Nintendo has confirmed the full track list for Mario Kart 7 which is scheduled for release next Sunday, December 4th.

True to Mario Kart tradition, the game will feature thirty-two tracks. Sixteen will be all-new tracks while the other sixteen will be made up of returning favorites from other games in the series. Of course, this will also be the first time that gamers can experience Rainbow Road or Koopa Beach in 3D.

Take a look at the entire list after the break and let us know if any of your favorites are missing.

Many people proclaimed Nintendo's fancy new 3DS as dead on arrival. It released with little fanfare and even less software. Sales were low, forcing Nintendo to lower the price a short time later. However it seems that the price drop worked in its favor and now with better games releasing the Nintendo 3DS is starting to look pretty good.

How good you ask? Nintendo is saying that the 3DS is on pace to surpass the year-one sales number of the original Nintendo DS. The Nintendo 3DS has sold 1.65 million units in the US so far and the holiday season is still to come. The DS sold 2.67 million units in its first year, a number the 3DS would need to surpass by March of 2012.

It certainly seems possible that the Nintendo 3DS could pull it off. The price is lower and there are several high profile games releasing soon including Mario Kart and Super Mario Land 3D. Will you be picking up a 3DS this holiday?

Walmart seems to have pulled the trigger a little early on the price drop for the 3DS.

As reported earlier this month, Nintendo is set to drop the price on its newest portable entry by a whopping $80 down to $169 on August 12 here in North America. For those who purchased the system at its initial $249 price point, Nintendo was going to reward them with 20 free games beginning on September 1 as long as they connected to the Nintendo eShop before midnight on August 11. With this early price drop at Walmart, it seems customers could get both deals if they act fast.

This could be on a store-to-store basis so call ahead to your local one before setting out. If you do take advantage of this deal, let us know your overall impressions of the system in the comments.

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When Nintendo announced that the price of the 3DS would be dropping to $169 (a mere five months after launch), Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, who recently cut his salary in half due to the handheld's initial weak performance at retail, published a letter to Nintendo fans on the company's website. Translated by Giant Bomb, the letter speaks as honestly about the situation as you could expect.

"This unprecedented timing for a price cut is because the situation has changed greatly since we originally launched the 3DS. We decided it was necessary to take this drastic step in order to ensure that large numbers of users will continue to enjoy the 3DS in the future," Iwata explained. "If the software creators and those on the retail side are not confident that the Nintendo 3DS is a worthy successor to the DS and will achieve a similarly broad (user) base, it will be impossible for the 3DS to gain popularity, acquire a wide range of software, and eventually create the product cycle necessary for everyone to be satisfied with the system."

Iwata also acknowledges that early adopters "may feel betrayed and criticize this decision." He then goes on to detail the 3DS Ambassador Program (which you can read more about here) that will reward early adopters with ten free NES games and ten free Gameboy games as long as they connect to the Nintendo eShop via their 3DS before the price drops on August 11 (August 12 in North America).

Continue reading after the break for the complete apology letter.

The biggest complaint against the Nintendo 3DS was the severe lack of first party titles. While games like Nintendogs and Pilotwings were interesting, people wanted their Marios and Zeldas. We already knew about Ocarina of Time which is coming next week but gamers have been really anticipating more Nintendo titles. At Nintendo's E3 briefing they didn't waste much time getting right into their upcoming big games by detailing five titles coming to the 3DS in the future.

The first title shown was Mario Kart. The simply titled game looked similar to previous Mario Kart games with plenty of themed tracks and drifting. There was also some shots of things like hang gliding, underwater driving and kart customization. They then showed Starfox which was being controlled using both motion and buttons. There was also a glimpse of multiplayer action. Perhaps the biggest title shown was Super Mario. The game looked to offer gameplay like Galaxy. Of course it featured the classic Tanooki Suit. Kid Icarus: Uprising also made an appearance with a fancy trailer and a new ARG card battling system. The surprise game that Nintendo revealed was Luigi's Mansion 2. It looked like classic stuff with a flashlight, vacuum and plenty of ghosts.

All of these titles except for Luigi's Manson 2 were announced for a 2011 release. It definitely looks like it's going to be a good year for Nintendo 3DS owners.

Nintendo has finally spilled the beans on many details regarding the company's upcoming Nintendo 3DS handheld during their worldwide press events held in New York City and Amsterdam.

The 3DS will be available in two colors, Cosmo Black and Aqua Blue. It will be released on March 27 for $249 in North America and March 25 in Europe. Nintendo stated that the European price will be set by retailers. According to Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, more than 30 first and third-party games will be available for the system during the launch window with about 25 titles available in Europe.

"Nintendo 3DS is a category of one - the experience simply doesn't exist anywhere else," Fils-Aime said. "You have to see Nintendo 3DS to believe it. And it's like nothing you've ever seen before."

Nintendo also took the opportunity to detail some of the new features for the system.

Friend codes will now be specific to each 3DS console and not each game. This will make online play a little easier for most folks. A Mii Maker app will be included on each system that allows users to take a picture of themselves and have it automatically turned into a Mii. Other software included will be Face Raiders and a pedometer that will allow users to rack up coins by walking with the system that can be traded for additional content in compatible games.

Six augmented-reality cards will also be included. These cards are superimposed 3D images that appear by pointing the system's outer cameras at them.

The Nintendo eShop won't be available at launch but hopefully soon after. It will be a virtual store where you can buy NintendoDSi Ware, 3DS, Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles.

Activision has just announced that the Nintendo DS will be getting a companion game to Call of Duty: Black Ops. Developed by n-Space, the game will be launching alongside its big brother version on November 9th.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops for the Nintendo DS is going to take the handheld Call of Duty experience to a new level," said Dan O'Leary, n-Space Studio Head. "From taking the controls of an attack helicopter to flying an experimental stealth fighter jet, players will have a wealth of new features to utilize."

The game will feature six-player online multiplayer mode with a new Perks System, as well as a unique two-player Co-Op mode and Arcade and Challenge Modes that allow gamers to replay the single-player missions to earn extra points to unlock additional achievements.

I, for one, have never played any of the COD games on my DS. Has anyone tried them out before? Be sure to let us know your thoughts on them in the comments.

To cap off Nintendo's E3 Press Briefing they showed off something that everyone was waiting for, the Nintendo 3DS. For something that everyone knew was coming Nintendo still managed to wow the crowd with its features. As speculated the new handheld's main feature is the ability to play games in 3D without the use of glasses. However many other cool features were announced as well:

• Fully compatible with DSi
• 3.53 inch widescreen top display with 3D
• 3.02 inch bottom display with touch screen
• "Slide Pad" allowing for full 360 degree analog movement
• Motion sensor and gyro sensor
• 3D Depth Slider which allows the user to choose the amount of 3D, from none to full or somewhere in between
• 3 cameras (two on back, one on front) allowing you to take and view 3D digital pictures
• Improved graphics ability

After the unveiling of the 3DS at this morning's E3 conference, Nintendo announced some first-party titles coming to its new handheld.

The first title unveiled was Kid Icarus Uprising, the long awaited sequel to the NES classic. There was a mixture of flying sequences and combat shown in the trailer which looked quite graphically impressive for a handheld. No specific release date was announced.

Other first-party titles announced included:

• Animal Crossing
• Mario Kart
• Nintendogs + Cats
• Paper Mario
• PilotWings Resort
• Star Fox 64 3D
• Steel Diver

 Expect to hear more announcements throughout the week.

Nintendo has announced that Midnight Blue will be the newest color available for the DSi XL starting on July 11th.

The new color will be available for $189.99 and will come with the pre-loaded software of Flipnote Studio, Brain Age Express: Math and Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters, as well as Photo Clock and the Nintendo DSi Browser.

With Midnight Blue joining Burgundy and Bronze, North American consumers will now have three color options for picking up a DSi XL. No matter what color you choose though, they all come with regret once you realize it will be obsolete in about a year when Nintendo's DS successor, the 3DS, is available.

Expect to learn more on the 3DS next week at Nintendo's E3 Media Briefing.

Seems one of the more hit and miss titles of 2009 is getting a sequel. The latest issue of Nintendo Power has announced that there will indeed be a Scribblenauts 2 released this year for the DS. The sequel promises to add 10,000 more words, 120 new and improved levels, the removal of the par system and improved controls (thank God!).

Now everyone knows that the original Scribblenauts had loads of potential. Many feel the controls got in the way of the world the game was attempting to create. If developer 5th Cell can get the controls down, then I am all aboard for another Scribblenauts. What do you guys think? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below.

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Kotaku has managed to get hold of some screenshots of Last Window: Midnight Promise, the upcoming sequel to Hotel Dusk: Room 215. Last Window once again deals with the personal life of series protagonist Kyle Hyde, who must now deal with the death of his father. Like the previous game, Last Window is played by holding the DS "book style" while emphasizing touch screen-based puzzles to progress the plot. No word on a U.S. release date but it seems Japan should see the finished product soon.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is one of my top five games on the DS. I am pumped to see that a sequel will indeed be coming out. Anybody else share the love for Hotel Dusk? Continue reading after the break for some new screens.

I always thought gadgets were supposed to get smaller with redesigns but apparently Nintendo knew that this was a wrong assumption. Its bigger, better DSi LL launched in Japan on November 22nd and has seen some very impressive two-day sales.

According to Enterbrain figures (translated by Kotaku), the DSi LL has sold 103,524 units in its first two days. While not as strong as the DSi's launch (170,000), it crushed the launch of the PSP Go which sold 28,000 units in the same time period. Seems Japan was really interested in the new mammoth handheld's larger screen. So large in fact that it is 93% larger than the DS Lite (although with the same resolution).

Nintendo has confirmed that the DSi LL will be making its way to North America and Europe as the "DSi XL". Its scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2010. Check out some comparison pics after the break to get a feel of how massive this handheld really is.

Nintendo announced today the availability of two different DSi bundles for all you crazy Black Friday shoppers. The bundles will come in metallic blue or white with $20 of pre-installed games and applications.

"These limited-edition bundles come packed with some of the great Nintendo DSiWare games and applications that have made Nintendo DSi such a big hit with shoppers young and old," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "The special price and pre-installed titles make the bundles a huge value for the holidays."

These bundles will be available starting on November 27th in participating retailers nationwide. These probably won't be around for long. Continue reading after the break for the rundown of what is included.

It looks like we will be getting a Legend of Zelda game this year. In a recent press announcement, the house that Mario built announced that Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be released on December 7 for the Nintendo DS.

For those unfamiliar, Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks was announced at the 2009 Games Developer Conference and features the cell-shaded art style found in Phantom Hourglass and The Wind Waker.