Nintendo likes to brag about their position in the marketplace. With the amount of success they’ve experienced these past two years, they have a lot to be happy about.

26 Million seems to be the current number of Wiis sold, according to Nintendo, comparing that to 20 Million 360s, and 14 Million PS3s. This comes from Nintendo France’s CEO Stephan Bole… (I’m doing my best with the translation, my French isn’t perfect)

“The Wii is still the top console, the momentum is still strong thanks to the massive influx of women, seniors, customers different than what the video game industry has been used to having.”

Well duh.

JeuxFrance

NintendoWiiZone

Remember back in 2005 and that video of the Nintendo ON was “leaked”? The internet sort of freaked out about it in a major sort of way. Or maybe it was just me. It seems that there are some people who can’t let the dream of a futuristic hyper-simplistic Nintendo console die.

British-based T3 Magazine seems to be among them. In their latest issue they’ve predicted that the next Wii console will be almost completely mind-controlled, as well as controllers that feature a single button. Of course, not only will all this be “possible”, but supposedly it will all be available by 2010.

I’m all for fun and simplicity, but this is just ridiculous. While mind controlled games are just starting to make appearances in very basic forms, I definitely don’t think they’d be ready for mainstream release within 2 years. If Nintendo’s going to release a console in 2010, they’d almost need to have finished the final product by now.

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If sarcasm was a liquid, I’d be intoxicated on it right about now. That’s why I’m going to say this is GREAT to hear. CVG did an interview with producer of Brothers in Arms: Double Time, Stephen Palmer. Some (I can’t imagine many) were wondering why Brothers in Arms didn’t come to the Wii last year like it was intended. Talk was even going around that the game was canned altogether. Well that rumour has been put to rest. Palmer confirmed the game still was coming… and has been done for awhile… and hasn’t been touched since.

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I remember quite a few years back playing the original Age of Empires, and Age of Empires II. That was during my RTS phase that also included Starcraft and Warcraft II on the cheap Macs back in junior high, and then Age of Mythology when it came out (which, by the way, has a terrific soundtrack).

Why am I telling you all this? I’m not quite sure, but I like to share my own feelings of nostalgia that have been brought up by the announcement of Age of Empires: Mythologies for the DS. It makes me a little confused as to the naming, though. Is it Age of Empires? or is it Age of Mythology? Age of Empires: Age of Kings for the DS was a solid title that just needed a little more… stuff. Here’s hoping that Age of Empires: Mythologies (which will be using the same game engine as Age of Kings) can improve on the downfalls of its predecessor to give us a terrific RTS experience on our favourite handheld.

No official word about online play (the most notable missing piece from Age of Kings), though there’s a teasing line in the press release, “…single-cart game sharing, allowing players anywhere to go head-to-head worldwide.”

Worldwide, eh? They probably mean that any person who has the game can play against anybody, anywhere in the world (as long as if they’re within fifty feet of you). Full press release after the jump!

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Well, now the word is out about Spyborgs. It seems that there’s a fair number of people on various sites and forums that see the game as being kiddy and childish. Initially I admit I was among them, though, in talking to Kevin and rewatching the trailer a few times I’ve since changed my mind. I’ve never played Ratchet and Clank before…

On the official Capcom messageboards, Christian Svensson (Corporate Officer/Vice-President of Strategic Planning & Business Development at Capcom) has stepped up and responded to a few of these attacks on Spyborgs.

Dark Void and Spyborgs are the two biggest titles our office is working on. To say that either of them isn’t an incredibly high priority for the company, with major resources against them would be a pretty big misunderstanding of the reality. The team working on Spyborgs is an all-star team of some of the best character action game developers in the world, backed by us. Have faith. This is a game that is incredibly thoughtful in its design, incredibly varied in its mechanics and will be incredibly fun to play (both alone or with a buddy/son or daugther/father or mother) when its done. The initial reaction here (Capcom boards) I swear is the EXACT reaction so many of you posters had when we first revealed Zach & Wiki. Somehow, Z&W is now a posterchild title for the Wii in your eyes. Mark my words… you will feel exactly the same way about the level of quality in Spyborgs when it is done.

…Again, this is a big, epic game. A far cry from typical Wii shovelware. You’ve heard my rants on that before… I won’t go through it again.

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It’s nice to see some new IP for the Wii. While this looks a little kiddy, I find it hard to judge the game without knowing much more about it. As long as it’s fun and it plays well, I’m all for it. Two-Player co-op is a huge bonus as well. There definitely needs to be more games that feature it.

SAN MATEO, Calif. — June 3, 2008 — Capcom® Entertainment, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced Spyborgs™, a new action game coming exclusively to the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo. In Spyborgs, players take on the role of a diverse team of five bionic superspies in a fight to save the world from a group of dastardly villains. Wii gamers will be set to save the world when the game launches in 2009.

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Okay, yes it’s a GameCube game, but to many people it’s one of the greatest GameCube games. I won it on eBay last week, and it arrived nicely on my doorstep this morning.

I’ve got to leave for work shortly, so I won’t get a chance to play it until very late tonight (read: early tomorrow morning), but Tuesdays are my lone day off, so rest assured that tomorrow I’ll be playing it and will give you my own personal hype-report.

Not a huge week today for disc releases (with the exception of Lego Indiana Jones, which you guys don’t seem to want…). A couple of decent prospects for WiiWare, though.

Virtual Console

Ninja Combat, NeoGeo, 900p

WiiWare

Protöthea, UbiSoft, 1000p

Toki Tori, Two Tribes, 1000p

Disc Releases

Tuesday, June 3rd

Wii

Cabela’s Trophy Bucks

Kung Fu Panda

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

DS

Kung Fu Panda

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Thursday, June 5th

Wii

The Incredible Hulk

DS

The Incredible Hulk