Information Update // Noticias Nuevas - Nintendo 3DS & PSVita

Information Update - Nintendo 3DS


1.- Masahiro Sakurai, the creator behind Kirby, Smash Bros. and Kid Icarus Uprising was caught sneaking into Bayonetta development studio Platinum Games. Sakurai claims he was there purely to see what the studio was preparing to show off at E3. I wonder what his true motive was?

More After the Break...

You’ve already seen the Beyond Good & Evil 2 screens that leaked, but now Unseen 64 has unearthed some new footage which shows off the incredible game engine. The footage is from 2009 and the game has reportedly been moved to next generation consoles. Who knows, we may just see something of the game at E3 next month.


The latest Kojima Productions Report podcast mentions that the company has some “big plans” for next months E3 event. Kojima Productions Report podcast host Sean Eyestone and Kendoz mentioned that the acclaimed development studio is very much working towards E3, with a lot of “big things” in place for next month’s showcase. Let’s hope those “big things” that Kojima Productions have in store include Wii U.

Sega released its financial report for the 2011 fiscal year which shows that the developer and publisher managed almost 1.8 million sales from 18 different Nintendo 3DS games. However, in the current financial year (April 2012 – March 2013) Sega only has plans to release a mere 3 Nintendo 3DS games, and is forecasting sales of around 380,000. Of course the development studio could be planning to announce a batch of new Nintendo 3DS game at E3, but if not, this could be seen as rather worrying news.

This weeks most wanted games in Japan are in courtesy of Famitsu magazine. There’s an impressive five Nintendo related titles in the top ten, including Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online for Wii and Pokemon Black & White 2 for the Nintendo DS.
[PS3] Resident Evil 6
[PS3] Dragon’s Dogma
[Wii] Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online
[PSV] Persona 4 Golden
[NDS] Pokemon Black & White 2
[3DS] Monster Hunter 4
[3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry’s Wonderland 3D
[PS3] Tokyo Jungle
[3DS] Animal Crossing: Jump Out
[PS3] Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Nintendo has revealed via its official Japanese website that it plans to discontinue manufacturing the original Aqua Blue Nintendo 3DS console. On the 3DS hardware page the colour is listed as “scheduled to end production shortly”. No reason has been given regarding the decision.

April’s NPD software sales are in and they show that Mario Party 9 continues to be a top-selling franchise for Nintendo. Mario Party 9 was the seventh best-selling game during a dismal April, which saw software sales at retail down by a whopping 48%. Despite analysts predictions Xenoblade Chronicles failed to enter the all-format top ten.
Prototype 2 (360, PS3)
Kinect Star Wars (360)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 (360, PS3)
NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PC, PS2)
The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings (360, PC)
Mario Party 9 (Wii)
Mass Effect 3 (360, PS3, PC)
Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3)
MLB 12: The show (PS3, PSV)

2.- Pwnee Studios has confirmed that their hardcore indie platformer Cloudberry Kingdom will be heading to the Wii U eShop. Cloudberry Kingdom is described as a cutesy, colourful, ultra-difficult plat former and it has been partially funded by Kickstarter donations. The game is expected to arrive on Wii U in December

Shiggy from the Neogaf forums has uncovered a batch of never seen before screenshots of the elusive Beyond Good & Evil 2. The developers have hinted that the game is being moved from current-gen platforms to the forthcoming next-gen platforms, which will hopefully include Wii U. Let’s hope we hear more about the game at E3 next month.

Nintendo UK has announced that Kirby’s Dream Land 2 will be heading to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console next week. Kirby’s Dream Land 2 will arrive on May 17th and will set you back £3.60


Kirby must solve the mystery behind the disappearance of rainbow bridges that link the islands of Dream Land. Travel through all seven isles while battling the minions of King Dedede, and team up with Kirby’s friends Rick the Hamster, Kine the Fish and Coo the Owl.

Kirby’s animal pals have their own unique abilities and can also magnify Kirby’s powers, too! You’ll need all the help you can get, in order to face a new enemy: the malevolent Dark Matter!

A few days ago, there was a little less hope that Unreal Engine 4 would arrive on the Wii U. But that “little less hope” was based on my (probable) misinterpretation of a quote (as noted in the previous article). A new rumour has suggested that the engine will be arriving on the platform though, explaining that:


Nintendo tweaked the Wii U to make sure it can run UE4, which would explain the recent bump in specs and apparently Nintendo is still tweaking the hardware.

(That quote was from here.)

It’s all back-and-forth speculation, I know, but I have a good feeling about E3 2012. I think it’s going to be big, and the announcement of Unreal Engine 4 support for the Wii U would be a great addition to that.

3.- Cloudberry Kingdom, described as “the hardest platformer ever” by its creators is coming to the Wii U. The game has “an artificial intelligence capable of designing levels on demand, suitable for any difficulty level and built to any specification” and that leads to some ridiculously hard-looking levels. You can see examples in the video after the break, although the creators mention that “the game really isn’t as hard as that video looks, we just wanted to show off the more visually insane levels”. Still, it looks all kinds of crazy.

Last year, we saw a concept for a golf game that uses the Wii U’s tablet controller. It was only a brief snippet, but if this patent is anything to go by, it seems Nintendo has continued to pursue the concept. You can check after the break to see an example of it in action. The way the patent is described suggests the concept is not a whole lot different from what we saw:


The patent pertains to using the new controller on the ground to see the lie of the ball, but it goes into more detail, revealing it’s possible to ‘miss’ the ball entirely if your aim is off. If you succeed in striking the ball, the speed of your swing and angle of the club face are used to calculate the ball’s trajectory.

As reported by USA Today, the 3DS:


…has outsold the Nintendo DS by about 1 million units in their respective first 14 months in the market “and the DS went on to become the best-selling gaming hardware system ever.”

It doesn’t mean the momentum will continue, of course, but it’s doing well enough for itself so far.

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Mister Gaga