Nintendo revives ‘Wild Gunman’ in time for ‘Back to the Future’ Day
You’ve probably seen your share of over-the-top publicity grabs on Back to the Future Day, but Nintendo has a subtler one that you might just appreciate. The company’s European branch has quietly released a Wii U Virtual Console port of Wild Gunman, better known as the game that Marty McFly dominates when he visits 2015 in Back to the Future Part II. As in the movie, you have to use your hands to play this “baby’s toy” — the big difference is that you’re using a Wii remote instead of the NES’ Zapper light gun (BTTF2‘s particular arcade cabinet never really existed, we’d note). You probably won’t mind if you’re on a nostalgia kick, though. And if you really, truly want to play a game that Hill Valley’s kids would enjoy, Microsoft is happy to help.
Via: Wired
Source: Nintendo
Happy Birthday! The NES is 30 years old today
Well, on its American birth certificate at least. Yep, to the groans of middle-aged gamers everywhere, it’s been three decades since Nintendo’s home console first landed: 18th October 1985. Arguably the advent of console gaming, the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived with 17 games, including Mario Bros., and other not-so-much memorable titles like Hogan’s Alley (not the wrestler) and Stack Up — all in often ridiculous box art we’ve already covered in detail. It had a rich life and to celebrate we’ve embedded a video that includes every NES title screen. You’ve got three hours and a box of Kleenex, right? And if you’re still nostalgic, there’s always that aluminum model.
Niantic Labs gets a $20 million investment from Google, Nintendo and the Pokemon Company
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The world pretty much lost its mind when we saw the announcement trailer for Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game in the same vein as Ingress but with, well, Pokemon. We’re expecting the game to be very similar to Ingress in that you’ll need to roam the world in the hopes of catching available Pokemon and battling other players. Pokemon Go has gotten such a good reception so far that Google, Nintendo and the Pokemon Company have together invested $20 million into Niantic Labs to make it happen, with an alleged extra $10 million based on performance milestones.
It will be interesting what Niantic Labs does with Pokemon Go – Ingress is definitely a cult hit, but leveraging the existing Pokemon audience seems like a daunting task to say the least, and that’s before you consider that it will involve augmented reality. If there’s anyone who can make it happen, though, it’s Niantic Labs and it’s clear its investors think so too.
How do you think Pokemon Go is going to turn out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Re/Code via Android Authority
The post Niantic Labs gets a $20 million investment from Google, Nintendo and the Pokemon Company appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Playdate: We’re exploring ‘Yoshi’s Woolly World’
From all of your custom Super Mario Maker levels, to Steam Machines and now to Yoshi’s Woolly World on Wii U in one week, you can’t say we aren’t afraid to switch things up now and again here on Engadget Playdate. When he played the latter back at E3, features editor and gaming overlord Joseph Volpe likened the game to “a warm hug.” Neither Sean nor myself has had a chance to get our mitts on it yet, so we’re fixing that today live on Twitch just for you. Join us starting at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific as we make our way through the yarn-spun affair either here on this post, the Engadget Gaming homepage or Twitch.tv/joystiq if you’d like to chat with us. http://www.twitch.tv/joystiq/embedWatch live video from Joystiq on www.twitch.tv
[We’re streaming Yoshi’s Woolly World at 720p through OBS, so rest assured it’ll look much more adorable on your TV at home.]
Google, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company invest up to $30 million in Niantic
Just because Niantic, the creator of Ingress, is no longer part of Google, doesn’t mean that the search giant has abandoned it. Google and some other companies have committed to investing up to $30 million in Niantic in a round of Series A financing.
The investment from Google, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company Group, means that $20 million will be initially invested in Niantic. An additional $10 million will be invested when Niantic meets certain targets. Niantic is currently in the process of bringing Pokémon Go to market, with the game scheduled to be released on the App Store and Google Play Store sometime in 2016.
“Niantic has shown the great potential of mixing geo-location technology, dynamic storytelling and innovative game design, and we’re excited to continue supporting the team on their journey,” said Don Harrison, vice president, Corporate Development, Google.
Full Press Release:
Niantic Raises Series A Financing of $20 Million from The Pokémon Company Group, Google and Nintendo
Niantic to Scale Its Platform, Launch Highly Anticipated Pokémon GO and Expand Its Hit Real World Game Ingress
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Real world games maker Niantic, Inc. has raised its Series A financing round from The Pokémon Company Group, Google and Nintendo. The companies are investing up to $30 million in Niantic, Inc., which includes an initial $20 million upfront and an additional $10 million conditioned upon achieving certain milestones. Niantic, Inc. will leverage the funding and strategic relationships to continue work on Pokémon GO, support its thriving global Ingress community, scale its platform and bring new games to market.
“Pokémon’s strategic investment in Niantic paves the way for a social mobile experience the world has never seen before”
“The Pokémon Company, Google and Nintendo are incredible investors and strategic partners to help build the next chapter for Niantic,” said John Hanke, CEO, Niantic. “We will be using this capital to continue the development of Pokémon GO, to evolve and grow Ingress and its thriving global community, and to build out our real-world gaming platform.”
Pokémon GO, Niantic’s most recently announced project, is being developed in collaboration with The Pokémon Company and Nintendo. The new title is a groundbreaking mobile game that will encourage fans to search far and wide in the real world to discover Pokémon. Pokémon GO will be available on the App Store and Google Play in 2016.
“Pokémon’s strategic investment in Niantic paves the way for a social mobile experience the world has never seen before,” said Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company. “The Pokémon Company is committed to partnering with companies like Niantic that share the same spirit of community and innovation.”
“Niantic has shown the great potential of mixing geo-location technology, dynamic storytelling and innovative game design, and we’re excited to continue supporting the team on their journey,” Don Harrison, vice president, Corporate Development, Google, added.
Originally founded by Google Earth co-creator John Hanke as a start-up within Google, Niantic is known for creating Ingress, the real world mobile game which utilizes geo-location technology to fuel a sci-fi story encompassing the entire world. Ingress has seen more than 13 million downloads worldwide.
About Pokémon
The Pokémon Company International, a subsidiary of The Pokémon Company in Japan, manages the property outside of Asia and is responsible for brand management, licensing, marketing, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the animated TV series, home entertainment, and the official Pokémon website. Pokémon was launched in Japan in 1996, and today is one of the most popular children’s entertainment properties in the world. For more information, visit www.pokemon.com.About Niantic, Inc.
Niantic, Inc. builds real world experiences that foster fun, exploration, discovery and social interaction. Originally incubated within Google, Niantic was founded by John Hanke, who previously helmed the Google Geo team (including Google Maps and Google Earth) after his start-up Keyhole was acquired by Google. The company’s real-world adventure game Ingress has been downloaded more than 13 million times and is played in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. For more information on Niantic, please visit www.nianticlabs.com.About Nintendo
The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.3 billion video games and more than 680 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo 3DS XL™, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™, and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™, and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.com.
Come comment on this article: Google, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company invest up to $30 million in Niantic
Wii U emulator (almost) runs ‘Mario Kart 8’ on your PC
Want a Wii U but don’t want to own Nintendo’s latest console? That’s sort of possible now. I emphasize the “sort of” because the recently released Cemu emulator is almost entirely broken at this point. There isn’t proper gamepad support, there’s absolutely no audio and the game video stutters and glitches pretty badly in most cases if the titles launch at all. For example, in Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD‘s attract mode (the opening menu screen), little Toon Link looks he has some seriously Donnie Darko-esque energy tubes coming out of his chest, stretching far out from his cliffside overlook on Outset Island. Peep it in the video embedded below. “Contains basically no optimizations,” the download page reads. “Expect slow frame rates and long load times.”
It’s still very early days for the program, but the developers are planning on sending updates every two weeks. You’ll need a 64-bit Windows 7 (or higher) machine with an NVIDIA card and the most recent driver set to get started. Oh, and some patience. But who knows, with some time, this could turn into something as cool as the vaunted Dolphin emulator that runs Gamecube games in pretty stunning high def. For now though, you’re better off with a Wii U if you want to play Super Mario Maker.
[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Source: Gbatemp
Playdate: Putting your custom ‘Super Mario Maker’ levels to the test
When we asked for your Super Mario Maker levels you guys and gals responded in a big way. Don’t believe us? We have a Gmail folder with over 300 responses to prove you otherwise, and more keep coming in every day. Sean and myself were absolutely floored by the creativity the Playdate community showed and honestly it was hard to narrow the field down to just 30 or so entires. Sadly we had to do just that because we only have two hours to broadcast. Did your masterpiece make the cut? Tune in starting at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific and find out as we run through nothing but community-built death traps either on this post, the Engadget Gaming homepage or Twitch.tv/joystiq if you want to join in our chat.
http://www.twitch.tv/joystiq/embedWatch live video from Joystiq on www.twitch.tv
[We’re streaming Super Mario Maker at 720p through OBS, so rest assured it’ll look much better on your Wii U at home.]
Shovel Knight is delayed by a fortnight
Shovel Knight was supposed to come out next week — the operative phrase there being “supposed to”. However SK’s developer, Yacht Club Games, announced on Friday that the retail release for the game’s 3DS, Wii U, PS4, and PC (Europe-only) versions will be delayed by two weeks until October 30th in Europe and November 4th in North America.
Also, if you were hoping to play using physical media on your XBone, you’re going to be extra pissed because the XBox One version has been nixed outright. “We really gave it our best effort, but unfortunately, because of publishing policies on that platform that are totally beyond our control, we couldn’t make it happen,” Yacht Club Games wrote in a recent blog post. “We’re very sorry…we know there is a lot of interest – the pre-orders were really good and we thank everyone for their support!” The digital version for XBox One is still available from the Microsoft Marketplace.
Furthermore, the Vita version has also been delayed until some time in 2016. Also, the price of the boxed games will be more expensive than previously quoted, increasing from $20 to $25 retail. This move is reportedly to prevent the games from being immediately dumped into the nearest $20-and-under bargain bin. On the plus side, each retail box will include a free download code for the game’s soundtrack.
Via: Eurogamer
Source: Yacht Club Games
Nintendo revamps Miiverse site with more social features
The MiiVerse website is about bringing Nintendo’s online community together, among other things. But up until today, the virtual hub was missing features that could have made it even more useful. Thankfully, Nintendo has revamped the site (again), adding a handful of social tidbits that users are bound to appreciate. Along with now being able to see what’s trending on MiiVerse, you can also get a quick glimpse at how other players across the network are doing on their games — via the Play Journal feed. And in case you’ve never visited it, you can check out the refreshed site at miiverse.nintendo.net.
Source: Nintendo
Watch how game music went from beeps to Sound Blaster
You can’t enjoy retro games without digging the music, and a YouTube video (below) shows exactly how those tunes evolved. As explained by the 8-Bit Guy and Obsolete Geek, early PCs and Apple machines used “beeper speakers” that were driven strictly by your computer’s CPU. Those only produced crude sounds, because forcing the CPU to do more actually hurt gameplay. Computers and consoles eventually got dedicated sound chips, but each used a different number of “voices,” producing the distinctive differences between, say, a Nintendo NES and a Commodore 64 system.
Clever programming improved the tunes in those systems, but eventually PC sound cards came along with 9-channel Yamaha synth chips, giving music designers larger palette. A bit later, the Commodore Amiga arrived with a sampling chip, resulting in the distinctive late ’80s and early ’90s sounds heard in games and pop music. Modern systems generally just play music files straight from MP3s, but the music itself owes a big debt to the creativity it took just to get it to work back in the day. If you don’t believe it, listen to some chiptunes or ask the composers themselves.
Source: The 8-bit Guy
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