Nintendo recently posted a trailer for Mega Man X to its YouTube channel showing the game in action on the Wii U Game Pad. The SNES game will launch on the Wii U Virtual Console next week, on May 30, to be exact.

Meanwhile, Super Metroid is still 30 cents, the service will see more Game Gear titles and Earthbound is coming this year. We're just saying, the Wii U's Virtual Console offerings are looking pretty hot right about now.

Gamestop's financial data for the first quarter of its fiscal 2013 have arrived like a pizza with nearly 25 percent fewer toppings than the pizza you ordered during the same 13-week period last year. Also, cheesy bread sales are way up? This may not be the strongest analogy.

In non-allegorical terms, gross revenue (overall sales) and net income (post-tax profit) were both down year-over-year, at $1.865 billion and $54.6 million, respectively. As far as net income, that's a 24.69 percent decrease from the $72.5 million Gamestop reported at the end of Q1 2012.

Meanwhile, mobile device sales were up 290 percent, though this massive increase was largely due to the fact that Gamestop's mobile trade-in/sales program was just getting started during Q1 of 2012. Digital sales also increased, to the tune of 47.3 percent year-over-year, while new software sales, both physical and digital, fell 3.8 percent.

As was the case during Q1 2012, used hardware and software sales accounted for the majority of Gamestop's pre-tax profit, with new hardware and software sales making up just 29.5 percent of the quarter's overall gross.

Square Enix America CEO Mike Fischer left the company this month and is now vice president of digital music and video for Amazon in Japan, Polygon reports. This follows news in April that Square Enix America eliminated "a number of positions" and Fischer was expected to leave in May. Those same reports said the head of marketing should be gone after E3, along with other employees in public relations.

In March, Square Enix President Yoichi Wada stepped down and the company announced widespread restructuring that it expected to cost $106 million. Square Enix posted a net loss of $134 million for fiscal year 2013, citing "weak" sales of major console games, including Sleeping Dogs, Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider, the last of which sold 3.4 million in its first month.

It's all about Nintendo mascots on the eShop this week. First and foremost, we've got Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, the delightful 3DS port of the challenging Wii game from 2010. Next up, Kirby gets three, count 'em, three new games on the Wii U Virtual Console: Kirby Super Star, Kirby's DreamLand 3 and Kirby's Dream Course. The Kirby games are $7.99 apiece or, from now until May 30, if you buy two you'll get the third game free.

Also running until May 30, you can grab the 3DS eShop game The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave for 20 percent off.

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The E3 Nintendo direct is scheduled for June 11 at 7AM Pacific (10AM Eastern, 3PM UK). The new installment will "provide updates about future Wii U games," according to Nintendo. Nintendo Europe has also announced a direct for the same time. In keeping with tradition, it'll likely be the same general information with region-specific details.

EA revealed some pretty significant news last week, with a spokesperson saying the company currently has no Wii U games in development. Now, it appears that EA may have some Wii U games in development after all, according to EA CFO Blake Jorgensen. The news comes by way of comments made by Jorgensen at the Stifel Nicolaus 2013 Internet, Media and Communications Conference.

"I'll let the consumers ultimately vote on PS versus Xbox," said Jorgensen, weighing in on the major console players. "I think Nintendo's business was more [an] extension of their last console. We are building titles for the Nintendo consoles but not anywhere near as many as we are for PS or Xbox." Jorgensen's comments would seem to indicate that EA is, in fact, still developing Wii U titles, though it's possible he's referring to the slate of already available games.

If there are Wii U games in development at EA, it's hard to say what they might be. The publisher has definitively stated that many of its biggest 2013 games are not planned for Wii U, including Battlefield 4, Madden 25 and, most recently, FIFA 14. We've contacted EA to see if we can clear things up.

Nintendo released what looks like a minor system update for the Wii U this week, and it's available to download now. Going by the patch notes, 3.0.1 U offers "further improvements to overall system stability and software compatibility."

We've downloaded the update and can't see any obvious changes. Maybe the Wii U just wanted to make itself heard over the clamor of a certain other box.

Target is currently offering the 8GB Wii U Basic at $239.99, one of the lowest prices if not the lowest price we've seen from a major North American retailer. Put your calculators away: that's 20 percent off the normal price of $300. Back in March, Best Buy put the Wii U Basic on sale at $250 for a couple of days.

The Wii U fell below targets In Nintendo's year-end financials, coming in at 3.45 million shipped worldwide as of March 31. According to the estimates of Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, aka the Pachter-tron, the Wii U sold 55,000 units in the US last month.

The crowd funding movement has reached an inevitable point in its trendiness arc: Parody. To promote the micro-game infused Game & Wario on the Wii U, Nintendo has launched (sigh...) Crowdfarter. The site pokes fun at services like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, asking fans to donate "coins" to help fund the project.

What that really entails is liking the site on Facebook or sharing it on Twitter. Doing so will unlock "stretch goals" that grant access to things like wallpapers, a new trailer and a ringtone spoken by Wario himself. If you don't feel like "donating," you can at least look around the site, which has a few little Easter eggs to discover.

Whether it gets "funded" or not, Game & Wario hits Wii U in America on June 23 and Europe on June 28.

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An enhanced Wii U version of Rebellion's sniping sim, Sniper Elite V2, is headed to retailers tomorrow, offering up a collection of platform-exclusive tactical options.

Announced back in February, the Wii U edition of Sniper Elite V2 uses the console's GamePad by giving players an in-game map and quicker access to weapons and equipment. Players can additionally use the GamePad to tag and track enemies, mark traps, and predict the blast radius of planted explosives.

The Wii U port also features off-TV GamePad mirroring, in case the rest of your family doesn't want to watch you shatter skulls.

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The 3DS is no graphical slouch. Aside from the glasses-free 3D feature, the system can kick out some impressive scenery, and it did so with last year's Resident Evil Revelations, a well-made little horror shooter in a series that's been looking for a lifeboat lately. After launching Resident Evil 6 fewer than six months ago, Capcom seems to think HD platforms need even more Resident Evil love, and so this week Revelations hits Xbox 360, PS3, Windows PCs, and the Wii U.

Playing it in enhanced form on an HD console, however, feels just a little goofy. The textures do look excellent, but the game's models are clearly made for a more lightweight graphics engine, which means you get characters with hair frozen in place and enemies with just a few animations to use over and over again. Revelations was made for a handheld machine, and its designers cut corners that the other platforms would have let them curve around more gracefully.

But Revelations' saving grace is that it's a Resident Evil game, and it's a good Resident Evil game at that. For that reason, fans of the series who missed out the first time around will probably appreciate the chance to see it for themselves.

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North American retailers GameStop and Amazon are offering up their own pre-order incentives for Watch Dogs, Ubisoft announced today.

Those who commit early through GameStop will receive an additional single-player mission, with a perk that unlocks "exclusive investigation opportunities inside of the network" and bonus cash when hacking into bank accounts, plus an exclusive poster designed by Alex Ross. Amazon pre-orders also get an exclusive mission that, upon completion, unlocks a special biometric assault rifle and an outfit.

Watch Dogs launches on the Xbox 360, PS3, PC and Wii U on November 19. A port is also planned for next-generation consoles.

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Resident Evil: Revelations launches this week and Capcom has promised some DLC. It starts on June 4 with the Resistance and Enhancement sets for 160 MS Points ($2), each including six different weapon upgrades. Then, on June 11, Capcom will issue two additional characters for use in Raid mode: Rachel Ooze and Lady Hunk. Each character costs 240 MS Points ($3).

Resident Evil: Revelations is a remake of the 3DS game bearing the same name launched by Capcom in early 2012. Bridging the story between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, Revelations follows series regulars Jill and Chris, and takes place aboard a derelict cruise liner called the SS Queen Zenobia. A free demo has been available to all on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and Steam since last week.

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Irreverent Marvel antihero Deadpool may be gracing the Wii U, at least according to a listing by Amazon Canada. Spotted by NeoGAF over the weekend, the retailer has High Moon Studios' madcap action game pinned for the Nintendo console.

Unlike other platforms listed by the retailer, the release date is apparently a placeholder (December 31 2013) and the listing is minus details and box art. Even if a Wii U version is on the way, given the timing it seems unlikely it'll launch alongside the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC ones on June 25.

We've reached out to Deadpool himself (and Activision) to clear things up. Update: Activision reps got back to us and have said, "There are currently no plans for DEADPOOL to come to Wii-U."

Ubisoft has released a new trailer for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, showcasing gameplay from its co-op narrative campaign and some gruff banter between Sam Fisher and his partner-in-stealth Isaac Briggs.

Splinter Cell is beefing up its multiplayer offerings for the latest series entry, as Blacklist will feature both a two-player co-op campaign and the returning Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer mode. We had a chat with Blacklist's lead co-op designer Richard Carrillo earlier this month, in which he confirmed that teammates will need to adapt to multiple playstyles in order to survive.

Blacklist's co-op element spans four mission types and 14 maps, and is playable online and in local split-screen. Splinter Cell: Blacklist is set to launch for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC platforms on August 20.

Warner Bros. revealed Batman: Arkham Origins is fronted by two of gaming's most prominent voice actors. Roger Craig Smith is confirmed as the caped crusader, and Troy Baker is his nemesis, the Joker.

If you don't recognize the names, you'll definitely recognize their previous work. Craig Smith's immense portfolio includes Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed, Chris Redfield from Resident Evil, and he's the current voice of Sonic. While he's never starred in anything Batman related, he does have superhero experience. It is for the other side, however; he's played Captain America in both games and animations.

Baker is similarly prolific. While he recently graced our screens as Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite, his past work includes Sgt. Matt Baker in Gearbox's Brothers in Arms, Snow from the Final Fantasy 13 line, Kai Leng from Mass Effect 3, and Vincent from Catherine. When we profiled Baker around this time last year, he shared his love for all things Batman on the back of starring in Arkham City.

"Being a part of Arkham City was just incredible - because I'm a huge Batman fan," Baker told us, "And to play Two-Face and Robin after growing up watching The Animated Series was a banner moment for me."

The news follows apparent confirmation long-time Batman vocalist Kevin Conroy does star in Origins, but how he features remains to be seen. We know Origins deals with Batman's "initiation into that insane world" of the other Arkham games, so perhaps Conroy's role is something retrospective. Even if Conroy doesn't play the dark knight in any sense in Origins, to fans he's still the goddamn Batman.

Bat-click here to check out our preview and the new trailer.

Batman: Arkham Origins follows the world's most enduring vigilante after just two years on the job. The developers at Warner Bros. Montreal, taking over from Rocksteady Studios and their critically acclaimed construction of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, want to convey a "rawer, scarier Batman." He's all growl and grimace in the cutscenes, dangling squirming henchmen from clock towers until they turn verbose, but in play his rookie temper is more difficult to detect.

The prequel is a tricky proposition, especially when it concerns history that's been dissected again and again across comics, movies and games. It's harder to conjure narrative tension while it's colored by the inevitable outcome, and that draws greater scrutiny on mechanical expansion and refinement. Why does this younger Batman make for a better Batman game?

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