NintendoWare Weekly: Stratego, Pro Jumper!

by JC Fletcher on Jun 23rd 2011 10:00AM

We're still getting used to seeing new Nintendo downloadable games on Thursdays. It feels weird. While we spend the day dealing with that cognitive dissonance, you'll be able to visit the Wii, DSi, or 3DS shop and buy some new stuff, including a DSiWare version of the Stratego board game, a 3DS Virtual Console release of the Game Boy Tennis game, and ... Pro Jumper! Guilty Gear Tangent!?

That's the one about the hidden Guilty Gear character spinning on a bar of soap and defending himself with towel snaps on the way to soothing hot springs. Nope, we don't know how this is real either.
WiiWare

3DS eShop DSiWare Pro Jumper! Guilty Gear Tangent!? (Aksys Games, 1 player, $4.99/500 DSi Points): Chimaki, a hidden character from Guilty Gear 2, is on an adventure to go to some hot springs! Jump, snap towels at enemies, and collect apples on the way.Stratego: Next Edition (Games Factory Online, 1-2 players, $4.99/500 DSi Points): The board game, with some totally serious portraits of generals to motivate your scheming.Delbo (Neko Entertainment, 1 player, $1.99/200 DSi Points): It's pretty much Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble.

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Dragon Quest 25th anniversary merch features plushie slimes, business card cases

by Mike Schramm on Jun 19th 2011 8:30PM

The legendary Dragon Quest series (originally published in Japan in 1986, and of course in North America as Dragon Warrior after that) turns 25 this year, and Square Enix is giving all of its gifts away. We've already heard about a Wii collection coming out, but as you can see above, some of the prizes are a little less practical. That's a pair of plushie slimes on the left, and on the right is a Smile Slime Crystal Mascot figurine, measuring about 6 centimeters tall. Both special slime items also have a DQ 25th anniversary logo on the back. Both of those will be 1554 yen, or about $19 US.

Additionally, Square Enix is offering some special edition tote bags for the anniversary for about $26 each, and some Dragon Quest business card holders (with art featuring the first three games) for around $20 US. All of the swag is supposed to be available starting late July in Japan.

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Monkey Island episodes come to iPad, 4 and 5 available free with survey on Wii

by Mike Schramm on Jun 22nd 2011 10:00PM

Telltale Games has posted an online survey for gamers researching a little bit about your buying and playing habits, and in return for completing it, you can grab copies of the Tales of Monkey Island episodes 4 and 5 on WiiWare for free. Just fill out the required questions over on SurveyMonkey Island (man we're funny), put in your Wii code, and boom, you're playing the last two episodes of the series for zero dollars.

What's that? You also want to play the first three, but didn't pick them up in that Steam sale? You're in luck -- the series is also coming the iPad. On that platform, the first episode is completely free, and the rest of the episodes are discounted to just $6.99 a piece. More information on that deal in the press release after the break. You'll notice the series has been renamed on Apple's tablet to "Monkey Island Tales," which Telltale says was only so they could put "Monkey Island" first in the title.

So that's the whole series for just two measly payments of just $6.99 (unless you don't have an iPad, in which case you'll have to wait). That's a whole lot of game for just chimp change. Telltale Games' award-winning Monkey Island Tales HD series is back on iPad with more swashbucklin' adventure than you can shake a wooden leg at!

And Telltale Games is offering iPad owners some serious booty! As of today the first episode of Monkey Island Tales HD is available for free on iPad until July 22nd! It's available and ready to plunder as you read this – so get to plundering!

And here be another bit of news...starting tomorrow (June 23rd) Monkey Island Tales HD Episodes 2-5 are available for $6.99 per episode on the AppStore. That's right mateys, the remainder of the entire Monkey Island Tales HD season - in four salty doses of high seas humor - will be available all at once for your downloading pleasure.

Telltale's trademark humor and adventure gameplay will delight Monkey Island fans old and new as the entire five-episode saga unfolds on iPad for the very first time. So be it high or low tide, weigh anchor, hoist the mizzen and head over to the App Store to get the best game series featuring the unlikely combination of an ancient tool and a clamshell to come to iPad!

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D brings a completely re-mastered version of an epic entry in the beloved The Legend of Zelda game series to Nintendo?s newest hand-held system, Nintendo 3DS. The game couples phenomenally enhanced graphics with stunning, glasses-free 3D visuals to bring to life the daring adventures of its hero, Link. A streamlined touch-screen interface and newly implemented motion controls provide a fresh and intuitive feel as players immerse themselves in the tale of the creation of Hyrule and the struggle for control of its all-powerful ancient relic. The game will also feature new challenges not included in the original game. The Legend of Zelda veterans can look forward to the Master Quest - a second quest with revamped puzzles and redesigned dungeons that feature the same graphical and interface upgrades as the main game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is a masterful improvement on one of the landmark releases in video game history.

Price: $39.99

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Iwata: 'Nintendo is not interested' in free-to-play

by JC Fletcher on Jun 15th 2011 4:15PM

Nintendo has never shown interest in free-to-play games in the past, likely due to their requirement of support from sophisticated online infrastructure. And ... that is unlikely to change. Speaking to AllThingsD, Satoru Iwata said flatly that "Nintendo is not interested" in freemium games, alluding to the same discussion of maintaining the "value" of games that he mentioned at GDC.

"I'm not interested in offering software for free of charge," he said. "That's because I myself am one of the game developers, who in the future wants to make efforts so the value of the software will be appreciated by the consumers." Although freemium games can make money through ads and microtransactions, Iwata expressed concerns about "[destroying] the value of game software."

So, uh, don't expect that Wii U version of Ghost Recon Online to be free-to-play, even though the PC version is.

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Gamescom 2011 exhibitors revealed, Valve on board

by Richard Mitchell on Jun 17th 2011 12:30PM

Europe's Gamescom 2011 convention is starting to take shape, with a hefty list of exhibitors revealed by GameCloud. The list includes most of the major players from E3, including Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Capcom, EA. Activision was notably absent from the list, which is odd given that it usually attends the convention. Gamescom will also be sporting some exhibitors not seen at E3, chief among them being Valve and NCSoft.

Just what Valve has planned is anyone's guess. Dota 2, perhaps (we've heard it's kind of a big deal over there). NCSoft, on the other hand, is almost certain to show off its upcoming MMO, Guild Wars 2. Rest assured, we'll be on hand to see what the fuss is about.

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Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword Inspiring Wii U Controls for Ninja Gaiden 3

One of the few non-Nintendo games confirmed for Wii U at E3 was Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, a sequel under close scrutiny, as the series is no longer under the guidance of Tomonobu Itagaki.

The Wii U version is already in development, Team Ninja localization manager Peter Garza told Patrick Klepek of Giant Bomb at E3, with the overall game about 30% finished. Garza said the team has not settled on how Ninja Gaiden 3 will utilize, but it’s looking to the DS game, Dragon Sword, for inspiration.

“There was a DS version, so we have some experience with touch controls and it [Dragon Sword] seemed to be fairly well received,” said Garza. “So, now we have the chance to give this full console experience with those controls on the Wii U. We’ve actually started development on it but we don’t have anything set. We’re just playing with it.”

The game will feature few new mechanics and changes. The new Kunai Climb involves Ryu climbing onto certain walls with the use of his kunais, which he can use them to attack enemies from above. In other situations, the player will have to be stealthy, as Ryu can sneak up on an enemy and kill him with a single strike.

Enemies speak while fighting with Ryu. As of the E3 demo, they are not seen getting dismembered or decapitated. They do not die quickly but they will suffer and scream in pain.

Some changes include the slide maneuver, which replaces the dash move from Ninja Gaiden II and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Ryu will use it to get through small passages as well as to attack enemies. The Ultimate Technique concept has slightly changed in the form of Ryu’s glowing right arm. When he kills a certain number of enemies his arm will glow red. Then, the player can charge up for an Ultimate Technique absorbing nearby fallen bodies instead of essence. Unlike past games, the HUD will appear when there are enemies around and fade out after killing them.

The Muramasa store and statues where Ryu can buy items and upgrade weapons are no longer present. Instead, Ryu’s weapons will be upgraded over time. The dragon statues where Ryu can save and heal are gone as well. It is now replaced with a falcon flying towards him and landing on his left arm, after which the player can save and heal.

Ninja Gaiden 3 will include 8-player cooperative and competitive modes.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, the Wii U port of Ninja Gaiden 3, will have touchscreen controls similar to that of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, as well as button controls.

[GiantBomb]

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Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Wii New Images

These are some new images of the Nintendo Wii game Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3

More About: Nintendo Wii, Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3

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Sonic Generations (3DS) to Include Online, StreetPass, & Special Stages

Several weeks ago, Nintendo 3DS owners were treated with the news that Sonic Generations would be heading to their handheld in addition to the 360 and PS3. At E3, many were given the ability to play it for the first time. (See our impressions.) Today, we find out that there will be a large difference in the stages included. Outside of Green Hill Zone, the 3DS stages will differ from its home console counterpart.

Other features of the 3DS version mentioned by Sega today include:

The appearance of Big Arm, Sonic the Hedgehog 3's final bossTwo player internet competitive playStreet Pass supportA Special Stage that will be familiar to those who played Sonic Heroes

Additionally, we hear that the two versions of the game will have different titles in Japan. While the 3DS version is called Sonic Generations Blue Adventure, the home console game will named Sonic Generations White Space & Time.

[Andriasang]

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EEDAR picks its most promising retail performers from E3 2011

by Griffin McElroy on Jun 20th 2011 9:00PM

Using a complex mish-mash of chicken bones, crystal spheres and traffic reports from IGN and GameTrailers, game industry analysis firm EEDAR has picked which games from the E3 show floor it expects to be the biggest sellers this year. Their choices probably won't shock and surprise you: Mass Effect 3 took top honors, followed by Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

Let this be a lesson to all the video game publishers out there: If you want your games to sell like hotcakes this holiday season, you best slap a three on the title. Check out EEDAR's full report (PDF) for the rest of E3's expected mega-successes.

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The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time 3D – iPhone Wallpaper

I made one of these for myself last week and figured that you guys may like some too. These are retina display formatted and were made mainly to be used as the home screen background opposed to the lock screen background. I added a little horizontal bar that houses your page navigation dots and kept the backgrounds minimalistic so that they wouldn’t appear cluttered under your icons. Here is what my home screen looks like with Hyrule field beneath it.

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Snail Mail Wii New Images

These are some new images of the Nintendo Wii game Snail Mail

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Al Gore shares an incontestable truth: 'Games are the new normal'

by Ben Gilbert on Jun 20th 2011 5:30PM

"Games have clearly arrived as a mass medium," former Vice President Al Gore professed to a crowd of Games for Change conference attendees this afternoon. Gore gave the event's keynote address at New York University earlier today, where he looked especially sleepy from a redeye flight out of Tokyo. "This is a very large, extremely significant industry, with a radically diverse and growing audience of players on all kinds of platforms," he added, citing the ubiquity of gaming over the past few years as a result of efforts by major console manufacturers, smartphone makers, and (of course) Facebook. "Games are the new 'normal' for hundreds of millions of users every month."

Gore went on to speak about his own admittedly short past with gaming, saying that the last game where he felt he "was best in the world, potentially" was Pong. He did, however, recently convert his book "Our Choice" into an eBook for iOS devices. He related this experience with the world of "serious games," where gaming is used to "illuminate issues that can seem intractable and overly complex." In so many words, it was an arduous process for him to convert the book -- just as it's difficult to convert complex concepts to the gaming medium.

The secret sauce, he claimed, was in working with a group of "really good partners who know what they're doing." Identifying those partners, however, is where things get tricky. "How you insure that the integrity of the content is not in any way compromised, but rather enhanced," he pointed out, is another major issue. Without providing a roadmap for how to navigate that issue, Gore put it on conference attendees to take up the task -- not to mention the hundreds of millions of gamers worldwide. Gaming is the new "normal," after all, so shouldn't gamers be involved?

Moving on to the ever-popular serious games subject of "gamification," Gore noted that "game patterns are becoming more ubiquitous in our culture," though he admits that simply adding the bells and whistles of games to various content doesn't always help in teaching complex subjects. Gore's worked with former EA exec Bing Gordon, as well as Sims creator Will Wright, to point out a list of qualities that all games -- "serious" or not -- should adopt to be successful.

Crediting Gordon with the majority of the work, Gore detailed the four properties all games should have. For one, the game needs to be immediately engaging, "within the first five seconds," otherwise the player loses interest. Second, they need to "win" and they need to "win fast," thus providing the gamer with incentive to return. For the third and fourth points, Gore invoked graphical ubiquity (visual mediums must be consistent) and "Wow!" moments -- "badges/levels/awards" all matter, but not to the exclusion of "major moments."

And finally, during a moderated Q&A hosted by the Ford Foundation's Democracy, Rights and Justice program VP Maya Harris, Gore restated his belief that serious games -- games for change, if you will -- can be just as successful as for-profit titles. While he noted that we live in a "marketing culture," he believes that human beings and social mediums can help overcome the power of marketing. We're not so sure if we agree with that statement, but it certainly is a nice thought!

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 cuts Kinect, launches on July 12

by Ben Gilbert on Jun 22nd 2011 10:30AM

When The Boy Who Lived makes his big return to Hogwarts for the finale of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, he'll be doing it without the aid of motion peripherals on the Xbox 360. EA producer Gary Napper confirmed to Joystiq that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 won't have any Kinect functionality (unlike its predecessor), as the development team at EA Bright Light made a decision "early on to focus on the core of the experience, get as close to the atmosphere of the movie and make the flow of the combat feel right."

The first Deathly Hallows game arrived last November to negative reviews. The sequel will touch down on July 12, just three days before the final movie launches in US theaters. Unfortunately, its short development time -- it's been approximately eight months since the first game launched -- raises questions about how much the sequel can really improve beyond Potter's previous outing.

According to Napper, "We didn't want to dilute any of our efforts on other things that would require a lot of the team's time to perfect." We were told that EA Bright Light currently has two unannounced projects in development.

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4th Annual Mario Marathon triple-jumps into action today

by Griffin McElroy on Jun 24th 2011 10:00AM

For the fourth year in a row, a group of insane people will board themselves up in a small, Mushroom Kingdom-decorated room to beat every level, collect every star and stomp every Goomba the Super Mario franchise has ever produced. Why would someone purposefully, harmfully oversaturate themselves with such a wonderful, timeless franchise? Because they're the Mario Marathon. It's in their blood.

The crew is kicking off this suicide mission today at 11 a.m. ET, starting with a playthrough of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Even though it hasn't started yet, the event has already raised $13,000 for Child's Play. We encourage you to go watch these poor souls hurt themselves with Mario, and then, if you feel so inclined, reward their efforts with a donation to a good cause.

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BROWN REMOTE TV GUIDE mail SPINNING ORGANIZER caddy

This large caddy holds all of your remotes in five lined compartments, while the outside is covered in sleek faux leather with stitched detailing.

Price:

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E3 recap video picks out the show's lowlights

by Griffin McElroy on Jun 17th 2011 10:15AM

We're likely to keep hearing about the highlights of all the big companies' respective E3 press conferences for the foreseeable future. Why don't we take a moment to look back at said presentations' lowlights, which have been compiled in the video posted after the jump?

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Zumba Fitness stays atop UK charts for fifth week, LA Noire brings up second place

by Ben Gilbert on Jun 27th 2011 8:45AM

It seems that 505 Games' Zumba Fitness motion game is destined to occupy every living room in the UK, as it was the UK's highest selling title last week -- even after 31 weeks of availability. Regaining a place in the top five, Rockstar's LA Noire took second place, though it saw a 15 percent dip in sales.

Here's where things get really depressing: Suda 51 and Shinji Mikami's excellent Shadows of the Damned debuted on the charts at number 31, beaten not only by the likes of recently released stinkfest Duke Nukem Forever, but even older titles like Art Academy and EA Sports Active 2. FEAR 3 faced a starkly different reception, landing the number three spot just below LA Noire. We're not mad, UK readers and EA marketers -- just, ya know, disappointed.

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Amazon Gold Box kicks off with $100 credit on Xbox 360/Kinect bundle

by JC Fletcher on Jun 21st 2011 10:00AM

Once again, Amazon is offering an all-video game Gold Box, which is a kind of treasure chest that makes you progressively poorer as you rifle through it. The Deal of the Day starts the offers off on a good note: a $100 credit with purchase of the 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle.

The first timed deal is the Wii's Exerbeat. You can find hints for the rest of the offers, including Harry Potter games, Hasbro Family Game Night, and more, after the break.

[Thanks, Cameron.]
9AM EST: Exerbeat for Wii -- $14.9911AM EST: "Blend banana-collecting puzzles with manic action gameplay"1PM EST: "Now in its tenth year, this franchise returns with number 7 on the PS3 and X360"3PM EST: "Explore iconic settings including Hogwarts castle, Diagon Alley and the Forbidden Forest."5PM EST: "Join your host, Mr. Potato Head, as you and your family play classic Hasbro games."7PM EST: "Listen to your game like it was meant to be heard"9PM EST: "Latest iteration of a storied fighter franchise."11PM EST: "Big savings on this classic NDS puzzle game."

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'Mama' franchise reaches 12 million sales worldwide, 8.5 million in NA

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jun 9th 2011 1:30AM

Majesco had a timeline at its E3 booth showing all of Mama's jobs over the past five years. The poster stated that the franchise had reached 12 million sales globally, with a rep telling us that the sales in North America represented 8.5 million of the total.

Mama is currently planning a return to the kitchen and the series that gave the gal her big break, after she does a little camping in September, in Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic this October.

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