This week’s Japanese software sales are as follows:

01./00. [PS3] DmC: Devil May Cry (Capcom) {2013.01.17} (¥6.990) – 110.429 / NEW
02./01. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf # (Nintendo) {2012.11.08} (¥4.800) – 97.448 / 2.283.756 (+17%)
03./00. [PSP] Digimon Adventure (Bandai Namco Games) {2013.01.17} (¥6.280) – 47.807 / NEW
04./02. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 # (Nintendo) {2012.07.28} (¥4.800) – 17.803 / 1.873.642 (-18%)
05./03. [3DS] Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Best Price!) (Capcom) {2012.11.15} (¥3.800) – 13.728 / 184.139 (-7%)
06./06. [3DS] Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone – Neppuu / Raimei (Level 5) {2012.12.13} (¥5.500) – 12.019 / 391.389 (-13%)
07./04. [3DS] Tousouchuu: Shijou Saikyou no Hunter-Tachi Kara Nigekire! (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.07.05} (¥5.040) – 11.684 / 399.382 (-20%)
08./05. [3DS] Paper Mario: Sticker Star (Nintendo) {2012.12.06} (¥4.800) – 11.055 / 495.922 (-24%)
09./08. [WIU] New Super Mario Bros. U (Nintendo) {2012.12.08} (¥5.985) – 9.598 / 441.708 (-23%)
10./07. [PS3] Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 # (Koei Tecmo) {2012.12.20} (¥8.190) – 9.365 / 216.811 (-30%)
11./09. [WIU] Nintendo Land (Nintendo) {2012.12.08} (¥4.935) – 8.740 / 270.917 (-25%)
12./10. [3DS] Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.07.12} (¥5.040) – 8.408 / 393.485 (-16%)
13./12. [PSP] One Piece: Romance Dawn – Bouken no Yoake # (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.12.20} (¥5.980) – 8.068 / 281.853 (-11%)
14./14. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} (¥4.800) – 7.547 / 1.954.951 (-7%)
15./13. [PS3] Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Dubbed Edition (Square Enix) {2012.12.20} (¥7.980) – 7.379 / 106.853 (-16%)
16./11. [PS3] Yakuza 5 # (Sega) {2012.12.06} (¥8.800) – 6.493 / 561.073 (-33%)
17./15. [3DS] Magician’s Quest: Magical Town (Konami) {2012.12.20} (¥4.980) – 6.045 / 133.846 (-25%)
18./17. [3DS] Pokèmon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity (Pokèmon Co.) {2012.11.23} (¥4.800) – 5.873 / 421.881 (-18%)
19./26. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Super Deluxe Edition # (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.11.29} (¥5.040) – 5.844 / 360.313
20./19. [NDS] Pokèmon Black 2 / White 2 (Pokèmon Co.) {2012.06.23} (¥4.800) – 5.724 / 2.948.796 (-14%)

Source

UK will be receiving LEGO City: Undercover on March 28. The news was shared during today’s European Nintendo Direct.

A March 18 launch had been previously confirmed for North America.

Source

Rumor has it that SEGA will be announcing a new Sonic the Hedgehog title in February, with a release planned for mid to late 2013. Sonic Stadium suggests that a teaser could be sent out during “Hedgehog Day” on February 2, a day normally used to tease fans about the Blue Blur’s future. A full reveal could then take place later in the month.

Sonic Stadium posted a number of different details about the unconfirmed project. For a summary of the report, read on below.

– Name not final
– Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita, PC, “next-gen” console versions
– PC/Vita versions will be identical aside from visual differences
– 3DS game will be like Sonic Rush
– Console version will feature switches between full 3D movement and 2D side-scrolling sections
– Multiple routes
– Each route in a stage will lead to one of two or three exits at the end that will each take you to a different stage
– You will always end up at the same final stage
– Final stage count hasn’t been decided, but devs will add at least 20 different ones, not including boss battles
– Begin the game with Sonic and unlock other characters by completing stages
– Doesn’t mean 20+ characters will be playable
– Each character has his/her own skills to help them progress in stages easier where others will have more difficulty or simply cannot ala Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the Sonic Advance series
– Ex: Sonic and Shadow can’t make it up a wall, but Tails can easily fly up there or Knuckles can climb, allowing them access to an exit Sonic and Shadow can’t reach
– Stages can be replayed with any character of your choice
– 3DS version “similar in idea, but smaller in scope”
– Developers are trying to fit all of the characters into the game, but it will feature far fewer stages
– There will still be many paths through stages, but it looks like every stage will only ever branch off into 2 stages
– SEGA has its best developers working on the games
– Game has been in the works since before Sonic Generations
– Out this fall/autumn or winter at the latest

Source

Another fallout from THQ’s recent auction is the transfer of the WWE licence. IGN reports that it is now in the hands of Take-Two Interactive.

One thing to note: the rights were apparently sold outside THQ’s formal auction process. Exact details behind the negotiation are currently unknown.

Source

THQ has sold off a number of its studios and assets to a variety of different companies.

Relic is now in the hands of SEGA. Volition and Metro are going to Koch Media. Crytek now owns Homefront, while Take-Two purchased Evolve. Finally, Ubisoft has agreed to acquire Montreal and South Park.

There’s one big studio missing here: Vigil, the team behind the Darksiders titles. Vigil and some of THQ’s other IPs are not included in the sale agreement, but they’ll still be included in the Chapter 11 case. The company hopes to find new buyers for these assets.

A lengthy letter from THQ chief executive officer Brian Farrel and president Jason Rubin can be found below.

Read More

One user on the Capcom-Unity boards asked about a possible Resident Evil Mercenaries game for consoles and PC. This wouldn’t be a port of 3DS’ Mercenaries 3D. Rather, it’d be a brand new title with modern visuals.

Capcom’s Christian Svensson, responding to the note, said: “Understood on the request. Let’s talk next week on this topic.”

Svensson also had a few things to say about Resident Evil: Revelations HD’s Raid Mode. This will be “extremely expanded”.

“The other thing you should look forward to is trying out the extremely expanded raid mode (details to come in the coming months) in RE:Revelations. I find it scratches a LOT of the same itches.”

Source, Via

Went ahead and captured this footage for you all, just in case you want to see it in action!

Notes:

– Controls are completely customizable, button for button
– The only buttons that can’t be customized are the control pad(s)
– Virtual Console games are played in 4:3 as opposed to 16:9 (not widescreen)
– Restore points can be set via the Virtual Console menu (accessed by pressing ZR using default controls)
– Quitting a game via the home menu will also create a restore point, just like on Wii/3DS
– Dual-Gamepad support is hinted at, but I can’t confirm that yet
– Something I missed in the video is that the game automatically shows up on the TV and Gamepad at the same time, like NSMBU

“This being our first launch title, we did not know what to expect. And we’re still puzzled by the dynamics of this launch. I can’t deny that I had higher hopes but this has more to do with my personal attitude than with the performance of the game itself. As for the game, the Christmas sale did really well and the eShop is hitting his stride now. We’re still learning how to operate in this new and exciting environment.

“Obviously, we’ve got the technology in place and the capability to make another Wii U title. Yet as a small studio we have to chose very careful what platforms we’re targeting. From the current perspective we plan to bring our next game to the Wii U. But I can’t see into the future, so I can’t guarantee anything at this point.” – Broken Rules’ Martin Pichlmair

Yea, the Miiverse community for Chasing Aurora is among the smallest on the whole service, so it’s no surprise the game didn’t sell so well. Most of the reviews I’ve seen have been average at best, and the game just didn’t seem like something a lot of people needed to pick up with all the other eShop and retail titles available! Hopefully their next game does better– and is better!

Via NintendoLife

“What we experienced with the Wii U is probably what a lot of developers experienced with the Wii U, which is, ‘What do we do with it?. It was this really neat secondary controller that has a screen and you can do different things on it. When I talked to my friends who were designing games for the Wii U, it’s like, ‘We don’t quite know what to do with it’. It’ll probably be about a year before you start to see games just completely nail exactly what that controller is for.” – ‘The Cave’ dev Ron Gilbert

I can understand his point and he’s probably right, but if you’re a game developer who can’t think of things to do with the Wii U Gamepad then I’d say don’t do anything with it beyond menu scrolling and item selection! Nothing wrong with a game just being a regular ol’ game.

Via My Nintendo News