Wii

A small update was posted to the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter account yesterday and translated below: the team are in high spirits the game is approaching the final stages of development now we can expect an increase of information from this month on regarding the game https://mobile.twitter.com/XenobladeJP

Japanese Kirby and the Rainbow Curse ad Japanese Kirby and the Rainbow Curse amiibo ad

If NintendoLand had online multiplayer and voice chat it would have helped the Wii U hugely at the start. Imagine Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros. Wii U had no online. Would they have sold as well, reviewed as well or be played as much? No on all counts.

A couple more close up photos of the figurine.

Happy Birthday guys!

Here's a photo of the Smash Bros. faceplate. A spokesperson from Nintendo of Europe gave the following quote to Eurogamer about who qualifies for the invitation: "The New Nintendo 3DS Ambassador offer is by email invitation only for selected Club Nintendo members in Europe only who fulfil a certain criteria, we are unable to disclose such business information, however we would like to reassure you that we are continually looking at different promotional offerings we can bring to consumers at various times throughout the year. The terms and conditions for such promotional activities are individual to each promotion,but we will endeavour to bring you more promotional activities in the future, which we hope you will be able to take advantage of." http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-01-06-new-nintendo-3ds-ambassador-edition-goes-on-sale

I didn't get the e-mail. Well that would be a pleasant surprise. Maybe they've started to listen to some of the feedback.

I don't know if you've ever tried but we can't order products from the Nintendo store. They don't deliver to Ireland. Maybe if you use Parcel Motel you could get around that. But they wouldn't hold onto it for 3 weeks and you'd have a hefty fine for non collection as well. I always view these e-mails from Nintendo as taunts now. Like why send me the offers if I can't buy them?

This weeks software and hardware sales. 01./01. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 2: Shin Uchi (Level 5) {2014.12.13} (¥4.968) – 265.226 / 2.007.327 <80-100%> (-50%) 02./03. [3DS] Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire # (Pokemon Co.) {2014.11.21} (¥4.937) – 144.435 / 2.464.850 <80-100%> (-1%) 03./04. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo) {2014.09.13} (¥5.616) – 97.669 / 2.066.022 <80-100%> (+20%) 04./06. [WIU] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U # (Nintendo) {2014.12.06} (¥7.776) – 86.752 / 478.366 <60-80%> (+39%) 05./02. [3DS] Final Fantasy Explorers (Square Enix) {2014.12.18} (¥6.264) – 48.360 / 212.204 <80-100%> (-70%) 06./09. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate # (Capcom) {2014.10.11} (¥6.264) – 46.471 / 2.381.177 <80-100%> (+36%) 07./10. [WIU] Mario Kart 8 # (Nintendo) {2014.05.29} (¥6.156) – 43.564 / 842.053 <80-100%> (+33%) 08./08. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke (Level 5) {2014.07.10} (¥4.937) – 34.336 / 3.050.178 <80-100%> (-9%) 09./00. [PSV] Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Out of Order # (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.12.25} (¥6.664) – 27.639 / NEW <80-100%> 10./07. [PSV] Gundam Breaker 2 (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.12.18} (¥7.171) – 23.655 / 78.263 <80-100%> (-57%) 11./05. [PS3] Gundam Breaker 2 # (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.12.18} (¥8.208) – 23.092 / 95.442 <60-80%> (-68%) 12./12. [3DS] Sumikko Gurashi: Koko ga Ochitsukundesu (Nippon Columbia) {2014.11.20} (¥5.184) – 19.406 / 75.540 <60-80%> (-8%) 13./18. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf # (Nintendo) {2012.11.08} (¥4.800) – 19.381 / 4.249.432 <80-100%> (+31%) 14./14. [WIU] Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo) {2014.11.13} (¥3.996) – 17.869 / 113.388 <60-80%> (-7%) 15./13. [3DS] Aikatsu! 365-Hi no Idol Days (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.12.04} (¥5.627) – 16.764 / 85.380 <60-80%> (-13%) 16./15. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V # (Take-Two Interactive Japan) {2014.12.11} (¥7.992) – 15.410 / 107.524 <60-80%> (-19%) 17./00. [PS4] Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Warner Entertainment Japan) {2014.12.25} (¥8.208) – 14.206 / NEW <80-100%> 18./25. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} (¥4.800) – 13.104 / 2.355.274 <80-100%> (+52%) 19./20. [3DS] Attack on Titan: The Last Wings of Mankind – Chain (Spike Chunsoft) {2014.12.04} (¥5.378) – 12.565 / 54.581 <60-80%> (+15%) 20./24. [3DS] Gotouchi Tetsudou: Gotouchi Chara to Nihon Zenkoku no Tabi (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.11.27} (¥5.626) – 12.420 / 44.707 <60-80%> (+34%) 21./30. [3DS] Taiko no Tatsujin: Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.06.26} (¥5.119) – 11.286 / 236.456 <80-100%> (+71%) 22./23. [WIU] Taiko no Tatsujin: Tokumori! # (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.11.20} (¥5.627) – 11.048 / 43.884 <40-60%> (+18%) 23./27. [3DS] One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.11.13} (¥6.145) – 10.727 / 81.229 <60-80%> (+37%) 24./21. [3DS] Yoshi’s New Island (Nintendo) {2014.07.24} (¥4.936) – 9.380 / 249.016 <80-100%> (-11%) 25./29. [3DS] Kirby Triple Deluxe (Nintendo) {2014.01.11} (¥4.800) – 8.485 / 687.957 <80-100%> (+13%) 26./28. [3DS] Mario Party: Island Tour (Nintendo) {2014.03.20} (¥4.800) – 8.256 / 467.935 <80-100%> (+8%) 27./19. [PS3] Shining Resonance # <RPG> (Sega) {2014.12.11} (¥8.880) – 8.167 / 93.106 <80-100%> (-42%) 28./17. [3DS] 12-Sai. Honto no Kimochi (Happinet) {2014.12.18} (¥5.480) – 7.958 / 24.214 <60-80%> (-51%) 29./26. [3DS] Tomodachi Life # (Nintendo) {2013.04.18} (¥4.800) – 7.242 / 1.706.265 <80-100%> (-14%) 30./00. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2015 (Konami) {2014.11.13} (¥8.208) – 7.032 / 138.278 <80-100%> Nintendo 3DS: 218.351 Wii U: 48.927 PlayStation Vita: 40.525 PlayStation 4: 30.145 PlayStation 3: 10.142 Xbox One: 815 Another great week for Wii U and 3DS. Famitsu have also published figures showing Japanese sales data for the year 2014 as a whole. Last years hardware sales in Japan followed by LTD figures: 3DS – 3,153,045 / 17,847,056 PSV – 1,147,936 / 3,423,075 PS4 – 925,570 Wii U – 604,856 / 2,123,283 PS3 – 450,034 / 10,018,534 One – 45,958 Top 10 best selling games in Japan last year: 1. [3DS] Youkai Watch 2 – 3,050,178 2. [3DS] Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire – 2,464,850 3. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate – 2,381,177 4. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – 2,066,022 5. [3DS] Youkai Watch 2: Shinuchi – 2,007,327 6. [3DS] Youkai Watch – 994,346 7. [WIU] Mario Kart 8 – 842,053 8. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters 2 – 748,139 9. [3DS] Kirby Triple Deluxe – 687,957 10. [WIU] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – 478,366 Nintendomination with all top 10 software sales. The Japanese console and handheld gaming market is at its lowest ebb in 24 years.

Here's the figurine in full. He's doing a bit of the Link amiibo pose with his head facing towards the ground. Edit: Think there'll be amiibo support in the base?

Damn! The U.S. went from nothing to easily having the better limited edition now. Aside from the steelbook maybe.

It's getting visibly worse every month. The sections are getting smaller and it's the same games sitting there since launch nearly for ridiculous prices. They sell the big games initial stock and then that's it. Smyths used to great here but I've noticed in store it's really depressing their Nintendo section, especially Wii U. Their website is the same, they've only 27 various Wii U products online and a lot of it is junk.

The battery arrived yesterday. So far no problems. Running a comparison at the minute to see how much longer it lasts. The old battery lasted just under 3 hours and 30 minutes and that was from just leaving it run on the browser. The gamepad doesn't feel any heavier, probably is but it's definitely not noticeable. Said it was coming from China but it arrived from the Netherlands. Hhmmm! Where was that TV crew from? Hopefully nothing blows up, fries, melts or burns. €6 is what it cost, could be a great buy. I'll let you know what the total time is later.

I was going to predict that we'd have a Direct in the middle of January. I just hope it's not just a dedicated New 3DS Direct now.

Just heard the news but didn't get the e-mail either.

3D World is a hybrid of 2D and 3D gameplay. It requires you to hold a button to run, I would not be a fan of that, it's more multi player than single player focused. It's 3D Land ver2.0. There's just a vibe, I don't know what it is exactly but it doesn't in my estimation hold a candle to Galaxy. Well I do know one thing, those cat suits are naff.

No way is it more like Galaxy.

What is also strange is that F-Zero is the exception and has to bring something new to the table to see a revival when nearly every other game they've released on Wii U thus far has been more of the same. Besides, why mess with perfection?

I didn't know PS4 was so high but it just highlights how bad Wii U is doing that in half the time it's sold 10 million units more. Japan is the only area where Wii U remains competitive with PS4, it's a 1 million unit difference, is likely to change over time and Japan console sales are mostly garbage these days. Yes, not a hope of reaching 20 million units. Wii U will have the unenviable title of worst selling Nintendo console and it could well end up so by some considerable distance.

I couldn't tell you. I think it's been at least a year since anything was last heard about it. It could well be cancelled which would be a shame because it looked really promising.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/01/shigeru_miyamoto_confirms_playable_star_fox_for_e3_a_future_for_f_zero_and_more Seems a bit bizarre the comment about F-Zero needing the right controller before it'll make a return. The gamepad is like the swiss army knife of gaming. It has nearly everything. The only thing I can think of that it's lacking is analogue buttons.

http://www.rgj.com/story/life/2014/09/02/hyrule-warriors-interview-aonuma-hayashi-zelda/14976625/

But it's also its first appearance on the Wii U specific chart. The minimal of sales would have got it on that chart. They've got to all count or it wouldn't have charted so high. A lot of people bought it before Christmas.

This weeks UK sales charts. Decent showing for Captain Toad but then it did have over 2 weeks to gather these sales. Other than that it's just Smash Bros. hanging on in there for the Wii U.