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!

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:

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.

Japanese RPG (or JRPG as they’re commonly known today) veterans are well aware of the Dragon Quest series’ difficulty (read: very hard), which only seems to increase with each new release. According to the nerds over at Kotaku, it looks like Dragon Quest IX will continue this trend.

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii told Kotaku that the Nintendo DS title will be “quite hard. It’s harder than any of the previous titles, and the enemies are also powerful.” Horii added that the team is “strengthening” bosses and upping the ante on other elements as well.

Horii claims the team needs to up the difficulty because of the internet, which is now a vital part of the usual RPG gameplay experience. It looks like Horii and crew are going to make players search the darkest corners of the Web for every bit of Dragon Quest IX strategy info they can get their hands on.

And before I forget: there will only be one save slot in the game, scheduled for release on July 11 in Japan, with no known release date for North America or Europe. Yep, just one slot. Dragon Quest IX is going to shove you in a corner, step on your shoes, take your lunch money, then laugh at you as you cry.

For months, we’ve been hearing about Mario and Luigi RPG 3, a Japan-only Nintendo DS game. Now, that game is making its way to our shores, with the new title Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story.

Players will control Mario and Luigi as they fight their way through Bowser’s insides. Players will also control Bowser, using him to solve puzzles blocking Mario and Luigi’s path. Bowser will also get into a few fights, some of which will call for turning the DS on its side.

No firm release date was given, but we do know it’ll be out this fall. Stay tuned for more!

Starting on Sunday, April 26, Best Buy will have a ridiculous amount of PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and DS games on sale for just $10 each. No mention of PSP games, but I imagine Best Buy would love to off-load a megaton of crappy PSP games onto an unsuspecting shopping crowd.

The following is a list (courtesy of Socroendo) of just some of the games to be marked down. Evidently there will be more games on sale. No word on what, though, so if this sale interests you at all, be sure to check your local Best Buy for more. I’ll certainly be heading out to Ol’ Blue to pick up a few of these titles.

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The fact that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the best handheld GTA in the series greatly amuses me. The two entries on Sony’s PSP, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, should be the superior games. Both had the benefit of a more powerful handheld console, after all, and all of the features that allows (better, full 3D graphics; better music; smoother animation; and so on). And yet somehow, Rockstar worked its best car-jacking magic on the Nintendo DS. Who saw that one coming?

Probably the biggest — and definitely the most pleasant — surprise concerning Chinatown Wars is that it isn’t missing any of the usual GTA shenanigans. Do you want to jack cars? Go ahead, steal as many as you please. Want to go on a rampage, destroying everything in sight with an arsenal that would make the Army jealous? Feel free, psycho! All of the missions, radio stations (with noticeably less interesting music, sadly), races, and other over-the-top side activities from previous GTA installments are here, along with a few new features.

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