Luigi returns in Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon for 3DS! Releasing holiday 2012!
Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon 3DS is the official title (without the two) of the all-new 3DS Luigi’s Mansion videogame that is a sequel to the GameCube launch game from 10 years ago, the original Luigi’s Mansion was released way back in 2001!
Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon will be released this holiday 2012 confirmed Nintendo at their E3 2012 Press Conference, also showing some all-new gameplay from the upcoming AAA game.
Luigi’s Mansion 2, or what I like to call “Luigi Ghostbuster”, seems to look, feel and play exactly like the original game, except in glasses free, stereoscopic 3D, and with more variation in the types of ghosts and levels you will visit and explore.
Here is the debut gameplay footage of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon exclusively for 3DS with the Luigi’s Mansion E3 2012 Gameplay Trailer.
Synopsis Ghostly Adventures Await in Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
The new Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon gives players multiple mansions to explore, a variety of puzzles to solve and new ghosts to capture. Armed with the Poltergust 5000, a ghost-sucking, vacuum-like invention, Luigi must complete a number of missions assigned to him by Professor E. Gadd.
Key Features of Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon include:
* Shining a light on the ghosts is no longer enough to stun them into immobility. Players need to activate a new strobe function to stun the ghosts before sucking them up with the Poltergust 5000.
* Every mansion is filled with unique puzzle elements and ghosts. Players must figure out how to defeat each one of them and find hidden clues and keys to unlock new areas.
Navigating a snow-covered environment in Paper Mario: Sticker Star for 3DS.
Paper Mario: Sticker Star screenshots show off a bunch of different aspects of Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS RPG, including enemies like Goombas, a giant Pokey cactus, a giant Paper Goomba, items like the Fire Flower and Fire Mario shooting fireballs, your touchscreen inventory and inventory items like a Koopa Shell, Super Leaf, Super Mushroom, Hammers, Coin Boxes and snow and desert environments!
Giant Pokey? Is it a Pokey boss?
……. A Fire Flower-powered Mario facing off against Goomba! Lots of inventory items shown: POWs, Hammer, Super Leaf, Fire Flower, Super Mushroom…
Paper Mario loves his Stickers! :D He’s also holding a Sticker Book…
Facing off against a giant Goomba boss in this Paper Mario 3DS: Sticker Star screenshot.
….. Yay! TOAD returns! As you can see in this Paper Mario 3DS: Sticker Star screenshot. Also notice the Coin Box.
Wallpaper artwork of Paper Mario 3DS: Sticker Star’s logo and main artwork.
Paper Mario: Sticker Star for 3DS was officially announced at Nintendo’s E3 2012 Press Conference (previously known as “Paper Mario 3DS”), with the first gameplay trailer showing the game in action for Nintendo’s next-gen glasses free, stereoscopic 3D portable system. It will be released digitally and physically this holiday 2012.
The game brings back the classic Paper Mario RPG, look, style and humor that players know and love from past Paper Mario games; complete with the literal “paper” look where everything in the game is paper-thin “2d”… meaning that Mario “flips over” when turning and slides under the covers of a bed when sleeping. All the environments and buildings in the game look like a pop-up book, etc… all while adding an all-new gameplay element in the form of “Stickers”.
The Stickers are scattered throughout the environments of the game world that you explore and can be “peeled” off of walls, floors, objects, etc. and added to your collection, where they become items and equipment that increase your abilities and give Mario new powers!
Here’s the Paper Mario: Sticker Star gameplay trailer of the E3 2012 Nintendo Press Conference announcement and gameplay video.
Paper Mario: Sticker Star Synopsis Mario’s Super Sticker Collection
On the day of the annual Sticker Fest, Bowser decides to pull a prank and scatters six Royal Stickers across the land. To retrieve these mysterious, magical stickers, which are now stuck onto Bowser and his underlings, Mario sets off on an adventure with Kersti, a sticker fairy, visiting prairies, deserts, forests, snowy mountains and volcanoes around the world.
Key Features of Paper Mario: Sticker Star include:
* Stickers are blended into every aspect of game play. They become your arsenal of items and attacks in traditional Paper Mario action-battles and can even unfold the environment to reveal new areas and ways to progress through the game.
* Collect stickers by peeling them off their environment, buying them in shops, or even making your own, and store them in your notebook for later use.
* “Paper”-ize the world by flattening it out and then use your stickers to find secret areas and hidden items just about anywhere in the game.
* The papercraft setting of the game is really emphasized in 3D, giving you the feeling of peering into and exploring a world comprised of shoebox dioramas.
* A cast of colorful characters will keep players laughing at every turn.
This game looks absolutely awesome! I can’t wait for it. Sadly, I shamefully have NEVER played any of the Paper Mario games, even though I want to SOOOO bad and I LOVE Super Mario RPG and the Mario & Luigi series. I MUST play them before this game comes out!
…. New Super Mario Bros. Mii is now New Super Mario Bros. U. Official logo as revealed at E3 2012.
Lots of New Super Mario Bros. U screenshots of gameplay footage, Small Yoshis, playable Mii characters, Flying Squirrel Mario, Wario and Waluigi Mii outfits, Power-Ups, Wii U GamePad tablet controller gameplay screenshots, giant Koopas, giant Goombas and much more!
Small Yoshi’s return! You can see they have light powers as Yellow Yoshis. Each color has a different power.
Star Coins return, three each level as you can see. Also, Flying Squirrel Mario & Luigi!
Look at the cute small Miis! They are playable in a Mario game for the first time!
Notice the Wario (Yellow), Waluigi (Purple), Mario (Red) and Luigi (Green) Mii Suits!
… Tapping the Wii U Controller GamePad touchscreen in NSMBU to place Boost Blocks to help or hinder other players.
Absolutely beautiful nightsky painting background! Loving the new High-Definition HD graphics!
See the Star Coin under the bricks? Three Star Coins are hidden in each New Super Mario Bros. U level!
Oooo yeah! Giant Koopa and Giant Goomba enemies! :D
Look how beautiful that HD background is in this New Super Mario Bros. U gameplay screenshot!
New Super Mario Bros. U for Wii U is the new name for the previously revealed “New Super Mario Bros. Mii”, a title shown at last year’s E3, and now with an official name change and launch date; It will be a launch game for the Wii U “this holiday 2012”, as revealed at Nintendo’s E3 2012 Press Conference. Where the game was one of the biggest highlights of the show.
It is also the first Mario game ever that is now produced directly by Shigeru Miyamoto, instead being produced by longtime Nintendo EAD General Manager Takashi Tezuka, who has directed along with Miyamoto on virtually every Nintendo game for the past 25 years, including The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and even New Super Mario Bros.
Giant Koopa and Giant Goomba! AWESOME!
New Super Mario Bros. U introduces new elements, expands on the elements introduced in New Super Mario Bros. Wii released in 2009 for the original Wii, and introduces all new features and elements that take advantage of the new Wii U GamePad tablet controller.
The biggest addition to the game is the ability to play as your Mii in place of Mario, Luigi and Toads, as seen NSMB Wii. Now you can play four-player with each player taking controller of their Mii character. The thought behind this is that it is easier to not lose track of your character when their big head is YOUR head… the head of your Mii. Whether this actually works in practice remains to be seen. When Miis are small they look exactly like you’d expect, however collect a Mushroom and they will grow in size and wear a “Mario character” suit, dressed in red like Mario, Green like Luigi, Yellow like Wario or Purple Like Waluigi!
Here is the New Super Mario Bros. U E3 2012 Nintendo Press Conference Stage Demo for the Wii U launch game.
Also returning are Small Yoshis! Who you can use to eat enemies and turn them into… presumably, big Yoshis. (at least, I think those were Yoshis… *checks* Okay it is confirmed they ARE Small Yoshi!). One of the biggest new features is the ability to play the game using “Boost Mode”. In this mode, one player uses the Wii U GamePad tablet controller, and can place “Boost Blocks” anywhere on the screen using the Wii U GamePad’s touchscreen.
Touch the GamePad controller touchscreen to place Boost Blocks to help or hinder other players!
By doing this, he can help up to four-players who are playing the game with the Wii Remote. He can even change these blocks into smaller Coin Blocks. Of course, while the co-op player can help, they can also hinder by placing blocks to make life more difficult for the players playing the game. Nintendo even specifically mentioned that these Boost Blocks can be strategically placed in order to create better and improved Speedrun scores. It’s always great to see Nintendo discuss the speedrunning phenomenon! A phenomenon they started with Metroid, wherein players try to beat the game in the fastest time possible.
A very cool new Power-Up has been introduced for the first time in New Super Mario Bros. U, and it is the “Flying Squirrel Mario Suit”. By turning in Flying Squirrel Mario, Mario dons squirrel-like wings under his arms that allow him to gently glide and gain a boost of momentum and air by flicking the Wii U GamePad or Wii Remote!
Additionally, the different colored Small Yoshis offer all kinds of new abilities based on their color. Pink ones stretch out vertically and allow you to float through the air by fattening up, Blue Small Yoshi spit out bubbles and Yellow Small Yoshi give off light.
The other biggest feature for the game is the introduction of MiiVerse, Nintendo’s new online social feature built-in to the Wii U and inherently supported by every game. Using MiiVerse in New Super Mario Bros. U allows your friends to leave messages, like hints, tips, tricks, boasts, etc. on the actual World Map itself! These show up as speech balloons! And just like on the Wii U Main Menu, the MiiVerse screen itself, players can even take a screenshot, leave emoticons, or draw pictures in their messages! Very, VERY cool when you see this in action.
As for as the actual gameplay itself, it is typical sidescrolling Mario action. Goomba stomping, Koopa kicking, block busting, coin collecting, Power-Up nabbing, pit leaping, obstacle navigating, pipe-entering, run and jump action, as you head from the left to the right of the screen and navigate through the level from beginning to end. Nothing to see here, but now it comes in HD! The high-definition next-gen graphics deifnitely give the game a nice sheen to the graphics, but otherwise it looks exactly the same as New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Which is to say, it looks like a whole barrel of fun! In single-player or multiplayer!
Here is the New Super Mario Bros. U official E3 2012 trailer.
Pikmin 3 Wii U Gameplay Screenshot At E3 2012 Shown Off by Miyamoto.
Pikmin 3 gameplay for Wii U highlighted Nintendo’s underwhelming E3 2012 Press Conference, coming from Miyamoto in person!
Pikmin 3 is the newest franchise in Nintendo’s RTS-style strategy game where players are tasked with taking control of plant-like Pikmin characters that follow a leader and attack enemy animals that wander the beautiful, natural environments full of plants, water, fire and other natural elements like trees and human objects.
In Pikmin 3, players can control up to four leaders (of which, Captain Olimar is not one of them… it wasn’t revealed why) which adds all-new strategic depth to the came. The game can also be controlled using either the Wii Remote and Nunchuck or the Wii GamePad. If you choose the later, then you will get new strategy methods by using the touchpad and making use of the touchscreen and its indepth map. If you play with the Wii Remote, you can more accurately throw the Pikmin and target very specific spots of enemies and obstacles. Either way, the GamePad will always show you a full map. One of the biggest new change was a new form of all-new Rock Pikmin!
The all-new super cute Rock Pikmin!
Pikmin 3 will have several modes, such as the Challenge Mode where you must gather as much fruit as you can within a time limit. You can even record a replay of your previous playthrough and have it always playing on the lower screen, using it as a strategic reference! Which is a very cool proposition and something I haven’t thought about for the Wii U.
Nintendo promises Pikmin 3 will be much more strategically deep than previous games in the series. Graphically it looked quite beautiful, although not quite as mind blowing as you’d expect. Given the new Wii U GamePad, you can see the Pikmin from new angles using the GamePad screen and the map allows you to see the entire playfield, zoom in or control individual Pikmin in ways that really open the game up and make it much more streamlined than ever before.
What was also really fun about the Nintendo Conference (and by far the best part of it) was Miyamoto’s grand entrance, which showed him getting ready for the show in what looked like his house, on video, with Pikmin all around his environment overlayed in CG, following him out the door even… as he walked on the stage! At the end of the demo Miyamoto even took a Red Pikmin out of his front pocket! So awesome!
Here is the Pikmin 3 Gameplay E3 2012 Nintendo Conference Stage Demo!
Project P 100 exclusively for Wii U is an exclusive new game from the developers that brought you Okami and Bayonetta!
In the game you control multiple heroes in a Pikmin-style group, and control them all at once. Using the Wii U GamePad to draw lines and tap to perform attacks on the enemies you’ll encounter. You’ll need to use the superheroes together to defeat enemies, and can recruit new heroes to join your group and increase your combined power, moves and abilities as you progress through the game.
The GamePad can be used in all sorts of ways to enhance the game. When you enter a tunnel or inside area you can look at the Gamepad’s screen to see who has entered the building. Touchscreen can be used to create circle, line, square and other types of drawings with your finger that translates into more powerful attacks for your characters.
Project P 100 demo video and screenshots coming soon.
Will Xbox 360 SmartGlass be able to compete with the Wii U tablet or better it?
Xbox 360 SmartGlass has everyone’s head abuzz with opinions. Is SmartGlass a Wii U killer? Has Microsoft significantly jumped the gun on Nintendo enough to actually gain an upper hand?
Will this development send Nintendo back to the drawing board as far as what new features the Wii U will be compelled to support simply to compete with this new development?
Should Microsoft be punished for blatantly ripping the Wii U off? Should Nintendo be praised for once-again setting an industry standard that everyone else copies and then improves on? Is Xbox 360 Smart Glass just a natural development in the direction videogames and videogame developers were already headed in? That is, would Microsoft have developed Xbox 360 Smart Glass or something like it, even without the Wii U?
So many questions… so little answers.
It’s really anyone’s guess. One thing that IS certain though, and you can glean this from both Microsoft AND Sony’s press conferences… as well as from third-party developers… mobile gaming has literally changed the landscape of gaming as a whole. Similar to social network games and popular, household words like Facebook, the gaming landscape has shifted and is now taking these huge new changes into account. Better yet, the gaming industry is taking advantage of these new technologies to offer gamers new and ever-more-interactive and interconnected experiences. Experiences that are beginning to spread out… outside of a single game console.
While the BIG THREE won’t be getting together to make woopie anytime soon, the fact is these manufacterers have recognized that it is to their advantage to bring mobile devices and other machines into their fold. While allowing your mobile device to LITERALLY become a videogame controller and control your system using your smartphones touchscreen is a HUGE new development (who’s worth cannot be understated. This is BIG), if you think back even a couple years ago to Sony and their “PlayStation Suite”, or to Microsoft and their Windows Phone platforms… this kind of connectivity with mobile devices is something that has been bubbling under the service for years and years now.
However, I think it took the Wii U and its tablet controller and Nintendo’s fancy eye for innovate innovation, to violently shove Microsoft and Sony to put all they have into persuing their mobile ideas that they were already half-heartedly working on, thinking about, and considering. But now they’ve gone beyond thinking and considering and into action. And I can’t see how anyone could say this is a bad thing.
When the Windows Phone 7 was first announced, it was revealed that, if you bought one, you could instal your Xbox Live Avatar and Gaming Card onto the device by linking with your Xbox 360 account (which could also be done on Windows) and keep track of all your Xbox 360 Achievements, your GamersScore, etc. while you were on-the-go. Cool right? Sure. Who wouldn’t say that is pretty sweet. But is it cool enough to make you buy a Windows Phone over another platform? No. When Sony a few years ago announced the “PlayStation Suite” service, the goal was to expand the PlayStation brand into the mobile space. AWESOME!!! We all said. Then it was revealed that “bringing PlayStation to mobile”, in reality, meant being able to play 15-year-old PlayStation One games on your phone… and old crappy ones that everyone already owns at that. Yawn.
Do you see where I’m going with this? This development was already under way, but the way in which these publishers went about it was all wrong. Then in steps Nintendo. Out of absolutely NO WHERE, the company introduces the Wii U, a videogame system whose controller IS a touchscreen tablet, with traditional gaming controls built-in on the sides. Nintendo proceeds to show the Wii U Remote and Nunchuk and other devices interacting with the Wii Controller tablet (no officially called the Wii U GamePad) in ways that expand on what is being seen and percieved on the TV. They turn heads by showing a guy golfing, where the ball sits in a hole in the sand displayed on the Wii U tablet’s screen, and the guy then hits the Golfball by swinging the Wii Remote and the ball flies FROM the Wii U tablet and onto the TV screen…. Ingenius.
This causes Microsoft and Sony to kick themselves and say “Why didn’t we think of that?” Oh wait, we kinda did! We just didn’t really follow through with it! And that brings us to today. Yesterday Microsoft announced Xbox 360 SmartGlass, and that they are now putting their FULL WEIGHT behind mobile devices in order to move the Xbox 360 and all that it offers onto devices NOT CALLED the Xbox 360. While this may not include playing Xbox 360 games on other devices like PC, cellphones and tablets, it WILL mean more interconnectivity with Windows PCs, your Xbox 360, and your mobile devices than ever before. And it will mean new ways of interacting with your Xbox 360 using other devices.
The big draw was the ability to use your tablet or cellphones touchscreen to control your Xbox 360. Now there will be no need to fiddle around with the Xbox 360 controller when watching a TV show, as you can just sit back and use the cellphone in your pocket as a remote with which to select the show or entertainment you want to watch on your Xbox 360 and to pause, rewind, fast forward, skip scenes, etc. Beyond that, Xbox SmartGlass brings new functionality to your entertainment by allowing the additional screen to know what it is that you are doing on another device. Be it a Windows PC or your Xbox 360, your device will display relevant information or interactive features, greatly enhancing your experience.
All of this begs the question… will you be able to use the new screen in ways like the Wii U? For example, in an Aliens: Colonial Marines game, can you use your Xbox SmartGlass connected cellphone as a radar screen? The answer is YES. This was shown in multiple examples… however they were just examples… we’ll need to wait and see to find out how it will actually compare to what the final form of the Wii U brings to the table.
I would believe the Wii U has the edge, because unlike the tablet or cellphone which was not originally built with the Xbox 360 in mind, the Wii U tablet WAS built with your TV in mind, and can instantly with 100% NO LAG, display what is on the TV on your controller, and vice versa, as well as enhancing it.
As for Sony, they went as far as to rename their “PlayStation Suite” service and simply call it “PlayStation Mobile”, and they, just like Microsoft, are renewing their focus on hooking the PS3 and PS Vita to mobile devices. They are also pushing hard the ability to hook your PS3 up to your PS Vita, and to use the two vices together. Connectivity between the two will mean the ability to play the same game on both machines, and then stop playing on one machine, and pick up from where you left off on the other. The ability to share save files between both your PS3 and PS Vita, and surely much more.
Of course, Nintendo also messed around with portable connectivity between their GameCube and the Game Boy Advance back in 2004-2006, but that didn’t go anywhere important and very few people used it. Will people use it now with Sony?
I think the more likely answer is “probably not”. Few people have both a PS Vita AND a PS3, and for the most part they probably cannot be bothered or won’t care enough to link the two together and use them constantly. And the same goes for Microsoft. And THIS is where the other two run into problems that Nintendo avoids. Unlike Nintendo, these devices must already be owned, and must then be hooked up and synced in with the home system. Beyond that, the person has to give a sh*t about what you are doing with the connectivity. While people think that being able to see information about a TV show or movie on their cellphone as the movie or TV show is playing is cool, how many will actually care? When was the last time YOU watched a DVD/Bluray information pop-up special feature where you watch the whole movie as it pops up tidbits of info while you are watching it?
Most people do not care and find it distracting, and would rather just watch the movie. i.e., how often will you actually look down at your Xbox 360 SmartGlass-connected tablet or cellphone while you are watching The Matrix 4? It is more likely that you will NOT do this. Nintendo’s advantage is that everyone who buys a Wii U is buying it SOLELY for the Wii U tablet. This is the big selling point of the Wii U, and everyone who buys one will immediately be interested in using said tablet, and will not have to hassle with connecting the devices together and then remembering to use them.
Having additionally connectivity and functionality is one thing. Remembering to use it and caring enough to do so is a whole other ballgame. Case-in-point, I often have bought calenders, and hung them on my wall. But how often do I REMEMBER to check it every single morning? Hardly ever. I always forget even when I MEAN TO check it. This is Sony and Microsoft’s challenge. And it’ll be extremely interesting to see where we go from here. :)
Will Xbox 360 Smart Glass Kill the Wii U before it even launches? Yes or no?
Will Xbox SmartGlass be a Wii U killer? Yes or No.
That is the major question on everyone’s mind after Microsoft’s major Pre-E3 2012 Press Conference last night, which sent the internet abuzzing with the possibilities that Microsoft’s new “SmartGlass” system will bring to the Xbox 360, allowing your mobile devices to connect to your Xbox and add additional functionality, features and control to it… Be it a tablet, smartphone, iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone, Android or Windows Phone device….
Here is the E3 2012 Microsoft Pre-E3 Press Conference Xbox 360 Smart Glass Reveal.
Remember Nintendo Revolution? It was the original codename for Wii… no one thought they’d change it.
Will Wii U be the final name of the Nintendo next-generation console that replaces the original Wii? Yes or no?
Many people find the Wii U name to be confusing and a bit odd. In fact, I had a girl laugh at me just this past week when I was telling her all about Nintendo’s new machine. Do you know what she called it? “The Pee-U” I am not making this up. And despite my attempts at not feeling a little bit “hurt” at this brash mocking, she continued to laugh her head off at the name “p-u”.
Suffice it to say, I am now more convinced than ever that Nintendo should change the name. Many people have stated that the name “3DS”, was a mistake for Sony’s next-gen handheld system, because it is too similar to the former system, and parents and those not “in-the-know” get confused about the difference and will buy games without noticing the “3” in the title. The original DS meanwhile was originally a codename that stood for “Developer’s System” (because the system was easy to develop for and made with giving developers more options than ever in-mind) but sense the acronym dually stood for “Dual Screens” as well, they decided to stick with the name “DS” since it accurately described what the new handheld was (a handheld never meant to originally replace the Game Boy, it was meant to be a “third pillar” and a new line of systems that would continue alongside Game Boy. Everyone but Nintendo new that wouldn’t be the case however :P).
Of course, remember the “Nintendo Revolution” name? Everyone was confident that Nintendo was going to go with that name as the final name for the Wii… but they changed the codename and went with “Wii” instead. And for an entire year all we heard were penis jokes and people remarking “Want to come over and play with me wee” *cue endless giggles*
Yet Nintendo stuck with the name, and now it is an iconic, worldwide, world-known name that cannot be mistaken for anything else and never gets made fun of anymore. For the GameCube, the system was originally called the “Nintendo Dolphin”… a name people loved. That codename was eventually dropped in favor of the even cooler name “GameCube”. I really hope we see a return to a cool name. Although I can live with the Wii U… But it’s such a dorky title…
