iPad World

Nintendo is happy to avoid getting bogged down in an expensive tech race against its rivals with the Wii U, so says CEO Satoru Iwata.

Speaking during an investor Q&A last week, Iwata suggested that, although its new console will offer some titles featuring high-end visuals, the company plans to compete in other areas instead.

“As we will showcase the Wii U at E3 in June this year, the detailed announcements must wait until then, but we are aiming to make a system which shall not be forced into competing with the others where the contenders … Continue Reading

Ever since savvy manufacturers realised that gamers were prepared to pay top dollar for pieces of near-useless plastic that claim to improve their gaming experience, there’s been a flood of largely pointless peripherals for home consoles. Right now, countless Wii Remote tennis racket attachments sit gathering dust in cupboards the world over, waiting forlornly for that dreaded day when they are unceremoniously recycled as landfill.

Traditionally speaking, these regrettable money-wasting exercises are largely confined to domestic hardware. Attempts to augment the functionality of portable consoles have proven largely unsuccessful in the past (remember the D-pad cross attachment that … Continue Reading

Lunatic Wii/3DS indie collection out in March.

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While Modern Warfare 3, FIFA Soccer 12 and Saints Row: The Third were all topping the PS3 and 360 sales charts in the final week before Christmas, in comparison, the five best selling games on the Wii were Just Dance 3, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Zumba Fitness, Zumba Fitness 2 and The Legend of… actually no, the fifth spot went to Mario Kart Wii, while sixth, seventh and eighth went to Skyward Sword, an ABBA dancing game and “Now! That’s What I Call Music: Dance and Sing”.

As a Nintendo fan who grew … Continue Reading

Two versions of platforming classic Prince of Persia will be re-released this week, Nintendo has announced.

Wii fans can download Prince of Persia’s SNES incarnation from Thursday. And 3DS owners will be offered the Game Boy Color version on the same day.

The Prince’s Game Boy Color appearance was back in 1999. This week on 3DS the game will cost £4.50/€5.

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The Nintendo 3DS has “turned the corner” following a shaky launch and early price cut, so says games industry analyst Michael Pachter.

Following news earlier this week that the system has passed the four million sales mark in the US faster than the Wii did, the Wedbush Morgan mouthpiece told Eurogamer that, though he was surprised the system didn’t take off at its original pricepoint, sales are now well and truly back on track.

“It’s very successful, but ran into a headwind given its relatively high price – which I incorrectly thought was the right price – and … Continue Reading

Xenoblade Chronicles isn’t the best-made game released this year. It’s not quite my personal favourite, either. It’s not the greatest role-playing game in what was surely a banner year for the genre; nor is it the most exciting new game from Japan or the most welcome comeback. It’s not even the best Wii game of 2011. But it was something none of those games were: a lovely surprise.

We should have known better. It had been well received on its domestic release last year. So was it xenophobia that had led us … Continue Reading

Did you know that there’s a new Mission: Impossible film out this Christmas? I had no idea until the other day. I assume they must have masses of advertising running for that on TV, in cinemas, online and “outdoors” (I eventually spotted it on a train station poster), but despite spending most of my life hanging off the digital world like a conjoined foetus, somehow its existence had passed me by.

So that’s something to say for video games in 2011, because if nothing else they have been very noticeable. Professional footballers spend their Saturday afternoons sprinting across … Continue Reading

A fix for a game-breaking bug in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword that prevents some players from progressing past a certain point in the story has gone live in Japan.

According to Andriasang, as of today, Japanese Wii owners can download something called the Zelda Data Restoration Channel.

Once it’s downloaded you just have to boot it up and follow the instructions to patch up the game.

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