EA South Africa launched EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis in South Africa at a sporty event held in Johannesburg yesterday.

Upon arriving at the German Country Club in Paulshof, each attending journalist was given a few goods that would later prove to be essential in order for EA to carry out their cunning plans for us unsuspecting members of the press. A closer inspection of the contents of the bag revealed a shiny new tennis racket (Federer Grand Slam of course, being branded with EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis on the cover was a nice touch), a pack of three tennis balls, a water bottle, sweat bands for the wrist (pink for girl players, blue for boys!) and a long-sleeve branded T-shirt.

With my hands wrapped around a warm cup of coffee in an effort to offset the chilly weather that had enveloped most of the country, I happened to glance to my left and notice a number of tennis courts. It suddenly became apparent that EA had nefarious plans to get us normally couch-bound journalists, most of whom were gamers, to play actual real-life tennis!

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El33tonline had hands-on time with Nintendo’s Wii MotionPlus at the launch of EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis yesterday, but the good news is that you will also be able to get your hands on this new accessory soon.

Wii MotionPlus will be available across South Africa this Friday, the 12th of June. It will be available separately for R349.99, and it will also be bundled with two upcoming titles. Wii MotionPlus will include a new Wii Remote Jacket since the new white accessory clips on to the bottom of the Wii Remote, making it slightly longer.

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One of the many interesting snippets of information to come out of Nintendo’s E3 press conference last week was a closer look at Wii Sports Resort. In addition to revealing the opening sequence of events for the game (Hint: Your Mii tumbling through the air then floating gently to a luscious island), the publisher showed us the Wii MotionPlus in action as well as a video montage of more activities we can look forward to enjoying in the game.

We already know that Wii MotionPlus will be available across Europe on the 12th of June and that North American gamers are enjoying it as we speak. We also know that Wii Sports Resort will launch across the US on the 26th of July and a few days earlier on the 24th of July in Europe. What we didn’t know was when the new peripheral and game would hit shelves in South Africa. Until now, that is.

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Red Steel 2 is looking excellently stylised and stylish, bringing a good mix of first-person swordplay and gun-based combat to the Wii, now using the Wii MotionPlus add-on for the WiiMote to bring greater control and accuracy to the franchise (which was a major concern with the first entry from Ubisoft).

Now that it’s E3 week, a ton of new footage from the game has unsurprisingly been released, further showcasing the action and great art direction found in Red Steel 2.

To catch up with all of this new footage, you need to do nothing more than cast your gaze below (and maybe click):

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Further Red Steel 2 media has finally been released in the form of screenshots and in-game footage to better unveil the game’s unique sword and gun fighting action for the Wii, this time using Nintendo’s MotionPlus WiiMote add-on (which comes bundled with the game) to allow for more accurate in-game movements.

Red Steel 2 takes place in a city built in the middle of the desert, called Caldera (which is described as “edgy” and an East-meetsWest “hodge-podge”), as players take on the role of a “lonesome fighter, a man of few words with a shaded past full of mystery,” able to take on six enemies at once with both blade and gun.

Red Steel 2 is slated for a holiday 2009 release. Look over some more stylish screenshots below, and be sure not to miss the bounteous in-game footage from Ubisoft’s press conference, also found below:

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The ambitious, but in the end, lacklustre Wii-exclusive first-person shooter/sword swinger, Red Steel, is set to get receive a follow-up from developers Ubisoft at the end of the year, just in time for your Holiday shopping.

Imaginatively called Red Steel 2, the (again Wii-exclusive) sequel takes players to a high-tech metropolis in the desert (kind of like Las Vegas?) and takes full advantage of the upcoming WiiMote add-on, the Wii MotionPlus, to faithfully replicate, on-screen, every move you make with your hands while holding the WiiMote – no more disconnected-looking sword swinging this time!

EMEA marketing director at Ubisoft, John Parkes said of the title:

“Red Steel was a unique opportunity for Ubisoft to work in tandem with Nintendo to create a title exclusively for the launch of the Wii console. Red Steel 2 is another milestone for the company as it is the first Ubisoft title with full Wii MotionPlus integration.”

Look forward to the new (and improved) ‘action-fighting’ game, Red Steel 2, this Holiday season.

After the announcement that the WiiMote add-on, the Wii MotionPlus, as well as Wii Sports Resort, would both be releasing in Japan in June, Nintendo have gone and revealed that the peripheral and the game will be hitting the US and Europe in June and July respectively.

The US will get the Wii MotionPlus peripheral on June 8th, while Europe gets it on June 12th. Wii Sports Resort, meanwhile, releases on July 26th in the US and July 24th in Europe. NoE PR boss, Laurent Fischer said:

“Everyone who has played the Wii can remember the moment they first discovered its intuitive controls and realised that this was an incredible new way of experiencing video games.

“Wii MotionPlus will create that feeling again, taking gameplay to a new level of realism. And with Wii Sports Resort, people will get the chance to immerse themselves in a hugely fun set of games that are designed to make the very best of this exciting new technology.”

Wii MotionPlus will go for approximately $20, and while a firm price hasn’t been confirmed for Europe, you can probably expect it to remain roughly the same. Wii Sports Resort and Wii MotionPlus will be offered together for $50.

In a succinct news report on Reuters, it’s been revealed that Nintendo’s upcoming Wii Sports Resort, another collection of sports games for the Wii, will be heading out into Japan in June, and overseas in July.

Wii Sports Resort is bundled with the WiiMote add-on, Wii MotionPlus, which adds extra sensitivity and features to the standard WiiMote, allowing for more precise movement in games that utilise the technology.

So, logically, this means that the Wii MotionPlus will also be available in June and July this year. Hurray for logical thinking!

It’s been revealed that, while the upcoming Wii first-person shooter from High Voltage, The Conduit, won’t make use of Nintendo’s MotionPlus WiiMote add-on to increase accuracy of movement, it will use the Wii Speak peripheral, most probably for the game’s multiplayer component, to enable communication between players online.

To get an updated look at The Conduit, look no further than down the page for a newly released trailer:

The Conduit is set for release on the Wii a little later this year.