Code Retard

If you check out Nintendo Japan’s corporate press release for today, you’ll find something quite interesting that WASN’T revealed at E3, the biggest gaming convention of the year- a stunning picture of a slick black Wii. While it’s certainly not the biggest news of the year, the fact that the Nintendo Wii is getting a new black paint job is still pretty big news. Just like the old DS Lite got a color makeover from the original polar white, the polar white Wii will now be sold in black as well. It goes on sale in Japan on August 1 later this year. Not to leave those who seek absolute matching accessories in dismay, Nintendo will also release black Wii remotes and classic controllers.

Also making headlines is a new color for the DSi. Though the news isn’t as big as we already get our choice of two DSi colors, the bold red portable gaming device would make a handsome addition to any gamer’s collection. Though on second thought if you had to stare at it gaming for a few hours you’d probably tire your eyes out.

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Punch-Out!! was a much beloved game on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and now the highly anticipated reintroduction on the Wii is now available for pre-order on Amazon for the low price of $39.99 with free shipping. The game is set to hit store shelves in a few days on May 18th.

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Nintendo’s system menu 4.0 update provided a long-awaited storage solution in the form of SDHC support up to 32GB. Whoopee. Now we’ll tell you how you can actually load Wii game backups off a hard drive with this Wii hard drive hack for a real storage solution. Taking advantage of Nintendo’s 4.0 update support a costly solution since you are required to buy pricey SDHC cards, and it’s limited in size as well. With the Wii hard drive hack we’re about to discuss, you can load games off any USB hard drive with much higher storage capacities. Expensive 32GB flash? Psh, try cheap 320GB HDD. And not only that, if you’ve got any USB stick pen drives lying around, they will work just as well. Plus to top it all off, you will see a huge performance benefit as your games will load much faster as they’re being read off the hard drive compared to the slower DVD disc drive.

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If you’ve been thinking of updating to Wii System Menu 4.0 you may want to hold off. Despite the greatest improvement offered by the 4.0 update – a storage solution for Virtual Console and WiiWare games (up to 32GB possible with SDHC) – it may come at a cost to some Wii gamers. If you’ve been relying on the famed Twilight hack to launch your own homebrew, it won’t work any longer as the exploit has finally been patched by Nintendo. Considering that homebrew gamers have been able to use the Twilight Princess hack for a solid year, it has definitely served its purpose for the homebrew community well even if it’s permanently gone.

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Check out Joystiq’s video walkthrough of the newest addition to the Wii system menu 4.0: the SD Card Channel. It is available on the Wii Shop Channel and is Nintendo’s answer to the lack of a storage solution for games on the Wii. With the SD Card Menu, you can now launch channels saved on the SD card directly from the SD card without first having to drag and drop it over to the system menu. The SD card menu also supports deletion natively so there’s no need to go to the data management settings. One final note: the system menu 4.0 update also brings compatibility for SDHC cards up to 32GB in size, finally it’s time to buy one!

According to Develop magazine, Nintendo recently held a top-secret Nintendo Developer Conference earlier this week and asked its attendees to think of the DSi as the “first choice above any others for those looking to pursue new avenues for games design and ways for developers to make money.” That sounds very much like Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which has been a huge boon for Apple and SDK developers. The Nintendo DS/DSi has long been the king of the handheld console market, but now it seems Nintendo too wishes to venture into the general app market and cash in on its newfound popularity.

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According to Nintendo UK general manager David Yarnton, the company will most likely phase out the DS Lite handheld if the upcoming DSi ‘thrives.’

Yarnton would not commit the company to any such plans, but did note that if enough buyers purchased the updated handheld, the DS Lite would most likely be discontinued, just like its fatter brother, the original DS, was.

“We’ll let the market decide,” he said. “We expect some people will upgrade, but we also anticipate that we’ll win over people who were still undecided on DS — the extra features will help convince them. There’s an extra incentive.”

The DSi is slated for an April 3rd release date in Europe followed by a North American release two days later.

The system will cost $169.99 USD in North America and will cost around GBP 149 in Europe, both 50 dollar premiums over the current model, the DS Lite.

To get Pokemasters hyped over Pokemon Platinum which will be released this month for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo has teamed up with Toys R Us to bring a special download event to avid Pokemon fans. For a limited time from March 8 until Saturday March 21, Pokemon gamers can bring their Pokemon Diamond or Pearl games to their local Toys R Us to take advantage of TRU’s Nintendo Wifi hotspot where the rare golem Pokemon Regigigas can be downloaded for free. Regigigas, Pokemon number 486 on your Pokedex, cannot be caught easily unless you want to gather a Regirock, Regice, and Registeel and trek your way to Snowpoint Temple. This is by far the easiest way to get Regigigas legendary Pokemon just in time for you to transfer to Pokemon Platinum when it launches the day after this TRU Pokemon event ends. So hurry up because this special download event ends in two weeks!

Image/Nintendo

The new Nintendo DSi has sort of quietly been forgotten here in the States since it was released last year exclusively in Japan. But no more! The shipping embargo is going to be lifted this coming April 5, 2009 — just two months away. Don’t miss out on your chance to be the first gamer on your block with the latest and greatest portable gaming gadget from Nintendo.

The Nintendo DSi is fully compatible with all DS games and boasts larger screen size, better audio quality, built-in front and back cameras, AAC music playback support, and SD card expansion slot. Currently it’s available for pre-order on Amazon for $169.99 which is cheaper than the Japanese unit which retails for around $189 when converted to USD. The DSi will be region-locked so you can’t go out and buy an imported DSi and expect your US games to work on it. It’s going to be available initially in two colors: matte blue (pictured) and matte black. Limit two per household, get your DSi pre-orders in now before they go out of stock.

Image/Amazon

To get Pokemasters hyped over Pokemon Platinum which will be released next month for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo has teamed up with Toys R Us to bring a special download event to avid Pokemon fans. For a limited time until Saturday February 14, Pokemon gamers can bring their Pokemon Diamond or Pearl games to their local Toys R Us to take advantage of TRU’s Nintendo Wifi hotspot where the rare grass Pokemon Shaymin can be downloaded for free. Shaymin, Pokemon number 492 on your Pokedex, cannot be obtained any other way. This is the only legit way to get Shaymin into your collection. Shaymin will be gifted in land forme but can be evolved into sky forme when you trade it into Pokemon Platinum. Hurry up because this special download event ends this Saturday.