The blockbuster DS title will join Square Enix's Ultimate Hits lineup.

Starting March 4, Dragon Quest IX will be available as a budget title. As part of Square Enix's Ultimate Hits initiative, the title will be available for ¥2,940 (31 dollars in American currency). Other titles that will join Dragon Quest IX in the Ultimate Hits Lineup include Dragon Quest IV, Final Fantasy IV, and Dragon Quest V. They will also be available for the same budget price.

Nintendo confirms that they have ceased production of Metroid Prime Trilogy.

After realizing that Amazon.com and many retailers were no longer carrying Metroid Prime Trilogy, gaming blog Coffee with Games contacted Nintendo about the situation. They have confirmed that the title is indeed no longer being distributed. The official Nintendo statement is as follows:

"Thanks... Read more...

Players now have the freedom to level up their Pokémon wherever, whenever.

Nintendo announced today that Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver will each ship with the Pokéwalker, a Tamagotchi-like gadget that electronically carries Pokémon outside of the DS.

Visually, the Pokéwalker looks like a flattened Pokéball with a black and white LCD screen. The... Read more...

UDON is making 26 new endings for the upcoming Wii fighting game.

Comic book studio UDON has announced through their blog that they have created 26 new ending cards for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.

The original Tatsunoko vs. Capcom release featured ending cards by Tatsunoko. The UDON blog post gives a preview of Morrigan's (of Darkstalkers fame) updated ending. It is not explained if the updated release will retain the animated endings that followed the ending cards animated by Tatsunoko.

EA will revive the classic NBA franchise in 2010.

After being revealed by ESPN, the NBA Jam revival, exclusive to Wii, has been officially announced by EA Sports.

The title, set for 2010 release, will aim to deliver the classic gameplay seen in the earlier titles while including new gameplay modes and characters.

NBA Jam was first released in the arcades in 1993 and was originally developed by Midway. The game received many ports across multiple gaming platforms thanks to Acclaim.

You won't object to this week's downloadable offerings.

WiiWare and DSiWare highlight this week's update with three new games each, while the Virtual Console only receives a lone update.

First up for WiiWare is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney from Capcom. The series first began its life as a Gameboy Advance franchise in Japan, with the first game in... Read more...

Capcom director talks about the company's difficulty in understanding the Wii marketplace, and reveals poor sales numbers for Zack & Wiki.

When Capcom released Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbaros' Treasure in late 2007, the adventure game received a great deal of critical acclaim and was highly promoted by the gaming media. Even with the positive word of mouth at launch, Chris Kramer, Capcom's senior director of communications, recently said that Zack & Wiki still "sold abysmally."

Nyko's combination controller will retail for the price of a normal Wii Remote.

If there's one thing that's guaranteed to sell for the Wii, it's controllers. To that end, Nyko has announced a new alternative to Nintendo's official Wii Remote, the Wand +.

Nyko touts that the Wand +, a follow-up to last year's Wand controller for the Wii, will be fully compatible with... Read more...

Get ready to dive the depths in February.

Nintendo has announced that Endless Ocean 2: Adventures of the Deep will be releasing in Europe on February 5.

The sequel to Endless Ocean, Adventures of the Deep takes you to all-new aquatic areas such as the Amazon river, the Aegean Sea, and even the Arctic. Your goals include the maintenance... Read more...

Japanese Mario fans will be able to partake in a national tournament featuring the latest Mario game.

In a recent Kyodo News Service broadcast, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata revealed that Nintendo has plans to host a New Super Mario Bros. Wii tournament over the next two months in order to find the best players in Japan.

Tournaments will be held in Osaka, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Sendai, and Tokyo beginning in February. The winners will be invited to participate in the final round in Tokyo on March 27.

The unique WiiWare puzzler will have MotionPlus Support.

Deep Fried Entertainment Inc. has announced the release of their first WiiWare title, ShadowPlay. The puzzle title will be released on January 11.

ShadowPlay has players moving objects such as balls and clothes pins in order to cast specific shadows. There will be over 100 transforming shadow... Read more...

Capcom emphasizes its commitment to supporting all game platforms.

In a recent interview with Capcom France Executive Antoine Seux, he expressed that Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles was performing well below sales expectations. He also lamented that the Wii market is a difficult one to sell traditional games to, and foretold a development shift towards PS3 and... Read more...

Players will be able to race as their Mii against iconic Sega characters like Ryo Hazuki and Miles "Tails" Prower.

SEGA has revealed on the SEGA America Blog that Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing will allow players to race as their Mii in the Wii edition of the title. Just like the SEGA mainstays, Miis will have a unique "All Star" move that can give straggling racers a helpful boost.

The SEGA-centric racer... Read more...

Capcom discusses the underwhelming sales of Darkside Chronicles, and their expectation of difficulties for the DS.

In a recent Google-translated interview from Capcom France, executive Antoine Seux commented on various aspects of the company and its performance on Wii. When asked about the sales of Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, Antoine expressed that sales were good but well below expectations, with only... Read more...

Your favorite attorney arrives in downloadable form this Monday.

Capcom has announced on its Capcom-Unity blog that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is coming to WiiWare next week. The downloadable package includes episodes 1-4 of the game. Episode 5 will apparently arrive as downloadable content at some point in the future.

The WiiWare versions of the Ace Attorney... Read more...

Capcom's slick fighter gets an even slicker stick to go along with it.

Peripheral maker Mad Catz has announced the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Arcade FightStick for Wii. It is set for a late January release.

Mad Catz has recently gained renewed notoriety for its lineup of high-quality arcade-style controllers, usually with licensing tie-ins to high-profile titles... Read more...

Nintendo shares soar in Japan after the company's recent report of likely record Wii and DS sales in the US.

Yesterday, Nintendo projected that over 3 million units of its Wii console had been purchased in the U.S. month of December.

The rosy sales forecast spurred great investor interest in Nintendo Co. Ltd., leading to the best single-day jump for the Kyoto-based company's stock since November 2008. Nintendo ended the day on the Osaka Stock Exchange with their stock price jumping up 6.9% to 24,500 yen.

Nintendo President speaks about the successor to the Nintendo DS, the Wii Vitality Sensor, and the release of the next Legend of Zelda.

CEO and President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata recently let loose the first details about the portable console to follow the Nintendo DS. In a recent interview with Japan's second most circulated paper, the Asahi Shimbun, Iwata stated that the "requirements for the [next Nintendo handheld] will be higher resolution screens and sensors that will be able to read the player's movement."

Yatterman #2 is joining the roster for Capcom's Wii fighter.

Yatterman #2, also known as Ai-chan, was revealed as the reportedly final character for the Tatsunoko side of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.

A completely new character, Yatterman #2 is Yatterman's girlfriend and follower, and is "one of the most unique characters in the game" according to Capcom's Seth Killian, who revealed the character on Today

The games market in the Land of the Rising Sun dropped 6.9% from 2008

While Nintendo continues to top the sales charts in its home market, overall sales for game software and hardware were down 6.9% in Japan during 2009 to ¥542,640 million ($5.9 billion). In fact, the new sales data from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, covering December 29, 2008 to December 27, 2009, shows that the Japanese video game market shrunk for the second year in a row.