Out with the old and in with the new. That’s what Nintendo is thinking with an official price cut on the DS Lite from $129.99 to $99.99. Very nice of them. The DSi’s price is still $149.99 and the DSi XL is $169.99.

Aside from the DS Lite price cut, Nintendo is also playing with colors. Red in particular. They will be re-releasing six classic DS Mario games with red boxes. They hope that the red color makes them easier to spot when customers are shopping for games. These games include New Super Mario Bros., Mario Party DS, Mario & Donkey Kong: Miniland Mayhem, Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Kart DS and Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. So who is buying a DS Lite now?

Nintendo of America has announced a partnership with the National Art Education Association (NAEA) where they will introduce the Nintendo DS into classrooms in selected schools across the country. The idea is to give students a fresh, fun way to learn drawing and painting techniques.

Art teachers in elementary, middle and high school classrooms have been given Nintendo DSi XL systems and copies of Art Academy. These teachers will use the game console and the game to make classroom activities more engaging and fun. This should definitely make the classes more fun for kids.

If you buy the 3DS you might want to consider a wall charger as well. Nintendo has unveiled figures for the 3DS’ battery life, and compared with its predecessors, it doesn’t look good. The official numbers are three to five hours per game, or five to eight hours if playing an older DS title. It takes up to three hours 30 minutes to fully recharge.

The DS gave us 10 to 14 hours, DS Lite 15 to 19 hours, DSi 9 to 14 hours, and DSi XL 13 to 17 hours. It’s safe to say you won’t be having any all-nighters playing a 3D Mario game on this thing unless you are plugged in.

Nintendo saw a resurgence in sales during Thanksgiving week. Starting from November 21 and running through this past Sunday, the company shipped 900,000 DS, DSi and DSi XL systems as well as 600,000 Wii units.

It credited the spike to the usual Black Friday push as well as new colors for the devices. The company didn’t say whether or not either figure was a record for the week, but both are well above Nintendo’s average sales results through the rest of the year.

Looks like things have gotten more official on the American release of the Wii Remote Plus. The controller takes the MotionPlus attachment and bundles it right into a normal looking Wiimote. It will cost $39.99. The new model will also be included in a new red Wii bundle.

With the included copy of New Super Mario Bros it will cost you $199. Also the new 25th Anniversary red DSi XL bundle Nintendo announced last month is official too, at $179. All three launch in a few weeks, on November 7.

September 13th marked the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. so Nintendo is introducing special editions of the DSi and DSi XL to celebrate. Sadly these consoles are for Japan only. The big N will also be launching a Super Mario Collection Special Pack alongside.

The pack includes a version of Super Mario All-Stars for the Wii, a soundtrack CD, and a “Super Mario History, 1985 to 2010″ booklet with some extra materials like initial development planning sheets handwritten by Shigeru Miyamoto. Also for Japan only.

Everyone’s favorite Princess rescuing plumber is 25 years old today. That’s right, Super Mario has been around since 1985 and is probably one of the most recognized game characters in the world. This news makes me feel old.

Nintendo is celebrating Mario’s birthday with a contest where you can win a bunch of Mario themed prizes. They are giving away a range of Nintendo DSI XL consoles as well as a copy of the new Super Mario Bros. You can also check out a cool video which shows Super Mario Bros history over the last 25 years here.

We can thank Japanese accessory creator keysfactory for a slip that may have revealed Nintendo’s plans in regard to the 3DS release date. A designer with the firm posted some Twitter updates (now deleted) that 11 add-ons for the game console would ship on November 20 and, apparently the 3DS itself. Nintendo has implied an end-of-year launch in at least Japan but hasn’t given us a firm date so far.

It’s not confirmed, but the details line up with Nintendo’s recent launch history. The Wii, DSi and DSi XL were all released on a Saturday, and Nintendo often prefers weekend launches.

Nintendo is cutting the price of the DSi to $149.99 and the DSi XL to $169.99 (down $20 each) on September 12 in North America. They already dropped prices in the UK and Japan in June.

We still have no word what the 3DS will cost when it arrives, but we should get an announcement at the end of this month. In the meantime the big N will be selling tons of these models.

We know that Japan has some new colors for its DSi XL, but we weren’t sure if we would be getting any new colors here in the States. Well, it looks like we are and that color is Midnight Blue. I know, it’s very underwhelming isn’t it?

In Japan they are getting yellow, blue and green, but apparently we just get this blue version, which leaves us feeling blue too. when it’s released in July.

Nintendo plans to lower the price of the DSi and DSi XL in Japan on the weekend following E3, but that’s not all. They will also be releasing three new colors for the DSi XL: Yellow, Blue and Green.

I like that they didn’t try to go for any fancy names: Just Yellow, Blue and Green. They kind of look like little child toys now. Right now these are only for the Japanese market, but maybe we will see them soon here as well.

It isn’t cool or convenient for kids to check their blood glucose levels normally, but kids love videogames, so Bayer’s Didget is the perfect solution. It’s based on the company’s Contour glucose meter, but instead of connecting by USB it’s shaped like a Game Boy cartridge, which let’s kids put it into a Nintendo DS or DS Lite.

Kids can upload their scores to a custom game to unlock new characters and items, but the One problem with this plan is that it isn’t compatible with the DSi or the XL, so it is already obsolete.

As if we needed yet another ebook reader on the market. Well, the DSi XL’s larger display could be good for reading some classics. Nintendo knows that there’s money in the ebook market so they will be offering a downloadable package of ebooks called 100 classic books.

It will hit Wii channels on June 14th for $20. Then you can take a break from gaming to read some actual literature. Maybe some Mark Twain or Dickens. Assuming that they offer anything of that quality anyway.

Nintendo has just announced that its new DSi XL (The DSi LL in Japan) will be hitting North America on March 28th for $190. You get a few extra mm of thickness and a much larger screen with two 4.2-inch LCDs.

At launch it will be available in Burgundy and Bronze, preloaded with two DSiWare Brain Age games, Photo Clock, Flipnote Studio and the DSi Browser. Those in Europe will be getting the XL on March 5th. What do you think? Are you getting one?

The new Nintendo DSI was launched in Japan in October, where it was called the DSI LL. Well, it will be available in the UK and Europe from the 5th of March onwards, and will be called the Nintendo DSI XL.

The Nintendo DSI XL boasts two 4.2 inch screens, which are 93% bigger than the screens on the current Nintendo DSI Lite, and of course it also comes with a larger stylus to accompany that screen space. The DSI XL also features a wider viewing angle, and comes pre-loaded with “Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera Function” and “Dr Kawashima’s: Little Bit of Brain Training: Arts Edition”.