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Wii U emulator (almost) runs 'Mario Kart 8' on your PC
Want a Wii U but don't want to own Nintendo's latest console? That's sort of possible now. I emphasize the "sort of" because the recently released Cemu emulator is almost entirely broken at this point. There isn't proper gamepad support, there's absolutely no audio and the game video stutters and glitches pretty badly in most cases if the titles launch at all. For example, in Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD's attract mode (the opening menu screen), little Toon Link looks he has some seriously Donnie Darko-esque energy tubes coming out of his chest, stretching far out from his cliffside overlook on Outset Island. Peep it in the video embedded below. "Contains basically no optimizations," the download page reads. "Expect slow frame rates and long load times."
Playdate: Putting your custom 'Super Mario Maker' levels to the test
When we asked for your Super Mario Maker levels you guys and gals responded in a big way. Don't believe us? We have a Gmail folder with over 300 responses to prove you otherwise, and more keep coming in every day. Sean and myself were absolutely floored by the creativity the Playdate community showed and honestly it was hard to narrow the field down to just 30 or so entires. Sadly we had to do just that because we only have two hours to broadcast. Did your masterpiece make the cut? Tune in starting at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific and find out as we run through nothing but community-built death traps either on this post, the Engadget Gaming homepage or Twitch.tv/joystiq if you want to join in our chat.
Shovel Knight is delayed by a fortnight
Shovel Knight was supposed to come out next week -- the operative phrase there being "supposed to". However SK's developer, Yacht Club Games, announced on Friday that the retail release for the game's 3DS, Wii U, PS4, and PC (Europe-only) versions will be delayed by two weeks until October 30th in Europe and November 4th in North America.
'Star Fox Zero' barrel rolls into next year
Longtime Nintendo fans are used to delays, but that won't make the news of Star Fox Zero not releasing this year any easier to swallow. Legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto took to Facebook to announce the delay (embedded below), saying that the Wii U game's technically ready to hit the initially promised November release, but the company is putting it back in the oven to sand off rough edges on level design and to perfect the tone of its cutscenes. Oh, and Nintendo is also putting more time toward working on the "unprecedented discovery" innate to Zero's unique two-screen control scheme. Miyamoto says that the game isn't far off though and that his team is shooting for a release in the first quarter of next year.
Wanted: your custom 'Super Mario Maker' levels
Something happened when we were broadcasting the Wii U's Super Mario Maker on Playdate last week. Sean Buckley and myself (and almost assuredly someone from Twitch chat) thought it'd be a great idea to play through levels that the community made, live on the internet. And guess what? That's absolutely what we want to do, but we'll need your help. For a future stream we'd love to do nothing but play custom levels created exclusively by our loyal Playdate viewers. All you need to do is take the ID code for your masterpiece and drop it in an email to EngadgetPlaydate@gmail.com. It's easy! We're playing pretty loose with the rules too. You can send us a couple of your favorites (but fewer than 30) if you're having a tough time narrowing it down to just one, and all that we ask if you not have anything lewd contained therein.
A look at the evolution of modern video game controllers
If anything's kept pace with how video games have changed over the years, it's how we interact with them. Our biggest touchpoint with virtual worlds is the gamepad and -- akin to how games themselves have evolved from simple 2D affairs into 100-hour-long labyrinths in three dimensions -- controllers have changed to accommodate that. What you'll find in the gallery below is a comprehensive look at gamepads from the past 30-plus years of gaming, including high points and missteps alike. [Image: Adafruit Industries/Flickr]
'Yooka-Laylee' snags a publisher after record-breaking Kickstarter
What's the next step after fully funding your game in 40 minutes on Kickstarter? If you're the team behind Yooka-Laylee, Playtonic, you get a publisher to help with stuff like localization (translating dialogue and text for different regions), QA testing and other unglamorous but still necessary elements of game development. To wit, the former Banjo Kazooie creatives have hooked up with indie label Team17, perhaps best known for the Worms and Alien Breed franchises. This partnership means that Playtonic can worry about working on the game itself while Team17 takes care of the more menial bits and bobs. Good thing, too considering Playtonic is still planning to hit a simultaneous October 2016 release across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Wii U. If you'd like to check out more, hit the jump for our interview with the folks from the studio.
Watch the world's biggest fighting game tournament right here
This weekend over 6,000 folks from 47 countries will descend into Las Vegas to kick the (virtual) snot out of each other. That's because the 13th annual Evolution fighting game tournament, otherwise known as Evo 2015, starts today with world warriors competing across nine games including Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat X, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Ultra Street Fighter IV. They're battling for over $300,000 in prize money and in case you couldn't make it to Sin City for the show, we've got you covered. The competition starts at 12 pm Eastern / 9 am Pacific today and goes until the final street fighting man or woman is defeated Sunday night. As you might expect, the entire event's being broadcast via Twitch and you can park it right here on Engadget to watch the whole thing!
Someone made real-life 'Splatoon' weapons
Sure, they're basically portable pressure-washer guns but they're still strong enough to knock a grown man on his ass.
These were E3 2015's best games
E3 is (thankfully) over, and that means the press that cover the event have recently cast their votes for what they thought were the best games from the show. You know those blurbs on box art saying "winner of over 90 awards" and the like? This is partly where they come from. Collectively known as The Game Critics Awards, the governing body for them is made up of staff from over 30 editorial outlets, including Engadget, that attended gaming's Paris Fashion Week. For a game to even be up for consideration though, it has to be playable -- a stage demo or non-interactive trailer won't cut it. What's it mean for you? In the end, a better idea about what it's like to actually play the biggest games from E3, because we got to go hands-on with them. Without further ado, the winners are in the gallery below. Spoiler: Fallout 4 was pretty successful.
The untold story of a failed Nintendo game six years in the making
Nintendo has had a number of high-profile flops (Virtual Boy, anyone?). However, one of its biggest failures may have been one you heard almost nothing about -- at least, until now. Unseen64 has published a documentary detailing the largely unknown story of Project H.A.M.M.E.R (aka MachineX), a Wii game from Nintendo Software Technology that died after nearly six years of painful development that began in 2003. The hammer-swinging sci-fi brawler was supposed to be mostly finished by the time it was first acknowledged in 2005, but a culture clash between the Japanese management and American staff all but killed progress. The two sides had differing ideas about what would fix the mediocre gameplay. The top brass thought better environments would improve things, for example, while the rank-and-file wanted to overhaul the core gameplay mechanics.
'Mario Kart 8' is about to get absurdly fast
How big of a difference do those extra 50 cubic centimeters in Mario Kart 8 make? Well, Iwata and Co. have a video showing the current fastest/most difficult setting (150cc) side by side with the 200cc level the outfit announced last week. The trip around Piranha Plant Slide starts out slowly enough, but it isn't long before the differences start to show. There's roughly a five second gap between when Mario passes the first eponymous flora on the 200cc speed and 150cc, for instance, and the lead only grows from there. By the end of the lap, the lead is almost 15 seconds. That's quite a bit! Anywho, the video, along with a few others, is just below and the free update hits April 23rd -- see you on Rainbow Road.
JXE Streams: The wild and weird 'Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'
This week -- tomorrow -- Nintendo is re-releasing its polarizing Nintendo 64 third-person action game, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. But today -- at 3PM ET! -- we're streaming the game and hosting a rousing discussion. No "expansion pak" required! Though we'd love to show you the re-release for Nintendo 3DS, there's simply no way for us to stream from our handheld game systems. As such, today we're streaming the original Nintendo 64 game. No, we don't have a magical Nintendo 64 with HDMI-out, but we do have a Wii U, which has a Wii built into it, which has Virtual Console. All that to say this: we're streaming the Wii re-release of Nintendo 64 game The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The future! We're in it!
Cash out of Club Nintendo by trading Coins for games
So Club Nintendo is closing down in just a few months, and you've got a huge stockpile of Coins. What's a gamer to do? Well, Nintendo is helping members of its soon-to-be-dead loyalty program spend their accrued currency by adding 117 Wii U, 3DS and Wii titles to the rewards catalog. Pricing varies drastically between games, starting at 150 Coins for Super Mario Land and other 3DS virtual console titles and ranging all the way up to 850 Coins for Wii Party U. There are some seriously great games to be had in the promotion, which runs through June 30th. You can browse all the titles on offer over at Club Nintendo.
Who The Hell Is: Shulk
The following feature contains substantial spoilers for the game Xenoblade Chronicles. The rumors are true, and Joystiq is closing. I had only just started my "Who The Hell Is" series, where I gave a brief history lesson on video game characters such as Johnny Gat. After all, if you're going to be playing a game with the character's name in the title, you want to know who he is, right? So for one last time, let me help you get to know someone. Say hello to Shulk. For many players, Shulk's first appearance is not Xenoblade Chronicles – the 2010 Wii game he actually stars in – but Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS. There, Shulk can boost his abilities to become harder, better, faster, stronger. He's also the only character possessing a costume equivalent to Samus' sports bra/short-shorts combo thanks to his form-fitting boxer-briefs. So, why does Shulk get to change his fighting abilities in a way that no one else can? To answer that, we have to go back. Way back. No, further. To the beginning of the world.
Nintendo Creators Program shares ad revenue with YouTube users
Nintendo unveiled its new revenue-sharing affiliate program for YouTube users, offering up to 70 percent of ad revenue to video makers using Nintendo-copyrighted content. The House of Mario's christened it the Nintendo Creators Program, and users with both Google and Paypal accounts can take the open beta for a spin right now. The beta is currently offering 60 percent of ad revenue for individual videos attached to the program, and 70 percent for channels. Nintendo will calculate revenue shares on a monthly basis before sending them out to video creators via Paypal. Furthermore, videos and channels have to be approved by Nintendo before the company begins doling out the cash, and the big N says that process can take up to three business days.
Nintendo: Sales tracking below forecasts, weak yen drives profit
Nintendo reduced its annual sales forecast by 6.8 percent today, leading to a 50 percent drop in the projected operating profit for its core business. Nonetheless, the ever-weakening state of the yen is balancing that out by boosting the company's overseas earnings. According to its revised forecast, Nintendo now expects to earn a net profit of ¥30 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015, which converts to around $255 million. That's up 50 percent from the company's previous projections, and a sharp contrast to the $229 million loss posted the previous fiscal year.
Club Nintendo closing, 'new loyalty program' on the way
'Club Nintendo is dead, long live the new loyalty program,' is the message from Nintendo this morning, after the company announced it's closing its current rewards service. Users in the US and Canada have until the end March to earn Club Nintendo Coins and until the close of June to redeem them, signalling when the service will finally hang up its brown boots. "We thank all Club Nintendo members for their dedication to Nintendo games and their ongoing love for our systems and characters," said Nintendo of America executive VP Scott Moffit in the company's press release. "We want to make this time of transition as easy as possible for our loyal Club Nintendo members, so we are going to add dozens of new rewards and downloadable games to help members clear out their Coin balances."
Nintendo Direct wrap-up: New 3DS on Feb. 13 and more
Today's Nintendo Direct dropped some huge news for both the Wii U and the upcoming New 3DS. The biggest announcement is that the New 3DS, which features a second analog stick, faster processor, amiibo support and a number of other improvements, will arrive in North America on February 13. The basic bundle, available in red or black, will retail for $199. Nintendo also revealed special Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Edition and Majora's Mask bundles, the latter of which is apparently already sold out at GameStop. Friendly reminder, these bundles do not include an AC adapter, presumably with the expectation that early adopters will be upgrading from the current 3DS models. In other big news, Wii games are coming to the Wii U eShop starting today with Super Mario Galaxy 2. Each game will be available for half price ($10) during its first week of availability. To put that another way, you can snag Metroid Prime Trilogy on January 29 for the ridiculously low price of $10. Find a breakdown of all the Nintendo Direct news, as well as a heaping helping of trailers, after the break.
Full-size downloadable Wii games come to the Wii U
If you own a Wii U and wish you hadn't missed out on years' worth of classic games for the original Wii, you're in luck. Nintendo has revealed that full-size downloadable Wii games are coming to the Wii U's eShop, starting today. Only Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be available at first, but that'll soon be followed up by Punch-Out on the 22nd and Metroid Prime Trilogy on the 29th. It'll probably be a while (if ever) before you're playing an epic like Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword without finding a hard copy, but you have to start somewhere.
