Next gen upgrades, Canadian conquest, Blonde jokes, fast cars and more casual games in this week’s Nintendo News round up.

Nintendo Wii Is Big In Canada–Surpassses One Million Units Sold
Nintendo dominates the Canadian gaming industry with the Wii selling more than 1 million units. Plus games for the Wii occupy 5 of the top ten slots while the DS has 3. 2008 truly is the year of Nintendo.

So Blonde Wii/NDS Versions Announced and Screens
The PC game So Blonde will be ported to the Wii and DS and is set to be released next year. The versions are not a direct pot and will feature a different storyline.

Ferrari Challenge Races to PS3, Wii, PS2 & DS
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli will have a multi platform release, although the release date is not yet announced. Activision promises that the game will capture the performance of a Ferrari.

Nintendo fall titles target kids, casual players
Nintendo’s list of fall games features lots of casual games that are made with your kids in mind. We all know about Wii Music but that’s not only Nintendo has to offer. Look forward for games such as Wario Land, Kirby Super Star Ultra and a lot more.

BS Story of the Day: Nintendo’s Next-Gen Aspirations
The story tells us that Nintendo won’t be coming out with any next gen console any time soon. Though gamers should expect upgrades for the Wii. Are we likely to see more storage for the Wii in near future?

Photo: Gadget Avenue

Mario is stepping on the North American plate and hoping for a Wii homerun with Super Sluggers. This Wii title was first released in Japan last June and was received warmly by Japanese gamers. Mario Super Sluggers was released this week in the North America market while Australian gamers can get it this September.

This baseball title for the Wii will have 4 game modes. The Exhibition mode lets players choose their captains and players. You can choose how many innings, stadium and the time of play, whether night or day. The batting order would be determined via toss coin. Read more »

Those of you who already have the Guitar Hero: On Tour would know how awkward and unnatural the feel is to play it with the DS Guitar Grip it comes with. Modder Eric Ruckman has the perfect solution for this. Why not use a regular PS2 guitar controller to play the DS version of the game?

First, he dismantled the guitar controller. He removed the internal parts and then placed the DS in the middle. He included a FM transmitter so that you can use an ordinary radio as speakers. The guitar controller’s start and select buttons act as the frequency selector. If you don’t want to wake up your neighbors, you can plug headphones into it. The controller will use the GBA slot therefore you can still take the DS off if you want to.

Good job Eric!

Watch this video of the Guitar Hero: On Tour guitar controller mod in action.

Source: markvi_fan’s flickr

Photos after the jump.
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The ultimate cooking showdown on cable television will be making its way to the Wii and DS. Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine will be pit two players in a battle to see who will be supreme in the Kitchen Stadium as they battle in a series of fast paced and intensive culinary challenges. Each victory will bring a player closer in his quest to be the next Iron Chef.

Food Network fanatics would love playing this cooking game that would let them compete against the likes of former Iron Chefs Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, and Cat Cora. Game commentary will be made by Alton Brown.

As to why you would prefer to virtually cook food against really cooking is beyond my logic but as a fan of the show I would likely pick this game up. Yeah, another game that caters to casual gamers. Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine will be available this fall for the Nintendo Wii and DS.

Will Iron Chef topple Cooking Mama’s Wii supremacy?

For this year’s Games Convention Midway promised to be bringing the following titles for Nintendo consoles.

More Game Party

(Wii, November 2008)

More Game Party for the Wii is expected to bring more fun for you and your friends. It has 11 party games that include Bean Bag Toss, Lawn Darts, Horseshoes, Puck Bowling, Hoop Shoot, Darts, and Skill Ball. Each game has a four player mode and tournament play that makes More Game Play the ultimate party game for everyone.

More TouchMaster

(DS, September 2008)

More TouchMaster brings a mixture of old and new card, action, puzzle and strategy games that will keep you occupied for hours. You could try and beat your own scores or you can play against other players. More TouchMaster is your own portable arcade to while away your idle times.

Mechanic Master

(DS, September 2008)

In Mechanic Master, you get to use your DS stylus to battle against pesky alien invaders. With over 100 levels and tons of puzzles to solve, finding the right contraption needs lots of creative juice in order to advance to the next level. This is yet another casual game to add to your DS inventory.

Nintendo still up yet down, the latest from Konami, Big Beach Sports bashed, and CoD WoW in this week’s Nintendo News round up.

Nintendo pounds rivals in July game sales

Nintendo takes up 8 of the top ten places in July’s Canadian gaming charts. The Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii takes the top two spots. Guitar Hero: On Tour is on third place. This goes to show that Nintendo is still the company of choice among the consoles.

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I Spy, no not the Eddie Murphy/Owen Wilson starrer, but the riddle book and kid’s TV series will become a Wii game soon. Scholastic Interactive announced that an I Spy game in a true 3D environment will be launched this October. Ultimate I Spy for the Wii will still feature the find and seek game play found in previous I Spy games.

According to Alan Waldman, Scholastic Internative’s Senior Vice President:

“By bringing Ultimate I Spy to Wii, we are able to combine the popular seek-and-find gameplay with the unique capabilities of Wii to deliver a revolutionary I Spy experience. The active play features of Wii allow us to offer a wholly new game experience for loyal I Spy fans and new gamers alike.”

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Lighthouse Interactive signed with Nintendo Europe to develop and publish games for the Wii and DS. The company was recently bought by the Canada-based company SilverBirch. Not much has been said about its future projects except to expect something exciting from them.

Steve Wall, cofounder and Vice President of Lighthouse Interactive, has this to say about the deal:

“This is a significant milestone in the continued growth of the company. It gives us the opportunity to further expand our product catalogue and take Lighthouse Interactive to the next level. We look forward to working with Nintendo.”

Lighthouse Interactive is responsible for PC games such as The Lost Crown, Avencast, Barrow Hill, Overclocked, SunAge, Ship Sim and Sword of the Stars. It would be nice to see if any of these adventure games would be ported to the Wii and the DS. The DS needs a breakthrough adventure game that’s different from its usual casual games at present.

Visit Lighthouse Interactive web site for more info about the company.

The U.S. gaming industry is enjoying a very lucrative year, thanks in part to the booming sales of Nintendo’s Wii and DS consoles. NPD announced that for the month of July Nintendo sold 608,400 DSs and 555,000 Wiis. Though the sales number of both Nintendo consoles is down, they are still the leader of the pack.

Sony has the third and fourth place with 224,900 PS3s and 221,700 PSPs sold. Microsoft managed to sell 204,800 Xbox 360s.

The hardware figures are also reflected in the software charts with Wii games occupying four slots in the top ten. These are Wii Fit, Wii Play, Mario Kart Wii, and Rock Band for Wii. Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS is at number three. The number slot is taken by NCAA Football 09 for the Xbox 360.

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Overlord is out to conquer multiple platforms on 2009 including the Nintendo Wii and DS. Codemasters announced that it will be releasing Overlord: Dark Legend for the Wii and Overlord Minions for the DS. Plus it will also put out Overlord II for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Lennart Sas, director and Overlord lead at the Triumph Studios, has this to say about the pending titles:

“It’s also great to see the series reaching new formats. The creativity being packed into the design for Overlord Dark Legend on Wii and Overlord Minions on Nintendo DS make great use of the platforms’ unique features and are perfect extensions to the Overlord series.”

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