The mother of all Comic Conventions is around the corner, and that is San Diego Comic Con. It has grown leaps and bounds, and now encompases all entertainment, and not just comics. As such this means a number of game developers / producers are setting up shop. What can you expect to find on the show floor? Well here is what has been reported after the jump.The Nintendo DS Lite, despite being now at least two iterations behind, is getting a price drop. The system priced formally around $129.99 will have the MSRP dropped to $99.99 as of June 5. So just in case you missed getting a DS Lite when it came out in September of 2009 you can now get it for a reduced prince, if you can find it.
Now for the more relevant part of this entry. Six Mario games are going to get custom red packaging to make them easier to spot for consumers. New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Party DS, Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story, and Mario vs. Donky Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem will all have special red packaging. The plan on this is to make the games stand out a bit more then they already do, seeing as they say Mario on them and have Mario's picture. But these are supposed to also mark fan favorites based on sales, so it works.
So the 3DS is about to come out, and at $250 clams it is not all that cheap. But Toys R Us has your back on this. On the launch day (03/27/2011) of the system if you buy 1 game you can get the second 1/2 off. Not a bad deal for new games. Many "Tru" Locations will have demos of the system as well. You know, just in case you are on the fence.
According to source you will also be able to trade in your old DS for a nice new one, but this is not being recomended, and I would have to agree with their reasons. The 3DS has a screen with a higher resolution, but this comes at a price to older DS games. The games are either blown up to look fuzzy, or if you hold select and start while it boot the system will use the original resolution, which means you have a much smaller play area.
Pikachu in line to get his copySo March 6th heralded the release of two new Pokemon titles; Pokémon Black and Pokémon White for the Nintendo DS game systems. With their release came a new Pokémon sales record. Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl games held the previous record with a one-day sale record 780,000 copies sold in April of 2007. Pokémon Black and Pokémon White broke this record with 1.08 million copies sold in 1 day.
Now why are so many people attracted to this? Lets check this convient quote from the press release shall we:
"Longtime Pokémon fans are attracted to the new Pokémon, new battle systems and a new region to explore, while newcomers enjoy the ability to jump in and have fun right away,” said Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America’s senior director of Corporate Communications. “These sales numbers illustrate the continued strength of the Nintendo DS family of systems. Already established as the nation’s best-selling video game platform of all time, the installed base of more than 47 million makes it the ideal hand-held for developers to reach a huge gaming-focused target audience."
So there you have it. More areas to explore, more Pokémon to collect (how the hell are you supposed to collect them all now?) and a new battle system are luring 47 million fans to the game. So grab your copies and try to collect all 649 Pokémon.
So, are you wanting to buy a Nintendo 3DS when it hits store shelves but don't want to drop $249.99? Will you also have an older DS system that will get no love once you buy a 3DS? Well, you're in luck. Now until April 3, 2011, GameStop is promoting a 3DS Trade Up Offer. When you trade your old DS system you will receive a credit towards a new 3DS. If you trade in your DSi XL you will receive a $100 credit towrds a 3DS. If you have a DSi your trade in value will be worth $75. Finally, if you're like the majority and have a DS Lite, you will receive a $50 credit. So, instead of spending the full amount and keeping your old DS system, you might as well head down to your local GameStop and reserve a 3DS while saving some dough. Check out the full details to GameStop's 3DS Trade Up Offer here.
So Nintendo had their big thing at GDC today (which was mostly over shadowed by some blasted fruit companies announcement) and it focused mostly on the 3DS. There was some mention of Zelda: Skyward Sword, but the main focus on this was the Nintendo 3DS which comes out the last week of this month.
Reggie Fils-Aime announces Netflix
The focus seemed to be what you are going to get out of your handheld besides your 3D cartridge based games. One thing they mentioned is that at the end of May 3DS owners will be able to connect to more then 10,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots free of charge, which is very important to their ends goals. This make the systems SpotPass™ more usefull in the geographically wide United States as it will all you to connect to both user via local connections and users around the country in restaurants, book stores, coffee shops and airports.
The hotspots will also allow users to stream 3D movie trailers to their devices via a short-form video service, so you can watch the Green Lantern trailer in 3D in your hands without pesky glasses. Along with this comes Netflix integration. Yes it seems like anything that can show video (except Android devices so far) are getting Netflix and the 3DS is no exception. Although so far it looks like you are limited to movies in the boring old 2D, you won't have to waste your data plan to watch something while sitting at Starbucks.
The last thing they plan use all this network coverage for is the Nintendo eShop available at the end of May as well. This is going to function like the Nintendo WiiWare store including classic games (whatever that defines) redone in 3D, DSiWare games, games from the Game Boy™, Game Boy™ Color, Game Gear and TurboGrafx-16, along with the afformentioned video service. Say, why do we focus so much on games that are 15+ years old? Must be that whole nostalgia thing kicking in.
Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo Co. Ltd., announces Super Mario in 3D for the Nintendo 3DSThen the main thing people (or at least myself) wanted to know is what other first-party games are coming out. TheyTo this they announced that a 3D (GASP) Super Mario Bros game will come to the DS. Including old style Mario mechanics it will be made by the Super Mario Galaxy team. So the game looks like it will be in safe hands. The downside is it will not be a launch title for the system.
And there we have it, the 3DS is coming and Nintendo is trying to give you as much as they can for $249.99 without making the thing a smart phone / tablet. Now lets see if it pans out for them, shall we?
So Nintendo's latest iteration of the Nintendo DS line, the 3DS has launched in Japan. They had 400,000 units they had for their loyal minons fans sold out quickly. According to sources most of the these units had been sold out for since they started taking pre-orders, but the places that where not sold of from pre-orders had lines 2,000 people long. So is this what we are looking forward to here in a months time?
Well if you are planning on getting a 3DS you might want to know what games you will be playing when it is released and we got you covered. But before you get yours hopes up, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is not on the list.
Today we have a relatively short podcast as I was by myself, but that just means that we will have a really great show next week! But really, today we have news on the Nintendo DS, Xmarks, and some games and anime. The show can be found here for your enjoyment.
