Developer interview hints that the series is far from over

That's fightin' talk where I come from!

Government website falls victim to satirical prank

With the popularity of digital downloads at an all-time high, it should come as no surprise that governments are beginning to look at ways to tax them.

Capcom occassionally makes a blog post about their upcoming VC games - They've done it again today for Mercs. The game was already rated by various rating boards ages ago (And released in Japan not so long ago), so it's nice to finally see it released on VC in the US and Europe.

Highly respected Japanese developer Treasure has spoken about the Virtual Console service in a recent interview with 1up.com.

At a press conference in Japan today, not only did Nintendo announce a barrage of new DS/Wii games and a new DS, they also announced something Wii fans have been wanting for a long time - A storage solution!

Nintendo has just unveiled details of a new handheld console called the DSi. But before you get too excited and spill your Sunny D all over the keyboard, it’s worth noting that it’s essentially a DS with slight modifications rather an all-new machine. Improvements include larger screens (3.25 inches, up from 3 inches), two cameras (both 0.3 megapixel), an SD card slot and a built-in web browser.

Way back in April we reported that Capcom’s Ben Judd stated that the NES version of Bionic Commando would not be coming to the Virtual Console.

WAAAAY back in the mists of time we reported that Nintendo was looking to bring Rare’s N64 classic Goldeneye to the Virtual Console.

Boy, Monday was a real bummer, wasn’t it? There we all were, waiting in feverish expectation for the impending triple-whammy of Mega Man, Ys Book 1 & 2 and Samurai Showdown II, as we had previously been promised by the respective publishers of these games. Then Nintendo pulled the rug from beneath us and released Sonic and Splatterhouse II instead.

Following Monday’s US Virtual Console release debacle, Nintendo has responded to enquiries about how three different publishers were issuing statements claiming that their games would be coming out on the 4th, only for Nintendo to release two entirely different games instead.

Since the very beginning of VC Reviews we have rounded up the latest games which should be headed to the Virtual Console on our coming soon list so you have the inside scoop on what games are coming up.

A recent press release from Nintendo makes interesting reading. In addition to news that the company's fortunes continue to soar there was also an interesting bit of information from company president Satoru Iwata in regards to the hot topic of the Wii's limited flash memory:

Interestingly the Wii finally went on sale in South Korea for the first time yesterday on the 26th April. This wouldn’t normally be a news item for us but with the Wii launch comes a whole new Virtual Console region with different prices!

As you might know, videogame forum NeoGAF is quite popular among people in the industry - Various videogame developers and publishers post there. One individual, called Turrican, claims he works at Factor 5, and has given some information on Turrican's VC future in NeoGAF's Virtual Console thread.

An update is now available to allow Wii users to use the BBC's iPlayer on their Wii console via the Internet Channel. The BBC said a message would be sent to Wii owners to alert them to its availability. This appears to be for the United Kingdom only at present.

Regular readers will remember that quite some time ago we reported on C64 games coming to the VC. We ended up with egg on our face as it turned out to be some sort of mistake on Nintendo's Norwegian website and no more details about this ever materialised.

Nintendo has confirmed that its Virtual Console service has successfully recorded 10 million downloads in its opening year.

The first new Virtual Console channel of 2008 has been confirmed and Sega fans should be rejoicing as it's the 8-bit Master System that will be getting the VC treatment. Game Gear software will also to be released under the same channel (which makes sense as technically the two consoles shared the same technology).