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Gaming giant Nintendo noted today that it will soon cease production of the Aqua Blue 3DS in Japan.

The announcement comes a few months after the debut of a Cobalt Blue 3DS in Japan, which seems likely to arrive in the U.S. sometime in the near future. For those of you still keeping up with the crazy color calamity, Nintendo also plans a Midnight Purple 3DS shade, set to debut in May. … Read more

It's been a tough time for handheld game systems that aren't phones or tablets. Sometimes, the only real solution is a price drop.

Nintendo is lowering the prices of the Nintendo DSi and DSi XL, the larger-screened version of the DSi, to prices that, frankly, most people probably imagined they'd be at anyway: $99 and $129, respectively. These prices take effect May 20. The Nintendo DSi currently has an MSRP of $149 while the DSi XL is $169, which seems ridiculous considering the more powerful but more battery-challenged Nintendo 3DS now costs $169.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo DS Lite … Read more

Every weekday afternoon, CNET Update delivers the top tech stories of the day. The show keeps a close eye on emerging trends, hot devices and new apps. And it's all in less than three minutes.

In today's show, Microsoft's got the hots for Nook, LG has its head in the cloud, and we're battling pigs in space! (space! space! space!):

Microsoft is investing $300 million in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary that will handle digital and college business. With this investment, expect the Nook to become a stronger player against the Kindle and iPad.

A … Read more

The 3DS and Wii could do nothing to save Nintendo during its most recent fiscal year.

The company today released the results of its fiscal year that ended March 31 (PDF) and revealed that revenue slid 36.2 percent compared with the previous fiscal year. Nintendo ended its year with revenue of 647.6 billion yen (about $8 billion), versus over 1 trillion yen in the prior year.

Due to sluggish sales, Nintendo posted a net loss for the year of 43.2 billion yen ($532.5 million). In the prior year, it had generated a profit of 77.6 … Read more

When the PlayStation Vita launched, I didn't buy one -- or even preorder one, which seemed odd to a few people who know my affinity for Sony.

I've written about the device numerous times on CNET and enjoyed many extended gameplay sessions with major launch titles at press events. I kept up with Vita chatter on jumbo-size gaming forums like NeoGAF, reading about the trials and tribulations of the new system from faithful early adopters.

And let's face it. The Vita, with its array of sensors comparable to the Death Star, would capture the attention of any geek. Like some of you out there, I've grown tired of playing touch-screen games on my iPhone 4 and wanted buttons like the old days. Who could resist the doubleheader quad-core processor and quad-core graphics driving a mega, 5-inch OLED screen?

Well, so far, I have resisted, and I largely credit a visit to my mother's house several weeks before the PlayStation Vita launch on February 22.… Read more

Yes, the Samsung SyncMaster S23A750D supports Samsung's proprietary active shutter 3D, but forget about that for a minute. What you should really focus on is its movie and games performance.

Now, not everyone loves glossy screens. As I mentioned before, they can get uber-reflective, particularly during sunny days, and movies or TV shows or games with lots of dark scenes can suffer as a result.

However, the payoff of watching movies on the S23A750D under proper lighting conditions (i.e. at night) is worth any difficulties that sunny days bring.… Read more

On today's show, you'll learn how Apple is manipulating the naming devices of network technology to convince users they're getting "4G" speeds, the final sale of the original house in the "Home Alone" movies, and how something called "The QWERTY effect" can spot nuances in language.

We're also giving away five codes for the game Mighty Switch Force for the Nintendo 3DS. To enter, just add The 404, Jeff, and Justin on Twitter and tweet us your favorite 404 episode from 2012 with #4043DS. We'll select five winners at random on Monday!… Read more

The Xbox 360 continues to be a bright spot in a sluggish gaming market.

Grabbing more than 42 percent of all console sales, the popular platform scored 426,000 in unit sales last month, according to Microsoft.

Xbox aficionados shelled out a total of $383 million in February on hardware, software, and accessories--the most amount spent for any gaming console.

For the month, 5 of the top 10 games in the U.S. were aimed at the Xbox, including Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, UFC Undisputed, NBA 2K12, and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Nintendo saw … Read more

When the Nintendo 3DS launched last year, there was some concern that it wouldn't get off the ground. But according to new statistics from Nintendo, it did just that--and then some.

Nintendo revealed yesterday that it has sold 4.5 million Nintendo 3DS units in the U.S. since the device's launch last March. On the software side, more than 9 million games have been sold, helping the platform generate $1.2 billion in total sales.

To put that in perspective, Nintendo revealed that it sold 2.3 million Nintendo DS units during that device's first year … Read more