AT&T Android gamers, welcome to Mobage, your new home

Well, at least until your contract dries up. AT&T and Ngmoco, the U.S. mobile game developer now owned by Japanese (or should we say global) mobile social game company DeNA, have signed a deal to bring Mobage to the mobile phone carrier's Android customers. Mobage, DeNA's Ngmoco-enhanced mobile social games platform for Android, went live around the world recently.

However, the platform will now be conveniently placed as an app on the Android Market for AT&T customers. (Our guess is that by "conveniently," AT&T means "more prominently.")

Not only will Mobage serve as a hub for Android users to find new games to play, the service will provide its social gaming community complete with a virtual currency to use within Mobage games, MobaCoins. Most games are free to play on the platform, but are of course supported through MobaCoin transactions.

However, according to TechCrunch, DeNA plans to bring Mobage to iOS gamers, too. Not only is this indicative of DeNA's desire to make headway underneath mobile gamers' thumbs in the English-speaking world, but it also shows AT&T's interest in capitalizing on that dang-fangled mobile gaming.

Just recently, the phone carrier signed a similar deal with Zynga to provide its games to Android users. It looks like not just the phone makers, but the phone service providers want a piece of the mobile gaming pie.

Wal-Mart cuts 3DS price early, gives players best of both worlds [Updated]

Update: According to the Wal-Mart website, both the Aqua Blue and Black Nintendo 3DS systems have had their prices cut to $169.96 (exactly) early. However, we would strongly recommend purchasing them in stores, as your online orders will not ship until Aug. 12--just past the cut-off date for those 20 free games as part of the Nintendo's Ambassadors Program.

Nintendo 3DS price cutI bet Nintendo President Satoru Iwata and Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke are having a just lovely phone call right now. Cheap Ass Gamer reports that Wal-Mart will cut the price of the 3DS system in its stores to $169.99 on Aug. 9, citing "a trusted source." That's three days earlier than when Nintendo announced the price drop would take effect.

More importantly, if this turns out to be true, then gamers could buy their new 3DS system on the cheap and log into the Nintendo eShop before Aug. 12 to redeem the 20 free games promised by Nintendo to early adopters. Though, something tells us that, with all the media attention this rumor is getting, Nintendo is already on the horn with Wal-Mart. (Sorry, folks--just doing our job.)

Nintendo execs are already taking cuts to their salaries over the debacle (including a whopping 50 percent slash for Iwata). So we imagine that, once it finds out about this little undercutting scheme, the Mario maker will do everything in it's power to stop it. As for us, we'll meet you at Wal-Mart at 12 a.m. on Aug. 9--we're going camping!