FIFA and Madden confirmed for Wii U

In an announcement that's a surprise only if the word 'obvious' means nothing to you, two of EA's biggest franchises will be coming to Nintendo's new Wii U.

DealNews infographic details gamer-spending

Not something that gets all that much play (except when it's excessively good/bad), the new graphic released by DealNews nonetheless has some very interesting tidbits about the spending habits of certain players. You will be surprised by some of this.

Spike TV's E3 coverage is serious

Serious as in 17 freakin' hours of coverage spread across the web and the channel itself.

And just to whet your gaming news appetite, the network has just released a short rundown of just some of the stuff that you can expect to see from the biggest videogame event of the year.

Spike TV looks at E3 & Spidey in All Access Weekly

All Access Weekly is a short look at the happenings and goings on in the various world of geekery and pop culture. This week's episode takes a look at E3 and that ever so Amazing Spider-Man with writer Dan Slott.

GoGo's Crazy Bones Comes to the DS

Collectible figurine series GoGo's Crazy Bones is about to become a videogame courtesy of GameMill and Black Lantern Studios.

Crush 3D Crushes a Launch Trailer

Sega's 3D puzzle/platformer game, Crush 3D, is now available on 3DS' everywhere. Get a feel for crushin' with the launch trailer.

Snake Eater 3D Sneaks onto 3DS Today

Get ready to go back to the Cold War and the 1960s... or at the very least, back to a few years ago to relive Konami's third game in the Metal Gear Solid saga, Snake Eater, in the glorious third dimension.

Nintendo Reveals New Kid Icarus Details

One of the biggest (if not the biggest) games coming to retail shelves in 2012 for Nintendo's 3DS is Kid Icarus Uprising. Today, the Mario company uncovered some brand new deets about it's story and single player experience.

Inhale Your Fruit with Kirby

Nintendo's very own pink puffball, Kirby, has a brand new 3DS DS title about to debut called Mass attack. In the game, Kirby can not only employ his usual method of bad guy elimination (eating them) but he can also multiply himself up to ten times by chomping (natch) on fruit.

While you're working on digesting that disturbing image, why not digest something else? Nintendo is celebrating the launch of the newest entry in the series with a roving snack truck. The iced treat wagon will be making appearances in Huston, San Francisco, and right here in NYC.

The New York meet will, of course, take place in Rockefeller Center at the Nintendo Flagship Store. There you'll be able to get some hands on time with Mass Attack and enjoy some comped frozen fruit treats. Eating the fruit bars will, in all likelihood, not allow you to clone yourself in any way though.

Just thought that was worth mentioning.

Nintendo Download -- 'People Want Movies' Edition

We all know it. You, I, and Nintendo know it- People want movies from their videogame handhelds, who cares about games?

With that in mind, Netflix heads up this week's offerings on the eShop. What games are there? Really? You want to know? Okay, but you probably aren't gonna like 'em too much.

Nintendo Officially Announces the Next Wii- The Wii U

No, I didn't make up that name- and yes, that is one big honkin' control pad.

Release after the break-

Nintendo Adds New Rewards to the Club

Two brand new reward items have been added to the Club Nintendo reward system today:

• The Game & Watch: Ball replica is modeled after the original version first launched by Nintendo in 1980. The game itself offers classic portable gaming fun, challenging players to toss and catch a series of balls without allowing them to drop. Club Nintendo members can get their hands on this unique item by redeeming 1,200 Coins.
• The Nintendo DS carrying pouch is made from a soft, suede-like material and is available in red or blue, each with a reversible gray interior. The pouch also has an adjustable drawstring, a Club Nintendo logo on the gray side and one of several different retro-styled 2D Mario™ character patches on the colored side. Pouches will be available to Club Nintendo members for 250 Coins each.

Oh Mario, you even make a boring pouch sound fun...

3DS Available March 27th for $249.99

Nintendo's early morning US and European press conferences delivered the info everybody wanted about their three-dimensional handheld. It's pretty much as speculated on the date (at least the date range) and price, so nobody should be too surprised about anything there. But there were some little bits & bytes dropped that further flesh out the console's functionality. More about all of that after the break-

Oh by the way- Amazon.com is taking pre-orders.

On January 19, the 3DS Gets... Something

What it will be, we have no idea- but Nintendo will be holding a special 3DS event on January 19th.

In all likelihood, it's going to be a release date and pricing announcement. Maybe show off some box art and bundles as well. Anything new about the fast approaching new handheld (March is the release month) is exciting at this point. After all, this is the first really new hardware to launch since the PS3.

Playing Motion Sports Games Leads to More Exercise

Shocking, I know, but according to the American Heart Association and Nintendo:

A new survey from the American Heart Association shows that playing active-play video games can lead players to participate in more real-world physical activity. According to the survey, 58 percent of people who play active-play video games have begun a new real-life fitness activity like walking, tennis or jogging since they started playing the games. Additionally, 68 percent of people who play active-play video games say they are more physically active since they got involved in video games.

Inspired by these results, Nintendo and the American Heart Association are combining fun and fitness this holiday with “12 Days of Getting Active.” A series of daily tips starting today will help make it easy for people to get active, even when they are challenged with busy schedules and sweet temptations. The tips will be posted athttp://www.activeplaynow.com, the joint American Heart Association-Nintendo online information center, and will focus on how active-play video games can get everyone in the family engaged in fun, physically active behavior leading into and through the New Year.

Full release after the jump-

The Nintendo Black Friday Experience

Somehow Nintendo got some promo shots of Black Friday shoppers out already- it is still Black Friday after all, that was pretty quick guys.

These are from the Paramus, NJ Target-

In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Target employee Anthony M. hands a limited-edition red Wii console to Tara D., 30, of Hackensack, N.J., on a busy Black Friday at the Target Store in Paramus, N.J., on Nov. 26, 2010. Consumers seek out the Wii this holiday season, a great value at a suggested retail price of $199.99, which includes the Wii console, two games, the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk controllers.

In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Orchid R. of Paramus, N.J., searches the shelves in pursuit of New Super Mario Bros. Wii during a Black Friday shopping trip to Target in Paramus, N.J., on Nov. 26, 2010. Consumers seek out the Wii this holiday season, a great value at a suggested retail price of $199.99, which includes the Wii console, two games, the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk controllers.

Nintendo Releases New DSi Colors for the Holidays

Two brand new- and brightly colored -DSi bundle packs are hitting retail shelves just in time for Black Friday-

The bundles both contain Mario Party DS (to continue the Mario 25th Anniversary flavor I suppose) and go for the usual $149.99 each.

I like the green one- reminds me of a warp pipe.

'Come All Ye Playful'- it's the Nintendo Mall Experience

What do you think of having a DSi  and Wii game sampler at your local mall? Nintendo thinks it's a great idea- Following in the recent footsteps of Best Buy, Nintendo is opening up large scale demo stations at shopping malls around the country so you can try out the hottest offerings for the Holidays.

Games for the Wii system to be showcased during Holiday Mall Experience include Donkey Kong Country Returns, PokéPark^™ Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure, Kirby’s Epic Yarn^™, Wii Party, Metroid^™: Other M, Wii Fit^™ Plus, Super Mario Galaxy^™ 2, New Super Mario Bros.^™ Wii, Wii Sports Resort^™, Mario Kart^™ Wii, Disney Epic Mickey (Disney Interactive Studios), uDraw^™ Studio along with uDraw^™ GameTablet^™ (THQ), Just Dance^® 2 (Ubisoft) and NBA JAM (EA Sports).
Featured titles for the Nintendo DS family of systems will include Golden Sun^™: Dark Dawn, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!, Art Academy^™, Pokémon^™ Ranger: Guardian Signs, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future^™, DRAGON QUEST IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, Brain Age^™ 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, New Super Mario Bros.^™ and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s Super Scribblenauts^™.

The promo is going to run from November 22nd through December 19th. Locations and the full presser after the jump-

Nintendo Announces WiiWare Demo Initiative

At long last Nintendo will start offering demo's of it's WiiWare game catalog.

Nintendo will offer demo versions of select video games for its WiiWare^™ downloadable game service starting Nov. 22. Wii^™ owners with a broadband Internet connection will be able to visit the Wii Shop Channel to access demo versions of WiiWare games without using up any Wii Points^™. The demos will allow people to sample a wide selection of games to help them decide which ones best suit their tastes.

The first few games to take part in the new program are Bit.Trip.Fate, ThruSpace, and And Yet It Moves- whose name still creeps me out for some reason.

This is actually fairly big news for the WiiWare platform which, unlike Xbox LIVE and the PSN, has never before offered any kind of sustained demo service to compliment it's paid offerings. It's a good move that I actually think will increase sales.

Anyone who might have been apprehensive to try a new game (and never drop any Nintendo points on it) can now try it first for free and see if it warrants a purchase.

Wii 2 Isn't Likely for a While

The Nintendo Wii is losing momentum and now Sony and Microsoft are catching up to it's global sales numbers- what is a company to do? Announce a successor? Nope.

At least that's what Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime would have us believe. Kotaku recently did an interview with the Regginator and he pretty much killed the idea of a 'Wii 2' for next year. Still, the pressure is going to be on for Nintendo if the Wii comes out on the bottom or even in second place this Holiday season. When you consider the amazing reception that Kinect is getting (and PS Move isn't doing badly either- just not as well), a borderline Holiday for the Wii might not be much of a stretch.

In my opinion, if Santa is packing Kinect's and Move's instead of Wiimotes this year, I would expect an announcement of some out of Nintendo kind by e3. Talk is cheap and Fils-Aime isn't going to say anything about a new Nintendo console right before the biggest selling season of the year. To do so would be foolish and that's one thing he isn't. Wait until after the quarter 4 numbers are in, then we'll see what 2011 will bring.