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The Official Wii Site has been updated, and now has a variety of videos showing people all accross the globe (well the US, Japan, Italy, and France) experiencing the controller and getting to grips with it. The video footage is actually quite good, and gives a better idea of the control system for Wii Sports. Are they actors, or really actual first time users? I reckon it's a bit of both, but it's still interesting.

In another Wii related update, we showed here. What was thought to be packaging for the Wii-mote. It was unsure at the time whether it was just a promo, but there has been a new picture released, which seems to indicate that is was close to the actual packaging. The pic can be seen here.

I've just seen this from Cubed³. It's details from a low-key event in Japan yesterday:

• First of all, Shigeru Miyamoto has unveiled something called a 'Health Pack' (working title) for Nintendo's Wii, which is related to Family Health Check;
  
  
• Following the half-million selling Cooking Navi for DS, a new edition will be made available. Called "DS Menu Collection" it will have 1,000 in-built recipes and comes with a magnetic stand that attaches to your fridge, so you do not have to leave your vulnerable DS by the cooker (it will cost an extra 1,200Yen). It is also Wi-Fi compatible!
  
  
• As of next Spring (2007), Nintendo will apparently do away with discs and manuals for some games as part of the "Wii Compact Software" line, meaning you can simply download the titles;
  
  
• From launch until the end of 2006, Japan will see 18 Wii games launched;
  
  
• Nintendo will be following the successful strategy taken with the DS for the Wii's life;
  
  
• Big Brain Academy on Wii will not be released until Spring 2007;
  
  
• Including titles from the MegaDrive and PC Engine, there will be about 60 Virtual Console games launched in Japan before the end of 2006;
  
  
• Japan will see The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on Gamecube released ONLY online.

Wii Points Prepaid Card Details

• 1,000Yen = 1,000 Wii points
  
• 3,000Yen = 3,000 Wii points
  
• 5,000Yen = 5,000 Wii points + classic Controller

Other Pricing Details

• Power brick = 3,000Yen
  
• Composite cable = 1,000Yen
  
• S-Video = 2,500Yen
  
• D terminal = 2,500Yen
  
• Component cable = 2,500Yen
  
• 512MB SD Card = 3,800Yen
  
• Wired LAN Adapter = 2,800Yen

All accessories are official, and further details can be found here.

I love Elebits. This game has grabbed my attention, and is beckoning me to go and buy it as soon as it is released. The strange thing is, I really don't know why. I didn't particularly like Pikmin, which I guess is a game that it can be compared to on some level. It doesn't look there is much depth to the game. So why do I want to play this game? It's clips like this, and this which intrigue me. It's like being able to go crazy in your home and mess everything up! The colours! The bright, flourescent colours! It reminds me of crossing the streams in Ghostbusters - so bad, yet so very good.

IGN have an interesting interview with Elebits producer Shingo Mukaitoge, and this is the reason for this post. In it he describes part of the process for developing the game, and using the Wii's hardware. Here is a little snippet:

The Wii controller is an incredible gameplay tool -- it's remarkably sensitive and when used correctly can make the user feel like they are actually in the game. Developers owe gamers a duty of care to ensure that games on the Wii control properly, since controls take on the bulk of the experience for the system. We dedicated a huge portion of our resources to perfecting game's use of the controller. For example, in Elebits, players can twist the controller to open a door and turn on a water faucet. This seems like an easy enough action to simulate, but we needed to consider what motions with the controller replicated the given action while giving the necessary feedback to trigger the response in the game.

We had another interesting experience with the Wii hardware when we started to implement our physics system. The strength of the Wii is controls rather than crunching computations, but we wanted to use a new physics engine to enhance the sense of realism in the game. It was challenging, but we pulled it off and our physics system is now a great showcase for the game. Every object has an appropriate weight and interacts realistically with the environment. Even though it's not the main object of the game, the physics system adds a lot of replay value to Elebits. It's fun to just fool around in the levels, tossing things around and building structures out of what you find. There's more than one way to trap an Elebit, I'll tell you that much!

He goes on to say how the game intends to make use of the additional features of the console:

These include the WiiConnect24 feature, the speaker on the controller, the Wii Channels and Mii functionality. I am continually impressed and inspired by the functionality of the Wii. Even though we are in the home stretch of development, our team is going to do our best to support some of these new features and give gamers a well rounded experience...It's so different from every other system out there, it just doesn't make sense to compare them in traditional terms. We've built Elebits from the ground up to take advantage of the Wii, and every day brings us closer to realizing our goals.

I just hope the game sees a release in Europe around launch, and doesn't suffer a big delay. It would be a bonus too, if we get some of these kicky (ta .ed) toys.