Nintendo announced Wednesday that it will launch a “flame red” version of its Nintendo 3DS on September 9th. The portable gaming system will launch in tandem with the new Star Fox 64 3D game and will be available for the new $169.99 price, which goes into effect on August 12th. “With major upcoming releases in the Star Fox, Pokémon and Mario series, in addition to downloadable offerings from Nintendo eShop, Nintendo Video and Netflix, the system offers new and fun experiences to owners on a daily basis,” Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said. Nintendo has sold 830,000 3DS units in the U.S. since its March 27th launch. Super Mario Land 3D is expected to hit store shelves in November and Mario Kart 7 will be available in December. Read on for the full press release.

ADDING MULTIMEDIA Nintendo Gets Fired up for the Holidays with New Flame Red Nintendo 3DS

New Color, New Price and Great Games Make Nintendo 3DS a Must-Have

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nintendo is making sure the holidays are hot this year with a new Flame Red version of its portable Nintendo 3DS^™ system. The new color launches Sept. 9 alongside the new Star Fox 64^™ 3D game, and comes on the heels of a new $169.99 suggested retail price, which goes into effect Aug. 12 in the United States. Flame Red joins Cosmo Black and Aqua Blue, so now shoppers have three distinct and fashionable colors to choose from.

“With a solid back-half game lineup, the Nintendo 3DS price drop is well timed to drive consumer interest and purchases through the holiday season.”

“Nintendo 3DS is poised to be on fire for the holidays, with its new suggested retail price, great games and our new Flame Red color,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “With major upcoming releases in the Star Fox, Pokémon and Mario series, in addition to downloadable offerings from Nintendo eShop, Nintendo Video and Netflix, the system offers new and fun experiences to owners on a daily basis.”

On the software side, third-party developers have lined up to deliver great new experiences that make use of the unique features of Nintendo 3DS.

“Nintendo 3DS is an amazing piece of technology that offers players incredible 3D games without the need for special glasses. Beyond that, it’s an affordable dedicated gaming machine. Simply put, Nintendo 3DS is a fabulous device,” said Laurent Detoc, President, North America, Ubisoft. “Ubisoft has been a big supporter of Nintendo 3DS since the beginning with eight Nintendo 3DS games released to date and another eight games coming out before the end of calendar year 2011.”

Retailers are also anticipating a strong showing from Nintendo 3DS this holiday season.

“The new, lower Nintendo 3DS price combined with a hot new color and big-name games will entice even more Target guests to get their hands on this first-of-its-kind 3D gaming experience,” said Nik Nayar, vice president of Merchandising, Target.

“GameStop customers were excited about the Nintendo 3DS launch, and this lower price point should spark additional demand,” said GameStop President Tony Bartel. “With a solid back-half game lineup, the Nintendo 3DS price drop is well timed to drive consumer interest and purchases through the holiday season.”

Nintendo is planning the release of two upcoming games starring its famous hero, Mario^™, this holiday season. Super Mario^™ 3D Land will launch in November, while Mario Kart^™ 7 becomes available in December. Super Mario 3D Land is a new platforming game that takes full advantage of 3D graphics to deliver new puzzles, more precise jumping action and a remarkable new visual perspective on the Mushroom Kingdom. The game also marks the return of Mario’s fan-favorite Tanooki Suit, which allows him to strike enemies with his tail and slowly descend after jumping. Mario Kart 7 is a new racing game that includes multiple characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, Kart customization and intense multiplayer action. Players can now race on land, sea and air, sail through the sky with the new hang glider feature and drive underwater in some stages. Both games are completely new and are designed specifically for the Nintendo 3DS system.

Since Nintendo 3DS launched in the United States on March 27, more than 830,000 units have been sold in the U.S. alone. Nintendo 3DS owners represent some of Nintendo’s most loyal customers, and Nintendo is rewarding them for getting in on the action early with 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop.

These free games are available to anyone who owns a Nintendo 3DS system and uses a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once or performs a system update before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11. These users will automatically be registered in the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program. The program contains two elements:

1. Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES^™ Virtual Console^™ games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including Super Mario Bros.^™, Donkey Kong Jr.^™, Balloon Fight^™, Ice Climber^™ and The Legend of Zelda^™, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost.

By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy^™ Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi’s Island^™: Super Mario^™ Advance 3, Mario Kart^™: Super Circuit, Metroid^™ Fusion, WarioWare^™, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong^™. These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future.

Here are a couple of leaks to kick off your Friday morning: the HTC Kingdom (left) and the HTC Rider (right) were both spotted and photographed recently by 911Sniper. Specs for the Rider and the Kingdom are slim, so we can only report on what’s apparent in the images. Both phones clearly run Android and appear to have 4.3-inch 960 x 540 qHD displays, although even that’s not confirmed. The circles around the main icons on the Rider remind us of an EVO device (perhaps this is Sprint bound?), and we definitely dig the red exterior. We doubt this is the last we’ll see of both phones, so we’re looking forward to clearer shots and more spec leaks in the coming weeks and months.

[Via Engadget]

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If you think a single $58,000 RED EPIC camera package is a lot to blow on a 5K resolution production camera, Peter Jackson and crew have just swooped in and snagged thirty of them. The entire package comes with the EPIC-M body, titanium mount, 5-inch touchscreen LCD, REDmote, four batteries, a four-pack of 128-GB SSDs to shoot onto, and of course, a charger. RED is planning on assembling Peter Jackson’s order by hand starting next month into January and then roll into full production one month after that. They are hoping for general availability by NAB in April, but as usual with RED, that’s not something written in stone. The Hobbit starts filming in February.

[Via Engadget]

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Dell announced in a blog post Tuesday morning that its supersized Dell Streak is now available in two new colors. Additionally, the device is now being sold unlocked and contract-free directly from Dell.com. Dell’s 5-inch smart-tablet-phone can now be had in “Pure White”, as seen above, or “Cherry Red.” These two new colors are in addition to the black model that has been available since the summer, and they will be available exclusively through Best Buy in the U.S. While these two new color options will both be sold running Android 1.6, Dell is also now offering an unlocked Streak for $579 that will ship with Android 2.2 (Froyo). Current Streak owners aren’t being left in the dust, of course — the Froyo update is also currently rolling out to European Streaks, with all U.S. versions set to be updated some time in December.

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You’ve read our Torch review and you’ve decided to take the plunge, huh? Well, you might be happy to know that AT&T is now finally offering the Blackberry Torch in two additional colors: Sunset Red and Pure White. The phones are live on AT&T’s website and can be picked up for $499 without a contract and $99 when you sign up to a two-year agreement. If a color other than black is your cup of tea, jump on over to AT&T’s website to get your order on. Just remember the white after Labor Day rule, ok?

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It looks like blog CellPhone Signal got their hands on several images of T-Mobile’s yet-to-be-released myTouch 4G HSPA+ set and all its color variants. As originally announced by T-Mobile, the device will be available in white, black, red, and plum. To be honest, we’re a little disappointed T-Mobile didn’t jazz up the color names — we were thinking abyss black, luscious lavender, $4-cabernet red, and lion’s tooth white… or something like that. Regardless, if you’re planning on picking up a myTouch 4G, and prefer a little color in your pocket or purse, have a look and let us know what you think.

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Engadget has been sent in a plethora of screen shots detailing what appears to be AT&T’s entire holiday lineup. The site details that the 7-inch, Android 2.2 Samsung Galaxy Tab will debut on Ma’ Bell and will be shipping “prior to December.” AT&T will also be offering the Samsung Cetus — a Windows Phone 7 device — along with three other WP7 devices in time for the holiday buying season. News of two new, mysterious devices dubbed the Samsung Focus and the HTC Surround was also reported. Lastly, AT&T will launch that BlackBerry Torch 9800 in both white and red in the not-to-distant future. Sound of AT&T faithful, what on this list excites you most?

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At the same event where Google introduced voice calling in Gmail, the search giant also announced that it would be placing Google Voice phone booths in select U.S. locations. The GV stations, which will closely resemble the iconic red telephone booths in the U.K., will begin appearing on college campuses and in airports in the next few weeks. The purpose of the old-fashioned booths is to get people more acquainted with Google Voice, allowing them to see how GV’s voice call-quality compares with more traditional landline services. Google said they would release more details about the telephone-towers in the coming weeks.

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T-Mobile just officially announced what we’ve all heard for a pretty long while — they’re going to be adding some summer colors to their BlackBerry lineup starting today. First up is the BlackBerry Curve 8520 in Fuchsia Red. It hits T-Mobile’s retail stores and online today and will retail for $49.99 with a two year service agreement. In terms of the big boy toys, T-Mobile is rolling that luxurious-looking BlackBerry Bold 9700 in “Flash White”. That device will start to become available on May 26th for the same price as the current 9700, $129.99 with a two year agreement. Lastly, T-Mobile’s BlackBerry 9700 OS upgrade that just became available will be pre-loaded on the new Casper Bolds out of the box. We’re not complaining.

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Images and details on the HTC Incredible have emerged from the depths of Android Forums today. Most notable is the loss of the bright orange backing which has been replaced with a matte black covering emblazoned with a Verizon Wireless logo. Internally, the Incredible is rumored to have 500 MB of RAM (320 available), an 8 megapixel camera, measurements of 117.5 x 58.5 x 11.9mm, and a blinding red interior with a matching red battery. Though it packs a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, the Incredible, just like the Acer Liquid A1, has been underclocked to 768 MHz, a battery savings measure which hopefully can be reversed once the handset has been rooted. Thankfully, the slowed down processor seems to have little effect on perceived performance as the Android 2.1 handset is reportedly “blazing fast”. If all these circulating rumors pan out, look for this handset to touchdown as soon as April or as late as May with Verizon Wireless. Hit the jump for a few more spy shots.

[Via Engadget]

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After its early debut on LG’s developer website last week, the New Chocolate BL20 has been officially announced by LG. A full product page, flickr slideset and an official press release all serve to confirm the existence of this handset, though we pretty much already knew all there was to know about this little guy. For those on the other side of the Atlantic, the sexy slider with a distinctive red keypad is expected to land at O2 UK in Q4 for €269 ($394USD). As for the rest of us, it’s still a waiting game we’re afraid. Hit the jump for the press release.

LG’s newest Chocolate flavour slides to market

Berkshire, September 28, 2009 – LG Electronics a global leader and technology innovator in mobile communications, today announces its second New Chocolate phone, BL20, featuring a sliding keypad. The newest addition to the Chocolate series follows the launch of the stylish New LG Chocolate phone (BL40) at the start of September.

Available in the UK in Q4 at O2, the BL20 features a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash in a slim casing measuring just 12.3mm in depth.

The handset also features touch-sensitive controls which are discretely concealed on the sides of the phone. Users can instinctively feel their way around functions such as volume control and camera zoom for quick adjustments.

Widget Hotkeys enable users to personalise the phone to directly access favourite features for weather, news or personal updates. A new feature includes Clear Memo Capture which captures text, handwritten notes and drawings with maximum clarity, offering a different way to record information.

Jeremy Newing, head of marketing, LG Mobile UK and Ireland says, “Boasting advanced new features such as Widget Hotkeys and Clear Memo Capture, the BL20 offers consumers a design alternative to the already successful BL40 with its widescreen display.”

The New LG Chocolate BL20 is referencing the original Chocolate’s design characteristics such as glossy black surface accentuated with red highlights but reinterpreted them in a sliding keypad handset. Notably, the handset has refined its red navigation keys – part of LG’s overall design language – which are revealed when the phone slides open. It has evolved from the iconic design of its predecessors combining enhanced interactive features with a sleek minimalist look aimed at style-conscientious consumers.

“Standing proudly alongside the BL40, the BL20 expands the Chocolate series with a beautiful but practical slider option reflecting our leadership in design,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “The New LG Chocolate BL20 offers consumers another way to experience the luxurious style and high performance that is symbolic of the LG Chocolate series but at a more affordable price.”

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LG’s latest and greatest Chocolate offering is shaping up to be the entry level BL20 touch-enabled slider. Shots of handset adorned with its red keypad have been bouncing around for a while but LG has been mum as far as details go. The silence has just been broken however — though it’s not an official announcement, the BL20 has made its first appearance on LG’s developer website with a full list of specifications including:

• GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900 MHz
• UMTS/HSDPA (3.6Mbps) 900/2100 MHz
• 2.4-inch QVGA display with 262K colors
• ARM9 processor
• 256MB Flash memory
• 128 MB RAM
• 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus,  flash and video recording
• Bluetooth 2.1
• FM radio
• MicroSD card expansion, up to 16GB
• USB 2.0
• Proprietary OS with SMS and MMS 1.2, Email (SMTP, POP3, IMAP4), WAP 2.0/HTML/XHTML web browser
• 106.9 x 50.8 x 12.3 mm and 115 grams

Most of what we already knew about the slider has been confirmed, so now we just need LG to get moving and make this handset official.

[Via Unwired View]

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Among the bevy of handsets listed in our pre-launch list from this weekend, the Samsung A797 is one of the phones we knew very little about. Rest easy though, AT&T subscribers — as is always the case, it’s only a matter of time. It turns out some apparently unknowing Atlanta native managed to snag one of these bad boys early and since he is on his way over to Sprint, he’s dumping the A797 on Craig’s List. For $115. Oops. Beyond the form of the handset, there are only a few tidbits to be gleaned from the images. We know it’s a feature phone (ie dumb phone), lack of a d-pad suggests it has a touchscreen and it’s a portrait slider with a Palm-like keypad. Pretty cute at the right price point, which is probably going to be fairly low considering this guy is selling it so cheap. Any Atlanta-area readers considering contacting him?

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While S60 fans here in the US anxiously await the arrival of AT&T’s E71x, provided they haven’t already bought and sold their E71 months ago, Nokia is getting ready to push out the color refresh we caught wind of last month. The E71 page on Nokia’s site now includes a fresh Flash banner front and center that proudly showcases the new red / silver and black color choices. The online shop still limits purchase options to silver or white, though we imagine that will soon change once stock is received. Lack of any indication on Nokia’s US site leads us to believe the new colors will apply to the European variant only, but you never know. While the red / silver version is a tad too, umm, spicy for our taste, the black version definitely has some appeal. AT&T seems to agree, as its E71x looks to have opted for the darker garb. Hopefully we see some movement from AT&T soon because new details on the E71x’s arrival has been scarce since the user manual made a brief appearance on Nokia’s site earlier this month.

Thanks, Justin!

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Well lookie here. Taking a page out of its own N95 book, Nokia appears to be mixing things up a bit by issuing some color refreshes for the E71. In comparing this to the N95, we mean users should get ready for things to get confusing. There’s no question the E71 is one of the sexiest and most desirable handsets to come out of Finland to date and as was the case with the uber-successful N95, Nokia looks to be going a bit overboard in terms of milking it for all it’s worth. In fact, our favorite Finns have gone above and beyond the call of duty this time. Two new color variants of the E71 made it into the wild recently at Nokia World and considering the E63 is basically an E71-lite (no HSDPA, no GPS, no volume keys / dedicated power button, 2 megapixel camera, plastic body, slightly modified keyboard), we’re now looking at no fewer than 12 different versions of the same phone:

• Silver E71-1
• Silver E71-2
• Silver E71-3
• Silver / Red E71 (unknown number of variants)
• Black E71 (unknown number of variants)
• Black E71x
• Red E63-1
• Red E63-2
• Red E63-3
• Blue E63-1
• Blue E63-2
• Blue E63-3

Did we miss anything? Hit the jump for a shot of the black E71.

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