Nintendo drives gaming

Nintendo drives gaming The bad economy is finally catching up to video games, right? Not yet, according to the latest U.S. figures. January sales of systems, games and accessories were up 13 percent to $1.33 billion compared with the same month a year ago, according to the industry-tracking NPD Group. Nintendo boasted that it was largely responsible for the increase, and it's hard to dispute that. Sales of the Wii console in January were up 148 percent over January 2008, with nearly 680,000 units sold; the plucky Nintendo DS was up almost 100 percent, with nearly 511,000 sold. Nintendo scored on the software side, too, claiming 20 of the top 30 games sold in January. Remarkably, five of the top 10 sellers were Nintendo titles that have been out for months, if not years. They were "Wii Fit" at No. 1, as well as "Wii Play" (No. 2), "Mario Kart Wii" (No. 3), "New Super Mario Bros." for DS (No. 8) and "Mario Kart DS" (No. 9), released in 2005. That probably means people got a Wii or DS for Christmas and then went out a few weeks later and bought -- perhaps with gift cards -- the best games for those systems.

Another Oscar honoree The Oscar preseason continues with today's release of "Changeling" on DVD and Blu-ray (Universal, $30-$40). Angelina Jolie received a best-actress nomination for her starring role in the harrowing tale of a mother who suspects that the kidnapped son returned by the police is not really her child. Director Clint Eastwood's movie is also up for best cinematography and best art direction. Extras on either disc are light, just two making-of featurettes, with the Blu-ray edition adding the option of seeing picture-in-picture background material during the film.

Also out today: "Body of Lies," "Choke," "Dead Like Me: Life After Death," "Feast III," "Flash of Genius," "Gandhi" (Blu-ray), "High School Musical 3," "Hobson's Choice," "Hounddog," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (Season 8), "The Midnight Meat Train," "Murder, She Wrote" (Season 9), "The Passion of the Christ" (Blu-ray), "Quarantine," "Religulous" and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" (Season 5).

This is the real 'Idol' Can't get enough of "American Idol"? With viewer voting beginning on tonight's broadcast (7 p.m., KMSP, Ch. 9), there are more behind-the-scenes scoops and snarking than ever from online commentators. Three great websites from which to get your irreverent "AI" fix are Rickey (www.rickey.org), Television Without Pity (www.twop.com) and Linda Sharp's Don't Get Me Started (dontgetmestarted-lindasharp.typepad.com).

RANDY A. SALAS