If you were stoked by the rumor that the first two Metroid titles will be repackaged with Metroid Prime 3 for the Nintendo Wii, then we're sorry to burst your  bubble. Nintendo has just tagged the speculation as "purely rumour and speculation." More details after the jump.

The rumor mill has just churned out something that you guys might find to your liking. If you're a big fan of Samus Aran, then you'd like the information we have today. It's a fact that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is on the Wii already. Now rumor has it that the first two installments of the game franchise are headed to the Wii. Read more on this after the jump!

It's not uncommon for Nintendo to have Japanese TV spots for its games - the company did that for such titles as Wii Fit. This time, however, Nintendo has shone the spotlight on the Japanese version of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. For a glimpse at how some Japanese gamers play the game, turn to the full article after the jump.

If you thought you had to wait a long time before you could get your hands on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the Japanese people have had to wait even longer - a little over a month more, to be exact. You see, Nintendo has scheduled the Japanese release date for the FPS game on March 6, 2008.

More "corrupt" details after the jump.

Some relationships have always been meant to work, no matter how strange or off-beat they may seem at first. But is the union between the HeadPlay Personal Cinema System, a neat little gadget that lets you play your games in an entirely different fashion, and the Nintendo Wii, an awesome little console with a similar approach to gaming as well, a match made in heaven or a tragic love affair?

Check out what it feels like to waggle with the HeadPlay in the full article.

The Nintendo Wii and DS both have a solid fanbase in the U.S. In spite of this success, it doesn't seem that Nintendo has any plans of increasing video game development in the country.

Nintendo senior vice president George Harrison said that, "I'm not aware of any plans to push for more software development here in the U.S." Want to find out more? Head on over to the full article.

With the trend of games being released under the Touch Generation label and the vast popularity of Dr. Kawashima's disembodied head, Nintendo UK boss David Yarnton still reassured hardcore gamers that they are not being ignored - whether you're talking about titles on the Wii or DS.

At a press conference in London, a couple of Nintendo fans who grew up on the classic first-party titles on the NES and SNES (oh, you can throw your own example here: Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, etc.) expressed their concern about the recent and upcoming releases that Nintendo has in its games library. A couple of games that were pointed out were Brain Training and Wii Fit.

Yarnton replied with a number of games to prove that they are indeed not ignoring the hardcore gamer. Said Yarnton, they (Nintendo) are still very much in touch with their roots:

It's important to know that we're not ignoring the hardcore gamer. They're still very important to us. // And Christmas alone we have already catered on the Wii with Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy, and on DS with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

We all have different definitions of "hardcore" gaming. And true enough (some of you might even agree), Metroid Prime delivers in the hardcore department (Ridley battle FTW!). Galaxy does go back to the Mario 64 roots with a lot more to offer. And Phantom Hourglass, despite having a new kind of control scheme, still takes us back to the days of classic top-down dungeon crawlers like A Link to the Past.

But what about other games to follow Super Mario Galaxy? Let's hope Nintendo starts making announcements soon. We can't wait for a Star Fox on the Wii.

Nintendo's marketing campaign for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in Europe continues as we get closer and closer to its October 26 launch date. A couple of days ago, we learned that SNES' Super Metroid has been re-released on Virtual Console Europe.

Today, Nintendo Europe announced that fans can finally get the Metroid Prime 3 Preview channel for free. This particular channel is home to thrilling trailers and gameplay footage. Aside from that, the Preview channel also explains the background story of Samus Aran as well as the events leading to Corruption.

It should be remembered that a similar marketing campaign was done by Nintendo of America when the title reached North American retail stores last August. So, what are you still waiting for? Boot that Wii up right now and go to the Wii Shop Channel to download the preview channel for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Self-professed hardcore Metroid Prime fan? If so, then you can't afford to miss this: the Samus Metroid mod for the Nintendo Wii, perfect for playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Decked out in Samus's colors (red, orange, green), this sleek baby comes with the Wiimote and Nunchuk, and also has a handy Wiimote charger integrated into the Wii stand.

Console modder Ramon applied painstaking care to detail, making sure that everything fits the Metroid motif. Even the four player blue indicator lights were changed into green to go with the Metroid color palette.

Of course, the most striking feature of the mod is the Metroid logo attached to the side of the Wii console. It's looking pretty sexy and sleek, if we do say so ourselves.

The current bid for this neat Wii mod as of this writing is US$ 511.78, and there's only four days left for possible bidders to fight over this one-of-a-kind console. 15% percent of the proceeds will be donated to Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity.

More pictures and bidding information in the Read link!

It's no secret that Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is one of the most popular games on the Wii with it selling over 200,000 copies to date. How does a developer go about designing such a game, considering the hardware limitations of the Wii and at the same time maximizing its innovative control scheme?

Mark Pacini, the guy who directed the game, pointed out that developing the title had to start with a concept. He said that they set out to retain the Metroid feel of the game and at the same time "prove the controller". The biggest problem they had was not motion control, but on maximizing the limited number of buttons on it. Fortunately, they were playing around with the idea of a system where everything stacked:

We were already talking about a system where everything stacked: your beam, your missiles, the grapple beam — all the additional abilities you get for those weapons stack so you don't have to switch between beams, for instance. We definitely kept that in mind going forward because with limited buttons, we didn't want to make this game overly complicated.

With regards to hardware limitations however, Art director Todd Keller stepped in and said that it wasn't much of a problem. He noted that the Wii is a "a fairly decently powerful game system as far as polygons go." He then added that while the console didn't have much in terms of depth shaders, it can render really good color palates. That's not all though, if you were impressed by Metroid Prime, Keller stated that people will eventually be able to "do more stuff that will be way beyond that."

All in all, Retro studios did an amazing job with this game. If you own a Wii and want a good FPS for it, then this is one game you should pick-up. Both directors gave quite a few more details about the game in the full interview, click on our Read Link if you want to see it.