It might never get released in the States, but that won't stop MTV's Stephen Totilo from dissecting Freshly Picked: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, the Nintendo DS anti-Zelda game that's, apparently, all about the Benjamins.

According to Totilo, Rosy Rupeeland makes money the center of everything. Tingle's health meter doubles as his wallet, which means players are taking damage every time they spend money. This would be a minor problem, except that Rosy Rupeeland turns practically every interaction into a transaction. The game even allows you to sell your in-game map, sacrificing navigational assistance for a few extra rupees.

As if that wasn't cruel enough, characters who are gracious enough to pay you actually ask how much you want, and either chastise you for asking too much or mock you for asking too little. Totilo argues that the game seeks to undermine the good-natured currency exchange of normal Zelda titles by making the player stress about money. Maybe it's the American capitalism talking, but sign us up. Anyone else have a renewed interest in Tingle and his Rosy Rupeeland?

European and Japanese game, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland has a new trailer showing the too-hot-for-America RPG. While no U.S. release has been mentioned, Tingle importers should at least be able to read the English in the European version, due September 14. That's assuming fans of Tingle can read.

We can't imagine Tingle not getting a U.S. release after the work has been done for the European localization. But maybe our myopic tastes make Nintendo nervous. (See the last sentence of the previous paragraph for an example.)

Watch the new trailer after the break.

Nintendo Europe has officially announced that Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland will be heading to the DS there on Sept. 14. They did mention this before, but now it's like really official because it came in a press release. We currently have no release info from Nintendo of America, which kinda makes us wonder what is it about this game that's fine for European sensibilities, but not OK for America? They don't think we can handle a middle-aged man-boy in a spandex suit? The game's already in English, we're sure we can get over words being misspelled like colour and favourite, it doesn't have to be American localized. Then again, US gamers can always just import the game from Europe and it'll work just fine -- except for the misspellings.

In all seriousness, Nintendo Europe needs to stop releasing their "European" information in British £ only form. Dear European readers, it's not us, it's them. Nintendo says the game will retail for £25, a quick check on German Amazon.de shows the game will be €35. And so Americans have no idea when to expect the Tingle RPG and Nintendo of Europe can't seem to learn how to write a press release using the majority currency of the continent -- we sense Tingle magic is afoot.

FINALLY! After a year of waiting, Tingle's trusty UK fanbase will be appeased with the release of Freshly Picked - Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland on September 14.

Originally released in Japan in September 2006, Freshly Picked is a unique action RPG that has Tingle traveling to various islands, solving puzzles and battling enemies all in the pursuit of rupees. Given the title character's poor standing with western audiences, we're as surprised as anyone that this Zelda spinoff is being localized for the English market, and didn't just stay in Japan as we all hoped thought it would.

Well before Tingle-mania reaches their shores, European DS owners will also be getting a handful of first-rate portable titles. Metroid Prime Pinball was just released this past week; Brain Age 2 will be landing on June 29 (well before the North American launch date); Elite Beat Agents is out on July 13th, and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl will be taking over the lives of British children on July 27.

Nintendo has launched the official website (in Japanese) for the upcoming Zelda spinoff, Tingle's Pink-colored Rupee Land, an RPG for DS. Say it with us: Tingle's. Pink-colored. Rupee. Land.

Recently, GameSpot shed some light on the title, referring to the game by its Japanese name 'Mogitate Tingle no Barairo Happy Land,' or literally, "A Fresh Tingle's Rose-Colored Happy Land":

"[The] game's plot apparently follows an average middle-aged guy ... [who] finds himself mixed up in a sort of wager. An old man named Rupee-ji ... invites our hero to collect the familiar currency of Hyrule and toss it into the spring. As a result, he opens up a path to the 'Happy Land,' a paradise where wine, women, and song are in ample supply. As soon as he agrees to give it a try, the protagonist is transformed and appears wearing the familiar Tingle outfit."

[Via 1up; visit DS Fanboy for more details]

Sorry about being late on this, I had a gaseous expenditure of the cerebral cortex. It was a close week, but only one comic can win* -- Dueling Analogs and their topical strip about Link being voted "hottest male video game character" by Out magazine. 2nd place went to Concerned and 3rd is owned by Extra Life.

Honorable mention (as we forgot to include them -- not that it seemed to matter) goes to Penny Arcade. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know (via comments below, preferably) of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!

* - unless in the unlikely situation that two winning comics win the exact same number of votes ... and that would be seriously cool.