Japanese Sales~ Dec 19th-25th

Hardware

1. DS - 597,628
2. PSP - 161,332
3. PS2 - 97,475
4. GCN - 36,646
5. GBASP - 35,764
6. GBM - 19,261
7. Xbox360 - 5,674
8. GBA - 906
9. Xbox - 141

The DS is just killing the market in handheld sales. The GBA and Xbox are done for.


Rank. Title (Platform) - Weekly Sales - Total Sales[
1. Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) - 727,591 - 727,591
2. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) - 416,132 - 1,177,108
3. Mario Kart DS (DS) - 302,742 - 667,799
4. Naruto: Narutimate Hero 3 (PS2) 216,966 - 216,966
5. Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon: Blue Rescue Force (DS) - 157,786 - 511,704
6. Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon: Red Rescue Force (GBA) - 156,430 - 512,054
7. Tamagotchi no PuchiPuchi Omisecchi (DS) 156,181 - 721,104
8. Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence (PS2) 103,894 - 103,894
9. Mario Party 7 (GC) 100,130 - 319,650
10. Brain Training (DS) 93,240 - 1,004,681
11. Gentle Brain Training (DS)
12. Dragonball Z (GBA)
13. Rockman EXE 6 (DS)
14. Slime Mori Mori 2 (DS)
15. Tales of the Abyss (PS2)
16. Naruto 4 (GC)
17. Daredemo Asobi Taisen (DS)
18. Mushi King (DS)
19. Rockman EXE 6 (GBA)
20. Monster Hunter Portable (PSP)
21. Pokemon Torouze (DS)
22. Me and My Katamari (PSP)
23. Prince of Tennis (PS2)
24. Nintendogs: Shiba (DS)
25. Ryu Ga Gotoku (PS2)
26. Nintendogs: Dachshund (DS)
27. Nintendogs: Chihuahua (DS)
28. Final Fantasy IV (GBA)
29. Ratchet & Clank (PS2)
30. Rogue Galaxy (PS2)

Source: N-next
-SPORTS1

Pokemon director talks handheld

Junichi Masuda, famous for his work with earlier Pokemon games, has posted information on how the next Pokemon sequel will be special to the DS.

One of the most popular features, the Nintendo Wi-fi Connection, will be intergrated in to the sequels, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, to allow the player to battle, communicate and trade with other players from all over the world. This kind of feature has been wanted by Nintendo fans for years.

Junichi Masuda also stated that these Pokemon games will use every feature of the DS. Microphone, touch screen, etc.
What could you use the microphone for in a pokemon game though? I'm baffled. I'm sure they have the best ideas, and will make the game even more fun than the rest of them.
We'll just have to wait and see.

This is really good news for pokemon fans. I think this will be a way better game/series now beacuse of the online play!

Source: N-next
-Sports1

Weekly polls comes back

Sorry for not updating the Polls, but now you guys don't have vote for the Mario Kart DS poll. Well the next poll is about "The Best DS Game for 2005".

-Falco8

Sonic Rush Review

Sonic Rush


System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Developer: SonicTeam
Publisher: Sega

8.0 / 10
(right on the verge of being a 7.5)

Sonic Rush certainly fits it's title, and for two reasons: First of all, as you've probably heard, this game is very, very, very fast paced. This game uses the DS dual screens to double the size of stages, and believe or not, this speeds up the considerably. Sometimes too much. Oftentimes you'll be running through a part of a level by simply holding down left or right on the d-pad, letting each level's weird variety of gimmicks propel you through at breakneck speeds. But then, without warning, you run right into a poorly-placed enemy and lose all of your rings. While cussing a lot. At first, the insane pace is disorienting; you'll easily lose track of Sonic (or the second playable character, Blaze the Cat) as he (or she, in the case of Blaze) shift between the screens so fast that your eyes spin and circles, and possibly unscrew themselves from their sockets. But soon you'll get the hang of things and will be able to focus on more important things, like finding Special Generators for the chance of snagging a Chaos Emerald (more on that later) defeating enemies, and, um, other stuff that has just escaped my mind. Sure, this is definitely a back-to-basics platformer and one of SonicTeam's goals was to focus on what Sonic is all about: speed and dynamic movement, but I think maybe they did that a little too much.

The second reason Sonic Rush fits it's title is that, coincidentally, the game feels like it was rushed and had a short development cycle. As you can expect from any recent Sonic game, the overall gameplay is pretty good, but there are so many quirks and flaws throughout al the other things like story, sound, and dialogue. It's so easy to nitpick at this game. For one, the story is absolutely lame. here's the gist of it: Sonic's sittin' around wondering what Eggman's plans are now (which makes me wonder...why is Sonic sittin' around wondering about Eggman's plans?!?), so he starts chasing after him. he starts a fight with him (complete with cheesy dialogue), and then after defeating Eggman, some "mysterious" girl appears and grabs some weird gem thingy that isn't quite like the Chaos Emerald. And it definitely isn't the Master Emerald. Then, the girl vanishes. The problem is, the game makes it way too easy to tell that this mystery girl is obviously Blaze. It even says "BLAZE: " every time she speaks. And then eventually later on in the game you'll be seeing many really dumb cut-scenes with, you guessed it, even more dumb dialogue. For some apparent reason, Tails randomly starts freaking out about a tear in the space-time continuum, and you eventually find out that Sonic and Blaze's worlds are colliding. And the rest I'm not going to spoil, even though it's not really that great anyway. I'll say this much: The theme of friendship and being yourself is randomly slapped into this game for no reason. it has no point in being in the story, but the devs at SonicTeam apparently decided to do it anyway. Anyway, on to the other rushed this things in this game. There seems to be minor translation issues (For instance, when you're about to choose a Zone to play in, this message appears: "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO PLAY THIS ZONE?"), but it isn't that big of an issue. They also gave weird names for a few things. For instance, the single-player Story mode is actually called Gameplay. That's right, gameplay. An aspect of a game you review in an, um, review. What, are the other modes not gameplay? Why couldn't they have just called that Story mode? Again, it isn't a major issue, but it still could be fixed if the devs gave it more time. Now, onto the graphics. For the most part, they're pretty nice. Sonic and Blaze are actually 3D models throughout most of the game, but nearly everything else is in a 2D reminiscent of the GameGear games, and I know that the graphics could've used a tweaking from that early of a gaming era. Also, I'm sure the 3D character models could better and be a bit more detailed. Yes, this is a DS game and we think we've seen it's limitations already, but the truth is it can pull off some really impressive visuals, as seen in games like Metroid Prime Hunters, Nanostray, among others. I'm no graphics freak, but I think that they still should've done a bit more with the character models. And now for the sound and music. It sounds so cheap, like something from a Sonic BA or GameGear game. It seems like they just ripped the sounds out from another game and slapped 'em on. No tweaking to make them sound better for the DS. Nope. And the music....bleh. This time around, the music genre has been changed to funk, and this is pretty much what it consists of: There's some funk beat playing in the background, and the developers chose some random phrase loaded with AIMisms to keep playing over and over, changing the order around, and playing to the beat. As you can expect, it sounds like crap. And the voice acting is atrocious. The only character with some decent voice acting is Blaze, but of course, all of her written dialogue is extremely lame. The characters who have the worst voice acting in the game are Tails and Cream, who support Sonic and Blaze, respectively. Tails seems to have a terrible, terrible speech problem as he always says "Sonic" after just about everything he says. Don't worry, Tails. There will be a cure someday.

Eventually. As for Cream, I absolutely can't stand that annoying squeaky voice. You can barely understand a word she's saying, and even though it's pretty much her voice in the Sonic series, I think it seriously needs to be changed. It's very annoying. And also, after beating the game you unlock a Sound Test feature (Yeah, secret's over), but just about the only thing you'll need it for is to find out what the heck those bizarre phrases used in the music. I honestly thought a part of the music on the Water Palace zone went like this:

"Fat, fat, fat, physically fat!
Fat, fat, holy starfish fat!"

But then I went to the Sound Test, only discover it was saying "Back 2 Back". Okay...what does that phrase have to with anything? Other weird phrases are "Ride There, Ride On" (*scratches head* What's that supposed to mean?!) and "Ye-Oooooooowwww!" (Not kidding. That's actually one of them.). Also, the Sound Test only has music and voice acting, no actual sounds from in-game, like the sound of Sonic jumping, doing the Super/Fire Boost, etc. etc. and it's also organized poorly and isn't that intuitive. If there's one thing in Sonic Rush that seriously bugs me, it's the audio. But as you can see, if SonicTeam and/or Sega put a little more time into their games, they probably would find all these flaws and we could end up with something truly amazing, but no dice.

After all this ranting and raving over the flaws of Sonic Rush, you'd probably think that it's crap. You're probably wondering why I gave it such a high rating (8.0 /10). Well, listen up, bub, 'cause I'm gonna tell you. Though any Sonic games is loaded with all those quirks and flaws that can severely lessen the experience, they're usually loaded with some exciting, fun gameplay. And Sonic Rush lives up to that. It's always very fun to run through Rush's action-platformer stages, no matter how many time you've played them before. Even the boss battles are fun to fight over and over, though they can get impeccably frustrating after a while if you keep losing to them. And to add to all this replay value, Sonic's stages are home to the oft-hidden Special Generators, floating circles with a star in the center and two handle bars on the side. If you have enough in your tension your gauge (which powers up when you do thing such as performing tricks and defeating enemies), you can grab on one of the handle bars and boost on it until you get sucked into an inter-dimensional portal that leads to one of the game's seven different special stages, where you essentially play a mini-game in which you use the touch screen to steer the Blue Blur through a half-pipe, collecting rings a long the way. And if you snagged enough of them, you'll get a Chaos Emerald at the end, and if you collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds you'll get to play on an extra zone and fight a different boss. As of this writing, I still haven't pulled this feat off yet (I have 6 of the 7 Chaos Emeralds), but I know that the endings you get normally aren't up to par, and I've heard that the alternate ending is absolutely necessary if you truly want a satisfying ending. Anyway, the aforementioned mini-game won't blow your mind (i.e. You won't need a stretcher and an extra pair of pants nearby whenever you play them), but they're still fun and offer a nice change of pace. Plus, they heap on a lot more replay value.

So, Sonic Rush is everything you'd expect from a Sonic game. Blazing (no pun intended) fast pace. Lots of weird quirks and flaws that come from rushed gameplay. Some fun action. Lots of replay value. And, of course, blazing fast pace. But it also has a few new things to add to the series, like double-tall levels, touch-controlled mini-games, and boss battles with 3D graphics and 2D gameplay. But it's still the Sonic series' back-to-basics platformer. The game feels a lot like one of the original Sonic games, only at a much, much faster pace. I'd say it's at least worth a rent. Try it before you buy it. If you like it, that's when you buy it. I only wish that SonicTeam would've put more time into this game. Sure, this is Sonic's first outing on the DS, so you can expect it to be the best one, but the first one is also supposed to be the game that sets the bar for future installments. And unfortunately, SonicTeam could've shot this one a little too low.

Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 4/10
Replay Value: 8/10

-Patrick Tow
a.k.a. Jimmie

Nintendo to release English Training software

Nintendo Corp. said Monday that the company will release an English training software program for its Nintendo DS handheld.

The sofware, due out on Jan. 26, is an extension of the popular "Training" series that has seen success in Japan.

Brain Training for Adults, based on a popular book, has sold over 1 million units and remains in the top 10 sales charts months after its release.

The English Training program will allow owners to listen to a word and write it down on the handheld's touch screen to score listening ability.

The Nintendo DS has sold over 5 million units in Japan. The company's offbeat offerings like Animal Crossing, Brain Training, and Nintendogs have all seen sales surpass 1 million units.

Nintendo will also offer a travel dictionary program for various languages to allow users to touch a particular word and have it spoken in a different language by the handheld.


Source: punchjump
-Sports1

Rumour: Revolution is Ready?

Dengeki, a respectable Japanese magazine, has recently said that the Revolution is ready for release. This means that the Revolution could be joining the market soon. Rumour has it that it could even come between April and May. But aren't we meant to receive more information on the 9th of May? How odd.

I think this might be true. I mean 2006 and its in the middle of the year.

Source: N-next
-Sports1

DS Wi-Fi doubles over X-mas Vacation

Over X-mas vacation (X-mas eve/ X-mas day) the DS Wi-Fi hits went from 200,000 to 400,000. This is most likely due to recent x-mas gifts and other holiday presents. This is hopefully a sign of things to come for Nintendo Wi-Fi connection.

Source: N-Next

-Tyler Norton

DS hits the 5 million mark

Congratualtions to the Nintendo DS for hitting the 5 million mark. In a little over 13 months, this is a huge accomplishment.

Source: Game and Go

- Tyler Norton

New Children Of Mana trailers/images

To view the trailers go here.

Here are the photos

Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photo 5

Source:gameandgo
-SPORTS1

Merry Christmas

From all of us here at DS Update, we wish you a Merry Christmas. Also a Happy Festivus to anyone who celebrated it yesterday.

-Ultimate Zelda Guru

New Mario Kart DS Trailer

Here is a traller from Nintendo of Europe not much. But what do you think of it? Click here to see it.

Source: N-next
-SPORTS1

James Bond: Casino Royale will be coming to the Gamecube and Nintendo DS!

As most of you guys knew it was coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles not the Revolution. But now EA has said they will be making it for the Gamecube, Xbox, PS2, DS. We will just have to wait and see what happens!

Source: N-next
-SPORTS1

Twilight Revolution

Recent reports have been coming in from the UK that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will have special features that will be unlocked when played on the Revolution. This is such to say that the game will also be able to be played with the Revolution's controller as well the Gamecube's. Now many gamers, including myself, have been predicting this move for sometime now and it makes logical sense. The Revolution will launch with an added reason to buy it. While it appears that a Super Smash Bros Revolution may be out of the cards for a launch title for the Revolution, considering it is very early in development, Nintendo will do all it can to try to make gamers turn towards the system with all its biggest guns. I could even see Nintendo rereleasing a version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the Revolution's controls, if the third installment is a ways away. Either way this is still a rumour at this point, but keep your eyes open for news coming in the new year.

Article from NGC Magazine:
Back in September, Nintendo announced: “Our development team has decided to take extra time to add some incredible elements.” These were elements that Miyamoto and Zelda director Aonuma said were “simply far too good to leave out.” And they weren’t wrong.

NGC can exclusively reveal that Twilight Princess will be playable on the forthcoming Revolution using the upcoming console’s unique controller. Zelda will actually ‘bring in’ the Revolution by launching fairly close to the new system, which is set to be released around November of next year, according to our sources.

“But they also promised it would be out on Gamecube!” we hear you cry. Well, they weren’t lying. Twilight Pricess will be released on Gamecube - there’s no changing that fact. However, when you insert your disc into your Revolution, you’ll be given the option to use the Revolution’s controller, with all the advantages that this will bring.

So what’s the reason for all this? Well, it kind of makes sense. With Gamecube entering its twilight years, it gives retailers time to clear their Gamecube stock. And riding on the back of Revolution, it means that the game, which has now been in development for quite some time, will find as big an audience and gain the recognition it deserves - it will be the first port of call for those of us still with Gamecubes, and for those who have just bought a Revolution.

It should be reiterated that NGC is NOT saying the game will be Revolution-bound, only that it will feature "hooks" that allow the game to be played with the special Revolution controller. Secondly, this is NOT official - yet. Stay tuned to further developments leading up the full unveiling of Twilight Princess in early 2006.

Source: Revo-Europe

-Ultimate Zelda Guru

Nintendo Power Talks with Developers about Revolution

In the lastest issues of Nintendo Power, the crew at NP talked some of the game developers what they thought about the Revolution and here's what they had to say:

John Schapper
Senior VP/Group Studio General Manager, Electronic Arts Canada:
"As a longtime Nintendo fan, I applaud the spirit of innovation and creativity of the Revolution controller. Being wireless and designed similarly to a TV controller, it's an innovative, ergonomic winner right out of the box. The beauty of the controller is that possibilities for new game ideas are limitless... You can build an entire game concept around the controller's features or find ways to intregrate them into existing franchises. Right now at EA, we're exploring both of these paths. Our developers are inspired and excited by the new controller's features."

Steve Pearce
VP of Technology, Activision:
"Anyone present at Iwata-san's unveiling of the controller at TGS has imagined what future visions of Nintendo classics will be like. Envisioning Link's spin attack, Mario's triple jump and Samus' gunplay on Revolution is an intriguing exercise. Similarly, the Activision design teams are creatively charged as they determine how the controller can best be used on our titles. How will Spider-Man's Revolution webs be cast, Tony Hawk's deck be flipped and Call of Duty grenades be thrown?"

Rod Cousens
CEO, Codemasters:
"The Revolution controller is very intuitive and immersive and should allow the character to become more of an extension of the player... it should also inspire creators to explore innovation and bring back bored consumers to gaming."

Jack Sorenson,
Excecutive VP, Worldwide Studios, THQ:
"Think about how many players you know that move controllers upward when pressing the jump button or turn it while steering in a racing game. With Revolution, these movements can be made to affect gameplay. Any genre that's suffered from traditional controller limitations stands to initially benefit the most, particularly ones with too many complex button combinations. Also, mouse-oriented PC genres (RTS, adventure games) could become much more console-friendly with the Revolution controller."

Bill Petro
Senior VP of Product Development, Sega of America:
"Role-playing games will be greatly enhanced, due to new control styles. Pointing will make moving in large environments very simple, and twist- and position-senging will allow for dual weapon wielding or gesture-based spell-casting."

Michael Ryder
VP of Worldwide Production, Buena Vista Games:
"The Revolution controller is truly innovative and will enable game designers to take advantage of gamers' full range of hand motions. Much as we've seen with the Nintendo DS, the Revolution control interface with lead to gameplay innovations."

Noah Hughes
Director of Design, Crystal Dynamics:
"In the landscape of primarily linear evolution, it is refreshing to see a product like the Revolution that truly strives to redefine game design. As a game designer, I am always excited to see products...which open the door to so many new possibilities."

Jean-Marcel Nicolai
Senior VP of Worldwide Content, Atari:
"Nintendo has created an innovative new controller, fully immersing the gamer with a revolutionary interface. The controller should expand the marketplace by appealing to the mass audience as well as avid gamers. And the development community will have as much fun exploring the power of the Revolution controller as consumers will playing it."

Nicolas Eypert
Creative Director, Ubisoft:
"The Revolution controller breaks the 'push button' experience of other platforms, where the player must go through an abstract action--pushing a button--to complete an action. With the Revolution, the action is completely natural and physical. We can propose new types of interactions that are easy and fun, as they rely on a simple gesture. We can translate into video game interactions all the tools you manipulate with your hand: the sculptor's tool, the doctor's scalpel, the fireman's hose...imagine you are a doctor curing patients or an architect who builds his own house! It opens up so many possibilities that we already have too many ideas. All the designers that I've spoken with at Ubisoft are buzzing with amazing ideas."

Bill Gardner
President/CEO Eidos:
"I can certainly see lots of opportunities for classic-style games like platformers that new and old gamers will really enjoy. We've thought of several titles that we're planning that will fit in well. Any game that has the flow of motion in three dimensions will benefit with Revolution. Flying games will be wild and more fun than ever."

Toshihiro Nagoshi,
Producer of Super Monkey Ball and F-Zero GX/AX, Sega:
"I was just as surprised by the look of the controller as I was by playing with it. I was really struck by Nintendo's bold direction. All game creators will be inspired by seeing it in motion."

Koichi Ishii
Producer of the World of Mana project, Square Enix:
"It'd be a shame if developers only transferred existing games to this system. They've got to envision a more creative route then buckle up for a wild ride."

DS Update will keep you updated on developer's commentary about Nintendo's next-gen console, codename Revolution.

Source:Revolution Report

-Falco8

Artistic Quality Interactive supports Revolution

AQ Interactive announced yesterday in a press conference that they will be supporting Nintendo's next-generation console, code-named the Nintendo Revolution. The company plans to develop an original action game and a major comic liscense game for the Revolution. We'll keep you up-to-date on this Revolution news.

Source:Revolution Report

-Falco8

Did You Know? New Pokemon Puzzle Game Lets Players Slide Into Fun

You've got the slide rule, the water slide, the slide projector, the slide guitar and the Electric Slide. But none of them is nearly as fun as the new slide-action puzzle game for Nintendo DS™ called Pokémon® Trozei.

Nintendo systems have always been home to great puzzle games, and the additional abilities of Nintendo DS add a new dimension to game play. Players use the touch screen to slide Pokémon puzzle pieces side to side or up and down. Lining up four in a row (vertically or horizontally) makes a "Trozei" and clears those pieces from the screen. When players create continuous Trozeis by lining up three in a row, then two in a row, they will clear the screen faster and increase their score.

Pokémon Trozei features two single-player modes and two two-player modes. As an extra bonus for Pokémon fans, players also try to add each of the more than 380 Pokémon featured in the game to their Trozei Lists. Pokémon® Trozei launches March 6.

Sounds like a fun game! But Im not planning on getting it.

Source: Pressnintendo
-SPORTS1

Nintendo Sales Information

NOA releases worldwide and US sale numbers for all their software and hardware products.

Nintendo DS
U.S.
DS Hardware: 2.37 million units
DS Software: 5.16 million units

Worldwide
DS Hardware: 8.83 million units
DS Software: 23.8 million units

Nintendo GameCube
U.S.
GCN Hardware: 10 million units
GCN Software: 79.49 million units

Worldwide
GCN Hardware: 19.31 million units
GCN Software: 169.51 million units

Nintendo Game Boy Advance/Game Boy Advance SP
U.S.
GBA/GBA SP Hardware: 29.8 million units
GBA Software: 128.34 million units

Worldwide
GBA/GBA SP Hardware: 70.04 million units
GBA Software: 296.12 million units

Total Worldwide Sales
Total Hardware: more than 360 million units
Total Software: more than 2.09 billion units


Source:GC Cafe

-Falco8

Weekly Japanese chart sales

Here's the weekly Japanese hardware sales chart.

Hardware
1 Nintendo DS 299,328 176,958 2,754,777
2 PlayStation Portable 86,403 92,121 1,832,948
3 PlayStation 2 45,893 27,545 1,737,343
4 Xbox 360 43,970 - 43,970
5 GameCube 12,212 6,494 200,445
6 Game Boy Advance SP 10,456 6,797 625,403
7 Game Boy Micro 8,326 7,911 370,161
8 Game Boy Advance 396 386 23,757
9 Xbox 164 149 11,961

Source: M-Create

-Falco8

Mario Kart to be a Revolution?

Wouldn't it be great if you could just point your controller at whoever you hated and your red shell would automatically aim straight towards them? Yes, Princess Peach... I'm looking at you. >.February's issue of Nintendo Power magazine housed an interview with the producer of Mario Kart, Hideki Konno.

When asked about what he liked most about the Revolution's controller, he replied "We're doing a lot of experiments right now with the Revolution controller and obviously with the direct pointing device (DPD) and its ability to track movement and distance." The new innovation that Nintendo a putting into their controller seemed to appeal to him strongly because "You know, that's huge, because that's a brand-new thing that we've never seen before in any controller. Trying to envision all the different things we could do with that motion sensor, that DPD, is a little mind-boggling."

"As you know, Mario Kart has appeared on all of Nintendo's platforms so far, and I think it's done its job on the DS, or at least I hope it will with what's new. So the next logical step, of course, is the Revolution." Konno replied, when asked about where the Mario Kart series will go from here. Just like everybody else who is working on games for the Revolution, he is using the Revolution for one of the reasons it was designed for; to attract a user base outside of their normal one. "Really what we hope to do is continue to bring new and creative things to the franchise that appeal not only to our established user base, but also bring new people into the game."

So, I think it's safe to say we will be seeing a Mario Kart on the Revolution. But can it be the best in the series?

I must also say that I think we will have it on the revolution.

Source: N-next
-SPORTS1

How to get into Narnia.

People have been asking how do you get into our town.

1. You have to be a member of the DS Update boards(fourms)
2. Go to the Animal Crossing Board
3. Post friend code
4. The threads title is DS Update Dedicated Town: Narnia

(Alternative Narnia)
1. Go pick up a copy of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Narnia: Temporarily Returns

From UZG

Narnia is back up and still at 24/7 time. This is only a temporary thing at the moment as the next time a person decides to take down trees or dig 100 holes or jus cause havoc in general the town will be permanently closed. Town Tune contest is still on... And Steve is banned until further notice. Also new applicants will be admitted later today. Some of the trees have fully regrown, but most haven't or are being planted again. We ask that you come and plant some fruit (preferrably cherries, pears, and coconuts) anywhere in the town is good. Anyways, please be respect full...

-SPORTS1

New Animal Crossing: Wild World video!

Ok this video is a review video from IGN! Click here Hope you enjoy!

-SPORTS1
Source: IGN

Narnia Closed

Due to the response we got over the dedicated town of Narnia, DS Update has decided to permanently close the town until further notice. Thank-you

-Ultimate Zelda Guru

Town Tune Contest!

DS Update is holding a contest with its DS Update dedicated town, Narnia. The contest is simple choose a familar/hit song and figure out a part of it using the Animal Crossing town tune. The song can be anything from a video game tune, to your favourite song from the radio. Then head to the DS Update forums and post the song name under the Animal Crossing board. The best song will be chosen Monday and it will be set as the new town tune for Narnia. Also the winner will recieve a special prize. Head to the forums and post your song now.

Also the tune to Funky Town is not allowed as it is the current town tune for Narnia.

-Ultimate Zelda Guru

Revolution controller is “inspirational”

We here at dsupdate love hearing what developers have to say about Nintendo and the revolution controller. Here are what some developers are saying.

Don’t worry about developers running out of ideas; THQ’s Jack Sorenson says, ”There’s almost too much that people can think of, which is a sign that it’s inspirational.”
Vicarious Visions’ Guha Bala warns some control schemes will ”be like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time,” while allowing “there are a number of things you can imagine that a Revolution controller [could do] that would be quite cool.”
Ubisoft spokeman David Hawk said,”We have some wonderful ideas for the console and plan to support Nintendo’s latest offering.”

To bad this gets nintendo nowhere. Reggie Fils-Aime knows that
”What’s important is a very strong first six months out of the gate.” Inspiration aside, developers are going to look to Nintendo’s own first-party titles to lead the way and create a new language of gameplay they can adopt in their own titles; however, if Nintendo hopes to surpass the Gamecube, third-party support must grow. First six months.

Source: joystiq
-SPORTS1

Nintendo DS blows Sony PSP away

While Nintendo is not the home console market leader, the portable video game market does speak a different story. And, the portable video game market is growing.

The company said that the DS' worldwide sales are at more than 6 million units, leaving PSP's at 4.26 million for both Japan and the rest of the world. Meanwhile Nintendo's top-selling Nintendogs pup simulator has sold more than 950,000 copies in the USA since its debut in September.

In terms of the entire major handheld gaming market, Nintendo currently owns 72%, with Game Boy Advance at 41%, Nintendo DS at 31%, and PSP at 28%.

Some Sony fanboys argue that Nintendo had a headstart in the Japanese market. However, I would say that a 10-day headstart hardly compensates for the enormous difference in sale figures. ;)

Source: Gameshout

Touch The Revolution Controller!

At least through the Internet with your mouse anyway.

A new Java Applet has appeared on Ign.com, with interesting results, Allowing you to Change the colour of the controller and change its angle, Enabling you to have a good knowledge of the controller, and what the controller does. Click Here For A Link to the page which contains the applet.

Whilst i'm here, I may as well introduce myself, I'm Whiplash, Or you can call me Mr.X, I'm new to DSUpdate, and looking forward to a long and prosperous future with this website.

Source: IGN

-Whip

DS Update + Animal Crossing

DS Update has now opened the first 24 hour online Animal Crossing town! The town is called Narnia for its talking animals and how there is something slightly magical about it. To apply to get into the DS Update town you can head to the DS Update forums and apply under the Animal Crossing board. Please read the town rules before entering the town, and also donating some bells would be nice as well... Anyways, come join the 24 hour community and be apart of the first dedicated Animal Crossing town.

Narnia Population: Growing!

-Ultimate Zelda Guru

Four new Ford Racing 3 videos

Yes we have four new videos of this game. Click here to see it.

Source: IGN
-SPORTS1

Nintendo's Official Stance

December 8, 2005 - Online reports are shedding new light on the horsepower for Nintendo's next-generation console, codenamed Revolution, and gamers are reacting. Fans who write Nintendo of America about Revolution's power will receive the following official response:

Our competitors would have you believe that the next generation of gaming will be solely defined by high definition graphics. High definition graphics look fantastic, but come at a price. To shine, high definition games must be played on high definition televisions, which aren't cheap. Games with high definition graphics are expensive to develop because they must be developed in both standard and high definition formats. Those development costs are passed on to you in the form of more expensive software. Finally, playing games with high definition graphics requires a system with loads of RAM and costly high-end graphics chips, both of which make it prohibitively expensive for most consumers.

Sharper graphics are certainly part of the next generation. We know that games for the Revolution will look brilliant whether played on a standard television or on a high definition television. However, is that all there is to next-generation gaming? We feel that sharper graphics should be combined with a new way to interface with the game itself. Our controller is a sharp departure from the current standard, to be sure, but it will provide a level of interactivity you can't get currently.

We believe in providing a single system that can play not only the previous generation's titles, but also games from a massive library built over 20 years of creating innovative and exciting games. We also believe in providing a complete wireless online experience right out of the box.
Nintendo has created a gaming system that is sleek and compact in size, powers up quickly with minimal load times, makes game development easy and fast, is easy to use, and is affordable for everyone. We are confident that gamers and non-gamers alike will support the truly next-generation experience only Nintendo can provide. Once you have a chance to play games on the Revolution, we think you'll agree!

Nintendo of America

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nintendo has chosen not to release official technical specifications for its next-generation console and it may never, according to company executives. The Big N believes that comparing horsepower between consoles is a lost cause and that the software standouts in the next-generation will be determined by the quality and originality of the games, not merely how flashy their graphics become.

Good bad or really dont care? Me I really don't care. I think once I get my hands on the system I will not let go.

Source: IGN
-SPORTS1

Wifi Hacking

Yep just as I thought people are trying to hack Nintendo's Wifi. This guy was able to play Mario Kart maps that arnt available online like waluigi pinball but with a few glitches. Check here for the whole conversation.

Source: GS Central

-D*Nyce

RE5 Releasing at the Same Time!!!

Keiji Inafune, Capcom's R&D division chief, has dreams of taking the Resident Evil franchise to new heights with a simultaneous release of the title on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. At this point, this is all just an idea due to the fact that no one knows when the PS3 will release next year.

Seeing how RE4 sold more than 1.5 million copies on the Gamecube worldwide, you can't help but wonder will the Revolution also play a factor in this equation, or does Capcom have other plans for Nintendo's next generation console. We hope to have more information on this as the news breaks.

-Mprunty

Revolution's GPU leaked?

As we hear IGN talking about Revolution's tech specs from developers, Revogaming is going to take to the stage about the Revolution, but this time they're going talk about the Revolution's Hollywood.

Revogaming reports that the Revolution's "Hollywood" GPU is:

- "Hollywood" is based on ATi's RV530 GPU
- The GPU has been optimised significantly
- The graphics are not as bad as IGN might make them sound
- The Revolution's RAM, whilst being around 128MB, is highly optimised

If you don't know what the RV530 GPU is, then here's the information.

RV530

600MHz Core Clock
1400MHz Memory Clock
512MB Maximum Memory for "XT"
256MB Maximum Memory for "Pro"
128-bit Memory
12 Pipelines
Maximum 16x32MB 1.4ns GDDR3

Also the source says that the GPU optimisation levels will be similar to the Gamecube, but the GPU will pull off graphics like Resident Evil 4, and the RAM is the same thing as IGN reports (1T-SRAM).

You could believe this news or not, but you could wait until next year when Nintendo releases most everything about the Revolution at E3, but until then take this news with a grain of salt.

Source: Revogaming

-Falco8

More Revolution Tech Specs

IGN uncovers more tech specs about Revolution. According to IGN's reports, the system will build on the Gamecube's 24 megabytes of 1T-SRAM and 16 MB of D-RAM, which totals 40 MB, and it will be added by 64MB of 1T-SRAM. That total up to 104 MB of RAM, which doesn't include the 512 megs of flash memory and the Revolution's GPU, Hollywood. Some developers have reported that the Revolution's processing rates runs about 1.5 to 2 times the Gamecube's rate speeds for both CPU and GPU.

Also the Revolution's media has the storage capacity of 4.7 GB of single layered discs and 8.5 GB dual-layered discs. Finally some developers were speculating about the Revolution's price tag saying the console will cost $149 and one developer were saying that the system should be priced at $99.

DS Update will keep you informed on this news.

Source: Revolution IGN

-Falco8

Revolution Game List!!!!

We finnaly have an offical chart of Revolutioin games announce. Look below to see the list.

Animal Crossing Revolution-2007
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Revolution-TBA
Kid Icarus Revolution-TBA
Killing Day-2006
King Kong-2006
Legend of Zelda Revolution-2007
Mario Revolution-2006
Metroid Prime 3-TBA
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest-2006
Super Smash Bros. Revolution-launch title
The Darkness-TBA
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 4-Q1 2006
The Darkness-2006
Donkey Kong Revolution-2006
Soulcalibur [untitled next-gen sequel]-TBA
Camelot RPG-2006
Free Radical Project-2007
Beijing 2008-Summer 2008
The Simpsons [next-gen]-TBA

Source: IGN and this

-SPORTS1

Ubisoft to make a FPS shooter for Revolution?

Some sources close to Nintendo reports that Ubisoft is actually making a first person shooter for the Revolution, which really sure to stands out from the Xbox360's and PS3's controls. We don't know who is developing the game, but some people are saying it might be the developer Free Radical, since Ubisoft and Free Radical signed a deal.

Source: Revolution IGN and GC Cafe

-Falco8

Nintendo sets Revolution during Thanksgiving Week

Some studios are reporting that Nintendo had them that the Revolution will be launched during Thanksgiving week. Nintendo plans to release eveything about the Revolution at E3.

Source: Nintendojo

-Falco8

Revolution's horsepower

If you wanted the Revolution to have horsepower like the Xbox 360 and PS3, then you are mistaken.

"To be honest, it's not much more powerful than an Xbox. It's like a souped up Xbox", said a third party developer, but the developer was more interested in the Revolution's controller. Some third party developers report that the Revolution will have 128 MB of RAM, while other third party developers says that the Revolution nearly triple the amount on the Gamecube. But still, the Xbox 360 has more RAM than the Revolution.

The developers are really pleased with the Revolution controller and are trying to take the concept of the controller unique to the gameplay and translate them to games. Nintendo has said that their only focus on the Revolution is on the controller and gameplay.

Source: Revolution IGN

-Falco8

Raid Over the River Revolution and DS Bound?

Developer NIBRIS is developing a fast pace shooter, and the developer announced that that they are trying to bring their game to the Revolution and Nintendo DS. NIBRIS' project manager, Piotr Orlowski, says "Only Nintendo platforms [will] get this game, and Nintendo is our life. We have all of the Nintendo consoles; we are fans."

When they were asked if they had the Revolution development kit, this is what Piotr Orlowski had to say. "To be honest - we don't have a Revolution development kit yet, so we're doing a version on PC but we have a lot of ideas [of how to] use the Revolution controller. The idea of the Revolution pad is almost like a beautiful dream."

Also NIBRIS are looking for a publisher for the game, but the developer says that they are talking with several publishers. The developer also talked to NOE to be their publisher for the game, but turned them down.

Source: Revolution Report

-Falco8

Sakurai Elaborates on Smash Bros. Revolution

December 2, 2005 - Following up on early revelations of his involvement with the project, independent developer Masahiro Sakurai has shared more comments with Japan's Weekly Famitsu on the status of Smash Bros. Revolution. As revealed to the magazine in mid November, Sakurai is directing the game, reprising his role from previous Smash Bros. titles.


Sakurai reveals that development on the project has just recently started. In fact, as of May 2005, the game's development staff consisted of exactly one person, Sakurai himself. As we shared in our previous story, Sakurai accepted a proposal by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata to direct the title following the surprise announcement of the its development at Nintendo's E3 press conference (it was a surprise to Sakurai more than anyone, as he hadn't heard of the project at the time).
Nintendo has enlisted some outside help for the development of Smash Bros. Revolution. "Shigeru Miyamoto introduced me to a 'particular company' that had just finished development of a major game," Sakurai reveals. The executives of this company didn't offer too much resistance in signing up when Sakurai spoke with them about the project.

While its name is still a secret, this company seems to have some experience with Smash Bros. -- playing it, at least. Sakurai makes mention of a GameCube controller that employees at the company were using. The analogue stick had faded away like an eraser, the result, according to the employees, of thousands of games of Smash Brothers DX (Sakurai checked their save game file and confirmed that they had indeed played a massive number of games).

Development on Smash Bros. Revolution won't be taking place at Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters. Instead, Nintendo had Sakurai, who resides in Tokyo, hunts for an Tokyo office to house the development staff. For this search, Sakurai enlisted the help of the head of Nintendo's Tokyo office and ended up choosing a location with good public transportation access. Sakurai then moved to a new place near the office so that he wouldn't have to worry about missing the last train home (trains in Tokyo stop running a bit past midnight). The new Nintendo office opened its doors at the beginning of October.

Sakurai expects a huge staff to eventually be in place at this office for the development of this Revolution update. "To make a Smash Bros. DX class game, you'd want at the least something on the scale of 50 people," he comments, adding that Nintendo will begin hiring employees for the new office via its website shortly.

The new studio hasn't started completely from scratch, though. Nintendo's HAL Lab development studio, Sakurai's former place of employ, has given Sakurai and his fledging crew full access to the development materials and tools from the development of the GameCube Smash Bros..

You might find it surprising that Nintendo would open a new office just for the development of one game. Sakurai doesn't seem as surprised, adding that the investment is an indication of how much is expected of the title. He also adds that a number of former Smash Brothers staff members reside in Tokyo and have joined up on the project's development, necessitating a Tokyo studio.

Sakurai will continue providing weekly updates on his work to Famitsu, in what appears to be a regular developer journal. We'll be sure and let you know if he shares any tasty new bits of info on Smash Bros. Revolution.

Well this is some really good news. So stay tuned!

Source: IGN
-SPORTS1

PRESS RELEASE: Customise Your Mobile Phone - The Nintendo Way!

How would you like to download all of your favorite Nintendo game downloads? Well you will be able to download on Dec. 5, 2005. Read the offical release below.

01 December 2005 – For the first time ever, all your favourite Nintendo game tunes will be ringing in your ear this Christmas as Nintendo launches its very own range of unique ring tones and wallpapers. Available through Nintendo's VIP 24:7 members club, ringtones can be downloaded by redeeming 'stars' from 05 December 2005.

So, if Mario's your all time hero or you're the world's biggest Zelda fan, then head straight to

www.nintendo-europe.com/NOE/en/GB/stars/index.jsp where you can check out what's on offer and begin downloading some great Nintendo items straight to your WAP enabled mobile phone.

There's a host of unforgettable ring tones to suit everyone - including great classics like Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime to name a few. Once your ears have been satisfied with the sweet sounds of Nintendo, it's time to make your phone look as good as it sounds - and what better way than to download your favourite games character straight to your mobile phone screen!

There are 20 realtone ring tones available, all of which can be downloaded in exchange for only 350 stars. There are also more than 30 mobile phone wallpapers for you to choose from, at just 150 stars each.

All you have to do to download your chosen item is update your user profile by entering your mobile phone number along with the make and model of the phone. Your mobile phone must be WAP enabled in order to download the items and some items may not be available for every type of mobile phone.

So If your mobile phone is in need of a makeover than head straight over to www.nintendo-europe.com/NOE/en/GB/stars/index.jsp and get downloading!

Nintendo hasn't just stopped at ring tones and wallpapers. From 2nd December 2005 Nintendo will be launching a WAP Portal where you will be able to access official Nintendo info and videos. So tap into wap.nintendo.co.uk on your mobile phone browser and see what's waiting for you!

Click onto nintendo-europe-media.com for all of the most up to date official information on Nintendo.

Source:gamesindustry
-SPORTS1

DS Burnout Legends crashes into stores

"The rubber is finally hitting the road for Electronic Arts' Burnout series debut on the Nintendo DS. A sort of compilation of the first three console Burnout games, Legends takes some of the series' popular modes and shrinks them down for Nintendo's handheld.

Among the previous modes given more life on the go are Burnout 3: Takedown's crash mode, Burnout 2's pursuit mode, and the standard race, time-attack, and multiplayer modes (now with wireless connectivity). Legends features nine gameplay modes in all, along with some new tweaks designed specifically for the DS.

The game uses the DS touch screen as a way for players to put "aftertouch" on their wrecks, directing their crippled and battered vehicle into the paths of other racers. When it's not busy showing players the petty vindictiveness inherent in their souls, the touch screen displays a handy map of the current course."

Be sure to check for updates on this and other racing titles for the DS.

Breaking: Animal Crossing Sells Over 250k Units in Two Days

Over at Japan, Animal Crossing: Wild World is selling like hotcakes! Japanese gaming site, Nintendo-Inside has reported that on November 23rd through November 24th, Animal Crossing: Oideyo Doubutsu no Mori has sold over 250,000 copies. Now these numbers are very impressive, and it looks like the game will meet its 300k mark which was speculated last week.

Also Animal Crossing DS will be the first Wi-Fi game for the Nintendo DS in Japan. Look for Animal Crossing: Wild World in North America the first week of December.

Source: Revolution Europe

-Falco8

Famitsu's DS Scores

Famitsu, the Japanese magazine, releases their scores for the Nintendo DS and Mario Kart DS almost hitting a perfect score.



Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo): 9/9/9/9 - (36/40)
Slime MoriMori: Dragon Quest 2 - Daisensha to Shippo Dan (NDS, Square Enix): 8/10/8/8 - (34/40)
Bokujou Monogatari: Colobocle Station for Girls (NDS, Marvelous): 7/6/7/8 - (28/40)
Kouchuu Ouja Mushi King: Greatest Champion e no Michi DS (NDS, Sega): 7/7/7/8 - (29/40)
Oekaki Puzzle Battle Vol. 1: Yuusha-Oh GaoGaiGar Version (NDS, Sunrise): 5/5/5/6 - (21/40)
Sims 2: Hacha Mecha Hotel Life (NDS, EA): 7/7/7/6 - (27/40)
Sugar Sugar Une: Heart Gaippai! Moegi Gakuen (GBA, Bandai): 6/6/6/5 - (23/40)
Summon Night Craft Sword Monogatari: Hajimari no Ishi (GBA, Banpresto): 8/8/8/9 - (33/40)
Densetsu no Quiz Ouketteisen (GC, Nintendo): 7/7/6/7 - (27/40)

Source: Revolution Europe

-Falco8