Nintendo UK has today announced the successful roll out of over 30 new Nintendo DS Centres at retailers across the UK including GAME, Argos, HMV, Zavvi, Toys R Us, Woolworths and ASDA. These new centres will offer anyone the opportunity to learn more about Nintendo DS and its exciting range of software through a number of new and exciting ways including videos, TV commercials, demo games to play on the DS Centre itself and most exciting of all, current DS owners will be able to download demo software to play on their own Nintendo DS.**
A full list of Nintendo DS Centres currently in operation can be found at http://ms.nintendo-europe.com/dscentre/index.html and the list will be updated as more go live. In-store demo games for anyone to play at a DS Centre right now include Sight Training, Nintendogs, Big Brain Academy, New Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda; Phantom Hourglass and Animal Crossing: Wild World. Downloadable titles DS owners can play on their own DS consoles currently include Brain Training, Sight Training, More Brain Training, Big Brain Academy, Mario Kart DS and 42 All Time Classics.
Both in-store and downloadable demo games will be updated regularly to encourage people to see what’s new for Nintendo DS. A full list of all stores featuring the new DS Centres can be found below. Nintendo will aim to increase the number of installations of Nintendo DS Centre’s throughout the year.
We are pleased to announce that Focus Home Interactive has settled on an agreement with White Birds to publish and distribute Last King of Africa, Benoît Sokal’s first adventure game for the Nintendo DS. The game will be available end of 2008.
Last King of Africa on Nintendo DS invites you on a fantastic journey deep into an imaginary Africa where you will play the role of young Ann Smith, daughter of the last king of Maurania. Ann is on her way to assist her dying father on his deathbed when her plane crashes near a city held by a rebel faction, on the north side of the country. Ann lives through this terrible accident and wakes up with amnesia in a prince’s palace. That is how her extraordinary journey begins.
In order to develop the game on the Nintendo DS, this amazing adventure created by Benoit Sokal had to be totally rethought with regard to Paradise on the PC. The numerous puzzles and mind-teasers throughout the game have been completely reworked and now offer an original and intuitive gameplay that takes advantage of the Nintendo DS functions. The use of the stylus, microphone and your own logic will be of capital importance in solving the puzzles and mind-teasers.
Virtual Console
1 (1) – Super Mario Bros. 3
2 (2) – Super Mario Bros.
3 (3) – Super Mario World
4 (5) – The Legend of Zelda
5 (7) – Mario Kart 64
6 (6) – Super Mario Bros. 2
7 (8) – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
8 (4) – Punch-Out!!
9 (9) – Super Mario 64
10 (11) – Donkey Kong
11 (10) – Double Dragon
12 (12) – Donkey Kong Country
13 (14) – Pac-Man
14 (15) – Paper Mario
15 (N) – DIG DUG
16 (16) – Star Fox 64
17 (17) – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
18 (13) – Metal Slug
19 (19) – Kirby’s Adventure
20 (18) – Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
WiiWare
1 (3) – My Pokemon Ranch
2 (1) – Dr. Mario Online Rx
3 (2) – Defend Your Castle
4 (4) – Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
5 (5) – TV Show King
6 (7) – LostWinds
7 (6) – Family Table Tennis
8 (8) – Toki Tori
9 (10) – Protothea
10 (9) – Pop
11 (11) – V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
12 (N) – Block Breaker Deluxe
13 (N) – Cocoto Fishing Master
14 (13) – Critter Round-Up
15 (12) – Star Soldier R
– Numbers in parenthesis indicate slot in previous week
– N stands for new title
Trailer form
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy Versus XIII
Final Fantasy Agito XIII
Kingdom Hearts Coded
The 3rd Birthday
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete
Trailer form and playable
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Sigma Harmonics
Space Invader Get Even was originally thought to be a Wii retail title, but the project is actually going to end up on WiiWare. Digitial distribution of the game obviously means that the price of Space Invaders Get Even will be consideribly lower if it were going to retail outlets, but the actual Wii point price has yet to be revealed.
Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (NDS, Nintendo): 9 / 9 / 9 / 10 – (37/40)
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii, Bandai Namco): 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 – (31/40)
The Tower DS (NDS, DigiToys): 7 / 8 / 7 / 8 – (30/40)
Ookami to Koushinryou: Boku to Horo no Ichinen (NDS, Media Works): 8 / 7 / 7 / 7 – (29/40)
Dementium: Heisa Byoutou (NDS, Interchannel): 8 / 8 / 6 / 8 – (30/40)
Derby Stallion DS (NDS, Enterbrain): 9 / 8 / 7 / 8 – (32/40)
Kunitori Zunou Battle: Nobunaga no (NDS, Koei): 8 / 8 / 8 / 8 – (32/40)
Hakoniwa Seikatsu: Hitsuji Mura DS (NDS, Success): 6 / 7 / 6 / 8 – (27/40)
Bleach: The 3rd Phantom (NDS, Sega): 7 / 7 / 6 / 8 – (28/40)
Spongebob to Atlantis, Ikitain Desu (NDS, THQ): 5 / 6 / 5 / 6 – (22/40)
Simple DS Series Vol. 39: The Shouboutai (NDS, D3): 7 / 6 / 6 / 7 – (26/40)
Disney Friends (NDS, Disney): 4 / 6 / 6 / 6 – (22/40)
Jigsaw World: Daigekitou! Jig-Battle Heroes (NDS, Nippon-Ichi): 7 / 6 / 7 / 6 – (26/40)
Odenkun: Tanoshii Oden Mura (NDS, Hudson): 5 / 6 / 6 / 5 – (22/40)
Bokura no Telebi Game Kentei (NDS, Bandai Namco): 8 / 8 / 8 / 9 – (33/40)
The World of Golden Eggs: Nori Nori Rhythm Kei (Wii, AQ Interactive): 6 / 6 / 6 / 5 – (23/40)
The Wii Shop Channel is kind of like a guilty pleasure for most people. The Virtual Console is available for those who missed out on gaming classics, while others who were not as fortunate to experience some renowned games can get a second chance. WiiWare, on the other hand, is proving its worth on the channel by providing unique and original content to those who wish to download new titles. Unfortunately, overall, the number of weekly releases on the Wii Shop Channel is noticably declining. When it comes to the VC, there’s obviously a ton of games that can be released for years to come, so it’s confounding as to why VC releases are slowing down. We also know that a ton of WiiWare developers and publishers are on board.
“We’re not communicating on precise figures – this is confidential – but LostWinds has the highest download level in Europe. And then you have the other titles which come close by, like TV Show King and of course Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The thing we thought was a trend is that you have a very constant flow of downloads. All the titles in the line-up enjoy sales regularly, which is one of the key advantages of this platform. It’s the fact that the games are there and anyone can take them at any time. If you relate the sales to the installed base size, which is a good measurement in that area, you see that we definitely have very similar trends everywhere, so that’s very encouraging. And we’re looking forward to having more proposals from other developers around the world to see the new gaming concepts we’re been hoping for.” – Laurent Fischer
Things are looking very promising for a LostWinds sequel. The game seems to be enjoying healthy sales from America and Europe, so hopefully Frontier will notice that people would be interested in seeing more of LostWinds.
