Wii U

Posted on 9 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in News, Wii U | 3 Comments

Eurogamer recently had the chance to sit down with Tsubasa Sakaguchi, one Splatoon’s directors. I’ve summarized some key statements from Sakaguchi below, but if you wanna read the whole interview, check it out here.

– “Splatoon, of course, has many elements of a shooter, but it didn’t start off with us wanting to make a shooter game. It was more that we found fun in colouring in vast areas and spaces around us, and as part of that visualisation of the movement of the characters we found really exciting, and this is how the project started.”

– “Humans can move our hands less when we’re moving them downwards, and more when we move it upwards. When we were doing the mapping for the gyro sensor, we incorporated these subtle human movements into the game. It might not be apparent at first glance, but maybe you might notice it in the future.”

– “We were slightly concerned about whether users might feel the gyro controls were a little bit difficult. But I like to use the analogy of riding a bicycle. You need a lot of practice, but once you’ve learnt that the bicycle becomes one with your body and it opens the whole world to you. In that sense, we’re really happy that many users have learnt to ride the bicycle!”

– “About 70-80 per cent of players are using the gyro controls. That’s not to say we’re forcing it on to them. From our point of view, we think that the gyro controls are the best way to play Splatoon, the reason being there are two main movements you need for a shooter. One is moving the body, the other is aiming where you’re shooting. In that sense, we think for Splatoon the gyro gives that subtle movement and more precise actions to be able to really experience the game in a much better way.”

– “When we were designing Splatoon, reaching level 20 was going to take quite a lot of time. Learning the game mechanics with the gyro sensor – we thought that would take a lot of time. In that sense we’re surprised that people have reached the level cap in such a short time. We’re actually really worried about those people – worried that they’re still sleeping and eating! We recognise that a lot of people have reached level 20, and that there’s not much left to do in the game. There’s not much I can announce today, but I hope you can look forward to some future announcements.”

– “At the moment, we’re not planning any paid download content. Beyond August, there’ll be new stages and new weapons slowly being released.”

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 12 Comments

Nintendo will soon be adding another multiplayer map to Splatoon.

Starting tomorrow, players will be able to battle in Camp Triggerfish. This will be made available at 10 PM ET / 7 PM PT / 3 AM in the UK / 4 AM in Europe.

Here’s the official announcement from the Splatoon Tumblr page:

Pack your knapsack because we’re going to camp. Camp Triggerfish, that is!

When the Inklings aren’t busy making s’mores or boondoggle key chains, they enjoy the majestic scenery afforded by camping the best way they know how – Turf War! Battles here play out across a series of bridges, which you’ll have to cross to reach your opponents’ turf.

Each team base at Camp Triggerfish is outfitted with a set of floodgates. When the gates are down, it’s easier for the other team to come and go as they please. In Turf War, the gates lower with one minute left on the clock, leading the way for late-game assaults. In Ranked Battle, they stay down so players can come and go as they please. Watch out in Tower Control! The tower’s path is almost always over water and you’ll need to show off your best squid skills to avoid getting dunked.

Starting tomorrow at 7 PM PT, Camp Triggerfish will be added to the stage rotation. Maybe after we’re done battling we can gather round the fire and sing some jaunty campfire tunes!

View some screenshots of Splatoon’s Camp Triggerfish map below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 4 Comments

Electronic Sports League, known for its huge eSports presence, is setting up two online Community Tournaments for Smash Bros. Wii U in Europe. The top four from each one will participate in a final that will be held in late August.

Here’s the complete schedule:

Super Smash Bros. Community Cup #1 Europe – 26th July 15:00 CEST
Super Smash Bros. Community Cup #2 Europe – 16th August 15:00 CEST
Super Smash Bros. Community Cup Final Europe – 22th August 15:00 CEST

And below are the official rules:

• Single Elimination
• Set length: Best of 3 / Finals: Best of 5
• Game length: 2 Stocks 6 Minutes (Timeout = the player with most Stock and Least % wins)
• Handicap, Damage Ratio and Damage Display remain the same!
• Items: off
• Equipment: off
• Custom Moves: off
• Amiibos: Illegal
• DLC Chars: Legal
• Mii Chars: Banned
• Suicide Clause: Bowser-Suicide counts as lose.
• Pause/Homebutton clause: player who uses one of those buttons without mutual agreement will lose 1 Stock

This is more of a trial run, so it makes sense that the prizes are a bit on the light side. The top three participants in the final will receive eShop funds of €50, €25 and €15 respectively. They’ll also be given a choice of Splatoon, Yoshi’s Woolly World or Super Mario Maker.

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More: ESL, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 12 Comments

Update 2: Bumped to the top. Full announcement is in:

To celebrate the upcoming launch of the Super Mario Maker game for the Wii U console, Nintendo is hosting a special “hackathon” event at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park on July 28 and July 29.

Hackathon events are a unique element of the Facebook company culture, and an opportunity for employees to pursue a project outside their day-to-day responsibilities to rapidly create something that interests them. The Super Mario Maker hackathon is exclusively for Facebook employees to design a special level in the game. At the event, participants will be using the demo version of the game that drew rave reviews at the recent E3 video game trade show to create levels using the in-game tools that will become available to a wider audience when the game launches exclusively for Wii U on the 11th of September. The event will culminate with designers presenting their creations to a panel of judges from Nintendo and Facebook. The winning individual or team has the opportunity to make the level available for Super Mario Maker owners to play after the game’s launch. Nintendo will be making a video series documenting the event available for fans to view shortly after the event concludes, and fans can also check in to Nintendo’s social media channels on July 28 and July 29 for live updates.

“Facebook is known for connecting people through delightful shared experiences,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “Video games fit that mission perfectly, and we’re thrilled to work with a partner like Facebook to help more people form connections through the joy of games like Super Mario Maker. It’s easy for anyone to create levels in the game and share them with friends, and we can’t wait to see what the talented Facebook employees will create before the game becomes available to everyone starting on the 11th of September.”

Super Mario Maker is the ultimate evolution of the Super Mario Bros. series and lets players’ imaginations run wild. For the first time ever, friends can have fun playing through levels they create for one another. The Wii U GamePad controller makes it so easy for anyone to create levels that it feels like simply sketching out ideas on paper. Players with Internet access can enjoy a seemingly endless supply of inventive Mario levels inspired by Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. U from players around the world. Everyone who purchases the game will also receive a special Super Mario Maker Idea Book providing inspiration and thought starters on the level-creation process. In addition to the game, Nintendo will also release a special Mario amiibo figure to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Super Mario Bros. game. To coincide with the anniversary, both the Super Mario Maker game and the 30th Anniversary amiibo launch the 11th of September.

Update: Both tweets have been removed from Nintendo’s Twitter account. Hmm…

Nintendo is celebrating the launch of Super Mario Maker through a new partnership with Facebook. Employees from the company will be making levels in the game, one of which will be made available to download on release day.

Nintendo announced on its Twitter account a few minutes ago:

Super Mario Maker launches for Wii U on September 11.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 6 Comments

Last month, Nintendo uploaded a new Devil’s Third video to its YouTube channel. This video – which features an interview with creator Tomonobu Itagaki – has now been translated into English. We’ve posted it below.

More: Devil's Third, interview, Valhalla Game Studios

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 8 Comments

The latest issue of MCV provides data about the sales of gaming systems in the UK. Above, you’ll find a chart showing how the Wii U, 3DS, Wii, and DS performed in terms of software sales during the first half of 2015. All data was collected by Chart-Track.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 2 Comments

Legend of Kay Anniversary won’t be available until next week, but some footage has already surfaced. Check out the video below.

More: Kaiko, Legend of Kay Anniversary, Nordic Games

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

New screenshots have come in for Legend of Kay Anniversary. You’ll find them in the gallery attached below.

More: Kaiko, Legend of Kay Anniversary, Nordic Games

Posted on 9 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

If you live in the UK, you can now “express your interest” in Xenoblade Chronicles X at Nintendo’s online store. Visiting this link, you can answer a short question about which aspect of the game you’re looking forward to the most and sign up for news about pre-order details and store offers with your e-mail address.

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More: Monolith Soft, UK, Xenoblade Chronicles X

Posted on 9 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in Screenshots, Wii U | 9 Comments

The Japanese Splatoon Twitter account posted the image seen above today. It might not seem like anything special at first glance – in fact, the exact image has already been posted by them once before, with one key difference. Today’s image shows an Octoling not wearing any goggles.

Of course this likely means nothing in the grand scheme of things and it might just be a neat piece of concept artwork. However, we do know that Splatoon is getting a major content patch next month and playable Octolings would certainly be an exciting feature.

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