GamerNode: Latest Nintendo DS News

Nintendo to Attend the E for All Expo

The scope of this year's E3 convention may be drastically scaled back, but other organizations are trying to fill that void for the game industry. One such event, the Entertainment for All Expo, is starting to shape up as a viable contender in filling E3's shoes. According to Business Wire, E for All has snagged a big fish for the event -- Nintendo.

George Harrison, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Nintendo of America, said, "The E for All Expo supports Nintendo's mission to reach as many types of consumers as possible to expand the world of video games to new audiences. Our Wii and Nintendo DS systems are all about gaming for the masses, and the E for All Expo will give consumers a chance to try out the hottest new Nintendo video games."

Unlike the E3 convention, E for All will not be...

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Ninja Gaiden to Grace the Nintendo DS

Tecmo and Tomonobu Itagaki have confirmed that an in-development Nintendo DS title will in fact be an entry into the critically acclaimed Ninja Gaiden franchise. Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword will be a predominantly stylus-controlled 3D action/adventure, but details beyond this tidbit are non-existent.

The announcement arrives via the latest issue of the Japanese publication Famitsu Weekly, where the only other related news is that a Japanese Ninja Gaiden Sigma demo will hit the PlayStation Network on April 27. An American version of the demo was not dated.

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Duke Nukem Game for the DS... Sorta

Duke Nukem fans have waited a decade for Duke Nukem Forever, and are still waiting for it, but there is hope to those who want a Duke game right now. A programmer known as GPF has made a successful port of the 1996 title Duke Nukem 3D over to the Nintendo DS. His efforts to do this weren't merely for his love of Duke Nukem games, though; he also hopes to win a Neo Flash programming contest.

The program is named DukeDS3 and can be downloaded at GPF's website; it reportedly runs as smooth as butter. Nintendo can't be too happy about all of this coding, because Neo Flash is a company which sells add-on accessories to enable the DS to run homebrew code and "other" software -- if you catch our drift.

Still, the game is quite the technical feat as it makes use of the system's touch screen capabili...

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DS Pulls Ahead of PSP in Overall Sales

This week, Sony vehemently denied rumors and speculation that there would be a redesigned PSP model, even though Sony's UK Managing Director revealed as much. But redesigns and new editions of game consoles usually come around when sales begin to slow, or the game company wants to boost sales. If this sort of logic is the normal state of affairs by the game industry, then a Bloomberg report may further prove that Sony's handheld may, indeed, soon see a redesign.

Bloomberg says that sales of the PSP are lagging far behind Nintendo's DS in Japan. According to the report, there have been 14.1 million DS units sold and only 5 million PSPs sold. Both machines were launched in December of 2004.

The double whammy of losing market share on both fronts in the game console wars--the PSP and PS3--is a ...

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Survey Reveals Most Popular Game Manufacturer Webs...

Nielsen/NetRatings, a media industry tracker, has shown new data that says the most popular game console website is Nintendo's homepage. Nintendo.com traffic skyrocketed to an increase of 91% during February while Sony's PlayStation.com actually declined 8% during the same period of time.

Nielsen, who is well known for its demographic information concerning television viewing, had a few interesting things it found out about console gaming households. So, just what is this typical gamer? According to Nielsen, and as reported by Gamasutra, you like to visit theme parks, collect comic books, dolls, or figurines. Your favorite vacation activities are visiting amusement parks, water parks, and big sporting events. Does this sound like you?

The game console, which was almost always found only in t...

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GDC: iNis Announces Ouendan! 2 For DS

Keiichi Yano, the head designer at iNis--developer of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, or Elite Beat Agents, as it's known outside of Japan--revealed that EBA will see a sequel this year on DS. Known as Moero! Nekkestsu Rhythm Damashi-Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! 2--roughly translating to "Burn Hot-Blooded Rhythm Soul!"--nothing has yet been mentioned regarding a Western release.

Count on it, though; the original EBA sold through around 150,000 copies last fall, not to mention the record-breaking 200,000 imports before the American version saw a release. Despite reports that Nintendo executives were unhappy with these numbers, it's safe to assume that the game will arrive on our shores, as EBA saw a great deal of critical acclaim. And maybe this time around, the game will be marketed more appropriately th...

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Research Firm Reveals What We Already Knew About t...

A market research firm has determined what many in the Nintendo community have suspected (read: known) for quite some time about the popularity of the DS--it's the games. David Cole of DFC Intelligence, a market research and analysis firm centering on video games and interactive entertainment, made this very point in a recent report released by the company on its official website.

Apart from the obvious reasoning that the DS is attractive because of its gaming portability, the study cited Nintendo's high priority in providing solid game content for its machine as a prime factor for its success--a success that has even overshadowed the furor over the latest batch of game consoles.

Cole stated, "The DS is driving the mobile game space even as other devices continue to become more sophisticate...

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Proposed NY Law Will Fine Gamers on the Street

Playing with a handheld game console while you are walking the streets of New York may incur a fine of $100, if legislation submitted by New York State Senator Carl Kruger passes.

The bill comes in response to the recent problem of pedestrians stepping into traffic while engrossed with playing their video games, cell phones, or iPods. Three pedestrians have been killed since last September after inadvertently walking into traffic while using electronic gadgets.

Kruger expressed his dismay at the problem of what he sees as very dangerous distractions. "Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry. This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it's becoming not only endemic but it's creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand."

The Senator may have ...

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EA Japan Shut Down

Electronic Arts' Japan-based studio will be shut down, after only three years and one produced game--Theme Park DS. Two other titles for Nintendo's handheld, Sim City DS and Dragon Zakura DS, are still in the works and will continue to be developed by other companies under the EA umbrella. According to an EA spokesperson speaking to 1UP, "We're moving it under our EA Partners model, focusing on working with external Japanese developers."

DS fans can rest assured that the planned titles will be launched as originally scheduled. The EA rep said, "It's important to note that the development that was underway in Japan for the three products for the DS--Theme Park DS, Sim City DS,and Dragon Zakura DS--continues, so those titles don't go away, they're still very much part of our release plans."

Wh...

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Enter the N-Gage 2.0

Support within the publishing community is growing for the N-Gage 2, which was unofficially announced via a Nokia blog. EA is throwing the might of its mobile division behind the system, as is mobile device developer Gameloft. No games have been announced yet, but consider this Nokia's way of getting its hype machine rolling.

Debuting at $299, the original N-Gage sold less than 5,000 units in its first week at retail, and just 1.5 million units since its October 2003 inception. Despite a few noteworthy titles, the original N-Gage was a total flop and an industry laughing stock. Famous only for a few rather ridiculous PR stabs at popularity--while providing the internet with a few jokes at its expense--there were few days the device was taken seriously as a game machine.

To put things in pe...

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The DS Gets A Psychological Profiler

Some of the most popular games for the Nintendo DS are the Brain Age series titles, which pit gamers in various brain exercise tasks, from simple mathematics to reading stories. The theory is that a person's brain power can increase with these daily mind calisthenics.

Developer Dimple Entertainment is looking to take the DS in a different direction--it's developing a title that will perform a psychological profile of the user. The profile will then be "checked against up-to-date psychology findings." The game will feature four virtual doctors which will quiz the participant on such life issues as money, the future, personal relationships, and love.

The DS has always been seen as a vehicle for entertainment, but has moved into new directions with the advent of games such as Brain Age and Coo...

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Nintendo Sweeps Europe with Huge DS, Wii Sales

Nintendo reports that shortages of their handheld DS game console and Wii are widespread in Europe--certainly a problem, but one that has Mario and Company smiling wide. According to data collected by Chart Track, December saw the DS sell over 500,000 units in the UK alone, and another 1.7 million units throughout the rest of Europe. The Wii also had a remarkable tally, with 700,000 consoles sold during the same time period. Nintendo says that the initial Wii weekend launch made its console the fastest selling game machine in European history.

Nintendo's European Marketing Director, Laurent Fisher, marveled at the sales figures and said, "We have enjoyed one of the most successful Christmas holidays ever, with both Nintendo DS and Wii selling at staggering rates. The success of our products...

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Bubble Bobble Revolution Plagued with Fatal Bug

When video games are tested by QA teams, the last thing on the agenda for the members to do is to execute a complete play-through of the game, no matter how solid it may appear in the final beta version. Apparently for Taito's Bubble Bobble Revolution, for Nintendo's DS, this crucial last stage of testing was overlooked.

In a boss battle occurring on the 30th level, the boss fails to appear for battle and the gamer is stuck wandering around the screens in search of the boss. For all intents and purposes, the whole game comes to a halt and the remaining 70 levels are unattainable. To put a famous phrase from Martha Stewart on its head to describe this situation, "This is not a good thing."

According to game developer Codemasters, "We have been looking very hard into this issue with Nintendo a...

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DS Becomes MP3 Compatible

The differences between the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP continue to blur as Nintendo has announced that it will release a MP3 player for the DS in Europe. Sony,s PSP offers MP3 capability in addition to video playback and wireless web.The DS accessory will fit into one of the game slots of the handheld machine. A Nintendo spokesperson said, "It's just like the Play Yan [the Japanese version of the player], where you insert an SD card into a GBA cart-sized adaptor. That is then inserted into either your DS, DS Lite, GBA SP or GB Micro - turn it on and away you go."As far as when and how much, the price and release date won,t be announced until a later time. However, industry analysts speculate that the unit will be released in October and retail for a price of 29.99 Euros ($38.55). No word has...

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Special Edition FFIII Bundle Released for DS Lite

If you are a RPG fan, no doubt you have played at least one of the Final Fantasy games published by Square-Enix. On title in particular hasn,t seen the light of day since its original release 16 years ago on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). The re-released title, Final Fantasy III, was launched in a special edition bundle in Japan for Nintendo,s DS handheld game console.

The package includes the game, plus a special edition Crystal White DS Lite with a unique motif created by character designer, Akihiko Yoshida. How much interest was there in the special bundle? Gamers lined up all over Tokyo,s major shopping centers for a chance to snag one of the rare parcels. Lines of over 100 people queued before 7 in the morning were reported at retail stores carrying the sought after FFIII DS ...

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Trauma Center to be Re-Released...Again!

Paging all gamers! Atlus U.S.A. has issued a prescription of good news for fans of the company's best selling Nintendo DS game, Trauma Center: Under the Knife. What is this news, you may ask? A second re-release of the game in North America!

Due to the astounding success of the original re-release in July, stores quickly sold out of the title. Atlus is answering what the fans want, and in mid-August plans to release another batch of Trauma Center goodness to stores nationwide. Check back at GamerNode.com for more details about the re-release as they're made available.

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DS is Japan's Fastest selling Console Ever

Japanese newspaper Kyoto Simbun has reported that the Nintendo DS has now become the fastest console to ever reach the "10 Million Sold" milestone. This news serves to reaffirm what many around the world already know; the DS has become one of Nintendo's greatest success stories and is continuing to grow by leaps and bounds both in Japan, and around the world.

According to the report, translated by Gamespot, the latest sales numbers indicate that about 8 per cent of the population of Japan owns a Nintendo DS. The article also states that the software sales are doing well also, with Animal Crossing: Wild World, Brain Training (aka Brain Age) 1 and 2, New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart DS, Nintendogs, English Training, Brain Flex (aka Big Brain Academy),  Tamagotchi Connexion: Corner Shop and ...

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DS Lite Headset Revealed

Roughly two months ago the DS lite was released, and with it came a headphone jack and a headset icon.  Now, Japanese retailer HMV lists the headset for a September 14th release, a date that has been confirmed by Nintendo of Japan.  Along with that an image and a price of 1,200 yen (10 dollars US) were given.

It uses bluetooth technology, and will be playable with games like Metroid Prime Hunters, Nintendogs, Mario Kart DS, and more.  Unconfirmed details include whether it'll be available in stores or only online, and of course a UK and US release date has not yet been announced.

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DS Sales Top 21 Million

Nintendo announced this week that it's popular Nintendo DS handheld has sold 21 million units worldwide since its launch on November 21, 2004. In just two years, the system has managed to rise quickly to the top of its market, outselling the competing Sony PSP handheld by a wide margin in every territory.

Senior VP of marketing George Harrison stated "We attribute this success to Nintendo's overall strategy of offering something for everyone from five-year-olds caring for their Nintendogs to 65-year-olds tuning their mental agility with Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day."

It seems that the DS may be a good example of how Nintendo's new gaming-is-for-everybody strategy could end up as a great success story for the company. Though whether it will adapt well to Nintendo's upcoming ...

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Nintendo Defends DS Lite Hinge Defect

Yesterday,s story of DS Lite hinges cracking had Nintendo offering a canned response to customers who experienced such flaws and offered the usual company line for DS Lite owners to call customer service for warranty coverage or, in the event the machine was not covered under warranty, to pay a discounted repair price of $50.

Today, Nintendo released another company statement in their defense and regarded the incidents of defective hinges minor in nature and not widespread by saying, 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 o...

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