1UP.com's Jeremy Parish had the enviable privilege of playing through the first hour of Nintendo's upcoming adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. He describes the experience in detail and outlines how Spirit Tracks builds on the stylus-driven controls introduced in the previous Nintendo DS Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

As it happens, Princess Zelda will take an active role in the gameplay this time around, which is bound to be more interesting for her than sitting around and shying away from a monster man-pig.

Read the preview and mark your calendars: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is coming to North America on December 7!

The Super Mario Bros. usually occupy the Mushroom Kingdom, but everyone needs a change of scenery sometimes--whether they want it or not.

If you're thinking of diving into Bowser's gut, you'll want to arm yourself with my review for Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.

The sixth issue of French gaming magazine "Amusement" features a series of articles and photos about consumer frustration with buggy, malfunctioning hardware. The photos of users throwing their bricked handhelds through solid walls are particularly intriguing.

Look at the photos and relive your personal frustrations at GameSetWatch. Tiny Cartridge also has a very nice high-res version of one photo, which captures a red Nintendo DS Lite rocketing through a solid wall. The photographer is Romain Laurent.

RPG fans will be pleased to hear Nintendo plans to throw its marketing weight behind the North American and European releases of Dragon Quest IX. Dragon Quest is an enormously popular RPG series in Japan, and Square-Enix's initial decision to release the latest major installment on the Nintendo DS instead of a console came as a surprise.

Nintendo held a Q&A session at an Investor's Meeting last week, during which Nintendo executive Shinji Hatano said he'd like to see the Dragon Quest series gain popularity outside Japan. He claimed Nintendo and Square-Enix will combine their efforts to expose Dragon Quest IX to a new audience.

At the same session, Nintendo EAD General Manager Shigeru Miyamoto was asked about his recent projects. Miyamoto has been discouraged in the past from talking about his hobbies and projects for fear of them being lifted by the competition. However, Miyamoto said he's been thinking about game ideas that employ something similar to Dragon Quest IX's "sure chigai" mode, which exchanges information with other passing Dragon Quest XI players when their DS's are in sleep mode.

"Dragon Quest IX's passerby communication has caused the number of people walking around outside using their DS systems to increase greatly, and I'm thinking that I could probably make something unique like that.

"Also, recently we got a cat."

Miyamoto's cat-related addendum has gamers believing that he may well be working on a feline-centric follow-up to the enormously popular Nintendogs games. If that's the case, it's worth wondering what kind of tricks players will be able to teach their cats. "Eat?" "Sleep?" "Caterwaul at 2 a.m.?"

Earlier this week, gaming news sites buzzed with rumors of a new Nintendo DSi, which Nintendo denied. I resolved I'd sit back and just play the waiting game, and it turned out to be a pretty short game. Nintendo has acknowledged the existence of the "Nintendo DSi XL," and confirmed that it's coming to North America and Europe in the first quarter of 2010.



According to a statement Nintendo sent to IGN:

A new iteration of the Nintendo DSi; system will be introduced in Japan on November 21, 2009. To be known as Nintendo DSi LL in Japan, and as Nintendo DSi XL in North America and Europe, it will offer a screen 93% larger than the current Nintendo DS Lite with a better view angle, an additional longer touch screen stylus, and preinstalled Nintendo DSiWare software."

In other words, the DSi XL likely won't differ from the Nintendo DSi that's currently on the market (nor is it likely to replace it), and is simply a large-screen option for people who feel they need it. If the DSi XL does offer extra features, we'll know about them closer to the end of this year.

There's no official word on the price of the DSi XL, though IGN has unconfirmed reports of the unit costing 20,000 yen in Japan (about $220 USD). That's up a bit from the DSi's price of 18,900 yen.

(Image © Nintendo)

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is barreling towards us with the power of, uh, a locomotive. Some new information about the latest Legend of Zelda title for the Nintendo DS has come into the light, and it's quite exciting. First, the game's cover art has been made public (right). The art is for the European release of Spirit Tracks, but it'll likely be similar for American retail.

The cover art's most interesting focal point is Her Royal Highness Princess Zelda, who's hanging off the locomotive, on the left. Does this mean she'll travel alongside Link in Spirit Tracks instead of merely spending the game imprisoned, waiting for rescue?

Europe will also be receiving a tin-case pre-order bonus, which will include figurines of Link and the Phantom. No word on whether or not North America will receive the same bonus. Check out pictures at GoNintendo.

Nintendo also talked about The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on G4TV's X-Play. Employee Kit Ellis revealed a bit of story information: Apparently, Spirit Tracks takes place 100 years after The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, which would mean a new Link. Kit also says Link's train will be upgradable, and players can lay down their own track.

You can choo-choo-choose to buy The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on December 7, 2009.

(Image © Nintendo)

Is a new Nintendo DSi in the pipeline? Japan's Nikkei (a subscription-only tech news source) says "Yes." Nintendo, at this point in time, officially says "No."

According to Nikkei's report, published on Monday, the new DSi will feature a larger screen (about 3/4 of an inch larger than the current DSi screen), possibly widening the DSi's potential as an e-book reader, and making the handheld more accessible to seniors and players with poor eyesight. The new DSi will supposedly sell at the same price as the current DSi (18900 yen), and will be available by the end of 2009.

On Tuesday, Japanese game news site Famitsu asked Nintendo about their plans for a new Nintendo DSi. Nintendo responded with a denial:

"We conducted no interviews. We believe it was an article based on conjecture."

Last year, Nikkei was one of the first tech sites to break news about the Nintendo DSi. Is technological history repeating itself?

There's no word on a US release of this phantom DSi. Of course, until Nintendo gives the official word on the handheld (rather, if Nintendo gives the official word on the handheld), we shouldn't expect one. Verification should come soon, however: the remnants of 2009 are ticking away, and there's not much left to hide a rumor in!

For the little devil in you who craves murder, mystery, and mayhem, I have a review of Women's Murder Club: Games of Passion for the Nintendo DS. Will James Patterson's newest mystery keep you awake in suspense? Or will it lull you to sleep?

Sometimes accidents turn into happy revelations. Word from GoNintendo came in about a particular error code from the Nintendo customer service site that drops a hint about what may come.

The error code, #206602, is a "Nintendo Points Card or Nintendo DSi Download Ticket Error" from the Nintendo DSi Shop. The error text is as follows (relevant portion is in italics):

There appears to be a problem using the Nintendo Points Card or a Nintendo DSi Shop Download Ticket.

* Make sure you entering the number in the correct field in the Nintendo DSi Shop.

o For Nintendo Points Card redemption, enter the number off the Nintendo Points Card in the "Add Nintendo DSi Points" section off of the main Nintendo DSi Shop page, and select "Redeem Nintendo Points Card."

o To redeem a Nintendo DSi Download Ticket number, such as for the Nintendo DSi Speak Channel, enter the number off the Nintendo DSi Download Ticket in "Settings and Features" off of the main Nintendo DSi Shop page, then select "Nintendo DSi Download Ticket."

* After verifying you are entering the number in the correct location, retry the number again and make sure it is being entered correctly.

Does this mean a DSi Speak Channel might soon be available for download on the Nintendo DSi Shop? We'll soon see!

Rumors of a new Super Mario Bros. title have been simmering on the backburner of recent gamer news. Last week, Mario's voice actor Charles Martinet, let slip news of a possible new Mario title on his Twitter feed:

10:56 AM Oct 17th: Awesome new Mario Game! And it's not NSMB Wii, and it's not Galaxy 2, but it's going to be crazy fun!

The tweet has since been pulled, and Gamespot talked to Nintendo about the rumor. Nintendo responded vaguely, stating that ideas for new titles were always underway, but it had "nothing new to announce at this time."

Nothing to do but fold our hands in our laps and wait to see what comes of it all.