With only two WiiWare demos and a couple of two buck DSiWare titles, this week’s update is a bit on the scant side. While that might not be the most exciting thing in the world, perhaps that is Nintendo’s intention. With the North American 3DS launch underway, Nintendo would probably rather you spent your money on a new portable than convert it into moon bucks for downloadable titles.

If you’re fortunate enough to already have got your hands on Nintendo’s newest portable, let us know what you think in the comments below. If not, this week’s update awaits you after the break.

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Mobile. Social. A couple of words thrown around when you hear the mainstream talk about the future of gaming. It has people seeing Facebook as the new blue, the iOS as the new engine that drives the culture. Understandably, this has hardcore console and PC gamers seeing red and their voices roaring. The good fellows over at Kotaku frame a good bit of this argument well.

We’re seeing legends like John Romero (Doom, Quake) and Brian Reynolds (Civilization II, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri) switching sides to develop the next line of cutesy Ville-games on the social network. Yet, we’re also seeing the core striving with the likes Bulletstorm and the soon to be released L.A. Noire. With tunnel vision, these are the only sides you can pick from. You’re either a  traditional console/PC gamer, or you’re on the ‘Avant-guard’ of gaming’s social and mobile invasion. That’s rather confining, if you think about it. Gaming can do so much more. This is where Gamification comes in.

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March Madness is a sports thing, I guess? Yeah, sports. Anyway to celebrate this madness of March, Direct2Drive is taking 20% off their entire catalogue of games. Hit the jump for the details. Read more… »

Today independent film studio The Weinstein Company announced that it is launching its own videogame label. Dubbed TWC Games, the new division will work closely with developers and publisher to help create mobile, social, and console games based off of intellectual properties owned by The Weinstein Company and its subsidiarity Dimension Films.

While the press release did not mention any specific titles that TWC has in the works, it did make a point to list off some of it’s popular IPs, such as: Scream, Hellraiser, Scary Movie, and Children of the Corn. Read more… »

Picture Epic Games as a senior at NCSU taking the semester off to backpack through Europe. Spain was fun, but not his style. No, he’s more into northern Europe, up where it’s colder, up where it snows.

Epic has been on a Eurotrip for quite some time, and we finally received a postcard from his stop at Poland. “Wish you were here,” Epic scribbles on the back of a picture of him and his good friend Dicktits (the loving nickname he gave his pal People Can Fly), having fun next to a monumental sized plant monster. And this is great, because vicariously through Epic and People Can Fly, we enjoy Poland.

“Next stop, Sweden,” Epic says. He has to see about a Coffee Stain, and such an epic Coffee Stain it is.

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Yesterday EA announced that, in an effort to become more environmentally friendly, it will no longer include printer manuals in game packages. According to EA, this move will reduce printed materials in its packaged goods by 40%.

Now before the fans of printed manuals start to freak out, EA has stated that all future manuals will be released in a digital format. In fact, you will now be able to access the manual while in game via the main menu and pause screens. If you’re like me and prefer read manuals when you’re not playing a game, EA will also make full digital versions available in multiple languages in the game manuals section on EA’s support site. Read more… »

What do you think of Homefront? Is Chris being too harsh? Let us know in the comments below!

Good morning internets! It’s Monday, Monday, gotta download on Monday. Everybody lookin’ forward to the Wii games. Party, and party, and yeah! Party, and party, and yeah! Fun, fun, fun, fun, lookin’ forward to the Wii games.

Virtual Console

• Natsume Championship Wrestling [SNES] (Natsume Inc, 1-4 players, 800 Wii Points)

WiiWare

• Arcade Essentials (Nordcurrent, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
• Dive: The Medes Islands Secret [demo version] (Cosmonaut Games, 1 player, 0 Wii Points; full version available for 1,000 Wii Points)

Nintendo DSiWare

• G.G Series D-TANK (Genterprise Inc, 1 player, 200 DSi Points)
• Shapo (Tik Games, LLC, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)

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Darksiders, my personal 2010 game of the year, is on sale for $10.00 this weekend on Steam. If my PC could run it I’d consider snagging a copy even though I already own it for PS3.

Darksiders will be on sale via Steam until 10am PST on Monday, March 21. Tell your friends about it! It’s a fun game about characters with hilariously gruff voices and demon slaying. Do you really need more incentives? But seriously, tell your friends. I know Darksiders 2 is already in development; I just want the fine people at Vigil Games to be given a little insurance.

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Cambridge-based developer Fire Hose Games took over the PlayStation Blog yesterday. Along with a blog post about their recent release, Slam Bolt Scrappers, the developer included a short video The video is narrated by “Fire Chief” Etian Glinert and details the genesis of the studio and its first game.

The video is really interesting and is definitely worth a watch, especially if you have a penchant for documentaries or indie development. Slam Bolt Scrappers landed on the PlayStation Network this Tuesday for a cool $14.99.

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You guys all know what a big Valve fan boy I am, right? I mean, I’m currently drinking coffee out of my Black Mesa mug with a headcrab hat on in a room covered in Left 4 Dead posters. I love Valve.

Yesterday the developer released its newest TV commercial, this time its for their upcoming game Portal 2. As you can see above, the commercial features the two playable robots from the newly added co-op mode, Atlas and P-Body, as they learn about portals and the possibilities they open. Read more… »

You can buy food and water with money. Food and water are good things because they keep you alive. Or, you can buy video games. Video games are a good thing, too, in our opinion.

Although, when you’ve popped that disc in, it’s close to heartbreak and hand wringing when you find your $60 have been wasted on unbearable gameplay, horrendous graphics and a wet-paper-thin storyline. It has become common practice to take the game back to GameStop (or now Best Buy) to get your money back. What’s even more aggravating, however, is the knowledge that you’re only getting a fraction of what you paid, yet they’re going to turn around and sell it at near-new prices.

Gamestaq feels your pain. Instead of sticking it to you, they only charge a $1-2 stipend, letting you pocket the money made on the sale (a good thing, we’ve established). All is well until you dig a little deeper to find that there is a perpetual dark cloud hovering over this re-sale oasis.

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