Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in New Nintendo 3DS, Videos | 0 comments

Nintendo has prepared another commercial for the New 3DS XL, which should begin airing soon in North America if it hasn’t already. You can check it out below.

More: commercial

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 1 Comment

When LEGO Marvel’s Avengers was announced earlier in the year, Warner Bros. Interactive stated that the title would be available this fall. Those plans have since changed. Along with the new trailer sent out today, Warner Bros. announced that LEGO Marvel’s Avengers will ship sometime this winter.

Source

More: LEGO Marvel's Avengers, TT Games, Warner Bros. Interactive

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 0 comments

WayForward has confirmed on Twitter that the New 3DS update for Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse is launching in North America tomorrow. Previously, the patch came to Europe last week.

WayForward’s tweet is as follows:

The Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse New 3DS update adds a couple of features. Here’s a brief summary from WayForward:

-Use ZL or ZR to quickly swap between Inventory and Map screens.
-Use the Right Control Stick to “Quick Select” your magic and items.
-Tap the Touch Screen at any time to revert to Original controls.
-Owners of original Nintendo 3DS or 3DS XL can also access these features by connecting the Circle Pad Pro accessory.

Source

More: indie, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, title update, WayForward

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 13 Comments

GameSpot has a new interview up with Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime. Reggie was asked about a variety of topics, including classic games for 3DS, why the standard New 3DS didn’t come to North America, and more. He also left a tease stating that more 3DS announcements are coming past E3.

Head past the break for the full Q&A. GameSpot’s full piece is located here.

Read More

More: E3 2015, interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News | 7 Comments

In an interview with USgamer, SEGA producer Omar Woodley spoke about the future of the Sonic franchise. Woodley indicated that there are plans for both modern Sonic and legacy Sonic (Boom and the other side handled by the Sonic Team).

He said:

“Sonic Boom is meant to branch away from the classic/legacy Sonic. Our plan is to go forward with both the modern Sonic and the legacy Sonic, but the Sonic Team will handle the legacy side of things in Japan. For us, the Western initiatives will tie into the toys, merchandizing, animation – movies potentially even. We’re branching out into the more upbeat adventure style theme for Sonic Boom.”

“Our main target audience is 7-11, but what we saw when we released the first game is that Sonic fans picked it up. That’s a challenge: you’ve got your older audience and younger audience, but the older fans had a harder time getting into it, because it they’re so used to classic and legacy Sonic, and that’s what they thought Shattered Crystal was going to be.”

“It can be tricky sometimes. You’re developing a game that is for an intended audience, but we have a legacy group of people that played the Genesis and Megadrive games. Then you have the audience that played the Dreamcast and GameCube era games. Then you have the modern, younger audience. Each of these three groups is looking for something slightly different. Our challenge is how do you make a game that appeals to everybody. That everyone can play and say, “I like this.” That’s the challenge we’re working with.”

“We have all the Sonic Boom stuff, but we also do classic lines of stuff. There’s all sorts of merchandizing that’s designed to appeal to the older audience and the younger audience. When we first announced the Sonic Boom initiative, the fans were all, “why is Knuckles so big, and why does Sonic have a scarf”. All these little things. But we said, “don’t worry, we’re not taking the old Sonic and getting rid of him.” The original Sonic design is still here and he’s here to stay. They’re just two separate universes that are running parallel to one another.”

“We’re thinking bigger than just the video game. We want to branch out into the Western market a bit more and update Sonic’s look and appeal to a younger age group – the new gamers. And so we wanted to do something exploration-based. We didn’t want to just reboot the classic series. We wanted to do something new – and not alienate the classic players.”

Woodley also commented on issues that were present in the first Sonic Boom, which were presumably directed towards the Shattered Crystal on 3DS.

“I think we went a bit too far with the exploration in the last game. There were a lot of speed runs and rhythm play sections, but they were so spread out you lost that speed aspect of the game. That was one of the big things that people complained about – “if you slow down Sonic, it doesn’t feel like Sonic.” Now we’re trying to fix that. We want to keep what’s going on in the animated series, the adventure and exploration, but we also want to keep the feel of classic Sonic. So now we’ve made the levels smaller, and cut a linear path through them, and plugged in all the classic Sonic pieces, and now the game feels more like the classic game.”

Source

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 3 Comments

USgamer published a new article with a whole bunch of details about the just-announced Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice. You can find the information rounded up below, and the full piece here.

– Game is being tightened up compared to last year’s release

Sega producer Omar Woodley:

“We launched Sonic Boom as a new franchise last year with Shattered Crystal, at the same time as a new animated series that airs on Cartoon Network. Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice is the next episode in conjunction with the animated series.”

“We’re developing the game with Sanzaru Games, who also did Shattered Crystal. We think that they grasp the concept of Sonic, and what makes him unique. They also got on board with Sonic being more exploratory and having more adventure instead of that classic arcadey feel of gameplay. That’s not to say we distance ourselves from that – there is quite a bit of speed in the new game, and quite a bit of the same nostalgia that’s familiar, but new. But in a nutshell, this is a new franchise.”

“A lot of the characters are shared between the series and the game. Sticks is the new character – she’s a jungle badger. She’s a bit of a hermit, but she befriends Sonic and Amy, and they help to bring her out of her shell. She’s very shy and a bit neurotic, and thinks everyone is out to kill her. But she’s a cool character who’s very different to the other Sonic characters.”

– 2.5D platformer
– Exploration toned down
– More speed compared to the last game on 3DS
– Cut back on the length and size of levels
– There is now a linear path

“So we’ve dialed down the length and the size of the levels and cut a linear path through the middle. The exploration now happens above and below it. So now you can have that classic experience of running through the level at high speed if you want, but now you can also explore too.”

– Lots of collectibles
– These are tied up in the exploration aspect
– Collectibles unlock things like characters and bonuses
– 7 islands
– 6 are exploration-based and feature 4 levels plus 2 bonus stages
– Seventh island is Thunder Island
– Thunder Island is a 2-player local-play option that is based on a race between Eggman’s bots

“Basically, Eggman has found a new element called Ragnium, which he melts down and combusts as fuel. These bots, which are henchmen in the animated series, have been brought into this game as rival racers. Eggman’s goal is to humiliate Sonic by making bots that are faster than him. Of course that whole plot fails… but to do that you need to beat all the bots in the game to prove Eggman is wrong – there’s one on each island. As you progress, you unlock character bots that can then be used to race your friends in local play on the crazy courses we’ve designed.”

“The main story follows a henchman called Defect. He’s been designed by Eggman to find Ragnium and mine it. He has these eco magnets that are supposed to enable him to raise it out of the ground. However, when Eggman turns him on, it totally fails – which is why he’s called Defect. However, it turns out that he can magnetize everything other than Ragnium, so he begins to use his powers to build himself up so he can beat Sonic. Also, part of the storyline is that as Eggman collects Ragnium, he’s polluting the environment. So part of the game is restoring the environment – which is an homage to the original Sonic games.”

Read More

More: details roundup, Sanzaru Games, SEGA, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 61 Comments

Activision has officially said that Call of Duty: Black Ops III won’t be on Wii U. Although the game is now confirmed to be for both last-gen and current-gen hardware, Nintendo’s console won’t be included as one of the platforms receiving the new shooter.

A notice on Activision’s blog states: “it should be noted that there’s no version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 for Nintendo Wii U planned.”

Even though there was some small talk about the possibility of Call of Duty: Black Ops III coming to Wii U, I suppose we shouldn’t be shocked by this. Advanced Warfare didn’t land on the console, so I suppose Activision is setting a new precedent.

Source

More: Activision, Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 3 Comments

Before Smash Bros. Wii U and 3DS hit store shelves, Nintendo said that all characters in the game would be seeing their own amiibo. So it comes as no surprise that retailer GAME has put up tentative listings for both Mewtwo and Lucas. They’re DLC, but still characters in the game, so this was ultimately expected. Maybe Nintendo will have something to say about this at E3 next week.

Source

More: Amiibo, GAME

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Screenshots | 2 Comments

SEGA has released the first handful of screenshots from Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice. Check them out below.

More: Sanzaru Games, SEGA, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 1 Comment

Warner Bros. Interactive released the first trailer for LEGO Marvel’s Avengers. View it below.

More: LEGO Marvel's Avengers, TT Games, Warner Bros. Interactive