Hasta La Gadget!

Yeah, Super Mario Bros. was kind of a big deal, and we can’t fault Nintendo for wanting to celebrate: September 13th marked the 25th anniversary of the game’s launch, and Nintendo is pushing out special editions of the DSi and DSi XL (pictured) to celebrate, along with some pretty sweet swag. We mentioned the handhelds this morning, but now we’ve got a couple pictures — way to play it subdued, Nintendo. Unfortunately, the consoles are for Japan only, but what we’re particularly digging is this Super Mario Collection Special Pack that Nintendo will be launching alongside. The pack will include a version of Super Mario All-Stars for the Wii, a soundtrack CD, and a “Super Mario History, 1985 to 2010” booklet with some unreleased materials like initial development planning sheets handwritten by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. Again, announced for Japan only. Sounds like the import industry is going to be hot this October when these things land!

Nintendo shows off special edition Super Mario Bros. DSi and DSi XL originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 19:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq  |  Nintendo  | Email this | Comments

Sorry Japan, the Nintendo 3DS won’t be hitting store shelves until well after the holidays. On an earnings call this week, Nintendo announced that its forthcoming portable gaming system will go on sale in its native country on February 26th of next year. The device will run 25,000 yen–that’s roughly $299.

We reported back in June, that the 3DS will ship in the States by the end of March. That timeframe still seems to be the case at the moment, though a release issued by
Nintendo states that the company’s “overseas subsidiaries will make separate announcements at later dates regarding territory-specific launch dates and prices.”

The 3DS made a splash when it was first announced at E3 in Los Angeles for its ability to simulate 3D images without the need for glasses.

Wondering how wireless “tag mode” will work on Nintendo’s new 3DS? You’re not alone. Fortunately, a trailer for Super Street Fighter IV has been loosed upon the internets giving us a pretty decent overview of what serendipitous game play will be like. To start with, a minigame feature lets you automatically fight your nearby rival’s collectable action figures even while the 3DS is tucked away in your bag. The more you fight the more figures you collect. Then there’s the more obvious wireless battle mode for active multiplayer gameplay with nearby 3DS owners. Should make for some interesting chance encounters on public transportation. You do live in a densely populated area don’t you squirt?

Continue reading Nintendo 3DS ‘tag mode’ demonstrated in Super Street Fighter IV trailer (video)

Nintendo 3DS ‘tag mode’ demonstrated in Super Street Fighter IV trailer (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 06:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Kotaku  | Email this | Comments

Nintendo celebrated its birthday yesterday. The company turned 121. Yep. If you live in the U.S., there’s a pretty good chance that you’d never heard of the Nintendo until 1985, when it unleashed the NES upon the world (the console had actually been available in Japan since 1983 as the Famicom).

Nintendo actually came into existence in 1889. It was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi, a Japanese entrepreneur, under the name Nintendo Koppai. In its first years, Nintendo’s primary business was Hanafuda, Japanese playing cards. In fact, the company continues to produce playing cards in its native Japan to this day.

The whole video game thing didn’t start until 1974, when the company began to distribute games for the Magnavox Odyssey console. Shortly after, the company hired a young student named Shigeru Miyamoto.

You know the rest, right?

You know those “persons familiar with the [something]” who seems to know an awful lot about corporate secrets? Well, they’ve blabbed again, this time to game site IGN’s UK colony. The secret? The internal specs of Nintendo’s 3DS.

According to the fact-spilling source, the 3DS will have a pair of 266MHz ARM11 CPUs (yes, two of them), a 133MHz GPU with 4MB of dedicated VRAM, 64MB of regular RAM and 1.5GB flash storage.

It’s those dual ARM processors that have us excited, and they kind of make sense on a machine with two screens, one of which sends images to two eyes (the screen works by using prisms to send images out in different directions, which you adjust with a sliding switch until the aim is just right).

We still don’t know when the 3DS – described by Wired.com’s Chris Kohler as “stunning technology” – will be in stores. Rumors point to a November release in Japan, so our guess is on sometime next year. 3D Mario Kart? I can’t wait.

New Nintendo 3DS Hardware Info [IGN]

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

See Also:

• Live Blog: Nintendo 3DS Debuts at E3 Conference
• Alt Text: How Will Nintendo 3DS Work? 5 Eye-Popping 3-D Theories …
• Hands On: A Few Stolen Moments With Nintendo's Stunning 3DS …
• Nintendo 3DS Details Appear on Chinese Blog

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.