Nintendo Wii Fanboy

When in doubt, ask the French. The Interactive Digital Entertainment Festival at Cannes spurred some comments from Stephan Bole, head honcho of Nintendo France. A sales announcement revealed an interesting fact about the Wii -- it has sold over 26 million units globally. That's like, a lot of Wiis. More than seven.

In comparison, the Xbox 360 has sold 20 million units, while the PS3 is lagging with 14 million. The festival brought no announcement of a Wii price drop, and it's still selling out the door for 249 Euros. Bole made a generic statement about women and the elderley being a major factor in the Wii's success (which we already knew), but 26 million is still mighty impressive.

... if you're in France. Despite much frantic hunting on the internets, we've only been able to locate this neat little piece of Boom Blox merchandise at a French outlet, where it's being given away to those who purchase the game early (Boom Blox launches across Europe tomorrow).

Although it lacks a ball to knock your blocks down with once you've finished building, assembling this puzzle is probably the perfect way to pass the time while your family plays on Boom Blox and you stubbornly refuse to admit that you might have been wrong. Bah. Oh, one word of advice, though: handle with care.

French national football soccer team coach Raymond Domenech is a strange one. A keen astrologer who shies from picking Scorpios for his squad (apparently, he "doesn't trust them"), Domenech has now banned his players from playing on the Wii. We like to think that Raymond is a regular Wii Fanboy reader, and has read up on previous Wii-related injuries! We're probably being overly hopeful.

Anyway, the French side is due to take part in the European Championships this summer (read: a big deal), so clearly Domenech wants to give his team every possible edge. Rubbish old England failed to qualify, of course, so they're welcome to play all the Wii they want. Silver linings and all that, eh chaps?

[Via Go Nintendo]

British tabloid The Mirror is reporting that due to the scarcity of the console in the UK, many have apparently taken trips to neighboring country France in order to track one down. Where the console is going for upwards of £1,000 on eBay, many are apparently finding success in French shops, where the console sells for £150 (or about €209).

The credibility of the paper is questionable, however our own UK blogger Chris has mentioned that he's heard of people being successful in Calais. So, if you're someone living in the UK and looking for a Wii, don't go over to France thinking you're guaranteed to leave with a Wii, but it might be worth a try. Still, the country just sold its millionth Wii, so the demand is there, as well.

And so another country falls to the Wii's charms. This week it's France, where the one millionth Wii console has just been snapped up, exactly one year after the machine launched. That, fact fans, means the Wii is the fastest selling video game system EVAR in the country, beating out the previous record, which was held by the DS.

While it's great that Nintendo's console is kicking ass and taking names wherever it appears, it has to be said that reporting on the Wii's success is just getting plain repetitive now. Anybody know of anywhere the Wii is actually losing? Seriously, tell us. We're actually beginning to miss writing alarmist, smoking gun stories.

[Via Codename Revolution]

A Nintendo magazine in France recently held an interview with the development team of the upcoming launch title Rayman Raving Rabbids. Thanks to a wily, bilingual forum poster (thanks, Jing_Ke!), we now have some new information.

The story mode of the game is divided into fifteen game days. On each day, you wake up in jail, where you can enter the hub area "Rabbit Arena". This area gives access to five mini-games per day: four regular mini-games, and a boss battle. If you do well, the rabbits will reward you with various costumes or decorations. Another mode exists where you can play the mini-games freely, multiplayer if desired.

The length of the games are discussed (much longer than, say, those found in Wario Ware), and they reveal that around seventy games will be in the final version. Alas, no classic platformer for us...are you disappointed? Hopefully, Sonic and the Secret Rings can fulfill those lingering desires to fall to your death while jumping to a platform inexplicably floating in mid-air.