News
7 CommentsNintendo reports 52 percent increase of first-party 3DS software sales in the U.S.
By Jenna Pitcher on May 17, 2013 05.17.13
Nintendo sold 2.1 million first-party Nintendo 3DS software units in the U.S. during the first 18 weeks of 2013, an increase of 52 percent over the same time period last year, Nintendo reports. Since its launch on April 24, Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins sold almost 94,000 physical and digital copies. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon sold more than 140,000 physical and digital units in April in the U.S.. The game sold more than 530,000 units in the U.S. since its launch on March 24. New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U, which launched in November last year, shifted 770,000 physical and digital units in the U.S. to date. Nintendo notes that data of physical sales of games in April are sourced from the NPD Group and digital downloads of games data is from Nintendo's internal sales...
News
30 CommentsNintendo delayed its early 2013 Wii U titles to ensure they were 'delicately crafted' games
By Brian Crecente on Apr 30, 2013 04.30.13
"We originally planned to release a few first-party titles for Wii U during the first half of this year, but no big titles are scheduled for release before Pikmin 3 in July because we decided to take time to add the final touches to ensure that consumers fully feel that they are valuable titles," Iwata said. "The brand of a franchise would be completely degraded without customer satisfaction. This is why we delayed the release schedule of such games." Iwata said the delay was also caused by the fact that Nintendo had to pull developers off of their games to get them to help finish the Wii U's release titles. Those launch games, he said, required more development resources than expected. "In short, the development teams of Pikmin 3 and other future games were understaffed during that...
The Besties Podcast
12 CommentsThe Besties Podcast 50 - Gears of War: Judgment and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
By Chris Plante on Mar 22, 2013 03.22.13
This week, we discuss two games based off the less popular sidekicks of major franchises. First, we have the Ballad of Baird, also known as Gears of War: Judgment. The fourth game in the Gears of War franchise has more of what you've come to expect from the franchise, which means hours of carefree body mutilation. Speaking of dead stuff, Justin leans over the campfire to tell us a scary story about the time he reviewed The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. Sticking to the ghastly theme, we finish the show with a Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, the second game in a series about the lesser-loved plumber turned ghost hunter. Is Dark Moon the 3DS's killer app? Does anyone care about 3DS when we have Super Stickman Golf 2 on our cellphones? Does the video game industry have a morbid fascination...
Review
71 CommentsLuigi's Mansion: Dark Moon review: lost souls
By Griffin McElroy on Mar 21, 2013 03.21.13
There's not much in the way of new mechanics, but what's there is helpful enough There's very little setup for why Luigi has gotten back in the ghost-hunting racket at the start of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon. Professor E. Gadd, the inventor who serves as Luigi's armorer as it were, needs someone to deal with an outbreak of mischievous ghosts plaguing the region. Luigi just happens to be the only man fit for the job. The Poltergust 5000, a mechanically and numerically enhanced version of Luigi's Mansion's Poltergust 3000, aids Luigi in this task. Enemies must now be stunned with your flashlight's strobe bulb (which can be fired in quick bursts or charged to shine at a wider angle) before they can be vacuumed into containment. Also, as you pull against the panicked escape of a ghost...
News
11 CommentsNintendo's PAX East 2013 lineup includes Pikmin 3, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
By Samit Sarkar on Mar 19, 2013 03.19.13
Nintendo is bringing a handful of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS titles to PAX East 2013, including major upcoming games such as Pikmin 3 and Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the company announced today. Nintendo's PAX East slate features seven Wii U titles and nine 3DS games, as well as the Wii Street U app. The lineup contains a mix of unreleased titles and games that are already available. Here's the full list: Wii U: Pikmin 3 The Wonderful 101 Lego City Undercover Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Need for Speed Most Wanted U New Super Mario Bros. U Nintendo Land Wii Street U 3DS: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Animal Crossing: New Leaf (guided demonstration) Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity HarmoKnight Kersploosh! Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate ...
Report
17 CommentsLuigi's Mansion: Dark Moon won't just rely on nostalgia to win players, developers say
By Tracey Lien on Mar 15, 2013 03.15.13
When Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon releases in North America on the 3DS next week, it will do more than serve as a nostalgia trip for fans of the original game, according to Nintendo and Next Level Games. Speaking in an interview with Polygon, the developers said that while they were making a sequel to Luigi's Mansion — a game that released more than 10 years ago on the GameCube and has since become "a precious memory to a lot of people" — the teams had to carefully find a balance between the old and the new. In the former, they had to capture what fans loved so much about the original Luigi's Mansion. In the latter, they couldn't just rely on elements of nostalgia to keep players interested. "When you're sequelling or bringing back a franchise, you need to respect the original...
News
5 CommentsJapan Review Check: Luigi's Mansion, Castlevania, Disgaea
By Kevin Gifford on Mar 13, 2013 03.13.13
A quick look at the highlights among the games coming out in Japan this coming week, courtesy the review pages of Famitsu magazine: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (9/9/8/9, 35 out of 40 points): Although losing out to the PS Vita version of One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 by a single point in the rankings, Famitsu seemed to like this game the most out of the week's portable releases in the review text. "Like a haunted house in an amusement park, a lot of the sequences here mix anticipatory excitement with scariness to good results, making things fun for the eyes and the ears," wrote editor Reona Ebihara. "There's a lot of neat touches, like how Luigi whistles along with the background music. The stroboscope and other new additions give a lot more variety to the battles and puzzles, ensuring...
News
11 CommentsBuy a 3DS XL and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon or Luigi's Mansion, get a 3DS game voucher
By Griffin McElroy on Feb 14, 2013 02.14.13
Nintendo is offering folks who purchase and register a Nintendo 3DS XL and either Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon or Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity a free downloadable voucher for an additional title, the company announced today in a press release. After buying and registering the handheld and game, shoppers will be able to choose between one of five games to add to their collection at no cost. Those games are Super Mario 3D Land, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone!, Star Fox 64 3D or Freakyforms Deluxe: Your Creations, Alive!. The promotion will be available from March 21 through April 30, though the two titles which activate the deal — Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Luigi's Mansion — won't hit store shelves until March 24.
News
6 CommentsLuigi's Mansion: Dark Moon multiplayer to feature four-player local and online co-op
By Alexa Ray Corriea on Feb 14, 2013 02.14.13
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon will include four-player online and local co-op, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced today in a Nintendo Direct presentation. There will be three different multiplayer modes in which up to four players, all playing at Luigi, will work together to solve puzzles. Each has access to Luigi's arsenal: the Poltergust 5000, the strobe Light and new Dark Light, which works like a black light to illuminate hidden objects. Players can work together to climb up a tower in Scare Scraper mode. Hunter Mode asks players to defeat all ghosts on each floor of a tower within a time limit, and Chaser Mode asks players to find hidden ghosts ducks. Players will use Luigi's Poltergust 5000 machine to capture ghosts and solve puzzles. Luigi can suck up water as well, and...
News
33 CommentsIwata: Nintendo plans to increase profits with the help of Monster Hunter 4, Pokémon X/Y, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and more
By Tracey Lien on Jan 31, 2013 01.31.13
In a briefing of financial results held today, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata gave a presentation outlining the reasons why the company's third quarter earnings took a hit and what it plans to do to return to "Nintendo-like" profits again. Iwata said Nintendo performed well in its domestic market of Japan, but its performance in the U.S. in 2012 was partly to blame for its lower-than-expected earnings. Citing a list of the top 20 games sold in the last calendar year in the U.S. Iwata said Nintendo performed the least favorably, to the point where the downward revision of its financial forecast "is largely attributed to the slow growth in the U.S. sales." Of the 20 titles on the list, only five were for Nintendo platforms. Games that performed well in Japan like Animal Crossing: New...
