Trade organisation ELSPA has been counting the beans and both Wii titles have been selling like hot cakes made of chocolate-coated crack with porn sprinkles - making them eligible for ELSPA's coveted Diamond sales award.

The two games join other Diamond-rated games such as Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training and New Super Mario Bros. Only platform-exclusives are eligible for Diamond status, so GTA IV had to make do with a mere Double-Platinum despite selling about a bajillion copies in its first weekend.

Mario Kart and Wii Fit Hit Over 1M [EDGE]

Dragonite is described as 'very unique' (grr..) and is a buffed-up level 50 Dragon that can perform Outrage, Dragon Dance, Thunderbolt and Draco Meteor attacks and can halve the strength of Ice attacks used against it.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl gamers can pick up their Dragonite's between 12pm and 4pm on Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th of November at Toys-R-Us stores. Just bring your DS and a copy of one of the games and get downloading.

The rest of the list is filled out with Harry Potter, three different Nintendo Brain training games, Wii Play, Shrek the Third, and Tiger Woods. So much Nintendo you'll swear they're turning Japanese.

Pokemania Transforms UK Chart In Nintendo's Favor [Gamasutra]

I'd say the high sales compared to past versions have a lot to do with the popularity of the DS. With more systems in the hands of gamers old and new, Nintendo's flagship handheld series is doing better than ever, and I don't look half as silly reading through the strategy guide during my lunch hour, trying to remember what Psychic pokemon are weak against.

Bug, ghost, and dark, by the way. None of which I have in my party. Dammit. Michael Fahey

(edit) Please excuse the weird phantom, unfinished post earlier. Time machine mishap of some sort I am sure.

Nintendo News: Pokemon Hotter Than Ever

One of the video game industry's most celebrated franchises is officially hotter than ever. Within just five days of availability, more than 1 million copies of Pokemon(R) Diamond and Pokemon Pearl for the portable Nintendo DS(TM) have sold in the United States since Sunday's launch; a faster rate than any previous Pokemon games since the franchise's U.S. introduction, almost a decade ago. To date, more than 155 million copies of Pokemon games have sold worldwide.

Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl are poised to become two of the top-selling games of 2007 in the United States. More than one half million people pre-ordered the games before launch. Additionally, thousands of people attended the kickoff launch event in New York, and demand for the games continues to be off the charts. These latest versions of Pokemon games were introduced in Japan on Sept. 28, 2006, and have already been purchased by more than 5 million video gamers there.

The two games include a number of features that make them particularly attractive to gamers, including:

• More than 100 new Pokemon.
  
• A 3-D look that makes Pokemon jump off the screen.
  
• Worldwide wireless battling and trading using Nintendo(R) Wi-Fi
  Connection.
  
• Voice chat functions that let players talk wirelessly with their
  friends.

Later this year, these two titles will also help expand the Pokemon universe for the first time to Wii(TM), Nintendo's new home video game system. Diamond and Pearl owners will be able to use their DS hardware units as controllers for Pokemon Battle Revolution (launching June 25), the first Pokemon game available for Wii. Players also will be able to export characters to the Wii game.

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You know, that Pokemon Diamond WiFi chat system seems to work pretty well. Of course, you know it's going to take absolutely no time for the air of camaraderie to devolve into hysterical "FUCK YOU!"/"NO, FUCK YOU AND YOUR PIKACHU!" screaming matches between ten year olds half a world away. Florian Eckhardt

Will the nation of Japan sink under the weight of all the Nintendo DSes the public will buy (again and again and again)? When this Pokemon Diamond and Pearl edition DS hits, we'll know for sure.

Nintendo is releasing yet another DS lite and this one is for the children. Yes, children. You grown ups should be over playing this sort of silliness by now. The limited edition DS features Pokemon Diamond and Pearl coverbeasts Dialga and Palkia as well as a "metallic black" interior, only slightly different from the Jet Black version just released.

Sorry, but this bad boy is only available at Pokemon Center shops in Japan. It hits September 28th (alongside the game, obviously) for a low low 16800 yen (the regular price). Michael McWhertor

Official Pokemon Center Site

John P over at Gamerscore reports that the Microsoft folks began printing the first batch of Diamond Cards last week and will begin arriving in mailboxes this week.

The next batch starts printing in the next few days. I better go check my mailbox. I'll scan it in when it shows up.