Nintendo Insider

Call of Duty: Ghosts reveal trailer breaks cover

Alex Seedhouse — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:40:03 +0000

Whilst we’ve known about Call of Duty: Ghosts since early May, it wasn’t until today’s Xbox One reveal that we were allowed our first glimpse at the game in action.

With Infinity Ward at the helm, Activision set their sights on delivering on their next-generation ambitions for their successful franchise.

Armoured dogs, stunning global locales, and an impressive physics engine were key highlights, with Activision confirming that they’ve enlised Stephen Gaghan, Academy Award-winning writer of “Traffic,” to aid with the game’s narrative.

A Wii U release has yet to be confirmed, but the publisher has commented that they will share their plans for Nintendo’s latest in future.

Nintendo and Sony stock prices rise following Xbox One reveal

Alex Seedhouse — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:09:37 +0000

Today saw Microsoft share with the world their next-generation ambition, contained within what is now known as Xbox One.

Their hour-long presentation consisted of showcasing new multimedia features, voice commands to control applications, continued timed exclusivity on Call of Duty downloadable content, and the announcement of entering a “strategic partnership” with EA. Careful Microsoft, we know how that usually ends.

Yet it wasn’t enough to satisfy investors, seeing their stocks take a minor -0.53 percent dip following the presentation. It’s always interesting to see how much impact such an event has on competitors, however.

Clearly demonstrating that one company’s loss is another’s gain, as Nintendo and Sony saw more favourable returns with the Japanese giants seeing gains of 2.2 percent and a substantial 9.3 percent respectively.

BIT.TRIP Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien review

Matthew Davies — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:00:44 +0000

The key to BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner 2 is practice. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. You’ll come to appreciate these wise words as you grit your teeth and try, try, again to achieve that sweet rhythmic perfection found in Gaijin Games’s highly produced sequel.

Raising the stakes in both quality and quantity, Runner 2 (or BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner 2 Future Legend of Rhythm Alien as goes its full self-indulgent title) embraces a vibrant fully 3D world, dropping the 8-bit splendour of its original. Backgrounds are lively with movement; small details glisten with personality, yet the focus on the foreground remains largely at the center stage as obstacles come into view.

The series’ returning star Commander Video returns, jumping, ducking, and kicking his way through each level – every successful action resulting in a plinky, plonky chime. The result is a chip-tune symphony, one that reacts to your mishaps and builds in intensity as you near each finish line.

Commander Video’s skill set has also been bolstered for his first sequel. Loops the loops employ the use of the right analogue stick to trace Commander Video’s movements and later levels introduce rails for you to grind across or hang below.

Leaderboard chasers will no doubt appreciate the ability to tap ZR, making Commander Video boogie through long stretches for additional score points.

Despite all these new activities, Runner 2 isn’t quite the rough ride its predecessor was. A smoother difficulty curve with three difficulty levels to choose from allows newcomers to easily become accustomed to jamming on the Gamepad rather than throwing it against the wall in frustration.

It’s a good thing too. With five worlds, 125 levels, and a campaign narrated by the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, Runner 2 is a much larger production – one that’s likely to occupy more than just a few hours and demand replays.

Underneath all this new gloss and quirky tale, Runner 2 remains true to its award-winning ancestor. That feeling of nailing a string of obstacles nears euphoric levels of satisfaction whereas its often knockbacks rarely feel unfair.

It takes time to discover Runner 2’s retro-inspired delights but practice really does make perfect for one of the eShop’s better offerings.

Target slash Wii U pricing

Alex Seedhouse — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:33 +0000

Whilst Amazon UK, ASDA, GameStop are embroiled in a pricing war within the United Kingdom, there hasn’t been as much competition across the pond.

So in steps North American retailer Target, who have now cut their pricing for the Wii U Basic Set. Compared to the Premium Set, it’s a more limited model that’ll see consumers find a White Wii U console and GamePad, 8GB internal storage, and an HDMI cable within the box – alongside the usual assortment of power cables.

That’ll now set you back by $240, which is a 20 percent slash from the bundle’s launch price at $300.

[Thanks GameSpot]

Sniper Elite V2 launch trailer strikes

Alex Seedhouse — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:59 +0000

Sniper Elite V2′s launch trailer has broken cover, as 505 Games deliver a Wii U port of their critically-acclaimed release.

Players will find themselves in the shoes of American OSS agent Karl Fairburne, as you traverse Berlin in your journey to uncover the dangers of the German V-2 rocket program.

You can see the game in action below, demonstrating how the Wii U GamePad is used to add “greater tactical depth and flexibility,” tagging enemies, booby traps, tracking enemy locations and activity, and to monitor the blast radius of planted explosives.

Sniper Elite V2 releases across North America on May 21st, and Europe on May 24th.

Wii U system update available to download

Alex Seedhouse — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:15:37 +0000

Nintendo have today delivered an additional system update for Wii U owners – the first since last month’s colossal update that reduced loading times and introduced new console features.

This latest arrival updates the console’s firmware to version 3.0.1 U, and, according to Nintendo, is geared toward “further improvements to overall system stability and software compatibility.”

Whilst an apparently minor update, speculation points toward it countering recent piracy threats that emerged from a USB Loader hack.

Splinter Cell Blacklist enlists two-player co-operative mode

Alex Seedhouse — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:07 +0000

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist will incorporate a two-player co-operative mode, Ubisoft have revealed.

Players will assume the role of either Sam Fisher or CIA operative Isaac Briggs as you work as a duo across 14 maps that encompass four differing mission types.

Two-player split-screen will be available, with each player required to aid their teammate to access areas of maps that can’t be reached alone, whilst working tactically to complete missions.

It recently emerged that Ubisoft Shanghai are separately handling the Wii U version, which was showcased within its own trailer.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist releases for Wii U across Europe on August 23rd.

Precursor Games say Wii U is a “great system to work with”

Alex Seedhouse — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:00:34 +0000

Still continuing their Kickstarter campaign to get their spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness funded, Precursor Games have shared further praise for Nintendo’s latest.

Shadow of the Eternals makes use of CryEngine 3, with the developer sharing that they have no concerns “about what the Wii U can handle.”

“CryEngine 3 fully supports Wii U and it’s been a great system to work with so far,” Precursor Games CEO Paul Caporicci explained to Nintendo Enthusiast.

“And in regards to Shadow of the Eternals, beautiful visuals are just one part of the experience. There are many different pieces that all come together for this experience and the Wii U handles that complete package very well.

“So, we’ve had no problems so far and we’re not at all concerned about what the Wii U can handle.”

They’re certainly more positive comments than what an EA employee recently spouted.

Gunman Clive creator working on Zelda-inspired title

Alex Seedhouse — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:00:56 +0000

Gunman Clive creator Bertil Hörberg has revealed the direction he is taking with his next project.

Making use of a top-down perspective with 3D graphics, his next Nintendo 3DS release takes heavy inspiration from the older entries within The Legend of Zelda series.

“It’s still very early in development and a lot of the design isn’t finalized, but it’s very heavily inspired by the early Zelda games; it uses a topdown perspective with 3D graphics and it’s for the 3DS,” Hörberg explained to Siliconera.

“The artstyle is fairly different from the new Zelda but has some influences from [A Link to the Past] as well, so yes I think comparisons will certainly be made [to A Link to the Past 2].”

He continued, “I think most players realize that my resources are rather more limited though and I wouldn’t presume to be in direct competition with Nintendo. I just hope people will be up for a bit more old-school action adventure gameplay regardless.”

With the success that Gunman Clive saw, we’re certainly looking forward to seeing how this next title turns out.

Nintendo parody Kickstarter with “Crowdfarter”

Alex Seedhouse — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:23 +0000

Nintendo have launched their own crowd-funding initiative, a unique twist on the largely well-known Kickstarter site.

Crowdfarter is the result, and acts more as a marketing attempt from Nintendo of America to promote Wii U exclusive Game & Wario.

“It’s me, Wario, charming leader of WarioWare, Inc, and creator of the best Wii U game ever!” Nintendo’s antagonist introduces.

“Game & Wario is an action-platform-sketching-puzzle-shooting-design-rhythm-sports game, and it is so amazing that I want to share it with the world! THE WORLD, I SAY! WAHAHAHAHA!” Indeed.

Sharing the page through Facebook or Twitter promises to see users rewarded with a digital badge, wallpaper, ringtone, and, if 100 katillion coins are earned, a new trailer for the game.

Game & Wario releases on June 23rd across North America, and June 28th in Europe.