OMG Nintendo

Amazon tends to offer gamers some ludicrously sweet deals, but this goes above and beyond all previous expectations. Through September 30, anyone who purchases a new DSi or DS Lite through Amazon gets their choice of free game or accessory from a list of options.

Ah, now I can guess what you're thinking-- "Clearly, the games and accessories are all either ancient or crappy." No, go check that link! Amazon's list of giveaway games includes truly awesome stuff like Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and Rhythm Heaven (among other, more casual games).

The accessories are mostly lame, but note that one of the DSes you can buy to quality for the deal is the Lime Green DS Lite with Personal Trainer: Cooking that came out earlier this year. So you could snag that and then quality for another free game besides! 

The latest installment in the Valkyrie Profile series hasn't gotten the kindest treatment from critics (73% on Metacritic), but everything I've heard from friends, acquaintances, and forum-goers who are playing Covenant of the Plume makes it sound like a gem you might have overlooked. For the rest of the day you'll be able to get it for a mere $19.98 from Amazon, which is an absolutely great price.

Covenant of the Plume is a tactical RPG built around the unusual "Plume" mechanic, which allows you to grimly sacrifice one of the members of your party in exchange for a tremendous boost in power. You can steamroll the game easily by abusing the Plume, but you'll also get a bad ending for your efforts. To meet all of the game's characters and get the complete story, you'll need to beat the game in different ways to earn different endings. Some are easier to get than others, of course, and there's always the Seraphic Gate waiting for you just when you think the game's over.

Red alert, Wii bargain hunters: right now Amazon is offering deep discounts on two really great Wii games, both from Sega. Right now you can pick up House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld for $29.97, a 40% discount on the usual MSRP of $49.99 for both games. Given the low sales figures both games posted, chances are there's plenty of you reading this who haven't taken the plunge yet. I've played both games and they're eminently worth picking up at $30, now is a good time to give them a shot if the original $50 price was too much for you.

Interested in a new turn-based strategy RPG for your Nintendo DS? Then point your browser at Amazon tonight at 6 PM PST. Atlus just sent out a promotional email flyer out, tipping gamers off to the fact that Luminous Arc 2 is going to be the 6 PM PST Lightning Deal. Amazon's discounts on Atlus goods sometimes run insanely deep, to the tune of Etrian Odyssey II being offered at one point for around $10, so there's a good chance the Luminous Arc 2 deal is really going to be worth your time.

Luminous Arc 2 is itself a pretty basic grid-based tactical RPG, but it's a massive improvement on the original's simple gameplay. The story is absolutely nothing special, and this is probably not a game you'll be writing fanfic about for years to come, but it is pretty long, sports interesting multiple endings, and is a great vehicle for Atlus's deft touch for humorous localizations. While not really a "day one" buy for any but the most die-hard RPG fan, people who just want a new game to amuse them for awhile could do a lot worse than to snag Luminous Arc 2 while it's heavily discounted.

There are some other Wii and DS games being offered in today's Gold Box deal on video games, but for the most part it's stuff like My World Coach DS, Littlest Pet Shop DS, and Ben 10 Alien Force Wii that really just aren't that interesting. Luminous Arc 2 is likely going to be impossible to find cheaply at this time next year, though, so buy it now if you want it.

We're now looking at just a little under a week until Christmas, people. Not even a week left for listening to Christmas songs, drinking eggnog without people looking at you funny, and stressing out over how to give someone a gift that won't make you look like a cheap jerk. May we here at OMG Nintendo humbly suggest the gift of a Wii game?

Wii software drops in price rapidly, and you'll find a lot of the best games released for the system in 2008 now in the $20-$40 range regardless of the MSRP listed. Given how well the Wii is selling right now, there's a fair chance that almost anyone you're buying for might be a Wii owner or have one in the household.

As with the DS list of top gift games, each entry on this list is tagged for one of the three major types of Nintendo gamer. You can check this breakdown of the omgNintendo Universal Theory of Gamer Types for more info if you like. Of course, the tags are just suggestions, and Wii games in particular tend to have a lot of appeal that crosses boundaries to different types of gamer.

Right now we're staring down the barrel of about two weeks' worth of shopping days left until Christmas, and if you're having a hard time thinking of what to buy someone... hey! Do they have a Nintendo DS? Then how about snagging them a DS game? You won't necessarily spend a lot of money, and it's easy to match a gamer up with something that can be played for months. Everything from last year's list is still a great choice, but if you want to buy something new, here's a list of the ten best all-around DS games to buy somebody as a gift this holiday season.

Of course, when you're buying a gift for the gamer in your life, you need to keep in mind exactly what kind of gamer you're shopping for. Each of the entry on the list is tagged for one of the three major types of Nintendo gamer, and you can check this breakdown of the omgNintendo Universal Theory of Gamer Types. Of course, the tags are just suggestions, and you probably know the taste of whoever you're buying for better than me, a random internet stranger with a blog.

Now, on to the list!

Who knows how long this is going to last? Right now, for maybe the first time in two years, the Nintendo Wii is in stock at Amazon. Of course, it qualifies for Super Saver shipping and could be in your home in plenty of time for the holidays... if you take advantage of the deal now. I'm sure Amazon's stock is going to be gone long before Black Friday rolls around.

Buying a copy of Wii Fit, for me, is likely to be impossible next week. Aside from a heavy workload forcing me to pay attention to my Xbox 360, a colossal retailer screw-up is likely to result in anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 of the Wii Fits intended for my area ending up on e-bay. I'm going to present this story to you guys basically as an anatomy of how units of hot Nintendo products meant for retail end up in the hands of scalpers en masse.

The story began, as so many do, in a GameStop. After spending a tiring evening shopping for a dress to wear to a cousin's wedding, I stopped by the larger of the two local GameStops to pick up a copy of Crosswords DS to keep me amused over the weekend.

My parents were with me, and they've been dieting and working out lately. My mother's lost something like 20 pounds, and my father's going on 40. When they saw the Wii Fit boxes hanging on display in the store, they got interested, proving Nintendo's marketing plans with this one are likely to succeed. The clerk was quick to chat them up while he checked me out, but when my dad asked about buying one, the clerk was forced to change his tune.

"Sorry, we've already sold through our first shipment. We were set to get eighty, and two guys walked in and pre-ordered forty each."

There was lots of cursing back and forth about GameStop's Wii Certificate program, more commonly known as the Rain Check program. Did it work? Was it lousy? Was it a scam?

Online retail monitor site I4U suggests that while it was arguably lousy, the alternative is much lousier. If you didn't get a Wii Certificate back in December, you probably won't get a Wii now without paying above MSRP or buying an expensive bundle.

Checking several Wii finder services and the online inventories of retailers, there is still no Wii console available at the standard price of $249. If the Wii is in stock then it is in an expensive bundle. 3rd party offers on Amazon and the eBay prices for the Wii are now under $400, which is a bit of an improvement over the Holiday season.

A Wii raincheck would be handy now, we actually advised against it back in December. Did you get one? If yes, please email me, if you got your $250 Wii on Friday. Update: I got some feedback of readers that got a Wii Raincheck and the deal was even much better than thought. Reader Jo N. got his Wii already 2 hours!! after he purchased the Raincheck at a GameStop store. Reader Ross D. got his on January 4th.