Author Profile
James started his career in video games as News Editor on Nintendo Life. Since leaving in 2012 to join Nintendo of Europe, James has risen through the ranks to become NoE's Senior Product PR & Corporate Communications Manager.
Interview Senile Team - Rush Rush Rally Racing
Racing to answer
Tomorrow sees the European release of Rush Rush Rally Racing (R4) for WiiWare, nearly 18 months after it was first announced. We sat down with developer Senile Team's Jeroen and Roel van Mastbergen to talk racers, future releases and WiiWare. Nintendo Life: Firstly, please introduce yourself to our readers. Senile Team: Hi readers!...
News Kid Icarus: Uprising Development Landed on Wii, Briefly
Took in PC too
Masahiro Sakurai started work on Kid Icarus: Uprising so long ago there weren't even 3DS development kits, according to a new Iwata Asks. Sakurai told Nintendo president Satoru Iwata that his Project Sora team made do with the other hardware available, including Wii: At first we didn’t have the Nintendo 3DS development kit, so we...
News Bowser and Friends Confirmed for Wreck-It Ralph
Roar power
Upcoming Disney animated film Wreck-It Ralph will feature a cameo from the Koopa King himself. Bowser will appear in the movie, due out in November, alongside an unnamed ghost from Pac-Man (we're hoping for Clyde). We don't know how the two fit in, but previous reports suggested a panel of villains — including Dr. Eggman — would...
News Nicalis Expects VVVVVV to Reach Europe in Early May
NightSky in summer
The anguished cries ring out all over Europe. "When will we get VVVVVV?". Nicalis' Tyrone Rodriguez says "soon". Speaking at the IDEAM event in Spain — the same event where he announced 1001 Spikes for 3DS and Wii U — Rodriguez said European 3DS owners should get VVVVVV in "early May". North...
News MDK2 Dev Will Never Develop for Nintendo Again
Beamdog out
BioWare's MDK2 was ported to WiiWare by independent studio Beamdog, but you won't be seeing that name on any other Nintendo formats in the future, according to studio president Trent Oster. Asked on Twitter if Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition could come to Wii U, Oster's response was... less than positive: We don't do Nintendo...
News Camelot Justifies No RPG Mode in Mario Tennis Open
It's not you, it's Mii
Unlike most portable Mario sports titles, there's no roleplaying mode in Mario Tennis Open. Nintendo Power asked Hiroyuki Takahashi, one half of Camelot's boss brothers, about the omission. Takahashi explained that this time around, Camelot was trying to create a console-quality experience with features like online play and...
News We'll Finally See Pikmin 3 at This Year's E3
Plucky for you
It seems ages since we first heard about Pikmin 3, doesn't it? Shigeru Miyamoto apologised for its no show way back at E3 2010, and it was the same at last year's show. There'll be no such apology this year, as Nintendo confirms we will see Pikmin 3 in June. The Wii U threequel will be the first HD entry in the series, but other than...
News Mario Wii U "Based On" New Super Mario Bros. Mii
Crowd pleaser
The Super Mario Bros. game for Wii U that Shigeru Miyamoto teased yesterday will be based on last year's New Super Mario Bros. Mii experience, Nintendo has confirmed. A representative told Kotaku: In a recent interview, Mr. Miyamoto confirmed that a new Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii
News Super Mario World Music Video Crams In a Marimba
Everyone likes a marimba
You're probably thinking you've heard every imaginable variation on every single Super Mario theme, jingle and ditty, but this Super Mario World overworld theme contains a marimba and a melodica. It's also pretty good. The list of instruments in Adam Mormolstein's video might even eclipse the number of levels in Mario's...
Feature Super Mario on Wii U - Crowd Pleaser or Game Changer?
The plumber's conundrum
The news that Shigeru Miyamoto will show off Super Mario Bros. on Wii U at E3 is more or less confirmation of what we all expected. When 3DS faltered many said Nintendo needed to show the way with a Mario game, and Super Mario 3D Land's Christmas appearance gave the console a big shot in the arm, becoming its first...
News Miyamoto Working on "Small, Important" Wii U Projects
Fingers in many pies
Shigeru Miyamoto must be a busy man. When he's not saying Angry Birds would have been better on DS or having weird game ideas, he's actually working. At the moment, Miyamoto is juggling several projects, including a few for Wii U. Speaking to El Mundo in the same interview he used to confirm
Review Super Street Fighter II (Wii Virtual Console / Mega Drive)
Online, but off-base?
It's taken five and a half years for an online Street Fighter game to reach Wii. In that time, Xbox 360 and PS3 owners have had five different SF online titles — six, if you count Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Heck, even 3DS has Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition. Wii owners, for their sins, get an online-enabled...
Interview Ludosity - Alien Chaos 3D
Signs of intelligent life
Developer Ludosity and publisher Reef Entertainment just revealed a new 3DS download game for Europe called Alien Chaos 3D, so we tracked down the developer and convinced it to spill the beans on its upcoming eShop shooter. Nintendo Life: First of all, can you tell us a little bit more about the Ludosity studio? Ludosity:...
News eShop Goes Cheap with Bird Mania 3D
Project $2
eShop game pricing is a hot topic — is $6 too much for a downloadable game? Should the store offer much shorter games for much less? Whatever your thoughts, empirical evidence shows Bird Mania 3D is the cheapest game to hit the 3DS yet. At $1.99 it costs less than any Virtual Console game and is on par with the cheapest DSiWare, which...
News BiP's Vikings to Invade 3DS eShop
To the towers!
DSiWare tower defence game Viking Invasion got in there before the genre hit market saturation on DSi. Publisher BiP Media is lining up a second attack wave, this time heading toward the 3DS eShop, with Viking Invasion 2: Olaf's Return. Pockett.net has the exclusive on the title, with new weapons, tower types and divine powers to put...
News Miyamoto to Show Wii U Mario at E3
But in what form?
Update: A Nintendo spokesperson has confirmed to Eurogamer.net that Nintendo will show off a Super Mario Bros. game for Wii U at E3. According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, we'll see the first Super Mario game for Wii U at E3 this year. A translation of the original story sees Shigeru Miyamoto telling the news
News Alien Chaos 3D to Clean Up eShop This Summer
Place your hands, Europe
Reef Entertainment has revealed its first 3DS eShop title, Alien Chaos 3D, due to hit Europe this summer. A semi-sequel to Xbox Live Indie game Mama and Son Clean House, the digital download combines shooting with cleaning over the course of five worlds and 30 stages. We've got the first screenshots below, and come back...
News Nicalis Announces 1001 Spikes for Wii U and 3DS eShop
Due this year
Nicalis is still putting the finishing touches to its WiiWare translation of La-Mulana, but it's already announced its next project, 1,001 Spikes for digital release on Wii U and 3DS. Like La-Mulana and Cave Story, 1,001 Spikes is a retro-styled platformer that started life elsewhere, in this case as Xbox Live Indie game Aban Hawkins...
News First Pokémon Black & White 2 Footage Revealed
Unova drill
Japanese show Pokémon Smash led with the first gameplay footage of Pokémon Black & White 2 this past weekend, showing the newly frosty Unova in motion. In the trailer below you can see new areas, trainers, gym leaders and much more. It's pretty exciting. Pokémon Black & White 2 is due out in Japan in June, and we'll get it a...
Nintendo Download 19th April 2012 (Europe)
Colors!, Rush Rush, paid video and more
Europe gets its first taste of paid-for 3D video this week, alongside an art application and a WiiWare racer. Here's what's under starter's orders for this week. 3DS Download Software: Colors! 3D (Collecting Smiles, 231 blocks, £5.40/€6) — An excellent addition to the 3DS suite of creative tools, find out...
News 8-Bit + 6 String = NES Guitar
Making beautiful music
You can play a lot on an NES, but you know what you can't play on it? Stairway to Heaven. You could end all that injustice with an NES guitar. Get Lo-Fi (via This Is Why I'm Broke) makes and sells various configurations of the guitars — single coil pick-ups and rosewood or maple neck will set you back $155, while humbuckers...
News Double Spooky Photo Action Hits Europe on 29th June
Wii and 3DS owners beware
Nintendo's planning a double dose of ghostly goings-on on 29th June, as augmented reality fright fest Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir and Wii spooker Project Zero 2: Wii Edition will both reach Europe. Nintendo UK slipped the Wii release date at the bottom of a press release about Spirit Camera — out today in North...
News Nintendo Back in the GAME with Pandora's Tower
Back to business
Pandora's Tower is the first Nintendo-published game to come back to the newly reformed GAME. The Wii action RPG is available online for £49.99, with GAME claiming it's "very limited and the last print run." GAME hasn't stocked a Nintendo-published or distributed title since Resident Evil Revelations way back in January,...
News Club Nintendo Europe Gives Coins for JRPG Trilogy
Commemorative coins, we mean
With Pandora's Tower out in Europe today, the so-called Operation Rainfall trilogy is complete. Register all three games — Pandora's Tower, Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story — in Club Nintendo and you could get a nice surprise. Nintendo Lee (no relation) states Nintendo Europe is offering a commemo
