That DS Lite above looks pretty genuine right? That’s what the buyer thought too when he purchased it on eBay. When he opened the package he knew something was wrong. The corrugated cardboard box was the first suspicious giveaway. Then on the back of the box there was pixelated English text.

When he opened the package he found that yes it was a fake, however, it still played DS and GBA games in their proper slots. The surface of the system has some small pockmarks, which is not up to Nintendo’s high quality assurance standards and the inner bezel is also discolored.

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.

Well, we knew it was coming and sure enough, Nintendo just made it official. They will cut the retail price of the Wii down to $149.99, and will also include a copy of Mario Kart and the Wii Wheel peripheral with the console.

They will replace the current bundle of Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort games. The steering wheel and the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk controllers will match the color of the console you buy. Not a bad time to get a Wii if you have been waiting for such a deal.

Nintendo knows all about supply and demand and how to work the system. There is high demand for Nintendo’s games, so much so that often times third-party game sales on Nintendo’s consoles suffer at the hands of first-party titles.

Nintendo, in a move to avoid hurting it’s third party titles, has decided that they will only decide on the dates of popular first party releases after they know the release plans of other companies’ games. That has to be good news to third party developers.

It’s official. The next Wii is a go. Nintendo has announced that it plans to introduce the console next year. A “playable model” will be shown off at the E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles on June 7th. Details are scarce at the moment, but we just hope it isn’t called Wii Wii. Although the French might like that.

We can’t wait to see what Nintendo comes up with. The controller certainly sounds intriguing. And it will be nice to play a Nintendo game in something better than 480p. As we learn more, we will pass it on.

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.

Out with the old, in with the new. An internal GameStop memo has surfaced announcing the discontinuation of Nintendo’s DS Lite. With the 3DS now available, the old DS Lite is being put out to pasture. The memo tells employees to remove displays of Crimson, Black, and Metallic Rose models, once the stock is gone.

It is a five-year-old system. There’s no official word from Nintendo yet, but we imagine that will be coming soon. If you want one, you better grab one while you can.

Okay, so you have your 3DS. Now you need a good Mario game to play on it. Well, you may not have long to wait. In a recent interview, Shigeru Miyamoto stated “I promise to do all I can to deliver the new Mario game this year”. Sadly he didn’t offer any specifics or other details about the game, but it is nice to hear he’s trying hard to get it out to the masses.

What we know so far is that Super Mario 3DS is being developed by EAD Tokyo, the guys that did Super Mario Galaxy. We will likely get more details at E3 and hopefully we will learn more about the Wii 2 at that time as well.

Nintendo had mentioned that the 3DS set a day-one US sales record, and now we have some actual numbers. Looks like 400,000 3DS units were sold in the month of March. The DS’ overall March sales totaled 460,000. Remember the 3DS launched at the end of march, so this is one weeks sales.

Obviously it won’t keep up the pace forever, but with the Legend of Zelda game, the launch of the E-Shop, and Netflix integration all coming this summer, the future looks bright for the 3DS.

According to an Engadget source, a price cut for the Wii is coming. It will cost just $150 starting May 15th. Normally we would dismiss this, but the timing makes sense, since Nintendo’s profits have been going down due to declining hardware sales. Plus, there’s also the rumors of a new console from Nintendo coming soon.

Also, last month Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime did hint that the Wii’s price might change in the near future. Still, we don’t have anything more official than that right now, so we will just have to wait and see, but it seems likely.

There’s this whole fascination with making iPhones look like different things by using clever cases, which makes us wonder…If the iPhone is so awesome looking, why are you hiding it? But that’s a question for another time. Behold, you can now make your phone look like an old Nintendo cartridge.

These iPhone 4 cases were designed by meteor and are made to look like the back of old Famicom and N64 cartridges. These cost a crazy $57, so we imagine that only hardcore Nintendo geeks will be rocking this look.

If you are a Nintendo fan, then chances are that you have noticed that there seems to be a drought of 1st-party Nintendo titles this spring. In fact there aren’t any. Zero. Nada. Zip. So what does it mean?

Well, it may just mean that we can expect the new console very soon. Kotaku has compiled some data of Nintendo’s game release history for the past 10 years and it seems to back up this speculation. It is looking very likely that we will see Nintendo’s next console this spring.

You won’t be playing Super mario on a phone anytime soon. Nintendo has said that it isn’t planning to build a phone or license its games for third-party software platforms. They are going to focus on consoles and handhelds.

The high costs involved in cellular carrier partnerships are the main roadblock. That would affect the price of games. It just isn’t something Nintendo is looking at right now, but who knows? Maybe down the road, we will get a Nintendo phone. Just not now.

Some gamers have been complaining about headaches and eyestrain when playing the new 3DS console. It seems like it is only a few users right now who are having trouble playing games on the console comfortably. But Nintendo’s UK PR head Rob Saunders says that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and that a risk of discomfort comes with the territory when you are talking 3D content.

Like with any activity that is strenuous on the eyes, he advises that people take breaks. Maybe they could use that break time to go outside and enjoy some nature. Watch a butterfly glide on the breeze, if you know what such a creature is. Feel the warm sun on your pale gamer skin. Whatever. Just don’t stare at a tiny screen all day and you should be fine.

Nintendo’s US president Reggie Fils-Aime has said that the company’s Wii sequel won’t use 3D. The reason is apparently because glasses-free 3D is very difficult to accomplish for multiple people on a TV, so the future console will most likely be 2D.

While we don’t yet know what the next console has in store for us, it is expected to finally have HD and to get a speed upgrade for more detail. There is no way to know for sure, but we may see it as early as the E3 event in June.