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Nintendo Announces Touch Generations Brand
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo DS, Strategy,
Nintendo has started officially branding their new casual game line up for the Nintendo DS; the games in this series will be marked with the Touch Generations logo for easy identification. The initial set of titles includes:
- Brain Age
- Nintendogs
- Tetris DS
- True Swing Golf
- Big Brain Academy
- Magnetica
- Sudoku Gridmaster
Big Brain and Magnetica are due on June 5, shortly before the DS Lite arrives the US, and Sudoku will follow soon after. Clearly, Nintendo is timing the casual game brand to coincide with the launch of the DS Lite, but with so many vendors only offering bundles, one has to wonder if this will discourage casual game adoption, at least in the short term.
Full release after the jump.
Click to continue reading Nintendo Announces Touch Generations Brand
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DS Lite Gets Smaller Rumble Pack
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Accessories, Hardware, Nintendo DS,
For those gamers concerned about ruining the sleek lines of the DS Lite, but still want to have rumble in Metroid Prime: Hunters, it looks like Nintendo will have a DS Lite version of the rumble pack available. A poster on the NeoGAF forums who found the item on Nintendo of Japan’s online store. The pricing looks to be the same as the larger version, and hopefully this will show up in the US online store and shops alongside the US DS Lite when it appears in two weeks.
Read More 
| Nintendo of Japan via NeoGAF Forums
It’s no secret that the Animal Crossing series has been a huge success in Japan, but apparently it has also spawned a museum exhibit. Game Watch apparently made a visit to the museum, and Edge Online has a few translated details. The same company hosting the Animal Crossing exhibit also hosted the show for Electroplankton’s launch, and Game Watch has a bunch of photos from the new exhibit. The show includes materials from the game, but also artist’s interpretations of the Animal Crossing world, and a ton of the ubiquitous Japanese capsule toys. Nintendo also has a download station available, where owners of the DS game can download a gift for their town.
Read More | Edge Online
Read More | Game Watch Japan
According to 4 color rebellion, a majority of online and brick-and-mortar stores have gone bundle only for DS Lite pre-orders. Checking Wal-Mart shows a bundle with a primarily useless set of third-party accessories, which seems okay, if a little slimey. Gamestop and Ebgames, though, are offering bundles only with New Super Mario Bros. or Brain Age. Which is okay, if you don’t already have a DS, but people looking at upgrading are stuck with bundles including games that they probably already own. Target.com offers a ton of bundles, some with horrible pack-in games. For online sales, apparently Best Buy is still allowing bundle-free DS Lite packages. The practice of console bundling is somewhat offensive for a couple of reasons: one, you usually get stuck with items that you normally wouldn’t purchase, but also two, you almost never save any money. Gamers that want to continue a bundle-free existence should skip past EB and Gamestop, and look for stores that allow individual purchases of items they actually want.
Read More | 4 color rebellion
Insane Japanese DS Case Mods
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo DS,
Insert Credit reports on a contest that Japanese case manufacturer Keysfactory sponsored just a little while back, where staff members were asked to submit their wildest case mods for the Nintendo DS. These “mods” aren’t actually transforming the DS shell, but instead are armor-like kits that snap around the DS, so the user’s console isn’t permanently modified, which is important, given some of the crazy designs they came up with. Many are clearly Gundam-inspired, and others capture that weird mecha-Japan aesthetic. The winning design was actually made available for purchase.
Read More | InsertCredit.com
Nintendo of Europe today announced pricing and availability for the DS Lite. Officially launching on June 23, the DS Lite will come in two colors, white and black, and will sell for £99.99 or 149.99 Euros, or about $190 in US dollars. For right now, it looks like Europe will be the only territory to get the fourth color, with Japan currently offering the original white, navy, and light blue, and for US it looks like just the enamel white version. It was also announced that Europe would see New Super Mario Bros. on June 30, so at least the US can enjoy their white DS Lites and Mario for a couple of weeks before Europe.
Read More | Nintendo Europe
Nintendo DS Still Dominates Japan
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2,
The latest sales data from Japan for the week ending May 14 is in. The PS2 game Jikkyou Powerful Major League, the latest in the popular baseball series, charted in at number one. However, six of the other titles on the top ten list were games for the Nintendo DS. In terms of hardware sales, the DS still dominates in Japan as both the DS Lite and the original DS combining to sell approximately 95,000 units, with the PSP following behind with around 27,000 consoles sold. Things still look grim for the Xbox 360 in Japan, selling 1,355 units, only 30% more than the Gamecube. Tetris DS was the most popular DS title, and it looks like at least on the portable side, Nintendo’s strategies seem to be paying off well.
Read More | Gamasutra.com
New Super Mario Brothers Review Roundup
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo DS, Reviews,
New Super Mario Bros. has officially shipped in the US, and so far, the game plays great. There’s a real nostalgic feel to the game, but at the same time, there are enough new touches to make it feel like the game is a continuation of the 2D platforming gameplay made famous on the Super Nintendo. The game itself is almost a pure platformer, with the DS touch screen basically used as a power-up inventory, allowing Mario to hold a backup in a pinch. Seasoned Mario fans will probably be able to breeze through the game levels the first time through, but the organization of the levels means that completists will need to trek through levels more than once to grab everything possible. Graphically, the switch to a polygonal Mario is important for some of the games special effects and power-ups, but the level of detail means that the new model doesn’t detract from the core gameplay. Mario is better animated than he has been in previous 2D outings, but the look and feel of the game really captures the old school game mechanics. Gamestop, IGN, and 1up all have their reviews up, and Nintendo has updated their official game site to include strategy tips and gameplay movies showing off the additions that make New Super Mario Bros. new.
Read More | Gamespot Review (9.0)
Read More | IGN Review (9.5)
Read More | 1up.com (8.0)
Read More | Official Mario Site @ Nintendo.com
New Super Mario Preview
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo DS, Screenshots, Trailers,
Craig over at IGN got a hold of the review copy of New Super Mario Bros. to be released on May 15th in the US, and managed to get some early movies and screenshots posted on his blog. The movies kind of complement those that are slowly being doled out on Nintendo’s site, and show a little more of some of the different environments. The movies and screens look great, and really capture the feel of the old platformer series, while updating the characters and some of the environment to polygons instead of sprites. Purists may shudder at the use of 3D graphics in a platform game, but it really gives the game a modern feel, while still instilling that feeling of nostalgia when gamers first played Super Mario Bros. for the first time.
Read More | IGN.com
Nintendo DS Lite Launching June 11
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
The release of the DS Lite in the United States is now official. Nintendo today announced that the DS Lite would be available in the US starting on June 11, for a price of $129.99. The launch color will be Polar White, and the press release did not mention when the other colors would become available. Gamestop is advertising the current Nintendo DS bundled with Animal Crossing for $129.99, so the core systems may see a price drop when the new DS Lite ships, though this is not confirmed. The DS Lite added a brighter screen, with multiple brightness levels, so gamers should be able to see games in bright sunlight, and also offers a more compact size, as Nintendo continues to streamline and improve the design of its portable hardware.
Full Press Release after the jump.
Click to continue reading Nintendo DS Lite Launching June 11
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