Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
nintendo (Page 36)
Sadly, there are very few ways to make money spontaneously appear in your pockets. We hear animal sacrifices work, but there’s all kinds of ethical complications, plus you need a rock solid alibi when your neighbor comes asking if you know where her poodle went.
But game manufacturer Capcom has found a simpler way that won’t get them arrested: adding Nintendo mascots into their games.
Wednesday, September 4 will always be remembered as a big day for Pokémon fans. Not only did Nintendo just lift the lid on two swanky Pokémon X & Y-themed 3DSXL portables, but it has become clear that for the first time since the series launched way back in 1996, players will be able to trade their pocket monsters without having to link their consoles together. That’s right, Nintendo will soon be rolling out Pokémon Bank, a cloud-based storage service that allows players to drop and pick up their pokémon whenever they like, wherever they like.
Apparently, there’s a bit of a problem with some Nintendo 3DS and 3DS LL consoles: Game cards are literally popping out of the portable devices without warning.
This can be a pretty serious problem, too. It can result in the loss of unsaved progress, or even the game card itself zooming off and going missing or being damaged. But fear not! Cyber Gadget has a solution.
Early this morning, Nintendo of America announced that it will be bringing a new model of its Nintendo DS portable games console to the market. Meet the 2DS!
The console will play all 3DS games and comes complete with the exact same features, except of course the top 3-D screen. Nintendo also revealed that its premium Wii U console will be getting a price cut.
Full details after the jump.
For those who don’t know, parkour is a non-competitive sport where people propel themselves through their environment by running, climbing, and flipping their way across city structures like a giant jungle gym. A couple of days ago, Nintendo of America released a documentary-style video called “Finding Luigi: Legend of Parkour,” likening the amazing jumps and flips that the character can perform to the real-world practice of parkour.
Around the same time, fans of Nintendo put together their own parkour video, “Mario Bros Parkour,” wherein two sporty guys play the parts of the famous plumbing brothers as they flip their way through a 3-D enhanced world. Read on for a peek at both of these awesome videos!
With the high-definition remake of the beautiful cel-shaded action RPG The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker set to go on sale next month (early October in Europe/North America), gamers the world over were excited to see a new video from Nintendo last weekend introducing the game’s new “hero mode” which powers up enemies’ attacks while removing life hearts from the game world. Nintendo pulled the video soon after, however, as it also contained a shot of a Zelda-themed Wii U console that the company has yet to officially announce.
While many critics are pointing to the underwhelming performance of Nintendo’s Wii U platform as yet another sign that the video game giant should beat a hasty retreat from the hardware industry and instead become a multi-platform publisher, recent news from the house of Mario suggests that there’s plenty of life in the old dog yet.
With dozens of new first-party titles arriving in the next 12 months, the Wii U is gradually beginning to pick up steam. But when President and CEO of Nintendo Satoru Iwata made reference to a brand new The Legend of Zelda title for Wii U in a recent interview with Britain’s The Guardian, people really started paying attention.
Nintendo has announced that it will be giving visitors to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con event the chance to get their hands on a number of as-yet-unreleased Nintendo games for Wii U and 3DS.
Being based in Japan, the spiritual home of video games, we’re used to feeling smug about getting our sticky fingers on most of Nintendo’s titles before many in the West, so you can be sure this news has left us greener than Luigi’s cap with envy!
Thirty years ago today, on July 15, 1983, Nintendo released the Family Computer game system, affectionately (and pretty much officially) called Famicom. The designing process began back in ’81 by Masaki Uemura and his team who dealt with tight budgets and little hope of success. However, this machine breathed much-needed life into a suffocatingly over-saturated gaming market that was only in its infancy.
Ladies and gentlemen, the internet has a voice, and it will be heard.
In news that is sure to be met with cheers from all around the globe, multinational video game company Nintendo has reversed its earlier decision not to allow the streaming of footage of popular brawler Super Smash Bros. Melee at the upcoming Evo Championship Series fighting game tournament in Las Vegas. And it’s all thanks to the power of the people.
With hundreds of game sites and magazines at our disposal, and with more amateur reviewers banging away at keyboards than ever before, making an uninformed purchase is now, thankfully, an extremely rare occurrence for any gamer. Gone are the days when we stood in the store nursing our pocket-money, studying the backs of Commodore 64 cassette cases and basing purchasing decisions entirely on cover art and postage stamp-sized screenshots; we have more information at our disposal than ever, and have only ourselves to blame if we slip up.
Even so, there are times when even the most informed gamer picks up a title that just isn’t their cup of tea. Be it the pacing of the game, an unorthodox control scheme or a steep learning curve, there are some games that we simply give up on and either trade in or shove in a drawer. Of course, Japanese gamers are no exception, with more than 15 percent of those asked in a recent survey admitting that they had unceremoniously dumped a game despite barely starting it. More than just a list of shame, though, the results of the survey turned up some great video game blasts from the past, not to mention a few titles so obscure that we’d almost forgotten they existed…
This Tuesday, Nintendo announced via Japan’s economics newspaper, Nikkei, that they will soon begin releasing e-books geared toward children on their 3DS platform. Over the years, Nintendo has had notable success with the grade school demographic within Japan, and so, in order to take advantage of this popularity, they have amassed a collection of approximately 300 Japanese children’s books and will begin releasing them this fall.
Kyoto has a long-standing reputation as a center of traditional culture, justified by its numerous significant temples and shrines, not to mention the artwork they house and their surrounding gardens. However, the city is also home to a site of great importance to modern pop culture: the headquarters of video game maker Nintendo, responsible for many of the titles that shaped modern gaming.
There’s a saying in Japan, though, that you can’t win a battle on an empty stomach, and that goes for designing great games, too. We recently visited the restaurant that powered the development team of one of Nintendo’s biggest hits ever.
Yesterday at 8 p.m. Japan Standard Time, Kyoto-based video game giant Nintendo broadcast a brand new episode of its unique Nintendo Direct online presentation series, which the company uses to showcase new games and bring fans news on upcoming releases. Last night’s broadcast was somewhat unusual, however, in that popular Japanese comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto joined industry legend and creator of Super Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, to play a little of the highly anticipated upcoming Wii U title Pikmin 3. Today, as well as with discussion of the beautiful new Pikmin outing, online bulletin boards are abuzz after the conversation between the two men both raised eyebrows and got a surprising amount of laughs from viewers at home.
For many fitness enthusiasts, exercising in front of a TV while perched a Nintendo Wii balance board might seem like a bit of a joke, and we’re sure that yoga is the last thing on many gamers’ minds when they power up their machine. So when we first caught sight of the following video from Nintendo we weren’t quite sure what to make of it. As it turns out, though, as well as introducing not one but two new Super Smash Bros games for Wii U and 3DS, with new characters to boot, the video itself is actually quite awesome.
That magical time of year when game companies throw themselves a giant party and start spilling family secrets like your drunk aunt is finally upon us. That’s right, E3 starts Tuesday! And all this week, excited fans will be glued to the blogs, chomping on the bits for new info from Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, and many other major publishers. One company that won’t be giving a massive, blow-all-the-fuses presentation, though, is Nintendo.
Even so, that doesn’t the company is skipping the event entirely.
Despite being something that few in-house PR teams would ever hope for the general public to associate with their brand, following CEO Satoru Iwata’s announcement that his company would not be giving its usual presentation at next month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, the term “Galapagos syndrome” has been cropping up with alarming frequency online alongside Nintendo’s name.
The video game giant has long been known for its quirky sense of individuality and for forging paths into uncharted territories, but at a time when its flagship console is largely being ignored by consumers and both Microsoft and Sony are poised to flaunt new, technically far superior hardware at the upcoming trade fair, some are concerned that the house that made Mario is becoming something of a recluse.
This year Nintendo and fans celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Family Computer (Famicom) game system originally released in 1983. It was the machine that revitalized home gaming worldwide with its later incarnation, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). In a story of shocking success, no one was more shocked perhaps than the system’s head developer, Masayuki Uemura who revealed the details of the Famicom’s rocky beginnings in an interview with Shupure News.
As any professional road racer or weekend canyon carver can tell you, nothing gives a bigger boost to a car’s performance than a great set of tires. Taking that idea to its illogical conclusion, toy manufacturer Takara Tomy figured the hottest ride must be an eraser car. And one styled like a Mario kart, no less. Read More
It’s been a long time coming, but Nintendo may have finally cottoned on to the idea that gamers do not enjoy relying on AA batteries to use their wireless controllers. According to reports circulating the Internet this morning, the Kyoto-based company has carried out an online survey asking users whether they’d be interested in purchasing officially branded rechargeable battery packs for their Wii controllers.
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Japan’s massive matcha parfait weighs 6 kilos, contains hidden surprises for anyone who eats it
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
Non-ramen Ramen Restaurant Stars: The quest begins at Tokyo’s Oreryu Shio
Anime girl English teacher Ellen-sensei becomes VTuber/VVTUber and NFT
Haku is…Chihiro’s dead brother? Studio Ghibli fans blown away by Spirited Away theory
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Historical figures get manga makeovers from artists of Spy x Family, My Hero Academia and moreMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky loungeFrench Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind characters
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to KyotoRed light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Studio Ghibli glasses cases let anime characters keep an eye on your spectacles
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Beautiful Ghibli sealing wax kits let you create accessories and elegant letter decorations【Pics】McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Studio Ghibli unveils Mother’s Day gift set that captures the love in My Neighbour TotoroJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
New Japanese KitKat flavour stars Sanrio characters, including Hello KittyAll-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutionsMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Non-ramen Ramen Restaurant Stars: The quest begins at Tokyo’s Oreryu Shio
Anime girl English teacher Ellen-sensei becomes VTuber/VVTUber and NFT
Haku is…Chihiro’s dead brother? Studio Ghibli fans blown away by Spirited Away theory
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Historical figures get manga makeovers from artists of Spy x Family, My Hero Academia and more
Celebrate another year of life by putting it in jeopardy with this birthday candle flower
Limited-edition Carbonara Udon will anger noodle purists and pasta lovers 【Taste test】
7-Eleven teams up with Attack on Titan to bring you new video short, prizes galore!
Drawing a school girl leaping over a man firing a gun? There’s a reference book for that!
A Gintama fan’s emotional 19-year journey to buy a proper Lake Toya bokuto wooden katana【Pics】
Japanese fashion company’s modernized haori half coats will keep you warm and samurai chic
Japanese people reveal the six western foods they find most disgusting
