Back in the long-ago days of the 2010 holiday season, it looked like THQ had a hit on its hands with its out-of-left-field uDraw Game Tablet, a slate-like controller that used a stylus to let players draw on the TV. The company sold 1.7 million of them to Wii owners by early 2011, beating expectations and leading some to speculate that the uDraw might be the biggest game control revolution this side of the Kinect.

Buoyed by the initial success, THQ quickly cranked out uDraw tablets for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and got to work licensing new compatible software from big, family-friendly brands like Kung Fu Panda, Spongebob Squarepants, and Disney Princesses. But that expansion now looks like a colossal mistake, as excess uDraw inventory was a major factor in the huge financial loss reported for the company's recent 2011 holiday quarter.

Read the comments on this post

Back in the long-ago days of the 2010 holiday season, it looked like THQ had a hit on its hands with its out-of-left-field uDraw Game Tablet, a slate-like controller that used a stylus to let players draw on the TV. The company sold 1.7 million of them to Wii owners by early 2011, beating expectations and leading some to speculate that the uDraw might be the biggest game control revolution this side of the Kinect.

Buoyed by the initial success, THQ quickly cranked out uDraw tablets for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and got to work licensing new compatible software from big, family-friendly brands like Kung Fu Panda, Spongebob Squarepants, and Disney Princesses. But that expansion now looks like a colossal mistake, as excess uDraw inventory was a major factor in the huge financial loss reported for the company's recent 2011 holiday quarter.

Read the comments on this post

Japanese RPG games have always weaved a good yarn.The Last Story, while not actually going to be the last story, will indeed weave an intricate and interesting story for you.

Not only that but The Last Story is a reinvention of genre, there’s not only a huge single player campaign but also online multiplayer in which you can take your character from the single player game and battle it out with 5 other players. Here’s a trailer for you to check out. 

So thanks to the kind people at Nintendo Australia, we have 3 copies of The Last Story to give away, no drawing required on this one. Instead we want you to tell us a story. We want you to tell us about your favourite RPG in 200 words. Not just listing positive dot points but tell us a story (perhaps in third person) about your favourite times with your most favourite of RPG’s. It could be any RPG, from any console, from any time. The genre knows no bounds.

To enter send your story to the email address below.



We’ll need your name or forum username to enter; without either one of them, if you win, we can’t give you your prize!



- This competition commences immediately, and will conclude on the 20th of February. One entry is allowed per person. Three (3) main prize winners will be chosen with the most creative and thoughtful entries and will be notified via private message and/or email.

- Winners each receive one copy of The Last Story for the Wii. The games provided will be PAL region.

- The competition is open to only residents of Australia and New Zealand. If you don’t provide a username or return email, your entry is invalid, as we can’t contact you, so make sure you give us one.

- Vooks staff members (past and present) are ineligible to win. Vooks is not responsible for lost or damaged mail and the prizes are not redeemable for cash.


- We reserve the right to substitute any of the prizes, but will always do so for a prize of equal value. Vooks reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of this competition at any time.

- Destiny Awaits.

At last, another 3D Classic is upon us! However you might have it already as Nintendo is giving 3D Classics: Kid Icarus away for free, but if you can’t be bothered buying two other Nintendo 3DS games you can now pay for it. If you want to, of course.

3DS Download Software

3D Classics: Kid Icarus (Nintendo - $9.00AU) Just in time for Kid Icarus: Uprising is Pit’s first adventure from the NES. It looks great in 3D and if you haven’t gotten it for free from Nintendo, it might be worth picking up anyway.

Looks like we didn’t get this one, this week....

DSiWare new to eShop

Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon (Nintendo - $7.50AU) This one has been on the DSi Shop since all the way back in 2009. It never made the trip over to the Nintendo 3DS when the eShop launched and I know a few people who were upset by this. Fear not, Pinball Pulse is back. The pedigree behind this one is strong; it’s from the makers of Metroid Prime Pinball, and that was great.

DSiWare

Castle Conqueror — Against (Circle Entertainment - 200pts) The Castle Conqueror series continues. These games are quiet achievers, no one really ever says anything nice about them, but they’re great. At only 200 points too, who could argue with that?

WiiWare

TNT Racers (dtp Entertainment - 1000pts) The big 1000 pointers, they’re always hard ones to talk about. Especially when they were announced basically years ago now and have only just seen the light. Who wants to risk 1000 points?

Nintendo Video
- Magic Piano
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya! Episode I
- Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace 3D Trailer

At the end of last year, there was a frenzy over legendary Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto allegedly saying he would step down from his position at the company. It turned out to be a misinterpretation of comments made during an interview, but something we learned was that Miyamoto was more interested in nurturing new talent rather than being tied down to the lengthy development times of established franchises.

In a recent investor’s briefing, Miyamoto reaffirmed his new thinking, and it appears that taking a step back and allowing younger blood to take the reigns of Nintendo’s big hitters is proving successful. “We have already come to the stage where quality software titles with a high completion level have been developed without my active involvement,” says Miyamoto. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata reinforced these statements: “We are…observing what happens if we assign particular work to people who have never done such work before. So far, we have observed more solid results than originally anticipated.”

Now that Miyamoto has more breathing room at the company, he is more than ever looking for ideas for Nintendo’s next big thing. “I am spending more time than before on finding new ideas for new developments rather than focusing my energy on work in my (development) teams in order to solidify the contents of (existing) franchise titles. After all, developing big hit titles must be the solution. I am acting with the understanding that one big hit title can change multiple phases of a situation in the entertainment business, and I feel that finding such one big hit is my basic job.”

Do you think Miyamoto can come up with a new IP to rival Mario or Zelda?

Source: Nintendo Life

Nintendo’s new focus on actually making anything online and digital on the Wii U actually good also could lead to bad things. With DLC to be available on Nintendo’s next console that also means things like preorder bonuses, retailer exclusive codes and horse armour could invade our fair ecosystem.

Not that Nintendo would ever do it themselves, but third parties might do something silly. However, have no fear as Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has plans to make sure third parties are kept on a short leash.

"...We have a belief that our games should be a trusted brand for a very wide variety of consumers, including children and casual users who are not so familiar with the trends of video games," Iwata told investors last week. "Therefore, we would like to have regulations with a certain degree of strictness so that consumers will get a sense of reassurance from our games."

We’re glad this is one of those thing where Nintendo decides to do their own thing with regards to something online. While they might not get everything right they have for this one.

The developers best known for their Pokemon spinoff’s Genuis Sonority have a new game on the way. It’s on the eShop and it’s out next week in Japan. Nothing like a quick Nintendo launch on the eShop to build up excitement.

The game is a Augmented Reality based RPG called Denpa Ningen RPG and you’ll need to use the 3DS’s 3D camera to take on a giant demon king with the help of flying folks. The denpa ningen all have different statistics and elemental stats which mix up your team.

It’s likely that this will head outside of Japan eventually, it’s certainly cute enough if nothing else.

The developers best known for their Pokemon spinoff’s Genuis Sonority have a new game on the way. It’s on the eShop and it’s out next week in Japan. Nothing like a quick Nintendo launch on the eShop to build up excitement.

The game is a Augmented Reality based RPG called Denpa Ningen RPG and you’ll need to use the 3DS’s 3D camera to take on a giant demon king with the help of flying folks. The denpa ningen all have different statistics and elemental stats which mix up your team.

It’s likely that this will head outside of Japan eventually, it’s certainly cute enough if nothing else.

And now he’s right. Retailer The Good Guys is now selling an awesome little bundle here for the 3DS which doesn’t come with some shovelware game. Instead, it comes with Resident Evil: Revelations and a Circle Pad Pro. Let’s do the maths on that one, the RRP for a Nintendo 3DS at the moment is $249. Now most retailers have been selling it for less than that but still, if you take off Resident Evil and the Circle Pad Pro off that price ($69.95 and $24.95) you’re effectively getting a 3DS for $155. Which is $100 less than normal or $200 less if you had bought one on launch.

Of course this doesn’t help people who already have a 3DS (or three) so if you spot any other deals for Resident Evil: Revelations and/or the Circle Pad Pro let us know!

Via: Lasoo

Capcom has announced that Ace Attorney 5 is on the way. The game was announced at the Ace Attoerney 10th anniversary event in Japan, however Capcom declined to announce just what platform or platforms the games would be on. Not even the fancy logo offers any kind of clues.

The series has so far been on Nintendo systems predominately, with the series beginning on the Game Boy Advance and then continuing and making its breakthrough to the west on the Nintendo DS. Ports on the PC, WiiWare and iOS platforms also exist, so it’s possible other platforms are joining the fray.

The other big question is; Who is going to be the main star? Phoenix Wright? Apollo Justice? Or perhaps someone new?

Source: ONM