Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has provided his NPD hardware estimates for the month of July 2013.

Here’s the full roundup:

Estimated July hardware sales (year-on-year change)

3DS – 170,000 (29%)
Xbox 360 – 125,000 (-38%)
PS3 – 85,000 (-39%)
Wii – 35,000 (-50%)
Wii U – 30,000 (n/a)
PSP – 4,500 (-60%)
DS – 40,000 (-69%)
Vita – 20,000 (-58%)
PS2 – 500 (-14%)
Industry – 510,000 (-30%)

We’ll know if Pachter’s estimates were correct when the NPD report goes live this Thursday.

Source

The official North American teaser site for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is now live. You can find the page here.

Unlike most teaser sites, this one does have a bit of content. Visitors can check out a few screenshots from the game.

Thanks to SaveUsFromObscurity for the tip.

Teku Studios has confirmed that Candle will be coming to Wii U. The team has managed to become an official developer for the console, and dev kits will be received “anytime soon”.

Wii U will remain on the Kickstarter campaign as a stretch goal. If hit, Candle will be guaranteed to hit the console on launch not. Otherwise, Teku said, “we can’t promise this one to be a launch day version, unfortunately. It may take us some additional weeks.”

You can find the official Kickstater page here.

Read More

Ripstone has officially announced Knytt Underground and Pure Chess for Wii U following the titles’ reveal during last week’s Nintendo Direct. Both are scheduled for a release towards the end of 2013/start of 2014.

Ripstone co-founder and creative director Phil Gaskell commented on the news, and also confirmed more support for the eShop in the future:

“We’re committed to helping developers bring their games to as many digital channels as possible and this announcement demonstrates that commitment. We think Nintendo gamers are going to love spending hours exploring the world of Knytt Underground and will be blown away by the visual quality of Pure Chess, and we hope to announce more games for eShop in the future.”

One other important piece of news: Ripstone has confirmed that Pure Chess will be coming to the 3DS as well. When this version will be launching is unclear, however.

Source: Ripstone PR

Open-world games have often allowed players to take control of an aircraft and fly around the map. Watch_Dogs, however, has no such vehicles.

Speaking with Examiner, senior producer Dominic Guay said:

“Players will not fly aircrafts in Watch Dogs. We did not feel it was core to the experience we wanted to create.”

You’ll still be able to take control of plenty of other vehicles including trucks, motorcycles, and boats. Such means of transportation will let players “explore the city proper, the rivers, the lake and even beyond the limits of Chicago.”

I wonder what that last bit means…

Source, Via

Black Forest Games announced today that Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams will be launching in Europe and Australia on August 22. Pricing is set at €14.99.

Twisted Dreams is scheduled to arrive in North America as well, but a release date hasn’t been confirmed as of now.

Along with the release date news, Black Forest Games passed along an overview of the game’s features:

· Mobile – fully playable on the Wii U GamePad.
· Casual welcome – New easy mode for casual gamers. Hardcore and Uberhardcore Mode still supported.
· Challenging Levels – Discover three distinctive worlds with 23 challenging levels. Each one transforms from fluffy nightmare to spooky dream by a push of a button.
· Personal Style – Whether you like speed run through each of the amazing levels or take your time exploring even the last secret of Giana’s dreams. It’s up to you.
· Lush graphics – Detailed landscapes morph from lush, colorful surroundings to surreal, spiky nightmare worlds. It doesn’t matter how often you’ll see it, you’ll detect new details every time.
· Amazing puzzles – Blocked pathways open up when Giana transforms: pretty flower beds mutate to thorn covered bushes and diamonds can only be collected in one form or the other.
· Legendary Soundtrack – listen to Chris Hülsbeck’s tunes changing from Chiptune to the metal riffs from SID-Rockers Machinae Supremacy.
· Epic battles – from vicious gargoyles to magnificent boss-monsters. You’ll need every trick in your sleeves to master all the challenges that lie ahead of Giana.

Source: Black Forest Games PR