This may be the last News Pop! for the week. So just in case we aren't able to bring you News Pop! tomorrow, have a good weekend. And don't forget (like you could if you wanted to), Playstation 3 launches tomorrow and the Wii launches on Sunday.

More midnight madness!

It seems everyone is getting in on the midnight madness bandwagon for system launches. This time, however, the madness is over the launch of the Wii. One particular store in Redmond, Game Crazy, 84 branches of Fred Meyer stores in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska and all GameStop and EB Games branches in the U.S. will be running midnight launches for the Wii. The Redmond Game Crazy is located in the Bella Botega shopping center at 8867 161ST Ave NE and The Fred Meyer stores are at different locations, so if you want to find out which ones are doing the midnight launch, you can go check out the company's website at www.fredmeyerstores.com. The stores will be opening their doors at 12:01 am on Sunday and whatever happens next depends on the people in line. To sweeten the deal for people waiting in line, Game Crazy also announced that it will be running “Wii competitions” and Nintendo prize giveaways, before midnight. To all of you who will be trying to wait in line, we wish you luck.

PS3 and Wii games available in stores

Retailers are getting the jump on selling Playstation 3 and Wii games. As long as the boxes aren't marked for release on launch day, stores are allowed to sell them, and some are. So far, the Playstation 3 games we've seen on store shelves include Madden NFL 07, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, Resistance: Fall of Man, NBA 2K7, NBA 07 the Life, Genji Days of the Blade, Tony Hawk's Project 8, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and NHL 2K7. For Wii, we saw Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz, Madden 07, Call of Duty 3 and Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab. Games like Zelda and Excite Truck are being held from sale until launch day.

EA officially announced that Command & Conquer Tiberiu m Wars is in development for Xbox 360 today. The game boasts an intuitive console-specific control scheme, fast-action strategy gameplay, deep single player campaign, and an immersive multiplayer experience featuring massive battles where you take control of large armies on the battlefield of the future. EA says that the move of Real Time Strategy games to consoles has evolved since the release of Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II, so that strategy games play and feel “native to the platform”. “ C&C 3 is a perfect fit for the Xbox 360,” said Mike Glosecki, Senior Producer at EALA. “Xbox 360 players will enjoy the action-packed online play and watching the epic Sci-Fi story of the game unfold as they play through the single player campaign.” For more information on Tiberium Wars, and all of its versions, you can check out www.CommandAndConquer.EA.com .

Activision announced the release of its newest racing game, Shrek Smash N' Crash, today. The game gives players the opportunity to take on the role of their favorite Shrek characters and zoom, crash and slide their way through 12 enchanted locations using racing and combat skills against an assortment of twisted fairy tale opponents. The game includes quite a few playable characters from the Shrek movies, including Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey, Puss in Boots and more, allowing players to race around on a wide variety of tracks which feature log swings, windmills, moving gates and other skill testing obstacles. Shrek Smash N' Crash is now available for Playstation 2, PSP and GameCube for $29.99 USD/$39.99 CAD, for Game Boy Advance for $29.99 USD and CAD and for Nintendo DS for $29.99 USD. All versions of the game are rated E for Everyone.

2K announced yesterday that it would be bringing Sid Meier's Pirates! to PSP this coming January. Players will be able to take the role of a Pirate Captain in the 17th century Caribbean – amassing fortune and fame in an attempt to seize a rightful place as one of the most revered and feared pirates in history, all from the comfort of their bus seat, car or anywhere else they take their PSP. Additional features for the PSP system will include wireless Ad-Hoc multiplayer for up to four players, widescreen graphics, new treasure hunts and more. For more information on Sid Meier's Pirates!, or other Sid Meier games, check out www.firaxis.com.

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