Nintendo ushers in the new year with seven new downloadable games for the Wii and DSi, including Final Fight 3, Hell's Kitchen Vs., and five titles you've likely never heard of.

Even Hell's Kitchen Vs. for DSiWare (800 DSi Points) is a stretch, as I can't imagine I am in the majority when it comes to crossover fans of downloadable DSi titles and Gordon Ramsay's reality cooking show. I also can't imagine the game being anything like the show, especially with that E for everyone rating. How will I know my risotto is shit?

Hell's Kitchen is joined by two puzzle games on DSiWare this week, Nintendo's missile-firing Trajectile (500 points) and Aksys's Animal Puzzle Adventure (500 points), which sees players leading animals to barns while avoiding cliffs and other pitfalls. Totilo informs me that Trajectile is actually developed by Q-Games of PixelJunk fame, and is "so far, very good."

This week's WiiWare titles are all new to me. Triangle Studios' Heron: Steam Machine (500 Wii Points) is a game about managing steam pressure in a rubber ducky factory. Then we've got Big Blue Bubble's Pub Darts (500 points), which is about throwing darts at a pub, go figure. Finally, Digital Leisure whips out Fast Draw Showdown (500 points), a gun-slinging game that has you trying to out-draw the fastest guns in the West, or die trying. Fast Draw Showdown uses actual actors as targets, so you know it's got to be a quality product!

Finally (pun semi-intended) we've got Final Fight 3 for the Super Nintendo on the Virtual Console (800 points), which is of course the North American version of Final Fight 6, unless I am getting my Final games mixed up again.

And so begins the third year of the Nintendo Download. Are we off to a good start, or are things just warming up?

Nintendo DSiWare

Trajectile
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: Trajectile is a puzzle game that's as much about firepower as it is about brainpower, requiring you to line up your shot and launch a flurry of missiles at enemy targets. Three types of missiles are at your disposal, each one with its own characteristics - but all of them can bounce off walls on their path to smash, blast or drill through enemies and blocks. Along the way, you'll find item blocks just waiting to be destroyed so that you can obtain special power-ups ... and cause even more destruction. Be careful though, as missile type and position are predetermined and you get only a limited number of launches per stage. Complete multiple classes containing numerous individual stages, earning medals when you clear stages in fewer than the given number of turns. Are you ready to take aim at becoming a Trajectile master?

Animal Puzzle Adventure
Publisher: Aksys Games
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Mild Suggestive Themes
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Animal Puzzle Adventure is a simple puzzle game where you have to lead various animals to their respective barns placed on the map, while avoiding pitfalls and cliffs and using the objects on the field to your advantage. There are 10 stages per level with a total of five levels, creating 50 stages in all. After clearing a stage, you unlock a piece of a photo. Once you clear all 10 stages in a level, the wallpaper for that level becomes unlocked and you can then view it in the gallery. With so many puzzles to unravel, you'll find yourself immersed in the puzzle-riffic world of Animal Puzzle Adventure.

Hell's Kitchen Vs.
Publisher: Ludia
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Hell's Kitchen Vs. is based on the U.S. TV phenomenon where world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay puts aspiring chefs through rigorous culinary tests. The game recreates the show's pressure-cooker atmosphere as two players battle head-to-head in an arcade-style kitchen challenge. Try to conquer your opponent in each time-management test, while taking the heat of Gordon Ramsay judging and rating your performance at every stage of the game.

WiiWare

Heron: Steam Machine
Publisher: Triangle Studios
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points™
Description: Heron: Steam Machine is a game about a factory where rubber duckies are being produced by a large steam engine. On this steam engine, there are four different gauges which you will have to watch carefully. By connecting the pipes, you will earn points and relieve some of the pressure, keeping the machine running just a little bit longer. If one of the gauges reaches its maximum, the machine will eventually blow up, and the game is over. If you were lucky enough to achieve a high score, make sure you enter your name in the list so other players can compete with you. In Multiplayer, you are able to cooperate with friends in maintaining the steam machine. When you play with two, three or four players, the screen is divided into sections with different background colors. Each player is able to solve his or her own part of the puzzle. Players are restricted to their own section of the screen, ...