If you’ve ever read the staff page, you’ll know that my husband works for Nintendo of America.  He had to report this internally as well, due to company policies.  So on the inside there was no mystery about who I was or what I did.  Many would consider this a conflict of interest.  For me, it enabled my criticisms to be harsher than what my fellow colleagues may have written.  I’ve wanted the best for Nintendo and when certain moves were made about X product, I would be just as frustrated as everyone else and voice my opinion.  Perhaps I was influenced because the roof over our head depended on his job, but I never saw it in that light.  I’ve always had a soft spot for all things Nintendo, and doing the site was just an extension of that.

Lately however, I’ve noticed I just don’t care for what Nintendo has been doing as of late.  I’ve been playing less each day and found I wasn’t having any fun in what I do.  Nintendo news will always be interesting to me, simply for the fact that I respect head honcho Satoru Iwata and what he’s done with this company since taking over.  Unfortunately, most of the rest has become lifeless and suffocating so that it’s not worth the personal investment any longer.

During my tenure here as the site owner, I’ve had the privilege of working with my fabulous staff.  Jim Avery, otherwise known as TheSoundDefense, is a wonderful friend who I considered a co-owner for how many times he kept the site going in my absence.  Javier de la Vega was always fun on the podcast, even if he rarely played anything Nintendo related, and used his video editing skills to create our first animated video intro.  Others who have come and gone as staff for Nintendo Gal, have made an impact that I’ll remember as I’m sure others will too.

Lastly, but most importantly, the readers.  Everything I did, and I’m sure the other writers did, was so that you, the audience could enjoy it.  Putting together reviews and other articles was there to amuse, entertain, and perhaps enrich the reader.  For your support after so many years, I am eternally grateful.

As for TSD and I, we won’t be leaving the industry.  TSD still writes some hilarious pieces for Cracked.com as well as being a Workshop Moderator there.  He’s also going to help where he can with a new site I started awhile ago, Gametista.com.  So, if you care to follow us into new territory, you’re welcome to do so.

My crappy digital signature

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOF-w83gI8U[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssngTQ-gC8U[/youtube]

No release date for the US has been announced.

WB/5th Cell were kind enough to send along three “Rooster Hats” for me to check out and try on. The hats came with a “friendly” reminder that you can get one of three by pre-ordering the game at GameStop.  Each hat is made with 100% polyester, is hand-wash only, and is made in China.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/RHR45snWxfQ[/youtube]

Keep an eye out for a contest to win one of these hats in the near future!

A few short hours after Japan got their Nintendo Direct presentation, those of us in the US were given ours. Here’s a brief summary:

- Paper Mario: Sticker Star discussed
- Trailer shown
- Professor Layton & The Miracle Mask shown

- Crosswords Plus DLC discussed
- Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone! DLC discussed, 10 new packs coming
- Style Savvy Trendsetters discussed
- New Super Mario Bros 2 more DLC packs

- Crashmo discussed
- Gravity will play a big part
- Fluidity Spin Cycle
- Different states of liquid, (water, ice, steam) to navigate through levels
- Releases December 27th
- Liberation Maiden discussed (available now)
- Aero Porter and Crimson Shroud coming later
- NightSky (available now)
- Ikachan coming soon
- Mutant Mudds gets 27 new levels
- eShop trailer shown
- Other games in trailer shown: Castlevania the Adventure, Wario Land II, Zelda II, Ninja Gaiden, The Lost Levels (SMB), Tokyo Crash Mobs

- Fire Emblem Awakening discussed
- Video shown while detailed
- Will have downloadable maps available

- Animal Crossing 3DS now Animal Crossing New Leaf (3DS) discussed
- Video shown with details of the game
- Trailer (in English) shown

- 3rd party games logos shown
- Nintendo Direct ends with sizzle trailer

Here’s a brief summary of the Nintendo Direct presentation for Japan that happened earlier today.  Translation thanks to Cheesemeister3k on Twitter.

- Jam With the Band (Band Brothers) heading to Nintendo 3DS next year
- Crashmo shown
- Fluidity sequel, “Gurutto Splash” involves turning your system and water mechanics
- New Super Mario Bros 2 DLC packs 4 and 5 detailed
- Animal Crossing discussed
- QR code for a t-shirt in the game on the website
- Software can be redownloaded and copied to bigger SD cards via PC
- EX Troopers trailer shown with multiplayer
- Pokemon Dungeon, Pokemon in 3D on 3DS
- Layton vs Phoenix Wright shown much more

- Shu Takumi talks about the game for a bit
- Layton shown in the defense box with PW
- Paper Mario: Sticker Star shown briefly
- Torikio Gourmet Monsters! talked about
- Inazuma Eleven GO 2 Chrono Stone shown
- Nintendo 3DS music service “Reco-choku” allows purchasing of music
- Can load songs onto other devices

- Wii U Dragon Quest X Producer Yosuke Saito talks about the game
- Monster Hunter Tri 3G HD Version talked about and shown
- GamePad use with the game shown
- Transfer between 3DS and Wii U shown
- All items, skills, and equipment transferred

- Online play is free, all 3DS quests included
- Local multiplayer between 1 Wii U and up to 3 Nintendo 3DS systems
- Wii U online multiplayer up to 4
- Luigi’s Mansion 2 heading to Japan in 2013
- End, though Iwata meets Arino from Game Center CX
- Both play Balloon Fight (Trip Mode) on NES competitively

Nintendo has begun rolling out their Wii U displays for the masses.  If you have yet to get your hands on the system, check out your local Best Buy or GameStop.  At my local Best Buy, not only was there a Wii U setup, there were Wii U branded Wii Remotes and Nunchuks along with pre-order slips for games.

When it came to the actual Wii U interactive, it was slightly disappointing.  The only game available to try was Rayman Legends, while the rest of the games simply had videos.  This wasn’t too much of a problem since I had never played Rayman Legends, Wii U or otherwise.  I played through it with my husband in tow and we both had a good laugh.  What turned my smile into concern though was the fact that each time the “demo period” was over, which was approximately 12 minutes, was the strangely long reboot time.  Check out the video below which has not been altered for time whatsoever.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXMWICCPn4c[/youtube]

Now, most would say that 2-3 minutes isn’t a long time to wait.  Normally I’d agree, except the point of the display is to attract attention.  Certainly there were people who came by and touched the GamePad, curious about what it was.  Once they realized nothing was happening after touching it, they went about shopping elsewhere in the store.  In this day and age, demonstrations need to be quick and readily available or they face the indifference of short attention span consumers.

Whether this is indicative of the actual boot times of the Wii U remains to be seen, but I seriously doubt it.  Probably just a marketing SNAFU by Nintendo.

Before our time with Wii U, me and a few other writers from other outlets were treated to Nintendo 3DS retail and eShop titles. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to snag the unit with Paper Mario: Sticker Star on it.  Not to worry, I thought.  How about a few of those newly announced eShop titles?  Denied yet again when I was informed that the Paper Mario unit also contained the other games.

Completely NOT what my cherry looked like

What I was able to sample for a brief time was Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone! I made my way through the tutorial which had me attempting to draw, sketch, then color in a cherry. As with previous versions, a flick of the stylus was sensitive and accurate. So much in fact that by the time I finished, instead of creating a beautiful cherry, I had bastardized the fruit, amusing those around me ever so slightly. Once I was done with my splotches of digital oil, I took a quick look at the gallery. It allows the viewer to place their works in a museum-like environment. My cherry looking abomination needed center stage I decided. Randomly I chose a frame and placed it in the lonely room. Monet was rolling in his grave at that moment.

Since I had such wonderful talent for art, I was given Style Savvy: Trendsetters to endure. No, it wasn’t bad at all actually! I was thrust into the middle of an in-session game. The object was to help some rather shallow customers out with selections of clothing and/or shoes. A few hints were enough for even a clueless fashion novice like myself to be able to nudge them in the right direction. No one who walked into my boutique left disappointed, except me since I was reliving moments of the retail working experience.

Word went around quickly that they were ready for me to play a few Wii U titles. Since I love playing first person shooters, especially Call of Duty, I leapt up and quickly asked to play Black Ops II. It was not to be at that particular moment however, since a film crew was recording. On the upside, I was pointed in the direction of ZombiU. Admittedly, it had been a little bit since I’d played any portion of the game, but I managed to shake off the rust quickly.

In this build, I was to play the Tower of London level. I started off checking what I had on hand, noting the low bullet count. The developers seemed to have made a few changes this go around. Instead of your flashlight lasting forever, it lasts approximately 99 seconds before needing to be recharged. This made me severely cautious, to the point of finding a safe dark area and waiting nervously for it to recharge and pushing forward once again. Also interesting was showing that your character is completely vulnerable in the water due to carrying the supplies above their head. You’re not even able to bash at a stray zombie coming up to you with the giant pack. The tinges of fear it induced were quite palpable. It didn’t help that I’m a scaredy cat already with these types of games.

Pushing onward, I found a dock where I had to snipe enemies from long distance. The Wii U Game Pad was held up while I aimed for the heads, cleanly finishing them off with a shot or two. After a bit more exploring, I was shown that there will be a map system of sorts that allows travel from certain areas. After being amused by that, I went underground to find a way out, only to be met with a water system and many more dark corners. Once I realized how many zombies were crawling around in the area I was about to audibly give out a few solid, “Nope Nope Nope!”s, but my time was up. I screamed like a little girl only a half dozen times. Thinking I did rather well, it was time to move onto happier times with Nintendo Land.

Up first for Nintendo Land was Pikmin Adventure. It’s played cooperatively with the person holding the GamePad acting as Olimar. Just like in a Pikmin game, the job is to fling the Pikmin at enemies to clear the way. The twist is that those holding Wii Remotes will be Pikmin and can move around and assist Olimar. To throw me into the deep end, I was given the GamePad and started hoping for the best. Zigging and zagging around enemies was fairly easy, though there were a few close calls. Luckily we finished by the skin of my helmet. A few Pikmin were probably harmed in the making of this experience.

Moving on quickly from our Pikmin culling, I came to Metroid Blast. Instead of Samus’ Gunship being the main focal point in a versus match, it was a new mode consisting of yet more co-op. This time I was the Gunship and who knows why. The controls for the Gunship have a bit of a learning curve to them. While I was getting situated with once again flying too low or in circles, the rest of my team with their Wii Remotes were blasting away waves of robotic enemies. I was able to shoot a few targets here and there, as the rounds ended. Just in the nick of time!

Balloon Trip Breeze came next and it was actually deceptively fun for a solo experience.  Out of all the Nintendo Land games I’ve played, this one ranks the most awkward.  Swiping to move isn’t a problem, but the zoomed in perspective can be.  This effectively means that in order to see the bigger picture, you’ll keep your eyes on the TV. With the GamePad, you’ll be flicking your way across water, collecting balloons for points.  You can snag these by simply running into them or popping them with the stylus on the screen.

At first it was easy, cruising at a high altitude, gaining points, but then a few sharp objects came into view which cut short my relaxing joyride.  It was now turning into frantically swiping the screen while tapping the balloon popping barriers, while narrowly avoiding clusters of these dangers I missed.  To make it even more difficult, if you hang too low, a shark can pop your balloon if you’re not too careful.   Out of all the Nintendo Land games I’ve played, this one ranks the most awkward.  Even with this slight oddity, I found myself wanting to keep playing after a few turns.  It might not have the Donkey Kong’s Crash Course’s addictive all around elements, but it did manage enough to keep my interest.

Last up was a request of mine because I had enjoyed playing this at the Nintendo Wii U Experience previous to this event. Mario Chase, which is exactly what it sounds like, had me giggling in small bursts. I was Mario, so I held onto the GamePad, which allows you to see everyone running after you. The others playing with Wii Remotes, were limited to just what was in front of them. Instead of simply run away as I’ve seen others doing, I chose to hide in a little discreet hole of sorts. As the others scrambled around, sometimes through mud which would slow them down, I snickered. When one chaser grew closer, I bolted out of my spot and ran for a bridge.

After I crossed it, it vanished and left a mud river for my pursuers to ford. While they were busy with tracing my steps, I bolted for the middle of the map where the Star power-up was sitting. I bided my time until the hunting party converged on my position. At the last second, I grabbed the Star and with my new found invincibility, pushed everyone out of my way and ran for safety. Needless to say, it was probably the only real victory I had out of everything I played up to that point. Although it was fast-paced, nothing could have prepared me for a Boost Rush.

All my New Super Mario Bros. U experiences so far had been fun, laid back sorts of affairs. Then I was introduced to Boost Rush. In this mode, the screen automatically scrolls and speeds up as players collect coins. Knowing that how you placed helping blocks with the GamePad made inclined to try out the GamePad first. It seemed that it would be easy, simply help Mario, Luigi, and Toads to get to the end as fast as possible. The problem came in where everyone would grab coins, which put the scrolling at such a hectic pace, that not everyone was keeping up. This meant trying to multitask and help on both sides of the screen. Eventually I found it impossible and would only help the person on the right. It made me feel like a dick, but that’s Darwinism for you I suppose.

Next, I switched and was trying to figure out what was making this so difficult. As soon as I tried to jump, I saw the issue. There was significant lag when inputting any sort of jump. This meant you had to time your jumps accordingly with that in mind. Add to the hectic pace that Boost Rush sets and it’s a formula for disaster. I noticed the lag, but no one seemed keen to answer me about the issue. It’s not something I could see Nintendo let slip by in testing however, so I chalked it up to the build’s bug.

At last, I was able to head over to the Call of Duty: Black Ops II area. Expecting to be greeted with a Wii U Pro Controller, I was instead given the GamePad. Before I got to play, a few things were explained to me, such as the new “pick 10″ system. This system allows the player to fully customize their experience. For instance, instead of having only 3 Perks, you can opt to have a total of 6. To balance this, you’d be severely limited in selection of gun accessories, tactical, and assault options going this route. There will be many interesting combinations players put together with the plethora of options they’re being given.

It was then onto some bot slaying. Starting out, I selected a pre-made run and gun class featuring the MP-7. I didn’t see the UMP, which was a huge bummer for me personally since it’s my SMG of choice in MW3. The map that was selected was Yemen, which is a more close quarters environment I was told. Once in, I killed a few bots since the difficulty setting for them was quite low. After a few more kills, I noticed that the sensitivity wasn’t to my liking. After cranking it up to 14, it felt as it should to me. The change to the levels of sensitivity will also give another option for those wanting to fine-tune their experience, especially for those who don’t max it out and didn’t find comfort in the levels in previous games.

Kill streaks have been revamped in this game. In their place is an ingenious score streak system that promotes more than basic death-matches. For those that play objective orientated matches, this may get players more involved in what they’re supposed to be doing. Score streaks work similar to the kill streak system where you’ll build it up while alive and lose your streak once you die. The difference here is that most everything you do from killing, to assists, to destroying enemy tech is awarded points. The higher your score, the better your score streak reward could be. When selecting a score streak from the menu, you’re not limited to ranges either. With the original Black Ops, you could not select an RC-XD and a UAV at the same time. Black Ops II “fixes” this and allows you to select whichever three you want.

Getting back into the game, the motion looked beautiful. The graphics didn’t look gimped as they have been in previous incarnations of CoD games on Nintendo platforms. It was confirmed that the game will not run at 1080P though, but I didn’t see an issue with it while playing. Oh and the reason for me playing on the GamePad? There’s a map on the screen along with easy access to any earned score streaks. It was as easy as using my thumb to press which one I wanted, instead of having to use the D-pad, which saved a few seconds.

After my slaying was done with the bots in Yemen, it was time for a break and a look at my own custom class. I am a huge fan of using a knife and have over 500 accolades in MW3 from doing so. I was eager to test out a knife only class, which you’re able to do. For my main weapon I had Ballistic Knives and 6 perks. Probably not a typical class to play with, but I thought since the bots are push-overs, that I’d test it out. The next map was Cargo, which isn’t quite as close quarters as Yemen, but still had areas where knife kills would be ideal. Once the round started, I ran to an enemy and proceeded to do what I do best. One kill later, I had access to a weapon. Along with 6 perks, this could be quite deadly in an actual match.

When I eventually died, I went to another custom class that had a weapon with an attached Millimeter Scanner. This is probably one of the neatest additions to the game. The scanner pulses every few seconds with outlines of enemies where you’re aiming. When there’s smoke, you can see right through it to enemies, provided they aren’t using the Cold-Blooded perk. What I found fun was to throw a smoke grenade and stand in the cloud. This allowed me to be obfuscated from view and throw out some serious lead at the bots. Unfortunately my time was running short so I threw out what score streaks I had and ended the game.

Normally I don’t double-dip on games, but Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is really making a case to have it on both Wii U as well as Xbox 360.

For the .0001% of the population that may not own a Wii yet, this price drop may be for you. Nintendo announced they’ll be dropping the price of Wii to $129.99 and will include Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort all on one disc. The bundle will be made available on October 28th and will come with the standard Wii RemotePlus, Nunchuk, system, all in black.  For those worried about GameCube backward compatibility, this particular SKU doesn’t seem to have it.

Or, you could always wait for the Wii U like the rest of us, unless there aren’t enough units to supply the demand of course.

Demo (eShop): Lego The Lord of the Rings

This Lego title has you playing through all three films of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Explore a vast Middle-Earth, use various weaponry and magic and fight in epic battles, as you unlock up to 80 playable characters.

Game Boy Color: Mario Golf, $4.99

This golf title has you creating your own golfer, then improving their skills by playing against other golfers. Upgrade your character by playing on four different courses, with 12 practice ranges, and eventually face off against Mario himself. Enjoy five play modes, including a variety of mini-games.

eShop: Crazy Kangaroo, $3.99

Barney the kangaroo has escaped a group of poachers, and now has to make his way home. Guide him safely home in this arcade platformer, using motions controls or the Circle Pad. Purchasing upgrades will help you complete the game’s various missions.

eShop: Nurikabe by Nikoli, $4.99

Nikoli is back with another puzzle game. You start off with a grid of white squares, with some of them holding numbers. Using the numbers as a guide, fill in the appropriate squares to complete the puzzle. The game comes with 50 pre-designed puzzles, as well as a random mode.

DSiWare: Robot Rescue 2, $1.99/200 Nintendo Points

Robot Rescue 2 bills itself as a truly difficult puzzle game. In each of the game’s 60 levels, you must guide a group of robots and help them escape a deadly labyrinth, repainting some of them as you go. The difficulty is that when you move one robot, you move them all. Make sure to avoid the traps as you go.

Neo Geo: The Last Blade 2, 900 Nintendo Points

This fighting game sequel allows you to play as one of 16 fighter characters, with either a “Strength” or “Attack” sword style. You can deflect enemy attacks, as well as cancel powerful special moves if you are skilled enough. New features like aerial repels and background recovery also contribute to the game’s enhanced engine.

I’ve heard good things about the GBC version of Mario Golf, so I’m tempted to pick that up. The RPG elements sound interesting.