This week you can land planes, shoot down planes, shoot down meteors, bust up rocks, bust up skulls, and gamble (again).

In their weekly downloads press release, Nintendo of America promises that this week's offering means "you'll never face another humdrum afternoon again." With one WiiWare game and two demos, a pair of Capcom arcade titles for the Virtual Console, and a slew of DSiWare titles, they may be right.

Here's a guide to getting the best deal in Great Britain.

Nintendo UK are advising that gamers pre-order the Nintendo 3DS at their favourite retailer with a deposit, as this will help with forecasting. They say that this means they can ensure that enough units are shipped to match demand, as if everyone tries to get a console last-minute, they may have shipped all of their stock, and so there will not be enough consoles in the initial supply.

Nintendo's ordering policy would leave them with excess games they cannot sell.

Due to Nintendo's ordering policy for initial Nintendo 3DS stock, small game stores such as Game Station Online may not sell the console at launch.

Nintendo's policy requires that retailers order in bundles of two consoles (one blue, one black) with five games. He notes that this may be different... Read more...

The target sales for the first year are four to five million.

Nintendo of Europe are expected to ship 900,000 units for the first three weeks of the Nintendo 3DS launch.

For the first 12 months following the launch, four to five million consoles are expected to be sold across all European regions.

These sales numbers are greater than for the original Nintendo DS, which had one million units sold within the first four months, and reached 3.8 million after ten months.

Nintendo is interested in bringing Hollywood to the handheld.

In a recent interview with Shigesato Itoi, Japanese copywriter and creator of the Mother series, Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata sat down to discuss the Nintendo 3DS. Among other topics, the three gaming icons discussed the relevance of 3D television and movies to the new handheld.

"Simply put,... Read more...

The first four cities will be Manchester, London, Glasgow, and Bristol.

Nintendo UK have announced the first dates for the Nintendo 3DS experience tour. The events will start in February with dates already announced for Manchester, London, Glasgow, and Bristol, with more to come. Other European sites have yet to announce their tour dates and locations.

The websites... Read more...

Experience tour to start within the next three weeks.

To bring 3D into the mainstream, Nintendo UK are planning the biggest-ever Nintendo console launch for the Nintendo 3DS. The focus will be all the 3D content that the handheld will offer, including video delivery from partner companies.

Highlights of the launch campaign are an experience tour set... Read more...

I promise the title of this article will be the only Bob Dylan reference I make. 

Before we get into my "I'm excited to be Director, and here's what I plan to do" speech, let's look at some interesting facts about Nintendo World Report and its almost 12-year history.

First off, in succeeding Jon Lindemann, I will be only the fifth director in site history, which is kind of ridiculous... Read more...

I, for one, welcome our new directorial overlord.

Two years ago, I took the helm of Nintendo World Report as its Director, an achievement that marked the pinnacle of my tenure at this website.  It's been a great run at the top, but everything must come to an end, and it is with bittersweet emotion that I am stepping down as Director of Nintendo World Report effective today.

A UK publication comes forward with details about the launch lineup, and some information may be available about the cost of the device.

According to GamesRadar.com, retailers will be purchasing their 3DS systems directly from Nintendo for £173 (approximately $277). This means that any retailers who are setting an asking price of £230 are making a 33% profit on the new handheld console. As retailers have been given the option of... Read more...

Nintendo apparently has yet to catch a case of Bieber Fever.

Director Jon M. Chu is claiming that Nintendo has blocked the use of the Mario theme music in his newest movie project, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.

In a January 15 Twitter post, Chu directed the following comment at Nintendo:

"aw C'mon Nintendo! Y won't u let us use the Mario theme for 15 secs in the @Justinbieber movie...talk about free advertising passed up. Oops"

The system firmware will update out of the box for eShop support. UPDATED with NOA comment!

Nintendo of Europe confirmed to Eurogamer that while the eShop and Internet browser functionality will not be pre-installed on the firmware for launch systems, it will be released on launch day as a system update.

Nintendo's 3DS preview event revealed that an Internet browser and eShop featuring... Read more...

The game will have new missions and a character skills system, plus unannounced features.

At the Capcom roundtable at the recent Nintendo 3DS preview event, Masachika Kawata, producer of the Resident Evil titles on 3DS stated that there is more content in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D that is yet to be announced.

When we asked how the 3DS title will turn the Resident Evil 4 and... Read more...

The man behind Capcom's recent fighting games believes the idea should be pitched to Nintendo.

During a roundtable discussion at yesterday's Nintendo 3DS event in Amsterdam, Capcom's Yoshinori Ono was asked if Capcom had considered including Nintendo characters in their fighting games in order to broaden their appeal.  Ono was enthusiastic about the idea, but he took it one step further.

A trademark filing by Kadokawa gives away the Western title for Yuji Naka's newest Wii and 3DS game.

The recently announced collaboration between Yuji Naka's Prope and Kadokawa Games, Tenkuu no Kishi Rodea ("Rodea, Machinist of the Skies"), already has a name in North America. Kadokawa Games has filed for a trademark for "Rodea the Sky Soldier." 

The title, which is being developed for both... Read more...

Rayman 3D among the European launch games.

Ubisoft has announced release dates for some of their confirmed launch window Nintendo 3DS titles for Europe.

The four titles launching with the system on March 25 are Asphalt 3D, Rayman 3D, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D.

Asphalt 3D is a racing title... Read more...

Some other notable functionality may have to wait as well.

Nintendo has announced that several key features of its new 3DS system will not be initially included on launch devices, most notably an online game store.  Devices will also be missing a web browser, the ability to view 3D movies, and functionality allowing users to transfer DSiWare titles to the device.

Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen states that 3DS Miis are "too complex" for Wii.

In an interview with Joystiq.com, Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen noted that you will be able to import a Mii from the Wii to the 3DS, but it will be impossible to export a Mii from the 3DS to Wii.

The Product Marketing Manager for NOA called the process a "one way transfer." He noted that the 3DS' Mii Maker has additional facial features (such as eyes and hairstyles) that are not present in Wii's Mii Channel.

A pair of trailers show off the features of the upcoming 3D brawler.

A pair of trailers for Dead or Alive Dimensions were released today as part of the 3DS media events in New York and Amsterdam. The videos highlighted many features of the game.

The most interesting inclusion was highlighted in a trailer released to the European media. It showed a Metroid Other:... Read more...

The online retailer has made both hardware units and games available following today's announcements.

With today's announcement of the North American launch details, Amazon.com has begun listing 3DS systems and games for pre-order. For $249.99, users can put their name down for either the Aqua Blue or Cosmo Black 3DS. (Amazon's standard policy is that your credit card will not be charged until the order ships.)