There are three whole game releases this week and more downloadable content from Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2.

This very light week consists of only three games: The Wii and DS versions of D3Publisher's Coraline and Atari's The Chase: Felix Meets Felicity.

Guitar Hero: World Tour brings some Springsteen and Oasis to the table while Rock Band 2 brings another batch of six songs from the gigantic backlog of downloadable songs.

Known in America as Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, the family sports game crosses the million sold mark in worldwide sales.

Namco Bandai announced recently in a Japanese press release that their Family Trainer title, known in America as Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, has crossed the million sold mark worldwide. According to Namco Bandai's sales figures, the title moved 140,000 units in Japan, 540,000 units in America, and 320,000 units in Europe.

The cell phone tower defense game has just been ported, modified, and released in Japan.

Square Enix announced early last week that their cell phone tower defense game was receiving a port to the downloadable services of all of the current generation systems. The WiiWare version, which was released just two days ago in Japan for 1,000 Wii Points, is titled Crystal Defenders R1 and is a downgraded port of the Final Fantasy Tactics themed game.

A leaked online video reveals that the once rumored Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title is now coming to Wii, DS, and "PlayStation."

Late last week, a leaked video has revealed that Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings will be coming to Wii, DS, and "PlayStation." Late last August a listing appeared on the ESRB website for the game, rating the PSP and DS versions. The video revealed a release date of spring 2009.

Indiana Jones... Read more...

Satoru Iwata is returning to GDC 09 to kick-off the conference with a keynote focused on discovering new development opportunities.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata would deliver a keynote address at this year's Game Developers Conference. 2009 marks Iwata's third appearance as a speaker at GDC. In 2005, Iwata revealed the technology behind Nintendo's codenamed "Revolution" project, now known... Read more...

Nintendo's sales numbers are likely to be the highest ever for the company, but a strong yen is impacting their profits.

Data regarding game sales is usually more readily available in the full fiscal year report, but Nintendo's third quarter report still contained a hefty amount of sales information.

For instance, Nintendo reported that Wii shipments through December 2008 have reached nearly 45 million worldwide.... Read more...

Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts are re-teaming for Boom Blox Bash Party, which promises new levels, an expanded online component, and "more explosive multiplayer experiences."

What happens after you knock a tower of blocks down? You build them back up. That is exactly how Electronic Arts is playing the game with Boom Blox Bash Party, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Wii game Boom Blox.

The sequel will be hitting as early as this spring, a surprisingly quick turn-around... Read more...

Wii Play is number one for the apparently hit-centric Wii. Also, Rock Band for Wii is over a million sold, and there's sales data for Shaun White, de Blob, and Wario Land: Shake It!

NOTE: This story concerns NPD whole year sales. For December 2008 monthly sales, click here.

According to the numbers, 2008 was a good year for the games industry. It was also a very good year for Nintendo considering the top four titles in the US were for the Wii, not to mention a three-year-old... Read more...

A closer look exposes Nyko's Wii accessory success, revisits third-party representation, and provides sales insight for games like Shaun White Snowboarding, Call of Duty: World at War, and Personal Trainer: Cooking.

NOTE: This story concerns December NPD monthly sales. For whole year 2008 sales, click here.

Whenever the NPD Group's sales estimates are revealed for each month, the exact numbers for the top 10 charting titles are all that is usually provided. The charts for the top 20 games overall and top 10 games on each platform are typically devoid of numbers.

Players will control a miniature ninja on his quest to save the world from evil over-sized samurai.

Hitman creators Io Interactive have announced the upcoming release or their newest title, Mini Ninjas for the Wii and DS.

The player will control Hiro, a miniature Ninja who traverses a dangerous world full of evil samurai. He must confront and destroy the samurai warlord in order to restore peace to a world on the "brink of chaos."

The new downloads range in price from 200 to 500 Nintendo Points, and offer choices like city and transit maps, Wi-Fi enabled board games, and Panel de Pon.

Nintendo announced today that they are to release eight new titles for the DSiWare shop on January 28th. People who recently purchased a DSi will receive a free gift of 1000 Nintendo Points to spend as they wish.

Unless otherwise stated, all games are published by Nintendo.

Solitaire DSi (200 Nintendo Points)

After a reveal in Nintendo Power, Ubisoft has finally taken the turtle out of the shell and revealed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: Smash Up from Game Arts.

Ubisoft finally announced the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fighting game that was originally unveiled in Nintendo Power. Their announcement also confirms the involvement of Game Arts, who most recently worked on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but doesn't say anything about the ex-Team Ninja employees that Nintendo Power mentioned.

With only two releases this week, a Sega Master System classic and a WiiWare title that returns to classic gaming both grace the Wii Shop Channel.

This week's Virtual Console and WiiWare brings us a light week of releases with only one new game for each service.

Niki – Rock 'n' Ball, this week's sole WiiWare title, comes to us as a throwback to arcade classics where the only goal was to vanquish all of the enemies. Players will roll around... Read more...

A GameCube remake tops the charts, while the DSi begins to show that it may be more than just a quick fix for DS sales.

The Wii remake of Mario Tennis GC went straight to the top spot, probably thanks to a strong TV campaign emphasising its similarities to the tennis portion of Wii Sports (which is still the highest-selling Wii game in Japan). Last year’s number one seller Monster Hunter 2nd G got re-released under the ‘Best Of’ label, and shot straight back into the charts. Will the Wii versions see the same success later this year?

This week features EA's SimAnimals for Wii and DS, the long-awaited release of Ultimate Shooting Collection, and Southpeak's latest DS game, Big Bang Mini.

This quiet week features a few new releases, including EA's SimAnimals for Wii and DS, Tommo's Ultimate Shooting Collection for Wii, Southpeak's Big Bang Mini for DS, Dreamcatcher's Inkheart, and Majesco's WonderWorld Amusement Park.

In the downloadable content realm, Guitar Hero: World Tour... Read more...

Will Wright's Spore franchise debuts on Wii with the brand new adventure game Spore Hero. The DS will receive Spore Hero Arena, giving the custom 3D creatures a chance to duke it out.

Electronic Arts announced today that Spore Hero for Wii and Spore Hero Arena for DS will hit stores shelves this fall.

Will Wright, the creator of SimCity 2000, The Sims, and Spore, has long supported Nintendo with his games appearing on everything from the SNES to the 64DD. Since 2007, Wright... Read more...

The popular Newgrounds Flash game is coming to Nintendo's downloadable service as Super Meat Boy in 2009.

Earlier this week, Edmund McMillen, creator of the popular Newgrounds Flash game Meat Boy, opened a website announcing the enhanced remake of the game as Super Meat Boy for Nintendo's WiiWare service. The game is a platforming action game similar to the N series, which also started as a Flash game, and is now represented on the DS as N+.

After suffering a severe infection at a young age, Nicole Cahill was left with severe motor disabilities and a high probability that she might never walk again.

Implementing the use of Wii Fit has become an increasingly popular trend in the world of physical therapy. It has even been used to help people walk again, as is the case with ten-year-old Nicole Cahill from Marshaltown, Ireland.

In June 2008, Nicole Cahill traveled to Beth Israel medical center... Read more...

The Japanese developer that recently finished Blue Dragon Plus for DS would "like to try making games for the Wii" and would bring Mother 3 to DS if asked.

The President of developer Brownie Brown, Shinichi Kameoka, recently told Siliconera that, since the company is done with their latest DS game, Blue Dragon Plus, he would "like to try making games for the Wii." Brownie Brown, famous for portable games such as Sword of Mana, Magical Starsign, and Mother 3, has yet to tackle the console realm. However, Kameoka is "optimistic about [the Wii]."

Phantasy Star Universe producer's latest game will feature 8-bit platforming and a charming sense of humor.

Thanks to Famitsu, Sega's teased project has been revealed to be Pole's Big Adventure, an 8-bit platforming game for WiiWare. Produced by Phantasy Star Universe producer Takao Miyoshi, Pole's Big Adventure is a classic platformer as you travel from left to right avoiding or shooting enemies.

In... Read more...