A smidgen of a tidbit of a morsel from Game|Life’s interview with Nintendo of America’s George Harrison reveals that the Wii could be disrupting more than just software libraries. The 5-year life cycle, commonly accepted by many in the industry as standard across all consoles from all time, could be next.

WN: In five years, where do you see the Wii? In the US. (more…)

A French interview meticulously analyzed by 4cr reveals the Friend Code mystery, such as it is, has grown ever deeper.

G – And what about the Mii-specific codes?

Each Mii created generates a Mii code which never changes. This code will be used for all online games in the future.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Nintendo will retain a list of your friends from game to game – instead, specific Miis are assigned unique, permanent friend codes that will be used universally. It isn’t Xbox Live, but hey, just months ago, people were ready to go wading with their Wiis. It’s a lot better than we were expecting, right?

At this point, with all of the delicious misdirection coming from Nintendo (which they can do as king of the hill, right Reggie?), I have no frackin’ clue what the heck the Friend Code situation is going to be when the first batch of online Wii games drops in the very near future. Perhaps some of our European readers can keep us abreast of these kinds of developments as Strikers draws near.

Did anyone else get the impression that Nintendo’s big media day was kind of like one of those meaningless photo ops that politicians do these days just because they “have to?” (bear with me, I’ve been sunning it in the Outer Banks for the past week and I’m playing Infendo catch up today).

From Game|Life:

One longtime mainstream journalist who I spoke to was really disappointed in the lineup. Many of the enthusiast press members felt the same way — I’m sure you’ll read similar impressions coming from some of them later tonight.

There were more just like that one, but don’t bother reading them. It certainly wasn’t intentional, but every blog I read about the event read like it was cut and pasted from the previous blog entry I read. “Nintendo didn’t give us what we think we deserved. Waagh waagh waagh.” And so on. The whining was as far-reaching as it was intense. Luckily, savvy blogger Blake Snow kept a level head about him and Infendo did not delve into the world of self-aggrandizing and entitlement that gripped the blogosphere last week. (more…)

Other than hitting a raquetball against my friend Danny’s garage in 3rd grade, I have never played real tennis. Ever since Wii Sports came into my life six months ago, I keep thinking, “Yeah, I could probably do this for real…” Baseball gets me hyped up to go hit the batting cages. Even golf makes me want to hit the links.

This week we want to know:

There was a question posed this weekend on Infendo radio of who has had more of an impact on Nintendo, Reggie or Miyamoto. My initial answer was that since being hired in 2003 Reggie has been the driving force for the rebirth of Nintendo and is the reason I am here so for me Reggie is the impact player at Nintendo. So a day goes by and I am watching my girlfriend play Super Paper Mario. I ask her which of the characters she enjoys plaing more and while I assume her answer would be Princess Peach (she always leans towards the female characters) she responded withour hesitation “Mario”.
(more…)

Here are the new releases for all Nintendo systems this week:

US releases:

Wii:
- Mario Party 8
- Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
- Surf’s Up
- Tamagotchi: Party On!

DS:
- Pony Friends
- Surf’s Up
- Tank Beat

Game Boy Advance:
- Surf’s Up

GameCube:
- Surf’s Up

EU/UK releases:
Wii:
- Legend of the Dragon

DS:
- Meteos: Disney Magic
- Wario: Master of Disguise

Another animated movie coming out means we actually see new GBA and GameCube releases this week. Mario Party 8 is calling my name. How about a little Mortal Kombat action? No? Well, there’s always Pony Friends for DS.

Buying anything this week?

Three new releases for the Virtual Console today:

ActRaiser – SNES – 800 Points
The user plays the role of the Master, a dethroned deity whose once-idyllic world has fallen under the control of the Evil One. Stripped of godly power, the Master must somehow put an end to the Evil One’s reign and rebuild his desolate realm.

Kid Chameleon – Genesis – 800 Points
The local arcade is packed with kids, all lining up to play the latest, most realistic video game they’ve ever seen. It’s called Wild Side, and it uses holographic images to immerse the player in a strange world. But there’s a problem… Kids are literally getting sucked into the game, and now several of them are trapped.

J.J. & Jeff – TG16 – 600 Points
This comical action game features two bungling detectives, J.J. and Jeff, as they travel through a total of six fields. One day, a request comes into their office to take a case that requires them to “rescue a wealthy man who’s been kidnapped.”

A little trivia: J.J. & Jeff is loosely based on a Japanese TV show that served as the inspiration for America’s Funniest Home Videos!

ActRaiser is a little tempting … Anyone buying any of these new releases?

Ever wondered who writes articles for Infendo? Get to know us! Check out the new “About” section and ponder timeless questions like: What is he smiling about? Is that moustache real? Could Blake look any happier? A witch .. really? Where’s Alan? .. and many more!

Still have questions about Team Infendo? Drop us your query in the Comments!

Infendo fan Negrin spotted this for sale on Poland’s biggest auction site, allegro.pl.

That’s some awesome fan art, right there.  Thanks, Negrin!

Reggie talks Nintendo dominance in speaking with the New York Times during the company’s media summit this past week…

“Only twice has one company simultaneously had the No. 1 new hardware console, the No. 1 portable console, the No. 1-selling game and been the No. 1 overall software publisher. The first time was Nintendo in the ’80s. The second time is Nintendo now.”

Ever bullish. Click over for the pro-Nintendo article.