Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood has been nominated for seven GAME British Academy Video Game Awards.

Along with Call of Duty: Black Ops, Brotherhood is up for Action, Artistic Achievement, Multiplayer, Technical Innovation and Use of Audio awards. Assasin’s Creed is also nominated for Best Game and Gameplay, with Black Ops also in the Story category.

That puts Black Ops at six nominations, the same as Sony’s Heavy Rain, which is eligible for Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Gameplay, Original Music, Story and Technical Innovation. continue to read »

Plenty of information has been announced over the past week for the 3DS, it’s been exciting. This article is here to hopefully give you a summary of everything you need to know about Nintendo’s new handheld.

General info:

• Each gamer will get their own Friend Code, the same code will be used in every game.
• It features a iPhone like home button to let you minimise and multi-task mid-way through a game.
• It has a built in gyroscope which is used in game for specific motion controls.
• It comes with a 2gb SD card for removeable storage.
• The new e-store feature will sell Game Boy and Game Boy Color games online.
• The console is backwards compatible with the majority of DS games
• The cameras (one for regular photos and a set of 2 for 3D photos will allow you to take a photo and use that to create a Mii.
• It includes a pedometer to record your activity like the Wii Fit.
• It comes with a selection of augmented reality games which use the cameras to create game where you have to avoid virtual monsters.
• It features a built in shooter named Face Raiders, which allows you to put your face and the faces of other as targets in the game.
• It will only come in blue and black.
• It will be released here in Europe on the 25th of March and two days later in the US where it has a RRP of $249.99. There is currently no European RRP but at the time of writing Game and HMV have the console listed as £229.99.

Multimedia:

• Eurosport is signed up to deliver 3D sports via a background download service.
• Sky 3D is also likely to release 3D content in a similar way.
• Aardman Animation will be providing a set of 3D shorts based on the kids TV show, Shaun the Sheep, due later this year.

The Games:

There is a crapload of games that have been announced already for the 3DS and its not worth mentioning them all here. But here are the games which have caught our eye so far.

• Ubisoft is releasing a side-scrolling Rabbids platform game and has Splinter Cell, Combat of Giants (a dinosaur fighting game), Asphalt 3D, Ghost Recon, James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes and Driver: Renegade all on the way.
• Team Ninja’s Dead or Alive Dimensions has been made of a ‘best of’ edition of the whole series. The game can be played in 3D but many reports say that this causes a significant drop in the framerate.
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 uses a new roving over-the-shoulder camera to put you right behind each player you control.
• Pilotwings Resort features a staple line-up of hang-glider, rocket-belt and plane.
• Nintendogs + Cats features more variation within a species than in the previous game, meaning that not everyone’s raging pitbull will look, bite and slobber the same. And the animals will react to your proximity and if they like you, they’ll lick the screen.

Thats all we know for now, we’ll keep this post up to date with any other news we hear.

Nintendo have finnally anounced the date and price of their new handheld console, the Nintendo 3DS.
In their launch event in Amsterdam today the company anounced that the 3DS will be released on March 25 and  will be available in either Cosmos Black or Aqua Blue.

They also released pricing details for the US but asked european customers to “reffer to retailers” for a specific price. We’ve had a look around and both HMV and Game are pricing the system at £229.99 where as ShopTo and Play.com are pricing it at £219.99. This price seems a bit steep to us, being more expensive then the original PSP when it was released and more expensive than a Xbox 360!

For more info on the 3DS check out our “All you need to know” article here.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata says 3DS games will probably be more expensive than original DS ones as more work is done on them to make them pretty and 3D however he doesn’t expect there to be too much of a cost difference.

We should find out what the average is next week at a 3DS press event in Amsterdam, but some retailers have already started listing titles for pre-order with RRPs of £34.99 and £39.99, MCV reports.

Existing DS titles carry a typical RRP of between £30 and £35, GAME and The Hut are listing multiple 3DS titles with an RRP of £39.99, £5 more than those listed by Indie retailer ShopTo.

This seems a little steep to us as the 3DS was always renowned as the cheaper choice, say what you think in the coments below…

A sneaky mention of friend codes in Famitsu’s preview of Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition has caused speculation that Nintendo’s cumbersome system of adding online friends will make a return for the 3DS.

In the most recent look at Super Street Fighter IV 3D’s online features, the Japanese game magazine makes mention of the ability to play against random opponents or fight friends via a buddy list that is managed using ‘friend codes.’

Whether this is in reference to an in-game system or a universal multiplayer policy, Nintendo has yet to say. However the mere mention of ‘friend codes’ is enough strike fear into the hearts of Wii and DS owners who don’t want to spend another few years juggling 12 to 16-digit codes just to play a quick match of Donkey Kong Kart Racer Sports Edition 3DS with friends. True, this takes all of one minute to do, but the practice is needlessly complicated when compared to the quick and painless approach to adding contacts on other systems.

Source: Andriasang

We now know that the 3DS will feaature a 3D camera when it launches in Japan next month, meaning that users will be able to take 3D pictures, but Nintendo president Satoru Iwata wants the new handheld to support 3D video recording capabilities.

In the latest episode of the Iwata Asks set of interviews, he said

“I think it will be fun if we’re able to include video recording capabilities with future updates.”

As of yet there is nothing for definate but he seems fairly positive on the matter.

After recent reports that Nintendo is in the process of phasing out the DSi in order to pursue a DSi XL / 3DS-only offering, the firm’s UK arm has told us that it has no plans to cease DSi production this year.

“We plan to still manufacture and supply DSi consoles in a range of colours in the UK in 2011,” the firm said. “On an on-going basis, continuing supply is based on retail and consumer demand.”

Good news for those that don’t fancy forking out for the upcoming 3DS or the big-screen DSi XL.

Nintendo revealed the full Japanese 3DS line-up this weekend ahead of the system’s launch next month. Super Street Fighter IV will join six other titles available on day one.

Pics: What you’ll get with Nintendo’s handheld.
If you’re going to fork out a few hundred quid  for a 3DS when the handheld launches, you’ll probably be interested to know what’s coming in the box. One thing to note is the aparently very short cable that comes with the plug. Kotaku is following up with Nintendo to make sure this is a Photoshop tragedy and not an inadequate cable length one.

What you get:

Aside from the system itself, it’ll come bundled with a cradle, battery charger, AC adaptor, 10cm touch pen, 2GB SD card, augmented reality cards and instruction booklets

The photos…

Check out the first trailer ever for Mario Kart 3D…

In a move that could potentially alienate the 3DS’ core audience, Nintendo have said that the using the 3DS could potentially cause serious eye damage. continue to read »