 Nintendo has finally added some downloadable content to its DS puzzler, Picross DS. The puzzle packs, released for free over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service, are a collection of 20 puzzles split up into two packs. Both of the packs are comprised of puzzles from Nintendo's only other Picross game that has come out in North America, Mario's Picross for the original Game Boy. The puzzles can be downloaded for free by going to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on the main menu of Picross DS, selecting Community, and Classic Puzzles.
I am an extreme Picross DS addict, and I have been waiting for at least three weeks for Nintendo to upload some puzzles. I haven't completed every puzzle that is included with the game yet, but it is nice to know that I have 20 more puzzles waiting for me when I am done.
If you haven't picked up Picross DS yet, then shame on you. It's one of the greatest puzzle games to ever grace Nintendo's little dual screen portable, and it will only cost you $20 new. If you have it already or do get it in the future, add me as a friend and let me know your friend code, so we can exchange puzzles and play each other online! My friend code can be found on my collection profile page.
 This week, it's time to bring out the big gun!
Our featured game this week is Super Mario Bros. 3! A favorite for many, many gamers. Maybe it is because we all grew up with this game, maybe it is because it is just stellar in every way, or maybe it is because of the silly plumber that we have all been trained to see as the poster boy of Nintendo.
Honestly, I think the answer is in all three. This is a game we grew up playing, it is a wonderful game from nearly every angle, and it does star the famous poster boy Mario. That aside, in Super Mario Bros. 3, you take on the role of Mario to defeat the evil Koopa King Bowser and his friends. With many more abilities than in the previous games, you have to be quicker, smarter, and more cunning than ever before! Check this game out if you haven't already. If you haven't, I feel sorry for you.
Our featured image comes from the Nintendo DS's Cars. This is a cute game full of races and mini-games. It is obviously based on the wildly popular Disney/Pixar movie. How could I not pick this image? Look at the car. He's so cuuuuuute! Well, my wife thinks so anyway.
Our featured hardware is in my opinion, terrible. The Turbo Touch 360 for the SNES is so hard to use, not sensitive, and not comfortable. Disagree with me? Let me know!
Lastly, our featured collection is from jtaylor. The collection may be small, but they definitely have some great games (including our featured game)! I bet our featured collection's owner has some great stories about where some of these games came from. Send him a message and find out!
Well, that's it for now folks. In the meantime, send checks payable to me and keep it tuned to channel 3!
 In a completely unsurprising move, Rockstar has edited their latest offering, Manhunt 2, down to M standards. Along with the M rating comes the usual content descriptors that Rockstar gets for their games: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content and Use of Drugs.
In the press release, Captain Obvious (aka Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two) stated the obvious: "Manhunt 2 is an extraordinary game, and we eagerly anticipate its release in North America." As opposed to "Manhunt 2 is a horrible game and we dread it's impending release in North America."
There is no word from Rockstar on what exactly got cut from the game so it could receive a Mature rating. I think it would be interesting to find out what they cut, or maybe even have a release of the unedited version on PC where AO titles are allowed.
The edited game is currently slated for an October 31st launch on Wii, Playastion 2, and PSP in North America. Rockstar has not stated a release date for other regions around the world as of yet.
 If you have your Wii hooked up to WiiConnect24, you'll notice that the blue light surrounding your disc slot is glowing. You know what that means. No, not that someone sent you a message because no one uses the message sending feature anymore. So, that leaves only one possiblity, Nintendo has something to tell you! This time, it's a firmware update. This update adds many nifty features to your Wii. Here's a listing of the new features from Nintendo's website.
Wii Menu
- The weather forecast will now be displayed on the Forecast Channel icon in the Wii Menu.
- Headline news will now be displayed on the News Channel icon in the Wii Menu.
- The current time will now be displayed in the Wii Menu.
- The area around the Wii Message Board button will now flash when a message arrives..
Wii Message Board
- You're now able to rearrange the order of your Wii Friends in the address book.
- You're now able to go into the Wii Friends registration screen by pressing the A Button on a blank spot in the address book.
- Envelope message icons will now appear on the calendar only on the dates when a message is received.
- Your message sending history will now be displayed in Today's Accomplishments.
- You can now scroll the message text by pressing the B button on the message screen.
Wii Shop Channel
- The search function on Virtual Console has been enhanced.
So, it took Nintendo eight months to realize that it would be nice to rearrange your Wii Friends, add friends by just clicking an empty slot, and see the weather without having to select the Weather Channel? Wow. They are really on top of their game! 
What's sad is that this is the most useful firmware update the Wii has ever had. And what's that?! A DIGITAL CLOCK! WHOAMG! That's next-gen technology next there!
(Image from Kotaku.com)
P.S. I like the Wii, but I just like poking fun at how behind the times it is.
In case you missed the Nintendo montage-filled press conference, allow me to summarize it for you:
1. We're doing very well, as these bar graphs show.
2. The rest of the show won't be relevant to you hardcore gamers, so here's 30 seconds of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Ghost Squad, Ninja Gaiden DS, Phantom Hourglass, Metroid and Mario Kart for Wii. Oh, and let's make this for casual gamers too by showing off a wheel attachment for Mario Kart and say we're "leveling the playing field" for beginners.
3. We are COMMITTED to online play! We have no more than 5 exciting online games coming! Now let's go on to what really matters!
4. You want minigames?! WE GOT EM RIGHT HERE!
5. Let's lose our minds and announce our new bathroom scale with motion sensors, er wait I mean Wii Fit!
What's sadder is that I am not exaggerating.
 Before I get started, yes, I did intentionally say wiidiculous in the title. I was Elmer Fudding it.
"They're regular Donald Twumps"
"Did you just say Donald Twump?"
"Uhh yeah man we're Elmer Fudding it..."
Obscure TV references aside and bad jokes still at my disposal, here's a look at some of the most "wiidiculous" Wii accessories on the market. We've got everything from tennis rackets, to forks, to a frying pan.
Let's start off with some of the more "normal" accessories, Wii Sports attachments. These attachments are available almost everywhere that sells video games, probably to capitalize on the success of Wii Sports and the Wii in general. These accessories typically come in a pack that includes attachments for every Wii Sports game except boxing and bowling. An example would be this one found at GameStop. That's right! For the price of Ocarina of Time on the Virtual Console (not including tax and that pre-order we'll try and sell you), you can have your very own set of plastic attachments that...kind of make Wii Sports a little more realistic, to a certain extent. I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather take my money and buy something worthwhile instead of some cheap plastic that does nothing to enhance the gameplay or the feeling. Maybe I would consider it if it was a tennis racket that I could use in real life that happens to double as a Wii controller, but even then, probably not. However, these accessories are just the tip of the iceberg in Wii stupidity.
In the paragraph before the last one, I mentioned that these Wii Sports packs don't include attachments for boxing and bowling? Well, that sure as heck don't mean they aren't being made! Behold: THE WII SPORTS BOXING GLOVE! How does it work? Well, what you do, according to the site that sells them, is you slip the Wii Remote into the right glove with the IR sensor pointed towards the TV set, then you plug in the Nunchuk and put it in the left glove. In theory this one seems pretty cool, and sure as heck would enhance the experience more than any of the other Wii Sports accessories, however you would have to take the Wii Remote out of its pouch on the right glove in between rounds so that the remote can see the sensor bar. Kind of pointless if you have to remove it every two minutes. Remember, I have not used this product, so I'm only making guesses.
When playing Zelda, have you ever wished you can swing around a real sword and shield instead of pressing buttons or waving your Wii Remote? Well now you can, with the Wii combat pack (not a real sword, it's all foam). According to the seller, this set also works with Red Steel, but Red Steel is mainly an FPS with some sword combat. Shouldn't it be a gun attachment for that game? As far as I know Scott Monroe (The game's main character. Remember? Of course you don't because that game was totally unmemorable.) is not Squall Leonhart, and thus does not have a gunblade.
Now, it's time for the absolutely bizarre ones. The attachments so bizarre and moronic that you just wonder what kind of drugs they were taking when they thought of the idea.
 First: The billiards attachment! This one is potentially deadly! You could totally put an eye out if you aren't careful with that thing. You think Wii Remotes flying through TVs are bad, just wait until they pierce someone with a deadly billiards attachment! Plus it's also silly because how are you going to use it? It will feel awkward if you're shooting it in the air with nowhere to rest your hand on.
You think you've seen crazy? HA! Nothing compares to the final one I'm going to feature: the Cooking Mama attachment set! Yup! It's a kitchen of Wii attachments in a box. What comes with it you ask? Well, let me tell you what you get! You get the frying pan, knife, spatula, and fork, all for the low low price of $17 plus shipping and handling! Why is this the worst Wii attachment set yet? Simple! You have to switch them often in Cooking Mama! It would be a hassle having to fiddle around with all of those and changing them every time you have a different cooking task to perform. However, unlike the other attachments I've featured, these actually have some real world function, as the seller demonstrates on their website.
What do all these attachments teach us? Being an absurdly popular console leads to absurd things from outside companies trying to make a quick buck capitalizing on your creation. So, please, everyone here, don't buy silly Wii attachments and give these companies your money. Save up and buy some games! Just like my man ChadWarden (EXTREMELY NSFW!), Tony's all about the gamez.
 If you own a Nintendo Wii, it would be a good idea to download the Opera Powered Internet Channel by June 30, because on that date, it will cost you 500 Wii Points to download it! However, if you get it now, you can have it free forever. Don't know how to download it? Let Opera Ninja tell you all the details...
For more information about Opera for Wii, check out their website.
(Comic from Opera.com)
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/10157742314679b72fb89e5manhunt2NO.jpg[/img]
As reported by Joystiq and Kotaku, both Nintendo and Sony will refuse to license Take Two's Manhunt 2 if it retains it's current AO rating. This development comes just one day after the BBFC banned the game in the UK and the ESRB gave the game the aforementioned AO rating.
Reasons for not allowing licensing are pretty well stated. For Nintendo its policy is in the Buyer's Guide:
Please note that Nintendo does not sell or license games that carry the ESRB rating 'AO' (Adults Only).
Joystiq contacted David Karraker, Senior Director of Communications for Sony for comments, to which Karraker replied that it is currently Sony's Policy not to carry AO rated content on their systems.
It looks as though the Manhunt saga is getting more and more grim for Take Two and Rockstar. What will happen to the game? Will it see major edits to lose its AO rating, or will the game be scrapped? Given the time they put into the game, I'd expect the former, but who knows, I could be surprised. One thing is certain though, if the ESRB rating stands through the appeal process, Take Two will have to do something. Certainly now it is looking like the game won't be making its release date in three weeks, that's for certain.
Probably reacting to the harsh response from Nintendo fans, Scott Steinberg, vice president of marketing for Sega of America, has taken back his comments made about the Wii's future. He stated:
"SEGA has fully supported the Wii since day one and we continue to do so â€" it's no secret that we are close partners. Nintendo has done a masterful job of selling its vision and expanding the market. That said, it's a shared responsibility and opportunity for the whole industry to take advantage of the possibilities of the Wii. If we don't realize its true potential, we will have missed a great opportunity to expand creatively and that is what I was cautioning against in the Reuters interview. I'm not just putting the responsibility of innovation on Nintendo. It's on SEGA and all the publishers and developers as well to carry that flag."
While he's right that it's the developer's fault that the Wii is not showing a whole lot of potential beyond minigames, he did not need to take back his comments. I'm sure that he only took the comments back because of crazy Nintendo fans sending death threats to him.
Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/...ts-nest-with-wii-remarks/
According to a Reuter's Article, according to Scott Steinberg, the Vice President of Marketing for Sega Sammy. Who does he think is going to win? Well, in his infinite wisdom, he predicts the PLAYSTATION 3 to be the winner in the next console war, regardless of the fact that the wii is currently the fastest selling console of this home console generation. As Satoru Iwata would say, "It prints money".
Steinberg believes that the creative pool of Wii development will likely die within the next year. Regarding the Wii, Steinberg states,
"But how much value can developers and creative folks get out of this wrist motion two years from now, or 5 years from now, or 10 years from now?"
Well, to Mr. Steinberg my response is probably more creativity than Sega has put out since its Dreamcast days, but then Sega hasn't exactly been the most stellar publisher post-dreamcast, save for Shenmue and the handheld Sonics. Who wants to buy the 360 or PS3 version of Sonic? I bet they'd give that away.
The truth is that perhaps the Wii does have a creativity drought. How many mini game based games can publishers possibly release? Are those games really what the mass market wants, or is it more of publishers looking to make a quick buck? The truth is that there is much potential for great games on the Wii, but everyone seems to be content taking the easy way out, developing crap. If the Wii fails it will likely be because the only games ever released for it were crap.
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