Better late than never, right? New Play Control! Pikmin 2 released over three years ago in European territories, but American fans looking forward to seeing the updated Wii version of the GameCube classic have been forced to wait. Nintendo Power says that’ll be changing later this year, with Olimar and the creatures of “Distant Planet” making their way to North American shores once again this June.

Exciting news, but one has to wonder what took so long. Following something of an unfortunate trend for the publisher’s North American office, Pikmin 2 is the latest in a long line of titles that the publisher has brought to the United States months or years after hitting other territories. On top of that, over a dozen great titles have yet to see localization – a sad fact of life for any Wii fan lamenting the console’s sparse release calendar.

If you’ve been content to enjoy Pikmin 2 in its original state and have instead been looking forward to the next entry in the franchise, Shigeru Miyamoto recently confirmed that Nintendo will be bringing that title with them to Los Angeles for E3 later this year.

Pikmin 2 Finally Reaches North American Wiis Soon [nintendolife via Siliconera]

Last time we talked about Pokémon + Nobunaga’s Ambition, we reported that it was selling well in Japan, but there was no news about it coming stateside. That changes today! Nintendo just announced that they are bringing the now renamed DS game, Pokémon Conquest, to the US on June 18.

In Pokémon Conquest you play as a young Warlord who uses Pokémon to battle Warriors and Warlords inspired by the Japanese feudal era. While the game doesn’t contain all 600+ creatures known to date, it does contain “nearly 200 Pokémon, including many from the recent Pokémon Black and White” iterations. As a Pokémon fan and a lover of SRPGs, I can’t wait for June.

[Source: Business Wire]

Here’s a bit of news that doesn’t come as a shock: the latest Pokémon game, Pokémon + Nobunaga’s Ambition topped the Japanese DS charts according to Media Create’s weekly retail chart with 172,027 units sold.

But there’s a twist to those numbers.

Read more… »

I’m going to put this on record: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is my least favorite Zelda game of all time. But I’m not stopping there; not only is it a poor Zelda game, it’s also a poor videogame in general.

Without even touching upon the love ‘em or hate ‘em motion controls, there’s more than enough evidence to show that Nintendo should’ve taken a step back, looked at Skyward Sword’s innovations, and asked themselves, “Are we sure these ideas are good?”

Read more… »

It seems like some of the efforts of Operation Rainfall have borne fruit. Xseed Games announced that they and Nintendo are partnering up to bring Wii RPG The Last Story to North America sometime this summer.

Hit the jump for more info about The Last Story and the announcement. Read more… »

The Smithsonian opened registration Wednesday to attend a special lecture held by famed game designer Hideo Kojima. This conversation with Kojima will take place on the second day of the Smithsonian’s Game Fest, a three day festival kicking off the museum’s new The Art of Video Games exhibit. Game Fest begins Friday, March 16 in Washington DC.

If there ever was hesitation around attending this event, the Smithsonian seeks to dispel not only with the confirmation of Kojima but also with the price of attendance — free.

Read more… »

Slim pickins’. That’s all I got to say about this week’s new offerings from Nintendo. But you know what they say, “One man’s slim pickins’ is another man’s DLC GOTY.” Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s how the saying goes.

Hit the jump for this week’s full list. Read more… »

[Update - the redesign is live! Go grab your games!]

2011 isn’t the greatest year on record for Nintendo news, but the year isn’t over with yet! Nintendo Everything is reporting that the new and improved Club Nintendo will offer something the original storefront was severely lacking: digital downloads. These downloads won’t break your virtual bank either – they’re reasonably priced at around ~100-150 coins per item (roughly 2-3 retail game redemptions).

The first reported offering consists of Fluidity (150 points), Super Mario Kart (100 points), 3D Classics: Xevious (100 points), and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (150 points). Thankfully, these games will be cycled out in quick succession for new ones on January 10th – could it be that Nintendo is finally making that big push for online infrastructure? Stay tuned in 2012 to find out, as the Wii-U will be the Big N’s biggest online test yet.

If you have a few Nintendo product codes lying around, make sure you create a free Club Nintendo account and register them!

Read more… »

Worried that the looming specter of the Wii U is staged to make your favorite paper weight even more useless? Well, Reggie Fils-Aime is hear to quash all your fears, give you a pat on the head and lull you to sleep in those giant meaty arms of his. The Nintendo of America executive believes there’s plenty of room in the closet for both consoles.

“The consumer buying Wii hardware today is going to be a different consumer than the one who will be buying Wii U in the future,” said the beefburger boss. ”This is the first holiday that the Wii is available at $149.99 or below, so it’s an expanded demographic we’re reaching.

“We haven’t announced pricing for Wii U, but you can definitely expect that pricing is going to be different and that the games are going to be different,” added the tenderloin tycoon “We do believe that Wii and Wii U will coexist for some time. As we drive the install base of Wii, we’re really setting people up to take their gaming library and be able to transfer it over to Wii U.”

When asked about what will keep the Wii afloat heading into the future, the pastrami president touted Nintendo’s WiiWare and Virtual Console services and their weekly updates — funnily enough purchases that will likely not be making the transfer over to the Wii U thanks to Nintendo’s brilliant online program. See, there is a reason to keep the Wii around after all. And besides, with no Wii U GCN support, you’re going to want to keep that Wii around to play P.N.03 anyway.

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils Aime Talks Zelda, Future of Handhelds and Wii’s Big Holiday Push [Time]

In its heyday, the JRPG was one of the the most well loved, paradigmatic experiences in the entire medium of videogames. Unfortunately, all empires must eventually fall and the the tale of the JRPG has been one of stagnation and decline. Rapid technological improvements brought many eastern studios into an uphill battle, where all too often gameplay suffered at the expense of modern graphics.

We are left with an aging genre where stories are often absurd and incomprehensible, combat is frustrating and needlessly complicated, and high-definition visuals are prioritized above all else. Luckily, Xenoblade Chronicles proves to be a rare exception.

Read more… »

While attention has shifted from gamescom to PAX Prime without us even thinking about it, there is a summit that will fly mostly under the radar this year — Cloud Gaming USA. Just after we’ve gone home with our swag bags and hangovers, this event will take place in San Jose, Calif. September 7 – 8.

Industry professionals will fill a conference hall adjacent to Silicon Valley in efforts to shape the future of how we play games. Most likely, the future won’t look like the above picture. Albeit, a look at the attendees may provide insight as to why we should pay attention.

Read more… »

Xenoblade Chronicles landed on European shores last week, and so far it looks like the Wii RPG is performing pretty well at retail. The highly anticipated title is currently charting at number seven for entertainment software sales in the United Kingdom.

On the Wii-specific charts Xenoblade is second only to the ever-popular Zumba Fitness, which has enjoyed ten straight weeks in the top spot. Well that’s certainly exciting news. But if you’re still on the fence, our official review is on its way.