Thanks to some saavy shutterbugs, reports have surfaced on the web suggesting Nintendo didn't actually have any working Wii consoles at last week's E3. Instead, the Wii demonstrations people were lining up to play with were actually running on current-generation GameCube hardware. Nintendo has since come forward to clarify that while GameCube hardware was present, it's actually modified with components more in line with what we can expect for the Wii:


Nintendo confirmed that they did indeed use GameCube housing, but that the "guts" or internal architecture was certainly from the Wii. "The Wii hardware we exhibited at E3 2006 was made specifically for the E3 show and is not the final mass-production version. Some of this hardware was cased in Nintendo GameCube housing," the company explained.
On the flip side, this implies what E3 goers were experiencing was not wholly indicative of the Wii, despite it documented lack of muscle. Of course this will depend on how much more work can be done with the Wii at this stage before its scheduled Q4 launch.