A Wii U eShop developer plans to release what may be the most bizarre Wii Remote peripheral yet.
The Wii U laparoscopic controller is a specially-designed peripheral that holds two Wii Remotes and two Nunchuks.
Grendel Games developed the device to work with its adventure puzzle game Underground, using technology intended as a way of training doctors in laparoscopy, otherwise known as keyhole surgery.
The "super-stable" 3D featured in the New 3DS was a last minute addition that came at the behest of legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed.
"I think you're probably familiar with the tales of how, in the late stages of development, Mr. Miyamoto always upends the tea table," Iwata told Time. "So a similar thing happened this time. The hardware developers had designed a piece of hardware that they felt was at the final stage of prototyping, and they were bringing it to us for approval to begin moving forward with plans for manufacturing. But Mr. Miyamoto had seen that super-stable 3D just one week before, and he asked, 'Why aren't we putting that in this system? If we don't put this in it, there's no point in making the system.'"
Super-stable 3D allows the player to move his or her head without disrupting the glasses-free 3D effect on the system's upper screen. This corrects one of the major problems with the original 3DS (and 3DS XL), where the 3D only worked when the player's eyes were directly lined up with the screen--an especially problematic proposition when playing games that use the 3DS' gyroscope.
While super-stable 3D did end up making it into the system--which launched in Japan last October and then last month in North America and Europe--it didn't come without Nintendo's engineers repeatedly asking Iwata whether it was really something they were going to add.
"But Nintendo is a company of Kyoto craftsman, and what we don't want to do, is if we know we can make something better, we don't want to leave that behind," Iwata said. "So we were able to bring the super-stable 3D to reality by looking technically at what we can do to solve those challenges and finding those steps along the way to make it happen. This is where my background in technology is quite helpful, because it means that the engineers can't trick me.”
Before becoming the president and CEO for Nintendo, Iwata worked as a developer at Kirby and Smash Bros. developer HAL Laboratory.
The New 3DS XL is now available for $200, while the non-XL variant--which features removable faceplates--has not yet been released in the Americas.
PBS Game Show is a fairly popular show hosted on YouTube that poses a lot of interesting topics for their fans to talk about, providing several reasons for or against a particular subject. Then then ask the fans to weigh in, featuring some of these fan's remarks the following week on the next episode, proving that yes, they do read through the comments, even if some of them... aren't so nice at times. This time they talk about the Zelda series, particularly tackling the topic of Link potentially being female, explaining that it can actually fit into the lore of the series, using some...
Llamasoft's TxK was released to almost universal acclaim on the PS Vita early last year, and its success meant it was only a matter of time before the game's creator and industry legend Jeff Minter looked towards porting the title to other platforms.
While SNK’s last true title in the Metal Slug series may have been released seven years ago, the spirit of the coin guzzling run-n-gunner lives on. Homebrew heroes NG:DEV.TEAM have just announced Kraut Buster for the Neo Geo MVS and AES - a frantic arcade title even SNK would be proud of.
![club-nintendo-thumb[1]](http://news.g2n.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/club-nintendo-thumb1.jpg)
Das beste kommt zum Schluss. Bis Ende April können Sternenpunkte noch eingelöst werden. Damit das gelingt hat Nintendo seinen Shop nochmal kräftig aktualisiert. So wurden viele Download-Spiele für Wii U, 3DS und DLC´s zu aktuellen Titeln hinzugefügt. Auch die Pikmin-Kurzfilme darf man beziehen.
Nintendo plant bereits einen neuen Dienst, zu dem bald mehr Details kommen sollen.
Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo Wii 
(139) Neu kaufen: EUR 42,99 82 Angebote ab EUR 26,20The post Club Nintendo: Prämien mit Download-Spielen erweitert appeared first on WiiUForum.de.
So yeah all the stuff we had ready or near ready will now never see the light of day.No TxK PC, PS4, Oculus, GearVR, Android. Thank "Atari".
— Jeff Minter (@llamasoft_ox) 18. März 2015I'm especially sad to disappoint those who saw the ps4 & PC versions and liked them so much in Manchester.We really hoped it could resolve.
— Jeff Minter (@llamasoft_ox) 18. März 2015According to Atari's lovely lawyers I had but a bit part in my own creation! Amazing!
— Jeff Minter (@llamasoft_ox) 18. März 2015Atari have had NO contact with Llamasoft. Their only contact has been threatening letters from lawyers. This is not a dialogue.
— Jeff Minter (@llamasoft_ox) 18. März 2015it's achingly sad because I *loved* Atari. Getting to work there, and creating one of their last great games, was such a joy for me.
— Jeff Minter (@llamasoft_ox) 18. März 2015One day let's hope the shell calling itself Atari goes tits and we'll dance on its grave to music that sounds exactly like Tempest 2000.
— Jeff Minter (@llamasoft_ox) 19. März 2015Luderia Games made the rad one-touch shooter Spooklands [$0.99] last year, and now the lead developer on that game is at Aquiris Game Studio, which has worked on several licensed games for Cartoon Network and other clients. Well, they're now working on something that changes gears from everything else they've done, and the "changing gears" idiom makes sense here, because it's a racing game! The tentatively-titled Project Retro-Racer is inspired by Outrun and Top Gear/Top Racer as a behind-the-car racer, trying to simulate the limitations of racing games from 25 years ago or so. Except, this game is going to feature 3D visuals.
They compare it to Top Gear, and it's going to be quite apt, as they have the composer of that game, Barry Leitch, to do the soundtrack for the game. This one is coming together pretty quickly, as they've gone from simple prototype to something looking interesting after just a few days. Aquiris is saying this one will be released soon, which is a quick turnaround, but sometimes quick projects can turn up interesting games. Keep an eye on the forum thread for more updates on this one as it's in development.
Activisions Skylanders-Serie, bei dem die spielbaren Charaktere mittels Sammlerfiguren ins Spiel integriert werden, diente bereits anderen als Vorbild. Disney folgte dem Konzept mit Disney Infinity, Nintendo führte vor einigen Monaten die ersten Amiibo-Figuren ein, die allerdings nicht bloß innerhalb einer Reihe eingesetzt werden können.
Nintendo wird – wie von Kritikern oft gefordert – die Türen zum Mobile-Markt öffnen. Die Japaner sind dafür eine Geschäfts- und Kapitalallianz mit dem Hersteller DeNA eingegangen. Die Zusammenarbeit zielt auf die gemeinsame Erstellung von Apps und Spielen mit den IPs des Videospielkonzerns für Smartphones und Tablets ab.
Nintendo hat im Rahmen der Konferenz, in der auch die Kooperation mit dem Unternehmen DeNA für künftige Spiele im Mobile-Sektor bekannt wurden, offenbar auch die Entwicklung einer neuen Spielekonsole bestätigt.
"This is what I think Wind Waker would look like on the SNES," writes gilamasan, the guy behind this piece of Zelda fanart. "I imagined the sailing would be done with Mode 7 graphics like in Super Mario Kart and F-Zero." Looks about right to me. Head over here to see more of gilamasan's artwork.
![Amiibo-In-den-USA-35-Millionen-Mal-verkauft-680x510[1]](http://news.g2n.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Amiibo-In-den-USA-35-Millionen-Mal-verkauft-680x5101.jpg)
Die Verkaufsgeschichte von Amiibo dreht sich weiter und schreibt weitere Erfolge. So gibt es aktuelle Zahlen aus den USA. Satte 3,5 Millionen Mal sollen sich die kleinen Figuren, für Zusatzinhalte, dort verkauft haben.
Wohlgemerkt haben Super Smash Bros nur 1,5 Millionen Leute gekauft. Schätzungen gehen davon aus, dass jeder Spieler sich 2-3 Amiibos zu Super Smash Bros dazu gekauft hat.
Dabei ist der Erfolg der Amiibos sehr unterschiedlich. Einige Amiibos verstauben in den Händler-Regalen. Andere sind restlos vergriffen. Viele der Amiibos sind mittlerweile begehrte Sammler-Objekte.
The post Amiibo – 3,5 Millionen Stück allein in den USA appeared first on WiiUForum.de.
If you grew up in the United Kingdom during the home computer boom you'll no doubt remember the eggscellent 8-bt hero, Dizzy. Providing gamers with screens-upon-screens of platforming puzzles, Codemasters' classic is one that many of us hold close to our hearts. As of today though there's a real lack of titles drawing inspiration from the series - so much so a homebrew developer for the Commodore Amiga has decided to make amends with Dylan The Spaceman.
Some versions of the New 3DS share a (button) colour scheme with the original JP/PAL Super Nintendo, but you know, for some people—like me—that's not enough. We want a complete SNES tribute.
The 3D revolution hit the video game industry hard in the mid-90s. Home console technology was improving by leaps and bounds over the forerunners from earlier in the decade and prior to that. Because of that, developers were tinkering with the formulas of classic titles in order to deliver a more cutting edge experience.
The main issue many series experience in their attempt to try something new is they leave behind what made them so beloved in the first place. Seeing your favorite series in a new light should be enjoyable, but when that new light brings with it a betrayal of what made you love that property in the first place, you realize that some formulas are better left unchanged.
In my recent contribution to Game Informer’s “The Essentials” column, I marveled at how effectively the Super Mario franchise transitioned to 3D, but not all franchises made the jump with similar success. Check out some of the more beloved franchises that struggled to leap into the third dimension.
Mortal Kombat
Debuting in 1992, Mortal Kombat was one of the better fighting series on the market. Though it had its ups and downs during its 2D years, it wasn’t until it made the jump to 3D that it experienced its sharpest downturn. In 1997, Mortal Kombat 4 attempted to utilize the 3D space for a fighting game, but 2000’s abysmal action brawler Mortal Kombat: Special Forces might be among the worst examples on this list. Even the better 3D Mortal Kombat games like Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon didn’t feel as good as other fighters at the time.
Thankfully, the bloody franchise has returned to its former glory by embracing its 2D roots once again. The 2011 reboot of the franchise is one of the best fighting games of the previous console generation, and the upcoming Mortal Kombat X is looking more promising each time we hear about it.
Bionic Commando
The 2D Bionic Commando releases were influential and well-received, but when the series tried to appeal to gamers wanting a more modern experience, it failed to grab players the way the original entries did. Capcom’s 2009 attempt to breathe new life into Bionic Commando was far from the game players wanted.
Though the grappling mechanic returns in full force, the clumsy controls and awful level design show a franchise far removed from what made the 2D releases so great. Capcom has since returned Bionic Commando to 2D with Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, which released in 2011 to slightly better reception.
Pac-Man
One of the most classic 2D arcade franchises of all-time has tried to restore former glory through 3D ventures to little avail. The series’ first attempt at 3D of any kind came with 1987’s pseudo-3D conversion of the original Pac-Man formula, Pac-Mania. The game was well-received, but it gave fans false hope for the full-fledged 3D adventures to come.
Since then, the Pac-Man franchise has spawned several games with lukewarm reception. While very few have been outright bashed by critics, they all failed to move beyond bland action-adventure fare. Perhaps most telling is the fact that the best release from the past five years has been Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, which is simply an enhanced version of the original game.
On the next page, we look at a short-lived, yet much-loved 2D platformer series, and more!
Here's a really cool claymation short by animator Johnny McHone, featuring Link and angry plasticine monsters. It totally looks like a Robot Chicken sketch with a little bit of Neverhood and Skyward Sword added.
It's hard to believe how fast time flies. WayForward Technologies, the plucky indie developer behind the Shantae series and countless other games, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Wait, they only started in 1990 and... oh, right. That's 25 years, alright. Well, instead of dwelling on the fact that Outkast's Hey Ya! is old enough to evoke nostalgia in some of our readers, why not treat yourself to a little sale? WayForward hasn't released a whole lot of stuff on iOS, but until March 19th, everything they have released is as cheap as it's ever been.
The best deal on iOS is Shantae: Risky's Revenge (Full) [Free], a port of the excellent DSiWare sequel to the original Game Boy Color game, Shantae. It's a fun 'Metroidvania' game with excellent animation and a lot of fun magic and moves to earn. You can read our review of the title here, and please note that the game has received several updates that take care of the mentioned bugs and enable you to use some MFi controllers to play the game. Shantae: Risky's Revenge is going for the low, low price of free for the duration of this sale. While it has been free before, it only happened once, and it was two years ago. I recommend jumping on this right away.
The other iOS sale is on WayForward's recently-released mobile-original puzzle game, Mighty Switch Force! Hose It Down! [$0.99], a spin-off of the popular 3DS/Wii U series of the same name. Normally selling for $1.99, it's half-off for the next week, costing you just a single dollar. I wasn't terribly excited by the game in my review, but if you are interested in it, a dollar saved is a dollar earned.
If you happen to play games on non-iOS hardware, you heathen, you might be interested in some of the other sales they're running right now. PlayStation Plus members who have a PSP, PS3, or Vita can get puzzle-action game Mighty Flip Champs! DX for free this week. PC gamers using Steam can get the PC version of Shantae: Risky's Revenge for just $2.50. Given their heavy support of Nintendo's platforms, it's not surprising to see the bulk of WayForward's sales happening on that hardware. 3DS and Wii U owners can pick up Shantae's third adventure, Shantae And The Pirate's Curse, for 25% off, and both Mighty Switch Force! games are on sale for a whopping 75% off.
It's hard to say if WayForward will release more of their games on iOS in the future, but with 25 years of success behind them and a seemingly bright future, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of them. In the meantime, you can enjoy what they have released for very nice prices. Remember, those sales are on until March 19th, so scoop 'em up while you can.
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All in all, I'm really impressed with the modification that Andrew performed and I pretty much exclusively use the 60Hz Jag now just because of the increased screen size on my TV. It's an operation that's well worth investigating and if you're interested in having this done yourself, drop us a message in the comments section and we'll get you sorted.
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A new segment from PBS show Space Time has taken a look at the gravity seen in SNES classic Super Mario World and found it...problematic.
On the show, which you can watch above, astrophysicist (technical term for really smart person) Gabe Perez-Giz comes up with some crude estimates to determine the surface gravity of the planet Super Mario World takes place on. Using a height of 5'1" for Mario, a measurement of how high he jumps, and the time it takes to reach the apex of his jump, Perez-Giz finds that the planet has roughly eight times the surface gravity of Earth.
That rules out not only Earth as the possible setting for Super Mario World, but any planet in our solar system -- not even Jupiter's surface gravity is that high. Even going outside of our solar system is problematic, both because we can't accurately calculate the surface gravity of many exoplanets, and because a planet with surface gravity so high is likely to be a gas giant.
In the end, what's most likely to have surface gravity as high as the planet in Super Mario World is a star, which is problematic for reasons that center around things like "heat" and "death."
Clearly, Nintendo didn't do its research when designing the jumping in Super Mario World. Having sold millions of copies, though, it'll likely live with its mistake.
For more looks at gaming science, check out GameSpot's Reality Check series.
Actor Wil Wheaton's next role has been revealed. Nintendo has announced that Wheaton, best known for roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the movie Stand by Me, will play Abraham Lincoln in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M, the upcoming Nintendo 3DS game developed by Fire Emblem studio Intelligent Systems.
Nintendo announced the news on Twitter, while Wheaton also chimed in.
I can’t wait for #CodeNameSTEAM to be released. I’m super proud of the game, and loved working for @NintendoAmerica.
— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) March 5, 2015
Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. is a turn-based strategy game with third-person shooter elements. The game launches March 13 for Nintendo 3DS, but those in attendance at PAX East this weekend in Boston can play the game at Nintendo's booth on the show floor.
Artist Arcade is where GameSpotters go to check out some of the amazing art created by the fans. It's a great place GameSpotters to show off their paintings, drawings, sketches, cartoons, sculptures, and Cosplay.
In this edition of the Artist Arcade, we're featuring fan art from Majora's Mask.
Special thanks to the amazing GameSpotters and Deviant artists who contributed to this week's Artist Arcade:
finni, lychi, MaxGrecke, EternaLegend, Turtle-Arts, Cavea, SpoonfishLee, CindyAA, supermaRiio, and WintersKnight.
Check out our last edition of the Artist Arcade featuring League of Legends.
Netflix Hack Day is an biannual event for the company's engineers and designers to cut loose and do something wacky. This year, a trio of hackers got the video streaming service working on an NES.
The results are actually probably worse than you'd expect. The interface works by scrolling text in the same way that you'd run through an old Mario Bros. game. In a clip posted to YouTube, the engineers try to watch House of Cards.
Because something like this requires so much of the console's power and memory the console can only output four colors instead of its usual 256 while playing video. According to the video, the software is running on an unmodified NES console, but the engineers don't reveal how they got the hack working.
In any case, you probably won't be watching the latest dramas or old Futurama episodes on this machine, still it's fun to see people still messing around with the 30-year-old console.
We reached out to the hackers for details on how they got this set-up working, and will update when we have more information.
Welcome to Kotaku's Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon.
Press the Buttons (via Fast Co.) recently got their hands on something very special: a copy of Nintendo's Style Guide, a 1993 document that sought to formalise all kinds of weird Nintendo-related mascot matters, like what exact colour Mario's and Samus' outfits have to be.
