An interview in the Asahi Simbun with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata unveiled some interesting bits of information regarding the next Legend of Zelda title on the Wii and a successor to the Nintendo DS handheld.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and The Saboteur are out this week, and man, has the time flown this holiday season. Not long ago, we were noting the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Brutal Legend, arguably kicking off an unusually quiet fourth quarter in gaming. Some publishers, such as 2K Games and Ubisoft, held off on releasing their biggest games this year, with heavy-hitters such as Bioshock 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction being saved for early 2010. But those decisions actually give us time to savor games like The Saboteur, which might’ve been forgotten had this season played out like usual. Details on the new releases after the jump.
From the department of wise decisions (and, technically, Famitsu) comes word that the Phoenix Wright series will come to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Good call. The entirety of the Nintendo DS series is spent tapping on a touch screen, so this well-received wacky lawyer drama will be a perfect fit on Apple’s devices. Only the first game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, is planned for release on the iPhone, but the sequels and spin-offs (there are four of them) could follow. There’s no word yet on pricing or actual release dates. This is great news for iPhone gamers, but it spells trouble for Nintendo.
Thanksgiving week was kind to Nintendo’s DS handheld, but the Wii failed to surpass last year’s sales. In a press release, Nintendo said that it sold roughly 550,000 Wii consoles during Thanksgiving week. In 2008, Nintendo sold 800,000 units, so it looks like a pretty steep drop, except that in 2007 only 350,000 units were sold. Meanwhile, Nintendo DS sales continue to ascent, with over 1 million DS and DSi handhelds sold last week. Nintendo says that breaks the all-time Thanksgiving week sales record for handhelds, surpassing 2002 sales of the Game Boy Advance.
Why did Wii sales falter, then? Perhaps Nintendo just didn’t have any killer Wii deals for Black Friday. Looking back at our coverage, there were no Wii bundles that rivaled those of the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, which included two or more games for the same price as the console alone. The best you could find for the Wii was a Walmart bundle that cost extra. I’m not saying shoppers bought the PS3 or Xbox 360 instead, but with no great deals, there’s no rush to buy. The Nintendo DS Lite, meanwhile, could be had for just $98 from Walmart, a $31 discount. So, does the success of the Nintendo DS equate to a net gain for Nintendo? Nope. Bloomberg reports that shares were down as much as 2.7 percent on the news. Mama mia. [via PC World]
Last month, we heard that Toejam & Earl won’t be a part of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, despite their iconic status as funk-loving video game aliens from the 16-bit era. There’s more to that story, but in an interview with Joystiq, TJ&E creator Greg Johnson also said that he’s been unable to get a new Toejam & Earl Nintendo DS game off the ground. “I was really hoping to do a multiplayer DS version – but didn’t have any luck getting interest from any publisher – I approached pretty much all of them,” Johnson said.
Why, it was only a couple days ago that Nintendo was dismissing reports of a new DSi handheld as “speculation,” but now the gaming giant is ‘fessing up, announcing the DSi LL, which will be called the DSi XL in Europe and the United States. The biggest change will be its screen size, going from 3.25 inches in the existing DSi to 4.2-inches in the XL. There’s also a bigger stylus and pre-installed, yet unspecified DSiWare software. Earlier reports said the handheld would be geared towards elderly users or gamers with poor eyesight. Sounds about right, because there’s no missing that sweet burgundy hue. Japan gets the LL on November 21 for roughly $220, while Europe and the United States must wait until early next year, with no price given. [via Kotaku]
Nintendo reportedly continues to tinker with the Nintendo DS, this time boosting the portable gaming device’s screen size to 4 inches, according to a report in Nikkei Shimbun. But unless your getting old and your eyesight is fading, don’t get hot and bothered if you already picked up a Nintendo DSi earlier this year; the upgrade Nintendo is rumored to be making is essentially catered to elderly users, likely looking to keep their noggins finely tuned with a daily round of Brain Age. For the rest of us, the existing dual 3.25-inch displays should be adequate, and maybe preferable, considering you couldn’t really improve resolution without shrinking images right back down again. [via Wired]
Nintendo will reportedly cozy up to chip maker Nvidia and put the Tegra system-on-a-chip in the next Nintendo DS, though the console maker has already dismissed the story as “rumor and speculation.” BSN reports that Nintendo has been working a next-generation handheld, and plans to launch it in late 2010. The Tegra chip, which is currently seen in Microsoft’s Zune HD media player and Samsung’s BeatPlayer M1, would allow for better graphics and more processing power, opening the door to more advanced handheld gaming. This news sounds more interesting than it actually is; whenever Nintendo does introduce a new handheld, the extra features it introduces beyond the existing consoles will prove more important than the chip on the inside. [BSN via PC World]
Clearly the most impressive thing about Scribblenauts is the size of its lexicon, allowing players to drop almost any imaginable object into the game world simply by typing it on the Nintendo DS’s touch screen. Now, you can see the entire dictionary available to solve Scribblenauts’ many puzzles, and it clocks in at 22,802 words. Now, this might constitute a spoiler for some, as part of Scribblenauts’ appeal comes from typing a word and thinking, “They can’t possibly have this in the game,” but there’s no harm in taking a brief look. Some might say you’ll get more out of Scribblenauts, knowing that “Acai Berry,” “Zweihaender” and “Cyclotrimethylene Trinitramine” can somehow be worked into your puzzle solutions. The game’s out for Nintendo DS on Tuesday. [Rush68 via MTV Multiplayer]
