I want to play this game.

Good on 343 Industries. I’d like to see more developers take a stand like this.

Far less annoying than what the UK got, but I don’t think it does a good enough job of telling ma and pa that this is a brand new console and not just an accessory to the Wii.

From the official press release:

All Wii U Deluxe Set owners who purchase digital content for Wii U, including downloadable games in the Nintendo eShop for Wii U and download codes sold at select retail stores, will earn points with a value equivalent to approximately 10 percent of the Nintendo eShop list price of each purchase. For example, a game priced at $59.99, such as New Super Mario Bros. U, would earn 599 points. For every 500 points they earn, participants will receive a code worth $5 in credit to be used in the Nintendo eShop for either Wii U or Nintendo 3DS.

This essentially amounts to a 10% discount on eShop purchases. Not bad, Nintendo. Note that rewards can be claimed on the eShop for the Wii U and the 3DS. Does this point to Nintendo finally adopting unified accounts across all services, or will we claim 3DS content through the usual convoluted and confusing method we’ve come to know and love from Nintendo?

The wording on the press release suggests we’ll have a unified account:

Consumers who purchase the Wii U Deluxe Set can use the Deluxe Digital Promotion with a Nintendo Network Account.

This is Nintendo though, so we won’t know for sure until the system launches.

Regarding the rumor of fully voiced characters in Ace Attorney 5, Capcom’s Dread Hellston tweets:

Saw some posts saying AA5 will have full voice acting – not the case. Just those iconic key phrases! Maybe a mistranslated interview?

False alarm.

Destructoid has a nice round-up of current Halloween related video game content and events.

The stores will carry E-rated video games, accessories and toys ranging from a 2-foot-tall talking plush Star Wars Chewbacca to a Skylanders backpacks.

Jason Schreier brings us this latest bit of stupidity from Kotaku regarding the newly announced iPad:

So if you dished out $500, $600, or $700 this year expecting to be able to show off the hottest new piece of hardware for at least a whole year…

…then you’re a fucking idiot.

Andrew Groen for Wired shines a light on the video game industry’s revolving door of talent, and gets this quote from Tim Schafer:

“One of the most frustrating things about the games industry is that teams of people come together to make a game, and maybe they struggle and make mistakes along the way, but by the end of the game they’ve learned a lot — and this is usually when they are disbanded,” says Schafer, president of San Francisco developer Double Fine Productions.

“Instead of being allowed to apply all those lessons to a better, more efficiently produced second game, they are scattered to the winds and all that wisdom is lost,” he said in an e-mail to Wired.

Siliconera reporting on an article from the Japanese “Nintendo Dream Magazine”:

The first reason for this was that, due to the 3DS’ surround sound capabilities, bringing over the DS sounds as they are would have been extremely difficult due to tuning problems.

Another concern was that the staff wanted the game sequences to work with the anime scenes, which are also fully voiced.

Old Gameboy and NES games sound pretty good on my 3DS, so I’m not sure what tuning problems are being referred to here.

Call me old fashioned, but giving voice to characters is not always a good thing. And in the case of the Ace Attorney series, it may actually be a bad thing. The use of short voice clips like the occasional “OBJECTION!!!” or “HOLD IT!!!” have become staples of the 11 year old series and are usually followed by awkward silence or triumphant music as the player reads the on-screen text. Throwing some voice acting into the mix will surely take away from that signature Ace Attorney sensation players have come to love.

[UPDATE]

Capcom’s Dread Hellston tweets:

Saw some posts saying AA5 will have full voice acting – not the case. Just those iconic key phrases! Maybe a mistranslated interview?

False alarm.

This commercial does a pretty good job of showcasing what the Wii U does, and really drives home the point that it is a BRAND NEW CONSOLE with a BRAND NEW CONTROLLER, but I could personally do without the “pew pews”. I expect hope the US commercials will be a little more subdued.

Every time I think Nintendo finally “gets it”, they go and do something like this.

From the official press release:

Players will delight in producing fantastical and sometimes hilarious interactions between the Mario and Legend of Zelda characters and objects, alongside everyone’s favorite word-wielding Scribblenauts adventurer, Maxwell. Discovered Nintendo characters and objects will behave in the fun and fantastical ways they do in their respective game worlds.

Nintendo’s number one asset is its library of iconic characters, so what better way to give third party publishers a boost than by loaning out some of those characters for a Nintendo-exclusive experience?

Loaning characters out to every Tom, Dick, and Harry may not be in Nintendo’s best interest, but Nintendo can still lay out some guidance and insight into their philosophies to third party developers in order to help create that unique Nintendo experience consumers look for when buying a Nintendo product.

I hope to see more of this kind of thing in the future. When Nintendo starts working with third party developers and publishers to create experiences unique to Nintendo platforms, everybody wins.

Howard Phillips talks to The Indoor Kids podcast about the early days of Nintendo of America, Nintendo Power, and some of the philosophy Nintendo employed in the early days of console gaming. This absolutely fascinating interview suffers from some audio quality issues, but it’s well worth a listen.

Speaking of Gamemaster Howard, he has a woefully underfunded Kickstarter project in the form of an iOS brain training game. As of this writing, only $15,341 has been pledged of the $50,000 goal with 7 days remaining.

Community blogger, vApathyv, over at Destructoid has a chilling answer to the question: “Have you ever felt like you could relate to a character from a video game?”

I think I can honestly admit that Max Payne is who saved me from my addiction.

Quite the antithesis to the mainstream media’s standard line on drugs and violence in video games.