A few days ago, a buddy of mine sent me a link from eBay, asking me to bid on some older Nintendo Gameboy handheld consoles he just found for a great price. Unfortunately, subsequent bids led to a price higher than we both considered decent, as it happens sometimes on eBay with collector's items. The funny part is that this brought back from the dead my interest for Nintendo, and just in time, because today, the new Nintendo DS has been revealed!
The new Nintendo DS handheld comes in black or white, and its name is very similar to the old model, yet new - Nintendo DSi. I only hope Apple won't mind because of that...at least it's not "Nintendo iDS," so it should be fine with them. If you ask me, "Nintendo DSi" sounds and looks great as a name, but let's cut the nonsense and move to the interesting part - Nintendo DSi details, of course...<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

The DSi will launch in Japan on the first day of November, for ¥18,900 ($179/ £101), and international releases are expected to follow during 2009, probably in Spring, for the luckier ones. The Nintendo DSi details that should be enough for us now are as it follows - bigger screen(3.25 inches), thinner than its predecessors(2.6mm less than the DS Lite), a 3MP camera on the exterior of the case, with another lower-resolution camera on the interior hinge, but the most interesting part of it all is that the new Nintendo features an SD memory slot, allowing you to store images and music, with the possibility of accessing downloadable games!

Like it or not, it seems the cartdridge era is coming to an end, and while some consider that downloadable games will open a new era for piracy, I can only salute Nintendo's decision to add the memory slot, and hope to be able to play with one of these new beauties as soon as possible. If not, even an "old" Nintendo DS Lite would be enough. Do you have one to spare? :)

When talking about games that I will always remember, Duke Nukem 3D has, and will always have a special place in my heart. Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior, another game made by 3D Realms using the same graphics engine, ate a lot of my time during high school, and I don't even have to mention those network slaughter sessions I've been through...

...and now, every time I hear about Duke Nukem Forever beta - at least beta - I jump up and check the news sources, digging for all I can get. Unfortunately, all I usually got in the last decade was one rumor after another, and nothing more. After all, Duke Nukem Forever is the most delayed videogame in history, since its development started back in 1997, and promotional information has been released in 1997, 1998, 2001, 2007, and even in June 2008. <-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->Now, we have some new screenshots - in fact, only two of them, but nothing clear regarding the release date, as usual.

I think changing the name of the game into Duke Nukem Forever Beta, or even Duke Nukem Vaporware won't hurt too much. In fact, this could make this even more interesting. After all, Duke Nukem Forever got so many "vaporware awards," that could be identified by a lot of people with the "vaporware genre" itself, if I can put it this way.

The new screenshots that became available recently in the Xbox Live Arcade don't show much, just some 3D chicks, and an octabrain reminding me of some BlackSite: Area 51 monster. Now, the game is using a heavily modified Unreal Engine, while a decade ago, it all started with the Quake II graphics engine. Oh, my, how many can change in a decade...

...but I only hope one thing - to see Duke Nukem Forever beta turning into just "Duke Nukem Forever," and to have the DVD in my hands. As soon as possible, please! I am sure there are gamers who died waiting for this to come out, and I don't want to go after them...