Speedrunning, the technique of completing a video game as fast as possible, is a niche hobby in the video game realm. People focus on a game and look to exploit it as much as possible in order to break records for the shortest completion time. Nintendo’s 1985 masterpiece Super Mario Bros is one such game. The game may be 30+ years old but there is a whole new generation attempting to shave fractions of a second off records. Kyle Orland at Ars Technica has more of how humans are almost beating times only thought achievable by machines. Niftski’s new record…
Tag: nintendo
Since the first Mario game where the famed plumber needed a voice, one man has held the role: Charles Martinet. For over 25-years he has voiced Mario, Luigi, and a host of other characters in the bestselling franchise. Now, Martinet is stepping down in order to focus on being a “Mario Ambassador”, which is Nintendo-speak for ‘retire’. Ash Parrish at The Verge has more. Martinet has voiced the character since the ’90s, appearing in mainline Mario titles like Super Mario 64, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Mario Galaxy as well as countless spinoffs. “Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With…
Whether we know what Facebook Meta’s “metaverse” is or not, it’s impossible to ignore their push into virtual reality. There have been lots of responses to what they’re doing, but this one strikes at the heart of what is going on. Reggie Fils-Amie, the former President and COO of Nintendo of America gave his take on the metaverse at the SXSW conference. “Facebook itself is not an innovative company,” Fils-Aime told Emily Chang. “They have either acquired interesting things like Oculus and Instagram, or they’ve been a fast follower of people’s ideas. I don’t think their current definition will be…
New theme park experiences are a big focus at Disney with the Galactic Starcruiser, Galaxy’s Edge, and the new Avengers experience. Not to be outdone, Universal Studios opened Super Nintendo World in Osaka about a year ago. Now, they have announced this immersive experience is coming to their California theme park. A. Khalid at Engadget has more. What can fans expect from the US park? The original Super Nintendo World in Osaka has a ride where fans can race on a life-sized Mario Kart course, as well as a slower ride on Yoshi’s island. While Universal representatives aren’t giving details on which rides are…
For all the good Nintendo does for their products, the biggest bugaboo for them has been their online service. From the eShop being a complete mess to their online services lacking basic features, it’s something the company stumbles upon again and again. Five years after the Switch has released, they’ve come out with version 2.0 of their mobile app. Jon Porter at The Verge has more. For my money, the 2.0 update’s most interesting improvement is that it offers an easier way to find and share your friend code, the cumbersome 12-digit identifier that’s the primary way of adding friends…
It’s crazy to think the Nintendo Switch has been on the market for five years. Back in 2017, it was very much a gamble. Nobody could know it would be a massive success over and over. Nintendo has rebounded from the Wii U years incredibly well. I personally bought my Switch at launch and fell in love immediately. The biggest change Nintendo made this generation was making sure there was a constant release of games. That (among other reasons) was a big reason for the Wii U’s failure. Over on Endgadget, they go over some of their favorite games for…
It’s no secret that the Switch has been a massive hit for Nintendo. Its 2017 launch was questioned by the industry. It launched in March, nowhere near the holiday season. Its launch lineup was sparse. It was coming off the embarrassing era of its previous console, the Wii U. Nintendo overcame its stumbles and now the Switch is everywhere. In turn, the Big N has given the green light to shutter the eShop for the Wii U. Kyle Orland at Ars Technica covers this news while also covering the fact that the eShop digital store for the 3DS portable console…
It is crazy to think how information can easily spread so fast online without anyone performing any fact-checking. It’s how many “industry insiders” can pose as experts without any track record. If they nail a couple of rumors, it gets reported and that begins a flywheel of self-fulfilling credibility. Take Jon Cartwright, a video game YouTuber, who decided to see how easy it is to become an insider. Spoiler: it’s super easy. Last week Nintendo aired one of their “Directs”, which are pre-recorded presentations that announce upcoming video games and projects. Plenty of people will try to guess what’s coming.…
Normally I don’t care too much about quarterly reports from companies, but Nintendo’s shareholder call did reveal something pretty noteworthy. Nintendo revealed that the Switch is now their best-selling console of all time. It has officially surpassed the Wii’s gangbuster sales. Matt Purslow at IGN has more. The Nintendo Switch has become the fastest home console to sell 100 million units, and has now outsold the Nintendo Wii. Announced in Nintendo’s financial report for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2022, the company revealed that the lifetime sales of the Nintendo Switch is 103.54 million units as…
Christmas movies are always tough to nail right. Sometimes they’re too cheesy or too serious. The timeless ones are timeless for unknown reasons because they can still be too serious or too cheesy. A Christmas Story was basically unknown until TBS decided to run it endlessly on Christmas, turning it into a modern classic. A new challenger has entered the arena this year: 8-Bit Christmas. I checked it out this past weekend and this will be my spoiler-free thoughts. This movie stars Neil-Patrick Harris narrating a story to his daughter about his adventures in 1987 to get a Nintendo (which…
Nintendo’s big Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct in October announced that two big updates would happen. The first being general updates to the game would bring it to version 2.0. This is to be the final update to the game. Version 2.0 brings a LOT of things like the fan-demanded Brewster’s Roost cafe, island ordnances, a shopping plaza on Harv’s Island, and more. The full list is here on IGN. This update to bring the game to an official 2.0 version and Nintendo has added a bunch things. Nintendo stated this would be the final update to Animal Crossing: New…
It seems Rockstar is busy remastering some of their best work. They’re focusing on a pinnacle of early-aughts gaming: Grand Theft Auto III and the immediate follow-ups Vice City and San Andreas. Rockstar took a weird game most didn’t know about (GTA I & II) and mixed it up into one of the biggest games of 2001. Now, these three games are heading to Nintendo Switch among other platforms. Rockstar Games has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas are each getting HD remasters. They’ll be released in a package called Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy…
Video games should always be fun (it’s my only rule when playing) but oh man, old NES games could be brutal. Weird ways to make them more difficult or lack of a good instruction manual always took a game from ‘fun’ to ‘frustrating’ quite fast. Streamer camillestreamss posted this video to Reddit last week wherein a ‘door’ is not what it seems to be. It’s a fun, short clip and one where we can all chuckle about the outcome. Camille laughs about it as well and let’s face it: we all did something like this when we played video games…
Nintendo does some great things. Hell, they relaunched the video game industry here in the US all on their own. They’ve also done some head-scratching things. The Switch falls into the Great Things category, but Nintendo mixes in annoyances too. LABO is one product that I’ll never understand. One big bone-headed Switch omission has been the lack of bluetooth / wireless audio on a device that has bluetooth hardware built-in. It is literally how the Joy-Con controllers communicate with the console. Finally, four years later, that has changed. With a software update, Nintendo has unlocked this feature that we could’ve…
This week the National Video Game Museum (NVM) has opened an exciting virtual exhibit showcasing Animal Crossing: New Horizons islands. Many of us took refuge on a deserted island in 2020 ran by a tycoon raccoon. The NVM saw an opportunity late last year. NVM put out a call for submissions from Animal Crossing: New Horizons players in order to preserve this unique moment in history. Players sent in memories, photos, adventures, and videos reflecting how this monstrously-successful game helped through a tough year. Now, their virtual exhibit is live. While the world was on pause, the island paradises of…