China is considering ending their ban on game consoles
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
After nearly thirteen years of not allowing companies to sell their game consoles in the country, China’s seven ministries that originally banned the sale of gaming devices (under the guise that they would harm the mental development of children) are reportedly considering ending the prohibition.
The news comes from the China Daily, which says that the country’s “Ministry of Culture” is holding discussions and would need to get all seven organizations to agree on the idea before it could be enacted into law. The most important thing about the news story, though, is that Chinese kids who perhaps had an N64 before the ban in 2000 would all of a sudden be rocketed up to the Wii U and have their minds completely blown, which is an experience of which we can all be jealous.
Last chance to get New Super Mario Bros. 2’s Gold Classics Pack for free
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
Reminder: New Super Mario Bros. 2’s Gold Classics Pack is still free. On Friday though, the DLC will become a paid item.
The Gold Classics Pack features three courses based on Mario games of old. You’ll encounter remakes of Super Mario Bros.’s World 1-1 and 1-2 along with other classic areas.
Media Create: Top 30 best-selling games of 2012, hardware totals
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Podcast Stories, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
Media Create sent out its own set of data for the top 30 best-selling games of last year. The Japanese sales tracker also published hardware figures for 2012.
Both sets of data can be found below.
Software sales
Rank | Title | 2012 sales Tot. sales | Sys. | Publisher |
01. | Pokémon Black/White 2 | 2,919,977 2,919,977 | DS | Pokémon Co. |
02. | Animal Crossing: New Leaf | 1,969,955 2,919,977 | 3DS | Nintendo |
03. | New Super Mario Bros. 2 | 1,743,791 1,743,791 | 3DS | Nintendo |
04. | Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry’s Wonderland 3D | 919,870 919,870 | 3DS | Square Enix |
05. | Resident Evil 6 | 833,012 833,012 | PS3 | Capcom |
06. | One Piece: Pirate Warriors | 828,150 828,150 | PS3 | Namco Bandai |
07. | Mario Kart 7 | 748,797 1,908,966 | 3DS | Nintendo |
08. | Super Mario 3D Land | 689,374 1,769,566 | 3DS | Nintendo |
09. | Mario Party 9 | 641,348 641,348 | Wii | Nintendo |
10. | Dragon Quest X | 609,783 609,783 | Wii | Square Enix |
11. | Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate | 602,058 1,587,556 | 3DS | Capcom |
12. | Yakuza 5 | 518,224 518,224 | PS3 | Sega |
13. | Dragon’s Dogma | 467,375 467,375 | PS3 | Capcom |
14. | Fire Emblem: Awakening | 455,268 455,268 | 3DS | Nintendo |
15. | Tales of Xillia 2 | 428,913 428,913 | PS3 | Namco Bandai |
16. | Paper Mario: Sticker Star | 402,133 402,133 | 3DS | Nintendo |
17. | Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 | 399,340 399,340 | PS3 | Konami |
18. | Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates of Infinity | 373,699 373,699 | 3DS | Pokémon Co. |
19. | New Super Mario Bros. U | 369,392 369,392 | WiiU | Nintendo |
20. | Wii Sports Resort (w/ MotionPlus pack-in) | 358,627 1,161,600 | Wii | Nintendo |
21. | The 2nd Super Robot Taisen Z | 344,018 344,018 | PSP | Namco Bandai |
22. | Pokémon Conquest | 341,250 341,250 | DS | Pokémon Co. |
23. | Taiko Drum Master: The Little Dragon and the Mysterious Orb | 340,533 340,533 | 3DS | Namco Bandai |
24. | Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City | 338,889 338,889 | PS3 | Capcom |
25. | Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance | 338,812 338,812 | 3DS | Square Enix |
26. | Run for Money Tousouchuu | 337,472 337,472 | 3DS | Namco Bandai |
27. | Taiko Drum Master: Super Splendid Edition | 321,959 321,959 | Wii | Namco Bandai |
28. | Kid Icarus: Uprising | 316,133 316,133 | 3DS | Nintendo |
29. | Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone – Neppuu/Raimei | 314,016 314,016 | 3DS | Level 5 |
30. | Resident Evil: Revelations | 296,040 296,040 | 3DS | Capcom |
TOTAL Hardware sales to date (lifetime):
PlayStation 2 – 21,833,215
Wii – 12,638,836
PSP – 19,453,023
Nintendo 3DS – 7,689,512
Nintendo 3DS XL – 2,090,372
PlayStation 3 – 8,860,082
PlayStation Vita – 1,130,820
Xbox 360 – 1,613,832
[Video Opinion] “Where did all the color go?” – A trailer analysis of Monolith Soft’s “X”
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast Stories, Videos, Wii U | 2 Comments
I made this video back on Wednesday (hence why it sounds like I thought the Nintendo Direct was “today”) but neglected to put it up because I feel as though its production values are rather low. Still, I think I trust you guys to be able to look passed the low recording quality and poor editing just this once to see the point I’m trying to make. What’s the point I’m trying to make?
Xenoblade is way more colorful (and in my opinion better looking) than Monolith Soft’s new game “X”. I think “X” looks like baloney visually, even if the game will be good for other aspects.
We have one or two more features coming today and this is the least important of them so I’m just tossing it up in the afternoon willy nilly. Expect a new ‘Two People Playin’ Games’ beta episode and a new ‘Here’s a Podcast’ later tonight!
Nintendo planning “emergency” online maintenance for Monday
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, DS, News, Podcast Stories, Wii Shop Channel, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
On Monday, Nintendo will carry out “emergency” maintenance for its various online services. The Wii U eShop, 3DS eShop, DSi Shop, and Wii Shop Channel will all be inaccessible. Additionally, the Pokemon Black/White and Pokemon Black/White 2 services will be affected, as will Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper’s online functionality.
Most of the maintenance will start and end on Monday. The full downtime listings can be found below.
2013 GDC Awards – Nominees announced
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
The GDC awards are a pretty big deal, because it’s one of the few gaming awards shows that isn’t chosen by the public and isn’t chosen by some big name media company (like the VGAs)– the winners of this award are chosen by developers, for developers. Winning one of these means your peers who work in the same industry as you think highly of your product, and that’s a pretty cool thing!
You can find the nominees for all of the GDC Awards this year (which happens on March 27th at GDC) after the jump.
A poetic story about Earthbound from series creator Shigesato Itoi
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
At first glance something like this comes off as a little “odd”, but when you get passed the weird translation oddities and the stigma of being weirdly artistic in this industry, I think this sort of thing is super awesome to see from a developer. The following is a (long) piece written by Earthbound series creator Shigesato Itio where he tells you exactly what the games mean to him as a person. It’s a pleasant little read if you’ve got some time to kill!
You can find it all after the break actually, since it’s pretty long.
How to gather Spirit Bomb energy in Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
There are two main ways to collect energy for a Spirit Bomb in Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission.
The first is by playing a roulette mini-game, which hands out small bursts of energy. If you land on the same image three times, you’ll gain a bonus.
There’s another way of building the bomb attack. You can obtain energy from others via a StreetPass training feature in Story Mode. When the Spirit Bomb is ready to go, it can be used for the next battle you partake in.
It’s official: THQ is no more, as approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
It’s something of a sad day for the gaming industry today– well, it’s been a sad few weeks anyhow– because THQ is finally, officially, irreversably gone. The U.S. Bankruptcy court approved the sale of many of the publisher’s properties to studios like Take Two, Ubisoft, and SEGA, and those that weren’t sold (Darksiders, we’re looking at you!) are being closed and added to THQ’s chapter 11 filing.
Platinum Games yesterday expressed some brief interest in purchasing the Darksiders brand “on the cheap”, but there’s no word on whether or not that will actually happen.
Super C’s 3DS VC release has 2-player download play support
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
The 3DS Virtual Console release of Super C has a special feature. In the VC menu, you’ll come across a “Start Download Play” option that allows you to experience the game with a friend. Note that doing so disables restore points.