After a record-breaking sale of 48 million global consoles last year, Nintendo has been encountering problems to satisfy demand recently. In fact, it is only now that they are able to satisfy the demand, a factor that may have become critical for its underachieving status since a lot of buyers cannot find the game console in certain areas.

According to an interview with Gamasutra, GameStop has said they finally have enough Nintendo Wii supply to keep up with demand.

GameStop Senior Vice President of Merchandising Bob McKenzie added: “Three years later, we finally have enough inventory on the shelf, and we’ve got a couple of weeks in supply.”

McKenzie also says he is fully confident gamers can walk in and purchase the console without any lines, in any retail location. The company is the largest gaming retailer in the biggest market, the US.

(Source) AfterDawn

Nintendo has finally punched out some new details of Punch-Out!!, its upcoming Wii revival of the classic boxing series.

The game is set to include a two-player versus mode, though no online multiplayer functionality was mentioned. Here’s the scoop:

As in the single player mode, you’ll want to land punches at the right moment to build up Star Punch points that translate into almighty haymakers! Landing and dodging blows in Head-to-Head mode also builds up a Giga Mac gauge. Once full, your fighter is ready to inflict some serious damage.

The company added that old characters Von Kaiser, King Hippo and others all return. It is due out exclusively on Wii on May 18.

Cryptic Studios has confirmed that it recruited players for the Champions Online closed beta from rival City of Heroes and other PC MMOs.

Rumors of such practices came up through Massively earlier this week. In fact, the official City of Heroes website warned players and forum-users of solicitations from “another game company trying to lure you to their competing product.”

"I’m certain this wasn’t meant to be a malicious attack on a competing product, nor did anyone intend to steal players, violate user agreements, kill babies, or knife hardworking farmers in the back," reads a statement from Cryptic’s Ivan Sulic.

"A few of our employees thought it might be a good idea to contact avid MMO notables and various guild leaders floating about to see if they wanted to test," he added. "The folks who send [invites] figured people who play MMOs most might want them most. If a line was crossed, it was totally inadvertent and no harm was intended."

The PC version of Champions Online is due out sometime this spring. A Xbox 360 version is also in development, though no release timeframe was given.

MTV Multiplayer reports that Sony has instituted a “PlayStation Network Bandwidth Fee” that requires publishers to pay for each gigabyte used in downloading content for the PS3 through the PlayStation Store.

So far, publishers have been able to release DLC without themselves incurring any bandwidth fees. MTV notes that Microsoft does not charge bandwidth fees for Xbox 360 DLC.

The new policy went into effect on October 1, 2008 and charges publishers 16 cents for each gigabyte used. Bandwidth charges for free content is billed only for the first 60 days, while premium content is charged until it’s removed from the store.

Publishers surely aren’t happy with the deal. "It’s a new thing we have to budget," one anonymous source told the site. "It’s not cool. It sucks."

Seeing as how they have broken the boundaries between fact and fiction, the upcoming Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper will also no longer be bound by platforms either, as the publisher has announced that the PC adventure game is now being ported to Xbox 360.

The Xbox 360 port is being developed by Spiders Games, while the original PC version was made by Frogwares Studio. It is due out in Europe this May and should hit North America by summer. No timeframe for the Xbox 360 release was given.

I wonder who they’ll be targeting next – Holmes has already faced off against mummies and Cthulhu in Frogware’s projects.

Harmonix has revealed that the entirety of Pearl Jam’s “Ten” album would be released as Rock Band downloadable content on March 24, which is next Tuesday.

It will sell as a bundle for 1440 Microsoft points ($18), though individual tracks can also be bought for 160 points ($2) a piece.

Additionally, Best Buy is offering three more downloadable tracks – “Brother”, “Alive (live)” and “State of Love & Trust (live)” – in exchange for a purchase of the physical rerelease of “Ten”.

If you don’t want to buy the album on CD, you can always wait for a while to let the tracks appear online as downloadable content. Best Buy did this thing with Disturbed.

When BioShock was released, PC and Xbox 360 owners got a head start on the PS3 crowd, who had to wait almost a year.

According to 2K Games, that won’t happen with BioShock 2, as the game will be released on the Xbox 360, PC and PS3 at the same time. The games is slated for release this holiday season.

When it comes to living the life of a mafia-like boss, chances are you can only do that on video games. But don’t let that crazy idea get by you. GameStop, the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailer, today announced the “Live Like a Chinatown Boss” Sweepstakes in conjunction with the launch of Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

Beginning today through May 14, there are two ways to enter to win the Chinatown boss prize package. Your first chance is by participating in the text-to-win program. When boss wannabes buy the new Grand Theft Auto game from GameStop stores, they will receive a code to text in to be entered in the sweepstakes.

Boss status includes:

• A 3 day/2 night trip to New York City for you and 3 friends
• Private limo
• Deluxe hotel accommodations
• An entourage of models and a bodyguard for a night out
• Nightclub VIP room
• $5,000 cold hard cash

Additional runner-up prizes will be given in the amount of $250 GameStop gift cards.

(Source) Press

Nintendo has announced that Wii Play has sold 10 million units in the US. Wii Play — a series of mini games which come with a Wii controller — has been dominating the sales charts ever since it was released in 2007.

Wii Play retails at $50, only $10 more than a standard Wii controller. In the same announcement, Nintendo has revealed that the sales of individual Wii controllers have reached 12,7 million, meaning a total of 22,7 million controllers have been sold (in the US alone), while 19 million Wii consoles have been sold in the US.

According to the latest NPD sales data, Nintendo’s Wii was the best selling console in February, selling an estimated 750,000 units in the US. The Xbox 360 came in second with 391,000 units, the PS3 third with 276,000 units and the aging PS2 sold 131,000 units.

On the software side, Capcom’s Street Fighter 4 sold an impressive 850,000 units on all platforms combined.