I don’t think there was any doubt about this at this point, but yes: Mario Kart, Super Mario Bros. Zelda, and Smash Bros. will all be appearing at E3 next month. Nintendo reconfirmed the news in its NPD response today.

The excerpt states:

“At the upcoming E3 trade show in June in Los Angeles, Nintendo expects to show attendees upcoming Wii U games from the Mario Kart, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Super Smash Bros. franchises.”

Mario Kart Wii U and the new 3D Mario title for Wii U will be playable. Super Smash Bros. will be shown in at least image form, while the Zelda reference is likely pointing to the Link to the Past sequel for 3DS.

April 2013: Nintendo’s response – various sales figures

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments

A strong launch for LEGO®City Undercover: The Chase Begins helped Nintendo 3DS™ maintain its torrid pace in 2013. Through the first four months of the year, Nintendo has already sold more than 2.1 million units of first-party Nintendo 3DS software in the U.S. alone, an increase of 52 percent over the same time period last year. In 2012, it took 30 weeks for Nintendo 3DS to sell 2 million units of first-party software. In 2013, the platform accomplished that same feat in 18 weeks.
With the peak holiday selling season still ahead and a strong lineup of upcoming games that includes Donkey Kong Country™ Returns 3D on May 24, Animal Crossing™: New Leaf on June 9, Mario and Luigi™: Dream Team on Aug. 11, as well as new titles in the Pokémon™, Mario Golf™ and Legend of Zelda™ franchises, Nintendo 3DS is poised to have the strongest year of sales in its history.
Some notable sales numbers* achieved by Nintendo in April include:

April 2013 NPD: Top 10 best-selling games in the U.S.

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments

NPD Group has released a listing of the top ten best-selling games in the U.S. for the month of April. The results can be found below.

Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, NWU)**
Dead Island Riptide (360, PS3, PC)**
BioShock Infinite (360, PS3, PC)**
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, PC, NWU)**
Defiance (360, PS3, PC)**
Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, WII, NWU, PSP, PC)**
Skylanders Giants (WII, 360, PS3, 3DS, NWU)**
Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins (3DS)
MLB 13: The Show (PS3, Vita)

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

Source

GamesTM #135 review scores

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments

This month’s GamesTM review scores are as follows:

Metro: Last Light – 8
Fire Emblem: Awakening – 9
Injustice: Gods Among Us – 7
Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel – 5
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct – 3
Dead Island: Riptide – 6
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 – 5
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity – 5
Star Trek – 6
Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut – 7
BattleBlock Theater– 8
Persona 4 Arena – 8
Defiance – 7
LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins – 5
Terraria – 8
ShootMania Storm – 8

Thanks to joclo for the tip.

EA: We have no games in development for Wii U

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

Battlefield 4 isn’t coming to Wii U. Nor are Tiger Woods or Madden. But that’s not all – the company has absolutely no games in development for the Wii U at the moment.

Company spokesperson Jeff Brown told Kotaku: “We have no games in development for the Wii U currently.”

That would seemingly rule out the next entry in the Need for Speed series and FIFA 14.

As far as what the future holds, Brown wouldn’t rule out the possibility of EA approaching Wii U development in the future.

But what about EA and Nintendo’s supposed “unprecedented partnership”? You know, when former CEO of EA John Riccitiello came on stage at Nintendo’s E3 2011 briefing and spoke highly of the console. According to Brown, EA’s initial wave of games – Mass Effect 3: Special Edition, Madden, FIFA, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted U – delivered on the company’s promise.

Source

Buy Resident Evil: Revelations HD before June 18, get the “Signature Weapons Pack” for free

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

Wii U owners who purchase Resident Evil: Revelations HD before June 18 can download the “Signature Weapons Pack” for free. It contains Jill Valentine’s Samurai Edge, Parker Luciani’s Government, and Jessica Sherawat’s rapid-fire G18. The pack’s items are usable in both the campaign and Raid Mode.

Source

Precursor CEO says staff is made up entirely of former Silicon Knights employees, maintains that it’s not just a Silicon Knights rebrand

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, Wii U | 0 comments

Precursor Games (the team behind the upcoming Eternal Darkness sequel “Shadow of the Eternals“) is made up entirely of former staff of Silicon Knights, according to CEO Paul Caporicci, but he maintains that the two companies are entirely separate entities.

Silicon Knights– a Canadian based developer– has been having intense legal troubles over the last 5 or 6 years after losing a lawsuit to Epic Games over Unreal Engine licensing fees, and now, some folks are worried that the skeleton of that company left and built a new company– Precursor Games– to avoid having to pay damages. This allowed them to purchase assets from Silicon Knights in order to build Shadow of the Eternals, the pseudo-sequel to a game that was built by Silicon Knights in the first place.

Quite an odd situation, but I’m happy that we’re getting a sequel to Eternal Darkness.

Via CVG

Ubisoft not expecting Assassin’s Creed IV to outperform AC III, but has potential

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

Assassin’s Creed III has managed to ship 12.5 million units thus far. The next entry in the series, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, may not achieve similar sales. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot made note of the company’s lower expectations for the title during an investor call earlier today:

“To come back to Assassin’s Creed IV, in our numbers we have…we expect less than last year.”

Ubisoft may be anticipating lower sales for Assassin’s Creed IV, but the publisher believes in its potential. The pirate setting could be a more relatable setting compared to Assassin’s Creed III’s American Revolutionary War setting from a worldwide perspective.

“We are actually pushing to achieve more than last year because we think the pirate segment is a great segment that can generate a lot more on a worldwide basis than what was achieved last year. But we wanted to be prudent on our expectations so that it can probably be a bonus if it comes.”

Source