Everyone knows about the rumors – There has been plenty of speculation about Kid Icarus making a return to the Wii for a very, very long time. Strangely though, there hasn’t been any gossip about a possible comeback for a number of months. In the August edition of Nintendo Power, Shigeru Miyamoto commented on putting a new title in the franchise on either the Wii or DS.

“Wait, please. I’m really surprised how popular that is. But you are the first person to ask at this E3!”

A new Wii system update is now up for download in Japan. Because this is more of a minor upgrade in some ways, Nintendo has simply named it firmware 4.1. Wii Sports Resort owners were experiencing some issues with the game after loading content from the Wii Shop Channel. Users booting up Wii Sports Resort would be forced to view an introductory video to Wii MotionPlus after playing a VC or WiiWare title. This was a pretty annoying bug of sorts, since the situation would occur every time and there was no way to disable the video from playing. However, the goal of the latest firmware installation should fix any problems.

We’ve already mentioned just how well Wii Sports Resort has performed in Japan, which comes packaged with the Wii MotionPlus accessory. To recap though, the game sold 150,000 copies on its first day and then 350,000 over a four day period. But what about MotionPlus as a standalone product? On its own, the peripheral is up to 290,000 units sold based on its first shipment. Combining that with the Wii Sports Resort bundles, MotionPlus has already exceeded 600,000 units in total.

More here

Thanks to _Contra_ for the news tip!

Torrance, Calif., (July 3, 2009) –XSEED Games today announced that they have secured the North American publishing rights to The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, an intense flight simulation game on Wii™. Originally released in Japan by NAMCO BANDAI Games, this latest title from Project Aces, will be available Holiday 2009 exclusively for Wii.

After decades of constant war and fighting, the world has finally come to a lasting peace. But with war being an integral part of their lives for so long, the citizens of the world are desperate for a solution to solve this newfound peaceful life of calm and tranquility.

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Next week Virtual Console

– Super Punch Out (VC)
– Sky Kid (VCA)

Next week DSiWare

– Electroplankton Trapy
– Electroplankton Hanenbon (Hanebow)
– Electroplankton Nanocarp
– Electroplankton Tsuriga ne Mushi (Beatnes)

Due out July 22nd

– Electroplankton Rekku Rekku (Rec-Rec)
– Electroplankton Hikari no Wa (Lumiloop)

Complete schedule for Electroplankton

7/8:
Toreepii (Tracy?)
Hanenbon (Hanenbow)
Nanokaapu (Nanocarp)
Tsuriganemushi

7/22:
Rekkurekku (Rec-Rec)
Hikarinowa

8/??:
Ruminarian (Luminaria)
Taiyouchuu
Marinsonou (Marine-Snow)
Porupoisu

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3

“I’m extremely pleased to be able to confirm The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces for gamers in North America. The innovative control scheme and gorgeous visuals just go to show what a top-notch development team can do when creating a new game from scratch specifically for Wii.” – Jun Iwasaki, president of Xseed Games

– Launching this holiday season
– Story not changing much from Japanese version, only some expressions will be changed
– Will have English voice acting, looking into Japanese voices too
– No gameplay changes

Source