Rumor: $150 Nintendo Wii Coming May 15th?

Rumor has it Nintendo will be dropping the price of the Wii console by $50 just ahead of this year's E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

According to Engadget, a "trusted source" has indicated that the Wii will begin retailing for $150 on May 15. They do however add that they are not fully convinced that Nintendo would announce a price cut then, rather than, during the excitement of the Electronics Entertainment Expo which will take place in June. Adding reverence that Engadget's source is might be correct, GoNintendo has posted what is purportedly an internal price sheet from Kmart showing a $50 price cut for several Wii SKUs that are listed as "clearance" items.

The Nintendo Wii is currently priced at $199 on most sites (with a few sites listing deals as low as $169) a price it shares with its cheapest competition, the 4GB Xbox 360 system. The cheapest PlayStation 3, by contrast, costs $299.99. This new $149 price could help bolster sales which by many reports have been stagnant. 

Geek Porn: Watercooled Wii Makes A Spalsh

When a normal person gets their hands on a gadget, pc or gaming console all they want to do is play with it. When a geek gets his hands on the same gadget they want to tear it apart, see how it works and if they can find a way to Pwn it.

That's exactly what Bit-Tech.net forum member "Angel OD" did when he decided to mod his Wii console. He decide it didn't look 'cool' enough in it's original Nintendo Wii case so he not only built a custom handmade open faced case but added some extra 'cool' with a custom built water-cooling setup.

From the looks of it it took a lot of modding and machine work, but as far asWii mods goes I have to say it has to be one of the best I've seen in awhile.

You can follow the step by step work log here, or jump straight to pics of the finished mod here and here.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Announced

Activision, the producers of the popular Guitar Hero series have officially announced the latest incarnation of the popular game. The latest installment, version 6 to be exact, of one of the world's most popular music game series will be known as Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and will feature the biggest on-disc selection of rock music ever in a Guitar Hero game and Quickplay+, which invites gamers to rock out to any of the on-disc or over 500 songs in the Guitar Hero Music Library.

"Guitar Hero has set the standard for music based gaming and with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock's all-new Quest Mode, robust and authentic set list, over-the-top challenges and rock-inspired new hardware, we are once again bringing the soul and energy of rock n' roll to fans around the world," said David Haddad, Chief Operating Officer, Guitar Hero.

In Quest Mode, using any combination of instruments, players will embark on a larger-than-life, epic rock journey from the stage of CBGBs, the infamous punk-rock club in New York City, to the molten lava fields of rock treachery as eight Guitar Hero characters transform into rock warriors that must join together to use their unique, game-changing powers to help the Demi-God of Rock take down "The Beast" and save rock n' roll.

"The world is a boring place. Come with me, and enter a world populated of Demi-Gods and Beasts. Transform from an everyday person and become the savior of rock and roll," said Gene Simmons of KISS. "It was an honor and privilege to narrate Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, even more so, to voice the Demi God. From the God of Thunder to the Demi-God, how cool is that..."

The first songs off of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock's new set list which will eventually feature more than 90 tracks are:

• AFI – "Dancing Through Sunday"
• Avenged Sevenfold – "Bat Country"
• Black Sabbath – "Children Of The Grave"
• Buzzcocks – "What Do I Get?"
• Children Of Bodom – "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War"
• The Cure – "Fascination Street"
• Def Leppard – "Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)"
• Dethklok – "Bloodlines"
• DragonForce – "Fury of the Storm"
• Drowning Pool – "Bodies"
• Foo Fighters – "No Way Back"
• Foreigner – "Feels Like The First Time"
• Jane's Addiction – "Been Caught Stealing"
• KISS – "Love Gun"
• Megadeth – "Sudden Death"
• Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne – "Paranoid (Live)"
• Muse – "Uprising"
• My Chemical Romance – "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
• Queen – "Bohemian Rhapsody"
• Rammstein – "Waidmanns Heil"
• The Rolling Stones – "Stray Cat Blues"
• Silversun Pickups – "There's No Secrets This Year"
• Slayer – "Chemical Warfare"
• ZZ Top – "Sharp Dressed Man (Live)"

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will be released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii.

For more info checkout the full Activision press release or visit GuitarHero.com

Walmart To Offer $50 Walmart Gift Card With Wii Purchase

In an attempt at getting more gamers through the door Walmart and many more of the nation's largest retailers are using deals to lure customer to their stores.

Reuters reports that beginning December 5th Walmart will be offering a $50 Walmart Gift Card with the purchase of the Nintendo Wii for $199. Walmart has also cut prices on several popular video games by as much $10 each.

Now through December 24, Walmart will sell "Rock Band: Beatles" for the Wii for $40, down from $50, and it will offer "Left 4 Dead 2" for Microsoft's Xbox 360 for $50, compared with its previous price of $60.

Nintendo reported that they sold more than 550,000 Wii consoles during the week of Thanksgiving, so far topping the console sales charts. The down side being sales dropped some 30 percent from the estimated 800,000 or so the company sold during the same period in 2008. Trends suggest more consumers are buying frugally this holiday season and are so far are shunning the big ticket items.

Nintendo Says "No" To Price Cuts

Recent reports have suggested that Nintendo has cut the manufacturing costs of the Wii by as much as 45 percent since its launch. In spite of these reports, and the recent drop in overall sales numbers Nintendo has said there was no plan to cut the price of the immensely popular Wii.

Nintendo Co. president Satoru Iwata said. "The current condition in the Japanese market is not the one we want." But a price war with rivals was not the answer as Nintendo is already the market leader, he said.

"A price cut in a difficult economy cannot really excite the market and drive up sales. As of now I really don't think that a price cut is a good option for us," he told a news conference.

Recent analyst reports from publishing firm Enterbrain Inc said Japanese sales of the PS3 surged 80 percent in the five weeks to March 29 from a year earlier to 146,948 consoles, while demand for the Wii plunged almost 63 percent to 99,335.

In their response a Nintendo spokesperson commented: "It is still the first few months of the year when sales are slow for the industry, so we are not particularly concerned."

Nintendo has sold 50 million Wiis to date, so it would appear as though the company isn't concerned of a small dip in the numbers. And why should they be, more than 10 million Wiis were sold in the United States in 2008. Which was a new industry record.

Wii Fit Launches In U.S.

Nintendo launches its Wii Fit today, the popular expansion to its Wii gaming system that has already sold more than 2 million Wii Fit units in Japan.

Its American launch came today at the Nintendo World store in New York. The system will be available through U.S. retailers beginning Wednesday May 21. Online resellers are already taking pre-sale orders with many sites already showing as out of stock.

Users use a balance board similar to the platform used for step aerobics. You can ride a virtual snowboard, do yoga, twirl virtual hula hoops, or do other exercises on the Wii Balance Board. The board connects with the Wii console through wireless signals. Mii caricatures reflect players' changing fitness levels as they improve.


"Wii Fit will get you moving whether you've been playing video games for years or this is your first time," Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive VP of sales and marketing, said in an announcement. "Wii Fit is easy for anyone to try and is yet another example of how Nintendo continues to expand the world of video games to new audiences."


The wireless accessory basically is a sophisticated, floor-based game controller. It senses your weight and movement as you step on it and uses that data to control onscreen games and exercises designed to improve your balance, posture and fitness. The system will offer more than 40 activities and stores users' records. Virtual trainers guide users and make suggestions for improvement.

The suggested retail price for Wii Fit is $89.99 and online pre-orders can be made at Circuit City, Best Buy, K-Mart and Walmart/