The Tendo Project – Daily Nintendo News

A newcomer from Super Mario Galaxy and a Mario stalwart come to Mario Kart

The latest issue of Nintendo Power magazine has shown off two new characters that will taking the karting reigns in the upcoming Mario Kart 7, which is destined to be released some time during this December in Australia. Super Mario Galaxy’s Queen Bee and Mario stalwart Wiggler join the racing crew.

Returning

• Mario
• Luigi
• Princess Peach
• Princess Daisy
• Toad
• Yoshi
• Koopa Troopa
• Bowser
• Donkey Kong
• Wario
• Shy Guy
• Rosalina
• Mii

New

• Lakitu
• Metal Mario
• Wiggler
• Queen Bee

The entire roster of playable characters, including the already-revealed Metal Mario, is now at a total of 17 characters. So will you be playing as either Wiggler or Queen Bee when Mario Kart 7 hits?

Source: Images via N-Europe

Nintendo will come out swinging at E3, a year after the systems first reveal

Nintendos financial briefing didnt just discuss losing money and the 3DS; even the Wii U, which hasnt been seen since E3 last June, got a mention and its a positive one.

Nintendo plans to show the system in its final form at E3 next year. Whether or not this means there are many (or any) changes to be shown with the console remains to be seen, but we should expect a much stronger showing of the system along some actual games to go with it.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has also said that they have learned from the "bitter launch" of the Nintendo 3DS and will take every possible step to make sure the Wii U has a successful launch.

Lets just hope they show it off a bit better than previously. Everyone, even Nintendo, admits it was a wonky reveal!

Source: Nintendo

3DS sales are up, a silver lining in Nintendos dark cloud

While Nintendo has just posted a 70 billion yen loss there is a bright start in that news and it’s the Nintendo 3DS. While the system started off to a slowly, leading to a huge price drop, sales have picked up from 710,000 during the previous quarter (worldwide) to a huge 2.36 million between June and September. There are now 6.68 million Nintendo 3DS units sold worldwide and Nintendo hopes they can get that number up to 16 million before their financial year is over in April 2012.

However the price drop hasn’t helped everything Nintendo 3DS-related; software sales slowed down in the last quarter with only 3.6 million games sold for the system - 4.53 million were sold during the quarter before. That quarter, though, did have The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D launch. It’s hard to top that.

Nintendo’s going into holiday mode with Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land just over the horizon. It’ll be interesting to see what the figures have to say at the end of next quarter.

Source: Nintendo Life

Not the best of times for Nintendo as the weak yen hurts them

Nintendo has posted its latest quarterly financial results and things arent looking all that good. Nintendo has not only posted a 70 billion yen loss for the previous quarter, but they also missed their sales targets for DS and 3DS software. The company has now made the bold forecast of a 20 billion yen loss for this financial year, instead of a 20 billion yen profit as previously expected. It would be the first overall loss in its history.

Its not just because sales are down however, although that still plays a big part in it. Nintendo is also struggling with the strong yen as its dealings overseas have caused Nintendo to lost 52.4 billion yen. The more business they do outside of Japan, the more it hurts them at the moment!

Theres no need to worry though, the holiday season is ramping up and Nintendo still has 591 billion yen in cash and deposits. Theyre really sitting on a ton of cash, the best thing to have in a downturning economy!

Source: Nintendo Life

If youve been waiting for something different to spend your stockpile of Stars on, perhaps this will suit your fancy

Nintendo Australia has quietly put up a new item on the Club Nintendo Stars Catalogue this week. For 1000 Stars, you can get a Kirby Pouch! It’s an embroidered pouch no doubt inspired by Kirby’s Epic Yarn.

With a button on one side and a zipped pocket on the other, it’s "great for carrying small personal items". The emphasis here is on "small", because this thing is about 13cm by 9cm and can fit items up to 11.5cm by 8cm, according to Nintendo. You probably can’t fit your wallet in there; then again, this would probably replace your wallet. Phone, maybe?

Thanks to Matthew945 for the news tip!

If youve been waiting for something different to spend your stockpile of Stars on, perhaps this will suit your fancy

Nintendo Australia has quietly put up a new item on the Club Nintendo Stars Catalogue this week. For 1000 Stars, you can get a Kirby Pouch! It’s an embroidered pouch no doubt inspired by Kirby’s Epic Yarn.

With a button on one side and a zipped pocket on the other, it’s "great for carrying small personal items". The emphasis here is on "small", because this thing is about 13cm by 9cm and can fit items up to 11.5cm by 8cm, according to Nintendo. You probably can’t fit your wallet in there; then again, this would probably replace your wallet. Phone, maybe?

Thanks to Matthew945 for the news tip!

House of the Dead Overkill was released for the Nintendo Wii two years ago, and it remains one of our favorite games for the system, although it's tragically overlooked. Thankfully, we're drawing close to Halloween and Sega has updated the graphics for the PlayStation 3, added some bonus content, and re-released the game with support for the PlayStation Move.

So what's new? First, the game looks much better, and there are two brand-new levels and more collectibles to find throughout the levels. The Move is a great fit for this sort of lightgun game, and the wonderfully profane writing and grindhouse-style jokes remain. This is a game that delights in its "Mature" rating, and doesn't pull any of its goofy punches in the name of good taste.

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The word "special" means different things to different people - to Nintendo it means gold pants

Australian R&B singer Jessica Mauboy recently joined the Nintendo bandwagon, declaring her love for her pet dog Marlie and spruiking nintendogs + cats in the process. Now you can have Jessica in your pants (oh grow up, kids) and take her wherever you go by downloading her special Mii character to your Nintendo 3DS.

To get her Mii, first open up the Mii Maker app. Then select "QR Code/Image Options", and "Scan QR Code". Focus the 3DS camera at the QR code above et voilà, her Mii will appear before your very eyes. Speaking of pants, this is a celebrity Mii, so it has gold pants, and not the usual grey.

Nintendo reveals eShop improvements on the way

Nintendo has just held its semi-annual financial briefing in Japan and president Satoru Iwata has revealed how the company will improve the 3DS’s online shop.

At the briefing, Iwata spoke about how they were expanding the 3DS’s eShop to include downloadable content (DLC) for games. This is big news as up until now, Nintendo has been very resistive of joining the DLC bandwagon. The reason for the change? Developers pushing for it.

“After a software title is launched, content can be added to it via the Nintendo eShop. This is a feature a number of software creators have been looking forward to,” Iwata told investors.

Another new feature to come to the eShop through the November update will be downloadable demos for 3DS games. Last generation, Nintendo offered a scant few demos for the DS through the Nintendo Channel on Wii. But this looks to be remedied for the 3DS, with demos being available to download directly on the system. Iwata says developers will be able to put limits on demos, such as the number of times they can be played.

 

The update will also allow the system to download titles from the eShop while in sleep mode. It is not known yet if you have to remain in the eShop or if you can continue downloads from the main menu, or even line up multiple downloads. Here is what Iwata had to say: “In terms of its usability, we know that there still are several issues with the Nintendo eShop. We have made several improvements for this time. For example, software downloads can be done when Nintendo 3DS is in sleep mode, which will lessen the need for the users to patiently wait by while downloading several software titles at once or while downloading software with a large memory capacity.”

Nintendo is also preparing a web front for the eShop so that you can access the shop from a web browser on a PC or mobile phone, much like the iTunes store. This will allow gamers to share links to content on the eShop with their friends online and allow search engines to find the content along with user reviews. Initially you won’t be able to buy content from the PC, but Nintendo hopes to add that feature in later.

Nintendo is also going to include a QR scanner in the eShop so that you can scan a QR code on the web store and be taken to the content on your 3DS. The QR scanner will be in next months update, the web store will be later.

Finally, it was revealed that the video streaming service Hulu Plus would make its way to 3DS consoles in the US. Since Hulu and other similar streaming services like Netflix aren’t available in Australia, we probably won’t be getting that feature.

Nintendo reveals eShop improvements on the way

Nintendo has just held its semi-annual financial briefing in Japan and president Satoru Iwata has revealed how the company will improve the 3DS’s online shop.

At the briefing, Iwata spoke about how they were expanding the 3DS’s eShop to include downloadable content (DLC) for games. This is big news as up until now, Nintendo has been very resistive of joining the DLC bandwagon. The reason for the change? Developers pushing for it.

“After a software title is launched, content can be added to it via the Nintendo eShop. This is a feature a number of software creators have been looking forward to,” Iwata told investors.

Another new feature to come to the eShop through the November update will be downloadable demos for 3DS games. Last generation, Nintendo offered a scant few demos for the DS through the Nintendo Channel on Wii. But this looks to be remedied for the 3DS, with demos being available to download directly on the system. Iwata says developers will be able to put limits on demos, such as the number of times they can be played.

The update will also allow the system to download titles from the eShop while in sleep mode. It is not known yet if you have to remain in the eShop or if you can continue downloads from the main menu, or even line up multiple downloads. Here is what Iwata had to say: “In terms of its usability, we know that there still are several issues with the Nintendo eShop. We have made several improvements for this time. For example, software downloads can be done when Nintendo 3DS is in sleep mode, which will lessen the need for the users to patiently wait by while downloading several software titles at once or while downloading software with a large memory capacity.”

Nintendo is also preparing a web front for the eShop so that you can access the shop from a web browser on a PC or mobile phone, much like the iTunes store. This will allow gamers to share links to content on the eShop with their friends online and allow search engines to find the content along with user reviews. Initially you won’t be able to buy content from the PC, but Nintendo hopes to add that feature in later.

Nintendo is also going to include a QR scanner in the eShop so that you can scan a QR code on the web store and be taken to the content on your 3DS.

Finally, it was revealed that the video streaming service Hulu Plus would make its way to 3DS consoles in the US. Since Hulu and other similar streaming services like Netflix aren’t available in Australia, we probably won’t be getting that feature.