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Give your 3DS a Mario paint job with new themes, out now
3DS users can spice up their portable lives with new Home Menu themes, available now not just in Japan but in North America and Europe too. There are five free themes that give the startup screen a basic splash of color, but if you're after something with more pizazz there are purchasable themes too. These themes don't just change the menu wallpaper, but also alter icons and folders as well as sound effects and music. The Zelda: A Link Between Worlds theme, for example, features the game's "Hyrule Main Theme" as its menu music, while the top and bottom screens display the mirror worlds of Hyrule and Lorule. The current selection, with each theme priced between a buck or two, includes liveries for Mario & Luigi, other Nintendo stars like Yoshi and Peach, and "Geometric Patterns" for those who prefer stripes and polka dots on the go. To start sprucing up your portable following a quick system update, go to the Change Theme menu via the Home Menu button on the top left of the startup screen. There's a specific shop for the purchasable themes, but if you're not prepared to pay you can go with a simple red, blue, yellow, pink or black look, or stick with the default white. Heads-up: aqua blue 3DS plus simple blue theme equals lovely blue loveliness. Also, if you're holding out for other styles, Nintendo of Europe says an Animal Crossing: New Leaf theme should hit the shop towards of the end of the month.
Best Buy offers buy one, get one free on Pokemon, Zelda, more
Those looking to catch 'em all might want to head down to and/or log on to Best Buy this week, as the store's current promotions include a buy one, get one free deal on select Nintendo 3DS games, including Pokemon X / Y. Of course, if you're less about monster wranglin' and more about helping manage the lives of your friends, the recently-released Tomodachi Life is also included in the promotion, as are quite a few other, quality titles. Here's the full list: Bravely Default, Disney Magical World, Kirby Triple Deluxe, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Mario Golf: World Tour, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Tomodachi Life and Yoshi's New Island. "I don't have a 3DS," you say. "Best Buy is also offering $30 off the silver 3DS that comes with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team pre-installed," we say. "Also, it's amazing that we heard your spoken word through the internet when we're not connected to a call service," we say. Oh boy, maybe we're finally developing our mutant superpowers! Here, let's put it to good use: We foresee these deals ending on July 26. And we're definitely psychic, didn't just read that off Best Buy's website or anything. [Image: The Pokemon Company]
Nintendo posts $229M loss, Wii U estimates down by 60 percent
Nintendo fell slightly short of the reduced financial projections it set in January, with the Wii U reaching 2.72 million shipments for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014. However, the system remains way off Nintendo's initial projection of 9 million, so it's no surprise to see more conservative estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015 of 3.6 million units. That's 60 percent less than Nintendo originally projected for the previous year. Total Wii U shipments are now up to 6.17 million, nearly a year and a half after the console launched. On the software side, Nintendo revealed figures of 32.28 million units to date, with New Super Mario Bros. U (4.16 million), Nintendo Land (3.09 million) and Super Mario 3D World (2.17 million) leading the way.
PBS Game/Show probes link between nostalgia, Zelda's success
In its most recent entry, PBS' Game/Show YouTube series wonders if Nintendo's beloved Legend of Zelda series is only so beloved due to an incessant reliance on player nostalgia. While Game/Show doesn't offer an answer to this question – the series is aimed at prompting discussion, not taking any one stance – the points it makes are intriguing. How many of you are immediately transported to the gleeful whimsy of childhood on hearing the Legend of Zelda overworld theme? How often have we seen new entries in the series directly reference prior games, much to the delight of fans? How many times can players explore the Lost Woods before the cartographers of Hyrule finally decide maybe that mysterious grove of trees isn't so lost after all? Watch the above footage, take in its arguments, then post your own thoughts in the comments below. [Image: Nintendo]
Nintendo nine-month profits drop year-on-year, Wii U ships 1.95 million in Q3
Nintendo reported a net profit of 9.6 billion yen (around $93 million) in the last three months of 2013 on the back of shipping 1.95 million Wii Us across the quarter. Despite that holiday success, the company posted a year-on-drop for its first three fiscal quarters, the nine months ending in December 2013. Net profits fell by just under 30 percent to 10.2 billion yen ($99 million), with Nintendo noting the Wii U has continued to bring down its figures, chiefly because of price cuts in the US and Europe. Nintendo slashed its sales forecasts for the fiscal year earlier this month, and expects to post a net loss of 25 billion yen ($242 million) for the fiscal year ending in March 2014. There's been no official announcement yet, but Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and members of the board are reportedly taking a temporary pay cut in response to the company's recent downturn. According to French news agency AFP (via Polygon), Iwata told reporters in Tokyo he would take half his normal pay for five months, with board members receiving a 20 to 30 percent cut. If accurate, it wouldn't be the first time in his tenure that Iwata has taken a pay cut: His salary was also halved in 2011, the reason then being poor 3DS sales.
The Last of Us leads 2014 DICE Awards nominations
Nominations for the 17th Annual DICE Awards are led by The Last of Us, which received 13 total nods. The peer-based video game awards hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences spans 24 categories and recognized 61 separate games this year. The five games nominated for the Game of the Year award are The Last of Us, Grand Theft Auto 5, BioShock Infinite, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Both GTA 5 and The Last of Us are joined by Papers, Please, Tearaway and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons for the Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction award. The awards ceremony will cap off the 2014 DICE Summit on Thursday, February 6 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Head over to the AIAS' site to view the full list of nominees in PDF form.
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds $30 at Fry's through Thursday
If you haven't yet had the chance to delve into Link's latest dimension-hopping journey, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for the Nintendo 3DS is $29.99 at Fry's this week, making it a good time to catch up on one of last year's greatest games. A Link Between Worlds builds on the structure that defined the Super NES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, taking place in the same overworld and featuring many elements familiar to series fans. The game emerges as a worthy adventure in its own right, however, thanks to its ingenious item-rental mechanic and open-ended quest that gives players the freedom to explore Hyrule and its dark counterpart Lorule at their own pace. A Link Between Worlds is available for $29.99 at Fry's through January 16.
Nintendo 3DS software sales increased in 2013, sold 11.5 million hardware units in US
Avoiding a conversation about its other child, Nintendo announced this morning that the lifetime hardware sales for the 3DS have surpassed 11.5 million units in the US. The 3DS family includes the original system, along with 3DS XL and 2DS. The company plans to announce its third quarter earnings on January 29, which should help bring global context to the hardware sales number. Nintendo also stated this morning it had more than 16 million software sales (both retail and digital) in 2013 for 3DS, which is a 45 percent increase from 2012. It also pointed out that two of its Nintendo 3DS games in 2013 had over a 90+ Metacrtic. Coincidentally, both of those games made our Joystiq Best of 2013: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Fire Emblem Awakening.
Joystiq Top 10 of 2013: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
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. As charming as it was, I thought The Wind Waker became a chore by the end. I never finished Twilight Princess. And for all of its brilliant swordplay and well-crafted dungeons, Skyward Sword was burdened by unnecessary and unentertaining filler. Imagine my surprise, then, when Nintendo gave us The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, one of the most effortless, weightless Zelda games in years. A Link Between Worlds manages to recapture the adventure of the original Zelda, which was content to drop players at an empty crossroads without a word, your only clue of what to do being a cave beckoning in the distance. At the same time, A Link Between Worlds succeeds in reinvigorating a well-trodden formula without alienating the players who already adore it. That's quite a trick.
Here is Club Nintendo's favorite Wii U and 3DS games of 2013
Nintendo compiled a list of 20 games that Club Nintendo members noted as their favorites from 2013 recently. Nintendo featured ten games for each for 3DS and Wii U, with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate as the lone game that landed on both lists. Among the Wii U games selected by Club Nintendo members are the obvious Nintendo-published choices in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, The Wonderful 101 and Pikmin 3. The best-of list also includes Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Rayman Legends and Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, the latter being the single eShop-only game of the Wii U group. The list of 3DS favorites are marked by both Pokemon X and Y, Fire Emblem: Awakening, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Head past the break to see the full Club Nintendo-selected Wii U and 3DS list of favorites from the year.
The Legend of Zelda: A link to the plushie
A series of adorable plushies in the shape of Link, Zelda and Tingle are available for pre-order now, as spotted by Tomopop. They each come in sizes under 19 cm tall, while Link also has a "medium" size, which runs 22 cm. The plushies are available for pre-order from HobbyLink Japan, $12 for the smalls and $20 for the medium Link – before shipping costs. They're expected to ship in February. What a great way to celebrate Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, which we think is a "perfect handheld Zelda experience."
UK Charts: Xbox One doubles Xbox 360's opening weekend
The UK kicked off its November next-gen madness with the Xbox One last week, ahead of the PS4's launch across Europe this Friday. No surprises, then, that the country's charts are dominated by a flurry of Xbox One launch games, but stifle that yawn because Chart-Track does have a noteworthy statistic to share: According to the data gatherer, the Xbox One sold twice as well as the Xbox 360 across its opening weekend in the UK. Some context: Microsoft shipped around 300,000 Xbox 360s to Europe for the system's launch in December 2005, and it was speculated that meant around 70,000 for the UK. MCV is putting the Xbox One's 48-hour sales figure at 150,000, but that's not confirmed. As usual, Chart-Track didn't provide any hard numbers with its stat, but we do know the Xbox One sold more than 1 million units in its first 24 hours, albeit across 13 markets; the PS4 also hit 1 million-plus on day one, but just in North America. We'll have a clearer picture of who's nudging ahead once the PS4 is out and about in Europe, so let's focus on the all-formats game charts for now: FIFA 14 became the new No. 1, with numbers boosted by 328 percent after being bundled in with Day One consoles in Europe. The rest of the top ten provides some idea of which games Brits chose to pick up with their shiny new Xbox Ones: Call of Duty: Ghosts came in second, followed by Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed 4, and Forza 5, Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Dead Rising 3. Heading down the charts, Grand Theft Auto 5 is the first previous generation game to appear, sat at eighth. More surprisingly, it's ahead of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, which debuted behind it in ninth. If you're wondering where Super Mario 3D World is, so is the UK: The Wii U game doesn't arrive in the country until November 29. Finally, Crytek's Ryse: Son of Rome rounded off a top ten that featured eight Xbox One games.
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds hides a crooked secret
Before we got our hands on the game (and awarded it a perfect 5/5 score), the biggest selling point for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds was the 3D overhaul it introduces to the beloved world first seen in 1991's A Link To The Past. What most don't know is that underneath the new visuals, the game has something to hide. The secret to attaching 3D graphics to the top-down view most familiar to Link To The Past fans is to tilt every item in the game backwards by 45 degrees, creating the illusion of a world designed specifically for viewing at a perpendicular angle. Not just rupees and enemies, this tilting even includes the main character, who apparently spends the majority of his adventure strolling around Hyrule like a reject from a Monty Python sketch. The slant is never apparent to fans unless they go looking for it - Tiny Cartridge explains that you'd only notice it by switching to a sidelong view while Link is transforming into his 2D, painting form - but now that you know the reality, try not to let it tarnish your attempts to save the world. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds saunters onto the Nintendo 3DS on November 22.
'Stiq Tips: The Legend of Zelda - A Link Between Worlds Guide
The Legend of Zelda series has always been about adventure. With a vast open world to explore and tons of tiny little secrets, it can get taxing for one boy in green tights to handle. On top of the usual Hyrulian spelunking, A Link Between Worlds adds another kingdom to the mix – "Lorule" (get it?). Here's a bit of help to prevent you from searching high and low for some of the answers hidden within the darkest depths of the game. After booting up the game and finishing your first (easy) dungeon, it's time to run some errands! Immediately head to Kakariko Village to the west, and familiarize yourself with the layout. You'll want to visit the old man standing out in the open on the far left of the town to enable StreetPass functionality (more on that later). The first item on your shopping list is a shield, which you can prop up by pressing the right trigger. It's 50 Rupees – an amount you may not have already. Before you buy it, go to bee house (it literally has a giant bee icon on it) and get the net item.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Review: Hi, it rules
The Legend of Zelda series has become as known for its Mad-Libs structure as it has for its green-clad hero. Whatever Zelda you pick up, you can probably expect to have to find the [NUMBER] [PLURAL NOUNS] and thus prove you've got the [ADMIRABLE TRAIT] that marks you as the hero of legend. Whether this predictable pattern gives the games an overwhelming sameness or comforting familiarity depends very much on your point of view, but The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds manages to shed a lot of the franchise's baggage while staying true to its history. The new game for the 3DS isn't just a link between two worlds, but the best of both of them.
Dimensions collide in Zelda: A Link Between Worlds launch trailer
Whether he's in two or three dimensions, the sight of Link revisiting the setting of his most famous Super Nintendo adventure should offer ample reason to anticipate the November 22 launch of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Relax with the soothing sounds of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
We don't know how it plays, nor how it stacks up to the SNES classic it's sprung from, but if this trailer for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is any indicator, the franchise's tradition of featuring lovely, subtly affecting music is well intact. And as we mentioned last week, it even includes a special easter egg for die-hard series fans.
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 3DS XL confirmed for North America
Nintendo has officially confirmed The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds-themed 3DS XL bundle will be available in the U.S for $219.99. The package was first revealed last week as part of the leaked GameStop Black Friday flyer. Originally revealed for Europe, the glittery gold 3DS XL bundle will be available at the game's launch on November 22.
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds music box a collector's edition exclusive
Nintendo Europe's adorable Vine for the adorable Zelda treasure box was adorable, but it was a tad misleading: The musical treasure chest is part of the collector's edition of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds available exclusively at UK retailer Game, and it's not a pre-order bonus. The original Nintendo UK tweet identified the tiny chest as a pre-order perk, but Game's site includes it as part of the collector's edition. The Game collector's edition includes a boxed copy of A Link Between Worlds, a code to download Link's Awakening DX, a glossy poster and the musical chest. Link's Awakening DX is the original adventure redone for Game Boy Color, now on 3DS. Game will send eShop codes for Link's Awakening DX to pre-order customers, and once a purchase is confirmed and the code received, players will be unable to cancel their pre-orders.
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds to have unlockable difficulty mode, puzzles 'clearer' in 3D
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds will etch an additional difficulty option onto its walls for players taking a second pass through its non-linear quest. Siliconera's translation of series producer Eiji Aonuma's interview with Gameswelt revealed that an additional difficulty mode will be unlocked after players complete the main game. Aonuma did not clarify what similarities it will share with Wind Waker's Hero Mode, which doubled the damage dealt to players and removed heart pieces from the game's pots and blades of grass. In a separate interview with Gamespot, Aonuma noted that the team "made some changes" to the game after Nintendo announced the 2DS to ensure it was fully playable in 2D. "We found out about the 2DS during development ... It's not that you can't play it with 2D, it's just that it becomes clearer when you have the 3D effect on." A Link Between Worlds is set to venture across the walls of North American and European homes on November 22. Europeans in need of a 3DS XL may want to consider the special edition bundle that's planned for release at the game's launch. North Americans might have the same option, but Nintendo has yet to confirm the bundle's release across the pond.
