Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained to gaming press at yesterdays press conference that the company wanted to release the 3DS in time for the Christmas season but they wouldn’t have been able to produce enough consoles to meet worldwide demand.
Whilst its already been announced that the Nintendo 3DS will be making its début in Japan on February 26th here are some additional snippets of information regarding Nintendo’s eagerly awaited hand-held.
Nintendo have revealed the Nintendo 3DS pricing and release date during their Tokyo press conference today.
The 3DS will be released in Japan February 26, 2011 and will retail for ¥25,000 (USD$300). There will be two colours available at launch so consumers can either choose the Aqua Blue or the Cosmos Black version of the console.
Nintendo have yet to reveal when we will be seeing the 3DS in the West but the company have tentatively laid down a March 2011 release date for North America and Europe.
Despite rumours on the contrary its been confirmed today by Nintendo Europe that Donkey Kong Country Returns will be making its stunning début on the Nintendo Wii, December 3rd.
As this game finishes the first trilogy of Professor Layton games, it certainly does it with a bang. Packing even more fresh puzzles into this game, it never seems to lack in variety of skill for all players.
One of the more obvious new features not seen in Curious Village or Diabolical Box, is the extended hint system. In previous games, each puzzle allowed three hints for a cost of one hint coin each. Unwound Future allows a fourth hint for each puzzle, entitled ‘S. Hint’ at the cost of two hint coins. This is most likely based around the ‘Super Guide’ system Nintendo began implementing with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The S. Hints tend to make the answer really obvious, sometimes even telling you the answer directly.
A great improvement was seen in the mini-game department. Three new concepts (storybook, parrot and laytonmobile) emerged and all are fun and intriguing. They all focus heavily on logic to finish the levels, and the difficulty rises at a fair rate. As for the future of mini-games; if Level 5 follows suit for NA/EU, Professor Layton and the Specter’s Flute on the 3DS will feature ‘Professor Layton’s London Life’, a 100 hour RPG made by popular developer ‘Brownie Brown’. This will no doubt bring the Professor Layton series to a whole new level.
Another new feature in the game is a puzzle ‘battle-of-wits’. These are on-the-spot, no saving, no hint puzzles that are crucial to the storyline, and can’t be avoided. Because of this, the difficulty is slightly lowered, but would still be considered difficult. These don’t occur too often, but often enough to make a fun challenge.
The story itself is spectacular. It especially pays off if you’ve gone through the first two games. Much like a good season finale of a TV show, the story here reveals major plot twists, and ties up loose ends to the ongoing mystery presented at the beginning. However, they did leave it open for a sequel of sorts. It will be interesting to see them tie the last of this trilogy to the beginning of the prequel trilogy.
This game is an absolute must for any Professor Layton fan. The perfect ending leading into a new beginning.
9/10
~~mario64mario
Popular German newspaper Bild has revealed that the Nintendo 3DS will be hitting the Japanese gaming market November 11th and will arrive in Europe sometime during the Spring.
The paper claims that the 3DS will launch in Japan on November 11th and then in Europe in spring 2011. A price of €200 is given, which in direct terms translates to around £170.
It also lists the apparent launch titles – Mario Kart 3D, Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle and, surprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
In a recent edition of Iwata Asks legendary games designer Shigeru Miyamoto explains that the reason he finds it ‘easy’ to create new Mario titles is due to the ever changing advancements in technology.
“What’s been easy about making the Mario games is that they could naturally change along with the progress of technology. For example, when you make live action SFX movies and as special effects technology advances, then you have new methods at your disposal.”
In the same way, as technology advances, the Mario games change, too and as technology changes, so does what you want to do. If it weren’t for that, I don’t think I could have stuck with it this far.” Because the Mario franchise is meant to change with technology, there hasn’t ever been a “roadmap” for the series. Instead, the impromptu schedule of Mario games has fueled its creative stamina. “The games turn out more fun that way than if you planned everything out on paper.”
- Shigeru Miyamoto
Sales figures released for the week ending September 19 show that the Nintendo DSi and the Nintendo DSi LL have had an immediate sales boost from the release of the well received Pokémon Black & White in Japan.
- DSi – 47,379 (16,345)
- DSi LL – 31,254 (19,076)
- PSP – 29,866 (30,761)
- PS3 – 21,096 (19,907)
- Wii – 14,833 (15,031)
- DS Lite – 7,137 (4,328)
- Xbox 360 – 5,804 (2,915)
- PS2 – 1,390 (1,363)
- PSPgo – 863 (809)
GameStop are offering a free Donkey Kong banana pouch to consumers who pre-order the sublime-looking Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Nintendo Wii.
Popular American retailer Gamestop have shown off the box-art for the forthcoming Wii MotionPlus title FlingSmash.
The box-art for the intriguing game shows that FlingSmash comes bundled with a Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus actually built into the controller which Nintendo have titled Wii Remote Plus.
