Tomodachi Collection (Friend Collection) might be a Sims clone but it does have some features that it can call its own. In this Nintendo Mii game for the DS, players start off by creating a Mii that will live on an island with other Miis. There you must interact, make friends and enemies, and form relationships.

You can also add characters to represent your friends and family members with different stats to match their personalities. You must feed your Miis, play with them, and give them advice. The game features a TV channel that shows the news twice a day.

EA Tomodachi Collection does sound like a Sims wannabe from Nintendo. These rumors have been floating since October of last year but there is no concrete news yet about its gameplay but it will be released on June 18 in Japan. More on this once I get my hand on the game.

Nintendo sure knows how to treat moms all over the world. Just in time for Mother’s Day, Nintendo will be releasing a lime green DS Lite bundle. The special edition bundle comes with a uniquely designed case and the Personal Trainer: Cooking game. If you’re thinking of buying this one, you still have a week before its May 3 release. Your mom will really appreciate this rare gift. just remember to add some DS Lite R4 games in the mix.

Jeri Ellsworth proved that modding is not just a boy thing. She knew how girls love their bag and she made one that female gamers will surely want to have. The NES Purse has a built-in LCD screen with two NES controllers attached to it with Velcro. This is a portable gaming console that you can put your things in as well. Isn’t that cool?

Here are photos of the NES Purse.

Source: Flickr

Third party, new game versions, spies, rave reviews, and family friendly music experience in this week’s Nintendo news roundup.

Nintendo’s big challenge: letting others win
Nintendo wants third party publishers to make good games for the Wii and DS. The company enjoyed success with the consoles and games but they want others to join in the fun. That’s brave of Nintendo to encourage others to strive to be number one.

Free Running Leaps Onto Wii, DS and PC
Reef Entertainment will be making Free Running games for the Wii and DS. The Wii version will be using the Wii remote to make the experience unique.

MySims Agents spy on Wii, DS
Players will be spies in the latest MySims game called MySims Agents. The Wii and DS versions will have similar themes but the gameplays will be different from one another.

Nintendo Wii Review: Animal Crossing: City Folk
The reviewer stated that Animal Crossing appeals to both new and core gamers. It offers plenty to see and do. The bad side he of the game is that it doesn’t use the Wii’s control very well.

Rock Band Goes LEGO
Young players can now be rockers with LEGO Rock Band. The game will be available in various consoles, including the DS and the Wii. It will combine the fun of the LEGO games with Rock Band’s best selling gameplay.

DJ wannabes can now show their skills off with the DS with Deep Silver’s DJ Star. The game is said to be released in Europe and Australia later this year. There’s no word yet if it will be released in North America.

The player starts as a novice DJ honing his skills to the beat of 40 songs. Because this is a music game, the track list will be a big factor for its success. There’s no official word yet on the songs included in the game. I’ll keep you posted as soon I get news on this one.

As for the gameplay, you’ll be using the Touch Screen to scratch in real time. If you’re tired of scratching, DJ Star features mini-games as well. Plus it has a creation studio where players can make and save their masterpieces. Players can share their music through the DS wireless network.

Apple’s iPhone is fast becoming a portable gaming console and the traditional gaming console manufacturers are already feeling it encroaching into their territory. Nintendo might still have the edge with their DS but the iPhone is becoming the portable device of choice.

Reggie Fils-Aime, head of Nintendo North America has stated that his company is intrigued with the iPhone as a gaming device but readily dismissed its App Store. He continued by saying a store with 10,000 apps doesn’t not necessarily mean that consumers are getting quality and innovative entertainment.

Even Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is not moved by this development. He stated that mobile phone games have been around for years but Nintendo still managed to be the leader in portable gaming. He has the figures to back this up. There are around 563,000 DS units sold in March alone.

Nintendo does have the stronger handheld gaming device for now but we might see better games for the iPhone in the future. Nintendo better watch out.

Last month’s sales report is out and it showed that video games didn’t do well in March. It dropped 17 percent. This is according to the reports made by the NPD Group. But compared to last year’s numbers, this year’s numbers are even with 2008. This is still good news for the video game industry as the world is suffering from global recession.

The video game software sales are down but the gaming consoles have a 1% increase. The Nintendo Wii is still the best seller with the Xbox 360 in second place. One year ago, Super Smash Bros Brawl was selling like hotcakes. This has greatly affected the March 2008 sales.

Hopefully this month’s sales will see a big bump, especially with the release of the DSi. Though initially reports show that the DSi is not doing that well. It can’t seem to attract iPhone’s market yet. Then there’s the case of mature games that doesn’t seem to do well as well. You can read about it from my previous article.

It was bold for Take-Two to bring their Gran Theft Auto franchise to the DS. It is their thinking that the casual gamers would readily accept Chinatown Wars while the hardcore gamers will migrate to the DS because of it. Obviously that’s not what happened.

An expert pointed out that no even all the hype Chinatown Wars has gotten, it still underperformed with 89,000 units sold since it was launched last month. It’s not the publisher’s fault at all. I have the game I really loved it. It’s just that the demographics are really against them. Majority of DS users are either too young for the mature rating or they’re against games like GTA.

Madworld, another mature game made for a Nintendo console, also performed poorly during its first month. It sold 66,000 units in the U.S. But this is already a given for mature games for Nintendo consoles. They might not be lighting up the game charts but there is still a market for M games on the Wii and DS. Hopefully the publishers and game developers are not discouraged by this.

Samus Aran, the legendary bounty hunter from the Metroid franchise comes to life via Brazilian cosplayer Yuki LeFay. If you’ve been living away from civilization for a while and don’t know who Samus is, she is heroine of the Metroid series that dates back to the first one. Gamers have even voted that she will win in a fight against Master Chief of Halo.

This is the best looking Samus I’ve seen so far. If you don’t believe me check out the following photos of her cosplay. Metroid Prime hunters weasel.

More photos after the jump. Read more »

Videos, power thinker, horror game, minigames, and the low down on the DSi in this week’s Nintendo news roundup.

Nintendo mulling Wii-to-DS video download service
Nintendo is planning to offer video downloads via the Wii and send it to the DS. The service will be first made available in Japan later this year and if accepted by the Japanese consumers then it will debut worldwide. Download ATV service manuals.

‘Sims’ and ‘Spore’ creator leaves EA
Will Wright left EA to start a Stupid Fun Club, an entertainment think tank company. He hopes to churn out new ideas for games, movies, TV shows, and toys. I hope he succeeds in this endeavor.

Fatal Frame 4 Never Coming To US
Tecmo announced that the fourth installation of Fatal Frame would not be reaching the US market. This has been decided by Nintendo and Tecmo can’t do anything about it. AS to the reason why Nintendo doesn’t want it release it is beyond logic. It did well in Japan and fans are raving about it, saying Fatal Frame 4 is the best game of the franchise by far.

Make Your Own WarioWare Games
Made in Ore is composed of 90 mini games but its main feature is that it lets the player made his own game and share it among his peers. I don’t know about you guys but what’s the point of another mini game collection?

Nintendo DSi: Hands-on Review
The reviewer tells us that DS Lite owners should not switch to the DSi. The DSi is for those who skipped on the DS Lite or people who don’t have any portable consoles yet. I totally agree specially when he pointed out that the GBA slot is missing with the DSi that makes GH Tour unplayable on the new console.