News on the latest developments for the DS and Wii; new game from Square Enix; and Nintendo rivals in this week’s Nintendo News roundup.

WTF? Play New Crystal Chronicles on Wii, DS
Square Enix has unveiled the new chapter to the Crystal Chronicles and it will be available for both the DS and Wii. It is scheduled to be released early next year.

Feature: Will the New Nintendo DS Have DLC?
There are a lot of speculations regarding the new DS. One of the features that most gamers want from a new DS is downloadable content. DLC is already available for the Wii; why not bring it with the DS as well?

Apple vs. Mario: The handheld gaming battle begins
If it’s true that the new DS will be featuring a built-in cam and music playing capabilities, then it must be due to the fact that Jobs’ Apple is closing in the gap between the iPod and the DS. The new iPod Touch has been tagged as the best portable device for games. I can’t wait for the next chapter of this saga.

More than just Rumours: Next Gen High Definition Nintendo Wii a Reality
So-called experts had uncovered evidence of a new Wii that’s in Nintendo’s drawing board. The report stated that in 2011, the next gen Wii will be unveiled with the name Wii HD, with HD meaning High Definition rather than the hard drive gamers are yearning for.

Analysis: Trends in the Japanese Game Market
This is a report on why Nintendo is dominating the gaming industry. It states that the DS would still be number one over the PSP. Bad news for Nintendo is that statistics show a steady decline of DS’ popularity over the next 5 years.

Everyone knew that Nintendo would be releasing a new DS with built-in camera. But instead of a single camera, Nintendo DSi will feature 2 cameras, much to the delight of camwhores everywhere. It is said the future DS games can include Mii-like features. It has a 3.25 megapixel external camera and an internal camera as well.

And don’t look for the GBA cartridge slot anymore. It is replaced by a SD slot. This improvement makes the DSi 12% slimmer than the DS Lite. There’s talk about internal storage but no official word yet on its capacity. The screens are also a little bit bigger. Read more »

Gameloft has recently announced its game lineup for this year’s holiday season. They will be releasing 2 DS games and one for the Wii.

Gameloft’s soccer game is back for another year with Real Soccer 2009. The game has a real soccer feel to it with 198 professional teams, dynamic AI, and explosive graphics. The touch screen controls are simple yet powerful enough to let the player get in the action.

Gameloft joins the music bandwagon on the DS with its Guitar Rock Tour. Just from the title alone, it hopes to capitalize with Guitar Hero and Rock Band’s popularity. Players get to use guitars or drums to jam to famous the music. The tracklist include Girlfriend; Beat It; Rock You like a Hurricane; Message in a Bottle; Underclass Hero; and In the Shadow.

Lastly, Gameloft will be releasing TV Show King Party for the Wii. The whole family would truly enjoy this trivia game’s game show atmosphere. Questions would range from Music, Movies, History, Science and Sports.

Guitar Rock Tour, Real Soccer 2009 and TV Show King Party will be available starting in November.

It’s been ten years since the first ever Harvest Moon was released for the SNES. I remembered playing the game and actually enjoyed it. Not much has changed with its gameplay over the years. Basically the player is tasked to run a farm over a course of time, while maintaining a healthy relationship with your neighbors.

Although it started with a Nintendo console, it has since then been produced for various consoles such as the Game Boy, GBA, N64, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, GameCube, DS and the PSP. It was available for the Wii via the Virtual Console.

For the game’s tenth year anniversary, Natsume has released Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility for the Wii. Now you can enjoy farming with your Wii remote. It features new settings and characters. Plus it is said that it has the most refined gameplay for a Harvest Moon game yet.

Harvest Moon has introduced to me how to farm in a game. It teaches patience and how to manage your crops properly. Farming is a great gaming skill and until now I’ve applied it, farming for gold in WoW.

Tree of Tranquility has been rated E therefore everyone can get in the fun and enjoy farming. I’m grabbing a copy myself. For more info on the game, you can go to www.natsume.com.