That’s right, ignite your dreams, burn them all down, because you’re a parking attendant. Here’s the groovy teaser for the game:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

In a time when extreme stuff like Madworld and Bulletstorm exist, you have to have some huge balls to release a game where the ultimate rush is in pushing your parking skills to the limit. Here are some screenshots of the game. They really captured the garish look of the 80s.

Valet Parking 1989 will be released this Spring. Get your vest on and push the pedal to the metal. Zordix’ words, not mine.

[via Tiny Cartridge & Zordix AB]

If you’re one of the thirteen people in the world not familiar with The Oregon Trail, here’s the quick version: it’s a game in which you’re probably gonna die, and if not you, then someone, and it will likely be from dysentery. Or maybe, I dunno, bears. The game was originally designed to teach schoolchildren about the horrors of pioneer life and travel. Somehow, I’m not quite as horrified when this cheerful interface is involved, though I’m sure it adds to the hilarity of death and berry-picking.

I must say, I prefer the old school interface.

Classic. This fancy new version will apparently be a port of Gameloft’s mobile version of the title.

[via Siliconera]

Art Academy: First Semester (do I smell a sequel already?) is a complete art training course in the form of a DSiWare app. Just download Art Academy from the DSi Shop, and you’ll be a junior Rembrandt in no time. The program teaches you the basics of pencils, paints, blending colors, basic light and shadow techniques and more. Plus, you can either start with a blank canvas or embellish photos from your DSi’s camera album. Here’s a video showing off what you can expect in the Academy:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While it’s not as sophisticated as natural media PC apps like ArtRage (one of my personal favorites), Art Academy looks like a nifty way to express your creativity on the DSi.

So who’s behind it? Arika, makers of a wide variety of popular games–games often known for innovation and killer music. The other name on the label? Nintendo. That means those of us who don’t have a convenient Japanese DSi to get around those pesky region locks may be able to take heart and hope for a localization.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The shmup is available this week and, I hope, will herald a new age of killer DSiWare games for people who like to die brutally and often in games.

[via NeoGAF]

Perhaps the best part of the app is Flipnote Hatena, the accompanying service that allows creators to share their work, and viewers to kill loads of time watching hilarious animations. When I checked last, there were more than 28,000 little features available. That’s a lot of time spent watching animations.

The app is available now, and since it’s free, if you have a DSi, there’s no reason not to get it.

[via TinyCartridge]

Electroplankton, one of the first games available for the Nintendo DS, has remained a standout even among the crowd of musical games that have been released for the DS. Though it has never been widely available, legions of people continue to point to the fishy music title as one of the handheld’s best experiences.

As yet, there are no announcements concerning the release of the Electroplankton apps outside of Japan, but it seems likely that they’ll be forthcoming. It’s not like they’ll be particularly difficult to translate!

[via Siliconera]

Several language-focused games are available for the Nintendo DS around the world, but this sounds more like it might be a simple translation tool rather than an aide to support language study, as with games like My Japanese Coach. At any rate, for those looking to use a Nintendo DSi as a multi-purpose device, apps like this might be more intriguing than clock and calculator applications.

[via Joystiq Nintendo]

The rumor surfaced at a recent preview event held at a few select GameStop stores around the country which allowed Club Nintendo members in the U.S. to get their hands on the DSi in advance of its April 5 release date. According to reports, “at first,” only first-party Nintendo games from the GBA and Game Boy will be available for download in the DSiWare service. If true, this addition to DSiWare could expand the new handheld’s appeal overnight.

Some doubt that such an addition to the download service is possible, or even probable if it is possible, but the DSi is considerably more robust than the DS, so only time will tell.

[Kombo via Joystiq Nintendo]

Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy is in fact a part of the Katamari franchise, and it is for the Nintendo DSi, but it’s a puzzle game and it’s part of the forthcoming DSiWare download service… at least, in Japan, where the game will be available next week. The gameplay is similar to Pac-Attack, a classic puzzler based on Pac-Man.

While it’s a little disappointing that we don’t have a “real” Katamari game for the DS(i), there’s a silver lining or two on this particular cloud. The game is a steal at 500 Nintendo points (equivalent to $5 U.S.), and it features the King of All Cosmos, and he’s the best part of any Katamari game anyway.

Well. The rolling is pretty awesome, too. Sigh.

[Siliconera via Tiny Cartridge]

The DSiWare title, called Phantasy Star Zero Mini (no, really), is apparently some sort of companion to Phantasy Star Zero for the DS itself, though just what kind of companion, there’s no telling. However, there is this: when it drops, the RPG will support four-player wireless co-op and a visual chat feature, and all for only 200 Nintendo points.

Of course, there’s no word yet on an English-language version. The game comes out this month in Japan, and I can only hope Sega might see the potential for sales (only 200 points!) outside their home turf.

[via WiiWare World]