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Over at 4 Color Rebellion, one of the commenters noticed that Mario Kart DS has a different boot up sound on his DS Lite than on the DS; on the original DS, the normal “Yahoo!” sound is played, but on the DS Lite, Mario says “Here We Go!” Possibly, the cartridge could be detecting something different on the DS than on the DS Lite, but someone else reported that they get the “Yahoo!” sound on their DS Lite. More likely, the sound played is based either on the user settings on the DS Lite, or something else keyed on in the hardware, possibly in the firmware or nvRAM. Still, this is a weird little oddity picked up on after gamers got their DS Lites today.


Read More | 4 Color Rebellion


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For those of you who couldn’t make it to the Nintendo World Store last night for the midnight release of the Nintendo DS Lite, there is still hope for scoring a free copy of Brain Age.  Both Best Buy and Circuit City have coupons for a free copy of Brain Age with the purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite.  I just returned from my local Best Buy and was able to score a DS Lite along with a complimentary copy of Brain Age.  Good luck deal hunting! 

Best Buy Coupon PDF
Circuit City

Read More | Nintendo


Coming soon to DS download stations near you is the second helping of Nintendo DS demos.  The list includes two movies and six playable demos and should be available shortly.  Nintendo DS Download stations are available in Gamestop, EB Games, Best Buy and other gaming locations.  You can keep the demo until your Nintendo DS is powered off.

Playable Demos:
Big Brain Academy
Metroid Prime: Hunters
Magnetica
Brain Age
Tetris - Push
Tetris - Standard

Movies:
X-Men 3: The Official Movie Game
Over The Hedge


Read More | Go Nintendo


falling sales chartAfter promising sales in April the video game industry was brought back to reality in May.  Console software sales are 10% lower than May 2005.  The drop has alarmed many analysts even though overall sales, hardware and software combined, show a rise from last May.  One major reason for the decreased sales is that the video game industry is in a transition to next generation consoles.  This transition has gamers waiting to purchase next-gen titles, couple this with only 2 new Xbox 360 games in May and lackluster sales are more easily explained.

Michael Pachter, an analyst from Wedbush Morgan Securities, summed up the situation, saying “We think that this trend foreshadows continuing weak sales until the holidays, as we expect continued monthly year-over-year declines of 30 - 40% for current generation software sales, with next generation software sales growth failing to offset these declines. We do not expect next generation software sales to offset the decline in current generation software sales until the fall, when a strong lineup of Xbox 360 games is anticipated and launches of the PS3 and Wii are scheduled.”

My own predictions call for decreased Xbox 360 software sales over the next months with increased Nintendo DS hardware and software sales due to the release of the Nintendo DS Lite.  I am curious if Xbox Live Marketplace content is counted into the overall software sales for the Xbox 360 since there are currently more releases on the Marketplace than in retail stores.


Read More | Game Daily


Meijer is having a sale on video games this weekend.  Their entire selection of video games is buy one get one 50% off on Saturday from 6 AM to Midnight.  Meijer is located in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky (store locator).  They have a good selection of video games for Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, Gamecube, GBA, and DS.  In the past I have had luck getting Best Buy to price match Meijer, in case you do not have a Meijer nearby.  This would be an excellent sale to stop by for anyone picking up a Nintendo DS on Sunday.


Read More | Meijer (PDF link)


Nintendo World Store

Gamers in New York City will be able to get the Nintendo DS Lite on Saturday, June 10, at Midnight at the Nintendo World Store. The line up starts at 9 PM, and as midnight strikes, Nintendo fans will be able to purchase the DS Lite. Of course, with numerous stores breaking the street date, this loses a little bit of its exclusivity. However, those in line will get free pizza, and the first 100 people in line will get a free DS Lite case. And, gamers will get to meet Mario and fans dressed up as their favorite Nintendo characters. Of course, that guy that looks like Tingle might not actually be wearing a costume.

Full press release follows.

Click to continue reading Midnight Madness At Nintendo World Store


Max Media Dock for the Nintendo DSIt may not be as sleek and sexy as playing UMD movies on your oh-so-gorgeous PSP screen, but at least the Nintendo DS now has a way to play many common media types. The Max Media Dock will be available this week - the dock works as follows: First, you plug a media reader into your DS game slot, and then an adapter in the GBA slot allows you to plug in Compact Flash cards and load music, movies, or even homebrew executables. The dock will ship in 3 versions - a $30 version that just contains the media dock, and a $55 and $85 versions that ship with 1 and 2 GB Compact Flash cards, respectively.

This probably won’t sell a lot more DS units - after all, most folks who wanted a portable game machine that also does movies and music probably already own a PSP. Still, the Dock might be worth it just for the homebrew DS game possibilities it opens up.


Read More | Afterdawn


New Super Mario Bros. New Super Mario Bros. is tearing up the US and Japanese sales charts. The sequel for the DS added another 334,000 sales this week in Japan to push it over the million sales mark, and Nintendo DS titles occupied seven of the top ten sales spots in Japan. The additional sales is also driving adoption of the DS in Japan, leading all console sales with 135,614 units sold. The next highest on the chart is the PSP, at 24,595 units, marking an over 5:1 sales ratio. On the US side, New Super Mario Bros. debuted at number one, pushing Kingdom Heart 2 for the PS2, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the Xbox 360 down in the standings. While in the US, Xbox 360 titles lead the pack, the PS2 is selling strong, with 232,000 units sold versus 221,000 Xbox 360 consoles in the same month.


Read More | Gamasutra
Read More | The Magic Box


Tingle RPG4 Color Rebellion got some scans from the latest Weekly Famitsu, and there’s a preview of the new Tingle RPG for the Nintendo DS. Ever since first appearing in Majora’s Mask, Tingle has been a really weird presence in the Link mythology, with possibly his largest role in Wind Waker. People with a fondness for the odd, middle-aged fairy may miss him due to his absence from Twilight Princess, but for those fans, he’s getting an RPG, called “Mogitate Tingle no Barairo Rupee Land” or, from 4 Color Rebellion’s translation, “Freshly-picked Tingle’s Pink-coloured Rupee Land.” Apparently, the story follows Tingle since his boyhood. The game features a quite cartoon-like rendering style, but gamers may have something to fear if the game gets the “Touch Generations” label.


Read More | 4 Color Rebellion


Big Brain FunNintendo has announced Big Brain Academy, a mental exercises game with a multiplayer mode. Find out your “brain weight.” (Better brains are heavier.) The game includes single-player practice and test modes which allow you to get graded and earn medals. It will also compare yours to the ‘brain weight” of some famous people and give you career recommendations based upon your brain’s strengths vs. weaknesses. Switch to multiplayer mode to challenge your friends, and win in a mental smack down. Up to eight people can play over the wireless connection.


Read More | BigBrainAcademy.com


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