Nintendo Debuts New Wii Titles, Stats In Leipzig

Nintendo's press event at the major Leipzig game conference in Germany has revealed several new Wii titles, including a sequel to Gamecube title Battalion Wars exclusively for the company's next-gen console. Although the majority of games showcased at the Games Convention press conference have already been seen online or at E3 2006, the company did announce two new second-party Wii titles, in the form of Mario Strikers Charged and Battalion Wars II. The former is a sequel to what in Europe was known as Mario Smash Football, while the latter is a follow-up to the action strategy titles developed by British development studio Kuju. According to Nintendo, both games use the motion sensing features of the Wii remote, and both also have online multiplayer functionality. The company updated statistics for is most popular DS titles in Europe, with Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? selling 500,000 copies in just nine weeks after the game's June launch in the territory. It also noted that Nintendogs has sold more than 600,000 copies in Germany and over 3 million across Europe, and Animal Crossing: Wild World has sold over 600,000 copies across Europe. Overall, European sales of Nintendo DS are now "well over 5 million," with the company particularly noting that females make up 44% of all Nintendo DS owners in Germany, and globally, over 21 million units of the handheld have been sold. Also at the convention, the company reconfirmed its 2006 line-up for all consoles excepting the Wii, with Star Fox Command on Nintendo DS being scheduled for November 24th, but The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for GameCube still only being listed as “Q4”. Finally, the company also announced the pink SKU of the DS for Europe, to debut on on October 27th, amusingly claiming it "the perfect accessory for those dark winter days."