Nintendo Wii Fanboy

If we're to believe Dustin Wilson's assurances, the mischief above wasn't a product of Photoshop or any other methods of internet chicanery. He actually scribbled the Wii endorsement onto the Xbox 360 display boxes with a white paint marker while one of the game shop's employees was distracted.

This episode of When Keeping it Wii Goes Wrong was created as an entry for the EvWiiwhere Challenge hosted by N+, a MyOpera community for Nintendo fans. The contest called for readers to take pictures of the word "Wii" spelled out in unconventional ways, but we're sure this wasn't what the site had in mind. We might have our gripes with all the Electronics Boutiques and GameStops out there, but vandalizing other people's property just isn't cool, especially when it's at the expense of a worker who's just doing her job.

But who knows, maybe this sort of joke will catch on with other retailers? If you think about it, this would be a great way to promote the Xbox 360 to customers inside the shop, while at the same time catching the interest of people outside who see the storefront's Wii wisecrack. It's genius!

It pays to really scrutinize those nifty game systems people randomly ship you -- even if you're a gaming journalist and people are often randomly shipping you systems. According to Ross Miller of big daddy Joystiq, the guys of 1UP/EGM really need to heed the above advice. GameVideos.com director Mark MacDonald pranked the staffers with a fake Wii setup that was good enough to fool a few. And you can see all the loldrama unfold for yourself after the jump. Beware, however, there's a little language at times. Naughty language.

There are plenty of high-caliber DS releases coming in the second half of this year. Nintendo of America seeks to whet our appetites, and so a recent press release bestows a convenient list of release dates upon us...that extremely informative list, reader, can be found here. What draws our attention, however, are the writings at the beginning and end of the press release. Nintendo writes:

"The fourth quarter of 2006 will herald a new era for Nintendo with the launch of its remarkable new Wii(TM) home video game system. But that's not what this news item is about! How could that be, you ask? Perhaps the secret to the launch information for Wii is somehow encoded in the text of this news item. You might want to pore over it for a few hours before staying up all night to debate phraseology and comma placement with your friends online. Or maybe it's all just a scam to get you to read the other games we have launching this fall. One of the two."

Okay, that was uncalled for. And later:

"And, for Nintendo GameCube(TM) owners, The Legend of Zelda(R): Twilight Princess will be available for you this fall. An enhanced version also will be a launch title for Wii. That will all happen on ... Oh look, we're out of space."

Those charlatans.