Wii shipment problems, PS3 delayed again

Wii
As previously reported by the INQ, Nintendo has offered to replace more than 3.2 million Wii remote straps after users have reported that the connecting cords broke too easily. You can check out the newer version at Nintendo's site, which allows a comparison between the newer straps and the thinner, older offerings. Users need to call customers services on 0870 60 60 247 or send an email to Nintendo, the strap can then be sent back, after which Nintendo will send a replacement.

Nintendo and Chart Track have confirmed that the Wii has become the fastest-selling videogames console ever within the UK, with 105,000 systems already sold. Similar record-breaking success was reported in our PAL-utilising cousins in Australia, where 32,901 Wii units were sold in the four days following the console's launch.

However, it seems Nintendo have also fallen foul to smaller than predicted launch day shipments, although not quite on the scale of Sony.

Gamasutra reports that although Nintendo has not stated a change in shipment plans, the company did retract a small part of an earlier press release which indicated that 600,000 Wii consoles had been sold in the Americas in just eight days. The main shipment figures aren't in dispute, but a sentence at the end of the press release stating "Despite spot shortages in some locations, well more than a million Wii systems will be available in the United States by the end of the year", was later retracted.

The conclusion formed by Gamasutra is that Nintendo is no longer confident of being able to ship the original figures promised this year, and this is supported by the European launch of the console last week which saw less stock then expected being delivered - apparently many pre-orders weren't fulfilled due to Nintendo not shipping the previously promised quantities.

A lovely little hack has come courtesy of someone on the Nintendo forums. The Wii currently only offers net access via the in-built Wifi adapter, and Nintendo won't be offering an ethernet based accessory until next year at the earliest - fortunately it seems a USB 2.0 to ethernet adapter seems to work with the Wii, and can be seen working in this video, from this thread.

The adapter is a "KINAMAX USB 2.0 to RJ45 Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T Network Adapter". We can't confirm it definitely works, but it certainly seems to. It's likely the Nintendo branded accessory shares a similar chipset to the adapter used in the video, and the drivers are already on the Wii, thus allowing the adapter to work.

According to a report in US magazine Game Informer, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo DS will be released on 15th October 2007 in the US. The magazine also reports a follow-up to Twilight Princess for the Wii has been in development for over a year. Good news.

PS3
Bad bad news came for European Sony fans from site CVG this week.

Sony's head of Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison recently told Official PlayStation Magazine that he wouldn't like to make any definitive statements about the March roll-out for PS3.

CVG also claimed that a source has spoken of a PS3 delay as far back as September 2007, pointing at further component shortages.

Fortunately SCEE boss David Reeves specifically told GamesIndustry.biz: "We're still on schedule to launch PS3 in March throughout the PAL territories. All speculation otherwise is without foundation." - Don't expect the rumours to stop anytime soon though.

As the PS3 is further dissected by the gaming world, users are reporting some serious jaggies on PS1/PS2 game emulation.

Joystiq have comparison pictures of original PS2 games versus the emulated PS3 titles. It doesn't look good, gamers are hoping for a firmware fix.

Tek Jansen at Gamescentral has an interesting overview of how to install Linux on your new $600 games console.

Oh, and make sure you register your 'PS3 Network Name' now, before it's grabbed by someone else. Check out the Sony webby here.

Xbox 360
As reported last week in the games round-up, Blue Dragon has caused quite a stir in Japan.

80,348 copies were sold upon release, boosting the title into 4th place within the Japanese games charts - unprecedented for a Microsoft console in Japan.

Other records were smashed by Microsoft this week. Microsoft has announced that more than 2 million copies of Xbox 360 title Gears of War have now been sold around the globe, making it the fastest-selling next-gen console game so far.

It's also the most played game on Xbox Live, with more than 1 million GoW players taking part in 10 million online gaming sessions.

Good news for GoW fans comes from Epic Games President, Mike Capps, discussing charging for downloadable content: "We started long before the game ever came out; we started on the next stuff. We always take care of our customers, we always give them stuff for free and we're going to keep doing that forever."

Epic have a history of releasing free additional content (e.g. Unreal), and it would be incredibly pleasing if they continued this trend with GoW.

Microsoft have also updated the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility list with a new update. Head over to 1up.com for the full list of updates and additions. µ

See also
Wii reigns in Blighty
Amazon has Wii
Unwrapping Nintendo's new console
Nintendo Poo added to Nintendo Wii