Nintendo of Europe announced a released date for the latest installment of Art Academy. Art Academy: Atelier launches on the Wii U in Europe on June 26. The game offers “30 comprehensive lessons”, and for the first time charcoal is included as on of the tools able to be used for your artwork. You will be able to upload your creations to Miiverse, as well as “display them in a virtual in-game gallery and, in another first for the Art Academy series, upload time-lapse videos of their works being created to YouTube.”
So many creative possibilities for fans of the Art Academy series, read on to check out the full PR from Nintendo:
21st May 2015 – From 26th June, with Art Academy: Atelier the Wii U GamePad transforms into an artist’s canvas full of possibilities. The latest instalment in the popular educational software series offers 30 comprehensive lessons under the tutelage of a friendly master named Vince who takes you by the hand and offers information on concepts, theory and techniques. Artworks can be created from a wide variety of materials and tools, including charcoal for the first time in the series. The user can import and export images using an SD card, share their works via Miiverse, display them in a virtual in-game gallery and, in another first for the Art Academy series, upload time-lapse videos of their works being created to YouTube.
The Art Academy titles teach people drawing and painting skills on a touch screen that transfer to the real world – just follow the easy steps and create stunning masterpieces you might never have believed possible. Following the release of Wii U Download Software Art Academy: SketchPad – which offered budding artists a taster of the full experience – this new instalment offers a fully comprehensive drawing and painting package, with the stylus once again acting as your art material or tool and the Wii U GamePad touch screen as your canvas. By utilising the touch screen’s large surface as well as the ability to zoom in on specific areas of the touch screen, you can create highly detailed works. Gain inspiration from some of the artworks already created and shared by some Wii U users in the Art Academy: SketchPad Community on Miiverse.
Art Academy: Atelier offers a fun and interactive course of study called Lessons Mode where you follow step-by-step tutorials to learn drawing and painting techniques. The techniques handed down from your master Vince are categorised into groups called Beginner, Advanced and – a new category for Art Academy: Atelier – Tools, with the Lessons in each category increasing in complexity as you progress. By completing Lessons, you will become familiar with the reasoning behind the techniques and learn more about the masters of the craft. Of course the software can also be used to draw or paint freely thanks to the wide variety of available materials and tools.
Whether you have created fun doodles, work-in-progress artworks or finished masterpieces, you can show off your creative process by uploading a time-lapse video of the creation of your artworks to YouTube. Whether you set it to one, two or five minutes in length, the time-lapse video shows the process of creation from the first brush stroke to the last. You can also save your creations to an SD card to view on a computer, as well as view your work in a virtual Gallery. The Gallery also includes the Family Wall, where all household members linked to the same Wii U console can contribute their artistic touch to the same canvas.
You can share your creations via Miiverse, Nintendo’s network service that brings together like-minded communities from all over the world. Artwork created by others is sorted using predefined tags for easy searches and can be viewed without leaving the software. It can also be saved to the software or to an SD card for future use as a reference for your own work. What’s more it’s just a single button press away to access the Art Academy: Atelier Community online.
Art Academy: Atelier launches exclusively for Wii U on 26th June, offering a fun yet thorough course of study, a wide variety of materials from which to create, as well as multiple options for budding artists to share their works. Wii U owners who already purchased Art Academy: SketchPad from Nintendo eShop can upgrade to Art Academy: Atelier for a reduced price if they purchase it from Nintendo eShop.*
Source: Nintendo PR
Relicanth is the new Daily Pokémon on Pokémon Shuffle! As usual with the daily challenges, these Pokémon will only be available for 24 hours, then Relicanth will show up every Thursday for the following three weeks.
Don’t forget to update your game by hitting Check In so you can access this event!
For the next 24 hours only, Best Buy is having a huge sale on select 3DS titles where you can buy one and get another 50% off, including titles like Xenoblade Chronicles 3D and Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.! These deals can also be combined with Gamers Club Unlocked members, giving you 20% off right off the bat. Some titles even have clearances on them, making you save even more!
When Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was announced, it came with the disappointing news that the project wasn’t planned – at least initially – for Nintendo platforms. However, a notice on the Kickstarter page gave a small hint/hope that something such as a Wii U version could be possible if funds reached a certain amount.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has been reaching stretch goals regularly on Kickstarter, and one of the latest updates suggests that a Wii U edition could be in the cards. Fans have been analyzing the new stretch goal image (shown above), which seems to show the top of the Wii U logo at $3 million. That’s not confirmed, but it appears to be the general consensus at the moment.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has raised almost $2.5 million on Kickstarter. If what people are speculating turns out to be accurate, then that means only $500,000 extra would be needed for a Wii U version.
Thanks to Jake for the tip.
Nintendo created a couple of new commercials to promote the New 3DS XL in North America this summer. Both can be seen below.
Icy Wind Games, a two-man indie developer from Sweden, is developing its first game titled “Heroes, Help!” for the Wii U eShop.
Heroes, Help! is an action-adventure experience that has players setting off on an adventure with three friends to save the princess following her capture. They’ll be gathering gold to purchase new weapons and equipment, discovering secret areas and hidden treasures, defeating bosses, and obtaining clues to find the princess’ location.
In terms of features, Heroes, Help! will offer four-player co-op, over ten levels, player customization for weapons and equipment, achievements, and support for various controllers. The game will run at 60 frames-per-second, and the team is targeting 1080p resolution.
Heroes, Help! will launch in Q1 2016. A few screenshots are in the gallery.
Source: Icy Wind Games PR
This week’s Wii U eShop charts are as follows:
Software
1. Paper Mario
2. Super Mario 64
3. Donkey Kong 64
4. Splatoon
5. Super Mario World
6. EarthBound
7. New Super Mario Bros.
8. Mega Man & Bass
9. Super Mario Bros. 3
10. Mario Party 10
11. DuckTales Remastered
12. Donkey Kong Country
13. Super Metroid
14. Super Mario Bros.
15. Zelda: A Link to the Past
16. Mario Kart 8
17. The Legend of Zelda
18. SteamWorld Dig
19. Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3
20. Golden Sun
Videos
1. Splatoon Direct – 5/7/15
2. Get Ready for E3
3. Splatoon “Splat the World” Commercial
4. Play Nintendo Introduction Video
5. Don’t Starve: Giant Edition Trailer
6. LEGO Dimensions Announce Video
7. The Nintendo Bragg Report – Splatoon
8. Splatoon “Squid Kid” Commercial
9. Mario Party 10 Launch Trailer
10. Super Mario 64 Trailer
11. Donkey Kong 64 Trailer
12. Splatoon Ranked Battle, Battle Dojo and amiibo Trailer
13. Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Single Player
14. High Strangeness Trailer
15. Nintendo Minute – Mario Party 10 with Lamarr Wilson
16. Splatoon E3 2014 Trailer
17. Splatoon Start Inking Trailer
18. Ultratron Trailer
19. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS Lucas Comes out of Nowhere
20. Great Games to Buy with eShop Cards
Source: Wii U eShop
This week’s video additions to the Wii U/3DS eShops are as follows:
Wii U
Blocky Bot Trailer
New 3DS XL – Summer TV Commercial 1
New 3DS XL – Summer TV Commercial 2
Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Mess Fest Vlog
Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Battle Dojo
Present Code Instructional Video
Disney Infinity 3.0 Announcement Video
Stone Shire Trailer
Stone Shire Trailer 2
Vector Assault Trailer
Journey of a Special Average Balloon Trailer
Shapes of Gray Trailer
Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Art Contest
Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Single Player
Nintendo Minute – Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 2 First Look
Nintendo Minute – Whisper Challenge
Splatoon Ink it Up Commercial
Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains Full Trailer
Stretchmo Trailer
3DS
New 3DS XL – Summer TV Commercial 1
New 3DS XL – Summer TV Commercial 2
Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Mess Fest Vlog
Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Battle Dojo
Present Code Instructional Video
Samurai Defender Trailer
Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Art Contest
Nintendo Minute – AMAZE-INK MAY Splatoon Single Player
Nintendo Minute – Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 2 First Look
Nintendo Minute – Whisper Challenge
Splatoon Ink it Up Commercial
Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains Full Trailer
Stretchmo Trailer
Source: Wii U/3DS eShops
Capcom prepared another round of screenshots from The Great Ace Attorney. Check them out below.
The latest Iwata Asks focusing on Splatoon has all sorts of interesting details about the game’s development. Additionally, the team even shared a few prototype designs from the project. You can find those images below, plus plenty of tidbits about how Splatoon came together. Did you know that it was only 10 percent complete at E3 2014?
Part 1
– The reaction to Splatoon at last year’s E3 was better than expected
– Amano made the announcement trailer
– This is different than usual since trailers tend to be made by an outside agency
– Splatoon began after Nogami finished working on Wii U’s launch; he worked on the system’s menu
– Nogami gathered the Wii U launch team members about creating “a new kind of game, without worrying about trying to fit into existing game genres”
– The team got together practically every day and brainstormed potential ideas
– There were over 75 ideas shared in about 6 months
– The last new character from EAD was 14 years ago (Pikmin)
– The team wasn’t trying to create a new character, but instead a new game structure
– Program director Sato made a demo, which had a white cube in a maze (tofu)
– In the demo, blocks shaped like tofu could shoot ink and steal each other’s turf
