Still couldn't find a Wii but don't want to get it through the rain check program? If you're going to check out your local Costco, chances are you may be greeted with a glorious sight: a tower of Wii bundles. The details about the Wii bundle in the full article!

Think you and your family have the smarts to be known as Britain's Brainiest Family? If so, then your family should consider entering this Nintendo-sponsored contest of sheer brain and wits, and start practicing your collective brains on Big Brain Academy for the Wii and DS.

Prizes up for grabs are university tuition fees for the kids, seven-night family outings courtesy of Thomas Cook, and Wii units bundled with copies of the Big Brain Academy games.

If you're interesting in joining, just go to any nearest participating store and sign up at the Nintendo stage, where you and your family will go head to head with other families for the coveted title. Of course, you need to be a British resident to be able to participate.

What's the best part? Contestants will get a chance to will a cool Chrysler Grand Voyager Executive XS, and all you need to do is to have your brain weighed to fill an entry form. See you there!

Check out the Read link for more details!

For those brainiacs looking to look for a little more bang for your intellectual buck, everyone might be interested to know that Nintendo is offering a special bundled pack for its Big Brain Academy for the Wii. The game still offers its standard series of tests to exercise those brain cells of yours with a little added bonus thrown in to sweeten the deal.

The bundle is priced at US$ 79.95, which include the Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree stand alone game as well as an extra Wii remote thrown into it. Each individual item would normally cost a gamer US$ 69.95, but I guess Nintendo doesn't want to place an overbearing price tag for the value of a good digital "education". The bundle pack will be going on sale this November 8 and will be available for a limited time after that.

Either way, intellectual gamers can still take part in the five different types of categories designed to test their wits and mental capacity. Couple that with each individual's personal Mii avatar, that extra Wiimote will definitely come in handy if you want to challenge someone to a game of battle of the brains.

If you haven't heard yet, Nintendo's Big Brain Acadamy: Wii Degree rolled out in Europe last July 20. This game has received quite a bit of publicity with the Father's Day event held in the Nintendo World Store in New York, as well as a recent press release on why people should actually pick up the game.

This video features a family having fun with the game. While we wouldn't be able to say if that's how the game is played in most households, we can say that the game can be labeled as "family friendly." Another come-on of this game is the lower price.

So that said, we present to you the Big Brain Acadamy: Wii Degree UK commercial uploaded by TriforceFreak over at YouTube. Enjoy! Be sure to keep checking back here for the latest updates on Wii gaming.

It seems that Nintendo is employing a new strategy for the video game Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree in Europe as the title has been spotted in various retail chains with a lower-than-usual price tag. When the game shipped to North America the other day, it was priced at US$ 49.99.

According to the listing of online stores Play.com and GAME.co.uk, fans can get it for just GBP 19.99 (US$ 40.29). That may not look much when we consider conversion rates but we have to keep in mind that full-priced retail games in UK are usually sold for GBP 34.99 or even GBP 39.99.

Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree is part of the Big Brain franchise which is geared towards training one's abilities in logic, memory, reason, math, and visuals. The title features three different modes Test, Practice, and Versus. The Versus mode can support up to 8 players in one go.

We wonder how those who purchase the title in North America would react to this.

Big Brain Acadamy: Wii Degree for the Wii is one of those games that has been touted as both "fun" and "educational". More jaded gamers will probably be rolling their eyes at this statement.

But after playing Big Brain Academy for the DS, there's definitely some truth to the above mentioned statement. After all, the game is said to deliver a "fun-filled workout for the mind."

A nice addition to Wii Degree is the fact that multiplayer is possible, so you can show off how well you've honed your mind in fields such as knowledge, memory, and recognition.

Nintendo of America's Senior VP of Marketing and Corporate Communications George Harrison spoke about the game.

With Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, users can come together socially while challenging themselves mentally. Brain games have been a hit for Nintendo DS, so we're building on those successes for Wii and carrying the brain games series' fun and energy into the living room, where everyone can have fun together.

Kids who want this title might have a hard time convincing their parent to shells out money for another video game. Well, apparently this game has certain benefits that parents may want to consider before saying no to their kids.

Why purchase Big Brain Academy for your family:

• It's social. Whether as big fun for family night or as the highlight of your next party, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree will bring people together in brainy, crazy competitions.
• It's for everyone. The Wii from Nintendo is the only gaming system offering the unique game play that's bringing generations together, whether it's parents with children or friends of all ages.
• It matters. Just as Wii Sports has been a smash at active retirement communities by offering a safe, engaging way for folks to stay physically active, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree provides a fun, interactive format for older players to help keep their minds feeling sharp.
• It's smart. Kids at any grade level can keep their minds feeling sharp while enjoying loads of summertime fun. Using WiiConnect24, they can even network and see how they measure up against kids at other schools.
• It keeps going. The ability to save student data, increase and retest your acumen, and face new competitors makes for limitless replay value.

So there you have it. Big Brain Acadamy: Wii Degree is already out and looks to be a fine addition to any family's library of videogames. Keep checking back here for more updates on Big Brain Academy.

For those of us who couldn't make it to the Nintendo World Store with our dads in time for the Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree tournament, here's a chance for all of us to catch a glimpse of what we've missed.

The brief clip shows son-and-dad teams working hard together to get as many points in the game as possible - after all, with prizes of brand-spanking-new Nintendo hardware, who wouldn't? Of course, it wasn't all about the prize, as there was much bonding between parent and child to be had, as well as crucial life lessons like sportsmanship and patience - things people never thought a video game would actually teach.

It's certainly good that Nintendo's holding events like these - no mere contest of skill, but also of intellect and camaraderie, as well as developing bonds in families. Let's hope Ninty holds another one, and we'll be sure to cover it as it happens.

To all dads out there, Happy Father's Day!

 

And the UK satellite of the Japanese gaming giant is planning to blow wads of cash that they've never done before. Nintendo's Mario Party 8 (a U.S. Wii top-seller according to NPD) and Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree will be the first titles to be backed by an intensive and expensive marketing campaign aimed at the potential customers of the broad market - a target demographic the two titles were designed for.

The domestic campaign used to market Mario Strikers Charged Football approximated to an amount over £ 1 million (US$ 1.98 million), and if Nintendo UK's claims are anywhere near the truth, the company will spend an excess of US$ 2 million in marketing for each of the titles.

No exact budget was revealed, reports MCV, but UK's Wii product manager Rob Lowe said, "As both Mario Party and Big Brain Academy are being aimed towards very broad audiences, we need substantial mass-market campaigns to back them up." He claims that each of the titles' campaigns will be equal to that of their Mario Strikers campaign, although the new ones would definitely run longer. He also said:

We are looking at much longer sales curves on these titles that will hopefully sell at a high rate for many weeks. Therefore we need to prolong the campaigns over months rather than weeks, along with a second sustained period of media coverage around the Christmas season.

Lowe explains that although this would seem adverse to the normal marketing whims of publishing companies, they explain that their target audience aren't gamers by nature, so they are making the effort to catch their attention.

Dr. Lobe's already giving me one heck of a time on the DS. I guess it's right about time we enroll for the next semester (and just when school's out, how ironic is that?) under him again. This time, though, for a degree on the Wii. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree just got released, and if you're still trying to catch up, a simple visit to the site can probably help you out.

The official Wii Degree website at the Nintendo domain just hailed into the scene. We've screencapped the site and posted above. Hover around the different Mii avatars on screen and you can learn the different features of Wii Degree. One of the Miis will even show you a video. There's even a link that allows you to register for that uber cool Wiimote keychain we heard of the other day!

Check out the official Wii Degree site via the Read link below!

In lighthearted news today, our internet hamsters managed to find this nice new tidbit over on Nintendo's website. It seems Nintendo is sponsoring a survey program for Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, and if you answer their survey, you can pick up a Wiimote keychain at no charge.

Getting the free keychain is simple. Just sign up for My Nintendo, register on their site, take the survey and confirm your address. Just remember that you have to be in the United States or Canada to get the prize. Sorry Papua New Guinea, no remotes for you.

On a related note, we can't help but smirk at Nintendo's extra disclaimer: "Wii Remote keychain is not operable and will not work with your Wii console." Thanks for the reminder, Ninty. We appreciate it. *insert smiley here*