News
Nintendo Family Friendly Hardware and Software Lineup for the First Half of 2010
Nintendo of America issued a surge of new information today about what consumers can expect from the company in the coming months. Let’s get right to it:
- The new Nintendo DSi XL™ hand-held
system launches March 28 at a suggested retail price of
$189.99. The screens of the Nintendo DSi XL are 93 percent
larger than those of the Nintendo DS™ Lite model, providing
a more vivid and engaging play experience. The screens of
the Nintendo DSi XL also feature a wider viewing angle,
letting friends and family members join the fun. The new
system launches in both Burgundy and Bronze colors, and
comes loaded with pre-installed premium software Brain
Age™ Express: Arts & Letters, Brain Age
Express: Math and Photo Clock, as well as two
free applications: the Nintendo DSi Browser and Flipnote
Studio™. Nintendo DSi XL will also come with a larger
pen-like stylus that allows for a more comfortable grip and
enhanced ease of use when playing games that use the
Nintendo DS touch screen. America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s
Get Cooking and WarioWare™: D.I.Y.
will also launch for the Nintendo DS family of products on
March 28, providing consumers with new content that can be
enjoyed on any Nintendo DS system. Games like these
demonstrate the enhanced experience available with the
Nintendo DSi XL.
- Super Mario Galaxy™ 2,
the sequel to the smash-hit galaxy-hopping original game,
launches May 23 for the Wii™ console. The game includes the
amazing gravity-defying, physics-based exploration from the
first game, but is loaded with entirely new galaxies and
features to challenge and delight players. On some stages,
Mario™ can pair up with his dinosaur buddy Yoshi™ and use
his tongue to grab items and spit them back at enemies.
Players can also have fun with new items such as a drill
that lets our hero tunnel through solid rock.
- In a unique partnership with
Square-Enix, Nintendo of America will publish Dragon
Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies in the Americas
when the game arrives in summer 2010. Dragon Quest IX
has sold more than 4.15 million copies in the Japanese
market. Nintendo and Square-Enix will now work together to
bring this title to the Nintendo DS consumer base in the
Americas.
- Capcom’s Monster Hunter®
Tri, an epic action game for Wii, launches in the
United States on April 20. The game lets players customize
their character, armor and weapons in order to protect a
town from majestic monsters as that town rebuilds following
a devastating earthquake. Online play will be available for
all players with broadband Internet access at no additional
cost. Online text chat is fully functional and online voice
chat is enabled using the Wii Speak™ microphone, which is
sold separately. At a suggested retail price of $59.99,
limited quantities of Monster Hunter Tri will
include the new Black Classic Controller Pro™, while both
Black and White versions of the controller will be available
separately at a suggested retail price of $19.99. The game
will also be available without a controller at a suggested
retail price of $49.99.
- FlingSmash™ for Wii will
test players’ Wii Remote skills as they bounce a ball-like
hero through countless side-scrolling stages, combining the
precision of racket sports with the unpredictable fun of
pinball. Playable only with the Wii MotionPlus™ accessory,
the game will launch this summer.
- Picross 3D is poised to
become a puzzle game phenomenon when it launches for the
Nintendo DS family of products on May 3. In Picross 3D,
players start with a cube and smash away smaller blocks to
reveal an object, shape or symbol. Delivering more than 350
unique puzzles and more made available for download on a
regular basis after launch via the Nintendo® Wi-Fi
Connection service (broadband Internet access required), the
game takes the mind-bending fun of Picross into the next
dimension.
- 100 Classic Books
transforms the Nintendo DS family of products into a library
of timeless literature when it launches on June 14 at a
suggested retail price of $19.99, highlighted by 100 works
from authors such as William Shakespeare, Jules Verne, Jane
Austen, Mark Twain and more. Readers can adjust the size of
text, place bookmarks and even download new content via the
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service (broadband Internet
connection required).
- Prince of Persia: The
Forgotten Sands™ from Ubisoft will launch May 18 on
both the Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. Boasting amazing
graphics with fantastic action and puzzle-solving game play,
the Wii version will be the first in franchise history to
feature a two-player cooperative experience. As an added
bonus, the Wii version of the game will exclusively include
the 1992 Super NES™ version of the original Prince of
Persia game.
- Disney Guilty Party is the official title of the highly anticipated first collaboration between Disney Interactive Studios and its recently acquired studio, Wideload Games. The fun and hilarious mystery party game is set for release in the second half of 2010, exclusively for Wii.
Nintendo also announced a variety of games available to download directly to the Wii console from the Wii Shop Channel via the WiiWare™ service, and directly to the Nintendo DS via the DSi Shop and DSiWare™services.
For WiiWare:
- Launching on March 1, Capcom’s
Mega Man™ 10 builds upon the huge impact of
Mega Man 9, a completely new adventure rendered in
classic 8-bit style. This new game looks and sounds as
awesomely retro as its predecessor.
- Launching on March 8, Max & the
Magic Marker from Press Play turns the Wii Remote into
an orange magic marker that’s literally magic. Players draw
lines and objects to help Max reach objects and his ultimate
goal.
- The long-awaited indie cult classic
Cave Story comes to WiiWare with new game play, artwork
and music enhancements on March 22. It’s classic gaming
reborn for 2010.
- Launching on March 29, WarioWare:
D.I.Y. Showcase is a standalone product exclusive to
the WiiWare service and available only from the Wii Shop
Channel. The game contains more than 70 new microgames and
features interoperability with the WarioWare: D.I.Y.
game for the Nintendo DS family of products. Players that
own both games can transfer content between the two via a
local wireless connection, and can even play user-created
microgames on their television using WarioWare: D.I.Y.
Showcase.
- As the techno music pulses, Nintendo’s
Art Style™: light trax™ puts players in
charge of a white beam of light as it engages in a surreal
race against other beams across a dark track. Players must
keep away from obstacles, use items and look for power
boosts if they want to finish first. Art Style: light
trax launches this spring.
- Swim and spin through the primordial ooze in Nintendo’s Art Style: Rotozoa™ as you absorb tiny organisms that match the colors of your tentacles. As you absorb more organisms, your tentacles grow. The challenge increases as additional tentacles are gained, but power-ups can help you survive and thrive. Art Style: Rotozoa launches this spring.
- Launching this spring, And Yet It Moves from Broken Rules requires players to rotate the world to help their line-drawn protagonist progress. Walls become floors and floors become ceilings in this surreal twist on the platformer genre.
- Launching this summer, Independent Games Festival Seumas McNally Grand Prize Finalist Super Meat Boy from Team Meat sets a cube of meat off on an adventure to save Princess Bandage. This off-the-wall game is not for the faint of heart.
For Nintendo DSiWare:
- Nintendo’s Photo Dojo™ is poised to be the cult hit of 2010 when it launches this spring. The game first asks players to pose for 13 pictures and input 10 sound effects. Once that’s done, the player becomes the main character in a hilarious side-scrolling fighting game. Create up to eight characters and do battle alone or against a friend on a single Nintendo DSi or Nintendo DSi XL system.
- Launching this spring, X-Scape™ from Nintendo immerses players in an exploratory adventure involving more than 20 planets. Players will pilot their tank through 3-D tunnels, fire at enemies and even battle ancient weapons that resemble giant robots.
“Nintendo finished 2009 with a bang, and we’re continuing our momentum into 2010,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “With Nintendo DSi XL, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and {edited out for content} coming in the first six months of the year, we’re making sure all our fans have great game content to enjoy year-round.”