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Richard Hill-Whittall is the owner and director of Icon Games Entertainment, and his company has released several games in the last year for various platforms, including WiiWare. He recently shared some sales numbers over on Gamasutra, but was asked by Nintendo to take the numbers for its platforms down. According to Hill-Whittall, Nintendo doesn't allow developers to share digital sales numbers for self-published WiiWare and downloadable DS titles.

That's an interesting tack to take, and Hill-Whittall argues that it hurts smaller developers who might need to make those sales numbers known in order to secure financing or plan out their business. He doesn't see it as surprising, however, because Nintendo doesn't allow developers to change their prices or offer demos or promotions either, which are all tactics that Microsoft, Sony, and other digital publishers have used to pick up lots of digital sales before.

Obviously, not everyone will want to share sales data, and Nintendo itself must see this data as valuable information to be protected. A restriction on sharing the data, says Hill-Whittall, could be fatal for a smaller developer like his, especially if they rely on Nintendo's platform alone.

GameFly's annual list of "top requested" games of 2011 has The Batman perched atop the multiplatform and Xbox 360 charts with Arkham City. A certain Mr. Nathan Drake led the PlayStation 3 requests with Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, while Wii wakers primarily requested the presence of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

According to information supplied by the popular game rental outlet, Dead Island and Rage were the only original intellectual properties for the year to enjoy spots on the console top ten. We've posted Gamefly's multiplatform, console and Nintendo handheld top ten lists after the break.

#nintendo Four games I've never heard of form a giant robot of borderline apathy in this week's exciting episode of the Nintendo Download. More »

#zenpinball After successful silver ball outings on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and iOS and Android devices, Zen Studios brings their plucky brand of video game pinball to the 3DS next week with the downloadable Zen Pinball 3D, complete with support for downloadable tables. More »

#3ds Japanese magazine Nikkei Trendy put forth a question that's nagging us all: is Nintendo releasing a 3DS Lite? More »

#pokemon Nintendo tipped the world off to its coming software line-up last month, but it seems like they left a few aces up their sleeves as far as what's coming to the 3DS. More »

#swapnote Savannah College of Art and Design game design student Ben "MNC Dover" Gray saw more than just a chance to draw dicks with Nintendo's free Swapnote program for the 3DS. He saw a chance to draw +4 vorpal dicks. More »

#3ds Nintendo not only gave its 3DS "Ambassadors"—early adopters of the device—10 Virtual Console classics for free, it also didn't let anyone else buy them. That exclusive privilege appears to be headed to a close, as the Japanese eShop has already listed Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and will get Super Mario Bros. next week. More »

#myst The super-old collection of HyperCard stacks Myst will be published as Myst 3D on the 3DS, with a release date scheduled for March 27. More »

#3ds So, you've got a 3DS and quickly availed yourself of its relatively new stereoscopic video recording capabilities. The work you've filmed with Nintendo's little gaming handheld will melt faces. More »

#swapnote When the original DS launched Nintendo gave us Pictochat, a decent local wireless program for chatting and exchanging pictures with our friends. When the 3DS launched, casual chatting was nowhere to be seen. Swapnote fixes that. More »

#3ds Nintendo plans to kick off a two day video New Year's telethon starting the last day of the year and running until the morning of Jan. 2, the company said in a note sent to 3DS owners. More »

If you weren't raptly watching last night's Nintendo Direct presentation, you missed the incredible video for Kiki Trick, an audio-based Wii game from Metroid's Yoshio Sakamoto and the WarioWare team.

In the above clip, you'll see Nintendo president Satoru Iwata try to decipher a robot's nightmare voice, assign sounds to the act of eating ramen in the correct order, and match audio tracks to video clips. It looks weird and fascinating, and of course it has no chance of ever leaving Japan.

The Nintendo Direct site has more videos from last night, including clips for Dynasty Warriors Vs., Bravely Default, Girls RPG Cinderellife, and -- you absolutely must see this -- Satoru Iwata playing New Love Plus. In fact, we're just going to go ahead and put that one after the break.

#nintendo Last night, Nintendo held the second of its Nintendo Direct online press conferences. In it, the Kyoto-based game creator confirmed several Japanese release dates. One of them was new—the one for Fire Emblem. More »

In case you missed it during all of your holiday revelries, Swapnote hit the e-Shop last week for free. It's sort of like Pictochat for the 3DS but it also supports 3D sketches, the ability to send to friends online and attach real images to your messages. It's pretty great/ More »

Update: And we're out, folks. We'll have a roundup of tonight's trailers for you bright and early in the morning. Thanks for joining us (and don't forget to take your VHS copy of Uncle Buck home, dude)!

Starting at 10PM ET / 12PM JT this evening slash afternoon (depending on where in the world you are), Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will once more address eager fans and press alike in his second pre-record "Nintendo Direct" address. He'll be doing so via Ustream, and he'll apparently be dishing plans for Nintendo products on both Wii and 3DS consoles that are planned for the next few months ("through March 2012," Nintendo of Japan's Twitter feed teased last week) -- we're thinking it'll be launch dates for some of those Mario titles (Paper Mario, Mario Tennis, etc.), and an update on some other upcoming products.

In our continued efforts to keep your eyeballs locked to Joystiq for as much of the day as possible, we've dropped the stream into this post so you can follow along without having to leave our comforting embrace. We'll also be breaking out any news as Mr. Iwata reveals it, so stay tuned!

Update: And we're out, folks. We'll have a roundup of tonight's trailers for you bright and early in the morning. Thanks for joining us (and don't forget to take your VHS copy of Uncle Buck home, dude)!

Starting at 10PM ET / 12PM JT this evening slash afternoon (depending on where in the world you are), Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will once more address eager fans and press alike in his second pre-record "Nintendo Direct" address. He'll be doing so via Ustream, and he'll apparently be dishing plans for Nintendo products on both Wii and 3DS consoles that are planned for the next few months ("through March 2012," Nintendo of Japan's Twitter feed teased last week) -- we're thinking it'll be launch dates for some of those Mario titles (Paper Mario, Mario Tennis, etc.), and an update on some other upcoming products.

In our continued efforts to keep your eyeballs locked to Joystiq for as much of the day as possible, we've dropped the stream into this post so you can follow along without having to leave our comforting embrace. We'll also be breaking out any news as Mr. Iwata reveals it, so stay tuned!Watch Nintendo prez Satoru Iwata's 'Direct' conference right here [update: it's over!]]

Starting at 10PM ET / 12PM JT this evening slash afternoon (depending on where in the world you are), Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will once more address eager fans and press alike in his second pre-record "Nintendo Direct" address. He'll be doing so via Ustream, and he'll apparently be dishing plans for Nintendo products on both Wii and 3DS consoles that are planned for the next few months ("through March 2012," Nintendo of Japan's Twitter feed teased last week) -- we're thinking it'll be launch dates for some of those Mario titles (Paper Mario, Mario Tennis, etc.), and an update on some other upcoming products.

In our continued efforts to keep your eyeballs locked to Joystiq for as much of the day as possible, we've dropped the stream into this post so you can follow along without having to leave our comforting embrace. We'll also be breaking out any news as Mr. Iwata reveals it, so stay tuned!

#fireemblem For years now, additional downloadable content has been a staple. Nintendo, unlike rivals Microsoft and Sony, has not embraced downloadable content. Until now. More »

Two reviews from Joystiq...

Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights
Mighty Switch Force

In October, Satoru Iwata hosted a "Nintendo Direct" video, in which he introduced the pink 3DS, detailed the big firmware update, and gave release windows for some eShop releases. Iwata will host another video press conference on December 27 at noon JST, or 10PM EST on December 26, according to a new "event" set up on the publisher's Ustream site. This time, we suspect we'll learn release dates -- or windows -- for at least some of its big upcoming releases, like Luigi's Mansion 2, Mario Tennis, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D, or Paper Mario.

Last time, the Japanese video was followed the next morning by a Nintendo of America version, hosted by NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime. The same will probably happen this time.

[Santa hat from Maridav / Shutterstock]

In October, Satoru Iwata hosted a "Nintendo Direct" video, in which he introduced the pink 3DS, detailed the big firmware update, and gave release windows for some eShop releases. Iwata will host another video press conference on December 27 at noon JST, or 10PM EST on December 26, according to a new "event" set up on the publisher's Ustream site. This time, we suspect we'll learn release dates -- or windows -- for at least some of its big upcoming releases, like Luigi's Mansion 2, Mario Tennis, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D, or Paper Mario.

Last time, the Japanese video was followed the next morning by a Nintendo of America version, hosted by NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime. The same will probably happen this time.

[Santa hat from Maridav / Shutterstock]

128MB Card
Bust-A-Move Universe (Square Enix)
Cubic Ninja (Ubisoft)
PilotWings Resort (Nintendo)

256MB Card
Dream Trigger 3D (Bandai Namco)
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters (WB Games)
Rayman 3D (Ubisoft)
Steel Diver (Nintendo)
Super Monkey Ball 3D (Sega)
Tetris Axis (Nintendo)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars (Ubisoft)

512MB Card
Asphalt 3D (Ubisoft)
Driver Renegade 3D (Ubisoft)
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Disney)
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (LucasArts)
Nintendogs + Cats (Nintendo)
Pokemon Rumble Blast (Nintendo)
Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo)
The Sims 3 (Electronic Arts)

1GB Card
Madden NFL Football (Electronic Arts)
Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo)
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (Capcom)
Ridge Racer 3D (Bandai Namco)
Star Fox 64 3D (Nintendo)

2GB Card
Blazblue Continuum Shift II (Aksys Games)
Dead or Alive Dimensions (Koei Tecmo)
Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights (Konami)
Monster Hunter Tri G (Capcom)
Samurai Warriors Chronicles (Koei Tecmo)
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (Capcom)
Tales of the Abyss (Bandai Namco)
Thor: God of Thunder (Sega)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D (Ubisoft)

4GB Card
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (Square Enix)
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (Konami)
New Love Plus (Konami)
Resident Evil Revelations (Capcom)

It's probably a little late to start your holiday shopping, but GameStop is there for you if you're late to the consumer party. Starting today, the retailer is offering a buy two, get one free special on all pre-owned products. That includes both hardware and software, so there's plenty to choose from. The sale runs through December 28. By the way, if you start your Christmas shopping after Christmas, you're really doing it wrong.

GameStop is also offering an in-store sale on the Skyrim Collector's Edition, knocking the usual $150 price down to a (slightly?) more palatable $100. Finally, you can snag Rage for $30, though we'd be remiss in our duties if we didn't mention it's currently available for just under $20 on Amazon.

#mightyswitchforce Yesterday Wayforward Technologies unleashed the majesty of Mighty Switch Force upon the Nintendo 3DS eShop, and while I only have a grand total of three codes to give away for the game, the wonderfully funky soundtrack is now available as a free download. More »

#bioniccommando With classics like the original Tetris, Metroid II and Blaster Master released in recent weeks, Nintendo's eShop has been a retro cornucopia for 3DS owners. Capcom's announced that they're adding another old-school title to the download store with the impending debut of 1992's Game Boy version of Bionic Commando. You'll be able to grab the monochromatic adventures of Nathan "Rad" Spencer next week. More »

#nintendo The PlayStation Vita's barely a week old in its native Japan, where its release was met with the usual lines and enthusiasm. Hordes of PlayStation faithful are hoping that Sony's latest handheld makes good on the promise of hi-def handheld gaming that approaches the quality of a home console. More »