While we will have to wait until next year for the new Nintendo DSi handheld, Nintendo announced today a wide range of new features, services, and games for North America that will launch in time for the coming holidays. A new online chat system will arrive for the Nintendo Wii on November 16th. “Wii Speak” will be a special microphone designed to sit on top of your television set. It will be sold for $30 and will include a special code that will allow owners to download and install the Wii Speak Channel (internet connection required) that will allow Wii owners to voice chat with up to four other Wii owners online. To agree to a chat connection, users will have to exchange friend codes first, then their Miis act as on-screen avatars and act out the chat discussion. With Wii Speak you can leave audio messages for your friends and family as well as narrate captions for your photos in the Wii Photo Channel.

Wii Speak Set-Top Microphone Kit

Club Nintendo, a popular rewards program from Japan, will now be launching here in North America. Club Nintendo members can fill in surveys and register their products for special rewards coins that can then be exchanged for limited edition merchandise and collectibles. Nintendo fans here in the US and Canada have been drooling over the cool gear that Japanese kids have been claiming through the program and Nintendo has been swamped with requests to open the club here.

The company also released new details on game set for release this year as well as new game titles set to launch next year in 2009.Madonna, George Michael, and Beethoven will be included with Wii Music, Nintendo’s music-based game where players act out the movements of musical instruments to perform songs together. The game is set to come out on October 20th and will include the songs “Material Girl”, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”, and “Ode To Joy” as well as the signature tunes from Nintendo’s own games.Animal Crossing: City Folk, the Wii version of Nintendo’s popular virtual community games where players act out the lives of little critters in a changing village, won’t launch until November 16th, but will be compatible with the Wii Speak Channel, allowing players to speak to each other as they play and interact in the online community.

Nintendo revealed a selection of Wii Ware games that will be available for purchase and download through Nintendo’s online store for the Nintendo Wii.Tetris Party will include 18 game modes, including 10 never-before-seen single-player and multiplayer variations of the popular puzzle game AND the ability to play using either the Wii Remote or the Wii Balance board from Wii Fit.

Strong Bad Episode 3: This third episode in the series features humorous story-driven game play, music-themed collectibles, achievements and an old-school side scrolling shoot ’em up mini-game, as well as a special celebrity guest appearance by Limozeen!

World of Goo is a physics-based puzzle/construction game. Grab living, squirming, talking globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins and giant tongues.Cave Story is an action-adventure game with new, exclusive content and features created only for the WiiWare version.

Boingz: Developed by NinjaBee, Boingz introduces players to bendy, stretchy little critters who’ve found themselves scattered about an alien world. Using the Wii Remote, players can grab, stretch and fling the rubber-band bodies of the Boingz to bounce them around the environments and help them find their way home.

The new Wii Ware titles that will be launching in 2009 includePunch-Out!! The classic franchise from 15 years ago is finally getting a re-release and players will once again follow the exploits of the up-and-coming challenger, Little Mac, and take on a series of opponents, including favourites from the past like Glass Joe and King Hippo. Sin & Punishment 2: The sequel to the popular Japanese game blends intuitive Wii Remote pointing controls with shooting and sword-swinging game play.

New Games Coming To The Nintendo DS in 2009 include:

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon: A reinvention of the original NES titles with revamped graphics and intuitive touch control, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon will introduce longtime fans to the stories that gave birth to the series nearly 20 years ago in Japan, while revealing the back story of Marth, the original lead character in the series and also included in the Super Smash Bros. games.

Mario & Luigi RPG 3: The brothers return for another action role-playing game. Join the Mario Bros. as their travels take them far and wide.Rhythm Heaven: If you can snap your fingers in time to music, you’re ready to play this simple but infectious rhythm game. Just tap your stylus on the touch screen to the beat of the music.