Boomtown X

A rather bumper crop of new games today. That's in part to a bit new release - Crysis 2 - and the arrival of Nintendo's new handheld - the 3DS.

To be honest I'm more exited about a release for next Friday - Shift 2: Unleashed, but let's get on with today's retail releases.

XBOX 360
Assassins Creed Brotherhood: Da Vinci Edition
Crysis 2
Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars

PLAYSTATION 3
Assassins Creed Brotherhood: Da Vinci Edition
Crysis 2
Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
PlayStation Move Heroes
Tomb Raider Trilogy

WII
Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
Nickelodeon Fit

PC
Crysis 2
Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
The Sims Medieval

3DS
Asphalt 3D
Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
Nintendogs and Cats
Pilotwings Resort
Pro Evolution Soccer 2011
Rayman
Ridge Racer 3D
Samurai Warriors
Splinter Cell
Super Monkey Ball
Super Street Fighter IV
The Sims 3

DS
Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
My World My Way
Peppa Pig Theme Park Fun
Phineas and Ferb Ride Again
Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship 2011: Over the Nexus

PSP
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive

Nintendo UK boss David Yarnton reckons we've no reason to moan about the ridiculous price of the 3DS in this country, despite paying nearly ?100 than our colonial cousins across the pond.

"It's still really good value. The fact it's a 3D entertainment device ? you can't get anything that's 3D at that sort of price without having to wear glasses as well. Get that one in.

"If we go back a few years, when we first launched the DS in 2004, 2005, people looked at us and said, wow, this is unusual, it's got a touch screen. Who's going to buy this at whatever price it was at the time?"

It was ?100 David, have you forgotten? Or didn't you want folks to be reminded how much more expensive the 3DS is?

Source: Eurogamer

Nintendo has announced today that the 3DS will launch in Europe on March 25th with an initial price set by retailers. Pre-orders are already appearing and the price is varying between a ridiculous £219 and a slightly more ridiculous £229.

Meanwhile the 3D handheld will be released in North America March 27th for $249 - which is around £155, so we'll have no truck with folks saying the European price is just about VAT.

Games on this side of the pond are £30-£40.

There were lots of other details announced, but given the stupid price of the handheld and games I really can't be bothered. I'm going to give my baby son a cuddle instead.

Reports have surfaced today of the technical specifications behind Nintendo's latest handheld console.

According online reportsthe 3DS will be powered by two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, a 133MHz graphics processor, 4MB of VRAM, 64MB of RAM and 1.5GB of flash storage.

Many devices get by with just one ARM11 processor so the 3DS is sounding like a pretty powerful portable if the source is correct.

Source: IGN