Nintendo released their First Quarter earnings report for the Fiscal Year 2010 today, and despite titles like Super Mario Galaxy 2, Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii all selling over a million copies worldwide, the company’s net sales are down from the same period last fiscal year.

Hardware sales are a mixed bag. The DS family saw a harsh drop in sales as it went from 5.97 million units sold last year to 3.15 million; a drop of nearly 50%!

As for the Wii, hardware sales actually went up from Q1 2009. This time last year, the Wii sold 2.23 million units, but this quarter, sales jumped up 36% to 3.04 million units.

The total software sales for both the Wii and DS were both down in this quarter. DS software sales dropped 23% from 29.09 million units to 22.42 million units. Wii software saw a 9% drop from 31.07 million units to 29.17 million units.

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Mark those calendars, folks! Nintendo recently confirmed to Bloomberg Japan that they will announce a release date and pricing details for the 3DS on September 29.

It was also announced that the company expects the handheld to ship out this fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2011.

Time for the rumor mill to go into overdrive…

And for the record, I’m guessing $189. No more than $200.

Small window, I know.

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Craving more Treasure Maps in Dragon Quest IX? Well, Nintendo just announced some new dates and locations of stores giving away maps via Tag Mode.

Joining GameStop in distributing exclusive maps are Best Buy and select Simon Malls. Each location has a different map, meaning you have to trek it to all three places to get them all.

Each location will also give people new to the series a chance to try out DQIX, with representatives on-hand to help you out.

We’ve mentioned the GameStop event before, but it’s worth going over again, for the sake of convenience. On July 31, walking into a participating GameStop with your copy of DQIX in Tag Mode will get you map number one. Find a participating store here.

August 7 is when Best Buy will give away map number two. Their list of participating outlets can be found here.

The Simon Mall events will be handled like a mini mall tour. Starting from August 7 and continuing until September 19, different Simon Malls across the U.S. will host their own map event. A list of dates and mall stops are posted here.

According to the Dragon Quest IX Events page, these locations are the FIRST places these maps will be available. It’s possible that these three events won’t be your only chance to score these exclusive maps.