But Nintendo hasn't forgotten about the mythical "hardcore" gamer crowd, Cammie Dunaway tells Wired. The executive VP of sales and marketing, who insists that she's a "genuinely smiley, nice person," explains that "the Zelda and Mario teams are hard at work," possibly on something that could rival the infinitely desirable Super Mario Sluggers. "And even Super Mario Sluggers, which is certainly an expanded audience title, but what core gamer doesn't love Mario and baseball and finding out which combination of characters are going to do what kind of crazy things in the field?" she ponders.

Dunaway also notes that Nintendo is committed to a variety of games, catering to casual players with titles like Cooking Navi, and exciting tougher crowds with the DS iteration of Grand Theft Auto. We mean, she must have seen it, right? "I have not looked at the product. Have you?" Well, no ... but we haven't been incorporating it into our sales pitch either.

What Wii Sports did for the Wiimote, Wii Sports Resort does for the Wii MotionPlus. The added precision of the Wii MotionPlus gets to show off in the title and, from the three minigames we experienced, it gives an idea of how other games could benefit from the accessory.

We had a chance to try out Disc Dog, Power Cruising and, our favorite, Sword Play. Nintendo says the Wii MotionPlus gives 1:1 control, but that's stretching the truth just a little. The controls certainly feel more precise than the Wiimote in its current state, but we're not exactly sure just yet if it'll fulfill gamer fantasies of precise lightsaber duels.

Well, at least grammy's pleased with Nintendo's first party lineup... (Plus: If you've got a longer attention span than Nintendo, we've got shots of two overlooked titles after the break!)

This may seem like a raunchy story -- the kind of catfight tale ending with broken nails and torn clothing. We were sort of expecting such scuffles to happen as seven beautiful ladies tussled this past Thursday night over at a Manhattan bar & restaurant called Sutton Place. Alas, we didn't get to see anything underlyingly lewd, but there were certainly enough sweaty bods to drive the male crowd into a frenzy.

Taking part in a Nintendo publicity stunt called "Wii Box in the City," these women tested out their gaming aptitude and fighting skills in a Wii Sports boxing tourney to win a Wii system. The night was wild all night as crowds of supporters cheered and jeered. It came down to Mari (in blue) and Regina (in yellow) for the championship. We caught up with Mari before the big fight; she told us about her Wii experience: "I've played Wii before. It's like a workout." Regina on the other hand had never played the Wii before, while both ladies never had any gaming experience beyond that.

Soon, it was time for the final fight. The two fought bravely, but in the end Regina won with a knock out. "Oh my god, you won!" exclaimed May, Regina's best friend, whose excitement was like that of a kid on Christmas morning. Regina gave her winning prize over to May who continued to laud her bestest friend: "She really killed it! She's the bestest friend ever!" Who knew that gaming and bar fights could bring friends closer together?

In Nintendo's tireless pursuit to reach every single demographic ever, they've partnered up with Westin Hotels to stick Wii Sports and Wii Fit setups in the hotel chain's exercise rooms. Why is this particular outreach unique? Think about it: they're targeting people who exercise when they're not even home! We hate to repeat hurtful stereotypes but, while the gamers we know may not be as sedentary as some would have you believe (read: our advertisers), they're not really the type to pack a pair of running shoes next to their PSP for their next business trip. Result: new demographic.

Just in case you are the type to excercise while staying at a hotel and you accidentally stumbled here while looking for the Runner's World magazine website, we've included a list of the first 10 participating Westin hotels after the break.

ThinkGeek is certainly on a roll today with the April Fools hijinks. Not only do we have Super Pii Pii Brothers (and its bizarre peripheral), but now we have Wii Sports on the iPhone, as well as a conduit for shuffling between dead video formats.

The Wii Sports on iPhone gag is nothing more than an unclickable banner ad, making us wish the joke was taken a bit further. The Betamax to HD-DVD converter, on the other hand, is quite the stroke of genius. The idea alone is brilliant, made even more so by the "promotional" video, viewable after the break.

Video games in hotels are certainly nothing new -- we remember playing Nintendo 64 in Best Westerns for a hefty per-minute price. Fancier hotels, however, are looking to introduce more contemporary offerings through special partnerships with Nintendo and Microsoft, bringing titles like Wii Sports and Guitar Hero to more playful guests.

USA Today reports on a handful of hotels across the US which have begun incorporating more physical games into their services and offerings. Some offer hand-delivered consoles to rooms, while others like Hotel Monaco in Seattle host Guitar Hero nights at the bar, giving the title a social feel which can only draw further comparisons to karaoke.

Perhaps most interesting is Hotel Sax, which is working with Microsoft to create a special Xbox Live network, which will allow guests to play games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero with guests in other rooms, free of charge. Sounds pretty good to us. LAN party at the Hilton, anyone?

After such a favorable response to last week's lolcat inclusion, we decided to make this weekend a Caturday special with the other video game-related I Can Has Cheezburger post of the week. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is back for the long haul

News
God of War III confirmed on Chains of Olympus manual
FFCC: My Life as a King to be WiiWare launch title, price revealed
Return to Dark Castle demo returns
Gamecock's WWII stealth shooter 'Sabotage' becomes 'Velvet Assassin'
Lego Batman's villain-packed trailer looks promising
Family of slain suspected PS3 thief to receive $2.45 million settlement
Team Fortress 2 PC update balances classes, introduces tournament mode
Jack Thompson offers to help EA with Take-Two takeover
Epic's Mark Rein and CliffyB explain PC gaming 'disarray'
Kojima: MGS4 too big for 50 GB Blu-ray disc

Culture & Community
Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 get celebrity love on Conan O' Brien
April issue of EGM reveals Bungie's next project: Lego Halo
How to ruin Christmas using only a 360 box and some clothes

There was no saucy saunter down the red carpet, but Nintendo's casual darling Wii Sports did manage to surprise gamers with a guest-spot at the 2008 Academy Awards. In one of the night's many gags, host Jon Stewart gets caught off guard when the show returns from commercial break, to find him using one of the event's gigantic projection screens to play a quick round of Wii Tennis.

The entire segment lasts only thirty seconds, but it's chuckle-worthy, to be sure. Check out the video after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

It seems the school is still the eminent source of name calling, as the Wii, which has managed to shrug off all the "little fad" comments thus far, has been subjected to yet another "another gimmick" label. This time, however, it's in relation to the UK Department of Health's endorsement of an in-school "active" games scheme designed by the Droitwich and Worcester City School Sport Partnership. Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, was unconvinced by the program's weight-loss merits, saying, "Pupils would be far better doing serious competitive sports and games than this sort of thing."

Channel 4 reports that this sort of thing has already been implemented in five schools in Worcestershire as "virtual PE," with the hopes that active gaming would lure children to participate in other physical exercise. Seaton, however, believes it "looks like another gimmick," one that's "pandering to the views of the physically idle." The Department of Health argued that the Wii makes for a good "first step" towards other forms of exercise, though failed to mention the benefits of the many, many steps required to excel in the physical strenuous Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party.

Mind you, the embarrassing view of the physical idol in school would likely result in even more nasty name calling.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Japanese publication Famitsu (via MCV) is reporting that the Nintendo Wii has surpassed the 5 million mark for hardware sales. As of January 20, Nintendo sold 5,019,337 units in just less than 14 months since the console's launch. Total sales for the Wii in the United States were 7.38 million as of the end of 2007, according to NPD data released last week.

The top five best-selling games in Japan are, perhaps unsurprisingly, all from Nintendo -- two Mario games and three titles geared towards the casual market. If the list is accurate, then the Wii only has four platinum-selling titles and Mario Galaxy hasn't yet passed the 900,000 threshold. Check out the list after the break.

[Via GameDaily]

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for its 2007 Video Game Awards. Topping the list with most nominations is Wii Sports with seven, including the Innovation and Best Game categories. There is four-way tie for second most nominations, with Crackdown, Gears of War, Okami and God of War 2 having five nominations apiece.

Other best game nominees include BioShock, Crysis, Gears of War, Guitar Hero II and Kane & Lynch. Of those, two titles haven't yet been released. If Crysis and Kane & Lynch somehow get delayed until 2008, will be the eligible for next year's awards, too?

There are 15 categories, including Artistic Achievement and Best Story/Characters. Winners will be announced October 23; you can view the full list after the break.

Well, of course he would say that. Speaking to MCV, Neil Thompson, regional director of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft UK , offered up some sweet words for Nintendo's Wii -- though not without sticking some tacks in his bowl of commentary candy. "Nintendo are doing very well and they've done a great job at expanding the market in certain areas, " he said, "but there is a limit in terms of what you can do with Wii and there is a very definite limit on the expandability of that product."

The statement doesn't give a definite explanation of what "expandability" entails, though chastising the Wii for its comparatively limited technology isn't unheard of. Is there a "definite limit" to the experiences the Wii can provide? Could a world like that presented in BioShock be created on the Wii? Are the system's motion controls any more limiting than a traditional controller, or are they (and products like Wii Fit) critical in the expansion of the gaming audience?

"I think in this generation we've absolutely been the innovative force in terms of what a next generation console should look like and how people should think about it," added Thompson. "I don't think we were innovative enough with the first console, so we did learn a lot from that." He goes on to suggest that competitors critical of the Xbox 360's multiple SKU approach might have something to learn from Microsoft's "smart choices" there. "I think you've got to look at what consumers want and offering something unique – and I think Nintendo have done a very impressive job at doing that."

When Nintendo president Satoru Iwata refuses to "do the easy," you may think he's merely declining to perform some sort of elaborate dance maneuver. Given its name, we imagine such a dance move simply entails lying face down on the floor and remaining motionless until everyone else has gone home. It makes perfect sense really, as Iwata isn't going to take things lying down (see the connection there?) when it comes to a Wii Sports sequel.

Simply adding new sports isn't good enough, he explained in an on-going series of discussions posted on Mother designer Shigesato Itoi's news blog, Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. "We're not going to take such an easy way, not by including seven new sports in the game since Wii Sports has five," said Iwata." We're not closing our doors to the possibility of a sequel, but it's definitely not coming out soon." He goes on to say that if Nintendo hopes to continue expanding its audience, the element of surprise is vital.

And what affords Nintendo the opportunity to explore new things and have unexpected games pop out of their little white box? "But realistically, I think we can say 'we won't do the easy' because we are currently making profit."