Famitsu readers were asked this week what they would want to get as a holiday gift, and many of the responses (understandably, given Famitsu’s audience) were related to video games:
“For a friend, I’d like to get Borderlands 2. We could play co-op over New Years!” – 18 year-old male high school student
“I think Animal Crossing: New Leaf would be perfect as a gift for a friend who doesn’t play video games very much, since it lets you play casually at your own pace. I want to enjoy the village life together. Plus the characters are so cute!” – 33 year-old female part-time worker
“I want to give the Resident Evil series! Playing together with a romantic partner would be more exciting than watching a horror movie.” – 25 year-old self-employed male
“I think for this season, the Wii U is a no-brainer. It’s just been released and now’s the time when it’ll be the hottest item.” – 25 year-old male company worker
“The Nintendo 3DS is perfect since it has a lot of games with network play. It’d be a lot of fun to play with the person you give it to!” – 16 year-old male high school student
“My husband is a huge fan of the Yakuza series, so I’m sure he’d love it if I gave him Yakuza 5.” – 40 year-old self-employed female.
“I’m giving my girlfriend a PlayStation 3, since she doesn’t have one. Now’s a good time since the price has dropped.” – 36 year-old male company worker
“I’m giving a PlayStation network card to buy downloadable games with. The software lineup has gotten bigger and that way they can choose whatever they want.” – 24 year-old male part-time worker
Sounds like games are the way to go for a lot of folks in Japan! I wonder if the same holds true in the states… probably not!
This week’s Japanese 3DS/Wii U eShop updates are as follows:
3DS
3DS Download Titles
Johnny Kung Fu – 700 yen
Dasshutsu Adventure Majo no Sumu Yakata DEMO – FREE
Dokodemo Honya-san (e-book and manga service) – FREE
Dragon Quest X Odekake Mosha de Battle (camera application) – 600 yen
Riki Densetsu – 800 yen
Kawai Koneko 3D (retail download) – 5,040 yen
Lost Heroes (retail download) – 6,280 yen
Virtual Console
Summer Carnival ’92 Rekka (Famicom) – 500 yen
Rock Man 6: Shij? Saidai no Tatakai! (Mega Man 6, Famicom) – 400 yen (until 1/7)
Wii U
Wii U Download Titles
NicoNico (Video Service) – FREE
Hulu – FREE
Youtube – FREE
New Super Mario Bros. U (retail download) – 5,985 yen
NintendoLand (retail download) – 4,935 yen
Assassin’s Creed III (retail download) – 6,930 yen
ZombiU (retail download) – 6,300 yen
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition (retail download) – 6,280 yen
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge (retail download) – 6,300 yen
Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition (retail download) – 5,480 yen
FIFA 13 World Class Soccer (retail download) – 7,665 yen
Mus? Orochi 2 Hyper (retail download) – 6,300 yen
Sangokushi 12 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms 12, retail download) – 8,000 yen
Video Content
Dokodemo Honya-san (e-book service) video
Dragon Quest X camera app video
Masahiro Sakurai is keeping quiet on the next Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. In a Famitsu column, he told fans that they’ll have to “wait a while longer.” He’s been thinking about cutting down on his tweets “and start putting in a real effort here.” He thinks it’d be best “if I could be forgotten about by gamers for awhile.”
Sakurai also talked about how his tweets tend to result in speculation about the new Smash Bros., talked about Fox’s inclusion in past games, and more.
Read on below for Sakurai’s comments.
Screenshots of this week’s Nintendo Downloads (12/13/12)
Ubisoft will be publishing Rayman Legends in North America and Europe. In Japan, however, the company is teaming up with Nintendo for distribution.
Geoffroy Sardin, EMEA vice-president sales and marketing at Ubisoft commented:
“We are delighted to have our promising Rayman Legends published by Nintendo in Japan. Rayman’s innovative take on the platforming genre has already seduced millions of gamers across the globe with last year’s Rayman Origins. We are very glad that its successor will benefit from Nintendo’s unrivaled experience of the Japanese market.”
Rayman Legends will launch in North America on February 26 and March 1 in Europe. A Japanese date has not been officially set.
Source: Ubisoft PR
As is the case with the 3DS, Wii U demos from the eShop come with play limits. You can only boot up a demo a certain amount of times before it becomes inoperable.
According to a Nintendo representative, publishers determine how long demos remain on the eShop and how many times they can be played.
“Each publisher has the opportunity to decide how long demos will stay on the eShop, and how many times consumers can play them before they expire.”
When content expires, you’ll receive the following message when trying to start the demo:
“This demo can no longer be used. View information about the full version in the Nintendo eShop?”
If you select yes, you’ll be taken to the game’s eShop page.
ZombiU was probably the Wii U’s most-polarizing launch title, at least from a critical perspective. It seems to be one of those games that you’ll either love or hate.
The ZombiU dev team is well aware of the reviews their game had been receiving, and producer Guillaume Brunier has admitted that he was disappointed with some of the early verdicts. Now, though, Brunier is pleased with the overall reception, noting that “these opinions proved to be a minority.”
“We were really disappointed with the early US reviews. We are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the experience we created but we did not expect so harsh a feedback. However as more and more journalists and gamers played the game, these opinions proved to be a minority. So right now we’re rather pleased with the overall reception of the game.”
