According to Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, the company is planning to implement paid downloads for both the 3DS and Wii U. Iwata said that developers will have access to the system for the 3DS by the end of the year and he said Nintendo was thinking about extending the life of some games by making new levels available.

Iwata said that Nintendo will not support low quality content either, as in unlocking keys or stat increases. Don’t worry though, he also seemed to indicate that free games won’t have added chargeable content later.

The price of the Nintendo 3DS in the US is dropping on August 12th from $249 to $169. Other regions are getting a similar price break as well. Hey, but what about US gamers that have already shelled out for the full price? Gamers that have logged into the eShop at least once before the price cut will get 10 free NES virtual console games September 1st, plus 10 more Game Boy Advance virtual console games.

This is likely due to wanting to compete with the upcoming Vita. Nintendo plans to sell 16 million 3DS units in the financial year, but still slashed its financial projections for the year from ¥110 billion to just ¥20 billion.

Amazon has halted sales of it’s Nintendo 3DS units after a series of complaints from customers. What the complaint are about is a mystery, but the fault is not with the hardware, but instead on Amazon’s end. Here’s what Amazon had to say about the situation:

“While this item is available from other marketplace sellers on this page,” said the company, “it is not currently offered by Amazon.com because customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it’s described here. We’re working to fix the problem as quickly as possible.”

Right on schedule, this morning Netflix for 3DS owners is now available. The app gives the game system access to the entire catalog as long as you have a streaming-enabled plan. Bookmarking works and lets users resume on the 3DS or even another device.

Obviously videos on Netflix are in 2D. We doubt that Netflix will start adding 3D anytime soon. The app is free to download from the Nintendo eShop. With the new price structure streaming is $8, but costs $16 for those who also want unlimited DVDs as well.

We’ve been waiting patiently for Netflix streaming on the 3DS, and it looks like tomorrow’s eShop update will out the service officially. If you still plan on using Netflix since the new rates were announced yesterday, anyway.

If you plan to keep using Netflix, then you’ll be able to use it anywhere as long as you are in range of a WiFi signal. So how many of you will be watching Netflix on your 3DS?

3DS owners outside of Japan will be very jealous, but we should be used to it by now. Thanks to Fuji TV, Nintendo’s Itsu no Ma ni Terebi (otherwise known as “SpotPass TV”) will bring several short format 3D TV programs to the handheld.

Just like its Wii predecessor, the video service is Japan-only at least for now. Hopefully Nintenso will keep it’s promise about Netflix so the rest of us can watch programs.

A million in Japanese sales is pretty awesome, but even Satoru Iwata admits that the 3DS isn’t doing quite as well as they had hoped. It took a little while but Nintendo’s 3DS handheld hit the million mark after 13 weeks, which is a long time compared to the original dual-screen handheld, which accomplished this in four.

In comparison, the PSP sold its first million in about seven weeks. The 3DS could still hit the top spot, but remember, the PlayStation Vita is coming. They should be scared.

Nintendo has something new to add to it’s 3DS lineup. A new ‘Red Flare’ handheld that will hit Japan next month. This red 3DS will retail for ¥25,000 (about $312) when it hits Japanese stores on July 14th.

The company is also planning a new Wii bundle on June 23rd, which will have two Wii Remote Plus controllers (one in black or white, one in blue) with Wii Sports Resort software, for ¥20,000 (around $250). We don’t know if these will be coming our way anytime soon.

Nyko has unveiled some new gaming gear. Zoom for Kinect is a pair of clip-on glasses that lets you get 40 percent closer to the sensor bar with no loss of function. Then there’s Nyko’s Play Clock, a charging dock for Nintendo’s 3DS that also functions as an alarm clock.

Nyko also introduced a trio of new extended battery packs for the 3DS. There’s the Shock n’ Rock that brings three times the juice, “added vibration feedback,” and four speakers. The Power Grip is an ergonomic external battery that also triples the 3DS’ battery life. The Game Boost battery snaps on for an extra hour or two of life. Prices and availability remain unknown for now.

Good news for 3DS owners. When you get the June 6 update for the 3DS, along with the browser and eShop, you’ll also get free copies of a 3D-upgraded Excitebike and a new Pokedex 3D. The new app shows collected Pokemon characters in 3D and even supports augmented reality markers to show them in 3D in a ‘real’ environment. As real as it can get anyway.

The update also gives you the ability to port over most DSiWare games from older systems to a 3DS and the ability to download short 3D videos, like music videos, comedy, or movie trailers.

Rumor is that in order to cut costs and compete with the price of Nintendo’s $249 3DS, Sony’s NGP handheld might be gimped from the start. The NGP was originally intended to ship with 512MB RAM, but will now only ship with 256MB. It has also reportedly lost the 16GB of internal memory first planned, and this might be replaced by external storage cards.

If this is true, it means that the NGP will be a slightly less capable machine and that would be a real shame. But this would allow it to compete with the 3DS.

Well 3DS fans, June 7th is your lucky day. That’s when Nintendo will release the update you’ve been waiting for, which will give you the ability to download titles directly to the system through the eShop.

The Japanese update will be launching a day earlier (Of course) and is said to include a Virtual Console emulation as well as a 3D movie player, so maybe we will even get that promised Netflix support. Keep your fingers crossed. You won’t have long to wait now.

The Nintendo 3DS has a very limited battery life, but with Hyperkin’s new 3DS Powerplus, you can extend that life. The 2.2-ounce accessory slips on to the back of your console, allowing access to the cartridge port, SD card and game controls, while adding an extra 1800mAh to the device’s standard 1300mAh battery. It will be available this summer.

The Powerplus also has an enhanced grip and an LED indicator that can tell you how much battery life you have left. The $19.99 device will more than double your 3DS’ battery life, according to the company.

Sony has announced a pair of Android 3.0 tablets. The first is the 9.4-inch S1 media tablet (also known as the Qriocity focused) with a curved top similar to a folded book or magazine with both front and rear cameras. The S1 features a Tegra 2 SoC and customized “Quick and Smooth” touch panel UI with “Swift” web browser. As a bonus, it can also be used as a remote for your Sony gadgets, which is handy.

The dual-screen device looks like a sexed up 3DS. That’s the S2, which features a pair of 5.5-inch 1,024 x 480 pixel displays, Tegra 2 SoC, and a camera. It uses a custom book-style UI layout for the e-reader app, email and others. Both are PlayStation Certified and are WiFi and 3G/4G “compatible”. I can’t wait to see what Sony does with gaming on a tablet. How will these interact with the PS3? We should see a release in the fall, maybe sooner.

There’s good news and there’s bad news for the big N. Nintendo’s net sales of $12.4 billion for the period ending on March 31st 2011 was 29 percent less than during the previous year. Also its $825 million of net profit was 66 percent lower than it earned last year. Things are not so great in the Mushroom Kingdom.

However, there is some good news. The 3DS has reached 3.61 million sales worldwide, but at the same time the Wii is down to 15 million global sales, a 25 percent drop from its 2009 total of 20 million. Looks like the timing is perfect for the new console.