Ends December 31.

Don't post entries here. See the link above for full contest rules. The contest is open to residents of North and South America. You must be 18 or older.

Good luck to all who enter!

Photos come courtesy of reader Brian (no relation), who snapped them in downtown Puxi, Shanghai. "This was set up outside a subway station and shopping district," writes Brian. "This is a pretty typical way of marketing in China, they basically had a booth set up where people could come up and try the system."  

"Not sure what the photos of people on the board was about," he adds. Ditto!

Distributed by iQue, the handheld comes pre-loaded with Nintendogs, and there are a line-up of DSiWare titles localized into Chinese, which corresponds with the DSiWare launch line-up in Japan. Players get a 1000 DSiWare point gift card that must be used by March 2011.

In a marketing move for the main title, Capcom will be releasing Dark Void: Zero, an 8-bit interpretation of the game similar to the recent Mega Man 9 "demake".

It'll hit the DSi Shop in January, and should cost 500 Points.

Dark Void Zero: First Look and Hands-On [GameSpot]

Don't post entries here. See the link above for full contest rules. The contest is open to residents of North and South America. You must be 18 or older.

Good luck to all who enter!

Like Q-Games' PixelJunk Monsters, Starship Patrol is a classic tower defense style game, but with a focus on resource management, strategic weapons placement and a clean, unique visual style. From the same developer of Reflect Missile, Art Style: Digidrive and PixelJunk Shooter, Starship Patrol should be on your radar when it arrives in Europe next week.

It will then come to North America as Starship Defense on January 18. For screen shots and the official description, with defense spelled "defence," click on.

Starship Patrol [Nintendo UK]

t's hard to say how many platforms exactly the game has been ported to already, with some computer platforms receiving multiple versions of the game on multiple media types. The most recent release was for the iPhone, and now the Nintendo DSi gets its game on with a DSiWare version of the game, due out Monday the 22nd in North America and January 1st in Europe.

The DSiWare version of the game, unlike previous versions released on Nintendo's handhelds, features the fully animated scenes from the laserdisc original instead of sprites. When we first heard word of the release we were somewhat skeptical, thanks in part to cancelled releases for the original DS and PSP, but now we're 99% sure Digital Leisure is going to follow through.

Maybe 98%.

There are more fun facts from this talk (translated from Japanese; the English transcript is not up yet.) Evidently Nintendo had been working on a DS Lite with 3.8 inch screens (the LL's are 4.2 inches, the Lite's are 3 inches, DSi is 3.2). It backed off because of manufacturing cost and the success of the regular flavor DS Lite. It sounds like they also wanted to do a simultaneous release of the DSi and DSi LL but it never came together.

Andriasang has more (in English) about the discussion.

The Other DSi LL Names [Andriasang via VG247]

Why did we rush out on to retailers on Black Friday again? This holiday season the retailers are dishing the deals all December long, and Target is no exception. Starting Sunday the 13th, the more sophisticated version of Walmart has bargains too ridiculous to pass up, unless of course you already got your holiday shopping done *grumbles*.

Purchasing a Nintendo Wii or DSi from Target next week will earn you a $30 or $10 Target gift card, good towards the purchase of anything Target carries. Buy a slightly older Wii game, or just stock up on Choxie-brand chocolate goodness. Yes, I am plugging Choxie. I would fill my bathtub with Choxie products if I had the means, and then I'd get all upset because I forgot to clean it out first. Mmmm, chocolate raspberry soap-scum truffles.

The Nintendo love extends to select Nintendo DS games as well, with The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and more discounted to $25 a pop. No more putting off picking up the Jonas Brothers game for you, my friends.

Finally,Target is cutting prices drastically on games bundled with plastic controllers. Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, DJ Hero and Tony Hawk Ride are all dropping to $88, which is a substantial savings, yet still far too much to pay for Tony Hawk Ride.

Oh, and they have Archer Farms stuff too. I could kill for a bag of apple pie trail mix right about now. What were we talking about again?

Spirit Tracks takes place in the future of the Wind Waker timeline, utilizing the same sort of cel-shaded graphics that everyone complained about in the Gamecube title but have learned to love in the subsequent Nintendo DS outings. While Link is escorting the Princess Zelda aboard his train in order to investigate disturbances with the titular Spirit Tracks - chains that bind the evil Demon Lord in his earthly prison, the pair is attacked. Zelda's body is stolen, and so her spirit and our hero must team up to rescue her flesh and keep the evil overlord from escaping.

Yes, yes, we know all of this. How does it play? All aboard for game critics' junction!

Teletext GameCentral
The idea that an interest in trains is the most socially unacceptable hobby imaginable is a concept largely limited to the UK. However, being forced to tour Hyrule on a magic train is really only a surface issue in what is probably the most disappointing Zelda of modern times. Although as ever with Nintendo, disappointment doesn't mean the game itself isn't of the highest quality.

GameSpot
You can control only Link and Zelda in the Tower of Spirits, an area you'll have to visit several times to gain new maps that open up spirit tracks to different parts of the gameworld. Phantom Hourglass veterans who are worried that the Tower of Spirits is simply another name for the annoying Ocean Temple in that earlier game needn't fear; while you'll make multiple trips to the Tower of Spirits, the repetition and the time limits of the Ocean Temple have been done away with. You won't ever need to repeat the same levels. Outside of the Tower of Spirits and its dual Link-Zelda mechanic, Spirit Tracks plays similarly to most other adventures in the series. You'll venture into a multilevel dungeon, obtain a new weapon, and then use that new weapon to defeat a powerful boss creature at the end of that dungeon.

NintendoWorldReport
Our hero uses a train to get around the world, and the whole point of the game is to reinvigorate the Spirit Tracks, which are torn apart at the game's outset. The train traversal starts off slow, but as you progress more wrinkles are added. First you get a cannon to attack enemies, and then you learn that you can search for rabbits to return to an eccentric man in a rabbit suit (or an eccentric rabbit who looks like a man. I can't really tell), and about halfway through the game you learn that you can customize your train with different cars. The train controls are easy and intuitive. You control the speed with a switch, tap on the screen to fire your cannon, and drag the stylus around the screen to change your view. Like the regular controls, sometimes the on-screen icons get in the way, but it doesn't happen often enough in the train segments to become a large issue.

GameFocus
Combat in Spirit Tracks is identical to that of Phantom Hourglass in that everything is controlled using your stylus and the touch screen. For those who played through the first DS Zelda game, you will feel right at home. There are also a lot of interesting items you will obtain along the way, including a cool Whirlwind instrument and a whip shaped like a snake. The dungeons themselves have also improved greatly over the last game, offering a good mix of fun action and challenge.

IGN
Spirit Tracks is never dull, it's never boring, but it does border on monotonous at times, and while there's always strong writing, beautiful music, and new locales to experience, the designers seem to revel in sending you on ping pong quests, bouncing you from location to location to solve otherwise mudane tasks. Want to get to the fire temple? Tough break, kid: there's a lava river in the way. Don't worry, you're just a five minute drive to the ice village where ice can be made to cool the lava. That is, you can make ice after you take somebody from the ice village to the forest where fresh water can be found; don't want to be making dirty ice. Delivered him there? Nice! Come back later and you can get the ice. Go kill some time. Oh, you made it back to the fire world with the ice? Congrats, it's time to move on. Unless you want to do it all over again in a side quest, that is.

Kotaku
There is a way to play and not like The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. The train might be dull for people who don't wait for the designers to get warmed up and who ignore the side quests. The dungeons may well be too hard for some of the DS's newest consumers. This game may not have the broadest of appeals, but if you like Zelda, this is upper-echelon stuff.

One day they'll make a really bad Zelda game so we can use the phrase "Link dump"

The game will come pre-loaded with Nintendogs. There will be a line-up of DSiWare titles localized into Chinese, which should correspond with the DSiWare launch line-up in Japan. Players get a 1000 DSiWare point gift card that must be used by March 2011.

To promote the hardware launch, DSi demos have been popping up in cities like Shanghai.

神遊科技、DSiを12月15日に中国で発売―『Nintendogs』を内蔵 | インサイド [Inside Games]

We've got an amazing prize pack to give away to the biggest Kotaku Zelda fan: A copy of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, a Spirit Tracks t-shirt, a $1,000 Nintendo World Store gift card, a Zelda's "biggest fan" trophy and a white Nintendo DSi system personally signed by longtime Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma.

But proving that you're a big, huge fan of a Zelda is old hat. We'd ask and you'd deliver with amazing, inspired photos of yourself posing, showing off items, doing silly stunts. But that's been done to death.

Recruiting others to your cause, now that shows true dedication.

Here's what we want to see from you: Photo or video proof that you've convinced friends, congregations, schools, entire stadiums of people that the Zelda franchise is the best around. In the video or photo your converts will need to each be holding a Kotaku sign so we know it is legit and for this contest. You''ll also want the video or photo to somehow demonstrate your love and their new-found love of the Zelda games.

The entire team at Kotaku Tower will be going through your entries to pick the best, judging each based on quantity and quality of converts and the zeal with which they and you seem to be enthralled with Zelda.

Once we've selected the 11 finalists we'll let you vote to determine the winner.

While the grand prize winner will be walking away with those unbelievable prizes described above, ten runners-up will each receive The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks game and a Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks t-shirt.

The Rules
* One entry per an account only and pictures missing the Kotaku sign (everyone in it needs to have one in some form) will be tossed out.

*You must be 18 or older.

*Contest only open to residents of the Americas.

*You must include your submission as a comment in the post linked here, but not as a reply to this story.

*We will be regularly checking to make sure new users submitting for the contest have their accounts activated as quickly as possible, but it might take a day or two to show up on the site.

*Do not email your entry, these will be ignored. They have to be submitted in comments HERE, click on this link. Please only use that post for your entries, not for commenting or discussing so we can more easily sort through the entries.

*Read the rest of our standard rules here.

*CONTEST DEADLINE: All entries must be posted no later than December 31.

Kicking things off this week despite a startling lack of actual limbs is Ubisoft's Rayman (800 DSi points). Ubi has taken the original game and ported it to the DSi, forcing him to save his world from the dreadful Mr. Dark all over again, only this time around he can play against the clock to earn bonuses, which might include arms and legs. Probably not.

Four other titles drop for DSiWare this week along with Rayman, including puzzle game Ball Fighter (500 points), local wireless capture-the-flag game Pop Island (500 points), action shooter Army Defender (200 points), and the red version of myNotebook (200 points).

WiiWare keeps it low key this week, with four titles guaranteed to not get you all that excited. Yullaby's Magnetis (500 Wii points) is a puzzle game about creating electric explosions. Nocturnal Entertainment's Flowerworks (1,000 points) is a 20 hour-plus adventure game about a girl named Follie who loses a shipment of flowerworks seeds, whatever those might be. My Dolphin (500 points) is a dolphin training sim. As you can see, nothing too amazing, through Stop Stress: A Day of Fury (800 points), a game about beating things up with a baseball bat in the dreams of the world's most stressed-out man certainly sounds promising.

Finally we have the Virtual Console, which gets the arcade version of Sega's Shinobi (800 points) and Street Fighter Alpha for the Super Nintendo (800 points).

So Rayman, Stop Stress, and Shinobi are on my shopping list. What's on yours? Feel free to browse the full descriptions below to aid in your shopping adventure.

Nintendo DSiWare

Rayman
Publisher: Ubisoft
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: The legendary first Rayman adventure is now available from the Nintendo DSiWare service. Play as Rayman and try to save his amazing world from the evil Mr. Dark. Discover a charming universe with colorful landscapes and meet funny characters who'll help Rayman through his quest. Experiment with his abilities as you punch, hang or fly in the air and choose between two difficulty levels. Take advantage of new features in the Nintendo DSi version, such as the Nintendo DSi Camera, map selection on the touch screen and the ability to play against time to win bonuses.

Ball Fighter
Publisher: Teyon
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Ball Fighter is a puzzle game in which you take aim and blast groups of dropping spheres to create matches and clear the board. You can make chains to earn additional points or to make the game more difficult for an opponent. When you destroy spheres in a multiplayer mode, they will be added to the opponent's board, making his or her task more difficult. You can find special bonuses like a Brush, a Rocket Launcher or a Bomb, which can be used to destroy spheres or to paint a line of them with the same color. You'll find a variety of single-player modes, including Arcade, Survival, Brain Breaker and Player vs CPU, plus the unique multiplayer mode, all playable on one Nintendo DSi system.

Pop Island
Publisher: odenis studio
Players: 1-8
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Comic Mischief
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Discover a joyful universe where playing is always a pleasure with Pop Island. Colorful and fun, Pop Island is an action-packed capture-the-flag game. Pick a team to join, then run, jump and spin your way around the island in an attempt to collect the priceless flags hidden throughout it. Become a surfing penguin, a flying fish or a waterskiing crocodile as you go all out for victory, unlocking 12 more joyful animals as you rack up points across eight different planets. You might even end up competing as a skateboarding mammoth. Playing alone is plenty of fun, but the madcap action reaches a new level when your friends get involved. By sharing the demo of the game via DS Download Play, up to seven more people with their own Nintendo DSi systems can use a local wireless connection to join you for some head-to-head or cooperative action. With plenty of power-ups, you'll need to concentrate on capturing more than just the rival team's flag to claim victory.

ARMY DEFENDER
Publisher: MINDSCAPE
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Cartoon Violence
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Army Defender is an action shooter in which players must defend their base against enemy attacks by controlling a machine gun tower designed to eradicate enemy waves. As the player levels up, the enemy becomes more and more numerous and well-equipped. Attackers include soldiers, tanks, paratroopers, helicopters, jet fighters, bombers and elite commandos. Depending on the enemy type (red or green), players must switch between ammunition colors. The machine gun tower will fire where the player taps the touch screen. Power-ups are made available on a regular basis when a super bomber delivers them onto the base. When a power-up is retrieved, players will be able to upgrade their tower for a limited amount of time. Upgrades include flamethrowers, rocket launchers or concussion grenades that will help contain enemy progression.

myNotebook: Red™
Publisher: Nnooo
Players: 1
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: myNotebook allows you to take notes wherever you are. Just pop open your Nintendo DSi system and jot down your thoughts. Make a list and cross it off, or even play your favorite pen-and-paper games (games not included). You can even personalize your notebook by drawing on the cover and changing the paper type with 18 unlockable squared and lined paper styles. Use the pen or pencil to make your notes or doodles, then erase the bits you don't like. With five ink colors, you'll always be able to make your notes and doodles look stylish.

WiiWare™

My Dolphin
Publisher: T&S Ltd.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points™
Description: You are a dolphin trainer. Use the magical stick (Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers) to perform in lifelike dolphin shows. Teach your dolphin tricks and have fun watching your dolphin swim and play elegantly with different scenes, music and angles. This game lets you train your dolphin, compete in dolphin shows and watch your dolphin swim freely. Using Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play, you can become friends with other dolphins that have different colors and personalities. You can also buy new toys such as rings and balls for your dolphin to play with.

MAGNETIS™
Publisher: YULLABY
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: MAGNETIS is all about attraction. Connect the magnets to create electric explosions. Solving this frantic puzzle will require quick thinking and foresight. Anticipate connections in order to generate massive chain reactions to win the highest number of points. To get rid of blocks and score points, you must create lines by connecting left and right magnets of the same color by using conductor blocks. The longer the line, the more points you'll get. Team up with as many as three friends in cooperative mode or play against them in battle mode and compete for the highest score.

Stop Stress: A Day of Fury
Publisher: Abylight
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Animated Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: Jack's dreams have become a nightmare, and only you can help him to get out. Climb into the skin of the most stressed-out man in the world, grab the baseball bat and prepare to let off more steam than ever before. Destroy everything around you, beat a path through traffic or at the office, and face off against incredible hallucinations. How far will a day of fury take you?

Flowerworks®
Publisher: Nocturnal Entertainment
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 1,000 Wii Points
Description: While our heroine Follie is traveling to meet her auntie with a cargo of mystical Flowerworks seeds, her ship is pulled off course and crash-lands in a particularly dull area of the planet Elilia. Explore with Follie and help her recover her seeds to transform the world from drab to fab. You'll encounter strange inhabitants, some of whom will help Follie in her quest. Others, such as naughty garden gnomes, will hinder it. Flowerworks is a single-player adventure which combines blooming flowers, colorful fireworks, exploration and a whole lot of fun. The game will have the whole family immersed in no time, but be warned: Becoming a Flowerworks master is not for the faint of heart. Flowerworks includes Adventure, FreePlay and Tutorial game modes, with three difficulty settings in a 20-hour adventure.

Virtual Console

Street Fighter Alpha 2
Original platform: Super NES
Publisher: Capcom USA
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) - Animated Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: Street Fighter Alpha 2 explodes with lightning-fast game play and amazing innovations. Quick Move Reversals, Alpha Counters and the incredible Custom Combo System create a new standard for all games to fight by. Push your talents to the limit as you discover new hidden moves and reversals for every character. Neutralize opponents' attacks with high and low Alpha Counters and execute incredible Custom Combos to create your own rapid-fire assaults. All your favorite warriors are back for more. Previously hidden characters Dan, Akuma and Bison are joined by five new fighters: Rolento, Gen and Sakura, plus classic favorites Dhalsim and Zangief.

Shinobi™
Publisher: SEGA
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Mild Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: Here's a bit of helpful advice to all you criminal organizations out there: If you're going to hatch an elaborate plot that involves kidnapping children, don't kidnap children who have ninjas for parents. That was the big mistake that a group called Zeed made when it went after the offspring of the Oboro clan. Now Joe Musashi is on the hunt to rescue the young hostages and take out Zeed's leaders, the Ring of Five. As you scour each stage, leave no children behind - Joe can't proceed to the next level without freeing them all. With an unlimited supply of shuriken, his sharpened katana and his deadly fists and feet, Joe will show Zeed why you don't mess with family.

In one of his regular "Iwata Asks" columns, the Nintendo president sat down with Zelda mastermind Eiji Aonuma and picked his brains about the development of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. And Aonuma revealed that the latest Zelda game was inspired not by some sweeping work of fantasy, or lasting tale of good vs evil, but by a kids book. About a train, some kids, and some animals.

In "The Tracks Go On And On" (which Aonuma was reading to his son at the time), some kids are running a train, and laying the tracks for it as they went, exploring the land. All cute stuff, with bright colours, small animals, etc. Eventually, they finish up, build a station and a real train comes. Which they promptly board, go home, end of story.

Aonuma says he kept the inspiration a secret, instead pitching the idea of exploring Hyrule on a train as though it came to him in a vision. And now, we have a Zelda game where Link travels around Hyrule on a train.

Iwata Asks [Nintendo]

Apparently no one at Aardman got the memo that using the phrase "All I want for the holidays" in conjunction with a handheld gaming device was taboo. We'll forgive them, as they create painfully adorable rabbits.

The Heracles series started in 1987 with the release of Tōjin Makyō-den Heracles no Eikō for the Famicom, which was loosely based on the Greek myth the Twelve Labors of Heracles. Since then four more installments have hit Japan, each one steep in Greek myth and dripping with RPG goodness. Nintendo announced a North American release for the fifth game at E3 in 2009, where McWhertor got his hands on an early demo. While his calling the game a "My First Role-Playing Game" doesn't exactly give me high hopes, the demo was brief...maybe they just forgot to include all of the good stuff.

Glory of Heracles makes it to American shores on January 18th.

Despite adding a grand total of ten new titles across Nintendo's three downloadable game platforms, this week's update is relatively tame. The only real big-name title is the fourth chapter of Tales of Monkey Island for WiiWare (1,000 Wii points). Other WiiWare additions this week include Hudson's zoo simulation My Zoo (500 points), Digital Leisure's helicopter rescue title Copter Crisis (500 points), and a Christmas-themed puzzle game from JV Games called Christmas Clix (1,000 points).

DSiWare gets four new games as well, starting with EA's Foto Face: The Face Stealer Strikes (800 DSi points), which allows players to use the DSi camera and mic to create faces and voices for every character in the game. Outside of that gimmick, its a pretty simple platforming puzzle game, but still more interesting than Master of Illusion Express: Mind Probe (200 points), Sudoku Challenge! (500 points), and PopCap's Bookworm (500 points).

The Virtual Console gets the short end of the stick this week, with Super Nintendo beat-em up The Combatribes (800 points) and TECMO's action/puzzle arcade game Solomon's Key (600 points).

I might pick up Foto Face, if only to have something new to do with my DSi camera. Your thoughts?

WiiWare

Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 4
Publisher: Telltale Games
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E 10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Cartoon Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol
Price: 1,000 Wii Points™
Description: Conspiracies, betrayal and shocking revelations as the Tales of Monkey Island intensity builds. Guybrush returns to Flotsam Island, but forget about a hero's welcome. Handed over to De Singe by the backstabbing Morgan LeFlay, Guybrush is seized by an angry mob and put on trial. With a silk-tongued prosecutor in his face and a hangman's noose dangling over his neck, Guybrush must figure out how to defend himself against grave accusations. Meanwhile, the determined Marquis sets his sights on a new and far more attractive test subject. How on earth will the Mighty Pirate get out of this mess? The monthly Tales of Monkey Island tension continues to mount in The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood. Brace yourself for a shocking revelation that will rock the world of Monkey Island to its core.

My Zoo™
Publisher: Hudson Entertainment
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: My Zoo is a relaxing animal sim that puts you in the shoes of an animal breeder, raising up animals you'd normally only dream of. All it takes is a Wii Remote™ controller for a simple, yet fulfilling, connection with nature. There are 12 animal types in total (four sold separately as add-on content). Select your favorites and nurture them to adulthood. Feeding them, petting them and cleaning up their messes are great ways to form a lasting bond. Each animal's personality will change depending on how you take care of it. Watch them get spoiled, turn into over-eaters and more as they grow on a daily basis. Some animals will even have a baby on occasion, and once it's born, you've got another mouth to feed. Game time passes much more quickly than real time, and the different animal types are active at various hours - some during the day and some at night. Sometimes it's fun to just kick back and watch what they do. So what are you waiting for? It's time to create your own personal zoo.

Copter Crisis
Publisher: Digital Leisure Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Violence
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Copter Crisis puts you in the pilot's seat. As a member of the elite Helicopter Rescue Squad, you'll be assigned to respond to any type of emergency anywhere at any time. As the newest member joining this team, you'll have to complete various missions with the latest in helicopter rescue technology. When you're ready, you'll be tasked with executing rescue missions all around the Black Rock Canyon. Your Wii Remote controller becomes the control stick as you guide your copter along the canyons while avoiding rocks, severe weather and even anti-aircraft fire. Rescue lost hikers, deliver supplies to remote areas, assist on scientific missions and even blast your way into underground cavern systems. Complete all of your objectives and rise through the ranks to take on the toughest rescues and unlock 10 bonus missions. Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play allows you to enhance your flight experience with 10 additional copters, which can give you access to unlimited missiles, larger fuel tanks, cargo holds and even mid-air loops.

Christmas Clix
Publisher: JV Games Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 1,000 Wii Points
Description: Christmas doesn't have to be all work for Santa, does it? Santa's having some fun and wants you to play along too. You can help Santa decorate the tree by removing the presents and ornaments that he stacks. When you consecutively connect packages without missing a beat, you get extra points. Collect as many candy canes as you can because when you collect enough, Santa will add a special star to the game that can greatly help you get through a level or just bring some additional fun.

Nintendo DSiWare

Foto Face™: The Face Stealer Strikes
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Cartoon Violence
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Your face, your game, you're the hero. In Foto Face: The Face Stealer Strikes, YOU get to be in the game. Using the camera and microphone, you become the hero in your own game. Unlock a variety of hero costumes as you battle the baddies, search for stars and solve platforming puzzles. The Face Stealer has stolen your identity and is creating trouble - and everyone is blaming you. You have to track him down across 15 action-packed stages. Along the way, you'll come across many memorable creatures, both friend and foe. Use the camera and microphone to create faces and voices for every character in your game. Foto Face: The Face Stealer Strikes - a game starring YOU.

Bookworm
Publisher: PopCap Games, Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Feed your appetite for wordy fun in this download version of PopCap's hit word-puzzle game. Link letter tiles left, right, up and down to build words and feed Lex in Bookworm Classic mode. But watch out for burning letters - they could spell disaster for you and Lex. Use Reward Tiles and spell Bonus Words to boost your score and link your best words to enter the Hall of Fame. Play unlimited levels of word-puzzle fun and learn new words on the go. You'll relax and tune up your brain every time you play.

Master of Illusion™ Express: Mind Probe
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: Master of Illusion Express titles are mind-boggling magic tricks that you perform with your Nintendo DSi™ system. Learn the illusions, practice up and then amaze your friends. Master of Illusion Express: Mind Probe uses your Nintendo DSi system as a means of detecting information. Ask a spectator to write down a favorite (or least-favorite) item - person, food or color, for example - and then be astonished when the Nintendo DSi system sounds an alarm to indicate when that item is spoken. Use any variation of likes or dislikes to stun the crowd.

Sudoku Challenge!
Publisher: Digital Leisure Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Now's your chance to play the brain-busting puzzle game taking the world by storm. With more than 100,000,000 sudoku puzzles, you'll never see the same puzzle twice in Sudoku Challenge! You can select the classic nine-by-nine sukodu game boards as well as Grand Sudoku, which challenges you to complete five intersecting sudoku boards simultaneously. Just a beginner? Don't worry - with three difficulty options, even the most novice player can complete a sudoku with ease. But if you're a seasoned pro, challenge yourself in "Hard" mode and test your true skills. It's time to get your thinking cap on and see how many sudoku puzzles you can conquer.

Virtual Console

The Combatribes™
Original platform: Super NES
Publisher: Aksys Games
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E 10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: The evil gang known as "Guilty Zero" rules the city, and it's up to you as one of the members of the Combatribes to take them down. Choose one of three characters and fight your way through the city of New York. Progress through the game by tackling the goons and boss of each stage using your arsenal of kicks, punches, throws and other techniques to beat them into submission. Once your stamina bar is reduced to zero, you'll need to use a continue, but when you're out of continues, it's game over. Can you eliminate the threat of "Guilty Zero" and restore the peace in New York City!?

Solomon's Key™
Original platform: Arcade
Publisher: TECMO
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 600 Wii Points
Description: Solomon's Key is an action/puzzle game that lets you control the wizard Dana, delving into a labyrinth to seek out a magical tome called Solomon's Key, an item that will help in your quest to drive away evil spirits let loose in the world. The goal of the game is to use the buttons to create and destroy blocks, and use various techniques to find keys to pass through doors. The game has appeared on a variety of platforms, but the arcade version focuses strongly on the action elements of the game, making it more challenging, and allowing players of all skill levels, from beginners to masters, to enjoy it. Settings like the number of lives and difficulty level can be adjusted.

The official Nintendo of Europe web site has details and first screens on the Nintendo DSi downloadable title, promising 200 stages of action-puzzle-strategy in the Q-Games fashion. With the developer's recently released Art Style: Digidrive making DSiWare a better place, we're looking forward to giving Reflect Missile a shot.

Reflect Missile [Nintendo UK]

Over the week we've compiled a number of platform specific reference guides for you to use to help decide which games to buy and which to avoid when shopping for gaming friends and family this year.

Here's how you use the guides:
Click on the platform link.
Sort through the alphabetical listing for the game you are considering.
Read the summary, perhaps go to the full review.
Use the delicious brains in your head to decide whether to purchase said game as a gift.

We'll be updating the guide with more games as we continue to review titles through the remainder of the year.

Now have at it!

The iPhone Gamer's Gift Guide
The DS and DSi Gift Guide
The PlayStation Portable Buyer's Guide
The Wii Buyer's Guide
The PC Buyer's Guide
The Xbox 360 Buyer's Guide
The PlayStation 3 Buyer's Guide

The DSi, sporting two cameras and the ability to download games, hit in April. The DSiLL (XL to folks outside of Japan) is all of that a more, well more in the sense of size, super-sizing the screen and mondo-sizing the stylus.

Of course, there were also games, plenty of games. Here's some of the top titles we reviewed on Kotaku.

What DS or DSi games would you suggest picking up for friends or family?

Art Style: Digidrive

Price: $5 (download for DSi only)
Rating: E
Genre: Puzzle
Subject Matter: The world's only game based on directing traffic, but fun
Value: Not many modes, but very deep gameplay, Tetris-like.
Buy it for: People who want an engrossing puzzle game for their commute — and the only puzzle game built well for one-handed play (good for shaky subway/bus rides.)
Read the Full Review

Art Style: Boxlife

Price: $5 (download for DSi only)
Rating: E
Genre: Uh, puzzle box-folding?
Subject Matter: Work in a factory, fold boxes, live the American dream
Value: Second-best of all DSi Art Style games, based on a clever, deep mechanic, and a bevy of modes and unlockables.
Buy it for: Fans of innovative game design.
Read the Full Review

Art Style: Pictobits

Price: $5 (download for DSi only)
Rating: E
Genre: Block-dropping puzzle game
Subject Matter: A Tetris twist with an artsy retro style
Value: Highest of all downloadable DS games, offering many levels, great nostalgia for old pixel art, and a high-quality full chiptunes soundtrack that re-mixes classic Nintendo themes.
Buy it for: Anyone with a DSi, anyone who is nostalgic for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Read the Full Review

Art Style: Precipice
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strong>Price: $5 (download for DSi only)
Rating: E
Genre: Puzzle
Subject Matter: Endless Tetris-style game featuring a man climbing falling blocks
Value: Doesn't have any modes, but its core gameplay is long-lasting.
Buy it for: Puzzle game fans and those who enjoy the DSi's innovative Art Style series
Read the Full Review

Bakugan Battle Brawlers

Price: $29.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Marble-shooting, creature-battling action game.
Subject Matter: Based on the wildly popular collectible toy game and cartoon series, Bakugan follows in the footsteps of Pokemon but adds transforming marbles to the mix. The game does a good job of capturing the essence of the franchise.
Value: With a relatively robust single-player campaign and ability to battle up to three friends on one screen in a slew of interactive arenas, this game is a pretty good deal.
Buy it for:fans of Bakugan and maybe even curious fans of Pokemon.
Read the Full Review

Domo Games

Price: $2 each (five games - download for DSi only)
Rating: E
Genre: Music, Sports
Subject Matter: The NHK TV mascot, Domo, stars in five re-purposed mini-games that were originally made in 2002
Value: Low, because the games are not fun.
Buy it for: Only people who love Domo and whom you don't love.
Read the Full Review

Drawn To Life: The Next Chapter

Price: $29.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Action/Adventure
Subject Matter: Drawn To Life: The Next Chapter is a relatively simple adventure game with similarly simple side-scrolling platforming levels and a touching, sometimes sad story. What makes it unique are its drawing features, which let the player customize their hero, what weapons they use and various elements of the game world all via the DS's touch screen.
Value: Drawn To Life: The Next Chapter's main adventure is brief, but the option to create new heroes, which can vary from flower people to ninjas to robots, extends the life of this charming 2D adventure.
Buy it for: the creative kid who may be too young for a more challenging Nintendo DS game.
Read the Full Review

DSi

Price: $169.99
Rating: N/A
Genre: N/A
Subject Matter: The next step for the DS Lite features two cameras and the ability to download games from the Nintendo store.
Value: While the price isn't exorbitant, more than half a year after launch the Nintendo Store is still lacking in quality downloadable titles.
Buy it for: gadgetophiles, people who love Nintendo, children who don't own digital cameras, anyone interested in a DS but who hasn't taken the plunge yet.
Read the Full Review

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

Price: $29.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Turn-based role-playing strategy
Subject Matter: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a thoughtful, modern day remake of an 8-bit medieval fantasy classic, telling the turn-based tale of Marth, heir to the throne of Altea who leads a band of soldiers in a tactical revolt against the Shadow Dragon Medeus.
Value: Over twenty five chapters, loads of characters, ample upgrade options, rare weapons via the online shop, and an excessive six levels of difficulty should ensure that your purchase of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is money well spent.
Buy it for: the fan of fantasy, strategy and epic adventure.
Read the Full Review

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars

Price: $34.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: Open world action-adventure
Subject Matter: Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is a 3D, top-down adventure, putting players in the shoes of Huang Lee, a spoiled son of a Chinese gangster. The typical Grand Theft Auto rise to power through sex, drugs, violence and bad driving flows over the course of the game.
Value: There's a lengthy story to be told, with Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars throwing in plenty of side missions and mini-games to keep the player interested.
Buy it for: the Nintendo DS owner sadly lacking in over-the-top violent content.
Read the Full Review

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Price: $39.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Action RPG
Subject Matter: An action RPG that bridges the gap between Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Value: While those not familiar with the Kingdom Hearts franchise will find themselves a bit lost story-wise, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is a lengthy game that fans will love for the back story and RPG fans will enjoy for its depth.
Buy it for: Anyone who is a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series.
Read the Full Review

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Price: $34.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Action RPG
Subject Matter: Mario, Luigi and their nemesis Bowser band together to fend off a common foe in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. As role-playing games go, it's heavy on the action, light on the story and packed with memorable, humorous characters.
Value: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story offers a lengthy adventure, about 20 hours worth of play time, but after the story's complete, there's little incentive to return to the game.
Buy it for: the younger gamer looking for a long, not too challenging experience (or anyone with a Nintendo DS and a sense of humor).
Read the Full Review

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again

Price: $8 (download for DSi only)
Rating: E
Genre: Lemmings-like puzzler
Subject Matter: Mainpulate girders and gadgets to enable Mario toys to march to their goals.
Value: Very high due to a generous amount of levels and a level-editor that supports downloaded user-made maps.
Buy it for: Fans of brain-bending puzzle games, as the solutions to some of these levels are hard to engineer.
Read the Full Review

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Price: $34.99
Rating: E
Genre: Adventure/Puzzle
Subject Matter: The Professor and his protégé, Luke, are out to solve a mystery surrounding a man who never ages and box that kills all who open it.
Value: With a crazy amount of puzzles and a new puzzles to download every week, this is one game that won't ever be very far from your DS during those long commutes.
Buy it for: Yourself and anybody you actually want to give a good gift to.
Read the Full Review

Rhythm Heaven

Price: $29.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Music/Rhythm
Subject Matter: Rhythm Heaven is a loosely connected series of rhythmic and musical challenges with very simple controls, requiring little more than good timing and simple touchscreen tapping. Simplistic though it may be, Rhythm Heaven is inventive and fun.
Value: There are dozens of mini-games to unlock and play, with sound toys and more serious challenges for the player who masters Rhythm Heaven's main mode.
Buy it for: anyone with Nintendo DS that can keep a beat or longs for more WarioWare style mini-game fun.
Read the Full Review

Scribblenauts
Price: $29.99
Rating: E10+
Genre: Open world, spell-checking puzzle action game.
Subject Matter: Scribblenauts brings just about anything you can spell to life in the game, backing up a stunningly large visual dictionary with a web of interactions that can surprise and amuse as you work out how to solve puzzles.
Value: With 150 puzzles and 150 action levels, and the ability to use more than 22,800 words to figure out what to do, this is one of the best values this year in gaming.
Buy it for: children learning to spell, people who love lateral thinking and anyone with a sense of humor.
Read the Full Review