“Yes, they’ll give Nintendo a head start, and no, neither of them is concerned about the impact of a head start. They won’t say it, but both manufacturers think Nintendo’s glory days are behind it. I don’t think the Wii U’s head start will make much difference at all, since I don’t expect it to be any more powerful than current generation consoles, but maybe Nintendo will surprise me.” – Michael Pachter
Yea… I dunno. Maybe what he’s saying is true, but I’d imagine Sony and Microsoft are more concerned with seeing what Nintendo is going to bring to the table so they can mimic it more swiftly this time…
Yatagarasu is a 2D fighter made by some of the folks behind King of Fighters. A 3DS adaptation will be heading to the eShop, courtesy of Nicalis. Since it will be playable at PAX Prime 2012, it must be pretty far along.
Nintendo of America has confirmed that North American retailers won’t be carrying download cards for New Super Mario Bros. 2, different from the situation in Japan.
However, GameStop is offering download codes that can be printed on a receipt. This option is only available in-store. Physical copies can be purchased in-store and online.
F1 games have been coming out yearly on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. It doesn’t sound like the Wii U will be receiving the same treatment, however.
Game director Paul Jeal feels that F1 Race Stars may be a more appropriate title to bring to the console. Following this, Codemasters will consider a strategy different from its usual annual games on Wii U.
“We have the license for a bit longer now so we can do a bit more forward planning. Rod [Cousens] – our CEO who’s here [at gamescom] – he’s constantly thinking, ‘What about this or what about that?’, so he needs to put a business case for it. I definitely think it would be something a little more suited to Race Stars first. Let them do the hard work of getting it working on the tech first!”
Jeal said the following when asked whether that would be due to the audience:
“I think so, yeah. I also think it’s looking at the Wii SKU that we did. It did really well but there’s still questions with sales numbers… whether it is something that annually we could revisit year-on-year [and] would sell the same number of units year on year. [For] something like football, you need the newest content and there’s lots of changes, but with F1 the changes with the teams and drivers are really quite minimal, so instantly you’re quite stretched for new content. I think when you bring this over to the Wii where the audience is perhaps a bit more more casual and they’re less likely to buy it year-on-year, you have to look at a slightly different strategy.”
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has sounded off on social gaming for Wii U and the Miiverse.
Iwata feels that gaming is now in an era “where even a single-player game experience can have a social component”. For Miiverse, Nintendo wants to have “a gaming platform as the place to create that ‘social graph’ for folks who are in gaming circles”. He also hopes it’ll allow those who are playing alone to not actually feel like they’re playing by themselves.
There’s lots of commentary below from Iwata concerning social gaming and Miiverse – be sure to check it out.
This week’s Nintendo Download includes the following featured content:
Nintendo eShop
VectorRacing – Enjoy a new, high-speed racing game that recalls the video games of yore. Use one of six different machines to race across 12 courses — some easy, some insane — in four different modes. (For Nintendo 3DS / Nintendo 3DS XL)Virtual Console
METAL SLUG X – This game is based on Metal Slug 2, but adds the new “Iron Lizard” and “Drop Shot” weapons. It also adds many new enemies and allows players to adjust the game’s difficulty level by changing the position of bosses and other things. (For Wii)
UFO Interactive Games, Inc. will release a new Balloon Pop game on the eShop next month.
“Balloon Pop Remix” features the series’ traditional balloon-popping and puzzle gameplay. Included in the title are three modes: Story Mode, Puzzle Mode, and an Endless Mode.
Story Mode involves a mysterious creatures who is looking to repair his crashed UFO. Puzzle Mode offers a wide array of puzzles scattered over 100 levels. Finally, Endless Mode allows players to compete for the best rank and high score.
Balloon Pop Remix will be hitting the eShop on September 6 for $7.99.
Source: UFO Interactive PR
