News
26 CommentsNintendo 3DS XL Circle Pad Pro available for pre-order through official Nintendo store
By Michael McWhertor on Apr 17, 2013 04.17.13
The Circle Pad Pro add-on for Nintendo 3DS XL is now available for pre-order in North America through ShopNintendo, the official online store for Nintendo of America. While no official announcement has been made about its availability, Nintendo's online store lists the accessory at $19.99. The Circle Pad Pro, which adds a second analog circle pad and additional shoulder buttons, is expected to ship beginning Friday, April 19. Nintendo announced the extra-large Circle Pad Pro add-on last summer, shortly after the announcement of the Nintendo 3DS XL itself. The device was released in Japan on Nov. 15, 2012, and is compatible with select 3DS games, including Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Resident Evil: Revelations, Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater and Kid Icarus: Uprising. For another look...
News
3 CommentsVoting open online for the Game Developers Choice Award
By Dave Tach on Feb 19, 2013 02.19.13
The virtual ballet box is open for the Game Developers Choice Audience Award and accepting nominations today through 5 p.m. ET March 1, according to the official website. Voters need to select a game from a list provided and enter an email address, from which you'll be prompted to confirm your vote. The list of nominated games includes: Assassin's Creed 3 Borderlands 2 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Dishonored Dust: An Elysian Tail Far Cry 3 Fez FTL: Faster Than Light Gravity Rush Halo 4 Hero Academy Hotline Miami Journey Kid Icarus: Uprising Mark of the Ninja Mass Effect 3 PlanetSide 2 The Room Sound Shapes Spelunky Spec Ops: The Line Trials Evolution The Unfinished Swan Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward The Walking Dead XCOM: Enemy Unknown ZombiU In late...
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23 CommentsKid Icarus creator: Stories in video games are 'honestly irksome to me'
By Kevin Gifford on Feb 13, 2013 02.13.13
The stories told in video games often don't match with the content of the game itself, making players annoyed when they should be moved by the tales being told. So writes Masahiro Sakurai, creator of games like Kid Icarus: Uprising and the Super Smash Bros. series, in this week's Famitsu magazine. "As a player, as someone who's been playing games for a long time, the stories that get told in video games are honestly irksome to me pretty often," he wrote. "For example, games that take forever to get through the intro and won't let you start playing, or games that go through the trouble of being fully voiced and wind up having their tempo all messed up as a result. I just want to enjoy the game and I think I'm just intolerant of aspects that block that enjoyment. I can enjoy a story in...
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10 CommentsKirby creator gets bad RSI, extols the virtues of trackballs
By Kevin Gifford on Jan 30, 2013 01.30.13
Masahiro Sakurai, creator of the Kirby franchise and most recently director of Kid Icarus: Uprising, has a problem: his repetitive strain injury is getting to "the point where it's starting to restrict my work and lifestyle," according to his latest Famitsu magazine column. "Using a mouse, keyboard or gamepad make my arm tired, so I can't use them in a continual manner," Sakurai wrote. The only device I can use for an extended period of time is a joystick. It's posing problems when I'm test-playing something in progress." RSI is something that affects millions, but for someone like Sakurai who's been coding ever since Family Basic in the mid-1980s, it has to be particularly annoying. "I figure that if I cut down on writing emails and other things, try not to type in so much data...
Deals
0 CommentsBest Buy Cyber Monday deals: Nintendo 3DS, Mists of Pandaria, more
By Samit Sarkar on Nov 26, 2012 11.26.12
Best Buy's Cyber Monday deals feature discounts on Nintendo 3DS hardware and software, as well as the Mists of Pandaria expansion to World of Warcraft. The big-box retailer is also offering an online-only deal on select games: buy one, get one 50 percent off. Here are a few highlights out of over 50 items on sale today: $19.99: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Star Fox 64 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D $23.99: Dance Central 3 $29.99: Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (360/PS3) $20 off Nintendo 3DS ($149.99) or 3DS XL ($179.99) buy one, get one 50 percent off over 50 games including Halo 3: ODST, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, Red Dead Redemption, Dead Space 2, Fallout: New Vegas, The Beatles: Rock...
Japan Game Awards 2012 honor 'Gravity Rush,' 'Journey,' and 'Mario Kart 7'
By Alexa Ray Corriea on Sep 21, 2012 09.21.12
The winners of the 2012 Japan Game Awards were announced at the Tokyo Game Show yesterday, with Sony's Gravity Rush for PlayStation Vita winning the highest honors for Game of the Year. The Game Designers Award went to thatgamecompany's mystical PlayStation Network title Journey, with Beesworks' mushroom-growing simulator Mushroom Garden winning a special runner-up award and Mario Kart 7 claiming an award for having the best sales. The Global Award for Japanese gaming was given to Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 won in the international category. Awards for Excellence winners include Gravity Rush, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Dark Souls, Final Fantasy XIII-2, One Piece: Pirate Warriors, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Super Mario Land 3D, Mario Kart 7,...
Nintendo showing off Wii U, 3DS XL at PAX Prime
By Samit Sarkar on Aug 28, 2012 08.28.12
Nintendo's PAX Prime presence will focus on the Wii U and 3DS with several games on each platform, along with a few special events for fans, the company announced today. Fans can head to the Nintendo booth, #462, to try the Wii U and the following games: ZombiU, Pikmin 3, New Super Mario Bros. U, Project P-100, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, Nintendo Land, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and Trine 2: Director's Cut. The booth will offer nine 3DS titles, some of which are already available: Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!, Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Skylanders Giants, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario Kart 7, and Kid Icarus: Uprising. A few games for the 3DS eShop,...
'Kid Icarus: Uprising' gets Series 2 AR cards
By Samit Sarkar on Aug 02, 2012 08.02.12
Nintendo is launching Series 2 AR cards for Kid Icarus: Uprising, the company announced today. The second series of AR cards, which allow players to battle each other in augmented reality thanks to the 3DS's camera, offers new characters, enemies, items, and weapons for fans to collect. Series 2 also includes location cards, so AR Card Battles can now take place against the backdrop of various in-game settings. Beginning tomorrow, August 3rd, Nintendo will give out Series 2 card packs at weekly events at the Nintendo World Store in New York, held every Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., as well as other "select retail locations" to be announced later. In addition, Nintendo will offer Series 2 cards at their booths at PAX Prime (Aug. 31st through Sept. 2nd) and New York Comic-Con (Oct. 11th...
Nintendo bringing 3DS XL but not Wii U to Comic-Con 2012
By Samit Sarkar on Jul 09, 2012 07.09.12
San Diego Comic-Con 2012 will mark the first public hands-on in the US with the Nintendo 3DS XL, the company announced today. Nintendo is supplementing its booth on the show floor (#5135) with a Nintendo Gaming Lounge, which will be located in the San Diego Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis & Marina Hotel, right next door to the convention. The Lounge is open to the public — you don't even need a Comic-Con badge to get in. Wii, 3DS, and DS games will be shown at Nintendo's booth and in the Lounge, but curiously, the company will not have the Wii U — which is due out this fall — available to play. Check out the full list of playable games below.
Shigeru Miyamoto: Vita needs post-launch software
By Griffin McElroy on May 04, 2012 05.04.12
Shigeru Miyamoto recently praised the hardware specifications of Sony's PlayStation Vita, but said the device is lacking software to show off its capabilities, in a recent Edge interview. "It's obviously a very hi-spec machine, and you can do lots of things with it," Miyamoto said during a press demonstration of the 3DS' Louvre guide application. "But I don't really see the combination of software and hardware that really makes a very strong product." The Vita currently finds its sales diminishing in both Japan and the U.S. — a slump also experienced by the 3DS shortly after its launch, one severe enough to cause president Satoru Iwata to take a 50 percent pay cut. Miyamoto attributes both dips to a weak post-launch release line-up; a ditch that Nintendo only managed to dig itself out...
