Nintendo is planning to cease online play for the 3DS portable game unit and the Wii U console as of April 8. The company had previously announced it would discontinue the services sometime in April. Now it says as of 4:00 p.m. PDT “online co-operative play, Internet rankings and data distribution” for the platforms will be ending. For the foreseeable future, players can continue to download updates and games they had previously purchased games for the foreseeable future. But Nintendo says it may shutter connected ops sooner “if an event occurs that would make it difficult to continue online services.” Continue reading Nintendo Set to Shutter 3DS and Wii U Online Services April 8

Xreal (formerly Nreal) is releasing its Xreal Air 2 and Xreal Air 2 Pro augmented reality glasses. The latest iteration of AR glasses from the company is designed for everything from movies to TV to games. The Air 2 AR glasses “can turn whatever the wearer is viewing into a big screen experience” of up to 330-inches, the company claims, citing the integration of Sony Semiconductor Solutions’ Micro OLED displays that pack a whopping 4,032 pixels-per-inch to deliver “a crisp and visually stunning virtual screen” in Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 per eye. An ultra-high contrast ratio of 100,000:1, and 500 nits brightness ensure sharp detail. Continue reading Xreal $400 Air 2 AR Glasses are for Games, Movies and More

Lenovo marks its entry in the Windows handheld gaming space with the Legion Go. Combining mobility with high performance, the Legion Go joins an expanding Lenovo Legion ecosystem for immersive gaming that includes new micro OLED-equipped Lenovo Legion Glasses for a big-screen experience anywhere, the Legion 9i gaming laptop, and Legion E510 7.1 RGB Gaming In-Ear Headphones for high-quality audio. With Nintendo Switch-like detachable controllers, the Legion Go is a handheld device that accommodates multiplayer gaming. The Legion Space game hub allows users to access cloud platforms as well as locally stored games in a central location. Continue reading Lenovo’s Premium Mobile Gamer Has Detachable Controllers

Epic Online Services, the development hub for Epic Games, has expanded its crossplay overlay initiative to include initial support for games on Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation, optimizing its free SDKs for multiplayer crossplay and making it easier for developers to link their games and communities for those platforms across multiple stores. Last summer, EOS launched a PC crossplay overlay. The current upgrade enhances “capabilities across all supported platforms,” the company says, noting “crossplay enables bigger games, bigger audiences” and global games industry growth by connecting more players with a single overlay. Continue reading Epic Offers Crossplay Support for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch

Mario and Luigi’s cinematic star turn and the new video game “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” boosted Nintendo’s quarterly earnings with a 52 percent profit surge. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” from Universal Pictures has collected more than $1 billion at the global box office since its April release, while the latest “Zelda” game installment became the fastest-seller in the series’ history when it debuted in May. As a result, Nintendo’s April through June fiscal quarter produced revenue of $3.2 billion, a 50 percent increase year-over-year. Continue reading ‘Mario’ Movie and ‘Zelda’ Game Propel Nintendo Profit Surge

Nintendo’s Mario the plumber is officially a movie star, becoming the top-opening video game adaptation worldwide this past weekend. “Super Mario Bros.” original game designer Shigeru Miyamoto says he plans to keep his celebrity duo — Mario and brother Luigi — away from the small screen, meaning mobile. The legendary video game creator can afford to be picky about his A-lister’s venues. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” animated feature easily topped the long Easter weekend box office charts by earning $204.6 million domestic and $377 million worldwide. Continue reading Animated ‘Super Mario’ Is the Top Game-Based Film Opener

Microsoft has signed agreements giving Nintendo and Nvidia access to Activision Blizzard titles including from the popular “Call of Duty” franchise in a bid to advance its proposed $75 billion purchase of the game firm. The acquisition is opposed by some regulators in the U.S. and Europe on antitrust grounds. Microsoft’s offer to provide valuable IP to platforms that compete with its Xbox aims to quell such concerns. While Nvidia and Nintendo appear to have capitulated as a result of the new contingency, guaranteed for at least 10 years, Sony Interactive Entertainment remains a holdout. Continue reading Microsoft Elevates Activision Deal with ‘Call of Duty’ Promise

San Francisco-based Unity Technologies, maker of the cross-platform Unity game engine has launched in beta Unity Gaming Services, a turnkey solution to make it easier to develop and maintain cross-platform multiplayer titles. New are tools for monetization, customer acquisition and player engagement. Statistics from a Unity study indicate 71 percent of multiplayer gamers do so from a mobile device, and 61 percent engage from consoles, while 40 percent say they play on both. The survey indicates 56 percent of Americans play multiplayer games, one in five having begun within the past year. Continue reading Unity Platform Offers Turnkey Solution for Multiplayer Games

University of Southern California students were invited to participate in the second of two scheduled Metaverse Experience Challenges, hosted by ETC@USC. Making use of current and emerging tools, students were tasked with developing original ideas for compelling metaverse experiences. Ten teams started work at 1:00 pm on Friday, October 8 and presented their ideas to judges from Epic Games, Universal Pictures, Disney Studios, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud at 3:00 pm on Saturday, October 9. Each member of the winning teams — MetaversEdu and MetaMall — received a Nintendo Switch “Fortnite” Edition, courtesy of Epic Games. Continue reading USC Students Compete in Second ETC Metaverse Challenge

University of Southern California students were invited to participate in the first of two scheduled Metaverse Experience Challenges, hosted by ETC@USC. Making use of current and emerging tools, students were tasked with developing original ideas for compelling metaverse experiences. Six teams of randomly-grouped students started work at 1:00 pm on Friday, October 1 and presented their ideas to judges from Epic Games, Universal Pictures and Disney Research at 3:00 pm on Saturday, October 2. Each member of the winning teams — Meetaverse and Virtual Vinyl — received a Nintendo Switch “Fortnite” Edition, courtesy of Epic Games. Continue reading ETC Launches First of Two Metaverse Experience Challenges

This December, Washington-based game company Valve will debut its long-anticipated Steam Deck, a handheld device for PC gaming with models priced at $399 with 64GB of eMMC storage, $529 with 256GB of NVMe SSD, and the top-of-the-line $649 version with 512GB of high-speed NVMe SSD storage. Steam Deck is additionally being promoted as a handheld PC, allowing users to install and operate web browsers, other game stores (including Epic Games Store) and other video streaming services. It can also be connected to a keyboard and mouse and offers a cloud saving feature. Continue reading Valve to Launch Steam Deck Handheld Device for PC Games

On October 8, Nintendo will debut a new $350 Switch, the first major hardware upgrade to the console originally introduced in 2017 for $299. Available in time for holiday season sales, the new Switch will feature a larger 7-inch OLED screen and 64GB of onboard storage, double the original, as well as improved audio and an adjustable stand and dock. What consumers will not find, however, is an upgrade to a 4K display, a highly anticipated feature that would match the console offerings from Microsoft and Sony. Continue reading Nintendo’s New Switch Features OLED Display, More Storage

Buoyed by increased sales of its Switch console, Nintendo reported operating profit of $2.2 billion (229.7 billion yen), its best quarterly earnings since 2008. Analysts previously estimated the quarter’s earnings at 189.6 billion yen. Nintendo raised its annual forecast, again, to a sale of 26.5 million Switch units, up from 24 million. It also pegged its operating profit forecast 24 percent higher, due to increased sales during the COVID-19 pandemic and hit game “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.” Continue reading Nintendo Raises Forecasts Following Strong Holiday Quarter

Online sales boomed this Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with record-breaking $4.2 billion in purchases on Turkey Day, followed by $7.4 billion spent on Black Friday. Although this was a new high — up $1.2 billion from last year’s Black Friday — it didn’t meet Adobe Analytics’ prediction of $7.5 billion. Salesforce reported $7.2 billion in sales, even lower than Adobe’s numbers. Of those numbers, $2.9 billion in sales were conducted on smartphones that day. Top-selling electronics included Apple laptops, AirPods and Samsung TVs. Continue reading Black Friday Experiences New E-Commerce Sales Records

Ahead of the launch of two new streaming services, Disney+ and Apple TV+, Hulu is taking steps to add more personalization to its platform. After launching an enhanced recommendation engine that takes into account what viewers watch and when, it’s now introducing Like and Dislike buttons that will enable more personal and accurate content recommendations. The new buttons now appear across the Hulu platform. When using a living room device, you’ll see them on the Details page; when using a computer, you’ll see them on the Homepage.

Continue reading Hulu Advances Personalization with Like/Dislike Buttons