Apparently set to hit the market “by 2011″ the new device is said to be the true “next generation” Nintendo console, and far more than a simple refresh of the current hardware. Unlike previous console transitions from Nintendo, the new system will be presented as a true successor to the Wii, and is being dubbed by those that have seen the presentation as “Wii HD.” There is no indication if this will be its eventual name, but the nature of the transition has been characterized as similar to “the shift from Game Boy to Game Boy Advance,” where familiar, key elements were left intact while the core hardware was made more powerful. It is expected by all those that we have spoken to on the subject that the new device will retain the Wii name in part. — What They Play

What They Play cites “multiple sources in the game development and publishing community” as providing confirmation of Nintendo shopping around the concept of a Wii successor. The site also points to the growing spending that Nintendo is doing on Research and Development, which could mean Wii 2 is on the mind of the Big N.

Based on figures from Nintendo’s annual financial reports, the company is currently spending more than ten times as much on research and development as it was five years ago, and since the Wii was launched in 2006, R&D spending has more than tripled. While this could be attributed to any number of additional projects, the level of spending suggests that a large project is in the works. In 2003, Nintendo declared that $34 million was spent on R&D. This figure steadily climbed to $103 million in 2006 (the year that the Wii launched) and the following year bumped dramatically to $370 million. When asked to explain the escalated spending, Nintendo representatives were unable to provide comment.

Keep in mind that Nintendo is almost all-but-confirmed to be readying a new DS with a bigger screen, camera and music playback functionality that might be announced at this week’s Nintendo press event, so a good chunk of the company’s R&D budget could have gone to that.

Whatever the case may be, the most important thing to note is that Nintendo hasn’t confirmed or denied any of the preceding information, so for now we’ll just have to wait and see what kind of showing the company makes in San Francisco and/or wait for Nintendo to comment on the recent speculation. We’ll keep you posted either way.

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The new Wii hotel game system allows hotel guests to select from a library of games without inserting game discs. With the intuitive games menu, guests can just point the Wii Remote at a game and begin playing immediately. Popular new Wii games will be added to the menu as they become available.

The Wii guest room packages include unlimited Wii access for the entire stay. — Press Release
And to think I’d been thrilled in the past by seeing a Super NES or N64 controller plugged into the TV. But it doesn’t look like anywhere I’ll be staying, sadly. And not just because of location; I doubt I could afford it for very long.

For further details, check out the full press release:
The Wii Games Begin at Marriott & Renaissance Hotels

Marriott and Nintendo Bring the Fun Back to Business Travel and Pilot New In-Room Entertainment Options for All Generations

BETHESDA, Md. & REDMOND, Wash.–The Wii™ experience is just beginning for Marriott and Renaissance guests, who can now choose from 20 games, including the popular Mario Kart™ Wii, Super Mario Galaxy™, and Wii Sports™ as well as the revolutionary fitness game, Wii Fit™. In a lodging industry first, Marriott International, Inc. is piloting a new specially built Wii hotel game system from Nintendo in select guest rooms and lounges. Wii systems are available at six Marriott and Renaissance properties:

* New York Marriott Marquis
* Renaissance New York Hotel Times Square
* Boston Marriott Cambridge
* Bethesda (Md.) Marriott Suites
* Annapolis (Md.) Marriott Waterfront
* JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, Phoenix (Lounge only)

Wii has been a hit with every age group. The intuitive, motion-sensitive controls of the Wii Remote™ controller make the games easy to play, whether alone or in groups, making it an excellent fit for hotels and their guests. With Wii Fit, guests can even burn calories while having fun, all in the comfort of their hotel rooms.

The new Wii hotel game system allows hotel guests to select from a library of games without inserting game discs. With the intuitive games menu, guests can just point the Wii Remote at a game and begin playing immediately. Popular new Wii games will be added to the menu as they become available.

The Wii guest room packages include unlimited Wii access for the entire stay. To book a Wii guest room package at these six hotels, subject to availability, please go to www.marriott.com, select your preferred hotel, then click on the “Deals at this Hotel” link or insert promotional code XY0 (zero). There is a small premium for a room with a Wii hotel game system over the standard guest room rate.

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, Inc. (NYSE:MAR) is a leading lodging company with more than 3,000 lodging properties in the United States and 66 other countries and territories. Marriott International operates and franchises hotels under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Bulgari brand names; develops and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott Vacation Club, Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Club and Grand Residences by Marriott brands; operates Marriott Executive Apartments; provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division; and operates conference centers. The company is headquartered in Bethesda, Md., and had approximately 151,000 employees at 2007 year-end. It is ranked as the lodging industry’s most admired company and one of the best companies to work for by FORTUNE®, and has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the 2007 Sustained Excellence Award and Partner of the Year since 2004. In fiscal year 2007, Marriott International reported sales from continuing operations of $13 billion. For more information or reservations, please visit our web site at www.marriott.com.

The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii and Nintendo DS systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.7 billion video games and more than 470 million hardware units globally, including the current generation Wii and Nintendo DS as well as the GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, Super NES, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Gamecube. It has also created industry icons that have become well known household names such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Zelda and Pokemon. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.

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But according to the chatter (the other link isn’t working for me) on NeoGAF, where it was discovered, it’s apparently a pedometer of some kind, it would likely work with Wii Fit in some capacity… or it’s Nintendo’s next step after Friend Codes to help keep children safe from 4chan and the like.

More likely, it would keep track of the number of steps you take for Wii Fit, so that Nintendo will know every breath you take, every move you make, and with every step you take… they’ll be watching you.

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While we all still wait patiently for Rhythm Heaven to arrive on US and European shores, Japanese fans are already hard at work on their own spinoffs - this video shows Karateka Mania, which sets the rhythmic pugilism of one of Tengoku’s most celebrated minigames to a J-Pop soundtrack. It looks a little more complicated than Tengoku’s fairly straight rhythms, though perhaps not quite as exacting.

Rhythm Tengoku Gold remains in the Japanese top ten, and is a recommended import, although not as much as the superior GBA original. It’s expected to reach western gamers in the first or second quarter of 2009.

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Luckily, for those who may not want (or are unable) to watch, here are the “important parts”:
Director/Story: Keiichi Ono
Lead Design: Koh Kojima

Lead Level Design: Koji Hayashi
Lead Battle Design: Takaaki Kodera
Lead Car Action Design: Hiroshi Yoshida

Cinematics Director: Norihiro Takumi

Character Design/Production Design: Yohei Kikuchi (?)
Composer: Yoshihiro Ike

Executive Producer: Hirohide Sugiura

Keiichi Ono and Koh Kojima are also listed under Level Design.
In addition, the graphics engine was created by iNiS, so perhaps this was the unnamed Wii title spoken of at the 2007 GDC.

Ivysaur12 adds:
Some other things that I found interesting:

Takaaki Kodera worked on Sonic Adventure DX.

Koji Hayashi was the quest planner for all three Xenosaga games.

Yoshihiro Ike has composed for a ton of anime, this is his first video game, I think.

The Baten Kaitos team seems to be largely missing, minus Yoshida and Koh.
Overall, I would say that’s a pretty good mix. I do hope we hear about this at Nintendo’s press conference. Come on, Nintendo! Save Christmas!

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Engadget is getting itself in a froth about a piece of equipment which has been found on a European trademark registry site, and is putting two and two together and coming up with five, claiming that it’s a Nintendo pedometer. With little supplemental information about the peripheral it’s hard to say that it’s definitely what it looks (a bit) like, though there’s no noticeable Wii branding, and I’m not convinced it’s necessarily the next evolutionary step for Wii Fit - or indeed related to a brand new game. Besides, we’ve already got Wii Jog on the way.

And isn’t that an Xbox 360 button on the reverse?

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Well, not quite. It’s just the latest set of must-buy/resist gashapon from Play-Asia, featuring a tiny balance board attached to a tiny Wii Fit by a tiny chain.

Not convinced? How about the cute little Wii Wheel? Or the copy of Mario Party 8 that’s mercifully too small to actually play? Each toy with a game case actually has a tiny little disk inside, as you’ll see if you click on the link above.

Interesting observation - what on earth is wrong with the Wii Zapper? Why do we not have a Link’s Crossbow Training version? Could it be that Nintendo Japan is actually unhappy at the (admittedly fairly pointless) peripheral? Or perhaps they’re waiting for the next collection to unveil that one, perhaps alongside the Wii pedometer - see next post for details.

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Nintendo is looking to have a solid performance this coming Thursday. Every Nintendo fan is eagerly waiting for October 2nd to land and Nintendo to hold their precious conference. So far, the only major rumor circulating is the impending announcement of a redesigned DS, which will come equipped with MP3 playback, bigger screens, and SD card support. Of course, a new DS isn’t going to satisfy the Wii owners who are desperately in need of some new games and a storage solution for their WiiWare and Virtual console games.

Our affiliates at Gamekyo have just revealed that Nintendo has a surprise in store for us.

Nintendo seems to be hiding some more surprises for its upcoming Japanese press conference next Thursday. Everyone is talking about a new model of the Nintendo DS that includes a camera, but what you don’t know is that Nintendo has a new game to show. We can announce today that Nintendo will reveal a new game for the Wii during this event which is actually an old franchise that everyone is waiting for. Nintendo press conference will be held in Japan on October 2nd. — Gamekyo

Could it be the long rumored Factor 5 Kid Icarus title? Or perhaps Punch-Out!! Wii? Whatever it may be, we should be shocked come Thursday.

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Gamekyo is today suggesting that Nintendo has a surprise lined up for its conference this coming Thursday. While rumours continue to fly about a new DS model (with camera functionality and larger screens), it seems that Nintendo also has a game lined up.

The site suggests Nintendo will reveal a new game during the event “which is actually an old franchise that everyone is waiting for”.

Which, let’s face it, means Kid Icarus or Pikmin. I’m going to go with the latter, and I’m also going to bet that it’s not just Pikmin 3 but something else - perhaps something that actually very few people were waiting for.

I guess we’ll know in two days’ time.

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Ultimate Shooting Collection, the aptly named upcoming Wii shooter compilation, will include Radio Allergy.

The latest screens of Ultimate Shooting Collection provide us with at least two interesting pieces of information: first, that UFO Interactive is using the “Radio Allergy” localization from O3’s failed Gamecube release of Radilgy. The situation with Radio Allergy makes us think that Milestone themselves, rather than O3, did the English translation and logo, otherwise UFO would have had to deal with O3 to publish their material.

Second, the screens tell us that hey, UFO is still promoting Ultimate Shooting Collection! It may actually come out! — Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Radio Allergy, the localized version of Japan’s Radilgy, was planned to be one of the final games released for GameCube before being cancelled in June 2007.

Ultimate Shooting Collection also includes 2005 GameCube shooter Chaos Field and Karous, a shooter that has never been released beyond Japanese shores. The three-shooter compilation will be priced modestly at $29.99, and it is set for a Nov. release in North America.

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