2K Sports, the folks who are gearing up a new hockey game for the Wii, has also timely announced the master copy release of Top Spin 3 to mass production. The tennis simulator has gone gold for the DS, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360, and soon enough, tennis fans would be able to create their own avatar and grand slam against the likes of Sharapova and Federer. Details at the full story.

Fans of MrTyzik's Laser Hockey DS (previous version here) should rejoice at this point, because the game now has improved physics that gives the game a more realistic physics engine, thanks to Box2D. Other than that, it still looks just like the last version. Check out the changelog in the full article.


Download: Laser Hockey DS v0.4.0

Homebrew developer MrTyzik just released Laser Hockey DS version 0.1.7 for the Nintendo DS. It's still early in development, but functional enough to let someone play a homebrew game with paddles and a ball like Pong. Check out the full article for more details.






Download: Laser Hockey DS 0.1.7

Besides the actual North Pole, there's one specific place that picks up all the mail addressed to Santa Claus. It's North Pole, Alaska, and the the merry elves of Santa probably find it a little bit warmer there than what they're used to, though they get to read through all the mail addressed to the jolly red gift-giver.

According to a press release from Duracell, it seems that tech stuff is mentioned a lot in kids' Christmas wishlists. They compiled a gift index based for all this called the "Duracell-North Pole Gift Index." This Gift Index was created by reading through 1,013 Dear Santa letters sent to the North Pole.

Of the top 15 things asked for, game systems and portable music players got in, with Apple's iPod and the Nintendo DS being mentioned often. Here's their list:

1. Clothing (e.g., jerseys, boots and jackets)
2. Dolls and Action Figures (e.g., Bratz, Barbie, G.I. Joe)
3. Gaming Systems (e.g., Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation 1/2/3 and Gamecube)
4. Portable Gaming Devices (e.g., Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable - PSP and Game Boy)
5. Video Games (e.g., Madden NFL 2007)
6. Sports Equipment (e.g., hockey sticks, basketball hoops and baseball gear)
7. Toy Vehicles and Planes
8. Portable Music Players (e.g., iPod, MP3s and CD Players)
9. Remote Control Vehicles and Animals (e.g., cars, helicopters, Tamagotchi and TEKNO dog)
10. Movies/DVDs (e.g., "Cars," "Ice Age")
11. Books
12. Bikes/Scooters
13. Art Supplies
14. Board Games
15. A Live Pet (e.g., dog, cat, ferret, fish or hamster)

While it's definitely not representative of what the world wants for Christmas, it's definitely an indication that kids are getting savvier with tech every year. Our only question, besides "world peace" losing its spot on the top charts, is why kids want Madden NFL 07. To each his own, we suppose.

Karate Kid? Nah. Too 80s. Enter the Dragon? Too serious. Xiaolin Showdown? Just the right mix. You can be one of Master Fung's dragon-in-training as you play Konami's game for the DS of the same title. Take on the characters of Omi, Raimundo Pedrosa, Kimiko Tohomiko or Clay Bailey as they fight against the evil that is Jack Spicer. Release date is sometime in November.

Craig Harris of IGN describes this game being developed by Razorback as a "Double Dragon style brawler done in an isometric ¾ view." The demo has demonstrated some good and bad points. Characters were a bit slow in movement and collision detection was off, but, smashing, lifting and throwing objects at enemies or at switches are fine and comes a lot into the game's early stages.

You can also treat yourselves to a variety of mini-games like "Wind Hockey" which is a touch screen version of air hockey, a "Breakout" challenge, a four player top-down challenge and bowling, that shows the most potential among the others mentioned. All these games will be unlockable in the main game as well as being fully playable outside of the battle. It supports the DS' download play feature for a high kicking multiplayer showdown.

 

Another entry for the NeoFlash Summer Coding Competition (2006) was released today, this one being made by Sumiguchi called Paddle Battle DS. As most game names suggest, this title relates to the actual game. This game is a clone of everyone’s favorite game – air hockey! Although no computer games have ever gotten as good as the original table version, it’s definitely something great to play on-the-go.

The paddles are controlled by the stylus and the direction of the puck is controlled by the ABXY buttons. The most practical way to control and move it will be using "X" to direct it forward. If you choose not to direct the puck, it will go around the table like crazy, and would be almost impossible to score and win the game with. Good luck in the competition Sumiguchi!

 

Download: [Paddle Battle DS]

Winning Eleven is the most popular soccer (football for the rest of the world) franchise in Japan. The Japanese must be a little sad to hear that Winning Eleven DS for the DS has been announced to be delayed. So no September 21st release. Developers have now given a Fall 2006 release date.

The bundle that was going to debut with the game (Winning Eleven DS + Black DS Lite) will be delayed as well. Why this is happening is unknown. Maybe Konami didn't want to release a game so close to the release of its two other potentially blockbuster hit games Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl? We really don't know.

The release date for North America hasn't been changed and is still scheduled for next year. It'll be released under the name Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007. The biggest audience of this game outside Japan though will likely be Europe where people are so into the sport! Europe is football-crazy, kinda like Canada and hockey!