There's a Nintendo Direct for Japan on Wednesday. I hope it's at stupid o'clock here in the UK!

When I'm excited I lose control of my arms http://t.co/Ujkp04RJ

Zelda goes gold too

Nintendo of America sold over 155,000 3DS consoles in June to take the system's total U.S. sales past the five million mark.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D managed to squeak past the one million mark inside a year, joining Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 at the top of the sales tree. Those three titles have sold close to five million units between them, to nobody's real surprise.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a month or so away and will surely give 3DS hardware sales another boost.

Nintendo 3DS Crosses 5 Million Units Sold

Nintendo 3DS, which lets users see 3D images without the need for special glasses, has now sold 5 million units in the United States, according to the NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. With Nintendo 3DS XL, which features 90 percent larger screens, and New Super Mario Bros. 2 both launching on Aug. 19, and a holiday lineup that sees the Luigi’s Mansion and Paper Mario franchises make their hand-held debuts, the system’s momentum should continue through 2012 and beyond.

“Nintendo 3DS is entering the next phase of its life cycle with new hardware, new games and proven franchises. This milestone shows we’ve got a great foundation to build from,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “The game lineup for Nintendo 3DS last holiday season was one of the strongest in our history. We’re poised to top it this year. Every week, gamers will have the best franchises in the world in a glasses-free 3D experience that can’t be found anywhere else. Add Wii U into the mix and it’s a great time to be a Nintendo fan.”

Other Nintendo milestones achieved in June include:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D became the third Nintendo 3DS title to sell more than 1 million units, joining Super Mario 3D Land (2.1 million units sold life to date) and Mario Kart 7 (1.75 million units sold life to date).
For the month, two of the top five and nine of the top 25 best-selling software SKUs play on Nintendo platforms.
For the second month in a row, Nintendo held a 75 percent market share for portable hardware in the United States.
Nintendo sold more than 400,000 total hardware units in June and saw double-digit growth across each of its product lines compared to May. This includes more than 155,000 Nintendo 3DS systems, more than 150,000 units of the Nintendo DS family of systems and nearly 95,000 Wii consoles.

For more information about Nintendo, visit http://www.nintendo.com.

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The final frontier

Since our last Bizarre Emails Sent to Nintendo Life — Volume 4 the number of idiotic missives reaching our inbox has drastically decreased. Perhaps it's due to the fear of being shamed so publicly, or maybe stupidity is a finite resource and the world is running out.

Missed a previous round-up of dumbness? Catch up!

Bizarre Emails Sent to Nintendo Life – Volume 1
Bizarre Emails Sent to Nintendo Life – Volume 2
Bizarre Emails Sent to Nintendo Life – Volume 3
Bizarre Emails Sent to Nintendo Life – Volume 4

Although this should go without saying, do not send us intentionally stupid emails. This only wastes our time and yours. It's not funny and it's certainly not clever.

1. The next Hemingway

wassup lol

have 2 bro

have 2 sis and me make 3

lol that my life and that all i am going to tell u lol

from christine lol

2. Thanks guy

i just want to saw everyone in Nintendo is just awesome. i love all the games you guys are making. i am looking forward to the new smash bros. i live Nintendo you guys are the best game company on the planet. looking forward to making my games with you guy.

3. OK! WE WILL!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Followed by:

KEEP THIS SITE GOING... I LOVE IT!

4. Will you now?

I will have you deliver combat of giant dinosaurs 3D in my mailbox please

5. Aren't they actually movies..?

My son was hoping that you would make some of the available pictures in black and white so kids everywhere would be able to color or paint them themselves. He really likes the video game pictures, like Batman, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Carribbean. Thank you for your time.

6. Your card is in the post. Expect delivery in 5 - 10 working lifetimes.

Plzz Give A Ninetendolife card And Contect me my no is [number removed]

7. Serious question about feelings

How would you feel if Neo Bowser City was in Super Mario 3D Land don't you think it be a great idea to put it in or how would you feel if they put in an 8 bit stage from Super Mario Brothers back in 1985?

8. Go right ahead

Would like to updates on games and prices

9. Really wants friends

Hi im [name removed]
im asking you if you can put me out there because i really want friends that have a 3ds and people that i can talk to and play games with. I do not have an email account or a computer that i can browse on all day. I got this email from my bigger brother. and using my 3DS as internet. all im asking for you to do is put my friend code out there ([removed]) and ill look on tomorrow and add the friends that added me in. heck i would ask you to add me as you friend code but i dont have email. if you have questions call me 3:00-7:00pm [removed] this is my house phone

10. Trade-off

Gamefly should have QR labels on the envelopes; one to scan when you got it and one to scan when you send it back and as soon as you scan it prior to you shipping; they send out another. So you have more control in the "Fast Return". Instead of a post office that might have the scanner and might actually scan it; you scan it.

11. Incredible foresight from moneybags

Hi I just wanted to suggest a possible improvement to the 3ds as I cannot purchase any for myself or my children. I find the screen far to small. Could I suggest it slightly larger like the ds lite or dsi. I guess the xl in 3d is a good size if I was going to buy for my smaller children or parents. I will probably have to purchase a xl for my 4 year old this year, whilst my other 2 boys (older) have the dsl. I own every console made and have only recently had to get rid of the original nintendo (before snes) I guess I am just frustrated that I cannot purchase the 3ds because the screen is just too small. I hope my suggestion is considered for improvements as I would love to purchase at least 4 for my 3 children and myself,

12. How the devil should we know?

Well i know that this isnt the matter but why cant i see or read any of my facebook messages please inbox me right away

13. It ends how it began

I would like to know is cricket game is available in market. When it will be available in the United States or can i order from some where outside the United States.

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So you know what that means

Fans of numbers and colouring in boxes, rejoice: it looks like Picross E is finally leaving Japan.

The Australian Classification Board has rated the eShop game, which says to us it'll come to PAL regions in the coming months or, if we're really lucky, weeks.

The last we heard of the Jupiter-developed puzzle game was back in February when Nintendo gave it a Q2 release. Hopefully that number will tick over to a Q3 so we can all get our Picross fix soon.

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Feel the burn

This week saw Xbox launch Kinect Playfit over Xbox Live.

The new update collates your calorie count from various Kinect games, including Dance Central 2 and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012, and lets you see how you compare to other Xbox Live members and your family too. There's also Achievements and Avatar Awards to earn, so that's a bonus too.

It's out now for all Xbox Live members.

Kinect PlayFit is a new fitness dashboard that aggregates and tracks the calories you burn as you play a variety of Kinect games, from “Dance Central 2” to “Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012” and “Kinect Star Wars.” Kinect PlayFit lets you view your personal stats over time and see leaderboards that show how you rank against other Xbox LIVE members across the globe. Get credit for the calories you burn while having fun with Kinect, and earn Kinect PlayFit Achievements, Gamerscore and Avatar Awards.

Kinect PlayFit inspires an active and healthy lifestyle through fun and play:

· First of Its Kind – This is the first ever fitness tracking application on a video game console.

· Social Motivation – Kinect PlayFit keeps it social with activity challenges, rankings on leaderboards and integration with the Xbox LIVE community to break a sweat together.

· Survey Says – According to a recent survey* nearly 75 per cent of respondents believe that video games should include a component that encourages physical activity. Also, 70 per cent said that physically active video games can complement or supplement traditional exercise.

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Christmas presence

SEGA's announced it'll launch Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on PS3 and PS Vita in Europe on 16th November 2012.

The air, land and sea racer features famous faces from favourite franchises like Panzer Dragoon and Jet Set Radio, set to return on PSN later this summer of course.

Will you take SEGA's latest racer for a spin in November?

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Wii U date "to be confirmed"

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on 3DS has a confirmed release date for Europe: 16th November.

The SEGA racer is still on course for release on Wii U but its release date is still to be confirmed by the publisher.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed features characters and courses from classic SEGA franchises including Skies of Arcadia, Golden Axe and Jet Set Radio. The trailer below shows a stage inspired by legendary series Panzer Dragoon, which might make it the best trailer you watch all day.

[youtube:YEJM10lcUWc]

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New power-ups and freshly minted enemies make their appearances in this New Super Mario Bros. 2 trailer, straight from Nintendo.

A gold Boo, gold Bullet and Banzai Bills and more all appear to dole out cash, helping you to your target of one million gold coins.

The Mini and Mega Mushrooms return, and now we can finally answer the most burning power-up related question: the Assist Block gives you a white raccoon suit, not a white Tanooki suit as previously claimed. We can all sleep easy now.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is just over a month away.

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8-bit summer heats up

Two 3DS Virtual Console games plus new titles on WiiWare, DSiWare, Virtual Console and the eShop make another very strong week for the Nintendo Download in North America. Here's what's going live today.

3DS Virtual Console

Kirby's Pinball Land (Game Boy, Nintendo, $3.99) — The little pink ball makes the most of his rotund figure in this pinball game. We'll see if it gets a high score in our upcoming review.

The Sword of Hope II (Game Boy, Kemco, $2.99) — Don't worry, you haven't missed a week — prequel The Sword of Hope isn't available on 3DS Virtual Console — but you'll pick up this RPG's story in no time: it's all about dragons, magic crystals and a submarine. Look for our review soon.

eShop

Johnny Kung Fu (UFO Interactive, $5.99) — UFO doesn't have the best track record in the eShop but we're optimistic this retro-styled beat 'em up will rise above the rest: it has a Game & Watch-styled stage after all. Review coming soon.

Sweet Memories Blackjack (CIRCLE Entertainment, $3.99) — A blend of romance and blackjack, this one left us with no good memories; read our Sweet Memories Blackjack review for the full scoop.

Virtual Console

The King of Fighters '96 (Neo Geo, D4 Publisher, 900pts) — One of the best instalments in SNK's legendary fighting series, this game introduced new characters, moves and features like mid-air blocking. Look for our review very soon.

WiiWare

Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition (Konami, 700pts) — Costing 300 Points less than in Europe, North Americans get a good deal this week, but is the game itself actually worth a punt? That's a question our intrepid reviewer will look to answer very soon.

Game of the Weekend

Mighty Switch Force! (only $2.99 from 9am PT 13th July to 9pm PT 15th July) — Another good offer in the eShop this week, grab WayForward's action puzzle game for half its usual price, including the recent extra content that added five new stages. Read our Mighty Switch Force! review for more.

DSiWare

Ace Mathician (CIRCLE Entertainment, 200pts) — Developed by Flipper dev Goodbye Galaxy Games, this is a platform puzzle title about maths. Come back! It might be good. We'll run some calculations and come up with a score for you in the very near future.

Candle Route (Teyon, 200pts) — A quirky puzzle game from Cat Frenzy studio FUN UNIT, this is all about guiding candles with touch screen taps. Check out the trailer as you wait for our illuminating review.

What will you buy from this grab bag of digital delights this week? Let us know in our Facebook poll.

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