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DS Juggernaut Rolls On In Japan
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PSP,
Japanese gamers continue to drive sales of the Nintendo DS in Japan. The release of the Noble Pink version of the handheld certainly helped out sales, according to the latest Media Create numbers. Cubed3 has the full listing, and again, software sales and hardware sales are dominated by the Nintendo DS. New Super Mario Bros. again took the top spot, moving 145,095 more units; the top three titles on the sales chart were for the DS. The cooking assistant Shaberu! Oryouri Nabi took second, and More Brain Training took third. Of the top ten, six titles were for the Nintendo DS. The PS2’s highest rank was 4th, for Battle Stadium DON, and the PSP charted in the top ten with the new BLEACH title. Loco Roco dropped down the list to 18th.
On the hardware side, Nintendo sold over 262,000 consoles. The PSP followed with 35,938, and the Playstation 2 came in fourth with 22,288. The Xbox 360 moved 1,472 consoles, and the original Xbox managed zero sales.
Read More 
| Cubed3
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“Clubhouse” Parlor Games for DS to Feature WiFi Connectivity
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Retro, Strategy,
Nintendo of Europe has posted some information on the upcoming 42 All-Time Classics (dubbed Clubhouse Games in the US and releasing on October 9th). According to their site, the game will feature access to the Nintendo WiFi Connection in addition to multiplayer single-cart play.
From the site:
You can play solo or challenge up to seven friends by sharing one game card. And if you don’t have anyone to play with, simply log on to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and find opponents across Europe or in the US. You can even chat to each other, PictoChat-style, while you play!
That last bit about PictoChat-style conversations sounds quite exciting. If the title is bargain priced (and I sure hope it is given the graphics and simple gameplay) then this game could give you a great way to chat with your friends across the globe. Currently, PictoChat on the DS only allows you to talk to people through direct DS-to-DS wireless connections.
The site also lists another first for Nintendo - the game will allow you to play with up to seven other players through Nintendo WiFi Connection (most other games max out at four). Given that the parlor games don’t depend on quick reaction time, this makes a lot of sense as lag won’t be an issue. Still, it’s nice to see some games that support larger numbers of players on the DS.
Read More | Nintendo of Europe via Nintendojo
Toys “R” Us has Mario-themed Decorations for Your Home…
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Screenshots,
... your Animal Crossing home, that is! Earlier we ran this story about how you would be able to download exclusive items for your house by taking your DS to Toys “R” Us this week. Now, thanks to some postings on Nintendo.com, you can see images of just about all the decorations you can get. The items available are all Mario-themed and include a Piranha Plant, Question Mark Block, Fire Spinner Block, 1-Up Mushroom, Flag Pole, and Starman.
All in all, some pretty neat extras for your Animal Crossing house, especially if you want to show the world how big a Nintendo fanboy your virtual you is. I just wonder what people will get when they start selling this virtual furniture on eBay!
Read More | Nintendo.com
Today’s Nintendo Wii Launch Rumor: October 2nd
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Rumors, Wii,
You know a company has succeeded in creating buzz for their product when people are going crazy just trying to figure out the launch date. Such is the case with Nintendo’s Wii, and the latest piece of launch-related speculation comes to us from the folks at GamingTarget. Nintendo, in a somewhat humorous press release of upcoming DS games, taunted “perhaps the secret to the launch information for Wii is somehow encoded in the text of this news item”
GamingTarget analyzes this as follows:
The fourth quarter begins on October 1. Now look at the list. At least one game is released every Monday in the fourth quarter except for the following dates: October 2, November 20 and November 27. November 27 is after Black Friday, so it’s out. November 20 is after the launch of the PS3, so that’s out too. That leaves us with October 2.
Read our full (and fully snarky) analysis after the jump ...
Click to continue reading Today’s Nintendo Wii Launch Rumor: October 2nd
Read More | GamingTarget
Gaming blog Siliconera got a hold of Atlus US to talk to them about their upcoming Nintendo DS release, Contact. Atlus is handling the localization of the game originally developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, the developers of the quirky and unique Killer 7. Given its heritage, gamers should expect the unusual from this RPG. The game has a similar look to the Earthbound RPG series. The main game offers a point-and-click interface for most of the in game actions, and there are a bunch of mini-games included as well. Atlus also talks about the use of the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi connection in the game. Those gamers looking for an RPG that is a little off the beaten path would probably find it worth their time to look at Contact when it is released in September.
Read More | Siliconera
Annoy your Siblings! Put A DS To Sleep With Magnets
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Internet, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Nintendo DS,
The enterprising “Gamersunited” on YouTube must have been trying to stick his DS to the fridge, or maybe he thought the DS had a hard drive you could erase, or something. Anyway, somehow he discovered that if you place a magnet in just the right place on the back of your DS you can put it in sleep mode, even with the screens being open.
This obviously doesn’t have a ton of utility - anyone too lazy to close their DS before putting it to sleep isn’t going to be bothered with carrying a magnet around all the time. Still, a neat trick and maybe a good way to annoy your little brother that just won’t stop playing with his Nintendog.
Disclaimer: Obviously, holding magnets next to sensitive electronics is, in general, a bad idea. Try this at your own risk.
Read More | YouTube.com
The Opera Browser for the Nintendo DS has shipped in Japan, and one user has provided a video review of the application. Overall, the experience wasn’t super impressive. Page rendering on the DS browser seemed good overall, but the big drawback seemed to be page rendering time. Switching between the two rendering modes and disabling images seemed to generate a long refresh cycle. Pages load slowly, varying in load time from one minute to three. The PSP browser doesn’t do a whole lot better in this regard; PSP web page load time can be slow as well, and users can frequently encounter “out of memory” errors. The DS browser also currently does not support Macromedia Flash, while the PSP does. Still, while the browser doesn’t appear to be a killer application for the DS, it does seem to work competently. This definitely seems like more of an application that will work in a pinch, but gamers are probably better off playing more New Super Mario Bros. in their downtime than browsing the Internet.
Read More | Joshua Zimmerman
New Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Video
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo DS,
1up has new footage from Konami’s latest in their vampire-hunting action game series, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. The new video runs about 5 minutes, and shows off some of the new environments and highlights some new power ups. Also shown in the video is the new partner-based gameplay between the two playable characters and the warping that players will do through the paintings placed throughout the game. The game seems to be slightly better looking than the previous Dawn of Sorrow, but it is hard to tell through the video capture. While the stylus-based “capture” game mechanic appears to be gone in the new game, it looks like Konami is still tweaking the gameplay while trying to stay true to its roots.
Read More | 1up
Nintendo Repairing DS Lite Hinge Cracks Free of Charge
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS,
While they haven’t admitted that it’s a widespread problem yet, Nintendo appears to be investigating the hinge cracks on DS Lites and repairing the issue free of charge, at least on a case-by-case basis. Nintendo’s press release states:
“In the U.S., the reported number of small cosmetic cracks in the plastic hinge of DS Lite systems represents less than 0.02 percent of the total units sold. This cosmetic issue in no way impacts the gameplay or integrity of the DS Lite. Nintendo stands behind the quality of our products and encourages DS Lite owners to contact our Customer Service Department if they are not happy with the functionality of their systems.”
The 0.02% number seems a bit on the low side (it’s probably only counting reported cracks), especially given that Kotaku recent poll on the issue reported 10% of users noticing the problems. However, Kotaku statistics could’ve been skewed as well by the fact that users with cracks would be more likely to respond to the survey.
The folks at Kotaku talked to a Nintendo rep about their own DS lite crack and at least in their case, Nintendo agreed to look at their handheld and replace or fix it if the unit was found to be defective (i.e., assuming the crack wasn’t caused by droppage). Nintendo is even sending UPS shipping labels out, meaning that the whole thing can be fixed without even paying shipping.
It’s good to see a company standing behind their product like this (even though it required a bit of pestering), especially with something that doesn’t actually affect the playability of the DS. Now just make sure it doesn’t happen again with the Wii, guys!!
Read More | Kotaku
Exclusive Animal Crossing Gift At Toys “R” Us
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo DS, Simulation,
During the week of July 23 - 30, Animal Crossing: Wild World owners will be able to download one of six virtual gifts exclusively at Toys “R” Us. It is unclear from the announcement whether the gifts will vary from day to day, or will be given out randomly. According to Nintendo, players wanting their free gift will need to do the following:
- Insert your Animal Crossing: Wild World Game Card into your Nintendo DS. Power up.
- Purchase Bottle Mail at Tom Nook’s Shop.
- Write a message and release your Bottle Mail into the river or at the beach. Save and end your game.
- Visit the specially marked Animal Crossing: Wild Word promotion in the video-game section of your nearest Toys ‘R Us July 23-30. At the main menu, tap Tag Mode.
- Watch and wait for something to arrive in your town!
- Restart your game and comb the beach for Bottle Mail containing a special rare item!
Read More | Nintendo
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