Nintendo Urges Wii Players to Hold On Tight

By Geoff Duncan December 8, 2006

Nintendo Urges Wii Players to Hold On Tight

One thing’s for certain: Nintendo is very pleased with the debut of its Wii video game console, announcing that independent sales figures collected by the NPD Group show that the Nintendo sold for 55 percent of all video game systems sold in November. Although NPD’s figures show the Wii moved 70,000 units a day for the first seven days of availability represented in the data, here’s a funny note: the top game system sellers for the same period were actually Nintendo’s DS and Game Boy Advance handheld systems, which respectively sold 920,000 and 642,000 units during November. the figures back up Nintendo’s earlier claim to have sold 600,000 Wii systems during the system’s first eight days of availability in North America; the company also claims to have sold nearly 400,000 systems since the Wii’s introduction in Japan.

But here’s another amusing bit about the Wii’s initial success: once the console (ahem) hit the North American market, reports and photographs began to surface claiming that flying Wii remotes were damaging or destroying home items, electronics, and even expensive flat-panel televisions. It seems some users get a little enthusiastic playing Wii Sports,Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess—at least one Web site is chronicling some reports. One oft-cited cause of flying Wii remotes is in Wii Sports, where players are letting go of the innovative wireless remote in the title’s bowling game, rather than releasing the "B" button.

Although Nintendo is downplaying the issue, it has published a customer service advisory warning users to always wear the Wii Remote’s wrist strap, grip the remote firmly, and allow give themselves plenty of room for play—at least three feet away from their TV. Additional information shows users how to connect the NunChuck secondary controller so it’s secured with the wrist strap.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Nintendo

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Gaming

Nintendo’s next console may feature DLSS and ray-tracing support

Mario high-fives Nintendo Live guests.

New reports affirm the rumors that Nintendo has started to show its next-generation console -- referred to colloquially by fans as Nintendo Switch 2 -- behind closed doors at a recent video game industry expo. It reportedly featured tech demos highlighting features like Nvidia DLSS support and ray tracing.
Gamescom 2023 was held in Cologne, Germany, between August 23 and August 27. Nintendo attended the European game industry event, and shortly thereafter, rumors emerged that Nintendo had shown its next console behind closed doors. Now, new reports from Eurogamer and VGC are corroborating these claims.
Specifically, both sources say that Nintendo showed tech demos for its next game console in private during meetings with some other game developers at Gamescom. Both sources confirmed that an upgraded version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was shown off on this "Switch 2" hardware.
VGC also had a source who claimed that the impressive The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo -- used to promote Epic Games' new engine and the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X back in 2021 -- was also shown to developers and seemed to confirm that the new Nintendo system will support Nvidia's upscaling DLSS tech as well as ray-tracing. Keep in mind that tech demos for systems often don't make the transition to full-game releases.

We don't know much else about what was shown, although VGC claims that this system will be usable in a portable mode like the Nintendo Switch is. Currently, the launch window for Nintendo's next new piece of hardware is expected to be sometime in fall 2024, although Eurogamer's source stated that "Nintendo is keen to launch the system sooner if possible."
Nintendo has not commented on these rumors, and is unlikely to ahead of an official console reveal. Still, the idea that the next Nintendo console is nearly upon us should be exciting for fans of one of the video game industry's most storied companies.

Gaming

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom DLC is not happening, says Nintendo

Link and other characters from Tears of the Kingdom.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is one of the year's most successful games, but a developer from Nintendo has confirmed that it doesn't have plans to make any DLC for it. Speaking to the Japanese publication Famitsu, series producer Eiji Aonuma confirmed this was the case because the development team had already explored all of the ideas they wanted to in the base game and is now looking to the future.

"At this time, we are not planning to release additional content. We feel like we have already fully explored and exhausted the gameplay possibilities in this world," Aonuma said in comments translated by Video Games Chronicle. "Initially, the reason we decided to develop a sequel was because we believed there was still value in experiencing new gameplay within that particular Hyrule. If, in the future, we find a compelling reason, we may revisit that world once again. Whether it’s another sequel or an entirely new title, I believe the next game will offer a completely new experience."
While Aonuma's explanation is sound, it's still a pretty surprising move by Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild received two expansions after it came out in 2017. Some fans expected that Tears of the Kingdom would follow in that game's footsteps, especially as it would make sense for Nintendo to find more ways to capitalize on a game that has already sold 18.51 million copies. Still, it's probably best for Nintendo to move on from Tears of the Kingdom and create something new rather than making underwhelming DLC for the sake of having post-launch content.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for Nintendo Switch.

Gaming

The best single-player Nintendo Switch games

Link and other characters from Tears of the Kingdom.

The Nintendo Switch has continued to dominate the video game world thanks to its portable design, along with its ability to be played on a TV. On top of that, the Switch is home to one of the best game lineups in history, ranging from multiplayer experiences to those that can be played solo, and some in between. While multiplayer and online titles have huge audiences, single-player games have been a staple of video games since the medium began -- leading to some unforgettable experiences.

With that in mind, we've decided to take a look at the best single-player games on Nintendo Switch. This list is made up of games that can be played offline, even if some have a multiplayer component or online functionality. We'll cover lots of different genres -- from RPGs to platformers and puzzle games -- so hopefully there will be a little something for everyone.