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August 2006

Nintendo Spotting: Posh British shopping edition

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 3:44pm by Staff

No word on whether or not this guy was simply waiting for mum or actually shopping for himself in this swanky bargain bin British women’s shop.

[Thanks, Ste]

Nintendo Wii retail kiosk unveiled?

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 3:24pm by Staff


Unconfirmed (though legitimate looking) Wii and PS3 retail kiosks both rumored to hit stores in October. If true, don’t expect a Wii launch till mid November.

Nintendo Power September surprise? NADA

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 2:56pm by Staff

Infendo tipster James from Tyler, Texas says he has the scoop on tomorrow’s embargoed “exclusive” cover game for Nintendo Power. If he’s correct, then it’s… Pokemon?!

“The next issue (NOV ‘06) for Nintendo Power (USA) has new info about the newest Pokemon game, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Epics for DS and GBA (Magical Starsign, Children of Mana. Strategies for Baten Kaitos Origins, and wifi tactics for Star Fox Command. Finally, Going Bananas for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. As for a special annoucement NADA!!! — James from Tyler, Tx

After the Leipzig non-event, the Nintendo hype machine appears to still be stuck in Summer Vacation Mode. We still have Sept. 14-15, right? Right?!

Wii party invite: There can be only one two

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 12:42pm by Staff

I think I’ve been living in a cave the past six months. A cave stocked with Nintendo and Rockstar energy drinks, but a cave none-the-less. Why a cave? Because I had no idea what a “Wii Ambassador” was until a few weeks ago. It’s too bad, because I’d probably give an arm or a leg to Nintendo to become one after hearing what these chaps get to do (play the Wii before anyone else as a kind of live demo), and what they got as a gift (Black DS Lite a month in advance).

But, if you’re lucky, then perhaps you have what it takes to win Endangered Gamer’s contest. And join him Chicago for a Wii Party.


“i have a small announcement……. I’ll be having a contest for the final 2 invites for the Wii Party here in chicago. It’s not like i don’t have friends to invite, but i’ve gotten so many emails and requests on this blog and elsewhere that i figure i might as well give the chance for a Hardcore Nintendo Fanboy in Chicago to attend, and the only thing he or she will need to do is……….Prove beyond a shadow of a doubt to myself and 2 other friends of mine that he/she deserves to go. Now, I’m not going to accept cash, or anything in exchange for this opportunity, all i want is a show of love for Nintendo. it can be anything from costumes, to a awesome collection, song and dance, anything that says ” I want to go more than ANYONE else!!!!!” I won’t have any more time after today to check up on this site, but i’ll make my decision sometime 0n Friday September 8″

Go forth and represent Infendo. So it is written, and so it shall be done.

Wii spotted in Nintendo fall catalogue, no price given

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 12:23pm by Staff

Since we cannot have our Nintendo Power until tomorrow I thought these scans of Nintendo’s fall catalogue from a “game store” would be a nice holdover until we see exactly what is so important that hundreds of thousands of readers across the U.S. had to be denied their editorial fix. This is the first bit of rock solid confirmation lately that we have from Nintendo about the Wii: It is definitely coming out in the fall. Super.

[Thanks, Rivithed]

Felt GameBoy classic

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 5:09am by Staff

Felt Nintendo GameBoy
Looks all fluffy and whatnot…

Deeper Story In Twilight Princess

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 12:22am by Staff
The Legend of Zelda series has never been heavy on the storyline, but that doesn’t mean Nintendo can’t treat gamers to a good story. Nintendo of America’s Head of Localization Bill Trinen revealed a few interesting points in the lastest Game Informer magazine:
“With Twilight Princess, the depth of story and its connections to past games means not only does it have twice the text as Wind Waker, but it includes a fair number of legacy terms that originate in past games, so consistency is a big focus there,” Trinen noted. “We’ve also been given the opportunity to provide a lot of input on everything from play control to character design, so over time our role has grown from simply localizing the Zelda games to almost being a branch of the development team itself.”
Twice the text means deeper conversations with non-player characters, more storyline, and more characters to interact with. In Wind Waker, I personally was very happy with the story on Outset Island and Windfall Island, but things quickly dropped from there as the island hopping increased and story interaction decreased… and yet Wind Waker may have the best storyline in the series! I don’t think any gamer wants Nintendo to turn this series into Final Fantasy, but they could at least hold the story writing to the same standards as they do the controls, gameplay, and graphics. Based on Trinen’s comments, there is reason for optimism.
If anyone cares, Trinen expects the game to get a T for Teen ESRB rating.

Poll: Your favorite Nintendo celebrity?

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 at 9:38pm by Staff

Jack Black playing Nintendo DS

Who is your favorite Nintendo
Celebrity?
Reginald “Reggie” Fils-Aime
Satoru Iwata
Shigeru Miyamoto
Koji Kondo
Charles Martinet
George Harrison
Other (specify in comments)

ANOTHER Nintendo secret delays Nintendo Power delivery

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 at 6:37pm by Staff

If you happen to be a subscriber to Nintendo Power (Official Nintendo Magazine in the U.K.), then you won’t be getting your issue early this month, as you usually do. That’s because the issue has been embargoed until Sept. 1 due to a “BIG exclusive” that was, surprise surprise, not named by Nintendo at this time.

From the official forums:
On this ocassion subscribers will not recieve their issues any earlier than the proper on-sale date (01 Sept) due to our cover game being embargoed until that date. Rest assured this wouldn’t happen normally and it’s because it’s a BIG exclusive.”

No one seems to know what this exclusive cover game is, but rest assured people are already rabbidly speculating about it across the Internet. I’m about rumored out these days, but this is certainly a breath of fresh air compared to that mind numbingly bad fake Chinese manufacturing snafu rumor I wrote about this morning. I pick up Nintendo Power at the bookstore occassionally, so I’ll probably be learning about this exclusive news the same time as everyone else on Sept. 1. The exception being I’ll be reading about it George Costanza-style in the Barnes and Noble restroom.

Wii controller manufacturing issues

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 at 12:33pm by Staff

In the words of the great Sam Jackson, hold onto your butts Infendo. The latest news out of Japan this morning is that the Wiimote is having some quality assurance issues at a manufacturing plant in China that one magazine is speculating could affect the launch date. Seems that there are some button sensitivity issues where they are not responding as they should when pressed, or they don’t even respond at all when two buttons are depressed simultaneously. There is also word of “strange noises” coming from the controller during use.

The original article is in Chinese, but Go Nintendo has a stable of translators working on it in an attempt the glean what exactly is going on in the Land of the Rising Sun (and China). We’ll keep you posted on updates as they occur.

Note that this unconfirmed snafu has only affected the controller, and not the console. And before you go thinking this is why there’s no launch date or price, remember that the Xbox 360 was announced on Sept. 15 2005, which just so happens to be a significant date for Nintendo this year. The trustworthiness of this PC site has also not been confirmed.

UPDATE: My BS meter hit the roof when I read this article this morning. PSP’s and Wii manufactured under the same roof? Trade secret violation right there. This isn’t even a rumor in my opinion anymore, considering IGN has confirmed in the past final build Wii’s are already in use.