Friday, January 31, 2014
Oddworld Retrospective Is A Nice Appetizer For The Upcoming Oddworld: New & Tasty
With multiple Oddworld games coming to the Wii U in 2014, it's time to get fans up to speed on this excellent series which never truly gained the success it deserved (you can blame Microsoft and EA for the early demise of the series). Now that Oddworld Inhabitants has gone indie, we are seeing the rebirth that Oddworld has long needed and old school fans are coming out in support of the classic games that started it all. YouTuber and Oddworld fanatic Caddicarus has crafted his own personal multi part Oddworld Retrospective that is sure to help even the most passive fans hyped for the upcoming games. Enjoy!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Zelda Four Swords Anniversary Edition Back On 3DS eShop For FREE Until February 2nd!
Back in 2011, Nintendo celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda with a variety of games and special offers that included music CD's, a special Wii Remote and a free game for 3DS & DSi owners. The free game was The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition, an enhanced port of the GameBoy Advance original released back in 2002. It was a unique game that introduced multiplayer to the Zelda series for the first time and would pave the way for other Four Swords games such as The Minish Cap.
The enhanced Four Swords Anniversary Edition adds in an option for single player gameplay as well as a few new levels based on classic Zelda titles like Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past. When it was originally released, 3DS owners could download the game for free until February 2012 which meant that Zelda fans who purchased their 3DS after that date were out of luck. Fortunately, to celebrate the release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Wii U virtual console (which launched today), Nintendo has made the game available once again on the 3DS eShop until February 2nd. Put simply, if you own a 3DS or 2DS, go to the eShop and download your free game as soon as possible. Enjoy!
The enhanced Four Swords Anniversary Edition adds in an option for single player gameplay as well as a few new levels based on classic Zelda titles like Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past. When it was originally released, 3DS owners could download the game for free until February 2012 which meant that Zelda fans who purchased their 3DS after that date were out of luck. Fortunately, to celebrate the release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Wii U virtual console (which launched today), Nintendo has made the game available once again on the 3DS eShop until February 2nd. Put simply, if you own a 3DS or 2DS, go to the eShop and download your free game as soon as possible. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Wii U Indie Developers Sound Off On Their Upcoming Games
With all of the recent negative press surrounding Nintendo and the Wii U, many indie developers have come out in full support of the machine. While Sony would have you believe that the PS4 is the indie console of choice, nothing could be further from the truth as the Wii U is hands down the indie games king when it comes to the big three. Fortunately, Nintendo Enthusiast reached out to the many indie developers who have games scheduled for the Wii U to find out the status of their games and Nintendo fans are in for a treat. Enjoy!
Armillo (FuzzyWuzzy Games) - Game Trailer
“Still working mostly on polish, non-interactive sequences, final level work, and a few remaining features. Also getting a press demo prepared. We’re targeting a release on the eShop on March 24, 2014 *crosses fingers*”Assault Android Cactus (Witch Beam) - Game Trailer
- Armillo himself
“Our initial goal was to have the PC version finished in 2013 and the Wii U edition out shortly after that, but here we are in January and still working hard to finish the PC version. I’d say mid year is a safer bet now - we want to take the time to do things right with the Gamepad and Miiverse features.”Blok Drop U (RCMADIAX) - Game Trailer
- Sanatana Mishra
“BLOK DROP U was submitted to NOA in January and is undergoing final testing.”Cubemen 2 (3Sprockets) - Game Trailer
- Mike Aschenbrenner
“We are finally done, submitting next week!" (Week beginning 27/01/14)ittle Dew (Ludosity) - Game Trailer
- Seon Rozenblum
“Good news on the Wii U version, we’re submitting this week!” (Week beginning 20/01/14)Monkey Pirates (Henchmen Studio) - Game Trailer
- Joel Nystrom
“We’re on our way, the game is finished and we extended the release to include North American territories. We’ve also completed a new Wii U exclusive game mode! It’s called sea king, and it uses the asymmetrical game play features of the Wii U Gamepad”Pier Solar and the Great Architects HD - Game Trailer
- Christophe Siccardi
“We’re about to enter the beta test. The engine is practically finished, the major thing now is to finalize the HD assets.”Q.U.B.E: Director’s Cut (Toxic Games) - Game Trailer
- Watermelon Spokesperson
“We’re currently looking to launch in April time as things have gotten a bit delayed.”Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games) - Game Trailer
- Dan Da Rocha
"Shovel Knight running on the Wii U was one of the major focuses of the project from the beginning, especially in getting it to work on the game pad with off-screen play. We’ve had that set up for a while now and it’s always cool to boot up the WiiU and see Shovel Knight diggin up dirt and bouncin on dudes running at a full 60 FPS on that little gamepad! It’s so good that I want everyone to see it! Sadly, we’ll have to wait until March 31st for that to happen. But that’s right around the corner; I can’t wait!!!"Super Ubie Island (Team Notion) - Game Trailer
- Nick Wozniak
“We are planning to release within the next 6 months. Things have set us back a little bit because we have to really test out the Wii U build and make sure everything is solid.”Tengami (Nyamyam) - Game Trailer
- Andrew Augustin
“We are in in the final stretches of having the complete game together. After that we will look at the Wii U specific features we would like to include, like for example Miiverse integration. I think we are about 3-4 months off from submitting to Nintendo for certification.”Teslagrad (Rain AG) - Game Trailer
- Jennifer Schneidereit
“Giving an exact date makes me nervous, but ill be able to confirm a date soon”Another Castle (Uncade) - Game Trailer
- Peter Medahl
"You should be seeing Another Castle on the eShop later this year. Sorry I can’t be more specific. A lot of the timing will depend on feedback based on the alpha of the game, which I’ll be releasing next week and updating throughout the year. I’m treating the development of the game as an iterative process, and letting the design evolve naturally as I work on updates. This unfortunately makes it a bit difficult to pinpoint when I’ll feel the game is a complete project, with later work considered bonus content."Forced (Beta Dwarf) - Game Trailer
- David
"Since we launched Forced for PC, Mac and Linux in October, a lot of our resources have been tied down bug fixing. We have decided to make sure that every one of our existing users can enjoy Forced at it’s best, before committing resources to getting additional users on board through a Wii U version."March of War (ISOTX) - Game Trailer
"We still love the platform and once we are able to free up resources we will look at porting to Wii U. On the upside, this will also mean the Wii U version will feature most of the improvements and extra content, that we have added to Forced since launch."
- Jesper Kristiansen
“Unfortunately it’s not going very well at ISOTX. They had to cut back and let go a lot of people. Now they focus, with a smaller team, on completing March of War for iOS and getting out of Steam Early Access”.Project Aguraki (Enjoy Up!) - Game Trailer
- Jeroen Roding
“About Aguraki, the estimated release date is Q4 2014 on WiiU”Pure Chess (Voofoo/Ripstone) - Game Trailer
- Julio Moruno
"I can’t give you an exact release date for Pure Chess as yet sadly, but I can tell you that we will be making an announcement within the next couple of weeks."
- Ami Langton
Source
Stick It To The Man Coming To Wii U Care Of Ripstone
The surreal puzzle platform adventure game known as Stick it to the Man is planned to come to the Wii U eShop. The game has a bizarrely gorgeous art style which is sure to make fans of Psychonauts and 90's animation squeal with delight. Stick it to the Man has been released for Steam and Sony consoles and received excellent review scores and should be a great addition to the Wii U eShop. While not officially announced, the German ratings board outed the game recently also revealing that Ripstone is handling the port. Enjoy!
Nintendo President And Other Staff Taking Pay Cut To Offset Losses
People often wonder what inspires such fierce loyalty among Nintendo fans when it comes to the Big N. While some would attribute this purely to nostalgia for their games and characters, there is something deeper that sets the company apart from its purely profit driven contemporaries. One particular aspect of the company that would surely turn the stomach of many American businessmen is the willingness of Nintendo's top brass to take a hit for the good of the company.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is having his pay cut by 50% to help offset losses experienced by the company due to weak sales of the Wii U in 2013. In addition to Mr. Iwata, two other representative directors, Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto, will be taking a 30% cut. All other board directors, including Tatsumi Kimishima, Kaoru Takemura, Shigeyuki Takahashi, Satoshi Yamato, Susumu Tanaka, Shinya Takahashi, and Hirokazu Shinshi, will take a 20% reduction. The cut goes into effect in February and will continue until June at which point, a salary decision will be made depending on how the company is performing. It should be noted that Satoru Iwata took the same action back in 2011 when the 3DS was struggling to gain traction and we all know how that turned out.
Nintendo has earned its fan loyalty in many ways and honorable business practices such as this speaks volumes about their integrity. It's entirely possible we may see a turnaround for the Wii U in 2014 similar to the 3DS and leadership like Mr. Iwata's will help make that possible.
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