Nintendo has created a Wii U Facebook page to keep fans up to date with official information from the company. The fact that they’ve just created a Wii U Facebook page clearly suggests that the Wii U name isn’t going to change as the early rumours proposed. You can like the official Wii U Facebook page here.
Geoff Keighley, host of Spike TV’s GTTV, has Tweeted that Spike TV will be partnering with LucasArts to bring you the world premiere of the next big Star Wars game franchise. Keighley says that he was blown away by the caliber of the team on this project and their bold vision for this new Star Wars title. The new game will be revealed to the world on June 4th during Spike’s “E3 All Access Live” primetime special beginning at 10:00 pm ET.
“I am blown away by both the caliber of the team on this project and their bold vision for this new ‘Star Wars’ title. I can’t wait to introduce our viewers to this game and show off the footage that left my jaw on the floor when I first saw it.”
Nintendo Europe has announced that Rayman for the Game Boy Colour will be arriving on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console next week. Rayman will arrive in Europe next Thursday for £4.50. Anyone considering picking this little gem up?
LucasArts are preparing to show off an unannounced title at this years E3 event. The studio have issued press invitations to see an “unannounced game in development”. Rumours circulating the internet suggest that LucasArts could be getting ready to show off another game in the highly regarded BattleFront series. The development team were also rumoured to be working on a Star Wars MMO for Wii U last month.
Gearbox senior producer Brian Burleson has openly described the Wii U as a “powerful, powerful machine”. Burleson explained that although he’s unable to talk about the specifications of Nintendo’s forthcoming console, he personally believes that Aliens Colonial Marines Wii U will ultimately be the best version of the game.
“[Creating the Wii U version] has been pretty easy. The Wii U is a powerful, powerful machine and it can do a lot of cool new things. And so the game itself, moving it over to work on the Wii U was not much of a chore.”
“Now the interesting thing is finding out all the cool ways you can use the controller to do new stuff with it. You can imagine all the cool things we can do, with this franchise and having a thing with you, right?”
“You can imagine some cool features, for sure,” Burleson said. “It’s not hard to imagine some cool features.”
The Wii U’s power, though, is “one thing I can’t talk about”, he said. “Actually nailing the specs, they haven’t come out with them yet.”
But, the Wii U version of Aliens will “be better” than the PS3 and Xbox 360 version in terms of visuals, he confirmed. Why? Because of “more modern tech”.
How, exactly, will it be better? “You’ll have to wait and see,” Burleson teased. “Just trust me on that one.”
Developers have reportedly received the final development kits from Nintendo. The latest development kits are now marked “mass production,” which means that they will be the final version of the hardware that will ship to the public later this year. Last week a QA tester from Traveller’s Tales posted an image of the latest version of the Wii U controller which was clearly branded Wii U – which means the name is likely to stay.
Warren Spector, the creator behind Epic Mickey, originally planned for the franchise to be a four game series. Spector had at least three new cycles of “innovation” to introduce to Epic Mickey, the latest of which is the co-op aspect of the forthcoming Epic Mickey: The Power of Two. Spector also said that he could not accuse players of misunderstanding the original Epic Mickey on Wii because “the gamer is always right.”
“People got it just fine, but to be honest, nobody is going to say ‘No, I don’t want everybody to love my game. Of course you want people to love your game, but if you can’t have that I would much rather polarize people and have people love it or hate it, than feel it was just alright.”
Konami has teased that the rumoured Castlevania: Lords of Shadow sequel is in the works. The developers posted a Castlevania inspired image on their new teaser website, prompting many to assume that it’s related to the Castlevania franchise. You may remember earlier this week that the Paul Gale Network revealed that the game is in development for Wii U and will be shown off at E3 in a couple of weeks.
Nintendo fans will have an exclusive opportunity to get hands-on with some top Nintendo titles as the Unleashed tour returns to MCM Expo London Comic Con May 25th – 27th. Britain’s biggest pop culture festival will see the much anticipated UK debut of RPG Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance on Nintendo 3DS and quirky rhythm-based game Wii game Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise.
Other games on show at the Nintendo Unleashed stand include Mario Tennis Open and action-packed multiplayer adventure Heroes of Ruin for Nintendo 3DS, as well as survival horror sequel Project Zero 2: Wii Edition. In addition, Nintendo will be hosting a swap shop and battle table for the exclusive Kid Icarus: Uprising collectible AR cards, which visitors will also be able to win at MCM Expo London Comic Con.
The NPD group which tracks video game sales throughout the United States has announced that its reports will include sales figures from Walmart starting from next month. NPD Group’s David Reiley also mentioned that next months report will also include another prolific retailer in the United States which hadn’t previously been included.
“Our enhanced retail coverage, including the addition of several new retailers, begins with May data released on Thursday, June 14. Yes, it does include Walmart.”
- NPD Group’s David Riley
