Naruto Hitting DS Again In Path of the Ninja 2

Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2, a sequel to October 2007's DS title, is in the works from D3Publisher and Tomy Corporation, planned for a September 2008 release.

It features 30 characters from the series for gameplay that sounds a little bit action-RPG and a little bit squad-building. Wi-Fi multiplayer lets Naruto fans take on friends around the world, too. For ninja battles, presumably.

There are a staggering number of Naruto games; Path of the Ninja 2 is not to be confused with Rise of a Ninja, Ultimate Ninja, Ninja Destiny, Uzumaki Chronicles, or Naruto RPG.

I'm confused. Full release follows the jump.

Rare Puts Viva Pinata In Your Pocket This Fall

If you've ever wanted to snag one of those cute widdle Viva Piñata animals to carry along with you, now you can. Kinda. THQ and Rare announced Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise for the Nintendo DS, releasing this Fall alongside the console sequel.

Originally announced at the New York Comic Con, the DS version will share themes with the original Viva Piñata, tasking players with nursing a neglected garden into a piñata paradise. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise will also introduce seven new piñata species, in addition to tutorial full motion videos from the Fox 4Kids TV series.

Full release follows the jump.

Yup, Skate It Is Coming To Wii, Nintendo DS

It won't come as any surprise that EA is planning Wii and Nintendo DS "spin off" versions of its skateboarding franchise skate—IGN spilled the beans accidentally in April—but you might be surprised at how good it looks. It might not be on par visually with the Xbox 360 and PS3 entries, but Skate It, at least based on the trio of screen shots IGN secured, looks pretty good.

Skate It looks to replace the dual analog control scheme from the original skate with a Wii remote-only method that looks serviceable based on the promo video. As expected, the game also plans to use the soon to be release Wii Fit Balance Board, but executive producer Scott Blackwood is light on details. IGN has the full scoop.

Skate It on Wii and Nintendo DS [IGN]

7 Reasons Why There Will Be A Redesigned DS

No announcement has been made by Nintendo and everything reported online is pure speculation and rumour. Our hardware development team always work on the next product after we launch one hardware. It is usual that a new model will be brought to the market when we can not offer new ideas with the current model, but we think Nintendo DS is not at that stage yet, and we'd like to keep offering all sorts of suggestions to enrich the lives of people who own a Nintendo DS.

Rubik's World Still A Mystery

Okamoto Warns Of Atari Caliber DS Crash

Game Republic's Yoshiki Okamoto, a twenty year industry vet whose credits include Street Fighter II, Resident Evil and, more recently, Folklore, tells Gamasutra he fears the Japanese game industry may be in danger of suffering the same fate that befell Atari in the early '80s. If you're too young to remember, a glut of software for the Atari 2600 and its peers, the majority of which we'll be nice enough to describe as liquid feces written in assembler, flooded the market, resulting in a industry crushing crash.

Today's problem? A glut of software—particularly "brain" games—for the Nintendo DS published by inexperienced companies looking to make a quick buck.

Iwata Answers: More Wii Storage, Software, Public DS Play

Gamers frustrated with the lack of storage on the Wii may have a glimmer of hope, if we're reading Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata right. He endured the usual end of quarter question barrage from the financial community recently, revealing many a hint about the company's plans for the Wii and Nintendo DS. When asked by a storage capacity frustrated party about the Wii's meager internal memory, Iwata admitted that fans may have a right to complain.

"Because this small number of people are none other than the most avid players," Iwata said "we know we have to review the best possible solution to eliminate their inconvenience." USB hard drive support? That'd be nice! For more details from Iwata's Q&A, hit the jump.

Square Enix Files New Dragon Quest Trademarks

The Nintendo DS remakes of both Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest V look likely to make their way to U.S. shores soon, as a pair of recently filed trademarks have popped up on the US Patent and Trademark Office's web site. Filings for "Chapters of the Chosen" and "Hand of the Heavenly Bride" were submitted over the past two weeks, matching very closely to the subtitles of both DQ IV and V respectively.

The ESRB just published its E10+ rating for Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen but Square Enix has yet to make official a U.S. release. The Japanese re-release of IV happened last November, with V planned for this summer.

Chapters of the Chosen & Hand of the Heavenly Bride [USPTO]

Top 5 Games to Play Before Bedtime

Treasure Tackling Two Wii Titles

The latest issue of Nintendo Power, which is in the hands of subscribers right now features an interview with Masato Maegawa, the president of the beloved action game developer, whose Bangai-O Spirits is due to hit the Nintendo DS stateside this quarter. The Xbox Live Arcade remake of Ikaruga just went live, but Nintendo Power wants to know when Maegawa and crew will get some WiiWare titles out.

Maegawa says that they're looking into it, but that they already have two unannounced Wii games in development. Details are nonexistent other than the Treasure president teasing that "both games will have a lot of impact." Who wants to make some wagers?

The Nintendo Media Summit Day One Wrap-Up

Nintendo of America kicked off its two day Media Summit with a handful of presentations this morning, highlighting a handful of upcoming titles and previewing Mario Super Sluggers, the Wii baseball title previously known as Super Mario Stadium Baseball. The event, currently going on in San Francisco, plays host to hands-on time with select games from the Wii, WiiWare and Nintendo DS's upcoming slate of releases, including Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, Boom Blox, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness and more.

Hit the jump for the full list of titles on hand at the Media Summit.

Broken DS Screen? Fix It Yourself

I don't mean to make anyone uncomfortable, but good Lord, this gets me hard:

Whatever your console, this trailer will convince you it's going to be awesome. Exclusive content and gameplay for all of them. God, now I want to buy a Wii. Right after I take a cold shower.

Good morning, campers. Thought we'd start the day off with some screenshot candy and a pointer to the first look at Gauntlet for the Nintendo DS. IGN's got the goods on the classic cooperative dungeon crawler, which introduced "Warrior ... is about to die!" into our inside-joke lexicon back in 1985.

Obviously, Gauntlet's addictive gameplay remains the same as the coin-op and its spinoffs, with upgraded enemies and AI. Graphics naturally are state of the art for the DS. But the real two-dot-oh for this Gauntlet, IGN reports, will be in the multiplayer, will full Wi-Fi support for linking up to three mates and the ability to talk to them over a mike. Everybody, all together now, "Elf needs food!"

Exclusive First Look at Gauntlet [IGN]

Skate Coming To Wii And Nintendo DS?

We may have a good idea what those Skate "extensions" are that EA Games president Frank Gibeau teased a couple months ago, as IGN reported earlier today that Skate It, a spin-off planned for the Nintendo DS and Wii, was in the works. Curiously, IGN has since pulled that report, hinting that either that information was wrong or not yet deemed fit to print by the powers that be.

Consider it rumor for now—whilst fantasizing about Wii Balance Board control!—and pretend to be surprised when EA and IGN work out their arrangement on the game's potential public reveal. In the meantime, we'll check with EA to see if there's more substance to this.

Formerly the Home of: Skate Shreds Wii and DS [IGN]