The state's district court says that video game content deserves the same first amendment protection afforded to movies, books, and music.

Court Finds Louisiana Violent Video Game Act to Be Unconstitutional

CHICAGO, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- In another victory for Jenner & Block's

video game industry clients, a Louisiana district court today granted a

permanent injunction against the enforcement of a state law that would have

banned sales of violent video games to minors, finding the act to be an

unconstitutional violation of the video game makers' and retailers' freedom

of speech.

If it can be restricted, it is.

Play-Asia recently received their shipment of Japanese Wii units and took some time to test out region lockout on Japanese and US systems. Unlike the Nintendo DS, Japanese Wii systems only support the Japanese language. Play-Asia tried booting a US Wii disc on a Japanese system and vice-versa, but neither worked. They also tried using a Japanese Wii Points card on the US Wii Shop, but the number was rejected as being from the wrong region.

Datel's Action Replay and Freeloader discs do work on Wii, so import GameCube games can still be played. However, there does seem to be some trouble loading certain games and using certain memory cards. I also tested the unlicensed Game Boy Advance game player, Advance Game Port, and found that it had to be booted by Freeloader in order to load. On top of that, sound plays at 1.5 times normal speed, likely due to the difference in clock speed between the Wii and GameCube.

Including some particularly awesome 9-Volt games. Updated with one new video.

With the Wii launch only days away in Japan, a few individuals have gotten a hold of systems as well as copies of Odoru Made in Wario, also known as WarioWare: Smooth Moves. FourFive videos have been posted on YouTube showing off several different microgames, and are worth the look.

9-Volt & 18-Volt

9-Volt & 18-Volt #2 (NEW)

Maker of Tiger Woods golf games for PC is now devoted to Wii development under EA banner.

HEADGATE STUDIOS TEAM JOINS EA

Six-Year Relationship Evolves Into Creation of New ‘EA Salt Lake’ Studio

Redwood Shores, Calif., - November 30, 2006 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that the development team at Utah-based developer Headgate Studios, Inc. has joined EA. EA has partnered with Headgate since 2000 to develop top franchises such as Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® and Madden NFL. The development team will remain in Bountiful, Utah and will continue to work in partnership with the EA development teams in California and Florida. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Thirty-eight Virtual Console games, three days early.

The first batch of Virtual Console games for the Japanese market popped up yesterday on the Wii Shop. Of course, most people will not have access to them until the launch on December 2nd. The first collection of titles only included games from Nintendo systems, but today the Shop was updated again with Mega Drive (Genesis), PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16), and third-party titles, bringing the total to thirty-eight, which is already more than we'll see stateside until sometime next year.

All Famicom (NES), Mega Drive, and PC Engine games are playable with the Wii Remote, Classic Controller, and GameCube Controller. Super Famicom (SNES) and Nintendo 64 games are playable with the Classic Controller and GameCube Controller.

Nintendo thwarts hackers' attempts to use Wii Shop as a general web browser.

Shortly after the US launch of the Wii, hackers found that the Wii Shop channel was powered by a limited version of the Opera web browser. With a little technical knowledge and creativity, it was possible to redirect the Wii Shop to browse different websites, albeit in a somewhat limited manner. News of this feat spread across several Internet news sites, and Nintendo took notice.

Upon entering Wii Shop today, Wii owners were prompted to download and install a firmware update. It turns out that this update, required to continue using Wii Shop, changes the way that the Wii Shop browser works. The change forces the browser to use an encrypted web connection at all times, thus eliminating the previous redirection oversight. Wii owners will now have to wait until the official Opera web browser is released in order to browse the web on their systems.

At least, says Reggie.

The Nintendo DS has been the star of the handheld game space recently, so it comes as no surprise that the Game Boy Advance has been pushed into obscurity. Does that mean it's all over for the GBA? Not so, says the Regginator.

Speaking to Reuters in New York, NOA's president said Nintendo thinks there's yet some life in the single-screen portable. "We think that Game Boy Advance certainly has at least one more holiday season left in it. For us, it continues to be a great stepping stone for five-, six-, seven-year-old consumers to have their first great handheld gaming experience and then transition right into DS." Reggie also said that both the DS and GBA were on track to meet their sales targets.

Mr. President talks about the Wii launch success, games, Virtual Console, Wii online and a lot more stuff.

NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime sat down with MTV News recently, and was asked a myriad of questions about the Wii. Reggie being Reggie, he answered the majority of them with actual answers. Here are some of the things he said.

Right off the bat, Reg pulls no punches when talking about the competition. "We're not arrogant. We don't view success as a right. We feel we need to earn success every day. And we're going to do that by being true to the gamer." He continues to say that although Nintendo is feeling really good after a successful Wii launch, the company knows it's just the start of a long battle. "We're looking at this as about eight days into the mission," said Reggie.

On top of getting a Wii, if you are one of the first 200 people to purchase Twilight Princess you'll receive a limited edition storage tin!

HMV to partner Nintendo for official UK midnight launch of hugely anticipated new console

Play celebrities and be the first to experience Wii at its central London launch

29 November 2006. Nintendo UK has today announced it will officially partner with HMV when it launches its new console, Wii, at midnight on 7th/8th December 2006. The action kicks off from 11pm at HMV, 150 Oxford Street, London with the chance for everyone to come down and play launch game Wii Sports against top sporting celebrities including Ian Wright, Jodie Kidd, Pat Cash and Ricky Hatton.

A similar press release was made in North America and we all saw how that turned out. How early should Europeans line up?

Unprecedented Level Of Pre-Orders For Wii Across Europe

Nintendo shipping huge numbers globally for record demand

US launch indicates massive rush for Wii

29th November 2006 – A huge shipment of Nintendo’s new system, Wii, has now arrived in Europe ahead of launch on December 8th and with an unprecedented number of pre-orders having been taken, it is likely that there will be exceptional demand for the system when it goes on sale in Europe.