Time magazine has released its list of the top ten videogames of the year. Can you take a guess at what made their number one spot? If you guessed “Halo 3″ you don’t win a prize. “Like a pebble that has been rounded over the centuries by the gentle splashing of the ocean waves, ‘Halo 3′ has become the perfect hardcore first-person combat simulator,” said Time in their idol worship of the Xbox 360 killer app. “By dint of painstaking labor on the part of its developer, Bungie, it has been refined over three installments to the point where it delivers only pure, unadulterated gaming bliss.” Who knew that the editors at Time were down with playing some Master Chief deathmatches?

Of the titles that made Time’s best of 2007 list six are exclusive to one videogame system, of which three are for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and one each for Sony’s PlayStation 2, Nintendo’s DS and Wii console systems. Why didn’t at least one PlayStation 3 exclusive title make it on Time’s list? And no “Guitar Hero III” (or is that game now redundant that “Rock Band” is out and lets you play drums as well as guitar?)

Let me start off by saying: Did I fall asleep and miss everyone striking oil in their backyard? Well, apparently so. And it seems that we need still more jewel-encrusted devices(This is worse then the Bedazzler making Jean jacket wearers into Rhinestone Cowboys in the 80’s.), since Crystal Icing wants to embellish your DS Lite with images of Mario and a flying Koopa for $350.

If that doesn’t satisfy your attraction to shiny objects, how about a custom Wii console covered with thousands of Swarovski crystals? One Wii pimped out in a Zelda theme was detailed with over 7500 24-Karat gold-dipped crystals. If you are interested in the price, you’ll have to follow the link. I’m too scared to look.

Black Friday seems to have had a positive benefit for sluggish sales of not just Sony’s PlayStation 3 but for Nintendo’s Wii system. Over 350,000 Wiis were sold last week, 50,000 more than what was sold the week before that. The Thanksgiving week represents the second-best sales plateau for Nintendo’s latest game console, beaten only by the launch week of the Wii in 2006.

Meanwhile the sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3 increased in November 298% over the sales in October. Part of that dramatic spike in PS3s finding their forever homes must be from Sony’s price drop of the $399 40GB unit. The price drop even had its effect in Japan where the Wii has been the dominant next gen gaming console for consumers: for the first time since the PS3’s launch more of the Sony consoles were sold to gamers than Wiis.

In a strange bit of Nintendo Wii/Mii news is the tale of the soldier serving in Iraq who sent his Wii home to the states just before he was headed home himself. When he got home his friends told him that his wife might have been less then faithful while he was away. His wife claimed she’d only kissed the suspect, a professional bowler, one time.

He might have dismissed it perhaps, but then he visited the Mii channel and saw a Mii that he didn’t create. Then he went into the Wii message board and saw the calendar option that showed the many nights his wife’s Mii and this other Mii played Wii bowling together. The Pro bowler’s Mii bore a striking resemblance to the man. So the husband has now filed for divorce.

Black Friday is fast approaching and although the Nintendo Wii has held strong as the leader in U.S. game console sales for the past year it may not be the case for long. When we first heard Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime talk about Wii console production shortages we suspected it was part of a marketing plan to create a greater demand for the consoles. After all, creating a sense of urgency is one of the most common sales tactics around.

Now that we are into Thanksgiving week and one of the biggest retail shopping days of the year is within site, where are all the Wii’s at? I’m starting to think that this is not part of a marketing scheme and that Nintendo really doesn’t have enough, although it is still surprising to me. The company has had a clear lead in console sales all year long and have been under demand the whole time. We’ve been reporting about the lack of availability as far back as January and Nintendo has had almost a year to catch up.

Anyone who’s had a chance to play the Nintendo Wii has probably also had the opportunity to represent themselves on the game console as a cartoon-like Mii character. Most probably try to make an accurate likeness of themselves but many create Mii alter-egos or try to recreate a well-known likeness. There’s even been Celebrity Mii design contests to see who can use the Mii editor to make the best celebrity Mii look-a-likes such as the likeness of Jack Black pictured here.

Well, all the fun people are having with these Mii’s hasn’t gone unnoticed by Nintendo and in response on Sunday the company will add the “Check Mii Out Channel” to the Wii menu lineup. For those that have their Nintendo Wii connected to the internet the new channel will be offered as a free download through the WiiWare section of the Wii Shop channel.

Here’s the latest in Wii attachments(It’s like the Wii is a vacuum) from dreamGear. A wireless gun that is compatible with all Wii shooting games and first-person shooters. Basically what they have done here is combine the Wiimote and the Nunchuck controllers into a single device. Of course it can be used by either left handed or right handed players and will kill a large variety of bad guys.

It’s kinda cool looking in a vintage Sci-Fi movie way. Looks pretty comfortable too. The price is $34.99 each. It arrives just in time for Christmas.

Even those who love the wii and own every attachment known to man will have to admit that the Wii fishing rod from Dragon may be taking things a bit too far. It attaches to the end of the Wiimote and even includes a telescoping rod with faux fishing line. If that wasn’t enough, they also saw fit to include a fake plastic fish to dangle from your fake fishing rod.

At $9.95 I guess it’s worth buying for the Wii lover who has to own everything, but be prepared to experience alot of laughter and ridicule from your loved ones. I would at the very least strongly advise you to ditch the fake fish and never speak of it again.

The remote extensions in these Wii accessories from dreamGear are made from a “soft and safe material”. In other words, you can get into the game and still have a working TV when you’re done playing.

Just announced, the kit includes a soft foam bat, golf club, and tennis racket, plus a few bonus items. The bonuses are a Wii fan to keep your system cool and a Wii remote glove for a better grip.

China’s clone of the Wii obviously does not have the same quality control that the Wii does. Just look at it. Now known as the Vii, this high tech knock off will cost less because of it. It is a complete clone of the console and the remote.

I know. Made in China right? Aren’t they the guys that just tried to poison us through the toy trade, among other things? Well, yeah. But we are talking a Vii here. What’s a little lead floating through the air and contaminating your room? As long as some form of Wii is available to you, who cares right?

Normally information that a company is doing nothing with their products price is hardly newsworthy, but when the company is game console giant Nintendo and it’s two major competitors are slashing prices for the upcoming holidays it something to take note of. At least that’s what Nintendo would like as the companies U.S. marketing head George Harrison continues to add onto CEO Reggie Fils-Amie’s talk of Wii game console shortages through the holidays.

According to Harrison, the company is currently making decisions in the nick of time on how many consoles Nintendo is going to make available for the U.S. market. With 10 days of shipping involved and the holiday season right around the corner the company still feels they won’t have enough to meet demand. Nintendo has consistently been the current-generation game console to beat leading sales against rivals Microsoft with the Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3.

If you’ve taken the time to connect your Nintendo Wii to your in-home wireless network you’ll want to check out the new firmware upgrade available for the console. The new version 3.1 can be automatically installed by going to your system settings and selecting the option to upgrade, and in our case it wouldn’t let us use the Shop Channel again until we did.

The firmware upgrade brings support for a USB keyboard to connect to your game console to make surfing the web and entering information a lot, lot easier. Prior to this update it was necessary to use the Wii Remote to navigate a pointer around the screen and select letters from a large keyboard anytime you wanted to type in a URL or fill out any information (including signing up and buying things from the Shop Channel). It was very cumbersome and the new ability to connect a keyboard to one of the two USB ports on the back of the console is a much welcomed feature.

According to a new report the Nintendo Wii is expected to be the dominant force for shoppers as well as developers this upcoming holiday season. As it stands right now 86 Wii games are scheduled for release between now and the end of the fourth quarter compared with 47 for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and 38 for the Sony PlayStation 3. At the rate that Wii games are being released there will be more titles available for Nintendo’s next gen system than for the Xbox 360 sometime in early 2008. Nintendo is rapidly approaching sales of 10 million Wii consoles since its launch one year ago.

Earlier today at Nintendo’s Fall Conference the company announced a release date and price for their new WiiFit balance board game in Japan’s market. The WiiFit game will go on sale December 1 for 8,800 Yen, or about $75 which might seem a little bit on the steep side but it does come bundled with the balance board. Similar games like Guitar Hero that come with the guitar accessory are usually priced similar or more. There was no announcement for a U.S. release of the WiiFit game yet but you can bet that it will be launched in the states before the holiday season, likely for a similar price.

Since its launch last November the Nintendo Wii has consistently been the leader in the latest-generation game console sales and has been simultaneously behind the curve in having enough consoles to meet consumer demands.

In a recent interview with the San Jose Mercury News the Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Amie admitted that the company is not likely going to meet demands through this holiday season, either.