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PC World: An official job listing at Nintendo of America suggests that multiple USB devices are on their way to Wii, this amid storage concerns for the console that lacks a hard drive.

The job opening, as posted on Nintendo.com four days ago, is for a “Software/Hardware Tester” that can create and execute a “test plan for Wii’s USB devices.” Nintendo has yet to publicly announce any USB devices for Wii, however, although the console supports the protocol.

The news comes as Wii owners struggle to manage downloadable content and games, given the console’s limiting 512MB internal memory. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 feature internal hard drives for mass storage.

Nintendo responded to storage concerns last week saying, “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.”

Previously, Nintendo has likened the file management and limited storage space of Wii to that of a refrigerator, suggesting gamers should “pull something out and put something back in” when software isn’t being used.

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PC World: Dissecting sales figures can be a little like making sense of a gyrating Rubik’s Cube. Case in point: Nintendo ‘s just claimed it beat Sony’s 18 month sales record after tipping past 50 million games sold on or around May 19, 2008. By comparison, claims Nintendo, Sony only sold around 42 million its first 18 month at bat.

While that may be true, it misleadingly suggests the Wii’s winning the software war, which it isn’t. In fact, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 continues to outsell the Wii in year over year totals. That’s the case even if you count the 11.2 million “sales” of the system’s bundled Wii Sports game, which Nintendo keeps claiming as part of the deal.

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Eurogamer: Wii Fit has barely broken a sweat to romp to the top of the UK All-Formats Top 40 in its first week on sale.

In the process it hurdled the previous Nintendo record set by Mario Kart just a few weeks ago to become the third fastest-selling game ever, netting around GBP 16.3 million.

Mario Kart Wii managed to hold onto second, though, although sales were down a significant 62 percent. And Mario & Sonic at the Olympics clung on at third to make it a Nintendo-dominated podium for the week.

Further down and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue took four, PES 2008 took five, and Call of Duty 4 climbed a little to six.

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The Register: Wii gamers with aching wrists, arms, backs and shoulders could be suffering from acute Wiiitus now that a US man has become the first person to be formally diagnosed with the console-centric condition.

According to a report in the medical journal Skeletal Radiology, the 22-year-old began suffering from acute shoulder ache after “prolonged participation” in a virtual bowling game on the Nintendo console.

An MRI body scan, conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, later confirmed “diffuse areas of increased intramuscular T2 signal intensity”, which the three doctors examining the man diagnosed as a symptom of Wiiitus, a term they coined to define the medical problem.

The report, which comes just a few weeks before the release of Wii Fit in the UK, states that the console’s lightweight controllers don’t offer much resistance to the “aggressive manoeuvres made by the participant”.

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Slashgear: The world (mostly) seems to love Nintendo. Almost every gamer has some kind of fond memories of the company, whether it’s with their shiny new Wii, or the classic NES. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that Nintendo loves the world. Or at least that’s the way Greenpeace sees it.

Greenpeace releases a “Guide to Greener Electronics” guide on a regular basis which tracks how “green” technology companies are on a scale from 0-10. Their latest guide features 18 companies, and Nintendo came in dead last.

Not only did they come in dead last, they scored only a measly 0.3 of 10. Their closest competitor (Philips) scored a full four points higher. There are a total of nine different categories that are taken into account for the score. Apparently the only thing Nintendo managed to do was establish a Green Procurement Standards for Suppliers. They weren’t able to actually provide this information, only mention that they had it. That gave them a “Partially Bad” on Chemicals Management, and “Bad” on everything else.

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T3: After 1.4million sales in Japan and due to hit Europe April 25, the Wii Fit is the latest in a now very long line of games and peripherals flooding the market for the world’s most popular console.

If you’re still carrying around the extra weight of Crimble and with an onslaught of chocolate eggs looming large at Easter, the Wii Fit could be the answer to shedding some pounds without technically leaving the sofa. The game comes bundled with a specially developed Wii Balance Board. Wireless and pressure sensitive, it detects weight and shift in body balance in any direction so you can control your on-screen character while embarking on the most exercise you’ve had since the annual school cross country run.

Nintendo promises the four training categories in the shape of Aerobic Exercise, Muscle Workout, Yoga and Balance Games will develop body balance control, burn fat, help to improve muscle tone and condition and increase aerobic stamina.

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The Register: Make a note in your diary and start limbering up, because Nintendo has finally revealed that both the Wii Fit and Mario Kart video games will hit the UK in April.

The official UK release date for Wii Fit, which has already sold over 1m copies in Japan since its release in December, will be 25 April. It ships with a so-called Balance Board that, although looking like a set of bathroom scales, interactively guides users through over 40 different muscle, yoga, aerobic and balance exercises.

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Absolute Gadget: Nintendo’s downloadable game service WiiWare is set to start running this March according to a leak from a Dutch games developer.The company Engine Software revealed the date to games business journal Gamesindustry.biz. “Nintendo’s WiiWare service is a new downloadable game content service that is scheduled to be launched in March 2008,” it told the publication.

WiiWare, which will be know as Wii Software in Europe for reasons unknown, will be a new channel for games developers to flog original Wii games in much the same way as the Virtual Console.

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The Register: Traditional exercise is officially dead, at least in Japan. Nintendo’s Wii Fit video game has already sold one million copies to Japanese customers hungry for some virtual physical activity.

The game was only released in the region at the beginning of December and the Nintendo sales figure could be a pre-release indicator of how well the title could sell in the UK, once it’s released here later this year.

However, a Nintendo spokesman said that overseas sales plans for the game aren’t yet decided.

Wii Fit uses a wireless Balance Board that contains pressure sensors to detect the gamer’s movements during games of hopscotch, ski-jumping or ‘chase the doughnut’.

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CIO: Greenpeace, the environmental advocacy group, ranks Sony Ericsson as the most environmentally responsible electronics maker while slamming Microsoft and Nintendo for their poor e-waste management efforts as well as for high levels of toxic materials in their electronics products.

On Monday Greenpeace released the sixth edition of its quarterly “Guide to Greener Electronics,” in which it ranks 18 leading electronics manufacturers on their efforts to eliminate toxic substances from their products and other efforts to be environmentally responsible.

The Greenpeace guide considers manufacturers’ efforts to curtail the use of materials such as vinyl plastics (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their products. It also examines the companies’ other efforts, including various product takeback initiatives and discarded product recycling efforts.

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PMP Today: Nintendo will be redesigning the DS Lite, according to Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson. Reasons can be anything from a routine hardware upgrade to being able to compete with the new and improved PlayStation Portable. Part of the redesign is the slimming down of the portable gamer.

A larger screen and memory upgrade are also in the works for the new Nintendo DS. Apparently, Game Boy Advance games will not be supported. If this is true and GBA will no longer be played on the DS, this could drastically affect sales, the exact opposite of what Nintendo wants.

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VNUnet: Stocks of Nintendo’s Wii consoles are reportedly running low in the run up to Christmas.

High street retailers in the UK are reporting that it is difficult to get enough products to meet customer demand.

“Wii consoles are selling out as soon as new stock arrives,” said a spokesman for Woolworths.

Nintendo stated that it is aware that the consoles are in high demand and is doing “everything possible” to increase shipments.

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