-
Hands-On With The Wii U’s First Third-Person Shooter
Ghost Recon Online for the Wii U is a third-person shooter for Nintendo’s next big thing packed with tons of cool bells and whistles. It also demonstrates some of the big hurdles the new console will face when trying to satisfy hardcore gamers. I’m a long-time shooter fan, so I was very excited for a…
By Brian Crecente Published June 17, 2011 -
No! This is the Cutest Link You’ll Ever See
This is Mannix. He’s so convincing a Link that we’re told Nintendo has approached him about cosplaying the character at conventions officially. But for now we see the child in a photo shoot by the talented Sid Ceasar in some dark and forlorn wood. He’s an altogether different sort of cute Link, than the one…
By Brian Crecente Published June 17, 2011 -
Wii U Development Kits Coming to a Game Studio Near You, Soon!
At this year’s E3, Nintendo showed off Wii U “games” that were actually taken from 360 and PS3 versions According to one report, the reason for this was that developers only had access to “underclocked” Wii U development kits, able to produce games that weren’t quite up to current gen snuff. Sega West production boss…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 17, 2011 -
Kid Gets School Ban On Pokémon Overturned
New York student Lucas Ayala, who goes to Out World Neighbourhood School in Queens, was so sick of a ban on playing with Pokémon cards during breaks that he wrote the school a letter, asking them to reconsider. Somehow, that actually worked The school’s assistant principal, moved by Ayala’s politely-worded letter, not only replied, he…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 17, 2011 -
The Japanese Earthquake’s Unexpected Impact on Pokémon
March 11’s earthquake has impacted car companies and electronics makers. That’s expected. But it’s also had an unforeseen effect on Pocket Monsters, namely Pokémon branded noodles. Coming in flavors like soy sauce and seafood, Pokémon Noodles feature small slices of kamaboko with characters faces on it, such as Pikachu. The earthquake and tsunami wrecked havoc…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 17, 2011 -
Nintendo Has Crushed Your Dreams of a Zelda 25th Anniversary Compilation
This being the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo of America thought it’d be an awesome idea to celebrate with the release of a special compilation of the series. Nintendo Japan said, um, nothankyou.jpg. Yes, as insane as that may sound, while the idea of throwing a bunch of old Zelda games on…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 17, 2011 -
Why Nintendo Went Back to White for the Wii U
Launching in a white case five years ago, the Wii has seen a special edition release in red, and currently is available in black. Its successor, Wii U, goes back to white. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto says the design choice is so people won’t think the console is kid’s stuff. Miyamoto, speaking to Game Informer said…
By Owen Good Published June 16, 2011 -
Take Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect and Other Gaming Greats, add Jedi
Everyone loves Star Wars. If you don’t love Star Wars, you’re wrong. Some people love Star Wars so much, they want more things to be Star Wars. Forevergeek.com has taken 50 Star Wars Mashups from all over the internet and thoughtfully put them all in one place. Here are the video game tie-ins from their…
By Jen Schiller Published June 16, 2011 -
A Tiny Bit of News About the Next Animal Crossing
Katsuya Eguchi, creator of Animal Crossing and producer of the next game in that series, mostly talked to me about Wii U at E3 last week. But surely he had some news about Animal Crossing’s forthcoming 3DS installment? He did! (Not much) “To those Animal Crossing fans,” he said, “I just would like them to…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 16, 2011 -
Shigeru Miyamoto Wants to Unite Inverted and Un-Inverted Gamers
During the same Nintendo developer roundtable where we were given a Tanooki suit history lesson, Nintendo godfather Shigeru Miyamoto discussed the new control scheme for Star Fox 64: 3D, and how the they may have provided the solution for a long-standing source of stress for him. Miyamoto’s issue revolves around inverting the game’s Y-axis controls…
By Mike Epstein Published June 16, 2011 -
It’s a Nintendo From a Parallel Universe
Graphic designer Graham Smith has a little ongoing project where he takes famous brands and switches their logo. So for example you get the Coke logo but it says Pepsi. His work include a few video game examples. Two are Nintendo (one as Sega, another as Sony), one the Xbox 360 (as the PlayStation 3),…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011 -
Multiple Wii U Controllers Are a Cost Issue
The Wii U comes with one Wii U Controller. Each console will support only one of these controllers; Kotaku broke the news that Nintendo is looking into games that support two Wii U controllers. But why is Nintendo planning to release the console with single Wii U Controller support? “There’s a cost issue,” Nintendo president…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011 -
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of a Boy Band
Europe gets Robin Williams and his daughter. Japan gets boy band Arashi. In Japan, Arashi have been Nintendo pitchmen of sorts, selling titles like Wii Party and even the Nintendo 3DS. The group is appearing in recent television and print spots for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the 3DS. Arashi are one…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011 -
Pikachu, in Wonderfully Disturbing Song Form
I shouldn’t like this. I should think this is stupid. It’s not, and I don’t. For some reason, I cannot stop watching this. “Singachu” was written and performed by A.J. Pinkerton. He also has a Sonic musical showtune. Likewise, I like it, but I don’t know why!
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011 -
Report: Developers Working With ‘Underclocked’ Wii U Hardware
There’s a good reason that Nintendo showed off video game footage culled from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of third-party games, not the Wii U, at last week’s E3 unveiling of the console. According to a new report, Wii U games just weren’t looking so hot on current hardware. Not surprising, given that…
By Michael McWhertor Published June 15, 2011 -
Nintendo’s Favorite and Least Favorite Screenshots
Nintendo has a habit of being especially uptight about the press’ use of imagery from E3. Nintendo sent a message along with the screenshots they distributed at the show, stating that the enclosed images were “prioritized”, and that magazines and blogs like ourselves should try to use the higher rated images if you had to…
By Mike Epstein Published June 15, 2011 -
Robin Williams Named His Daughter After Princess Zelda
It takes a triforce of courage to name your daughter after a video game character, but Robin Williams pulled it off. Watch Williams co-star with his daughter Zelda Williams in this ad for the upcoming Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS.
By Sam Winstrom Published June 15, 2011 -
The Wii U Will Not Play DVDs or Blu-ray Discs
The Wii U plays games that run on a proprietary 25 GB format. As Kotaku previously reported, that’s the same size as Blu-ray discs. But don’t think that means the Wii U will run Blu-ray discs. Heck, it won’t even run DVDs. Speaking with investors and analysts, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed that the Wii…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 15, 2011 -
Some Details On the Wii U’s Graphics Chip
Some specific details on the graphics chip powering the upcoming Wii U console have been reportedly obtained by Japanese site Game Impress Watch, who say that while it’s running on “old” hardware, it still packs more of a punch than its current competition. While the exact name and nature of the Wii U’s GPU are…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 15, 2011 -
Nintendo Locks Down Wii U Domains Full of Usual Suspects
Now that Nintendo has revealed the Wii U, it needs to snatch up a bunch of Wii U domain names, lest some squatter claim WiiUMusic.com (or worse). No surprises here, but they’ll perhaps lessen the shock of a Wii U Play or Wii U Sports in our future. [Nintendo World Report]
By Michael McWhertor Published June 14, 2011