Expo attendees could win $1,000 if they beat the lead designer at his own game.

Medaverse Studios has announced that they will be holding a Gravitronix tournament at their booth at the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo East in Boston, Massachusetts. Players willing to participate will be able to take on Gravitronix's lead designer Jesse Lowther in the tournament's final round for a chance to win $1,000. If the player loses to the Lowtherator, they will receive $250 as a consolation prize.

Developer refutes recent comments regarding core games not doing well on Wii.

Bloober Team Executive Marcin Kawa refutes Capcom's recent comments about core titles not being strong performers on the Wii, stating in a candid manner that "Only bad Wii games sell badly". He elaborates further by saying that "With such a strong install base it's hard to believe that there's not enough people to appreciate mature, core content".

Nintendo may soon be asking you to get less excited about a game.

Although nothing has been announced formally yet, Nintendo has laid the groundwork for Wii Relax in North America via a series of trademarks filed recently. Similar trademarks were filed in Europe under the name WiiRelax.

The trademarks seem to run the gamut from video games to trading card... Read more...

The super-sized DSi will be migrating to Europe late this winter.

Nintendo revealed the release date of the DSi XL in Europe to be March 5, 2010.

The system, which has screens almost twice the size of the DS Lite, will supplement the current Nintendo DSi, which was released in April 2009.

No launch price has been revealed, but the system currently sells in Japan for 20,000¥, which is the equivalent of 151€ or $220. The Nintendo DSi sells in Europe for 149€.

Follow the "Path of Light" this March.

Coro Coro Comics has revealed that Pokémon Ranger Hikari no Kiski will release onMarch 6 in Japan. The title, which is translated as "Path of Light", will be the third game in the series.

The game, as is the same with previous games in the series, allows you to pick a male or female character... Read more...

The Australian ratings board lets the cat out of the bag again.

The Australian ratings board, OFLC, has revealed yet another Q-Games project with Nintendo. Although details are slim, the title of the game is 3D Space Tank.

No platform is mentioned in the OFLC listing. However, Q-Games has developed several DSiWare games, including Art Style DigiDrive, Starship Patrol, and Trajectile. Q-Games is also widely known for their PixelJunk games on PlayStation 3.

Development studios have been wracked with closings since late 2008.

A new study by M2 Research indicates that 11,488 jobs in the video game industry have been cut since late 2008.

The study produced several specific figures, including:

18 studios closed entirely, including 3D Realms, GRIN, and EA's Pandemic Studio

Layoffs hit 95 studios

52 percent of those studios were in the United States

Netflix's instant video streaming service will soon be available on the Wii.

Nintendo and Netflix will announce on Wednesday that the movie rental company's streaming video service is heading to the Wii this spring. Over 17,000 television shows and films will be available for instant viewing on the Wii once the service becomes available.

To access instant streaming a... Read more...

The director doesn't mind making another mature game on Wii.

In a recent interview with Official Nintendo Magazine, MadWorld director Shigenori Nishikawa has expressed interest in creating a sequel to the violent brawler.

"I think MadWorld was very well received and was acknowledged for its innovative graphical style and gameplay. We would definitely be interested in making a sequel in the future", he told to the magazine.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be the highlight of Nintendo's booth.

Nintendo has announced their plans for the Winter World Hobby Fair in an information page for the upcoming event.

Set to start on January 17 in Osaka, Japan, Nintendo will have New Super Mario Bros. Wii on display. It will also be the only title available for play at Nintendo's booth. Japanese players will be able to select their favorite course, and participate in either single or multiplayer battles.

The creators of The Magic Obelisk are working on their second downloadable title.

Game Arts, creators of the recently released The Magic Obelisk and the Lunar series, told Siliconera that they are working on their second downloadable title. Magic Obelisk Producer Takahiro Nishi expressed to Siliconera that, “our development team is now engaged in the next downloadable game.” When asked about the platform the title would appear on Nishi was only willing to say, “we would like you to look forward to the announcement.”

Nintendo of America claims that Iwata's recent comments about the DS successor were misunderstood.

CEO and President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata spoke last week with the Asahi Shimbun, discussing the likely features of Nintendo's next portable game console. Charlie Scibetta Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Nintendo of America, recently told Kotaku that, in fact, Iwata did not reveal any details about a new handheld system and that the CEO's comments were "misinterpreted."

Prepare to dodge and shoot bullets in an old-school shooter mini-game.

Even though the release of Tatsunoko VS Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars is less than a month away, Capcom appears to still have some secrets left to share. It was just recently revealed that the upcoming fighter will include new endings from Udon, and now Capcom has unveiled an overhead shooter mini-game.

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."