The concerts are part of Nintendo Live 2022, a two-day event being held at Tokyo Big Sight from 8-9th October, promising live music, stage activities, game competitions, and more. Nintendo UK confirmed it would be broadcasting the Animal Crossing and Splatoon 3 shows - titled DJ K.K. Paradise Mix!! and Deep Cut respectively - in a tweet earlier today. Nintendo hasn’t shared specifics of either performance yet, but they’ll presumably unfold in a similar fashion to the projection-based Splatoon concerts the company has been running on semi-regular basis in recent years....

The takedowns started over a year ago now, in December 2020, after which Nintendo fans hit back at the decision to block the soundtracks of games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and Mario Kart Wii by trolling the company on social media. As I wrote back in December 2020, Nintendo is of course absolutely entitled to do this, but once again it hasn’t explained why it’s forcibly removing the music from YouTube, nor offered an alternative place for fans to listen to their favourite tracks....

Tune in at 5.30pm UK time for a “deep dive” into Splatoon 3’s single-player mode plus more details and strategies for this weekend’s upcoming Splatfest World Premiere demo. Following that, we’ll see “world-first gameplay” for Harvestella, the farming role-playing game being made by Final Fantasy maker Square Enix. The timing of this broadcast fits in with Gamescom this week - even though Nintendo previously said it would not be participating in the Cologne-based expo this year, and indeed does not have a presence on the show floor....

Nintendo Pictures was formerly known as Dynamo Pictures, the CG-focused visual production company whose previous motion capture and animation work has included a series of Pikmin short films and featured in the likes of Persona 5, Final Fantasy 13-2, Monster Hunter World, and Metroid: Other M. Nintendo confirmed it would be rebranding the studio when it announced its acquisition in July, explaining it intended Nintendo Pictures to focus on the development of visual content utilising its iconic gaming IP....

The latest comment on the matter - and the latest interview with Fils-Aimé as he promotes his new memoir - comes from Bloomberg, where the former exec stated for the first time that Mother 3’s content was not the issue. “That is not at all the issue why Mother 3 in particular never made it to the West,” Fils-Aime said when asked about Mother 3’s more sensitive topics. “It was all based on the business needs and the business situation at the time....

But while that’s a huge milestone - already 6m more than the Wii - Nintendo admitted its consoles sales were down 20 percent on last year, and blamed “shortages of semiconductor components and other parts”. Last year’s results were also boosted by the breakout popularity of Animal Crossing, Nintendo noted. Nintendo Switch game sales saw no such slowdown. Software sales were up 1.8 percent year-on-year to 235m, meaning the past 12 months were the highest annual game sales figure ever recorded for a Nintendo platform....

This update will bring several new additions to the game, including leg strap accessory support and fresh volleyball moves. Firstly, once this update goes live, you will be able to use the game’s leg strap accessory in both four-on-four and one-on-one football matches. For those yet to get their hands on this bit of kit, you can purchase one through the My Nintendo Store. The update will also introduce new volleyball moves, which are called ‘Slide Attack’ and ‘Rocket Serve’....

The launch of the game on these devices will bring with it improved HD visuals and framerates, with faster loading times to “keep players dishing out eye-popping ultraviolence” throughout (how lovely). To accompany this announcement, we also got a nice shiny new trailer to pour over. This is full of beam katanas, a general sense of mass destruction and Travis’ cat Jeane - what’s not to love?! You can check it out for yourself below....

Ward founded Ocean with Jon Woods in 1983, and the Manchester-based company - initially known as Spectrum Games - would go on to become one of the era’s biggest publishers. Its extensive output spanned the 80s and early 90s, with a focus on arcade conversions and licensed games, including the likes of 1984’s legendary Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, and home computer versions of Batman, RoboCop, and the Addams Family. News of Ward’s death was shared by his son Ben Ward on Twitter earlier today....

Raft, if you’re unfamiliar, first gained attention as a free itch.io prototype back in 2016. After a two year spell expanding the game’s core survival loop - in which players chart their raft across a vast ocean, reeling in food, supplies, and building materials to turn their initially tiny vessel into a veritable sea-faring palace - Redbeet launched into Steam early access in 2018. Raft has come a long way since then, gaining the likes of online co-op, explorable islands, underwater reefs, crop growing, cooking, animal care, and even a full story campaign for its version 1....

The wall is in a branch of the ILLOIHA fitness club, and it was created by the design team Nendo. “To express the original brand concept of “becoming beautiful through movement”, we chose the theme “rock-climbing in Omotesando”,” the website explains. “[We] developed a design that uses the mismatch between a rugged outdoor sport and Tokyo’s fashion district to its advantage.” What they came up with is a bit of a revelation....

For that, you’re getting a mouse that weighs just 62g, making it quite the nimble customer for gaming, as well as offering a safe shape that should also be rather comfortable. Its design should look familar to anyone who’s used a Glorious Model O, or Razer Viper for instance, given its wider back, which makes it a great choice for claw or fingertip grippers with medium to large hand sizes....

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live (thanks The Verge), Spencer admitted, “We’ve held price on our console, we’ve held price on games and our subscription. I don’t think we’ll be able to do that forever… I do think at some point we’ll have to raise some prices on certain things, but going into this holiday we thought it was important to maintain the prices.” Earlier this year, of course, Sony announced it would be increasing the cost of PlayStation 5 in response to “high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends”....

This event in particular caught my eye, as it will allow you to grow the series’ original Red, Blue and Yellow Pikmin varieties dressed up in the space suits of Pikmin 3’s main characters: Alph, Brittany, and Charlie. If you’re unfamiliar, Pikmin Bloom lets you potter about your neighbourhood growing flower trails and picking up Pikmin seedlings that can grow into Pikmin wearing costumes. If you’re near a beach, for example, the Pikmin could be wearing a shell, or a discarded bottle cap if collected near a corner shop....

Right on schedule, Epic has announced next week’s free title: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. The 2.5D platform adventure was released in 2019 as a spin-off from the 2017 original. Tom called the Eurogamer recommended game “a far more polished game than the studio’s predecessor” in his review. Epic also launched its Lunar New Year sale today which lasts until 10th February. There are discounts of up to 75 percent off on a sizeable number of games and add-ons, including 50 percent off Hitman 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla....

Still, moving into 2008, Sony made plenty of agreeable moves for its console. Big exclusives like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift were crowd pleasers, the console received a welcome price-cut and mistakes of the past were rectified - rumble returned to PlayStation controllers, for starters. And with a couple of years of development under their belts, at least there was movement in the right direction for multi-platform titles....

Raymond’s studio initially received funding from Sony last year, and has been hard at work on an exclusive new multiplayer PlayStation IP. Today’s news marks a significant further step in that relationship - and is a positive sign for what the studio has built so far. In an interview which has gone live alongside the news, GamesIndustry.biz quotes PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst as saying Sony was “very impressed with how Haven is coming together”, and exceeding plans for progress made....

The game is still at least six months from release - and so will simply not have time to launch before Sony closes the Vita store in August, following similar closures of the PS3 and PSP stores on 2nd July. Lillymo Games posted on Twitter of discovering the news at the same time as it was revealed publicly: In a report published today by The Gamer, Spooky Squid Games - the developer of the upcoming Vita port of Russian Subway Dogs - said it was now rushing to get the project done in time....

Pokémon Go Fest 2022 is also a branching quest, with three different paths for you to choose from. You also have to select which difficulty level you wish the quest to be and, for both of these reasons, it’s a good idea to know which Choose Path choice is best for you. With Land Forme Shaymin’s initial release being part of Go Fest 2022, unlocking this questline requires you to have purchased a ticket for the event....

This is a new set of tasks that focus on taking down Team Go Rocket in Pokémon Go, introducing new Shadow Pokemon and rewards - but you can expect the familar gauntlet of grunt trainer battles and catching Shadow Pokémon before taking on the leaders and, eventually, Giovanni himself. You’ll also be rewarded with experience and a range of items for every quest steps you complete. Note: On its debut, there appears to be a bug where the latest Team Go Rocket quest released in November 2022, Ultra Beast Protection Efforts, where it’ll be named after this one for the first step....