Interview reveals the reasons behind Naka's departure from Sega and gives insight into the development of his latest game, Let's Tap.

Yuji Naka, famous for his role in creating the original Sonic as well as the upcoming rhythm game Let's Tap, interviewed with Game Developer Magazine earlier this month to discuss his reasons for branching out from Sega and share details on his new company, Prope.

For Naka, it was the hands-on... Read more...

Sharp denies that it violated Japan's Anti-Monopoly Act while providing screens for Nintendo's handheld.

Sharp Corp. has been fined 261 million yen (approximately US $2.9 million) by Japan's Fair Trade Commission as a result of a price-fixing investigation. The company is alleged to have colluded with fellow manufacturer Hitachi Ltd. to engage in non-competitive pricing when selling LCD screens to Nintendo. NWR initially reported on the investigation when news first broke in early 2008.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board has leaked the existence, and E 10+ rating, of a new Guitar Hero title for the DS.

Guitar Hero Modern Hits for the Nintendo DS was recently rated E 10+ by the ESRB. Activision-Blizzard has not made an official announcement for a new Guitar Hero bearing the Modern Hits subtitle. However, Activision did file a trademark for the title in October.

The short synopsis of Modern Hits... Read more...

Namco Bandai's Ski Game did not debut to large sales, but has been a steady seller throughout 2008.

It used to be that hit games garnered most of their sales in the first couple months, then were summarily forgotten, but Namco Bandai probably won't argue with the steady performance of We Ski. The company recently announced that they've sold 130,000 units of the game in Japan, 330,000 units in Europe, and 560,000 copies in North America.

Mike Jones returns to the Virtual Console for his second adventure alongside two WiiWare titles, one from Nintendo and another from Hudson.

This week's Virtual Console and WiiWare addition rounds out 2008 with a Virtual Console sequel, an original Nintendo WiiWare title, and yet another from Hudson.

Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II is a sequel to the obscure Nintendo-made, NES RPG Star Tropics. Mike Jones returns to the Virtual Console... Read more...

Nintendo and Dentsu Inc. will team up to provide Japanese Wii owners with original entertainment.

A recent article published in the Nikkei business journal announced Nintendo's plan to release a video distribution service on the Wii.

Nintendo and advertising agency Dentsu Inc. are joining efforts in order to establish a new line of revenue. Unlike similar services on different consoles, the... Read more...

Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company has sued Nintendo for $236,304, claiming a faulty DS Charger caused a Kentucky home to catch fire.

On December 17th, Nintendo of America was issued a lawsuit by Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance. The insurance company believes a Kentucky household went ablaze because of a defective DS AC Adapter, and that Nintendo is liable.

The insurance company wants $236,304 from Nintendo for the damages they... Read more...

This week features more tower building, some minigolf, and another Phantasy Star.

This week sees a familiar split of games: two WiiWare and one Virtual Console. On WiiWare, the previously announced Tiki Towers launches while Fun! Fun! Minigolf also sees release. On Virtual Console, the fourth Phantasy Star hits virtual shelves.

RealArcade's Tiki Towers appears to be the monkey... Read more...

The Speed Gamers are conducting a marathon to raise money for the autism support group ACT Today.

Over the last year, The Speed Gamers have raised money for a variety of charities by holding gaming marathons. In the past, they have played through all the core games in the Mario, Metroid, Zelda, and Earthbound series while raising over $10,000 for charities. Today, they have already begun a 72-hour Pokémon marathon in which they hope to raise a lot of money for ACT Today, a group dedicated to helping people with autism.

Gamestop customers having trouble finding the DS Lite this holiday season can reserve the portable and guarantee they will receive it sometime between December 28th and January 15th.

Last year, Gamestop introduced a reservation program that allowed customers on Friday, December 21st to pay upfront for a Wii console and then pick up the system when it arrived sometime in January. This year, with a shortage of DS systems, Gamestop has instituted a similar program that allows shoppers to put a reservation down on the Cobalt/Black, Crimson/Black, and Metallic Rose DS Lite systems.

Nintendo will replace Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City discs for players wishing to import their Wild World character data.

Finally, Nintendo has responded to the complaints of Australian Wii owners who could not transfer their Animal Crossing: Wild World data to Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City due to incorrect region coding. The solution Nintendo has cooked up is simple: they are offering replacement discs.

Proceeds will fund the purchase of toys for sick children.

The charity Child's Play, founded by the authors of the famed Penny Arcade webcomic, has been providing hospitalized children worldwide with videogames, books, and toys for over five years. Recently Child's Play released a CD available for purchase, the proceeds of which will go entirely to the foundation.

Nyko permitted to distribute redesigned nunchuk controller.

Nintendo's legal dispute with Nyko technologies over patent infringement was resolved earlier this week.

In April 2008 Nintendo filed a lawsuit stating Nyko's wireless nunchuk violated Nintendo's patented design and the name nunchuk itself was in violation of Nintendo's copyrighted intellectual property. Nintendo sought an order to prevent Nyko from selling the controller along with cash compensation.

Bob's Quest Developer refuses to leave room until Nintendo addresses his application for official developer status.

Robert Pelloni has spent the last five years of his life creating a DS Homebrew title, aptly named Bob's Quest.

The 2-D adventure game is set in modern times and contains about twenty hours of gameplay. Pelloni is actually not asking Nintendo to publish the title, he merely wants action on his... Read more...

The Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 ad showed gameplay using the Wii Remote, but featured visuals from the Xbox 360.

One of EA's commercials for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 has been reported to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) by consumers stating that the commercial is misleading.

The commercial, which aired in the UK last August, shows a person using the Wii remote to control the game, inferring the... Read more...

Poor game reviews and loss of LucasArts contracts forces them to close their doors.

Free Radical, creators of well known titles such as Second Sight and TimeSplitters were forced to close their doors for good today.

Early this morning the staff of Free Radical discovered the building's locks had been changed with no explanation and were heavily guarded by security. A notice taped to the door informed them of a meeting that was to take place at a local hotel.

Do you have a digital camera? Do you celebrate the holiday season? Do you want a copy of Etrian Odyssey II for the DS? This contest is for you!

The holidays are literally right around the corner. We know that, like those of us on staff, Nintendo games play an important role in the festivities of most of NWR's faithful readers. We also know that the best way to truly get the most out of the holidays is to share with others. So we are putting out a call for photos!

Nintendo of America announces its first and third party lineup for the first quarter of next year, including enhanced GameCube games for Wii and some similarly familiar names on the DS.

Nintendo has outlined planned releases for its systems in the beginning of 2009, highlighting a smattering of remakes and sequels from the publisher.

Notable Nintendo titles for the DS are Pokémon Platinum and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon—a remake of the very first Fire Emblem on the Famicom. Wii owners can look forward to enhanced rereleases of Mario Power Tennis and Pikmin under the "Play Control!" brand.

Members can register games and take surveys to earn coins and redeem exclusive prizes.

Earlier this week the much awaited Club Nintendo of America officially launched. For the first time, people were able to get a glimpse of the prizes available to them including a Game and Watch Collection game, hanafuda cards, and playing cards emblazoned with favorite Nintendo characters, just to... Read more...

As Harmonix's rhythm game sequel hits stores this week, the Boston-based company has also confirmed that it will have downloadable content and compatibility with all Wii instruments.

With nary a peep from Harmonix, MTV Games, or EA over the past few months about the Wii release of Rock Band 2, the silence has been broken as the Wii iteration of the game is scheduled to ship to stores on December 18. After criticism from Chris Kohler at Wired Game|Life, Harmonix responded, confirming... Read more...