According to ESPN, the NBA Street series is officially "on hiatus." Yes, we know. The trail of tears forms to the left. The NBA licensed street ball series, once part of the EA Sports BIG label and kind of a big deal, looks to have gone the way of the dinosaur, thanks in part to Wii Sports.

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BBC sketch comedy show The Wrong Door put together a handy PSA for those who tend to get a bit too excited during co-ed Wii play. Oh, it's painfully obvious, but I saw Crecente type "haha" earlier today after having watched the clip. Maybe you'll type "haha" too? If not, maybe the crude Wii Sports tennis and Mii renderings will elicit at least a "heh."

Thanks for the heads up, Robert!

First they slip their way into Tropic Thunder and now I stumble across this commercial for Kellogg's Smart Start. In it a soccer mum says she's trying something new to make her heart stronger... and it's Wii Sports. It's interesting to see that Nintendo continues to woo the casual market so fiercely even in the face of increasingly disenfranchised hard core gamers.

Update: Turns out that while Tropic Thunder was indeed product placement, this goofy cereal commercial was 100 percent Kellogg's.

I just finished watching Tropic Thunder, not a laugh out loud movie but packed full of giggles. Robert Downey Jr. totally steals the show. He's quickly becoming my favourite actor. But on to my point. I couldn't help but notice two fairly large nods to gaming and one relatively sly one in the movie.

First and foremost are the two scenes with Ben Stiller talking to his agent. In both scenes, the agent, played by Matthew McConaughey, is wailing away at different mini-games in Wii Sports while talking on the phone with Stiller. He's playing on a pretty large screen in his office so there's no way you can miss it, so let's chalk that up as product placement.

Next comes this odd dialoguethat occurs about a third of the way through the movie with one of the characters trying to explain why Blu-ray won in the format war. His answer? Porn and video games. Porn backed it and Sony backed it with their... but he never quite says PlayStation 3.

Finally, and this one is just odd, during the credits they show a bit player, a non-speaking part mind you, and when his name pops up it does so on a background riddled with old-school Space Invaders. Invader invades Tropic Thunder? Hells yeah!

Wii Sports is, pack-in or not, the single biggest game in the Wii's library. Heck, for many Wii owners, it's probably the only game in their collection. So the sequel had better be good. We've heard via Gizmodo it's going to cost $US 50 when released next Spring, which when you consider it's coming bundled with a Wii MotionPlus accessory, suggests the game will be about as meaty as its predecessor. As in, not $US 50 worth of meat on its own. You can catch a clip of the game being demoed above, though be warned, the dork factor amongst Reggie, Bill Trinen and Cammie Dunaway is dangerously high.

Do you have mad Wii Sports skills? A Wii remote bowling arm that rivals those of real world professionals? Does the idea of winning things excite you?

If you said "yes" or nodded your head with restrained enthusiasm at any of these questions, you should check out the Wii Championships in Melbourne's Federation Square. Activities will run between 10AM and 5PM on July 5 & 6, with daily champions receiving a Wii and five games. 500 Wii backpacks are also available for keen entrants.

As an aside, the ACMI's Game On exhibition ends on July 13, so if you do head down, be sure to check this out while you have the chance.

Full release after the jump.

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America? America loves the Nintendo Wii. Europe? Ditto. And Japan? Man, Japan is bonkers for the Wii. What about Korea? The country finally has an official Nintendo of Korea branch after years of going through shady third party distributors. According to Korean site GameShot.net, the Wii's first month performance there is only 35,000 units sold out of the 50,000 units released by Nintendo. For game software, Wii Sports sold 30,000 copies, while Swing Golf Pangya and Zack & Wiki each sold about 8,000 copies. FIFA sold 2,000 copies. It seems Korean gamers have better things to do than play Wii Sports — things like waiting for StarCraft II.

How The Wii Is Doing [GameShot.net Thanks, Torokun for the tip and translation!]

Prince William, future King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, is apparently a deft touch at Wii Sports. Oh, and shit-talking. While visiting a youth project in Wales, the Prince was challenged to a game of Wii Sports by 18 year-old Martyn James. Martyn got his arse kicked, with Prince William even taking the time to talk some trash to the poor kid, telling him (no doubt with a sly snarl on his face) "you know you're not allowed to beat me". All Martyn could say was "I was stitched up" before curtseying and walking, bowed, out of the room.

William Serves Up A New Talent [Sky News, via Go Nintendo]

Local television commercial schtick, baseball, Wii Sports, Hyundais, Nissans, this ad for classy, up-market car dealership Hamilton Nissan has it all. Though I'm a little suspicious at the editing on that last sequence, with the "easy" home runs. I don't remember them being that easy, but then...ah, forget it, these guys are car salesmen, who are we to doubt their integrity?
[via Go Nintendo]

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Simple premise: dog plays cat at Wii Sports. Or, at least, men control the arms of a dog and cat playing Wii Sports. Poor kitty doesn't look, or sound, like it's enjoying it one bit.
[via Giz]

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