Disney Art Academy – Demo Version – In the full version of the game, players can discover their inner artists to capture the stunning visuals of over 80 Disney and Pixar characters. With advice and lessons inspired by Disney art and Pixar animations, they learn to use a bundle of different drawing tools to create Elsa and Olaf from Disney Frozen, characters from Disney Inside Out, or characters like Mickey Mouse. They can even share their creations with their friends. The demo version gives players access to two lessons to try out: Mickey Mouse and Olaf from Disney Frozen. Game and demo in 2D
If you grew up in the 90s then there is a great chance that catching fictional monsters made up a significant portion of your free time. Two series dominated the school yards of the late 1990s, Nintendo’s Pokemon and Bandai’s Digimon: Digital Monsters. Many recess arguments were had about whether Charmeleon could melt Agumon in a split second with its flame thrower.
Now that Pokemon is back on the popular cultural radar thanks to Pokemon GO and Digital Monsters have been invading Japanese theatres with the six-part original series revival Digimon Trifilms,it’s time to relive this 20-year-old rivalry with an amazing mash-up video.
Created by YouTuber NiLowtherr this fusion of monstrous proportions combines the aesthetics of original American Digimon 01 intro + theme with Nintendo’s iconic critters.
Which side did you root for? I was on #TeamPikachu but secretly tuned in every morning to Fox kids to see how the adventures of Taichi & friends would progress.
Nintendo is set to unveil new details for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS Exclusive Pokemon: Sun & Moonthis Friday but leakers have other plans for the company’s announcements. Just 24 hours after scans of an early copy of Japanese gaming magazine CoroCoro appeared online spoiling some of the fun, clips & screen grabs from the upcoming Pokemon Sun & Moon trailer appeared online.
Here’s what has leaked so far:
A new water type Pokemon called Wishiwashi which has both solo & school forms. The school form is actually several discrete combined WishiWashi that form one giant fish – kinda like a PokeFish version of Voltron.
Giant cuddle monster Raichu gets a brand new form thanks to its surfing capable variation which also comes with a new Psychic / Electric type combination.
Morelull is a new fairy/grass type Pokemon whose aesthetic is best described as one big purple umbrella and two smaller ones.
Who is going to oppose the teenage protagonist this time around? It looks like Team Skull will be our adversaries in this brand new Pokemon adventure and one of their new members, Plumeria is described as “Team Skull’s big sister” as well as a “Team Skull Admin”.
Pokemon Sun & Moon will be released on November 18th. Check out screengrabs from this 4chan/Neogaf leak below:
Several more games are getting the Nintendo Selects treatment in just a few weeks, with right more game being added to the value roster. Starting on August 26th, some of Nintendo’s biggest hits will drop to a suggested retail price of $29.99 CAD.
“These back-to-school deals are some of the best and most varied we have ever offered,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Now is clearly the best time to get started on your essential Nintendo game collection.”
Check out the full list of games being added to the Nintendo Selects collection below:
Niantic announced today that mobile game sensation Pokémon GO has been updated to version 0.33.0 for Android and 1.3.0 for iOS devices.
Below are some release notes and comments from the development team.
Added a dialog to remind Trainers that they should not play while traveling above a certain speed.
Trainers must confirm they are not driving in order to continue playing.
Made improvements to the accuracy of a curveball throw
Fixed a bug that prevented ”Nice,” ”Great,” and “Excellent” Poké Ball throws from awarding the appropriate XP bonuses.
Fixed achievements showing incorrect Medal icons.
Enabled the ability for Trainers to change their nickname one time. Please choose your new nickname wisely.
Resolved issues with the battery saver mode on iOS and re-enabled the feature.
Added visuals of Team Leaders Candela, Blanche, and Spark.
Currently testing a variation of the “Nearby Pokémon” feature with a subset of users. During this period you may see some variation in the nearby Pokémon UI.
Minor text fixes
I haven’t taken the app out for a GO since the update, but just a quick look inside the app after the update doesn’t show a lot of cosmetic difference, with the notable exception that the “nearby Pokémon” screen now shows a bit of grass behind the character.
We’ll let you know more as we experience the update.
I4U’s Luigi Lugmayr placed Niantic’s Product Marketing Manager, Yennie Solheim Fuller, at the center of the blame for Niantic’s poor communication with their fanbase.
Why is Niantic basically silent throughout the turmoil of viral growth that cause all kinds of issues?
The person who is responsible for PR and Marketing at Niantic gave birth two days after the launch of Pokemon Go. Yennie Solheim Fuller is on maternity leave.
First of all, I am not sure how Lugmayr decided that Fuller was responsible for the PR of Niantic. While she previously acted as the Marketing & Communications Manager when Niantic was still under Google, she left that position for her role as a Marketing Manager a year ago. Although she still may have been responsible for public relations before her maternity leave, there are no indications anywhere online that is the case.
Secondly, if Fuller gave birth two days after launch, you can bet that Niantic had months of time to plan for her absence. If Fuller had been in a car accident instead, Niantic wouldn’t have had months to prepare, and would she have still have been blamed? Though this is a rather moot point if Fuller was not in charge of public relations at all.
Lugmayr does state later in the article that “Because nobody at Niantic anticipated the extreme popularity of Pokemon Go, the company has likely not prepared a replacement for Solheim while she is on maternity leave.” Though this statement removes some of the blame from Fuller, it falls painfully short after blaming her maternity leave from marketing as the reason for Niantic’s public relations failure.
Lugmayr also fails to recognize that Niantic has been wellknown for its slow responsetimes and lack of communication with its community. The “silence” his article focuses on as a huge issue has been Niantic’s normal behavior ever since they launched Ingress in 2013.
Articles like this are extremely detrimental to the game industry and the women who are part of it. It is no secret that the game industry has problems with sexism and low amounts of female employees, only 22% according to IGDA’s 2015 survey. The women who are part of the industry are often victims of harassment, are paid less than men, and rarely receive maternity leave at all.
Calling Fuller’s maternity leave the “sweet reason” that Niantic is being unresponsive will make companies shy away from hiring women and providing maternity leave, and discourage other women from pursuing careers in games knowing that they may be unfairly incriminated for a failure of their company.
This shameful article not only places unwarranted fault on Fuller, but it features her image as the banner photo along with the jeering “sweet reason” in the title, effectively painting a target on her. Fuller’s Twitter is full of harassment and blame.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”><a href=”https://twitter.com/YennieSolheim”>@YennieSolheim</a> You are doing a horrible PR & Marketing. Quit NOW!</p>— Réudrigo (@Aristeaux) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Aristeaux/status/759936407284527105″>August 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”><a href=”https://twitter.com/YennieSolheim”>@YennieSolheim</a> so the reason that <a href=”https://twitter.com/NianticLabs”>@NianticLabs</a> has been silent since the game released is that ur on maternity leave?</p>— Venkat Krishnan (@krish_ven) <a href=”https://twitter.com/krish_ven/status/756236892056715265″>July 21, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Women in the game industry need support of the public and press, not to suffer attacks for failures outside of their control, especially while on leave. It is shameful that Lugmayr would make Fuller the scapegoat for Niantic’s habitual lack of communication. With a USA Alexa rank of 31239 and a global Alexa rank of 82870, one would hope that I4U would have better quality journalism than is contained in Lugmayr’s article.
Niantic the developers behind Pokemon Gohave finally issued a rather lengthy statement addressing user’s complaints after the removal of the ‘steps’ feature that allowed trainers to track nearby Pokemon, the closure of 3rd party sites like PokeVision that allowed players to see real time monster placement and the lack of availability in South America.
This particular Facebook post comes after a number of users on the r/PokemonGO subreddit gained notoriety for successfully requesting refunds for in-game purchases. Users have reported receiving partial or full refunds for every dollar spent on Pokemon Go by claiming that the most recent update, which removed the steps feature, damaged the game and does not fulfill the original vision promised by Niantic.
Here are the instructions provided to iphone users by [Insert username] from reddit to get a refund on itunes. This particular thread exploded with over 3,000+ replies – ranging from outraged, doubtful of both Nintendo & Niantic to straight up finding the lack of communication humorous.
2.Login with your Apple ID user name (typically your email address) and password.
3.Select the appropriate tab—all, music, movies, TV shows, apps, or books.
4.Find the purchase you want refunded
5.Select Open item but not functions as expected
6.Fill in the description,
Niantic’s statement probably doesn’t bring the kind of news that many trainers were expecting: The changes 3-step has helped ease load on the servers in the early days of the game, but the feature was not functioning to Niantic’s “product vision” and thus had to be removed. Their lack of communication is apparently due to the fact that Niantic’s staff are working around the clock to improve Pokemon Go and as of publication Niantic is still hiring for a dedicated community manager for Pokemon Go.
As many of you know, we recently made some changes to Pokémon GO.
– We have removed the ‘3-step’ display in order to improve upon the underlying design. The original feature, although enjoyed by many, was also confusing and did not meet our underlying product goals. We will keep you posted as we strive to improve this feature.
– We have limited access by third-party services which were interfering with our ability to maintain quality of service for our users and to bring Pokémon GO to users around the world. The large number of users has made the roll-out of Pokémon GO around the world an… interesting… challenge. And we aren’t done yet! Yes, Brazil, we want to bring the game to you (and many other countries where it is not yet available).
We have read your posts and emails and we hear the frustration from folks in places where we haven’t launched yet, and from those of you who miss these features. We want you to know that we have been working crazy hours to keep the game running as we continue to launch globally. If you haven’t heard us Tweeting much it’s because we’ve been heads down working on the game. But we’ll do our best going forward to keep you posted on what’s going on.
Be safe, be nice to your fellow trainers, and keep on exploring.
The Pokémon GO team”
What do you think about Niantic’s statement? Do you have faith they will fix Pokemon Go before the player base leaves en mass?
The latest version of Pokemon GO, Version 1.1.0 has rolled out on the Android & iOS platforms. This update brings an often requested feature – Trainer re-customization, allowing players to fit their digital avatar with different clothing. While browsing the re-customization screen it appears that a few new hats have been added, including one that is modeled after Red’s hat from Pokemon Blue & Red. Trainers can also swap their in-game gender with the press of a button.
Other fixes include updated achievement animations / graphics. Improved memory optimization, adjusted battle damage – which nerfed the popular Eevee evolution Vaporean and the usual bug fixes that come with incremental patches.
Probably the most controversial change in this update won’t be the nerfing of certain move but the removal of the ‘three step’ counter that appeared on the nearby Pokemon screen. The feature was intended to give players a visual representation of how close wild monsters where to them but it never worked as intended. Instead all Pokemon displayed the maximum range, three footprints, leading the community to dub the glitch the “three step glitch”. With the removal of the step icons players have no way to tell how far/close Pokemon are to them.
What do you think of this update? Let us know!
Here is the full patch notes:
Trainers, Pokémon GO has been updated to version 0.31.0:
– Avatars can now be re-customized from the Trainer profile screen
– Adjusted battle move damage values for some Pokémon
– Refined certain Gym animations
– Improved memory issues
– Removed footprints of nearby Pokémon
– Modified battle damage calculation
– Various bug fixes during wild Pokémon encounter
– Updated Pokémon details screen
– Updated achievement medal images
– Fixed issues with displaying certain map features
– Minor text fixes
Psst. Don’t forget about those Nintendo DSi points if you still have any.
Nintendo issued a reminder today about the closure the Nintendo DSi Shop in 2017. The digital game service was the predecessor to the Nintendo eShop and has been available on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL systems since 2009.
If you still use and enjoy your Nintendo DSi or Nintendo DSi XL and plan to pick up any new digital content, your time is a running out. The ability to add Nintendo DSi Points to your account with a credit card or Nintendo DSi Points Card ends on September 30th, 2016 at 8:00 PM ET.
That’s exactly two months away.
Of course you still have until March 31st, 2017 to redeem those points to purchase content in the Nintendo DSi Shop. The ability to re-download Nintendo DSiWare games will stop at some point, but details on just when that will happen aren’t clear at the moment.
Also Nintendo DSiWare will continue to be sold in Nintendo 3DS eShop.
Kirby: Planet Robobot – DEMO – Another year older, another year … pinker? What better way to celebrate Kirby’s birthday than with a free demo of his new sci-fi adventure, Kirby: Planet Robobot for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, alongside other great Kirby games.
Niantic continues to tweak their mobile smash hitPokemon GO behind the scenes on a regular basis and adventurous users aren’t far behind them, discovering and cataloguing even the most minute changes to the game.
Users over on The Silph road have discovered that Pokemon Nests, that is locations where catchable Pokemon spawn, have been swapped around. Based upon a pattern discovered by users on the sub-reddit it appears that some monsters have been swapped with ones with a lower Pokedex number while other nests appear to spawn up to two new monsters now.
Here is the entire list that The Silph road has compiled about known Pokemon Nest spawn changes. My area (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is full of Drowzees and also a lot of Jynx. According to these changes I can look forward to seeing a lot more Seels and the Scythers.
#1 Bulbasaur –> #1 Bulbasaur…
#4 Charmander –> #1 Bulbasaur
#7 Squirtle –> #4 Charmander
#21 Spearow –>
#23 Ekans –> #21 Spearow
#25 Pikachu –> #23 Ekans
#27 Sandshrew –> #25 Pikachu
#29 Nidoran♀ –> #27 Sandshrew / #25 Pikachu
#32 Nidoran♂ –> #29 Nidoran♀
#35 Clefairy –> #32 Nidoran♂
#37 Vulpix –> #35 Clefairy / #32 Nidoran♂
#39 Jigglypuff –> #37 Vulpix / #35 Clefairy
#43 Oddish –> #39 Jigglypuff
#46 Paras –> #43 Oddish? / #39 Jigglypuff?
#48 Venonat –> #43 Oddish?
#50 Diglett –> #46 Paras
#52 Meowth –> #48 Venonat
#54 Psyduck –> #50 Diglett
#56 Mankey –> #52 Meowth / #50 Diglett
#58 Growlithe –> #54 Psyduck / #52 Meowth
#60 Poliwag –> #56 Mankey / #54 Psyduck
#63 Abra –> #58 Growlithe / #56 Mankey
#66 Machop –> #58 Growlithe
#69 Bellsprout –> #60 Poliwag
#72 Tentacool –> #63 Abra
#74 Geodude –> #66 Machop
#77 Ponyta –> #69 Bellsprout
#79 Slowpoke –> #72 Tentacool
#81 Magnemite –> #74 Geodude
#83 Farfetch’d –>
#84 Doduo –> #77 Ponyta
#86 Seel –> #79 Slowpoke / #77 Ponyta
#90 Shellder –> #81 Magnemite / #79 Slowpoke
Nothing? –> #83 Farfetch’d
#92 Gastly –> #84 Doduo / #81 Magnemite
#95 Onix –> #86 Seel / #84 Doduo
#96 Drowzee –> #86 Seel
#98 Krabby –> #90 Shellder
#100 Voltorb –> #92 Gastly
#102 Exeggcute –> #95 Onix / #92 Gastly
#104 Cubone –> #96 Drowzee
#106 Hitmonlee –> #98 Krabby / #96 Drowzee
#107 Hitmonchan –> #100 Voltorb / #98 Krabby
#108 Lickitung –> #102 Exeggcute / #100 Voltorb
#111 Rhyhorn –> #104 Cubone / #102 Exeggcute
#114 Tangela –> #111 Rhyhorn / #104 Cubone
#115 Kangaskhan –> #111 Rhyhorn
#116 Horsea –> #114 Tangela? / #111 Rhyhorn
Nothing? –> #115 Kangaskhan
#118 Goldeen –> #116 Horsea
#120 Staryu –> #118 Goldeen
#122 Mr. Mime –> #118 Goldeen
#123 Scyther –> #120 Staryu
#124 Jynx –> #123 Scyther / #120 Staryu
#125 Electabuzz –> #124 Jynx / #123 Scyther
#126 Magmar –> #125 Electabuzz / #124 Jynx
#127 Pinsir –> #126 Magmar / #125 Electabuzz
#128 Tauros –> #127 Pinsir / #126 Magmar
#129 Magikarp –> #127 Pinsir
Nothing? –> #128 Tauros
#133 Eevee –> #129 Magikarp
#147 Dratini –> #133 Eevee
Nothing? –> #147 Dratini (RIP)
Why did Niantic chose to change up nests? It certainly allows Pokemon Trainers to catch up as many monsters as possible.
Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins + Training Demo – In this demo, enjoy the full animated short movie (Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins), then jump into training to prepare for combat. It’ll take more than luck to master the Arwing jet, the Gyrowing flight drone and the Landmaster tank!
Star Fox Guard– Special Demo – Grippy Toad, the founder of Corneria Precious Metals Ltd., and Slippy Toad of the legendary team Star Fox needs your help protecting their booming business! All you have to do is keep an eye on a dozen video screens as you mow down waves of attacking robots with your turret-mounted cameras!
Buddy & Me: Dream Edition – Race through an enchanted forest together with your magical flying companion, Buddy, in this endless dream about exploration and friendship. The game is a charming experience for all ages and skills, upgraded with exclusive content for the Wii U version. The Buddy & Me: Dream Edition game will be available on July 21.
Nintendo’s next generation console, currently code-named “NX” is still shrouded in mystery but one particular outspoken advocate of the console, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, says that what he has seen looks very promising. Not only is touting the capabilities of this new console but also making the bold prediction that it will bring back the casual audience to the Nintendo brand.
Here’s is how WCF Tech described Mr.Guillemot remarks on a recent company conference call with investors:
“Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot talked about the Nintendo NX, stating that what they have seen so far of the console is really great. Guillemot also notes how having this machine coming is going to help the industry growing as well as take a lot of casual players back in the industry.”
Nintendo did not have any NX presence at this year’s E3, instead focusing on the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. More information about NX could possibly be released during the Tokyo Game Show this September, although Nintendo typically skips TGS there is precedence – as they revealed the WiiMote back in September 2005 around TGS Time.
Nintendo’s last generation console, Wii, was an immensely successful product that launched the Big N back into the public conscience similar to the way Pokemon GO has recently or how Nintendo orginally swept America with the NES back in the 1980s. According to VGChartz the Nintendo Wii sold around 101 million units worldwide, in comparison the Wii U has sold just over 13 million units – putting it just above the SEGA Dreamcast.
Niantic Lab & Nintendo’s smash hit mobile adaptation Pokemon Go has launched in an additional 26 European countries according to the developer’s official Facebook Page. This rollout on iOS and Android brings the total number of European countries with access to the game to 36 with 10 more until all of Europe & the UK has access to catch ’em all. Still no word on a Canadian launch date or a Mexican launch date leaving users in North America who aren’t American to side-load the game and possibly become infested with malware.
Here is a complete list of the new countries with access to Pokemon Go:
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Greece
Greenland
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Pokemon Go has been a runaway success which has caused Nintendo’s stock to rise to levels not seen since 2010 – just after the boom of the original Wii.
Need more Pokemon Go coverage? Make sure to check out our beginner’s guide if you are just starting your own Pokemon Journey.
A few months after a price drop in the United States, Nintendo of Canada has followed suit with a price reduction for the Nintendo 2DS.
As of yesterday, July 15th, Nintendo lowered the price of its kid-friendly portable Nintendo 2DS system to a suggested retail price of $109.99. The previous price point for the portable system was $129.99.
The Nintendo 2DS launched in October 2013 and is part of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
“Nintendo 2DS is the best value available for a portable dedicated gaming system and is great for gaming on the go,” said Pierre-Paul Trepanier, Nintendo of Canada’s General Manager and Senior Director. “The system has a library full of high-quality games for purchase, some in our Nintendo Selects category for less than $30 each, featuring Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi and Zelda.”
