This week's recap doesn't say much in terms of heavyweight news, but what it lacks in jumps, it makes up for in variety. We've had a good week after all, with news ranging from Darklord's lives, black Wiis, all the way to the MoonShell. Read on to find out what I'm talking about.

Japanese Club Nintendo members aren't the only ones getting free stuff from the big N. Those in the US and Canada who have accumulated enough points in the Club Nintendo loyalty program are now eligible for some exclusive bonuses.

Despite Nintendo's seemingly nonchalant attitude to the gripes of its gamers, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime assures us that they do listen. That's a comfort to know Reggie, but I'm still waiting for news on a hard drive.

Love 'em or hate 'em, you can't deny that the Wii has the largest install base in this gen. You probably have one in your living room even if you don't touch it. So why not get freebies since it's already there? Club Nintendo will be launching in the US before the end of the year, and they'll be offering freebies for your undying love.

One NeoGAF Forum member got hold of a poster containing info regarding the presents Club Nintendo Platinum members will be receiving this coming holiday. Club Nintendo, for those not in the know, is the official club established by Nintendo exclusively for Japanese fans.

Membership is acquired through purchasing and registering video games published by the company. Previous rewards given away include Wiimote with TV remote functionality. See this year's rewards via the "read more" link below.

Why must every attack on Japanese TV shows for kids (Ultraman, Kamen Raider, Bioman) or some old school anime (Voltes V, Daimos) have a name? Will "Rider Kick" be that much weaker without shouting it out? Is a laser sword attack not obvious unless you spell it out?

We may never know the answer, but we're certain how Japanese culture never fails to amuse the world. Japan's Club Nintendo from the fame of other innovations like the Game & Watch Collection and Tingle's Balloon Fight, will unleash Zekkyo Senshi Sakebrain come September.

Beyond the quirky title, the game will make use of voice recognition for players to declare their attacks. That's right, there are voice commands for your hero's every strike, which means you'd have to shout out "Kick!" or "Punch!" to do those moves. You get to play superheroes ala Power Rangers, so it looks like it'll work really well.

You will need at least another person to play (but not to save yourself from shame of shouting at your DS like a lunatic) and up to three can join forces to battle evil. Unfortunately, it is only slated for a Japan release on September. Lucky folks over the Land of the Rising Sun can grab the game for only 500 Nintendo points, but western gamers who can import will have something to brag about.

Learn more and watch a video on their official website by clicking on the Read link below.

The Nintendo DS Hot Summer Peach Edition no.001 is apparently so hot it's fetching more sales than Sony's Playstation 3. It's going for a whopping US$ 690.00 on eBay right now with the auction lasting two more days and nine hours as of this article's writing.

This unit is the first print from the limited console run of the Nintendo DS Peach Pink. It was given as part of the Club Nintendo Hot Summer Contest and only 200 of the said units were produced. The product has been called by the seller as "One of the most rarest consoles of Nintendo DS System."

If you're interested in this, click on the read link below to head to its ebay page and place your bids there. Be sure to keep checking back here for more news on the Nintendo DS.

And once again, we are left gnashing our teeth and wondering why in the world our offices aren't in Japan.

In any case, besides being one of the first batches of people to receive Wiimote replicas months before the Wii's launch, now Japanese Club Nintendo members are getting even more extra treats. This time around, they can choose between a copy of Tingle's Balloon Fight for the Nintendo DS, or they can get a customized Wiimote case with their Mii icon on it. It's free, and it's Japan-only.

Sigh.

We'll go curl up into a ball and cry in a corner now.

Before the Game Boy family diverted the attention of schoolchildren the world over from the more mundane aspects of young life (such as school), there was the Nintendo Game & Watch. You know (if you were old enough, or if you happen to be collecting them now) those little plastic packets of joy and fun capable of playing only one game each, used the same black-&-white pre-printed LCD screen as cheap calculators used, had pretty much two difficulties (usually called "Mode A" and "Mode B"), and tended to have limited gameplay options. Yes, portable gaming has come a long way since those days.

Yet those games were surprisingly open-ended and addictive, even mind-numbingly challenging - even if the only objective was to get the highest score ever, in only one long, continuous gameplay.

Later games even incorporated two LCD screens, one on top of the other, in a design very similar to that adopted for the Nintendo DS. Well, Nintendo must have realized the connection, too. Kid, meet your grandpa: The Nintendo Game & Watch Collection for the DS.

De ja vu all over again: the dual-screened Donkey Kong Game & Watch on the left,
and the DS on the right

And this is what happens if they have kids (photo from IGN.com)

This isn't the first time Game & Watch games have been released on the Game Boy; the GB and GBA have also seen Game & Watch ports released for their respective platforms. The difference is that with the dual-screen setup, Nintendo can now port their dual-screened Game & Watch titles into the DS. For this release, Oil Panic, Green House, and Nintendo's favored gorilla Donkey Kong are packed into this one DS cartridge.

(On a side note, given the memory capacity of the DS, other dual-screened and even the single-screened Game & Watch games could have been packed in as well. Then again, since the DS can also take GBA cartridges, then that platform's Game & Watch collection remains available for use).

As mentioned before, gameplay isn't exactly revolutionary - Green House has you spraying bugs away from your precious plants; Oil Panic has you collecting the dripping black gold and passing it on to a partner; and everyone knows Donkey Kong. But it is gameplay nonetheless, as the bugs, oil, and other challenges just keep on coming. And piling up. The nostalgia value of these games lies beyond them being the Game Boys of yesteryear: their open-ended nature means you never really "finished" or "100%" the game. The next high score could be just a few button presses away - if you could survive that long.

But before global audiences start warming up their opposable thumbs to party on their DS like it's 1981 (or 1991, since the Game & Watch series was still being published until then), hit the brakes but for a moment: the Game & Watch Collection is only available in Japan, and only available to Club Nintendo members who rack up the appropriate number of points (500). Fans of vintage will have to settle for emulators or GBA ports, or - if they're insistent on taking both screens of their DS units back in time - hope that Nintendo will release this or a fuller collection worldwide soon.

Japanese Pop Idol Utada Hikaru has long been associated with video games, especially since she has sung the chart-topping themes for Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2 ("Hikari" and "Sanctuary", respectively). Now, she's belting out the signature song for the Japanese TV ads for the Nintendo DS, "Easy Breezy".

However, one thing that most may not know about Utada's closeness with games, is that not only is she involved in the Japanese RPG industry, but she is also a Tetris DS master.

Utada has already been featured in local Japanese shows for her mastery of the game. There have also been numerous occasions wherein she battled other celebrities on-air and trounced them squarely. Utada's prowess in Tetris has been validated when she posted in her blog a shot of her high score, which was a whopping 99,999,999 - a feat that was completed after 16 or 17 hours of play.

Last August 12th though, fans in Tokyo were given the chance to go head-to-head with the idol/Tetris-goddess. Club Nintendo previously announced a raffle where 30 lucky people will get the chance to do Tetris-battle with Utada on the Nintendo DS, while 504 others will get a pair of tickets for Utada's 2006 UNITED tour instead.

The result of the match? Utada-26, Everybody Else-4.