Looks like a remake of the third title

Tactical battling on the go is a big win for us here at Nintendo Life Towers: many's the hour we've spent on Advance Wars and Fire Emblem, so the opportunity to get more of either is something we welcome with open arms. We already knew about a new Advance Wars, but today the Japanese Fire Emblem site has been updated with a new trailer showing the game's animated cinematics and little else.

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Debate opens: is this a glitch or just a skill?

This one will probably divide opinion, but this video of a Super Mario Galaxy 2 speedrun exploits a trick for extending Yoshi's flutter jump to previously unheard-of lengths.

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Not a story from The Onion, we promise

It may not be a huge deal but Japanese police have arrested a 52-year old man for selling modified Wii consoles and copied games after he made over £20,000 (about $28,000) selling the units over a two-year period.

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Also includes free arm-punching ability for screen-peekers

In the clamour to get as many titles online as possible, the simple pleasures of sitting down with a few friends to blast each other to smithereens has been lost on Wii somewhat. Josh Olson, senior producer of shooter sequel Conduit 2, wants to bring those days back by promising offline support for every online play mode.

Everything you can do online, you can do via splitscreen to include all competitive modes and the cooperative Team Invasion mode. We’ve spent a lot of time on a sweet splitscreen exclusive as well, namely the ability to lean over and punch your buddy in the arm if he looks at your screen.

Olson also confirmed split-screen for two players will be horizontal or vertical split, so you can pick the one you like most – or your opponent likes least.

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Dementium developer thinks new machine could reignite third parties

When it comes to creating superb DS-exclusive titles, nobody rivals Nintendo: we know this, you know this and developers certainly know this, resulting in a marked decrease in DS boxed releases as publishers look to distribute their funds elsewhere. Jools Watsham, founder of Dementium and Moon developer Renegade Kid, thinks the 3DS may be just the ticket to revive flagging third-party support for Nintendo handhelds.

Everyone seems very excited about the 3DS. I know I am. I think the beginning of any new platform’s life is the best time to release original games. They have a much better chance of selling due to the limited selection of games available.

Watsham makes a good point, although this wasn't exactly true of the DS's release line-up: the biggest-selling title was by far Super Mario 64 DS, and the only truly original titles were Sonic Team's underrated Project Rub and WarioWare: Touched! In its first year the machine received Meteos, Nintendogs, Trauma Centre and Lost in Blue among other quality exclusive titles, but Western publishers soon began to see the good games were mostly coming from one place: Japan.

I think the number of US developers supporting the 3DS is going to be larger than it has been for the DS in terms of teams who are focusing on creating original so-called “core” games. I think we’ll see a lot of the current Wii and iPhone developers adding the 3DS to their development plans.

Whether Watsham's prediction is right and we'll see a wider array of core games developed outside of Japan will only become clear in time, but with the support of talented Western developers there's a possibility Japan may not hold quite such a monopoly next time around.

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Chat live with developers online

It's not every day you get the chance to have a nosey around barmy Japanese developer Grasshopper Manufacture, home of Suda51's No More Heroes, but this Friday you'll get just that chance as the company is hosting a live web broadcast to celebrate the European and Australian release of No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle at 8 pm in Japan. That means noon GMT, or 7 am Eastern.

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Competitive team sports are all about bonding as a unit: maximising each other's unique abilities, communicating well and working together towards a common goal. Pretty much the opposite of Mario Kart Wii then, but tell that to the Chicago Blackhawks who like to chill out with the game as part of their Stanley Cup preparations.

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Our good friends over at Cubed3 recently snagged an interview with Suda51 of No More Heroes fame, probing him about any upcoming projects on the horizon from his Grasshopper Manufacture team. Although he didn't confirm any new projects he did lay down some tantalising hints, including his desire to return to cult GameCube and PlayStation 2 release killer7.

Cubed3: With ‘Grasshopper’ and’Suda51’ becoming so popular now, do you want to see killer7 re-released or re-made?

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What are your hopes for E3? Let us know!

It's just over three weeks until Nintendo's big E3 show on June 15th when we'll finally get our first look at the new Legend of Zelda, the 3DS and plenty of other surprises too.

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Latest Iwata Asks translated

It's been well-documented that the development of Super Mario Galaxy 2 posed a few tricky decisions for the team: starting out as Super Mario Galaxy 1.5, the role of the story was much-discussed inside Nintendo, with different team members arguing for more or less story. All this led Shigeru Miyamoto to a realisation: he prefers games that resonate rather than ones with overt stories.

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