Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Though Nintendo may kindly ask you not to, a Wii U owner seems to have stumbled upon a simple-yet-ingenious way of using an SD card to play Wii U games off of: By using a USB SD card reader. Check out the video:

Keep in mind that if something goes wrong in this process, Nintendo can’t be held responsible. They told users a week or so ago that, while you can play games off of a flash drive, they don’t recommend it because flash drives can only take so many read/write cycles before they turn to junk. It’s much safer to use a hard drive!

Via VideoGamer

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Podcast Stories, Reviews, Wii U | 0 comments

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Survival horror has made its triumphant return to consoles.

(Note: This is a review of the single player. Multiplayer is pretty much exactly what you’d expect.)

I’ve been playing ZombiU constantly over the last two days, and when I first started out I considered myself nothing more than certifiably intrigued. A couple of hours in, and I went from intrigued to impressed. A few hours on top of that and I was enthralled. Add an hour or two more and I found myself legitimately surprised that I was enjoying the game as much as I was. I had read in so many places that at best it was “fun-but-flawed”, and I had damn-near convinced myself that such a label was “good enough”, and very admirable for a launch title.

When it comes down to it though– and I do NOT say this lightly– I’ve ended up thinking that ZombiU is one of the best survival horror games I have ever had the immense pleasure of playing.

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Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 0 comments

If you want to know all about the Wii U, this is the episode to watch! We talk about our impressions of ZombiU, NSMBU, Sonic All Stars Racing, SiNG Party, Nintend0 Land, and Call of Duty Black Ops 2. It’s all Wii U, all the time! And some regular news, of course…

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Nothing too much to say about this one other than that it was a very good, clean podcast! Thanks for the questions all, and we hope you enjoy hearing our impressions of all the games and features.

~Austin

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, Podcast Stories, Reviews | 0 comments

Note: This is the very first review written by podcast crew member Laura. Be nice, but be sure to let us know if it’s really terrible so we can fire her.

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We all grew up with that love-able talking mouse who charms his way through any situation, right? Well, he’s back again with another ‘Epic Mickey’ installment, only this time he’s charming his way across side scrolling platforms.

With a lot of gaming franchises you’ll end up seeing a poorly-transferred version of a console game come out for the handheld device of the time, presumably for some easy money. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion takes that idea and gives it more hope. While the game has quite a few flaws, it carries many of the same elements as the original console game but at the same time holds strong on its own. Disney Interactive Studios has created a whole new game for the 3DS that fits with in the Epic Mickey world, and instead of trying to recreate an entire console game and shrink it down for a handheld device, they used the transfer to their advantage.

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Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Podcast Stories, Reviews, Wii | 0 comments

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Exploration platforming makes its extensively flawed return, but do the pros outweigh the cons? It’s a strong “maybe”.

I’ve said about the first Epic Mickey that it was a flawed, but ultimately deeply engaging exploration platforming experience. We don’t have enough of the genre these days, so when the inevitable sequel to the game– tag-lined “The Power of Two”– was announced, I felt quite a bit of reserved excitement. If Junction Point could manage to take the good of the first game, strike out the bad, and add just a few minor touches, we would have this generation’s Banjo Kazooie. After playing the game, I still stand by that concept.

The problem is that they didn’t do it.

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Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

I can’t confirm or deny this since I already updated mine, but the following comes from a reddit post by user hlazlo:

“Just a heads up for people who want to play their new console immediately and still update it.

Last night, I set mine up and hit “cancel” at the first mention of the update. We played Nintendoland for a while and then I went to update it. To my surprise, it skipped downloading and simply started installing it. It took less than 15 minutes.”

Others in the comments went on to confirm this, and I can confirm that the Wii U will download other, game-specific updates in the background. If you’re worried about the hour-long update taking a while, you may be able to let out a sigh of relief yet!

Via Reddit

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

David Yarnton has finally been replaced (nooooo!) and Nintendo of Europe has a new general manager: Simon Kemp. Kemp does not come from a background of gaming companies, but instead worked in television and business marketing departments. Even still, he has the “Nintendo is the best” chit chat style down already:

“I’m extremely excited to be joining Nintendo UK at such a pivotal moment. With the launch of Wii U Nintendo is once again changing the way everyone will play games at home, it’s a fantastic time to be here. Nintendo UK also has an extremely talented team in place already and I am very much looking forward to leading & working with each and every one of them.” – Nintendo of Europe general manager Simon Kemp

I wonder how soon after they’re hired Nintendo teaches their employees the “changing the way everyone will play games” line…

Via CVG

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

On Wii, there were several different ways you could change the color of a Mii’s pants. Favoriting a Mii gave it red pants, sending it to another Wii gave it blue, and not doing anything at all gave them grey pants. Slightly confusing, but mostly pretty straightforward! Here’s how the pants color system works on Wii U:

Red Pants

– Your user Mii wears red pants/gold crown icon
– Other users’ Miis wear red pants/bronze crown icon
– Regular favorited Miis wear red pants/red crown icon

Gray Pants

– All Mii characters initially wear red pants

Blue Pants

– Like on Wii, if you receive a Mii from another system it wears blue pants

Yellow Pants

– Special Miis (distributed by Nintendo) wear yellow pants

Sure is a “Nintendo-y” way of doing pants colors!

Via Kotaku

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Developers certainly know a thing or two more about systems than we do, so when an anonymous source goes to Eurogamer and says that it’s tough to develop for Nintendo’s latest home system, there might be a bit of a problem! No word on who the dev is, but they said that the ‘toolchain’ (the system of tools for developing) on Wii U was fighting them “every step of the way”.

Again, this is an anonymous source who’s working on that ‘key AAA franchise’ we’ve talked about in the past, but it’s unclear if more developers are hitting similar walls. So far we haven’t heard much!

Via NeoGaf

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

“You’re right when you say that both the Wii U and Beyond Good And Evil fit very well, but for now I am only focused on Rayman Legends. That’s [also] why I believe in an incredible Zelda game, the GamePad and classic control fit very well with such action-adventure games.” – Ubisoft’s Michel Ancel

This isn’t confirmation at all, but I’m glad to hear it! Also, it sounds like the response was somewhat prompted by the reviewer in order to get him to mention BG&E with Wii U. This doesn’t mean it’s just a passing phrase, but it also doesn’t lend a lot to the certainty that the game will make it to Nintendo’s new console! Fingers crossed anyhow.

Via ONM