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Nintendo has announced that their next game in the Pikmin series will be released in Q2 2013 on the Wii U. While it's not exactly a release date, it's better than what we had before. Namely, nothing. Pikmin 3 was the first game mentioned during Nintendo's keynote address at E3 2012 and has been hotly anticipated by fans since. To help placate those whom are waiting, Nintendo has also released a trailer depicting more gameplay of the strategy title. You will find it below:

Pikmin. So cute, yet so deadly...

The Nintendo Wii U has been out for over a week and it's time to check out its stats. Overall, it sold pretty well, but it isn't the best it could be.

The Wii U sold 400,000 units in its first week, which is not bad compared to the first TWO weeks of the PS3 and Xbox 360, which sold 197,000 and 326,000 units respectively. However, its older brother, the original Wii, sold 600,000 in eight days.

Another thing to note is the stock of the Wii U in stores. When the original Wii first launched, it was sold out for months. You couldn't find the system anywhere unless you were at a store during delivery. Websites were created to keep track the supply of the system in stores. People were hoarding and reselling them on eBay hoping to make a quick buck. If you wanted one, you pretty much had to go on a mission.

Fortunately for buyers (not so fortunately for Nintendo) the Wii U isn't experiencing the same trouble. While the Deluxe version of the system is still sold out online, I was still able to find the Basic unit in stock at target.com (Note: it may sell out again). And even then, using the store locator function, I was able to see that both versions of the Wii U are in stock in stores nearby me.

Sadly, the Wii U was not the biggest seller in the past week. Xbox 360 sales were nearly double that of the Wii U, selling 750,000 units in the same week. Unfortunately, Sony did not release their Black Friday week stats, so I cannot say how many they sold.

Overall, the Wii U didn't have a bad launch at all. However, it's more important to see how long it can keep this pace up. Even the Dreamcast sold over 350,000 units in its first week. I wish the best for the Wii U, and for continued success. Especially since I want it to last long enough for Bayonetta 2...

League of Legends is a very popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game. It is so popular that developer Riot Games is holding a tournament with a $2 million cash pool. The quarterfinals had been going swimmingly, when the players started experiencing network issues. It eventually became so bad that the matches were postponed to later this week. This was done to ensure that everything can be moved to a secure location to ensure more stability with their network.

Riot Games posted an official statement:

In 2010, Avalanche Studios released a game called Just Cause 2. It was an open world game where destruction and chaos was the main goal of the game. With a 35 square kilometer game world to mess around in, it wasn't out of the ordinary to feel a little lonely on the island of Panau.

That was until 2 years later (this year!) when a group of Australian modders made a multiplayer mod for the PC version of the game. They occasionally do open beta weekends to stress test the system. Taking advantage of this opportunity, three friends and I decided to jump in and give it a whirl.

First and foremost, the mod is insanely easy to install. We were up and running within 5 minutes. During the test, everyone connects to only one server. Which means that you will have hundreds of people on the same server at one time. There were definitely some hotspots of action, but it never felt too crowded given the large game world.

So once you connect to the server, you can go out and do whatever you want. The amount of freedom is insane. While there are no NPCs in the game (for obvious reasons), there was still plenty of chaos thanks to the other hundreds of players. Vehicles spawn at specific spots since no NPCs = no traffic = no cars. However, trying to get a flying vehicle turns into a bloodbath as everyone races to the aircraft, trying to get it for themselves. By the way, did I mention that player killing is possible? There was plenty of that. Surviving in one of the games hot zones for more than a few minutes takes a lot of luck.

Given the large amount of people on the server at once, it was surprising to see that there was very little lag, if any throughout my playthrough. However, it was very unsurprising to see that there was a large amount of griefing.  Players would spawn camp or randomly kill you, even if you're not doing anything. For example, three friends and I decided to have a race from an airport to a harbor about 7 kilometers away. We all grabbed our own cars and lined up to start. Right before we set off, an attack helicopter comes over us and completely obliterates us and our cars. However, we weren't angry. We laughed because of how spectacular the destruction was. 

The mod is still very much in beta. All four of us crashed multiple times throughout our playthrough. Two of us actually fell through the geometry of the world on 2 separate occasions. However, when it worked, it was fun.

Overall, I had a great time playing the beta and it's a perfect way to breathe life back into a 2 year old game. If you own Just Cause 2, there is no reason that you shouldn't try this out. Even if you don't own the game, it goes on sale for very cheap at times, so keep an eye out for it. I, personally, am looking forward to getting shot at, blown up, run over, and thrown off a helicopter by other players in the future.

For those interested in the mod, please check out their website at http://jc-mp.com

About a week ago Square Enix put up a countdown on its site. People started believing that it was related to cult classic The World Ends With You. Shortly after, the countdown had background music added that sounded very familiar to TWEWY's music. The internet went crazy with rumors of a sequel. People were getting anxious at the countdown ticked down to zero.

3...

2...

1...

Zero!

What is it? Is it a sequel?! 

iOS PORT!

...What.

Yup. Square Enix built up all this hype for the same game, just on a different device. How much will it cost? $20! Quite a high price for a mobile app. The game is set to release today, so if you should so happen to want to play it on the go (even though the DS is already portable), now's your chance!

Source: Square Enix (Headphone Warning!)

A few days ago, Konami announced that they are not releasing a patch for the Silent Hill HD Collection on the Xbox 360 due to "technical issues and resources". As compensation, people who have bought the game before August 8th have been offered a free game from a list spanning multiple consoles and even generations (well, only 2).

For those who are unaware, Silent Hill HD Collection was released for both the Xbox 360 and PS3. Both versions contained numerous bugs involving frame rate, audio-syncing, and graphical issues. The PS3 version is receiving a title update fixing these issues, but the Xbox 360 version is not as fortunate.

The list of titles aren't too great, but I suppose it's better than nothing. If you're so inclined, you can even get the PS3 version of the game!

What you need to do to get the offer is to send an email to Konami ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) and explain your distaste in the Xbox 360 version of the game while providing proof of your pre-August 8th purchase of the game.

The list of titles being offered as compensation follows after the jump.

Square Enix is finally releasing Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance in North America on July 31st. At the same time, a 3DS bundle is being released containing the game and a custom version of the handheld. It looks quite spiffy, if you ask me.

As you can see, the handheld is black with a Kingdom Hearts pattern bearing crowns, Heartless symbols, Micky Mouse heads, and others in a cross hatching pattern. In the corner, a pink crown with a Kingdom Hearts text along with a less desired Disney copyright bears its presence.

However, do note that the 3DS in the bundle is not the recently announced XL version of the 3DS, but instead the normal size. Sorry, Best buy had a misleading ad detailing that a Kingdom Hearts 3D bundle will be released. In reality, the "bundle" is rather a standard 3DS and a copy of the game. I apologize for any misinformation. The bundle will retail for $179 and will be available from July 31st until August 4th.

If you're the type of person who reads this site regularly, chances are that you are already familiar with the Ace Attorney movie. You would also know that this movie is Japan-only. Or so you thought...

Next month is the New York Asian Film Festival, where people basically show films from the eastern part of the world. Luckily for Phoenix Wright fans, one of the movies being shown is none other than Ace Attorney! The movie will (obviously) be in Japanese, and have English subtitles. Here are the times and locations:

Film Society of Lincoln Center
Sunday, July 8 @ 2:30pm

Japan Society
Sunday, July 15 @ 1:30pm

For more information or to purchase tickets you can NYAFF's Ace Attorney page.

However, if you are unable to watch the movie, you will be pleased to know that it will be released in Japan on DVD and Blu-ray in August, so get ready to visit your favorite import site around then.

All across the internet, gamers are complaining about how E3 wasn't very exciting this year. In fact, the reason why I'm writing this article is because there was nothing newsworthy to dedicate an entire article (I don't think readers on this site are clamoring for more information about Wii Fit U). E3 in the past used to be about announcing the latest and greatest games that fans have been wishing for. But it's no longer like that. It's not meant to cater to gamers wishes. It's meant for the investors.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that game companies do not care about gamers anymore. What I'm saying is that E3 is just not the right time for it. Times have changed. As the gaming industry grows, more money will need to be invested. E3 is the largest gaming event of the year. It's so big that you can actually watch it live on TV and even hear about it on the news.This is when the general public is paying attention. It also explains why the word "social" was being thrown around a lot.

E3 may not be as "hardcore" anymore, but it's not like gamers have been abandoned. If you want to hear more news-worthy info for us, chances are that we will need to wait for a more gaming-oriented expo like PAX or developer conferences. I'll give an example: Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright. That name alone made gamers crazy. However, if you were to say it to someone who doesn't play video games, they won't know what you're talking about. It wouldn't make much sense to talk about it at E3 even though we would care a lot. Instead, we get the newest shooters, social games, fitness games, and (at least) four different Mario titles.

If you want to be excited, wait for PAX, wait for Comic-con, wait for the GDC. E3 just won't be as exciting for us anymore.

After 12 years in development, Blizzard has finally released its long anticipated game, Diablo 3. The game had a hellish start, and I'm not talking about its gameplay.

As with all online games, the first day of release is expected to have server issues as gamers flood in to play the newest game. Diablo 3, of course, is no exception. Gamers were marred with various server errors, preventing them from playing the game they've waited so long for. When the server goes down for a region, no one can play the game. And I literally mean no one. Even those who wish to play single player are unable to play if the server goes down. The issue is that Diablo 3 is an online-only game. You must remain connected to the internet to play the game. If you lose connection at any point, you get booted out of your game. And this is exactly what happened to thousands, if not millions, of people on its launch day.