This should come as no surprise to anyone with the most basic knowledge of business, but Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has announced that when the new iteration of the Nintendo DS, the DSi, launches outside of Japan it’s going to cost more than the DS Lite. With its bigger screen, improved speakers and built-in camera it’s no surprise that with these alterations it’s going to cost more. Throw in the strength of the yen which is affecting pricing for many things worldwide and it seems no better.

Iwata couldn’t say how much the price difference would be nor how many DSis will be manufactured in comparison the the DS Lite, as the DS Lite outperformed the original DS by an outstanding and unexpected margin. If the DSi proves to be vastly popular it will probably get a price drop fairly quickly.

The turn-based strategy title has become big in the USA in the past few years. For many of us who like a more slow-paced, thoughtful style of gameplay this was a blessed relief from the hectic micro-management of real-time strategy games. One of the most enjoyable and challenging series to come out of this genre is the Fire Emblem series. With intricate storylines involving lifelike characters and a very challenging style of gameplay (units that fall in a mission are gone forever) this series has seen great success to the point that the original which was never before released in the USA is getting a remake on the DS entitled Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.

Fans of the series are undoubtedly excited and hoping for more Nintendo DS remakes, but their future is somewhat uncertain. Intelligent Systems, the developer working on the remake has said they’re not definitively planning on releasing more remakes of the series. If the game turns out to be a ‘very big hit’ they’ll ‘keep their options open’, although the whole studio seems to like the idea of making a new title in the series over doing more remakes. Other ideas that have been tossed around are a more casual-style Fire Emblem game or an ‘all-star’ game that pulls in characters from various games in the series. While I remain hopeful that the game will do well and more Fire Emblem games will be put out for the DS, it seems a bit redundant to say that sequels will be made only if the previous game sells well.

While American soap operas are often filled with the exploits, affairs and faked deaths of rich, beautiful people, English soapss are very different. They tend to focus on the trials and tribulations of normal, everyday people: pub owners, pot-smoking high school students and controlling housewives.

One of the most popular is called Coronation Street and it was viewed by over seventy-eight percent of the UK population last year. Proving yet again that video game makers are running out of good material to make games out of, Mindscape is set to create a video game for the DS based on the show. It’s described as “an adventure and task based concept set within the theme of the famous fictional street” and will of course be aiming straight at the casual crowd.

Warner Bros. Interactive and series creator TT Games today announced the next entry in the LEGO videogame series, and it’s exclusive to the Nintendo DS.

Dubbed LEGO Battles, the squad-based game will be based on the LEGO Castle, LEGO Pirates and LEGO Space series of toys, mixing together the three themes. This will have pirates, dragons, ninjas and aliens probably fighting alongside through the game’s 70 levels. It will have players building bases and will be more strategic in nature than previous entries in the series.

LEGO Battles is being developed by Hellbent Games and is due out this summer.

Thanks to the Michigan tax breaks, Stardock is planning a $900,000 expansion of its headquarters to accommodate development of a new roleplaying game. The studio is currently working on Demigod (due out next month) and fantasy-strategy game Elemental: War of Magic (due out next year).

The expansion will create around 53 jobs. This will increase the company’s workforce to over 100 employees.

Enacted last April, the Michigan tax breaks were made to attract jobs in the entertainment sector. It has mostly garnered attraction from Hollywood film studios, but the breaks also apply to game development.

“We think Michigan is well placed to become a hub for technology companies thanks to new programs from the state to make Michigan more competitive to do business in,” said Stardock CEO Brad Wardell. “We look forward to continuing our strong growth with additional development projects over the next couple of years.”

GTA-developer Rockstar Games today announced Red Dead Redemption, a sequel to the 2004 Western action game Red Dead Revolver.

Due for release this fall, the game is set at the turn of the 20th century and will feature an open-world environment powered by Rockstar’s own game engine, one that is also used by Grand Theft Auto 4.

“The seamless combination of breathtaking beauty and intense action, all woven together with strong plotlines in a massive vibrant, rural environment is mind-blowing,” said Rockstar founder Sam Houser. “We think this game helps to push the limits of what an open-world gaming experience can be.”

It is being developed by Rockstar San Diego – they handled the original, as well as Midnight Club: Los Angeles – for PS3 and Xbox 360.

Telltale Games sent out word that its upcoming series Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures will be released this spring on PC and Xbox Live Arcade.

The episodic adventure game is based on the highly acclaimed Wallace & Gromit animated films. Players will get to step in the shoes of both Wallace and Gromit.

This marks the expansion of Telltale to Xbox Live; the studio was originally focused on releasing PC versions of its adventure titles. Telltale recently also expanded to the Wii with the release of Sam and Max Season One and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People.

The partnership between Microsoft and Netflix is genius. Existing Netflix customers are more likely to sign up for an Xbox Live Gold membership and existing Live users are more likely to get Netflix because the online feature gives them the ability to watch a variety of films beyond those they’ve had shipped to them on discs.

So far this has gone well for both companies. The Xbox 360 application that allows Netflix customers to stream films and television series has been downloaded and activated over a million times. Since its launch in November over 1.5 billion minutes of video have been viewed over Xbox Live, equivalent to 2,853 years of viewing. Since Netflix has 9.4 million subscribers that means more than ten percent of their customers are already using the application.

Few non-communist countries are quite so strict in their regulations on video game content as Australia. The Office of Film and Literature Classification has no classification equivalent to the MA17+ or AO classifications that the USA does and some games have been refused classification as a result, which means that they are illegal to sell in Australia. Some MMOs have fallen under this unfortunate category (likely because due to the multiplayer component it’s impossible to ensure that content is appropriate for younger gamers).

Some retailers have continued selling these games however as certain factions of the video game industry in Australia feel that there is a loophole in the laws excluding games with no single player feature. Unfortunately these companies face heavy fines into the thousands of dollars. The loophole lies in the fact that according to the industry MMOs fall under the jurisdiction of the Broadcasting Services Act only if the servers are hosted in Australia. If they’re hosted elsewhere they are only subject to the classifications of that country.

The state and federal attorneys-general don’t agree however and state that a computer game of any category is subject to the same laws and regulations. Luckily for retailers and publishers however this law must be enforced by the police in each state and territory. As you can imagine the police are likely more focused on more serious crimes and harmful offenses.

Eurogamer reports that development of the Depression-era action game Faith and a .45 is currently on hold at Danish developer Deadline Games. The studio is currently focusing its resources on Watchmen: The End is Nigh, as the movie is due out next month and the game is supposed to coincide with the release of the movie.

“With our focus on the development of Watchmen, the activities related to the intense and atmospheric shooter Faith and a .45 – featuring a heavy focus on characters, co-operative gameplay, road-movie storytelling and cinematic aesthetics – have continued at a negotiation level,” said Deadline Games CEO Chris Mottes.

The Watchmen game will be an episodic series, with the first installment due out with the movie. It is being developed for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.