Rumour round-up

There are a number of Wii rumours around, some of which you may not have come across yet. Concerning the ones you may have already read about, I have tried to provide you with some more exclusive background information. Here goes.

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1.) New ´Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles´ info

Apparently, new info on ´Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles´ has been leaked via a Japanese GeoCities page, translated by NeoGAF forum member King Zell. Here is the summary:

* The game´s story is not a side story, it takes place between ´Code Veronica´ and ´Resident Evil 4´.

* There are three main characters, one of them being Jill. Wesker is likely to be another.

* Game system follows ´Resident Evil 4´.

The first Wii installment of the series (called ´Biohazard´ in Japan, if you did not know) is due for a 2007 release. See the teaser trailer and a brief trailer snippet.

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2.) Mario delayed, Online gaming tidbits

´Super Mario Galaxy´ (working title) has been delayed until Christmas 2007, according to South African gaming site SAGN. They are kicking around a number of other rumours, all apparently from a Nintendo employee, summarized here:

* Nintendo´s online gaming network is ready.

* ´Mortal Kombat: Armageddon´ will feature online gaming.

* ´Metroid Prime 3´ will launch between April and June.

A few things do not add up here, though. According to their information, ´Metroid Prime 3´ will be the first Wi-Fi enabled game and is expected to launch between April and June. But they also note that ´Mortal Kombat: Armageddon´ will have online gaming functions. However, that game is expected to launch before April (according to Nintendo´s own third party list (registration required). So how could ´Metroid´ be the first online game, then?

Also, they talk about Acclaim publishing the title when it is published by Midway and should also be published by them out there in South Africa (which the game´s product page on a Pretoria-based shopping sites seems to verify). The site remarks that Acclaim is ´secretly working´ on the title, whatever that means. They also note that they are ´pretty sure´ about the above info, apart from the ´Mortal Kombat: Armageddon´ online functionality, which they call an ´Über-Rumour´.

EDIT ´Über-Rumour´ indeed. Ed Boon jost told Gamespot that ´Mortal Kombat: Armageddon´ will feature no online components:

The online components of the Wii were not ready for us when we would have needed them in the development cycle.

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3.) Nintendo mystery sequel to be announced

Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream has apparently revealed that ´the sequel to a popular series´ will soon be announced for Wii, as German site GameFront reported (no permalink available, search for entry ´Nintendo Dream: 'Nachfolger berühmter Serie wird bald enthüllt'´, dateline 18.01.07).

This story was picked up by our good and eagle-eyed friends over at GoNintendo and then hit Nintendo Wii Fanboy, who suggest titles like ´Donkey Kong´, ´Pikmin´, ´Nintendogs´, ´Kid Icarus´ and ´Startropics´.

I would like to remind readers that the original source clearly states that it is a series. And it need not be a first party series, either. Perhaps this rumour should be read alongside Capcom´s Keiji Inafune (´Lost Planet´, ´Dead Rising´) confirming that the company has an unannounced Wii game in the works.

The rumour mill is working at maximum capacity on this one. YouTube user Vulgairesmachins seems to want to suggest that Nintendo second party developer Camelot is working on ´StarTropics III´ for Wii.

´StarTropics´ was originally released on the NES in Europe and North America in 1990 and was developed by Nintendo, according to Moby Games.

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4.) EA and Konami working on more exclusive Wii titles

IGN´s current Wii-k in review mentions a number of rumour tidbits.

* A publisher of a Wii launch title apparently kept that development team together to develop a follow-up, similarly to EA´s Madden Wii team.

* Konami will announce a brand new IP for Wii within two weeks.

* Midway will hold a special event in Las Vegas soon with ´Mortal Kombat´ expected.

* ´Metroid Prime 3´ may be delayed until the end of the year.

* EA will announce a brand new IP for Wii before March.

EA working on more Wii games should come as no surprise, really. Already in late November, the company´s CEO Larry Probst revealed to acclaimed videogame journalist N´Gai Croal that there would be a number of exclusives.

We are doing a Wii-specific Sims SKU that will launch mid-year in 2007. We have some things in the pipeline that are Wii-specific, that we think are going to appeal to that demographic pretty successfully. You'll see us have products and franchises that are also on other platforms, but there are some things in the pipeline that are Wii-specific. (...)

Let's say that we do 12 or 13 SKUs next year on the Wii. I would imagine that about ten are products that appear on other platforms, and there might be two or three Wii-specific products, including Wii Sims.

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Sources: NeoGAF forums, SAGN, GameFront (German), IGN, Gamespot
Thanks to: AMN, GoNintendo, Nintendo Wii Fanboy, Infendo, Wii Fan Boy, Tactics, Serpent01