108w ago - Today Nintendo has confirmed (PDF) that the Wii's successor will be shown and playable at E3 this year, and that the new home console will be launching sometime in 2012.

According to several reports, the next-gen 'Project Cafe' Wii will utilize a new controller providing users with a unique view to streamed content from their console and TV.

To quote from MCVUK (linked above): "A fierce fortnight of rumours concerning the Wii 2 has been rounded off with official confirmation of a new Nintendo home console.

The platform holder confirmed as much in a note attached to its most recent financial report. It confirms that a “successor” to the popular motion sensing machine will launch at some point in 2012. It will be shown at this year's E3 in June."

Finally, for those wondering E3 runs this year from June 7 to June 9, 2011.

257w ago - After debuting their highly impressive, real-time gameplay trailer last month, High Voltage Software have officially announced their new FPS, The Conduit, the tirle that will usher in true next-generation technology on the Wii.

Built on the studio's custom Quantum 3 Game Engine, The Conduit will be able to reproduce all kinds of neat little tech tricks on Nintendo's weak white box, including dynamic environment mapping, interactive water with real-time reflection, and four-stage texture composition including gloss, diffuse, and bump mapping. Yeah, that's a mouthful.

As well, High Voltage says that they've created an extremely advanced A.I. system, which is necessary if their "terrifying alien creatures" are to pose any threat to you whilst you flail your arms around, wildly, using the game's uniquely tailored control scheme. Eric Nofsinger, Chief Creative Officer at High Voltage Software, said:

Too many Wii owners have been told that the Wii is a casual platform with no room for serious games or top-tier graphics. With The Conduit, we intend to prove that theory wrong by providing gamers with the kind of title they imagined back when the platform was first announced.
Full online, competitive multiplayer (please, no friend codes) and a "thrilling" single player campaign are in store...

266w ago - What's the deal with Microsoft losing the entire first quarter of 2008's hardware sales to the PS3 and Wii while not really seeming to give care? Is it all show (the not caring part) or what?

Maybe I should start taking bets for what Microsoft's "official" reason will be this time. They've already used up "underestimated demand" and "production capacity issues". My money's going on "Who cares about March anyway?! March is a stupid doo-doo month!"

In anticipation of Thursday's official release of the NPD sales numbers, analysts are predicting that Sony outdid Microsoft for March. I'm not sure about you, but I was getting used to seeing Xbox 360 sales as the metric people really watched, while Wii sales were a never-ending fluke we expected to crash at any moment and the PS3 was the little system that (never) could.

When the PS3 outsold the 360 the first time, we all agreed... it was a fluke. Then it happened again, but that was okay since it was sort of a mistake on Microsoft's part combined with another fluke success on Sony's part. Now, we're approaching official confirmation of the third time (in a row no less,) suggesting this is edging toward an actual "trend" with the monthly order of hardware sales repeatedly coming in Wii>PS3>360. Maybe someone...