Nintendo might be on to something when it launched educational brain games after another for the Wii and DS. Experts are saying that game-based learning is an efficient method in teaching children about subjects that would normally be boring or uninteresting to them.

Scotland has embraced this method of teaching and has around 27 local authorities using game-based learning. Teachers are said to use games such as Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, Wii Sports, and Guitar Hero to teach various personal skills and at the same time motivate their students. Read more »

The exhibit is currently ongoing until Sunday, September 7. Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 am to 6 pm.

Photo’s are from The Bits Bytes Pixels Sprites. Visit them for more photos of the exhibit.
I am 8-bit’s web site is here.

3 more after the jump. Read more »

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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Straight out of Super Mario World, Flickr user standard issue has uploaded these photos of a Piranha Plant.

According to Wikipedia’s List of Mario Series Enemies:

A Piranha Plant, known as Packun Flower (???? ????, Pakkun Furaw?) in Japan, is a Venus fly trap-like enemy, almost always portrayed as a leafy, green stalk topped with a white-spotted red globe, almost bisected by a white lip mouth with razor-sharp teeth. Piranha Plants typically hide within pipes, periodically emerging and ensnaring unwary passersby. Others live entirely outside pipes, being either rooted in the ground or even walking about on rootlike legs.

No explanation was given by the uploader as to where or how he got hold of a Piranha Plant. Maybe he got it from Koopa Shop of Horror.

3 more photos after the jump.

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Since the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES came out, I am a Nintendo gamer. The NES revolutionized the gaming industry. It allowed third party developers to come out with games even though Nintendo did have strict restrictions.

Great games such as Contra, Super Mario Bros, Zelda and Metal Gear just to name a few, were released for this gaming console and it kept me entertained during my childhood years. Then Nintendo came out with their SNES console that had better graphics and audio.

Then GameBoy was released and it started my addiction to Tetris and Doctor Mario. The GameBoy is the first of many things when it comes to portable gaming consoles. It was the first handheld console that had high quality games in cartridges. Although it is in black and green, the games were entertaining. It is also the first portable console that allows multiplayer battles with its multilink port.

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These are the top ten games for the DS as of press time:

1. Guitar Hero: On Tour
2. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training Nintendo
3. New Wall*E
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
5. Cooking Guide: Can’t Decide What to Eat?
6. Cooking Mama 2
7. LEGO Indiana Jones: Original Adventures
8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
9. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time
10. New Super Mario Bros Nintendo

The list includes action, dungeon crawlers and puzzle games. What the list lacks is a fighting title. Not because there is a lack of new released fighting game, there are some titles but are not buzz worthy.

The last great fighting game for the DS was Bleach: The Blade of Fate, which was released last year. After that, no other fighting game was released for the DS that’s worth playing.

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The Wii is enjoying much success in the market today. Last month it has outsold the PS3 and the Xbox 360. The Wii did this with its innovative control system and high quality games. I have one wish for Wii though. I hope that Nintendo increases the Wii’s internal storage.

Its 512MB internal storage is the smallest among gaming consoles. Even the latest iPhone has a larger memory with its 8GB of storage capacity. I don’t know why Nintendo don’t want to increase the Wii’s storage.

Games such as Guitar Hero need more storage space for its DLC. Then there’s the WiiWare service. With its current internal storage, you can only save at least 5 games in it. Although you can use an external SD card for storage, you can’t play from it.

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Nintendo is the latest conquest of a small Texan company. Anascape Ltd. Has successfully filed a patent infringement against Sony and Microsoft. Sony licensed the patent in2004 while Microsoft settled in May of this year.

Nintendo challenged the ruling but the court sided with Anascape. This ruling makes it illegal for Nintendo to sell its Wii Classic Controller, GameCube WaveBird, and the regular GameCube controller. This ban is still on hold while Nintendo appeals the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta has this to say about the case:

“Nintendo was already planning to appeal this case to the Federal Circuit court. The recent ruling by the trial court does not impact that decision.”

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Nintendo dominates the US gaming market for the month of June. Its Wii and DS consoles grabbed the top two spots in the gaming charts. The Nintendo DS sold 783,000 units while the Wii sold 666,700 units.

At the E3 last week, Nintendo announced two new titles for the Wii to help them stay on them. They are betting on Wii Sports Resort and Wii Music to keep the gamers interested, although I have my doubts on the sports title that requires a new peripheral in order to play it. Check my MotionPlus article for more on that one.

Here’s the US gaming charts:

1.       Nintendo DS — 783,000

2.       Wii — 666,700

3.       PlayStation 3 — 405,500

4.       PSP — 337,4000

5.       Xbox 360 — 219,800

            6.    PlayStation 2 — 188,800

Source: NPD

Not a lot of real time strategy games are designed specifically for your 12 year olds. Conventional strategy games involve lots of complicated details and a comprehensive micro management in order to succeed that it would be hard to be digested by young ones. Crave Entertainment thinks otherwise. They are coming out with Defendin’ De Penguin, a strategy game for your kids. It will be released with a Wii and DS version.

The objective of the game is to fend off the attacks of hungry predators that are out to get the town’s food supplies. Sounds simply right? Players must use precision timing and cunningness to survive. Players must choose from 8 tower types to defend their town. Then you have various ammunitions such as ice cubes, snowballs, icicles, and frost to throw at your opponents.

You play as the penguin Little Blue. You can upgrade a tower, fish for money, and get special items on the map. Towers can be upgraded to increase attack range, and strength. Attacking creatures include wooly mammoths, seals, snow men, snapping turtles and a lot more.

Defendin’ the Penguin will be out this month.