Cave Story hit the North American 3DS eShop back in October, but for some reason, never launched in Europe. That’s about to change.
Nicalis tweeted earlier today that Cave Story has been approved in Europe. There’s no set release date yet, but one would think that its release is imminent.
The company tweeted:
To all our friends in Europe, We haven’t forgotten about you. Cave Story has been approved. Need a good release date.
— Nicalis, Inc. (@nicalis) March 28, 2013
Wii U sales have been nothing but gloom and doom for the past couple of months in the UK, but the console’s recent performance is showing positive signs. The latest issue of MCV reports, through retail sources, that Wii U sales increased nearly 125% last week. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate’s launch and Premium Set price cut from HMV contributed to the boost.
Nintendo is really rolling out the “we’re-a-modern-company-too” artillery this week.
I say that partially in jest because we are very used to Nintendo being a somewhat “old-fashioned” tech company, but by and large the statement of mockery rings very true: With their updated support for HTML, CSS, and Java (all very “hip” development languages), the newly announced iOS-to-Wii U conversion tools, and this massive expansion of Miiverse, it almost feels as thought the Big N is, for better or worse, “getting with the times”. The latter of those three things is the newest announcement, and as of today we have a bunch of details on what they plan to do with Miiverse going forward. Here are the bulletpoints:
– Update will improve interactions with games, create a deeper integration with them
– Send and receive comments, follow users, view followers, etc all from within games
– Launch games at a specific point via Miiverse, such as New Super Mario Bros. U
– If a player tags a specific level in a Miiverse post (say, World 1-2), you could click the tag and start the game at that level to see what they’re talking about
– Miiverse could eventually be coupled with an online datastore, which would allow for “more advanced functions”
– User communities will become more widespread
– Limited access communities would have codes to join, and only those who own the game could join
– This would allow for tournament organization and hosting
– Potential to link “stage editors” to Miiverse, allowing users to direct an entire game from Miiverse (not sure what this implies)
– Nintendo is listening to developer requests on how to extend the Miiverse API to become more beneficial
Sounds like a heck of an improvement to me! Nintendo really seems to want to get back on top. And honestly, that’s sort of the unfortunate truth with the Big N: When they’re in trouble, they work a heck of a lot harder to get back on top. When they’re on top, the quality of their games and support tends to go down.
Yesterday, Kiyoshi Mizuki revealed an interesting Miivese feature during Nintendo’s Miiverse session at GDC 2013. The game will include the “Miiversketch” feature, a mode that requires players to quickly draw items on the GamePad from memory. Drawings will be added to a special Miiverse board once the designated time expires.
Nintendo demonstrated a couple of examples. In one instance, King Tut was drawn in a matter of 60 seconds. Other drawings involved a camel and a sloth.
Destructoid personally confirmed with Vigil co-founder Ryan Stefanelli that Crytek USA will bid on the Darksiders IP.
Stefanelli said:
“When the Darksiders IP goes up for auction, Crytek will be bidding for it. Not much more to say since the rest is left up to courts and legal shenanigans, but we’re all excited at the prospect.”
Yesterday, Crytek USA CEO David Adams posted a tweet containing the news. It was initially unclear, however, if Adams’ Twitter account was legitimate.
In the wake of THQ and Vigil Games’ closure, Nintendo will be pulling Darksiders II from the Wii U eShop on March 31. Those who have already purchased the game can re-download it at any time, but new consumers won’t be able to find Darksiders II on the store.
It’s unclear if/when Nintendo will remove Darksiders II from the North American eShop. The company may choose to take it down on Monday as well – just without prior notice.
