'Ordinary' services should be free
Satoru Iwata has recently chaired the latest Nintendo Shareholder's AGM, and as expected faced some tough questions about the future of the company and its plans. One subject that came up was online services, primarily whether the enhanced functionality on Wii U and the developing role of Nintendo Network on 3DS...
Is anyone surprised?
It's a fairly common perception that Nintendo is typically happy to reproduce its existing IPs rather than develop new characters or franchises. That theory was put to the test over at Gamespot, where the numbers of new franchises per year were calculated for Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3, restricted to each company's own developed or...
Mario returns with an uncharacteristic greed
When Nintendo announced New Super Mario Bros. 2, reactions were certainly mixed. Many greeted the news with immediate excitement and anticipation, whereas others were less enthusiastic about what they felt to be underwhelming news of a predictable sequel. Whichever side of the argument you fall on,...
Fan service
The Last Story finally hits North America this month, so it's a good time to learn a little more about the game's development. This documentary by French site Sidekick.fr explains more about Mistwalker's background, The Last Story's original concept as a much darker game called Lost World and more. It's well researched and slick, and...
Conquers all
June wasn't a great month for game releases it must be said, but the long-awaited arrival of Pokémon Conquest netted it our Game of the Month award in June. A blend of Japanese strategy series Nobunaga's Ambition and Nintendo's beloved pocket monsters, it straddles the middle ground between the two RPG approaches, creating something...
Meet Duncan Orrell-Jones
To show it's serious about a digital future, Nintendo of America has created a role — senior vice president of network business — and appointed Duncan Orrell-Jones to the new position. Orrell-Jones will lead the company's digital strategy for 3DS and Wii U in North America, reporting directly to Nintendo of America...
The timing is both predictable and strange
The upcoming release of 3DS XL, the sizeable update to the original model, is hardly a surprise. Nintendo has constantly iterated its handhelds in an effort to attract more consumers and, to put it bluntly, make a lot of money: we can’t even argue that the XL is arriving earlier than expected, as the...
One love
This week sees the start of Wimbledon, and with Mario Tennis Open only a month old Nintendo's combined the two in infographic format. The official series history starts from 3D sports game Mario's Tennis and ends with... 3D sports game Mario Tennis Open. Weird. It's a bit confusing, though: it mentions Mario Tennis in 2004, presumably...
Don't worry, he still loves you
Reggie Fils-Aime was a busy man during E3, leading Nintendo's main press conference and persistently spreading the word about Wii U and 3DS. As is expected, a lot of what was said was towing the company line, but in a more relaxed exchange with Kotaku, the Nintendo of America boss shared his views on the expectation...
No blue in Nintendo's homeland
Now that the new 3DS XL has been announced, Nintendo has wasted little time in launching an official website in Japan. Interestingly, Japan has red + black and silver + black models, like Europe and North America, but doesn't have the blue + black version, opting instead for an all-white console. The all-white version...
Expect prices 'ASAP'
One of the interesting announcements in the 3DS XL reveal today was a price-point of $199 in the U.S., a fairly good price considering that the original model cost $250 in March 2011. Nintendo did have to learn a cruel lesson that the original launch price wouldn't sell enough units, prompting a major reduction just months after...
Hats off
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is coming to Europe and North America later this year, and we have a teaser trailer to show more of Herschel and Luke's adventures. It's worth watching not just for the always impeccable animation quality and atmosphere, but because you get to see a young Herschel Layton without his trademark top hat...
Serene mode engaged
Angry that Animal Crossing won't reach Europe until 2013 and North America until... well, who knows when? Watch this new Japanese trailer for the game and all your stress might just melt away or, perhaps, become more strongly amplified. The video shows tonnes of new touches like solar panels to install outside, new shops and...
Two new games every week
If you live in North America and you're fed up of getting the brown end of the 3DS Virtual Console stick, there's very good news on the way. From 5th July to 1st August, Nintendo will release two 3DS Virtual Console games in the eShop every week. That covers four Nintendo Downloads — 1st August is a Wednesday — so...
Lazy days
Nintendo of Europe president Satoru Shibata just confirmed two much-anticipated Nintendo 3DS titles, Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem: Awakening, will not reach 3DS until next year. Nintendo had previously announced Fire Emblem for 2012, but Shibata said Nintendo wants to work hard on developing the best games possible. Animal Crossing and...
Including the 'Cube
When Wii U is released, you'll be able to play games from each of Nintendo's home consoles thanks to a mixture of backwards compatibility and the Virtual Console. With one exception. No, not Virtual Boy. Currently GameCube has no place on Nintendo's first high definition console, that we know of: only games on systems up to...
Not as creepy as it sounds
Back to the Future Part II's vision of 2015 was an intelligent house that greeted people as they walked in. "Welcome home, Marty!" it would say. "Lord of the manor, King of the castle!" Well, this new patent application from Nintendo might lead to that mythical home of the increasingly-near future. The patent shows a...
Sales ahoy
Nintendo's signed an arrangement with Square Enix that means the Big N will handle sales, marketing and distribution for Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. KH3D:DDD is released in PAL territories on 20th July, 11 days before North American players can sample its Disney delights. Nintendo has...
Grin up north
Nintendo UK's Unleashed bandwagon rolls through Sheffield in July, but it's also trekking across the Pennines to take in Manchester this October. On 13th and 14th October, UK fans will be able to sample upcoming and recently released Nintendo titles at the Play Expo in Manchester's EventCity. Neither Nintendo nor event hosts Replay...
Pastures new
Nintendo UK general manager David Yarnton is to leave the company after nearly 20 years of service. Yarnton took the position of general manager in September 2003, steering the UK ship during the successful Wii and DS eras and overseeing the launch of 3DS last year. Before taking up the UK position Yarnton served as director of sales...
