Jar Jar Binks is in Disney Infinity 3.0. He acts as a mission giver in the game’s campaign and a spawnable townsperson in the Toy Box mode. However, Jar Jar Binks isn’t actually playable.

Vice president of digital business/franchise management at LucasFilm’s interactive division Ada Duan and Disney Interactive’s John Vignocchi told Polygon:

“Anything is possible. Once we figured out what we wanted that three-week experience to be, we all dove in and said let’s do Star Wars: A New Hope. Interestingly, in terms of the surveys that came back from all the kids experiences’, they said, ‘Where is Anakin? Where is Darth Maul?’ It was because this generation had grown up with the Clone Wars. They wanted to know where there favorite characters were, where’s Jar Jar? So when we were deciding how much Star Wars should we bring into Infinity, we were like, ‘Please, let’s not only focus on the classic trilogy; we need to bring the Phantom Menace as well, as well as Star Wars Rebels.” – Duan
“I remember when we saw how high he was on the character chart, I was like, ‘This has got to be because people hate him, right?’ I was totally wrong.” – Vignocchi

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More: Ada Duan, Avalanche Software, Disney Infinity 3.0, interview, John Vignocchi

Tanabe on lack of Mario Bros. 2 support in Super Mario Maker, wants to revisit the title

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 15 Comments

Super Mario Maker has support for Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U. But what about Super Mario Bros. 2?

Nintendo’s Kensuke Tanabe addressed this while speaking with USgamer at E3 last week, in which he stated:

“Super Mario Bros. 2, as you know, when we created that game in Japan, it didn’t have Mario as the main character Probably because of that, it’s been overlooked for Super Mario Maker. I didn’t talk to Mr. (Takashi) Tezuka at all about it, actually. It does seem sort of unfortunate.”

Tanabe did give a bit of hope for the future, as he seemed to show some interest in something like a Super Mario Bros. 2-style version of Mario Maker. “If I ever have the chance, yes, it would be interesting to work on something like that,” he said.

More: interview, Kensuke Tanabe, Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Maker, top

Updated Guitar Hero Live song list

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

Thanks to its showing at E3, Guitar Hero Live has received an updated song listing. Here it is in full:

The 1975
A Day To Remember – “Right Back At It Again”
Alice in Chains “Stone”
Alt-J “Left Hand Free”
Alter Bridge “Addicted to Pain”
Alter Bridge “Cry of Achilles”
American Authors “Best Day of My Life”
Angus & Julia Stone “A Heartbreak”
Anthrax – “Got The Time”
Architects – “Gravedigger”
The Avett Brothers “Another is Waiting”
Avicii
Band Of Skulls “Asleep At The Wheel”
Beartooth – “I Have A Problem”
Biffy Clyro “Sounds Like Balloons”
The Black Keys “Gold On The Ceiling”
Black Veil Brides “In The End”
Blitz Kids “Sometimes”
Bob Dylan “Thunder On The Mountain”
Bring Me The Horizon “Shadow Moses”
Broken Bells “Leave It Alone”
Bruno Mars “The Lazy Song”
Bullet For My Valentine “Temper Temper”
Calvin Harris “Feel So Close”
Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats”
Catfish and the Bottlemen “Kathleen”
Cheap Trick
Chevelle – “The Clincher”
Courtney Barnett “Pedestrian at Best”
Deap Vally “Lies”
Deftones “Diamond Eyes”
Dum Dum Girls “Rimbaud Eyes”
Ed Sheeran “Sing”
Echosmith “Cool Kids”
Fall Out Boy “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)”
Gary Clark Jr. “Don’t Owe You A Thang”
The Gaslight Anthem “45”
Green Day “American Idiot”
Green Day “Nuclear Family”
Green Day “Oh Love”
Halestorm “Love Bites (So Do I)”
Iggy Pop “Lust For Life”
Jake Bugg “What Doesn’t Kill You”
Jet “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”
Judas Priest “Breaking The Law”
The Killers “When You Were Young”
Killswitch Engage “In Due Time”
Kings of Leon “Sex On Fire”
Kongos “Come With me Now”
Korn “Freak on a Leash”
The Lumineers “Ho Hey”
Madden Brothers
Marilyn Manson “Disposable Teens”
Marmozets “Move, Shake, Hide”
Mastodon “High Road”
Megadeth
MGMT “Time To Pretend”
My Chemical Romance “Na Na Na Na”
Neon Trees “Everybody Talks”
New Politics “Harlem”
Of Mice & Men “Bones Exposed”
Of Monsters and Men “Little Talks”
Pantera “Cowboys From Hell”
Paramore “Still Into You”
Passion Pit “Take A Walk”
Pearl Jam – “Mind Your Manners”
Pierce The Veil “King for a Day (Feat. Kellin Quinn)”
The Police “Message In A Bottle”
The Pretty Reckless “Going To Hell”
Queen “Tie Your Mother Down”
Rage Against The Machine “Bulls on Parade”
Rage Against The Machine “Guerrilla Radio”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Higher Ground”
Rise Against – “Tragedy + Time”
The Rolling Stones “Paint It, Black”
Royal Blood “Little Monster”
Skaters
Skrillex “Bangarang”
Sleigh Bells “Bitter Rivals”
Soundgarden – “Been Away Too Long”
State Champs
The Strokes “Under Cover of Darkness”
System Of A Down “Chop Suey!”
Sunset Sons “Remember”
Tenacious D – “Tribute”
Trivium “Strife”
Vampire Weekend
Vista Chino “Sweet Remain”
The War on Drugs “Under The Pressure”
Weezer “Buddy Holly”
White Zombie “Thunder Kiss ’65”
Wolfmother “Sundial”
ZZ Top “I Gotsta Get Paid”

*Note: Bolded songs are in Guitar Hero Live (FMV crowds/Main setlist/Can be played offline). The others are officially confirmed for the game’s Guitar Hero TV aspect.

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More: Activision, FreeStyle Games, Guitar Hero Live

Playtonic talks Yooka-Laylee – not wanting to copy Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country inspiration, more

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

The latest Yooka-Laylee comes from Polygon, who sat down with Grant Kirkhope and Andy Robinson to discuss the 3D platformer. The two commented on topics such as not wanting to copy Banjo-Kazooie, taking inspiration (and elements) from Donkey Kong Country, and more.

Head past the break for a roundup of the Q&A. You can find Polygon’s original piece here.

More: Andy Robinson, Grant Kirkhope, interview, Playtonic, top, Yooka-Laylee

Nintendo’s World Hobby Fair Summer ’15 lineup

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

Update (6/22): Bumped to the top. Here’s a look at the clear file attendees will get for trying out Splatoon:

Nintendo will be bringing three games to the World Hobby Fair Summer ’15 in Japan. Yoshi’s Woolly World, Splatoon, and Super Mario Maker will be on display. There will also be stage events for Smash Bros. Wii U and Mario Kart 8.

For Splatoon, players can participate in 4 on 4 Turf Wars. Super Mario Maker will be playable, and features a level made by Yukio Sawada, author of the Super Mario-kun manga.

World Hobby Fair Summer ’15 is taking place on June 27 and June 28 in Japan.

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More: Japan

Yoshi’s Woolly World reviews roundup

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 32 Comments

Reviews for Yoshi’s Woolly World are now starting to hit the web. Continue on below for a roundup of the early verdicts.

NintendoWorldReport – 8.5 / 10
GameReactor – 9 / 10
VideoGamer – 6 / 10
Nintendo Life – 9 / 10
GameSpot – 6 / 10
DigitalSpy – 3 / 5
GamesRadar – 3.5 / 5
IGN – 7.4 / 10

Yoshi’s Woolly World launches this Friday in Europe. In North America, the game is slated for October 16.

More: Good Feel, reviews roundup, Yoshi's Woolly World

Reggie says Wii U’s slow launch was due to a lack of big games

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 72 Comments

Speaking with Polygon, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime discussed the Wii U’s slow launch. It all came down to one notable issue: the system lacked big games.

Reggie explained:

“This industry is all about content. I can map out why the Wii took off at launch, it had two killer pieces at launch: Twilight Princess, Wii Sports. Look at our DS business. Our DS business was OK, but it was the launch of DS Lite, the launch of Nintendogs, the launch of the first New Super Mario Bros. where that system sort of dramatically took off.”
“So what happened with Wii U? Once the software came that showcased the capabilities of the system, guess what happened? The hardware took off.”
“I think it began holiday of 2013 as we prepped those launches that gave us some momentum. Then Mario Kart 8 hit, then it was Smash. I think it really was holiday of ’13, when we started to get the momentum.”

Reggie also pointed out that something similar happened with the 3DS. When Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Kart 7 launched, the system’s sales began to pick up.

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More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top

Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories details

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 5 Comments

Natsume had a short demo for Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories running at its E3 2015 booth last week. PC Gamer saw it in action, and has shared some details about what was shown. Read on below for a quick summary.

– E3 demo was running on the iPad
– 1 month into development
– Out this winter
– Demo was a small town square with a few NPCs to talk to and houses that can’t yet be entered
– Farming, dating, getting married, having a kid will be in the full game
– Terraforming won’t be back
– E3 demo had one other screen available to walk in, with a farm to the east (not built yet) and a mountain to the north (not built yet)
– 2D graphics
– The team wants to go back to the classic 16-bit style of the older Harvest Moon games
– 3D models flattened into 2D objects
– All versions will look the same
– Natsume is planning to add features to Seeds of Memories for the Wii U/PC releases over mobile
– Wii U and PC versions will cost more than the iPad one
– Devs are still discussing what features will be

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More: details roundup, Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories, Natsume

Photos of the European Yoshi’s Woolly World amiibo bundle

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

While Yoshi’s Woolly World isn’t officially launching until Friday in Europe, some stores are already stocking the game. Take a look at some photos from the amiibo bundle below.