It's officially a trend. One day after Sony introduced a cheaper, less functional PSP for Europe, Nintendo has announced a new budget Wii for the region. The new Wii, according to Nintendo UK, is designed to sit horizontally instead of vertically (although the original Wii can technically do both, so we aren't sure what the distinction is). The other major alteration is the loss of GameCube backward compatibility -- both games and accessories.

This new model will be released sometime before Christmas, in a bundle with a Wii Remote Plus, Nunchuk, Wii Party and Wii Sports. Other bundles will also be forthcoming. Eurogamer posted the above picture, and also got word from Nintendo that the company will "focus on the new Wii Bundle/s going forward," suggesting it won't coexist with the current model. Bye, GameCube!