News

Super Smash Bros. news seems to be pouring in from everywhere lately. From EVO 2014 to the Nintendo Digital events, we just can’t get enough of Super Smash. Let’s recap some of the biggest news to happen recently in the Smash Brothers universe.

A Russian TV news channel has earlier this week used a series of images from Metal Gear Solid V in a conversation on child soldiers. Sophie Shevardnadze and the Russia Today network ran the images as part of an interview with child soldiers, seemingly unaware that they're computer generated.

Well, it wasn't hard to see this one coming. Square Enix, after announcing that they'll be bringing Final Fantasy Type-0 westward via the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, have decided to shut down the fan translation of the original game that has been going on for some time and was incredibly near completion. The question isn't why they've done it, but how on earth Square Enix didn't contact them six months ago when the official project began.

After the fanbase-splitting ending to Mass Effect 3, a survey concerning the future of the franchise was always going to bring out people who wanted their opinions heard. While it's hard to envy the guy that has to go through it all over the coming months, one thing is certain: there have been an awful lot of responses.

Club Nintendo is an excellent way for Nintendo to keep track of what people think about their games. If you are unfamiliar, Club Nintendo awards gamers points (in North America, they are called coins and in Europe, stars) for purchasing games. In North America, most Wii U games are worth 50-60 coins each with an extra 10 coins awarded when doing a post-play survery - while 3DS games are worth 30-40, with an extra 5 coins for doing the post-play survey. The system is actually great, especially since nothing is forcing Nintendo from giving away free stuff.

EA have this morning sent out an email confirming that owners of The Sims 2 will be receiving the "Ultimate Edition" of the game for free via Origin. Later this month they'll be dropping technical support for the 2004 hit, and want everybody to have "the most up-to-date" version in their collection. If you're a fan, prepare yourself for a huge amount of new DLC.

Skullgirls developer Lab Zero Games are looking for somebody to help them develop a Dualshock 3 driver for PlayStation 4. It seems like Sony have allowed for developers to write drivers for "unsupported USB devices," presumably allowing for individual title support of things like Rockband instruments, however Lab Zero's Mike Z is hoping to bring back last-gen's controller for Skullgirls Encore.

Last week, rumors surfaced on the Internet from industry insider Kevin Callahan that Diddy Kong Racing 2 was a real thing, and that it was currently in development for the Nintendo Wii U. Initially, I was skeptical, but after reading Callahan's lengthy blog post, even I have been convinced. Reiterating the details here would just be copying and pasting Callahan's own post, so be sure to head over to his blog to read all the details.

The Last of Us PS4 is done and being prepared for retail as we speak. If you're excited to return to Joel and Ellie's adventure - only without all the visual problems that caused issues the first time around - it is now as good as it's ever going to be (at least without downloading patches anyway). It also means that the Naughty Dog team who were working on the port can move onto bigger and better future projects.

Nintendo is synonymous with Mario, and Mario synonymous with Nintendo. When one thinks of Nintendo they probably don't think about the logo. Instead, they think about a plumber in a red outfit. In Part 2 of this series of articles I will examine which Mario titles I believe should get an HD treatment and why.