Wii U sales have been nothing but gloom and doom for the past couple of months in the UK, but the console’s recent performance is showing positive signs. The latest issue of MCV reports, through retail sources, that Wii U sales increased nearly 125% last week. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate’s launch and Premium Set price cut from HMV contributed to the boost.

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Miiverse is getting a big expansion in the future; deeper integration in games, more features, etc

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Nintendo is really rolling out the “we’re-a-modern-company-too” artillery this week.

I say that partially in jest because we are very used to Nintendo being a somewhat “old-fashioned” tech company, but by and large the statement of mockery rings very true: With their updated support for HTML, CSS, and Java (all very “hip” development languages), the newly announced iOS-to-Wii U conversion tools, and this massive expansion of Miiverse, it almost feels as thought the Big N is, for better or worse, “getting with the times”. The latter of those three things is the newest announcement, and as of today we have a bunch of details on what they plan to do with Miiverse going forward. Here are the bulletpoints:

– Update will improve interactions with games, create a deeper integration with them
– Send and receive comments, follow users, view followers, etc all from within games
– Launch games at a specific point via Miiverse, such as New Super Mario Bros. U
– If a player tags a specific level in a Miiverse post (say, World 1-2), you could click the tag and start the game at that level to see what they’re talking about
– Miiverse could eventually be coupled with an online datastore, which would allow for “more advanced functions”
– User communities will become more widespread
– Limited access communities would have codes to join, and only those who own the game could join
– This would allow for tournament organization and hosting
– Potential to link “stage editors” to Miiverse, allowing users to direct an entire game from Miiverse (not sure what this implies)
– Nintendo is listening to developer requests on how to extend the Miiverse API to become more beneficial

Sounds like a heck of an improvement to me! Nintendo really seems to want to get back on top. And honestly, that’s sort of the unfortunate truth with the Big N: When they’re in trouble, they work a heck of a lot harder to get back on top. When they’re on top, the quality of their games and support tends to go down.

Via NWR

Game & Wario has “Miiversketch” feature

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Yesterday, Kiyoshi Mizuki revealed an interesting Miivese feature during Nintendo’s Miiverse session at GDC 2013. The game will include the “Miiversketch” feature, a mode that requires players to quickly draw items on the GamePad from memory. Drawings will be added to a special Miiverse board once the designated time expires.

Nintendo demonstrated a couple of examples. In one instance, King Tut was drawn in a matter of 60 seconds. Other drawings involved a camel and a sloth.

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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed gets new patch on Wii U

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

A new patch should be waiting for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on Wii U. It specifically improves motion controls on the platform, and there are general improvements across all console versions as well.

For the full patch notes, head past the break.

Game & Wario – all character intro cutscenes, introduction cutscene

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments

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GameStop still says Wii U sales have been “disappointing”

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

GameStop CEO Paul Raines once again said that Wii U sales have been “disappointing” even though the console’s November launch “exceeded our expectations” during a post-earnings financial call today. Wii U sales have slowed since the start of 2013, according to Raines.

Two reasons were cited for the system’s poor performance. Raines first noted how Nintendo’s marketing has “not broken through the way that it needs to” and that consumers haven’t been able to fully grasp its features, such as the GamePad.

“We still have an education process we need to go through.”

Raines also pointed to the absence of big system-sellers on Wii U. While New Super Mario Bros. U was a compelling release from Nintendo, interesting titles have been missing in action over the past few months.

Raines said:

“We’re seeing the ramifications of that today.”

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Injustice: Gods Among Us Black Adam trailer

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments

Assassin’s Creed III devs on cross-studio work and its advantages

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments

During a GDC panel yesterday, the developers behind Asssassin’s Creed III discussed how four different studios came together to make last year’s action-adventure game. Ubisoft Quebec game director Marc-Alexis Cote, Ubisoft creative director Alex Hutchinson, Ubisoft game director Damien Kieken, Ubisoft Montreal senior producer Francois Pelland, and Ubisoft Singapore senior producer Hugues Ricour participated in the discussion.

Ubisoft Montreal was mainly in charge of Assassin’s Creed III’s core design and main missions. Singapore handled naval battles while Annecy tackled multiplayer. Finally, Quebec “tried to create the sense of the American Dream”, according to Hutchinson.

Having numerous studios work on a project has numerous advantages. Adopting this process does, for instance, let developers polish certain aspects to their fullest potential. It also allows for issues to be solved, sometimes overnight.

“When you are a co-dev partner, you will focus on a limited amount of features. Those features, you will be able to polish them. It’s not easy. It’s not rainbow land. It’s something that you need to work hard at to make it work. But if you do that, I really think it holds the keys to next generation development.”

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Lots of details from the Japanese Iwata Asks: Game & Wario

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Nintendo has published the next entry in its Iwata Asks discussion series. This time around, Satoru Iwata sat down with Yoshio Sakamoto, Masamichi Abe, and Naoko Mori for a chat about Game & Wario.

An English version isn’t available currently, but NeoGAF member “StreetsAhead” did translate a significant amount of points from the interview. There’s talk about how the Wii U title wasn’t always planned as a Wario game, how Nintendo of America influenced the naming of the project, and more.

Head past the break for the full summary.