Pikmin 3
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Nintendo and Niantic are teaming up again for an AR 'Pikmin' game
Remember Pokémon Go? Now Nintendo and Niantic are teaming up on a new Pikmin game.
'Pikmin 3 Deluxe' brings a beloved Wii U gem to Switch on October 30th
The expanded release adds cooperative play, as well as new difficulty settings, a hint system and better targeting.
Pikmin 3 demo out now; Pikmin Short Movies on 3DS, Wii U
A demo for Pikmin 3 is live on Wii U today, and a collection of Shigeru Miyamoto's animated Pikmin Short Movies is available on both 3DS and Wii U for $5. The 3DS version of Pikmin Short Movies is in 3D, while the Wii U version is HD, and both editions are available in Europe today as well. These items go live on their respective eShops following today's Nintendo Direct (that's right now). The (probably adorable) demo for Pikmin 3 includes the option to transfer your progress to the full game. We had fun with our review of Pikmin 3, and we found the game to be a "great pleasure."
Report: Pikmin 3 gets stylus control option in new software update
A free update for Pikmin 3 has added a new way to command your adorable alien allies. The update adds stylus control via the Nintendo Wii U's GamePad touch screen, Nintendo Everything reports. Control options can be adjusted in the game's main menu. With the update, Pikmin 3 now supports four control options, including the added touch interface: traditional GamePad buttons, Wii U Pro Controller, and the Wii's classic Remote and Nunchuk combo. The change comes to Pikmin 3 in time for the game to be offered as a selection in Nintendo's Mario Kart 8 promotion, which offers players a free downloadable title from a limited list for purchasing Nintendo's hit racing title. [Image: Nintendo]
Best of the Rest: Thomas' picks of 2013
Team Joystiq is barging into 2014 with a celebration of last year's best games. Keep reading throughout the week to see our assembly of ingenious indies and triple-A triumphs. Pikmin 3 For each day of fruit-harvesting, monster-killing progress I make in Pikmin 3, I burn two or three attempts just mapping out my best possible plan of action on the Gamepad. It's a style of play that I typically move on from pretty quickly, but making off with a hefty batch of resources without more than a few Pikmin dying in the process is so satisfying that it's easy for me to stay with it. It helps that Pikmin 3's world is so interesting to explore, too - guiding Pikmin and their tiny captains through caves, snowy hills and grassy pathways is enjoyable even without discovering new treasures. As inviting as the initial cast is though, crossing paths with the game's creatively stressful brand of wildlife cuts bursts of tension into the task of gathering food. Meeting Pikmin 3's roster of unsettling enemies imposes a sense of vulnerability on me, one I imagine my miniature fleets share while following my lead through larger-than-life environments. Of course, victory feels even better when it involves stomping out populations of nightmarish foes. I've never lasted long when faced with obstacles like those found in Pikmin 3, but its offering of challenge in a creative, intriguing world has kept me invested in daily runs for supplies.
Pikmin 3 trailer tours new mission mode DLC levels
Nintendo issued a new trailer to show off the latest set of downloadable content for Pikmin 3, which launched this week. Announced during a Nintendo Direct livestream in November, the DLC offers players the opportunity to play as the protagonist of the first two games in the series, Captain Olimar, for one level. The three extra content packs amount to four battle and four treasure remixed stages for $1.99 each, as well as a mission mode map pack with eight brand new environments for $4.99. The downloadable levels include Clockwork Chasm, which has an abundance of gears and conveyor belts, as well as the holiday-themed Fortress of Festivity. Those that update Pikmin 3 will receive four of the mission mode stages for free.
Guide Captain Olimar through new Pikmin 3 DLC in December
Pikmin 3 will receive a new set of stages on December 2, Nintendo announced today during a Nintendo Direct livestream. Unlike previous pieces of downloadable content for the game, the third round of content will be entirely new stages as opposed to new spins on previously-released levels. The DLC will include four treasure stages and four battle stages with locales like a construction site and mystery factory. Some of the stages will allow players to control Captain Olimar, the main protagonist of Pikmin and Pikmin 2. The DLC will arrive along with a required update for the game, and will grant players free access to one collect treasure stage and one battle enemies stage for free in the Fortress of Festivity part of the game.
Pikmin 3 DLC brings more baddies to the battle
Pikmin 3's parade of premium DLC sallies forth. A new quartet of "Battle Enemies!" stages, which push players to vanquish pre-determined sets of enemies as quickly and efficiently as possible, are up for grabs at $1.99 in the Wii U eShop. The first of these stages is provided free of charge via an automatic update. The "Battle Enemies!" DLC joins additional "Collect Treasures!" DLC unearthed back in October. The "Battle Enemies!" missions are pulled from locations in Pikmin 3's Story mode and can be played solo or with a friend.
Pikmin 3 getting paid DLC [Update: First pack is $1.99]
Pikmin 3 will receive paid DLC, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced during today's Nintendo Direct presentation. After downloading an update made available after the presentation, players will be able to access additional single player missions, the first round of DLC being more "Collect Treasure" missions. Upon updating the game, players can access one free downloadable mission as well. Update: To clarify, the Collect Treasure pack consists of four stages, and will cost $1.99 on the Nintendo eShop.
Nintendo's sales figures for August include many zeros, plumbing heroes
Following the NPD Group's analysis of August's overall sales data comes a handful of extra statistics from Nintendo. When taking both physical and digital sales into account, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team has sold "nearly" 190,000 units since its release on August 11. Meanwhile, Pikmin 3 has sold "more than" 115,000 since August 4, while New Super Luigi U has sold "nearly" 120,000 units since refreshing the Year of Luigi on August 25. Nintendo also updated on its year to date: More than 6.47 million pieces of 3DS software have been sold in 2013, with Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon being the best-selling of the lot at 863,000 physical/digital copies. Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a close second, however, having moved 739,000 units in three fewer months on the market.
gdgt's best deals for August 7: Best Buy gift cards with Xbox 360, Wii U purchases
Ready to save some cash on your tech buys? Then you've come to the right place. Our sister site gdgt tracks price drops on thousands of products every day, and twice a week they feature some of the best deals they've found right here. But act fast! Many of these are limited-time offers, and won't last long. Today's hottest deals both come from Best Buy, which is offering big-ticket gift cards to those who purchase the latest Xbox 360 iteration or a Wii U. There's also an appealing offer out there for those who crave DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket Max app. Join gdgt and add the gadgets you're shopping for to your "Want" list. Every time there's a price cut, you'll get an email alert!
Miyamoto: Pikmin 3's hidden memos lead to a secret code
Scattered across Pikmin 3 are ten hidden memos which, when they're all discovered, will reveal a secret code to players. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto revealed as much in a Miiverse post, promising more information on how to use the code in a future post. Pikmin 3 launches August 4 on Wii U in North America. In our review, we wrote "its cute exterior belies some inner sophistication, even if it is sometimes let down by little troubles."
New Nintendo eShop releases: Pikmin 3, Cloudberry Kingdom, Kirby's Dream Land 2
It's a pretty full week on the Nintendo eShop, especially for the Wii U. The console picks up the stupidly difficult Cloudberry Kingdom, and Virtual Console adds Harvest Moon. Pikmin 3 also marches onto the Wii U eShop on August 4 (be sure to read our review!). Meanwhile, the 3DS grabs Kirby's Dream Land 2.
Pikmin 3 review: To boldly go
-–-Transmission begins--- Sinan's Log, Hour 0 Disc, check. Wii U, check. Pen and paper, check. Way too many snacks ... check. Looking at reconnaissance. The Pikmin are an alien race of little colored globules, creatures that are half-plant, half-animal, and full-cute. In their new Wii U adventure – which the locals refer to as "Pikmin 3" – they're joined by three new playable characters, alien explorers from the planet Koppai who crash-land on the Pikmin homeworld. There the explorers must survive on the fruit around them, which they find through the help of the indigenous critters. Unlike humans, the explorers are content with fruit, and wouldn't prefer tacos. Alright, let's do this.%Gallery-191097%
Pikmin 'didn't seem like Pikmin' on the 3DS
The cross between Wii U and 3DS seems like a good business idea for just about any Nintendo game, but it also seems like a natural gameplay fit for the garden-based strategy of Pikmin 3, which has you tossing wee Pikmin hither, thither, and yon. As Shigeru MIyamoto laid it down for 4Gamer, using the stylus worked well enough as a control method, but the resulting game just plain didn't feel like Pikmin. "The truth is we were doing prototype tests of Pikmin for the DS and 3DS but it turned into unit management with only the touch pen and no matter what it just didn't seem like Pikmin. We concluded that Pikmin is a game that revolves around action based on its controls and the strategy sits on top that. Although there are elements that are built on the strategy, there are other overall things that have to be well considered. This complete experience is an important elements of Pikmin." All of which is more than a little vague, but it seems like while Pikmin 3 could've technically worked with the hardware and touch controls, the end result was too far from Miyamoto's vision for the game. Perhaps a portable Pikmin 3 would've required a bit more skill than Miyamoto really wanted for Pikmin 3, which he wants to be considered "a carefree, easy action game." While other, luckier parts of the world already have Pikmin 3, it won't be released to North America until August 4.
Minecraft topples The Last of Us in UK charts, Pikmin 3 second
After surviving for six weeks, The Last of Us' reign as UK No. 1 is over. Naughty Dog's game is blocked from the top spot by a resurgent Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, a 74 percent rise in sales seeing the XBLA game's disc version tower to the top in its fifth week at retail. Meanwhile, The Last of Us drops all the way down to third, because the runner-up spot is claimed for the first time by a Wii U exclusive. Yes, the just-landed Pikmin 3 consumes second place in the UK to become the highest-charting Wii U-only game yet, a welcome boost for the fresh-faced console. It's a positive-looking UK top ten for Nintendo all round, with 3DS games Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team comfortable in fourth and fifth. The big N almost made it four out of ten, the newly released standalone (and very green) retail version of New Super Luigi U coming in at the 13 spot.
Latest Pikmin 3 trailer has teamwork, big gross bug
Pikmin 3 is super adorable on the whole, but we're not sure how we feel about the big gross bug at the end of this new trailer. We're nearly positive that it's a silverfish, which we've ranked as one of the Top Five Ickiest Bug Things on our Top Five List of Icky Bug Things.
Miyamoto: Manpower for HD development was 'underestimated'
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto pointed to Nintendo's struggles in adapting to HD development when explaining the company's Wii U software timeline during a recent Q&A session with shareholders. "When it comes to the scale of software development, Wii U with HD graphics requires about twice the human resources than before," Miyamoto said. "We may have underestimated the scale of this change and as a result, the overall software development took more time than originally anticipated just as we tried to polish the software at the completion phase of development," he said. Miyamoto also discussed Pikmin 3, which will launch on August 4 in North America. The game was confirmed in 2008 for Wii before its development was moved to the Wii U. "We are almost out of this phase, and we are also trying to create something unique utilizing an easier development approach called 'Nintendo Web Framework,'" Miyamoto added. The Nintendo Web Framework was announced at GDC this year, and allows developers to use HTML 5, JavaScript and CSS to create Wii U apps.
Pikmin 3 marching onto Nintendo Direct for Japan tomorrow
Nintendo Japan is airing a Pikmin 3-focused Direct broadcast tomorrow, June 26. The video sees Shigeru Miyamoto joined by comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto to discuss the critter-crammed Wii U game. The broadcast is scheduled for 8PM in Japan, which converts to 7AM ET (4AM PT, midday Brit-time), and you can watch it right hyah. There's no news on any corresponding Directs for other regions. The game itself is a matter of weeks away: North America greens its fingers when Pikmin 3 arrives on August 4, while the game plants itself in Japanese and European soils on July 13 and 26 respectively.
Pikmin 3 dated August 4 by Nintendo press release
Although Nintendo President Satoru Iwata had no launch date to share on Pikmin 3 during this morning's Nintendo Direct, the company's official press release just sent out notes an August 4 release date. The game will launch in stores and on the Nintendo eShop.We're following up with Nintendo for confirmation.Update: Confirmed.
