The Bit Beacon Weekly Transmission 1.22.12 - 1.28.12

Much has happened over the course of this week. Including the Nintendo Network being confirmed, a new Mario title being announced, new trailers and screenshots, and a limited edition PSVita bundle all became public knowledge. Here we will give you the breakdown of this week's highlights so that you don't have to go surfing the web. Just like last week's transmission, the 'Source' links below each entry will take you to the full articles.

SDCC Giveaway Extravaganza - Kid Icarus: Uprising AR Card Set

First up we have three sets of Kid Icarus: Uprising AR cards to give away. These AR cards will be usable in the final retail version of the game in the AR Card Battle mode. Each set comes with three cards featuring the characters Pit, Palutena and Medusa. Each card is also stamped on the back 'Comic-Con  2011' to help distinguish them from their future counterparts. These cards were only available at the Nintendo Gaming Lounge during SDCC 2011.

Kid Icarus: Uprising - E3 2011 Demo Impressions

Kid Icarus: Uprising was the surprise announcement from Nintendo at last years E3 Expo. And over the past year the game has been playable in different forms. It is clear that they have really been polishing up the game over the past few months. At E3 this year I got a chance to go hands-on with the latest playable build of the game.

Since I had never had the chance to play Kid Icarus: Uprising before this year's E3, I selected the first stage of the demo which was labeled as being ‘easy’. The demo then asks me to select a weapon, there are several choices but I went with the ‘Orbitars’.