A new Wii U system update is now available for Wii U. Users can upgrade their console to version 2.1.3.
According to a notice posted on Nintendo’s official support site, the download makes “Further improvements to overall system stability.”
The page also confirms that a bigger firmware release – announced a few months back – is due out in April. It “adds new features and further improvements to the user experience”.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise has featured a female lead before, but not when it comes to the mainline series. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will be maintaining the tradition with Edward Kenway as the game’s star.
Ashraf Ismail, Black Flag’s creative director, was recently asked about the decision to highlight men in the Assassin’s Creed series thus far:
“It’s a bit of a tough question. Really early on, we decided to tell the story of the Kenways. So we already had in place the idea to tell Edward, Haytham, and Connor. This was actually years ago, we had this. …we actually never thought, ‘could this be a woman?’ …from the pirate perspective, there were a few famous women pirates. But it wasn’t common. So we didn’t want that element to be a detail people got stuck on.”
Regarding the possibility of releasing a mainline Assassin’s Creed with a female protagonist, Ismail said:
“I would say it wouldn’t be surprising to see a female assassin coming up in a mainline Assassin’s Creed. But for us, for AC4, it was always Edward.”
Numerous employees have been laid off from TimeGate Studios today. The company is perhaps best known – notoriously so – for its work on Aliens: Colonial Marines.
TimeGate president Adel Chaveleh said in a statement:
“Today, we had to make the difficult decision to let go of some great game developers. This is never easy, and we’re doing all we can to assist those developers affected. TimeGate is preparing, as is the entire industry, for the transition to next-generation consoles and new business models. As part of this reinvention, all projects and strategic initiatives continue to move forward at the studio.”
Officially, TimeGate did not confirm how many employees have been affected by the developer’s new path. However, sources allegedly say that close to 25 staffers will now need to look for new jobs after a publishing deal did not materialize.
Software
1. Fire Emblem: Awakening
2. Pokemon Dream Radar
3. Crashmo
4. Gunman Clive
5. Super Mario Bros.
6. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
7. Pokedex 3D Pro
8. Mega Man 2
9. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
10. The Legend of Zelda
11. 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure
12. Cut The Rope
13. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
14. Photo Dojo
15. Plants vs. Zombies
16. Etrian Odyssey IV
17. Metal Torrent
18. Colors! 3D
19. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
20. Bird Mania 3D
Videos
1. Club Nintendo Video
2. Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move Trailer
3. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Trailer
4. Nintendo Direct: February 14, 2013
5. Pokemon X and Pokemon Y Video
6. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon Trailer
7. Yoshi Trailer
8. Nintendo Show 3D: February 14, 2013
9. HarmoKnight Trailer
10. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Video
11. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon Multiplayer Video
12. Naruto Powerful Shippuden Video
13. Nintendo Show 3D: February 28, 2013
14. LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins Video
15. Mario Kart 7 Video
16. Kersploosh! Trailer
17. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon Commercial
18. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate Trailer
19. What is Nintendo Video?
20. Animal Crossing: New Leaf Trailer
Source: 3DS eShop
– Lead Content Manager Carsten Myhill
Well, that’s pretty unfortunate! I remember watching the E3 2012 footage of Assassin’s Creed III and thinking that the naval battles were one of the most interest parts from the game, and you would think they would be primed for multiplayer considering the mechanics of the gameplay.
What’s interesting is that Myhill also said they were focusing all of their resources on creating the perfect “open-world pirate experience”, so they don’t have the resources to do multiplayer ship-battling.
By NPD’s count, the Wii U had an absolutely abysmal January, selling somewhere between 49K and 59K units throughout the whole month. According to a source at Gamasutra, however, they may have been a little closer to 100K in actuality.
The source claims that about 100,000 units went off store shelves during the first month of the year, but nearly 40% of that was eventually returned by people who were planning on re-selling the system for a profit on eBat, Craigslist, and the like. Because demand is so low for the system, they were unable to re-sell. This is what caused the 50K-60K readout by NPD, despite the fact that 100K units had been sold in total without considering returns. Another source at Gamasutra helps confirm this, saying that for every 100 Wii U units sold in any given store this past January, roughly 40-50 of them were returned.
The only problem? If this is true, it arguably bodes worse for Wii U than if it’s not true. Having a 40% return rate on your console– regardless of why– is definitely not a good thing.
