The Natsume booth feels more than a little out of place amid the murder and mayhem that defines the E3 show floor experience. For those weary of the pulsing music, constant explosions and gruff voice-overs blasting from every ear-level speaker in sight, Natsume's display of gentle, colorful games about farming and fishing can feel like an oasis from sensory overload.
While they've dabbled in just abut every genre known to man, an unexpected game called Harvest Moon – which hit the SNES long after it withered on the vine – has since become Natsume's strongest brand, with 19 prime series games to date. There's no end in sight for this strangely compelling series, though its creator Yasuhiro Wada has moved on to a new IP called Hometown Story, which he hopes will have the same longevity as the series that introduced the curious addictiveness of simulating mundane tasks years before The Sims.
The cash infusions for the UK retail market didn't end with The Last of Us, as Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Leaf debuted in second and became (wow, y'all love your Tom Nook debt programs) the biggest non-Mario 3DS launch ever. The UK top ten indentured to Tom Nook can be found after the break.
Amazon sale on 3DS games: Fire Emblem: Awakening, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers and more
by Jordan Mallory
(2 days ago)
Fire Emblem: Awakening, Mario Kart 7, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, Super Mario 3D Land and a mess of other great 3DS games have all been dropped to around $30 on Amazon, which is convenient since we were just saying how we need to catch up on our backlog. Weird! Head past the break for the full list of games and their pertinent purchasing links.
They talk about the showings from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, as well as some of the industry trends that are cropping up and the Oculus Rift's surprising ability to crack through the jaded, cynical shell of game journalists.
We'll have more E3 previews and coverage over the next few days, so be sure to stay tuned to Joystiq!
Super Smash Bros: What happens when Kirby eats Mega Man is 'classified'
by Richard Mitchell
(3 days ago)
These are two gaming icons whose main ability is to steal the abilities of others. For all we know, Kirby swallowing Mega Man could create a rift in the fabric of reality, destroying all life as we know it. Alas, Sakurai wouldn't give us much information. "A lot of what you're asking is still classified," he told us through an interpreter at E3.
"As far as the physical appearance of Kirby," he said, "I think what you imagine is probably pretty close to what will actually happen." Sakurai put his hands next to his head, in what we're pretty sure was the international sign for "Mega Man's helmet." We followed up by asking if Kirby would be gifted with a Mega Buster. "He's got little tiny arms, so who knows."
He wouldn't elaborate on exactly what those customizations are, saying only that they won't be costumes and they won't be something that players have to unlock through repetitive tasks. Different costumes, he said, would take away from what makes each character unique. He also wanted to avoid boring, repetitive tasks, while Sora works to produce a "stress free, easy connectivity" between the two versions.
When asked if the level editor would return, Sakurai gave us a "no comment."
When you're tasked with previewing the latest and greatest in kid stuff, it's hard to not feel at least the slightest bit jealous. In my day, our molded lumps of China-manufactured plastics rarely interacted with technology in any meaningful way, and we liked it just fine.
Even so, if you lopped a good 20 years off my current age, it would be impossible to avoid the charms of Skylanders, a series that's successfully merged the worlds of physical and digital play – all with a booster pack-style setup that's only mildly predatory on parents' wallets. As backwards compatibility quickly becomes a thing of the past, Skylanders: Swap Force offers compatibility with every figure Activision has sold since 2011, along with a slew of new features that promise to make this installment the biggest and best its pint-sized audience has seen yet.
Crimson Dragon developer Grounding Inc working on new Nintendo project
by Richard Mitchell
(4 days ago)
Crimson Dragon may be getting Grounding the most attention right now, but the studio has a history of working with Nintendo. It developed two Nintendo-published WiiWare games in 2009, and it also released Sakura Samurai on the 3DS eShop last year.
Pac-Man Museum collection coming to digital platforms, includes Pac-Man Battle Royale
by Richard Mitchell
(5 days ago)
Pac-Man Museum is coming to XBLA, PSN, PC and the 3DS and Wii U eShop. The press release also notes that, for whatever reason, Museum will not include Championship Edition on XBLA or PSN.
In other Pac-news, Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX is getting a free update that adds new content, including improved leaderboards, achievements and medals. It also features "access to additional DLC mazes, music and graphics." These include the ability to play with graphics from other Namco games, including Dig Dug and Rally-X. The update, which officially turns DX into DX+, is headed to Xbox 360, PS3, Steam and Windows 8 this summer.
Scribblenauts Unmasked wants to include complete DC library, isn't counting on it
by Sinan Kubba
(5 days ago)
"We definitely started... we wanted to get all the top treatments, all the top IP," Tringali told Joystiq. "There's dozens of versions of Batman, Superman, a lot of the major tier 1 heroes. Then we went through and added the rest of them. DC is such a big, expansive universe that it's not possible to get everything that's ever been created."
Nonetheless, with 5th Cell at least attempting to cover as much of the DC universe as possible, we wondered if the studio was considering DLC for new characters introduced down the line. Wouldn't it be neat if players could mess around with the very latest DC superhero in this thoroughly DC-themed game?
"For the platforms that support DLC, that's always a possibility," Trigali told us. "But there are no plans at this time."
Ah well. Until such a bat-time, we'll have make to do with the game proper, which is coming to Wii U, 3DS, and PC this fall.
During play, the bottom screen of the 3DS will display confirmed friends – fully integrated with the 3DS' Friend List (meaning friends you add before the game's release will appear there) – as well as people in the area who happen to be playing. Battling someone from the latter group will add them to an acquaintances list, and after a few battles, X and Y will establish a friendship between the two players. True to the series' focus on multiplayer from its very first generation, X and Y has made it easier than ever to smash your pocket monsters into friends' far and wide.
One important question, though, left some lingering disappointment in the room: when asked if previous generations' Pokemon can be imported into X and Y, Masuda could only offer "we're working on it," citing the problems in communicating data between the DS and 3DS. Hopefully, you won't have to take your current stable of Pokemon out behind the woodshed come October.
Nintendo has released a new developer video detailing the differences between the Wii U and 3DS versions of its recently announced cross-franchise brawler Super Smash Bros.
Director Masahiro Sakurai notes that "the total number of characters [in the Nintendo 3DS version] is the same as the Wii U version, but some of the stages will be completely different."
In addition: "In the Nintendo 3DS version, there will be more stages based on handheld games, while themed stages from home console games will be on Wii U."
Both games also boast a unique graphic style. The Wii U release focuses on primary colors and visual effects, while the 3DS version has cel-shaded characters in order to make them easier to see.
The Super Smash Bros. official website profiles every character announced so far, including newcomers from Animal Crossing and Wii Fit. Super Smash Bros. is set to launch in 2014.
In the meantime, some good news: in keeping with the series' tradition of cross-platform compatibility, the next-gen versions of Skylanders: Swap Force will use the same figurines as the current-gen titles, due to release for 3DS, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U October 13 in the United States.
This follows this morning's announcement of new characters The Villager from Animal Crossing and Mega Man.
The game's Story mode, which features voice acting and animated cutscenes created by the folks who handled those duties for Persona 4 Golden and Persona 4 Arena, is a first for the franchise. Likewise, the new "Grimoire Stone" system forgoes class skill limitations found in previous entries by allowing players to assign skills and create hybridized characters themselves.
Meanwhile, Classic mode is an updated, 3D version of the original Etrian Odyssey, enhanced with the Grimoire Stone system and made flexible by three new difficulty modes: Picnic, Standard and Expert.
Following this morning's E3 Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo sneakily released the above trailer for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, the official name for the new The Legend of Zelda game coming to 3DS.
The new 3DS varieties of Pokemon are launching October 12. Nintendo previously billed an October release window for the 3D evolution of its long-running monster capture series. In this morning's E3 Direct broadcast, Nintendo upgraded that window into a concrete worldwide release date for both Pokemon X and Pokemon Y.
Nintendo revealed Pokemon X and Y are receiving a new Fairy type. The 18th Pokemon type, which is super-effective against Dragon-type monsters, will feature both new Pokemon (including Sylveon as shown during the broadcast), as well as old ones like Jigglypuff, Marill, and Gardevoir.
Both games will introduce a new 'Pokemon-amie' feature that will let you tickle and stroke the critters to further your friendship with them. Aww.
Welcome to the Nintendo Direct of Nintendo Directs in 2013 - the fully armed and operational Death Star of Nintendo Directs, if you will. Thanks to the House of Mario's decision to forego the traditional E3 conference, this morning brings a Direct broadcast that should be stuffed to the brim with announcements and games.
Nintendo's streamed presentations are often packed with news, but this is Eee Three, and it's a whole minus world of hidden gems. Nintendo has already promised us it'll be showcasing the new 3D Mario, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros games for the Wii U today, and we're sure it has plenty of other things up its Wii U and 3DS sleeves.
As ever, we've got the North American stream up top for you to watch right here on Joystiq, as well as the European and Japanese streams below the break. The whole shebang kicks off at 7AM PT/10AM ET (3PM UK) and we'll have all the news as it happens.
Update: It's done, check out everything that happened right here.