Animal Crossing DLC Nintendo News # 6

DLC has been a large topic in recent news due to paid DLC in New Super Mario Bros. 2. With the upcoming release of Animal Crossing: New Leaf for Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo had been asked whether it too will also have paid DLC. Previous iterations of Animal Crossing has had free DLC which included items that were only available during a short window. Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, has confirmed that all DLC for New Leaf will be free. Iwata has stated that, "we were concerned that a game in which you enjoy yourself more by the power of money would not be suitable". Iwata went on to state that, "we would like to find the type of add-on content consumers will find enjoyable in each game". This news definitely will be important for future releases also as Nintendo does appear to be more focused on DLC more then ever before.

Wii U Online Chat Nintendo News # 5

Some big Nintendo news recently coming out has been about the Wii U. In-game voice chat is not being handled by Nintendo but handled by developers for game-by-game support and we will see this available in Mass Effect 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Assassin's Creed III. How this in-game voice chat is used is the news. We have learned the microphone built into the GamePad cannot be used for voice chat. The only way to use voice chat is through a headset. The jack for the wired headset is in the GamePad only so those that use the wired headset with the Pro Controller will still need to plug the headset into the GamePad. All headsets will be made by third parties and PDP has elaborated on a wireless headset that they have which can be used with the Wii U. PDP has said this headset will work through the WII U USB port which only games that are designed to use this option will work with the wireless headset.

Past Retail Games on eShop Nintendo News # 4

Nintendo has announced that you will be able to go on the eShop and purchase downloadable versions of past titles such as Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Star Fox 64 3D, and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. This has already happened in Europe, November 1st in Japan, and October 18th in North America. Nintendo has in the past focus on this form of purchase such as having New Super Mario Brothers 2 available day one available for download. Nintendo has shown that they want to do this day one download availability with future games as well including games released on the upcoming Wii U. All retail games for the 3DS are available for 39.99.

Mario DLC Nintendo News # 3

The big news this week in the world of Nintendo has been Nintendo revealing information on the upcoming DLC for New Super Mario Bros. 2. This is the first time Nintendo has released paid DLC. The DLC is already available in Europe and Japan. It will be released in North America on October 4th. The prices around the world for each pack is $2.50, €2, and 200 yen. Each pack is playable in the coin rush mode separately from each other and are the same 3 levels each time you play the pack. The Gold Coin pack coins are abundant and players strive to hit the ceiling on the amount of coins they can carry. The Coin Challenge Pack A is standard levels which have players compete all around the world for the record. The Nerve-Wreck Pack is for advanced players and are hard to complete. It was also announced that in North America there will be more packs released at the end of October and November.

Bayonetta 2 Nintendo News #2

Things have died down a lot since last week. No new major announcements. Now begins the wait for all those that were able to get a pre-order in for the Wii U.. But there is still some people talking about the big announcements last week. The cause: Bayonetta 2.

The original Bayonetta was a single player mature action game that was released in late 2009/early 2010 depending on where you live. The game was developed by Platinum Games and Sega was the publisher. It can now be played on just the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The game has received great reviews and awards and sold just under 2 million copies since it was released. Like possibly many other Nintendo gamers, I have not been able to play this game due to it not being released on a Nintendo system. This game series as a topic went from recently off the radar to be one of the most talked about discussions currently. Even after most other discussions have died down after last weeks announcement, this discussion keeps going on and new information keeps coming out. Bayonetta 2 being exclusive to Wii U was a surprise announcement last week. For myself I first thought it was great that Nintendo was putting focus on a core game that was releasing exclusively for Wii U. I felt Nintendo needed to show something like this to show that they wanted to be the system not just for casual and the Nintendo loyal but for everyone. Unfortunately many did not see this the same way. There was a large amount of people that went to the internet to voice negative opinions regarding this which was far more then those that felt this was a positive at first. Things have slowly died down as the week went on and this was in part to additional news. Executive Director Atsushi Inaba came out and said that without Nintendo there would be no Bayonetta 2. After piecing together a lot of information a larger story appeared. There have been reports of Sega going through a low period. There were rumors that they had to cancel the development of Bayonetta 2 due to not feeling it would be profitable enough to continue. We don't know if Nintendo saw this and made the first step or if Sega or Platinum Games had been looking for publishers (and if so if Nintendo was first). One would assume that even either way that other avenues would have been looked at to either make it multi-platform or at least released on one or both of the systems the original was released on. If that was the case then it would seem Nintendo publishing was the only way. This stopped a lot of hate as it could no longer be viewed as Platinum Games selling out to Nintendo's money. Platinum Games show they want to make a sequel and have been responding to fans several times this week.

One now may wonder what would happen if this was a core gamer franchise that had even more popularity and was also never released on any Nintendo systems. One that had no risk of not continuing. Would history repeat and a larger outcry would happen? One could imagine what would it be like if the internet was how it is now back when the Final Fantasy series was only on Nintendo systems and then suddenly Final Fantasy 7 was announced for PlayStation exclusively. Back then the developer stated they needed what the PlayStation had to make the game they wanted to make. Was that wrong back then and would it be wrong now for a developer to do the same with the Wii U if they felt they needed what it has? Another thought is to buying exclusivity. It isn't exactly a secret that money has been spent in the past to buy exclusivity whether it be a timed exclusive, extra content, or complete exclusivity. Many currently find that Nintendo saving Bayonetta 2 as a good thing as it would never be released otherwise but what if it was a series that would have no issues releasing a sequel on the platforms it had originally released on. Would this be wrong and if so, where is the line? These are questions on my mind and possibly many gamers after the fallout from this news.

One good thing that came out of this news is I know a lot more about the Bayonetta series then I have before. I feel that this might be the case for many other gamers also. I would be very interested in purchasing the original if it comes out to a system I own now or in the future. I personally hope there is news of this happening in the future or that the sequel is released in a way that assists those that have not played the original.

Wii U Release Info Nintendo News #1

It's time for our first Nintendo News of the week! Possibly the biggest news in all of gaming this week has been the Wii U. Before this week all that was publicly known was the Wii U was coming out this year and games that would be coming to the system with no dates for their release. The public has multiple times been shown what the system would look like and how it would play also. The big three announcements was release dates, prices, and launch games.

The Wii U is releasing in North America on November 18th, Europe and Australia on November 30th, and Japan on December 8th. There will be a white and a black Wii U available at launch. The white Wii U will have 8GB of storage. It will be priced at $299.99 in the United States and ¥26,250 in Japan. The black Wii U will have 32GB of storage and will also a cradle and charging stand for the GamePad, a stand for the Wii U, and the game Nintendo Land. It will be priced at $349.99 in the United States and  ¥31,500 in Japan. No price information is available for Europe and Australia at this time. Also for the first time since the Nintendo 64 there will be a Mario game at launch, New Super Mario Bros. U.

Here is a sizzle reel that Nintendo has released with games that will be available for the Wii U.

Lastly in Nintendo release news are reports that multiple retailers (local and online) are ALREADY selling out of their pre-orders. If you are interested in getting a Wii U before 2013 then I recommend to pre-order and guarantee yourself a Wii U. I imagine that more similar reports will be coming down the pipe before Monday as word gets out about Wii U and the information that pre-orders are selling out.