As we talked about in this week's podcast, which will be posted later today, the top two hardware spots on the NPD charts for October were totally owned by Nintendo. The Wii's 803k units and the Ninitendo DS' 491k units make for a combined 1.294 million units sold. The next spot is Microsoft's with the Xbox360's 370k units. Quite a jump down for the number three spot. We can only imagine what will happen when the Holiday really gets in full swing. Click read more for the full chart.

A code has surfaced that will send your Miis to your Nintendo DS handheld. You simply press A, B, 1, then hold 2 in the Mii Channel. It will not work with a DS running in DS Download Play mode (demo download mode for kiosks, etc.), or the Wii Nintendo Channel. Comment and let us know how it works! (Thanks, Mejilan)

On Sunday, November 16, 2008, Activision will be releasing another Guitar Hero for the DS. On Tour Decades will hit retail stores this Sunday. Yes, Sunday. The game will feature hits from the 1970s to the present hits. The first DS Guitar Hero game was a huge seller, this one will likely hit the charts as well. Click read more for the full info.

PRESS RELEASE

Friday 14th November/... Following up Guitar Hero®: On Tour the groundbreaking and best-selling Nintendo DSTM game, fans can once again become traveling rock gods as Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) debuts Guitar Hero® On Tour: Decades™ in European retail outlets today and in North American stores on Sunday, November 16, 2008. The game leverages the technology of its predecessor and expands the experience with a new progression taking players on a musical journey from classics of the 1970s through today’s greatest hits.

Apple iPhone Marketing man Greg Joswiak has said that iPhone is "the future of gameplay." Whatever that means. He also said that Sony and Nintendo's dedicated gaming portables are "in the past."

"The [iPhone] gameplay I think has surprised a lot of people, because it's not just the casual games. There are real 3D games, and it's hard to imagine we're only a little over 100 days into it," said Joswiak.

The second installment of Elite Beat Agents, which would surprise no one if it was in production, has apparently showed up on the UK Nintendo Press Website Game List. This is according to DSFanboy, and although it is common sense really, it is rumor for now.

Pandemic annoucned today that the new LOTR action game, Conquest, is going to be available January 9, 2008 internationally, and January 13 in the US. The game is along the lines of Star Wars Battlefront, letting users fight the epic battles from the LOTR Universe any way they like. Click read more for the full info.

PRESS RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Oct 30, 2008 – Pandemic™ Studios, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that The Lord of the Rings: Conquest™ for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, PC and Nintendo DS™ platforms, will ship January 9, 2009 internationally and January 13, 2009 in the U.S.

The legendary Shigeru Miyamoto spoke with MTV Multiplayer. He was surprisingly candid about the newest Zelda and Mario, revealing what he thought could have been done better. Apparently he then asked the interviewer a few questions, before slipping in a Punch Out! blurb at the end. Always interesting when Miyamoto speaks.

What I’ve been saying to our development teams recently is that “Twilight Princess” was not a bad game, by any means. But, still, it felt like there was something missing. And while, personally, I feel like “Super Mario Galaxy” was able to do some things that were very new and were very unique, at the same time, from another perspective, certain elements of it do feel somewhat conservative in terms of how far we branched out with design. And so this is something I’ve been talking to both of those teams about.

Ubisoft has announced Tom Clancy's Endwar for both the Sony and Nintendo handheld units. Unfortunately, the revolutionary voice command system will not be included in either version, it seems. The DS will utilize the stylus fully, though, and the PSP will feature ad-hoc multiplayer play. Click read more for the full info.

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO - OCTOBER 20, 2008 - Today Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy's EndWar™ will be released for the Nintendo DS™ system and the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. Developed by Funatics Software and optimized for the handheld platforms, Tom Clancy's EndWar is rated T for "teen" and will ship to retailers on November 4, 2008.

The Wii topped the NPD hardware sales numbers again for September, with 687,000 units sold. The Nintendo DS came in second, of course, with 537,000 units sold. The Xbox360 is doing well, coming in third, beating all three Sony systems, which occupied the bottom three slots. Sony PSP with 238,000, the PS3 with 232,000, and the good old Sony PlayStation 2, with 173,000. Click read more for the full info.

PRESS RELEASE

Backed by a variety of unique interfaces, Nintendo's Wii™ console topped the U.S. video game hardware sales charts with nearly 687,000 units sold in September, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Nintendo DS™ was the No. 2 best-selling system, with nearly 537,000 sold.

The new point system Nintendo is going to utilize once the DSi store is open has been revealed. There will not be separate Wii and DS store points, they will be called Nintendo points, and will be universal. Unfortunately, if you use a 3000 points card on your Wii say, you cannot then use 1000 of those points on the DS and 2000 on the Wii. They will be console-specific, not account universal. According to the Japanese Nintendo slides, anyway.