Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Okay, so it's not Space World, the legendary Nintendo-only event whose last appearance occurred in 2001. Nintendo's announcement of a new event, however, named Nintendo World 2006, certainly conjures fond memories. The event, which takes place over a mammoth ten-day period from November 3rd to the 12th (and again on November 25th and 26th), will feature hands-on playtime with the Wii and some of the hottest new DS titles. Best of all, it's open to the Japanese public, and completely free. Awesome.

While it's unknown if Nintendo will be making any major announcements at the event, it's understood that they will, at the very least, announce more specific details of the Virtual Console service (read: launch titles) a bit closer to Wii Day. What better place to spring some good news on the unsuspecting Japanese?

(The image is a personal favorite, from digital artist Greg Martin. Check more of his work here.)

The upcoming Leipzig Games Convention (Nintendo's keynote is scheduled for August 23rd) is the current hotbed of upcoming Wii information, with rumors flying left and right that the final launch details and pricing will be unveiled at the German trade show. We've known that Nintendo will be showing off some new Wii games there, and being open to the public, certainly some of our European readers were gearing up to make the trek to Germany. Oh, but wait, in the distance...yep. It's the black cloud of despair.

Yes, it turns out that the Wii will not be playable to the general public during the show. Despite Nintendo's attitude of wanting as many people to get their hands on it as possible, it appears that not enough proper game journalists and members of the media were able to brave the 6+ hour lines at E3; the console will only be playable in private rooms that require an invitation from Nintendo. Oh well. Remember, stalwart fans, though we don't know the specific date of release, each second that passes brings us closer still...