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3DS Shopping Channel unveiled
During Nintendo's investors briefing today, president and CEO Satoru Iwata offered the first peek at the 3DS "Shopping Channel," showing off its themed "racks." While it's unclear what specifically these themes will be, according to Andriasang's report, each rack will highlight games appropriate to its theme. In addition to basic descriptions, games on offer (including GameBoy titles!) will feature video clips, demos and player ratings. Basic search functionality will also be incorporated into the channel. (A short video of Nintendo's preview is available after the break, taken from the investors presentation.) Iwata also announced a public 3DS demo event for January ... in Japan. From January 8–10, Chiba's Makuhari Messe -- home to the Tokyo Game Show -- will open its doors in an effort to "convey the message of 3D visuals to players." Iwata said the event is intended to quell any skepticism about the forthcoming device's glasses-free 3D functionality. More events, though not as large, will be held in other parts of Japan, but no mention has been made of any North American skeptic-squashing soirees yet.
VC gift-giving feature coming tonight!
Just in time for you to buy everyone you know a copy of Gunstar Heroes for Christmas! Nintendo announced that it will be enabling its Virtual Console gifting feature for the US later today, enabling Wii owners in the states to purchase classic games and send them to people they've traded Friend Codes with. We've already spent way too much money buying games for ourselves; we shudder to think how many Wii Points we're going to spend now forcing all of our friends to download Devil's Crush. [Via Press Release]
Japanese Wii owners can give the gift of VC on the 11th
The new gift-giving feature of the Wii Shop Channel will be available in Japan starting December 11th, according to Nintendo's demonstration video of the service. And, for those of you new to Nintendo, the service is quite easy to use. You just select a game from the shop as normal, at which point you're given the option to buy it yourself or give it. Then you select the recipient from a list (complete with Mii representations!) and send it away! An error message will tell you if they already have the game, or (we think) if parental controls prevent them from playing it. And then your friend gets a festively wrapped note on their Wii Message Board!The service is supposed to be available worldwide in time for the holidays, so expect a similar announcement for other regions soon! Then we can all start forcing our preferences on each other.[Via NeoGAF]
VC Friday: Get your race on
Only two titles on the Virtual Console this week in Europe, but it doesn't matter, because one of them is Mario Kart 64. So we'll just see you guys on Monday then, right? We recommend two applications of pain cream per day if you want to play at maximum capacity -- it keeps those fingers from cramping up. Mario Kart 64 (N64) -- 1000 Wii points Soldier Blade (Turbografx) -- 600 Wii points
