Dates and launch windows confirmed for Wii, DS, 3DS, and eShop.

The upcoming release schedule for Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and DS includes Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Xenoblade Chronicles, 3D Classics Xevious, Mario's Picross, and Solaroboto among the selections. Most of these games and launch timelines were already announced, but Mario's Picross for Game Boy coming to the Virtual Console was not yet revealed.

Mario Kart, Super Mario, Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Kirby Wii are also set to release some time in 2011. While Mario Kart and Super Mario are listed as tentative game titles, Kirby Wii looks to be the final name.

Square Enix is holding a contest to win a custom Heroes of Ruin 3DS.

Square Enix is currently sponsoring a contest to win a custom Heroes of Ruin 3DS. 

The cosmo black 3DS will feature the Heroes of Run emblem on the face of the system and the logo on the inside. The contest has already begun on the Heroes of Ruin website and the deadline to enter will be July 31.

The contest is only open to legal US and Canadian residents. More details can be found at the Heroes of Ruin website.

A post on Nintendo's official Facebook page will disappoint participants in the Operation Rainfall campaign.

Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower aren't coming to North America. After a short period of silence, Nintendo followed up on their promise to comment on the efforts of fans to convince them to release the trio of Wii titles with a posting on their official Facebook page.

"Thank you for your enthusiasm. We promised an update, so here it is. We never say 'never,' but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time. Thanks so much for your passion, and for being such great fans!"

In a recent talk with Famitsu, Aonuma confirms that Zelda is not a Princess in Skyward Sword.

Eiji Aonuma, producer of Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, discussed Zelda's role in the story of the game as not being that of a princess: 

"She's not a princess this time which is something I'll pretty much have to put forth right now in order to talk about this title.” He then continues by saying that “She’s a childhood friend, but she goes away in the midst of the game and it's Link's job to search for her."

This makes sense when coupled with news that the game’s timeline will predate Ocarina of Time, leaving open the possibility that the story will somehow explain the origin of the Hyrulian Dynasty.

Aonuma confirmed that they were working on the overall balance during an E3 interview.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is complete, and the development team is working with Miyamoto to fine-tune the balance, said Eiji Aonuma in an interview during E3 2011 with Famitsu. This process is taking some time due to the volume of it, and they have not yet had time to fully play out every part. Non-English translations are in progress as they hope for a simultaneous worldwide launch later this year.

The interview also discusses many of the story details in the game. The beginning of the plot has a different approach to the previous games. Zelda is a childhood friend of Link's in Skyloft, the floating city where he and his classmates attend the same boarding school. The town and its people are a focus of game events that often link to the main story. Aonuma compares this to Majora's Mask. Flying on birds is a staple of Skyloft, and the characters there know nothing of the mainland below. Link's rare red bird is special, since the other birds are unable to travel to the mainland.

Dead or Alive Dimensions is returning to store shelves this week. 

After a reclassification last week by the Australian Classification Board, Dead or Alive Dimensions is being redistributed for retail sale in Australia this week with a new M rating.

Existing copies of the well-endowed fighting game will have a new ratings sticker affixed to the packaging. The new classification warns buyers of violence and sexualised gameplay not suitable for minors. 

The Legend of Zelda series producer will discuss Skyward Sword later today.

Eiji Aonuma will appear on a special Famitsu Live broadcast at 8 p.m. Japan Standard Time today (6 a.m. EDT, 3 a.m. PDT, June 29). The Nintendo producer will be discussing his upcoming Wii title, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

The appearance on Famitsu Live follows one earlier this month where the Zelda producer talked about Ocarina of Time 3D. Like last time, he will be joined by Akira Kawashima and Hiroshi Tamura of the comedy group Kirin.

Mr. Aonuma will also be answering questions regarding Ocarina of Time, which were submitted by viewers of the previous show. Viewers can tune in to Famitsu Live's stream beginning at 7:50 p.m. JST on Nico Nico Live.

The Collection will include the first three games, as well as other extras.

Square Enix will release a compilation of the first three Dragon Quest games on September 15 in Japan. The compilation will include the first footage of Dragon Quest X, which was originally announced for the Wii more than two years ago.

The collection includes the first three games in their original Famicom form, the Super Famicom remakes, and a few extras. The extras included will range from a reprint of the original game guides, a recreation of the series’ “Small Medal” item, an art collection that will be included on the disc, and brand new anime intros for all three of the games.

Japan gets the next title in the Harvest Moon spin-off series this year.

Rune Factory 4 is in development for 3DS, and will be releasing in Japan this year. The title was revealed in the latest issue of Famitsu.

Series developer Neverland Co. Ltd. returns for this entry in the dungeon-crawling Harvest Moon spin-off series, and while details are currently limited this game promises a greater emphasis on the relationship mechanics including the addition of events for couples.

The game will feature both genders with the male and female leads named Les and Frey respectively.

Capcom claims that the game's high replay value makes the save system a non-issue.

The inability to delete saved data in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is not related to quashing used game sales, Capcom said in a statement today. After finding out that title would not support the ability to reset the game’s save, many assumed that this was exactly their motivation. Today's statement from Capcom sought to belay those concerns.

The exact statement read as follows: "In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, all mission progress is saved directly to the Nintendo 3DS cartridge, where it cannot be reset. The nature of the game invites high levels of replayability in order to improve mission scores. In addition, this feature does not remove any content available for users.”