SNES ROMS

We’ve already seen Sony and Microsoft dip their toes into video distribution on their Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, so it seems only natural to see Nintendo following suit.

Starting in the Spring of 2009, Nintendo will kick off its own brand of video distribution in Japan. But instead of offering movies and television shows, as Sony and Microsoft have done, Nintendo will instead offer cartoons and more “family-friendly” programming on their Wii console. Many of these offerings will even be created especially for the Wii video service.

While some video offerings will come with a fee, some will be made available using advertising to cover the actual costs of the offerings.

Nintendo hasn’t announced a specific date for the service outside of Japan, but they have stated that the Wii video service will expand worldwide at a “later” date.

We’ll keep you posted on any new developments with the upcoming Wii video service as they become available. It should be interesting to see what Nintendo has in store for Wii owners with this new service next year.

Nintendo has today announced that its New Play Control! series of games - enhanced versions of GameCube titles - will launch across Europe in Q1 2009.

The first game to arrive in Europe will be Pikmin on February 6. Originally released for GameCube in 2002, Pikmin sees players enter the world of the Pikmin creatures as they help Captain Olimar on his galactic quest to rebuild his spaceship. The New Play Control! Version will make use of both the Wii Remote and Nunchuck with a heavy use of a Pointer System to enable quick strategic moves.

Mario Power Tennis, set for release in March 2009, will require players wave the Wii Remote to execute forehand and backhand shots and direct the ball to the left or right of the court. It will also be possible to apply topspin and slice and perform special moves.

Both titles have been enhanced with a new widescreen display option

Looks like Nintendo we is top of the sales charts for the forseable future. Sales have doubled from this time last year for the Wii console.

The only thing that has helped the Xbox are deep price cutting and increased spending on advertising.

Nintendo DS pocket consoles are also up on last year giving it the edge to sony PSP

During the 1990s, video game megastars Mario and Sonic, the mascots of the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis respectively, duked it out for supremacy of our wallets.

Mario premiered with Super Mario World, and Sonic with Sonic the Hedgehog.

The two video game characters generated their own merchandise and several TV shows, one of which was voiced by Family Matters’ Steve Urkel himself, Jaleel White. Children from everywhere craved and bought Sonic and Mario related merchandise.

In 2002, the same year the Gamecube was released, the Dreamcast was discontinued, thus ending Sonic the Hedgehog’s independent success.

Mario and Sonic went in completely different directions and their original rivalry died down when Nintendo eventually pulled ahead of Sega. Mario went on to best-selling games on the Nintendo 64, Gamecube and Wii, while Sonic’s fortunes would carry on unsuccessfully to the Sega Saturn and eventually die at the hands of the Sega Dreamcast.

Mario is doing quite well for himself - he made the Wii close to impossible to find in retail stores, produced many more successes such as Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy, that stay at or near the top of retail sales. An entire new generation has embraced him, just as he saved video gaming in 1984 with the release of Super Mario Bros.

Not just restricted to one console now, Sonic has shown up in places unimaginable to the classic fans - on the Gamecube and Wii. Not to mention, he created a cult following of people who wear costumes of himself during anime conventions, better known to us as “furries.”

Many of the classic fans have said that Sonic has gone nowhere but downhill. A series of releases on the PlayStation 2, Gamecube and XBox have been criticized by gaming publications. What has especially doomed Sonic was his seventh-generation debut, Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) on the Play Station 3.

Mario and Sonic, once bitter rivals, have seen a reconciliation in recent years with the Wii’s release of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, where characters from both franchises duke it out in Olympic events. This is largely at the cost of Sonic, because Mario has been sitting pretty at the top for two and a half decades.

The most important question is what they are today: Mario may be the eternal icon of videogames, but Sonic was once part of our childhood as well, and should not be forgotten, despite our blue hedgehog’s recent struggles.

When Square Enix revealed that the next iteration of its long-running flagship Role-Playing series, Dragon Quest, would be hitting the Nintendo DS, people were left completely stunned given how the seventh and eighth versions were released on the PSone and PlayStation 2, respectively. Now, though, it seems that the handheld version of Dragon Quest IX is almost ready for release in Japan.

A report has appeared over in Japan with Jiji Press that mentions how Yoichi Wada-san, President of Square Enix has been discussing the release of the next in the Dragon Quest series, which many presume means Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Starry Sky for the Nintendo DS, considering it has only recently been confirmed as definitely being a fiscal year 2008 release and the game is set to be shown off at this year’s Tokyo Games Show over in Japan early next month.

Dragon Quest IX could well be coming to Japan in early 2009 on DS.

According to Wada-san, the new Dragon Quest will launch in early 2009, which will likely mean Japanese otaku’s Otoshidama (the New Year money children receive since Christmas is not a big holiday over in the Land of the Rising Sun) will probably go towards this new release. There is still a seed of doubt about whether or not this is indeed Dragon QUest IX, though, as there is still the remake of Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie to come on DS, the first time the old SNES game has ever been remade. Those who like to speculate reckon that the remake of the sixth game could well use the DQIX engine and be released later in 2009 to ensure there is enough of a gap between releases.

the Australian Virtual Console has been updated. This week, Nintendo have concluded the third Hanabi Festival by releasing the SNES game DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure, the NES game Spelunker, and the TurboGrafx titles Chase H.Q. and Ys Book I &amp II.

Released in 1996, DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure is a sequel to Milon′s Secret Castle and was never released outside Japan. The game starts out by introducing players to the village of Piccolo. One day, a fairy named Aeris arrives to alert the villagers that all sound and music has disappeared from the forest. Before she can tell more however, the demon Amon suddenly appears and kidnaps her. Players must now assume the role of Milon, Aeris’ friend, and restore peace to his homeland. During your quest you have to utilise Milon’s bubble shooter to attack enemies, as well as fight bosses and recover five legendary instruments and stars. DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure will set you back 900 points.