Nintendo UK on Xenoblade X’s audience and marketing, pleased with Xenoblade 3D’s performance
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in New Nintendo 3DS, News, Wii U | 131 Comments
Nintendo has one more big Wii U game due out in the west this year: Xenoblade Chronicles X. The massive RPG will be released towards the very beginning of next month.
Speaking with MCV, Nintendo UK product manager Gemma Hall sounded off on who Xenoblade Chronicles X is intended for, and how the company will go about marketing the title:
“Xenoblade Chronicles X will speak to anyone who loves epic RPGs, as it has everything you could want from a big sweeping sci-fi adventure, with rich diverse landscapes, deep customization options, a unique battling system, and a host of memorable characters. We are therefore not only targeting it towards fans of the original Xenoblade Chronicles, but to broader JRPG fans looking for their next epic RPG adventure. The game is visually sumptuous and will demand the attention of genre fans.
We will be focusing activity initially around Xenoblade Chronicles fans, and then broadening out to wider RPG fans with a tightly targeted digital campaign. Due to the highly visual nature of this game, we are concentrating on video formats that show off the many stunning facets of the title, including the huge open world, giant alien monsters, and the awesome Skell transformations.
We have a wealth of Wii U games that will be part of our Christmas campaign, including Splatoon and Super Mario Maker. However, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a more serious RPG offering, with stunning graphics and sweeping sci-fi story, and so we expect this to open up the Wii U to the more hardcore RPG audience who won’t want to miss out on this future genre classic.”
Zelda: Skyward Sword gets exclusive Dark Horse Comics statues at GameStop, EB Games
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii | 4 Comments
A pair of new statues based on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword came out at GameStop and EB Games just a few days ago. There’s one featuring Link as well as the robotic, skeletal pirate Scervo. Pricing is set at $79.99 ($119.99 CAD) and $124.99 ($139.99 CAD) respectively.
If you’re in North America, you can order the statues here. Canadian gamers can grab them here.
Walmart: Animal Crossing New 3DS bundle for $179, 2DS for $79
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, News | 0 comments
Two Nintendo deals are up on Walmart. The Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer New 3DS bundle is on sale for $179, a $41 discount. You can also save $51 on the Electric Blue and Crimson Red 2DS systems, which are $79 each.
Splatoon art book shows an unused coal mine area
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 3 Comments
Japan’s Splatoon art book has all sorts of lovely goodies. A couple of weeks back, an image surfaced of unused urinal warp zones. That isn’t the only interesting find from the book though.
Above is a look at an area left on the cutting room floor. At one point, the developers were toying around with an idea for a coal mine. While it didn’t make it into the final game, it could be neat to see it implemented somehow in the future!
More: Splatoon
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash has a 1.0.1 update
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 5 Comments
If you picked up Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash yesterday, you may have noticed that an update for the game could be downloaded. Nintendo brought out version 1.0.1 in time for its launch. It doesn’t do too much though, as the Big N says of the patch: “Adjustments have been made to make for a more pleasant gaming experience.”
Bloo Kid 2 has earned most of its revenue on 3DS
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 7 Comments
Bloo Kid 2 has appeared on several platforms since last March. Yet the 3DS version has managed to generate the most sales, earning 36 percent of the overall revenue.
Bloo Kid 2 has sold over 5,500 copies through the eShop. Because of the title’s performance, it covered all of the developer’s costs.
winterworks wrote in a blog post:
The 3DS version was a rough ride. I was super happy when we were accepted as a developer for Nintendo platforms (dream come true!) so I ordered the dev-hardware and got my hands dirty at once.
The Monkey-X framework cannot target the 3DS hardware, so I had to create an own 3DS target build. I also had to rearrange resource-loading and add more UI-screens for the 3DS’ second display as well as change a lot of stuff for the stereoscopic 3D-effect.I got major help from my former colleague Florian Eisele, who will be working closely with me on future projects. He did all the hardware-related coding so that I could focus on adopting the game to the new display and input possibilities of the 3DS. We had a version running within days, but it took us many additional weeks to iron out every problem like running out of video RAM or occasional framerate drops.
In the end, it totally paid off. We now have a Nintendo 3DS title in our portfolio! And the game sold well enough to cover all our costs.
More: Bloo Kid 2, indie, sales, winterworks
Project X Zone 2 sold through 60% of its initial shipment in Japan
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 12 Comments
According to Dengeki’s own sales numbers, Project X Zone 2 sold just over 37,000 copies in its first week in Japan (fairly close to Media Create’s figure of 41,000 copies). The site also says that the game managed to sell through 60 percent of its initial shipment.
So what should we make of these numbers? Well, Dengeki has the original Project X Zone at 78,000 copies sold in its first week, and lifetime sales of 140,000 units total. Sales for the sequel do seem to be a bit sluggish thus far. If the performance of the first Project X Zone is anything to go by, the second entry may end up doing better in the west.
More: Bandai Namco, Japan, Monolith Soft, Project X Zone 2, sales
Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends now due out in December
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 5 Comments
Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends was originally planned for release earlier this week. That didn’t happen though, and it seems as though the game has gone through a slight delay.
All your favorite Kung Fu characters are here! Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends arrives this December~ pic.twitter.com/eBPSkAQDuM
— Little Orbit (@littleorbit) November 9, 2015
Little Orbit has said on Twitter that Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends is due out in December. A specific date wasn’t announced, but it should be launching pretty soon.
Thanks to Lolo for the tip.
Moco Moco Friends gameplay
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 3 Comments
On Tuesday, Aksys Games brought out Moco Moco Friends in North America. A lengthy gameplay video has now been issued, which you can watch below.
More: Aksys Games, Moco Moco Friends
Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon footage
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 1 Comment
Yesterday, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon made its debut in North America. Watch a bunch of footage from the title below.









