For starters, Nintendo revealed a new entry in the Mario & Sonic Olympics series, this one focused on the upcoming Winter Olympics. There will be a range of different sports to play, along with some Nintendo specific twists and turns to keep players occupied for more than a few minutes. Expect some cameo’s Mario Kart and Wii Sports in terms of tracks used during snowboarding events and the like.

Nintendo has also struck a deal with Sega to bring the next Sonic title, currently under the name Sonic Lost World, exclusively to the Wii U and 3DS consoles. Over in Japan, Nintendo confirmed Yakuza 1 & 2 will also be making an appearance on the Wii U in the form of an HD upgrade, though neither the US or UK presentations mentioned the title, so for the moment consider this one Japan only.

Nintendo then went on to present some titles we were already aware of, specifically Game & Wario, The Wonderful 101, the Wii U edition of Resident Evil: Revelations, New Super Luigi U and Pikmin 3. A few release dates were confirmed, including a little surprise for European (and hopefully Australian) gamers, with The Wonderful 101 reaching our stores ahead of the US on August 23rd compared to September 15th.

New Super Luigi U will be available as a download via the eShop as well as a full packaged title for store shelves, to cover those who have low speed internet or a lack of download allowance no doubt. You can play that on August 25th (so, a good week for Wii U owners in August then).

Resident Evil: Revelations is shaping up rather well, though the hype has been tarnished by the fact that it’s neither a new game nor an exclusive to Nintendo. There’s a few neat features for Wii U owners though, with support for Miiverse and the controller looking rather neato.

Head honcho Iwata went through a host of controller based info for the upcoming Pikmin 3, confirming its release on july 26th in the process. It’s a pretty looking game in many respects, but it might not be enough to hold up the console whilst the cavalry slowly arrives.

Finally, as the UK and Japan presentations wrapped up, Nintendo America’s Reggie Fils-Aime made a cameo appearance over on the US presentation to hype up Nintendo’s E3 presence. Despite no major display as in the past, Nintendo will be there in full force and will also allow US and Canadian gamers the chance to get some hands on time with unreleased content via Best Buy stores during the show itself. One can only imagine both Mario Kart and possibly even Smash Bros. making an appearance in playable form.

Personally, I think it’s a rather light presentation this time around compared to some of the big updates Nintendo revealed in its previous 3DS Directs. We can only hope that there’s a ton of content waiting in the wings, either that or there’s a bigger problem than we originally thought.

You can re-watch the full presentation below, which will also link you through to some 3DS trailers for Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. In the meantime, we’ll wait with interest to see what the big N has up their sleeve for E3.

The post Nintendo Direct Presentation Wrap Up appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

Rayman Legends will finally be in our hands on August 29th here in Australia. It will be available for the Wii U, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The post Down where it’s wetter – Rayman Legends is 20,000 Lums Under the Sea appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

Branding is important for a number of reasons. For one, you need to ensure you create something memorable and catchy. The last thing you want is to build an identity without a clear logo or name to go along with it. Secondly, you want it to be a long term asset, something that generates interest in the product long after its debut and becomes part of the every day gamers’ lingo.

Which brings me to the Wii. The butt of many a joke when it was announced, Nintendo turned many heads when they confirmed the branding of their Gamecube follow-up. When you think about it, though, Nintendo has had a solid success rate with its hardware names. The NES, SNES and Game Boy brands were everywhere back in the day. As soon as you mentioned them, people knew exactly what you were talking about.

The Wii was a bit of a departure from rather obvious series of names. The Gamecube, Nintendo 64 and DS all specifically referenced what each console was in design (cubed console, 64 bit, dual screen, etc.). The purpose of the Wii was more in regards to its function. Wii (as in ‘we’) meant multiplayer gaming, four people around a screen throwing their wiimotes around without a care in the world. At first that idea stuck like glue, especially with early success stories such as Wii Sports, Wii Play and WarioWare. The Wii U has carried that brand on further, in much the same way the Game Boy Advance and 3DS took the familiar and built upon its branding foundations.

Sony and Microsoft have built two very unique but well remembered brand names, though perhaps the names aren’t as imaginative as Nintendo’s in comparison. The PlayStation brand, however, could be considered the most successful. Unlike Nintendo, Sony stuck with a more simpler branding scheme for its home console series that befits more a movie franchise than a hardware family. The upcoming PS4 should continue to solidify that strategy and carry it across to another generation of gamers, whilst the name torch has also been passed down to Sony’s handheld division (all be it with mixed results).

Microsoft are no strangers to brand strategies either. Windows aside, they’ve done their best to constantly evolve all of their products whilst maintaing a level of familiarity. The Xbox name will no doubt carry on for some time to come, though how effective the next console (whether it’s Infinity, Next or plain old Xbox) remains to be seen. While ’360′ deemed the console an everyman kind of product branding, infinity seems to suggest Microsoft’s next big thing can do everything. I can’t wait for it to make me a coffee whilst downloading Game of Thrones and completing Skyrim for me.

Written by Mark Isaacson

The post What’s In A Name? appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

On the official website for its Frostbite graphical engine, EA confirms the existence of something called Frostbite Go. According to the description, we can expect to see some version of Frostbite running on all major platforms.

A mobile division empowering EA game developers with Frostbite’s proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms.

Now that is something to truly be excited about.

The post Frostbite Go – Battlefield quality graphics on your mobile device? appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don’t Know! will see players exploring the secret royal dungeon beneath the Candy Kingdom. You will be able to play as a number of characters from the weirdly awesome show such as Finn, Jake, Marceline “and more“.  Explore the Dungeon will also feature four-player co-op and will include the voice actors from the show. Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward is involved in some capacity  but nothing concrete has been announced. We can confirm that the game is coming to Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and the Nintendo 3DS however.

The Regular Show game will star Mordecai and Rigby, titled Mordecai and Rigby In 8-Bit Land. This game will be releasing as a Nintendo 3DS exclusive, and will feature these two heroes as they journey throughout the innards of their favourite games, which sounds pretty damn awesome.

We’ll bring you more information about the projects as it becomes available.

The post WayForward working on Regular Show and Adventure Time games appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

Responding to a post on Twitter, Ubisoft creative director Jean-Philippe Caro confirmed that a team is in fact looking at the possibility of creating a sequel.

The team is working hard on a prototype however, that “it’s too soon to tell you more.”

That isn’t written in stone however, games are prototyped all the time and never see the light of day. Ubisoft hasn’t shared sales data for ZombiU, which could mean it was either disappointing, or bigger than they are willing to admit yet.

Would you like to see a sequel to ZombiU? Let us know in the comments.

The post Zombi2? Ubisoft prototypes ZombiU sequel appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

That started a trend for this insanely awesome 80s cybershooter, because in the normal video game world, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is certainly unexpected. It was unexpected to be priced at a mere $15, it was unexpected to be shipped in six short months, and it was unexpected to be this damn good.

“It embodies what gaming should be in my eyes: it doesn’t make sense, there are dragons with lasers, and it’s freaking awesome.”

Blood Dragon takes every lame sci-fi film from the 80s and turns it into a work of interactive fiction that is simply outrageous. Filling the shoes of cybercommando protagonist Rex “Power” Colt, players set forth on a quest to destroy cyberdudes, rescue scientists. and to destroy the Blood Dragons. Did I mention these horrific beasts can shoot lasers out of their eyes? Yeah, it’s totally rad!

Filled with more one-liners than Schwartzenegger’s finest moments, the humour of Blood Dragon is completely over-the-top in the best way possible. The overbearing tutorial section, the cheesy responses when pilfering slain enemies and Rex’s brand of wit fits perfectly with the tone of the game, and a lot of that has to do with Michael Biehn’s portrayal of every character he has ever played. Don’t recognise the name? Picture Kyle Reece from The Terminator and Sergeant Hicks for Aliens, that’s him, and he does a stellar job of making Rex become a believable 80s action star.

While I fell in love with the neon-filled world of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, I recognised that there are a number of niggling issues that could pose a problem for some gamers. First of all there is an issue of length – the story missions can be raced through in three to four hours, and even if you’re scavenging for all the items and free all the garrisons, you’re still only talking six to eight hours maximum. Considering the low price point, and the fact that you don’t require Far Cry 3 to gain access, this is easily forgivable.

While I personally enjoyed most of the humour found throughout the game, it’s easy to see how it can become grating for some. While classic 80s action films are lame in a hilarious way, they were never self-aware of their shortcomings. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon isn’t only self-aware, but it’s constantly ramming endless puns and obvious one-liners down your throat, which can become hard to swallow at times.

Those expecting a different experience from vanilla Far Cry 3 sure to be disappointed. Blood Dragon takes the same mechanics and re-skins them, complete with neon, dragons, lasers and blue blood. It looks completely different, but it plays largely the same. If you hated Far Cry 3, the only way Blood Dragon is going to sway you is through the nostalgic comedy on offer.

Despite the short running time of the story at hand, one of the best features of Blood Dragon is the 16-bit rendered cutscenes, which should be recognisable to anyone who played games during the Wing Commander era. Minimal animation, sweet voice-overs and a style from a bygone area pulls it through.

Yet I truly believe the most important aspect of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon isn’t the game itself, but what this project represents. Ubisoft has let the development team go batshit crazy with a multi-million dollar game engine, and it has paid off in spades. Hopefully this signifies a shift in the industry, the chance for highly polished experiments that supplement the big releases of the year in new and exciting ways.

THE FINAL VERDICT

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is batshit crazy, and that is why I love it so much. It embodies what gaming should be in my eyes: it doesn’t make sense, there are dragons with lasers, and it’s freaking awesome. While the humour is a little too self-aware at times, and the story ends after just a few hours, this could be the start of something exciting for Ubisoft. Well worth your $15.

Written by Stephen Heller

The post Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Review – Blast From The Past appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

Apparently May 24 is the right time.

As you can see from the gorgeous trailer above, Element4l is a platformer with no enemies, no guns, not even samurai swords. It does feature an amazing soundtrack from Melbourne-based artist Mindtree, beautiful visuals and really interesting platforming mechanics however.

So mark May 24 on your calendars, and head on over to Steam and support this fantastic indie title.

The post Element4l launches May 24 – No enemies, no guns, no samurai swords appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

Watch out video preview.

Reus puts you in control of four giants, each with different abilities which can help shape the world. You are stranded on a barren planet, and its up to you to provide habitable environments for human settlers. As the game progresses, you will have to deal with the rapid expansion of society, wars against neighbouring settlements, and even uprisings against the giants themselves.

Using the four giants – ocean, rock, forest and swamp – you set forth to create lush landscapes and oceans for your societies to live in. You’ll have the chance to create animals, food, minerals and herbs, and then transmutate those creations into entirely different species.

Each element in the game runs on a symbiosis model, meaning extra perks if certain conditions are met. Placing a blueberry bush within two spaces of a strawberry bush, which you must create by transmutating certain elements, will yield more food and technology for your settlement. It’s an interesting concept, building on the simple mechanics found in Animal Crossing and taking them to the next level.

As your settlements become more advanced, more often than not, they will start to become greedy and wage war against neighbouring towns. It’s up to the giants to decide whether the wars should go ahead, or whether they distribute their own brand of justice using Earthquakes and other natural disasters to wipe out an entire settlement.

That’s where Reus really striked its chord with me, the interaction between the humans and the giants that gave them life. There’s an underlying subtext within these picturesque pixels of the human condition – to destroy everything around us.

If Reus sounds exciting to you, then I’m pleased to report it’s coming out this Thursday, May 16 on GOG.com. You can expect a full review coming next week, when I can eventually pull myself away from the game.

Written by Stephen Heller

The post Just The Tip: Reus appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.

Ray’s The Dead is that something different. It’s a strategic zombie game where you play as a loveable zombie named Ray. It puts you in charge of the zombie horde, it allows you to attack unsuspecting civilians and convert them to your flesh-eating gang, and most importantly, it bring in a breath of fresh air that the genre desperately needs.

If Ray’s The Dead looks familiar, chances are you have heard of Stubbs the Zombie in A Rebel Without A Pulse, a comedic zombie adventure that also had you controlling one of the undead. Despite a cult following, the franchise fell into obscurity and eventually disappeared entirely. Two of the creative minds behind Ray’s The Dead worked on Stubbs, and it certainly tells as the game screams out as a spiritual successor.

As you can see from our video above, we got some hands-on time with a pre-alpha build of Ray’s The Dead, showing off the core concept, the art style and some of the mechanics. Even at this early stage the game is simply outstanding; the amount of character alone, not to mention the simple yet deeply satisfying order mechanics is more than enough to leave me salivating for more.

That’s the problem, I’m left salivating. The guys have been working on Ray’s The Dead for quite some time, but have recently head onto Kickstarter for a funding boost to complete the game. With 26 days on the clock, and over $59,000 to go, I can only hope that some of you reading this will give generously.

If Ray’s The Dead does see the light of day, based from this pre-alpha build, we’re expecting great things. Stay tuned for our interview with the developers later this week.

Written by Stephen Heller

The post Just The Tip – Ray’s The Dead appeared first on Pixels For Breakfast.