Another piece of good news coming from Cindy Gordon, vice-president of corporate affairs at Nintendo of America, concerns the digital release of Wii U and 3DS games. Apparently there are plans to make “every” title for both platforms available through both digital and retail means.
This is something that Nintendo has discussed in the past, but another confirmation is welcome.
Gordon said:
“What we said is that every game for the Wii U, and this is true for the Nintendo 3DS too, will be available in both packaged as well as digital. It’s really about choice. What I remember as a parent, I prefer the download because I won’t lose the disk. But some people thrive on [having the physical game], to each his own.”
Before Nintendo’s E3 2012 media briefing kicked off, a rumor surfaced from Nikkei suggesting that a new 3DS model with a bigger screen would be introduced. Obviously that didn’t happen, but quite a few gaming enthusiasts believe it’s inevitable.
However, when Shigeru Miyamoto was presented with Nikkei’s “3DS XL” rumor, he hinted that a makeover may not be in the cards. That’s because Miyamoto is “satisfied with the 3DS hardware as it is.” Instead, it seems as though Nintendo will be shifting its attention to the handheld’s successor.
Miyamoto told IGN:
“I really feel like I’m satisfied with the 3DS hardware as it is. I feel like it’s the best for this generation. What we’re thinking about right now is probably going to be for a future generation of handheld.”
Because the Wii U is making use of an account system, there’s a lot of flexibility in terms of accessing settings and other content at any time.
Cindy Gordon, vice-president of corporate affairs at Nintendo of America, has said that this functionality will allow you to “to access your account anywhere.” So if you’re visiting a friend’s house, you should be able to retrieve your profile on that system.
Gordon’s response was actually about playing games on another Wii U. Based on her comments, it sounds like digital content could be tied to your account. That would certainly be a step in the right direction for Nintendo, its online plans, and its approach to non-retail offerings.
Namco Bandai could be gearing up for a new Pac-Man announcement. The company’s Japanese division registered a European trademark for “Pac-Man And The Ghostly Adventures”. Along with the filing, a logo was made available.
Because this is only a trademark, it’s unclear as to what Namco Bandai has in store. This does appear to be video game-related, though.
EA is starting to get more specific with regard to its plans for Wii U.
The company has two unannounced titles in development for the platform. Right now it’s looking like they’ll be announced later this summer. EA label president Frank Gibeau has said that the company will “have a bigger line-up for Wii U than we did on the Wii.”
According to Gibeau:
“We’ve got a couple of more games in development for Wii U and we’ll have a bigger line-up for Wii U than we did on the Wii. It is the first next-generation platform coming out so we’re really supporting it. Just looking at E3 and where we’re at, we wanted to hold our fire a little bit on a couple of the other games that we’re working on. We’ll have more announcements this summer on the rest of the Wii U line-up. …You’ll hear more later this summer.”
Gibeau also spoke about the GamePad, stating that EA will “do some new, unique things with it on the Wii U controller and the second screen that we’re innovating on”.
Mass Effect 3 is one of the company’s games that will be taking advantage of the new controller.
“We’ll do some new, unique things with it on the Wii U controller and the second screen that we’re innovating on.”
How do you make up for poor financial results and a downturn in business? Well, if you’re Nintendo, you can reduce employee bonuses.
That’s exactly what the Big N intends to do, as reported by Nikkei and Reuters. The publications say that Nintendo will cut summer bonuses by 20 percent.
Last week, Kirby’s Dream Collection Special Edition received a September 2012 in North America. Japan, on the other hand, is getting the package a couple of months earlier.
Kirby’s Dream Collection launches in Japan on July 19. That’s only a month away, so Nintendo should be providing details and screenshots soon.
This video was taken from the final European build. Unfortunately, Rayman Origins 3DS won’t be available in North America until Q3 2012.
