This week's new Fire Emblem: Awakening DLC is "The Lost Bloodlines 1," available alone for $3 or as a $6 bundle that also grants you two more maps when they're released.

Successful completion of this map unlocks a card to summon Leif from past Fire Emblems. If you're a Fire Emblem fan, this may be exciting to you; as someone who has jumped into the series with Awakening, all I can say is that his sword has been pretty good when my other characters have found it.

Other DLC available include three "Champions of Yore" maps and a bundle, and the "Golden Pack," led by the "Golden Gaffe" pack, which promises to earn you lots of in-game cash. It's not like paying for in-game currency because thankfully there's a Fire Emblem map between your expenditure and the virtual money.

Today is all about demos. If you've wanted to see what the whole "Monster Hunter" sensation is about, today you can download demos of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on both Wii U and 3DS. There are also demos of Trine 2 on Wii U and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on 3DS.

Etrian Odyssey 4 will also be released on 3DS eShop on February 26 – between now and the next weekly eShop release list.

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Update: As eagled-eyed commenter TravenousMaximus spotted, Zelda series producer Eiji Anouma confirms the games are coming to other territories' Virtual Consoles. Posting on the Zelda Miiverse page, Anouma writes, "The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages will be released for Virtual Console on Nintendo 3DS in Japan, but it'll be a little while longer till the're out in other territories. We''d like to ask for your patience until they're ready for release. Thank you!"

So it was foretold: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons will come to the 3DS eShop in Japan. The Capcom-developed Game Boy Color games, hits with fans and critics alike in 2001, arrive individually on the Virtual Console February 27, priced ¥600 each (around $6.50), and then in a combined pack next month at ¥1000 (around $10.50)

As the reveal came in this morning's 3DS-focused Direct broadcast for Japan, there's no news as yet on the re-releases heading westwards.

The PS4? That's sooo yesterday, friend. This is today, and today sees Nintendo pump out another one of its Direct broadcasts, this one intended for screens in Japan - of course, that doesn't mean we can't tune in. Following on from last week's 3DS-o-rama, this Direct is focused on third-party games for the handheld.

The livestream kicks into gear at 6AM ET (3AM PT, 11AM Brit-time), and you can watch it here on Joystiq. And, as always, we'll keep you informed of all of the major goings-on.

Update: It's all over, and from a Western standpoint it was fairly quiet, although there were further looks at Monster Hunter 4 and Shin Megami Tensei 4 to enjoy. One thing that caught our eye was the Game Boy Color Zelda games, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, coming to Japan's 3DS Virtual Console - here's hoping they make their way here too.

In case you missed it, the replay is above your viewerizing pleasure.

Nintendo bailed on Gamescom last year in favor of its own "sampling events" throughout Europe. Nintendo will return to the world's largest video game convention for the 2013 iteration, which takes place in Cologne, Germany from August 21-25.

Other publishers attending this year include Bethesda, EA, Konami, WB, the newly gigantic Wargaming, and Deep Silver, who might suddenly have something to show (and something not to show). There's no word yet on whether Microsoft will attend, having skipped last year as well.

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Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei 4 is scheduled to launch in Japan this May. Ruliweb (via Siliconera) grabbed the release date of May 23 out of this week's Famitsu magazine in Japan. There is also a special SMT4-themed Nintendo 3DS XL scheduled for release on launch day with the game pre-installed.

There is currently no announced international release window for Shin Megami Tensei 4. If you're not familiar with the series, we have an editorial on why fans of JRPGs are anticipating it.

You may have missed it amongst all the goings-on of the North American and European broadcasts, but last week's Nintendo Direct for Japan featured a cute little sketch which saw Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata get into the spirit of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.

This week, Nintendo republished it for English-speaking viewers, extra useful since the video includes five minutes of Miyamoto talking about the upcoming 3DS game.

Those who don't own a 3DS or Wii may not be familiar with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate – it's an updated version of 2010's Monster Hunter Tri, coming to both the Wii U and 3DS in North America.

Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto says the Wii U update is a logical fit based on Wii U's dual-screen setup. "When we decided to make the game on the Wii U, we actually brought out the game on 3DS first – the 3DS version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate came out in Japan about a year ago, so the game was designed from the very beginning to have that two-screen interaction. So when we made the game – although it was based on Monster Hunter Tri – we felt like we had put so much new content into the game that it deserved the chance to be played by more and more people. The Wii U was a perfect fit because of the fact it has the two screens and you're able to do cross-compatibility between the 3DS and the Wii U. It just made a lot of sense for us to bring that experience into the living room, into the HD realm."

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Nintendo's Brain Age: Concentration Training starts by describing my life in detail. Information is everywhere, says the polygonal, disembodied head of Dr. Ryuta Kawashima. He really says it, by the way, as this Brain Age features copious voice over. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, Dr. Kawashima is describing my life to me.

When trying to focus on work, I'm compelled to check my email, he says. That's true enough. When I find myself in a social situation without access to my phone, I often get fidgety and restless. Double true. This condition, says Dr. Kawashima, is known as Information Addiction. I'm not sure what happens after that, because I stopped focusing on Concentration Training in order to write this introduction.

This might not go very well.

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Disaster or no, Aliens: Colonial Marines is still a big enough name to not only take top spot ahead of Dead Space 3 in the UK charts this week, but to become the country's biggest new release of 2013 so far - a stat perhaps scarier than anything in the game itself.

Dead Space 3 is in second place this week after a 57 percent drop in sales, while the traditional mid-term holiday bump - sales rose 39 percent overall from last week - sees Assassin's Creed 3 and Halo 4 re-enter the top ten at sixth and tenth respectively.

Ni no Kuni and DmC: Devil May Cry suffered big drops last week, and both continue their descents this time around. Ni no Kuni's third week in Europe sees it tumble to 25th, while after five weeks DmC almost leaves the top 40 altogether, coming in at 39th.

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Like a stealthy jungle cat patiently waiting for its tired, limping prey to drop its guard, so too does Amazon's devious sales engine stalk the emaciated husk of our post-December wallet. Its latest attempt at snaring our monetary entrails, an all-games Gold Box Event, will begin at 3 a.m. Eastern time on the morning of Tuesday, February 19.

We won't know exactly what said Gold Box Event's Lightning Deals or Deal of the Day will consist of until Tuesday. In the meantime, Amazon has also marked down a sizable number of games and accessories as part of its Winter Deals sale, which includes Halo 4 and a year of Xbox Live Gold for about $40 each.

Purchasing both the Wii U and 3DS versions of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate would normally set the devoted huntsman back a smooth hundred zingers, but Capcom has announced that purchasing both together through Amazon will result in a $20 discount. Or, in outdated gold-rush vernacular, two sawbucks, which is enough for a new sifting pan and some chew from the General Store.

Both versions of the game must be purchased during the same Amazon transaction for the $20 discount to be applied, so anyone that has already pre-ordered either version of the game needs to first cancel their existing pre-order for everything to work properly.

As we first learned when the North American versions of this game were announced back in September, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is capable of sharing save files between the Wii U and 3DS, allowing for continuous progression across both platforms. Additionally, the 3DS version can be locally linked with the Wii U version for couch multiplayer fun times.

BestBuy.com wants you to start your weekend with some much needed self-indulgence, because, like a supermodel slathered in megaprettyoxide-infused war paint, you're worth it. So why not treat your beauticious self to Paper Mario: Sticker Star, going at $19.99, or Kid Icarus: Uprising for $14.99?

Of course, you might feel you're worth that and quite a bit more. If so, you could always plump for Epic Mickey 2 on Wii at $11.99, or Darksiders 2 on PS3 or Xbox 360 at $14.99.

Update: As you eagle-eyed commenters spotted, Professor Layton and Miracle Mask, which was sold out at the time of writing, is available once more at $14.99. Also going at $14.99 is Pokémon Black/White 2.

On the back of a million copies sold on PS3, Xbox 360, and 3DS, the foul-tempered fowl of the Angry Birds Trilogy are raging onto the Wii U and Wii later this year. Considering the series' crazy numbers on smaller screens, a million sales are maybe not surprising, but those games weren't going at $40 a pop, albeit ABT being a three-in-one release.

"It was certainly satisfying to see Angry Birds gameplay adapt so well to other platforms in 2012," said Petri Järvilehto, Executive Vice-president of Games at developer Rovio. "The features specific to the Wii U are very intriguing to us, so we're excited to release this version to fans."

Publisher Activision didn't say what those Wii U-specific features are, but given the games' iOS roots we'd be flappergasted if the game wasn't off-TV compatible.

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This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer.

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Black Ops 2, Far Cry 3 and Just Dance 4 were January's best-selling games, according to NPD sales data, with Capcom's rebooted DmC: Devil May Cry sliding in at sixth place. As per usual, the full list of the month's top 10 best-selling games can be found after the break.

During the five-week period running from December 30, 2012, through February 2, 2013, the combined might of the video game sales industry's physical retail channels earned a total of $834.7 million, a nine percent year-over-year increase as compared with January 2011's performance. This is the first time the industry has reported an annualized overall increase in sales in at least twelve months.

2013's "January" is five weeks, as opposed to the traditional four, for calculation purposes. The NPD Group makes this adjustment once every six or seven years to combat data drift in its reporting, much in the same way our calendar system implements a Leap Day to correct for discrepancies between the number of days in the year, and the length of Earth's orbit.

Therefore, January's year-over-year increase is actually the direct result of the extended recording period. If January's overall results are "corrected" for the additional time, the industry's physical retail performance is actually down by 13 percent, rather than up by nine. Regardless, hardware sales in general were responsible for $205 million of the period's total invoice, up four percent since last year without corrections and down 17 percent with.

Once again, the Xbox 360 was the best-selling piece of overall hardware, as it has been for the last 18 months. January was also the console's twenty-fifth month as the leading console.

Accessories sales saw the largest development in sales, increasing by 30 percent pre-corrections and four percent post – $256.6 million in January of this year versus $198.1 million last year. Meanwhile, Software sales saw the smallest pre-correction annualized jump with $373.1 million for the period, which is just one percent above the segment's earnings in 2011. After corrections, that difference drops to a 19 percent year-over-year loss.

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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate is set to receive a demo on the 3DS eShop later this month. Those eager to try out the latest chapter in the Belmont saga will be able to whip out their 3DS and download the demo on February 28.

The full game will launch on March 5 in both retail and eShop flavors.

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Finally, you can browse your neighborhood through the tiny window of your Wii U GamePad. Wii Street U is free on the Wii U eShop today for a limited time, enabling augmented reality Google Street View. Grab it now, because it seems unlikely you'd want to pay for it.

Meanwhile on 3DS eShop: video games! The NES version of arcade classic Dig Dug is available, as is a demo for chibi action game Naruto Powerful Shippuden. Bit.Trip Saga is also discounted. If you lack even one of the Bit.Trip games, this is a great way to get them all in a portable format.

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Here's a bit of Nintendo news from outside of Nintendo Direct. Sylveon is a new Pokémon for Pokémon X and Y ... kind of. Actually, the mystery creature is a new eighth evolution of the versatile Eevee.

Somehow, this creature has evolved natural bows and ribbons. What is that an adaptation for? We're ... so mystified by vestigial bows. Watch Sylveon in action above and be distracted by the evolutionary impossibility.

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