It’s Art Style! DSiWare gets yet another Art Style game today with Art Style: Base 10. Slide numbers around the playing field to create combinations that equal 10. Hooray for math! If the thought of thinking while playing your games leaves you with a disgusting feeling in the pit of your stomach, DSiWare also gets Asphalt 4: Elite Racing today.

Over on the Wii, WiiWare is celebrating its 100th game by releasing three of them. Bit.Trip Core, Bust-A-Move Plus!, and Heracles Chariot Racing, which finally gives Heracles a starring role while ignoring that poseur “Hercules.” And on the Virtual Console? California Games from the Commodore 64. Oh, of course, don’t forget that Final Fantasy IV: The After Years gets three new chapters as DLC today for 300 points each! As always, check past the break for more details on each game.

DSiWare

• Art Style: BASE 10™ (Nintendo, Players: 1-2, ESRB Rating: E, 500 Nintendo DSi Points™)
• Asphalt 4: Elite Racing (Gameloft, Players: 1-4, ESRB Rating: E10+, 800 Nintendo DSi Points)

WiiWare

• BIT.TRIP CORE (Aksys Games, Players: 1-2, ESRB Rating: E, Price: 600 Wii Points™)
• BUST-A-MOVE Plus! (TAITO, Players: 1-2, ESRB Rating: E, Price: 600 Wii Points)
• Heracles Chariot Racing (Neko Entertainment, Players: 1-4, ESRB Rating: E, Price: 800 Wii Points)

Virtual Console

• California Games (Commodore 64, Commodore Gaming, Players: 1-5, ESRB Rating: E, 500 Wii Points)

NINTENDO DOWNLOAD: BIT.TRIP CORE BRINGS WIIWARE LIBRARY TO 100 GAMES AND COUNTING
July 6, 2009

Another year of American independence isn’t the only thing we’re celebrating this week. With new releases, including the hotly anticipated game BIT.TRIP CORE, Nintendo crosses the 100-game mark in its ever-growing WiiWare™ game library, a milestone that ought to keep fans ooh-ing and ahh-ing long after the Fourth of July. Other WiiWare offerings this week will have players bursting bubbles and racing in chariots, whether solo or with friends. Nintendo DSiWare™ welcomes a new Art Style™ title and a unique auto racing game, while a classic Commodore 64 title will have Virtual Console™ users tearing it up California style.

WiiWare

BIT.TRIP CORE
Publisher: Aksys Games
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 600 Wii Points™
Description: BIT.TRIP CORE continues the BIT.TRIP saga in this retro-arcade-style game.BIT.TRIP CORE adds up to an exciting action/rhythm game that’s best played while zoning out on the tunes and letting the visuals swallow you whole. The experience is inspired by games from the ’80s, but with a modern twist. The game play is entirely new to the series, leaving the single-axis controls of BIT.TRIP BEAT behind in favor of the ability to control two axes. If the difficulty gets you down, grab a friend and play cooperatively with two-player multiplayer. Make it to the end and you’ll have journeyed one step further to completing your BIT.TRIP.

BUST-A-MOVE Plus!
Publisher: TAITO
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 600 Wii Points
Description: BUST-A-MOVE Plus! is a simple but hugely addictive puzzle game in which you must try to burst a multi-colored mass of bubbles with your very own bubble launcher. Every time you make a group of three or more bubbles of the same color, they pop. There are two game modes available: 1P Puzzle (players tackle the game’s 135 stages in pursuit of a new high score or best time) and Battle (players take on friends or computer-controlled opponents). If that doesn’t satisfy your passion for popping, there are a total of 270 extra stages waiting for you in the two add-on-content packs, available for purchase on the Wii™ Shop Channel. BUST-A-MOVE Plus! is simple to get into and deep enough to keep you coming back for more.

Heracles Chariot Racing
Publisher: Neko Entertainment
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: The famous Heracles has taken on a challenge like none he has ever faced. Our hero will have to beat his opponents in a race across mythological kingdoms and be the first to reach the top of Mount Olympus. You can play as Heracles and help him return the sacred trophy, or play as one of the other varied mythological characters from Satyr to Poseidon and claim the prize for yourself. Race through three racing cups across 10 courses set in five mythic landscapes. Use awesome fantasy weaponry to defeat your opponents: tridents, fireballs, Zeus’s lightning rods and more. Get your friends together for intense two-to-four-player split-screen multiplayer action in Championship, Single Race or Battle mode.

Virtual Console

California Games
Original platform: Commodore 64
Publisher: Commodore Gaming
Players: 1-5
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Welcome to California, home of the most radical sports in the world. You’re about to hit the beaches, parks and streets of the Golden State to go for trophies in everything from surfing to bike racing. California Games gives you the hottest sports and the most aggro competition. You even have to pick your own sponsor. So pull on those kneepads – you’re about to get into the most fun you’ve had since Mom hid your skateboard. California Games is going to take you from surf to the turf, from the pipe to the parks.

Nintendo DSiWare

Art Style: BASE 10™
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: Art Style: BASE 10 is a game of numbers. Your goal is simple: create combinations equaling 10 by sliding numbers around the playing field. Move them horizontally or vertically, but be careful not to create an unusable non-number in the process. Choose from one of three modes: eliminate a set amount of numbers as quickly as possible in ZEROSUM MODE; get rid of prearranged groups of numbers in as few moves as possible in PUZZLE MODE; or continue removing numbers until your game is over in INFINITE MODE. In addition, you can challenge an opponent to a two-player wireless battle in VS MODE and see whose number-crunching skills reign supreme. If you think you’re a master with numbers, the straightforward yet challenging world of Art Style: BASE 10 gives you the opportunity to prove it in a unique way.

Asphalt 4: Elite Racing
Publisher: Gameloft
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Violence
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: For the racing elite, the world is their racetrack. Choose among 28 dream cars and motorcycles from the world’s most prestigious manufacturers. Then race your way through eight of the most renowned cities, fully rendered in 3-D. Control your speed machine with either standard or touch-screen controls for precision driving. Photos taken with the Nintendo DSi™ Camera can be used as your personal icon or can appear throughout the various environments, including the garage where you can customize and tune your vehicles. From New York to Shanghai, Paris to Dubai, you’ll weave a course through busy streets in six kinds of races plus four-player Multiplayer mode. Avoid police, demolish competitors and pass the leader to win. You’ll need to floor it at every straightaway and push every drift to the limit to stay one step ahead and become the ultimate VIP of urban racing.

Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop™ and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with broadband Internet access can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card™ can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Nintendo DSi Shop or the Wii Shop Channel. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.

Remember that both Wii and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visitWii.com or NintendoDSi.com.

There’s something about the Mii Channel music that just makes you want to move. At the recent Boogiezone University workshop, this instructor, named Mike, decided to show his class exactly why Wii music is so great. The only downside about this is that we’ll never see actual Miis doing this dance on their own. That’s just depressing.

GoNintendo

If you missed out on Electroplankton when it originally released (and you probably did, since it was a pretty limited release), good news! Nintendo has decided to re-release the whole thing in ten parts via DSiWare in Japan. Each part will cost $2, for a total of $20 for the full game. That’s $30 less than the original cost. The release schedule is as follows:

• July 8: Tracy, Hanenbon, Nanocarp, BeatNES,
• July 22: Rec Rec, Lumiloop
• August: Sun Animalcule, Luminarian, Marine Snow, Volvoice

No word on a North American release yet, but come on, you know it’s coming.

The new issue of Nintendo Power (the August issue) has new Zelda info! Kind of. Ok, so it has one single statement from Shigeru Miyamoto. That statement?

I don’t think it’s going to be that radically different.

Ok, well, that doesn’t really say a whole lot. I guess if any of you were worried that the next Zelda would be a soccer management simulator, you can lay those fears to rest. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that the new Zelda is going to be a rehash of previous Zelda games. Nintendo knows how to keep things fresh. Just look at Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Wind Waker. The internet is full of alarmists.

Aeropause

Awesome games? Check. A mascot more recognizable than Santa? Check. Baseball team? Check. TV show? Check! World domination? …Next.

Don’t get too excited though, there won’t be any marathons of the classic Zelda or Mario cartoons. Instead the show, titled Britain’s Best Brain, looks to be closer to a real life version of Brain Age. It tasks contestants with problems focusing on memory, co-ordination, numeracy, recognition and risk. Sounds fun. Nintendo has claimed exclusive rights to sponsorship of the program.

MCV

Looking forward to No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle? Enjoy it, because it may be the very last No More Heroes game for Wii. Director Suda 51 explains his feelings:

I really want to make NMH a big franchise, and with this second episode have bigger success. I’m putting a lot of care into developing this IP, as I feel there’s a lot of potential. [However] I think this is the last NMH that is going to be developed on Wii. To expand NMH to new possibilities, we need a new platform. Wii is a great platform, but we’ve done everything we can with it now.

Suda has recently been making googly eyes at Microsoft’s Project Natal. Could the 360 be the next destination for No More Heroes, or will Suda opt for the PS3 Wand to keep things familiar while taking advantage of the system’s ungodly amount of horsepower? Maybe if Desperate Struggle sells enough, he’ll decide to keep the series where its fans are. Hint.

Edge-Online

There aren’t many things in this world that are better than Metroid. That being said, free stuff comes close simply because, well, it’s free. What scares me the most is the proposition of free Metroid stuff and its potential to overload the happiness circuits of fans everywhere.

For anyone daring enough to take the risk of cardiac arrest and pre-order the Metroid Prime Trilogy through GameStop, they’ll receive a free T-shirt. And a wicked art booklet. Oh, and a pretty nice poster as well. Wow, and it looks like they are moving Christmas to August …Maybe. Did I mention that these games are all really good? Because they are.

GameStop

In the first week or sales, Nintendo’s sequel to the best selling game in the history of the world has already unsurprisingly sold boat loads. If I had to venture a guess I would bet it was a cruise ship’s worth, keeping with the resort theme. Or maybe a sailboat. A big sailboat.

In just four days at retail, Wii Sports Resort pushed 353,827 units. This lands it behind just Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which sold 608,000 and 816,000 respectively.

This is good news for developers looking to support Wii MotionPlus, but unsure of its future adoption rate. Looks pretty good right now. Resort comes to Western shores in July.

Kotaku

Disney has announced that Toy Story Mania (for Wii) will include a special multiplayer mode in stereoscopic 3D. The game will come shipped with two pairs of anaglyphic 3D glasses. Disney Interactive is excited about this new feature, will will also be implemented in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the G-Force video game adaptation.

[These will be] the first games for next-generation systems to fully feature three-dimensional stereoscopic technology [which] adds to the already fun video game… and extends the gameplay by creating entirely new options for players.

Toy Story Mania is coming this fall.

Shacknews

Professor Layton is not one to automatically dismiss popular new things as fads. In fact, he now has his own Twitter account! His username is @TopHatProfessor and, in classic Layton fashion, he has been tweeting riddles. This is, of course, a not-so-subtle way to promote Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, which is due out in August. He’s totally worth following just to imagine his voice as you read his tweets. No internet shorthand for him!

Twitter