At a time where the Xbox 360 has been stealing all the limelight with the X05 event, no one would've thought that Nintendo would step up and take the spotlight back...but they did! Today, Nintendo held a "NINTENDO DS Conference!2005, Fall" event in Japan to talk a bit about some new titles coming up. Here are some further details on the Square Enix announcements.

 

The conference opened with Square Enix president Youichi Wada talking about Square Enix's stance on the DS, starting with an announcement of Mario Basket 3 on 3, which Square Enix will be developing and Nintendo will be publishing. "When we were planning games that would fit the DS, we thought we should do something that would transmit the feel of touching," says Wada, "And so in our pile of ideas we thought about doing a basketball game set in the Mario world and approached Nintendo about it". From here, Wada went on to say that the game will feature Mario, Luigi, Peach, and many other recognizable Mario characters. Courts will all be sporting the Mario Motif and an example he gave was that one court is Boo's Castle and during the match your opponents might get changed into coins. In closing, he commented that the 'feel' aspect will be passed through the touch pad where you'll be able to recreate the feel of dribbling with the unique controls of the game.

 

Wada then went on to talk about Final Fantasy III for the DS. Planned for a winter 2006 release, the characters, field, and other objects will all be rendered in complete 3D polygons rather than the sprites of the original. The team is hard at work on making sure the game has a fresh appearance but at the same time, they want to be careful not to ruin the appeal of the original.

 

Before he left the stage, Wada mentioned that after the release of the upcoming Final Fantasy IV for GBA, FFV and FFVI will be following the tradition and appearing on the GBA. He promised that FF games will never just be straight ports, but rather will always contain new elements. We're definitely interested in seeing how these FF games are coming along and how Square Enix's first basketball game turns out...so hopefully there will be a media update soon.

Weee, offically translated FF3 game coming to DS(FF3j folks), and being pretty!

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Pretty neat, eh?

Think of it as Hot Coffee, but without all of the lawsuits and sex. Looks like some goofy Nintendo programmers slipped an Arwing fighter from Starfox into Ocarina of Time. A reader sent me this screen cap along with a link to the video. In it you can see Link spotting the spaceship.

 

Just in case you absolutely need to check this out for yourself, run out and buy a Gameshark and use this code to unlock the space-time anomaly.

»» Find out how to do it!

»» Download Video!

Thanks to Warp2Search for the news

Nintendo has unveiled the new Wi-Fi USB connector that will allow DS owners who don't have a wireless router to take their handheld online.

 

Stick it in your PC and it'll open a window to establish a link between your DS, your computer and your Internet connection. (And we do mean PC - Nintendo is only supporting Windows at the moment, so bad luck Mac owners.) There are then three option screens to click through on your DS, and hey presto - you're online.

 

As previously announced, you'll be able to construct a Friends list but there are no usernames or passwords involved. Instead, 12 digit numbers or "Friend Codes" will be used - swap your Friend Code with a mate and they'll be added to your list so you can play with them whenever. If you prefer, you can pick a random stranger who happens to be as wicked/rubbish at the game in question as you via Nintendo's skill-mapping servers.

 

The USB Connector will go on sale in Europe on November 25 alongside Mario Kart DS, priced £30.

 

Nintendo unveiled the connector at the DS Conference 2005 in Japan, where three new titles for the handheld were also announced.

 

Eigo Zuke teaches Japanese speakers how to write and speak English using the DS's touch screen and microphone. It won't make it over here for obvious reasons, though we wouldn't mind a vice versa version.

 

And we're also hoping that since Motto Nou wo Kitaeru Otona no DS Training - Brain Training 2 - will be out in Japan by Christmas, we can expect an English version of the first instalment in the series some time soon.

 

The third game announced was Daredemo Asobi Taikai, a collection of more than 40 popular board games. Wireless multiplayer. Up to eight players opponents. Game sharing. Out next month. Couldn't care less.

 

But HURRAH for the USB Connector and for HURRAH for online multiplayer Mario Kart DS! Roll on November!

Thanks to Digg.Com and EuroGamer.net for informing us about this news!

»» http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61172