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Nintendo DS Lite Unpacking Video
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Internet, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
Gabe over at Penny Arcade received a DS Lite from Nintendo today and posted the unpacking video for all to see. This is by far the best unpacking video I have seen. I can only hope my DS Lite packaging does this on Sunday.
Read More 
| Penny Arcade
Gallery: Nintendo DS Lite Unpacking Video
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New Raid Over The River Screenshots
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile, Screenshots, Wii,
Nibris has released new screenshots for their Nintendo DS title called Raid over the River. The game is a top down shooter which has 3 different time periods including medieval, World War II, and the near future. Depending on the time period you are playing in the choices of fighters change. The fighter choices range from dragons to futuristic planes. The game is due out for the DS in 2006. Nibris is a small game studio based in Europe who are also working on Sadness, a horror game, for Nintendo’s Wii.
Read More | Nibris
Gallery: New Raid Over The River Screenshots
Iwata Talks Release Date, Virtual Console, Pokemon Wii
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Fighting, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Retro, Role Playing Games, Wii,
In probably the biggest Nintendo update since E3, Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata announced some major new details about the Wii and the games available for it. Quickly summarized, the main points of interest are:
- The Wii launch date will be revealed in September
- Unsurprisingly, Nintendo won’t lose much on Wii hardware sales. They hope to have 6 million units ready by April ‘07
- Game pricing for the Virtual Console is suggested to be around $5 and $10 a game (implying this won’t be subscription-based)
- The Wii will be able to recognize touch-screen input, meaning the DS can be used as a controller in some instances
- DS sales are expected to be around 2 million / month for the coming year, with production to meet this level of demand
- Pokemon for the Wii will be released and available in Winter ‘06
It’s good to see more concrete details filtering in. Also, announcing Pokemon during this conference instead of during E3 may have been a great strategic decision, as Nintendo appears to be trying to shed its “kiddy” image with titles like Project H.A.M.M.E.R. and Disaster: Day of Crisis that were announced at E3.
Read More | Famitsu (Japanese) via Spong.com (English summary)
Gallery: Iwata Talks Release Date, Virtual Console, Pokemon Wii
The guys over at 4 Color Rebellion have just published a great DS buyer’s guide, for those people tempted into jumping onto DS Lite bandwagon. They feature some of their favorite games and accessories, as well as give a short rundown on how to transfer your old WiFi connection settings to your new Nintendo DS Lite. There might not be a whole lot new for existing DS owners, but for people on the fence, this colorful, funny, guide may push them over the edge. 4 Color Rebellion made it available as a PDF and as Flash; if you need to convince someone (significant other, parents, relatives, co-workers) why the DS Lite is a necessary part of everyone’s day, print out a guide or send them a link.
Read More | 4 Color Rebellion
Gallery: DS Lite Buyer’s Guide
Final Fantasy III Date Set for Japan - August 24
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Nintendo DS, Release Dates, Role Playing Games,
For all you Japanese-fluent Final Fantasy addicts looking to import the FF III DS remake, MTV is reporting that August 24th, 2006 has been set as the Japanese release date. They also note that the price is somewhat higher than normal - 5,980 yen (about $53!). Given that pricing on other DS games in Japan is slightly higher than normal, this suggests that FFIII will retail for somewhere around $45 in the states. Lik-sang is currently listing $49.90 as the price for those of you looking to import early - not bad!
The game is scheduled to come state-side in September. Isn’t it nice to see Nintendo and Square playing nice again?
Read More | MTV.com
Read More | Lik-Sang.com
Gallery: Final Fantasy III Date Set for Japan - August 24
Searching for the DS Lite
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Editorial, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
As Playfeed previously reported, Target and other retailers have broken the street date for the new slimfast loving Nintendo DS Lite. Today I spent roughly 2 hours in search of this elusive mobile gaming platform. The new DS lite is set to be released on Sunday June 11th here in the US, but on May 30th DS Lites started appearing on shelves across the country.
Today I traveled to Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, Gamestop, EB Games, Meijer and Sears searching for some mobile enjoyment. I wound up empty handed but still hopeful that I can find a DS Lite before the street date. The stores that I searched today are located in Findlay, OH and Toledo, OH and I can officially say that there are no DS Lites for sale in Findlay, OH. The closest I got to a DS lite was an open spot in the Meijer game cabinet which had a UPC that said DS Lite. If you want to check for locations near you that are breaking the street date follow the Read More link for the DS Lite availability Frappr map. Good Luck!
Read More | Frappr Map
Gallery: Searching for the DS Lite
According to German gaming website Game Front, the original Nintendo DS may soon cease production. This news comes as several Japanese retailers have claimed that they have not received their orders for the original DS for over a month; instead retailers have been receiving shipments of the new Nintendo DS Lite. This has fueled speculation that Nintendo may be phasing out the original DS in favor of the Lite, which has seen spectacular sales since it first launched in Japan in March of this year. Currently, Nintendo has not yet issued a statement confirming or denying the rumor.
Gallery: Nintendo Ceases Production Of The Original DS?
Siliconera has listings of the various Touch Generations titles across regions, and some of the differences are interesting. Games like Big Brain Training, Tetris DS, and Nintendogs appear across all territories, but Animal Crossing: Wild World only gets the Touch Generations label in Europe and Japan. Phoenix Wright, which has seen a rather spotty release pattern in the US, despite being somewhat of a cult classic, also makes the list in Europe, but the game is also published by Nintendo in that territory. Electroplankton also makes the list everywhere but the US, but since the US really only saw an online release for the game, this isn’t too shocking. Japan, of course, gets the largest set of Touch Generations titles, but some titles on their list include the DS Training and dictionary software titles. Still, it does seem like out of all the territories, the US got the softest list of Touch Generation games, where the games are truely focused on simpler gameplay.
Read More | Siliconera.com
Gallery: Touch Generations Across Regions
The DS has been getting a lot of media attention recently on major venues such as NPR, thanks in no small part to non-traditional “games” like Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. But most articles have tended to gloss over how exactly the partnership between Nintendo, a major software developer, and Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, an eminent Japanese brain researcher, came about. Interestingly enough, about 5 years ago Dr. Kawashima was studying the effects of video games on brain development
Kawashima, in need of funding for his research, originally decided to investigate the levels of brain activity in children playing video games expecting to find that his research would be a boon to manufacturers…
Using the most sophisticated technology available, the level of brain activity was measured in hundreds of teenagers playing a Nintendo game and compared to the brain scans of other students doing a simple, repetitive arithmetical exercise. To the surprise of brain-mapping expert Professor Ryuta Kawashima and his team at Tohoku University in Japan, it was found that the computer game only stimulated activity in the parts of the brain associated with vision and movement….
Kawashima (2001):
‘The implications are very serious for an increasingly violent society and these students will be doing more and more bad things if they are playing games and not doing other things like reading aloud or learning arithmetic.’
Instead of suing Kawashima (as most companies would probably do), Nintendo instead offered Kawashima the chance to develop his own game - a move that appears to be paying off!
Read More | The Observer 2001 ‘Computer Games Stunt Teen Brains’
Gallery: The History Behind Brain Age
DS Lite Released Early By Target, Wal-Mart?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Nintendo DS, Release Dates, Rumors,
Cheap Ass Gamer is reporting that some enterprising individuals have been able to purchase DS Lites from Target and Wal-Mart well in advance of the June 11th release date. If you play it cool and get over to your local Target or Wal-Mart soon, you might be able to score one almost two weeks early. Hopefully this news won’t filter through to the managerial staff for a couple days!
Read More | Cheap Ass Gamer
Gallery: DS Lite Released Early By Target, Wal-Mart?
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