More: 3DS themes, SEGA, Sonic the Hedgehog

Yet another blog update has landed on PlatinumGames’ official blog. This time around, we get to hear about how the team went about bug checking.

Check out a few excerpts below:

Now, do we need every aspect of bug checks to be handled by actual people? My policy is: if a machine can do it, let’s make a machine do it. In this instance, we determine a set of actions for Bayonetta to perform, and make the console play the game over and over and over again.

For example, our first method for bug checking, the full playthrough—if we’re just going to play through the game’s main story, we know what that route is, and what we need to do along the way, so shouldn’t this be possible?

Then there’s bug checking by playing the game for extended periods of time. People need to sleep, eat, and take breaks, but we can make a machine play the game as long as we want and it’ll never even have to use the restroom! This is where automated bug checking really shines.

There also happen to be these kinds of bugs that have a very low chance of reoccurring, sometimes even as low as only a 1/50 chance. If there’s a bug that we randomly came across at one point and want to find the exact conditions for reproducing it, we can program the game to try something in the most precise way possible, and experiment around until we figure out what’s causing the problem.

Head on over to the PlatinumGames website for the full post.

More: Bayonetta 2, PlatinumGames

ANSES – France’s health and safety executive – recently recommended that children under six not be exposed to stereoscopic 3D images. There is concern about impairing the development of their visual systems by using devices like the 3DS.

Nintendo has since weighed in on ANSES’ report. You can find the company’s full comments below.

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More: Atlus, Devil Survivor 2: Break Record, Japan

Update (11/28/14): New Super Mario Bros. 2 is currently available for only $15.

Amazon officially began its Black Friday 2014 deals earlier today. Most of the significant Nintendo-related sales will be delegated to Lighting Deals, but there are a few things on the side as well.

You can purchase games such as:

Scribblenauts Unlimited (Wii U) for $10
Scribblenauts Unmasked (Wii U) for $10
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (Wii U) for $15
The LEGO Movie Videogame for $18
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark for $15
Injustice: Gods Among Us for $14
The Legend of Korra: A New Era Begins for $15
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3DS) for $15
Cooking Mama 5: Bon Appetit! for $20
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze for $15
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call for $20
The LEGO Movie Videogame (3DS) for $15
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (3DS) for $15
Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars for $21
Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire guide for $9.20 with code HOLIDAY30 (code works on other books as well)

Also be sure to keep track of Amazon’s Black Friday deals calender here. We’ll be seeing things like Smash Bros. for Wii U with $15 credit, and sales for Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.

More: Amazon, Black Friday 2014, sale

More: Japan, Kadokawa Games, Prope, Rodea: The Sky Soldier

Nintendo won’t be selling a few 3DS XL color variations in Japan soon. These include the Mint x White, Black, and Blue x Black models.

“Production is slated to end shortly”, Nintendo’s page states. A specific date isn’t mentioned, but the models above will be on their way out in the near future.

Source, Via

More: Japan

A few new tweets were added to the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter account earlier today. Director Tetsuya Takahashi shared an update on the game’s artists (which extends to the alien races) and script. For the new information, take a look at the summary below.

– Aside from Kunihiko Tanaka’s designs, the team has many other artists working on different types of designs
– Different alien races in the game
– Wants to really bring out the various unique characteristics in their cultures
– For the graphics in the game to be able to reflect the different cultures, they have different artists fleshing out the details in the design phase
– We’ve apparently seen one of the unannounced races on the early tease site from Monolith Soft
– The script isn’t written by Yuichiro Takeda alone
– Compared to Xenoblade, this time there’s a lot more text to handle
– Kazuho Hyodo (an anime script writer) was brought in to help with the workload
– Since he has much experience with sci-fi works, Takahashi is not worried
– Some design staff will be introduced next week

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More: top, Xenoblade Chronicles X

The latest Splatoon update covers the squids’ ability to pass through wire fences. View the new screenshot above, and some information from the game’s Japanese Twitter account below.

It appears that when transformed into squids, the Inklings can pass through wire fences. The can use this special ability to take shortcuts and hidden pathways. However! They must be careful as if they transform while on to of a wire fence, they will fall to the bottom. With that said, what are their bodies made out of that it allows them to do this???

Recently, probably because I’ve been thinking about squids non-stop, I can’t help but notice them everywhere – even at the supermarket.

The other day, I bought a packet of a certain type of calamari for 150 yen. I pan fried it with butter and soy sauce, then dipped it in mayonnaise that was mixed with some ground up chilli pepper seeds. I wonder if it it is alright for something so delicious to exist…..

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More: Splatoon

I have to admit: this is a pretty neat way to advertise Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire!

More: Japan, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, Pokemon Omega Ruby