We give you a guided tour of the newest addition to the Wii's featureset, the SD Card Menu.

Today at GDC 2009, Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen introduced the Wii SD Card Menu. This menu appears after applying the latest Wii firmware update (available now), and appears as an icon in the bottom-left of the screen right next to the Wii button.

This new menu allows you to load games... Read more...

Nintendo released the first official trailer for the next DS Zelda game today!

Nintendo included the official trailer for the upcoming DS game, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, in their GDC 2009 press kit. It is embedded below.

The trailer features the train traveling gameplay as well as some classic Zelda-style dungeon action. It includes many stylus oriented puzzles, just like Phantom Hourglass.

Chris Redfield shoots ahead of Mario & Luigi

The power of the Biohazard (Resident Evil) brand was really felt these past few weeks; it affected the software chart and even the hardware sales.

The sales of Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 may explain a surge in sales of PlayStation games as a whole.

The positive reception and strong sales of the long-awaited action game even rolled over onto the Xbox 360 version, which currently sits at the 12th position.

Target confirms the offer via DSi product listing. UPDATED! Added details on Australian DSi offer.

A recent Target.com listing confirms that DSi owners will receive 1000 free DSi points upon their first visit to the DSi Shop. In Japan, Nintendo offered the same promotion.

The official Target.com listing description is available below.

The Nintendo DSi is a high-powered handheld... Read more...

Hudson dominates the week by bringing two Virtual Console titles and one game for WiiWare.

This week's Virtual Console and WiiWare brings three new titles to the Wii Shop Channel, all from Hudson. Two TurboGrafx-16 games will grace the Virtual Console while a single brand new title has been added to WiiWare.

Pop'Em Drop'Em SAMEGAME is this week's solo WiiWare title. Up to four players... Read more...

Yuke's digital distribution division brings a follow-up to the DS puzzle game.

Akinai Games, Yuke's recently formed digital distribution division, announced NEVES Plus, a follow-up to their DS title that was released in 2007. NEVES Plus is a puzzle game that involves tangram-style puzzles, and trying to fit various pieces into a silhouette to complete the puzzle.

NEVES... Read more...

Studios Big Huge Games, Heavy Iron, and Incinerator are all on the chopping block.

As a result of a $191 million loss last quarter, THQ recently revealed that in order to cut cost they will be closing developer Big Huge Games within 60 days unless another company purchases the studio. Big Huge Games is known for their work on the Rise of Nations series and Catan for Xbox Live Arcade.... Read more...

The acquisition of 19,990 shares of D3 will cost Namco Bandai $12.55 million, giving them controlling share of the company.

Last month, Namco Bandai made an aggressive bid to purchase D3 Publisher. Yesterday, the deal was completed when Namco Bandai purchased 19,990 shares of D3 at 62,000 yen ($628) a share, giving Namco Bandai 95% ownership of the company.

D3 Publisher is known for their Simple Series line of budget... Read more...

Punch-Out!! and Rhythm Paradise headline the DS and Wii launch lists from now until June.

Nintendo has pulled back the curtain on the full second quarter European software release line-ups for Wii and DS, dating a handful of much-anticipated first party titles for the first time in the process.

May is set to be a big month for Nintendo, as Punch-Out!! for Wii and Rhythm Paradise (a.k.a. Rhythm Heaven/Rhythm Tengoku Gold, May 1) join the already scheduled Pokémon Platinum (May 22) on the first party launch list.

Summer Games II for the Commodore 64 makes its debut alongside a trippy beat.

This week's Virtual Console and WiiWare features yet another week of only two releases, with one for either service.

Retro visuals and gameplay make a return to WiiWare with the awaited BIT.TRIP BEAT from Aksys Games. Players will use the Wii Remote to bounce 8-bit beats with up-to-four players... Read more...

This isn't the first time that Nintendo's handhelds, or even commercial brands, have entered the classroom as learning tools.

The Board of Education in Osaka, Japan have distributed Nintendo DS systems to ten elementary and junior high schools in the region.

The systems have been subsidised by the government and are rented to the schools rather than sold. Every student in the selected schools has been issued a DS handheld and will be required to use a variety of educational software in lessons.

In order to bring their WiiWare launch title to DSiWare, NNOOO is adding features like boss fights, an adventure mode, and more.

After the successful WiiWare and iPhone versions of Pop, Australian developer NNOOO plans on bringing their game to DSiWare under a new name: Pop+ Solo. The developers are bringing new elements to the bubble popping game such as boss fights, an Adventure mode, and some fan-inspired bonus round games.

You saw the screens. Now see the game in action.

Last night at the San Francisco launch of Resident Evil 5, co-producer Masachika Kawata showed a surprise trailer for his next project, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles which Capcom released today to the public.

The trailer shows off the stunning graphics the game has. The lighting looks superb... Read more...

MadWorld and Nintendo's New Play Control! games head a week with close to twenty releases. Rise Against heads to Guitar Hero, and fourteen songs head to Rock Band 2.

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad week as Sega's MadWorld leads the charge of a surprising glut of games in the middle of March. Also on Wii, Nintendo unleashes their New Play Control! series on North America with Mario Power Tennis and Pikmin, and EA releases two games as well, MySims Party and Trivial Pursuit. The rest of the Wii lineup contains Ubisoft's Grey's Anatomy, Zoo Games' M&M's Beach Party, and Valcon's Totally Spies: Totally Party.

Sequel to Umbrella Chronicles is joined by two classic RE titles.

Today Capcom officially announced the sequel to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, entitled Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. The Wii-exclusive sequel is set for release this winter.

Capcom also revealed a Resident Evil "Classics" line for Wii, which will feature the re-release of... Read more...

The slide in the value of the British pound has prompted action by Nintendo to recoup, and retailers are left to decide where the burden of the price hike will fall.

In order to compensate for the decline in UK revenues associated with the sliding value of the pound, Nintendo has decided to increase the trade price for Wii by around £19. Speaking to MCV, a Nintendo UK spokesperson stated, "due to the severe and continuing depreciation of the pound, we are, unfortunately, having to raise our trade price to UK retailers of Wii hardware."

WayForward announces their first game for the DSiWare digital distribution service.

Mighty Flip Champs is a puzzle/platforming game in which players control Alta, who must traverse various chambers full of mazes. The action happens on the top screen, while the bottom screen hosts a preview of the next stage. This preview shows a projected destination, which is where Alta will end up once she “flips” to the next stage with her magic wand.

Monster Hunter G will be pay-to-play in Japan.

This morning, Capcom revealed the pricing structure for the Japan-only title, Monster Hunter G. Players who purchase the title will be given a fourteen-day free trial, after that they will have to spend Wii Points to purchase a subscription. Three subscription options will be available: 800 Wii Points for 30 days, 1500 Wii Points for 60 days, and 2000 Wii Points for 90 days.

The title will be a sequel to the 2007 on-rails shooter, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

According to the latest issue of Famitsu Weekly, Capcom's newest entry to the Resident Evil series will be called The Darkside Chronicles. The title, an on-rails shooter, will be a continuation of The Umbrella Chronicles.

Players will start the game in the Resident Evil 2 storyline, battling the T-Virus infected local inhabitants of Raccoon City. As in The Umbrella Chronicles, up to two players will be able to defeat the zombie citizens.

Over the course of three days, the team will play nonstop through thirteen titles to raise money for Ally's House.

For over a year now, The Speed Gamers have been racing through popular series such as Metroid, Pokémon, Earthbound, and Halo all in hopes that they can raise a significant amount of money for charity. So far they have donated over $15,000 to different charities across the US.

This month the... Read more...