This week features a puzzle title from a group of ex-Naughty Dog employees, as well as a Hockey title for WiiWare, and the second Master System Sonic.

This week's Virtual Console and WiiWare update brings us three new entries, with two for WiiWare and one for the Virtual Console.

The lone Virtual Console title is a sequel to the original Master System Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The title is entirely original, not being based on the Genesis... Read more...

Games will be developed specifically with the Western gamer in mind.

Namco Bandai announced recently the creation of their newest publishing label, Surge. This new label was developed specifically for targeting the tastes of western gamers and will provide games from a wide variety of genres across multiple platforms.

Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Namco... Read more...

US region coding of Wild World is to blame.

Recently many Australian Wii owners have complained over an apparent glitch that prevents them from importing their Animal Crossing: Wild World character into the newly released, Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City.

The cause of the issue was discovered to be a region mismatch. Australian copies... Read more...

Creators of Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest have revealed their latest effort on the DS.

In an exclusive interview with IGN, 5th Cell has unveiled its newest DS title, Scribblenauts. The game's tagline, "anything you write, you can use," effectively sums up Scribblenauts' gameplay. The puzzle title will have players spell out the name of an object, which will in turn spawn that item within... Read more...

This fortnightly update brings another quartet of original games to download from the PAL Wii Shop Channel, including the return of Strong Bad and Art Style.

This week's update to the PAL Wii Shop Channel keeps up the pace set by the quartet of WiiWare titles that launched two weeks ago, providing another four new games to download:

ROTOHEX (600 Wii Points) is the next in the series of Nintendo's Art Style games to launch in PAL territories. Based... Read more...

Shortly after Eidos Interactive opened up for shareholder Warner Bros to buy it up, Square Enix looks to snatch up the British publisher.

After a rough year, British publisher/developer Eidos Interactive is now seeking to be bought out. While most pundits figured EA or Ubisoft would pick up the struggling company, it appears that Western publisher Warner Bros and legendary Japanese company Square Enix will engage in a bidding war for Eidos.

Professor Layton's sequel beats Animal Crossing's same-quel.

The third game in the popular Professor Layton series has yet to be released outside of Japan, but if sales here are anything to go by it should prove popular when it finally does. Selling almost 350,000 copies in one week, it beat out the annualised soccer game Wining Eleven to the top spot.

Animal... Read more...

Potentially dangerous counterfeit Nintendo DS systems, bought for cheap at Asian websites, could cause harm to consumers.

Parents should be especially careful this holiday season because they may accidentally purchase a counterfeit DS Lite. In the United Kingdom, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has reported that they have intercepted a large number of phony Nintendo DS and DS Lite consoles. Not only did Nintendo confirm... Read more...

UPDATE: Nintendo denies reports of internal Wii Remote upgrade.

Sales of the Wii, and the Wii Remote controller, are through the roof. That means good times for the companies that manufacture the microchip accelerometers that allow them to detect motion. However, Nikkei Microdevices reports that Nintendo has been measuring their options by considering other companies that can supply motion sensing chips.

Nintendo clears any concerns regarding a used Wii Speak purchase.

Lately there has been much controversy over Nintendo's alleged discrimination against the used games market with their latest peripheral, Wii Speak. However, contrary to initial reports, Nintendo is not barring people who have purchased a used Wii Speak from the ability to download the Wii Speak channel by restricting the availability of Wii Speak Channel download codes, which are included with purchases of the Wii Speak peripheral.

National Geographic hopes to create games that are educational and fun.

Well known for their journalism and educational programming, nonprofit National Geographic has decided to take a step into the world of video games.

The National Geographic Ventures unit will be teaming up with different publishers to design games based off their wealth of expertise for the PC,... Read more...

The ten toys, encompassing a variety of Nintendo characters, are available in Club BK meals.

Burger King's latest Club BK toy promotion will feature ten unique Nintendo themed items. Including a couple entries from the Donkey Kong series, a few others from Super Mario Galaxy, and a Metroid magnetic ball puzzle, the toys encompass Nintendo's most recognizable characters. Many of the toys involve usage of a magnetic Wii Remote pointer toy to simulate real Wii control.

Nintendo keeps controls simple for the GameCube port in an effort to entice Wii Sports Tennis players.

Details of the latest Play It On Wii title have emerged from Japanese online magazine Inside-Games. Mario Power Tennis (known as Mario Tennis GC in Japan) will be released in the Japanese market in January 2009 and will sport a new control scheme to take advantage of the Wii's motion controller.

Even media are affected by Nintendo's demographic shift, especially when it is "no longer in line with Imagine Publishing's target readership."

It's not just gaming pundits who are concerned about Nintendo's blue ocean demographic shift, but magazine publishers as well. UK-based Imagine Publishing is reportedly suspending its Wii, DS, and retro-focused N•Revolution gaming magazine, which recently released its 29th issue.

According... Read more...

Atari will publish the game based on the mouse tale, instead of the departed Brash Entertainment

According to a story in Variety, Atari will be publishing the video game adaptations of the upcoming animated film, The Tale of Despereaux for Wii and DS. Both versions were originally to be published by the now defunct company Brash Entertainment. The Wii version was being produced by Brash which... Read more...

Mama is back, but this time she is equipped with gardening tools.

Majesco Entertainment recently announced that Gardening Mama will be released on DS next year in North America and Europe. Players will have the opportunity to grow and nurture a virtual garden that can produce a variety of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

In Gardening Mama, the DS stylus will... Read more...

Q Entertainment's Tetsuya Mizuguchi is working on a new game exclusively for Wii.

Rez creator and head of Q Entertainemnt, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, revealed today that he is currently working on an exclusive Wii music game. Published by Atari, the rhythm title, entitled QJ, is said to feature a unique premise and visuals alongside house techno music.

No other information or release dates were specified.

With the release of Re:Chain of Memories on the PlayStation 2, Square Enix has snuck in a confirmation of the DS title's existence in North America.

Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios announced today that the Japanese DS entry to the Kingdom Hearts series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, is due for release in North America as well.

The game, as with the rest of the Kingdom Hearts games, will combine Final Fantasy characters along with... Read more...

Players will be able to defeat monsters that span both DS screens in the upcoming RPG from Square Enix.

A recent issue of Famitsū revealed a number of new details about Square Enix's upcoming RPG, Blood of Bahamut. Designed for the DS, players will face an assortment of giant beasts that fill both screens.

Blood of Bahamut is set in a world where humans have created their homes on top of humongous... Read more...

The dog and rabbity-thing will return to Wii in 2009 for a second season.

Atari has announced today that they will publish the second season of TellTale's Sam & Max series for Wii. The episodic PC game will be bundled into a single retail package and shipped to retailers sometime next year.

Sam & Max Season Two will feature five intertwining, but separate episodes... Read more...