NHL team projects Nintendo-esque ‘Bolts of Steel’ game on ice
We’ve seen 3D projections on basketball courts and arena floors before, but the NHL’s Tampa Lightning just took the game up a notch. Before the team’s Eastern Conference Finals game on Tuesday, it used the playing surface to project a “Bolts of Steel” (get it, lightning bolts) game simulation inspired by the Nintendo classic Blades of Steel. We surmise they opted for another name not just for copyright purposes, but because the franchise didn’t exist until 1992. While the video you’ll see after the break is a render/demo, a Deadspin reader caught the thing on tape during the pregame festivities, so you can have a look at was it was like for those in attendance. Perhaps if the Bolts advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, they’ll let a couple of fans duke it out for some nachos.
Filed under: Gaming
Via: SB Nation
Source: Tampa Bay Ligthning
JXE Streams: Join us for some ‘Affordable Space Adventures’
KnapNok Games gets what Richard Branson doesn’t. Of course people want to hang out in space, but they definitely don’t want to pay top dollar to do it! So rather than drop $200,000 on a Virgin Galactic reservation, why not fire up your Wii U for some Affordable Space Adventures? The game simulates the existential nightmare of getting trapped on a foreign planet as well as makes novel use of the console’s unique tablet controller. It’s win-win! Join us at 3:30PM ET today for a live tour of the game on JXE Streams.
Tune in right here, at Engadget.com/gaming and on Twitch.tv/Joystiq to catch 90 straight minutes of poor ship piloting and space madness.
Enjoy the streams? Follow us on Twitch.tv/Joystiq to know whenever we go live!
[We’re streaming Affordable Space Adventures through an Elgato HD via OBS at 720p.]
BBC iPlayer comes to the Wii U with GamePad viewing
These days, it’s pretty hard to find anything electronic that doesn’t have access to BBC iPlayer already. Nintendo’s Wii U is one of the most notable exceptions, but if you’ve been quietly jonesing for an iPlayer client to hit the quirky console, then jones no more. With zero fanfare marking its launch, BBC iPlayer is now available to download in the Nintendo eShop. The Wii U’s GamePad is fully supported, too, so you’re not tied to the TV screen if, you know, your tablet’s run out of battery.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Via: MCV, Nintendo Life
Nintendo asks you to pay what you want for indie games
Nintendo’s been going through some serious growing pains on its path to the modern era of console gaming but with this latest step it’s actually beating Microsoft and Sony to the punch for once. The Japanese gaming company is running a Humble Bundle. Not a Nintendo homegrown version of a Humble Bundle, but a real McCoy on Humble’s website. Pretty crazy right? Especially considering these are all indies. Up for grabs are digital codes for games on the 3DS handheld and Wii U alike, including Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition for the latter and Whoah Dave! for the former.
Those follow Humble’s pay-what-you-want model (so long as it’s at least $1), but if you drop more than the average donation you’ll snag The Fall, OlliOlli and Moon Chronicles Episode 1. Should you feel even more generous, a donation of $10 or more adds Stealth Inc. 2 and SteamWorld Dig to the party. Now, if only Nintendo would jump on this whole mobile gaming fad it’d have its bases covered. Wait…
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Nintendo
Source: Humble Bundle
JXE Streams: ‘Splatoon’ seduces us with squids and squirt guns
I couldn’t resist Nintendo’s Splatoon when I saw it for the first time at E3 2014. Squids with squirt guns locked in a summery battle to cover skate parks in neon ink? With a premise so weird and wonderful all on its own, I probably would have loved it even if those early demoes weren’t fun as hell. Splatoon will finally be available to purchase this week but JXE Streams is going to give you one last early look at its single and multiplayer modes as well as its wee amiibo on today’s show at 3:30PM ET.
Tune in right here in this post and Engadget.com/gaming to watch the stream. You can also fire up Twitch.tv/Joystiq if you want to chat with the Engadget crew while we play through a solid chunk of Splatoon. How do you level up your little squid and get new gear? What’s the campaign like? We’ll answer all those questions and more starting at 3:30PM ET.
Dig the streams? Follow us on Twitch.tv/Joystiq!
[We’re streaming a digital copy of Splatoon via an Elgato HD through OBS at 720p.]
Nintendo kills off the basic Wii U in Japan
Nintendo is about to halt production of its 8GB Wii U Basic in Japan, according to a notice on its product site. The white-clad product has been around since 2012, but was never super popular since the 32GB version is typically only $50 more. In fact, the rumor mill had it being killed off two years ago after it went out of stock at GameStop and Best Buy, though Nintendo later called that a “misperception.” Somehow the model has hung on until now, but has gradually become harder to find.
There’s no word on whether Nintendo plans to kill the basic version in the US and Europe, but a Japanese death often presages a similar fate elsewhere. However, the company plans to launch a white version of the 32GB Premium model, so at least you won’t get too nostalgic for the color.
Source: Nintendo
Nintendo hired a guy named Bowser as its new VP of sales
You could say he’s been a company man all his life.
Source: Nintendo (Business Wire)
5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
Sponsor: NYTimes
[Price: Free with subscription]
The NYTimes recently went through a lot of trouble to overhaul their application. Included in the massive update was a complete design overhaul that follows the standards of Holo and Material Design and it does look great. Add to that the world class news coverage, a few good features like Twilight Mode and the ability to customize your news reading experience, and you have an application that’s definitely worth checking out. It is subscription based but you can try out the application for free and read a few articles every month without buying anything so it can’t hurt to try it out. We’d like to thank The New York Times for their support of Android Apps Weekly.
Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! Here are your headlines for this week:
- Corbin Davenport has made headlines before by getting emulators to work on Android Wear and he’s at it again. This time he used a Mini vMac II emulator and managed to get the old Macintosh II OS running on Android Wear. As you can guess, it’s buggy and terrible, but it does work and that’s awesome.
- Earlier this week, Google announced that they are going to shut down editing in Map Maker. This comes in the footsteps of the now infamous edit that shows an Android peeing on an apple. This decision is likely to prevent things like that from ever happening again.
- Sega made an announcement that they will be removing games from the Play Store that do not meet their standards. It’s really just some housekeeping but some believe that the games aren’t good enough while others believe the games aren’t making enough money. We don’t know which games are getting canned yet.
- The Google Play Store got a new feature this week. Developers can now allow users to pre-register for apps and games that aren’t out yet. If you pre-register, you’ll get a notification when that app or game becomes available. There are a few titles using it already and this can help generate buzz for their new content.
- In our last headline this week, Nintendo has announced that they will be releasing five games by the end of 2017 with the first coming out this year. We have no clue what kind of game it’s going to be but Nintendo did say that they weren’t porting old games to mobile. I guess we’ll see how this pans out when the first game gets released.
For even more Android apps and games news, updates, and releases, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter. There you can find the full range of stuff that happened over the course of the week. If you’re so inclined, you can even sign up with your email address and we’ll send you the newsletter to your inbox every single Friday so you can stay up to date.
Subscribe to our Android Apps Weekly newsletter!
HeroCraft Z
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
HeroCraft Z is a new RPG released by NGames. It features decent graphics powered by the Unity3D engine, a full campaign mode, and the ability to assemble and build your own team. There are some online components as well that include a PvP arena. You can collect over 50 companions with various abilities for strategy. It’s a Freemium game through and through, but it is free to play and isn’t half bad.
Snake Rewind
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
After a few weeks of waiting, the highly anticipated Snake Rewind game is now available on Google Play. As you’ve heard, this is a revamp of the classic Snake game that adorned the cell phones of old and the mechanics remain largely intact. The controls are a bit wonky as they rely on position based tapping and there are in-app purchases which feels a bit weird, but overall it feels like a positive experience and a good source of nostalgia with a cheap price tag.
Bleep
[Price: Free]
Bleep is a new messaging application from, believe it or not, BitTorrent. The idea here is privacy. Messages are stored on user devices and not in the cloud like normal while every message sent is encrypted and the encryption keys are store on user devices and not in the cloud. There are various ways to sign up, the UI isn’t half bad, and you can invite people using your public key similar to Blackberry Messenger. If you need privacy, this is a great way to do but do beware of those release day bugs.
Trumpit Photo Messenger
[Price: Free]
While Bleep focuses on security, Trumpit totally doesn’t. The premise of this photo messaging app is that photos you send shows up on the recipient’s device above the lock screen. They can then interact with it if they want or swipe it away quickly and go back to using their phone. It’s a fun premise, especially if you love sharing photos with people. Of course, I can see this going very badly if you know someone who likes to take inappropriate photos. In any case, it’s totally free and worth a shot. Just beware of any release day bugs.
Seabeard
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Last up is a game called Seabeard which is a new game that saw some moderate success on iOS. Our own Andrew Grush likened the game to a kind of mix of Zelda: Windmaker and Animal Crossing. It features colorful, cartoon graphics a lot of content for you to do, and plenty of other features. It’s been noted that in-app purchases are a tad heavy but with a little bit of patience, you can get passed that obstacle. It’s free to play and it’s available right now.
Wrap up
If we missed any great Android apps or games news, tell us about it in the comments below!
Silver Mario Amiibo will drive collectors insane this month
Nintendo has already released a gold version of its Mario Amiibo, so guess what’s coming next? A silver version, of course. We suspected as much after both figurines leaked back in February, but today the console maker has made it official. The special statue — which is identical to the Amiibo figure from Mario Party 10, albeit painted silver — will arrive in stores on May 29th for $12.99. When the gold version debuted, it was available exclusively in Walmart stores across the US. That made it something of a collector’s item, riling fans that were desperately trying to maintain a complete set. This time around, it seems Nintendo has opted for a more conventional release. The company is still struggling to keep up with the demand for Amiibos however, so if you’re interested, act fast on May 29th.
Via: Polygon
Nintendo World Championships are back for E3 2015
The Nintendo World Championships, a gaming competition last held in 1990, return this year for E3 in June. Nintendo fans can compete for a spot in the Championships on May 30 at select Best Buy stores around the country, and the winners will join competitors selected by Nintendo at the Nokia Theatre on Sunday, June 14th, for a multi-round gaming competition. It’s just like the old days. The Championships will be streamed live online and fans in LA will have the opportunity to attend the final event in-person. Nintendo promises more details in the coming weeks.
As for the rest of E3, Nintendo will once again host a Digital Event full of game announcements and (fingers crossed) puppets, this time on Tuesday, June 16th at 9AM PT. Nintendo Treehouse will stream live from the E3 show floor June 16th – 18th, and on June 17th and 20th, select Best Buy stores in the US will allow fans to play Mario Maker on Wii U. That’s 4PM – 9PM local time on Wednesday, June 17th and 12PM – 5PM local time on Saturday, June 20th.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Nintendo
Source: Businesswire
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