Nintendo has just decided to reveal a new device thats in the works, the device is called 3DS,

What’s known about the new console in the works thus far:

- That a new handheld, called the Nintendo 3DS, will be released sometime during Nintendo’s next financial year (Apr 2010 – March 2011).

- It will be capable of producing 3D graphics, without the need for 3D glasses.

- The 3DS will be backwards compatible with the entire line of Nintendo DS products.

- It will be properly revealed during the E3 trade show in Los Angeles, which will take place in June.

The new portal game console is going to be able to create 3D effects without  3D glasses. People stipulate  that the 3D may work something like this;

More information is going to be released at E3, so everyone is going to have to wait until then for Nintendo to give us more information.

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Nintendo is already planning to use DS’s in school, but now it’s looking for more way’s to capitalize on the DS’s innovated teaching methods;

The DS already has a strong presence in McDonalds via the Nintendo Zone service, which allows patrons to download demos, information and other exclusive content to their DS systems. Now the system will be expanding to the other side of the counter.

Nikkei reports today that McDonalds Japan will begin using the DS as an employee training tool later this year. The chain is developing a DS training program called “eSmart.” New part time employees will train through this software.

The chain plans on placing around two DS systems in all its restaurants throughout the nation. As of the end of February, this comes to around 3,700 shops.

Excluding the cost of software development, the program’s cost will come to around 200 million yen.

Using the new DS software, McDonalds believes it can cut training time by half over conventional methods, in part due of the familiarity of the DS system. It hopes to quickly get new employees out on the floor.

I wonder how successful the DS will be at teaching McDonalds employees.

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PSP has seen a big up word trend in sales lately, making the it the best seller for the week of march 1st to 7th.

Current sales figures

PSP – 64,808

Wii – 33,880

PlayStation 3 – 28,824

Nintendo DSi LL – 23,611

Nintendo DSi – 15,017

Nintendo DS Lite – 4,316

Xbox 360 – 2,764

PlayStation 2 – 1,839

PSP go – 1,275

PSP go sales are still sluggish, compared to a months ago, but PSP unit sales are up by around 20,000.

Week of February 1st to 7th sales

PSP – 43,163

Wii – 36,149

Nintendo DSi LL – 28,080

PlayStation 3 – 25,450

Nintendo DSi – 19,116

Nintendo DS Lite – 5,410

Xbox 360 – 3,651

PlayStation 2 – 2,047

PSP go – 1,738

This list is of the most played Wii games is as of March 1st, 2010. Surprise surprise Super smash bro’s Brawl is still the most played game.

The list is almost exactly the same as it was 1 month ago, the only change is that Harvest moon has made it to the top 10 while Lego star wars: The complete saga has dropped from the top 10.

in a move somewhat surprising for the generally secretive company, Nintendo makes all of this data public. Any Wii owner can download the Nintendo Channel to their Wii and begin browsing for games. Any game that has been played enough times has usage stats listed for it, contributed by anyone who chose to share their data with the channel. The sample size that the channel tracks is pretty good, though it is obviously biased toward users who hook up a Wii to the Internet.

List compiled by Kotaku

Work for Mario; the Mario club anyway. The mario club which is a quality control division created by Nintendo has been set up as an actual company;

Today, we have a followup courtesy of the new company itself.

Mario Club opened a corporate website today. The site offers a corporate profile along with recruitment information.

Yes, its official name is “Mario Club.” According to the company information page, Mario Club is a publicly traded company that’s 100% wholly owned by Nintendo and headed up by CEO Kenji Miki. It was officially formed in July 2009 and has capital of ¥405 million. The corporate office is located in Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward, not too far off from the main Nintendo corporate headquarters.

Primary business, according to the corporate page, is debugging and testing for game machines and game software.

As of January 1, 2010, the company had 295 employ, but they seem to be hiring. The recruit page seeks part time employees to work on debugging at ¥950 per hour.

At 950 Yen per hour the pay is pretty bad, but it beats working at fast food joint plus how hard can playing games be.

Stadium Events breaks it’s old record . The game which only 10 completed copies were thought to exist, happen’s to have one copy actually factory sealed making it even rare then it already is.

The auction on a factory-sealed NTSC version closed just minutes ago, and it was sold for $41,300, almost double the old record.

Three days into the bidding the high offer had already eclipsed the record price ever paid for a rare game – $20,100 for a Nintendo Campus Challenge cartridge sold last fall by Denver entrepreneur J.J. Hendricks, who earlier in 2009 also paid $17,500 for a gold Nintendo World Championships cart.

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Handheld’s are still just popular as ever in Japan; Nintendo DS Lite/DSi/DSi LL sales combined are at around 52,000 units while the PSP and PSP go sales are around 45,000 units. Wii has sold around 35,000 units, while the Ps3 has sold around 25,000 units.

PSP – 43,163

Wii – 36,149

Nintendo DSi LL – 28,080

PlayStation 3 – 25,450

Nintendo DSi – 19,116

Nintendo DS Lite – 5,410

Xbox 360 – 3,651

PlayStation 2 – 2,047

PSP go – 1,738

Data is from February 1st to 7th

Xbox360 is still in fierce competition with the Playstation 2, coming out on top with 3,600 units sold compared to 2,000 units of Playstation 2 sold. High PSP sales can be attributed to the release of God Eater which sold close to 300,000 units in the week of February 1st to 7th.

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James Burt of Queensland Australia was ordered to pay $1.5 million dollars to Nintendo for copying Super Mario Bros videogame for the Wii console and illegally distributing it a week prior to release in Australia.

According to Mr Burt’s MySpace site, he is 24 years old and has worked as a manager at games retailer Electronics Boutique in a store in Brisbane since 2004.

Nintendo said the game file of Super Mario Bros. for the Wii was first uploaded and made available for illegal download on 6 November, 2009, a week before the game’s official Australian release.

James Burt uploaded the game on the internet for download; he was quickly tracked down.Nintendo then acquired a Federal Court order allowing Mr Burt’s premises to be searched, at his premises in Sinnamon Park, Queensland electronic data was recovered linking him to his crime.

In a statement Nintendo said that piracy jeopardises the strength of the video game industry.

“Fewer sales of Nintendo’s hardware and software systems means fewer resources that Nintendo, its licensees, developers and publishers have to create and market new video game products which is ultimately to the detriment of video game enthusiasts.”

I am surprised by the huge fine imposed, but with the video game industries sales down I can see why Nintendo had to take such a stance.

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It was only a matter of time before Chinese producers saw potential profit in creating their own Wii fit, so they set out and did. For the meager price of 68$ dollars you can have your very own Ifit, a much better bargain then the Wii fit which retails for 90$ and requires you to have Wii. Just put the Ifit plug it into your t.v and connect your mat and begin one of the 15 programed exercises/games.

And to do the original Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board one better, the CVSN-G41 has four corner LED lights to light up to the action. If you have no time for the gym, then exercise in the convenience of your own home! This board is great for a range of fun fitness activities including yoga, balance games, strength training and aerobics. Combine fun and fitness with this Balance Board for the Nintendo Wii.

According to China Vision.com where the above quote was taken from the Ifit is actually better then Wii Fit; but of course it is it comes in blue as well:

Nintendo is in for some tough competition, I truly hope they can hold out.

Ifit In action

What do you think of China and their copyright laws?

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The popular date simulator Love plus, a  Nintendo DS title has had its newest title works leaked, Love plus+ ( Note it has an extra plus! Must be major improvement). It is not know whether this will be a sequel or a new complete title yet.

The information was leaked by mistake when a Enterbrain worker accidentally put next week’s cover picture on Enterbrains website this week.

Famitsu fixed their mistake right away, but it was to late.

For those who have never heard of love plus here’s a quick video:

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