Tag Results
1929 posts tagged nintendo 3ds
Free-to-play Steel Diver in the works
Nintendo has floated around the idea of testing a free-to-play game for a while now — though it’s hesitant to try it out with Mario or Pokemon, due to fears of devaluing those franchises — but it’s finally revealed the unlikely series it’s tinkering with: 3DS launch title (and DS tech demo) Steel Diver.
I’m actually happy this is the game the company picked, as it seems like a throwaway series, and I actually really enjoyed Steel Diver when it came out. Check out these GIFs from H3DS — doesn’t that look fun? The problem was it’s hella short and doesn’t feel worth the $40 Nintendo initially asked for it. Even when it was discounted to $20, that still seemed too expensive. You can now get it for like $5 if you look around.
And soon, you’ll be able to get it for nothing! Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto told IGN, “We’re exploring from a perspective of where we can take that from a multiplayer standpoint - it’s going to have this four-player battle mode that I think is going to be very interesting.”
The company hopes to show off the free-to-play submarine game “really soon”, though it’s still trying to figure out a pricing model for the project. Apparently there will be a packaged version of the new Steel Diver, though it’s unclear how that would work out. We still don’t know if this is for 3DS or Wii U or Sega Saturn or what.
BUY Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL consoles, upcoming games
![How PS Vita’s indie games kicked 3DS’s butt at E3
As I roamed the halls of E3 last week, searching out obscure gems and an elusive Umihara Kawase 3DS demo, I kept returning to a particular section of the expo: Sony’s PS Vita booth.
I didn’t care that Sony’s press conference did little to convince worried PS Vita owners that big hits are on the way, or that Phantasy Star Online 2 was a no-show, or that one of the primary reasons why I checked out so many of the handheld’s games was the lack of lines to try them out (it’s not like Killzone Mercenary or Dragon’s Crown draw the kind of crowds Nintendo’s major franchises bring in). Really, the booth was just that great.
Dozens of PS Vita demo stations filled the space, hosting rows and rows of big-budget and indie titles. I believe more than 30 PS Vita games were available to try out on the show floor, a stark contrast from Nintendo’s booth mere steps away, where the 3DS zone offered a scant selection of playable first-party titles (The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, and Yoshi’s New Island) on a limited number of units.
People often criticize Nintendo consoles for offering nothing beyond their first-party hits, and though it’s an assessment I don’t agree with, 3DS’s showing at E3 this year lent those arguments credence. Where were the upcoming Japanese RPGs? What about the quirky eShop games? Why didn’t we see even one of Square Enix’s three Japan-only Dragon Quest 3DS games at the expo? Maybe Nintendo put all of its focus on Wii U software for this E3, and purposely wanted to keep its 3DS offerings light?
While Sony packed its booth with almost every PS Vita game coming out in the near future, if you wanted to play the few third-party 3DS titles companies brought to the show, you had to seek out their demo stations scattered across the Los Angeles Convention Center. It didn’t help that big publishers tend to deemphasize their handheld titles, sticking a demo unit or two in a corner (there were several exceptions, like Atlus with Shin Megami Tensei IV, and Capcom with Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies).
My point is that Sony made an effort to demonstrate that PS Vita has plenty of games on the way — it’s due to receive up to 85 new titles by the end of the year. And the company also made the argument that PS Vita might have the strongest line-up of indies bringing their games to the system. I mean, just picking out a few ports that were available to play at E3, you have Hotline Miami, Lone Survivor, Runner2, Luftrausers, and Aban Hawkins & the 1,001 Spikes.
And Sony made a point to have the developers behind these titles available to talk to you about their PS Vita games. Derek Yu peeked over my shoulder to tell me how awful I was at his Spelunky port when I couldn’t make it past the first three stages. Then the fellows from Curve Studios guided me through Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark (formerly Stealth Bastard) whenever I got stuck in one of the puzzle-platformer’s obstacles.
Never mind that many of the games are brought over from other platforms; that didn’t make them any less fun to someone who hadn’t played them, or played them very little, before. And its not like there weren’t new and original PS Vita titles to play — Media Molecule’s Tearaway was charming, PlayStation C.A.M.P.’s Open Me curious, Richard Hogg and Honeyslug’s Hohokum intriguing, Ys: Memories of Celceta promising, and Roll7’s OlliOlli super fun.
The message from Sony and its booth was clear: if you don’t want to miss out on unique portable games, and if you want to play the best indie games on a handheld, you will need to own a PS Vita. I didn’t really have any takeaways from the 3DS side, unless you consider me enjoying the Zelda: A Link Between Worlds demo a strong declaration.
I talked to several developers about how Sony managed to bring so many indies to its portable, and they all mentioned the platform holder’s increased efforts in the last year to court smaller studios, whether it’s making it easy for them to create games on the system, or just showing them that PS Vita is the right ecosystem they want to release their titles to. They also told me that a big part of it is Sony has recruited key people who are passionate about games and about bringing quality releases to PS Vita.
That’s not to say there aren’t people like that at Nintendo of America — the company has actually come a long way in making its consoles more approachable to indies, doing away with archaic restrictions that prevented them from even creating games on its consoles, letting developers adjust prices and release updates, and making the eShop more friendly to people looking to discover new experiences.
Nintendo’s 3DS section at E3
I was also pleased to spot the company’s business development head Dan Adelman, who seems to have driven so many of those positive changes (or at least been the face for them), last week at Horizon, the “alternative E3 press conference” that featured announcements from indie developers like Capy (Sword & Sworcery, Below) and Keita Takahashi (Katamari Damacy). I don’t think he was there to secure exclusives or anything, but it’s nice that Nintendo is keeping an interested eye on the indie scene.
Still, if I was to base the status of these competing handhelds from what I saw at E3, ignorant of their hardware/software sales, I’d argue that Nintendo has a long way to go to catch up to what PS Vita is doing with indies.
When I visited Sony’s booth the first time, I thought, “Wow, it’s a shame few people are buying a PS Vita and will be able to play these games on a portable.” By my fifth visit (I only checked out the 3DS booth twice), I came away thinking, “I wish so many of these games would come to 3DS. Why aren’t they?”
[All E3 photos courtesy of JasonTheGamer]
Additional E3 3DS notes:
I never did find that rumored Umihara Kawase 3DS demo, presumably shown in a closed meeting room
Aksys didn’t bring Hakuouki: Memories of the Shinsengumi because visual novels don’t make for great E3 demos
Seriously, no Dragon Quest announcements?
No Level-5 announcements either
Style Savvy fans might want to check out Rising Star’s Girls’ Fashion Shoot (Nicola Kanshuu: Model * Oshare Audition 2 in Japan)
I wish I had time to try out Rune Factory 4’s non-combat portions
Beyblade: Evolution was kind of fun surprisingly
I might have to buy Shin Megami Tensei IV for the localization
Hometown Story really does have that Harvest Moon feel — looking forward to this
D3P wasn’t ready to show the new Regular Show or Adventure Time 3DS games yet
BUY PS Vita, upcoming games](http://25.media.tumblr.com/0ab0f222f54230acbcb36d3be7cdd1bd/tumblr_molknfHDQy1qzp9weo1_1280.jpg)
How PS Vita’s indie games kicked 3DS’s butt at E3
As I roamed the halls of E3 last week, searching out obscure gems and an elusive Umihara Kawase 3DS demo, I kept returning to a particular section of the expo: Sony’s PS Vita booth.
I didn’t care that Sony’s press conference did little to convince worried PS Vita owners that big hits are on the way, or that Phantasy Star Online 2 was a no-show, or that one of the primary reasons why I checked out so many of the handheld’s games was the lack of lines to try them out (it’s not like Killzone Mercenary or Dragon’s Crown draw the kind of crowds Nintendo’s major franchises bring in). Really, the booth was just that great.
Dozens of PS Vita demo stations filled the space, hosting rows and rows of big-budget and indie titles. I believe more than 30 PS Vita games were available to try out on the show floor, a stark contrast from Nintendo’s booth mere steps away, where the 3DS zone offered a scant selection of playable first-party titles (The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, and Yoshi’s New Island) on a limited number of units.
♫ I want to take you far from the cynics in this town ♫
I love writing silly, personal notes to my Animal Crossing: New Leaf neighbors, like this one Yas sent to her friend Chas. I hope you write these kind of letters too, so I can see them when I visit your town and your neighbors show off their favorite correspondences.
There have been a lot of thoughtful Animal Crossing articles posted online lately, here and on other sites. I collected a few of them for those of you who wanted to give them a read. There’s a bunch of race/gender stuff, which I hear you guys love leaving comments about:
- Me, On The Screen: Race in Animal Crossing: New Leaf (see this tanning )
- The courtesy of being misgendered in Animal Crossing
- Crossing a Line: Gender Identity in Animal Crossing
- The Animal Crossing: New Leaf experience
- A special Animal Crossing podcast from Tiny Cartridge
I feel like our Animal Crossing tag has been killing it, but I dunno, maybe that’s just me.
BUY Animal Crossing: New Leaf, AC:NL guide, upcoming games
Mother of God, new StreetPass games and Mii outfits
You should be able to download a firmware update to your 3DS (v6.0.0-11) today — along with the usual stability fixes and flashcart blocking, it allows you to now back up saves for digital games and 3DS Virtual Console titles from the main menu. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate are supported.
But the big news is that, at least in Europe and Japan right now, the new firmware allows you to update Mii Plaza with a shop that sells four games for €5 (around $7) each, or €15 ($20) for all of them:
- StreetPass Squad (Shoot’em up-style game using Miis as upgrades)
- StreetPass Garden (Move into a house, grow flowers, and decorate a garden)
- StreetPass Battle (Strategy game, build a StreetPass army and conquer the world)
- StreetPass Mansion (Solve a paranormal mystery in a haunted house)
You can get new hats (like a Pixel Mario cap) and even outfits as rewards from the game, according to Cosmonaut X’s notes. The app appears to be crashing a bit, according to a few reports — hopefully that’s fixed for when this releases in the U.S.?
BUY Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL consoles, upcoming games
Yes, you are, Wii Fit Trainer
I’m not sure about the original source for this. And I don’t know why there’s a hashtag here, or why this is a blinking GIF instead of a straight-up JPG. But I do know that when I play as the Wii Fit Trainer, I’m going to be yelling out “Bitch I’m fabulous!” whenever I dodge attacks.
PREORDER Super Smash Bros. for Wii U & Nintendo 3DS, upcoming games
Important Game Center CX news!
So Arino and the Game Center CX staff held a 10th anniversary press conference, which you can see translated above. They announced a number of items, including a GCCX feature film, a soundtrack release for July, and an upcoming visit to Paris’s Japan Expo next month (which will be used for another overseas episode!).
I wouldn’t be surprised if this video is taken down soon, so I’ll go over the two big items from the video here.
New details about GCCX/Retro Game Challenge 3DS:
- Bandai Namco aims to publish it this winter in Japan, though there’s no guarantee it will release this year.
- It’s developed by G.Rev — yes, that G.Rev (Senke no Ronde) — not by IndiesZero, which made the last two GCCX games.
- This won’t be a strict shoot’em up! The concept should stay the same, “featuring the kind of Famicom-style games” past GCCX releases have offered.
- GCCX for 3DS will include shoot’em ups, though, of course, since that’s what G.Rev is known for.
The Game Center CX movie:
- This will debut in Japan in early spring 2014.
- There are few details about the plot, though Arino is expected to take on the role of the Kacho, taking on game-related challenges as he does on the show, along with other elements mixed in.
- “We really want to make a movie for the fans of our show, the people in their 30s-40s who love the Famicom.”
- “If I had to make a catch phrase for the movie, now, it would be ‘We want to make a movie like Always - Sunset on Third Street’ for Famicom fans.”
Amazing things are happening in the world right now.
BUY Retro Game Challenge, Retro Game Master DVD set ($10 off!)
“You had a 50/50 chance. You weren’t even close.”*
[Including the Animal Crossing series’ “Villager” in the next Smash Bros. seems perfect, but Daniel Feit argues that Nintendo bungled a key aspect with the character in this reprinted opinion piece.]
I spoke out about this on Twitter, but I want to elaborate on how much it bothers me that Nintendo elected to include a generic male villager from its mega-hit Animal Crossing franchise in the next Smash Bros game.
The first objection is the most obvious: this is a game chock full of male characters. Obviously a fighting game based on a video game company’s legacy is going to skew male; Nintendo doesn’t have a time machine to undo decades of sexist choices. But just look at this list of Smash Bros. characters; you can count the number of women on one hand. This was an easy way to offset that M/F ratio, and Nintendo blew it.
Another fun shot from the Shin Megami Tensei IV demo
I didn’t take many photos at E3 last week, but I made sure to get a couple shots from this demo because I always love the humor in Atlus’s localizations. I should have a lot more Atlus/E3 posts coming up this week!
PREORDER Shin Megami Tensei IV, upcoming games
Didn’t forget about Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
Obviously the focus on Batman: Arkham Origins has been on the console/PC versions, but Warner Bros. did bring the 3DS/Vita Blackgate side-story to E3 (though I believe the 3DS version was shown behind closed doors).
I played the PS Vita edition, and it was good stuff! As promised, the combat is nearly identical to the console games, with all the satisfying counters and easy combos — check out the GIF above from Just Bluthed Myself.
I didn’t get to see any of the anticipated Metroidvania 2.5 stuff unfortunately, as the demo was mostly chasing Catwoman across rooftops and fighting low-level thugs. A lot of what I played was orchestrated setpieces and hit-R-to-fly-to-this-ledge bits, but maybe the content leaned on that because it was a demo. Whatever, I’m still down for the Armature-developed game.
BUY Batman: Akham Origins ($10 Amazon credit), upcoming releases
A New Leaf
This is the loveliest Animal Crossing song I’ve heard (not counting New Leaf’s beautiful, melancholy 11PM track), and there’s even a K.K. Slider version you can listen to at Bandcamp — where you can also pay what you want to download the two songs from Seth Boyer. I forget who tweeted this link at me last week, but thank you, whoever you are.
You know what else is Animal Crossing-related and awesome to listen to? That New Leaf podcast we recorded! Have I mentioned lately how much we love this game?
BUY Animal Crossing: New Leaf, AC:NL guide, upcoming games
$30 3DS game sales return!
If you bought a 3DS for Animal Crossing: New Leaf and now need more games for the system, or if you’re just looking for some cheap(er) titles to pick up, you’re in luck! These Amazon discounts disappeared for a bit, but you can now get a slew of quality titles for up to 25% off:
- Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan - $29.96
- Fire Emblem: Awakening - $29.98
- Kid Icarus: Uprising - $31.59
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - $29.98
- Mario Kart 7 - $29.98
- New Super Mario Bros. 2 - $29.98
- Paper Mario: Sticker Star - $29.99
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - $29.99
- Professor Layton and The Miracle Mask - $25.99
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers - $29.69
- Style Savvy: Trendsetters - $16.96
- Super Mario 3D Land - $29.99
The wonderful Animal Crossing: New Leaf 3DS XL art above comes from the talented Rachel Doris. You should follow her on Tumblr for more amazing art.
BUY Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL consoles, upcoming games
Animal Crossing’s Villager receives his Smash Bros. invite
From what I hear, y’all went nuts with your Villager memes this week, which I’m sad I missed (hardly checked Tumblr during E3). I love that people have turned this unassuming guy into a stone-cold killer. And I love this strip by KakuJomics/Bryan Lacie.
Oh, here is an eight-minute video all about the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros., with portions devoted to Mega Man, Villager, and Wii Fit’s trainer:
