The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York inducted the Nintendo Game Boy, created by the late Gunpei Yokoi, into the ranks of play time immortal. The “Toy Hall of Fame” is a distinguished and elite honor which includes other childhood favorites such as The Ball and Big Wheel (both inducted this year) as well as LEGOs, Rubik’s Cube, Transformers, Silly Putty, and Dan Landis’s favorite — the Easy-Bake Oven.

Since we are on the topic, I feel the need to issue an impromptu PSA. Don’t race down a paved hill on your Big Wheel and try to stop on a dime while wearing shorts. The skin on your legs will thank you for it.

Seriously though, “The Ball” only just made it in this year!?! That baffles me considering it makes things like football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, and even dodge ball possible. Oh well, congratulations to the Game Boy, Big Wheel, and that ball thing.

Thanks GoNintendo

Nintendo has officially announced a new handheld unit dubbed the DSi LL. The latest version of the popular DS device features a 4.2″ screen (over 90% larger than that of the original), two touch-screen pens (one larger than the other), and a new price tag of $222.

The unit will launch with three color options: “WineRed, “DarkBrown” and “NaturalWhite”. United States and Europe availability has been confirmed by Nintendo however no specific release date has been set.

The Nintendo DSi LL splash page on nintendo.co.jp (shown below) displays the unit in a more mature setting atop a wooden table near house plant. My thought is that Nintendo feels the changes made to the DS will allow it to be more marketable to an older demographic. I personally don’t own one yet but I am a sucker for shiney things so who knows.

What do you think? Is the new Nintendo DSi LL worth your money? Sound off in the reader comments section below.

Thanks to /gamer for the tip.

Nintendo have announced via the above children’s television show video that a brand new side-scrolling Excitebike game will be coming to WiiWare. As you can see, it’s pretty much an updated version of the original- it also includes a track editor and even WiFi play. I’m kind of surprised at my reaction to this, as I’m usually quite cynical about these things- I think it looks pretty cool.

I loved Excitebike when I was younger. I don’t know why; perhaps it was just that it had a good sense of speed and timing the jumps and angles could be quite entertaining. It doesn’t really capture my attention the way it did then any more, but this new one looks decent. Maybe it was just that the presenters reverted me to a younger state of mind with their patronising banter.

Via Gamezine.

Before you get all excited over Cooking Mama’s new M-rated murderous approach, I’ll have to tell you that the “Chop” in its title has nothing to do with killing, as it would suggest. However, if you’re willing to substitute limbs for vegetables, you can enjoy Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop just as much.

The third title in the Cooking Mama series has you cooking food with Mama, but also shopping for the food you’ll end up cooking. It doesn’t seem at all like the previous titles in the series to me, but that could be due to the fact that the game has a bunch of new recipes & methods of cooking, and a lot more mini-games than the previous games. Actually, if I can recall, the previous two had, uh, none.

Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop hits the DS this October for $30. Hit the jump for the full press release.
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Capcom’s Wii-exclusive brawler, Spyborgs, has received a new and earlier release date of September 22 for North America. The action-packed brawler will retail at $39.99, a whole 10 bucks cheaper than most new titles released on the Wii. To celebrate the early release date, Capcom has released a few new screenshots as well as the first Spyborgs webisode entitled “Island of Fate”, which you can check out after the break.

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The first time I saw and got my hands on Wii Sports Resort was at last year’s E3. I had a chance to actually play the Frisbee mini-game and it immediately put a smile on my face. I thought it was a great idea for Nintendo to come out with a sequel to Wii Sports, but damn, I didn’t think it would take them a year to get it to us. Well, after a long wait and in the middle of a summer video game drought, Wii Sports Resort has finally arrived and it sure was worth the wait.
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It’s been almost 3 years since the last Star Fox game was released for the DS, and while it was good, Nintendo’s left the series’ fans clamoring for more. Since we haven’t heard anything about a new Star Fox game, we’re led to assume that Nintendo’s not focusing on it for now, but I don’t plan to lose any sleep over that since the team behind a new fan-created Star Fox game, Shadows of Lylat, seem to be doing a better job of continuing the series than Nintendo undoubtedly would’ve done.

Based on the FreeSpace Open game engine, Shadows of Lylat is a high-definition game with a story that takes place between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures, but it’s not going to be a straight arcade shooter like Star Fox. The creators describe it as more of a simulation shooter, but the trailers give a much better sense of what kind of game it’s going to be. There’s no guaranteed release date for the game yet, but when it’s out, you’ll be able to get it for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Hit the jump for the second Shadows of Lylat trailer, yo. [Shadows of Lylat]
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Speaking about the Wii Remote recently, Miyamoto called it a “continuous evolution” and mentioned technological advancements and videogaming. Read more…

According to the June NPD numbers, Sega’s hyped Wii-exclusive FPS, The Conduit, only sold a less than stellar 72,000 copies between its June 23 launch and the NPD cutoff date of July 4. Although it still hasn’t been out for a full month, these numbers still have to be a dissapointment to Sega who have seen their other adult-themed Wii-exclusives, MadWorld and House of the Dead: Overkill, sell very poorly.

So what is it about the Wii and so called hardcore games? I think the Wii needs these kinds of games, but is just seems as if the Wii owners don’t want them. I wonder how well The Conduit would have done if it were released for the 360 and PS3? Probably much better, but who knows.

Source: Edge

While Americans have been clamoring for Club Nintendo’s prizes to come to our fair country for a while now, only now has Nintendo followed through and given us some prizes for our years of Nintendo fanship. And boy was it worth the wait. If you have enough “Nintendo Coins” to be considered a gold membership (6 games registered, 300 coins), you’ll be able to download a snazzy Club Nintendo 2010 calendar. However, if you’re determined enough to be a Platinum member (12 games registered, 600 coins), then you’ll be elligible to choose between two prizes- an authentic repica Mario hat, which you can see after the jump, or a WiiWare download for Doc Louis’s Punch-Out!!

While I’d be plenty happy with the cool hat, the WiiWare version of Doc Louis’s Punch-Out!! seems way more interesting. A one-on-one WiiWare version of Punch-Out!! that only features Doc Louis sounds great, especially since you don’t have to own Punch-Out!! for the Wii to play it. I’ve always wanted to fight that guy. He keeps offering me some of his chocolate bar, but I never get to taste hte sweet chocolately goodness. Well now it’s just you & me in the ring, Doc. Winner takes all- provided I get enough Nintendo coins.

That chocolate bar is mine.

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Another Monday, means another day full of downloads for Nintendo’s Wii and DSi. The Wii gets three different titles for the WiiWare, including new Japanese puzzle game NEVES PLUS!, and one old-school god game for the Virtual console. The DSiWare gets another Art Style game to add to the DSi Shop. Hit the jump for a brief description of the new games available today and how much they’ll cost you. Read more…

A big week for the WiiWare with three new games coming out today, along with two Mario-themed gizmos for the DSiWare and let’s not forget the Virtual Console with one new, well actually old, game coming out too. Hit the jump for the full list of downloadable content for your favorite NintendoWare and a full description of each title. Read more…

One of the surprises out of Nintendo’s conference today was the announcement of a new Pokemon Dungeon game. Not so much that the game existed, since it’s already out in Japan, rather the fact that the game would be released in the US.

While I never actually played the last, er, 4 games in the series, the new one looks very interesting. I’ll probably check it out a little- if anything, just for Bidoof. God, he’s so adorable.

Quick post right here, because I’ve got a bunch more trailers to post, but I just have to say that of all of the DS games announced at Nintendo’s E3 conference, I’m most excited for Professor Layton & The Diabolical Box. As the sequel to Prof. Layton and the Curious Village, it has a lot to look up to, but I’m sure that if it sticks with the formula, it’ll be fantastic.

I spent a month playing the first game (due to a combination of my baffling stupidity and horrible attention span) and it was the best month ever. The game is intelligent, tricky, and fun, and I can’t wait until The Diabolical Box hits (and kills) stateside August 24.

NO PROFESSOR DON’T OPEN THE BOOOOOOX!

I’m a huge fan of the first two games in the M&L series, so you can imagine my excitement when Nintendo announced Mario & Luigi 3 in October last year. Unfortunately, the game was for Japan only, and my happiness quickly subsided- until today, when Nintendo announced Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story for the DS at their E3 conference.

The trailer’s really interesting too. It shows Luigi & Mario getting sucked into Bowser’s insides, and how they plan to get out- by kicking and punching everything in their way. The best news is that you can also play as Bowser himself! I can’t wait until this game comes out this fall.

Super Mario Galaxy was one of my favorite games of 2007. It actually gave me a lot of hope for the Wii, because I knew that if all third-party developers were as good at making games for the Wii as Nintendo was, the system would thrive for a while. And while that theory didn’t stand the test of time, I’m glad to say that Super Mario Galaxy is back- and it has a trailer! You can watch the trailer above. You know, if you want to. Or don’t, whatever.

Do it.

God, I love me some Metroid. Sure, I wasn’t a big fan of Metroid Prime 3, but I’ve always wished that Nintendo would add another Metroid game to the Wii lineup- and today they did with the announcement of Metroid: Other M.

The trailer for the game is above, and it looks great. Even though it’s clearly CG, I love the introduction, which gives a bit of a backstory to the game. But I don’t want to ruin it, so click above and enjoy the masterpiece that is Metroid: Other M.

We were pleasantly surprised this year at E3 when Nintendo announce New Super Mario Bros for the Wii, but now we have the trailer for the game as well. And it looks really good, too. The graphics aren’t exactly Uncanny Valley quality, but I mean, it’s the Wii. I’ll post the videos for Metroid: Other M and Super Mario Galaxy 2 in a couple of minutes as well. Get excited!

With all the buzz around E3 09 starting today, let’s not forget that it’s still Monday and that means new downloadable games for your Wii and DSi. The biggest title this week is easily Final Fantasy IV: The After Years for the WiiWare. Hit the jump for a brief description of the game and the full list of downloads for this week. Read more…

E3 is back, and so are our glowing and always insightful predictions. These are from the heart people. Grab a Kleenex and hit the jump. Read more…