Konami claims that their patents regarding some of their rhythm games are infringed by Rock Band's instruments. Harmonix responds by calling it "baseless litigation."

Konami Corp. is suing Viacom Inc.'s Harmonix because, according to Konami, Harmonix's Rock Band game and instruments break patents that Konami filed in 2002 and 2003 for the games Guitar Freaks, Drummania, and Pop'n Music. Konami is demanding cash compensation and an order that would block the three named companies, Viacom, Harmonix, and MTV Games, from using their peripherals and game.

"Two hamburgers and two colas please." This is definitely not the English lesson their parents took.

Try to imagine a classroom of 32 giggly seventh grade Japanese students at Tokyo's Joshi Gakuen all-girls junior high school. They chant together loudly: "Two hamburgers and two colas please." It's not your typical English lesson; these Japanese students are learning to speak English with the Nintendo DS.

Classic franchises make an appearance among the titles on exhibit.

Square Enix has announced that there will be three DS titles within their E3 line-up, with an additional two under Taito.

Chrono Trigger will be appearing as a remastered version for DS. The game will remain true to its roots while taking advantage of the features that the DS provides, including touch control and use of both screens.

The newly-revealed Wii game comes from the developers of Chibi Robo and will include obscure Nintendo characters such as Birdo and that old guy from Golf on the NES.

As E3 rapidly approaches, so do game announcements. While there has not been an official announcement, the Japanese Everybody's Nintendo Channel has unveiled Nintendo's newest intellectual property, Captain Rainbow.

Coming from Skip, the developers of Chibi Robo, Captain Rainbow appears to be... Read more...

MTV Games and Harmonix will launch the game as an Xbox 360 release this September with a Wii version to follow sometime later this year.

MTV Games along with Harmonix offically announced yesterday that Rock Band 2 is slated for a Wii release later this year. Currently it is unknown as to whether or not the Wii version will support everything found in the Xbox 360 version, specifically downloadable content.

Rock Band 2 is confirmed... Read more...

Last month's appeal denial only makes Nintendo more determined to challenge the $21 million decision in a higher court.

On May 14, 2008, Nintendo Co. was told by a federal jury to pay $21 million to Texas game company Anascape for infringing a patent used in their Wii and GameCube controllers. Nintendo was quick to downplay the verdict and swiftly announced intentions to appeal the lawsuit.

But on June 26, the... Read more...

The WiiWare title releases in Japan in September.

It came as a surprise to many when Capcom announced Mega Man 9 as a retro NES-style game for WiiWare.

More surprising news was revealed today through a recent Famitsu article in that the game will have downloadable content. This opens up the possibilities of additional levels and bosses to be added at a later date.

Chief Creative Officer talks of developing The Conduit for Wii and all the challenges involved.

In a recent Gamespot interview, Eric Nofsinger, Chief Creative Officer at High Voltage Software, revealed some of his thoughts on developing for Wii and the challenges they have faced with integrating significant online features into their upcoming Wii game The Conduit.

According to Nofsinger,... Read more...

The Japanese RPG, developed by Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker Studios and AQ Interactive, is due for release this fall.

AWAY Shuffle Dungeon is based on a mechanic of dungeons that undergo a timed "shuffle" process, where the layouts of the dungeon prisons are rearranged causing damage if you, or other survivors, do not escape in time. It follows the story of the missing people of Webb Village. All the townspeople... Read more...

WiiWare week on the Wii Shop Channel brings My Pokémon Ranch, Pop, and DLC for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.

The bi-weekly update schedule for WiiWare in PAL territories continued last week with two new games and additional content for the WiiWare launch title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.

My Pokémon Ranch (1,000 Wii Points) connects wirelessly with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl for Nintendo DS, allowing players to store up to 1,000 of their Pokémon in a ranch where they can be photographed interacting with Miis.

According to Red Fly, Mushroom Men is a throwback to Mario and Oddworld.

Mushroom Men has managed to raise quite a few eyebrows lately with its unique presentation and concept. Finnish site, NintendoFIN secured an interview with developers Red Fly who revealed some new information about the upcoming title.

Anyone who has seen screens of the game won't find the fact... Read more...

Natsume President Hiro Maekawa "couldn't be happier that the series has caught on with so many fans." Both the DS and Wii titles will hit stores later this summer.

Natsume announced the upcoming release of two new Harvest Moon games that mark the ten year anniversary of Harvest Moon. Both games are scheduled for summer and will come out alongside an exclusive 10th anniversary Harvest Moon DS Lite Kit that comes with a protective cover, stylus, and more.

The... Read more...

Debugging Izuna 2 involved "staring at the screen, mouth slightly agape, eyes unblinking, with a few choice words running through our heads."

Atlus is a company known for their quirky niche titles with a distinctly Japanese flavor, hence they're always challenged with localizing their games for American release. Thankfully, Izuna 2 benefited from "a lot of the first title's text for reference material" and Atlus quickly finished translation into English.

Gameloft's third WiiWare title was first listed on the ESRB website, but it is Japanese magazine Famitsu who gives the shooting game a release date and price.

A recent issue of Famitsu contained the first details of the upcoming WiiWare game Wild West Guns, tucked into the bottom-right corner of a page. Developed by Gameloft, Wild West Guns is a gallery-style shooting game where the player acts "as a wild west gunman" and picks off targets in a traditional... Read more...

Whoever was ardently holding out for Brain Training 3 to be Nintendo's big E3 reveal, our condolences.

Last week, an interview in MVC magazine with Nintendo UK's Marketing Director Dawn Paine, revealed that there are currently no plans to bring a third entry to the popular series.

According to Dawn, because both Brain Training titles already released "continue to perform well, there are no plans for any more titles in the series."

Contrasting previous statements about not screening WiiWare content, Nintendo elicited changes in JV Games' upcoming title, including a name change from Frat Party Games – Beer Pong to Frat Party Game

According to the co-founders of JV Games, Nintendo asked them to change the name and some of the content of their upcoming WiiWare title because of one word: "beer." Their game, originally titled Frat Party Games – Beer Pong, was renamed to the more family friendly Frat Party Games – Pong Toss.

Wii Fit outruns Solid Snake in only his second week on the charts.

Four new entries were made by Nintendo games last week including the top three best sellers. Nintendo's sequel to its music creation game, Band Bros DX made a bold entry at No.3. Meanwhile, proving that a good horse simulator can always sell well, Enterbrain's Derby Stallion dominated everything this week.

SPOGS racing crosses the finish line to WiiWare and King of the Monsters smashes onto the Virtual Console.

This week's Virtual Console and WiiWare release brings us, for the fourth week in a row, a new Neo Geo title as well as a brand new WiiWare entry, a racer from D2C Games.

SPOGS Racing, this week's WiiWare entry, features classic arcade racing with simple pick-up-and-play controls. Players can... Read more...

Handheld gamers don't seem to mind the $50 price point.

Activision announced that Guitar Hero: On Tour has sold over 300,000 units in North America since its recent release, making it Activision's top-selling DS game by a landslide. In fact, On Tour is among the top 5 releases for any console in the company's history, despite being the most expensive DS game on the market (thanks to the included Guitar Grip peripheral). Rock on, gamers!

"It may turn a lot of musicians into gamers," says Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, "and gamers into musicians."

Activision's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is now available in stores nationwide. You play along with the crew of Aerosmith - Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, and Joey Kramer - at venues from historic moments in the band's career. Players will feel "sweet emotion" as they capture the essence of the band's rise to fame.