Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call will launch in Japan on April 24, Square Enix announced today. The game will be available for 5,800 yen at retail and 4,444 yen on the eShop.

A limited edition 3DS XL will also be made available when Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call hits Japan. The package includes a specially-designed system and pre-installed copy of the title. Pricing for the bundle is set at 23,00 yen.

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SEGA: 2015 Sonic game rumor is “incorrect”

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Over the weekend, speculation regarding a new Sonic the Hedgehog game emerged. An official sign spotted at Jazwares’ Nuremburg Toy Fair booth suggested that an original title in the series would be available on the Wii U, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One sometime in 2015.

SEGA has since weighed in on the situation, and has described the recent rumor as being “incorrect”.

A statement sent to Eurogamer reads:

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Nintendo completes buyback initiative, obtains shares from Yamauchi family

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments

Nintendo has officially announced the completion of its 11.4 billion yen share buyback. In total, the company acquired 9.5 million shares for 12,025 yen each, representing approximately 7.4 percent of its outstanding stock.

Nintendo’s purchase includes the 10 percent stake previously owned by the Hiroshi Yamauchi family. Yamauchi served as president of Nintendo for over 50 years.

The amount of shares sold by Yamauchi’s heirs is unclear. Moreover, it’s uncertain which member of the family sold stock in the buyback.

Source, Via 1, Via 2

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Super Smash Bros. for Wii U screenshot (02/04/14) – Lucario gameplay details

Posted on 10 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in News, Screenshots, Wii U | 0 comments

Along with this screenshot, Sakurai passed along the following message via Miiverse:

Pic of the day. When Lucario shoots out Aura from its hands to fly with ExtremeSpeed, you can control its flight direction. If Lucario’s Aura is fully charged, it can fly extremely far, so be careful not to accidentally launch out of the area.

More: Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, top, wii u

Sony UK boss: Nintendo decline “could be detrimental to the market”

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

Sony UK boss Fergal Gara, in an interview with Trusted Reviews, made note of how Nintendo declining “could be detrimental to the market”. Gara believes that the company caters well to the younger demographic – something Sony doesn’t focus on in a major way.

He said:

[The decline of Nintendo] could be detrimental to the market, unless people like us raise our game and help tap into the younger consumer group that they serve rather well. That is the challenge to us. We need to bring maybe more family-friendly, more casual experiences into the market. I think there’s a big market segment there that we should take the challenge to engage and I see lots of potential to do that.

Gara went on to mention that the 3DS and 2DS family of systems were collectively the best-selling piece of hardware in the UK last year:

The DS family was the bestselling format last year, despite the stellar sales of the PS4 for the last four or five weeks, it was still the best selling console or console family.

Source, Via

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Update: Not confirmed – Ubisoft says Watch Dogs is still coming to Wii U, trademark abandonment likely not a big deal

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 3 Comments

Update 2: Polygon has modified its story to indicate that it received confirmation from GameStop as opposed to Ubisoft.

Update: As it turns out, we do not have an official statement from Ubisoft. Polygon sources a Reuters article which does not specifically mention the Wii U version’s status.

Original: Despite Ubisoft’s relative silence on the matter, Watch Dogs is indeed still slated for Wii U.

The publisher first reconfirmed its plans to release on Wii U following talk of pre-orders being cancelled at some GameStop locations in Italy and the US. And after the title wasn’t included in Nintendo’s third quarter financial report, Ubisoft said for a second time that the game was set to launch in the first quarter of Ubisoft and Nintendo’s fiscal year. This period kicks off in April.

And as for Ubisoft’s plans to abandon one of Watch Dogs’ trademarks in the US? It doesn’t sound like it’ll be a big deal, especially with Ubisoft confirming that the game is still being polished.

Jed Wakefield, intellectual property litigation specialist at firm Fenwick and West, told Polygon of the trademark situation:

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Ubisoft: “Watch_Dogs is still being polished as we speak”

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 1 Comment

Ubisoft may have filed an application for the abandonment of its main Watch Dogs trademark in the US, but the game is very much in development.

On Twitter, Ubisoft Montreal confirmed that the project “is still being polished as we speak.”

The tweet reads:

@griffmeister69 @gooner4life_uk I can assure you that Watch_Dogs is still being polished as we speak. cc. @Ubisoft
— Ubisoft Montréal (@UbisoftMTL) February 3, 2014

Source

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Wall Street Journal says Disney Infinity will see the release of Marvel and Star Wars figurines

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Disney is working on Marvel and Star Wars figurines for Disney Infinity. A timeframe for their release was not provided.

The Wall Street Journal also claims that Disney’s interactive-media unit will be laying off “several hundred people”. You can find more in The Wall Street Journal’s article here.

More: Disney Infinity, Disney Interactive, Marvel, Star Wars, top

Nintendo was initially advised to make Pokemon more monster-like for better sales

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata shared an interesting nugget of information about the Pokemon franchise last week.

Initially, the company was given an indication that the creatures shouldn’t adopt the “cute” aesthetic fans have come to know of today. “This cute yellow thing is not a monster, everyone told us,” Iwata said.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, however, stuck to his guns. Yamauchi was shown mock-ups of a muscular Pikachu, but it didn’t sit well with the former Nintendo president.

“When you adapt too much, you lose what’s unique about you,” Iwata concluded.