Joystiq [Nintendo]

We've humbly requested that our readership purchase a certain title to ensure the development of a sequel many times before (picked up your required 15 copies of Gitaroo Man yet?), but rarely does our fervor for a video game series build to a level that inspires us to offer actual, tangible rewards for your compliance.

We suppose we've never loved a game as much as craftwise classic gaming fan Benjamin loves Retro Game Challenge -- he's offering a cross-stitched Ninja Robot Haggle Man button to anyone who purchases a new copy of the game. Just send in your receipt, and he'll pay the shipping. As he sees it, its his only way to get XSEED to localize Retro Game Challenge 2 -- we usually just send developers large sacks of money to accomplish such a goal, but we realize that's not always possible for -- ahem -- blue collar types. Good luck, Ben!

[Thanks, Michael!]

How often is a publisher relaxed enough to announce a product with an extended joke? Usually, trailers are very carefully put together to attract the target market. None of that for AQ Interactive, however! The publisher revealed its new DSi-enhanced version of Korg DS-10 by having producer Nobuyoshi Sano give a fake Apple-style keynote presentation. And it's fantastic.

As for the program, it uses the extra processing capabilities of the DSi to double the number of analog synthesizers (to four) and drum synthesizers (to eight), allows the use of twelve tracks, and features real-time editing. Korg DS-10 Plus will be out in Japan on September 17. See the faux Stevenote after the break.

[Via Offworld]

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This week in Europe, Hudson Soft has one release on all three Wii download services. That's a pretty impressive feat, even if the individual games don't seem that exciting. We suppose 50 sudoku puzzles for 200 points is nice, and SimEarth is a good game.

The Hudson releases are joined by Taito's Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move update and by Altered Beast. Now, we love Altered Beast more than most people (by which we mean we love it some), but 900 points for the arcade version? What's that about?

WiiWare:

• Puzzle Bobble Plus! (1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
• Water Warfare (1-2 players offline, 2-8 online, 800 Wii Points)

Virtual Console:

• Altered Beast (Arcade, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)
• SimEarth (Turbografx-16 CD-ROM, 1 player,800 Wii Points)
  

DSiWare:

• Sudoku 50 for Beginners (1 player, 200 DSi Points)

The tri-Crescendo-developed Namco Bandai RPG, Fragile, will eventually make its way to Europe, GameSpot reports. Sometime in early 2010, Europeans will be able to get their own taste of this post-apocalyptic title following Seto, who is believed to be the last living human being. It's kind of like I Am Legend, but, like, bearable.

Made by the same team behind Eternal Sonata, Fragile is currently set to release in North America during the holidays courtesy of XSEED, and will arrive in Europe via Rising Star Games.

A quick poll of the Joystiq staff proved that most of us stopped watching Dragon Ball years ago (some never got into it), but general consensus is the upcoming title looks very appealing. A platformer at its core, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (Dragon Ball: Tenkaichi Daibouken) focuses on the Red Ribbon Army and Piccolo Daimao story arcs of the famed anime and manga series. Looking for a new 2.5D adventure? Namco Bandai's upcoming Wii-exclusive might find a spot on your radar. A mash-up of three Japanese commercials (with game footage) can be found after the break.

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Square Enix announced a Japanese release date for Matrix Software's DS remake of SaGa 2 (Final Fantasy Legend II): September 17. The remake is getting the same kind of treatment from Square that any major DS RPG would -- by which we mean Square is charging a lot for it and releasing an even more expensive limited edition.

Though the company has yet to reveal the design, a limited-edition SaGa 20th Anniversary DSi system will be available on the game's release date, for 24,880 yen ($261). It's a good idea for Square Enix to release this limited edition and celebrate this milestone with this particular SaGa game, as ... people like this one.

[Via Siliconera]

Yes, the once-vague "fall" launch window for the pedometer-infused pokéremakes, Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, has evolved into a much more specific Japanese release date of September 12. The game will be catchable if you've got 4,980 yen ($50) to spare, which seems an exorbitant price, but is actually the standard cost of Pokémon titles in Japan, thanks to that completely unwarranted Adorability Tax.

North America hasn't gotten a release date or price for the remakes -- probably because Nintendo has yet to formally announce the games in the States -- but we'll let you know when it finally does. You'll know which post contains this announcement, because it'll be written in bold all-caps to reflect our uncontrollable excitement.

Thanks to the success of games such as Wii Fit, EA Sports Active and Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009, the medical community is starting to take games seriously as a means to pump you up keep us healthy. Reuters reports that at this year's fifth annual Games for Health Conference in Boston, a bolstered attendance brought health experts together to talk about these games, and you'd be surprised how much money these titles generated last year.

"Healthcare is 18 percent of the GDP of the United States and so games for health is probably the largest sector of activity in the serious games field long-term," said Ben Sawyer, a co-founder of The Games for Health Project. He added, "If you add up the 18 month sales of Wii Fit and the sales of EA Sports Active, Konami's Dance Dance Revolution and other healthy games, the worldwide retail numbers are over $2 billion." That's not a bad slice of the $22 billion pie that gaming lovingly prepared last year, if we may say so.

Some experts think the government should look into offering these types of games in schools to help kids learn the importance of exercise, while others think that a public service campaign should be started and backed by the president, Congress, and other federal agencies. We'd comment, but we really only play Wii Fit for the hulahoop game.

Fresh-faced late night host (and Engadget superfriend) Jimmy Fallon recently trounced golf superstar Tiger Woods in a Times Square showdown round of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. Just as aging classic rockers are incapable of grasping the musical mechanics of Rock Band, it seems Mr. Woods was unable to translate his real-life adroitness to the virtual greens -- Fallon bested him by "a large margin," according to MTV Multiplayer.

Try not to take it too hard, Woodsy. We're sure you could beat him at Don't Laugh During Every Freaking Sketch During Your Six-Year Stint on Saturday Night Live 2010.

The Wii release of Metroid Prime Trilogy just keeps getting better. Yesterday, we learned that it would include a lovely tin and an artbook, and now GameStop has just revealed that copies pre-ordered from the retailer will also come with a free t-shirt! It also comes with video games!

In our opinion, the shirt looks pretty great (we're assuming it's not all dithered in real life like it is in the picture), even with the logo on the side, and even with the added baggage of identifying you as a GameStop shopper. The offer is valid for both in-store and online pre-orders.

Turkish website Nintendocu.com has a gallery of fantastic Legend of Zelda cosplay compiled from various photography websites and gaming events. The primary character in action is Princess Zelda herself, with cameo appearances from Link. In one of the images (above) Zelda and Link can be seen locking lips, which we're pretty sure jumps the shark from "dress playing" lore to "blue" fan fiction. It's especially "blue" if you've got a thing for plastic ears.

[Via GoNintendo]

There's a decent chance you've never heard of the Square Enix DS title, Nanashi no Game (roughly: The Game with No Name), as it was never released outside of Japan. Essentially, it's The Ring in video game form. In the original Nanashi no Game, the player was introduced to a cursed role-playing game that killed its players within seven days if they failed to complete it. Thus, the game was split into sections of first-person exploration in 3D and sections that were styled after 8-bit role-playing games of yore (Dragon Quest, most notably).

Now, a year later, Square Enix is getting ready to unleash the sequel, Nanashi no Game Me (The Game with No Name: The Eye), which includes not only a cursed RPG, but a cursed platformer as well (who's developing these cursed games, anyway?). You can check out a trailer for the game (courtesy of Famitsu) above. You can also find some more info on the game at Siliconera. We have no idea if the sequel will make its way out of Japan, but we definitely hope so.

There are a few weird, internal reactions a nerd has to deal with when a company -- Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, in this case -- announces that it's creating the first officially licensed Star Wars lightsaber and blaster accessories for the Wii. On one hand, Wii accessories are, by and large, completely pointless. On the other hand, they're lightsabers ... and they light up. On yet another hand (wait ... three hands?) the accessories, including the blaster, clearly don't have enough room to accommodate MotionPlus (as far as we can tell).

Granted, these are being released in conjunction with Star Wars - The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, which has no MotionPlus support that we're aware of, but come on! Any lightsaber accessory should have an extra slot for MotionPlus. We don't care if LucasArts ever makes another lightsaber game or not. Hell, we'll pick up Red Steel 2 and just pretend we're using a lightsaber. At least, we would, if these accessories supported MotionPlus.

Oh, the Clone Trooper blaster also comes with stickers.

Update: We've confirmed with BDA that neither Republic Heroes nor its accessories support MotionPlus.

Filip Felberg is kind of like Mr. Miyagi, but instead of masterfully pruning bonsai (and training kids to take down Cobra Kai), he makes awesome stuff out of Lego. His flickr page shows us his latest fixation: Nintendo's Pikmin. He's remade Olimar (and his ship), along with many of the enemies encountered in the game, to great effect. His creations strike an amazing resemblance to their in-game counterparts, and we totally wouldn't mind having a few of these on our desk. How about you?

[Via GameSetWatch]

DJ Hero might be the cliquish kid sister in Activision's branching "Hero" family, but it belongs to a really big clique, according to CEO Mike Griffith. "It's certainly hitting a more mainstream and expanded audience from Guitar Hero," Griffith said of the spin-off in an interview with GI.biz. As expansive as the Guitar Hero catalog has grown over the years (enough to re-release a disc of "greatest hits"), there's potential for DJ Hero to reach far beyond, literally mixing in, well, anything.

While Griffith has his sights set on some 300 million Hero-less households, developer FreeStyleGames must be a bit more narrow-minded, lest DJ Hero come out as a cacophonous mashup. As mainstream as turntablists have become, they're still spinning for a variety of crowds. There's a difference between a game for everyone and a game with something for everyone. So it's simple then? All DJ Hero has to be is the greatest mixtape of all time.