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If we ever needed proof that the iPhone is becoming a serious gaming platform, then look no further than Namco Bandai and its introduction of the classic Dr Kawashima mental-agility games for the Apple hardware.

Bandai’s latest feeble attempt to revive its gaming fortunes at least has a little more humor than the cheap tat it usually peddles.

A day after the launch of the new DSi handheld, Nintendo’s cocksure president Satoru Iwata has cast some doubt on when the machine will be launched outside Japan.

Fresh from his hack-tastic Wii Balance Board mashup with Google Maps Street View, Tokyo otaku supreme Ryo Katsuma has just dropped me a line to say he’s one-upped Nintendo with his own take on the dull-as-ditchwater Wii Fit.

It’s not due to hit the stores until August 25, but Sanyo was good enough to send me its new Wiimote charger based on eneloop rechargeable batteries, so why not unbox the thing?

We hinted at it yesterday, and can confirm today that Sanyo has become the first company to provide an officially licensed charger set for Nintendo’s Wiimote controller.

Last month, one look at the work Japanese company Eitarosoft is doing with Android made it pretty obvious a closer inspection was in order before the fledgling big player hits the inaccessible heights of some of its current customers.

If you’re in Japan, a Wii fan and have ¥69,800 ($675) to spare, you might want to bung it towards the chuckle brothers who run Thanko, that great purveyor of all things ridiculous.

To the surprise of no one, the just-revealed sales figures for games hardware and software in Japan last year underline what a massive 12 months it was for the industry as a whole and Nintendo in particular.

Although it beats the pants of the competition on the sales front, Nintendo’s DS Lite has never been anything more than a games machine, leading anyone interested in mobile media to opt for the PSP. Come March, however, that’s set to change with the launch of an official movie download service for the DS.

As this latest piece of sci-fi-style research has appeared only in a rather traditional Japanese newspaper we haven’t been able to get many details yet, but thought we’d mention it in passing, as everyone loves a good yarn.

Just in time for Christmas we have two new additions to the PlayStation line-up - a glowing red PSP and the redesigned PS2 we’ve been expecting for some months.

Suggestions that the high-flying Nintendo Wii’s days at the top of the console sales charts may be numbered are beginning to look less ridiculous almost every day, as more people in the know come round to that point of view.

In one of the most peculiar tech-related stories we’ve seen in recent weeks (not including satire, of course), a Japanese games company has recalled dozens of its arcade machines to stop them breaking players’ limbs.

With the new version of the PlayStation Portable less than a month away, Sony Japan has announced that it will sell a separate slimline battery for the handheld there.

The dominance of Nintendo’s Wii in the console market has been well documented as the company rides high on a wave of unprecedented profitability and popularity, but what of the other companies involved in the gaming phenom’s success?

Looks like our tip last week about how Nintendo is really bringing Wii-like motion sensing to the DS Lite was correct and we have the photos to prove it after the jump.

Just days after the world speculated that Nintendo might be bringing motion-sensitivity to the handheld gaming arena, we hear that the mystery device may well be a just-launched DS Lite add-on available now in Japan.

There has been plenty of talk about the power of the Cell processor at the heart of Sony’s PlayStation 3 since the chip project began in 2000, but precious little in the way of end results until today, when Sony announced a prototype computer board using the powerhouse processor.

In a move that surprises no one, Sony has finally admitted that the PlayStation 3 really is getting a price cut of $100 in the US. Moreover, the 80GB model that SCEA had previously said was going nowhere outside Korea is also due to hit North America next month.

Numbers like $800 million, or even $2 billion, tend to focus the attention rather sharply, which is why - in a bid to better understand in-game advertising - Sony US is planning to allow TV-ratings company Nielsen to track the games its customers play.

Confirming the promise we saw in Sony’s GPS-shunning PlaceEngine application recently, comes the news that Japanese mapping giant Edia will use it in its next round of navigation software.

If you’re even just marginally into video games, you’ll know that Nintendo has been taking all the plaudits over the last year or two thanks to the runaway success of its DS handheld machines and the more-recent Wii console.

So, the fabled 80GB PS3 has just launched in Korea and gamers worldwide are united in grumbling about how it ain’t fair they only got 60GB, well so what?

Not long after looking down and out for the count in its battle for handheld supremacy, Sony’s PlayStation Portable continues to get better by gaining useful hardware and software. Last month we saw a GPS golf caddy for the PSP – this time it’s a high-spec update to a GPS navigator application for the device.

Sony Japan announced yesterday that it would make life a little easier for gamers wishing to use their PS3 consoles to buy and download online games and other content from the PlayStation Store by providing pre-paid cards exclusively for that purpose.

Five months after being moved upstairs at the Sony division responsible for the PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi – the console’s original inventor – has agreed to step down entirely.

When we brought you news on Japan’s latest feature-packed mobile phones yesterday we also promised to look into exactly how the new handsets will make use of their built-in gaming motion sensors.

The announcement of new mobile phones in Japan is done like most everything else in that most efficient of nations – with precise timing. NTT DoCoMo’s latest wave of handsets was unveiled as expected this afternoon and it includes plenty of innovative technology, from motion sensors to IC credit cards.