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

Previously I have written about a NES System in a cartridge. This is much cooler than that. I have stumbled upon a mod that puts the entire NES system in a NES controller. G-force, a modder from Benheck forums, has this to say about his creation:

“I took a famiclone (Super Joy III) and put it in a controller, with a bit of style and quality added. It was made for my girlfriend who’s a big NES nut like me. That made it easy to guess a gift for her birthday. Just thought, “What would I want?” I got it made a little late, but it was worth it to make right.”

I’m sure he scored huge points with his girlfriend because of this gift. Plus his mini NES controller system has tons of features such as built-in games including Tetris and Contra, a cartridge connector at the back, and a 2^nd player controller port.

G-force has a gallery of the components and the actual controller system here.

Nintendo announced at E3 an upgrade for the Wii-mote. It debuts the MotionPlus add-on for the peripheral that would translate into more accurate motion sensing. It sticks to the bottom of the Wii-mote.

The MotionPlus add-on will cost you $30. To date, only Wii Sports Resort is the only title that’s compatible with it. With all the hype and its price tag, there must be a perceivable advantage over a regular controller but those who have tried the demo were disappointed with it. There’s nothing out of the ordinary with it.

Good thing the MotionPlus is still in demo. Maybe some tweaks will happen for its commercial release. Nintendo stated that Wii Sports Resort will require you to have the MotionPlus add-on. I don’t like this Nintendo business module at all. Why force their consumers to buy an add-on just to play a new incarnate of its Wii Sports game?

Two of the nonconventional titles that showed up during E3 are Mushroom Men titles for the Nintendo Wii and the DS. The games are developed by Red Fly Studios and published by Gamecock Media Group.

The DS version, Mushroom Men – Rise of the Fungi, will be the prequel of the Wii version. It tells the early history of the Mushroom Men universe. It will be a side-scroller. In this version you get to choose from three different characters. You will learn and develop the character’s skills and the story will be until the start of the Spore Wars.

The Wii version, Mushroom Men – Spore Wars, will begin where the Rise of the Fungi’s story ended. You’ll be in the middle of a war between different mushroom factions. You will control Pax, an unexpected hero. He must put the Spore Wars to an end while trying to solve his own personal problems. This time around, the game will be in full 3D.

Game is set to be release in October.  Learn more about the games at the Mushroom Men web site.

What is Homebrew? According to Wikipedia:

Homebrew is a term frequently applied to video games that are produced by consumers on proprietary game platforms; in other words, game platforms that are not typically user-programmable, or use proprietary hardware for storage.

Don’t you wish there is a way to use homebrew application on your Nintendo Wii? According to Wiibrew, there is a way. Plus there are tons of applications made specifically for the Wii.

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The first time thechoozen of Bit-Tech forums saw the trailer of Wall-E, the newest Pixar movie, he knew right away that he had to do a mod based on it. So he transformed an old Nintendo GameCube console into Wall-E.

The case mod is made up of parts from an old toy and Plexiglas. They made a cover for the front ports to hide the ports. If you’re going to use the GameCube, just pull down the cover and insert the joystick in.

The GameCube is covered with acrylic and airbrushed to look like Wall-E. The arms, which are made of Plexiglas, are movable to assume different positions. The eyes are made of acrylic layers.

This GameCube case mod was made February of this year, way earlier than all the hype Wall-E is getting these days. He does look like number 5.

Source: Bit-Tech forums

More photos after jump.

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Are you tired of your White Nintendo Wii console and you wish that it came in a more exciting color. Then this concept design will electrify you.

Take a look at Elliot Ortiz’ Nintendo Dragon. This concept design is the reinvention of the Wii and comes with its own speakers. The designer envisions it to be the centerpiece of your entertainment and media room.

Obviously, the Nintendo Dragon concept is made with the iMac crowd in mind. If this is made into production, I expect guys would be lining up for this. For their girlfriends, that is…

What do you think about this concept? Should it see the light of day?

EA is coming up with a skateboarding game for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Skate It is said to be a spin off of the Skate games that were released for the PS 3 and Xbox 360. The developers felt that a direct port of the game to the Nintendo consoles is not possible because of Nintendo’s unique control systems.

For the Wii console, the game will use the combination of the Wii remote and the Wii Balance Board so that players can create their own skating style. Though there are reports that the board can’t be used in pulling tricks. I think the developers should think of a way to utilize the board in doing some tricks to maximize it and make the game more instinctive.

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Today’s my birthday and I’m feeling kind of nostalgic. I miss the old NES games I use to play when I was a kid, Contra, Super Mario Series, and Gradius to name a few.

Then I stumble upon FireNes. This is an add-on for the Firefox browser that allows you to play 2,000+ NES games. You can download the FireNes installer from its site. Once installed, you can access FireNes from Firefox by going to Tools>FireNes.

It will open a sidebar with the games listed alphabetically. Choose a game by double clicking and a popup window will open. Controls are simple. All you need to press are the arrow keys for direction, Enter for start, Ctrl for select, Z for B and X for A.

Every game made for the NES is available. You most likely will find the game you wasted your time on in the past. I give the FireNes add-on two 1-up mushrooms.

FireNes requires Java and Firefox to run.

The Nintendo Wii has gone portable. Though not officially but this Wii mod looks good and it works. This mod is made by Ben Heckendorn. It is just one of his many mods. Check out his site for more of his works.

The Wii laptop mod features a 16:9 widescreen LCD, 7-inch diagonal, stereo sound, Gamecube controller port, built-in short range Sensor Bar, ports for using original Sensor Bar and A/V output jacks (for use on external display), and a built-in power supply and compartment for power cord.

Though not really portable because it has no built-in batteries, it is still a wonderful mod. This would be great for those who live in cramped spaces but I still think that the bigger the monitor, the better your Wii experience. Well, that’s just me.

More photos after the jump.

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