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NaviGadget: Sony PSP GPS navigation system has been around for a while but a GPS navigation system for Nintendo DS is new to us.

Fab Chain of China has just come out with a product called Ranger that does just that: GPS navigation for NDS.

It uses Google Maps (which raises some questions) can do 2D, fake-3D map rendering, uses a U-Blox GPS receiver, and can connect to other devices such as laptops and PDA’s too.

Ranger has its own rechargeable battery so it won’t waste your consoles juice, and will charge through USB. No word on availability or pricing just yet – but do check it out for yourself.

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TechRadar: Until now, it had been thought that the consumer technology powerhouse of Japan had escaped the worst of the global recession, but a series of convulsions over the weekend clearly show that is not the case. After poor financial results last week, the entire electronics sector plunged into depression as Nintendo, Sony, Toshiba and NEC all saw their shares crash.

The collapse in consumer spending that precipitated the financial gloom has been far quicker and more catastrophic than industry observers expected. Even the poster-child Nintendo saw over 12 per cent wiped off its market value on Friday.

Japanese tech giants have been swift to react, with job losses already in the tens of thousands. Hitachi says it may cut loose around 7,000 staff at its vehicle and TV divisions, while Toshiba could drop up to 5,000 part-timers. Worst of all among the hard-hit high-tech firms, NEC says it is planning to eliminate more than 20,000 jobs within the financial year.

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Register Hardware: Nintendo and Microsoft have once again failed to find favour with eco-watcher Greenpeace, both scoring the lowest marks in the NGO’s latest Guide to Greener Electronics report. But they’re not the only consumer electronics firms criticised for being too slow to get serious about climate change.

The Guide – now on its tenth edition – ranks 18 leading electronics firms according to its own energy, e-waste and chemicals criteria. Only a minority of those companies scrutinised lead the way on energy and climate change, Greenpeace said.

Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Samsung, Nintendo and LG are all “lagging behind”, Greenpeace said, having no plans to cut their operations’ emissions, no support for generic targets and no timelines in place to “avoid catastrophic climate change”. PC manufacturers make up much of the report’s middle ranks.

Nokia took pole position with a score of 6.9, although it’s worth noting that the handset firm’s score dropped from 7.0 in version nine of the report, because it still hasn’t committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The phone giant was praised for its product take-back scheme and for its commitment to removing harmful chemicals from products.

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Techradar.com: Sports scientists at the University of Derby are researching the effects of playing Wii Fit and other Nintendo titles on primary school pupils to see if playing the Wii can assist pupils in losing weight.

“We hope this research will determine if playing on this equipment could actually have physical benefits for children,” said Exercise Physiology Lecturer Dr Michael Duncan.

Pupils wear a pedometer that monitors the amount of energy they expend playing Wii Fit.

The Telegraph reports that: “Taking part in games like tennis, golf or bowling on consoles such as the Wii can burn four times as many calories as playing more traditional computer games, enough to keep waistlines in check,” according to scientists from the University of Hong Kong.

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Techradar.com: Bad news for fans of ‘homebrew’ on the Nintendo DS (read: illegal file-sharing pirates) with the revelation yesterday that Nintendo’s new DSi console will not run copied games saved on an R4DS cartridge.

The first batch of 200,000 DSis has already sold out in Japan, with 100,000 more on the way into stores this week. Nintendo fans both new and old are sure to lap up this new console when it launches over in the UK later this year.

With its improved screen size, two new cameras for EyeToy style gaming on the go (and Wario: Photograph already announced in Japan) as well as a new music player and (Mario-moustache-addable) photo viewer the DSi cannot arrive soon enough.

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MCV: Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has revealed that the company is producing 2.4 million new Wiis every month – a 33 per cent increase on last year’s frequency.

Speaking in an interview with the LA Times, Fils-Aime called the production cycle ‘unprecedented’.

“Nintendo has continually raised the production levels of the Wii hardware,” he revealed. “We’re now producing 2.4 million units a month worldwide. Last year, we made 1.6 million a month. So we’ve made a 33 per cent increase.

“One of our competitors projects they will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year. For us, that’s three months of production. We’re producing an unprecedented level of hardware to try to meet demand.”

Fils-Aime added that Nintendo hadn’t felt “any negative impact” from the current global economic crisis.

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MCV: Less than a week after the new Wii Speak Channel and solo hardware bundle was announced, Nintendo has announced that both will be arriving in Europe on December 5th.

Wii Speak allows users to chat to other players on their friends list both through the dedicated Wii channel and through compatible games – such as the upcoming Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To the City.

Unlike the one-person earpieces seen on the likes of Xbox 360 and PS3, the Wii Speak hardware sits on top of a user’s television and allows the whole room to join in the conversation.

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Videogamer.com: Nintendo has announced that its upcoming Wii Speak microphone peripheral will be used in more than Animal Crossing: Let’s go to the City.

The peripheral will be released in North America on November 16 and will include a code which will grant access to the new Wii Speak Channel. Once downloaded the channel will enable Wii users to chat with friends (Friend Code required) with their Miis appearing on screen to mimic what’s being said. Up to four friends will be able to take part in a chat.

The device will be available in the UK this December alongside Animal Crossing: Let’s go to the City.

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SlipperyBrick: Nintendo has stated that it doesn’t plan to release “a whole lot more” accessories for the Wii.

Most of us take that to mean that there is at least something coming, but is this that something? The images come from some European trademark registry site with very little detail, but it’s some kind of pedometer.

Personally I’m hoping that this doesn’t count as one of the accessories they had in mind.

Maybe it’s just a Wii-Fit add-on.

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SlipperyBrick: Nintendo has plans to launch a new version of the popular Nintendo DS handheld game console by the end of this year, and it sounds like they are doing more than just adding new colors this time.

The new model, yet to be named, will feature a camera and music player, putting itself in competition with a larger number of portable devices and opening up a whole mess of new game possibilities.

This news does not come straight from Nintendo, or at least not yet.

It does however come from the Sunday edition of The Nikkei Business Daily, which is a well renowned newspaper in Japan.

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CrunchGear: This is somewhat odd, but Nintendo is coming out with the Wi-Fi Network Adapter for the Wii.

It’s odd because the Wii works with Wi-Fi right out of the box, unless you consider going into settings and configuring your Wii to use your local network not right out of the box.

This adapter attempts to solve that problem.

It can work as a stand-alone router or as a network bridge, sitting between your router and Wii.

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SlashGear: InterAction Laboratories recently did a demo of their new Wii Sqweeze for the Wii.

The device was demonstrated using a bow hunting PC game, but the company expects it to be ready for the Wii in early 2009.

Essentially the Wii Sqweeze is a controller that holds your regular Wii remote, and has a pair of rubber handles that can “allow for shoulder abduction and adduction.”

No word yet on what games the Sqweeze will work with.

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