Confirmed, and looks better than ever.

For anyone wanting a new 3DS this Nintendo standard color (SNES, Gameboy Color, Advance and Gamecube) is the way to go, imo.

http://kotaku.com/5906236/customize-the-look-of-your-3ds-with-a-whole-new-midnight-purple-3ds

Where art thou? Well, no need to be too greedy, but I want the cobalt blue!

Purple is Nintendo for me.

When old magazines color coded (EGM, mostly) the systems, nintendo always had purple. (except the so so n64 green)

SNES was purple
GB was purple
GBA was purple
GC was purple

So, I think americans got the better deal here, purple is much better than white or blue, imo! Now, if we're talking about special editions...

Really gorgeous, if it releases in Europe I might be tempted. No way I would buy an american console - no Inazuma Eleven :)

The Weekend is over! The long oppression and censorship of Gaming news has ended! So after saying that, here is your local news.

Time Travelers releasing in June or July

April 30th, 2012 Posted in 3DS, News, Posted by Valay

In February, composer Hideki Sakamoto tweeted that Time Travelers would arrive in early summer. A new pamphlet from Nintendo gives credence to his message.

The pamphlet includes games expected to ship in June/July. Each entry lists a specific release date… except Time Travelers.

In any case, it seems as though Level-5 will launch Time Travelers within the first two months of summer.

Source

Harvest Moon: The Tale Of Two Towns preview

With a "cluck cluck" here and a "press A to continue" there

This is one of those titles that sticks to a philosophy of not fixing what ain't broken, because for some reason people will keep buying them. The Tale Of Two Towns is the nineteenth Harvest Moon game since the series launched way back in 1996 and this time, while much remains the same, there's at least one big decision you'll have to make that shakes things up substantially.

This 3DS game begins with your little farmer chap turning up at a new island (you get to name it) and encountering the leaders of two different towns, Konohana and Bluebell. These have had a bit of a falling out and the reason will chill you to the bone. They disagree on farming techniques.

Your first big decision is whether to move to Konohana or Bluebell, the outcome determining what you'll spend the first half of the game doing.

More Farm Than Good

Bluebell is a western-type farm with thatched cottages and the like. They focus on livestock and you'll be expected to take care of the animals.

Happier animals make better produce, which means you earn more ba-ba-bling at market that can then used to buy new animals and equipment. It's pretty much that circle of life thing Elton John used to bleat on about, only without lions.

Choose to set up in Konohana, though and you won't find an animal anywhere. Instead, this Asian-style arable farm has fields as far as the eye can see, and it'll be up to you to take care of them, being sure to plant seeds, water the plants and harvest them at the right time.

The general aim is to take part in various festivals and use your skills to win the competitions there, while ultimately bringing both towns together and getting them to kiss and make up, at which point you'll be able to work on both animals and fields at the same time.

Locking away half the gameplay until much later on is a very bold move for a Harvest Moon game, but from what we've played so far, the story really helps to keep things interesting. We'll find out soon if it works out in the long run.

Epic Mickey 2: Why the Mad Doctor is the main singer

Warren Spector reveals more about Epic Mickey's music...

Warren Spector has told Official Nintendo Magazine that the main singer in Epic Mickey 2 won't be Mickey Mouse but The Mad Doctor, a villain from the original Epic Mickey game

Epic Mickey 2 has been described by the Junction Point chief as the world's first videogame musical as characters break into song during the game's cinematics.

Explaining why The Mad Doctor is the main singer, Spector said his team drew inspiration from a 1933 cartoon starring the Mad Doctor.

"There is certainly a musically thematic thing going on because the other thing that inspired us was that if you go back to the original Mad Doctor cartoon in 1933, the only time he ever has a voice in that cartoon is when he sings. I thought that was really funny so the main singer in the game is the Mad Doctor. Other characters chime in but the Mad Doctor has a personality and a voice so all the songs that he participates in have to be true to that. So I'd say there's a theme."

The game features songs by Jim Dooley and while Spector didn't tell us how many songs he's composed for the game, he did say that there are "enough that we can certainly put out a soundtrack album if Disney wants us to. I hope they do."

From what we've heard of the music during our first Epic Mickey 2 playtest, we hope they do too.

Posted Mon, 30 Apr 2012 | 16:00 BST by Thomas Whitehead

Still partying

Not better, not worse

In the coming weeks and months, it's safe to say that Satoru Iwata and the managerial team at Nintendo HQ will be monitoring the progress of UK sales, after telling investors that, for one, Mario's presence in the country is the 'smallest in the world'. It's too early for that to have changed, and the latest top 40 software charts show little movement.

The best performance from a Nintendo exclusive title is Mario & Sonic at the London Olympic Games, the Wii and 3DS title coming in at ninth, the same position as last week. Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo on DS drops one place to 16th, while Mario Party 9 goes one in the other direction to rise to 22nd: Super Mario 3D Land climbs two places to 25th, with Mario Kart 7 falling one place to 32nd.

A notable absentee, once again, is Kid Icarus: Uprising, while we've practically given up on Pandora's Tower establishing itself in the top 40. The results aren't any worse, but there's still plenty of work for Nintendo to do to improve its UK fortunes.

[via http://www.ukie.org.uk/content/ukie-week-17-2012-uk-video-games-charts" rel="external" href="http://www.ukie.org.uk/content/ukie-week-17-2012-uk-video-games-charts" target="_blank">ukie.org.uk]

Posted Mon, 30 Apr 2012 | 13:00 BST by James Newton

Been here before?

Back in the swing

PEGI just rated the original Rayman for 3DS Virtual Console.

Ubisoft released Rayman for Game Boy Color back in 2000, mixing the story of the original game with content from Rayman 2. There's already Rayman DSiWare on the eShop, but that's more faithful to the 32-bit original.

It'll be the second Ubisoft game for 3DS Virtual Console after Prince of Persia launched in January.

With Rayman Origins due for 3DS in the coming months it would make sense for the Virtual Console version to hit around the same time. Here's hoping.

Damn Ubisoft with it's Petz clones, they killed the appeal for the franchise... also waiting 6 years for a new game hasn't helped either.

@Ryan_ what do you mean with "actual" game? If you mean a full game like a Mario game then no. Not a chance. If you mean a Wii Sports/Play kind of game then yes, it's possible that they bundle the demos of last year E3 or newer ones.

@ JEMC

I mean an actual Wii U game.

In case you’ve missed the news, Nintendo is bringing out a Midnight Purple version of the 3DS in America. While it hasn’t been confirmed for the UK yet, we’re still a bit excited about seeing Nintendo embrace the colour purple again (the actual colour, not the Whoopi Goldberg film). With that in mind, we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane to see what other violet voluptuousness Nintendo has been involved with in the past. In no particular order than, here are our ten favourite purple things with Nintendo in them and that.

The GameCube
Kicking things off with a fairly obvious one is Nintendo’s little purple beauty, the GameCube. While it launched in both purple and black flavours, purple was very much the colour Nintendo secretly wanted everyone to buy. Deep down they only released the black one so that style freaks could sit it next to their big posh home theatre systems and not have it stick out like a sore thumb. Meanwhile, everyone else who didn’t care about sore thumbs gleefully purchased their purple GameCubes, jamming their thumbs in the disc lid over and over again to prove their previous point about not minding sore thumbs. In fairness, Super Smash Bros. Melee wasn’t out at that point, and it would prove to be a far more effective way to achieve the desired soreness of thumb.

Ridley
Samus’s rival has been a few different colours over the years but it’s the purple version of Ridley that was around back in the NES and SNES days and as such it’s that version we all know and love. It doesn’t matter that Ridley looks like a sort of weird pterodactyl standing in front of a magic mirror at the fairground, there’s still no denying that it’s a particularly popular character in the Metroid series. Spare a thought then for the Septogg, because nobody remembers it. The what, you say? The Septogg. It was in Metroid II on the Game Boy. You what? You don’t remember it? WE KNOW, THAT’S OUR POINT.

The Purple Rupee
How often do you get to hold a £50 note? Not often, we’ll imagine. Sure, you may have £50 in your hands or your pockets on a regular basis if you’re some sort of rowdy gangsta, but that “cheddar” is usually split into a couple of twenties and a tenner. We’re talking about a single £50 note, the pink one where if you look carefully the Queen is smiling a little bit more than usual. “You know you don’t usually hold one of these bad boys”, her smile is saying. “Enjoy it son, you’ve earned it.” Well, now you know how Link feels when he uncovers a rare Purple Rupee and gets 50 Rupees. Exactly like that. But without the Queen bit.

Sega's European and US CEO Mike Hayes is to leave the company later this year, with Euro duties being handed to Jurgen Post, current chief operating officer of the region.

Hayes joined Sega in 2004 and was involved in the acquisitions of Sports Interactive and The Creative Assembly as well as shifting the publisher into digital markets.

Full report here















                                                        

Kid Icarus: Uprising anime features return to Nintendo Video this Sunday

Apr 30, 2012 by R

If you missed out on the Kid Icarus: Uprising anime features that Nintendo Video was housing, you're in luck. Nintendo has sent out a notification announcing the return of these features this coming Sunday. If you want to check them out in 3D on your 3DS, you better mark your calendar now! Thanks to Brandon for the heads up!

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Tales of the Abyss goes on clearance at Target

Apr 30, 2012

Link

                                                     

Europe - This week's digital downloads (April 30th)

Apr 30, 2012 by R

30th April 2012 – Retro gaming fans are in for a treat this week when two classic 80’s games come to Virtual Console. The first retro offering is Game & Watch Gallery 2™, the Game Boy Color classic, which features a collection of five vintage handheld games including Parachute, Helmet and the original Donkey Kong. Each game is playable in their original 80s version and also in a remastered version featuring enhanced graphics, sound and new gameplay, giving you two different gaming experiences.

Also on offer is one for cat lovers as Cat Frenzy makes its way onto Nintendo DSiWare. In order to save the kittens that are trapped in the well, you will have to Slide rows or columns of cute, cuddly cats to create chains to pull them out of the well. With over 100 levels across two game modes, there is plenty of feline fun to keep you engaged!

Coming to Virtual Console on Wii this week is Super Hang-On™, the hit arcade racing sequel to the SEGA classic “Hang-On”. Originally appearing in European arcades in 1987, it will put your street bike skills well and truly to the test through 48 challenging tracks set across four continents. Super Hang-On is retro arcade racing at its very best!

Check out all the latest offerings which are available for download this Thursday via Nintendo eShop, Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel below.

Game & Watch™ Gallery 2
(Nintendo) Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console) Nintendo eShop
€4

Game Description: Five blasts from the past with a modern twist. Game & Watch Gallery 2 is a collection of five classic handheld games featuring Parachute, Helmet, Chef, Vermin and the original classic Donkey Kong.

Cat Frenzy
(Teyon) Nintendo 3DS
(DSiWare) Nintendo eShop €2
Nintendo DSi (DSiWare) Nintendo DSi Shop 200 Nintendo DSi Points

Game Description: Nothing makes a puzzle game better than cute and furry kittens. S lide and match different kinds of kittens to set them free from a well in over 100 levels full of puzzles and purrs.

Super Hang-On™
(SEGA) Wii
(Virtual Console) Wii Shop Channel 900 Wii Points

Game Description: Gear up for the ultimate test of speed in Super Hang-On! Tour through 48 challenging tracks set across four continents and enjoy the rush of true arcade gameplay as you blaze through checkpoints in a race to beat the clock and your competitors.

The SpotPass™ feature on Nintendo 3DS allows you to automatically receive a host of exciting content such as 3D videos for Nintendo Video ™, notifications, add-on data for your software and system updates without lifting a finger. SpotPass content can be received automatically and free of charge from thousands of supported public Wi-Fi access points across Europe and through wireless broadband internet connections at home. It works even if the system is in Sleep Mode.

Available exclusively to Nintendo 3DS this week is the first instalment of the ground breaking short animated film, Big Buck Bunny in 3D, from the award-winning Blender Foundation. The film follows the adventures of the lovable rabbit as he seeks revenge on a trio of mischievous woodland creatures who have disrupted his peaceful daily routine, all in colourful 3D.

Also available this week, exclusively for Nintendo 3DS owners, is the ninth in a series of popular Shaun the Sheep 3D clips created exclusively in 3D by Aardman Animations, the multi-award winning creators of Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit. The ninth clip titled, Story Time, sees the flock discover a truly remarkable way to get the lights back on when they are suddenly plunged into darkness.

Keep up to date with all the official Nintendo announcements and exclusive new game information by following the official Nintendo of Europe Twitter feed @NintendoEurope
GamesPress

EVERETT -- An Everett woman reported missing in early February has been found safe in Florida. Meara Lynn Nichols, 33, contacted family members, Everett police Lt. Robert Goetz said. Police in Everett were in contact with a Florida law enforcement agency, Goetz said. Nichols was reported missing by her husband after she left her home in the 6800 block of Commercial Avenue and didn't return. "She has not been talking too much about her reason for leaving," Goetz said.
Thanks to ILikeBacon for the heads up!

Link

                                                   

Dang! July is going to be a big month for 3DS!

Japan - 3DS pamphlet points to June/July release for The Time Travelers

Apr 30, 2012 by R

Etrian Odyssey IV -- 07.05
Culdcept -- 06.28
Little Battler eXperience -- 07.05
Pocket Soccer League Calciobit -- 07.12
Rune Factory 4 -- 07.19
Taiko Drum Master: Little Dragon and the Mysterious Orb -- 07.12
Time Travelers -- Date TBA

While no specific date is given for The Time Travelers, it is listed in the June/July section of this pamphlet.

Link

                                                                             

Europe - Amazon lists tentative release date for One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP 2

Apr 30, 2012 by R

Not a confirmation, but we do know that the title is heading to Europe. Now we have July 6th to look forward to.

Link

                                                        

ESRB - last week's updates

Apr 30, 2012

Let's Dance (Wii) - Maximum Family Games
The Amazing Spider-Man (Nintendo 3DS) - Activision-Blizzard
The Amazing Spider-Man (Nintendo Wii) - Activision-Blizzard
The Amazing Spider-Man (Nintendo DS) - Activision-Blizzard
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Nintendo DS) - Warner Bros.
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Nintendo 3DS) - Warner Bros.
Kirby's Block Ball (Nintendo 3DS) - Nintendo

Link

                                                                

Random Time - Pokemon theme gets a ukulele rendition

 

It was alright I guess.....