Nintendo Amiibo figures cost £10.99 in the UK

The first wave of NFC figurines from Nintendo will be £4 cheaper than Disney Infinity, and around the same as Skylanders.

Nintendo has finally revealed a price for their Amiibo figurines and… it’s actually not too bad at £10.99 each (according to the official Nintendo store, so they’ll likely be cheaper elsewhere).

That’s notably cheaper than the equivalent toys for Disney Infinity, which cost around £14.99. And it’s in the mid range of Skylanders figures which cost between £7.99 and £12.99, depending on size.

The price does of course add up though, and to get all 12 characters will set you back a not inconsiderable £131.88.

The first wave of figures was recently confirmed to include Mario, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Link, Pikachu, Samus Aran (from Metroid), Wii Fit Trainer (the female version), Villager (a male version from Animal Crossing), Fox McCloud (from Star Fox), Kirby, and Marth (from Fire Emblem).

You can also see Zelda and Pit (from Kid Icarus) in the line-up above, who are presumably from wave two. Nintendo has already hinted that all the playable characters from Super Smash Bros. will get a figurine eventually.

Unlike Disney Infinity and Skylanders the Amiibo figures are not specific to any particular game and are compatible with Super Smash Bros. (both Wii U and 3DS versions), Mario Kart 8, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Yoshi’s Woolly World, and Mario Party 10.

The focus at the moment though is on Super Smash Bros. For Wii U (since the 3DS version requires a peripheral that won’t be out until next year, or the new models of 3DS, to work).

You’ll notice that all 12 characters are featured in the game, where you’ll be able to use them to store statistics and custom movesets – and create a computer-controlled character that you can fight or set against other players, with the idea being it levels up improves every time it battles.

What purpose the Amiibos will serve in other games is unclear though, as is when the figures themselves will actually be released.

It’s supposed to be this year, but the fact that Super Smash Bros. For Wii U also doesn’t yet have a date is presumably what’s keeping Nintendo from naming a day.

New Nintendo 3DS Will Be Region-Locked

Nintendo will maintain its policy of region-locking hardware with the New Nintendo 3DS handheld, the company has confirmed to GameSpot.



It means that games released across Japan, Europe, and North America will only be playable in those territories, effectively eliminating the opportunity to import games without importing foreign hardware, too.

In contrast to Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo has a long history of region-locking its hardware, implementing the restriction to both the Wii U and 3DS systems.

Despite hope that this policy would change, on Wednesday a representative for Nintendo told GameSpot that the New Nintendo 3DS, and New 3DS XL, will both be region-locked.

In July last year, a petition imploring Nintendo to change this policy was endorsed by tens of thousands of consumers. At the time of going to press, the petition has close to 32,000 signatories.


The New 3DS and 3DS XL will launch across North America and Europe next year
The petition's author argues: "This practice is restrictive to customers, including those who enjoy playing foreign games not available domestically, speak foreign languages, serve in the military, or otherwise travel or live abroad."

Incidentally, on Wednesday the game developer Atlus announced that the European release for Shin Megami Tensei 4 has been delayed to "late October." The game shipped in Japan in May 2013, and was available across North America two months later.

Last year, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata defended the region-locking policies.

"From some people's perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that we're selling our products worldwide," Iwata said at the time.

"There are many different regions around the world, and each region has its own cultural acceptance and legal restrictions, as well as different age ratings. There are always things that we're required to do in each different region, which may go counter to the idea that players around the world want the freedom to play whatever they want."

Two new shoulder buttons add to the several new features included in the New 3DS
The New Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL will launch later this year in Japan, with a European release penciled in for 2015. Nintendo of America has not yet confirmed a North American release.

It comes with various hardware improvements, such as a small C-Stick next to its face buttons, which effectively works as a second analog stick.

Also featured are two new shoulder buttons--ZL and ZR--along with what Nintendo is calling "Super-Stable 3D," which will broaden the viewing field of the stereoscopic 3D.

Upgraded hardware will allow the system to run faster, while the in-built NFC technology will enable the use of Nintendo's "amiibo" figurines.

The 3 Companies Nintendo Should Buy

Nintendo (NASDAQOTH: NTDOY  ) has clearly seen better days -- Wii U sales remain weak, 3DS sales appear to have peaked, and third-party publishers keep passing over its consoles in favor of Sony's (NYSE: SNE  ) PS4 and Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) Xbox One.

Analysts constantly offer Nintendo the same tired advice: launch mobile games, add more microtransactions to games, abandon hardware, and develop software for competitors. One less discussed strategy, which I believe is the ideal one, is for the company to merge with, invest in, or acquire another company.

Nintendo finished fiscal 2014 with $3.3 billion in cash, which means its options are limited, but I believe that three companies -- Square Enix, Capcom, and Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU  ) -- represent solid investment opportunities which could reverse the company's misfortunes.

Square Enix
Square Enix, with a market cap of $2.65 billion, is the largest of these three choices. The company owns an appealing portfolio of games which appeal to both Western and Eastern gamers, which include Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman, and Kingdom Hearts.

Sony, Square Enix's third-largest shareholder, divested its entire stake in Square Enix back in April. That stake previously helped Sony secure exclusive Square Enix titles like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts in the earlier days of the PlayStation.

If Nintendo either merges with or acquires Square Enix, it would gain access to better exclusive titles for the Wii U and 3DS, and it could generate more revenue from sales of Square Enix titles on other hardware platforms. Nintendo could keep its own flagship characters exclusive to its own hardware, get well-known characters like Lara Croft to cross over with its first party titles, and gain a stable source of non-Nintendo software revenue.

Square Enix reported $1.57 billion in revenue in fiscal 2013, but it also posted a net loss of $146 million, partially due to sluggish sales of arcade machines in its amusement business. If Nintendo buys Square Enix outright, it could sell or spin off the amusement business and focus on developing its core franchises and subscription-based MMOs like Final Fantasy IV.

Capcom
Capcom is much smaller than Square Enix, with a market cap of $1.06 billion, but it has an equally appealing portfolio of IPs, which include Mega Man, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, Street Fighter, and Monster Hunter. Nintendo has also trusted Capcom to handle its first-party franchises in the past -- Capcom previously made four handheld Legend of Zelda games.

Although Mega Man has been one of Capcom's most iconic characters, the franchise has been on hold ever since series creator Keiji Inafune abruptly left Capcom in 2010. Nintendo is bringing back the Blue Bomber in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, which offers a glimpse at the massive crossover potential between Mega Man and Nintendo's flagship characters. Other crossovers -- like Monster Hunter and Pokemon (two of the 3DS' biggest titles), or Street Fighter and Smash Bros. -- would be impressive as well.


Mega Man and Rush in Super Smash Bros. Source: Nintendo

In fiscal 2014, Capcom's revenue rose 8.6% year over year to 102 billion yen ($974 million), and its net income rose 15.8% to 3.4 billion yen ($33 million). But operating income remained flat at 10.9 billion yen ($104 million) due to lower profitability in its PC and mobile businesses. Since operating income is Capcom's main weakness, merging its software operations with Nintendo could reduce operating expenses at both companies.

Glu Mobile
Nintendo has repeatedly refused to make mobile versions of its flagship games, believing that they would dilute its console titles and cannibalize sales of the 3DS. While the upcoming release of The Pokemon Trading Card Game on iOS was seen as a concession by some, it's hardly the full-featured Nintendo mobile game gamers and investors were waiting for.

But it's hard to deny how profitable mobile games can be. Research firm Gartner forecasts that the global mobile gaming market will nearly double from $13.2 billion in 2013 to $22 billion in 2015. Nintendo could profit in this market without compromising its core IPs by acquiring a promising new mobile game maker like Glu Mobile.


Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Source: Google Play

Glu Mobile, with a market cap of $500 million, is tiny compared to Square Enix and Capcom. But its growth is remarkable: Last quarter, Glu's GAAP-adjusted revenue soared 51% year over year to $35 million, thanks to strong revenue from Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Dino Hunter: Deadly Shores. Still, the company posted a net loss of $3.8 million, which was wider than its loss of $2.9 million a year earlier. But as with Capcom, combining Glu and Nintendo's software resources could cut costs at both companies.

Nintendo could simply let Glu Mobile operate independently, but it could eventually bring more successful mobile franchises, like Dino Hunter and Deer Hunter, to the 3DS and Wii U.

A Foolish final word
In closing, Nintendo needs to seriously consider buying its way back to video game dominance. Square Enix and Capcom could give Nintendo a huge portfolio of new IPs and cross-platform games, while Glu Mobile could be a promising way to diversify into mobile gaming.

This strategy would work much better than the company's current strategy of praying that big titles like Mario Kart 8, Hyrule Warriors, and Super Smash Bros will be enough to carry hardware sales on their own.

Leaked: Apple's next smart device (warning, it may shock you)
Apple recently recruited a secret-development "dream team" to guarantee its newest smart device was kept hidden from the public for as long as possible. But the secret is out, and some early viewers are claiming its everyday impact could trump the iPod, iPhone, and the iPad. In fact, ABI Research predicts 485 million of this type of device will be sold per year. But one small company makes Apple's gadget possible. And its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors.

Nintendo Says Star Fox, Zelda And More Coming In 2015

Nintendo has just unveiled a new schedule of sorts for the Wii U, one with twenty new games spanning 2014 and 2015, but only one solid release date between them.

Hyrule Warriors, with its (hopefully) firm September 26th premiere kicks off the parade that ends 2014 with a holiday release of Super Smash Bros. Many have worried that Smash may not actually make the 2014 cut, as it keeps drawing closer and closer without an actual release date in sight. Granted, Nintendo still has a few months to firm up that date, but a few fans are getting nervous nonetheless.

Perhaps most interesting is the fact that Nintendo is now putting the new Wii U Star Fox in 2015 as well, alongside the hotly anticipated Wii U Zelda title. But while Zelda at least received an official preview at this year’s E3, we’ve heard/seen next to nothing regarding Star Fox, and it remains a mystery where Miyamoto will take the franchise.

It seems…ambitious for Nintendo to list both of these games as 2015. Zelda is tacked on as the last title on a chart that does seem to largely be in chronological order. The odds seem fairly low of a game that massive in scope (the new Zelda is said to be open world with a non-traditional mission structure) will be out on time given Nintendo’s forever sliding release dates. Not that it’s a bad thing for them to delay it and make it better, it’s just that at this point, you look at a chart like this and almost expect at least half the games shown to be delayed past their proposed launch windows, Zelda especially.

The chart serves an additional purpose of at least letting consumers know that good games for the Wii U are coming. Obviously Smash, Star Fox and Zelda are the heavy hitters, but all in all it seems to be a pretty solid line-up.


But obviously Nintendo’s first-party games have never been their issue. The problem is now is that you’re probably looking at nearly every game worth playing on the Wii U over the next two years. And that means you’re missing a huge collection of third party, multi-platform titles that will be appearing on PS4 and Xbox One.

Nintendo’s third party support has gotten so bad now, losing even staple franchises like Madden and Call of Duty alongside missing out on new series like Destiny, that their calender looks nothing like its competition. That could be viewed as a plus in some ways, as a welcome alternative to the boring Microsoft/Sony slugfest, but not when it comes at the expense of a lot of great games. Xbox One and PS4 share an identical third party line-up, swapping out a few exclusive series here and there, but Nintendo is becoming more and more on an island.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fun little world, but imagine if this list of great first party, third-party collabs were bolstered by a more traditional line-up of multiplatform games. There’d be no stopping Nintendo. And yet, for many, it’s clear that the Wii U cannot serve as a primary game console, as if you only own it and no other system, you’ll miss out on an incredible amount of third party games.

I think this is a pretty killer list for the Wii U, spread across the next few years. But, if these really are all the major titles Nintendo has coming up, I’m slightly worried for 2015. When the two biggest titles listed for 2015 are also the two that seem most likely to be delayed, I’m wondering how the Wii U will fare if Splatoon, Yoshi and Kirby are the biggest games of the year instead, and Nintendo has nearly no third-party, multiplatform hits to back them up.

With New 3DS Model, Nintendo Continues to Woo Hardcore Gamers

Nintendo’s got a brand new 3DS, one that’s aimed at capturing more of the hardcore gamer market.

Announced today for an October 11 release in Japan, the New Nintendo 3DS (that’s its name) has a variety of upgrades that all seem to be aimed squarely at gamers that demand high-end experiences. It now has a second analog joystick, making camera controls in complex games like Monster Hunter significantly easier. Going along with that are two extra “shoulder buttons” on the back of the unit for more control options. The 3-D screen and camera have been given upgrades.

And most significantly, New Nintendo 3DS has more under the hood. The internals have been upgraded for flashier graphics and faster internet speeds. Nintendo being Nintendo, it hasn’t said how much of a boost New 3DS will get. But it has said that the new model will actually play some exclusive games that wouldn’t be possible on the current 3DS.

The first of these will be Xenoblade Chronicles, a version of the role-playing game that Nintendo released a few years back on its original Wii console. This is about as nerdy and hardcore-focused a piece of content as one could imagine: Nintendo launching a new platform with a 40-hour RPG? Who’d have imagined this in the days of Wii Sports?
Nintendo will release the New Nintendo 3DS in two models, roughly equivalent in size to the original 3DS and to the scaled-up 3DS XL model. They will retail for 18,800 yen and 16,000 yen respectively (about $180 and $160).

Other new features on both models include built-in support for near-field communication devices like Nintendo’s upcoming Amiibo interactive figures, more battery life and Micro SD card support.

Retreating Upmarket
Nintendo’s announcement of an upgraded portable machine designed to appeal to more discriminating, dedicated gamers comes hot on the heels of new comments by the company’s game design guru Shigeru Miyamoto that seemed to signal just this sort of shift.

Nintendo, he said to Edge magazine, no longer wants to chase after “the sort of people who, for example, might want to watch a movie. They might want to go to Disneyland.”

“Their attitude is, ‘okay, I am the customer. You are supposed to entertain me,’” Miyamoto said according to the report. “It’s kind of a passive attitude they’re taking, and to me it’s kind of a pathetic thing. They do not know how interesting it is if you move one step further and try to challenge yourself [with more advanced games].”

“Abandoning the lower-performance segments of an industry and moving upmarket is 100 percent predictable in disruption theory,” game design consultant Ben Cousins wrote on Twitter this week in response. “Was Miyamoto saying casual gamers were pathetic when the Nintendo stock was at $76?”

Advocates of disruption theory in books like The Innovator’s Dilemma—that’s one of the biz-school tomes that Nintendo name-checked when it launched the revolutionary Wii and DS hardware—would say that Nintendo is “retreating upmarket.”

Losing the “expanded audience” that it once courted to great effect with simplified gaming platforms—whether to mobile phone games or Disneyland—Nintendo is now, at least in the short term, pursuing the high-end consumer with products more geared to their needs. That’s more buttons, more joystick, more RPGs and more oomph.

You might notice that this is not a good long-term strategy, and indeed might be setting Nintendo up for death by a thousand cuts. That’s why Nintendo’s also working on its Quality of Life health-related gaming platform initiative, which might actually be able to capture a brand new audience again.

‘Til then, it’s “What, you want buttons? Here’s all the buttons.”

Console Wars' revisits the '90s clash between Sega and Nintendo

In the "console wars" of the early 1990s, I was in the trenches. Joystick in hand, I fought under the banner of Super Mario for Nintendo against the evil Sega and its not-so-super Sonic the Hedgehog.



At least, that was how it felt in elementary school. In Blake J. Harris' new book, "Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation," the wars are fought in the U.S. gaming market, and he pitches Sega as the plucky upstart taking on slow, incumbent Nintendo.

The tale is told largely from the perspective of Tom Kalinske, who revived Barbie at Mattel and was recruited from a Hawaiian sunlounger to lead Sega's U.S. unit into battle. The dialogue-heavy narrative was reconstructed from some 200 interviews.

The book, published by Harper Collins, is already being turned into a movie. But, on paper at least, this is no "Moneyball."

Where Michael Lewis' tale illuminates both baseball and the power of data, "Console Wars" pays too much attention to the Sega C-suite and too little to the games and the kids who played them. It also fails to draw some useful parallels with today's smartphone wars.

The book does offer some amusing trivia. "Donkey Kong" was created when Nintendo lost the videogaming rights to Popeye and had to come up with alternative characters in a rush. Mario was named after Nintendo's office landlord.

Sonic the Hedgehog, meanwhile, was originally called Mr. Needlemouse. He sported a punky spiked collar, fangs and a busty girlfriend named Madonna before Sega's U.S. arm persuaded Japanese counterparts to remove them.


Harris describes the now-classic blue hedgehog as an improbable amalgam of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jordan and Bill Clinton: a ball of 1990s energy helping America shake off the Reagan and Bush years.

That may be a stretch but, as a "tiny underdog" who moved with "manic speed," Sonic was more than just a mascot — he was totemic of Sega's rebellious approach.

"If Nintendo represented control, Sega would represent freedom," Harris writes of Kalinske's strategy.

Nintendo is described much as Apple is today: obsessed with quality even at the expense of development speed, overbearing toward retailers and software developers, and highly litigious. Sega, like the free Android smartphone software Google pits against the iPhone, succeeded by offering friendlier terms to Nintendo's partners.

Any Silicon Valley start-up CEO would admire Sega's scrappy tactics, including pulling an all-nighter to undermine Nintendo's grand unveiling of a price cut.

While Nintendo's informal motto then was "the name of the game is the game," Kalinske's Sega was all pricing and marketing.

Sega's MTV-friendly "Next Level" ad campaign and simultaneous global launch of the 1992 sequel to Sonic succeeded for a while, as Nintendo's U.S. market share plunged from 60% in 1992 to 37% a year later.

But a $100-million marketing campaign did not prevent Sega's follow-up to the Genesis console from flopping a few years later. Sega focused on gimmicky add-ons, while the "tortoise" Nintendo reliably produced high-quality games such as "Donkey Kong Country."

Sega's focus on glitzy marketing recalls Samsung, whose "Next Big Thing" tagline propelled its Galaxy smartphones ahead of Apple's.

But just as Harris says games developers struggled with "too many different systems" at Sega, Apple's best weapon in winning over app makers is still the simplicity of its app store, in contrast to the fragmented world of Android handsets.

Today, your choice of smartphone enlists you in one of two clashing tribes. But as the Sony PlayStation's eventual success at the expense of Sega and Nintendo shows, new fronts can open at any time in the technology war zone.

Nintendo Bringing Pokemon To iPad In Trading Card Form

The eternal dream of Nintendo showering the smartphone/tablet community with their Pokemon license may still never come to pass, but at least one aspect of the series is heading that direction. The Pokemon Trading Card Game is coming to iPad, competing with other recent digital card battling games that have found success on the platform like Hearthstone.



The quick snapshot of the game comes from  Josh Wittenkeller on Twitter, and its existence has been confirmed by an official rep of The Pokemon Company. The new game is being showed off at the World Pokemon Championship this weekend, but there’s no timetable for an official release as of yet. The game already exists on Windows and Mac, but this is the first news of a portable tablet release.

I expect to see a lot more digital card games coming to tablets, even as established ones like Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone are already there. The medium is absolutely perfect for card games, though it should be said you don’t see all that many sky high on the app charts like you have with Flappy Bird clones, infinite running titles or shape-matching puzzle games.

The truth is that generally speaking, the app market rejects complexity. Even if a game like Hearthstone is relatively easy to pick up and play for the average gamer, the average gamer is not the average app store customer. Not to insult the intelligence of the general public, but it’s very obvious that simpler games find more success than complex ones a lot of time in the market. Not always, surely, but a good deal of the time. That’s why even if the iPad is a perfect medium for battle card games, they still have somewhat limited appeal. The same will likely be true for Pokemon, which is arguably more complex than something like Hearthstone. That said, developers should always strive to raise the general quality level of the tablet/smartphone game market, because lord knows it needs it.

As for Pokemon itself, this will inevitably start some new debate about how Nintendo must react to the changing winds and release all their games on the Android and Apple AAPL +0.49% app stores. I understand the sentiment, and it does seem like a logical transition, but this goes back to the “should Nintendo stay in the hardware game?” question that’s being asked every few weeks any time a new Nintendo doom and gloom story comes to light.

While I think there’s an argument to be made for Nintendo shifting to software for the console market, as evidenced by the poor sales of the Wii U limiting the reach of their phenomenal first party games, I can’t say the same about mobile yet.

Nintendo understands the mobile market far better than they do consoles at the moment. Their handhelds remain some of the top selling video game systems of all time, and the 3DS is now the 12th highest selling piece of gaming hardware ever. Nintendo is absolutely not going to undercut it by releasing their games on smartphones and tablets.

That said, with 44M sold, the 3DS is still woefully short of even the Game Boy Advance (81.5M) and lightyears away from Nintendo’s past smash hits, the original Game Boy (119M) and the DS (154M). Even if it’s still doing pretty well, there is an obvious trend as there is more and more competition in the mobile games space as the years press on. And you can bet it’s not the PS Vita putting pressure on them.

But Nintendo continues to offer a unique perspective on mobile games, creating quality titles that are leagues better than most offerings in any app store. Though Nintendo is designing mobile games for gamers, where app games are designed for literally anyone. Obviously one is going to have more broad appeal that the other.

We need both, however. Nintendo has created a great mobile experience for those who are willing to pay a little more for better games, and don’t mind carrying around a piece of gaming-specific hardware, even in an age where your keys and wallet can be on your phone.

But hey, if you want a taste of what they could be like on tablets, maybe this new Pokemon game is for you. I’ll certainly give it a shot, even if it’s been fifteen years since I first opened up my dream pack of cards with a holofoil Charizard. That’s worth what, like $500K now? I knew they were a good investment.

Nintendo Hits New Milestones With 1 Million Mario Kart US Sales, 40 Million 3DS Software Sales

Ahead of the NPD sales data coming later today, Nintendo revealed some of the milestones for their top-performing games last month in the US.

Mario Kart 8 leads the fray with 1 million copies sold. Nintendo notes in a press release that it's "the second Wii U game to cross that milestone, along with New Super Mario Bros. U (1.69 million)." Nintendo reported late last month that global sales for Mario Kart 8 have already surpassed 2.82 million.

And that success has translated into momentum for the Wii U as well. Nintendo writes that, "Through the first seven months of 2014, total sales of Wii U hardware and software have increased by nearly 60 percent and more than 135 percent, respectively, over the same period in 2013."

We don't have specific hardware numbers on Nintendo's consoles, but Nintendo isn't shy about the 3DS software numbers. The portable platform is at 40 million games sold. Updated sales totals for games that have sold over 1 million copies according to Nintendo are:

• Mario Kart 7: 3.48 million
• Super Mario 3D Land: 3.09 million
• New Super Mario Bros. 2: 2.28 million
• Pokemon X: 2.10 million
• Pokemon Y: 2.01 million
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D: 1.39 million
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf: 1.36 million
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: 1.33 million
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: 1.09 million

Nintendo added, "Four of the 10 best-selling software SKUs for July are exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS," including:

• Tomodachi Life at number 5 (and more than 85,000 games sold)
• Pokemon Y at number 8
• Pokemon X at number 9
• Mario Kart 7 at number 10

Note that these titles won't necessarily show up in the overall NPD list coming out later today, since those numbers reflect total sales across every platform a game is available on. Nintendo's ranking breaks the numbers down to an individual SKU basis (meaning the game's release on a single platform).

With Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda Hyrule Warriors, and a whole slate of Amiibo figurines still coming before the end of the year, it'll be exciting to see how much Nintendo grows after the rockiness of last year. But what are you most looking forward to from Nintendo? Let us know in the comments below.

Minecraft Creator Mocks The Nintendo Wii U Console

The creator of Minecraft, Markuss “Notch” Persson, has openly expressed his opinion on what he thinks of the Nintendo Wii U console. He didn’t really have any nice things to say about it sadly.

Notch sent out some tweets recently bashing the Wii U console for some reason. Notch isn’t really a fan of the console since the Wii U is pretty much the only platform that is never getting a version of Minecraft. Anyway, Notch basically buried the console highlighting the fact that it doesn’t have many games on it.

Here’s what he said about the Wii U on Twitter:

“Something is flashing in my room, desperately begging me to charge it. Turns out it was my Wii U pad, so I put a pillow on top of it.”

“Don’t worry Nintendo fans, I love both games for the Wii U, and I’m really looking forward to the third one in 2015!”

The Wii U will have some decent looking games out in 2014. Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2 and Super Smash Bros. springs to mind. Not to mention Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and the top selling Mario Kart 8 came out in 2014 too.

What compelled Notch to insult the Wii U and Nintendo fans is anyone’s guess at this point. It’s probably a safe bet we will never see Minecraft ever released for a Nintendo console since Notch is not a huge fan.

THE NAME WII U IS 'ABYSMAL,' FORMER NINTENDO INDIE BOSS SAYS

After being asked if Nintendo deserves the current financial situation it's in, Dan Adelman, Nintendo's former head of indie publishing, said the Wii U's name is hurting sales.



"Wii U is not selling as well as it deserves to," he said during a recent Q&A session on ask.fm. "It has a lot to offer with great games you can't get anywhere else. The value of the GamePad hasn't been justified. But the name Wii U is abysmal. I think that cut sales in half right there."

Many of the questions directed at Adelman during the recent Q&A regarded Nintendo's internal disputes and weak sales in recent years, seeing as how internal dispute seems to be the main reason Adelman left Nintendo of America.

He was the helm for Nintendo's indie publishing for nine years before leaving the company. Before a pattern of conflicts encouraged him to walk away, he courted indie developers and worked to bring games like Cave Story to Nintendo's platforms.

But last September, Nintendo banned Adelman from using Twitter because of comments he had made that criticized the 3DS's region-locking. On Monday, Adelman left Nintendo, announcing via Twitter that he had struck a deal with Nintendo that allowed him to Tweet again.

"Arrangement includes my not working there anymore," he said.

As of now, Adelman said he plans to continue working with independent developers in some capacity, and wants to encourage self-publishing.

Zelda Wii U Release Date After E3 2015? 'Open World' Game to Change Nintendo Franchise

During July's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo announced that they would be releasing three new Zelda games for the Wii U and the 3DS. Two of the games are for the Wii U, Hyrule Warriors and the new Zelda title. The third one will also be a Zelda title but for the 3DS.

Nintendo has not announced any official release date for the Zelda game but during the Nintendo conference in E3, a trailer video was shown and at the end of the video, the year 2015 appeared. Questions lingered during the conference on whether the game would be released before, after or during E3 2015.

Most likely, the new Zelda game along with the other titles will get a release sometime after E3 ends.

A feature that Shigeru Miyamoto, Senior Managing Director and General Manager of Integrated Research and Development, is excited about is the upcoming title's deviance from the previous Legend of Zelda titles.

In previous Zelda games, the gameplay was linear; players would go from one dungeon to another in an orderly fashion. The Wii U release would be an "open world" game where the players can freely choose where they want to go next. This way, the game is given a more action-adventure feel.

Hyrule Warriors is also a release from the Zelda franchise where Nintendo has teamed up with Tecmo Koei to give players a hack-and-slash game based on the Zelda universe. The game will have the basic Dynasty Warriors feel, the franchise that Koei is famous for. The game is already set for release on Sept. 26.

Nintendo will be hosting another Super Smash Bros. tournament at Gamescom

The Super Smash Bros. tournament that was held at E3 was the first ever Nintendo-sponsored Super Smash Bros. tournament and Nintendo did the same thing again at the San Diego Comic-Con for the Nintendo 3DS version of the game. Now it looks like Nintendo will be repeating that success in marketing by offering a Super Smash Bros. tournament for Gamescom attendees.

Currently Nintendo is looking for a German host for the tournament, so if you’re interested you should check out this page for more information. According to the post, Nintendo will be offering those chosen for commentator positions a copy of the game on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, as well as their choice of three Amiibo figurines once they’re available for launch. For those who will be attending Gamescom to check out everything the company has to offer, you’ll be able to participate in the tournament!

Gamescom is an annual event that is held in Cologne, Germany. This year the show takes place from August 14 to August 17.

Nintendo Reports Loss on Shaky Wii U Sales

Nintendo Co. sank to a worse-than-expected loss for the fiscal first quarter on lagging Wii U and 3DS video-game machine sales.

But the Japanese company behind Super Mario and Pokemon games stuck to its annual forecasts Wednesday for a 20 billion yen ($196 million) profit on 590 billion yen ($5.8 billion) sales.

Kyoto-based Nintendo reported a 9.92 billion yen ($97.3 million) April-June loss compared with an 8.62 billion yen profit a year earlier.

Quarterly sales totaled 74.695 billion yen ($732.3 million), down 8 percent from a year earlier.

Nintendo has been fighting to maintain profits amid competition from games and social media apps on smartphones and other mobile devices. The company also faces competition from rivals Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp., which are aggressively pushing their game machines with holiday shoppers.

Nintendo has also faced questions about the health of its president, Satoru Iwata, after he was a no-show at the E3 video-game event in Los Angeles last month.

Last month, in a letter online to shareholders, he said he would miss the annual shareholders' meeting as well and said for the first time that he had surgery for a bile-duct "growth," found during a routine health checkup.

"I have already resumed my business by email and by other means, but it is anticipated that a little more time is needed for me to return to my regular work schedule," Iwata said in the letter.

The success of "Mario Kart 8" game software released in May is helping boost Wii U sales. Nintendo sold 510,000 of the machines for the April-June quarter, far better than 160,000 for the same period the previous year.

But Wii U is not as popular as Nintendo had initially hoped for, and it has missed earlier sales targets.

Sales of the 3DS handheld have plunged, dropping to 820,000 for the latest quarter from 1.4 million units a year ago.

Nintendo stuck to its latest target of selling 3.6 million Wii U and 12 million 3DS machines for the fiscal year through March 2015.

Nintendo said it will start offering strong game software in the months ahead, such as "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U."

The year-end and New Year's seasons are important sales periods for the company, practically determining its fortunes for the whole year.

Nintendo is also launching "amiibo," which are figures that connect and interact with games. How that might catch on is still unclear, but it holds potential for Nintendo.

Mega Man Battle Network Confirmed for Wii U Release

Are you itching for some new Mega Man? Well, so am I, but that’s not happening any time soon. Instead, you have another chance to dive into the older library thanks to the efforts of the Game Boy Advance Virtual Console on Wii U. Capcom has confirmed with Nintendo thatMega Man Battle Network will be available on July 31.

The Mega Man Battle Network games are a strange bunch. Excellent combat which feels like a natural RPG fit for the Mega Man universe is somewhat bungled up by its kid friendly setting. Not that kid friendly settings are inherently bad, but I remember most of my time playing these games when they were new was most spent wondering “When can I fight again?!”

That being said , the first two games are definitely worth checking out. Back in the day, they brought a bit of imagination and excitement to the aging franchise with an original twist that was genuinely fun. Like most Mega Man sub-series though, fans agree that it got a little stale by the third entry and was totally irrelevant went it closed down at the sixth.

Mega Man might not be seeing any new games in the near future, but far and away, the best way to experience his classic games from the NES, the Super Nintendo and even the Game Boy Advance has been the Virtual Console on both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. I’ve blasted through Mega Man 2 on my 3DS quite a few times, played the Game Boy Mega Man V for the first time, and rediscovered that Mega Man 6 is actually a pretty decent game. Mega Man X is also always a blast to waste an afternoon on.

The Mega Man Battle Network games are a more than welcome addition. It seems like all we have waiting now is a digital channel for Mega Man Legends on PlayStation 3. Can’t happen, Capcom says. Sorry guys.

Nintendo will be live-streaming from Comic-Con

Just a heads up that the San Diego Comic-Con is now underway and Nintendo will have a large presence this year, with the first Super Smash Bros. tournament for Nintendo 3DS taking place over the weekend. If you won’t be attending Comic-Con yourself, you’ll be able to see all the action on Nintendo’s Twitch channel, as they’ll be streaming live from Comic-Con. Here’s the announcement:

On July 25 and July 26, Nintendo will stream Nintendo Challenge Live, a stage show hosted from the Nintendo Gaming Lounge that features intense tournament competition and awesome game-play challenges from some of the hottest upcoming games on Nintendo platforms. Fans can open their browsers to http://www.twitch.tv/nintendo to catch all of the action and stick around for hours to soak in all the festivities.

The live gameplay will start at 11:30 PST on both days, so be sure and check it out if you want to see what Nintendo is presenting at Comic-Con this year!

Nintendo is back: why summer 2014 belongs to the Wii U

 
 

Nintendo's star gets wheels in Mario Kart 8. Mario Kart 8 – one of the best games you'll play this summer

It is the oldest cliche in the great book of video game cliches: never underestimate Nintendo.

The industry veteran is a master of comebacks and agenda-setting lateral business moves; it practically invented handheld gaming as a viable global entertainment platform; it watched its 95% console market share eaten away by the Mega Drive, and then pummelled its upstart competition with a hundred classic SNES games.

Then it fell behind Sony and Microsoft in the tech arms race, so it built the Wii out of old bits and pieces it found in Radio Shack and sold a 100m units.

As for the Wii U? It's been a sorry tale so far. A bungled announcement, an inability to explain what the GamePad is for, a lack of games, the dwindling support of the major third-party game publishers. It all looked pretty grim for a while.

But in a survey published by IHS Technology and Gamer Network this week, consumers showed a 50% increase in "purchasing intent" for the Wii U, after a wonderful showing at the E3 games event in Los Angeles.

Big, bright family games like Yoshi's Woolly World, Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker, Super Smash Bros and Mario Maker promised fun in abundance; a world away from the grittily bombastic, grim-faced action adventures duking it out in however-many-frames-per-second on PS4 and Xbox One.

And then there's Mario Kart 8, easily a game of the year contender with half the year to go. It is a sublime and inventive addition to a much-loved series, combining all the traits we have come to expect from top line Nintendo-developed titles: accessibility, variety and depth.

Kids can play against each other, parents can play against kids, adults can play against each other, and everyone has a chance – and yet skilled driving is always rewarded. It will be a key feature of many lazy days during the coming school holidays (note: families can still go outside while not enjoying video games – it's okay to have both).

The key thing is that there's not much coming from the other "next-gen" consoles to counter Mario Kart 8 this summer. There will be a few interesting digital-only releases, but the mainstream schedule is, as usual, a wasteland until September.

This gives Nintendo several weeks to really push the Wii U, centred on Mario Kart 8, but also reminding people about a back catalogue that, while hardly an embarrassment of riches, is certainly not an actual embarrassment. Super Mario 3D World, Wind Waker HD, Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 and Lego City Undercover are all there to be discovered.

Nintendo is even trying to improve the Wii U's online functionality. A new update allows players to finally transfer data and accounts from one machine to another, and to navigate more easily to the eShop digital store.

And there are hints that the company may finally be making games that genuinely explore the capabilities of the GamePad, the Wii U's "second screen" controller that promised a future of asymmetrical multiplayer experiences, but then delivered... a gigantic Fisher Price tablet that pretty much acted as a glorified mini-map for most titles.

At E3, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto showed off a couple of interesting experimental concepts – Project Giant Robot and Project Guard – that use the device in interesting ways. And the team-based shooter Splatoon has promise.

PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have some amazing titles lined up for later in the year, and even more in 2015. Let's not get silly here: Wii U is not going to trouble them for some time – if ever. But it can safe itself from the nosedive.

And right now, you can get Wii U and Mario Kart 8 in a bundle for £240 and that's probably the most fun you're going to have with a games machine this summer (while you're not outside at the beach or cycling or, you know, hand-gliding off the Malvern hills or whatever).

Nintendo needs to move fast – with its marketing, with its special offers, with whatever it has. Fun and light have always been the dual currencies of the Nintendo empire, and we need both right now. 

Nintendo’s ‘Wii U to Wii U’ Transfer Feature Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Nintendo adds a system-to-system transfer option, but Wii U owners still can't backup save files or move data around conveniently.

I’m not sure it’s the feature that’ll motivate fence-sitters off their palisades to buy one, but if you already own a Wii U — or better still, two — the latest system update finally adds the option to run a full system transfer, Wii U to Wii U.



To be clear, you’re already able to transfer data off the Wii U, you just can’t back it up. Does that sound oxymoronic? Let me explain.

Wii U data can only exist in one place, so you either have it on the Wii U’s internal flash or an external USB storage device, but never in both places at once. If you brick your Wii U and your save files live on an external storage device, then you buy or receive a replacement Wii U, you’ve had no way of recovering those files. Making matters worse, Nintendo doesn’t offer cloud saves, so you could argue the Wii U is inferior to the original Nintendo Entertainment System (which in some cases allowed you to save straight to the cartridge) as well as most systems that’ve come after it.

Nintendo’s latest Wii U system update, out yesterday, goes some way toward rectifying this deficit, but the restrictions are pretty onerous. For starters, you’ll need the source Wii U alive and kicking and running the same system software version as the destination Wii U. From there, you’re in essence running an all-or-nothing clone operation: the source Wii U transfers “any users, Nintendo Network IDs, save data, and digital content” to the target Wii U, then wipes the source Wii U clean.

That’s helpful if you own a vanilla Wii U, say, and want to transition to the annual custom-painted limited edition. But we’re probably talking about a handful of hardcore Nintendophiles. Who wants to own two otherwise identical Wii Us? And even then, you’re not backing anything up, you’re just moving it from one system to another.

It’s a shame, because what I’d wager Wii U owners really want — or at least what I do — is a way to back up those Wii U save files, be it to the cloud or an external storage device. Microsoft and Sony have supported save file duplication to external storage as well as cloud save-file backups for years. Nintendo’s system update is arguably helpful for a tiny fraction of Nintendo’s audience, in other words, but not the backup/transfer feature Wii U owners have long deserved.

Wii U owners will be able to make eShop payments with an NFC card … in Japan

 

Japanese Wii U owners will be able to make eShop payments using the GamePad's NFC capabilities beginning July 22, Nintendo announced today.
Payments will work with the Sucia rechargeable smart cards, which are used primarily to pay train fares. Tapping a Sucia card on the lower left of the GamePad will let customers bypass the requirement to use a credit card or add funds through the eShop.

In its May 7 fiscal earnings report, Nintendo reiterated its desire to provide software that uses the Wii U's NFC capabilities, including a line of Skylanders-like NFC figurines. Games like Mario Party 10 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will use Nintendo's amiibo characters.

Fatal Frame creeps onto Wii U in its first trailer for the console

Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have revealed the first trailer for the upcoming Wii U Fatal Frame sequel.

Known in Japan as Zero: Nuregarasu no Miko, roughly translating to Fatal Frame: The Black Haired Shrine Maiden, the game will launch in Japan on Sept. 27. There's no word just yet on a North American release.

In this new series installment, players take control of Kozukata Yuuri, a girl who can see spirits of those taken into the "Ghost World." On top of this, Yuuri discovers she has the ability to bring the spirits back into the real world by reaching Mount Hikamiyama.

According to Koei Tecmo, this sacred mountain is known as the mountain of death where those who wish to die can enter at a certain hour and cross from the world of the living to the world of the dead. The company states this will be the biggest Fatal Frame release to date.

As is standard in the series, players will find and capture ghosts using an in-game camera. In this Wii U iteration, players can use their Wii U GamePad to control the camera. Check out the trailer above to see how that works.

As was previously confirmed, in addition to the new game, Tecmo Koei plans the release of a live-action film based, original novel and comic series based on Fatal Frame's narrative.

5 Things Nintendo Needs To Add To 'Mario Kart 8' Via DLC

Nintendo should release lots of DLC for Mario Kart 8. They should release it regularly over a long period of time, keeping the game alive and fresh long past the expiration date its predecessors faced.

The game is great—quite possibly my favorite Mario Kart—but in a day and age when new content is released after launch all the time, Nintendo has the perfect opportunity to make it even better.

Sure, DLC—or downloadable content—is controversial in many circles. And certainly there are times when it feels like a game maker is simply trying to cash in on a game.

But Mario Kart 8 is already fantastic. It doesn’t need new content to achieve greatness. On the other hand, new content could keep more people playing for longer.

I very rarely purchase DLC. But I would for this game. Here are five things I’d like to see from Nintendo if they do release DLC for Mario Kart 8:

1. More toons.

Mario Kart 8 has lots of playable characters—more than any otherMario Kart game. Unfortunately, the roster isn’t as diverse as it is large.

There are too many Koopa kids, too many baby versions of characters, and even a metal Mario and pink-gold Peach.

It would be nice to see characters like Dry Bones, King Boo, and more of the Kong family, released in a character pack—just to name a few.

In fact, it would be even better if the game bucked tradition and brought in some other iconic Nintendo characters from non-Mario franchises. Star Fox , Link, Kirby, etc. If it can work for Smash Bros. it can work for Mario Kart 8.

2. More tracks and more bikes.

This one’s pretty obvious.

The race selection is excellent in Mario Kart 8—far more diverse than the roster—but once you’ve played each track enough times, even excellent tracks start to wear a little thin. Nintendo should continue to remaster older tracks and release those as downloadable content. Totally new tracks would be nice, too.

Nintendo could even release these in stages. Eight new tracks in the first pack, eight in the second and so forth. There’s no reason gamers should have to wait for a new Mario Kart entry to play new tracks in an age of digital content distribution. Or they could release remastered tracks as free goodies, and charge only for the totally new ones. (I’m not trying to come up with a revenue scheme, here, however.)

The same applies to new bikes, tires, and sails. There are plenty of combinations of these already, but there’s no reason there can’t be more. And I’m not talking about the very weird—unsettling—Mercedes DLC Nintendo has revealed. I’d like to see more zany bikes, three-wheelers, or maybe a whole new class of Kart altogether.

3. Add some actual battle arenas.

I realize that battle mode isn’t that popular, or at least nowhere near as popular as the actual racing in Mario Kart, but the total absence of any battle arenas in Mario Kart 8 was really disappointing.

Battling on regular tracks isn’t fun. It’s harder to find people, harder to have any sort of strategy in the fight, and essentially…boring.

Worse still, using all the neat new features in Mario Kart 8 like hover and underwater mode could make for some really neat arenas. You could have an entire arena inside a giant globe, for instance.

Since the game is now online, battle mode would be even better. This was probably the biggest oversight in Mario Kart 8.

4. A more advanced video editor.

Thanks to Mario Kart TV, Nintendo has already had plenty of MK8 viral videos and screenshots, including the infamous Luigi Death Stare.

As it stands, you can show a replay of the race and tinker with a few settings, focusing on certain drivers and certain types of driving—like drifting, action, and so forth. It’s nice and simple, and it’s perfectly serviceable.

But there have been moments when I wished I had an Advanced version of the editor—being able to adjust camera angles would be great. Just being able to really dig into a race and highlight exactly what you want from exactly the angle you want would be amazing, so long as it was optional. It would also be a great tool for kids to learn more about video editing, so…educational!

5. 200cc

There’s nothing wrong with 150cc, the fastest and most challenging setting inMario Kart 8.

But I want to go even faster. I want 200cc.

Sure, you can always amp up the challenge by racing against real people online, but a really fast mode could be a blast, especially for those of us who aren’t super fans of online matches.

I think it would be even better if they had some sort of hardcore mode that made small changes to maps. Think of Toad’s Turnpike in Mario Kart 64. In “mirror mode” all the cars come at you instead of going in the same direction. That’s missing from Mario Kart 8′s version of the track.

Some sort of ultra-fast or ultra-hard mode would be a great way to spice up old tracks and provide new challenge for players.

And that’s all I have. Mario Kart 8 is one of my favorite games of 2014 so far, and some of the most fun I’ve had with a video game in a long time. I wouldn’t want to change it much, but I think added variety can only ever help.

Anything else you’d like to see added or removed from the game?