Seven new screenshots from Elebits, Konami’s upcoming Wii game.

In a very short announcement, Nintendo disclosed that it plans to release the Wii during Q4 2006 (October to December) and that its retail price will not exceed $250 in America, or ¥25,000 in Japan. The company also announced that it plans on shipping 6 million units worldwide between its launch this year to the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2007.

Nintendo also expects to sell 17 million Wii games during this period. Exact launch dates and details on the launch lineup and Virtual Console will be announced soon.

Even though Nintendo itself hasn’t announced the launch lineup, the following list of probable launch titles have been hovering around the web. Take a look:

• Blitz: The League
  
• Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
  
• Disney/Pixar’s Cars
  
• Elebits
  
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
  
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
  
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
  
• Madden NFL 2007
  
• Metal Slug Anthology
  
• Rayman Raving Rabbids
  
• Red Steel
  
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
  
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
  
• Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam
  
• Trauma Center: Second Opinion
  
• Wii Sports

The PSP will mark the return of Gitaroo Man! Koei has announced that the rockin’ dude will make his portable debut on the PSP in Gitaroo Man Lives! when released in Europe during Q3 2006.

Who knows where he’s been in the intervening years. Rehab? Struggling to get over the break up of Busted? Penning songs from a takeaway strewn Vegas hotel room? Fighting off the Gravillian family on another planet? None of that matters any more, now that the axe man is back and ready to rock.

With his unique collection of battle songs and his talents for blazing out shark shattering anthems, Gitaroo Man is tuned up and ready to hit the road. Gitaroo Man Lives! makes clever use of the PSP’s analogue controls and includes brand new wi-fi games where two tunesmiths can either join forces or pit their talents against each other to see who is the ultimate string legend.

With a playlist worth blowing your speakers for and some of the most colourfully bizarre visuals on PSP, bus journeys will never be the same again.

More details are coming soon.

In its first major announcement since E3, Nintendo of America sent word of three high-level promotions at the company. Current President Tatsumi Kimishima is taking on the role of chairman of the board and chief executive officer, while outspoken Reggie Fils-Aime is being promoted to being president and chief operating officer from his current role as executive VP of sales and marketing. Additionally, Mike Fukuda has been promoted from Senior VP to Executive VP of Business Development.

“Around the world, Nintendo DS has been steadily drawing more people into the video game category,” said Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co., Ltd. “With the upcoming introduction of Wii, along with the strength of this new leadership team and strong executives already in place, Nintendo will continue to dramatically change the way consumers of all ages interact with their video game console on a daily basis.”

In his new role as president and chief operating officer, Fils-Aime will lead the day-to-day operations of Nintendo of America while continuing to oversee the Sales & Marketing Division as the company prepares for the launch of Wii. He joined Nintendo of America in December 2003 to lead all Sales & Marketing efforts in the United States, Latin America and Canada. Prior to joining Nintendo, he served as senior vice president of marketing at VH1. He also has held key marketing positions with Guinness Import Co., Derby Cycle Corp., Pizza Hut, Panda Management Co. and Procter & Gamble.

Continuing their tradition of bringing in stars for Game with Fame sessions, Microsoft today announced that car fanatic and supermodel Jodie Kidd will be available to game with in Project Gotham Racing 3 on May 30.

Jodie will be chatting and playing the game from 5.30 – 7pm GTM in a special PGR100 “Game with Fame”, where members will have the chance to win an unique, limited edition, black-cased Xbox 360 console. All interested gamers have to do is add “Jodie Kidd” to their friends list and log on to Xbox Live during the given time to see whether he/she has been chosen.

Jodie Kidd, besides being a supermodel, is a motor racing enthusiast, recently taking second place in the Trofeo Maserati race at the Bologna Motorshow with co-driver Fabio Babani. She has taken part in several Gumball 3000 rallies and held the fastest celebrity lap in Top Gear for some time.

Penny-pinchers in UK can now grab these Xbox titles for £10 a piece starting May 26: Halo 2, Project Gotham Racing 2, Counter-Strike, Fable: The Lost Chapters, The Simpsons, Crash Bandicoot Wrath of Cortex, Crash Twinsanity and Crash Nitro Kart.

Even though a Singstar is announced for the PS3, SCEE today sent word of SingStar Anthems, a new music title for the PS2. Launching August 4, the sixth title in the series is a fusion of classic tunes and diva-esque anthems; it will feature over 170 tracks and will feature 20 original tracks and music videos. The game will support team contests and head-to-head sing-offs for those with like-minded friends.

Here’s the track listing:

• Queen - Radio Ga Ga
  
• Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
  
• Take That feat. Lulu - Relight My Fire
  
• Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time
  
• Steps - Deeper Shade of Blue
  
• Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
  
• Candi Station - Young Hearts Run Free
  
• Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
  
• Bananarama - I Heard A Rumour
  
• Pussycat Dolls - Don’t Cha
  
• Leann Rimes - Can’t Fight the Moonlight
  
• Donner Summer - I Feel Love
  
• Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up
  
• The Weather Girls - It’s Raining Men
  
• Ultra - Nate Free
  
• Scissor Sisters - Laura
  
• Kim Wilde - Kids in America
  
• Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
  
• Girl Aloud - Biology
  
• Charlotte Church - Crazy Chick

As the official racing simulator for the whole racing season, Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios today announced the sponsorship of Risi Competizione’s Ferrari 430GT for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). The car’s paint scheme will display Forza Motorsport 2 and Xbox 360 on the hood of the car.

Risi Competizione as a racing team has been one of the most consistent race teams on the circuit. To date, the team has won two championships, achieved 29 podium finishes and has a race completion ratio of 84% along with a podium place ratio of 64%. Ferrari’s 430GT has served the team well this far, with third place finishes at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Lone Star Grand Prix.

Forza Motorsport 2, scheduled for release this Holiday season, is a sequel to the fully-customizable driving simulator. It will feature authentic simulation physics, “bone-jarring” damage and “photo-realistic” graphics as well as licensed tuning and customization options.

Midway today announced that popular adventure series Myst is headed to the PSP.

There are no instructions and the player begins a voyage of exploration without encountering a single living sole. Alone on a mysterious island, you set out to explore its grandeur and mystery. Here a chilling tale of intrigue and injustice, defying all boundaries of space and time, is being told. Quickly, though, it becomes clear every action can somehow help unfortunate individuals trapped somewhere in a parallel dimension. The Myst adventure is like no other, tantalizing with its unique combination of lavish environments, puzzles, mazes, and a sizzling underlying drama which steadily unfolds to reward the player further still.

More details on the game and release date will be available in the near future.

Having already announced that Episode One has gone gold, Valve announced the release date for Episode Two and confirmed that a third Episode is being planned.

To be available starting June 1, the first episode will cost $20 and will include around four to six hours of gameplay expanding the story of Half-Life 2. Episode Two will continue the story in a similar fashion and will be available by the end of this year. The third Episode will be the last in the trilogy and is planned for release by Christmas 2007.

This rumor was shot down before, but it has been going persistently strong since people just cannot get the idea of a really hot Final Fantasy 7 remake on the PS3. Anyways, IGN sent off an email to Square Enix to squash the rumor once and for all; here is their reply:

Since the FINAL FANTASY VII tech demo at E3 2005, there have been a lot of rumors about the presentation hinting at an actual remake. While the June 2006 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly confirms the remake for release in 2007, Square Enix has never stated this.

We have however confirmed that development has begun for Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII on PlayStation 3. These titles are part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Project which also includes a mobile game titled FINAL FANTASY Agito XIII.

Really, what kind of an answer do people need? “WE ARE NOT MAKING A F&*&@#! FINAL FANTASY 7 GAME!” That’s more like it, I guess.

Microsoft has detailed the updates to Xbox 360 that will go live next week. The major update enhances the console’s functions, user interface as well as Xbox Live.

• Based on customer feedback, 360 users will be able to download content from Xbox Live and do other stuff like listen to music or play a game during the meantime. The new download manager will allow up to six downloads to be queued up and prioritized; lag in online multiplayer won’t be an issue since downloads will be paused as soon as the player begins a multiplayer game.
  
• As soon as the download is complete, users will be able to directly access the downloaded content through a notification. Themes can also be applied instantly.
  
• A new “Media and Entertainment” category has been added to the Marketplace menu. Users can now directly view movie trailers, short films, music videos and other entertainment media without sifting through game trailers which now has its own category.
  
• If a user is idle, it will say so in the player’s friends list. Also, there will be an option to have separate gamer pictures for friends and the general public.
  
• The Xbox 360 camera peripheral will be supported, although it’s not due for release until Fall.
  
• Media functions have also been overhauled. Users can now fast forward or rewind up to 16x faster in Marketplace videos; data retrieval for names of CDs and individual tracks have been enhanced; and DVD playback can be resumed from the point it was stopped.
  
• Users will also have the option to either boot up to the dashboard or to the game in the disc drive. Previously it was only the latter.

Thanks to Wii’s inferior specs and economical price, Nintendo will not be adding Dolby Digital 5.1 optical output to the system, according to the console’s technical documentation given to development studios.

It appears that the console will feature a single proprietary audio/video jack; it will also give users the option to plug in different cables depending on their choice, including composite, S-video or component audio/video cables, but no surround sound support.

However, all isn’t bad on the Wii front. Katsuya Eguchi, creator of the famed Animal Crossing series and the upcoming Wii sports game, gave an interview to CGOnline during which he revealed that the next-gen console might let users see a game version of them on screen. He referred to the pre-E3 Nintendo conference Wii Tennis demo, asking the interviewer if he liked seeing the personalized versions of Shigeru Miyamoto, Reggie Fils-Aime and Satoru Iwata in the game.

As the article points out, Nintendo still has one more secret about the Wii that it hasn’t revealed yet: maybe this is it?

Sega has put up the official website for the game based on Appleseed, an anime movie released last year. Based on the series created by Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell), the game will be a fighting and gun action title, with DreamFactory handling development.

The game is scheduled for release this September in Japan and is exclusive to the PS2. No North American plans were mentioned.

For the frugal gamers out there who’ve been holding out on Xbox 360 games can now get them for cheaper. Initially, third-party games for the console launched at an exorbitant price of $60, but now, some games will see price reductions to a reasonable $40. These games include:

• Burnout Revenge
  
• FIFA Soccer 06: Road to FIFA World Cup
  
• Madden NFL 06
  
• NBA Live 06
  
• The Outfit
  
• Peter Jackson’s King Kong
  
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06