Nintendo Direct May 17th – Press Release

Nintendo Seals Exclusive Partnership with SEGA on Upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog Games

Nintendo Direct Also Announces Wii U Games Shown at E3 2013 to be Playable at Select Best Buy Stores

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The next title in SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise will be exclusive to Nintendo’s Wii U home console and Nintendo 3DSportable system. Nintendo Global President Satoru Iwata announced the details of a new partnership with SEGA during a new Nintendo Direct video announcement today. Sonic Lost World is a new action platforming game, and more information about it will be announced before the E3 2013 video game trade show begins on June 11.

The Nintendo Direct also announced Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games for Wii U, and revealed that additional SEGA Game Gear games would be coming to the Virtual Console service for Nintendo 3DS. Outside of SEGA news, Nintendo announced that select Wii U games featured at E3 2013 will soon be playable at participating Best Buy stores, the launch date for New Super Luigi U, new Pikmin 3 game details and additional information about a variety of previously announced Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games.

“The onetime rivalry between Mario and Sonic has grown into a friendship that has never been closer,” said Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. “These announcements in conjunction with SEGA demonstrate the commitment we have to bringing great games to the Wii U platform, and set the stage for our upcoming announcements at E3.”

To view the Nintendo Direct in its entirety, visit http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct. Today’s announcements included:

Wii U News

• Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games: The game includes a variety of events from the Winter Games, including curling, skiing, figure skating pairs and snowboard slopestyle – which will make its Olympic debut in Sochi, Russia. Different events might use the Wii Remote Plus controller, Wii U GamePad controller or both. In addition to realistic events, the game also includes those set in the worlds of Sonic and Mario that let players perform moves not possible in real life. Launch details and timing will be announced at a later date.
• Experience Games from Nintendo’s E3 Booth at Best Buy: Exclusively at participating Best Buy locations in the United States and Canada, consumers will be able to play some of the unreleased Wii U games featured at E3 while the event is occurring in Los Angeles. Details about locations and which games will be featured will be revealed in the coming weeks.
• New Super Luigi U: The Year of Luigi-themed downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U offers players 82 updated courses. But it also includes a new playable character in multiplayer mode: Nabbit, who steals items from Toad Houses. Nabbit can’t power up, but also won’t take damage when he touches enemies. New Super Luigi U will be released as downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U in the Nintendo eShop on June 20 for $19.99. But in honor of the Year of Luigi, Nintendo is also offering a standalone packaged version of New Super Luigi U that doesn’t require New Super Mario Bros. U on Aug. 25 at a suggested retail price of $29.99.
• The Wonderful 101: The mass-action adventure from Platinum Games launches Sept. 15. Additional details will be announced after E3.
• Pikmin 3: New playable characters Alph, Brittany and Charlie recruit the Pikmin creatures to help them gather fruit so that they can return with the seeds to save their home, Planet Koppai. Players can divide activities among the different characters, and explore separate areas in the same map with different groups of Pikmin. Using the GamePad (known as the KopPad in the game), players can view the overall map and grasp what each character and Pikmin are up to. Players also can choose their preferred control option: GamePad in conjunction with the TV, Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk combo or GamePad only in off-TV mode. Players can also use the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk with the GamePad as a second-screen monitor. Pikmin 3 launches Aug. 4.
• GAME & WARIO: The game launches in stores and in the Nintendo eShop June 23 at a suggested retail price of $39.99, and includes a number of games from WarioWare, Inc., that use the GamePad in different ways. Newly revealed games include: Island, which lets two to five people launch little creatures called Fronks onto islands in the sea to score points; Patchwork, a puzzle game that tests players’ pattern-recognition skills; and Kung-Fu, which challenges players to help Young Cricket navigate a course safely using the forward-looking view on the TV and the top-down view on the GamePad. A new Iwata Asks feature offers more details about the game at http://iwataasks.nintendo.com.
• Resident Evil Revelations: Capcom’s horror-survival game is launching in stores and in the Nintendo eShop on May 21. The game originally released for Nintendo 3DS, and the Wii U version offers players updated HD graphics, GamePad controls and new game content. Players can use the GamePad to view the map and change items using the touch screen without pausing their progress. Or they can play the full game on the GamePad in off-TV mode, or play with the Wii U Pro Controller. The game is Miiverse-compatible, and a demo version is currently available in the Nintendo eShop.

Nintendo 3DS News

• SEGA Game Gear: Games from the classic hand-held system are headed to the Virtual Console service. These include:
  • Columns
  • Crystal Warriors
  • Defenders of Oasis
  • Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • G-LOC: Air Battles
  • Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya
  • Sonic Blast
  • Sonic Drift 2
  • Sonic Labyrinth
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Tails Adventure
  • Vampire: Master of Darkness
• Inside the Treehouse with Animal Crossing: New Leaf: Because of the vast amount of content in the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Leaf game, Nintendo’s Treehouse localization team is hosting an ongoing video series to talk about the franchise and many of the fun features of the new game. The videos will be available on Nintendo’s YouTube channel and in the Nintendo eShop on a regular basis leading up to the game’s June 9 launch. Additionally, a newAnimal Crossing panel for Puzzle Swap is now available for StreetPass Mii Plaza, and fans also might find a special Animal Crossing-themed message on Swapnote.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D: This game launches in stores and in the Nintendo eShop on May 24 and includes all the fun of the original Wii game, now optimized for portable play. It also includes eight new unlockable levels that are each based on one of the eight worlds from the original game. These levels will challenge players with new elements like platforms that force them to move at a faster pace, large drops of tar falling from the ceiling and giant rotating stone gears that can alter the level itself.
• A Legendary Sale: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons arrive on the Virtual Console service for Nintendo 3DS on May 30. Because playing the games together unlocks so much additional content, Nintendo is offering them for just $4.99 each for the first three weeks after launch. After this promotion expires, the games will be available for $5.99 each.
• Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move: The game, which launched May 9 exclusively in the Nintendo eShop, challenges players to place tiles on the bottom screen to guide the Minis to their goal on the top screen. The game includes more than 180 stages, but also dramatically extends the fun of the game by letting players create their own stages and share them with others. Players can opt to try a random user-created level or one created by their friends. They can also select from the most popular levels overall or search the top levels of the week.

Another Nintendo Direct focused on future Wii U content will air around the time of E3 2013.

Tetris 3DS E3 footage from NWR

Well, the game certainly looks interesting and all. I’m glad Hudson isn’t dead or anything, but I hope their other games like Bomberman will eventually come back. Tetris looks like a really high quality game so I hope that it succeeds like the original did on the GameBoy.

Mario Kart 3DS demo gameplay

Wow, despite this being another Mario Kart game, I am really interested in it. I lost interest in the Wii game very quickly, but the DS game I still go back to and play every now and then. I can’t wait to have this in my 3DS this year, will be a lot of fun with the 8 player online with friends!

End of E3 and Site News

I want to thank everyone who came and visited the site during E3. It was an hectic time and with this being the sites first E3, it was quite a challenge of getting up as much information as possible and I know a lot of our posts got buried due to the amount of information that was coming out, but I believe we got out everything that was relevant, especially information pertaining to Wii U, I believe we got everything related to that.

Now this is probably long overdue, but we have also brought in two new staff members for the site, KKSlider who is going to be bring us Let’s Plays and Music of the Day in which he specializes in sheet music which I think is very unique as it is something I have not came across before and definitely great to take a look at.

Also NintendoWiiBoy joined as well, he is primary a content poster but he will also be helping with the sites design and possibly reviews as wells.

Now going forward with the site, we launched our Back In The Day Rewind feature in which we are going to be focusing on Retro games. I was surprised by the response it received (positive), so there is going to be a good deal of focus on that feature.

We are going to be looking at other features for the site as well, not exactly sure at this point what we will do and I am saddened by one of the planned features fell through due to the people pulling out what they had planned, but I may still find a way to that same feature in the future.

You may have notice some slight changes in the site layout recently with the addition of the top stories, twitter feed, and community links and the removal of the archive and category list which was replaced by the search bar. Stuff like that will always happen as we continue to refine the site and give it a much better look.

Lastly, remember to visit our youtube, face, and twitter pages and subscribe to them.

Thanks again everyone

Nintendo+Ubisoft Wii U roundtable video

Link

Super Mario 3D – demo gamplay with audio

While the demo doesn’t show anything really that exciting for the Mario series, it is a demo after all. I can’t wait to play Super Mario on my 3DS this year, it will be awesome!

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim E3 Gameplay Demo

Ghost Recon Online Wii U to be full downloadable game for around $10, aims for console launch

Nintendo World Report has just reported the following about Ghost Recon Online for Wii U:

Ubisoft’s Wii U shooter will be available for download online and they are aiming for launch.

Ghost Recon Online for Wii will not be a retail title, revealed a Ubisoft representative. The representative further explained that the final price point for the software is still being considered, but they are thinking about a price near $10. At the Ubisoft presentation tonight,they did not discuss or elaborate on these details at all.

Ghost Recon Online is also coming to the PC, where the title will be free. The PC version will have grenades and other items that can be purchased for your character, and its likely that so will the Wii U game. The rep also said that there will not be cross-platform play with the PC version.

Nintendo World Report

Luigi’s Mansion 2 Full E3 Demo Gameplay

Nintendo World Report got a full hands on demo of Luigi’s Mansion 2 and I must say that the game is looking fantastic. To me, Luigi’s Mansion was a underrated title because of how short it was but it was still a fantastic game.

Nintendo World Report

Kotaku hands on with Wii U and Controller

It looks like a longer, curvier, and shinier Wii. Lots of USB ports. The controller is also shiny. Both designs are really sleek.

Kotaku