Nintendo going to war

Iwata’s recent comments about his company’s battle with Sony being a “victory already won,” and then calling out Apple as his next target aren’t the only signs that the Nintendo Empire is on the march.

At Nintendo’s recent Financial Results Briefing, Iwata announced that North America would finally see not just a black Wii, but a whole new Wii package. From here on out, NAers will get a WiiMotion Plus as well as a copy of Wii Sports Resort with their Wii console purchases. The long awaited black Wii comes out May 9, tomorrow!

A new title was also announced at that briefing, an uncreative looking mini-game fest entitled Wii Party. The game will feature the traditional hallmarks of a “Wii something” title, including the use of Miis and a manifest destiny to conquer Earth. The game’s existence pretty much explains away all those lingering questions about where the Mario Party franchise went.

The company also took time to pimp its upcoming title Super Mario Galaxy 2, or as I like to call it, mana from heaven. Recognizing that Japanese and European consumers haven’t been as interested in Mario’s 3D adventures as Americans, and believing the problem to be a fear of getting lost in 3D environments, the new game will come packaged with an instructional DVD in those regions. During his presentation, Iwata conceded that “some may feel this is unusual” considering the Wii’s inability to play DVDs, but excused the decision away because most people have DVD players anyway. Why the contents of the disc were not simply included in the game, or as a second game disc, I have no idea.

As an aside, it’s now been confirmed that Luigi will be playable in the new game, and a video of the slippery sidekick in action is available above.

[source]