Beat each other up while swimming!

For some reason, Nintendo chose not to reveal today's releases in advance - Not only did they not put a press release on their press site, but they didn't even send one to journalists through email! We have no idea why, because this is actually a relatively solid week - Definitely not as bad as some past updates.

WiiWare's highlight is the previously announced Spaceball: Revolution, a strange puzzle game from Virtual Toys, who previously released Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam. No, the game has nothing to do with the movie Spaceballs - You must throw balls at a grid (In space!) to light up the squares on it in order to replicate a picture which is shown in the corner of the screen. Naturally, you'll have to deal with increasingly annoying obstacles which are all too keen on bumping into your ball and changing its direction. We thought that while nothing spectacular, it's a pretty fun game and might be worth checking out for its relatively cheap 800 Wii Points price tag.

That's not the only WiiWare game today which has already been released in Europe, though - Texas Hold'em Poker is Gameloft's second attempt at a WiiWare poker game (After the only recently released Sexy Poker), and while a bit more professional, it's still nothing worth writing home about - WiiWare already got Texas Hold'em Tournament a while ago, which is pretty good, and seeing as this one is worse in almost all regards it's really not worth the price of admission. If you want, you can read our review here. It'll cost you 600 Wii Points.

The third and final WiiWare game is also the only completely new one - Mart Racer was announced quite some time ago, but has now randomly been released without any prior notice. In the game, you play as a team of two characters with a shopping cart against two other characters with a shopping cart of their own - The goal is simply to race through the supermarket and pick up all items on your shopping list before the other team does. What makes it a bit more interesting is that it actually has Wi-Fi multiplayer, which sadly isn't seen in too many WiiWare games. The game costs 800 Wii Points, and we'll have a review soon.

As is the norm now, the Virtual Console only has one new offering - Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge is the fourth English Kunio game available for Virtual Console. You might think that you're not familiar with the Kunio series at all, but the truth is that you most likely are - Other games in the series include River City Ransom and Super Dodge Ball. This particular game is like a wacky version of the Olympics - Kunio (Called Crash in this game) and his friends compete against rival teams in a variety of crazy events, such as jumping over rooftops or a swimming race during which you're allowed to beat each other up. Although it is somewhat of a button masher, it's still quite fun to play, and definitely comes recommended. We'll have a review up in a few days.

DSiWare's primary release is the also previously announced Oscar in Toyland, which is a reworking of the Amiga/PC game Trolls. You play as the titular Oscar as he makes his way through various platforming stages to locate his missing "baby Oscars." Although it's a platformer, which DSiWare desperately needs, it's not a really outstanding one - The game's graphics and music feel messy, and there's not a whole lot of variety. It's not truly bad, but we definitely hope DSiWare gets better platformers in the future! It'll run you 800 DSi Points, and you can read our review here.

But DSiWare also gets a second game this time! No, sorry, the Art in the story title doesn't refer to a new Art Style game, but rather to what appears to be a Nintendo-published painting/artwork toolkit called Art Academy: First Semester. We're not sure if this is a North American release of a game Japan already has, but for 800 DSi Points it's quite expensive. Perhaps it's the DS version of Mario Paint everybody always wanted?

That's it this week! Nintendo didn't send out a press release this time, so unfortunately you can't read it for now!