Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Looks like Nintendo fans in Japan are about to have a lot to crow about. While we'll have to see if any of these goodies make it outside that country in bundle form, apparently new Wii colors will be released as bundles with Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The colors include Diamond Black, Red, Mint Blue, Snow Pink, and Famicom colors, and the bundles will include two Wii remotes and two nunchuks so you can get your brawl on in style. The packs will retail for ¥35,000, which is a little more than $313 U.S.. Not a bad deal at all.

It's not all about Brawl, however. Word is that Mario Kart is coming in February and is confirmed as having eight player multiplayer (the number just keeps dropping), and on top of the bikes we'd already heard about, there will be animals as well. Maybe they should change the name to Mario Things-You-Can-Drive-Or-Otherwise-Navigate?

None of this has been confirmed yet, but if it is ... we could use some of those new colors! Oh, wait. Y'know, we could just use a few more Wiis, in any shade.

[Update: Alas, this news report was not the Famitsu you're looking for. Or, as commentor MidnightScott said more succinctly, this was confirmed as a fake translation.]

Being able to switch the color of your fighter is pretty much a given in any Smash Bros. game, and Brawl uses this feature to give us the likes of Fire Mario, Mario as Wario, an albino Donkey Kong, Dark Link, Fusion Suit Samus, and Snake in a variety of fetching camouflage designs.

Each character comes with six different variations, which can be toggled on the character select screen. To see more of these, hit the gallery below.

Here in the U.S., the Wii has been out for nearly a year, which means it's about time we asked: would you rebuy the system just to get a different color? Seems like it would be quite an expenditure, but then again, Wiis are still in pretty high demand in a lot of places, especially with the holidays creeping up on us, so it probably wouldn't be too difficult to unload the one you have if you wished to do so.

What about multicolored controller combos, however? That seems much more like something we'd go for ... and then maybe put some spiffy straps on 'em.

All new game announcements should come complete with video, just so you know what to expect. Since THQ has announced de Blob, we've uncovered this handy video that shows off the bouncing blobs. The best part? The game is apparently filled with praise. We always love it when a game tells us we're brilliant because we can manage to bounce off a wall. We just wish someone would do that in real life, considering that we often manage to bounce off walls there, too.

We were galled to hear that Tinker Bell isn't technically a noblewoman, excluding the Peter Pan pixie from taking part in Disney's Princess Games, but it looks like she'll be making an appearance on the Wii anyway, despite her common fairy blood. AcidMods administrator CyberPyrot stenciled Tink's outline onto his console and coated its shell with flip flop paint to add a touch of fay magic. Depending on what angle you're viewing it from, the casing's color can appear as blue, green, or purple.

There was an anxious moment, however, when a saboteur made a poisonous attempt to ruin the artwork. CyperPyrot held Tinker Bell's fading light in his trembling hands and turned to the audience, begging them to clap and yell out, "I do believe in fairies!" The viewers chanted the phrase over and over again, and wouldn't you know it, Tinker Bell was revived and cured! Think happy thoughts and take flight past the post break for more photos of the side panel project in-progress.

According to a list taken from an anonymous retailer, GameFront is reporting Nintendo is set to release differenly-colored Wiimotes and nunchuks. The variety of colors, according to this list, is fairly small. The colors on tap are different than the ones featured in the image above, also.

The colors include:

• Silver
• Blue
• Pearl Pink

The list also says that a June 29th ship date in Europe is in store.

[Via Go Nintendo]

NDSCentral.com, which has long offered case-mod replacement shells for the DS and DS Lite, is getting ready to open up a new section for Wii case mods. Replacement shells for the Wiimote, nunchuck, and Wii unit itself are now available in black, red, yellow, blue, and translucent. Though the shells are covered in acrylic paint, as opposed to the high-gloss finish of the original units, the added color is just sure to go with your outfit. The shells for the accessories are quite cheap ($14.90 and $11.90 USD for the Wiimote and nunchuck, respectively), so if you're feeling iridescent, head on over.

(Don't forget to pick up a tri-wing screwdriver to affix the mod!)

[Thanks, Capt. Castellanos!]

We've seen some Wiimote mods before, but certainly none were quite as aesthetically pleasing as this. Not only has the modder-in-question placed a bright LED behind the transparent A button, but he actually changes the color of both the button and the lower LED based on player position. This mod is apparently quite difficult to pull off, but if you've any electrical savvy in your body, we all think you owe it to your Wiimote to at least take a look at how it's done.

It's so pretty.

[via 4cr]

We like the white. It's classy, Apple-like, and pleasing to the eyes. Still, many fans were quite perturbed at the lack of color options at launch, and without varying color schemes for at least the Wiimotes, it can become difficult to differentiate consoles and controllers if you ever get some friends over with their own controllers.

We know you cheated by reading the headline, so yes, there are fancy skins available for your Wii! (For the portably minded, they also have quite a few DS Lite skins.) There are currently 99 designs available, made of a thin material designed to cover as much of the console as possible. Moreover, for a few extra bucks (the console skin itself costs $14.99), you can get matching skins for your Wiimotes and nunchucks. Awesome? We think so.

Also, after contacting the company, we've learned that they plan to open up the floor to custom designs sometime in December. So you can, you know, put a picture of your hot girlfriend on the Wii, or something. Whatever.

Waiting for Wii got you down? Stack some DVD cases together on a shelf, kick the coffee table aside, and grab a remote -- so says Paul Starke in his latest editorial at Nintendojo. He offers a number of tips the desperate fanboy person can look to when the Wii blues gets to be too much of a burden. A few of his recommendations:

• Wave around a television remote or GCN mic (gotta build that Wiimote muscle).
• Update your home network for wireless if you haven't already.
• Choose a color (or start practicing your case mod technique).

Our addition:

Try not to chew off your own fingernails while waiting for info!