News Cut the Rope to Slice Up EU DSiWare on 22nd September
When it comes to quality downloads, will this make the cut?
Among the best-received iOS titles is Cut the Rope, which represents along with others like Angry Birds that quality gaming is possible on smartphones, iPads and the like. We've just learned via the European Nintendo Channel that it's heading to DSiWare on 22nd September from Chillingo for...
News Horizon Riders to Shoot Up NA WiiWare on 6th October
Sabarasa's rail shooter gets a release date
It's been over a year since we've heard anything about WiiWare rail shooter Horizon Riders, but we've just uncovered a North American date of 6th October via its official page on Nintendo.com. You can learn more about the game, which earlier was confirmed to support the Balance Board and Wii Zapper...
News Nintendo Plans a Rosy Future for DSi XL
Metallic Rose colour to premiere this month in North America
Have you found yourself wishing that you could finally buy that DSi XL if it only were available in your favourite colour? If that colour is metallic pink, you're in luck, as Nintendo recently announced its plans to release such a device on 18th September. The DSi XL, of course, is like...
Interview Tanukii Studios - Go! Go! Kokopolo and Beyond
We sit down with the sole member of the young DSiWare dev
Here at Nintendo Life, two things we love are creative independent developers and unique game designs. One great example of the latter is the recently released Go! Go! Kokopolo, a quirky, challenging downloadable title that hit the DSi Shop a little while ago and scored an 8/10 in our Go! Go!...
Talking Point The Future of No-Frills Emulation on the eShop
Why should it stop with the Ambassador scheme?
Before the Virtual Console, emulators provided the only way that people could relive their favourite gaming experiences of years past. Allowing players to download "rom" files and load them onto their personal computers and other platforms, their only real legal application is to allow those...
Review Trenches Generals (WiiWare)
Fun with guns or suicide mission?
The blood. The smoke. The little exploding cartoon men. War is Hell. Recreating the feel of battle with a cartoony spin is Trenches Generals, the latest spin on the tower defence subgenre, updated from the recent iOS version for WiiWare with updated AI, levelling-up system, content and more. But is this an explosive...
Talking Point The Five Remaining GBA Ambassador Games
What could they be?
With the NES half of the Ambassador titles hitting the eShop last week, it's only a matter of time before the ten Game Boy Advance games launch. So far Nintendo has announced only half: Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, Mario vs. Donkey Kong and WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$...
News North American NES Ambassador Games Announced
Same as Japan's
In just two days, early 3DS adopters will have the chance to download 10 free NES games from the eShop with an additional 10 Game Boy Advance titles to follow later in the year. We announced the Japanese Ambassador titles earlier, and now Nintendo has published the North American list as well. No surprises here; in fact, the...
A bit of a fixer-upper
The year was 2008. Mario and Sonic were on their way to the Olympic Games, the 3DS was but a twinkle in Satoru Iwata's eye and the housing bubble was on its way to bursting. You wouldn't know that last fact, however, from MumboJumbo's 2008 real estate celebration Build-a-lot, a retail DS adaptation of HipSoft's 2007 PC game of...
Review My Asian Farm (DSiWare)
Enter Old McDonald-San
Farming comes in many forms. Sometimes it's exotic. Sometimes it's Australian. And sometimes it's just regular, old-fashioned farming. But nothing you've seen in this DSiWare series, consisting of split-up portions of 2009's retail release My Farm Around the World, could have prepared you for this: My Asian Farm, featuring
Interview Firemint - Flight Control (WiiWare)
We talk about the newest iteration of the up-and-coming developer's popular IP
After conquering the iOS, DSiWare and even PlayStation Move platforms, Firemint's addictive air traffic control-based Flight Control is landing today on WiiWare in Europe and North America. We sat down with Writer and Media Liaison Logan Booker to talk about the...
Talking Point What If Nintendo Became a Third Party?
And would it prove a wise move to embrace the smartphone?
It's no secret that the 3DS sold far below expectations, even after Nintendo wowed us at E3 and promised to clean up its online act. Many are going as far as to suggest that the Ambassador programme and slashed pricing is as good as a death knell, while investors argue that Ninty should do...
News Zelda: Skyward Sword Soars to North America 20th November
Your next epic Wii game lands in just over three months
Hot on the heels of Nintendo's 18th November announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's European release comes the North American date: just two days later on 20th November. You can now pre-order the game and read more about it below in the full press release. Nintendo’s...
News Horse Around with This Sims 3 Pets Trailer
Warning: dangerous levels of cuteness
The Sims 3 certainly suffered in its transition to the 3DS, but hopefully EA will fix those issues with the follow-up, The Sims 3 Pets. The company has just released a trailer at Gamescom, and while it contains footage likely exclusively from the Xbox 360, PS3 or PC versions, it should still give you an idea of...
Talking Point How Much Fan Influence Should Game Studios Allow?
What's the magic formula?
There was a time not too long ago when the origins of the games we play were somewhat mysterious. We knew the company names and could view credit sequences until the cows came home and magazine readers could gain some extra insight, but by and large the thought processes, discarded ideas and development stages that went...
Review Play & Learn Spanish (DSiWare)
¿Plus ultra?
A good pocket translator can cost hundreds of dollars, so it's no surprise that some smart software studios would see an incentive in offering DSi and 3DS owners an affordable alternative. So far we've only seen the average 4 TRAVELLERS – Play Spanish on the service, so it's good to see a challenger appear. But is this a helpful...
Dog's dinner
With Go Fetch!, ICM took the simple activity of playing fetch with a puppy and added a timer, health bar and obstacles to create a unique racing game-esque experience that was unfortunately let down by imprecise controls, lack of depth and repetitiveness. The developer doggedly returned to the drawing board to remedy these issues and...
Review Captain America: Super Soldier (DS)
Save the fireworks
Stars. Stripes. Rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air. Deer and antelope playing. America. The United States is a country with enough national pride to fuel a superhero, and that's exactly what Captain America is all about. Does his movie tie-in handheld outing Captain America: Super Soldier channel these well enough to...
Review My Australian Farm (DSiWare)
You call that a farm? THIS is a farm
Ahh, life on the farm. The sweet taste of buffalo milk, sheep and crocodiles playing together... OK, perhaps My Australian Farm isn't the most realistic agricultural simulator, but at least it makes for a decent money-management time-waster. This, along with My Farm, My Exotic Farm and the upcoming My Asian Farm,...
Review Burn the Rope (WiiWare)
A game that'll rope you in
Step one: create a simple, fun and addictive activity. Step two: throw in an interesting twist. Step three: build on that foundation with something that adds variation and challenge while channelling the essence of what makes it fun. These are the steps to making a great puzzle game, and it's that first task at which many...
Too little, too late
What do Arzest, ChunSoft, Good-Feel Co, Mitchell Corporation, Prope, Skip Ltd, Vanpool, NdCUBE and Nintendo have in common? They all worked as developers on Wii Play: Motion, which acts as a companion to the Wii Remote Plus. It also serves as a sequel to Wii Play, a compilation largely criticised for its mediocre mix of...
Review Bobby Carrot Forever (WiiWare)
At last
Few titles have successfully combined the puzzler and adventure genres like Chip's Challenge and its ilk. Bobby Carrot Forever is one such derivative, removing the Sokoban-influenced box-pushing and building on a foundation of collectible items and manually-set traps. But is it good enough to make you hop or would Bobby have been better off...
News Amazon Suspends 3DS Sales
Update: All is well
Second Update: The 3DS is back on sale at Amazon, with no explanation of how the problem was solved. As you were, then. First Update: An Amazon representative had this to say on the matter: “The reason why this is under a review : The flip-screen is loose when its opened, please inform them that Nintendo has confirmed as long...
News Aonuma Opens a Treasure Chest of Skyward Sword Details
Dun-dun-dun-dunnnn!
In a recent interview, veteran Nintendo developer Eiji Aonuma revealed some interesting details about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, on which he's currently working. If you're not a fan of spoilers stop reading now! Ganon, Link's adversary since the early days, will not appear in the game. In fact, the odd-looking Lord...
