Nintendo is big time. We all know this obvious fact. Some would ask: how big exactly is Nintendo? Well, big enough to hire Nicole Kidman for Brain Training commercials in the UK.

There is almost no excuse to not knowing who this gigantic star is. Academy Award winner, three time Golden Globe award winner for best actress, Companion of the Order of Australia - she's the ideal actress that many can only hope to be.

Metro.co.uk reports that this celebrity known worldwide will be pulling up her sleeves to promote a game she likes. As if not content with looking grand at 40, she wishes to keep her mind young too. Kidman said, 'I've quickly found that training my brain is a great way to keep my mind feeling young."

Utada Hikaru in Japan, Nicole Kidman in the UK - who's the next superstar Nintendo will acquire? We know for sure, that we'll be seeing cream of the crop on more Ninty commercials to come.

Ever wondered what goodies this Nintendo paradise might have? Well, thanks to gamer-tourist El Chibo, those who can't afford the trip to New York will now have a chance to have a glimpse of the Nintendo World Store. Hopefully, the pictures that we have here might convince some fans out there to save up for the trip and trek over to the Big Apple for your not-so-typical sightseeing session. Some of the most interesting features that can be found will be the unique designs of modded DS Lites and GameBoys and a charred, half-melted GameBoy that was found in the middle of the Gulf War which is still in working condition. Don't believe us? Then watch the video that our tourist has taken which shows the said burnt GameBoy playing Tetris.

So, plug in that Utada Hikaru playlist in your MP3 player and let's go for a ride!

More Nintendo World Store sightseeing pics plus the melted GameBoy in action after the jump!

Utada Hikaru, a famous Japanese singer who's done work for video games such as Kingdom Hearts, is also an accomplished Tetris player. Nintendo recently held an event in which contest winners were able to go against her in Tetris DS in front of millions of viewers. I don't really see how it's called winning a contest... after all, the prize was to be utterly annihilated on television!

Well, four player didn't fare too bad. Of the 30 players, only four were able to beat Hikaru. Three of them were right near the beginning when she was getting warmed up. After she was warmed up, she became a juggernaut. Check it out for yourself by viewing the video on Nintendo's Japanese website! Truly a sight to behold.

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.

It looks as though Japanese gamers are in for a treat as Nintendo has announced an all new promotion featuring a chance to play with the Japanese Pop artist Utada Hikaru at Tetris DS. For people who might not know who Utada Hikaru is, she is the artist who performed the theme song for Kingdom Hearts in the Japanese and English versions of the game.

The Japan-only promotion is being handled through Nintendo's Club Nintendo website. Purchase one piece of DS software from now until 7/24 and register the Club Nintendo serial number at the site, and you'll be entered into a drawing for one of the 30 slots.

The face-off will take place on 8/12 from 12:00 to 1:00, somewhere in Tokyo. In addition to the chance to face off against Hikaru, Nintendo will be giving a few lucky individuals a chance to see her live in concert. Nintendo will select 504 people to receive a pair of tickets to the Utada United 2006 concert.

Hopefully Nintendo of America will try and catch up with the Japanese Club Nintendo at some point with promotions like this and the recently announced Game and Watch Collection for DS it seems as the gamers in Japan get all the goodies.