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Tag: wii u

  • Nintendo Direct Offers Details On Upcoming Games

    For the first Nintendo Direct of the year, fans had high hopes. After all, the Nintendo Direct that kicked off 2013 was full of surprises and new game announcements. That was unfortunately not the case this time around, but there was still plenty of goodness for the Nintendo fan.

    Starting off, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed that Little Mac from Punch-Out!! would be joining the roster of Super Smash Bros. He was originally an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii so it gives hope that other assist trophies from Brawl may make the transition to full character in the latest game.

    In additional Wii U news, it was revealed that Mario Kart 8 will feature all of Boswer’s Koopalings as playable characters. That’s right – Iggy, Larry, Lemmy, Ludwig, Morton, Roy and Wendy will all be playable when the game launches on May 30.

    Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze received a new trailer ahead of its launch on February 21.

    Bayonetta 2 was shown once again in a new trailer that focused on a new character, new abilities and new bosses. The game is scheduled to launch sometime later this year.

    In a move that’s somewhat confusing, Nintendo announced that Gameboy Advance titles will be coming to the Wii U virtual console instead of the 3DS virtual console. Even if the platform is a little weird, we’re still getting great games like Metroid Fusion, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 when the service launches.

    Finally, Monolith Soft’s X was shown off for a second time revealing that it’s battle system will be pretty much like the one found in Xenoblade Chronicles.

    Moving onto the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo showed off some new gameplay for Yoshi’s New Island. In the latest installment, Yoshi can now create giant eggs or even metal eggs to traverse underwater environments. The game will be out on March 14.

    After being announced early last year, Mario Golf: World Tour is finally almost upon us. This time, Nintendo showed off the single player campaign mode called Castle Club. In this mode, you play as your Mii as you take on Mario characters in various tournaments. The game will be out on May 2.

    Another 3DS game that was announced last year – Kirby: Triple Deluxe – is almost upon us as well. In the new trailer, it’s shown that Kirby can perform four actions for every ability he copies. In that way, it’s almost like the game plays like a single player Super Smash Bros. It will be out on May 2.

    Giving hope to Monster Hunter fans in the U.S., Nintendo confirmed that Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will launch exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS in early 2015.

    As for the Wii U and 3DS eShops, Nintendo announced a number of titles for both, including NES Remix 2, Inazuma Eleven, Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball, Weapon Shop de Omasse and more. The most interesting among the group is Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball as it’s a free to download game that features mini-games that must be bought for $4 each. You can haggle in-game, however, to reduce the cost of those games.

    If you want to see everything that yesterday’s Nintendo Direct had to offer, you can watch it in its entirety below:

    Image via Nintendo/YouTube

  • Super C Headlines This Week’s Nintendo Download

    There’s a new Nintendo Direct this afternoon at 5 p.m. that has the Nintendo faithful all excited. Is Nintendo going to announce a new game? Are we going to hear anything about X or Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem? Whatever happened to Yarn Yoshi? All these questions and more will probably not see an answer, but at least you can finally play some Super C on your Wii to take your mind off things.

    That’s right, folks – Super C, sequel to NES classic Contra, is now on the Wii U virtual console. In it, players take on the role of either Mad Dog or Scorpion as they run and gun their way through multiple levels of alien hell.

    Unfortunately, Super C is the only major eShop release today. Sure, there are some new levels being added to Spin the Bottle: Bumpy’s Party on Wii U for Valentine’s Day, but that’s about it. With this disappointing update, Nintendo had better have something worthwhile during this evening’s Nintendo Direct.

    While’s there not much in the way of new content, you can grab three games from Rising Star Games at a reduced price until March 13. Those three games – Beyblade Evolution, Jewel Master: Cradle of Rome 2 and Girl’s Fashion Shoot – are great picks for children who own a 3DS or 2DS.

    Here are the other eShop releases this week:

  • Spot the Differences! (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS)
  • AeternoBlade (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS)

    • Image via yazars/YouTube

  • Watch Dogs Delayed On Wii U, Coming To Other Platforms This Spring

    It wasn’t that long ago that we heard rumors of Ubisoft canceling Watch Dogs on the Wii U. The publisher denied the rumors and Nintendo fans could breathe easy once again. While it may not have been outright canceled, the publisher has now confirmed that Wii U owners are going to have to wait.

    During Ubisoft’s quarterly earnings report today, the publisher confirmed that Watch Dogs would be launching between April and June (i.e. Q1) of this year for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. The Wii U version, while not canceled, has been delayed to later in the year “to focus the team’s resources where they could have the broadest possible benefit.”

    In other words, Ubisoft is taking developers off of the Wii U version to focus on the other versions of Watch Dogs. The publisher may have found itself spread a bit too thin on this one and decided to delay the least important version of the title to ensure the versions most likely to sell ship on time. It’s a tough pill to swallow for Nintendo fans, but it’s a compromise that will still see the game being released on the platform.

    Here’s the full statement from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot:

    “Today we are specifying our targets for full-year 2013-14 and are confirming our target for non-IFRS operating income for 2014-15. Fiscal 2014-15 will see an exceptional games line-up, with the release of five major titles including Just Dance, The Crew and Watch Dogs, which is scheduled for release in the first fiscal quarter. Our line-up is also expected to reap the benefits of the return to growth in the console market and the increasingly significant impact of digital gaming.”

    So, there you have it. Watch Dogs is still coming this Spring, but the Wii U version will be a little late to the party. Considering how much development time has been spent on the game already, it shouldn’t be that long before the Wii U version is released after the other versions.

    [h/t: Game Informer]
    Image via Watch Dogs/YouTube

  • Sonic The Hedgehog Gets A TV Show, Video Game In 2014

    Man, Sonic Lost World was kind of terrible, wasn’t it? It was obvious that Sega missed something in its quest to make Super Sonic Galaxy and ended up moving away from the mostly excellent Sonic Generations. For its next outing, Sega is completely reinventing Sonic again, but in more ways than one.

    Starting this year, Sega will be bringing Sonic back to television with a new TV series for Cartoon Network called Sonic Boom. Here’s Sega’s official statement on the series:

    The Sonic Boom television series, co-produced by SEGA of America Inc. and OuiDO! Productions, will debut on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and on CANAL J and GULLI in France during the 2014/2015 season. The series is an ensemble comedy consisting of 52 x 11-minute standalone episodes packed full of high-adrenaline action. Every episode starts from a small character-driven story and explodes into an epic tale of saving the world, robot battles and more.

    For this new series, all of the characters will be receiving brand new designs:

    Sonic The Hedgehog Gets A TV Show, Video Game In 2014

    For a better look at the TV series, here’s a trailer:

    Sega is going all in on this Sonic Boom business in 2014 by making a video game based on the TV series. It’s set before the events of the television series and features four playable characters – Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Amy. They feature the same character designs that you see above.

    As for the game itself, it will be developed by Sonic Team and the guys at Red Button Entertainment. Red Button is comprised of ex-Naughty Dog staff that worked on Jak and Daxter so they definitely have experience in crafting platformers. It also happens to be the third game in Sega’s exclusive deal with Nintendo so the game will only be available on the Wii U and 3DS. Here’s the first trailer complete with Skrillex – because that’s what the kids like these days, right?

    Images via Sega Blog

  • Bravely Default Is The Highlight Of This Week’s Nintendo Download

    Bravely Default is out on Friday and JRPG fans all over the nation are chomping at the bit to get it. If you don’t mind forfeiting the physical release, fans can grab it tonight at midnight as part of this week’s Nintendo Download.

    That’s right – the highlight of this week’s Nintendo Download is Bravely Default. The latest JRPG from Square Enix takes players back to the past with a game inspired by the likes of Final Fantasy V with a deep job system and revamped combat that makes players take advantage of the brave and default mechanics.

    If you prefer senseless violence over magic crystals, you might be more interested in Retro City Rampage DX. The 3DS version of last year’s indie game puts players into an 8-bit version of Grand Theft Auto full of references to classic video games from the 80s and 90s.

    For the kids, the Wii U and 3DS eShop will also be updated with The LEGO Movie Video Game. The game follows the events of the upcoming film in a game that plays very much like the previous LEGO video games that were based on other franchises.

    As for the virtual console, the only release this week is on the Wii U – Ninja Gaiden. The original NES game features 10 stages of hardcore platforming and combat that remains unbeatable for many players to this day.

    Here are the other titles hitting the Wii U and 3DS eShop in the coming week:

  • ONE PIECE: Romance Dawn (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS)
  • Percy’s Predicament (Nintendo eShop on Wii U)

    • Image via Nintendo/YouTube

  • Here Are A Bunch Of Games Coming To The Wii U And 3DS In 2014

    Nintendo is in a bit of a pickle. The Wii U isn’t selling at all, and the 3DS’ explosive momentum might slow down in 2014. One of the major problems affecting both consoles are their lack of third party support and that doesn’t look to change this year.

    Despite not having the kind of third party support that Sony and Microsoft enjoy, Nintendo is getting plenty of indie support in 2014. In fact, Nintendo sent out a little notice today letting us know that both the Wii U and 3DS will see a large number of indie games this in the first half of the year.

    On the Wii U front, there are currently 13 games scheduled for release on the platform between now and Q2. Some of the games, like Unepic and Knytt Underground, are already out while other games like Ballpoint Universe and Nihilumbra will be out in March.

    As for the 3DS, the indie picks are little slimmer with only four games coming to the 3DS before May – Retro City Rampage DX, Siesta Fiesta, Moon Chronicles and Treasurenauts.

    To give you a taste of some of these upcoming games, Nintendo shared a few trailers today:

    Here’s a partial list of currently available and upcoming indie titles for the Wii U and 3DS:

    Here Are A Bunch Of Games Coming To The Wii U And 3DS In 2014

    Image via Nintendo/YouTube

  • ‘Arkham Origins’ DLC Cancelled For Wii U

    Since the launch of the Wii U, arguably the biggest third-party series on the console has been the Batman: Arkham games. The console launched with a well-polished version of Arkham City packed with all the extra content already out for other platforms. Warner Bros. followed that up last year by launching Batman: Arkham Origins on the Wii U, though it now appears that sales were not what the publisher had hoped.

    Warner Bros. and Nintendo have announced that the release of further Arkham Origins DLC on the Wii U has been cancelled. According to an email obtained by GoNintendo, the planned campaign add-on DLC for Origins has been cancelled.

    Wii U owners who had purchased a season pass for Origins will have their entire purchase refunded. Refunds will show up in customer eShop accounts as a $20 credit.

    The DLC has not been cancelled for other consoles or PC. This implies that Warner Bros. determined the cost of porting the content to the Wii U to be higher than any potential sales on that console.

    This would stem from the low install base of the Wii U, as well as slow sales of third-party titles on the console. In Nintendo’s quarterly results this week the company revealed that fewer than 6 million Wii U consoles have been sold to date. That compares poorly to the over 4 million PlayStation 4 consoles that were sold during the final six weeks of 2013.

    The DLC cancellation is yet another blow to the Wii U’s third-party lineup. Publishers have recently been leaving the Wii U out of new game announcements or outright canceling their planned Wii U ports of next-gen games.

  • This Week’s Nintendo Download Finds A Link To The Past

    Nintendo may be going through a rough patch these days, but that doesn’t mean it can neglect its responsibilities. Not only is the company addressing its weaknesses, but it’s also releasing quality content on the virtual console again.

    Nintendo announced this morning that The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is now available on the Wii U virtual console. If you have only played last year’s A Link Between Worlds, you’ll want to check out the game that inspired the best 3DS game of 2013.

    As for the 3DS virtual console, players can now purchase the original Mario Bros. Note that this isn’t Super Mario Bros., but the original competitive/cooperative Mario Bros. that challenges two players to take on the roles of Mario and Luigi to collect coins and defeat enemies.

    If you’re looking for more content this week, you might want to check out the Wii U Super Indie Sale. Starting today at noon and lasting until February 20, you can buy one of five indie games and get the others for 60 percent off. If you already own one, the promotion will be available from the start. The games taking part in this promotion are Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Mighty Switch Forces! Hyper Drive Edition, Toki Tori 2+ and BIT.TRIP Presents… Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien.

    Speaking of promotions, the Wii Fit U free trial ends tomorrow. Make sure you download the game by tomorrow to try it out for a month. If you sync it with the $20 Fit Meter, you can keep the game forever. The game will revert to its regular price of $30 on February 1.

    Here are all the other games coming to the eShop next week:

  • Castle Clout 3DS (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS)
  • ARC STYLE: Solitaire (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS)
  • Touch Battle Tank 3D 2 (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS)

    • Image via NinEverything/YouTube

  • Nintendo Details Wii U Strategy For 2014 And Beyond

    It’s been said time and time again over the past few months – the Wii U is not doing well at all. In its Q3 financial results, Nintendo revealed that it had only sold 2.41 million Wii U units in the past nine months. In comparison, the PS4 alone sold over 4 million units in its first two months. Investors and gamers alike are concerned about the future of Nintendo and the company addressed those concerns Wednesday night at a business strategy meeting.

    The Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata initially put fears of the company abandoning hardware to rest by stating that Nintendo would still continue its business of developing hardware and software for it. That being said, he notes that it needs to adapt its traditional console business to take advantage of new technologies, like smart devices.

    Before getting to that, however, Iwata finally admitted that the Wii U has an image problem. Most consumers think the Wii U Gamepad is an accessory for the original Wii and not an entirely new console. To fix that, he says that Nintendo is currently developing a number of titles that make extensive use of the Gamepad’s capabilities, including NFC. These titles will be shown off at E3 this year.

    With Nintendo refocusing its efforts on its own hardware, where do smart devices fit into this? Well, the company isn’t going to be releasing games on mobile devices. Instead, Iwata wants to “make connections with customers” through mobile devices that drive them to Nintendo hardware. He didn’t exactly elaborate on what that meant, but it most likely means they will be using apps to advertise their platforms.

    Interestingly enough, Iwata said Nintendo would be less strict about licensing their characters to third parties going forward in an attempt to widen their appeal. Gamers can look at this as a sign of more collaborations that birthed games like Metroid: Other M or Hyrule Warriors, but others may see it as a sign that films may be on the horizon.

    At the end of the meeting, Iwata revealed that Nintendo will be actively getting into what he called the quality of life market. He cited the growing market for wearables and said that Nintendo wants to try its luck with a non-wearable health tracker. He didn’t go into details, but said the device would be unveiled later this year.

    As you can imagine, Nintendo’s emergency business meeting wasn’t full of announcements. It was more about trying to calm the fears of investors to prevent their share price from tanking. That being said, the company did manage to announce two bits of news relevant to gamers. The first is that Mario Kart 8 will be out in May and the second is that Nintendo DS games will be coming to the Wii U virtual console.

    Nintendo should be holding a new Nintendo Direct soon so we’ll hopefully learn more about the actual games coming from the company in 2014.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Nintendo Posts Third Quarter Results, Wii U Still Doing Poorly

    The Wii U isn’t doing so well. Nintendo warned investors that would be the case earlier this month when it released its sales forecast for the fiscal year. While Nintendo’s fiscal year isn’t over until March 31, its Q3 results give us a pretty good idea of where the Wii U and 3DS will be come then.

    Nintendo released its Q3 financial results this morning and there wasn’t many surprises. The Wii U continues to do poorly with only 2.41 million units sold in the past three quarters. As for 3DS, the handheld managed to do much better with 11.65 million units sold in the last three quarters. Despite the disappointing Wii U sales, Nintendo managed to pull ahead in Q3 with an operating profit of $21.7 billion yen ($210 million).

    As for software sales, Nintendo reports that it sold 57.25 million 3DS software units in the first nine months of the fiscal year. Some of the heavy hitters this year included Pokemon X/Y which sold 11.61 million units and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds which sold 2.18 million units.

    Wii U software sales were not as impressive, but Nintendo managed to sell 15.96 million software units in the first nine months of this fiscal year. While it didn’t provide exact sales, it states that The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Wii Party U and Super Mario 3D World all managed to sell over a million units.

    For its legacy systems, Nintendo reports that the original Nintendo DS line saw 0.11 million hardware units and 8.63 software units sold in the first nine months of this year. The Wii had it a bit better with 1.07 million hardware and 23.27 million software units sold.

    While Nintendo may have squeaked by with a small profit in the third quarter, it’s fiscal year results aren’t looking quite as bright. The company expects to post an operating loss of $35 billion yen ($339 million) for the fiscal year ending March 31. This will be its third consecutive annual operating loss.

    So, what does Nintendo plan to do about all of this? Nobody knows quite yet, but Nintendo plans on holding a shareholders conference tonight at 8 p.m. to discuss its plans for the future. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has already taken a 50 percent pay cut to offset the Wii U losses, but is expected to announce a new direction for the company at tonight’s meeting. Rumors are stating that Nintendo will be releasing mini-games and demos on smartphones to bring people to its own hardware and games, but the company has since denied that report. As for what will actually be announced – who knows?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Virtual Console Titles Highlight This Week’s Nintendo Download

    Nintendo recently admitted that the Wii U was in trouble. Since then, multiple writers have come out of the digital woodwork giving their own take on what Nintendo can do to save the console. One of the most parroted suggestions is that Nintendo get serious about the virtual console and release more than just one game a week on the platform. While it’s a great idea, this week’s Nintendo Download shows it’s not happening anytime soon.

    In this week’s Nintendo Download, there’s only a pair of Virtual Console titles to be had. On the Wii U, players can experience the notoriously difficult NES classic Mighty Bomb Jack. In the game, players have to traverse through 16 levels of action and puzzle-solving. Here’s a short preview of the gameplay:

    On the 3DS, players can look forward to classic NES shmup Life Force. The title featured co-op and gameplay that switched between vertical and horizontal-scrolling environments. Here’s some gameplay:

    If you’re more into the fitness side of video games, Nintendo notes that this is the final week of its Wii Fit U Free trial offer. You can download Wii Fit U from the eShop and try it out for free for a month. If you pair it with a Fit Meter accessory during that time, the full game unlocks and you get to keep it forever.

    As for sales, the excellent Shin Megami Tensei IV will be $29.99 from January 27 to February 3. Action game Fractured Soul will also be on sale for $5.99 until February 6.

    Image via Nintendo

  • Nintendo May Be Already Working On Next-Gen Hardware [Rumor]

    Late last week, Nintendo admitted that the Wii U is a flop. Unless the company can turn it around, it looks like the company will have another Gamecube on its hands for the next few years. While the company is actively investigating methods to turn things around, one rumor out today says that the company may already be working on a successor to the Wii U and 3DS.

    Nintendo News reports that one of its “very reputable sources” has the inside scoop on what Nintendo is cooking up at its Kyoto HQ. The rumor states that the next hardware cycle out of Nintendo will be a home console/handheld combo going by the codename “Fusion.” The name implies that the two will work together with the handheld acting as a controller for the home console.

    What makes this rumor less believable is that the source has provided preliminary specs for what is called the Fusion DS and the Fusion Terminal. As you can probably guess, the Fusion DS is the handheld while the Fusion Terminal is the home console unit. What’s interesting is that both consoles are backwards compatible with 3DS games while the Fusion Terminal is backwards compatible with Wii U games. The Fusion Terminal would also support up to four Wii U gamepads.

    So, what is the likelihood that these rumors are true? Not very likely. While it’s safe to assume that Nintendo is already exploring new hardware, it’s hard to believe that the company would already have an outline of what hardware it wanted to use down to the CPU and GPU.

    The only possible evidence that this may more than just wishful thinking is that Nintendo updated its Nintendofusion.com domain registration last year. While the original Nintendofusion.com was used to promote Nintendo of America’s Fusion Tour, the concert tour has not run since 2006. Why would Nintendo hold onto the domain then? The most likely scenario is that Nintendo refreshes its domains every year like any other company would. It’s unlikely that Nintendo is already prepping a decade-old domain for the launch of new hardware five years from now.

    While the above rumors are likely false, it’s still interesting to think about. Fans, analysts and others are already speculating on what the future holds for Nintendo. The Fusion concept is just one of many ideas that are being tossed around in the wake of Nintendo’s misfortunes.

    Image via Rodriguezjr/YouTube

  • Nintendo Isn’t Going To Pull A Sega Anytime Soon

    It’s safe to say at this point that the Wii U is a flop. Unless Nintendo can figure something out in 2014, it may even end up doing worse than the Gamecube. The company acknowledged this last week when it updated its financial forecast for FY 2013 by decreasing the number of Wii U units it was expecting to sell by more than 70 percent.

    As you would expect, the Wii U’s performance has some Nintendo fans concerned that the game maker is finally going to throw in the towel. After all, Sega did the same thing after the Dreamcast suffered a similar fate after launching in 1999. Despite calls from investors and analysts to abandon the hardware market and focus exclusively on software, Nintendo is going to fight it out.

    The Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata held a press conference on Friday to address the company’s future plans in light of its FY 2013 predictions. Those plans do not include making games for mobile devices. Iwata stated that it wasn’t “that simple” and that poor Wii U sales “doesn’t mean [Nintendo] should put Mario on smartphones.”

    Despite his resistance to putting Nintendo properties on mobile devices, Iwata is not entirely against using said mobile devices. In fact, he said that the company is now looking into using mobile devices as a way to draw people into their hardware/software ecosystem. As an example, he points to the success of Puzzles & Dragons on the 3DS – a port of the popular mobile title that at times pulled in over $3.5 million a day last year. While the 3DS port would never have the 13 million players that its mobile sibling has, it still sold a respectable 1 million units in Japan alone. What makes that particular feat extraordinary is that the mobile game is free-to-play yet it spurred players to spend $40 to purchase a version of the game for the 3DS.

    It’s phenomena like this that has Nintendo convinced that it can stay in the hardware market. As long as the company utilizes mobile devices effectively to draw in the modern consumer, it can still make the hardware that it needs for its software to shine.

    Nintendo has already taken steps towards this kind of marketing by releasing a mobile Web app version of Miiverse. The social network is easily one of the best features on the Wii U and 3DS, and letting users get a taste of it on mobile devices might draw them into the Wii U/3DS ecosystem where Miiverse truly shines.

    Looking to the future, Nintendo could take a cue from developers like Ubisoft who are building companion mobile apps for their console games. Players quickly find that the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag companion app is an indispensable resource once they start to use it alongside the main game. If Nintendo were to release such an app for one of their core titles, it could lead to better engagement with players. Hell, Nintendo could just release a Pokewalker app for Pokemon X/Y and rake in the dough with IAPs.

    Whatever Nintendo decides to do, it’s going to be surprising. Whether that’s a good or bad thing remains to be seen, but the company has pulled miracles out of nowhere before.

    Image via Nintendo/YouTube

  • The Wii U Didn’t Do So Well In 2013

    In 2012, Nintendo launched the Wii U to a lot of excitement and stellar day one sales. After that, things went downhill fast. The company has tried to turn it around in 2013 with bundles and price drops, but it looks like it still wasn’t enough.

    In its financial forecast for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2014, Nintendo says that it had hoped to sell 9 million Wii U units by March 31. Its forecast has now been drastically lowered to 2.8 million. If this turns out to be the case Nintendo will have sold 6.25 million Wii U units since its launch in late 2012.

    Despite the Wii U not doing so hot, things are looking a lot better for the 3DS. That being said, Nintendo expects its handheld to not do as well as initially thought. It originally expected to sell 18 million units, but that number has now been decreased to 13.5 million units. The handheld is still seeing success in Japan, but sales have slumped in the North American and European markets.

    The marked down forecasts for both the Wii U and 3DS have Nintendo slashing its expected annual revenue to $5.7 billion from an expected $8.8 billion. It also expected to make $527.2 million in profits, but that’s also been readjusted to $239.6 million in losses.

    So, what does this all mean? Is Nintendo doomed? The company itself is fine as it’s sitting on a fat stack of cash left over from its Wii days. The real question now is whether or not Nintendo sticks with the Wii U, moves on to another hardware platform or just abandons the hardware market altogether. There are legitimate arguments to be had in support of all three, but it looks Nintendo is sticking with the Wii U for now.

    [h/t: Kotaku]
    Image via Nintendo/YouTube

  • This Week’s Nintendo Download Is Unepic

    The Nintendo Download is here again to give Wii U and 3DS owners a smattering of interactive entertainment to keep them busy for a few days. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to choose from this week, but what’s there should provide gamers with some quality entertainment.

    Nintendo announced this morning that the Wii U eShop is only getting one major release today in the form of Unepic. The indie title follows the exploits of Daniel – an RPG geek who is transported to a mysterious castle in the middle of a tabletop RPG session. From there, players help Daniel navigate the platforming challenges of the castle to escape death at the hands of its denizens.

    Here’s a trailer to give you an idea of how the game plays:

    The only other Wii U eShop release this week is F1 Race Stars Powered Up Edition. It’s a kart racer based on the real world F1 racing circuit. It was released on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2012 with a Wii U version being promised the same year. It may have taken them a bit longer than planned, but the Wii U version is finally out complete with all the DLC that was released on the other versions.

    As for virtual console releases, there’s only one this week and it’s appearing on both 3DS and Wii U. Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, one of the most infamous titles in the franchise, is now available to download. In a major departure from the first title, Simon’s Quest plays more like an RPG where players gather items, explore large environments and level up their abilities as they attempt to break the curse that’s been put upon Simon.

    Image via necrevenge/YouTube

  • Dr. Luigi Trailer Proves His PhD Is Just As Good As Mario’s

    For over two decades now, Mario has been a practicing physician thanks to the popular Dr. Mario series. Over the years, Mario has waved his doctorate over Luigi’s head as a sign of his superiority. After years of medical school, Luigi has emerged with his own doctorate to finally show his brother that he’s just as good at busting viruses.

    Dr. Luigi, the first Dr. Mario game to star the younger of the Mario siblings, is hitting the eShop this week. To coincide with the launch, Nintendo has released a new trailer that shows off some of the gameplay players can expect from the latest game in the franchise.

    With Dr. Luigi, Nintendo could have just slapped Luigi into a Dr. Mario clone and called it a day. That would be boring though, and Nintendo instead decided to shake things up a bit by changing how the game is played. Instead of having to match viruses with like-colored two-tone pills, Dr. Luigi features L-shaped pills that forces players to rethink their puzzle strategies.

    Check it out:

    Dr. Luigi is available on the Wii U eShop today for $14.99.

    Image via Nintendo/YouTube

  • Wii Fit U Heads To Retail On January 10

    Wii Fit U Heads To Retail On January 10

    In early November, Nintendo released Wii Fit U on the Nintendo eShop with a 30 day free trial for those who already owned a Wii balance board. To make the deal even sweeter, anybody who purchased a Wii Fit U Fit Meter for $20 would be able to upgrade the trial to the full game and keep it forever. For those who aren’t into the digital marketplace, Nintendo has a retail package coming your way soon.

    Nintendo announced today that Wii Fit U will finally hit retail shelves on January 10 in two SKUs. The first will include the game, a Fit Meter and a balance board for $90. For those who already have a balance board, you’ll be able to pick up the game and a Fit Meter for $50. The one month free trial will remain available until January 31.

    “Wii Fit U makes fitness fun. It’s as simple as that,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Wii Fit U is a great option for busy moms and families who want to stay active in the comfort of their own homes – which is perfect during the cold winter months.”

    To help promote Wii Fit U’s North American launch, Nintendo has partnered with celebrity trainer Kathy Kaehler to promote the game through what Nintendo calls the Wii Fit U Challenge. In essence, the campaign will emphasize the health benefits of Wii Fit U and encourage users to train their bodies using Wii Fit U throughout the year.

    “As a mom of three kids, I know how difficult it can sometimes be to find time to go to the gym,” Kaehler said. “The exercises in Wii Fit U are designed to accommodate busy schedules and can be accomplished throughout the day. Plus, it’s a fun activity for the entire family.”

    If you want to stay fit using video games and don’t have a Wii U, there is another option. Xbox Fitness is a new subscription service that hit the Xbox One in late 2013 that uses the Kinect camera and a variety of trainers to help users stay fit. There’s no comparable service yet available on the PS4, but that will likely change in the coming year.

    Image via Nintendo/Business Wire

  • Wii U Gamepad Hacked To Work On A PC

    The second screen experience isn’t just for home consoles anymore. For the past few years, Nvidia has been pushing a second screen experience on the PC with support for tablets and its own Shield handheld device. Now some intrepid hackers have taken one of the very best second screen accessories and brought it to the PC.

    At the recent Chaos Communications Congress that took place in Germany, two men presented a live demo of a Wii U Gamepad working on a PC. The two were able to reverse engineer the Wi-Fi signal the Wii U Gamepad uses to communicate with the Wii U and make it communicate with a PC instead. This allows them to build applications for the PC that use the Wii U gamepad as a method of input.

    As you might expect, using a Wii U gamepad on the PC has more applications than just for gaming. That doesn’t gaming wasn’t a part of it though. The two men fired up a Gamecube emulator and played the original Gamecube version of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker using just the Wii U Gamepad. It’s certainly a pretty big deal, but this current hack is only for the engineers and code junkies among us. Consumers hoping to connect their Wii U Gamepad to a PC will have to wait.

    You can watch the full 56 minute presentation below:

    If you want to see the slides in more detail, you can see them here. If you want to mess around with some Wii U/PC applications yourself, you can check out the open source documentation here.

    [h/t: Engadget]
    Image via Stan Lawnmower/YouTube

  • Nintendo eShop Back Up, Pokemon Bank Still Delayed

    On the night before Christmas, Nintendo got the worst kind of present – widespread reports of its Wii U and 3DS eShops being down for many of its users. It only got worse as the days went on as the holiday rush of new 3DS and Wii U consoles trying to access Nintendo’s network crippled the servers. In response, Nintendo shut down the eShop for 12 hours to repair it.

    The repairs seem to have worked as Nintendo announced yesterday that its Wii U and 3DS eShops are back open for business. Everything seems to be up and running, and Nintendo says that it doesn’t anticipate any further outages. Since the problem seems to have stemmed from Nintendo’s servers being swamped by holiday traffic, the company must have used those 12 hours to increase its server capacity.

    Now that the eShop is back up, Nintendo can start working to mend whatever damage was caused to its reputation. Granted, the eShop downtime is nothing compared to the downtimes experience by Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network in years past, but gamers were still frustrated by the fact that they were unable to access Nintendo’s online services during Christmas. While it’s a bit much to ask for a free game after only three days of downtime, Nintendo did offer an apologetic tweet:

    As for the Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Transfer apps that were delayed by the eShop going down, Nintendo still doesn’t have a firm date for when they would launch. Nintendo only says that it will share more information about the launch “as soon as possible.” Considering that the apps were meant to launch on December 26, you can expect Nintendo to get them out the door as soon as possible. Let’s just hope the mad rush by millions of Pokemon fans to download the new apps doesn’t crush its servers again.

    Image via Nintendo/YouTube

  • PS4 Will Lead The Console Race In 2016, Says Analyst

    Predictions are fun, especially when said predictions involve video games in some capacity. That’s why it’s no surprise that analysts are already making predictions about what the video game market will look like in 2016 – three years after the launch of the Xbox One and PS4.

    In a note sent to investors today, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter provided his very own predictions of how all three consoles will fair in three years time. It’s important to note that these consoles will be nowhere near done in 2016 and we’re likely to still see games being released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 at that time. A three year timeframe does, however, give analysts enough time to factor in a potential price drop that’s likely to occur within the first three years of a product’s life.

    Moving onto the predictions, Pachter says that the PS4 will lead in 2016 with 37.7 million console units sold. Microsoft will be a little behind Sony with 29 million Xbox One units sold. As for the Wii U, he doesn’t expect it to reach 20 million by 2016.

    Of course, there are those console games who won’t buy into new hardware until a price drop. Pachter expects Sony and Microsoft to both drop the price of their consoles by 2016 with the PS4’s price dropping to $299 and the Xbox One’s price dropping to $349. He gives no prediction for Nintendo, but he does expect the company to continue producing the Wii U through 2016. I personally expect Nintendo to institute another price drop in 2014 to further push Wii U hardware.

    As for games, he expects the price of new games to stay at $60. There’s always room for a price increase though. Some publishers may look at the rising cost of game development as an excuse to charge even more for games. While the AAA blockbusters will still sell well, the A and AA games will continue to suffer with the rising cost of game development. As they are now, indie developers will likely still be the ones propping up the lower end of the development spectrum while major publishers like EA, Activision and Ubisoft duke it out in the AAA packaged market.

    Like always, it’s important to note that this is all merely speculation. While Pachter and other analysts have access to data that helps better inform their decisions, they can still be (and are often) wrong. The games industry is an especially volatile market and one little change can have major repercussions throughout the entire industry.

    [h/t: Kotaku]
    Image via PlayStation.Blog/flickr

  • Nintendo eShop Going Down For Repairs At 4 P.M.

    On Christmas morning, you woke up to find a new 3DS or Wii U under the Christmas tree. You took your new console out and were just giddy with excitement over all the fun you’d be having. Well, you were giddy until you realized that Nintendo’s online services were being crushed by the holiday rush. Now you’re going to have to wait even longer to get online.

    This morning, Nintendo addressed the eShop outages that have been affecting both Wii U and 3DS since Christmas saying that they have teams working around the clock to get them back up. Unfortunately, Nintendo will have to take both eShops down for repairs that will last 12 hours. Here’s the full statement:

    We sincerely apologize for the connection problems in the Nintendo eShop. We understand this is taking longer than expected, but we can assure you that providing a solution is our top priority. We are determined to make sure everyone can enjoy all that Wii U and Nintendo 3DS have to offer. In an effort to manage the high volume of traffic and ultimately improve your experience, we are temporarily taking the Nintendo eShop services offline between the hours of 4 p.m. – 4 a.m. ET. Thank you so much for your continued patience. We will keep you updated.

    What’s interesting about this outage is that it may have been caused by more than just the holiday rush of new systems going online. In Japan, Nintendo recently released the Pokemon Bank app that allows users to upload their Pokemon to an online storage service. When the outages started to occur, Nintendo pulled the app and said it would be put back up at a later time. As for the North American rollout of the app, well, it’s now been delayed with no replacement launch date in sight:

    Nintendo and The Pokémon Company International have postponed the launch of Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter – two software applications that were originally scheduled to launch for Nintendo 3DS on Dec. 27 – due to a large volume of traffic to the Nintendo Network service. Due to the high traffic, players are having trouble setting up Nintendo Network IDs and downloading content in the Nintendo eShop on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. We truly regret the inconvenience, and wish to reassure everyone that providing a solution is our top priority. We apologize for the delay and thank you for your continued patience.

    When the eShop goes back up at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning, all the problems should hopefully be fixed. And for those of you asking for a free game, you’re not going to get it. This is Nintendo we’re talking about here.

    Image via Nintendo/YouTube