This week is a huge week for gamers. The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is happening right now in San Francisco and besides E3 in June this is the biggest conference dedicated to all things games. This years GDC was going to be especially satisfying to Nintendo fans since its president, Saturo Iwata, was set to deliver the keynote. For months the rumors have flown about what he would announce. I’ve heard everything from a new Mario or Zelda game, to the Wii 2. Well, today’s the day and we’ve finally got the juicy details.

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Former Nintendo executive appointed studio director of Epic Games subsidiary, Undertow developer.

Since being acquired by Epic Games last May, Utah-based developer Chair Entertainment Group has kept a low profile. While the company’s current project remains unannounced, it has returned to headlines with today’s announcement that it has appointed industry veteran Howard Phillips as its studio director.

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Nintendo hates pirates and hackers and have done nearly everything in their power to prevent their hardware from running bootleg software, but as you know, that’s pretty much an impossible task. Wasabi has just released its Wasabi DX drivechip that features a plug and play installation on the Wii’s (DMS, D2A, D2B, D2C, D2C2, D2E, epoxy D2E, or D2nothing/D3) drive. A flash card will hold the firmware, and this can be upgraded in the future via DVD or downgraded from a previous backup which is stored on the chip (no idea on why you would want to do that though unless you run into real trouble when trying to get the latest software going). Drive read speeds are still limited to 3x as with its predecessors, and this could potentially affect the smoothness of some games but hey – you can’t have your cake and eat it too, right? Pricing and availability details are unknown, but the Wasabi DX is tipped for a release in the near future.

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Check out the source  Wasabi DX Hacks The Wii, finally

TOKYO (AFP) — Nintendo’s Wii outsold rival Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3) three-fold in Japan last year, helping the country’s multi-billion dollar video game market to notch up its best ever year, a survey showed Monday.

Nintendo sold about 3.63 million Wii consoles in its home market in 2007 while Sony sold 1.21 million PS3s, according to magazine publisher Enterbrain.

The Wii also trounced the PS3 more than three-fold in the key year-end sales period between November 25 and December 30, selling 774,123 Wii consoles against Sony’s sales of 232,421 PS3s, the survey showed.

Nintendo won back its lead after the two rivals briefly traded places in November, when the PS3 outsold the Wii in Japan for the first time, helped by a price cut and a stronger line-up of games, according to Enterbrain.

Sony’s game unit said Monday that it had sold 1.2 million PS3s in North America during the holiday shopping period after a hefty price cut.

“The PlayStation brand ended the year in a very strong position and clearly indicates more positive momentum going into 2008,” Jack Tretton, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in the US, said in a statement.

Analysts said that although PS3 sales appear to be improving after a tough first year, in terms of sales it is still far behind the Wii.

“Consumers both in Japan and overseas are still attracted by the Wii, which remains a fresh concept,” said Hiroshi Kamide, a game analyst at KBC Securities.

The Wii also retains a three-fold sales advantage over the PS3 in North America, where Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is also posing competition for Sony, he said.

Sony “either has to slash the price further or increase the number of games available, which is something software makers are reluctant to do” because there are too few owners in the US to make it worthwhile, he added.

Microsoft sold 257,841 Xbox 360s last year in Japan, continuing to struggle on its rivals’ home turf two years after the console’s launch, the survey showed.

Japan’s total computer game market was worth a record 687.7 billion yen (6.37 billion dollars) in 2007, up 9.9 percent from the previous year, Enterbrain said.

The market was buoyed by robust sales of Nintendo’s DS and the Lite version handheld consoles, which have sold a total of just over 21 million units since the initial launch three years ago, it added.

Software sales were also strong, with games for Nintendo consoles making up four of the five top-selling games, the survey showed.

I still remember when I got my first Nintendo. It was either in 1991 or 1992. I vividly remember opening the box, unwrapping the controllers and accessories and hooking everything up. Okay, well maybe my parents hooked it up since I was only 6 years old at the time, but still. Those memories will last forever.

At the time the original Nintendo Entertainment System was the best new video game console to hit the market. It had 8 bit graphics with stereo quality sound. In fact, I own a Nintendo NES to this day and will hold onto it forever. Those old games never truly get “old.”

I particularly like the Mario Bros. series games as well as Duck Hunt. You gotta love Duck Hunt! A true first-person shooter that makes use of a gun that you can point and aim at the  screen, and then at the right moment, pull the trigger for the perfect shot.

A few years later, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was born. Of course, I had to have one of those as well. Around this time the Sega Genesis came on the scene as Nintendo’s biggest competitor. I owned an SNES, and my friends owned a Sega. I never could get used to the Sega, but it was fun nonetheless.

Video game consoles have evolved a lot over the past 20 years. Some consoles have come and gone, while new companies joined in on the video gaming world. As technology becomes better and better, so do the video game systems.

Right now the major players in the video game industry are Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. There’s no d0ubt some stiff competition between the three. I have to admit that all three are top notch and provide their own unique value to users.

I believe what makes Nintendo stand out from the crowd is the longevity that it’s been around. The Nintendo NES was first launched in 1985. It’s now 2009, 24 years later! That really says something about Nintendo.

What’s more impressive is the now popular Wii gaming system that has boosted Nintendo past Sony and Microsoft. The Wii is truly unique and one of a kind. It provides interaction to video games that no other console can provide.

The funny thing is that the same technology used in the Wii was used with the NES. The technology is just now more refined. Back then you had the infrared gun for Duck Hunt as I mentioned. You also had a glove with motion sensing technology, similar to that of the Wii. There was also another accessory that made use of motion.

The fact that Nintendo keeps improving its technology and is looking after the video game enthusiasts who want to dive into the action and be a part of the game says a lot.

I believe that Nintendo still stands as the King of video gaming and will continue to provide the latest and best video game experience that no other console can provide.

That’s not to say they have the most popular or best games by any means, but Nintendo has gained respect with many video gamers due to their seniority in the industry and the value that they provide.