Nintendo Wii U To Be Release In 2012 With New Gaming Network

In Nintendo policy/result briefing, the company confirmed plans to show the Wii U final build at E3 2012. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed that the Wii U will be release for the 2012 holiday season. Iwata announced a new gaming network for Wii U and 3DS called Nintendo Network. Iwata says that Nintendo Network will be a personal account system with multiple individual password-protected users on an Wii U system (simpler to PS3 and XBOX 360). The Nintendo Network will also have support for DLC and digital titles.

Rumors Fly As Nintendo's Fall 3DS Event Draws Near

Coming on the heels of a price cut for the 3DS, Nintendo has confirmed that they will hold an event prior to the opening of this year's Tokyo Game Show, which will be 3DS focused.

The Wall Street Journal is reports that this event will take place in Japan on September 13, we don't know what Nintendo is planning to show or announce though. It's very likely that this event will simply be a showcase of Nintendo's holiday lineup, but that isn't stopping people from letting their imaginations run wild.

These rumors are ranging from an increase in battery performance on new 3DS's,-which would be great-all the way to a complete redesign for the system, which would include a second analog stick. Keep in mind though these are rumors and as of this writing I can find no way to verify any of this.

It seems far-fetched that Nintendo would want to do such a drastic overhaul of their system so soon after launch, but who's to say.

Nintendo usually holds events like this around this time, launch details for the 3DS were revealed at an event similar to this last year. We'll know more in a few weeks.

Nintendo 3DS Price Dropping to $169.99 in August

The Nintendo 3DS has had a very rocky launch, especially when you compare it to the original DS. In the day and age of smartphones where quick simple games are available at the touch of your fingers, the 3D effect Nintendo's pushing isn't enough to convince people to drop $249.99.

Nintendo is hoping though that people will pay $169.99 for their new handheld, which is going to be the price of the hardware starting August 12.

In addition to this price drop Nintendo confirmed release windows for two of the most anticipated 3DS games. Super Mario 3D Land will drop in November and Mario Kart 7 in December.

If you already have a 3DS (like me) and are getting your pitchforks and torches ready, don't worry, Nintendo has got your back with the "3DS Ambassador" program. You may know that term better as 'free games.'

For starters you'll get 10 free Virtual Console NES games, including Super Mario Bros., Balloon Fight, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Jr., and Ice Climbers. The other five games included haven't been revealed yet, but all ten of them will be available for public purchase at a later date.

The free game train doesn't stop there though, Nintendo is also offering 10 free Game Boy Advanced games. Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, WarioWare, Inc: Mega Microgame$, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and Metroid Fusion. Again, the last five games haven't been announced yet, but we can expect to know what they are soon.

In a strange move, Nintendo has no plans to make the ten GBA titles available for public consumption.

"These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future," reads the press release.

More details on the program are to be announced later, and Nintendo's only requirement to be eligible is that you connect your 3DS to the eShop before 11:59 p.m. EST on August 11.

So, will knocking $80 off the price of a 3DS finally get you to buy one? If you already have one does 20 free games feel like a fair trade-off? Let us know.

Netflix Now Available on Nintendo 3DS

Netflix has come under some heat this past week, this is due to the company's decision to raise subscription prices, as well as split streaming and disc services.

Still Nintendo and Netflix are not letting that discourage them, as they've followed up on a promise made at the Game Developers Conference to bring an application to the 3DS. As of now you can download the Netflix app via eShop.

All of Netflix's streaming content will be available to view on your 3DS... in 2D. As of right now no 3D content is available through Netflix, there will be some on the way eventually though.

We'll let you know as soon as soon as that content becomes available.

New Super Smash Bros. Game is Still 'Several Years' Away

One of the biggest announcements at Nintendo's E3 Press conference this year was when Satoru Iwata announced that a new Super Smash Bros. game will be coming for the Wii U and the 3DS. The only problem with that is, well it doesn't exist yet. 

Series creator Masahiro Sakurai clarified that statement a bit, not disputing that there will be a new SSB game for the Wii U and 3DS, but he wants to be clear that he hasn't even started thinking about it yet.

Sakurai used his weekly Famitsu column (which has been translated by 1UP) to dispel the thoughts that the new Smash Brothers game was anywhere near completion. Sakurai's studio, Project Sora, is currently working on Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS, and that's all they're working on right now.

"We've got two new games out in the open when there's no extra time to work with them at all," says Sakurai. "It makes me cringe, and I'm not sure it's the smartest thing to make gamers wait for several years, but the early announcement was made chiefly in order to attract new team members."

The key words there are "several years" which no one wants to hear, but Nintendo has never had a problem with making us wait for games anyway. Fortunately, Sakurai did have plenty to say about making the game for both Wii U and 3DS as opposed to one or the other.

"If we went solely for the Wii U," he said, "the HD graphics would really bump up the visual effects, but then we'd be stuck in another arms race. If we made this game another extension over previous one, we'd have to cut out the new things we could possibly do on the 3DS hardware and compete with ourselves again over the size of the character roster and the amount of gameplay we can put it. It wouldn't be a fruitful competition, but doing something completely new would be difficult for many reasons, not least of which that the gamers may not be satisfied with it. That's why we decided to think about ways to link the personal connection one has with his portable system to the gather-around-and-play aspect of console systems."

So we can be sure that Sakurai has been thinking about what he wants to do with the next installment of the wildly popular brawling series. Still, it sounds like he's becoming a little uncomfortable and worried about the huge strain that has been placed upon him.

"The hardest part about game development is the burdens it places upon me," he said. "With previous projects I had a game design document in place before forming a team, but with this I don't have the time for that. I won't be able to look at every aspect of the game and balance out all the characters by myself this time. I'm trying to think about how this is going to work out, but probably I'll have to discuss it with my future development team. The future of this project really depends on the people I can get involved with it."

Hopefully he can find those people to help him lift some of the weight off his shoulders and make another masterpiece.