“Nintendo to reveal Wii HD tomorrow?” asks Eurogamer. “Doubt it,” answers Chris Schilling, though I’m well prepared to be proven wrong (and indeed have been, on numerous occasions. In fact, why believe me? Go with Eurogamer’s guess. They probably know something I don’t, after all).

Anyway, this is the story on What They Play, which has veteran games journo John Davison waxing lyrical about Nintendo’s next console, how it’s already been shown to publishers and developers, and Nintendo’s spent loads of money on R+D in the last year so it must be true.

But be still, my cynical tongue. Assuming this is all true, Wii HD will arrive in 2011, it’ll be more about “what the consumer will hold in their hands” than the console itself, and will be all about the digital distribution, baby. Which means much larger storage space. So, knowing Nintendo, that’s 2GB of Flash memory, tee hee.

If true, it will apparently mark a step forwards that’s roughly akin to “Game Boy to Game Boy Advance”. Oh, and backwards compatibility is confirmed. Which, to me, says one thing: Super Mario Galaxy in HD. I’m salivating like a dog chained up outside a butchers as I type this.

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GoNintendo is carrying an intriguing rumour that Nintendo will be holding a conference before the Tokyo Game Show. The conference is said to be taking place on October 2nd. It might, as the site suggests, be unusual for Nintendo to hold an event rather than attend TGS, but then it pulled a similar trick last year, when Monster Hunter 3 was revealed to be Wii-exclusive.

Whether there’ll be an equally surprising announcement this year, I’m not so sure, but I wouldn’t bet against a couple of game announcements for the early part of 2009 which are perhaps slightly unexpected. We’re due a pleasant surprise or two, after all…

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Typical. You spend a substantial amount of time working on a lengthy post about Nintendo’s move away from its traditional fanbase, and then a rumour emerges that one of its most core-focused titles may possibly hit Europe later this year.

Disaster: Day of Crisis was thought to be in development limbo, but hopes were raised of a PAL release when the Australian certification board awarded it a Mature rating recently. But according to a rumour coming from the gossip haven that is NeoGAF, the game may be set for an October 24th release.

What’s particularly interesting about this is that Nintendo had promised no further game announcements for 2008 at E3, but then again that may have just meant North America. Or could it be that Disaster is the new Doshin The Giant, and won’t ever make it to US shores? And - if that is the case - why?

Nintendo UK has suggested its forthcoming release list is coming “soon”. So hopefully we’ll all know the answer before long.

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With Games Convention 2008, just around the corner, Sega has announced its line-up for the event, with plenty of Wii and DS games in the offing.

Samba de Amigo will be there, alongside Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, DS game Dinosaur King and Platinum Games’ brilliant-looking MadWorld.

Headstrong Games (formerly Kuju) will be attending, and it seems that its first game for Sega will be the game that’s shown off to the press and public for the first time. I’ve received a tip-off that it will definitely be a Wii game, and I’ve also heard a strong rumour that it’s a reinvention of an old Sega franchise.

Jet Set Radio using the balance board, anyone? Sounds as good a candidate to me as any.

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Xbox 360 RPG Mass Effect is a terrific game, melding action with stat-building and wrapping it all up inside a compelling sci-fi story with a helping of moral dilemmas to chew on. Though I’m not sure how it’d be done, apparently Bioware - or its handheld division at least - is considering remaking the game for DS.

Speaking to Eurogamer.de, Bioware’s Miles Holmes, currently at work on Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, suggested that the company was interested in “anything that reinforces [our] franchises”.

“I tell you which one I would want. I want the Mass Effect one,” Holmes added. It’s rare that a developer speaks so boldly about anything like this without there being something potentially in the pipeline, so fingers crossed we could see this superb space opera on our dual screens before too long.

 ”Having a DS version would be an awesome way to keep interest alive and keep [the franchise] going,” Holmes explained.

Excitement +4.

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According to Register Hardware, Nintendo - alongside fellow assignee InPhase Technologies - has applied to patent  “Miniature flexure based scanners for angle multiplexing”. The application apparently contains several references to holographic technologies, which would certainly be one answer to the storage solution issue.

Still, at current market prices, holographic storage would be quite expensive, making this a more likely avenue for Nintendo’s next console rather than the Wii. Unless Nintendo is considering launching another SKU for the core gamers and keeping the ‘vanilla’ Wii for its new expanded audience? Like a sort of Wii Elite, with holographic storage and an internal upscaler*? Unlikely, but you never know.

*Yep, I know. Wishful thinking on my part. But wouldn’t Galaxy look amazing in 720p?

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As one of the few people outside Japan who owns this, I’m particularly intrigued to hear about a potential new rival peripheral which will be shipping with a DS title from Sega this November.

Play-Asia has just listed a product named Project Beauty (with DS Scan). Now, this could be me putting two and two together and coming up with five, but does this suggest that Sega might be producing some kind of facial recognition peripheral of its own?

Nintendo’s Face Training featured a remarkable mini camera, which traced the movement of your facial muscles while you attempted to exercise them in order to keep your fizog looking fresh. It’s a shame that it didn’t really take off, as I’m sure Nintendo could think of some innovative gaming ideas which used the technology, even if only as an optional extra in other DS games.

Expect more news on Project Beauty as it becomes available. Hopefully I’ll discover what the mysterious ‘DS Scan’ is soon. 

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One of my personal favourite third-party games on Wii - and a million times better than the similarly tilty Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz - Kororinpa looks like it might be getting a sequel in the not-too-distant future. 

According to Italian site Planet Nintendo’s interview with Hudson’s Hiromi Tomisawa the company has three games lined up to show off at the forthcoming GDC in Leipzig at the end of August. They’re only working titles, but we can expect to see Hard Working People for Wii, Kororinpa 2 for Wii, and Bomberman 2 for DS.

Seems strange that this has been mentioned to a small Italian site before anywhere else, but perhaps Hudson just hasn’t been asked before. I’ll be in Leipzig for GDC, so I’ll report back if and when I see these titles.

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For those who haven’t heard of it, Cave Story is a freeware PC game which was released in 2004. Created entirely by Daisuke Amaya over five years, Cave Story is a critically-acclaimed Metroid-esque adventure that’s been described as the best freeware game ever made.

Anyway, a rumour has emerged that the game will soon be coming to WiiWare - the creator has been asked to remove all ports of the game (from OS4depot and Aminet) in preparation for its arrival on the service. I’d heard whispers that WiiWare was going to get some interesting stuff in the near future, and this is certainly a good start.

More news when I get it. Fingers crossed that’s it’s true, because Cave Story is every bit as good as the games it’s been influenced by.

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We all know that when Miyamoto hints at something, there’s usually some substance to it. So are we to take his latest comment as confirmation that Punch Out!! will be arriving on Wii at some point in the near future (as was heavily rumoured before E3)?

In an interview with IGN, Miyamoto waxes lyrical about Wii MotionPlus - pictured above - claiming that “there’s a lot of possibility in terms of something, like a very accurate version of Punch-Out!! that goes beyond what Wii Sports Boxing can do, or even other ideas…”

Surely if that’s going to work, you’d need to use two controllers with MotionPlus, otherwise you’d have a left hand like Danny Williams, and a right like Muhammad Ali. But still: Punch-Out!! on Wii? Yes please, Nintendo. 
 

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