Nintendo has surprised the gaming community today with the announcement that not only can the DSi store applications on the system, but shopping will be allowed with Nintendo points. An internatl browser will be equipped as well. Games one has downloaded will be able to be taken with the user. Finally, it looks as though Wii points will be renamed, or somehow affected, as Nintendo officially introduces Nintendo points. 1000 free points when the DSi is purchased before March 2010, which can be used in the Nintendo DS Shop. Nintendo DS Ware can be downloaded for either 200, 500, 800, or even 0 points.
Update: Nintendo has confirmed that there is only one touch screen. Looks like it was a translation error.
As was partially expected, Nintendo finally revealed a new DS at its annual fall conference today. Nintendo is calling the product DSi and have noted that it will act as a third platform. The GBA slot will be removed and the unit is 12% and 2.6 millimeters smaller. The screens will be increased to 3.25 inches, SD card support has been added, photos can be manipulated via the touch screen, and the playback speed of sound can be adjusted. Two touch screens have been confirmed.
Price: 18900 yen
Release date: November 1 in Japan
Launch colors: White, grey-black
Volume 1 of Nintendo President Satoru Iwata’s “Iwata Asks” series about Wii Music is now live. To read the transcript, log onto Wii.com.
Wii Music lets people turn their living rooms into fun concert halls and launches exclusively for the Wii™ console on Oct. 20. It aims to bring a deeper love and appreciation of music to everyone. Players can improvise jams on the fly with more than 60 instruments. Players simply select their instruments, and then move their Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers as though they were playing the real thing. Wii Music transforms players’ movements into great music, even if you’ve never picked up an instrument before.
Virtual Console
1 (2) – Super Mario Bros. 3
2 (1) – Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
3 (3) – Mega Man 2
4 (4) – Super Mario Bros.
5 (5) – Super Mario World
6 (N) – Super Dodge Ball
7 (7) – Super Mario Bros. 2
8 (9) – The Legend of Zelda
9 (8) – Punch-Out!!
10 (10) – Super Mario 64
11 (6) – Mega Man
12 (12) – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
13 (11) – Sonic the Hedgehog
14 (13) – Mario Kart 64
15 (14) – Donkey Kong Country
16 (17) – Kirby’s Adventure
17 (15) – Pac-Man
18 (16) – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
19 (19) – Paper Mario
20 (18) – Donkey Kong
WiiWare
1 (1) – Mega Man 9
2 (2) – My Aquarium
3 (3) – Strong Bad Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free
4 (4) – My Pokemon Ranch
5 (5) – Dr. Mario Online Rx
6 (N) – Bomberman Blast
7 (7) – Defend your Castle
8 (6) – Strong Bad Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner
9 (8) – Wild West Guns
10 (9) – Pong Toss – Frat Party Games
11 (10) – TV Show King
12 (11) – Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
13 (13) – LostWinds
14 (N) – Art Style: ORBIENT
15 (14) – Midnight Pool
16 (15) – Family Table Tennis
17 (12) – Groovin’ Blocks
18 (17) – V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
19 (18) – Gyrostarr
20 (19) – Cocoto Fishing Master
Hardware
1?DS – 1,314,919?23,484,680?
2?PSP – 1,583,731?10,157,757?
3?Wii – 1,105,174?6,8007,53?
4?PS3 – 352,457?2,361,949?
5?Xbox 360 – 138,740?741,298?
Software
1?Wii – Mario Kart Wii?1,744,387 (1,744,387)
2?PSP – MHP 2nd G?1,602,386 (2,425,651)
3?DS – Pokemon Platinum 1,481,725?(1,481,725)
4?DS – DQ5?1,152,229?(1,152,229)
5?Wii – Wii Fit?845,238?(2,607,431)
Is everyone getting their hype meters ready?! In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, Nintendo is indeed holding a press conference in Japan followed by an event in North America. As far as the Japanese conference goes, here are the official times that the event will be on for:
2:30 – 4:00 PM (Oct. 2) – Australian Capital Territory time
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM (Oct. 2) – Japanese time
6:30 AM – 8:00 AM (Oct. 2) – Central European time
5:30 AM – 7:00 AM (Oct. 2) – UK time
12:30 AM – 2:00 AM (Oct. 2) – Eastern time
11:30 PM – 1:00 AM (Oct. 1) – Central time
10:30 PM – 12:00 AM (Oct. 1) – Mountain time
9:30 PM – 11:00 PM (Oct. 1) – Pacific time
So, here’s something interesting. Monolithsoft, the developers of Disaster: Day of Crisis, was originally approached by Nintendo back in early 2006 and was asked if the team could deliver an epic game in nine months, the time at which Wii would launch. Monolith accepted the task as is already known, but the team eventually hit a bump in the road. The overall feel emanating from the game was that it simply wasn’t fun, as a large majority of the game was based on walking up to people and saving people with the push of a button.
It was at this time, in October/November of 2006 that it was decided to put the game on hold. The content up to that point was canned in favor of a new schedule/budget. The current elements of Disaster were considered and the development on the title was restarted.
Other news worth noting
– Developers began working on Disaster again in early 2007, following Nintendo’s approval
– 2006 build had very little waggle functions and used the classic controller – developers delayed it into 2008 so that the game could be rethought and add in waggle
– Developers want to make a sequel, but that will only happen based on sale numbers. However, Monolith is mainly an RPG developer, so the producer will probably want to make an RPG game instead.
A pretty bumpy road for Disaster, no doubt. Although, Nintendo would never let a game that they had a role in onto the market unless the game had some quality. It’s just a shame that the game isn’t selling terribly well at this point.
