Rhythm Hunter HarmoKnight, a 3DS eShop game by Pokemon developer Game Freak, was released back in September in Japan. There's been no word on an international release for the rhythm action game, however, until today's Nintendo Direct.

The game, now called simply HarmoKnight, has been confirmed for a North American release, but no date was provided. In HarmoKnight, players run, jump and attack in side-scrolling levels to the beat of the background music.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the 3DS rendition of Nintendo's franchise recently released in Japan, will arrive in the UK in the second quarter of 2013. The news comes via a Nintendo Direct presentation, with Nintendo Europe president Satoru Shibata noting that Nintendo was hard at work localizing the New Leaf for European audiences.

The US localization of Brain Age: Concentration Training for 3DS is now due out on February 10, 2013, pushed back from the original release date of December 3, 2012.

Brain Age: Concentration Training has players perform mental gymnastics designed to improve "working memory." Some tasks have players answer problems on a delay, forcing them to wait and see the next problem before writing the solution to the previous one. It's like a backflip for your amygdala.

Fire Emblem: Awakening for 3DS has an official North American release date, just announced during Nintendo Direct: February 4, 2013.

Awakening features "relationship levels," which players can boost by putting two characters in close proximity on the battlefield, or having them engage in frequent conversations with one another.

Scribblenauts Unlimited will arrive in Europe on February 8, Nintendo announced today. The game previously had an open 2013 release window. The game was a Wii U launch title in the States.

Wii Fit U will launch in the first half of 2013, complete with that electronic pedometer announced at E3, the Fit Meter.

Take a gander at the cool green tones of the Fit Meter above and try to remember it's not a Tamagotchi. Or, if it is, you're the creature that you have to keep healthy and happy. How cute.

Microsoft has overcome whatever dark sorcery removed Fable 2 from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Lionhead's saucy 2008 action-RPG is now available for download again.

"There was an isolated issue affecting the availability of Fable II on Games on Demand recently," a Microsoft representative told us. "We have resolved the issue and the game is once again available. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused." Take that, ambiguous "issue!"

Video has surfaced of what is reportedly a downloadable Streets of Rage remake from Crackdown series developer Ruffian Games. Uploaded to Vimeo by one "Huff Allium," the footage shows off some familiar, rage-filled streets, now rendered in 3D.

It's not clear whether this is actual gameplay footage or something pre-rendered. Either way, it looks significantly different from the Streets of Rage that Sega fans remember, ditching the cartoonish style favored by later Streets of Rage games for something grittier. No rollerblading kids, robot grandpas or boxing kangaroos here.

Sean Noonan, former level designer for Ruffian (now working on Watch Dogs for Ubisoft), mentioned the footage on Twitter, writing, "So it seems like one of my previous projects has leaked, as pretty as I remember."

Just over a year ago, it was rumored that Ruffian was developing a multiplatform game, referred to as "a major contract with one of the biggest publishers in the industry." Recreating one of Sega's most well-remembered franchises would certainly fit the description, and the publisher hasn't been shy about resurrecting its old franchises in recent months. We've contacted Ruffian to confirm the project's existence, and to learn whether or not it's still in the works.

Despite lacking in innovation when first released, New Super Mario Bros. 2 gets continually newer as DLC arrives. The latest packs, arriving in Japan today for ¥200 each, include the Kiroku ni Challenge C Pack, a time attack course in which you get as many coins as possible, and another pack all about riding dangerous moving platforms.

These two DLC packs have not been announced outside of Japan yet, but there are still Nintendo Direct presentations at noon EST for both the US and Europe.

There is one game demo on the Wii U eShop in North America, and it's for EA Sports' FIFA 13. The approximately 1.2GB download is available within the game's page on the eShop, though the size isn't explicitly shown until you begin the process.

Bear in mind that there is no dedicated section for demos in the store, nor is there a way to search for demos. Instead, you either have to click on individual game icons to see if demos are available, or view everything in the eShop as a list and hunt for the "demo" icon.

Having just done all that, we can confirm that FIFA 13 is at present the only demo.

[Thanks, Jon B.]

Pier Solar HD has more than hit its Kickstarter funding goal, bringing in $231,370 at the end of the campaign this morning. People were sufficiently piqued by the idea of an HD remake of a present-day Genesis RPG to not only get developer WaterMelon Co. to its $139,000 goal, but to exceed every stretch goal set by the developer.

That means the released game will be a "Directors Cut" with additional material. It also means Pier Solar HD will be released on Android, Ouya, and Wii U. Everyone who backed the project will get a digital copy of "One Year at WaterMelon," a video documentary about the development of Pier Solar HD and two other SNES and Genesis projects.

Southend Interactive's adorable bipartisan platformer/puzzle game, ilomilo, has made its way to Microsoft's latest operating system, in the form of ilomilo plus. Available on the Windows 8-centric Windows Store for $6.99, plus is an enhanced port of the XBLA version of the game, with two new characters, additional creatures, new cubes, more chapters and support for keyboard, touchscreen and gamepad control schemes.

That last bit means you'll be able to play ilomilo plus on your new Surface for Windows RT and/or Surface Pro without shelling out $100-plus for one the available hardware keyboards.

Activision may have skipped its annual five-day totaling of Call of Duty sales, but the publisher announced this morning the latest installment, Black Ops 2, grossed $1 billion in 15 days.

The publisher announced shortly after Call of Duty Black Ops 2's launch the annual blockbuster made $500 million in 24 hours at retail, eclipsing Modern Warfare 3's record of $400 million the year prior. The lack of a five-day total, which the company had done for three years running, gave some analysts "cause for concern" that Black Ops 2 wasn't selling as well as previous installments.

Seeking a new way to contextualize the achievement, Activision noted the $1 billion milestone was achieved faster than James Cameron's Avatar, which in 2009 reached a billion in ticket sales in 17 days. Modern Warfare 3 reached the one billion milestone in 16 days.

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Google Maps and Panorama View are coming to the Japanese Wii U eShop next year, the former in January and the latter in Spring. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata showcased the apps during this morning's Nintendo Direct for Japan, including giving us a helmet-cam angle of Panorama View with the above very stylish setup.

Nintendo first unveiled Panorama View at this year's E3. As shown by the post-break vid by our Engadget pals, the app plays pre-recorded videos set in various environments, such as a London bus tour or a scuba dive. The added twist is you can view the environments in all 360 of their degrees, this done by pointing the GamePad around like a camera. Panorama View is scheduled for Spring 2013 in Japan, and is expected to head West too.

Iwata also unveiled Google Maps for Wii U, showing how its Street View functionality works with the GamePad in much the same way as Panorama View. The app is coming to Japan's eShop in late January, and will be free until the end of March.

Update: Google Maps will hit the US eShop in Q1 of 2013.

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Today sees a trio of Nintendo Direct broadcasts stream their way onto our monitors, kicking off with one for Japan this morning. The Wii U launches there this weekend, so it's no great surprise this particular Direct focuses on Nintendo's newest system.

Our advice is that you sit back, make yourself comfortable, grab us those cheese puffs, and watch the stream here when it starts broadcasting at 6AM ET (3AM Pacific, 11AM Brit-time).

As for the North American and European Nintendo Directs, both are scheduled for 12PM ET (9AM Pacific, 5PM Brit-time), and both will feature upcoming Wii U and 3DS games. We'll have all the news for you from all three broadcasts right here on Joystiq.

Update: The broadcast is now over, but you can watch all 44 minutes of it here. Nintendo showed off Japan's collection of launch games, with plenty of time in particular given to Pikmin 3 and Game and Wario. Regards the latter, Nintendo president Saturo Iwata revealed it features 16 minigames in total and is coming to Japan in early 2013.

Talking of Iwata, as usual he got up to some antics, including wearing a helmet-cam to show off Panorama View, and appearing in uncanny Lego form for Lego City Undercover, as pictured after the break.

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Mykah, whose work on the Triforce of Bass we've covered before, has returned with a new video game album. This time, Mykah turns his focus on the Kirby series, giving us Kirby's Bassface, a five-track EP remixing some of the pink puffball's classic tunes. The album takes on several recognizable themes, including Green Greens and, our personal favorite, a percussive, wobbly rendition of King Dedede's theme.

You can listen to the album for free right here. It's available for purchase for $5.

People with expensive home theater set-ups and/or insane people who listen to music through television speakers now have yet another option when using their Xbox as a weird internet radio device. Specifically, subscription-based streaming music service Rhapsody has launched a new app, which is available now for anyone with Xbox Live Gold and a (paid) Rhapsody account.

The app includes access to Rhapsody's full music library, allowing users to access playlists they've constructed on other devices. It also supports gesture and voice commands via Kinect, which sounds good on paper, but we're going to withhold final judgement until we've tested whether our Girls' Generation choreography practice is falsely interpreted as interface navigation.