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Nintendo Helping Third Parties With Distribution
Third-party developers say its hard to break through all the Nintendo titles when developing on a Nintendo system, and they haven’t felt their titles were supported enough. Well, that might be changing somewhat.
In their latest earning release the following statement was tucked into some discussion about upcoming Nintendo titles:
In addition, we are planning to more actively support the Japanese software developers in distributing their key titles overseas.
One of the most recent games from a third-party that was published by Nintendo was Lego City Undercover for both the Wii U and the 3DS. During last week’s Nintendo Direct video we found out that Nintendo would be publishing Bravely Default Flying Fairy in North America for Square Enix. Does this mean we’ll see Nintendo pulling more publishing duty?
New Yoshi’s Island Heading To 3DS
Not only is Zelda getting a new 3DS entry but Yoshi is as well. Nintendo announced a new game in that popular side-scrolling series will be heading to the 3DS. Yoshi is back to carry Baby Mario around. The art style has been upgraded. I’m not quite sold on it yet as it feels more Yoshi’s Story than Yoshi’s Island in look, but as long as it plays like Yoshi’s Island that’s what really matters.
No release date or pricing has been announced as of yet.
Nintendo Hosting 3DS Direct On Wednesday
Tune in this Wednesday to view another 3DS focused Nintendo Direct. The event will get started at 10:00 am EST and will focus on news about the handheld. No details about what we might see or how long the event will last.
You can watch the event live here: http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct
Intelligent Systems Interested in Advance Wars
As big a fan as I am of the Fire Emblem series, there’s another turn-based strategy system that Nintendo has been publishing that I like even more, and that’s the Advance Wars series. Intelligent Systems is the company behind both of those franchises and they’ve expressed interest in doing another one. According to an interview posted on Nintendo’s Fire Emblem page, Masahiro Higuchi says the company would like to take another shot at the more light-hearted war game.
Well, whether it’s Fire Emblem or the Advance Wars, we never want to put an end to any series we’re involved with. We always want to make games that provide a lot of fun to gamers, so if we have the chance, we’d certainly like to make another [Advance Wars] title.
Days of Ruin, the most recent entry in the franchise on DS, took the series in a little bit more of a dark direction. I hope they steer away from that somewhat and get back to making the cheesy, funny style of game. That seemed to work better.
The company has already done two of their three big names on the 3DS (Fire Emblem, Paper Mario). They’ve even created a new franchise with Pushmo. It’s time that Advance Wars has its turn in the spotlight.
Turtle Tale Screenshots
In 2011 Saturnine Games released a DSiWare game called Antipole that was pretty darn good. I reviewed that game and thought it had a pretty interesting gravity mechanic that made you think differently than a traditional platformer. Now they’re back and this time they’re taking things tropical with a game called Turtle Tale. This game takes things back to the basics of a platformer, removing the gimmicks and giving you a more traditional game. Here’s what you need to know; an angry looking turtle is holding a water gun and shooting the heck out of colorful enemies like toucans and monkeys. Do you really need anything else?
The game is coming to the 3DS sometime in the near future for a price that probably won’t be too high. Here are some screenshots to pique your interest.
Aero Porter Review (eShop)
We’ve all seen when Ben Stiller’s luggage gets lost in Meet The Parents because the airport put it on the wrong flight, right? It’s that movie that told me to NEVER check my luggage on a plane, “If I can’t carry it on, I don’t need it” is my motto. Aero Porter from Level 5 is a game that explains how all this lost luggage is actually the fault of one person. It puts you in charge of sorting the airport’s checked bags on to their specific flights. Good luck!
What you need to know
Aero Porter is essentially a ‘falling block’ puzzle game with a few new mechanics to keep things interesting (and hard). The bags are checked in and color coded based on the specific flight that they’re supposed to be on. The bags rotate on a conveyor belt that either raises or lowers with the L or R buttons. Your job is to load the correct luggage onto the correct plane by it’s departure time; or else someone gets screwed like Ben Stiller. There are other things to keep in mind like your energy consumption for running the lights in the sorting room and the speed of the conveyor belts. If energy runs low, you must purchase an energy tank with your wages earned and lower it to the bottom belt before you can use it. There are also things like ‘VIP’ bags that have specific instructions for loading and ‘Suspicious Packages’ that must be disposed of properly. Read more…
Renegade Kid Reveals Cult County
Jools Watsham has been teasing an upcoming 3D, first-person shooter for the 3DS for a few weeks now. We didn’t know any details, but today at PAX East more information became available. It’s called Cult County and it looks to follow in the footsteps of their previous shooter series Dementium.
Here are some details about the game according to the upcoming Nintendo Force Magazine
- includes episodic releases
- first is due sometime this year
- offers up about four hours of gameplay
- will feature “better pacing in terms of when there is tension and when there is action.”
- features “detailed environments that would not have been possible on the DS”
- will include fictional religious details
- “It is not our intention to make a statement about any of the existing religions or impose our beliefs on anyone.”
You can keep up with the game at the official website.
Naruto: Power Shippuden Review (3DS)
I don’t actually know anything about Naruto. I’ve watched few anime in my time (Sgt. Frog is my favorite), but I’ve never watched an episode of Naruto show. I don’t know anything about Pervy Jutsu, flying eyebrows or why some of the characters wear swan outfits. I don’t know why it looks like Naruto has whiskers or why two of the characters look exactly alike. Luckily with Namco Bandai’s recent 3DS release, Naruto: Powerful Shippuden, I don’t need to know any of that. Some of that is explained, some of it isn’t, but the game itself is a lot of fun.
What You Need to Know
Naruto: Powerful Shippuden is a side scrolling action/brawler that follows the show’s two main characters, Naruto Uzumaki and Rock Lee. You go back and forth between those two character’s stories, unlocking missions on a branching map. Each of those levels has certain requirements that need to be met in order to attempt it, some of them require keys from both stories in order to unlock. Completion of a mission earns you experience points that can be used to level up the character or a number of different skills and support relationships.
This Is How Virtual Console Games Should Be Displayed
Maybe not exactly like this, but something very similar. It’s about as close to having the physical copies in your hands as you can possibly get. I really like the fact that all of the original box arts are scanned in with not just the cover art, but the full box art. Also, the slick way that the games come out of the packaging onto a virtual TV. It’s a pretty neat interface that with a little bit of “Nintendo” could really make the Virtual Console something different.
Fluidity: Spin Cycle Review (eShop)
I’ve played with a number of fluid based games over the years. I know I’ve owned a dozen or so of those games where you press a button to shoot air into a container filled with water in order to get rings onto little posts or shoot tiny plastic beads into baskets. Fluidity, a physics based puzzle platformer, began life shortly after the Game Developer’s Conference in 2008. The idea was pitched to Nintendo using the Wii Remote and the game was picked up for publishing. Now, with the 3DS well into its life it only seemed ilke a natural progression to move the game to the handheld. Now we have Fluidity: Spin Cycle, which will require you to use the 3DS in ways you could never have imagined.
What You Need to Know
Fluidity: Spin Cycle is a sequel to the original WiiWare title released in 2010. The game is a puzzle platformer where you play as a water sprite who must solve numerous puzzles, battle giant monsters and transform into different forms of water to save the rainbow sprites at the end of each level. You use the 3DS gyroscopic functionality combined with different buttons or the touch screen to move around the various environments you’ll see.
Name The Turtle!!!
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
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