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9 things we know about Nintendo’s plans for the near future following today’s conference

It’s been a tough couple of years for Nintendo. While the 3DS continues to sell well and gamers the world over salivate like Pavlov’s dog every time they are drip-fed another snippet of information about the forthcoming Smash Bros. games, Wii U sales are dismal, and even Super Mario 3D World, which critics judged to be one of the greatest Mario outings of all time, was met with comparatively little fanfare from consumers.

Today, Nintendo’s company president Satoru Iwata made a number of announcements, hinting at new hardware that would focus on “health and welfare”, tapping into mobile gaming, giving solid launch dates for upcoming titles, and announcing the decision to bring Nintendo DS games to the Wii U. Here’s what we know so far, in one handy list!

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Do we have time for three hours of classic NES start screens? Yes we do

In the last 15 months, every major video game console maker has released a new piece of hardware. Each has titles with phenomenal, sometimes photo-realistic visuals, and soundtracks that make it seem like there’s a full orchestra hiding behind the TV providing musical accompaniment.

And yet, none of them stir any stronger emotions than the openings to the original games in the Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda series, exactly as they appeared in their NES/Famicom forms. There’s something perfect about those 8-bit intros, even if they can’t match the technical heights of current games. If anything, the fact that their designers struggled against those restraints, but still managed to create something moving, helps to convey their emotion all the better.

That direct transmission of effort and personal passion, which can never be completely duplicated with more complex titles and the larger staff such endeavors require, is exactly what’s on display in this three-hour compilation of NES start screens.

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Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call could be on its way to the Western world

Final Fantasy, perhaps the biggest and best Japanese RPG series ever as far as the Western world is concerned, is no stranger to spin-offs and dubious sub-sequels. There have been a handful of gems amongst them, but there are some that even fans of the main series would prefer to imagine never happened. Rhythm action game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call, however, is one of the few non-core entries in the series that we’re sure gamers would be keen to get their hands on should its makers see fit to release it outside of Japan. And if a patent recently filed in Europe is any indication, they may just get their wish.

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Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate heads west on 3DS in early 2015

Ryozo Tsujimoto, the producer of the Monster Hunter game series at CAPCOM, announced in a video message on Sunday that Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will be coming to the West. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (“which is the equivalent of MH4G“) will be available on Nintendo 3DS in early 2015.

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Attack on Titan social game’s promo streamed

Japanese mobile game publisher Mobage began streaming a promotional video for its Shingeki no Kyojin ~Jiyū e no Hōkō~ (Attack on Titan: Howl Toward Freedom) game for smart phones on Wednesday. The promotional video tells players that they must fight against enemies outside of the Wall Rose using forbidden weapons.

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Shonen Jump’s J-Stars Victory Vs. game video features theme song

Namco Bandai Games began streaming the fourth promotional video for its J-Stars Victory Vs.”team battle action” video game on Tuesday. The 158-second video features the new theme song “Fighting Stars.”

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Hollywood blacksmith forges Sephiroth’s massive sword from Final Fantasy VII【Video】

When Final Fantasy VII hit PlayStations around the globe in 1997, featuring some of the most gorgeous graphics and CG cut-scenes gamers had ever seen, it single-handedly opened up the Western market to Japanese console RPGs. In years since, though, there’s been some contention over just how deserving developer Square’s biggest hit ever is of its exalted place in video game lore. Does it have a gripping story, or does the narrative become a confused mess after its midgame plot twist? Do the title’s numerous mini games flesh out its world, or is spending hours breeding giant flightless birds to race for sport both silly and boring?

But no matter which side of the debate you fall on, there’s one thing gamers everywhere can agree on: Final Fantasy VII’s antagonist, Sephiroth, is a stone-cold badass. Now, Hollywood blacksmith Tony Swatton has brought the villain’s iconic weapon, the gigantic blade named Masamune, to life.

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Create 8-bit melodies by turning your old Nintendo cartridges into harmonicas 【Video】

Like many people who started playing video games in the 1980s, when titles were still put on cartridges, I often had to deal with faulty connections when playing with my Nintendo Entertainment System. And while every video game shop would sell you a fancy cleaning kit with solvents and swabs for 15 bucks and Nintendo would advise against doing so, any kid knew the best way to clean out dusty connection ports was to simply blow into the cartridge.

Recently, I heard the sobering theory that blowing into the cartridge didn’t really accomplish anything, and that simply reinserting it into the system is what dislodged the connection-blocking dirt. But with so many hours of my youth spent forcing air into 8-bit game packs, I can’t bring myself to accept that it was all meaningless. Surely, there must be something that can be accomplished by caressing Nintendo classics with a puff of breath?

It turns out there is, as with a little bit of engineering you can turn a classic game cartridge into a harmonica, complete with old school video game sounds.

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Among Japan’s bigger pop cultural head scratchers is the dating simulation. Whereas people around the globe can agree on the entertainment potential of video games that let you drive high performance cars (Gran Turismo), shoot people (Call of Duty) or some combination of the two (Grand Theft Auto), having a digital dating partner remains primarily a feature of the Japanese gaming landscape.

And while it’s tempting to write the genre off as appealing to only the sweatiest and smelliest of nerdy males, dating simulators have a whole sub-genre known as otome (maiden) games that let female players pick from among a stable of hunky love interests.

The creative team at Cybird, developers of the popular Ikemen series of dating simulators, recently shared the five characteristics of an ideal virtual beau.

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Rumour: Sony and major Chinese investor in talks re: bringing PlayStation 4 to China

It was perhaps inevitable that games industry giants should start taking an interest in China the moment the country’s laws changed, permitting the production and sale of video games consoles for the first time in almost a decade and a half, but tech sites and analysts in China are now suggesting that talks held late last year between the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group and Japan’s Sony Corporation very likely herald the official arrival of PlayStation 4 in China.

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Huawei’s “TRON” marks China’s first major entry into the games console market

Just a day after we brought you news that China had temporarily lifted a 14-year ban that prevented foreign companies such as Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony from selling their consoles in the country, homegrown telecommunications company Huawei has unveiled a brand new games console of its own at the CES 2014 trade show.

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Gamers rejoice! China temporarily lifts 14-year ban on foreign video games consoles

Despite the thriving grey market that has existed since the ban was put in place 14 years ago, both gamers in China and console manufacturers outside the country will no doubt be excited to learn that China’s State Council yesterday lifted restrictions on the importation and sale of foreign video games consoles, albeit on a “temporary” basis. That’s right: China may soon became a legitimate market for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft once again.

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Dark Souls Cafe opens to fans of punishing game series

After a month or so of breathless preview coverage, the brand new Dark Souls Cafe, based on the award-winning, but notoriously difficult, From Software action game is finally open for business.

The new cafe channels the next game in the series, Dark Souls 2, which is slated for a March 13 release in Japan.

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Study reveals too much Internet and video games is bad for your grades

How much time do you spend on the Internet every day? An hour? Less? If so, great for you! For the rest of us Internet addicts, there’s a little bit of bad news: The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, or more briefly the Monbusho or MEXT, and the National Institute for Educational Policy, or NIER, have released their results of a study into the impact of Internet use on scholastic performance. The results were not particularly surprising, unfortunately.

If you’re thinking all your hours spent looking at doge memes (“Wow! Such tests! Much knowledge! So smarts!”) and pictures of Taiwanese McDonald’s employees were hurting your grades, well, unfortunately, there’s a very good chance that you’re right!

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Pixel romance: Game lover proposes with an original video game!

A story about a knight who braves all dangers to save his princess and eventually asks for her hand in marriage might be a bit of a cliché, but we’ve all had that fantasy at some point in our lives, hoping that we’ll meet our special someone in a fairytale-like situation. Unfortunately, chances are that real-life proposals are not as magical and grand, especially if both you and your beloved are game-enthusiasts who spend half your time “living” in a fantasy game world.

One chivalrous knight upped the game by proposing to his gamer princess with a video game he specially made for the proposal! Was his level-up a success? Click “Start”… I mean, click “Read More” to find out!

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Video game director/composer Yumi Hashimoto tells us about Japan’s indie scene and her newest title

Not so long ago, making a video game was strictly for big businesses. Putting out a quality product required expensive workstations, plenty of office space to house the development team, and huge distribution and advertising budgets.

But at the same time as the cost of producing blockbuster interactive entertainment continues to skyrocket, a growing number of independent game creators are showing that with some reasonably priced development and project management software, a talented team can put together gaming experiences that rival anything from corporate-backed studios in terms of emotional impact.

We sat down for a chat with a young woman with the dream and drive to do just that, indie game director and composer Yumi Hashimoto.

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Japan’s top 10 video games of 2013

Amazon Japan announced the top 10 games bought on their site from December 1, 2012 to November 30, 2013. Let’s take a look at Japan’s favorite games!

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Relive 16 childhood video games with “NES Remix” on Wii U

In the wake of the exciting new video game systems hitting stores this season, our reliable Japanese friend Nintendo is taking us onboard the nostalgia express train with a Wii U game that puts a new spin on 16 well-known NES (or Famicom in Japan) games, like Super Mario Bros. and Excitebike. Besides turning these popular games into mini-game levels where players challenge their own high score, NES Remix changes these games up a bit with new challenges, like playing Donkey Kong in the dark or playing tennis against an invisible opponent.

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All I want for Christmas… is this awesome backlit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES

Dear Santa,

I know it’s December 24, but is it too late to change my Christmas wish-list?

Let’s forget about the Power Rangers pyjamas I originally asked for, and we can put the Super Sonico hug pillow on hold this year. *This* is what I really want, and there’s only one of them in the whole world: a backlit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES and four amazing controllers.

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Heartbreaking video game remembers the victims of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, raises money for survivors

Compared to older forms of media such as books and movies, the video game industry is still somewhat wet behind the ears. But as technology advances and developers become increasingly able to realise their creative visions without having to rein in their imaginations due to hardware limitations, we are finally reaching the point where games are able to not just entertain but challenge us both intellectually and viscerally, creating emotive experiences and acting as vehicles for genuinely engaging tales.

9.03m does precisely that. Developed by independent Scottish game studio Space Budgie, the game, whose proceeds go towards those affected by the disaster, stands as a memorial to the victims of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, questing players with gathering the possessions of those lost in the tsunami, which have been carried across the ocean from Japan to America, with each object telling the story of a lost soul.

At once heartrending and beautiful, this is a title that deserves the attention of not just every gamer but every person with access to a PC.

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