Digital downloads seem to be the way of the future, looking at the current landscape of the gaming industry now. Even analysts say that retail will be overtaken by digital distribution in a mere three years' time. Nintendo's big boss, Satoru Iwata, begs to differ, however. To him, digital distribution will sure be a hit -- but not till 20 years later.

Looking for more new games to play? Coming in just in time for the weekend are new download game options for both the Wii and DSi stores. Seven new ones are on the list, so there shouldn't be any reason for your weekend to be boring.

Nintendo has sent out a press release announcing the final US release date for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Nestled in all the PR-speak is a nice little surprise for Zelda fans: the abduction-prone princess will be fighting right alongside Link in this adventure.

It's numbers time again! The latest hardware sales figures from Japan's Media Create has been release, and competition is getting tighter as the PS3 inches closer and closer to the top, needing only about a thousand more units before overtaking the long-reigning DSi.

In the near future, a mysterious, growing, black void dubbed the Schwarzwelt appears at the Earth's southern pole. So begins the story in Atlus' first-person sci-fi RPG, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. Next year, DS owners in North America will don their own retro-cool helmets and plunge head-first into that black spot.

Before the days of the PSP and the DS, only one name came to mind when it came to portable gaming - the Nintendo Game Boy. Since its launch in 1989, the Game Boy made its mark in the gaming industry, pioneering a new level in portable gameplay. For its contributions and millions of satisfied users, the Museum of Play has now honored the handheld by including it in its National Toy Hall of Fame.

The powers and resources of the NPD, Enterbrain, and GfK Chart-Track have all come together and the results are in - Dragon Quest IX dominated the global sales charts spanning over three months ending September of this year. What's more amazing is that the DS-exclusive title has only been released in Japan. See how the others fared.

As if a new Zelda game isn't enough, Nintendo is sweetening the purchase of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks in Japan with a cool bonus. For those picking this up at Day 1, you'll be getting a neat feather stylus for your Nintendo DS.

Homebrew coder FluBBa has released a new version of S8DS, a port of the SEGA 8-bit emulator SMSAdvance for the NIntendo DS. The latest update has added some new features and some other bug fixes.


Download: S8DS v0.4

Homebrew coder Jeff Lait has recently released a new version of Powder, a roguelike homebrew game originally developed for the GBA that involves different game element like tactical play, hack and slash, dungeon crawlers and the likes. The latest update is mostly a bug fix release.

Download: Powder release 112 (PSP)
Download: Powder release 112 (DS)
Download: Powder release 111 (Wii)