TNB Latest News

We have had a real “ranger” week of releases, ranging from a new Pokemon Ranger game to Wii Music. There’s a game for everyone!

Releases inside.

A recent interview with Greg Arthurton, Director of Marketing at Nintendo Australia has revealed an official Nintendo magazine is in the making for Australia and New Zealand.

Whilst fans have been without an official magazine for many years now since the demise of NMS, it seems Nintendo Australia has established a partnership with Future Publishing Australia to produce an official magazine.

Arthurton made the following comments about the upcoming official Nintendo magazine;

“We are really excited about the new agreement. By establishing a partnership with Future Publishing Australia, we are able to extend the Nintendo brand into a new environment with a locally produced magazine on the news stands.”

“We will also benefit from the well established relationship which already exists between the companies in other territories, and we will integrate that into the way we work together here too. We definitely see the magazine as being an important part of our evolving communications strategy in this region, not least to ensure our customers can get the best out of their consoles with a complementary offering.”

The first issue of Official Nintendo Magazine – Australia and New Zealand goes onsale in December 2008. The title will be published monthly with a cover price of $8.95. The magazine will be distributed nationally in both Australia and New Zealand, with the first issue packaged as a Special Edition.

Nintendo Australia has updated their website today, but unfortunately Club Nintendo is still nowhere to be seen.

The website updates include a new interface, a Touch! Generations section, an enhanced search engine and seven new competitions including the chance to win Disaster: Day of Crisis and Guitar Hero: World Tour.

Hopefully the Nintendo Australia website update is a sign that Club Nintendo is on its way.

Check out the updated Nintendo Australia website here.

Michael Duncan, a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at the University of Derby, has received £5,000 to study the Nintendo Wii’s health benefits.

Duncan will work with school children for six weeks in order to see if the Nintendo Wii game console can improve fitness and fight obesity.

Half the children in the study will play Wii Sports during their lunch break, whilst the remainders take part in regular lunch break activities.

Pupils during the study will carry an accelerometer that measures energy based on movement. Duncan hopes the research will determine if computer games can benefit children.

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You read it right, today is the last day to get Darkrai from Target or Toys R Us. This is, so far, the only legit way to get Darkrai in Australia, and with only one day left, I’m sure many Pokemon fans who haven’t already will be rushing to Target or Toys R Us.

To get Darkrai, all you have to do is take a Nintendo DS with Pokemon Diamond or Pearl to either store and use the Mystery Gift function from the main menu. It’s as simple as that.

For further information, head here.

Nintendo and Nikkei have struck a deal to create a DS title that “makes learning about the economy fun!” With the current economic crisis affecting most of the world right now, it seems to be perfect timing.

The game will aim to teach players the basics of an economy, how it works, etc. and will, on a whole, familiarise the player with keywords and concepts that will help them develop a fuller understanding of what’s going on at present in the world around them. The game will practice its teaching through a series of touch screen quizzes.

TNB would like to personally thank those responsible for the economic meltdown, because without them this game would not have been possible.

Three NES titles have been released on the Virtual Console today. They are Castlevania 3, Devil World and Ghosts ‘N Goblins.

All three titles are available to download from the Wii Shop Channel for 500 points each.

There is no doubt that the Nintendo DS is popular, and even in Australia one console seems to be in at least one household that you know. But with success comes piracy and Nintendo Australia is rightfully not too happy with pirates here in Australia and has called upon help from the Australian Federal Police. Australians have followed in the footsteps of the rest of the world by purchasing R4 and other flash cards.

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We’ve been sent word (and it’s not a rumour) that Nintendo is opening a Nintendo Store here in our very own country. The store will be located in Melbourne on Swanson Street (above EBGames) and has been described to us as a “lounge” type store.

So readers in Melbourne should perhaps head down and see what is brewing! While we don’t expect anything on the level of the World Store in New York City, who would’ve thought a Nintendo store would end up opening in Australia? Times are certainly changing.

GAF poster MiketheBSG has had more than $26,000 of electronic items stolen from his home. Nintendo has assisted the man by restoring 228 Virtual Console and 30 WiiWare games to his new Wii.

MiketheBSG said, “By the way, Nintendo, if you don’t know yet, has the greatest customer service ever.”

Nintendo’s support in this situation has proven once again that their customer service is top quality.