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New 3DS 'Ambassador Bundle' revealed for EU, shipping early
Nintendo of Europe is offering the New 3DS early to its "most loyal customers," as revealed by emails sent out this morning. The company invited a limited selection of Club Nintendo users (and only them) to buy the "Ambassador Edition" bundle, priced $180/€200 and only available to order until January 12. The New 3DS only has a "2015" release window in Europe, like North America, but screencaps sent to Joystiq show the Ambassador Bundle is ready to be delivered within three to five days. That tallies with Nintendo's terms of sale, which indicate delivery should be made by January 23. We've reached out to the company to confirm the details. As attested to by multiple reports, Nintendo's outline of the bundle notes the system itself has a value of £156/€170 (in USD that's $237/$202). That may prove to be the baseline price when the New 3DS hits Europe's store shelves. In Japan the system costs 16,000 yen ($134).
Nintendo of Europe to keep 'regular supply' of Amiibos
Nintendo of Europe plans on replenishing its sold-out Amiibo stock following word that some of the figurines will be discontinued. The publisher told GameSpot that its "supplies of Amiibo are currently available in the European market." The statement runs slightly counter to that of Nintendo of America yesterday, which acknowledged that "due to shelf space constraints, other figures likely will not return to the market once they have sold through their initial shipment." "We are continually aiming to always have a regular supply of Amiibo brought into the marketplace and there are many waves of Amiibo to come," Nintendo of Europe added. The concerns began with a tweet from Canadian retailer VideoGamesPlus, which said that Nintendo discontinued the Marth, Wii Fit Trainer and Animal Crossing Villager Amiibo toys. Nintendo of Europe noted the popularity of the figures, adding that "it's always possible that a few retailers may have sold out." Regardless, we'll always have our ass-kicking, borderline-sentient Mario Amiibo to toy with. [Image: Nintendo]
Nintendo of Europe layoffs involve 320 employees
Nintendo went on a bit of a news spree yesterday, but not all of it was good: in addition to 130 employees affected by the closure of Nintendo's European headquarters, the game and console manufacturer told Kotaku it will also cease working with 190 other people by August 31. Nintendo explained that the additional layoffs are related to reorganizing its European Localization Development department. Going forward, Nintendo said there will be "an increase in outsourcing future translation and test activities to third-party companies on an as-needed basis." While the group of 190 worked with Nintendo through a leasing agency and were considered temporary employees, some of them told Kotaku they had been working exclusively with Nintendo for years. [Image: Nintendo]
Nintendo blocking EU eShop access to 18+ content during the day [update]
Nintendo has begun blocking access to Wii U eShop content rated PEGI 18+ between the hours of 3 a.m. and 11 p.m. in European territories, Eurogamer reports. This means the four-hour window from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. is the only time during which games like Assassin's Creed 3 or ZombiU can be purchased, or even have their trailers viewed.We've checked with a fictional panel of experts, and the general consensus is that this a totally weird thing for a company to do, especially considering that the Wii U already has parental controls implemented in its operating system. The block appears to apply to all accounts and it's uncertain whether it's possible to opt out of the restriction in any way.What we do know: if we were given a Wii U but had to wait until just before midnight to download the game we wanted, we'd just go to the damn store and buy it. We've reached out to Nintendo of Europe and Nintendo of America for more information; perhaps there's some other logic at play here that isn't apparent.Update: Nintendo of America tells Joystiq "This is a European policy and does not impact Nintendo of America."
Nintendo 3DS more resistant to piracy, claims Nintendo UK manager
Before all you Zero Cools and Crash Overrides out there start taking the headline you see above as a challenge, we'd like to note that Nintendo wasn't intending on baiting would-be hackers regarding its forthcoming 3DS' hackability (or lack thereof). "It's always like a red rag to a bull isn't it? I almost don't want to comment on that sort of thing," Nintendo UK general manager David Yarnton said in an interview with CVG recently. Yarnton continued, shying away from getting too specific. "We can't divulge any technical details ... but needless to say this is probably one of our best pieces of equipment in that respect," he said, adding, "There are a lot of things we've learned over time to try and improve the security and protection - not only of our IP but of our third-party publishers' IP as well." That said, it's not all technology driving the protection. "People are aware that video games, music and movies make massive contributions to the economies of countries. They need to make sure they start protecting those things," Nintendo UK marketing manager James Honeywell noted. "I think perhaps there's been a 'heyday of piracy' and we've now seen a lot of rules come in to stop it." Honeywell also points out precedent-setting legal cases regarding the R4 cart, and other DS flash carts as helping with the 3DS' piracy protection. "This now makes a precedent that potentially in the future it won't be a viable thing for people to do." We're not sure if additional laws prohibiting piracy will make the act any less viable, but it'll at least drop a hefty penalty on those who get caught.
Nintendo Europe: 'No plans' for Skype on the DSi
We found out earlier this week that Skype is "technically possible" on the Nintendo DSi, but the question remained: Will Nintendo adopt the VoIP service for its fancy new handheld? CVG put that very question to Nintendo of Europe and, more or less, got a resounding, "No." "We have no plans to release a Skype application for Nintendo DS or DSi," the company told them. Guess we're stuck only using the service on our PSP, iPhone, computer ... wait, do we really need this on the DS too?!
Nintendo of Europe calls MotionPlus release date 'rumor and speculation'
Nintendo of Europe reps have called the recent release list with MotionPlus dated on it "purely rumor and speculation," reports Eurogamer. This news comes after reports last week that July 10th would see not only the release of the MotionPlus add-on, but Nintendo's followup to Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, as well.The report also mentions Wii Fit Plus, a game/expansion/whozeewhatsit set to drop on November 19, though NoE makes no mention of the mystery title in the conversation. We've asked for comment from Nintendo of America and will update if and when we hear something from the perpetually tight-lipped publisher.
VC Friday: lackluster week for downloadable games
What's this ... just Xevious? We appreciate a good, old school scrolling shooter just as much as the next fanboy, but this is a pretty boring offering when it's the only offering for the week. You can do better than this, NoE! Show us what you've got.The NES game will set you back 500 points, if you are so inclined. And here's hoping for a more exciting next Friday.
Wii UK: 50,000 units sold in 12 hours
That's one purchased every second, says Nintendo. Gamesindustry.biz now reports that the UK saw 50,000 Wii consoles fly off shelves (and straight into televisions, shortly afterwards) 12 hours after it launched to massive crowds and immeasurable fanboy delight. David Yarnton of Nintendo says the company is "delighted with the amazing response to the Wii" and that gamers are "embracing the way that we are turning the industry on its head." The official launch event took place on Friday at the HMV store in London's Oxford street where, just hours prior to the Wii's release, the seething mass of people had to be sent home for a while so as to avoid unneccesary anarchy (in the UK).There may be chaos yet, though, as Nintendo still has to face the challenge of overcoming crippling shortages and making sure everybody gets to flail their arms about this Christmas.
Nintendo of Europe a habitual ball-dropper?
The guys at NoE Watch seem to think so. Acting as a sort of watchdog over the activities of the European branch of Nintendo, the website is dedicated to sniffing out and latching onto the fleshy ankles of some of the injustices faced by gamers from across the pond. Did you know that Wario Ware: Twisted is only due for European release in July, over a year after its American debut? Good luck trying to blame that one on localization--last time we checked Wario Ware's level of text barely rose above that of single-word instructions.In addition to forums and publisher rankings, the site features both a "Hall of Fame", containing games that released in Europe first, and a matching "Hall of Shame", filled with games that took a really, really long time to travel across the ocean. Metroid Prime Pinball took 8 months to hit the Euro flipper. Ouch. NoE Watch further casts shame on the UK Nintendo Wi-Fi site which hasn't been updated in 5 months. That alone is worthy of a hearty "gadzooks!"Have any of our European readers experienced similar frustrations? If so, it might be worth visiting NoE Watch and making your voice and accompanying exotic accent heard. [Thanks Matt!]
