Category: Gaming

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the Fastest-Selling Wii U Game Ever in North America

From Nintendo:

If you were going to diagram an equation for a record-breaking software launch, it would probably look something like this:
Popular Franchise (more than 14 million Super Smash Bros. games sold in North America)
+
Demand (it has been six years since the last Super Smash Bros. console game, plus the new game benefits from heightened awareness for the franchise coming on the heels of the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS game)
+
Critical Acclaim (current Metacritic score of 93, making it the highest-rated original game of this generation, tied with last year’s Super Mario 3D World game)
+
Strong Reaction from Fans (current user score of 9.2 on Metacritic, becoming the eighth Wii U game to have a Metacritic score of 85 or higher AND a user score of 8.5 or higher)
=
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is now the fastest-selling Wii U title ever in the North American market (dethroning Mario Kart 8), with more than 500,000 physical and digital units combined sold during the three-day period of November 21 through November 23. “The Nintendo holiday is off to a great start, but there’s a lot of work left to do and a few more surprises in store for our fans,” said Pierre-Paul Trepanier, Nintendo of Canada’s new general manager and senior director. “With great deals coming on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and great content like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker launching next week, Nintendo will offer shoppers the best combination of fun and value this holiday season.”

Do your Holiday Wii shopping at Amazon.

Sid Meier’s Civilization®: Beyond Earth™

Sid Meier’s Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ is a new science-fiction-themed entry into the award-winning Civilization series. As part of an expedition sent to find a home beyond Earth, lead your people into a new frontier, explore and colonize an alien planet and create a new civilization in space. A New Beginning for Mankind is coming Fall/Autumn 2014.

Join the Civilization community and learn more about the game at www.civilization.com

Learn more: http://www.civilization.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/civgame
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/civ

Looney Lab’s “Notes from the Lab”

From Looney Labs:

TableTop Day 2014

We’re planning lots of awesome fan events this year with Andy, Kristin and the rest of the team here at Looney Labs, as you can see below. We are especially excited about our TableTop Day promos – we have a new card that will be at TableTop events all over the country on April 5th so wear your Looney Labs colors wherever you celebrate or come see us locally if you’re in the DC area!

UPCOMING EVENTS

MARCH 29th

Loonacy Launch Party: Kristin and Andy will be at DC game store, Labyrinth Games, to celebrate the launch of our newest card game, Loonacy!

LINK TO EVENT >> https://www.facebook.com/events/1447763098786440/?ref=5

APRIL 5th

TableTop Day: Celebrate wherever you are and make sure you are wearing your tie-dye, but come see us in College Park if you’re in the area!

LINK TO EVENT » https://www.facebook.com/events/658031707576904/

APRIL 18th

AwesomeCon: Andy and Kristin are the gaming guests of honor at this DC area con! Come join in the awesomeness!

LINK TO EVENT » https://www.facebook.com/events/1393639657563335/

VIEW FULL CALENDAR at https://www.facebook.com/LooneyLabs/events

LOONEY LABS FAN CLUB

THE LOONEY LABS FAN CLUB gives you exclusive info about the newest Looney Labs games, forums with other Looney Labs fans and insider info about convention events!

LOONACY IN STORES TODAY!

Our maniacal matching card game featuring art from every edition of Fluxx was all over the GAMA trade show. Get in on the madness! Click through to watch a video and see how it plays or read about it on Andy’s blog!

ANDY SAYS:

Looking forward to playing games with everybody this year! I’ve got lots of great new prototypes that you can only try playing if you come hang out with me in person!

Nexus Game Fair Set for Milwaukee Debut

Nexus Game Fair Returns Summer Gaming Conventions to Milwaukee

After a 12 year hiatus, summer convention gaming returns to the city of Milwaukee with the inaugural show of Nexus Game Fair which is set for June 19-22, 2014. With hundreds of individual events planned, an extensive line-up of industry special guests and VIPs, Nexus Game Fair is ready for success.

“Gamers are interested in affordable, centrally located destinations,” says show founder Chris Hoffner, “and Milwaukee has both great history and nostalgia for game conventions, having hosted both the Gen Con and Origins Game Fairs.  Milwaukee is also a great travel destination, with an international airport, professional sports teams and internationally known breweries.”

Events Manager, Harold Johnson, is the former director of Gen Con who led that show to grow to over 20,000 attendees during the 1990s.  “We’re very excited about our inaugural year,” says Johnson, “and we’re confident in our ability to run a well organized, event focused show.  We’ve already committed to 3 years worth of show dates and look forward to extending our stay in Milwaukee indefinitely.”

Nexus Game Fair has already signed a number of industry special guests, including Jolly Blackburn (Knights of the Dinner Table), Mike Carr (Dawn Patrol), Chris Clark (Inner City Games Designs), Bob Coggins (Napoleon’s Battles), Dave “Zeb” Cook (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition), Jeff Easley (Staff Artist, TSR, Inc.), Todd Fisher (Revolution & Empire), Matt Forbeck (Deadlands), Ernie Gygax (Gygax Magazine), Tim Kask (Dragon Magazine), Dave Kenzer (Hackmaster), James Lowder (Author, Prince of Lies), Frank Mentzer (Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set), Merle Rasmussen (Top Secret), Jim Ward (Gamma World), Skip Williams (Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition) and more.

“We’re not just providing our attendees with the chance to personally meet these prestigious industry notables,” says Johnson, “but also to game with them.  Nexus Game Fair is committed to offering a variety of high quality events to our attendees.  We’ve partnered with demo and organized play teams from several industry leading companies, including Paizo’s Pathfinder Society and Catalyst Game Studios’ Shadowrun Missions, in order to bring a phenomenal array of events to our show.”

For more information, please visit http://www.nexusgamefair.com

Like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/nexusgamefair

Follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nexusgamefair

Dead @ 17: The Battle for Darlington Hills Deck-Building Card Game


Take on the role of Nara or Pitch in a battle between the holy resurrected and a seemingly endless army of demons –with original art from Josh Howard, creator, writer, and artist of ‘Dead @ 17’.

Never Peak Games, an independent producer of board and card games, announced the Dead @ 17: The Battle for Darlington Hills deck-building game. Josh Howard has been writing and illustrating comics for 10 years and is best know of the indie horror series Dead @ 17, published by Image Comic. His other credits include Black Harvet(Image), Clubbing (DC/Minx), Ghostbusters: Con-Volution (IDW), and The Lost Books of Eve (Viper). He is currently at work on the seventh installment of Dead @ 17, scheduled for release in 2014. Funding for the game is now taking place on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neverpeakgames/josh-howards-dead-17-battle-for-darlington-hills

The world of Josh Howard’s Dead @ 17 comes to life as players take on the role of Nara and her friends or relentless demons fighting a war for our souls. The battle rages through the streets of Darlington Hills where players must use every weapon they can get their hands on to protect our world or destroy it. Who will be victorious in this epic clash of good vs. evil? Using their starting decks, players will earn powerful cards and enhancements to fight for control of the familiar locations in the Dead @ 17 universe. Demons must be banished before the gates of Hell are opened.

Featuring 209 cards, 3 large location tokens, and 39 resource tokens with Kickstarter rewards and stretch goals that include an exclusive backer-only Dead @ 17 comic, promo cards, and multiple expansions.


Dead @ 17 is currently seeking funding at www.kickstarter.com. For more information about Dead @ 17 the board game, please visitwww.neverpeakgames.com.

About Never Peak Games

Founded in 2011, Never Peak Games is an independent producer of board and card games. Never Peak Games is looking to make its mark on the hobby gaming industry by combining amazing art with compelling game play that will keep players coming back to the table.

VIZ MEDIA BRINGS THE ACTION IN NEW BLU-RAY AND DVD HOME VIDEO EDITIONS FOR THE SCI-FI FANTASY ANIME SERIES ACCEL WORLD

AccelWorld-Set01-BD

From Reki Kawahara, The Creator Of SWORD ART ONLINE, A Bullied Teen Finds Power And Strength In A Virtual Reality Video Game; Special Premium Art Booklet Included As A Free Gift With Purchase From Select Online Anime Retailers

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, invites fans to accelerate with the home video release of the ACCEL WORLD anime series on DVD and Blu-ray on November 26th. The new 2-disc set features 12 episodes of the sci-fi fantasy series, is rated ‘TV-14,’ and carries a DVD MSRP of $44.82 U.S. / 43.24 CAN; Blu-ray MSRP is $59.97 U.S. / $66.15 CAN. Preorders are available now through select retailers.

A special 48-page premium art booklet featuring art and character profiles from this popular series and is also included (only while supplies last) as a special free gift with purchase from select online anime retailers including Right Stuf, Anime Pavilion, and Robert’s Anime Corner Store.

ACCEL WORLD dialogue features include English and Japanese stereo audio, English subtitles, as well as a character art gallery, clean opening and closing segments, and the original Japanese broadcast trailers.

In the year 2046, people use portable devices called Neuro-linkers to manage their daily lives in virtual reality networks. But advances in technology haven’t managed to do away with bullies, and 13-year-old Haruyuki Arita finds himself a frequent target. Haruyuki escapes his miserable life in virtual games – until the day Kuroyukihime, the most popular girl in school, introduces him to a mysterious program called Brain Burst and a virtual reality called the Accel World. This set contains Episodes 1-12 on 2 discs.

“ACCEL WORLD is the hottest new anime title to join the VIZ Media home video library and we are very excited to also offer it to buyers with a gorgeous, full-color bonus art booklet that is only available for a limited time through select anime retailers,” says Charlene Ingram, Senior Manager, Animation Marketing. “This series blends a highly imaginative online game with real world impact and adds a new twist to one teen’s solution to being bullied. ACCEL WORLD quickly became a fan favorite since VIZ Media debuted it on the same day as its Japanese broadcast and we look forward to the series drawing in new and veteran fans alike with this exciting release that arrives in time for the start of the holiday season.”

ACCEL WORLD is based on a series of popular light novels written by Reki Kawahara (Sword Art Online) and was produced by the famed anime studio Sunrise (TIGER & BUNNY, Mobile Suit Gundam, Code Geass, Cowboy Bebop, KEKKAISHI). Kawahara entered the first novel in the series into ASCII Media Works’ 15th Dengeki Novel Prize in 2008 and won the Grand Prize. ACCEL WORLD has also inspired a popular manga series and several video games.

For more information on ACCEL WORLD and other animated titles from VIZ Media please visit www.VIZAnime.com/accelworld

PAIZO PUBLISHING AND OFFWORLD DESIGNS PARTNER TO CREATE OFFICIAL APPAREL FOR THE PATHFINDER RPG

World’s Best-Selling Fantasy Roleplaying Game Gets +1 Style Bonus

Paizo Publishing, LLC, publisher of the world’s best-selling Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (RPG), and OffWorld Designs, Inc., the Best Shirts in Fandom, announce today the licensing of the Pathfinder RPG brand for t-shirts, backpacks, and messenger bags.

The debut piece features the iconic cover artwork of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, by artist Wayne Reynolds. The design will be printed on 100% cotton, black, Fruit of the Loom™ t-shirts, and is available for pre-order now on paizo.com and offworlddesigns.com with MSRPs ranging from $20 – 26.

“We are thrilled to have the license for Pathfinder RPG apparel,” says Barbara VanTilburg, CEO of OffWorld Designs. “Our shirts are well-known in the gaming industry and Paizo, as well as Pathfinder, are both fan favorites, so this is all a natural fit!”

Today’s agreement marks the first official apparel license for the Pathfinder RPG. Paizo has already partnered with Dynamite Entertainment to bring the world of Pathfinder to comic books and graphic novels. Diamond Select Toys has released several plush toys based on the popular Pathfinder goblins, and both Reaper Miniatures and WizKids produce full ranges of dynamic gaming figures.

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game builds on more than 10 years of system development and the largest open playtest in the history of tabletop gaming to create an unparalleled fantasy roleplaying experience. Players need only the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook to play, but Paizo Publishing produces a wide range of books and accessories to enhance your Pathfinder experience, from hardcover rules compendiums to complete campaigns to packets of beautiful full-color maps. For more information, visit paizo.com.
About OffWorld Designs:

Founded in 1990, Offworld Designs is a family owned and operated business of geek love and pride.  The designs of in house artist Raymond VanTilburg helped launch the company and Offworld’s line has grown to include some of the best artists in multiple genres including science fiction, comics, gaming, anime and more. Offworld also offers an extensive line of services that include custom printing and embroidery along with Convention Souvenirs.  With over 40 conventions attended each year, our products can be found on the finest geek enthusiasts the world over. For more information, visit offworlddesigns.com.

About Paizo Publishing
Paizo Publishing®, LLC is a leading publisher of fantasy roleplaying games, accessories, board games, and novels. Paizo’s Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game, the result of the largest open playtest in the history of tabletop gaming, is currently the best-selling tabletop roleplaying game in hobby stores. Pathfinder Adventure Path is the most popular and best-selling monthly product in the tabletop RPG industry. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the ten years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than 50 major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry. For more information, visit paizo.com.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City

The official trailer for the new fan-made web series dropping February 28th, 2013. Experience the horror again as you did when “Resident Evil” first launched for the original Playstation platform! Live action and full of zombie carnage! Watch as three different story lines unfold before you! Better yet…you get to choose who to follow! Iconic characters Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Leon S. Kennedy fight to withstand the evil operations being conducted by Umbrella! Evil is coming!

Facebook Like A Boss TV

YouTube Like A Boss TV Now

Twitter @likeabosstv #eviliscoming

 

Injustice: Gods Among Us Trailer

Today, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment released the newest trailer from Injustice: Gods Among Us. Featuring Lex Luthor and other major players from the game’s story, the video provides the first glimpse into the battle lines being drawn among heroes and villains.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is an all-new game in development by award-winning NetherRealm Studios, creators of the definitive fighting game franchise Mortal Kombat. The title debuts a bold new fighting game franchise that introduces a deep, original story featuring a large cast of favourite DC Comics icons such as Batman, Green Arrow, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Solomon Grundy, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and many others. Set in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred, players will experience heroes and villains engaging in epic battles on a massive scale.

For more information on the game, visit www.injustice.com.

Nintendo Outlines Its Vision for Wii U

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata unleashed Wii U news in an installment of Nintendo Direct today as he outlined Nintendo’s future plans for the console. Iwata revealed how the Wii U launch lineup will be bolstered by a long list of top game franchises headed for the new console. These are games that longtime players and newcomers alike will love to play, and everyone will be experiencing them in new ways, thanks to the integrated second-screen experiences enabled by the Wii U GamePad controller. Iwata also detailed a number of enhancements designed to make the Wii U game experience more social, even if people are not playing in the same room.

“The fun of video games is not only just playing games, but also sharing experiences together with people – even though they live far away, their skill levels are different or their experience does not happen at the same time,” Iwata said. “We want Wii U to be the system that brings everyone together.”
To view the Nintendo Direct in its entirety, visit

http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct. The many announcements included:

Game News

  • Two Zelda Games: Eiji Aonuma, the producer of The Legend of Zelda series, revealed two entries in the series for Wii U.
  • Super Mario is on His Way: The Nintendo EAD Tokyo Software Development team that created the Super Mario Galaxy games for Wii and Super Mario 3D Land for Nintendo 3DS is working on a new 3D Mario action game for Wii U. The game is scheduled to be playable at this year’s E3.
  • Buckle Up!: Nintendo is also working on a new installment of the hit Mario Kart franchise. This game is also planned to be playable at E3.
  • Yarn Yoshi: The team that created Kirby’s Epic Yarn is hard at work on the first console game to feature Yoshi as the main character since 1998’s Yoshi’s Story for Nintendo 64. Takashi Tezuka, director of Yoshi’s Island and Yoshi’s Story, is supervising the development of the new game, which is set in a fanciful world of yarn and textiles.
  • Wii Fit U Communities: New features coming to Wii Fit U include letting players create user communities on Miiverse from within the game. Community members can discuss exercises, BMI or weight changes and other health topics with other players as a way to encourage one another to reach their fitness goals. Similar functionality for other games is also planned.
  • Pikmin 3 Photos: The upcoming Pikmin 3 game includes a feature that lets players use the Wii U GamePad as a camera to share the same perspective as Pikmin and take close-up pictures of landscapes and creatures in the game and share them in Miiverse.
  • The Party Continues: A new installment in the Wii Party franchise is planned to launch this summer. The game features various play styles, including one that lets both players compete head-to-head using just the GamePad.
  • RPG Mashup: Nintendo has begun many collaborations with outside development partners to bring the best franchises and experiences to Wii U. In one such partnership, Nintendo and Atlus are working on a collaboration that features the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei franchises. A video trailer for the game was shown in the Nintendo Direct.
  • A New Game from Monolith Soft: Tetsuya Takahashi and the team at Monolith Soft that worked on Xenoblade for Wii are working on a new game. A video trailer for the game was shown in the Nintendo Direct.
  • More on the Way: Iwata shared a new trailer for The Wonderful 101. That game andGAME & WARIO are scheduled to launch in the first half of 2013. Iwata also showed a new video for Bayonetta 2. That game and the new Super Smash Bros. installment are still on the way, but will need more development time before details can be revealed.

Virtual Console

  • Virtual Console for Wii U: A spring system update will add Virtual Console software to the Nintendo eShop for Wii U. The service will launch right after the spring update and will include a selection of NES and Super NES games, with Game Boy Advance games to be added in the future. The prices for NES and Super NES Virtual Console games for Wii U will be the same as they were for the Virtual Console on Wii. People who have already purchased the Wii version of a certain NES or Super NES Virtual Console game and transferred it to their Wii U console can buy the enhanced Wii U version of the same game for the reduced price of $1 for NES games and $1.50 for Super NES games.
  • Classic Games for 30 Cents!: To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the Famicom in Japan (which was known as the NES in the United States), Nintendo is making one NES or Super NES game available each month now through July at the anniversary price of just 30 cents. Each game will be available at that price for 30 days, and the first is the NES game Balloon Fight, which is now available in the Nintendo eShop for Wii U.

Social and System Enhancements

  • Miiverse Expands to Smartphones: Starting this spring, people will be able to browse Miiverse from their smartphones. Initially the experience will be browser-based, but Nintendo plans to create a dedicated Miiverse app in the future.
  • System Updates: Two major updates are on the way, one in the spring and one in the summer. The updates will introduce a wide range of functionality, such as Virtual Console capabilities and shortening the time it takes users to launch software or return to the menu screen.

Remember that Wii U features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visithttp://www.nintendo.com/wiiu. Standalone versions of the trailers for The Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, the new game from Monolith Soft and the collaboration featuring the Fire Emblemand Shin Megami Tensei franchises can be found at http://www.youtube.com/nintendo.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4 billion video games and more than 637 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™ and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.ca.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate Screen Caps


Developed by Mercury Steam, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate takes place 25 years after the events of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and is a precursor to the highly anticipated and recently announced Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and Windows PC.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate will be available on Nintendo 3DS™ on March 5th, 2013.

Check out more screen caps and the trailer at http://www.konami-castlevania.com/mof#/gallery

STAR WARS: The Clone Wars “Shades of Reason” Preview

With the backing of the Hutts and an army of the galaxy’s most vicious criminals –
including the Death Watch, Black Sun and the Pykes – Pre Vizsla and Maul lead an
attack on the planet of Mandalore. Conquest of Mandalore strains the tenuous
alliance between the Sith and Death Watch in “Shades of Reason,” airing this
Saturday, January 26th at 9:30am ET/PT on Cartoon Network.