Wii Media Event Blog Farce

Please Note: This post, along with similar articles on a number of well known blogs were the result of a major website mistakenly broadcasting the incorrest webfeed. It was an interesting night…

It’s 0314 BST, more then an hour after the event started, yet no-one in the English speaking world seems to know any thing.
This is apparently down to the incorrect feed being streamed by GoNintendo.
Since everyone else in the Western Media (at least the Western Media that doesn’t get invites to exclusive media events) was using GoNintendo or sites that were using it’s feed to update, no-one’s got a clue what’s going on.

This has to be the most farcicle event ever to happen on the Internet.

To top it off, Nintendo fan sites and blogs are crashing left, right and centre, whith several notable UK and American based blogs hitting the dust within minutes of the event starting. Even some of the big boys (I’m looking at you IGN) were showing the strain, with massively increased reload and response times.

More info coming as soon as I can get it.

Update (0325 BST):

I don’t actually have the words for this, so I’m going to let Jason Wishnov of Wii Fanboy say it for me:

We’ve got some unconfirmed reports that the press conference will actually begin at around 1:00 AM EDT. It’s unknown at this time how the entire Internet could fail at time-zone calculations and/or announced start times. At this point, it either hasn’t started or no website on the planet has information on it…trust us, we’ve checked. More when we’ve got it.

Update (0345 BST):

Apparently the above story is pretty much correct. Wii FanBoy have more info on it, so I advise you check out their site for it.

What has also emerged is that there was some kind of mistake with the time zone calculations of the event, which managed to spread throughout the ‘blogsphere’. I would like to apologise now for the dissemination of incorrect information posed as fact.
While this blog does report on rumours and analyst reports, it does not aim to mislead the public deliberately. I am very sorry for reporting the incorrect event times as fact and I apoligise to anyone that was misled by this.

Coverage of the Wii Media Events will hopefully resume at 0600 BST (when the real event begins), however before then sleep is required.

Related Links:
Wii Fanboy Coverage – One of the few sites still standing
(Please Note that availability of the following sites is highly patchy right now, since every non-Japanese fanboy in the world is spamming them)
Go Nintendo ‘Coverage’
The GWN page nearly everyone was working off

Apple Upgrades iPod Line + Unveils iTV Prototype

Following yesterday’s Apple Media Event, a number of analyst stories and and rumours were confirmed.

These included the release of the second generation of iPod Nano with coloured aluminum finish and the October release of the second generation iPod Shuffle, which Apple are claiming is the smallest MP3 player in the world.
The original iPod also received a screen upgrade and a boost in memory from 60GB to 80GB in the top of the line model.

The big news however, was what came after: the iTV.
The iTV (working name) is Apple’s new home hub; a wireless equipped set top box, capable of streaming video.
Looks wise, the iTV occupies the same footprint as the MacMini and features a similarly designed aluminium and plastic enclosure. It is also less then half the height of the MacMini, comes without the ‘power brick’ of the MacMini and has a HD output. It is expected to be priced at around about $299 and will ship in Q1 2007.

Several pieces of Software were also upgraded following the event. The most important of these is iTunes, which now has a clearer interface and is more suitable for downloading movies and TV programs.
Quicktime and Frontrow have also been upgraded to fix bugs and improve computability.

Countdown to Nintendo Media Event

This is obviously a good week for people that like shiny white things. First we have the Apple Showtime Media Event, next we have the Wii Media events kicking off in less then fifteen hours.

The guys over at Nintendo Buddy have helpfully put together this chart, listening the times of the three media events . Just to remind people, the Japanese event takes place at 0200 BST on Thursday morning, the New York event takes place at 1400 BST on Thursday while the London event takes place 1200 BST on Friday.

As happened with the Apple Media Event, the hype has already built up considerably wit rumours flying thick and fast. Joystiq has summed the majority of the pricing and release date rumours.

Build Up To ‘It’s Showtime’ Event

The Apple ‘It’s Showtime’ media event is now less then three hours away and the build up just continues to increase.

Firstly, noted rumours site Apple Insider posted a series of very interesting analyst predictions this morning, claiming that following the big switch to Intel, Apple’s next project will focus on the idea of a digital home hub, something that Microsoft has been trying and failing to do for years.
Apple Computer’s special event this Tuesday is just the start of a steady stream of consumer electronics announcements the company plans to make over the next 6 to 9 months, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs.

…the analyst believes the most anticipated new product from Apple is a cell phone which he expects to be introduced in the June quarter of next year “although recent checks with the Asia supply chain suggest that Apple is trying to pull the launch into the first quarter.”

Xbox 360 HD-DVD Details Leaked

Industry website GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that pricing information for the High Definition DVD drive add-on has been released to retail sources.
These sources claim that the the HD DVD add-on will be priced at £199 and ship with two movies. It is also suggested that it will be bundled with the Premium model of the Xbox 360 at a £400 price point.

This has yet to be publicly confirmed by Microsoft, but rest assured that we will update you as soon as official word of the pricing hits the internet.