Amid some of the recent negative news surrounding the Wii U, it’s encouraging to see a developer such as Criterion Games going all out with Need for Speed: Most Wanted. We’ve already seen a few lazy efforts when it comes to third-party ports on the console, but Criterion has gone out of its way to make Most Wanted play better and look better on Wii U.
And despite what a few may say about the Wii U’s power, Criterion’s Alex Ward told Kotaku that the system does contain a fair amount of memory. He also spoke about the importance of coming out in a big way in terms of features as this is the team’s first release on the console.
“There’s more memory in the hardware… The draw distance is a little better. It’s not as mip-mapped out. …Well this is our first game on the hardware. We wanted to go back to like we used to be. If you know we’re doing the game, you know we’ve looked at the hardware and said, ‘What’s the best damned thing we can do on that?’ We’re going to support everything we can. We support MiiVerse fully, online play.”
Ward went on to talk about Nintendo in a very positive light, appreciating the “excellent gameplay” the company provides:
“Everyone wants to talk about this and that on the hardware, and it’s not as interesting to me. What’s really important is what we’re doing with the player experience. The games I’m playing on Wii U—Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U—what Nintendo [does], they just deliver excellent gameplay. It’s probably one of the big problems in the industry at the moment. Everyone—you guys—like to talk about specs and this and that. We’ve got to get back to just playing the game. And that’s what this game is about. It’s about a simple, fun experience. It’s not about 10,000,000 polygons and who does this and who does that.”
Gaijin Games is currently gearing up to release Runner2. If all goes well, it should make it out later this month. An official date hasn’t been set, but Gaijin hopes to have it ready to on on the Wii U eShop on February 26.
A tweet from Gaijin reads:
Hey @samus2008, There is no official release date yet, but it is AWFULLY close!We’re trying to hit as close to 2/26 as possible!
— CommanderVideo (@BitTrip) February 15, 2013
Newegg is selling a pair of first-party Nintendo titles at a steep discount. The first, Rhythm Heaven Fever, is available for just $4.99. Fortune Street can be purchased at $8.99. You can’t really go wrong with either game at such low prices!
Update: Clarified a few details and added in some Decode system information.
Digimon World Re:Digitize is coming to the 3DS. The latest issue of V-Jump reveals that Namco Bandai will be bringing the new game to Nintendo’s handheld sometime this year.
Decode is an enhanced port of the original PSP title. V-Jump says that the game will include two brand new storyline chapters, one of which involves Omegamon X-Antibody as well as new Digimon. Information regarding the added story elements will be included in V-Jump’s May issue.
This new version of the game will possess a new “Decode” system. By raising a Digimon’s level through training, it will become more powerful through improved stats.
Take a look at the first scan of Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode above.
The Wii U sold 55,000 units (give or take) this January. I want an Ambassador Program and a price cut, mostly because I want free games. How about you?
After the announcement that Wii U sold but 55K units this past January, I found myself legitimately worried about the future of the console for the first time ever. I don’t mean “Oh no Nintendo is going to die and everything will be ruined!” worried, I just mean “Man, they are going to be in for another Gamecube if they don’t get their act together with this.”
Not that I would mind another Gamecube. After all, the console spawned some of the greatest games of all time despite selling a paltry 21 million units, and none of us look back on that era and go “Man, Nintendo sure was close to being gone for good with that lunchbox console!”. Still, they were clearly in third place behind Sony and Microsoft, and as childish as it seems I like seeing Nintendo being on top. There’s something really satisfying about seeing the guy you like best winning, especially when the guy you like best is putting forth such a positive and unique image when juxtaposed with a lot of what else is out there.
The Fire Emblem: Awakening art book was handed out to GameStop customers. It was an exclusive pre-order bonus prior to the game’s North American launch.
