Nightly News Roundup: 2010.10.25

Meet Your Bit.Trip Fate in the Nintendo Download

Gaijin Games’ Bit.Trip Fate highlights the Nintendo Download this week. The fifth installment (which costs 800 Nintendo Points) in the Bit.Trip series has players controlling Commander Video in a trippy and atmospheric shooter. The Commander blasts foes away by utilizing the IR functionality of the Wii Remote, providing precision to the player.

As for DSiWare, Nintendo takes center stage with Spot The Difference (for 500 Nintendo Points). As the title suggests, users must point out the alterations between two pictures. You point out the difference on the bottom screen with the trusty stylus. And your success — or lack thereof — leads to different cups to be won.

If you are looking for Virtual Console content this week, you are out of luck. For the full list of games available this week:

WIIWARE

• Bit.Trip Fate — 800 Nintendo Points
• My Planetarium — 500 Nintendo Points

DSIWARE

• Go! Go! Island Rescue! — 500 Nintendo Points
• Spot the Difference — 500 Nintendo Points
• Go Series Defense Wars –200 Nintendo Points
• Flashlight — 200 Nintendo Points

Source: Nintendo

Fils-Aime: Apple More Serious Competitor Than Microsoft in Near Future

Forbes caught up with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime to talk about the company’s competition. Fils-Aime responded with Nintendo’s typical PR spin of everyone and everything fighting for consumers’ time.

“It’s all about time,” Fils-Aime told Forbes in San Francisco. “I compete with Zynga, I compete with surfing the net, I compete with the newspaper.”

Fils-Aime stopped there, failing to note if Nintendo competes with people going to the bathroom, brushing their hair or picking up their children after school. But Forbes did bring up the forbidden fruit company — Apple.

“Do I think that in the near term they can hurt us more than Microsoft?” Fils-Aime asked. “Absolutely.”

Though Fils-Aime continued by saying that games on the App Store are very different from DS titles. The Nintendo of America president stated that iPod Touch and iPhone games are mere distractions, while DS games consume people’s lives. He noted his 150 hours sunk into Dragon Quest IX as a severe contrast to the minutes-worth of gameplay in App Store titles.

Wait. Did Fils-Aime just say 150 hours in Dragon Quest IX? Anyone else out there want a picture, witnesses and video to back up those claims?

Source: Forbes

Nintendo Sells Boatloads of Wii Remotes

This probably will not surprise you. Nintendo has sold a ridiculous amount of Wii Remotes. In a press release today, the company stated that in North America alone, more than 65.3 million Wii Remote controllers have been sold to customers, according to NPD Group. That number averages out to 46,000 Wii Remotes hitting consumers’ hands daily since the console launched in November 2006.

Nintendo, with the help of NPD, provided a breakdown of the sales through September:

• 30.41 million included with the Wii hardware
• 12.92 million sold with Wii Play
• 18.56 million white versions sold separately
• 2.44 million black versions sold separately
• 467,500 pink versions sold separately
• 465,200 blue versions sold separately

Nintendo also used this opportunity to advertise the impending release of Wii Remote Plus, which has built-in Wii MotionPlus functionality. Nintendo claims Wii Remote Plus is the new controller standard for Wii. The enhanced remote hits retailers Nov. 7 for a MSRP of $39.99.

Source: Nintendo

Nicalis Showcases Cave Story for DSiWare

Usually, major gaming sites get the scoop on an anticipated game’s first trailer. But Nintendo’s official site, out of all places, revealed Nicalis’ first trailer for Cave Story on DSiWare. Below you can find a YouTube version of that trailer:

Source: Nintendo