We’ve reported on this DS service a bit in the past when it was pay-to-play, and today Nintendo took the next step by making access to the Nintendo Fan Network free for Seattle Mariners baseball fans.
I’m curious to see how it does as a free service (even if the drinks and food you order with it are anything but free). Release follows after the jump.
DS
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time
Dream Pinball 3D
River King: Mystic Valley
The World Ends With You
Wii
Battle of the Bands
Dream Pinball 3D
Target: Terror
Wild Earth: African Safari
The Red Star
Anything you plan to get this week?
Japanese sales tracker Media Create has announced 100 million units of DS software have been sold in Japan since launch. 100 million in almost three and a half years! That’s quite a feat when you compare software sales to Japan’s PS2 power house which took four years and three months to hit the 100 million software mark. Twenty one of the 922 DS games released have sold more than 1 million units.
Nintendo’s Top Ten DS games in Japan
New Super Mario Bros - 5,174,163 units
Brain Age 2 - 4,835,159 units
Animal Crossing DS - 4,693,662 units
Brain Age - 3,771,440 units
Mario Kart DS - 3,042,753 units
Pokemon Diamond - 3,005,505 units
Pokemon Pearl - 2,490,564 units
English Training DS - 2,216,322 units
Mario Party DS - 1,706,506 units
Big Brain Academy - 1,654,285 units
Will the juggernaut ever slow?
[IGN]
In March, Nintendo again defined industry momentum in both home and portable video games sales, according to the independent NPD Group, which monitors retail activity in the video game industry. More than 720,000 Wii™ systems sold in March, representing the highest monthly sales total outside of holiday months (November or December) to date, while Nintendo DS™ also sold through nearly 700,000 systems.
Nintendo also finished with the top-selling U.S. game of March. Super Smash Bros.® Brawl, which launched March 9, came in at No. 1 with 2.7 million units sold. (more…)
Sorry DS Lite redesign fans, it would appear the last bit of credibility concerning the DS redesign rumor was smothered in its sleep today as the source of the rumor, Enterbrain, took back everything president Hirokazu Hamamura said about it earlier in the week.
“[Hirokazu Hamamura] did not…make a comment about the possibility of an announcement by Nintendo concerning a new model or successor to the Nintendo DS due to its current scarce product availability caused by its worldwide popularity,” a statement read.
Don’t worry though, because Infendo has you covered. Our own David laid out an E3 DS prediction of his own using some educated estimates and guesses about expanded DS Lite functionality. I’m inclined to agree, even if he did write the post whilst fueled with six steins worth of Germany’s finest grog.
A new DS design was a pipedream at best; it was just too soon to think that Nintendo would tamper with its biggest cash cow. There’s always E3 2009.
Consider this sort of a rebuttal to Jake’s post from earlier today. While I don’t believe that Nintendo will announce DS 2 or DS Lite++, I think we’ll see something new for the hottest handheld in the world. I think we’ll see Nintendo bust out a legalized version of the R4 or other such storage device. It’ll allow the DS to reap the same benefits the Wii has for downloading and storing games. The DS will get it’s own WiiWare-like titles as well as downloads of classic Game Boy and GBA games. It might even allow you to use a DS like an MP3 or video player. This could help lend some truth to the original rumor without needing a whole new DS to accomplish it.
What do you think, will Nintendo try something like this?
[pic from gbatemp.net]
Over the past few weeks rumors have been circling of a “new” DS model to be shown at E3. It all began with a in-depth prediction by Hirokazu Hamamura of Enterbrain (Japanese Famitsu publisher) that Nintendo will be showing a revised model with “larger screens, “faster hardware”, and “onboard storage”. However, soon after the internet exploded over this “rumor”, Nintendo of Japan quickly shot it down with their normal default press answer
“We cannot comment on the specifics of what will be announced at E3, but at the very least there won’t be anything like what Mr. Hamamura suggested, so would like to clearly deny this. We’re having a hard time understanding what kind of evidence [Mr. Hamamura] had for saying this.”
This statement coming from a company who denied a rumor of the DS Lite, only to announce the model a week later. I’m still thinking along the lines of Mr. Hamamura. All the signs are present. Nintendo has virtually dropped first party game support for the platform, lack of true Wii-DS support, and it’s been 4 years since the DS was launched.
Nintendo will never drop support for “grandma’s” DS games (+65 million sales), so a dramatic revision that keeps the touch screen format is not out of the question at all.
Do you think we will see a “new” DS this E3?
Quick! DS is to rousing success as Virtual Boy is to ______ ?
Did you answer “spectacular failure” or something similar? Good on you if you did, but if you didn’t then there’s something I think you should check out. DS SAT training software from Kaplan!
Kaplan didn’t go into details about the upcoming game, but Susan Arendt over at Game|Life opines that it will probably include Brain Age minigames covering standard SAT areas like math, vocabulary, reading comprehension and analogies.
It seems like ages since we first announced Emergency Mayhem on Infendo, but it looks like it’s finally coming out. Honestly, though, it seems like Teenage Zombies is the only good release this week. Even Nintendo Power encouraged you to play Okami on PS2!
Wii
Emergency Mayhem
Okami
DS
AMF Bowling Pinbusters!
Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All Stars
Cory in the House
High School Musical 2: Work This Out!
Rondo of Swords
Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys!
What’s your pick this week?
Incase you forgot (I did) the annual, Nintendo Media Summit ran all day yesterday and today showing off select first, and third party titles to release for Q2-Q3. No megatons this year besides an “official” press release for, Mario Super Sluggers, and in-depth details on Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness. Nintendo’s main purpose this year is getting the press to play some upcoming “bridge” software, and to push Wiiware toward more big name developers. Many details concerning gameplay impressions are still under embargoed until next week, so look forward to some new media then.
List of titles on show floor…
LOS ANGELES, April 10 /PRNewswire/ — Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix(TM) interactive entertainment products in North America, announced today that it will launch a completely re-envisioned FINAL FANTASY(R) IV for Nintendo DS(TM) on July 22, 2008. A new generation of gamers will now have the opportunity to experience a legend reborn.
The team that brought FINAL FANTASY III to Nintendo DS comes together once again to breathe new life into a classic that broke convention and introduced a wide array of innovations to the RPG genre. With its groundbreaking Active Time Battle (ATB) system and an engrossing, character-driven plot, FINAL FANTASY IV was a stunning step forward for role-playing games when it was originally released for the Super NES(R) in 1991. (more…)
Atlus yesterday formally announced the new Trauma Center sequel revealed in the May ‘08 issue of Nintendo Power.
According to the official press release, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is a “direct sequel” to the original 2005 Nintendo DS sleeper hit. Pictured is the official box art from Atlus.
As reported last week on Infendo, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 places players back into the role of Dr. Derek Stiles, again assisted by Nurse Angie Thompson. The game takes place immediately after the first DS title; the GUILT virus has been exterminated, but its aftermath remains, leaving players to explore its mysteries. Trauma Center’s notoriously challenging gameplay has been retooled with an easier mode for newcomers and also boasts “improved tool utility.”
Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is scheduled to release July 1.
Eidos announced today that Gauntlet is coming exclusively to the DS complete with wireless multiplayer co-op and voice chat over VoIP.
Take it away press release:
The co-op story mode campaign features 40 maps across three realms, allowing players to experience Gauntlet with up to three friends, banding together with their powers to defeat swarms of demons and skeletons and clear a path to victory. The arcade style competitive multiplayer feature strengthens the addictive Gauntlet experience by introducing ranked multiplayer games like Death Match, Team Death Match and Treasure Hoard game modes across 16 unique maps.
It’s a sign of things to come on the Wii as far as I’m concerned. It’s also a great exclusive pick up for the most popular system on the market right now.
So this must be the third or fourth time MiniCopter for Wii has been pushed back. Hopefully it’ll drop this week. Same goes for Plushee’s! At least there’s Baroque, right?
Wii
Baroque
MiniCopter: Adventure Flight
Summer Sports: Paradise Island
DS
Fab 5 Soccer
Plushees
What’s your pick this week?
We’ve enjoyed the fruits of Nintendo’s labors in the West for over 20 years, but there are still some games we haven’t been able to play. Here are the Top 3 Game Series that Nintendo still hasn’t released outside of Japan.
(more…)
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