Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming space since it launched its Game Boy black-and-white portable. With the Nintendo DS still selling like hotcakes in the U.S., the Japanese game maker is bringing over its new advanced Nintendo DSi portable to North America on April 5. Already a smash success in Japan, where it launched last fall, the new gaming device will sell for $170 in the U.S. and will be available in black and blue colors.

In addition to a more streamlined look and feel, the Nintendo DSi comes with two built-in camera, new sound capabilities and the ability to download media to an SD card. Having stepped into the digital distribution stream with WiiWare, Nintendo is offering a Nintendo DSi shop for portable downloads of games. Gamers can use points to purchase and download new content directly to the Nintendo DSi. Games will be sold for as little as 200 points and can be stored on SD cards.

The most noticeable feature of the slim Nintendo DSi system...

Editor's note: John Gaudiosi covers the videogame industry for Local Tech Wire.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — More than any professional sport, NBA players love to play videogames. A whopping 85 percent of NBA pros consider themselves gamers.

This weekend, at the 57th NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, NBA pros took to the virtual hardwoods before performing under the lights of the US Airways Center. EA Sports, 2K Sports and Sony Computer Entertainment America all took part in the NBA Jam Session and various videogame contests and activities throughout the weekend.

Sony hosted the official NBA Players' Lounge inside the Sheraton hotel where the NBA All-Stars stayed at all weekend. I spent some quality time in that suite watching players relax with a PlayStation 3 version of "NBA 09: The Inside" or "MotorStorm: Pacific Rift."

The San Antonio Spurs' pool table was also very popular with NBA players present and past. Sony continued...

PHOENIX, Arizona --More than any professional sport, NBA players love to play videogames. A whopping 85 percent of NBA pros consider themselves gamers. This weekend at the 57th NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, NBA pros too to the virtual hardwoods before performing under the lights of the US Airways Center. EA Sports, 2K Sports and Sony Computer Entertainment America all took part in the NBA Jam Session and various videogame contests and activities throughout the weekend.

Sony hosted the official NBA Players' Lounge inside the Sheraton that the NBA All-Stars stayed at all weekend. I spent some quality time in that suite watching players relax to a PlayStation 3 game of NBA 09: The Inside or MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. The San Antonio Spurs pool table was also very popular with NBA players present and past. Sony continued its sponsorship of the PlayStation Skills Challenge as part of NBA All-Star Saturday Night. On Saturday afternoon, two of the four players participating in the challenge...

Editor's note: John Gaudiosi covers the videogame industry for LTW.

RALEIGH, N.C. - As more people stay home to save money, they’re continuing to spend money on videogames. Following a record year in the U.S. that saw total videogame sales top $22 billion, January game sales raked in $1.3 billion according to The NPD Group. That’s up 13 percent over last January, which kicked off the record year.

Across the board, game sales were up. Fueled by Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, hardware sales were up 17 percent in January to $445.4 million. Game software sales were up 10 percent to $676.6 million. And game accessories were up 11 percent to $209.8 million.

Nintendo continues to sell out of Wii hardware as quickly as it stocks retail shelves. And there’s no slowdown for its portable Nintendo DS, either. Combined, these two game devices sold over 1.1 million units in January. Nintendo sold 679,200 Wiis and 510,800 Nintendo...

As more people stay home to save money, they’re continuing to spend money on videogames. Following a record year in the U.S. that saw total videogame sales top $22 billion, January game sales raked in $1.3 billion according to The NPD Group. That’s up 13 percent over last January, which kicked off the record year.

Across the board, game sales were up. Fueled by Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, hardware sales were up 17 percent in January to $445.4 million. Game software sales were up 10 percent to $676.6 million. And game accessories were up 11 percent to $209.8 million.

Nintendo continues to sell out of Wii hardware as quickly as it stocks retail shelves. And there’s no slowdown for its portable Nintendo DS, either. Combined, these two game devices sold over 1.1 million units in January. Nintendo sold 679,200 Wiis and 510,800 Nintendo DS portables. Rounding out the hardware sales, Microsoft sold 309,000 Xbox 360s. Sony’s three consoles brought...