Nintendo news round-up: 3DS PlayCoin details, debate over Zelda remakes, and more

As sales of the 3DS mount in Japan and preorders break records in the UK, the hype and mystery surrounding the enticing new portable is reaching a fever pitch. The 10 day countdown to our stateside release date starts now!

– Wondering how long it’ll take to rack up those PlayCoins as you walk around town with your 3DS? As the system’s pedometer tracks your mileage, you’ll earn one PlayCoin for every 100 steps, which you can then apply to any 3DS games that support them, such as by purchasing figurines in Street Fighter. Other useful features? You can share MP3 playlists via StreetPass, and the 3DS supports wi-fi networks that are WPA2, TKIP, and AES, as well as storing and automatically detecting up to three different network connections on one system. (GiantBomb)

– While it’s great that younger gamers will get to experience a graphically enhanced redesign of Ocarina of Time, veteran fans may be a bit dismayed by what appears to be yet another remake. The writer of The Superficial, one of the foremost (and most amusing) celebrity gossip blogs, had this to say on the matter: “Ooh, the Zelda game from my senior year of high school. Innovating!” Where’s the 3DS Zelda game for fans that aren’t 12 years old or slaves to nostalgia? Can you imagine what a momentous launch we’d have had if the 3DS had debuted alongside a brand new 3D Zelda title? Nintendo already gets a fair share of flak every time they release a new game with “Mario” or “Zelda” in the title, simply because they are such familiar characters, but it gets even harder to defend them when they pass on a rare opportunity to make a Tetris-sized splash in the handheld realm. Instead we get… a remake of a 13 year-old game which won’t even be available at launch. I will love and cherish Ocarina of Time all of my days, but I expect more from a company whose guiding philosophy is the element of surprise. (The Superficial on Facebook)

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