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Current 3DS owners eligible for free games
Nintendo is looking to reward early adopters of 3DS, or at least incur a last-minute sales burst before $80 (that's over 30 percent!) comes off the system, bringing it down to $170 on August 12. Those who own a 3DS and connect to the Nintendo eShop before 11:59PM EST on August 11 will be automatically enrolled into the "Nintendo 3DS Ambassador" program. 3DS ambassadorial duties mostly involve playing a bunch of free games. The status grants you access to 10 free NES Virtual Console games on September 1 before their general release (these include The Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight and Ice Climber), along with 10 more Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games by the end of 2011. The GBA games -- like Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames and Mario vs. Donkey Kong -- will not be available to anyone else. Is all that enough to ameliorate early buyer's remorse? Nintendo claims that it has sold more than 830,000 3DS systems in the US since it debuted in late March, and that it will keep momentum up with several big holiday releases. In the category of games available to everyone: Kid Icarus: Uprising in the holidays, Super Mario Land 3D in November, followed in December by Mario Kart 7.
Nintendo's Comic-Con lounge stocked with Mario, Zelda, Rhythm Heaven, and more
To keep you from ever having to look at an actual comic at Comic-Con, another game company has announced its lineup of playable demos. You'll be able to play a great deal of Nintendo's recent and upcoming 3DS lineup, most of its Wii lineup ... and Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 on DS. Nintendo will have both a normal booth at Comic-Con, #5135, and a "Nintendo Gaming Lounge" at the adjacent Marriott Marquis & Marina hotel. This "Gaming Lounge" will feature playable demos of Super Mario, Kid Icarus Uprising, Mario Kart, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D, Shinobi, and more 3DS games. In addition, you'll be able to try The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Rhythm Heaven, Fortune Street, and more on Wii. Bring your DS and/or 3DS when you go. From 4-6 pm on July 21, Nintendo will host a Pokémon Black/White meetup. The Lounge will also have a giant Pokédex 3D AR marker of Reshiram for you to take commemorative pictures with, and a "gallery" of oversized AR Cards. There will even be downloadable maps for Dragon Quest IX!
Nintendo's 'goal' for Mario Kart 3D: eight-player online
Mario Kart 3D has more improvements in store than just hanggliders bolted to the backs of all the cars. It currently features eight-player local wireless racing, and, if everything goes as planned, it'll feature eight-player online as well. Joystiq asked Mario Kart 3D producer Hideki Konno if the kart racer would feature online play, and he responded "Of course!" Though the current online configuration isn't quite set, "our goal right now is to have the same number of players for both local wireless and multiplayer over wi-fi." The bottleneck at the moment is making sure the game can handle smooth 60FPS frame rate with eight players in both online and offline, 2D and 3D.
Mario Kart 3DS preview: By land, by sea, by air
The highlight moment of my time with Mario Kart 3DS didn't involve blue sparks, bananas or any sort of weaponized carapace; though, naturally, all of those elements make a reappearance in the colorful racer. The key moment was the first time I hit a rather innocuous-looking ramp and, once airborne, produced a hang glider from my vehicle's undercarriage. It wasn't a particularly surprising moment -- your car's new utilities were revealed in the trailer showed during Nintendo's E3 press conference -- but it was certainly an interesting one. The new aerial and underwater portions of each track aren't just fresh new obstacles for you to dodge using the series' tried-and-true system of drifting, boosting and item-firing. They represent challenges for you to navigate using entirely new methods of control. %Gallery-125669%
Retro Studios assisting with Mario Kart 3DS
During the annual Nintendo developer roundtable, Shigeru Miyamoto casually let it drop that Metroid Prime/Donkey Kong Country Returns developer Retro Studio is helping Nintendo out with the 3DS Mario Kart game -- which, incidentally, runs at 60 frames per second. According to Miyamoto, Retro is collaborating on tracks, among other things. And then he joked that he wanted to call it "Super Mario Kite" because of the gliding vehicles.
Mario Kart coming to the 3DS this holiday
Nintendo has just announced a 3DS version of Mario's racing series, this time just called Mario Kart. All of the familiar characters are apparently on board, and the game will apparently feature customizable cars (with different types of wheels and other parts), as well as underwater driving sections and even hang gliding attachments on certain parts of the tracks. Mario Kart is set for a release sometime this holiday season. Stay tuned -- Nintendo says the game will be playable on the E3 show floor this week.%Gallery-125669%
Rumor: 3DS Japanese launch dated Nov. 11 by German tabloid
Überpopular German tabloid Bild has put its money on "November 11" as the day the 3DS will launch in Japan. The paper also pegs the European launch for next spring, as anticipated, and prices the system at an estimated €200 ($270). Nintendo of Japan is scheduled to announce the official date and price for its newest handheld this week, on September 29 from Tokyo.The Bild article [image] also names the 3D version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 3DS and Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle as launch titles. While Bild's November date is at least a popular guess (the DS Phat, DSi and DSi XL all launched in Japan that calendar month), predictably, the newspaper has not outed its sources. (A note from Wikipedia: "The journalistic standards of Bild, or the lack thereof, are the subject of frequent criticism by German intellectuals and media observers.")The 3DS is expected to launch early next year in North America.
