First purple puzzle pieces show up on 3DS Puzzle Swap Quest - and we've got 'em

If you have a 3DS and access to anyone else who has one, you're probably addicted to collecting puzzle pieces. For the uninitiated, every time you 'StreetPass' someone, you get to copy one panel that they have and you don't, until you've made several gorgeous 3D pictures. However, since the recent update that added new panels to collect, there's been a problem - purple panels. Panels you can't find through normal means. Dun dun duuun!

Annoying, right? You can, for example, collect all the pieces around the outside of the Donkey Kong Country Returns pic, leaving a big purple hole where DK's face should be. The 3DS merely tells you they'll be made available at a later time. But look what we've got!

Above: Alright! That's more like it. We hate incomplete things, just like

How did this happen? Turns out employees of Nintendo Europe already have some of the purple pieces! And the panels DO work through StreetPass, meaning if you meet them (or anyone who has), you can take them. So when some game journos visited Nintendo in Germany recently, they picked up 10 of 'em. They told two friends, and they told their friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. You know how these things work (I'm going to stop these Wayne's World references one day, promise).

The result? Purple panels everywhere! But that's no good to you, right? You want to know how you can get them. Well, Nintendo should be sending some out via SpotPass (the Wi-Fi 'download while you sleep' service) soon. In the mean-time, you can either go to Germany and ask to speak to Nintendo's 3DS department, or you can just go to as many gaming events as possible and hope to meet someone who's got them.

Above: We've got to wait for the rest too, so don't feel too hard done by

Of course, we'll bring our 3DSes to any events we attend, so you might just see us there. Keep watching us on Facebook to see where we'll be.