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.

Check out these inflatable boxing gloves intended for use with the Nintendo Wii. They even come with a little pump so you don’t have to wear yourself out blowing them up before your bout. Inside you can grip the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers in each hand and have at it, giving you a little bit more realistic feel during on your boxing game. Just be sure not to get too carried away and hit anything around you, or each other for that matter.

LucasArts has announced that its sending The Force to Nintendo in early next year by providing Star Wars - The Force Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii. We all know just how much Nintendo is already dominating the game consoles market and this will certainly help them along.

The Force Unleashed will of course take advantage of the Wii’s motion sensitive remotes letting users wave the Wii Remote as a lightsaber as we all have dreamed of doing at one point or another. (I can’t wait to hear it make that signature swooshing sound effect.) The Nunchuk controller will also take part giving you another hand powered with The Force.

Once again, Nintendo appears to be the clear leader in game console sales for August beating out rivals Microsoft and Sony, according to the latest NPD numbers for United States sales in August.

The Kyoto-based company last month sold 403,600 Wii game consoles, along with 383,200 units of the Nintendo DS handheld game console. According to the Financial Times, the Nintendo Wii is now also the number one best selling “next-generation” game console in the world, pulling ahead of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 despite it being released a full year before the Wii. Nintendo has sold over 9 million of the Wii units total, with the Xbox 360 trailing slightly but falling further behind with 8.9 million. The Playstation 3 has around 3.7 million total units sold in its lifetime.

To …

While it may look like a painted-up controller for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 it is in fact made for the Nintendo Wii. This is the Thrustmaster T-Wireless NW controller and it’s designed for play with the older, classic video games that are being ported for play to the Wii generation.

You get about 30 feet of play range out of it and you can customize the keys, mini-sticks and the D-pad for whatever function you desire. There are also two unusual buttons that will help you get better scores with your Miis: a turbo bottom which you only need to press once to get the same action as repeated button mashing; and a slow button which, if you can guess, slows the on-screen action down when reaction time is of the essence.