During a Reddit AMA yesterday, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey was asked for his thoughts about the Virtual Boy. Luckey was mostly down on the system, but had a positive comment regarding its LED display.
Luckey personally doesn’t consider the Virtual Boy to be a VR device. He finds this to be a “shame”, as he says Nintendo’s product “hurt the industry in the long run.” Luckey also acknowledged the Virtual Boy’s LED display – the first in a consumer device – and noted that it was “probably the best contrast of any display up to that point”.
Below are Luckey’s full comments:
“Not really a VR device, IMO. No head tracking, low field of view, essentially a monochrome 3DTV.
A real shame, too, because the association of the Virtual Boy with VR hurt the industry in the long run.
It did have the first LED display in a consumer device, though – probably the best contrast of any display up to that point!”
Kevin Bayliss was at Rare for over 20 years. Now he’s with Playtonic, the developer behind Yooka-Laylee. It actually sounds like he’s been assisting the team for some time, but he’s joining them in an official capacity.
Bayliss was one of Rare’s first employees. As graphics director, he helped come up with characters for well-known titles such as Battletoads, Killer Instinct, Diddy Kong Racing, and Star Fox Adventures. Bayliss also worked with Shigeru Miyamoto to create the modern Donkey Kong and sidekick Diddy for Diddy Kong Country.
Log Games has announced Epic Dumpster Bear as its next game for the Wii U eShop. The action-platformer takes inspiration from the 16-bit era and has players taking on the role of a dumpster bear with a chip on his shoulder. After an evil corporation destroys his forest – forcing him to eat dumpster food to survive – it’s now the bear’s turn to take out the trash.
Log Games promises over 70 levels containing bosses, secret exits, and unlockable puzzle levels. Here’s a rundown of the title’s features:
– Classic platforming action
– Smooth 60fps gameplay and precise control
– 7 worlds and over 70 levels to complete
– Off TV play
– Bonus levels that take advantage of the Wii U GamePad
– Unlockable Miiverse Stamps
Epic Dumpster Bear will be released on the Wii U eShop in North America, Europe, and Oceania this spring. Watch a trailer below.
In a new developer blog, Juicy Beast stated that Toto Temple Deluxe “didn’t sell very well”. The developer shared some potential reasons as to why the game didn’t perform as well as the studio had hoped.
Here’s a notable excerpt from the piece:
There’s a good possibility that the game didn’t have good enough “hooks” to captivate people’s attention. Sure, “fighting your friends to put an egg-laying goat on your head” sounds funny and weird, but it doesn’t really give you a clear idea of what it’s like to play Toto Temple Deluxe.
At the end of the day, we think the biggest factor is because it’s a local-multiplayer game with no online play. The game is aiming at a pretty niche audience by requiring actual human friends to play, and we can’t ignore the impact it has on sales. A quick look at comments on YouTube, Reddit and such, and it’s obvious that a lot of people are simply not buying the game for this very reason (that along a lack of solo experience).
On top of all this, we also think the game came out almost 2 years too late. Back in 2014, when the local-multiplayer boom was happening, Toto Temple Deluxe’s development felt more logical. Today, it feels a bit out of place, as we think a lot of player might have bought popular local-multiplayer games in the past, then realised that they would play them less and less frequently. We definitely can’t blame them, since it’s pretty much the same for us.
There’s plenty more about the creation of Toto Temple Deluxe in Juicy Beast’s post. You can read the full thing right here.
The 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will arrive in NOrth America on March 18, Nintendo has announced.
A new tweet just published on the company’s Twitter account reads:
Mario & Sonic have victory in their sights when #MarioSonicRio launches for #3DS on 3/18! pic.twitter.com/XEuBCTYIlW
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 11, 2016
It’s not yet known when Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be available for Wii U. However, it should release sometime this year (thanks DJMusicClues).
Mario and Sonic are back for another round of intense competition in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, launching for Nintendo 3DS on 3/18 and Wii U later this year!
Posted by Nintendo on Monday, January 11, 2016
Lightwood Games announced today that Word Puzzles by POWGI will be available on the European eShop on January 28 (North America to follow). The title was only previously confirmed for 3DS, but a Wii U version has now been revealed as well. It’ll be launching for both platforms on the same day.
Word Puzzles by POWGI features a collection of six different word games and allows users to generate custom puzzles by tapping an amiibo. This marks the first independent game to support every single amiibo figure and card.
Below are trailers for the two versions:
Source: Lightwood Games PR
Update (1/11): Bumped to the top. You can finally pre-order the blue version here.
Original (12/28): We don’t post about items from Play-Asia too often, but I thought that some of you might be interested in importing the new Pokemon 2DS bundles from Japan. Most are now live on the website, aside from the blue version.
Below are links to each:
Nintendo 2DS [Pocket Monster Red Limited Pack]
Nintendo 2DS [Pocket Monster Pikachu Limited Pack]
Nintendo 2DS [Pocket Monster Green Limited Pack]
All three of these 2DS bundles launch on February 27.
Nintendo has opened up the full North American Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam website. If you’d like to give it a look, head on over here. It’ll tell you everything you need to know before the game drops on January 22.
This week’s European Nintendo Downloads are as follows:
Wii U Virtual Console
Megaman Battle Network 6: Cybeast Falzar – €6.99 / £6.29 / CHF 9.80
Megaman Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar – €6.99 / £6.29 / CHF 9.80
3DS Download
FINAL FANTASY EXPLORERS (available from January 28th, pre-purchase available from January 14th; Bonus for purchasing on Nintendo eShop until 28/01/2016: Download Code for the for the Nintendo 3DS HOME Menu theme “FINAL FANTASY EXPLORERS Legendary Characters” included with every pre-purchase from Nintendo eShop.) – €39.99 / £29.99 / CHF 51.90
3DS DLC
Nintendo presents: New Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward: Peach’s Yukata – free
Nintendo presents: New Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward: Rosalina’s Yukata – free
3DS Demo
Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight
3DS Themes
Animal Crossing: Winter Frolics – €1.99 / £1.79 / CHF 2.80
eShop Sales
Wii U
Bombing Bastards – €4.99/ £4.49 / CHF 7.49 until January 21st, regular price €6.99 / £5.99 / CHF 9.99
Cubemen 2 – €3.99/ £3.49 / CHF 5.49 until January 28th, regular price €7.99 / £6.99 / CHF 10.99
Family Tennis SP – €3.74/ £2.99 / CHF 4.49 until February 4th, regular price €4.99 / £3.99 / CHF 5.99
FullBlast – €2.99 / £2.69 / CHF 4.20 until February 11th, regular price €5.99 / £5.39 / CHF 8.40
Kung Fu Rabbit – €1.99 / £1.79 / CHF 2.80 until January 28th, regular price €4.99 / £4.49 / CHF 7.00
Puddle – €2.99 / £2.83 / CHF 4.41 until January 28th, regular price €6.99 / £6.29 / CHF 9.80
Rock ‘N Racing Off Road DX – €4.95 / £4.45 / CHF 6.94 until February 11th, regular price €7.99 / £7.19 / CHF 11.20
Rock Zombie – €3.99 / £3.59 / CHF 5.60 until February 11th, regular price €6.99 / £6.29/ CHF 9.80
Runbow – €10.49 / £8.24 / CHF 14.24 until January 30th, regular price €13.99 / £10.99/ CHF 18.99
Spot The Differences: Party! – €2.99 / £2.69 / CHF 4.20 until January 21st, regular price €5.00 / £4.49/ CHF 7.00
Tetrobot & Co. – €4.99 / £3.74 / CHF 5.99 until January 28th, regular price €9.99 / £7.49/ CHF 11.99
Unepic – €4.99 / £4.40 / CHF 7.00 until February 11th, regular price €9.99 / £8.99/ CHF 14.00
Wooden Sen’SeY – €3.99 / £3.20 / CHF 4.80 until January 28th, regular price €9.99 / £8.00/ CHF 12.00
3DS
Kung Fu Rabbit – €1.99 / £1.79 / CHF 2.80 until January 28th, regular price €4.99 / £4.49 / CHF 7.00
Fantasy Pirates – €0.99 / £0.99 / CHF 1.00 until February 11th, regular price €4.50 / £4.50/ CHF 4.60
TOYS VS MONSTERS – €0.99 / £0.99 / CHF 1.22 until February 11th, regular price €3.99 / £3.99/ CHF 4.99
VAN HELSING SNIPER ZX100 – €2.99 / £2.99 / CHF 4.10 until February 11th, regular price €6.66 / £6.66/ CHF 9.20
Source: Nintendo PR
