Hot on the heels of Sayonara Umihara Kawase’s OFLC rating is a similar entry over at the USK. A listing has been spotted on the German ratings board’s site, with Agatsuma Entertainment once again mentioned as publisher. This is yet another sign that Sayonara Umihara Kawase will soon be announced for PAL territories.
Several months ago, Nintendo announced its goal to sell 9 million Wii U units by the end of the 2014 fiscal year ending March 31. That’s always seemed like a lofty target given the system’s poor sales since launch, but it would now seem more difficult than ever to achieve.
IGN estimates that Wii U sales stand at about 4.3 million units worldwide to date. In order to hit 9 million, Nintendo would need to sell between 1.1 and 1.2 million consoles starting this month up through March.
EEDAR VP of Insights Jesse Divnich spoke with IGN about the Wii U sales – specifically competition from other new consoles, and how Nintendo’s own games may improve the system’s fortunes slightly. Divnich also said another price drop will likely take place again “once conditions are right”.
According to Bill Trinen, Nintendo’s director of product marketing, the company is considering a couple of unique opportunities for the 3DS’ StreetPass functionality. Trinen told Polygon that scavenger hunts as well as Nintendo-game-themed crossword puzzles are both something that may be explored going forward.
Trinen’s comments came about while discussing National StreetPass Weekend, which takes place this Saturday and Sunday.
He said:
We are going to look and see how things go, to see whether it’s something we can do again nationally or potentially internationally. There are other things we’re looking at to leverage Nintendo Zone and StreetPass in 2014 too. We’re batting around ideas with what we can do with scavenger hunt activities with StreetPass and Nintendo Zone.
If you’re at home it becomes a little bit more artificial, a little bit less about encouraging the people who are enjoying the 3DS to take it out with them like you are. Then it’s just random connections over the internet. There is something [magical] about encountering these people who are maybe like you, about feeling like you are part of the same community.
In its NPD response yesterday, Nintendo didn’t say how many Wii U consoles it sold in the US for the month of November. The company only revealed that sales were up 340 percent over October.
So how much did the Wii U sell last month? While not an official confirmation, NintendoWorldReport claims that 230,000 units were sold across the US in November, citing “a reliable industry source.”
The official Pokemon Bank website opened today, which has brought along a bunch of new content. Screenshots are posted above, and details can be found below.
General details
– Once again, Brigette guides you through Pokemon Bank
– Deposit, store, manage Pokemon in private Boxes online
– Link up your own dedicated Boxes using your 3DS to easily deposit and withdraw Pokemon
– Pokemon will be stored even if you lost your copy of X/Y
– 100 Boxes that can hold 30 Pokemon each
– Can store a total of 3,000 Pokemon
– Deposit and withdraw Pokemon from different copies of X/Y
– Transfer many Pokemon at once without needing 2 systems
– Search functions included
– $4.99 / 4,99 € EUR / 4,49 £ GBP annually
– Try the game between the app’s release and January 31
– Bringing Pokemon into X/Y from Black/White, Black/White 2 will produce new events in Kalos
– Receive Poke Miles for the length of time Pokemon are deposited
– Exchange Poke Miles for items in X/Y on the Global Link
– Earn Battle Points instead of Poke Miles if you like
– Exchange these for TMs and items in X/Y
– Send Battle Points and Poke Miles through Pokemon Link
– Upper screen will show your personal Boxes stored online
– Lower screen shows PC Boxes in X/Y
– Divide the 100 boxes into groups
– Up to 10 groups
– To change which group is displayed, change group names, or make other changes, simply move the cursor to the group and press the A Button
– Press right or left on the Control Pad or L/R to move between boxes
– Can change Box names
– Press the start button to switch cursors
– This changes the cursor’s effect when selecting Pokemon
– View a list of your Pokémon and filter them by species, gender, type, and more
– Move your cursor to select LIST or press the Y Button to see a list of all the Pokémon you have deposited in Pokémon Bank, as well as all the Pokémon in the Pokémon X or Pokémon Y game you are using. You can use LIST to search your Pokémon by filtering for different conditions
– The upper screen shows all of the Pokémon that match your current conditions. The lower screen shows the conditions used in your current filter.
– Select a Pokémon species or another search condition on the upper screen. Press right or left on the +Control Pad to select features like type or Nature, and press up or down on the +Control Pad or use the L Button and R Button to scroll through your Pokémon
