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Japanese Nintendo downloads: Zombie in Wonderland, Karate Champ

Marvelous's World Game Parade brings a "world game" that actually has yet to release anywhere but Japan: Akaoni Studio's Zombie Panic in Wonderland, a sort of spiritual successor to the DS's Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ. Also on Wii is one of the original fighting games, Karate Champ, in its original arcade form -- though we doubt it supports the dual-joystick interface of the original.

Developer Tom Soderlund explains the frights of Ghostwire

Bumps in the night. Unexplained sounds. A chill up your spine. Extreme terror. These things aren't associated with the Nintendo DSi, unless you unexpectedly leave yours behind in a taxi. But A Different Game CEO Tom Soderlund wants to bring all of that augmented paranormal activity to your DSi with Ghostwire and turn you into a ghostbuster (minus the proton packs). Now you're armed with a stylus and the power of Nintendo.

Originally conceived four years ago for Symbian-powered smartphones, the idea is to turn your handheld into a tool for communicating with the paranormal world. The built-in camera, sound meters, light meters are all a part of the experience, providing a combination of real-world and computer-generated data. Soderlund's team built an adventure game around it -- you talk to ghosts, find out what's troubling them, and either capture them or attempt to ease their pain.

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Ghostwire to haunt iPhone, Android

Ghostwire lead developer Tom Soderlund told us at GDC that his upcoming DSi-exclusive Nintendo DS game will be coming to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. The DSi version, published by Majesco, is set to come out near Halloween this year, and it's possible the other flavors will be ready by then as well.

One advantage these systems have over the DS is the bonus of GPS, which could lead to some interesting location-specific ghosts. We hope Elvis' grave is first on the list.

This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Cave Story


This week's most noteworthy Nintendo Channel item is by far the Developer's Voice video on Cave Story above. Next week, we'll finally get to play it. How pumped are you? Like, beyond pumped? We sure hope so!

Head past the break for the rest of this week's content.

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Now Playing: March 15-21, 2010


We hear he's a lot bigger up close.

Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:

Last updated: Monday, 3:00 PM

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NintendoWare Weekly: Rage of the Gladiator, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

Today's Wii downloadable releases look like they'll work nicely together. When Medusa heads have murdered you enough times in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, you can switch over to Rage of the Gladiator and smash them in first person!

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European Nintendo downloads: Ironclad, Nectaris

Okay, so it isn't Rondo of Blood this week in Europe. Nintendo instead chose to inaugurate the latest Hanabi Festival with the pre-rendered Neo Geo shooter Ironclad and Lode Runner for NES. It's pretty novel in and of itself to have two Virtual Console games in a single week, not to mention a Neo Geo game! They're joined on Wii by the WiiWare version of Military Madness.

Nintendo sells 1.9 million DS and Wiis through Feb. 2010

Following last night's NPD report for February, Nintendo has issued a press release lauding the amazing selling power of its own products. In typical fashion, the gaming giant that got your grandma into gaming has managed to sell a ridiculous amount of DS and Wii systems in the U.S. -- 1.9 million in the first two months of 2010, to be exact.

As impressive as that 1.9 million figure is, Nintendo's ability to break its own records is even more impressive. In selling 613,000 DS units throughout February 2010, Nintendo has managed to set a new monthly record, besting the previous top-selling month of February 2009's figure of 597,000 units. It would seem that two things are certain in this life: we're all going to die one day and before that day comes, each of us is going to own nine DS systems.

With March 28 fast approaching -- that's the release date for the DSi XL -- Nintendo is hoping to further build on the success of its now six-year-old handheld. And, to think, even after all that time, the gif still hasn't gotten old.

Metroid Dread concept is something Sakamoto 'can't say never existed'

Immediately following his well-attended GDC panel, Nintendo's Yoshio Sakamoto talked with us about (what else?) Metroid: Other M. In addition to all sorts of questions on the unique Team Ninja collaboration, we asked Sakamoto about the long-rumored Metroid Dread project and, barring a confirmation of that product, when we'd see another 2D handheld Metroid.

Joystiq: Speaking of the core Metroid development team that last worked on the GBA, there have been rumors of a game known as 'Metroid Dread' – purportedly a 2D Metroid game for DS. First question: Was 'Dread' a real project? Second question: If not, where is a 2D Metroid on DS?

Yoshio Sakamoto: It seems we get a lot of questions about Metroid Dread, especially at interviews following E3 for example. But nothing's ever been announced about this game; it's all just been rumors so far. So we never know exactly how to respond to questions like this.

While there actually was a point where some teams were meeting to discuss if it was possible to create a 2D Metroid for DS using a relatively small team size, it's not something that we ever really announced or thought of as "Metroid Dread." But whenever people bring out that idea, we recognize that the basic concept is something that we can't say never existed. But at the same time, we can't of course, make any official comment about a Metroid Dread-like project coming out.

Our main goal [with Metroid: Other M] is to, as I said earlier, first raise knowledge about the Metroid universe and the Samus character before we start to introduce different elements like online or even going back to another handheld game for the next in the series. So there's nothing coming immediately, we want to think about these new challenges first.

But, of course, we never say never.

Ghost Trick possesses Japan June 24, Capcom releases demo

Capcom has announced the Japanese release date for Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi's supernatural puzzle adventure game, Ghost Trick. Japan will be able to put Sissel's spirit into a bicycle on June 24. Capcom has yet to offer a date for North American or European releases beyond simply 2010, but if the game is in a complete state by June, that bodes well for localization sometime in the fall.

However, if you can't wait that long, and you don't mind clicking through a bunch of Japanese text, you can play the TGS demo right now! Capcom posted a flash demo to the Ghost Trick site.

[Via Andriasang]

Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest makes 'Move' to PS3

[Wii version]
Warner Bros. Interactive has revealed that, in addition to the previously announced PS2, PSP, DS and Wii releases, it's putting Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest on PS3 -- with PlayStation Move support. The kid-friendly LOTR game will now be released this fall (delayed again!) on all five platforms, with the Wii version developed by Headstrong Games (yes, that Headstrong Games) and the others by TT Fusion. Of course, the Wii and PS3 versions will be the only ones with motion control, and they will also be the only versions featuring two-player co-op (with the second player controlling Gandalf).

The PS3 version won't be an exact port of the Wii one, but it's the same idea -- a game for which the Wii was originally the lead platform, now spreading to the PS3 thanks to the existence of a very Wii-like motion controller. It may be the first, but this is definitely not the last time we'll see this!

Majesco cooks up Crafting Mama for DS

Almost a year ago, a trademark for "Crafting Mama" was spotted. It's now being put to use, as Majesco has announced, well, Crafting Mama for DS. In her latest endeavor, Mama will occupy her seemingly endless time with a new task: arts & crafts.

In a series of 40 projects, players will create things like birdhouses, quilts, kaleidoscopes and adorable new aprons for Mama to wear, as well as Mama dolls. Of course, these creations will all be realized through the familiar touch-based minigames, played alone and in multiplayer, which so many of us have grown to love in the utterly populous Cooking Mama game franchise. It's kind of crazy that a company can announce a game about making quilts and birdhouses, and we can already pretty much imagine how to play it!

Majesco plans a fall 2010 release for Crafting Mama, but we suspect the publisher is at least considering bumping that up a bit.

Ubisoft prepping short film, a Ghost Recon: Future Soldier prequel

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ubisoft will release a short film ahead of the release of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The film will be helmed by Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy, the duo that just won an Academy Award for their short film Logorama. We're assuming the Ghost Recon film won't be quite as cheeky. The short, which will serve as a prequel to Future Soldier, will be a 20-minute live-action film, reportedly with a budget between $8–10 million. It's being written by Tim Sexton, co-writer of Children of Men.

The project is in line with Ubisoft's ongoing strategy to expand its scope of media to include more than just video games. Last year, the company released the Assassin's Creed: Lineage short film series to promote Assassin's Creed II. Later in the year, Ubisoft Montreal's Yannis Mallat envisioned a future where Ubisoft crafts films and games using the same assets, which is precisely what it did with Lineage. Given the talent and financial backing behind the Future Soldier film, it looks like Mallat's future could be a bright one.

[Via Big Download]

LukPlus looking for Coropata publisher at GDC

If you're reading this and you're in charge of business development for a game publisher, and if you're at GDC -- as unlikely as all that is -- please go talk to LukPlus. According to Siliconera, the publisher has a meeting room at the convention, and is actively working to find a North American publisher for its cute DS puzzle game Coropata.

We sampled Coropata at TGS and found it charming, and we'd appreciate the opportunity to do things like buy it in a store and read all the text. We admit that a cutesy, anime-style puzzle game similar to The Incredible Machine may be somewhat of a niche interest, though.

Japanese Nintendo downloads: Mega Man 10, Moon Cresta

Though there's a lot of content on DSiWare in Japan today, it's almost entirely training stuff. So, it would seem that DSiWare stepped aside to let WiiWare's single release shine this week. (That's probably not what really happened -- but it's a nice thought.)

In any case, Mega Man 10 is up on WiiWare in Japan today, and it's likely to overshadow anything else available this week, including the ancient Moon Cresta:

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