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What's going on with Nintendo's Amiibo figurines?
When Nintendo first introduced its Amiibo figures, Bill Trinen, senior product marketing manager at Nintendo of America, said that the toys open "a whole range of potential new gameplay experiences" for players on a character-by-character basis. And he's not lying: The toys -- activated by an NFC chip that connects to the Wii U gamepad -- come to life in the latest Smash Bros. game, as well as unlock new characters, levels and other good stuff in various other Nintendo Wii U games. Want a new character or two in Mario Kart 8? Amiibo figures have you covered. But maybe not forever. Why? Because certain Amiibo characters have already been discontinued less than a month after their debut. Or, maybe they haven't? Nintendo's flubbed the messaging here (again), saying one thing about the future of certain figures to one publication, and something fairly different to another. Confused? We are too! Are some Amiibo figures limited edition? Which ones? How about those yet to be released? We asked Nintendo to clear this mess up.
These are the biggest Nintendo games at E3 2014
Nintendo's in a weird place. The company's got a game console that no one's buying, the Wii U, and it's the only place to play some of gaming's biggest franchises: Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong. The list goes on. Nintendo's also got a tremendously popular handheld game console, the 3DS, but Wii U software was the focus of E3 2014. Rather than a press conference like in the past, Nintendo chose to unveil its E3 news in a digital venue: a Nintendo Direct video stream. Much of Tuesday morning's announcements were available to play at E3, impressions of which we've shared below. And yes, we played a lot of Smash Bros.
'Super Smash Bros.' for Wii U lets you bring toys (and yourself) into the game
Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U isn't just leaning on your nostalgia to clinch a sale; it also has a few technological tricks up its sleeve. Nintendo's latest brawler will let you bring the characters from its NFC-based toys (now known as Amiibo) into the game by tapping them on the Wii U's gamepad. They can fight alongside you or in your place, and they'll gain abilities as they level up. Other titles (including Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10 and Yoshi's Woolly World) should support Amiibo in the future, as well. If you'd rather introduce your own persona, though, you can. Super Smash Bros. has an option to add your Mii, giving it both a character class as well as a handful of special moves.
