Nintendo Everything

Square Enix doesn’t appear to be done with Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. A few days ago, the company registered a new trademark relating to the 3DS game.

Last Friday, Square Enix picked up “Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call” in the US – a name that hints at a re-release of some kind. Might the title be coming out once more with extra content?

Source, Via

First week sales for Rayman Legends are in. The game isn’t lightning the charts on fire, but it did outsell origins by around 20%. Legends also sold the most on Wii U – 45% of total sales came from Nintendo’s console.

Below are the full charts for the week ending August 31:

Individual formats

LW		TW			Title	Format	Label	Publisher
1		1			SAINTS ROW IV	XB360	DEEP SILVER	KOCH MEDIA
2		2			SAINTS ROW IV	PS3	DEEP SILVER	KOCH MEDIA
3		3			TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST	XB360	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
–		4			FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN	PS3	SQUARE ENIX	SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
5		5			MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION	XB360	MICROSOFT	MICROSOFT
4		6			TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST	PS3	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
–		7			FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN	PC	SQUARE ENIX	SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
6		8			DISNEY INFINITY	XB360	DISNEY INFINITY	DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS
–		9			PAYDAY 2	XB360	505 GAMES	505 GAMES
7		10			ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF	3DS	NINTENDO	NINTENDO
8		11			THE LAST OF US	PS3	SONY COMPUTER ENT.	SONY COMPUTER ENT.
10		12			CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II	XB360	ACTIVISION	ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
11		13			DISNEY INFINITY	WII	DISNEY INFINITY	DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS
–		14			RAYMAN LEGENDS	WII U	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
9		15			DISNEY INFINITY	PS3	DISNEY INFINITY	DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS
–		16			MADDEN NFL 25	XB360	EA SPORTS	ELECTRONIC ARTS
–		17			MADDEN NFL 25	PS3	EA SPORTS	ELECTRONIC ARTS
–		18			RAYMAN LEGENDS	XB360	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
12		19			FIFA 13	XB360	EA SPORTS	ELECTRONIC ARTS
–		20			RAYMAN LEGENDS	PS3	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
23		21			MAX PAYNE 3	XB360	ROCKSTAR	TAKE 2
16		22			CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II	PS3	ACTIVISION	ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
18		23			MAX PAYNE 3	PS3	ROCKSTAR	TAKE 2
34		24			TOMB RAIDER	PS3	SQUARE ENIX	SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
26		25			MARIO KART 7	3DS	NINTENDO	NINTENDO
17		26			GRAND THEFT AUTO IV	XB360	XBOX 360 CLASSICS	TAKE 2
25		27			LUIGI’S MANSION 2	3DS	NINTENDO	NINTENDO
19		28			TOMB RAIDER	XB360	SQUARE ENIX	SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
22		29			ASSASSIN’S CREED III	XB360	XBOX 360 CLASSICS	UBISOFT
36		30			LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS	XB360	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
32		31			LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES	XB360	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
35		32			SKYLANDERS GIANTS	WII	SKYLANDERS	ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
15		33			THE BUREAU: XCOM DECLASSIFIED	XB360	2K GAMES	TAKE 2
21		34			GRAND THEFT AUTO EPISODES – LIBERTY CITY	XB360	ROCKSTAR	TAKE 2
28		35			FIFA 13	PS3	EA SPORTS	ELECTRONIC ARTS
33		36			BATTLEFIELD 3	XB360	EA GAMES	ELECTRONIC ARTS
30		37			MARIO AND LUIGI: DREAM TEAM BROS.	3DS	NINTENDO	NINTENDO
–		38			LOST PLANET 3	XB360	CAPCOM	CAPCOM
–		39			RED DEAD REDEMPTION: GOTY	XB360	ROCKSTAR	TAKE 2
29		40			FAR CRY 3	XB360	XBOX 360 CLASSICS	UBISOFT

All formats

LW		TW			Title	Developer	Label	Publisher
1		1			SAINTS ROW IV	VOLITION	DEEP SILVER	KOCH MEDIA
2		2			TOM CLANCY’S SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST	UBISOFT (TORONTO)	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
–		3			FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN	SQUARE ENIX	SQUARE ENIX	SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
3		4			DISNEY INFINITY	AVALANCHE SOFTWARE	DISNEY INFINITY	DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS
4		5			MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION	4J STUDIOS	MICROSOFT	MICROSOFT
–		6			RAYMAN LEGENDS	UBISOFT (FRANCE)	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
–		7			MADDEN NFL 25	EA TIBURON	EA SPORTS	ELECTRONIC ARTS
5		8			CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II	TREYARCH	ACTIVISION	ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
18		9			PAYDAY 2	OVERKILL SOFTWARE	505 GAMES	505 GAMES
6		10			FIFA 13	EA CANADA	EA SPORTS	ELECTRONIC ARTS
7		11			ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF	NINTENDO	NINTENDO	NINTENDO
8		12			LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES	TRAVELLER’S TALES	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
9		13			THE LAST OF US	NAUGHTY DOG	SONY COMPUTER ENT.	SONY COMPUTER ENT.
12		14			MAX PAYNE 3	ROCKSTAR VANCOUVER	ROCKSTAR	TAKE 2
13		15			LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS	TRAVELLER’S TALES	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
15		16			TOMB RAIDER	CRYSTAL DYNAMICS	SQUARE ENIX	SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
16		17			SKYLANDERS GIANTS	TOYS FOR BOB	SKYLANDERS	ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
11		18			ASSASSIN’S CREED III	UBISOFT (MONTREAL)	XBOX 360 CLASSICS	UBISOFT
17		19			GRAND THEFT AUTO IV	ROCKSTAR NORTH	XBOX 360 CLASSICS	TAKE 2
21		20			NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED	CRITERION GAMES	EA GAMES	ELECTRONIC ARTS
19		21			THE SMURFS 2	UBISOFT SF/WAYFORWARD	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
14		22			FAR CRY 3	UBISOFT (MONTREAL)	UBISOFT	UBISOFT
10		23			THE BUREAU: XCOM DECLASSIFIED	2K MARIN	2K GAMES	TAKE 2
20		24			THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM – LEGENDARY	BETHESDA	BETHESDA SOFTWORKS	BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
23		25			GRAND THEFT AUTO EPISODES – LIBERTY CITY	ROCKSTAR NORTH	ROCKSTAR	TAKE 2
–		26			LOST PLANET 3	SPARK UNLIMITED	CAPCOM	CAPCOM
24		27			BATTLEFIELD 3	DIGITAL ILLUSIONS	EA GAMES	ELECTRONIC ARTS
–		28			KILLER IS DEAD	GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE	DEEP SILVER	KOCH MEDIA
27		29			RED DEAD REDEMPTION: GOTY	ROCKSTAR SAN DIEGO	ROCKSTAR	TAKE 2
30		30			MARIO KART 7	RETRO STUDIOS / NINTENDO	NINTENDO	NINTENDO
26		31			BIOSHOCK INFINITE	IRRATIONAL GAMES	2K GAMES	TAKE 2
25		32			HITMAN ABSOLUTION	IO INTERACTIVE	SQUARE ENIX	SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
29		33			LUIGI’S MANSION 2	NEXT LEVEL GAMES	NINTENDO	NINTENDO
31		34			THE SIMS 3	THE SIMS STUDIO	EA GAMES	ELECTRONIC ARTS
34		35			MARIO AND LUIGI: DREAM TEAM BROS.	ALPHADREAM	NINTENDO	NINTENDO
33		36			THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM	BETHESDA	XBOX 360 CLASSICS	BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
35		37			CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 3	INFINITY WARD/SLEDGEHAMMER	ACTIVISION	ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
37		38			PLANES	BEHAVIOUR INTERACTIVE	DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS	DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS
32		39			GRID 2	CODEMASTERS	CODEMASTERS	CODEMASTERS
–		40			FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013	SPORTS INTERACTIVE	SEGA	SEGA

Source 1, Source 2

Good news for European RPG gamers out there: Devil Survivor 2 is in fact coming to Europe.

Publisher Ghostlight wanted to hit a pre-order target of 1,800 in order to bring the game over. Thankfully, the final result ended up meeting their expectations.

Those who pre-ordered will have their name featured in the manual. Anyone reserving Devil Survivor 2 going forward will not be offered a similar benefit, but will receive the “Gold Edition”.

Source

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The #1-ranking Japan eShop game Bike Rider DX is now available in the North American eShop. Let’s see just what makes this game hailed as “the one-button platformer” such a big hit.

System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: August 1st, 2013 (NA) – August 15th, 2013 (EU)
Developer: Spicysoft
Publisher: Spicysoft

Author: Spencer

As far as gameplay goes, Bike Rider DX is quite simple. You control a stick figure riding a bike on 2D plane while jumping onto platforms and over gaps and obstacles,. The bike rides automatically, so the only real control is pressing the A button to jump. You can also double-jump, as indicated by one of the loading screen tooltips (of which there are only two, due to the simplicity of this game), and even triple-jump if timed correctly, although I found this out completely by accident. Optionally, you can use left and right on the directional pad to adjust your bike’s position on the screen, which is helpful for this game as it is for the most part about timing jumps from platform to platform. You complete each course by reaching the finish pole, and you fail courses by falling into pits or crashing into walls or obstacles.

One-button gameplay might work in a game with more depth, involvement, or variety– like Kirby Air Ride, which had several different gameplay modes, objectives, maps, etc– but in a game where you are simply jumping over holes on 2D maps where the only real variance is the aesthetics, it just comes off as monotonous and repetitive.

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Sorry that this is going up on the site a tad late. I was out of office (“office”) yesterday and couldn’t post it, but here it is now! Two glitches from Mario Kart Wii, another highly requested title. Enjoy!

A whole slew of details from Hideki Kamiya’s Wonderful 101 panel at PAX Prime 2013 are now available. You can find a summary of what was shared below.

Main panel

– Kamiya goes over what the game is
– Says: “don’t be worried, it’s a 100% pure action game”
– Unite Morph was inspired by a picture book he saw when he was a kid, “Swimmy”
– Swimmy has lots of little fishies coming together to form a big strong fish
– Nintendo wasn’t too fond of the original all-star idea
– A year later thought about it, liked it too much and went original
– Kamiya’s design philosophy is “Crash and Build”
– This involves making the fun idea right away, break what isn’t until it is fun
– Kamiya can’t make a game “by blueprint” hence lots of crashing and building as it inspires him
– Kamiya next showed concept art for the game
– Originally had a much darker style
– Didn’t like the original prototype character designs at first but eventually settled on iterating the second one, an early Wonder Red
– Heroes that didn’t make it into the final game include Wonder-Giant, one of his personal favorites
– Kamiya created posters during early development to inspire the team working on The Wonderful 101
– Prototype version shown, looks visually rougher but similar in concept
– Portion where characters unite to form a bridge is why the game got shelved
– Nintendo was shown concept art of Peach, Luigi, Yoshi as bridge with Mario walking over them
– Nintendo went “eh, we can’t make that”
– Prototype with original art style had a much heavier inky look
– The Unite Morph was not originally a drawing a mechanic, but triggered by something else
– A conversation system was introduced in the second prototype
– The trigger for Unite Morph was originally based on selecting icons. However selecting icons was not fun and the drawing mechanic replaces it.
– Finished character designs were put on a board shared among the developers to keep track of them
– Kamiya didn’t want a typical protagonist vs. antagonist plot
– Wanted the protagonists to face their own personal problems in the story too
– 13 script revisions
– Seeing how scripts were matched with visuals to block out the story details in The Wonderful 101
– The script helped to determine elements of the game that needed to be created. Also determined the schedule
– Character slides where created containing details about each character for voice acting
– For voices, wasn’t keeping track of popular voice actors in the west but went with submissions sent and decided on what they liked
– The casting matrix was how they kept track of the auditions for voices
– “What makes The Wonderful 101 Platinum?” Kamiya: We view everything as teamwork, everyone has a say.
– Teamwork and open communication are signature elements of Platinum; is the core of their game development process
– They can create something amazing that way, and that’s what they feel happened with The Wonderful 101

Audience questions

– Kamiya first met Miyamoto while he was complaining to Nintendo about releasing Donkey Kong or Mario Bros. on the Virtual Console
– Kamiya asked for ideas for The Wonderful 102 in case they ever get to make it
– Kamiya would love to make Viewtiful Joe 3 and Okami 2 if Capcom gave him permission

Via