This Amiibo is truly one-of-a-kind and such a touching tribute to one of the founding fathers of Nintendo. I really wish that there wasn't only ONE of these figures, I would totally try to hunt it down. However, I love that the proceeds are going to such a good cause.
Read the full story below:
Created by GandaKris, the figure uses the standard Mii Amiibo as a base and features Iwata's Mii holding the Master Sword. At his feet are Diddy Kong's Nintendo cap, a Pokeball, a 1UP mushroom, a Super Star from Mario, and the Red Shield from Zelda.
"GandaKris has created what we believe to be the most touching, and inspirational custom Amiibo ever created," reads the eBay listing. "In Iwata-san's memory we will be donating 100% of the proceeds directly to Child's Play, a non-profit charity dedicated to providing children in hospitals with toys and videos games."
At the time of publishing this story, the bidding has reached $779, with three days left on the item.
Iwata passed away in July 2015, following ongoing health issues.
Ok, ok, calm down...let me post this without losing my mind.
Pokemon Go allows players to find, trade, and start battles with Pokémons in the real world (With their phones via augmented reality), all at no cost.
FREE! OMG!
John Hanke, one of the game's producers, said of the game, "For the first time, Pokémon will roam free in the world. "Pokémon GO" will allow players to capture Pokémon who inhabit parks, shopping areas, sidewalks and the countryside all around the world."
Hanke has mentioned some popular Pokémons when he talked about the game, including Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Pikachu.
While there is not much known about the game and some are still confused at how the game works or what the Pokémon company, Nintendo Co., and Niantic Inc. are planning, many are excited over the "Pokémon GO Plus," the wearable that goes with the game.
The game functions without the wearable, but the device is said to further increase the fun and enjoyment with the augmented reality game. The device is expected to allow players to play the game without the need to look at their phones, encouraging the players not only to depend on their phones and the game but also to have a taste of what the real world has to offer.
Don't worry - Micah and I will be posting a video about this soon enough, so you guys know everything you need to know about this game. Right now, it's release date is sometime in 2016.
New stages for Super Smash Bros., were released on Sept. 30 and are pretty cheap! Usually Nintendo is pretty good about releasing things like this for free, but you can't win them all.
One of the levels released is themed after the new release, Super Mario Maker. This level is dynamically drawn just before each fight stars and uses elements from Super Mario Bros., Mario 3, Mario World, and New Mario Bros. That sounds pretty rad! This level is available for $2.49 on either platform (3DS, WiiU), or if you have both versions of the game you can buy it once for $3.49.
The second stage is a pirate ship themed after Tetra's ship in The Wind Waker. This is available for the low price of $1.99 and is only available on the Wii U version.
And if Nintendo wasn't going to make enough money off of these new stages, they have now released a batch of costumes for Mii Fighters! The new DLC outfits, which cost $0.75 each, are based on game franchises like Star Fox, F-Zero, Kid Icarus and Capcom's Monster Hunter. More details on pricing and bundles for Sept. 30's Super Smash Bros. DLC are available at the game's official website.
For a rundown of the new Mii Fighters outfits, check out this video below.
We all know how hard it is to find certain Amiibos. Go to Walmart, Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong and Yoshi are there to greet you...EVERY...SINGLE...TIME.
But no one else.
As I've said before, Gamestop seems to be the best retail store for Amiibo hunting...they always have a pretty large variety, even if it is some of the older set...at least it is a variety.
Nintendo announced via tweet, that North America retail stroes will get a little relief with a new round of restocks of the collectible figures. This time, some of the most rare amiibo — Little Mac, Captain Falcon, Fox, Greninja and Shulk — are coming back.
I'm SUPER excited about a couple of these. Now if only they will lower the price! Oh...yeah...that won't happen.
Three of those figures were released as retailer exclusives — Shulk (GameStop/EB Games), Greninja (Toys R Us), Lucario (Toys R Us) — and it's not clear if their availability will again be limited to those retailers when restocked.
Earlier this year, Nintendo restocked a number of other rare and retailer-exclusive amiibo: Meta Knight, Marth and Ike. (I missed that re-stock, evidently, because I haven't seen any of these at stores.)
Parents, you may know who I'm talking about - "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC." Yeah, there you go - the commercial series that had the dude that was once in Jeepers Creepers (kids, don't watch that...it scared me as an adult) who was also at one point Drew Berrymore's boyfriend.
Memory sparked? Well, it's not that guy, it's the other dude, the PC man. Check it:
Comedian John Hodgman, famous for his role as a PC user in the long running series of Apple commercials, was announced today as part of the cast of Minecraft: Story Mode.
The upcoming adventure title from Telltale Games will launch digitally for a myriad of platforms — including Linux, Mac, Windows PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One as well as iOS and Android — on Oct. 13. A boxed season pass will be available at retail on Oct. 21. The title is also planned for Wii U and PlayStation Vita.
Telltale and Mojang also announced a special world premier launch event at Hollywood's ArcLight Cinerama Dome. Ticket information is available by mailing minecraftpremiere@telltalegames.com.
In case you're concerned about Hodgman's knowledge of Minecraft, do not be alarmed. He seems well enough aware of the genre.
Telltale Games has been known to produce more mature rated games, however the age range for Minecraft players has got to play a role in making this game. I would not be surprised if Telltale makes this game for everyone, to make the moola.
Take note Animal Crossing fans and amiibo collectors: Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festivalfor the Wii U launches Nov. 13!
With that game, Nintendo will be releasing it's next big wave of the collectible obsession known as Amiibos! Included in the $59.99 package is the game and two figures: Brother-sister pair Isabelle and Digby. Also in the box are three amiibo cards featuring popular villagers.
On launch day, Nintendo will also make available a set of K.K. Slider, Reese and Cyrus amiibo for $34.99. Individually packaged figures will be priced at $12.99 and will initially feature Mabel and the infamous Tom Nook. Lottie, who just debuted in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for the 3DS, gets her own amiibo on Nov. 22.
As suggested by the title, Amiibo Festival utilizes these figures as a major gameplay mechanic. Amiibo sync up with the Wii U to become the player characters for the series' take on Mario Party. Amiibo cards can be used during minigames.
I know this is probably huge news for Animal Crossing lovers, however Micah and I have never stepped too inside the franchise.
Though, we have, however amassed a pretty good collection of Amiibo figures. Hopefully with the addition of Animal Crossing into the Amiibo universe, stores will have more variety on their shelves.
Star Fox Zero was announced last week as being delayed until Spring of 2016, which is a major bummer. However, one of the co-directors of the game on the team at Nintendo said the game is already running at 60 frames per second on both the television screen and the Wii U GamePad.
That means it is running REALLY smooth on both screens.
"Those two screens, you can't find that anywhere else," Hashimoto told GameSpot during a recent interview. "When we were doing Bayonetta 2, we just used that screen as a touch pad. With Star Fox, Miyamoto originally had the idea that he wanted to create a shooting game that used both of these screens, and then we said, okay, how can we combine this with Star Fox? Just having to use those two screens makes things interesting.
"We've got them both moving at 60 fps, which is big for a lot of people, I think," he continued. "But I think that it's kind of a milestone in gaming, in a way. It's not something that we have done ourselves before at Platinum, and it's just not even something that has been done in gaming before. So it's a lot of new challenges."
Hashimoto added that the biggest challenge with Star Fox Zero has been making sure using both screens feels natural and interesting--and more importantly, fun. For Miyamoto's team as well as Hashimoto and his collaborators, creating a shooter using the GamePad controls is a new experience.
"We've been working with action games long enough," Hashimoto said. "We understand how the players play an action game, how they respond to an action game, how they'll move, what they'll do in the situational stuff. What we're making here now, it's totally a new learning experience for us, which is kind of fun to find out."
In mid-September, Miyamoto posted a heartfelt note to Facebook stating that Star Fox Zero had been delayed into 2016. He reiterated that quality is the reason for the delay, and added that his studio's task in the matter is to give the game more of that "Platinum feel."
"We want to make it feel as great as possible," Miyamoto said. "It's easy to say [it was delayed] to increase its quality, or whatever, but that entails a lot, whether it be visuals, or controls."
Though the delay kinda stinks, the reasons for it are acceptable. Nintendo always does a really good job at putting out great quality content on its release date. Star Fox Zero is currently slated to launch in 2016. So, get your gamepads ready to launch!
Nintendo and Hasbro have combined forces for a special event in Splatoon themed around the iconic Transformers franchise. The latest "Splatfest" in-game event will be focused on Autobots and Decepticons, letting players choose their robot allegiance. Man, this is going to be a tough choice, I love robots on both sides of the war!
"While the Splatfest is ongoing, in-game characters get to wear a special T-shirt that shows which Transformers team has their allegiance," Nintendo said. "The ink that each team shoots will also be customized to match the color scheme of the chosen side."
Splatfests last for 24 hours. During these events, players battle it out in an attempt to build up as many Turf War wins for their team as possible in the allotted time. The winning side will earn a purse of Super Sea Snails, which they can use to upgrade their in-game gear.
Splatfest begins Aug. 29 at midnight EST and runs for 24 hours.
Released at the end of May, Splatoon has now sold more than 1.6 million copies. This partnership with Hasbro is just the latest example of Nintendo continuing to support the game after launch. The company has regularly released new content for the game in the form of new maps, modes, characters, and more.
Please keep your eyes peeled for a video review by MNM very soon!
The latest Heroes of the Storm patch is now available, and it adds a number of new things including the Monk character from Diablo III, Kharazim. Khar is the first support-class character in HotS from the Diablo series. He's setup to do the healing for your team, but, you're free to pick some traits that allows for him to kick some tail!
Depending on your choice, every third basic attack will either heal a nearby teammate with the lowest health, deal twice as much damage, or restore some of his mana. His heroic abilities include one that makes him invulnerable and deals a large amount of damage, and another that protects a teammate from death for three seconds.
If you play Diablo III and log in to Heroes of the Storm anytime in the three weeks following the launch of the patch, you will get the Diablo character free in HotS. Also, a free mount is available if you reach level 70 with a season 4 character in the upcoming season of Diablo III.
And lastly, there's a portrait border and pennant in Diablo III that will now unlock for anyone who has reached level 12 in HotS.
Other changes in today's patch include alterations to ranked modes, the introduction of dynamic bundles (which discount their price if you own some of their contents), balance tweaks, and new AI difficulty settings.
You can check out the full patch notes on Blizzard's website.
And keep your eyes open for some other new characters in HotS including StarCraft's medic and Artanis, and Warcraft's Rexxar.
Today Disney announced an August 30 release date for the Star Wars-themed Infinity 3.0 starter pack!
The starter pack will be $64.99, which includes the “Twilight of the Republic Play Set” with Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano figures. That is actually a pretty solid price for one of these interactive toy games. Usually they debut at around $75. I'm assuming this may be some sort of deal for Infinity players that may already have a portal from previous games.
PlayStation 4 owners can also opt for the Star Wars Saga bundle, which includes the chance to play the “Rise Against the Empire” playset earlier than most with Anakin, Ahsoka, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Boba Fett for $114 or so. This playset follows the storyarc of the original trilogy (something I'm way more interested in playing.
They've also announced several other things related to the game, other than the starter kit! Standalone figures available on launch day include the cast from Star Wars: Rebels, young Jedi Ezra Bridger, hipster Jedi Kanan Jarrus, Lasat warrior Garazeb Orrelios and Mandalorian grafitti artist Sabine Wren.
Disney originals will be represented by Mickey, Minnie, Mulan, Olaf, and the physical release of Sam Flynn and Quorra from Tr0n Probably Should Have Stayed Dead.
Also, Disney-Pixar’s Inside-Out will have some emotions entering into the fray! We will get a special playset pack featuring Joy and Anger, with Sadness, Disgust and Fear sold separately.
That is a ton of availability at launch! If you want to get the entire release, using the current pricing models, that would total about $300. Time to bring out the sales papers, coupons and maps and plan out your attack on the local Toys' R Us.
Join Mike "Burgandy," Micah "FanDana" and Noah "Bluetton" as they bring you some breaking news from the video game industry! The crew is joined by a very special guest who has a video game coming out later this summer and was very kind to take time out of his busy crime-fighting schedule.
Topics covered include: Amiibos, Batman: Arkham Knight, Final Fantasy, Fable Legends, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Free games with Games with Gold on Xbox for March.
The Fable franchise has been very successful in the gaming industry. The newest installment, Legends, unites the classic gameplay that players have come to love from the series with next-generation gaming capabilities. For the first time, players can grab your friends and go on adventures together. Heroes can cooperatively discover the quests and stories of Albion. Or, play the villain and mastermind the game in real time.
This sounds incredibly intriguing, especially for those veterans of Fable lore. But you know what the best part of all this is? The game will be available as a free-to-play title on the Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, as confirmed by Microsoft.
Lionhead, the creators, has been inspired by the PC game League of Legends, with the heroes available rotated over time or able to purchase for permanent use with in-game currency or real cash.
Four heroes will initially be available for free. After a couple of weeks, all four will become unavailable and be replaced by a new quartet. This will continue, eventually looping round and starting again. In-game silver, earned through quests, can be used to add a hero to your stable permanently or you can use real money. Thankfully your hero and equipment progress won't be reset each time they get taken off rotation, so you can start where you left off each time your favorite character returns.
The 4-on-1 will make for interesting multiplayer.
So that's the heroes, but what about the villains? On that front, Microsoft reveals those of a more dastardly inclination will have their own story to play through, during which you'll be able to buy additional creatures to use in maps that wouldn't normally support them. Additionally traps and gates will also be up for grabs, along with magical standing stones.
This, sounds amazing! I don't even care if I have only played Fable 2...this has my attention, as do most free-to-play modeled games do. Albion, here I come!
Some Fable games have been rated M in the past, while some were T. The style of this game may determine what it's final esrb rating will be...I'd probably recommend this game to 15+ for now, just to be safe, until more news comes out about the game.
Massively Multiple Online (MMO) games are great, Final Fantasy is great...however, I've never tried Final Fantasy's MMO: XIV. If you have tried it in the past though, and your account is lapsed...you can get back in there and check out the newly included Golden Saucer DLC (and the rest of the game) for FREE! That's right! FREE!
If you are like me and haven't tried the game before...they offer at free 14-day trial...but...nothing special for us.
Lapsed players though...BOOM! Merry Christmas!
Final Fantasy XIV is rated T, definitely would only recommend this game for 13+.
Here are the details on the free to play weekend from their official website:
≪Free Login Campaign Overview≫
Users meeting the following conditions will be able to play FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn free of charge during the upcoming Campaign:
Eligibility
Users who have previously purchased and registered FINAL FANTASY XIV and whose service account is set as inactive during the campaign period.
Anywho, if you have an Xbox Gold Membership, you are in for a treat in March! This is probably the strongest collection of games that Microsoft has released with it's Games with Gold program. If you have an Xbox One, Rayman Legends (Ages 8+) will be free for you all month long. On the 360, Tomb Raider (Not for kids) will be available from March 1-15 and BioShock Infinite (Not for kids) from March 16-31.
That is solid! I hope that Microsoft continues in this direction with quality games hitting their Games with Gold giveaway. I know these games are old, but man, they are solid games. I didn't get a chance to try out Rayman, but you know, now is the time to try it out...it's FREE! We may even get a quick review of the game, since it is readily available for you guys.
I would only recommend Tomb Raider and BioShock to our After Hours crowd, (parents/older teenagers) definitely not for kids.
For those counting hard drive space or planning ahead to make room:
Rayman Legends (ordinary Xbox Live price $39.99) is a 3.4 GB download.
Friday. The. Thirteenth...YES. A day that will live in infamy. A day of horror. A day of hockey masks.
It's also the day that the new Nintendo 3DS XL will be released. Will it be a day of infamy, or a day of horror?
It's totally not going to be horror, trust me.
Nintendo did it right with it's newest handheld system. At least, from what I've read online. I really want to get my hands on the system and try it myself (donations gladly excepted, haha) but everything I'm reading online about its features lead me to believe that this will be very successful.
I thought that I wouldn't want to play a larger 3DS...Who wants bigger things? I thought the cool thing was to go smaller!? Oh...yeah, the new "in" phones are now bigger, inbetween a size of a tablet and a phone...maybe it is cool to go bigger now?
But, that's not all they did. Tons of new features have been added to this system:
A new C-Stick to control third-person cameras
Face tracking to better present their 3-D option (eh)
More buttons for more control!
Faster processor and better camera
Improved web-browsing to check out our awesome posts!
Built in Amiibo Support
Tons of stuff! To check out more on the new system and to hear Micah and my opinions on it, check out our new Shortii:
Again...donations are accepted for Micah and I to try out this awesome looking new software!
In a post that we had on here last month, we announced three rare Pokemon that players could download onto their copies of Pokemon: Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire! Two of those Poke's were revealed as Emboar and Serperior, check their codes out here, while we assumed that the third would be Samurott (it was teased to be announced sometime in February).
Well, guess what!? It is February and Nintendo stayed true to their word. Samurott is available to join your Pokemon army by following these instructions:
Go into the game, and select 'Mystery Gift' from the main menu
Enter the code: POKEMON503
Level 50 water type, with the ability 'Shell Armor,' and the moves Razer Shell, Hold Back, Confide, and Hydro Pump
Go check him out and reunite Sammy with his other two original Pokemon: Black and White buddies!
Look out! Nintendo looks to be releasing some rare versions of their Mario Amiibo. These versions will be solid gold and solid silver. This news was leaked in a pair of Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) certificates posted to Nintendo's website. They have since been removed.
Several media outlets have reached out to Nintendo for comment and clarification on how these Mario amiibo figures will be distributed, either at retail, through a giveaway, an exclusive or some other method but haven't received an official statement.
With no official word from Nintendo, we don't know if it will ONLY be Mario figures or if there will be any other variants. However, we do know that this amiibo is in a new pose! This is coinciding with the release of Mario Party 10.
The new Super Mario line of amiibo is scheduled to launch March 20 and includes Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi and Toad. Nintendo will release another batch of Super Smash Bros.-themed amiibo, which include Robin, Lucina, Pac-Man, Wario, Ness and Charizard, this spring.
Yes, Charizard...you will be mine.
Keep your eyes open for news on these rare gold/silver versions and hope we can get our hands on them!
Dragon Ball! One of my favorite shows going through middle school and early high school. I have proof...ask my wife about my DBZ T-Shirts and my Vegeta button down silk shirt that I used to think was BALLIN' (no pun intended)! Oh man, this show was so good...My first venture into the world of Anime. Countless hours of characters just staring at each other, grunting and panting, waiting episodes before an actual fight broke out.
Viewers of DBZ know what I'm talking about.
It was SO good, though. Remember the epic fight between Vegeta and Goku during the Saiyan saga? OMG. I'm fan-girling out right now. He's over 9000?!?!
Guess what? Now, you get the opportunity to CREATE YOUR OWN CHARACTER IN THE DB UNIVERSE! Yep, I said it. With Dragon Ball Xenoverse, you can customize and develop your own warrior from 5 races, including male or female, and more than 450 items to be used in online and offline adventures. Create the perfect avatar, learn new skills and train under the tutelage of your favorite Dragon Ball characters. Join 200+ players around the world in the Toki Toki City hub and fight with or against them, and compete in online tournaments!
Doesn't that sound awesome? Come on, who's going SSJ with me? They've opened up the pre-orders for the game, check it:
New Hearthstone Adventure could be coming in April!
Hearthstone. The game the combines incredibly nerdy people who love World of Warcraft and the people who love trading card games like Magic the Gathering. Most of the time, these people are one in the same. And don't take offense...I'm one of these people!
Hearthstone's next single-player expansion is expected to go live in April, according to a new report with details from a purported insider at Blizzard.
An article by Yahoo Finance contributor, Tae Kim, indicates that this new adventure will be PVE focused, similar to the Naxxramas campaign that is in the game currently.
Instead of matching up against real-life opponents, these campaigns pit you against an AI controlled enemy that gets seemily more difficult the further you advance. It also seems like they always have a special set of cards that really turn the advantage of the face-off in their favor...so they are pretty challenging.
Blizzard has yet to comment on this report.
Hearthstone has been widely successful since it's creation in 2014, winning several awards and gaining over 75 million players world wide. It also helps that they have released the game on mobile platforms and will soon be release the game to mobile phones (iPhone, Android markets).
If you love TCGs and you have some interest in WoW or fantasy elements, I'd highly recommend Hearthstone. Blizzard has done an amazing job at creating a very polished electronic TCG. Oftentimes this translation to electronic devices can be a bit clunky in the TCG universe. But, the animations, sounds and experience are wonderful with Hearthstone.
And, this game is VERY family friendly. If you aren't sure if you should have your kiddos playing WoW, you can definitely introduce them to the universe with Hearthstone.
