Wii U Message Board older than one year ago

- Unity tools can be acquired for free by any authorized developer who registers with Nintendo's licensing program
- the license's cost is waived for developers on Wii U
- builds generated in Unity still have to run through a Wii U dev kit purchased from Nintendo
- supports DX10 level graphics
- includes deferred rendering, GFX output support
- allows devs to utilize the GamePad screen, camera, microphone, Wii U Pro Controller, Wii Remote, Wii Motion Plus and even the Balance Board
- console's software can be accessed through Unity
- this lets developers utilize Miiverse connectivity
- planning to add support for friends lists, user accounts and voice chat

Here's a demo of Assassin's Creed IV running on both PlayStation 4 and Vita, thanks to Sony's Remote Play feature that they say will allow us to play "almost all" PS4 games on the Vita, through WiFi.Read more...

Tune in for EA's live press conference from Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, at 10AM ET (7AM PT, 4PM CEST) today, August 20. Our liveblog from the event will be right here, so keep this tab open and it'll be like you're sitting next to us, schnitzel in hand ... feeding it to us. EA promises to bring Battlefield 4, Need For Speed Rivals, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare, FIFA 14, EA Sports UFC, Command and Conquer, and it plans to unveil The Sims 4.

EA announced The Sims 4 on May 6, but we've yet to see any footage from within the game. It's due out in 2014 for PC and Mac. We still need concrete launch dates for The Sims 4, Garden Warfare, next-gen versions of NFS Rivals, EA Sports UFC and Command and Conquer, though a lot of this would be cleared up with release dates for the PS4 and Xbox One.

No, there's no Dragon Age: Inquisition on the docket. There aren't dragons in Germany, silly.

Take a quick tour of Wii U-exclusive features bound for Splinter Cell Blacklist.

After the dust settled on last week's multiplayer reveal for Call of Duty: Ghosts, Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin spoke with Joystiq about the franchise's new current- and next-gen engine, in-game female soldiers and the corporate culture at a very different-looking Infinity Ward studio. Rubin also detailed the process and philosophy behind linking in-game progression to Call of Duty profiles, so that players won't be forced to restart their online careers if transitioning between current and next-gen consoles.

For more on Call of Duty: Ghosts (with exclusive in-game footage), make sure to watch our video preview and interview with CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is coming to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later this year, along with Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC versions on November 5.

Lead a nation and fend off aliens this week with Saints Row IV...

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Batman: Arkham Origins won't use Games for Windows Live to track achievements, as Arkham Asylum and Arkham City both did, IGN Australia reports. Arkham Origins' achievements and multiplayer content will be handled directly through Steam. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City used GFWL to track achievements, though they didn't have multiplayer.

Microsoft is closing the GFWL marketplace on August 22, but it says the service will remain active for customers to access previously purchased content.

Capcom's coming Ultra Street Fighter 4 is also ditching GFWL for full Steam integration. The game's predecessors, Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter 4, used GFWL for multiplayer, on top of Steam.

Activision's Skylanders series is doing big business -- big enough for the House of Mouse to take notice and develop a multi-million dollar competitor. The result, Disney Infinity, shares surface similarities with Activision's series, but its gameplay skews toward an older audience, in the hopes of capturing a universal appeal. Disney Infinity makes a lot of promises, boasting gameplay that takes cues from big-name hits like Minecraft and LittleBigPlanet. The finished product is a rousing success, offering lightweight but solid co-op gameplay built on a foundation of undiluted nostalgia.

Since she stepped away from producing Assassin's Creed games at Ubisoft Montreal, Jade Raymond has had a lower profile in the gaming scene. This week, Raymond is back, having overseen development of the new Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the first major game from her new Ubisoft Toronto studio. She's got four answers for us today...and one question for you.Read more...

In a perfect world, this image would have a little yellow circle in the top left corner, and this article would be titled: Disney Infinity: The Kotaku Review. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Read more...

The ambitious new game Disney Infinity is freezing and becoming unplayable for multiple PlayStation 3 users, including two Kotaku editors today. The game's producer has recommended that PS3 users delete the game's day-one 1.01 patch.Read more...

Disney's collectible toy video game platform launches tomorrow, which means parents and fans will be raiding video game aisles across the country to score the initial wave of toys and playsets. How much money should they bring? All of it. Read more...

Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin tells Joystiq that adding playable female soldiers in Call of Duty: Ghosts was to recognize the franchise's complete audience. Women have been added as part of the multiplayer customization in Ghosts, set to arrive on November 5.

"Honestly, adding female soldiers to character customization wasn't about trying to lure more people into the game. It was actually just about acknowledging the people who already play our game," Rubin says.

Enngine limitations were another contributing factor in the franchise's lack of playable female soldiers.

"It wasn't until we rewrote the way character memory is handled - that we could do 'Create-a-Soldier,' that we could do customized characters - that the possibility of having female soldiers really came to fruition," Rubin explains.

"Bringing female characters into Call of Duty: Ghosts wasn't something that was limited generation, it was limited by the engine itself."

Disney tightened its focus within the video games sector in order to concentrate on the upcoming multiplatform release of Disney Infinity, the Wall Street Journal reports.

As part of its restructuring efforts, the company canceled a previously unannounced Iron Man-licensed game that had entered production. Disney Interactive additionally passed on its option to produce multiple Star Wars-licensed games following its parent company's purchase of Lucasfilm earlier this year.

According to the Wall Street Journal's report, Disney Infinity cost the company more than $100 million to produce. The risk is great, but Disney counts on a big payoff, as Activision's competing Skylanders series has raked in more than $1.5 billion in sales since its launch in 2011.

Disney positions Infinity as a boost for its faltering Interactive division, which has incurred more than $1.41 billion in losses since its formation in 2008.

"If Infinity does well, it bodes very well for the bottom line of this unit," Disney CEO Robert Iger told the Wall Street Journal. "If it doesn't do well, the opposite will be the case."

"It's a Hail Mary with a tremendous amount of pressure to be a hit," said an unnamed source who recently left Disney's video game division.

Play-Asia looks into Mirror of Fate and sees an HD port staring back at them, it seems. The Hong Kong retailer put up a new listing for a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow collection, and lurking inside is an unannounced PS3 and Xbox 360 port of the 3DS direct sequel. The PS3 and Xbox 360 collection also features the first Lords of Shadow along with all its DLC, and an "exclusive demo" of Lords of Shadow 2. The release date is listed as October 2013.

We've not found other retailers with the listing as yet. However, in December 2012, Mirror of Fate was classified by Brazil's games rating board for PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as 3DS, some three months prior to its arrival on the portable. The Brazilian board also rated the game for PC and Wii U, although these platforms aren't noted in Play-Asia's listing.

In February, Konami UK boss Dave Cox said the company would "definitely" consider an HD Mirror of Fate, explaining the studio built the game in HD and "kind of shrunk it" onto 3DS. "We want as many people to play it as possible. Obviously we have an exclusivity deal with Nintendo right now though and they've been very supportive of the product," Cox told CVG.

Like a bat out of hell, retail listings like this one are usually gone in the morning, but at the moment the collection is still on Play-Asia's site. We've reached out to Konami for comment.

Play-Asia looks into Mirror of Fate and sees an HD port staring back at them, it seems. The Hong Kong retailer put up a new listing for a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow collection, and lurking inside is an unannounced PS3 and Xbox 360 port of the 3DS direct sequel. The PS3 and Xbox 360 collection also features the first Lords of Shadow along with all its DLC, and an "exclusive demo" of Lords of Shadow 2. The release date is listed as October 2013.

We've not found other retailers with the listing as yet. However, in December 2012, Mirror of Fate was classified by Brazil's games rating board for PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as 3DS, some three months prior to its arrival on the portable. The Brazilian board also rated the game for PC and Wii U, although these platforms aren't noted in Play-Asia's listing.

In February, Konami UK boss Dave Cox said the company would "definitely" consider an HD Mirror of Fate, explaining the studio built the game in HD and "kind of shrunk it" onto 3DS. "We want as many people to play it as possible. Obviously we have an exclusivity deal with Nintendo right now though and they've been very supportive of the product," Cox told CVG.

Like a bat out of hell, retail listings like this one are usually gone in the morning, but at the moment the collection is still on Play-Asia's site. We've reached out to Konami for comment.

Call of Duty: Ghosts brings Activision's behemoth to next-generation consoles later this year, launching for both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. While the game features a new engine, destructibility and new customization options, one of the biggest (and more surprising) barriers was commanding the slightly smaller Xbox One controller.

Ghosts also represents refinements made throughout the lifespan of the franchise, including a new value-based perk system and slick traversal options (next-gen stuff, like sliding and leaning!). Watch Joystiq control and bumble its way through combat, with exclusive footage, in our latest video preview.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is set to arrive on next-gen systems this year from developers Infinity Ward, Raven Software and Neversoft. The shooter launches on November 5 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, with a Wii U version in the works from developer Treyarch.

The NPD Group has released its report on sales in the physical retail channel of the games industry during the month of July, with both predictable and surprising results. On the predictable side of things, all three segments (Hardware, Software and Accessories) continued their downward year-over-year decline, with total Hardware sales suffering a 34-percent decrease: $99.4 million this year as compared with $150.9 million over the same period in 2012.

Despite this industry-wide decline, Nintendo's 3DS saw a 14 percent year-over-year increase in sales as it held its spot as the best-selling piece of hardware for a third month in a row. This is the first time a handheld has topped the market for such a lengthy period since the Nintendo DS' three month streak in the fall/winter of 2010, according to NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 remained the best-selling home console for the thirty-first month in a row.

As per usual, the Accessories segment suffered the least amount of market fluctuation, experiencing only a three percent year-over-year loss and bringing in $133.4 million in sales. Also maintaining the status quo, this segment's stability continues to be attributed to steady sales of digital currency and subscription giftcards.

After dropping the mic and cutting to the first multiplayer reveal for Call of Duty: Ghosts yesterday, Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg, spoke with Joystiq about the franchise's first console cycle refresh as a cultural icon.

Earlier this month, Hirshberg noted that the transition to a new generation of consoles had negatively impacted pre-order sales. Yesterday he expanded on that thought, explaining that much of the hesitation is because players have not yet decided on their next platform or even if they will join the next-generation at launch.

Hirshberg also took a moment to respond to overly aggressive (and downright scary) players, such as those that threatened physical harm upon Treyarch's studio design director David Vonderhaar after announcing slight tweaks to weapons and skills in Black Ops 2, calling their actions "unacceptable."

Call of Duty: Ghosts will be available "across all the platforms" on November 5, Hirshberg says.

Ubisoft has a new action-packed trailer for Splinter Cell: Blacklist ahead of the game's August 23 release. If you prefer a little more text with your videos, we recommend checking out our review of the game.

Today's big Call of Duty Ghosts multiplayer reveal event didn't reveal everything. They actually skipped some really interesting things, including "martyr dog." Thankfully, Ghosts executive producer Mark Rubin decided to spill more news when he spoke to us. Read more...

Black Forest Games' Wii U port of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams twirls into Europe and Australia's eShops on August 22, but remains date-less in North America for now. The German studio told us it was bringing the sororal platformer to Wii U this month, but this week's announcement notes US and APAC dates are as yet unconfirmed. We've reached out to Black Forest Games for more info.

Those who like their platforming semi-portable will be pleased to know the Wii U version supports off-TV play, as well as featuring a new easy mode - don't be fooled by the cutesy look, Twisted Dreams can be a tricksy hobbit when it wants, even on Normal mode.

Meanwhile, the game's Steam version is getting new DLC in September. The punfully titled 'Rise of the Owlverlord' includes seven levels, new music, and an owl commander boss to take down, all of which sounds like a hoot. It comes to Steam in September, priced $4.99, a DRM-free version due sometime after.

If you're wondering, Black Forest Games hasn't forgotten the game's Kickstarter roots. Backers who pledged $25 towards the Giana Kickstarter get the Owlverlord DLC for free, as do those who put $15 towards Ravensdale fundraiser, despite the extreme likelihood it won't achieve its goal.

Spanish indie dev Teku Studios has reached its $40,000 crowdfunding goal for Candle, a cinematic adventure game slated for release next year for PC platforms.

Inspired by classics like Out of This World and the Oddworld series, Candle blends the mechanics of a side-scrolling platformer with the puzzle-solving focus of a graphic adventure game. The game's main character, Teku, is equipped with a candle, which he can use to illuminate dark areas and solve light-based puzzles.

Teku Studios announced today that Candle is also coming to the Wii U as a downloadable eShop release.

"We are already thinking about dedicated gameplay on Wii U - we are not doing any kind of quick port," Teku Studios confirmed. "We will design specific gameplay features for its gamepad: all the menus, inventory and minigames will be tactile-controled on the touchscreen, as well as other unique actions concerning Teku's candle."

Candle currently seeks community approval at Steam Greenlight.

PS3 and Xbox 360 owners will be getting demos for Rayman Legends on August 20th. You can check out Kotaku’s preview of the 360 version right here.Read more...

I downloaded the demo for The Wonderful 101, and was surprised to find this message pop up telling me that I would only be allowed to run the demo 20 times. Now, of course I don't plan on playing a demo more than once or twice, as I'm sure most people don't. Which is why I find it so odd that Nintendo would put this restriction in place. If any game is good enough that I would play the demo more than 20 times, then I'll be buying it to play the full experience before ever getting to that point.Read more...

DuckTales: Remastered is exactly what it sounds like — A faithful recreation of the NES game with beautiful 2D animations, new music and, most importantly, achievements. Take a look at the shiny new game in the video above.Read more...

Taking a break from marking up used games, GameStop announced today that preorders were open for the chain-exclusive Skylanders Swap Force Dark Edition Starter Pack, which replaces the normal pack's milk chocolate with sumptuous dark... oh wait. Read more...

It's pogo a-go-go this week in DuckTales Remastered.

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Skylanders rival-to-be Disney Infinity unveiled 'Toy Story in Space' as its sixth play set, along with a whole bunch of new playable characters for the Toy Box mode. The game's play sets include physical figures that grant access to in-game worlds and stories, in this case the Toy Story universe. Buzz Lightyear and Jessie are the packed-in figures, while a Woody figure is available separately.

Infinity's Starter Pack, priced $75, includes the game, three play sets, and a figure for each one. Those sets are The Incredibles, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Monsters University, and they come with Mr. Incredible, Jack Sparrow, and Sully figurines.

As ever with toys, some play sets are sold separately, and Disney has announced three other additional play sets so far. They are Cars, The Lone Ranger, and the newly confirmed Toy Story in Space, each one adding around six to nine hours of gameplay and priced $35. Unlike the other two, Toy Story in Space won't be available when the game launches for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Wii, and 3DS later this week - it's scheduled for October.

Disney also announced new figures for the Toy Box mode, the game's communal sandbox where collected characters can be brought together for crossover antics. While we'd prefer Wreck-It Ralph to get his own launch play set, the big lug does feature as an additional Toy Box character along with co-star Vanellope. The other newbies are Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey from Fantasia, Tangled's Rapunzel, Phineas and Agent P from Phineas and Ferb, Anna and Elsa from upcoming film Frozen, and finally, maybe the pick of the bunch, The Nightmare Before Christmas' Jack Skellington. The newly announced Toy Box characters will roll out starting October through to next year.

Capcom's DuckTales for the Nintendo Entertainment System was a masterwork of 8-bit game design, combining a beloved Disney cartoon series with exceptional platforming action. In DuckTales Remastered, developer WayForward sought to improve upon the much-loved title, which also happens to be my personal favorite game of all time.

No pressure, right?

Make no mistake: I do not envy WayForward's task here. As wonderful as it is, the original DuckTales is a game that can be played from start to finish in under ten minutes, making it a hard sell for modern audiences. DuckTales Remastered takes all of the content found in the NES original and amplifies the experience with extended level layouts and new gameplay objectives.

WayForward's efforts do justice to the source material and should satisfy fans of both the DuckTales cartoon and NES game, but some missteps and misplaced priorities make Remastered less successful than it could have been.