Monthly Archives: February 2015
Xbox One Ultimate Game Sale Confirmed For This Week
Microsoft is set to hold an Ultimate Game Sale this weekend, with a wealth of discounts expected for both Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles.
Though the exact titles and dates of the sale have yet to be confirmed, Major Nelson has confirmed such a thing is taking place, and a NeoGAF member appeared to get the jump on a heap of the details.
This Week’s Deals With Gold Includes GTA 5
The latest list of titles included in Microsoft's Deals with Gold program have been announced.
The company's Major Nelson made the reveal on his blog, though the discounts aren't quite as big as some we've seen previously. While the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto V has a huge 58 percent off, the Xbox One edition only gets a reduction of 15 percent. Still, if you're yet to pick up a new console or Grand Theft Auto V, now's probably a good time to rectify that.
Two Xbox One titles are discounted, which can be seen below.
- Duck Dynasty – Xbox One Game – 50%
Bryan Singer Teases Apocalypse’s Look in New X-Men
X-Men: Apocalypse may not enter production until April, but that hasn't stopped director Bryan Singer from giving us a tantalising tease of what we should expect from the upcoming flick.
Taking to his Instagram account, Singer has posted some production concept art from the movie done by Grant Major, who formerly worked on The Lord of the Rings. In it, you can see what appears to be Oscar Isaac on the verge of his transformation into the titular villain.
New Nintendo 3DS Sells 335,000 in Western Launch Week
Nintendo has revealed it's sold around 335,000 units of the New Nintendo 3DS during its launch week in North America and Europe.
The information comes from the Japanese giant's latest financial briefing, where it was revealed around 170,000 units were shifted in the US, with 160,000 being sold in Europe. When it launched in Japan back in October, sales over the launch weekend came in at 230,000.
In terms of software, big champions were Majora's Mask 3D and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Majora's Mask 3D sold around 340,000 units in North America and 230,000 in Europe, which was a leap on the 180,000 and 150,000 respectively enjoyed by A Link Between Worlds.
Amiibo in the Form of Cards Coming This Year
Nintendo will launch select Amiibos to markets in card form this year, CEO and president Satoru Iwata revealed during the company's financial results briefing today.
"In contrast to the current figure-shaped Amiibo available, we will make Amiibo in the form of cards this year as one of our future plans as Mr. Miyamoto mentioned at the Corporate Management Policy Briefing in October," Iwata said.
The last news on Amiibo cards was when Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto outlined in an interview December that discontinued Amiibo functionality may still be made available, in the form of cards.
Old Nintendo 3DS Getting External Support for Amiibo This Summer
Nintendo will roll out an external NFC reader/writer for older Nintendo 3DS systems in Japan in summer this year, the company revealed during its investor meeting today.
“Even though only Wii U has been compatible with Amiibo so far, we are making steady progress on compatibility with the Nintendo 3DS platform,” Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata said during the meeting. “New Nintendo 3DS is equipped with NFC as a standard feature. For existing Nintendo 3DS systems, we will release an external NFC reader/writer in summer this year.”
The New 3DS and New 3DS XL already features built-in NFC technology for the collectible figurines that unlocks with software updates. Nintendo issued a new Super Smash Bros. for 3DS update that added Amiibo support to the title earlier this month. The patch coincided with the launch of the New 3DS in the U.S. and the New 3DS and New 3DS XL in Europe.
Nintendo Considering Producing More Figures of Popular Amiibo
Nintendo will consider producing more figures of popular Amiibo if there's enough demand for it, CEO and president Satoru Iwata revealed during the company's financial results briefing.
"We will...consider additional production in cases such as when an Amiibo figure sells out shortly after launch, an amiibo is indispensable to play a certain game, and when we receive a lot of requests for an Amiibo figure from consumers and retailers," Iwata said.
Concerns about Amiibo rarity were first raised when certain figures were discontinued after the first wave of Amiibo. Some of the collectible figurines suffer from a demand that outpaces supply, creating a grey market of hard-to-find Amiibos and causing retailers to stores put a purchase limit on certain figures. Nintendo claimed today it was surprised about the high-cost auctions of certain figures online that were prompted by the scarcity issue.
Dr. Seuss’ The Babadook Parody Trailer
Parody artists have achieved their crowning glory: A new horror trailer, mashing-up The Babadook with scenes from 2003's The Cat in the Hat film, which starred Mike Myers as the feline of pure chaos.
Check out the terrifying trailer for Horror Report's parody -- called Dr. Seuss' The Babadook -- below via Bloody Disgusting:
We voted The Babadook as the Best Horror Movie of 2014.
These are the Most Popular Amiibos by Country
Nintendo outlined its best selling Amiibos by country during its investor meeting today, revealing that while the list differs by region, Link is the most popular figure across the board.
Link, Kirby and Mario occupy the top three spots in Japan, while Link, Mario and Pikachu hold these positions in the U.S., Canada and Europe. It's the same story in Australia but in a different order: Mario, Pikachu, then Link.
"This is the regional top sales ranking chart of each Amiibo figure," president Satoru Iwata said during the call. "This does not perfectly represent the popularity or demand for each character because some Amiibo were out-of-stock in some regions, but you can certainly see some regional differences in the sales trends."
Amiibo to Unlock NES/SNES Virtual Console Trials Soon
In today's Nintendo results meeting, Nintendo President Iwata revealed that NES/SNES Virtual Console timed trials on the Wii U will soon be available for unlock via everyone's favorite money sink: Amiibos.
Tapping an Amiibo on the Wii U GamePad will allow you to play a famous 'scene' from the Virtual Console's NES/SNES library. Tapping it in quick succession will reveal several different trials, allowing you to pick which one you'd like to play as if changing cartridges at rapid fire speed. Like Super Smash. Bros Masterpieces, the trials are timed.
We should expect to see the functionality appear during the first half of the year. While limited to the Wii U for now, Nintendo did mention that Amiibo support for 3DS "is progressing" in general.