Suda51 delivers a well-produced mecha anime that’s as hyperactive as it is hyper-nationalistic. But how’s the actual game?
Author: Patrick
Level 5 really haven’t been having a whole lot of luck when it comes to the 3DS. Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven might still bring in the cash, but the company’s attempts at starting new IPs like Time Travelers and Girls RPG: Cinderella Life sold poorly. But perhaps their biggest bomb of all was Guild 01, a compilation of quirky games that sold fewer than 15,000 copies upon its first week of release despite having some well-known game designers collaborating on the project. Oddly enough, Level 5 are now giving Guild 01 a second chance by rereleasing most of the games in the compilation through the 3DS eShop. The first of these titles to be available outside of Japan is Liberation Maiden, a 3D shooter heavily inspired by Japanese cartoons – specifically the kind where plot is second to cool robots flying around and blowing stuff up.
Ninja Gaiden will finally be hitting the North American 3DS eShop next week. That’s according to yesterday’s store update, which lists a December 6 date and price of $4.99.
The following titles are also “coming soon” to the 3DS eShop:
Murder on the Titanic (previously confirmed for December 6, $7.99)
Mighty Bomb Jack
Crimson Shroud (previously confirmed for December 13, $4.99)
Wario Land 2 (previously confirmed for December 20)
Gardenscapes
Fluidity: Spin Cycle (previously confirmed for December 27)
In a new nine-minute video, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata discussed Animal Crossing: New Leaf shipments and shortages, as well as a special ROM card the game uses.
New Leaf has been seeing widespread sell-outs across Japan. While it’s been fairly successful on the eShop, it has sold tremendously at retail. Shops haven’t been able to keep up with demand.
Read on below for an update on Animal Crossing: New Leaf’s production. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as though Nintendo will be able to alleviate the shipment situation anytime soon.
– Iwata apologies for New Leaf shortages
– The game saves more items and swapped villages, houses with a special type of ROM card with SLC-NAND to store such big save data
– NAND is flash memory, as used in SD cards, USB key drives, SSDs
– SLC-NAND is durable and has large area for volume
– MLC-NAND sacrifices durability for greater data density
– Supplies for SLC-NAND, controller chip were within estimates
– Sales greatly exceeded estimates
– Replenishing supplies will take several months, won’t be resolved soon
– Nintendo is adjusting production volume allocation between Animal Crossing and other SLC-NAND games, but not giving AC a production monopoly
– Iwata reminds consumers that the game can be downloaded on the eShop
– There are download cards at retail which may sell out, but there will be plentiful resupplies for year-end
– It’s possible to buy download codes online
– Limited-time downloadable presents and Seven-Eleven-exclusive presents will be redistributed at a later date
Irem’s entire slate of 3DS games has consisted of pachislot games. To the surprise of no one, the company is churning out yet another one of these for the portable.
Pachipara 3D Deluxe: Sea Story arrives in Japan in February 2013. It has a story mode in which players find themselves on a solitary island. That’s all we really know, for the most part!
Nintendo Power has finally come to an end. Subscribers should soon be receiving the magazine’s December issue, which is its last.
It seems that Nintendo Power decided to go in an old-school direction with the final cover. Take a look:
Does that look familiar to any of you? It should! Nintendo Power is paying tribute to its very first cover from 1988:
3DS beats out lifetime sales of GameCube, closing in on N64 and SNES
Nintendo launched the 3DS worldwide in Q1 2011. That’s less than two years ago. Even though the portable hasn’t been around too long, it’s managed to make some impressive strides on the market.
First, the 3DS has already surpassed lifetime sales of the GameCube. It’s also reached two-thirds of the N64’s total sales, and almost half of the SNES’ sales.
Not bad, Nintendo.
The third digital release from Guild01 will be Crimson Shroud. Earlier today, Level-5 confirmed a December 13 release in both North America and Europe. It will cost $4.99 / £4.99 when it launches.
Source: Level-5 PR
“[It’s] specifically for Canada only”, said Nintendo of Europe’s James Honeywell, “We have no plans to launch it in the UK. Our focus here is all about Wii U.”
I still find it REALLY weird that they would put out a Wii Mini at all, much less one only in Canada. But that’s Nintendo for you, I guess…
