Wii'll get fit (next year)!

It looks like we can have a Christmas of generally being lazy and fat as the WiiFit product won't ship to Europe or the US until next year (insert overweight sigh of relief).

Nintendo have announced a street date of the 1 December in Japan only with no release dates slated for other regions.

Imagine having to go through the motions Xmas Day of trying out your new present post Xmas dinner, it would have been hell!

So relax, get fat and worry about your waistline next year when it finally hits our shores!

Wow! Nintendo shifts 1 million units in 1 week in the US

Nintendo has announced a recording breaking week of sales of its systems in the US. During Nov 18 to 24 it shifted 350,000 Wiis and a stagering 653,000 DSes. Given that it was Thanksgiving Week in the US, a time when presents are exchanged, its probably not as mad as it seems however it is a fantastic achievement for a company whose fortunes were getting written off as dead a few years back.

Not taking anything away from the Wii, I put my hands up and admit its a great fun family console, I do question how many owners purchase that many games once the family has got over the initial fun of the Sports pack that ships with it.

At least with established gamers that buy the Xbox 360 or PS3 you know they are going to purchase a large percentage of new releases to test out their shiny new HD consoles. I wonder how many Wiis will be used to the same level that their counterparts will?

3G iPhone Coming in 2008

My view has always been it is not worth buying the iPhone until they bring out a 3G model. Anyone who has got used to 3G speeds and browsing the net on something like the Nokia N95 would find going back to 2G on the iPhone the same as dropping broadband in favour of dial up.

Now iPhone fans will always respond, "yeah but its got Wifi for fast surfing" which is all well and good when you are sitting on an unsecured Wifi network but in reality these days more and more are locked down so you end up paying more money to use an ISPs cloud. Or more often than not, you give up and go back to using your telecoms internet.

So, in my case, I use a Nokia N95 on T-Mobile with their "unlimited" Web 'n' Walk package. It works well, I'm nearly always on 3G and just don't need to search for Wifi connections. If I went to a 2G iPhone it would kill me... even though the iPhone does really appeal to me.

I'm relieved then that the CEO of AT&T Randall Stephenson says, "You'll have it next year". He wouldn't be drawn on prices, saying that this would be set by Apple but I doubt it would be anymore expensive than the original iPhone at launch, which was $599.

So that is something to look forward to then although by the time we get it in Europe will Nokia have superseeded the N95 with something even better?

Strewth! Gemma Atkinson has left the Jungle!

Well the main reason to watch "I'm a Celebrity" has been voted out of the jungle. How she went before Janice Dickinson is beyond me but the girl done good!

It looked like she had her fill of the camp though and seemed pleased to be getting out of there! She confessed "Thank you to everyone for voting me out. I can't wait to call my mum"

I'm sure the Gemma will do well out of the show though, she has come across as a cool girl with a level head on her shoulders.... and a cracking pair upfront!

She might have left the show but you can bet she'll still pop up in the blog.

If you want to see her best bits on the show you can head off to ITV below.

You enjoy that whilst I compile a list of essential console game releases on the run up to Xmas. Come back soon!

http://www.itv.com/Entertainment/reality/iacgmooh/DailyNews/Articles/Evictionseven041/default.html

FHM January 2008 Out now - Rihanna Cover

Well the latest UK edition of FHM has just been passed to me, dated January 2008 (why do they do that, its still November??) featuring the lovely Rihanna on the cover.

You might remember Rihanna trying out Marble Blast Ultra on the Xbox 360 a while back as part of the Game with Fame promo's? Missed that? Well there's a pic for you.

She looks much hotter in the latest FHM and no wired headests in sight!

Also included is the FHM 2008 calender which hosts such lovelies as Emily Scott, Carmen Electra, Keeley Hazell, Rachel Stevens, Kelly Brook and many more!

FHM has a small section of Gadgets including a good looking, well featured 12-megapixel camera, the Kodak Easyshare V1253/V1233 which can also shoot HD (720p) video.

Unreal Tournamant 3 Released Date Confirmed - PS3 US

Our friends over at VE3tro have confirmed that Midway & Epic are sticking to a release date of December 10, 2007 for Unreal Tournament 3, for the PS3

"Unreal Tournament 3 Slated to Ship on December 10, 2007, for the PS3 in North America.
Midway and Epic today announced that the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 is scheduled to ship to retail outlets in North America on December 10th. It is expected to begin arriving in stores in limited quantities the following day, with a U.S. suggested retail price of $59.95."

The offical release date for the EU is still unconfirmed but should be in line with the US. We watch and hope!

Xbox 360 enters social networking

Microsoft have announced today that the next update for the Xbox 360, expected on December 4, will allow users to see other members friends lists, hence allowing them to invite them to their own list in the way Facebook users do and challenge them to a game of Halo 3 (something Facebook users can't).

I'm not sure I love the idea, with Facebook you end up with lots of friends of friends on your list for the same reason. I prefer to keep my Xbox Live list down to my key friends I enjoy playing against. Plus the pop ups mid game telling you someone has signed in can be a pain if you have large active list.

All configurable though so I'm sure some will welcome it. As will concerned parents who will be able to set a Family Timer to restrict access to the console at certain time. Yeah right, like any teenager will let his or her parents near that setting!

MS are also launching the Xbox Originals download service and will be putting its Xbox releases on sale for a fee. They don't seem old enough to be classed as Retro but I guess some will be worth a look at.

IPTV won't make it this year, which is probably a good thing. There are enough games out to play you won't have time for watching TV, on the 360 or elsewhere!

Happy Gaming!