Mega Man 9, Niko Bellic is a rapist, and more.

Busy week?  No worries.  Here are the most noteworthy news items of the past week.

Monday: Kotaku’s Stephen Tolito wrote an interesting piece on figures now available from the Wii’s Nintendo Channel.  He highlighted some surprises, the greatest being that people actually enjoy Wii Play to the tune of nine hours logged per person.  Carnival Games was another unexpected winner.  Most compelling, indeed.

Tuesday: EGM’s Quartermann is reporting one hell of a rumor this month.  If their sources are correct (and their hit-to-miss ratio is decent), Microsoft might be looking to farm out Xbox 360 hardware production to third-party manufacturers.  So… if respected Japanese companies started producing these units, could that change the landscape over there?  Probably not.  But it sure as hell would be interesting. (more…)

Jack Thompson, Spore porn, and more.

For those of you living the lives of busy, important people, here is a rundown of the biggest gaming-related stories of the past week.

Monday: Jack Thompson got a visit from a couple US Marshals in regards to a letter he wrote to a federal judge.  In the letter, he compared himself to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, and stated, “I guess my ‘mistake’ was not killing 3000 people to make my point.”  The ever-tactful attorney is now furious that the judge sent the Marshals to explain to him the impropriety of such correspondence, and is even complaining to the House Judiciary Committee.  The Thompson saga is becoming like a bad VH1 Saturday afternoon reality show marathon.  I know it’s mindless, and I know it caters to the lowest common denominator…  but I can’t stop watching.

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Geeks and otaku and nunchucks… oh my.

It’s been quite an eventful week for Nintendo. First on the docket is an exciting piece of litigation: Nintendo of America Inc. v. Nyko Technologies Inc. Apparently, Nintendo is none too happy with Nyko’s release of their wireless nunchuck apparatus. They are so displeased, in fact, that they are asking a judge to order that the device stop being sold immediately. Oh, and they also want any profits generated from its sale.

But why? After all, third parties have been making controller knock-offs forever. So what makes this different? Perhaps they have their own wireless nunchuck in the works. Perhaps this is meant to be a warning shot for Sony and Microsoft, both of whom have been rumored to have input devices similar to the Wiimote in development. Or perhaps it’s none of the above. Either way, it will be most interesting to see how this pans out.

Now let’s move to some lighter fare.

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Take Two announces a film based on last year’s trippy masterpiece.

The Internet has been abuzz with news that a BioShock film is very much in the works. Further adding to the gaming community’s collective hard-on is speculation by a Take Two exec that the movie could conceivably “be released along BioShock 3.” So for the dozen of you that didn’t get the memo, we have a newborn franchise in our midst.

Word on the street is that the project is in very capable hands, with Gore Verbinski, of Pirates of the Caribbean fame, taking charge. No, the stench of Uwe Boll will not taint our beloved baby.

Be that as it may, I am not without my reservations.

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More games in development, but no word on storage solutions.

IGN just recently had a little Q&A with Tom Prata, Nintendo of America’s senior director of project development, in regards to their new WiiWare service. Eight questions were asked; in response to one question, it was stated that “about 100″ downloadable titles are in the works at this time.

But that’s not what makes this piece interesting. Of course there are games in development. No, the really fascinating part of this article is found in the other seven answers… or rather, the lack thereof.

In what can only be described as a violent regurgitation from the bowels of Public Relations Hell, Prata doles out canned, sanitary non-answers with stunning shamelessness. Granted, every company is entitled to its fair share of “Company X does not comment on rumors or speculation.” This, however, is an entirely new level of deferment.

This one is my personal favorite:

IGN: We recently had to delete half the games and Channels on our systems to make room for two WiiWare titles. Lack of storage space has become a huge problem. What’re your thoughts on this issue? Will Nintendo address it soon?

Tom Prata: Consumers have the option of either deleting the game and downloading it again for no additional Wii Points, or transferring the game from Wii to external SD memory card.

Wow.

The rest of the responses are equally compelling. Go read it, and as an added comic bonus, check out the reader comments at the bottom. You won’t be disappointed.

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext’s official position on the subject.