EA Sports is currently "evaluating [their] approach to the Madden NFL franchise on the DS," which will result in the series skipping the system this year.

Last week when the Madden NFL 10 cover athletes were revealed, there was no comment on the status of the DS game, which was conspicuously omitted from the press release.

When reached for comment, EA Sports' Senior PR Manager Rob Semsey released the following statement:

"We set extremely... Read more...

The Phoenix Wright spin-off starring series mainstay Miles Edgeworth begins its investigations in North America in winter 2009. UPDATE: First English trailer released.

Capcom's recent Captivate 2009 event confirmed that Ace Attorney Investigations, the first spin-off title from Capcom's Phoenix Wright series starring Phoenix's rival Miles Edgeworth, will be released in Japan on May 28 and in North America and Europe in winter 2009. It was first revealed last year.

This week brings about two new DSiWare games, a Cocoto WiiWare game, and a Super Nintendo game for the Virtual Console.

This week in Nintendo Downloads, Nintendo again releases two new titles for DSiWare, while Neko Entertainment brings us Cocoto Platform Jumper to WiiWare, and the SNES game Nobunaga's Ambition finds its way onto the Virtual Console.

Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics is a compilation of familiar... Read more...

After nearly a year of silence, first details on the Sims-inspired DS game surfaces.

Last year, Nintendo unveiled a DS game called Friend Connection at their Fall Media Conference. No gameplay details were shown, except for a short video of a Satoru Iwata Mii delivering a speech and a Shigeru Miyamoto Mii singing karaoke.

The game has been set for a Japanese release on June 18,... Read more...

Famicom Wars also included in May’s Virtual Console updates.

Nintendo’s Game Developer’s Conference revealed that the original Final Fantasy, released on the Japanese Famicom in 1987, would be hitting the Virtual Console service soon. Nintendo recently released details on its Virtual Console lineup for May, and Final Fantasy is confirmed to be included in one of the weekly updates.

Honors include Games Campaign and best PR.

At the seventh Annual MCV Industry Excellence Awards celebrated in London, England, Nintendo walked away with a handful of awards for the third year in a row. Nintendo won awards for est PR Team, Games Campaign (for Wii Fit), and Marketing Team. Nintendo also received the MCV Retail Advisory Board Special Recognition award.

In order for developers to see profit, a sales threshold must first be surpassed.

In the last few days the topic of a WiiWare sales threshold has been debated among game industry analysts and fans alike. The various industry reports say that before independent developers can see any profit on WiiWare they must first surpass a sales threshold. Developers do not see a profit from... Read more...

The weekly magazine brings new details on characters and new gameplay mechanics in Square Enix's upcoming Wii game.

Last week, Weekly Famitsu offered its readers details on the plot and gameplay of Square Enix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers while offering an interview with the game's directors. This week the coveted Japanese gaming magazine brings even more details regarding the game's universe.

Just don't cross the streams.

Atari and Red Fly Studio recently released a new trailer for the Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. It looks to be a faithful recreation of the spirit (no pun intended) of the original movie, right down to voice acting provided by the original cast.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is scheduled for release on June 16, 2009.

But despite being far ahead of the competition, there's reason to agree with Nintendo's president that the Wii is in an "unhealthy condition" in its home market.

Two years and four months after its launch in the Japanese market, Nintendo's Wii system has crested eight million units sold in its home market. This places it millions of units ahead of its competitors, a triumph given the fact that Nintendo was a distant second in the last era of gaming consoles.

For the first time ever, two players will be on the cover of Madden. It’s twice the curse for your Madden Curse dollar.

EA has announced that the Arizona Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald and the Pittsburgh Steelers' Troy Polamalu will be the cover athletes for this year's Madden NFL 10. Fitzgerald, a wide receiver, matched up against Polamalu, a defensive back, in last year's Super Bowl, with Polamalu's Steelers emerging victorious.

Cooking highlights a motherly package.

As an apparent push towards capturing the adult female market, Nintendo will release a special Mother’s Day-themed DS Lite bundle featuring a Lime Green DS Lite, a green carrying case, and a copy of Personal Trainer: Cooking.

The bundle will be available at retail on May 3 and priced at 149.99 MSRP.

Details on the WiiWare title emerge, along with a Japanese release date.

Square Enix’s My Life as a Dark Lord, a sequel to last year’s My Life as a King, was first announced at this year’s Game Developers Conference. The title stars a demon named Mira (Miss as she is currently known in the American version) whose mission is to defend her dark tower from adventurers seeking to take her dark crystal.

Ada Wong will be appearing in brand new scenarios based on the Resident Evil 2 storyline.

This week’s Famitsu offers some new details on the sequel to 2007’s Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles. Ada Wong is confirmed to appear as part of the game’s Resident Evil 2-based scenarios. In the original title Ada worked alongside Leon Kennedy; in Darkside... Read more...

We're looking for some new San Francisco and Los Angeles correspondents to help us post news, write reviews, and cover press events in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Nintendo World Report is looking for volunteer (i.e. non-paid) Staff Writers based in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.

Duties

Write/Edit news reports as stories come over the wire

Write/Edit game reviews

Write/Edit game previews

Write/Edit game impressions

Attend media events in the San Francisco/Los Angeles areas, and write accompanying news copy and impressions

This light but exciting week is led by Excitebots: Trick Racing. Also, Motörhead hits Guitar Hero and Toby Keith, Yngwie Malmsteen, and more hit Rock Band 2.

This week is a light one with only three releases, with Nintendo's exciting sequel Excitebots: Trick Racing being the only big name among them.

For downloadable content, Guitar Hero: World Tour has three re-recorded songs by Motörhead and Rock Band 2 has a little bit of country (Toby Keith), a little bit from a guitar god (Yngwie Malmsteen), and three other bands (Black Tide, Bullet for My Valentine, and The Shins).

New service to feature celebrity Miis, DSi connectivity, and both free and paid programming.

In December of 2008, Nintendo announced that it would be partnering with Japanese Media Giant Dentsu to bring a new video-on-demand service to the Wii. Today the channel was unveiled as “Wii no Ma”. The channel will offer a main menu that resembles a living room, and up to eight registered Miis can exist in the virtual room and interact with each other.

WiiWare title gets rating, and a new site and video footage are on the way.

Gravitronix was announced as a WiiWare exclusive in October 2007. Medaverse Studios, the development house located in Dover, New Hampshire, has kept quiet on the game’s progress since then. Small tidbits of info have been available through their developer’s blog, but not much has been revealed so far.

In June, Ashley returns to uncover more mysteries, this time on the Wii.

Another Code R: A Journey of Lost Memories is the Wii sequel to the 2006 DS title Another Code: Two Memories (known as Trace Memory in North America). It takes place 2 years after the end of the first game, and will once again star Ashley Robins in an adventure involving her past. At the end of her... Read more...

With everyday life, parties, and racing under their belts, the cute Sims return to Nintendo’s systems as secret agents.

The MySims franchise has been a successful one for EA. With My Sims Party released for the Wii and DS in March and MySims Racing hitting the tracks in June, EA has announced a brand new entry to the MySims franchise: MySims Agents.

Releasing under the EA Play banner, MySims Agents promises to... Read more...