Nintendo recently issued a fat wad of skinny on upcoming hardware and software, not the least of which was an actual release date for the hotly-anticipated Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii, that date being May 23.

The new "portable" Nintendo DSi XL, essentially the DSi hand-held but at twice the normal size, will hit the street on March 28 for US$189.99 and C$199.95. Currently, a regular sized DSi costs US$169.99 and C$179.99

Nintendo also revealed the next installment of the super popular sci-fi cash cow known as Metroid will be available for Wii as of June 27 as Metroid: Other M.

Along with a slew of other Wii and DS titles of lesser buzzworthiness, Nintendo let slide with a sleeper title announcement drowned out by chortling plumber fanfare and bounty hunter blondes, and that was the June 14 availability of 100 Classic Books for Nintendo DS/DSi.

Clearly stealing a bit of thunder from Amazon's Kindle or whatever digital book device Oprah pegs as her next "favorite thing," 100 Classic Books, as the name suggest, will allow players read, like, books, 100 works from dead and royalty free authors, in fact, including Jane Austen, Bill Shakespeare, Mark Twain and Jules Verne. Reportedly, the "game" will also let users download new dead authors' works though a Wi-Fi connection.

If ever there was a reason to encourage a kid - or anyone else for that matter - to spend a few hours on a handheld videogame game system, 100 Classic Books would be it.

Image disclaimer: PhotoShopped rendition of Mark Twain writing something that might include the words 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' on a Nintendo DSi XL as conceptualized by the author was not provided, approved nor endorsed by Nintendo and is only intended as a homage to the greatest writer ever and one of his better books that might be seen on the forthcoming DSi XL to illustrate how cool it would be if Nintendo would actually provide its own artwork to accompany press releases about Mark Twain coming to DS.