Following a long legal battle by several companies against the makers of flash cards, devices that have become infamous for their ability to run pirated games, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced that the devices are now illegal to import into the country.

Sales of the devices were already prohibited in Japan, but with the import ban, it’s now even harder to get a hold of one.

Source: CVG

Yes, Nintendo is still releasing new DSi colors.

According to the company, the Matte Red and Matte Blue DSis should be heading to U.S. retailers as early as this week.

They didn’t mention a price, but it’s likely won’t shy away from $99 MSRP of the other DSi colors.

Source: @NintendoAmerica

The 3DS has firmly secured its spot as the successor to the DS line. So, to help move old models, Nintendo will be dropping the prices of the DSi and DSi XL.

Come May 20, you’ll be able to pick up a DSi for $100 and it’s larger cousin for $130.

They’re not bad deals, but it’s still a little hard to justify when you could just save up the extra $70 for a 3DS, which pretty much does everything the DSi does but in 3D! Plus, Best Buy is currently running a promotion where you get Pilotwings Resort and Steel Diver free with the purchase of a 3DS.

Source: Press Release

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If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you have until February 20 to pick up The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition from the eShop.

To celebrate 25 years of The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo made the downloadable title free for all DSi and 3DS owners last September as a bit of a thank you gift.

It’s unclear if the game will just be taken off the eShop or changed to a paid title come Monday. Either way, it’s best to not wait and find out.

Nintendo recently announced that they would be releasing their own line of SD cards next month in Japan.

There’s no real difference between these SD cards and any other cards you can buy, but if you love having the Nintendo logo on your flash memory, these may be the cards for you.

The SDHC cards will be available in 8GB and 16GB varieties.

Source: Kotaku.com.au, Vooks

The winners of the “Make Your Own Zelda Flipnote” contest have been announced and the selected animations can be viewed over at the contest portal.

As a treat for all the winners, they got to have their flipnote evaluated by some of the Zelda development team, including Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma.

While the winners from the other regions are supposed to be revealed over the course of the next two weeks, you can view them early by going to the European and Japanese contest sites.

After doing an amazing job on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D commercial, Nintendo has, once again, turned to Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda to help promote Four Swords Anniversary Edition.

Available in the eShop and DSiWare store, Four Swords Anniversary Edition is free until February 20.

Source: Nintendo World Report

In celebration of the Zelda series’ 25th birthday, Nintendo is holding a contest for anyone with a DSi or DSi XL with Flipnote Studio. Zelda-themed animations made with the free program can be entered for a chance to have it evaluated by members of the Zelda development team, including Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, Takashi Tezuka, and Yoshiaki Koizumi – and have it posted on the Zelda 25th Anniversary site.

If you need some inspiration, the Anniversary site has a new page chronicling the series’ history.

Complete rules on how to enter can be found on the Zelda Flipnote page.

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Nintendo is still releasing firmware updates for the DSi, surprisingly.

Once the DSiWare transfer tool went out, I figured the company would pretty much abandon the handheld and focus on the 3DS.

This update, version 1.4.3U, provides “behind-the-scenes improvements to system performance.”

It’s anyone’s guess as to what it actually improves.

Source: Nintendo

With the launch of the eShop, Nintendo has decided to shift their downloadable releases to Thursday. So,we’ll now have “eShop Thursdays.”

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