Nintendo

Animal Crossing 3DS XL Bundle Comes to North America June 9.

Nintendo says a new 3DS XL Bundle, featuring Animal Crossing: New Leaf will be available in North America on June 9 for $219.99. It comes preloaded with a copy of Animal Crossing (An earlier version of this post erroneously listed the bundle and the game’s release date.)

At today’s Nintendo Direct, along with a new gameplay trailer, Nintendo has dropped the release date for their new 3DS title, Donkey Kong: Country Returns 3D: May 24 in both Europe and North America.

Holy Crap! Earthbound Is Coming To The North America Virtual Console In 2013

FINALLY. Nintendo is bringing the beloved RPG Earthbound to the Wii U’s Virtual Console this year. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced the news during the Nintendo Direct presentation this morning. I’m still stunned. Fans have been begging Nintendo to re-release the quirky role-playing game, titled Mother 2 in Japan, for years now, but the Mario…

Mario & Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move, a collection of puzzles and minigames, will be available for the 3DS from the Nintendo eShop on May 11.

Wii U Virtual Console Update Coming Next Week with GamePad Support

The download store for Nintendo’s new home console will be morphing next week, alongside the long-awaited firmware update for the Wii U. [Update: Videos of the upcoming Virtual Console games are now below.] The new software will let you move data from one USB drive to another and supports automatic update downloads while in standby…

New Yoshi’s Island Game Coming To 3DS

Well that was unexpected. The 3DS is getting a new game in the Yoshi’s Island platforming series. This is the third Yoshi’s Island game, following the old Super Nintendo version and Yoshi’s Island DS, released in 2006. Nintendo announced the new game during their Nintendo Direct presentation today, promising more information in the near future.

Mario Party Coming to 3DS This Winter

The multiplayer competition of Nintendo’s virtual board game gets a new evolution with Mario Party. The 3DS game features multiple game boards and 81 new mini-games. Look for it this winter. The last game in the franchise appeared on the Wii last year. No word if there will be any online multiplayer for this mobile…

Japan Is Getting a Special Luigi 3DS XL

To mark Luigi’s anniversary, Nintendo is releasing a special Luigi emblazoned 3DS XL in Japan. The hardware comes bundled with a digital version of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team In Japan, it goes on sale June 18, which is when the game also launches.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Comes Out Aug. 11

Mario & Luigi Dream Team, for Nintendo 3DS, arrives Aug. 11. In the game, Mario travels between the real world and a dream world to, yet again, rescue a kidnapped Princess Peach. Co-op puzzles and a legion of Luigis—that can be rolled up Katamari-style to bowl over enemies—also are featured.

Nintendo is holding a 3DS-centric Nintendo Direct this morning at 10am Eastern. You can watch it live right here. And we’ll be covering all of the news on Kotaku as it happens, of course.

The Real Legend of Zelda Gale Boomerang Flies Much Further

You could probably deal more damage with this replica of the Gale Boomerang from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess than the one in the game, which is more a tool to cut ropes and put out fires than weapon. YouTube user Victor Poulin is really into making boomerang replicas, and he’s got a really…

Another update to Nintendo of Korea’s Twitter controversy: Nintendo has apologized. Read more in the original story.

New Nintendo Direct coming Wednesday at 10am Eastern. “Focused on the latest information on 3DS,” Nintendo says.

Nintendo of Korea Entangled in Twitter Controversy [Update]

Today, Nintendo’s South Korean branch is finding itself embroiled in controversy after a highly unprofessional comment, allegedly made via Twitter. As mentioned on Korean news site Naver (via tipster Sang), someone using Nintendo of Korea’s Twitter account commented on a photo of celebrity Eun Ji Park (above). Once a weather caster, Park is now a…

Hey Look, It’s A Dude Blowing Up A Wii U With C4

The headline says it all—the guys at Rated RR have gone ahead and blown up a Wii U using C4 plastic explosive. (Though first, they shot the Wii U controller with a Barrett MRAD sniper rifle.) They’ve filmed it all in slow-motion. Enjoy. (Thanks, Richard.)

There’s a new Iwata Asks up on Nintendo’s website with the folks behind Animal Crossing: New Leaf. This time, you get to be mayor!

As announced last night for Japan, June 28 will mark the end of the Nintendo Wii’s Forecast, News, Everybody Votes, Check Mii Out and Nintendo Channels in North America, along with an end to WiiConnect24 data exchange with your Wii friends. The Shop Channel and certain automatic Nintendo Forum functions will remain in play. Suddenly…

In Japan, Some of the Wii’s Network Services Are Going Offline

Today in Japan, Nintendo announced that a handful of its network services would no longer be offered. As of June 28 this year, Nintendo will end the following services: Forecast Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Nintendo Channel, and Check Mii Out Channel. What’s more, Nintendo is ending the ability to exchange data with friends…

This Guy Wrote A Program That Teaches Itself To Play NES Games

This is amazing. Tom Murphy created a computer program that actually learns how to play classic NES games on its own, with a little instruction from Tom. You can see the computer’s progress (which begins near 6:10, after Tom’s explanation of the program) in learning how to play Super Mario Bros. (and other games) in…

A fourth hacker behind attacks on Sony and Nintendo in 2011 (but not the one that brought down PSN for more than a month) pleaded guilty in London yesterday. All four of them will be sentenced on May 14.