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Nintendo delays mobile 'Mario Kart Tour' game until the summer
Unsurprisingly, Nintendo needs a little more time to polish its mobile-friendly version of Mario Kart. Beyond the name and target platform, we know precisely zilch about Mario Kart Tour, which was originally scheduled to come out by March 2019. But we haven't seen a single screenshot or Nintendo Direct-style video explaining what the game is like or how it works. So it wasn't a huge shock when the company announced today that the game is now scheduled for summer 2019. Why the delay? "In order to improve [the] quality of the application and expand the content offerings after launch," Nintendo explained in its Q3 earnings report.
'Alien: Blackout' mobile game picks up where 'Isolation' left off
Alien fans wondering what the franchise's official Instagram account was teasing last month across a series of motion posters, each more terrifying than the last, will be happy to learn that a new game is on the way. But we're not getting the console follow-up to Alien: Isolation players were (probably) hoping for. Instead, Alien: Blackout is a mobile title for iOS and Android starring that game's protagonist Amanda Ripley -- who also happens to be the daughter of the original film quadrilogy's iconic heroine, Ellen Ripley.
'Super Mario Run' is now available
Finally, there's a Mario game on smartphones. As promised, Nintendo has released Super Mario Run today, giving iPhone and iPad users a new way to run, leap and spin through the Mushroom Kingdom. It's an auto-runner, meaning the portly plumber will jog, hop and vault over obstacles automatically. You tap the screen to jump, leaping across gaps and goombas to collect colorful coins. It sounds simple, but there's a surprising amount of complexity to the platforming. Like Rayman Jungle Run, timing is essential to unlock contextual moves, such as rolls and wall jumps.
iPhone puzzle games are no match for this robot
Puzzle & Dragons is a ridiculously popular mobile game in Japan that tasks players with matching coloured orbs in order to take down enemy monsters. If you've played Pokemon Shuffle before, it's just like that. To help with the trickier stages, YouTube user Junya Sakamoto has developed a robot that can play the game for him. Oh, and it's unbelievably good. As Kotaku reports, a connected laptop is able to analyse the board and pick out the optimum combos, triggering a flurry of moves that would be almost impossible to replicate with your pinkie. Color us impressed, although we suspect developer GungHo won't share our enthusiasm.
Canopy's Sensus gaming case protects your iPhone 4 / 4S, adds plenty of new touch sensors (update)
There's no doubt that smartphone accessories can get expensive, so how about a case that doubles as a gamepad? Billed as "protection with a purpose," Canopy's Sensus case aims to do just that. While there are several peripherals that add keyboards and joysticks to smartphones, Sensus goes one step further by adding touch input to a device's entire outer surface. The case's sensors recognize an additional ten touch responses, including controls on the sides and back of a device similar to the rear touchpad on a PS Vita. The focus with Sensus is to provide its users with unique touch input combinations that avoid taking up precious screen real estate. Most likely due to its uniformed design, Sensus is currently only being offered for the iPhone 4 and 4S; the outfit is taking pre-orders at $39 a pop, with shipments expected to begin in the first quarter of 2013. If you'd like to get a better feel for what Sensus has to offer (we know, we know), check out its demo video by visiting the source link below. Update: The folks from Canopy let us know that the previously mentioned $39 price is for pre-orders only -- the Sensus will retail for $59, so get in early if you're looking to save some money.
How would you change the PlayStation Vita (Japanese Edition)?
How would you change: a regular feature where we ask people about their experiences with gadget's we've reviewed, when they reach the real world. This week we're looking at the Japanese edition* of the PlayStation Vita, which instantly made us feel old when we realized the OG model was seven years old. Times have changed, and the Vita's biggest competitor is smartphone gaming: leading to our dismay when we found its battery conks out after just three hours, not to mention the high cost and that measly VGA camera. We know there's a market for hardcore gamers who want blockbuster games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, but is that hefty price-tag worth it? Let us know in the comments below. *We'll be looking at the US edition in a few months time, for those of you who didn't import the device when it was released.
Keiji Inafune: handheld consoles don't need to fear the smartphone... yet
Yeah, we know that the whole mobile-gaming-is threatening-dedicated-gaming thing has been done to death, but when some of the industry's software MVPs start weighing in on the matter, well... that's when our ears perk up. Nintendo has made clear that it's shunning smartphones as a gaming platform, and now it's Mega Man co-creator Keiji Inafune's turn to windmill into the argument. Speaking with our sister site Joystiq, he opines that the two worlds aren't set to eclipse each other just yet, illustrating it wonderfully through the medium of simile: "I think it's very similar between cellphone cameras and professional digital cameras. You don't use a smartphone camera for an interview, and you don't use a really professional camera to take some small pictures when you're going to work." Hard to knock the underlying logic, but it's pretty tough to pretend that handset gaming isn't seriously denting handheld gaming. For the full spiel, be sure to give that source link a tap.
