Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Apparently, the Wii remote is the new toy gun. It wasn't enough that you could use it to do ten million things (apart from playing Wii) -- now it's being wielded as an imaginary weapon. At this point, we're convinced that buying a Wii is the best investment you'll ever make, because there's nothing the controller cannot do.

Today's featured video is a little different from our usual fare. It's just two guys screwing around (and what is this, National Parody-24 Week?) and they happen to be using the Wii remote as a prop. We give it a week before someone gets wind of this video and uses it to springboard a campaign on the dangers of the Wii.

When Nintendo first announced the Virtual Console service, it seemed as though Nintendo themselves would be just about the only ones releasing their past games. Of course, Nintendo's library is beyond incredible, but with the exception of Sega and Hudson, it just seemed as though companies weren't going to be taking advantage of the service.

(insert clichéd "tides have turned" line here) Nintendo has announced Virtual Console partnerships with twenty-four separate publishers, the full listing of which can be seen after the break. The big boys are all on-board: Square-Enix, Konami, Bandai-Namco. A few of the companies don't seem to have much of a legacy at all, however, which implies that they may be working on some smaller-scale original games for the VC service.

In addition, it appears that the Virtual Console will now be supporting the MSX (pictured above), an older arcade system. Iwata-san also expressed in interest to bring even more consoles to the Wii: we here at the Fanboy pray to the rings of Saturn.

(Fun fact! Did you know that video game mega-franchises Dragon Quest and Metal Gear first appeared on the MSX?)

That theme from The Jeffersons came to mind when we first saw what a share in Nintendo stock was costing. Coming in at $26 (a six-year high) a share, high confidence in Nintendo's Wii is the main cause of this hike in price. Meryll Lynch even raised their price of Nintendo stock from $25 to $29 last Friday, stating that anticipation for the Wii was the main driving force behind the decision.

A solid showing from the console at May's E3, along with continued support from third-party developers, and a large launch lineup are all contributing factors to Nintendo's pre-launch success. Should they follow through with plans and launch the console for an affordable price, make due on their promise of launch titles, and provide a robust online component through their WiiConnect24 service, there will be little to stop them from regaining the market share they enjoyed over 10 years ago.

[Via Joystiq]