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DS Lite drops to $99 on June 5
The 3DS just got more competition. Not from Sony or another competitor, but from another, now impulse-buy-priced, DS. Nintendo just announced that the DS Lite has been officially dropped in price from $129.99 to $99.99, effective June 5. Perhaps the old SKU at the old price was what GameStop was clearing out? The same month, six Mario games (New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 DS, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!, and Mario Party DS) will be re-released in red boxes, to " make it easy for [consumers] to find their favorite Mario titles." Not that anyone ever had trouble finding any of these -- Nintendo announced that more than 9.25 million copies of New Super Mario Bros. have been sold in the US. No price drop was announced for the games. Just fancy new boxes.
New DSi bundle has Bowser's Inside Story inside
Last month, Nintendo released the new DSi XL. So, of course, now it's time to promote ... the original DSi, with a new spring bundle! On April 25, Nintendo will release a bundle containing a white DSi and a copy of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, at a $169.99 price point -- which is what the DSi costs by itself. If you'd like a free copy of Mario & Luigi, we suggest you take advantage of that offer. For whatever reason, Nintendo is no stranger to the "previous hardware bundle." A little over a month after the DSi's North American release, Nintendo offered a lime green DS Lite/Personal Trainer: Cooking bundle. Nintendo UK bundled a DS Lite with the first Professor Layton game, long after the release of the DSi and soon before the release of the second Layton. It's Nintendo -- don't try to understand it, just expect it to make money.
Best of the Rest: Dave's Picks of 2009
Resident Evil 5 I've long been a fan of the Resident Evil series, and while the campaign here has problems and should never be played solo, the Mercenaries mode is what kept me coming back. Those action-packed levels spent trying to survive while running low on ammo and health were some of my most chaotic, yet highly enjoyable, experiences of 2009.
Joyswag: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story prize pack [update]
Update: Contest is closed! Keep an eye on your email to see if you won! Thanks for playing!Don't let the horrible snapshot above (sorry!) fool you: This edition of Joyswag features quite the prize pack. One lucky reader will receive not only a copy of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, but also a pair of cute little plushie dolls and a backpack to hide them from whomever would be embarrassed to know you had such things. Leave a comment telling us what you think is inside of Bowser (our guess: cotton candy) You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) Limit 1 entry per person per day This entry period ends at 3:00PM ET on Thursday, October 1 At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story ($35 ARV), a plushie Mario ($20 ARV) and Bowser ($20 ARV), and one Bowser's Inside Story backpack ($20 ARV) For a list of complete rules, click here
Review: Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story doesn't put on airs about itself. Up until now, the series has been a collection of chuckle-filled titles, with light action and RPG elements designed to make the game accessible to just about everyone -- and this latest game is no different. It's plain and direct in what it wants to be, but it's set apart from its predecessors in a deepening of the core aspects of the series. %Gallery-33781%
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: If you haven't played it, it's new to you
Don't have the whole Labor Day holiday off to play games? Why not take a tiny break from your work to play a tiny portion of a video game -- provided you're within distance of a Wii? There are some new demos up on the Nintendo Channel if you haven't bothered to download any DS demos in the last couple of months. (That's our polite way of saying the demos are old. And that is our extremely rude way of explaining an obvious statement.)Video-wise, more real people are getting their Layt on, and another Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story video is available. We don't remember there ever being an announcement per se, but that's coming out next week. Amazing! Check the list after the break.
New Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story trailer from the inside, out
We're just about as excited as we could be for the next iteration in the long-running Mario & Luigi RPG series, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. It's been so long since we last got to try our hand at timing-centric, turn-based combat in the Mushroom Kingdom and, well, we really enjoyed our time with the game at E3. The newest trailer shows off a good deal of what we described from E3, with the ill-fated plumbers working with Bowser from the inside to solve problems in the outside world. Now all we need is a bit more of a solid release date than "this fall" -- how about it, Nintendo?%Gallery-33781%
E3 2009 highlights: The Nintendo roundup
Nintendo E3 2009 checklist: Mario? *check* Zelda? *check* Metroid? *check* Are we missing something? Head past the break to find out!
Hands-on: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Ever wonder what the digestive system of Mario's spiky arch-nemesis looks like -- or, for that matter, his endocrine, skeletal, muscular and nervous systems as well? We're guessing the answer is "no," but as it turns out, Bowser's guts provide an excellent backdrop for one of the most interesting games we saw at E3 -- Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.The game handles exactly like the handheld Mario RPGs that came before it -- the A and B buttons control the actions of Mario and Luigi, respectively. You walk them around a 2D platform world filled with monsters who engage the plumbers in turn-based combat. Combat cues are timing-centric -- pressing the right button mid-jump gives you a boost of power, and rhythmic button presses let you bounce Koopa shells off enemies for massive damage.However, Inside Story flips the script on the franchise, introducing an gameplay and story convention that is nothing less than brilliant in an Innerspace-esque kind of way.
New Mario & Luigi RPG titled Bowser's Inside Story, coming in fall
No, the popular mustachioed, handheld Mario & Luigi RPG franchise won't be psychoanalyzing the series' spiky-backed villain. The Nintendo press conference just lifted the veil off of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, which actually takes place within the King of all Koopas. The brief video shown at the conference looked extremely similar to the first two handheld Mario RPGs, only ... inside of a living turtle-monster. It's coming this fall in North America and Europe.
