We all know video games are a large part of our culture; however, it is still becoming to see a marching band do a tribute to games such as this. If we could get better camera men to record such events, we would be all set. Enjoy!
Today Nintendo announced a number of great things for owners of Wii U and 3DS systems. So lets just jump straight into everything.
First of all a new Legend of Zelda game is coming to the 3DS. This is going to take place in the Link to the Past universe. This game will allow Link to become a drawing and move along walls as well as use the 3D abilities of the 3DS. It is expected to come out this holiday season. Also coming to the 3DS in the Zelda universe is The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons. These two games are interconnected so playing one game will unlock secrets in the other game. Expect these to hit May 30.
Have you ever wondered what it would look like if some people with too much time on their hands arranged 30,000 dominoes into Nintendo shapes and then set them all off? Me neither, but that does not mean that someone did not do it, and here is the video as proof.
So it was announced this morning that the US is going to get the limited edition Legend of Zelda 3DS bundle starting November 24th for $199. In addition to this we are alao getting a Super Mario Bros version to pick from. That is right, we get not one but two options to waste our hard earned money. Images of the systems will follow later, but which system do you prefer?
As promised, here are the pictures.
So what do we have here? Well it looks like a new bundle for the Nintendo Wii. It appears to have a black Wii system that is set to sit sideways. We have the "New Super Mario Bros Wii", a Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack, and black Wii-Motion Plus with Nunchuck. This is all coming out for $149.99 on October 23. Now be warned though, this system does sacrifice a function that many have loved. This new system does not support the Gamecube or it's accessories. So no "Super Smash Bros Melee" with a Gamecube controller.
This does not mean they are fully removing backward compatibility (yet). They are going to continue selling the Mario Kart Bundle for the same price. So if you have any Gamecube accessories laying around, for the old bundle, otherwise this new bundle looks pretty nice.
You can check out the full press release after the jump.
So for a long time the thing to do in older video games was to beat a game in as little time as possible. This usually meant running recklessly through an area, making sure not to die and that you are powered up. Well that pursuit has become boring and stale. So how does one come up with new ways to challenge themselves to our old favorites? They go for record low scores!
Now you may think that this would be easy, and you would be wrong, dead wrong. This means (in the case of Super Mario Bros) you have to skip every question block, every enemy must live(except for the last Bowser), you cannot get any coins, and you have to finish levels with no time on the clock. So lets give NotEntirelySure a hearty congratulations for his grand achievement in sub-par gaming!
The Nintendo DS Lite, despite being now at least two iterations behind, is getting a price drop. The system priced formally around $129.99 will have the MSRP dropped to $99.99 as of June 5. So just in case you missed getting a DS Lite when it came out in September of 2009 you can now get it for a reduced prince, if you can find it.
Now for the more relevant part of this entry. Six Mario games are going to get custom red packaging to make them easier to spot for consumers. New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Party DS, Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story, and Mario vs. Donky Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem will all have special red packaging. The plan on this is to make the games stand out a bit more then they already do, seeing as they say Mario on them and have Mario's picture. But these are supposed to also mark fan favorites based on sales, so it works.
So I am sure that there is some actual news at there that I could report on. I could mock the PSN some more, maybe further speculation on Project Cafe, or even randomly speculate on Microsoft's next console. But that is not what I am going to do on todays post. I have not gotten around to posting (or writing) my Portal 2 review, but I did find these portal related videos. Do they give me some leway on the review until I can play the co-op portion?
PORTAL KOMBAT
Mario Meets Portal 2
So according to the NPD group the Nintendo Wii™ sold more then 454,000 consoles in February. Why does this matter whatsoever? This caused Nintendo to cross the 35 million console mark here in the United States on these console sales. This is kinda impressive since they no longer have the distinction of being the only system with a motion controller gimick and so few good games coming out every year for it. Heck the press release stated that the two biggest selling games for them was Donkey Kong Country™ Returns and from November 2010 at 554,000 units and New Super Mario Bros™ Wii from November 2009 which just crossed the 8 million unit mark.
Maybe since they are about the launch the 3DS we will see more attention paid to the Wii as they don't have to split their focus as badly. We can only hope, but most likely The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword will be enough to carry them into the next year.
So Nintendo had their big thing at GDC today (which was mostly over shadowed by some blasted fruit companies announcement) and it focused mostly on the 3DS. There was some mention of Zelda: Skyward Sword, but the main focus on this was the Nintendo 3DS which comes out the last week of this month.
Reggie Fils-Aime announces Netflix
The focus seemed to be what you are going to get out of your handheld besides your 3D cartridge based games. One thing they mentioned is that at the end of May 3DS owners will be able to connect to more then 10,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots free of charge, which is very important to their ends goals. This make the systems SpotPass™ more usefull in the geographically wide United States as it will all you to connect to both user via local connections and users around the country in restaurants, book stores, coffee shops and airports.
The hotspots will also allow users to stream 3D movie trailers to their devices via a short-form video service, so you can watch the Green Lantern trailer in 3D in your hands without pesky glasses. Along with this comes Netflix integration. Yes it seems like anything that can show video (except Android devices so far) are getting Netflix and the 3DS is no exception. Although so far it looks like you are limited to movies in the boring old 2D, you won't have to waste your data plan to watch something while sitting at Starbucks.
The last thing they plan use all this network coverage for is the Nintendo eShop available at the end of May as well. This is going to function like the Nintendo WiiWare store including classic games (whatever that defines) redone in 3D, DSiWare games, games from the Game Boy™, Game Boy™ Color, Game Gear and TurboGrafx-16, along with the afformentioned video service. Say, why do we focus so much on games that are 15+ years old? Must be that whole nostalgia thing kicking in.
Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo Co. Ltd., announces Super Mario in 3D for the Nintendo 3DSThen the main thing people (or at least myself) wanted to know is what other first-party games are coming out. TheyTo this they announced that a 3D (GASP) Super Mario Bros game will come to the DS. Including old style Mario mechanics it will be made by the Super Mario Galaxy team. So the game looks like it will be in safe hands. The downside is it will not be a launch title for the system.
And there we have it, the 3DS is coming and Nintendo is trying to give you as much as they can for $249.99 without making the thing a smart phone / tablet. Now lets see if it pans out for them, shall we?
