Nintendo Wii Roundup as of 10/31/2006

Nintendo has a lot going for it today, so here are three of the highlights from the day's Wii news (and sorry about the light posting over on my blog on the day of this writing, since I was very busy all day).

1. Wii-related surprises in store from the WB: Warner Bros., along with a new Australian game development studio called Red Tribe, are working on a surprise project for the Wii. And I do mean "surprise project;" when contacted by personnel over at Australian Nintendo community site Vooks, Red Tribe CEO Chris Mosely simply said that "I can't reveal details yet unfortunately, [since] Warner Bros. is very tight lipped about its projects in development, but [what] I can tell you [is] that we're having great fun working with the Wii. Warner Bros. is a great company to work with too; they really make us feel like we are part of the team. We're currently prototyping [several] different ways [that] we can use the controller including gesturing and other such techniques to control the characters in our platform game. Of course I would love to tell you all the details. [But] I [do] think that Warner Bros. will make a big press announcement early next year." Mosely also said that working with Nintendo's console was "a dream" and that "We are definitely enjoying the Wii experience so far," echoing previous sentiments throughout the videogame industry.

2. Nintendo confirms UK Magazine report on DVD-ready Wii for Japan: A "Nintendo spokesperson has confirmed to GoNintendo that it does have plans to launch another version of its Wii console in Japan next year, equipped with DVD playback capabilities," according to Aussie-Nintendo.com. Unfortunately, the company also said that it currently has not decided whether or not it will release this model in either Europe or the US. The new, premium-model Wii was first rumored by UK publication EDGE Magazine.

Unfortunately, Nintendo had a few "not-so-fast" comments about the other rumors initiated by the publication: on speculation that Nintendo's final Wii pricing decision was influenced by retailers, Nintendo simply said that "Price is set by retailers, not by manufacturers, so [our belief is that] there is no truth [whatsoever] in this assumption." And when asked if Nintendo really had a deal with CNN for news headline delivery (or not) Nintendo officials went for the latter revelation, saying that in all actuality, "We have currently announced no deals with any news or weather service provider for Wii channels" at all.

3. Wiimotes and Nunchucks available for preorder: Punch Jump is reporting that Wal-Mart now has controllers for the Wii available for prerelease reservations, making the iconic retailer the first to offer the controllers prior to the console's November launch. Preorder prices are $39.82 for the Wii Remote and $19.82 for the Nunchuk controller expansion.