There's some new games available for download on the Wii Virtual Console, but before we get to that, there's some new rumors going around about the Virtual Console's future.Much like the Xbox Live Arcade, the rumor was that a new "Games Channel" would show up on the Wii channels, letting gamers download additional amateur-made games. The rumor came from an oddly worded statement by a marketing director at Hudson Entertainment in a Game Informer interview, but when Nintendo was asked about the rumor they replied with:

"Well, the VC was specifically designed to bring back classic games, not to introduce new content. So to answer your question specifically: No. However, in the future, you should rephrase that question to: Are there any plans to launch original content on some downloadable service on the Wii, and you might get a different answer."

So CVG went ahead and did just that, and Nintendo responded with "Nintendo has developed a programming system that will allow small independent developers to make games for Wii download service. We cannot confirm at this time in what format the new content will be delivered, but in the future there will be original games available for download through the Wii Shop." So Nintendo will probably wait until right before the E for All Expo to release this next step in their plan, giving them barely-bragworthy stuff to boast about. Here's the new games now out on Virtual Console for you to download:

• Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo 64, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
• Contra III: The Alien Wars (Super NES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
• Bonanza Bros. (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
• Comix Zone (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

Not a bad VC update. I remember playing Comix Zone on my Windows 95 computer - it had some good gameplay ideas but wasn't that enjoyable. I'll definitely get Mario Kart 64 and Contra III though.

A recent interview on Next Generation had pretty much nothing to do with the upcoming PC game Hellgate London, yet somehow this piece of information from the game's publisher Namco Bandai was either slipped or fabricated as fact:

"Given the company's newfound penchant for cross-platform development, I ask if an Xbox 360 version is likely. Karlsson won't confirm it, but he admits that it's highly unlikely that such a notion is far from the company's planning calendar."

Namco Bandai hasn't offered any other words on the matter yet. It could very easily be some guy expressing his own opinion instead of speaking for his company, but let's hope it's a small leak of info. I wouldn't really be interested in taking up more of my nearly full hard drive with a large Hellgate London install, but I'd definitely give it a good play on a console. Hopefully PS3 will get a crack at the game too if this turns out to be true.

Oh dear god please. At a recent Burning Crusade launch event Itzik Ben Bassat, the Vice President of Blizzard's Business Development, blatantly hinted at a new StarCraft game: "I'm a StarCraft player myself and I hope it's not a decade, and we launched StarCraft in 1998, before I'm standing here again, celebrating the next game in the series." 

Surely one way or another there's now a job opening at Blizzard, the suits can't be happy that he said that. Blizzard has mentioned in the past that they've been working on three different games, but they've never uttered the slightest hint at what they may be. Diablo fans know that supposedly a Diablo III soundtrack was recorded many years ago, and that recently a Diablo author hinted at an upcoming Diablo III, so if these 2 hints are indeed true, then that still leaves one game shrouded in mystery. Can you imagine how much money Blizzard would make if Diablo III, StarCraft 2, and WarCraft IV were released all in the same year?

I can spot the differences between a bushbaby and a loris in the middle of the night, but I can barely tell what I'm looking at in these videos. The interface does look like the one seen a few times in Halo 3 coverage, with the four grenades in the upper left corner and the weapon details in the upper right, but with the quality of the videos it's just too hard to tell. But for all you die hard Halo fans out there, enjoy. Here's part two, and part three if you enjoy blurriness induced migraines. Perhaps another I Love Bees ARG is beginning to form slowly.

Patrick Klepek from 1UP brings word that Saints Row was listed under a PS3 EB Games section, then predicted the page would die, which it did. The next step is a bumped up press release that officially announces what we already know in a few weeks from now. Or EB Games just sucks, that's always a good possibility too. But the Grand Theft Auto look alike game that came out in August on Xbox 360 can't be selling too many new copies, bringing the game to a new console makes plenty of sense.

Unfortunately there's no detectable leaks in the airplane restroom - trust me, i checked it over twice with the brunette. So no PS3 for the readers, looks like I'm still stuck with it. But there have been some noteworthy leaks on the Internet - Epic will be releasing 2 new Gears of War maps as part of a Discovery Channel promotion. There's the "Raven Down" map - the one with the crashed helicopter - NOT a good omen while I'm still flying. And then there's the "Old Bones" map - the more dark and gloomy one. Here's the descriptions they gave of the two maps:

A Raven Helicopter has gone down in the middle of a large scale battle with the omnipresent Locust Horde. Gears have taken out the Seeder and gamers join Delta Forces moving into the crash site from all angles to search for survivors.

In an attempt to eradicate any traces of human history and culture, the Locust Horde has emerged under Sera’s Capitaline Museums and has begun to destroy them brick by brick. Each gamer’s mission is to help the Delta Force recapture the museums before all remnants of humankind’s existence are obliterated.

The Discovery Channel also plans to hold a contest giving away 2 million Marketplace points to the grand winner, and MyGEN also reports that the contest site (not up and running yet) will be located at ReadyAimFuture.com. How original. The contest isn't supposed to start until the 13th, but the really cool part is that these 2 new maps are going to be free, and downloadable before the contest on January 11th.

Check back in another 30 minutes for my last post before landing - hopefully I don't wind up on the Raven map. Although, I think I just hit a time change. Does that mean the Mile High  Club thing never happened? There's no way I could get a DeLorean on this plane, fuck! Oh well, Vegas is almost in sight. Since I can't offer you a view of Vegas just yet, here's the other 3 Gears of War map pictures for yuh.

GamerSquad is reporting that Electronic Arts is slashing dozens of their games' sales now that Christmas has passed. Not sure if this is true or not but it's definitely worth checking out tonight after work - it's not often that EA is this kind to their fans financially. We're talking about $10-$20 cutbacks on several different current and previous console games. Here's some of the sales to raise your eye-brows:

Xbox 360

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (from $49.99 down to $29.99)
Fight Night Round 3 (from $59.99 down to $29.99)
Madden NFL 07 (from $59.99 down to $49.99)
NHL 07 (from $59.99 down to $49.99)
The Godfather: The Game (from $59.99 down to $39.99)
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth (from $49.99 down to $29.99)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (from $59.99 down to $49.99)
FIFA 07 (from $59.99 down to $49.99)
NCAA Football 07 (from $49.99 down to $39.99)

PSP
Def Jam Fight for New York: The Takedown (from $39.99 down to $29.99)
Fight Night Round 3 (from $29.99 down to $19.99)
Madden NFL 07 (from $39.99 down to $29.99)
NHL 07' (from $39.99 down to $29.99)
The Godfather Mob Wars (from $39.99 down to $29.99)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (from $39.99 down to $29.99)
NASCAR 07 (from $39.99 down to $29.99)
NBA Live 07 (from $39.99 down to $29.99)
FIFA 07 (from $39.99 down to $29.99)
NCAA Football 07 (from $39.99 down to $29.99)

Game Boy Advance
Need for Speed: Carbon (from $29.99 down to $19.99)
Superman Returns (from $29.99 down to $19.99)
The Sims 2: Pets (from $29.99 down to $19.99)

There's only about seventy Rhino Video Games stores across North America, but they've got a healthy following of fans apparently. One of the veterans over on CheapAssGamer forums was told that Gamestop has bought them out, and is taking over:

"I found out this afternoon that Rhino has been bought out by Gamestop. It was announced to the Store Managers this afternoon. Starting January 14th, Rhino's will be converted to Gamestops. If you have any games you're saving for the 2 for 1 deal you have a little over a week to get it done. Today my Rhino let me do the 2 for 1 on Pre-Order games. There is a meeting in Chattanooga tomorrow for all the Rhino Store Managers to let them know how the transition will take place. I almost cried when I heard the news......."

I don't see how the changes could be made so quickly, but the speculation from the CheapAssGamers is that this will help Gamestop compete against Blockbuster stores. Any Rhino employees reading? Got any more details? Both Rhino and Gamestop have yet to comment on this issue, so it's still just a rumor for now.

Wal-Mart made yet another slip up when it posted Halo 3's release date on their site. They listed the day as an October 1st release, but it has since been taken down, setting fanboy hearts ablaze. Even if it was the actual release date, I wouldn't get too excited - October is way too far off for a game that's already been playable for a while - I'm guessing it was just a retail error. I can see this game coming out in late April or maybe May. I wonder what games will steal the July 7, 2007 release date to look stylish.

Update: The beta won't start until Spring 2007, so a release date of May would still be way too early. Wal-Mart may have actually spilled the beans.

I don't see it coming out any time soon, but it's definitely inevitable. According to GoNintendo it might not be that much longer until Nintendo gives us some details though:

"According to Nintendo-Inside.jp and the electronic version of Kyoto Shinbun after the credits have rolled on the new Animal Crossing trailer, a message comes up as follows. Let’s meet in Wii."

Nintendo already has an Animal Crossing DS game out, and the movie just came out in Japan, so this is the obvious next step. I have Animal Crossing: Wild World for DS and it's definitely fun (although turning back the clock 12 hours every night to make the town cast in daytime isn't too fun), but I think Harvest Moon DS will actually get a lot more fun than it before long. Even if just for the simple gameplay mechanics of being able to carry hundreds of items at once in Harvest Moon, but only a dozen or two in Animal Crossing. But that won't matter for long, I'll be picking up Minish Cap and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin soon. I don't see an Animal Crossing Wii game coming out until Fall 2007 at the earliest, although with the Wii's online play lacking, I can see Nintendo springing it on us in the summer.