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Super Mario 3D World scratches up Japan, Europe in late November [Update: Trailer!]
Super Mario 3D World will bring kitty-cat versions of Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad to Japanese and European Wii U consoles on November 21 and November 29, respectively, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced during this morning's Nintendo Direct festivities. Meanwhile, the game drops in North America on November 22.
Japanese tank line coming to World of Tanks
Now that Update 8.8 is in the books, Wargaming has announced that its wildly popular World of Tanks will be adding Japanese tanks to the mix. "The introduction of Japanese tanks allows us to explore the design and innovation of a number of legendary armored vehicles and give players the chance to experience their technological evolution throughout the mid-20th century," said World of Tanks Producer Mikhail Zhivets. "Tank models based on original designs of Japanese engineers will offer players a wide selection of authentic upgrade schemes, each tailored for particular combat objectives." The Japanese tank tree, which will initially consist of nine medium and five light machines, will be the seventh national line added to the game. Be sure to check out the new trailer for this upcoming content just after the jump. [Source: Wargaming press release]
YouView adds World TV Boosts for Afrikaans, Arabic and Japanese
YouView's catch-up programming has remained mostly UK-centric so far, but TalkTalk is adding some diversity with a trio of World TV Boosts. The new Arabic TV, JSTV and kykNET TV packs give viewers a combined 16 channels of Afrikaans, Arabic and Japanese content. While the Boosts aren't cheap at a minimum £10 ($15) per month, they could be vital for ex-pats who want to keep up with news and shows from their home countries.
Pokemon Tretta Lab makes mini arcades of Japanese 3DS consoles
Pokemon Tretta Lab turns the Japanese arcade machine, Pokemon Tretta, into a handheld game by slapping a wrap-around, plastic apparatus on the 3DS or 3DS XL. Pokemon Tretta Lab, like its arcade predecessor, has players collect physical discs – called "Tretta" – that the peripheral holds and scans into the game. Tretta Lab uses the same discs as the arcade game, and the retail version will include Mewtwo, Eevee and Lucario Tretta. Trettas? Tretti? ... Tretta. Pre-orders will also receive the Pichu Tretta, Siliconera reports. Tretta Lab launches on August 10 in Japan for 3,800 yen, or $38.75.
EVO 2013 to be simulcast in Japanese
EVO 2013 will be live-streamed with Japanese commentators, courtesy of Mad Catz and Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico Douga. The stream will be free to view on the Nico Nico site. The Japanese iteration of EVO 2013's streaming schedule joins its English-language Twitch streams at srkevo1, srkevo2 and srkevo3, with the full schedule posted below. The Twitch streams come with a $12 premium option that includes ad-free viewing, chat access, exclusive emoticons and video quality of at least 720p, and all of that money goes to the EVO 2013 college scholarship for NYU Game Center. EVO 2013 kicks off on Friday, July 12, and runs through Sunday, July 14. Check out its Indie Showcase lineup here.
Nintendo wins another legal battle against R4 flashcart resellers
Nintendo has achieved another victory in its ongoing quest to rid the world of the R4 flashcart. The Tokyo District Court has ruled that two Japanese resellers of the homebrew/piracy-enabling device owe Nintendo (and 49 other companies, including Capcom, Konami, Square Enix and Namco Bandai) ¥95,625,000, or roughly $946,113 at today's exchange rates. Nintendo et al.'s victory also reinforces legislation passed into Japanese law in 2009, which makes it illegal to sell R4 carts in the country. Another blow to the R4 was dealt last year, when new law made importing the device into Japan illegal as well.
Dragon Quest X headed to Japanese PCs
Dragon Quest X will come to Japanese Windows machines on September 26, Square Enix announced today during a livestream broadcast. The Toriyama-infused MMO, which originally debuted on the Wii last August, also launched on Wii U in March, though to comparatively lackluster results. The PC version will be available in two flavors: A ¥3,990 standard edition that includes 20 days of free game time, and a ¥9,800 "Special Pack" bundle, which comes with a DQX-themed controller, security authenticator, Monster Encyclopedia, microfiber world map and item code for an as-of-yet unannounced in-game goodie. Folks interested in getting in on the ongoing beta test can do so by downloading Nvidia's benchmarking tool – successfully passing will provide the opportunity to apply for beta access. Oh, and you need to speak Japanese. That's kind of an important piece to this whole "non-westernized Japan-only RPG" puzzle.
DeNA to publish Godus on iOS
Peter Molyneux's studio 22cans has been working on a Populous followup game called Godus, and the company has just announced a deal for a publisher. DeNA, the Japanese company behind the Mobage social platform, will be publishing Godus on iOS. And the game will also connect up to Mobage in Western companies and in Japan and Korea. DeNA is an interesting choice for Molyneux -- the company is usually known for casual games, and the audience is largely Japanese so far. But DeNA has definitely been looking to expand to the West and seeking well-known developers to do that with, including a game they're working on with former EA designer Ben Cousins. Plus, Molyneux has released Curiosity on iOS already, and that game didn't quite have the reception that he hoped for. So it sounds like this teamup will be good for both sides. Godus is set to arrive, after being previously crowdfunded on Kickstarter, sometime this year.
GungHo reports Puzzle and Dragons is earning $3.75 million a day
GungHo Entertainment is a game publisher based in Japan, and the company has just released some really wild financial numbers. According to the latest numbers, GungHo made US$118 million this past April alone, most of it from one game: Puzzle and Dragons, currently available on iOS. Puzzle and Dragons is pulling in so much money (from audiences in both Japan and around the world) that GungHo says it's making $3.75 million a day. In Japan alone, Puzzle and Dragons is claiming 13 million players -- which is over 10 percent of the population there. That is a phenomenal success story, and it gives GungHo a higher market cap than even the legendary game publisher Nintendo. As a result, the company's stock has skyrocketed, and it's even challenging current megapublisher Activision Blizzard for market cap. I liked Puzzle and Dragons, but I think this is a game more targeted at Japan and its vast audience of mid- to hardcore-level gamers. In addition to the addictive puzzle and pet-leveling gameplay, Puzzle and Dragons is also very well structured to keep in-app purchases high, which goes a long way towards explaining how this game has gotten so big so quickly. GungHo's definitely seen some success in North America, as the app has made a few appearances on the top grossing list. But as far as I know, the success in Japan has been much more incredible.
Robotic girl and dog pair up to judge your body odor in Japanese
"Emergency taking place!" That's quite possibly the last thing you'd want to hear from anyone smelling your breath -- a female humanoid robotic head mounted atop a rectangular pink and red box being no exception. Similarly, a robotic hound passing out after smelling your feet should certainly be cause for alarm. Japanese company CrazyLabo paired up with Kitakyushu National College of Technology to create both bots, tasked with smelling your breath and your feet, respectively. The woman, named Kaori-chan, passes judgement on four levels, with feedback ranging from "It smells like citrus!" to the dire exclamation you read about above. The pooch, for his part, doesn't speak, but instead displays varying levels of affection -- it'll cuddle up if things are looking good, but it'll bark or growl if it's time to change those socks. If the situation is beyond repair, he'll collapse, as Chopin's funeral march plays in the background. It's just as depressing as it sounds. Granted, it's all in good fun, but if you're easily offended (or often offending), you probably won't want to venture any closer than the demo video at the source link below.
Square Enix announces Final Fantasy Tactics S, coming soon to iOS
Square Enix has launched a Japanese site for an upcoming mobile game called Final Fantasy Tactics S, and it sounds intriguing. Final Fantasy Tactics, of course, is the excellent tactical strategy game based on Square's old Final Fantasy series, which arrived on iOS a little while ago. The "S" version appears to be a social version, which will have you fighting monsters tactically while your "clan" competes against others. This is both good and bad news. The good part is that Final Fantasy Tactics is a great series, and it's always nice to see Square return to tactical strategy and the world of Ivalice, especially on smartphones like the iPhone. The bad news, however, is that Square Enix has had sort of a tin ear when it comes to iOS lately. The company's ports have never been really great for a touchscreen, and the last few titles they've released (specifically Final Fantasy: All the Bravest) have been badly implemented and overly expensive. So in other words, we'll see. Final Fantasy Tactics S is currently only set for a Japanese release, but there's a good possibility we'll see it make its way over to North America and Europe as well. Stay tuned. [via Touch Arcade]
Tengami is a beautiful journey through heavenly paper
Jennifer Schneidereit is one of three developers who worked with legendary game developers Rare on Kinect Sports. That same group of three later created their own company, Nyamyam games. They started work on their first title, Tengami, about two years ago. Since then, it has been honored with awards at Indiecade and the Tokyo Game Show. Now, it's finally coming to the Mac and iOS. Schneidereit kindly stopped by for a quick talk with me at GDC, to show off the game and say we can expect it this summer. Tengami is beautiful. It's moody and subtle, and felt like the kind of peaceful, quiet game that invites introspection (unfortunately the crowded room was too noisy for me to hear the game). Schneidereit told me that "Tengami" means something akin to "heavenly paper" in Japanese, and that's a fitting title for this one. The game takes place inside a pop-up book and tells a Japanese fairy tale through exploration and mood rather than written words. The game begins on just a book, and you drag across the screen to flip it open. Then turn the first page and, just like in a real pop-up book, the folded "paper" image slowly opens to reveal itself. In this case, it's a samurai sitting quietly beneath a small tree. Turn the page again (subtle glowing prompts to let you know when a transition is ready), and the scene changes slightly, as the samurai's tree slowly starts to fade away. Turn the page yet again and you're suddenly brought into a larger, rocky outcropping, where you can tap around to send the samurai exploring. There is some gameplay to Tengami. One section features a maze puzzle, where you needed to flip sections of the page up and down in exactly the right way to try and open a path for the samurai to continue through. But much of the game's charm is in its beauty. The team scanned real paper to use as textures in the 3D world they created, and the look turned out just great. The first chapter takes place in a forest (where you enter a Japanese temple by flipping a page), and the game's gorgeous art is dazzlingly implemented. The second chapter features a wide ocean environment, and the third is a mystery that players must solve for themselves. Schneidereit says that when development on Tengami started two years ago, she felt that "mobile games were treated like garbage." Nowadays, she admits that's changed a bit, but Nyamyam is out to prove that statement wrong completely. I'll be looking forward to seeing the fruits of their work when Tengami is finally ready later on this year.
Twitter archive service expands into 12 more languages, includes Chinese, Russian and Japanese
Twitter users looking to permanently house their missives in Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and eight other languages have now been given the go-ahead. This third language expansion focuses on the east, although it does add Italian, Turkish and Danish support too. In short, it's another excuse to celebrate the microblogging network's seventh compleanno.
Tamagotchi coming back as an iOS app
Truth be told, I was just a little too old to land in the middle of the Tamagotchi craze: My childhood was more full of Trapper Keepers and Game Boys than the famous Japanese virtual pets. But of course I saw them all over the place back in the '90s, as did everyone, really. And now the original toy is returning on iOS, as an upcoming app called Tamagotchi l.i.f.e. Now, there already is an official Tamagotchi app on the App Store, but it's more of a remake, with newer graphics and a little more social spin. This new app is designed to look more like the old version, presumably, playing a little bit more off of the now-retro vibe of the old craze. It's supposed to be on the App Store soon, so we'll keep an eye out for it. In the meantime, as you might imagine, there's no shortage of virtual pets apps on the App Store, including the very Tamagotchi-like Pet Monster, and even a virtual puppy. But Tamagotchi is the original creature you could kill by not feeding it enough -- hopefully Namco Bandai nails the feel of the old toy with this new app. [via AppAdvice]
Resident Evil 6 getting Japanese voiceover as DLC
Capcom is working on DLC for Resident Evil 6 featuring Japanese voiceovers for its audience in the country, Siliconera translates from Famitsu. Resident Evil 6, like many other Capcom games, has English voiceovers only, even in the Japanese version.Not that the game has suffered in Japan for a lack of native voice acting – Resident Evil 6 for PS3 is Japan's No. 5 game of 2012, selling 828,000 copies nationally last year. Capcom shipped 3.7 million copies of Resident Evil 6 worldwide in the first half of fiscal 2013, nicely padding its overall revenue for the period, though it wasn't even close to hitting our personal "best of 2012" list.
'Assault the Cheating Boyfriend! Caught You Red-Handed' hits Japan's 3DS eShop next week
Japanese 3DS game Assault the Cheating Boyfriend! Caught You Red-Handed has one of the most straight-forward yet adorable names we've ever seen. Unfortunately it doesn't work very well as an acronym, and if it's shortened to just the first word it sounds like a new Ace Combat game, so we'll just call it Red-Handed to save time.Red-Handed puts players in the role of a suspicious girlfriend as she digs around her boyfriend's house to find evidence that he's cheating on her. The game is 2D, but one 3DS-specific perk allows players to shake the controller when the enraged girlfriend confronts her boyfriend, causing her to throw all the evidence she's collected at him, the alleged scumbag. There are four boyfriends to choose from in Red-Handed.Red-Handed hits the 3DS eShop in Japan next week for $3. There's no word on a localized version, but there is hope.
Apple's iBookstore to hit Japan this year
Before Apple rolled out the iBookstore in Japan in 2010, it failed to negotiate the necessary contracts with Japan's biggest book publishers. As a result, the iBookstore in Japan was stocked predominately with free, public domain e-books. The only paid e-books in the store have been from very small publishers or self-published authors. That's set to change later this year, according to AllThingsD. Citing "sources with knowledge of the situation," AllThingsD follows up on an earlier report by Nekkie, which claims that books from major Japanese publishers will be on sale on the iBookstore later this month. Now, AllThingsD says a January launch date is "far too optimistic a date for launch." However, they claim that Apple's conversations with publishers Kodansha, Shogakukan and Kadokawa are "going well" and that the companies will have deals settled "soon." In October, Apple updated the iBooks app to support Japanese-language e-books.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite update optimizes your Manga mania, offers quicker settings
Amazon is on the cusp of launching the complete Kindle line in Japan, so it's only right that the online retailer fine-tune its firmware for local reading habits. A new version 5.3.0 update for the Kindle Paperwhite puts much of that focus on Manga, introducing options to fit the stylized comics to the screen as well as tweak their page refresh interval separately from that of plain old text. Wider efforts to improve font rendering touch on Japanese characters in the process. Even if we're a little rusty with our hiragana, there's still some usability tweaks in store: settings are accessible directly from the menu, readers can purge their home screens of recommended content and sample books now sync their position relative to the full title. The bookworms among us that are too impatient to wait for an automatic update to 5.3.0 can hit the source link for the full skinny and a fast-track installation through USB.
Square Enix considers dropping iOS prices
The Casual Connect gaming conference is going on in Kiev, Ukraine this week, and while there, Square Enix's General Manager of Mobile for Europe Antony Douglas expressed that his company is considering lowering its prices on iOS. By itself, that's not a very surprising notion: Most companies these days are realizing that lower prices on the App Store open up to a much larger audience, and there are other ways to monetize apps rather than just the traditional pricing model. But what's interesting here is that Square Enix is considering such a notion. The venerated Japanese RPG company has released quite a few apps on iOS, and its most popular apps (including Chrono Trigger and the more recent World Ends With You) have been priced significantly higher than even other very polished iOS games (US$9.99 and $19.99 for those two, respectively). In the past, we've seen this as a sign that game developers can still ask a premium price for premium content, and certainly Square Enix's games seem to have been doing well. Final Fantasy Tactics is another example -- a long-awaited game that was priced at $17.99 on the iPad. Douglas does confirm that these games are selling well, but he also says that the pricing "has been commented on quite a lot in Europe in the West," and that the more traditional Japanese overseers of the company are "seeing the feedback, and there will probably be changes in the way that it's structured." At the same time, however, he says the Japanese hold the view that quality games should have a premium price, and he suggests (correctly so) that "$20 for something you can play for 30 or 40 hours is still cheaper than what you can get on a handheld." So we'll have to see if Square Enix changes its pricing in the future. If anyone can command higher prices for these titles, it's obviously them, but it's also true that as prices drop, sales on the App Store tend to go up. So it's possible that Square Enix could sell more copies and make even more money with a larger potential audience if they go with a lower price. [via Slide to Play]
Nikon patent would perfect the art of camera tossing, protect us from our folly
If you're one of the more daring (or foolhardy) photographers out there, you've tried camera tossing: hurling your camera into the air in the hopes that a timed shot will catch either a unique perspective or an artistic spin. Nikon might not want to stop those shooters from throwing caution to the wind, but its recently published Japanese patent would at least keep those throws to a minimum. Cameras based on the patent could use a built-in accelerometer not just for timing the shot, but to brace for a fall by covering the lens and retracting its barrel on the way down. In theory, the photographer gets a perfect aerial portrait without all the guesswork and a minimum of damage. Call us skeptical that we'll ever see the patent reach a shipping product, though -- even if it was limited to rugged cameras, a mode built almost exclusively around voiding the warranty probably wouldn't sit well with Nikon's accountants. [Image credit: Zoli B, Flickr]
