing of the PlayStation 3. Microsoft's first Xbox 360 did not roll off the assembly line last year until 69 days before the on sale date of Nov. 22. (That late start in production is the root cause behind last holiday's shortages.)

Nintendo UK has denied a report in British tabloid the Daily Star that Nintendo Wii will launch "at the end of November, priced around £170".

"It's pure speculation on the part of the newspaper - we have made no announcements regarding Wii price or software," a spokesperson told our sister site Eurogamer this morning.

The Daily Star report was based on a recent press event for Nintendo Wii hosted in London, where Nintendo showed off a number of the games featured at E3 to lifestyle and newspaper press.

"Along with writer Anthony Horowitz, we asked ourselves how the Secret Service would get secret tools into the hands of a 14-year-old spy," says Peter Samuelson, who, with his brother Marc, produced the film. "Nintendo DS is the perfect fit: Alex's spyware hides in plain sight. Audiences will be thrilled to see how it helps Alex get out of a host of heart-pounding predicaments."

Stormbreaker is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom on July 21 by Entertainment Film Distributors, in the United States on Oct. 6 by The Weinstein Company and worldwide from August by leading local distributors.

The film stars Alex Pettyfer as Alex Rider, with Sarah Bolger, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Damian Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy, Sophie Okonedo, Missi Pyle, Andy Serkis, Alicia Silverstone, Ashley Walters and Mickey Rourke.

"The agreement is a perfect marriage of two hot entertainment properties," explains George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "And while the Nintendo DS is one of the most versatile gaming systems available, we unfortunately have no plans to make any DS spy-related functions available to the general public."

"Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak," the company said in its flash presentation of the name. "No confusion. No need to abbreviate."

The unusual spelling is meant to symbolize both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play.

As it prepares to enter the next generation, Nintendo has taken a different stance than many of its competitors. Rather than focusing on visual and technical upgrades, the company has revamped how players control games, in an effort to reach beyond the traditional gaming audience.

The move has been fairly successful so far. The Nintendo DS, a handheld system that was the first step in the plan, has sold well - as has non-traditional games like "Nintendogs" and "Brain Age". The Wii will use a remote control-like device to control games. The wireless unit, using internal sensors, will translate wrist and hand movements into onscreen actions.

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo of Japan, told me last week that while the company has no control over what its partners ask for their games, "I cannot imagine any first party title could be priced for more than $50."

Development costs in the next generation have been one of the talking points for Nintendo for several months. The company has repeatedly said flashier graphics on the same games will only drive up costs, not increase the industry's appeal. Third party publishers are hoping otherwise, as games for the Xbox 360 (and, if pricing goes as expected, for the PlayStation 3) regularly hover in the $60 range.

"In the US, we're going to see the next generation cost an awful lot," said Iwata. "I really don't think that there's going to be a lot of acceptance by current customers of the $60 price tag. They may allow that for a limited number of premium titles, but not all."

Microsoft (Research) and Sony (Research) hope to supplement their income with digital distribution, selling games and more via their online services. Xbox 360 owners are able to download new, small games onto their hard drive for a small fee (typically no more than $10). The model will likely be the same with the PS3.

The PNP service will allow gamers to play a game and have simultaneous video chats on-screen with friends and gamers through a translucent HUD. This same display also allows Web browsing, e-mail and other online functonality all seamlessly while in a game world. PNP will also allow gamers to buy new cars and tracks for a game while in that game world. Customized shops within games will allow gamers to purchase new digitally distributed content seamlessly. The fact that these virtual stores can appear in the game universe (something that Xbox Live Marketplace does not currently offer) really shows off the convergence potential of the future of digital distribution.

Harrison alluded to the future of videogames and digital distribution when he said that Sony currently makes games on discs inside boxes in stores, but in the future Sony will be creating and servicing a network of gaming communities. Sony expects to make revenue not just from game sales in traditional packaged media, but through other communities like mobile gaming, in-game transactions, episodic game content, game subscriptions, and game object auctions (something that's huge with MMO games today on PCs). Sony is also launching an international e-distribution network that will provide content that's only available online.

Harrison even referenced MySpace.com as an example of how PNP could bring social-network functionality to PS3 for gamers. Gaming is a community experience, as Sony's online games like "SOCOM" and SOE's games like "EverQuest" have shown. The PC has already built communities around games, but PC gamers constitute small numbers compared to what console gamers can generate. Harrison said that Sony has sold 100 million PS2s and its 6,732 games had sold over 1 billion units worldwide. Sony owns 60 percent of the gaming industry today. Couple that wil online communities and there's a huge audience to tap into.

Now Nintendo is adding fuel to the digital distribution fire. Nintendo President Saturo Iwata said at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, CA this week that in addition to offering Nintendo classics from the NES, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and GameCube library, Revolution's virtual console will allow gamers to download 1,000 classic Sega Genesis games and an undiclosed number of Hudson TurboGrafx 16 games. Back in the day, Nintendo battled aggressivley with Sega. This fall, the two former rivals will work together to bring digitally distributed content to gamers.

Nintendo also confirmed that game developers would be able to create smaller, innovative games that can be downloaded to Revolution through the virtual console. It's likely that Nintendo will have a system in place similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace and Sony's PlayStation Network Platform that allows developers an avenue to sell smaller games directly to consumers.

Most people know part of Fogle's story, he said, but don’t realize he started gaining weight in third grade. "I can trace it back to when I was given the best birthday present of my life: a Nintendo."

At that point, Fogle said, he started playing video games more and riding his bike and playing sports less. He became sedentary. With his love of video games, he developed a love of junk food.

"I usually had one hand on the controller and one in a bag of chips," he said. By the time he reached sixth grade, he was bigger than the other children, he said, and his father, a doctor, started to worry.

"They tried restricting my Nintendo time, but I found ways to get around it," Fogle said.

"Three top reasons are the 'Three N's,' Nickelodeon, Nintendo and Netscape — television, video games and computers. Kids are getting less activity."

n an interview featured in today's edition of Japanese newspaper Sankei Shinbun, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated, "We can't disclose the Revolution's release period yet, but we have no plans to miss out on the year-end sales battle. As for North America, we need to release it by Thanksgiving, or otherwise we won't receive support from the retail industry. So the Revolution will be released prior to that period."

Iwata avoided any specific comments about how much the Revolution would cost. However, he reiterated that the console will be reasonably priced. "The amount of money that people are willing to spend on videogames is getting less every year," he said. "Even if it's a superb machine, it's not going to sell if it's 50,000 yen ($434). We plan to make [the Revolution] an affordable price."

Quoted in Interactive Investor today, Evan Wilson of Pacific Crest Securities, said that PS3 will "most likely" be released in November with 1 million units, followed by a European launch in March 2007. He said the Japanese launch would also be backed by about a million units this summer.

Nintendo will announce its next-generation games console, Revolution, next May, the company has revealed.

The full disclosure will take place just ahead of the E3 games industry bash in Los Angeles, where Nintendo this year gave a glimpse of Revolution's design but provided few hard details.

In September, Nintendo unveiled the movement-tracking controller the console will ship with.

With the Xbox 360 now on sale in the US, and coming to Europe this coming Friday - the Japanese debut will take place later this month - attention is turning to rival products from Sony and Nintendo.

The Mario Kart franchise has sold more than 11.1 million games in the United States alone. Mario Kart DS offers racers more than 30 courses, including classic tracks from Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. Favorite Nintendo characters cruise in dozens of classic and custom karts as they use weapons like bananas, bombs, lightning and squid ink to gain a competitive advantage.

When racing using a wireless local area connection, up to eight players can play, even if only one of them has a Mario Kart DS game card. When using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, up to four players across the world can join a race. Friends share their DS Friend Code to find one another online using their friend roster.

Outside the home, when a user brings a Nintendo DS unit and a Wi-Fi-enabled game into a Wayport-enabled McDonald's restaurant locations, the user simply launches the game in Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection mode. No setup is required.

Nintendo breaks with more than 20 years of video game history by abandoning the traditional controller held with two hands and introducing an all-new freehand-style unit held with one hand.

The intuitive, pioneering interface allows players to run, jump, spin, slide, shoot, steer, accelerate, bank, dive, kick, throw and score in a way never experienced in the history of gaming.

"The feeling is so natural and real, as soon as players use the controller, their minds will spin with the possibilities of how this will change gaming as we know it today," explains Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president. "This is an extremely exciting innovation -- one that will thrill current players and entice new ones."

When picked up and pointed at the screen, the controller gives a lightning-quick element of interaction, sensing motion, depth, positioning and targeting dictated by movement of the controller itself.

The controller also allows for a variety of expansions, including a "nunchuk" style analog unit offering the enhanced game-play control hard-core gamers demand.

Freedom of design: A dynamic development architecture equally accommodates both big-budget, high-profile game 'masterpieces' as well as indie games conceived by individual developers equipped with only a big idea.

Nintendo, whose GameCube sales have lagged, hopes to gain ground, particularly among the fast-growing older-gaming market. Revolution is about the size of a stack of three DVD cases and has no visible knobs, buttons or ports for joysticks. The system will use only wireless controllers, and it sits flat or stands vertically.

With its front-loading slot for discs, it will play games on full-size DVDs as well as older GameCube games on mini-DVDs. Like Xbox and PlayStation 2, it will play DVD movies.

Nintendo, which mostly ignored the Net with GameCube, also is catching up with the online wave. Revolution will offer broadband access to a free Internet-based player matching service, similar to Xbox Live, that also will have downloadable versions of nearly every Nintendo game — from arcade classic Donkey Kong through current titles such as Mario Sunshine. (Nintendo hasn't decided whether downloading will be free.)

The menacing Block-O who dreams of conquering the universe leaves his planet, Planet Cube, in search of his next target. Unexpectedly, Block-O discovers that the inhabitants of Earth like to give out gifts. Once the gifts are received, gift boxes are usually thrown away. Misinterpreting the gift box as his beloved kind, Block-O resentfully dispatches troops to invade Earth to win justice for his fellow cubes.

Fragland reports that a source within the company has confirmed that, contrary to earlier speculation, Nintendo will indeed be showing off their new next-gen Revolution console at this year's E3 gaming expo. Even if they do have a console to show off it probably won't be playable, but if this turns out to be true it means that Nintendo definitely are not going to let Sony and Microsoft hog the spotlight at this year's E3.