Detail on the city has been upgraded: note the skyscrapers and the wall behind them.

Ground textures also seem to have been improved:

Nintendo news of 07/01/2015: Sup? Boy, this will be LONG! I'm only gonna mention the Top 10 in both SW charts. And lastly, I'll give an update on SW milestones tomorrow.

• Weekly Global sale numbers, week ending December 20th: The 3DS was the top selling platform (first time in the year I believe!) with 745k units, and around 4.3 million units of retail games. Its best selling games were Pokemon ORAS with 701k units, YW2.5 with 543k units, SSB3DS with 384k units, and Tomodachi Life with 153k units. The Wii U sold 296k units, and around 2.2 million units of retail games (behind the Wii... Depressive). Its best selling games were Super Smash Bros. U with 435k units and Mario Kart 8 with 241k units.
• Media Create: During the week of Christmas (22-28 of December), the 3DS sold about 196k units, and Wii U 44k units. The best selling games were YW2.5 with 262k units, Pokemon ORAS with 165k units, SSB3DS with 92k units, SSBU 86k units, MH4U 51k units, FFE 50k units, YW2 43k units, Mario Kart 8 39k units, Animal Crossing: New Leaf 21k units (HUGE jump and legs), and Captain Toad: TT 19k units.
• There was a Limited Edition of MM3D with a Skull Kid figurine announced for NA!
• Capcom gives a little insight on MH4U's localization.
• Harvest Moon: Lost Valley has been selling above expectations!
• All 3DS XL systems are 30$ off at GameStop!
• The N3DS Ambassador Edition is arriving at homes.
• A TV ad for Kirby and the Rainbow Curse was released in Japan.
• X is finally in its final stages of development! Lots of new information in the coming months.
• Here are the YTD sale numbers for all the systems in Japan 2014! 3DS sold 3.1 million units, and Wii U 605k units. The Top 10 best selling games are Nintendo-only games!

Those ones are definitely better textures. I was talking mainly about the difference between e3 and the newest direct.

E3 2014 vs December seems like just a matter of fine tuning; a little more detail here, a little less there, tweaking LOD.

It's vs the pre-E3 2014 footage that the improvements in the recent build are more apparent.

So there's a Touhou Smash Bros clone coming to Wii U in Japan. Wonder how that will do.

It's easy to forget just the scope of Xenoblade Chronicles X, really. In a good way.

Just hope it comes out this year, but that's probably asking for a little too much to localize it all in the space of 6 months. I expect we'll see it Spring 2015.

The AbleGamers Foundation is an organization that looks for ways to improve the life of those with disabilities and every year it gives awards which games are the most accessible.

Well, they have now revealed which game has been awarded with its "2014 Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year Award" and guess what? The award has gone to a WiiU game.

This is what they say about that XXX game:

"XXX pulls out all the stops for accessible game design while staying true to their creative vision, revitalizing a genre known for inaccessibility, on a system inherently inaccessible, but ultimately making a near perfect example of game accessibility.

This game allows players to choose from a plethora of options with the WiiU GamePad, Pro Controller, the GamePad’s touch screen, or in any combination that is most comfortable for the player. Some might say this is a visual masterpiece with astonishing graphics, top tier subtitles, and a visual style carefully crafted to not impede the enjoyment of the game for those with colorblindness.

XXX stands out among other accessible mainstream games by paying careful attention to user friendly game experience. The inclusion of a one-button combat mode creates an experience other character action titles should implement. As a proof of concept, this game demonstrates that accessibility can be implemented into a mainstream AAA game without harming any of the gameplay. Popular titles such as Shadow of Mordor could easily implement one-button mode for those who need such accessibility while leaving a complicated controls for those who prefer those methods, and still award players with a top-notch game that is accessible to everyone.

Multiple control schemes interchangeably allow combat to be as streamlined as possible without degrading any of the overarching game play design choices. Touch and motion controls are optional, quick time events are of minimal impact to the game play thanks to the one-button mode, and yet still allows for more experienced players to set up challenges they deem appropriate to tackle.

XXX is not a style of game that should be accessible, but XXX's developer took extra steps to make it that way, which is worth praise."

http://www.ablegamers.com/ablegamers-news/ablegamers-2014-accessible-mainstream-game-of-the-year-award-2

Do you want to know which game is it? Ok, it is Bayonetta 2!!!

Well it's unlikely they're overly impressed with them, but what did they expect?

This weeks North American downloads

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/01/nintendo_download_8th_january_north_america

So, I want to see the first real Zelda HD trailer.