If this sounds familiar, it’s because Nintendo introduced a similar model for Europe a couple months ago, saying at the time that it “does not currently have any plans” to bring the console stateside. (But as I noted back then, “no plans” usually means “we have plans that we’re not telling you.” Nailed it!)

Anyway, the new Wii bundle costs $150 and includes New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a vamp on Nintendo’s classic 2D platformer that supports four players on the screen at once. It also includes the soundtrack to Super Mario Galaxy, which is a puzzling addition, but also kind of cool if you like boppy orchestral music. The console’s physical design isn’t much different from it’s predecessor, but it removes the stand that allows you to prop the Wii up vertically.

In the United States, Nintendo will continue to sell its existing Wii model and bundle, which supports Gamecube games and includes Mario Kart Wii and a Wii steering wheel. At least, that’s the story for now. In time, I expect Nintendo to phase out the backwards-compatible Wii. No one’s developed a Gamecube title in four years, and demand for backwards compatibility is surely dropping among whoever hasn’t bought a Wii yet.

Still, I’d urge anyone who’s interested in a Wii to consider the old model, and the treasure trove of great GameCube games it supports. You might want games like Metroid Prime and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker in case the novelty of motion control wears off.

The Wii redesign will arrive this holiday season, bundled with Wii Sports, Wii Party, a Wii Remote Plus controller and a Nunchuk attachment. The console is designed to sit horizontally, and trims away the controller ports and memory card slots that supported Nintendo’s old Gamecube console. Nintendo will discontinue the old console design in Europe.

In the United States, Nintendo sellsl the existing Wii design in a $150 console bundle with Mario Kart Wii and a plastic steering wheel peripheral. The company confirmed to CNet that it has “does not currently have any plans” to bring the slimmer console stateside. (But don’t rule it out. In video game PR speak, “we have no plans” usually means “we have plans that we’re not telling you.”)

At the moment, I’m happy to see the old Wii live on in the United States, if only because Gamecube controllers come in handy for the classic SNES and Nintendo 64 games you can download from the Wii Shop. (Otherwise, those games require a $20 Classic Controller peripheral.) The Gamecube also had some great games of its own, such as Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Super Smash Bros. Melee. It’d be sad to see support for those games go away, although I do wonder how many people own a library of GameCube titles but still haven’t pulled the trigger on a Wii.

Nintendo may still shake up its Wii offerings in the United States somehow, perhaps with a bigger or fresher bundle of software and accessories, if not another price cut. But I won’t shed a tear if the hardware looks the same. Besides, the Wii is still pretty svelte compared to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Instead, Nintendo will replace Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort with Mario Kart Wii as the pack-in game. Nintendo will also throw in one Wii wheel to enhance the kart racing experience. Wii Sports, which had been bundled with the console since the beginning, will join a handful of other games — Animal Crossing: City Folk, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Mario Super Sluggers — in a “Select” (read: budget) collection for $20 each. Wii Sports Resort will sell on its own for $40.

I’m happy to see the change for entirely selfish reasons. My Wii Sports disc went missing years ago, and it’d be nice to get a boxed copy as a replacement without spending too much money.

But for everyone else, this price cut isn’t necessarily a great deal. If you want Wii Sports and Sports Resort, you’ll pay an extra $60, bringing to total price to $210. Meanwhile, most retailers are selling the current Wii Sports and Sports Resort bundle for $170. If you’ve been eying a Wii but have no interest in Mario Kart, you might consider the current bundle while supplies last.

Or if you’re really patient, you can wait until 2012, when Nintendo will launch its next console.

In a question-and-answer on Nintendo’s website (via Eurogamer), Iwata explains that the Wii Vitality Sensor is very much a work in progress. The problem, he said, is that only 80 percent of test users felt that the sensor naturally detected their biological information. Nintendo doesn’t want to release a product until 99 percent of users feel comfortable. Iwata said “it is difficult to overcome this hurdle,” and wouldn’t commit to a launch date.

It’s still unclear exactly how the Wii Vitality Sensor would be used, anyway. Nintendo introduced the concept — a small peripheral that slips over the user’s finger and connects to a Wii remote — in mid-2009. The sensor would detect the player’s heart rate and perhaps help the player relax, but Nintendo didn’t announce any specific games or applications. A few months later, Nintendo’s creative guru Shigeru Miyamoto still wouldn’t explain what you might do with the Vitality Sensor. Since then, Nintendo has been fairly quiet on the matter, scrapping plans to discuss the product at E3 2010.

With a new console planned for 2012, the window for the Wii Vitality Sensor to be a game-changer is quickly shrinking. I remain skeptical that we’ll ever see this product as we know it on store shelves, and unless Nintendo incorporates the Vitality Sensor into its next console, at the most it will be a minor addition to an outdated home gaming system.

Neither story provides much detail. IGN’s Jim Reilly writes that the new Nintendo console is “significantly more powerful” than Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and will be backwards-compatible with the Wii. Game Informer’s Matthew Kato says he’s heard conflicting reports on whether the console will match its rivals on performance, and can’t confirm backwards compatibility.

Both journalists agree that the console will support high definition gaming, and that Nintendo is showing off the console to publishers in preparation for a 2012 launch, although IGN also says there will be a “pre-announcement” this month.

So far, ho hum. Rumors of a Wii HD date back to 2008. (At the time, What They Play’s John Davison wrote that the console would arrive by 2011.) With the Nintendo 3DS launch out of the way, and the Wii losing momentum against the competition, it’s high time for new hardware. I’d be surprised if Nintendo didn’t have a new console to show — or at least announce — at E3.

But there’s one other nugget in IGN’s report that seems like a major curveball: Nintendo’s intent, Reilly writes, “is to recapture the hardcore market.”

Say what?

The Wii was a success because it ignored the hardcore market. In 2008, Nintendo carried the video game industry on its back with hits like Wii Play, Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii. That’s what led Sony and Microsoft to build their own motion controllers. I understand that Nintendo has alienated its core audience with the Wii, but I’m skeptical that Nintendo is building a new console just to get that market back.

Anyway, I probably shouldn’t be reading into this so much. We’ll probably hear more chatter as E3 gets close. It’s tradition.

A “trusted source” tells the blog that on May 15, Nintendo will drop the Wii’s price from $200 to $150. A May price cut would actually preempt E3, which starts on June 7, but could also set the stage for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 price cuts during the trade show.

It’s been more than a year and a half since any console maker reduced prices. Nintendo cut the Wii’s price from $250 to $200 in September 2009, just after Sony slashed prices on the PS3 from $400 to $300. Microsoft cut the mid-range Xbox 360′s price to $300 in September 2008, and has only redesigned the hardware and boosted specs since then.

The console market could use a boost, too. Although revenue was up in February, the industry shrunk in 2010 according to NPD. The Wii in particular has seen its dominance challenged in the United States by the Xbox 360.

But so far, the rumor mill has been fairly quiet. Michael Pachter, the oft-quoted analyst for Wedbush Morgan, said in March that he expects an Xbox 360 price cut at E3, with the Wii and PS3 to follow, but that’s just speculation. Juicy rumors have been in short supply. With E3 less than two months away, expect that to change.

A trailer for the game lives up to the creepy concept: Two guys and two girls huddle in front of the TV and play a bunch of mini-games with a sexual bent. In one instance, two partners gnaw at the base of a dangling controller to mimic waterless bobbing for apples. In another, one of the girls bends over her partner’s lap for a spanking, Wii Remote tucked into the backside of her skirts. All the while, the actors giggle with convincing awkwardness. (The trailer is embedded after the jump to protect the innocent.)

But here’s the rub: We Dare was announced a month ago, and the Internet barely noticed. Ubisoft’s disaster of a trailer has brought far more attention to the game than the concept itself.

I’d like to think this kind of idea can’t possibly sell. But in my heart I know Ubisoft will drum up some buyers from the trailer alone. You know what they say about bad publicity.

Then again, Gamestop has no listing for We Dare, so either this awkward adventure in motion controls is confined to Europe, or the whole thing is an elaborate prank on uptight gamers who scoff at ridiculous motion controls. Either way, kudos to Ubisoft for grabbing my social circle’s attention, and then making all of us cringe.

In essence, Kinect has become the new Wii, the hot gaming toy on top of many holiday wishlists. If Microsoft can keep it up, Kinect could keep the Xbox 360 alive for at least another couple of years.

But following the arc of the Wii is as dangerous as it is lucrative. Indeed, the news of Kinect’s soaring sales pairs nicely with Ben Fritz’s look at the declining Wii in the Los Angeles Times. He notes that stereotypical non-gamers — the same folks Microsoft is targeting — eventually lost interest in the Wii and didn’t buy enough software, and now monthly hardware sales are behind the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Major publishers eventually soured on the console as well. Now that Microsoft has proven that people want Kinect, its challenge is to keep those customers around.

Microsoft has a few chances to avoid the Wii’s eventual fall. Unlike Nintendo, Microsoft has focused more on making the Xbox 360 a general entertainment device, with video from the Zune Marketplace, Netflix and ESPN3, and music from Zune and Last.fm. (The Wii only offers Netflix.) These features could keep families coming back to the console even when there aren’t any games to play.

The Xbox 360 is also more social than the Wii. Connecting with other consoles isn’t a chore like it is on Nintendo’s console, and Kinect’s video chat feature could encourage non-gamers to give Xbox Live a try.

Finally, the Xbox 360 is a better platform for downloadable games than the Wii, with free trials on all games and regular sales promotions. October was a record month for Xbox Live Arcade, thanks in part to great games like Super Meat Boy and Plants vs. Zombies. I’m dying to see Microsoft open Kinect development to indie game makers, given the crazy stuff that people have done with hacked Kinect drivers.

I still think Kinect needs killer, big-budget games to thrive. The Wii was certainly buoyed over the years by hits like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit. But at least Microsoft doesn’t need to solely rely on blockbuster games to keep people interested.