Nintendo has narrowed the stateside release of it’s DSi handheld to summer of 2009, according to company president Satoru Iwata. Meanwhile, the unit sees release in Japan tomorrow. It will be priced at about ¥18,900 or $192. Nintendo has already shipped 200,000 of the slim, dual-cam handheld device with another 100,000 to follow next week.

Activision has released the newest iteration of their popular Guitar Hero franchise, Guitar Hero World Tour. The brand has evolved past simple guitar strumming and now features a "Rock Band" approach that allows users to play guitar, drums or sing. There’s a variety of bundles out there ranging from the game alone ($49.99 to $59.99), the game and a guitar ($89.99 to $99.99) and the full-on band kit ($179.99 to $189.99). It’s available for all three major gaming consoles. Click the link for a press release.

The Homebrew Channel is back on the Wii, thanks to an exploited flaw in the newest system update. The October 23rd system update shut down a previous installment of the service, but they persevered and once again find themselves thriving. They’ve even tossed in SDHC support this time around. All of you homebrew enthusiasts should get to it before the next system update arrives and ruins all of their hard work.

Even though Nintendo has to formally announce a next generation Wii, rumors abound that the unit will carry on the tradition of using infrared technology. A DigiTimes source claims that Pixart Imaging is set to provide Nintendo with the infrared chips for their next generation Wii platform. Pixart Imaging is already an active partner with Nintendo in this generation’s Wii.

Click here for the DigiTimes story.

Homebrewing, or "amusement terrorism" as it’s known is certain circles, has always been a thorn in the side of Nintendo. It’s cited as the main reason the big N waited so long to transfer over to disc format in the first place. They have a paranoia about it that borders on the schizoid. So, when the homebrewing community set up stock in the Wii, we all knew it wouldn’t be long before their homes were foreclosed and their adorable kittens were kicked out on the street.

That time has come. A Wii System Update released last night blocks new installations of the Homebrew Channel and anything existing therein. Previous installs are unaffected but you won’t be able to get anything new and, as any homebrew enthusiast will tell you, that’s half the fun.

However, this increased vigilance on the part of Nintendo could be in response to a a program making the rounds called the Wii Backup Loader, which lets people run pirated Wii games right on the system. Still, it’s kind of sad given that a great percentage of the homebrew software available does nothing illegal. Oh well. They’ll figure something else out. They always do. The homebrewers will outlive us all.