Nintendo has the most popular and best selling game console on the market thanks to its Nintendo Wii. The system is still hard to find in many areas. The Nintendo DS is also the most popular portable game console and the latest version the DS is set to continue that tradition.

We mentioned last week that the DSi was available for pre-order at both Amazon.com and GameStop. This week Walmart.com announced that it too was offering a preorder system for gamers looking to get a DSi console.

Those of you wanting to preorder the Nintendo DSi before the April 5th US date can now do so as Amazon and GameStop are both accepting preorders. We’re talking $169 for the base system from both retailers, but GameStop has no problem upping the price with some bundled accessories.

Try to contain yourself as you decide which of it’s two colors to choose. Why they would limit the colors for it’s release is anybody’s guess, but I don’t like blue and black damnit! The question of the day is this. Will the limited color choice influence whether you will buy one or not?

One thing that is certainly associated with the newest game systems from Nintendo is difficulty finding them. Many people who want a Wii still don’t have one because they can’t find it on store shelves. With the new Nintendo DSi set to launch in April, you may want to start pre-ordering now.

GameStop has announced that it is running a reservation program that for a limited number of DSi hopefuls will ensure they get their hands on the new portable gaming system when it launches. The DSi is being offered in a girly blue color and black.

Here’s some news that we have all been waiting for. Soon. Yes, very soon you’ll be able to get your hands on a genuine DSi in North America on April 5th. The handheld will launch for $169.99 and will include dual cameras and the ability to download content called DSiWare which starts at 200 DSi Points.

The handhelds will come in blue or black colors, but we will see more choices down the road.

I have a couple PSPs lying around my house and both of them are boring, shiny black devices. Sure, you can get silver PSP here in the states, but that’s not really any better than black. What I really want is a PSP with a bright color like Nintendo offers with its DS portable.

Sony is offering portable gamers in Japan the option of four new and very bright colors for their gaming enjoyment. The bright shades are called Carnival colors and the machines can be had in blue, red, green, and yellow.

Dual screens on a laptop. Oh yes. We’ve been drooling over Lenovo’s W700ds, and now we have the laptop’s first widely available video. The unit in the video appears to be that of a pre-production model.

Another thing that you might have noticed is the wobble in that pull-out panel. Yikes, that thing looks fragile. It looks like it didn’t go back in too easy either. But we’re hoping Lenovo works out all it’s issues before it hits the market for real. I have no doubt that they will as they have a lot riding on this unit.

Gameboys are cheap these days. You remember Gameboy. That monochrome handheld with the sort of greenish urine colored background. You can get one for about $20. But why not make your own? Some guy named Matt decided to build an “open source Gameboy” called Gamepack, using off-the-shelf parts, including an Arduino microprocessor. The Arduino providse the brains, while the 128×128 TouchShield Stealth color OLED touchscreen takes care of the rest. An Inputshield board provides a tiny joystick that even sports rumble, with control buttons and a flat Lithium battery pack.

Lucky for you the Gamepack system is available in kit form so you can build one yourself. Thing is, at the moment, the Gamepack only runs some rudimentary homebrew demo code, but the idea is that others will contribute more advanced games, or maybe even a Nintendo emulator. It’s steep at $249, but a pretty cool project.

Nintendo has plans to launch a new version of the popular Nintendo DS handheld game console by the end of this year, and it sounds like they are doing more than just adding new colors this time. The new model, yet to be named, will feature a camera and music player, putting itself in competition with a larger number of portable devices and opening up a whole mess of new game possibilities.

This news does not come straight from Nintendo, or at least not yet. It does however come from the Sunday edition of The Nikkei Business Daily, which is a well renowned newspaper in Japan. The new DS from Nintendo is expected to cost around $190 in Japan compared to the $158 price tag on the current DS. The DS goes for $129 currently in the United States.

Nintendo may have all kinds of DS Lite colors available, and a metallic silver will be available soon in the U.S., but according to IGN, they have something bigger on the horizon. A third version of the DS. One with dual touchscreen displays, one of them even widescreen. They aren’t sure whether the redesign will be simply another DS iteration or the DS 2. IGN says the rumored release date is April or May 2009, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see. The above pic is just IGN’s mockup.

We had thought that Nintendo had ran out of color ideas for the DS in North America, but there was at least one we hadn’t thought about. A Metallic Silver DS so you can look at your reflection now and then. Just like the one you own, just shinier and able to blind others on sunny days.

The Metallic Silver variety has been in Japan and Europe for almost a year, so I guess the big N figured it was time we had a crack at it. It should be available in all it’s shining glory on Sept. 7.

While we’re waiting with bated breath for a possible new updated Nintendo DS model that has been rumored, we thought we would take a look at some of our favorite DS mods. Like the Wii, modders love to spice up Nintendo’s boring design and put their own personal touches on the device. Some are weird, some are awesome, some will make you wonder what’s in the modder’s local water supply, but all are creative.

Seems like a whole lot of Wii owners have been waiting for Samba de Amigo on the Wii, which was originally for the Dreamcast. Now Amazon has the first live shots of the maracas attachments for the Wiimote and nunchuck. What other color would you expect, if not a festive hot tamale red, making it just like the originals on the Dreamcast console.

Amazon is pre-selling them for $15 and they’ll be released on Sept. 23. These should make Wiimote shaking a new art form, which makes me wonder if there are any Pinata games in the works, cuz I’d like to beat something virtually with a stick and get some damn candy. If not, there should be.

If there’s one thing you can say about the Wii, it’s that it is and always has been white. Back in the days when it was first called the “revolution” it seemed like we would be getting an assortment of colors, but alas, just plain old Wii white. That’s why it’s kind of shocking to see these.

While this may not be a lime or blood red Wii console, at least Nintendo is taking a baby step in the right direction with these pastel-colored Wiimote straps for Japan. You can get the whole pack for $10 or individually for afew bucks. No word if they’ll be coming our way soon.

The Wii has changed the face of gaming with it’s interactive motion controls. So much so, that every other console has begun work on their own version. Just as the Wii has changed gaming, gamers are constantly changing the Wii console itself, giving it all kinds of personalities. Here’s a look at some of our favorites.

According to the latest NPD Group report for game sales in May, this is the fourth month in a row that Nintendo has come out on top for the number 1 AND number two spot for console sales. The Nintendo Wii and the handheld Nintendo DS were the two top-selling hardware units for May, 2008.

Nintendo sold over 675,000 Wii consoles in May and almost 453,000 Nintendo DS’s, which would probably explain all the new colors and designs they have been coming out with lately for the DS. Sony’s Playstation 3 followed with a little under 209,000 units sold and Microsoft sold 186,600 Xbox 360 units during the same period.