If you open Google Maps today, you might find a pleasant little surprise waiting for you. In order to celebrate the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD on Wii U, Nintendo and Google have partnered up to replace the usual “Pegman” Street View guy with a miniature version of Link…
When Nintendo first announced that it would finally be launching a smartphone game, it’s safe to say, many of us children of the 90’s got a little excited. Sadly, we got excited too soon. Excitement turned to bemusement once the company revealed it would be launching a weird game called Miitomo, which wasn’t exactly a game, but rather a social network.
Following its disappointing Q4 results, Nintendo has confirmed that its second title would include a “very familiar character”, and won’t be another social network attempt. It did, however, stop short of confirming exactly which character we’re going to see.
It was the birthday of Super Mario Bros. yesterday, and Google is celebrating with a new Easter egg in search. It’s not as extravagant as some other permanent jokes (like the infamous “Do a barrel roll”), but it’s pretty cute nonetheless.
Head over to Google and search for “Super Mario Bros” and then check out the right hand side of the page. Right below the box art and screenshots, you’ll find a familiar question mark box. Of course, clicking it will get you 200 points.
Check out the video below:
We told you almost a year ago that one developer had managed to get Game Boy Color games running on Android Wear, but now someone has managed to do one better. In a recently-uploaded video shared by “Hacking Jules“, we can see Game Boy Advance games running on an LG G Watch — the oldest of the Android Wear. As usual, we in the Android community don’t need rhyme or reason for our tinkering…
As we can see in the below video, the emulator that this one particular user got running on his or her Android Wear watch is “My Boy!”, which can be found on the Play Store for just about $5. It’s pretty hilarious seeing the old Mario Kart for GBA played on a watch with a screen as tiny as this. For all intents and purposes, it’s completely unplayable. The controls completely cover the screen, and your finger would cover it more.
Nonetheless, check out the video below:
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Beats Studio Wireless Headphones in titanium color: $229.99 shipped (Orig: $380)
Refurbished Garmin nuvi 2699LMT HD 6” GPS with Lifetime Maps & HD Traffic: $149.99 shipped with promo code POI (Orig: $270)
Jawbone UP Fitness Tracker (4 color choices): $25 shipped (Orig: $50)
Refurbished ARRIS SURFboard SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem: $39.99 shipped (Orig: $99.99)
In today’s best game/app deals, over at Amazon you can grab the hybrid SmaAcc Vertical PS4 Stand w/ Cooling Fans + Dual Charger Station for $19.99 shipped using code JCPO6UZU during checkout. That’s $5 under the current best price and the lowest we can find. The official PS4 vertical stand from Sony will run you $20 Prime shipped on its own without he extra goodies.
It’s your last chance to hit the Mac Game Store Back-to-School sale offering up to 80% off a massive selection of Mac titles. One standout of the many, is Borderlands 2 Complete Edition for $29.99, which includes the GOTY edition of the game and the plethora of DLC that released for it.
Move over Super Smash Bros., the Pokémon tournament fighter is coming to Wii U in the Spring
SLICK’s motorized mount takes the bumps out of your GoPro videos
Beyerdynamic takes its pro-audio pedigree to the streets with these new custom headphones
Partly-owned-by-Nintendo The Pokémon Company has today launched its very first Android app on the Play Store, called Pokémon Jukebox. As you might expect, this isn’t one the five actual game titles that we should expect to see from Nintendo before March 2017, but it is an official offering from The Pokemon Company and it’s available right now. With Pokémon Jukebox, you can play hundreds of sounds from a huge catalog of Pokémon games. But sadly, while the app itself is free, actually using Jukebox is far from cheap…
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Update: The WSJ is reporting that Nintendo has denied the suggestion:
There is no truth to the report saying that we are planning to adopt Android for NX
Nintendo has been keeping quiet about its plans for its NX games console, due to launch next year, but a report in Nikkei claims that the system will run Android.
The report suggests Nintendo is planning the shift away from its own operating system as a means of bringing more games developers on board after the Wii U was left with almost no non-Nintendo titles available for it …
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We learned back in March that Nintendo would finally be creating games for smartphones and tablets, featuring Mario and other popular characters – though not in their original games. Today brings a mix of bad and good news …
The bad news is that Nintendo announced in its financial results presentation that it is planning to release just five games by March 2017.
Regarding the number of the titles, you may want to know that we will release approximately five titles by the end of the next fiscal year, which is the end of March 2017.
The company says that while it recognizes this will be seen as a small number, there are good reasons behind the decision …
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TechCrunch points to a newly published patent filed by Nintendo that shows the company is interested in bringing Game Boy titles to mobile devices through emulation technology. Many emulators exist online to mimic old consoles and allow gamers to play back catalogs of games converted to ROM files on Macs and PCs, and Nintendo could possibly do the same to officially bring titles to mobile devices without much heavy lifting in terms of rewriting the games:
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After a long battle with YouTubers, Nintendo is ready to compromise. The house that Mario built is ready to play nice with content creators and will soon launch a YouTube affiliate program. According to a pair of tweets from the official Nintendo of Japan Twitter account, the company will share revenue with content producers who make approved gameplay videos under its new YouTube-friendly setup. Nintendo has yet to announce any further details, such as content requirements or when the program will go live, so everyone may not be welcomed. However, it’ll also be interesting to see how this new initiative coincides with the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8, which just so happens to have a YouTube upload feature built directly into the game.
Two of Valve’s most recognizable games are now available for the Android-powered NVIDIA Shield, after being teased last week to several online publications. The above crowbar — a tool that is used throughout Half-Life 2 — was sent to AndroidPolice‘s Michael Crider, depicting both an NVIDIA Shield device and the lambda, which represents the Half-Life series.
Besides Half-Life 2, Valve also released Portal for Android today. Both games are on sale at the Play Store for $9.99, though they are only compatible with the NVIDIA Shield.
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Google rolled out the official YouTube app for Wii U in November, allowing users to browse channels and categories from the GamePad and view the video in 1080p on their TVs. Today, as previously announced, Google is rolling out its new Google Maps and Street View solution for Wii U owners with the Wii Street U app available now on the Wii U eShop. The app allows users to view street view and 360 degree content and easily navigate Google Maps using the Wii U GamePad:
With Wii Street Utm powered by Google, you can step into Google Street View with an immersive experience that will make you feel like you’re actually there! View a 360 degree Google Maps Street View of locations all over the world using the Wii Utm GamePad controller’s motion controls. Jumping to a location is easy—just use the GamePad touch screen to type in an address or location and start exploring, or instantly travel to over 70 fascinating, hand-picked locations around the globe.
A video of the app in action is below:
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YouTube recently rolled out an app to the Nintendo Wii Shop Channel for Wii users, and today it announced on the Official YouTube Blog that the app is now available for Wii U owners. While it appears you won’t be able to watch actual video from the GamePad, you will be able to search, flip through subscribed channels and categories, and view any video in 1080p on the big screen. The YouTube app is available as a free download from the Nintendo Wii U main menu.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg]
Love this. And it is not “just for Nintendo.” It is for everyone.
(Also, notice the “Google Store”? That might not be a joke.)
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata declared Apple and iOS as the “enemy of the future” back in 2010. Not only was he right, according to new estimates for the U.S. portable game software by revenue from Flurry Analytics, 2011 seen Nintendo’s grip on the market slide even further as iOS and Android games triple their marketshare from 20% in 2009 to 60% during 2011.
The graphic above shows U.S. revenue for Flurry’s portable gaming category- a category that now includes Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, iOS, and Android. As you can see, iOS and Android have together taken the lead from Nintendo with 58% of revenues in comparison to last year’s 34%. In comparison, Nintendo DS held 57% during 2010, while dropping to just 36% in 2011. Total US revenue jumped from $2.7 billion in 2009 to $3.3 billion in 2011.
When comparing combined game revenues of the two veterans– Sony and Nintendo– with the combined revenues of the two new guys– Apple and Google– 2011 will be the first year where the emerging platforms dominate with iOS and Android estimated to take in $1.9 billion in comparison to the DS and PSP’s $1.4 billion. That accounts for a $200 million drop for Sony and Nintendo and $1.1 billion increase for iOS and Android from 2010. Perhaps investors were right to urge Nintendo to begin developing iOS titles.
As for Nintendo, the company who captured approximately two-thirds of the market in 2009 has seen their “enemy of the future” demote them to just a third of the market. Sony clearly has some catching up to do, but is hard at work on highly anticipated new handheld devices for 2012.
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