Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Switch | 149 Comments

Digital Foundry and Eurogamer have a new report about the specs surrounding Switch. The big takeaways here concern the console’s CPU and GPU.

Below is a notable excerpt from the new report today:

“As many have speculated, the new Nintendo hardware does indeed feature two performance configurations – and the console is categorically not as capable in mobile form, compared to its prowess when docked and attached to an HDTV. And we can confirm that there is no second GPU or additional hardware in the dock itself regardless of the intriguing patents that Nintendo has filed suggesting that there might be. With battery life and power throughput no longer an issue, the docked Switch simply allows the GPU to run much faster. And to put it simply, there is a night and day difference here.

Where Switch remains consistent is in CPU power – the cores run at 1020MHz regardless of whether the machine is docked or undocked. This ensures that running game logic won’t be compromised while gaming on the go: the game simulation itself will remain entirely consistent. The machine’s embedded memory controller runs at 1600MHz while docked (on par with a standard Tegra X1), but the default power mode undocked sees this drop to 1331MHz. However, developers can opt to retain full memory bandwidth in their titles should they choose to do so.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments

This week’s European Nintendo Downloads are as follows:

Wii U Download

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero – €16.99 / £15.99 / CHF 23.99

Back to Bed – €9.99 / £8.99 / CHF 14.99

RADIANTFLUX: HYPERFRACTAL – €2.99 / £2.99 / CHF 3.99

Zombie Brigade: No Brain No Gain – Conditional Sale: Free if you own Cube Life: Island Survival until 25.12.2016, regular price: €4.99 / £4.49 / CHF 6.99

Wii U DLC

Minecraft: Wii U Edition – 1st Birthday Skin Pack – free until January 5th, 2017

Minecraft: Wii U Edition – Fallout Mash-up – €5.99 / £4.79 / CHF 5.70

Minecraft: Wii U Edition – Doctor Who Skins I & II Bundle – €5.99 / £4.79 / CHF 5.70

3DS Download

Picross e7 – €5.00 / £4.50 / CHF 7.00

Geki Yaba Runner Deluxe – €4.99 / £4.49 / CHF 6.99

TOUCH BATTLE TANK – TAG COMBAT – €3.99 / £3.99 / CHF 5.20

Japanese Rail Sim 3D Monorail Trip to Okinawa – €14.99 / £12.99 / CHF 15.00

SkyPeace – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.00

3DS Demo

Ice Station Z

3DS Videos

Shin Chan Vol. 1 – free

Shin Chan Vol. 2 – €1.99 / £1.79 / CHF 2.80

Shin Chan Vol. 3 – €1.99 / £1.79 / CHF 2.80

3DS Themes

Mario’s Winter Wonderland – €1.99 / £1.79 / CHF 2.80

Jurassic Cubs and the Magic Flow – €1.49 / £1.39 / CHF 2.10

Jurassic Cubs Behind the Meteorite – €1.49 / £1.39 / CHF 2.10

Jurassic Cubs on Lianas with Nichus – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Jurassic Cubs and the big jump – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Jurassic Cubs 3 Pack – €2.49 / £2.29 / CHF 3.50

Hello Kitty Christmas Time – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Hello Kitty celebrates New Year’s Eve – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Hello Kitty with snowman – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Hello Kitty Winter Princess – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Little Miss Ballet – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Mr. Men Little Miss Christmas – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Mr. Men Little Miss Cooking – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Mr. Men Little Miss Dino – €0.99 / £0.89 / CHF 1.40

Ice Station Z – €0.89 / £0.79 / CHF 0.95

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 5 Comments

The November 2016 NPD report brought lots of good news for Nintendo. Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon were the big winners for Nintendo, with the two games marking the biggest debut in franchise history. The NES Classic Edition also sold nearly 200,000 units in its first month in the United States.

NPD group’s Mat Piscatella has also now revealed that 3DS experienced its highest monthly physical software spend in the history of the platform. That’s incredible to think about, given how the 3DS has been around for well over five years.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 13 Comments

Dragon Quest XI was first suggested for Switch when the game was originally announced last year. Square Enix then seemed to reconfirm it in an issue of Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream.

Dragon Quest XI finally resurfaced this weekend, but Square Enix didn’t have anything to say about Switch. Only the 3DS and PlayStation 4 versions were mentioned. In fact, the Switch logo isn’t even on the game’s teaser website.

There is good news though, as Dragon Quest XI has again been confirmed for Switch. A new entry on Nintendo’s Japanese blog shares the news. Unfortunately though, we don’t have any specific details. The common consensus is that Dragon Quest XI on Switch will take after the PlayStation 4 release. Maybe Square Enix will have more to say when the new console is officially unveiled in January. 

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 51 Comments

Unlocked: The World of Games, Revealed is a new documentary series that explores the world of video games. The new show just went live this week, and one of the episodes features Nintendo quite a bit.

Two prominent Nintendo executives spoke about the topic of competition during their segments. At one point, Nintendo of America executive vice president of operations Don James was asked about the biggest challenge the company has had to deal with. That’s what led him to mention competition. While competition can be “fierce”, James believes that Nintendo franchises act like a “secret weapon”.

He noted:

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 47 Comments

Paper Mario’s first two games featured many original characters and party members with original abilities. However, since then, the series has been moving away from that. It is especially evident in Color Splash, as many of the characters encountered are Toads.

Game Informer spoke with Kensuke Tanabe, the Wii U title’s producer, in this month’s issue. The magazine started out by asking why old NPCs from the early Paper Mario games haven’t returned. Tanabe replied with the following:

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk, Mobile | 19 Comments

Mario has finally made his mobile debut. Super Mario Run launched on Thursday… though only on iOS. The Android release will follow in 2017.

Have you downloaded Super Mario Run? If so, have you purchased the full game, or do you intend to? What are your impressions? Perhaps you’re holding off on downloading it all together? Or maybe you’re waiting on the Android version?

That’s a lot of questions, though Super Mario Run is certainly deserving of them. If you do have any final thoughts on the title, be sure to share them with us in the comments!

Highlights from last week’s topic: Which games would you want to see on the GameCube Virtual Console?

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments

The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts was created to celebrate Zelda’s 30th anniversary. But there are actually two other books planned to celebrate the big event.

Hyrule Encyclopedia has been revealed as the second entry in the Zelda 30th anniversary book series. The first chapter is a visual encyclopedia, and will explain keywords like the Master Sword and Hyrule Kingdom with various images. As for the second chapter, it’s a database with a list of enemies, items, dungeons, and more. The third chapter will contain archives, and will give explanatory notes and storylines of each game.

Japan is receiving The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Encyclopedia in February. The western version should follow later in 2017.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 63 Comments

Playtonic delivered the unfortunate news this week that Yooka-Laylee will no longer be coming to Wii U. Instead, the team is looking to bring the 3D platformer to Switch. Technical issues became too much of a barrier to overcome.

In an official FAQ on its website, Playtonic explains why it waited as long as it did to share the news about pulling the plug on Yooka-Laylee’s Wii U version. The studio wrote:

“The Playtonic team wanted to explore every possible avenue before making the very difficult decision to transfer development from the Wii U. Our developers worked tirelessly over many months in attempt to solve our technical issues, but unfortunately it’s not been possible to bring Yooka-Laylee to Wii U as originally planned.”

Thanks to Jake for the tip.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Videos, Wii | 5 Comments

In the new documentary series Unlocked: The World of Games, Revealed, Shigeru Miyamoto was interviewed and asked about a wide array of topics. Among these was the creation of the Wii Remote.

Miyamoto talked about what prompted Nintendo to pursue motion gaming. With controllers and games becoming more complex at the time, some people were falling away from the industry. Nintendo wanted to find a way to bring them back into the fold and make things simpler. That’s where the conversation started, according to Miyamoto.

His full response:

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