According to rumours currently bouncing about the mighty Internet following the appearance of a Wi-Fi logo on an IGN placeholder box, Ubisoft’s much anticipated Wii version of Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (previously released for the Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC) is being touted as a single-player and ‘online’ experience. Yet, while the Wii is expected to better embrace the wide-ranging capabilities proffered by the extensive advantages of online play – later in the year – is there really any credence to this particular Chinese whisper?

Well, the chaps over at NintendoWiiFanboy.com certainly seem to think so. The site claims that online development kits were dispatched for Blazing Angels, and any subsequent delay in the game’s release could well only be fuelling the waves of speculation concerning the appearance of online dogfights to embellish the single-player WWII action.

Furthermore, Nintendo of America’s head honcho, Reggie Fils-Aime has previously stated that the Wii would be stepping up in the online stakes during 2007’s second quarter, and with Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII presently slated for release on March 30th, it might not be so farfetched to suggest that online functionality could arrive a little earlier than Fils-Aime first suggested, and that the delay of Blazing Angels’ arrival on the Wii (it was supposed to be included as a launch title) is in fact linked to the implementation of online multiplayer.

From Nintendic’s point of view, we’d suggest you absorb the above with a healthy pinch of cautionary salt – for want of avoiding any undue disappointment – while craftily crossing your collective fingers, eyes, and toes that online play and Wii Remote control do indeed combine to magnify the appeal of the Wii version of Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII – which received a somewhat lukewarm critical reception when first released across other formats.