Since gaming news has all but vanished at this time of year, I thought I’d put together a Top Ten list of sorts. Instead of calling it a “ten best games” list, however, I prefer to think of it as a list of my top ten favorite games from this year. After all, the games I enjoyed the most might not necessarily be the best, but that doesn’t diminish their value to me. And keep in mind that I didn’t play everything released this year—not that I would, even if I could.

So, without further ado, here are my ten favorite games released this year, in no particular order. (more…)

Dark Void, Capcom’s upcoming action/adventure/rocketman game, is getting a DS port. Not a big surprise—many AAA titles get handheld ports. What is surprising is the approach Capcom is taking in porting the title to Nintendo’s lil’ dual-screen handheld. This isn’t just a port folks; it’s a prequel of sorts. But also…

I think it’s safe to say now that Capcom has a thing for old-school 8-bit gaming. And you know what? I do too. God bless Capcom. Dark Void: Zero blasts onto DSiWare in January, and will cost you 500 magic bucks.

If you enjoy Wii-motes and courtrooms, Nintendo’s got you covered. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the first game in the popular DS lawyer-RPG (if in fact one can label the genre) series, is coming to the Nintendo Wii via the WiiWare service.

It’s a straight port, so don’t expect upgraded graphics, sound… Just don’t expect anything extra at all, and you’ll be happy. Well, you will be if you’re a Ace Attorney fan. Otherwise, you might want to steer clear of this particular port.

I honestly don’t get the appeal of the series. But, to be fair, I equate being a lawyer with having a monstrous giant repeatedly smash my feet with a humongous hammer. This series is obviously not for me. If it is for you; you own a Wii; and you don’t own a DS, well, rejoice!

The rumors about a DSi with larger screens are true. Nintendo will release the DSi LL, featuring 4.2 inch screens—that’s about 93% larger than the DS Lite’s screens—on November 21 in Japan. To put that date in perspective, consider the release date for the original DSi: November 1, 2008. Yes, Nintendo is releasing a slightly upgraded DSi just one year after the DSi hit store shelves.

Nintendo says they created the DSi LL for those who complained that the DSi was not conducive to Internet browsing or playing music, due to small fonts. Keep in mind that the screens may be larger but they will display the same resolution as the original DSi. Most people shouldn’t notice a difference in picture quality, but tech nerds might notice a wee bit of blurriness on edges.

I don’t need larger screens so I’ll skip the DSi LL, but I imagine some of you might be interested in picking one up. Heck, some people will buy just about anything Nintendo sells. I bet some folks would buy a business suit textured with screens from every Super Mario Bros. game if it was sold at a reasonable price. Come to think of it, I might just buy that.

UPDATE 5:30 PM EST: Looks like the DSi XL, (the North American name of the DSi LL) will be Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. in early 2010. No set date just yet, but we’ll let you know what it is when it’s announced.

Are you starting to suffer from Zelda Withdrawal™? Do you need to get your Link fix soon? Well, worry no longer, because Nintendo’s got you covered. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, a direct sequel to the enormously popular Phantom Hourglass, hits North American store shelves on December 7th.

The titular tracks are ridden via a magical locomotive. Link must destroy barrels and other obstacles on the aforementioned tracks in order to proceed around a mysterious island. This being a Zelda game, Link will naturally get to explore dungeons and solve puzzles as well. I don’t think Nintendo’s ready to shake things up with Link just yet. No car-jacking or flying spaceships for this little elfin hero.

Despite being available on the Japanese Wii Shop Channel since the beginning of the year, Nintendo of America finally decided to let us have the new and improved Nintendo Channel today. You know, that little thing you downloaded about a year ago, watched some horribly compressed streaming game trailers and never used again? Yeah, that thing.

All kidding aside, after a quick look by myself, I’ve found that the new version includes:

• A new “High-Quality setting for videos, for those with a fast enough Internet connection.
• A completely re-designed front page featuring still images of each video.
• The ability to now recommend DS games. This is done by connecting your DS using DS Download play with the game you want to recommend in the game card slot.
• Improved rankings for recommended games, depending on the how positively the game is recommended  it is assigned a different medal. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. As of right now I see that Metroid Prime Trilogy has a platinum, Super Smash Bros. Brawl has a gold, and (travesty!) Super Mario Galaxy has a silver.
• A new records page giving you detailed info on your past recommendations  and total play time. (IE: I’ve spent 94 hours on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, while I’ve spent 5 minutes on Bit.Trip.Core.
• A favorites list where you can declare any DS or Wii game as one of your “favorites.”

Head on over to the Wii Shop Channel now to download the update for free.

The NPD has released North American sales data for the big three consoles in August. How do the console sales stack up?

• Nintendo DS – 552,900
• Wii – 277,400
• Xbox 360 – 215,400
• PlayStation 3 – 210,000
• PSP – 140,300
• PlayStation 2 – 105,900

How about software sales?

01. Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360) – 928,000
02. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) – 754,000
03. Madden NFL 10 (PS3) – 665,000
04. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360) – 303,000
05. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3) – 290,000
06. Madden NFL 10 (PS2) – 160,000
07. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP) – 130,000
08. Wii Fit (Wii) – 128,000
09. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 120,000
10. Fossil Fighters (DS) – 92,000

Couple things here. First, while Batman: Arkham Asylum sold a total of 593,000 copies in North America in August, it was revealed in the LA Times that the total number of units sold worldwide in the month since release has totaled to over 2 million. I’d say Eidos has a genuine hit on their hands.

Because of the recent price drop, the PS3 saw a boost in sales of nearly 90,000 over last month. Here are last month’s console sales for comparison.

• Nintendo DS – 538,900
• Wii – 252,200
• Xbox 360 – 202,900
• PSP – 122,800
• PlayStation 3 – 121,800
• PlayStation 2 – 108,000

Okami, the lovely (if somewhat overlong) action adventure game from Capcom, didn’t sell as well as some had hoped. It was released on the PS2, then got an excellent port to the Wii, but it still never seemed to really light up the charts. There are a group of devoted fans, though, and it seems they now have something new to look forward to.

Okamiden is the Japanese name of the sequel recently announced for the Nintendo DS. Not too much is known about the game, but the signature brushstroke action is back, this time using the DS’s touch screen. Also, you seem to be playing as a younger wolf this time, instead of the mature Ameterasu from the original. Check out the gameplay trailer below:

Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing (and an all-around cool lady) is spreading the word that the ability to upload pictures from your DSi to Facebook comes tonight in North America, via a free system update.

The update should hit at 5 PM Pacific time. With the update, you’ll find a Facebook icon while viewing pictures on your DSi. Tap the icon to send the picture to your Facebook account.

This sounds neat, but will any of you actually use this feature? I’m sure I’ll toy around with it, but I doubt it will become a thing in my life. What say you, good folks?

Nintendo announced a new feature called “Demo Play” at E3 (although its existence has been known for quite some time) which allows gamers to view a computer-controlled cut-scene of sorts illustrating the path necessary to successfully maneuver through a difficult section of a game.

For instance, if a player simply cannot beat a tough boss, the player can enable Demo Play to watch the computer tear through the boss like a pro. The player would then use the strategies learned from Demo Play to proceed.

It was initially believed that Demo Play would only be available in select Wii titles, but it seems that assumption is false. Nintendo announced that Demo Play will be featured in DS titles as well, although they did not specify which titles. The only known game to feature Demo Play at this time is the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

We’ll let you know about other titles featuring Demo Play as they’re announced.