Santa won't be bringin you one for Xmas.

(Reuters) – Nintendo Co Ltd said on Wednesday the launch of its 3D-capable DS handheld game player will miss the busy year-end holiday shopping season, forcing Japan’s leading game machine maker to slash its full-year profit forecast by one-third.

Nintendo will launch the new version of the DS on February 26 in Japan and in March in the United States, by far the biggest market for the game machine maker.

The company trimmed its projection for overall DS sales for the year to March 31 to 23.5 million units from 30 million and lowered its estimate for Wii consoles to 17.5 million machines from 18 million.

“At first we thought it would be desirable to launch the 3DS within the year, so we made our forecasts on that basis. At this point it is clear that if we launch within the year, we will not be able to supply enough units,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told an analysts’ conference.

With sales of its DS and Wii fading, Nintendo is relying on the new 3D model to revive profits and help it fend of renewed competition from Sony Corp and Microsoft, whose motion-gaming peripherals will be on the market in time for year-end shoppers to buy.

[Full Article at Reuters.com]

(Gamestop) – The Nintendo 64 shooter Goldeneye 007, a game heralded as pioneering the multiplayer movement, featured a one-shot-kill golden gun. Activision is bringing that gun back in the upcoming altered Wii remake, and along with it will come a golden controller as well.

Activision sent word that it’s planning to release a special Goldeneye 007 Classic Edition bundle that will pack in a copy of the game and a gold-colored Wii Classic Controller Pro. Activision did not announce a price for the bundle, but GameSpot sister site CNET is reporting the bundle will be available for $69.99.

Goldeneye 007 for the Wii will afford gamers a number of control options, including the ability to play using the standard Wii Remote/Nunchuk combination, the point-and-shoot Zapper peripheral, or the aforesaid gamepad.

As for the game, Goldeneye 007 for the Wii will include online multiplayer, a functionality its N64 cousin could not offer. In addition, players will be able to take part in 16 game modes, including Goldeneye 007 N64 favorites Paintball, Melee Only, and You Only Live Twice.

On top of that, players can square off against each other in the game’s adversarial modes, with the roster including eight characters from the revered Bond classic, as well as 40 other unnamed virtual soldiers.

The game is currently in development at Eurocom under the banner of Activision, the publisher that currently holds the license to create James Bond titles. A Nintendo DS version of Goldeneye 007, currently in development at n-Space, will also be released this holiday.

Read into this, Bookworm on DS!

#1 Digital Word Game Comes to Nintendo’s Handheld Gaming Console with New Features and First-Ever Multiplayer Capabilities

(Press Release) – PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of the world’s most widely played video games, today announced the launch of Bookworm™ for Nintendo DS, a new adaptation of one of PopCap’s most successful franchises and the most popular digital word game in history. The Nintendo DS version of Bookworm is available now at major retail outlets for US $19.95.

“Bookworm has set the gold standard in word games, boasting over 100 million downloads to date across a variety of platforms,??? said Ed Allard, vice president of strategic development at PopCap. “With the Nintendo DS version, we’ve pulled out all the stops to give players even more deep content and specialized features than ever before. These include a Multiplayer mode for the first time ever in the popular Bookworm series that allows users to go head-to-head using one or two cartridges, as well as a library building system that provides exciting new game action for both old and new Bookworm players.???

In Bookworm, to complete each level, players link adjoining letter tiles to build words and feed “Lex.??? They’ll use Reward Tiles and spell Bonus Words to boost their score while overcoming obstacles such as burning tiles that end the game if they’re not used before they reach the bottom of the screen.

In this Nintendo DS adaptation, players will spell their way to a higher rank across three different game modes. Players can link letters in the fast-paced Action mode; if laid-back wordplay is more their style, Classic mode provides plenty of action at their own pace; or for the ultimate challenge, players can compete against friends in the Multiplayer mode. The Multiplayer mode is a new feature offered for the first time in any version of Bookworm, and is played over the DS WirelessCommunications network.

Players will test their vocabulary might with 20 themed Bonus Book Collections and the ability to build out 18 unique library rooms. They can also build their spelling skills and track their progress with in-depth stats and charts. Additionally, all features have been specifically tuned for dual-screen, vertical gameplay, allowing players to hold their DS like an actual book, while enjoying endless challenge and fun.

Key features include:
- Collect up to 20 books and build out 18 library rooms

- Customize game backgrounds with the libraries you’ve built

- Pick up and play — start working wordy wonders in seconds

- Unlimited levels keep players rising up the ranks in the Hall of Fame

- Watch your brain grow with the all-new Lex Ray

- Save high scores and best words for posterity

I’m all about fantasy, fascination, role playing, and yes I even dress my iPhone wallpaper according to the event I am attending (hey she likes to look nice too). But check this out, I never thought I’d see someone get totally wrapped up in a game so much that he wanted to marry it (although I have heard it being said hah)!

Mr. Sal9000 gathered around family, friends, an MC and a priest this week and pledged his undying love and commitment to a character (Nene Anegasaki) in the DS Game ‘Love Plus’. Not an online MMO relationship, but a digital character in the game.

Yeah I’m pretty sure she’s hot, she powers down when you say so, she really doesn’t care if you are out drinking with the BusyGamer Reckon Crew all night after the conventions, but I still wonder how things fare when the sparks start to fly. Ok, well maybe I’d rather not know – I just had an awful image of a DS being put in places that it really shouldn’t.

Regardless, the ceremony was held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and was broadcast on the Japanese video sharing site, Nico Nico Douga, a place where “many strange things occur for, no doubt, extremely sound psychological reasons” – says CNET.

[Source]

Thanks to S1lent Samurai for giving us the lead on this!

-Crutchboy out