National Geographic, one of the world’s largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations, has announced the launch of its very own games division, National Geographic Games (NGG).

The label, in collaboration with Namco Bandai and Sony Computer Entertainment, aims to publish and develop its own line of games for consoles, handhelds and mobiles, focussing on titles that continue the National Geographic Society’s goals of encouraging interest in the planet.

The label will be headed up by Paul Levine, taking on the role of corporate strategy and development Senior Vice President, while Chris Mate, formerly of Take-Two and Bethesda Softworks, will take the vice president and general manager reigns. Chief operating officer of National Geographic Ventures, Ted Prince said of the launch:

“The launch of our games division furthers National Geographic Venture’s cross-platform strategy of creating and distributing unique consumer experiences and content on multiple platforms and devices.”

“Paul’s strong background in cross-platform media, interactive entertainment and business building and development combined with Chris’ expertise in the video game industry and product development will ensure that National Geographic Games extends our mission globally and makes the National Geographic brand more meaningful to a broader audience.”

The DSi, Nintendo’s new, feature-filled version of the DS Lite, apparently launched in Japan last week, to little fanfare.

The electronics stores in Japan nowadays are keen to rid themselves of enormous queues come launch day, built from masses of gaming geeks and fans loitering around their store for days on end, in some cases. So, to remedy the situation, gamers need to place pre-orders for a limited number of a given product ahead of time and go collect it on launch day.

With a popular product, this usually means merchandise will be sold out through pre-orders, leaving little to none left for walk-in purchasing, which also means no more queuing up for hours outside your local electronics/gaming emporium. Clever.

Kotaku have a report on the launch, which on the surface may seem subdued, but in fact most stores had already sold out through pre-orders.

It’s been announced that the DSi will launch in the West during the first half of next year.

Nintendo’s downloadable game service WiiWare launched across Europe yesterday.

WiiWare enables Wii owners to download games from first and third party developers directly onto the Wii through the Wii Shop Channel.

WiiWare launched with six titles, see below for pricing details or head over to our earlier coverage for a closer look at the WiiWare titles.

• Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo) – 1 000 Wii Points
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King (Square Enix) – 1 500 Wii Points
• LostWinds (Frontier) – 1 000 Wii Points
• Star Soldier R (Hudson Soft) – 800 Wii Points
• Toki Tori (Two Tribes B.V.) – 900 Wii Points
• TV Show King (Gameloft) – 1 000 Wii Points

Despite Nintendo stamping the 19th of May as the official launch date of Wii Fit in the US, it is being reported that retailers will not have stock of the game until the 21st of May.

Nintendo’s highly anticipated fitness game launched across Japan in December last year, followed by Europe on the 25th of April and South Africa on the 5th of May.

According to GameSpot, the confusion over the US launch began when Nintendo started a nationwide advertising campaign stating that Wii Fit would go on sale on Wednesday the 21st of May.

Apparently this was done due to delays in shipments but the launch date was confirmed by a Nintendo representative to be the 19th of May. Yesterday Nintendo held a Wii Fit launch in New York City but only a select few were lucky enough to get a copy of the coveted Wii Fit.

Nintendo later announced that the May 19th launch date only applied to the Nintendo World Store in New York City, where the game is reported to have sold out in under an hour yesterday.

Numerous retailers have confirmed with GameSpot that the game only goes on sale tomorrow. Nintendo has not yet commented on the confusion surrounding the launch date and reports that stock shortages will plague North Americans wanting to get Wii Fit.

For more information on Wii Fit, check out El33tonline’s progress in the Wii Fit 25 day Challenge.

Nintendo’s downloadable games service WiiWare will launch across Europe on the 20th of May.

Here is a brief look at the launch titles (game overviews per Nintendo). Nintendo of Europe has not yet dated the WiiWare games. Since the prices are not likely to be different, Nintendo of America’s prices have been included for now.

Please note that all of these games may not be available on the 20th since Nintendo’s press release read “from 20th May onwards a whole host of brand new creative games from developers across Europe and the rest of the globe become available.”

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Nintendo launched its downloadable game service WiiWare across North America this past Monday. Nintendo today revealed the launch line-up for Europe. WiiWare is scheduled to launch across Europe on the 20th of May.

WiiWare enables developers to create downloadable games which Wii owners can purchase from the Wii Shop Channel. With developers no longer constrained by budgets, gamers can look forward to playing smaller, creative titles as well as fresh and original games which may otherwise have not seen the light of day. Developers will have the opportunity to make use of the Wii Remote, Nunchuk as well as the new Wii Balance Board and Wii Wheel.

Opening a creative door

“We are excited by the positive response we have received from third party developers to the announcement of WiiWare,” commented Laurent Fischer, Managing Director of Marketing & PR of Nintendo of Europe.

“We hope that this opportunity and the inspiration to produce original and exciting games will allow developers of all sizes to bring new concepts, genres and game play experiences to Wii. Opening this creative door will also provide Wii users access to a huge choice of games that they can easily download and enjoy.”

Wii owners will be able to download WiiWare games directly on to their Wii from the Wii Shop Channel from 500 Wii Points. According to the press release “a vast array of exciting and creative new projects are already in the pipeline.”

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At the time of the Nintendo DS launch, Core Gaming undertook to follow Europe’s line-up which meant that South African gamers would get their games at the same time as Europe. Core Gaming has delivered and Wii Fit will hit South African shelves just 10 days after Europeans get to test their Wii fitness and nineteen days before the game lands on North American shores.

Core Gaming held the launch of Wii Fit earlier this morning in Johannesburg. This highly anticipated exercise game will launch on the 5th of May across South Africa, and the good news is that it will sport a competitive price tag of R999.

Once again Core Gaming pulled out all of the stops to ensure a slick launch of yet another innovative Nintendo product. With seven Wiis set up with Wii Fit as well as staff on hand to introduce this new game and demonstrate how it’s done, there really was no excuse not to jump right into the action, and that is exactly what we did. Make sure you don’t miss out on El33tonline’s review of Wii Fit and pictures of the launch which will follow shortly.

South African console figures

And then it was on to the Media Briefing. Matthew Grose, General Manager of Core Gaming Systems, gave a brief rundown of how the Wii has performed to date in South Africa. If you cast your mind back to our coverage of the re-launch of the Nintendo DS in South Africa earlier this year, you may remember that the best performing next generation console for Quarter 4 of 2007 was the Wii which boasted 46% of the market, followed by the Xbox 360 with 29% and the PS3 with 25%.

Turning to the period including January and February 2008, the latest figures show that the Wiis footing in the South African market has become steadier. It now leads the next-generation console race with 54%, followed by the PS3 with 24% and the Xbox 360 with 23%. Overall the next generation has increased its lead on the previous generation, results from January and February 2008 list the next generation as the leader with 57% of home consoles in comparison to previous generations 43%.

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Core Group held the launch of Wii Fit earlier this morning in Johannesburg. This highly anticipated exercise game will launch on the 5th of May across South Africa, and the good news is that it will sport a competitive price tag – R999.

Once again Core Group pulled out all of the stops to ensure a slick launch of yet another innovative Nintendo product. With seven Wiis set up with Wii Fit as well as staff on hand to introduce this new game and demonstrate how it’s done, there really was no excuse not to jump right into the action, and that is exactly what we did.

Stay tuned for more coverage and pictures of the launch.

Post continues, click to read more…

Core Group held the launch of Wii Fit earlier this morning in Johannesburg. This highly anticipated exercise game will launch on the 5th of May across South Africa, and the good news is that it will sport a competitive price tag – R999.

Once again Core Group pulled out all of the stops to ensure a slick launch of yet another innovative Nintendo product. With seven Wiis set up with Wii Fit as well as staff on hand to introduce this new game and demonstrate how it’s done, there really was no excuse to jump right into the action, and that is exactly what we did.