Pokémon Rumble Blast 3D Hits Nintendo 3DS On October 24

Pokémon in 3D: does life get any better than this? Nintendo has announced its first Pokémon title specifically created for the 3DS, Pokémon Rumble Blast, complete with StreetPass support for challenging other gamers physically nearby, along with over 600 toy characters to collect. Launching on October 24, the new game will see group battles of multiple toy Pokémon all taking part at once, as well as familiar characters brought in from Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version.

In addition to StreetPass, there's more traditional online gameplay using the 3DS' WiFi connection. As Nintendo puts it, the game promises "instant Pokémon gratification" with a 3D element that so far has been missing from the handheld; although previous DS and DSi Pokémon titles will work on the 3DS, they of course do not include 3D graphics.

Nintendo's obvious hope is that the widely-popular franchise will help turn around what it has admitted are "weaker than expected" sales of the 3DS so far. Around 3.61m units were sold by the end of March 2011, falling short of Nintendo's 4m target.

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