Nintendo Announces Mario Kart 7 3DS Channel, New 3DS Titles

In a pre-recorded Japanese-language message from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata today, the Nintendo boss revealed a whole host of new games coming to the 3DS system in the coming months. He also divulged details about a new Mario Kart 7 channel that will launch alongside the retail release of the game in Japan, and allow users to create their own online communities for the game. As translated by Andriasang, 3DS owners will be able to download the Mario Kart 7 channel for free straight to the 3DS main menu, in a similar fashion to the Wii channel available for Mario Kart Wii. From this channel, users will be granted the functionality to collect "ghost" data from other players via StreetPass, as well as downloading daily ghost data from Nintendo via SpotPass. The dedicated channel will also allow users to create their own communities, and then race against each other, with up to 8-player racing supported, at 60 frames per second throughout. The company also announced a number of other titles coming to U.S. shores soon. Freakyforms is coming to the eShop on November 10, and will see players creating their own characters with various body parts, and then going off on adventures. Pullblox is a platform puzzler that sees players pulling blocks out of a wall to create platforms, in an attempt to reach the top of each level -- due for release in December. Also revealed was the Nintendo Letter Box, a message exchange service that allows users to pass 3D photos and voice recordings between each other via StreetPass and SpotPass. This will be made available in December for free. A slew of Japanese titles were also revealed such as puzzler Anatous, although Iwata did not mention whether these will be released in Western regions. Iwata also announced a new Harvest Moon for 3DS, along with newly announced Rune Factory and Lost Heroes titles, which will be coming to the 3DS in Japan early next year.