Nintendo to offer more low-cost software – re-create games for 3DS, more demos
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 17 Comments
Japanese outlet Nikkei reports in a new piece published today that “Nintendo’s comeback strategy includes expanding customer choice by adding more affordable software titles”. Nikkei recently spoke with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, and was told that the company “plans to re-create games for the Nintendo 3DS portable system based on past titles and smartphone offerings.” By keeping development costs low, Nintendo can provide content “at prices as low as several hundred yen.”
Nikkei was also told that there will be a larger emphasis on trial versions/demos. The thinking behind this is that consumers will become more aware of new games and could become interested in purchasing the full product.
Iwata additionally mentioned that most recent 3DS sales saw a dip since the New 3DS is not debuting until next month in North America and Europe. That said, Nintendo has no plans to lower prices of its systems anytime soon.
Iwata said: “We aim to return to profit levels more typical of the company in the year ending March 2017.” According to Nikkei, Iwata suggested “that the market and shareholders anticipate 100 billion yen ($845 million).
More: top
Flipnote Studio 3D codes now coming “later this month” for North American Club Nintendo members
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 13 Comments
North American Club Nintendo members were supposed to receive codes for Flipnote Studio 3D sometime this week, but those plans have now been delayed. The rewards section of the website now states: “For Flipnote Studio 3D, please check your To-Do list to receive your download code later this month.” An exact date has not yet been provided.
Thanks to Ryan H for the tip.
More: Club Nintendo, Flipnote Studio 3D, top
ESRB rates Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven for 3DS
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 1 Comment
All signs have pointed to XSEED’s localization of Forbidden Magna, but now we have yet another clue (essentially a confirmation) hinting at an upcoming announcement. The ESRB has rated XSEED’s “Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven” for 3DS.
Here’s the full rating description:
This is a role-playing game in which players help an innkeeper assist a maiden to regain her memories. From a 3/4 over-head perspective, players explore landscapes, interact with characters, and battle fantasy creatures (e.g., dinosaur, gargoyles, robots). Players use swords, guns, and magic spells to defeat enemy creatures in turn-based combat. Battles are accompanied by mild explosions and impact sounds. One sequence depicts a character impaled by a sword. The game contains some suggestive material: a bath house sequence depicting female characters with exposed buttocks and/or partially obscured breasts; a female character scrubbing another character’s breasts; dialogue pertaining to breast size (e.g., “You really lucked out when filling out, huh” and “I wished mine were that big.”). The word “a*s” can be heard in the game.
There’s no doubt about it: that’s Forbidden Magna. Expect an official announcement in the near future!
Nintendo Download (2/5/15, North America)
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
This week’s North American Nintendo Downloads are as follows:
Wii U Download
Dolphin Up
Puzzle Monkeys
Tri-Strip
Wii U Virtual Console
Mappy Land
Dig Dug
Wii U DLC
Hyrule Warriors – The Majora’s Mask Pack is available for purchase in the Nintendo eShop for only $7.99 and includes new maps, costumes and the ability to play as Young Link and Tingle (Tingle!). The Majora’s Mask Pack is also part of the Hero of Hyrule Pack, the 4-Pack Hyrule Warriors DLC Bundle. The Hero of Hyrule Pack is available in the Nintendo eShop on Wii U and at select retailers for a suggested retail price of $19.99, and includes the Majora’s Mask pack, two previously released DLC packs, a “Boss Pack” that will launch in March and a bonus in-game Dark Link costume.
Wii U Pre-Purchase
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse – You can now pre-purchase Kirby and the Rainbow Curse in the Nintendo eShop on Wii U. Upon your purchase in the Nintendo eShop, you can pre-load the game onto your Wii U console, and then you’ll be able to play after a small game update when it’s officially released in the Nintendo eShop on Feb. 19 at 9 p.m. PT.
3DS Retail
SpongeBob HeroPants
3DS Download
KAMI
3DS Virtual Console
Game & Watch Gallery 3
3DS Demo
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
3DS DLC
Moon Chronicles – The three remaining episodes in Major Kane’s epic lunar journey are all available today for download, giving fans the opportunity to experience the entire season without delay. Players may purchase the new content individually, as separate episodes, or choose to purchase the Season Pass, which contains all three remaining episodes for a lower price. Click here to watch a trailer for Moon Chronicles.
eShop Sales
Ubisoft Game Sale: Select Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games are on sale for up to 75 percent off until 8:59 a.m. PT on Feb. 16.
It’s the final week of the Curve Digital Sale! Save up to 25 percent on select games until 8:59 a.m. PT on Feb. 12.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Plankton’s Robotic Revenge is 50 percent off (reduced from $39.99 to $19.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on Feb. 12.
GetClose: A game for RIVALS is 40 percent off (reduced from $4.99 to $2.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on Feb. 19.
Moon Chronicles Episode 1 is 50 percent off (reduced from $8.99 to $4.50) until 8:59 a.m. PT on Feb. 26.
Enjoy discounts on Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan, Code of Princess and more games from ATLUS starting at 9 a.m. PT on Feb. 9 until 8:59 a.m. PT on Feb. 16.
Get a discount on purchases of Soccer Up 3D and Soccer Up Online until 8:59 a.m. PT on Feb. 26.
Classic Games Overload: Card & Puzzle Edition is 33 percent off (reduced from $29.99 to $19.99) from 9 a.m. PT Feb. 5 through 8:59 a.m. PT on Feb. 19.
Price Reductions
Christmas Wonderland 3 for Nintendo 3DS will be reduced to $4.99 (from $7.99) beginning at 9 a.m. PT on Feb. 6.
Halloween: Trick or Treat 2 for Nintendo 3DS will be reduced to $4.99 (from $7.99) beginning at 9 a.m. PT on Feb. 6.
Mystery Murders: Jack the Ripper for Nintendo 3DS will be reduced to $4.99 (from $9.99) beginning at 9 a.m. PT on Feb. 6.
Mystery Murders: The Sleeping Palace for Nintendo 3DS will be reduced to $4.99 (from $7.99) beginning at 9 a.m. PT on Feb. 6.
Source: Nintendo PR
More: Nintendo Download, top, Virtual Console
More Splatoon details
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 13 Comments
Another round of Splatoon details have been translated from this week’s issue of Famitsu (thanks StreetsAhead). You’ll find them below.
-The interview is with producer Hisashi Nogami, who is known as the director of every Animal Crossing up to City Folk, and directors Yusuke Amano, who also directed NSMB2, and Tsubasa Sakaguchi, who was a character designer on Twilight Princess and art director on Nintendo Land.
-The Inkling city (where the plaza is) is known as ‘Highcolor/Haikara City’ in Japanese.
-The concept of two teams of four shooting ink in a turf battle has been there since the original prototype, even though the characters where tofu-like blocks at the time.
-They experimented with other team sizes, but found with more than four players felt like they had little effect on battles, and with less than four that they had too much responsibility.
-Killing/attacking opponents online to prevent them from painting ink is just one strategy to win. You get no points or advantage directly from doing so.
-Hero mode uses basically the same controls as online matches, so anyone with difficulty in the can use the hero mode to practice.
-Ideally, you’ll be matched with players of a similar rank to you (based off of experience points earned in matches). If not enough players, they’ll put you with people further away from your rank. If there’s only 8 players, you’ll be matched together.
-While online is focused on just painting the ground, hero mode focuses on using the ink to move forward.
-Amano says he wants you to be able to look at the map on the GamePad and see where needs to be worked on for your team.
-No way to directly communicate with people you’ve been randomly matched with. They will appear post-match in your Plaza, where you can check out their gear, weapons, and comment.
-They picked squids because they were the best at representing the gameplay present in the prototype.
-Music for stages is random. Possible that I’m misunderstanding, but each player will have a different song while playing.
-Music is designed to be the sort that would be popular with the young Inklings involved with the turf battles.
-Rather than making some huge number of stages, they want to create stages that feel different when you use different weapon combinations.
-You don’t earn money for gear in single player for balance reasons. Someone could grind money in hero mode and have their first online match with high level gear.
-In the final stages of development now.
-Aiming for, more or less, a simultaneous worldwide release.
-They plan on supporting the title post-release.
More: details roundup, Famitsu, Splatoon, top
Rumor: Gold and silver Mario amiibo on the way
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Rumors | 30 Comments
Media Create sales (1/26 – 2/1)
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, News, Wii U | 5 Comments
The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:
New 3DS LL – 21,880
PS4 – 17,392
Vita – 11,871
New 3DS – 7,700
PS3 – 7,211
Wii U – 6,807
3DS LL – 3,641
3DS – 3,187
Vita TV – 521
Xbox One – 222
For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:
New 3DS LL – 20,065
Vita – 14,991
PS4 – 13,793
PS3 – 8,600
New 3DS – 8,028
Wii U – 7,088
3DS LL – 3,882
3DS – 3,287
Vita TV – 589
Xbox One – 259
And here are the software charts:
1. [3DS] Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker – 53,264 / NEW
2. [PS4] Far Cry 4 – 36,239 / NEW
3. [PS3] Tales of Zestiria – 29,487 / 370,377
4. [3DS] Youkai Watch 2: Shinuchi – 27,566 / 2,431,812
5. [3DS] Yowamushi Pedal – 20,510 / NEW
6. [PS3] Far Cry 4 – 18,366 / NEW
7. [3DS] Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire – 14,108 / 2,488,766
8. [WIU] Kirby and the Rainbow Curse – 12,867 / 45,005
9. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate – 10,832 / 2,451,205
10. [PS4] Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War – 10,219 / NEW
11. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – 8,878 / 2,131,311
12. [PS3] Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War – 7,621 / NEW
13. [3DS] The Legend of Legacy – 6,514 / 60,488
14. [WIU] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – 6,398 / 576,112
15. [PS3] Ukiyo no Shishi – 6,184 / NEW
16. [3DS] Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ – 5,851 / NEW
17. [3DS] Youkai Watch 2 – 5,425 / 3,093,812
18. [PSV] Kokujo no Psychedelica – 5,318 / NEW
19. [WIU] Mario Kart 8 – 5,103 / 906,468
20. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 4,910 / 3,909,169
More: charts, Japan, Media Create, sales, top
A few new Splatoon details – Hero mode, multiplayer, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 36 Comments
New details regarding Splatoon have come out of this week’s issue of Famitsu. You’ll find the information in the summary below (thanks StreetsAhead):
-Team made up of lots of staff that worked on Wii U launch titles. Once they’d grasped the hardware, they wanted to create something innovative.
-Working on a local multiplayer mode in addition to online and Hero Mode
-Hero mode is predominantly a 3D platformer with heavy emphasis on human-squid transformations
-Random matching is done world wide, game tries to place you with players close to your skill level based on ratings
-Tried implementing a system whereby you could give orders to your team mates, but battles were too quick and hectic for them to be effective so they got rid of the feature
-Game won’t use CPU fighters; only once 8 human players have been found will a match start
-Having multiple modes with random matching would limit the number of players per mode, so all the focus is on the 4 vs. 4 for that
-No communication with players you are matched with
-They didn’t think of using Bloopers when they decided on squids (they apparently forgot they existed)
-No money can be earned in Hero Mode. Your points, as displayed at the end of the match, are turned into money and experience points.
-A lot of the music is written by Tooru Minegishi (who has worked on Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Super Mario)
More: details roundup, Famitsu, Splatoon, top
Woah Dave! Deluxe teased
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 0 comments
It's official…Dave Deluxe is coming! More details on the way. pic.twitter.com/LWPnIJ7cte
— Jason Cirillo (@Robotube) February 3, 2015
I’m not entirely sure what Woah Dave! Deluxe is, but it’s something that exists. It it a new game? A new mode for the original game? The developer is keeping quiet for now, so we can only speculate!
More: Choice Provisions, indie, top
New Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call DLC out now in Japan – Nier and more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
A new set of downloadable tracks have arrived for Japanese Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call players. As of today, the following songs can be purchased:
BMS Final Fantasy IX — “Vamo’ alla Flamenco”
BMS Sword of Mana 2 / Seiken Densetsu 3 — “Swivel”
BMS SaGa Frontier 2 — “Mi?gestalt”
BMS Chrono Trigger — “Frog’s Theme”
FMS Legend of Mana — “Ruined Sparkling City”
FMS NieR Gestalt/RepliCant — “Kainé/Salvation”
These tracks should be coming west on February 19.