It’s the weekend, which means two things: 1) We’re ever so close to the release of next-gen systems (who’s excited) and 2) another exciting entry a Nintendo heavy Weekly Wrap-Up is coming your way. Below, you’ll find brief summaries of our top 5 stories from this week, as well as a few stories that were interesting, but weren’t quite that big to make the cut. As always, if you want to read the full story, simply click on the link hidden in the titles. If you have suggestions for future entries, feel free to email me at jeremy.tyler@bagogames.com.
Here we go.
Number 5
Kingdom Hearts III Will Have Keyblade Transformations, Disney Rides
I’ve watched the Kingdom Hearts III gameplay trailer that came out a while back multiple times (I’m probably going to watch it after I write this). One of the first things I noticed, after I stopped cheering, was Sora using guns, dubbed the Two Shoot Blaster. Where was his Keyblade? Well, seems like that *is* his Keyblade, but in a different form.
Tetsuya Nomura, in the newest issue of Weekly Famitsu, discussed two new features that would be coming to Kingdom Hearts III. Both of which have already been shown in the aforementioned trailer. Firstly, there’s Keyblade Transformations, and these change based on what Keyblade you’re using. The ‘battle style would change’ as well, depending on what form the Keyblade takes (time to speculate on what new weapons we want).
The second new feature is Attraction Flow, which is an evolution of the Free Flow from Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Attraction, in this case, refers to a theme park ride and makes the pirate ship and train we saw in the trailer make more sense. These Attractions will also vary depending on where you are and what enemies you’re fighting and, if I had to guess, may replace the summons from previous games.
Number 4
Titanfall Launches in March, Collector’s Edition Announced
Respawn Entertainment has revealed a release date for their first game, Titanfall. Specifically, the game will be coming to North America on March 11, 2014 and March 13, 2014 in Europe.
“Since we revealed the game in June we’ve been absolutely blown away by the reaction to Titanfall,” said Vince Zampella, a Co-Creator of Call of Duty and Co-Founder of Respawn Entertainment. “The feedback we’re getting from fans around the world is fueling our team as we head towards March and motivating us to deliver an experience that lives up to the hype.”
Number 3
Nintendo Confirms End of Wii Production
It only feels like yesterday that we first reported that Nintendo Japan had decided that it would shortly be ending Nintendo Wii’s production, the 2006 console that took the world by storm and introduced the public to video games in a way that was revolutionary and exciting. That same console has now ceased in production.
The confirmation came from an updated notice on the Nintendo Wii product page simply stating that manufacturing for the console has now ended although Nintendo of Europe has reacted to the news by saying that it has no specific announcements of its own to make at this time, raising the question whether it will just be Nintendo of Japan which will be ceasing production of the console.
Number 2
Japan to get Funky New 3DS XL Colors
Nintendo Japan is releasing limited editions of the 3DS XL in new colors, those being black and orange, plus black and turquoise. Not only will the lid feature the new color, the D-pad and buttons will also reflect these colors and the consoles will include matching stylus pens and bags. An AC Adaptor will also be included with the console.
The limited edition 3DS XLs will be available in Japan on November 28, 2013 for ¥19,900.
Number 1
The Wolf Among Us Coming to PS Vita and iOS
Telltale Games has announced The Wolf Among Us for PlayStation Vita and iOS platforms for this Fall.
The game, which just came out on Xbox Live, PSN and PC, has yet to be given a definitive release date or pricing, but Telltale has stated that the pricing on iOS will be similar to The Walking Dead. It will also support iPad 2 and iPhone 4 and up, though I’m not sure why you’d want to play it on the iPhone’s relatively tiny screen.
Honorable Mentions
This week had a lot of big news and the news staff and I found it hard to narrow it down to the usual five stories:
- New Wii U Deluxe Bundle Swaps Nintendo Land for The Mario Bros.
- Apple Announces iPad Air and New iPad Mini, 1st-Gen iPad Mini Receives Price Drop
- Need for Speed Rivals Not Coming to Wii U Due to Most Wanted’s Low Sales
If you missed out on the big news items this week, you can check out our weekly podcast and get an audio update of this week’s madness from our podcasting team. Listen to us as we talk about some things seriously and a few other things not so much. We guarantee this episode will make you shake your fist at times and nod your head at others.