Games
Nintendo Announces More Wii Storage, New Zelda and More
By Eli Green March 27, 2009 - 15:00
Just
a few days before the launch of the Nintendo DSi, Nintendo President
Saturo Iwata announced a number of updates for Nintendo products, as
well as some details on a new Zelda game set to release for the
company's handhelds.
First
off, this week's Wii update enables Wii users to now download
Channels, Virtual Console games and WiiWare to High Capacity SD
Cards, in addition to regular SD cards, thus allowing them to free up
a lot of space on their Wii's internal memory. Players who save
Channels, Virtual Console games or WiiWare to an SD Card will also be
able to select and launch them from a new SD Menu icon in the Wii
Menu (it's a tiny SD card shaped icon next to the Wii settings menu
button). The only caveat is that you will need to have an equivalent
amount of free blocks available on you Wii for them to run, so if the
internal memory was full to begin with you'll still need to transfer
some unused files over to the SD card before transferring the file
you want to use to the internal memory.
The
Nintendo DSi is set to hit the shelves of North American retailers
one week from Sunday. With that release, Nintendo will be promoting
the DSi and its WiiWare equivalent, DsiWare, by giving away 1,000 DSi
Points (the equivalent of $10 USD) to every consumer who buys it and
connects to the DSi Shop in the first six months after launch (you've
got to access the DSi shop no later than October 5th).
The Points can be redeemed at any time as long as the DSi is
connected to the Internet. DsiWare games will be available at
different pricer ranges, anywhere from free to over 800 DSi Points a
piece, with the levels in between being 200 Points, 500 Points and
800 Points. Players can purchase DSi Points through the DSi Shop
using a credit card, or by purchasing a Nintendo Points Card in
stores and then redeem those points in the DSi Shop. Retailers will
begin selling Nintendo Points Cards on April 5th
with the launch of the DSi. We still think they would do far better
with a full profile
system
across all their platforms, but what can you do?
Finally,
aside from announcing the shipment of the 50 millionth Wii unit,
Iwata announced a new Legend
of Zelda today
that will utilize the same kind of touch control Phantom
Hourglass did.
The
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
is an all new adventure in which players will travel around the
game's world with a steam locomotive, hence Spirit
Tracks,
and switch between Phantom and Link to explore new dungeons and solve
fresh puzzles with new items. The game is set to release some time
later this year.