Confirmed: Purple 3DS Coming May 20

Nintendo finally confirmed today that the beautiful Midnight Purple 3DS will be launched on May 20, 2012 to coincide with the Mario Tennis Open 3DS title. So excited, and am definitely getting one!  I was going to return the Cosmo Black one I purchased on Saturday to get this one, but since Mother's Day is coming up and my mother is an Animal Crossing fanatic, I might just keep the Cosmo Black one and give it to her and then get the Midnight Purple one for me on 5/20.  Our little collection will then be complete! 

View more details about the Midnight Purple 3DS on the Nintendo 3DS - Official Website at Nintendo.

Official Midnight Purple 3DS

Purple 3DS Coming in May?

Midnight Purple Nintendo 3DS Box

It has been rumored that a Midnight Purple 3DS will be released in May (May 20th to be exact) to coincide with the North American release of Mario Tennis Open 3DS. I love this color! I actually went to another Kid Icarus event (at Gamestop this time) this weekend and asked the Nintendo rep if they were going to be releasing a purple 3DS. She said that maybe overseas, but she didn't really know about here in the USA. Since the news hasn't been officially released by Nintendo, if she did know, I understand why she would have to keep the news hush hush. At any rate, I went ahead and bought a Cosmo Black 3DS that day so I could battle things out with my son on the games he likes to play on his Flame Red 3DS.

Before I opened the black system though, I thought I would hold off until I could research some more to see if my spidey senses were correct that the elusive purple 3DS would become available. Low and behold, it's all over the net that Sam's Club had a listing for a Midnight Purple 3DS appear on their website. Of course when I went to look for myself, the listing had been removed, but still, the news is enough for me to go ahead and return the Cosmo Black one and hold out for the purple one that hopefully will be coming in the next few weeks. Now if we can only get an updated release date for Animal Crossing 3DS and Paper Mario 3DS....

Super Mario Smartphone on the Way?

In a recent LA Times article, it was reported that Nintendo has posted its first loss in over 30 years (about half a billion dollars). This has been mainly due to competition from the rise of purchases in smartphones, tablets, XBoxes and Playstations, coupled with the fact that sales of the Wii and DS consoles have been on the decline. Because of this loss, there have been reports that analysts are calling for Nintendo to take their popular game franchises such as Mario, et al, to other platforms such as smartphones and tablets. I STRONGLY disagree with this assessment!

If Nintendo were to take their most prized franchises and make them accessible to other platforms, what would be the incentive to buy Nintendo systems and hardware? Sure, there are Nintendo loyalists (like myself of course) that would buy the Nintendo systems and play the games on that hardware, but for fans of the Xbox, Playstation, smartphones and tablets, what would be the "push" to buy a Nintendo system? I think Nintendo would take even greater losses in the future if they made this move.

Sure, the 3DS had a slow start and less than projected sales, but I honestly think that had more to do with the

fact that they did not release enough "popular" titled games with the system release. I have no doubt in my mind that if the 3DS was launched with Kid Icarus Uprising, Luigi's Mansion 2, Paper Mario 3DS, Mario Kart 7 and Animal Crossing 3DS readily available for purchase, the systems would have flown off the shelves, and there would probably have been more demand than supply. Hey, they are allowed some missteps, right? I mean come on -- this was their FIRST loss in over 30 YEARS -- they must be doing SOMETHING right!!!!

I also just CAN'T imagine Mario, Zelda, Kirby, or Pokemon games, etc., on any other system than a genuine Nintendo system. Remember playing Mario games on the PC or CD-i system? Did you get the same "warm and fuzzy" feelings you got when playing on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo or Gameboy Advance? I didn't think so. The Nintendo systems are user-friendly, beautifully crafted, and hey, I GREW UP with them. You will NEVER erase the sentimentalism attached to my beloved Nintendo systems -- don't underestimate it!

Nintendo is great at making mini-games (love the Mario Party series!), so if they just want to expand on that and make "lite" versions of those type of games to play on smartphones and tablets, that may not be such a bad idea; they just have to be sure to keep the fully-featured, mouth-watering, eye-popping games exclusively for Nintendo systems -- there, problem solved.

Additionally, if Nintendo wants to EXPAND their existing system line-up to include a Nintendo-created smartphone or tablet, I'm in -- just tell me when and where to purchase it and I'm there with money in hand!

Stay strong Nintendo!

Fun Day at Kid Icarus Best Buy Event

We attended a Kid Icarus Uprising Gameplay session at Best Buy yesterday and had a great time! We kinda found out about the event at the last minute, and the closest one to us was about a 2 hour drive away, but we hopped in the car and made it for the last hour of the event. Although there were not that many people at the event by the time we got there, we were happy to get the Streetpass notifications that we did receive (and believe me, since we've had a hard time running across people through Streetpass, that WAS a big deal to us), and of course a couple of sets of the Kid Icarus Uprising AR cards for our expanding collection.

Another unexpected highlight for us was getting to meet the Nintendo Rep and talk about other aspects of Nintendo. Since there were not that many people there, we asked the rep all kinds of questions about upcoming game releases, the end of Nintendo Week, Nintendo Direct, why the Wii no longer has Gamecube controller ports, the upcoming release of the Wii U, the new Spirit Camera game (which he was playing and we ended up buying a copy of) and pretty much anything else we could think of.

By the time we were done, he probably felt like he was being interviewed, LOL!!! The rep was also nice enough to give us a couple of extra items he had left over from other Nintendo events we had missed, since he was impressed that we drove a distance to attend (and that we had so many Nintendo systems and products). We're going out of town soon and there just happens to be another event near where we're going, so we plan on attending that one as well (hopefully we'll be able to get there near the beginning of the event this time and get more Streetpasses!).

I asked the rep if there were any other Kid Icarus or other Nintendo events coming up soon, and he said although the calendar on the Kid Icarus Uprising site only displayed dates up through the beginning of May, there will be other events planned in the future. Nintendo is holding these events at Best Buys and Gamestops across the country, so if you didn't get a chance to attend one yet, you may not be out of luck. All of the events are held from 1 - 4 PM on Saturdays; to see the next upcoming events for your area, view the Kid Icarus Uprising Gameplay Events Calendar.

Animal Crossing 3DS Release Date?

Are you as big of an Animal Crossing fan as we are? If so, I'm sure you are wondering when the Animal Crossing 3DS game is going to be released. I mean, it was mentioned at the 2011 E3 conference as an upcoming title for the 3DS, but STILL there is no official release date! I'm not quite sure what the hold up is, but from my experiences working in a software development environment, I believe the game may have been caught in a bad scope creep where they possibly keep adding more and more stuff, which in turn would need to be tested, which eventually pushes out the release date.  I can certainly understand how this can happen with a game like Animal Crossing, because there are so many facets of life to cover with so much detail, and they want to provide a great gaming experience (and we DO appreciate that!).

Sure, from the highlights shown in the Animal Crossing 3DS trailer (video below),

they are adding cool new features we will love such as the ability to swim, change your shoes (more than just color), add decor to your walls, and customize your furniture, and that will definitely require an overhaul of the original programming, but come on, we're dying here!  I remember seeing an initial release date of May 2012 for this masterpiece, but in the latest issue of Nintendo Power in their upcoming releases section, Animal Crossing had the depressing and dreaded "TBA" listed.  Truly disappointing!

Why is this such a big deal to us? Well, to truly understand, you have to know how obsessed we are with Animal Crossing in general.   For starters, we have 6 Wiis, each with their own copy of Animal Crossing City Folk and all containing towns with four characters each. We also have two DS Lites and one DSi XL that each have their own copy of Wild World, and even one Gamecube where we use 10(!) different memory cards to play the original Animal Crossing.  Yes, we enjoy Animal Crossing so much in our household, that even with all of the towns we already have, we are so excited to add another one to our collection for our 3DS system.

Even if Animal Crossing 3DS isn't going to be released in the next month or two (sniff, sniff), some sort of update from Nintendo would be nice -- maybe at this year's E3 event we'll get news that will give us some hope.  Until then though, I guess we'll keep plugging away at our current towns!

Happy Nintendo Land Tax Day!

It's that time of year again -- time to file your taxes! To lighten up what might be a somber mood and add a little funny to your day, I thought I'd come up with a couple of (hopefully) humorous Nintendo-themed, tax-related images.  So.... are you having a Luigi IRS nightmare type of day, or a Cha-Ching! tax refund day like one of our Animal Crossing characters?

Animal Crossing Tax Refund Day

Shigeru Miyamoto to Retire -- Someday

Nintendo icon Shigeru Miyamoto will need to retire someday, a realization that he and the rest of us will have to cope with.

In a recent interview with Spanish language newspaper El Mundo, Shigeru Miyamoto says that he has been telling Nintendo insiders that he will need to retire at some point since he is almost 60, and that they should prepare for this eventual occurrence. Miyamoto says that he is still active, but has already started to give more and more responsibility to younger staff members and that their visions are increasingly like his for such iconic Nintendo characters such as Mario and Zelda.

Miyamoto says in a way it is sad, because it is almost like he isn't needed any longer, but he is thankful that the characters will continue on after his departure.

The thought of a Miyamoto-less Nintendo is a sad one for gamers around the world, and I'm sure a daunting one for Nintendo execs. Clearly, Shigeru Miyamoto is one of the most -- if not THE most -- influential, ground-breaking person in the video game industry. His never-ending imagination and tireless energy have brought millions of people throughout the world, in all age ranges, extreme happiness on a constant basis. Even though he may eventually retire, he will never be forgotten or irrelevant. Mr. Miyamoto, we are truly thankful for your contributions to our lives and when you do retire, we hope you are able to relax and truly enjoy it -- you certainly deserve it!

Super Mario 4 E3 Demo on the Way!

A few days ago, Nintendo registered the domain name SuperMario4.com (visiting the domain takes you to the Nintendo USA website), and now Shigeru Miyamoto himself has also confirmed to Spanish newspaper El Mundo that there will be a Super Mario title for the Nintendo Wii U demoed at the E3 conference this year that will make use of the TV screen and tablet remote.

This of course is SUPER news, and I think is just want Nintendo needs to do to jumpstart the interest in the Wii U again.  If they manage to make this a launch title or even bundle this with the Wii U and at it's release, this is sure to make picking up one of these systems right at the time of launch a lot more enticing.

We can't wait to see what else the Nintendo Wii U and Mr. Miyamoto holds for us!

Dirty Harry Bowser

As if being in Luigi's Mansion isn't scary enough, imagine if when Bowser finally came out of the picture, he was packing heat (and not from his breath)! Here's Bowser doing his best Dirty Harry impression -- how'd he do? (Click image for larger view)

Dirty Harry Bowser on Luigi's Mansion Stage

Tickle Me Bowser

Tickle Me Bowser via Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Isn't it funny how a facial expression taken out of context can look one thing is happening, but in reality something else is? If you know Super Smash Brothers Brawl, this look on Bowser's face says he's being dealt a bad blow, but if you just saw the image somewhere else, wouldn't you think he is laughing hysterically from someone tickling his Koopa feet?

Nintendo's 3DS Viral Video Tweet

At this point, you've probably seen it -- the video that Nintendo tweeted about yesterday with Joel McHale trying to not sell us a Nintendo 3DS. The video had all kinds of blatant marketing tactics and innuendo in it, and really was pushing hard for us to go out and get a 3DS if we don't already have one. Of course, being the fanatics we are, there was no need to do this for us (they had us at "Nintendo"), but I wonder how effective this will be in garnering more sales. In case you haven't seen it, here's the video:

For Nintendo's sake, I hope it skyrockets sales so that they feel that this was worth it. I actually feel really bad for them, because I think the 3DS is a wonderful feature-rich system, and actually don't think that the original $250 price point was too bad, even though I was happy to get it cheaper. It is my firm belief that the system would have sold a lot more units at its launch if they had more popular titles released with it or at least around the same time.

I know that the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Super Street Fighter IV were out around the time of launch (and that was great), but those were games that people had already played in one form or another (albeit in non-3D glory) and I'm not sure that it was a big enough incentive to make buyers run out and purchase the system. I have to admit, even though we are Nintendo fanatics and the 3D features and tools of the 3DS boasts are impressive, I didn't feel the need to run out and get the 3DS right at launch, as I didn't feel there were enough new popular games to warrant an immediate, must-have purchase. If Super Mario Land 3D, Mario Kart 7, and Kid Icarus Uprising had been released around the 3DS launch, we would have immediately been all over it, and others probably would have as well. We're still salivating for Animal Crossing 3DS, Paper Mario 3DS and Luigi's Mansion 2 to be released, and hope a Kirby title for the 3DS is on its way.

I hope that when the Wii U is released (rumored to be in mid-November), there are a great array of (popular) titles to choose from (at least one spectacular Mario title, please!) that will entice buyers to buy! buy! buy! immediately at whatever price point they set so they don't have to take a loss on all of their hard work, and come up with what seems like desperate marketing tactics.

Good luck, Nintendo!

A Year in the Life of the 3DS

Found this timeline infographic detailing the past year in the life of the Nintendo 3DS on Pinterest -- pretty cool!

Source: wp.me via Alfredo on Pinterest

Smash Brothers Brawl - Caption This! - Week 2

Our Super Smash Brothers Brawl Caption This! photo from week 1 brought you a picture of Princess Peach and Pikachu battling it out on the Pokemon Stadium stage; this week's photo features Donkey Kong and Wario on The Bridge of Eldin stage from The Legend of Zelda.  What's your caption?

Wario and Donkey Kong on The Bridge of Eldin Stage

Happy Easter Nintendo Fans!

Here are some cool Nintendo-themed Easter eggs I found while scouring the 'net. I was thinking about creating some eggs featuring Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Peach, maybe a couple of bullet bills and mushrooms, but nothing as creative as these! These are awesome!

Nintendo Eggs by ~Red-Flare on deviantART

Pokemon Eggs by ~Red-Flare on deviantART

Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Smash Brothers Brawl Pix - Caption This! - Week 1

I realize that Super Smash Brothers Brawl (often referred to as SSBB) is a somewhat older game for the Wii at this point, but we still play it on an almost daily basis,

and it just NEVER gets old!  Of course if you play the game this often, you are bound to see all kinds of hilarious shots, and the (awesome!) developers of the game made it possible to capture these outrageous scenes to enjoy over and over again.

To that end, I thought it would be cool to post a funny photo weekly and see how many different captions one photo would elicit.  Below is this week's comment-worthy photo featuring Princess Peach and Pikachu on the Pokemon Stadium Stage (click photo to view larger image).

Princess Peach and Pikachu on Pokemon Stadium Stage

What would your caption be?

Animal Crossing - April Fools Day 2012

Well it's April 1st (no foolin'!) and there are several exciting things going on in Animal Crossing today.

In the original Animal Crossing for the GameCube, it's April Fool's Day, and if your characters visit Tortimer the Mayor, they will get a special Super Tortimer game from him which looks like an original NES game system commemorating the day.

On Animal Crossing City Folk, Tortimer plays a quick trick on you and gives you nothing at first, then gives you a leaf to store in your home.

Animal Crossing City Folk Sweets Player

Normally, if you find a leaf on the ground, it represents some sort of furniture or home furnishing item, but this leaf from Tortimer is just that -- a leaf that looks like a leaf.

If your Animal Crossing City Folk is connected to Wi-Fi, since it's the first of the month you also received your monthly special delivery from Nintendo via Pete the (pelican) mailman -- a Sweets Player for your decor. This is a rare item that is not a normal part of the Sweets Decor, so hopefully you were able to get it.



If you're an Animal Crossing Wild World DS player, unfortunately there weren't any special events in your town today, but don't despair -- there's bound to be an event around the corner!