Looking to make amends for not having A Link to the Past come in a golden cartridge, Nintendo recently sent out a press release via carrier pigeon to all the feudal lords to discuss their plans to use metric tons of gold paint on the upcoming Skyward Sword. And they give pricing and release details!

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In news that will make everyone and their dog (with opposable thumbs) happy, Nintendo announced today that they are dropping the price of the 3DS as a result of Sony’s Vita being so sexily priced that it made Nintendo drop a load in its big, blue overalls. Actually, that’s explicitly not what they are saying, but that is what the blank space between the lines is saying. So what’s the price if you want to pick up a 3DS on the cheap?

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As someone who is but twenty-seven years old, it is fun to think about some of the game franchises out there that are as old as I am. There are but few that have nearly consistently equaled great gameplay and story with every new iteration like The Legend of Zelda. After 25 years, Nintendo wants to remind you of that.

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Oh Nintendo, you scare me so. For months now we have been hearing rumors about Nintendo having a new console that has a giant-screened controller from space. Sure enough, those rumors turn out to be true, but that’s not before the internet melted down for a few minutes trying to figure out what this thing actually is. Why did we have so much trouble? Nintendo’s revealing sucked. That’s why. But now, after a day, the Wii U, as it’s called, could shape up to be pretty great.

Shown during this year’s E3 press conference in L.A., the Wii U (or is it just Wii U? Nintendo loved saying “Wii” without an article adjective, but I don’t know about this thing) came to stage with less fanfare that might have been expected. As you can see from the images, the big, new thing is the big, new controller that sports a 6.2″ touchscreen right in the middle of the device that can allow the player extra real estate for game information in addition to using it as a pseudo-mobile gaming device itself, but we’ll get to that; this paragraph is about how Nintendo unveiled the unit horribly. While this controller gathered some “oohs” and “aahs,” it was the only thing shown, leading to mass hysteria from nerdville. Was there actually a new console, or was this it? If this was just the console, is it a handheld I can take anywhere? What does that mean for the 3DS? The demo video for the controller showed examples of games that really did not look like anything more than what we have experienced on the Wii graphically, causing some to question if the controller was just an add-on to the existing console. It’s not, as it turns out, but we wouldn’t know that from the demonstration. Soon after the initial video reel, the audience was shown some 3rd party titles that will come out for the system looking as good as counterparts on rival consoles (as well they should; this video was made of footage coming entirely from rival consoles, as it turns out, because Wii U does not have finalized hardware), so there had to be some new guts somewhere. Nintendo’s fault was not just being clear with us what was going on. Just tell us, friends, we will listen.

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After months of waiting, we finally have all of the info regarding Nintendo’s wunderkind: the 3DS. This morning at a press conference in New York City, NOA chief honcho Reggie Fils-Aime mounted the stage and then shortly after began talking about the North American plans for this new device. What have we learned? Well, to be frank, you might want to start saving.

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