Yes, a real Game & Watch, not the digital version as seen in the previous Club Nintendo exclusive Game & Watch Collection for the Nintendo DS. Ball was the very first release in Nintendo's Game & Watch line of dedicated LCD games, released way, way back in 1980.

Gold caliber Club Nintendo members get a calendar and a little pat on the head.

Club Nintendo Member Presents [Club Nintendo of Japan]

Each game is priced at 200 Points. Titles and Japan release dates as follows:

• Ball
July 15

• Flagman
July 15

• Vermin
July 15

• Judge
July 15

• Helmet
July 29

• Chef
July 29

• Donkey Kong JR.
August

• Mario's Cement Factory
August

• Manhole
August

All of these, save for one ~ two player title Judge, are single player only titles.

From 1980 to 1991, Nintendo made way more Game & Watch titles than these nine games, so we can probably expect just that: more. Be patient! We imagine games like Fire and Octopus are inevitable additions to this already solid line up.

Yes, "developers" Mobile 1UP have been forced by Nintendo to remove their copyright-infringing Game & Watch clones. All of them. In their place are now two games starring an ugly monkey, along with a note apologising for the removal of the old games due to a "potential" copyright/trademark violation". Potential. Right.

Needless to say, the appeal of these replacement games is somewhat limited.

Nintendo Issues Cease and Desist Order to Maker of iPhone Game & Watch Clones [Finger Gaming]

These "developers" have ported bootleg versions of four classic G&W titles and made them available in the iTunes Store: GW Parachute, GW Chef, GW Fire and GW Octopus (GW...see what they did there?). All will cost you $1.99. Or at least they will until Nintendo get around to dropping the hammer on the whole thing.

[via Go Nintendo]

Nintendo Game & Watch Modded Into Cellphone (Verdict: WANT) [Gizmodo]

Today, October 4th, 2007, marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Gunpei Yokoi, the Nintendo engineer responsible for inventing the company's Game & Watch and Game Boy hardware. Yokoi also acted as producer on Nintendo-developed software like Metroid and Kid Icarus with the R&D1 and Intelligent Systems teams. For those who haven't yet watched RobotBling's fantastic piece on Yokoi titled "The Greatest Inventor", I highly recommend doing so.

Great thanks to Eric for the reminder. RIP Gunpei.

Over the weekend, I packed up the fam and took at road trip to Nagoya, where we stuffed our faces with miso katsu, marveled at the spacious city roads and headed over to the Toyota Automobile Musuem.

Featuring vintage American, European and Japanese cars, the museum traces the dawn of the car and follows it up right through the present day. There are the requisite halls of old cars, as well as an exhibit that ties automobiles to Japanese history.

The exhibit goes generation by generation. There are a Meiji-era rickshaw and a pre-World War II Osaka-made Chevrolet, which are contrasted with clothes or photos from the period. The post-war period gets sports cars and electronics and antique cameras.

The entire exhibit culminates in a several giant TV screens that were showing Dragon Quest. Important products from this period include the calculator, the Walkman, the Game & Watch and the Famicom. Both Nintendo products do carry a huge cultural impact in Japan. But, so does Sony's game machines, and to a lesser extent, Sega's. Guess we know which console Toyota is looking forward to this autumn. Brian Ashcraft

Thanks for scanning this in Eric! Michael McWhertor

In response to our Nintendo Business Card Holder Part II: Electric Boogaloo post, Kotakuite Ross H. wrote in:

After a stint in Japan, I was lucky enough to be given this little sucker as a going away present. My japanese friend had scored it from a second hand auction in Tokyo, so it was a little bit worn, but man I still love it, and use it everyday as a regular wallet (it holds my ATM cards and a few coins and notes), but its coolness is kinda lost on my fellow New Zealanders ;)

Its a pretty good replica - a metallic red case, embossed/stamped front, screen printed, and the screen is a shiny sticker. Some people actually thought it was the genuine thing.

Not sure if it was official. It has all the Nintendo and Game and Watch logos on it, and it has "Made in China" printed on the back. I sure would like to get my hands on more of these though.

Either way, it's absolutely beautiful. Thanks, Ross!