Monthly Archives: March 2015
Who Is Nintendo’s New Partner, DeNA?
Mobile game company DeNA will work alongside Nintendo to bring the Japanese game giant's beloved IPs to smartphones, announced today in a press conference.
Gamers more familiar with Nintendo's properties and less so with the mobile gaming market may find themselves uncertain about what to think of this partnership. Who is DeNA, anyway?
DeNA (pronounced "D-N-A") was once a small Tokyo startup, formed in 1999 to launch an online auction service, but it has since shifted its focus onto mobile games.
With offices and development studios from Japan to the United States to South America and a portfolio that contains education, healthcare, and sports, DeNA is a global company with a fairly wide reach beyond games.
Australian Couple Celebrates Wedding With Incredible NES Cake
An Australian couple recently celebrated their wedding day with an incredibly realistic, life-size NES cake.
The cake came complete with the console, two controllers, and a copy of Tetris.
According to the bride, the cake was so realistic, guests were having a hard time believing it wasn't an actual console.
"Everyone was poking and prodding at it wondering if it was real. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day,” she said.
An image of the cake courtesy of Herald Sun.
Nintendo Stock Makes Mushroom Sound, Grows Enormously
Nintendo's stock has increased in value substantially since the earlier announcement that Nintendo will be partnering with Japanese mobile company DeNa.
The partnership between the two companies, which means Nintendo's intellectual property will finally begin appearing on mobile phones, has boosted the stock price over 25% today alone. Nintendo's stock is up almost 40% year-to-date.
Nintendo also announced that it's developing a "dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept" codenamed "NX." Nintendo has had a string of successes lately, with Majora's Mask being the top-selling software title in the US for the month of February, and the New 3DS XL taking the top spot from Sony's PS4 for console sales during the same period.
SPECTRE: James Bond’s Next Gets a Poster
Sony and EON Productions revealed the new teaser poster today for SPECTRE, the upcoming 24th James Bond movie.
The artwork seen below features Daniel Craig's 007 rocking a very Steve McQueen in Bullitt look. The posters come via the official 007 site:
Square Enix Hints at New JRPG for Home Consoles
During a recent interview, Square Enix teased a "surprise" for its 2015 fiscal year.
“For fiscal 2015, I think we have a considerable amount of high-end games both inside and outside the country,” Square president Yosuke Matsuda told Nikkei Trendy. “Starting with Final Fantasy XV, we’ll be putting out news for Japanese RPGs.
“I think we’ll have a little surprise, too.” Matsuda then clarified that he was referring to “a JRPG for home game machine(s).”
Matsuda said the company's resolution for 2015 is to deliver "a box of surprises," and both the company's "Japanese and Western studios are both bolstering their lineups considerably." At PAX 2015 earlier this year, IGN took a closer look at Final Fantasy XV's combat, and went up against the JRPG's Behemoth Boss, both of which left us impressed.
Wrestling Wrap Up: Sting and Orton Battle the Authority
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Hey, I know there's more to this holiday than leprechauns and boozing, but I figured since the WWE rebooted the whole Leprechaun movie franchise, it was all good. Of course, they made a super-serious version of Leprechaun, taking out all the tongue-in-cheek camp of the original. All the dumb dialogue is now gon...
DC Cancels Controversial Batgirl/Joker Cover
DC Comics has announced they won't be publishing a controversial variant cover for Batgirl #41. The decision came after artist Rafael Albuquerque requested that the cover be removed.
The image in question was part of a series of 25 Joker-themed variant covers planned for DC's June comic lineup. These covers feature the Clown Prince of Crime butting heads with various DC heroes, generally in humorous ways. The Batgirl #41 cover, however, took a darker approach:
GTA V Headlines This Week’s Deals with Gold
This week's Deals with Gold include several Grand Theft Auto games and add-ons, including Grand Theft Auto V on Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Originally priced at $70 USD, Xbox Live Gold members can download the Grand Theft Auto V Bull Shark Card Bundle for $59.49 USD on Xbox One. The bundle includes $500,000 of in-game currency to spend in GTA Online.
Xbox One owners can also pick up skateboarding platformer OlliOlli for $8.49 USD -- 15% off its original price.
Over on Xbox 360, Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and both of GTA IV's expansions -- The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony -- are discounted for Gold members.
The full list of discounted prices for Xbox 360 games can be found below.
One Man Believes One Way Mars Mission Isn’t on the Level
One of the Mars One project volunteers is voicing his concerns over the project, believing that all is not what it seems. Dr. Joseph Roche, a former NASA engineer, made it to the top 100 candidates list and has come forward with claims the project may be more about generating income than advancing human knowledge.
The Mars One project has gained notoriety as a project that sought volunteers who, if selected, would most certainly die as a result. The one-way trip to Mars would see humanity's first footprints on another planet, and those whose feet left the historic impressions on Mars' surface would do so knowing that they could never go home again.
Initially it was reported that over 200,000 volunteers signed up to be considered for the project, including Roche, who told medium.com that he threw his hat in the ring out of curiosity. However, the actual number of applicants was 2,761. That number was arrived at by NBC estimates and initially reported on by Medium, but the report has since been taken down.
Bonus Episodes Coming to Resident Evil Revelations 2
Capcom has confirmed the two bonus episodes of Resident Evil Revelations 2 will be available alongside the release of Episode 4 and the disc version of the game.
Those who've bought the complete season or pick up a boxed copy will gain access to the extra episodes automatically. The bonus episodes will also be available to purchase and download individually, though Capcom has yet to reveal their prices.
The episode "The Struggle" is focused on Moira, while "Little Miss" shines the spotlight on the game's other new main character, Natalia.
According to Capcom, in "The Struggle," "Moira fights to survive the horrors of the island with the help of an old hand," while in the "Little Miss" episode, Natalia "awakens face-to-face with another version of herself."