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.

Sony claims to have sold 50 million PSP handhelds worldwide as of January 2009. That number includes all PSP-1000, 2000, and 3000 devices sold since December 2004. That’s a pretty impressive number, for sure.

But not so much if you’re sitting in Nintendo’s corporate offices, looking at 96.22 million DS handhelds sold between December 2004 and December 2008. I guess since they can’t brag about how many PS3 units have been sold, they have to have something to give them hope.

Someone has taken an old NES controller and modded it into The Compwnent USB Nintendo Controller mouse by adding a new chip and USB cable. It will work with any OS. We’re not sure how comfortable it would be to use, but it’s not like it will injure your wrist over time. Why not?

It will show up as “Compwnent USB NES Controller” on your device list and boasts a Mouse Mode. Hit A, B, Start & Select simultaneously and you can use the D-pad and A/B buttons to control mouse movement and left/right click! The NES Controller will cost you $35.

In an effort to make one console appeal to gamers more than the competition, console makers like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are adding new features. With the global economy down the console makers are also adding features to make gaming systems perform tasks outside of gaming to broaden their appeal.

One such feature was the addition of Netflix streaming capability to the Xbox 360. The Netflix application was made available for Netflix and Xbox Live Gold customers in November of 2008. In the roughly three months since the Netflix application was made available Microsoft says that over a million Xbox 360 owners have installed and activated the Netflix application.

Now here’s an entertaining 8 minute video that will have you thanking god you didn’t work for the big N in 1991. I can’t imagine being made to actually watch this stuff because it was my job. It’s a customer service training video that shows employees how to handle all kinds of customers who want to return merchandise and also happen to be stereotypes.

You’ll see a bald dude try to get his money back for an NES that’s encrusted all over with some sort of mega-funk that makes it stick to the employee’s hands, a nerd that can’t work a gameboy and some nice lady who learns how to plug the controller into port 1 and likes to bake pies as thank you currency.

One of the best games that I have played for the Nintendo Wii was Boom Blox, the game from EA and Steven Spielberg. The game has single and multiple player modes that were cool and innovative. The multiplayer action was particularly fun and can be played by up to four players at once.

The follow-up to the game has been announced and it is called Boom Blox Bash Party. The game features the solo and multiplayer play that the original offered, with more of it this time around. EA says that there are over 400 new levels of puzzles to be solved with some of them in space and under water.

Since everyone is using the Wii these days, I guess it was inevitable that we could get house calls from Dr. Mario. Nintendo Japan has announced a new Wii “Check-Up” channel that is scheduled for an April launch. The system was developed with the help of Hitachi, NEC, and Panasonic, with a health insurance company providing 2-way communication between users and health professionals who will give you “healthy guidance”.

Let’s face it, you could use some of that after playing video games all day. Apparently it will work in conjunction with Wii Fit and the Balance Board. You can also use NEC’s mobile phone health platform.

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.

It’s that time of year again. Time to celebrate love and shower that special someone with gifts like roses,jewelry, fine wine and chocolates. If you’re going to give that special geek someone candy and chocolates this year why not tie it all in with their favorite hobby? The Wii. Give them some chocolate Miis.

They come in white, milk, or dark chocolate flavors of both male and female. It even comes packaged in a box that looks like a Wii. Give a geek this gift and they will be yours forever. Only $19.95 and for each purchase they will donate a $1 to the Child’s Play Charity.

Chances are you have many chargers on or around your desk, which wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t all attached to wires. They have a tendency to get all tangled up. The IDAPT Charging Station aims to make your life just a bit neater, while powering up your gadgets.

It’s like a pink gadget orgy charging bed as it can handle three devices simultaneously, and the range of tips available should cover all the popular devices like BlackBerry, Nokia, iPod, PSP etc. You can purchase the tips online if you need one for a gadget. The IDAPT Charging Station will retail for £34.95.

Meet the dorkiest looking wrist accessory ever. You might think this is a cool cyberpunk bracelet thing. Actually, it’s the ultimate way to charge your batteries and look like a loser at the same time. If you don’t believe me, then by all means, check out the product site. There you can find pictures of people wearing and using this device.

It’s sad that it looks like such a train-wreck, because it’s a convenient way to charge up all your gadgets on the go. It uses a rechargeable li-on battery and comes with 8 different types of power connectors that will work with major brand mobile phones, the PSP and Nintendo DS. To recharge the portable battery, it takes about 5 hours. When used as a direct power source, it’ll give you 3 hours of talk time or 8 hours on your MP3 player.

The Famicom Box is a rare piece of Nintendo history. It’s an old school Nintendo system with 15 games built in. Sort of like Nintendo’s Greatest Hits. The games include Duck Hunt, Mega Man and Super Mario Brothers. It comes with two controllers and a light gun. Believe it or not it was designed for hotels and arcades.

It’s a rare nerd artifact, highly sought after and it’s available now on Yahoo Auctions at a starting price of $110. How high it will go is anyone’s guess. So, if you want an expensive NES alternative, the Famicombox may be for you. Your friends will be envious should you win.

In my home, we have a Wii, Xbox, and PS3 so most of my son’s friends end up over here playing video games after school. The one console that all of them were hoping for last Christmas was the Wii. It seems they weren’t alone in their dreams of a Wii.

Nintendo is talking up the numbers just released by the NPD Group that talk about the gaming market in 2008. According to NPD, the Nintendo Wii and DS game systems were the most popular systems, by a long way, during 2008.

YouTube has enjoyed tremendous success, but like all superstars, things can get lonely at the top. It’s a service that’s been stuck on the computer. The internet to be exact. Sure, it gets tons of hits, lots of people enter it’s doors every day. But it gets lonely. People just watch and post their videos. No one stops to talk.

Anyway, YouTube wants to start socializing more. So it’s getting off the computer and onto your TV, through video game consoles. YouTube is coming to the Sony Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. It flips Xbox 360 the bird for now. PS3 and Wii owners can just go to www.youtube.com/tv to get a specially-formatted version of the site for your TV.

Let’s face it guys, there are some things that we like to stick out a lot. There are some things we don’t want to stick out a lot, like our guts and the USB dongles we plug into our computers.

Buffalo has introduced the tiniest 802.11n Wi-Fi dongle that I have ever seen. The little thing is set to launch in early February and measures 16mm W x 33mm H x 8mm D. Those dimensions include the USB connector as well, which appears to take up about half of that height measurement.