Super Smash Bros. Brawl fans will definitely get their fill of updates today as we feature three interesting new aspects to this highly celebrated Wii title. In our full article, you can take a look at the unlockable stage based on the Electroplankton DS title, Sheik's special moves, and an interesting mini-game which can be unlocked upon finishing the game's Classic mode. Well, what are you waiting for? Click on the "read more" link below and check it out!

Who would've thought that all the third party music applications being released for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch would actually breed the first ever iPhone band? Calling themselves iBand, this three man band showcase their musical talents with the use of two iPhones running different muscial instrument apps, with a Nintendo DS supplementing the orchestra with its synthesized sounds. You can watch the first ever song composed by the band in the video we have after the jump.

EDGE magazine gave its annual Edge Award to Nintendo's Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old is Your Brain? for best exemplifying "the willingness to aim higher and try something new." Brain Training beat out many other unique games this year to take the prize.

• Fahrenheit - Atari: "Ambitious and full of fresh ideas."
• Killer 7 - Capcom: "A shift in the way audio dialog and gameplay work together."
• Ouendan - Nintendo: "An extraordinary blend of artistic traditions."
• Dragon Quest VIII - Square Enix: "Not exactly original, but excellent overall in that it does everything right."
• Electroplankton - Nintendo: "Playful, original."
• Amped 3 - Microsoft: "Exuberant and self-confident in its presentation."
• Guitar Hero - "A pure experience that took the world by storm."

David Yarnton represented Nintendo to take the award. "In the past, people said that Nintendo was staid and conservative, but we've shown that we're heading in a different direction from others in the industry with fresh and original ideas. Only Nintendo could make arithmetic fun."

Electroplankton is one weird game. In the fullest sense of the word, it can't even be called a videogame. There are no levels you have to pass, no bosses to beat, no top score. There are no objectives, other than the one thing we want most: to have fun. And despite the weirdness and the sheer ambiguity of Electroplankton, it is, hands down, one of the most unique and original titles that has graced any videogame platform in recent times.

In a recent interview with C3, Electroplankton creator and interactive media artist Toshio Iwai revealed quite a few interesting tidbits regarding his videogame roots ("The first game I created was OTOCKY, for NES, released in 1987."), how he feels about people using Electroplankton for more than casual use ("I am very pleased that Electroplankton is used by professional musicians or DJs."), and even his favorite plankton ("...if I choose one from them, it would be Volvoice.").

And the save function issue that a lot of plankton manipulators have been talking about? Well, Iwai had this to say:

"We have discussed a save function many times, and finally concluded not to included it. There are following 2 reasons:

The first reason is that I wanted players to enjoy Electroplankton extemporarily and viscerally, and I thought if the save function was added, the software would become more like a tool. I did not want a play style where players have to open additional menus or windows, or have to input file names to save.

The second reason is that it would require large volume of flush ROM and it would take a lot of time to save and read the data in order to save many voice files for Volvoice and Rec-Rec. I thought players could play the software without stress if I got rid of the save function, rather than incorporating the save function and letting players wait for a long time before it’s saved or being told that only little amount can be saved."

The full transcript of the interview awaits after the jump!

The answer is another innovative piece of audio-visual device called Tenori-On. In the tradition of his work on the Nintendo DS, Electroplankton (rumored to be coming to the Wii), a pleasantly odd game that has ten mini-games for musical and visual creation, his new brainchild also delves on the concept of "visual music."

Iwai and Yamaha have collaborated to develop this new digital musical instrument for the 21st century. It is a 16x16 matrix of LED switches that allows everyone to play music intuitively. Push on a switch for a short while a ripple of light will spread on the display that corresponds to the sound you have chosen. If however you held it down slightly longer, a dot of light remains on the panel to indicate that the sound and the light will be looped. What makes it dynamic is that the back of the Tenori-On also has a similar LED display, keeping the maestro's audience enthralled in his composition.

In his blog, Iwai says that although far from being complete, he can already use Tenori-On in his live performances like in Futuresonic 2006, an electronic music and art festival held in Manchester from July 20-23, 2006. Thanks for the heads up Badam!

Electroplankton is an odd sort of game. Unlike what we're used to, there isn't any actually any particular goal to be achieved or level to get pass through in this game. It has ten mini games for musical and visual creation.

In a recent interview by Nintendo Europe with Toshio Iwai, creator of Electroplankton for the DS, he was asked whether he's interested in bringing his game to the Wii. And these five little words caused clamour with fans of the game: I am thinking of it.

Although everything is still up in the air, it will be very interesting to see how the Wiimote will be used if ever this plan materializes. A baton maybe, to conduct your very own plankton orchestra? Very interesting indeed.