Aonuma discusses a challenge from Miyamoto, and the story behind the train tracks in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

In the tenth edition of the Iwata Asks interview series, Legend of Zelda series designer Eiji Aonuma discusses the development process for both The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, drawing comparisons between the two.

Majora's Mask, Aonuma says, was born... Read more...

The former Capcom director relishes the opportunity to continue the celebrated series himself.

Game Informer recently caught up with Platinum Games' Hideki Kamiya, former development director of Capcom classics Viewtiful Joe and Okami. While he is currently working on Bayonetta for PS3/Xbox 360, he was asked about which of his former franchises he'd like to revisit if he could. While stressing that his previous creations are properties of their publisher, he did express an interest to return to the Viewtiful Joe franchise.

Brawl is dethroned in Japan by the latest Mario adventure.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii has set the record for being the fastest-selling Wii title in Japan, according to a famitsu.com article, with 936,734 units sold in only four days. The previous first-week record was held by Super Smash Bros. Brawl, released in January 2008, which sold 816,000 units in its first week of release.

The Square Enix title lets other players visit your game, even with the lid closed.

Upcoming Square Enix RPG remake Dragon Quest VI will communicate with other players via Wi-Fi, even when the system is closed and in standby mode. The feature, called Surechigai, happens in the background as you pass other players on the street. A similar feature was included in Dragon Quest IX, which was released in Japan last July and allowed players to visit each other's copy of the game and search for treasure.

It's another robust week as Rayman and four other titles hit DSiWare, four games launch on WiiWare, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Shinobi brighten up Virtual Console.

DSiWare is front and center in this latest week of downloads with five titles, including the original Rayman. WiiWare has four new titles, while Virtual Console has two retro hits, one from the arcades and one from the Super Nintendo.

Rayman is the headline title on DSiWare, and is a port of... Read more...

Sunsoft rises from the ashes to deliver the NES classic.

Sunsoft and GaijinWorks have announced that they will be bringing NES classic Blaster Master to Virtual Console in December for 500 Wii Points. An exact release date has yet to be announced.

The release marks the return of developer Sunsoft, best known for Blaster Master as well as several other... Read more...

New Super Mario Bros. Wii a strong performer in its first day of release.

According to the Sinobi Retail Blog in Japan, Wii games are performing well so far this month.

In its first day of release, New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold 422,000 copies, outperforming Super Mario Galaxy's first week of sales (256,000 copies sold). With three more days of release, New Super Mario... Read more...

In addition to bonus costumes, players can now download additional challenges.

In a Creator's Voice Interview, Tales of Graces product manager Shinichiro Okamoto has confirmed that, in addition to Tales of Vesperia costumes, players will also be able to download challenge battles.

Distributed as free DLC, the challenge battles will be similar to the arena battles in previous... Read more...

A French judge rules that users have the right to use flash cards for homebrew projects.

A court in Paris, France has dismissed a lawsuit presented by Nintendo over the use of DS flash cards. Nintendo was attempting to stop their use due to their ability to bypass piracy protection and illegally emulate DS titles.

However, the presiding judge explained that flash cards are often... Read more...

Strap on your handheld boots this winter.

Southpeak Interactive has announced TNA iMPACT!: Cross The Line for Nintendo DS, marking the first time the brand has been available on the platform.

The game, which features the superstars and branding of Total Nonstop Action professional wrestling, will feature wireless head-to-head play. Cross the Line is set to release this winter.

Namco Bandai's wacky WiiWare title will see release this winter.

Namco Bandai has announced that their upcoming WiiWare title, Muscle March, is set to be released in North America this winter.

Muscle March, a game that first started life as an unreleased arcade game, is about a group of muscle men who are chasing a protein powder thief. The object of the game... Read more...

The console has flown off the shelf over six million times.

Nintendo has sold over six million Wii consoles in the U.K. in just under three years, according to GfK Chart-Track. This makes the Wii the fastest-selling video game system in U.K. history.

The system, which launched on December 8, 2006 in the U.K., has recently seen a sales spike due to... Read more...

No matter where you live, Square Enix will most likely have you covered.

Square Enix has filed trademarks for Dragon Quest IX that reveal the English subtitle to be Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.

The Japanese subtitle, Hoshizora no Mamoribito​, had previously been translated to Defenders of the Starry Sky.

Square Enix also trademarked... Read more...

The Australian ratings board spills the beans.

Q-Games, the developer behind Star Fox Command and Digidrive, is teaming up with Nintendo for an unannounced game titled Starship Patrol, according to Australia's video game rating board. The game was listed with Q-Games as the developer. No platform was revealed for the game.

Q-Games also... Read more...

Galactrix's annoying load screens will not be making an encore appearance.

One of the biggest issues with the last entry in the Puzzle Quest series, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, was its 4-5 second load times when switching between the inventory and map - even on the cartridge-based Nintendo DS. Thankfully, Infinite Interactive, the developers of the upcoming Puzzle Quest 2, confirmed to Kotaku that these load times are a thing of the past.

Two Japanese companies are facing hard times thanks to a decline in the number of consoles being made.

Japanese news outlet Nikkei is reporting that Nintendo has begun to scale back the number of Wii consoles being assembled.

This news is apparently based on heavy losses reported by Mitsumi and Hosiden, two Japanese companies involved in Wii manufacturing. Both of them are facing a 50 percent drop in net profit, a shortfall blamed on the console's "declining fortunes" and a decrease in orders for more systems from Nintendo.

For the first time, the Japanese series will see a U.S. release.

Nintendo announced today that Glory of Heracles, a DS role-playing game, is coming to North America on January 18.

The game, which was at E3 2009, is the fifth game in the series, but the first to come out to the west. It originally came out in Japan in 2008.

Steeped in Greek mythology,... Read more...

Old and new fans can experience Sonic's first four Genesis adventures on Nintendo's portable next year.

Sega announced that Sonic Classic Collection – featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles – is coming to the Nintendo DS in spring 2010.

Along with the four Genesis games, Sonic Classic Collection will incorporate a save feature for all... Read more...

The sequel will be coming to Nintendo DS in 2010.

Puzzle Quest 2, the sequel to the 2007 multiplatform hit Puzzle Quest, has been officially announced by D3Publisher. It is being developed by Infinite Interactive.

GamePro originally broke the news of its existence, but did not reveal the game's release platform. We now know that its initial handheld incarnation will be coming to the Nintendo DS.

Aonuma talks dungeons, and drops hints that Link may take to the skies.

In an interview with The Guardian, Zelda Producer Eiji Aonuma discussed his early dungeon designs. He also dropped what may be a passing thought, or possibly a portent of things to come.

Aonuma discussed how his original passion was making marionettes, stating that he enjoyed how an audience... Read more...