Michalovce, Slovakia — On October 23, Cypronia, a video games developer and digital publisher, announced that its new DSiWare game, Cake Ninja 2, has been completed and approved for release on the DSi Shop and 3DS eShop by Nintendo of America; it will also be released in Europe.

Cake Ninja 2 is the sequel to the popular casual game, Cake Ninja, which has been one of the top 20 best-selling Nintendo DSiWare games in North America. Now it is back with eight gameplay modes, four single-player and four multiplayer, unlockable achievements and online rankings. There will also be a high-score competition in Europe for each game mode, with a total of 100,000 Nintendo DSi Points to be distributed to the best Cake Ninja 2 players in the region.

Features:

• Simple, addictive gameplay
• Colourful 3D graphics
• Precise slice recognition on the DSi or 3DS touch screen
• Eight challenging game modes
• A collection of bonuses
• Unlockable achievements
• Online rankings and competitions

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Redmond, U.S.A — Players worldwide have collected more than 100 billion gold coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo 3DS portable system. That tally is set to skyrocket exponentially as Nintendo offers new Coin Rush Mode levels for the game. Several new downloadable add-on level packs will be made available to game owners, with the after the launch of the first three packs.

Each new pack contains three courses and can be purchased from within the game* at a price of $2.50 per pack. Subsequent packs will be on the way, with the next arrivals at the end of October and the end of November.

While normal Coin Rush Mode offers players three levels chosen at random, the ones in the add-on pack are the same three in the same order every time. That gives players the ability to test themselves against one another on an even playing field.

“Nintendo fans have really enjoyed the fun and competition of Coin Rush Mode, recently surpassing more than 100 billion total coins collected worldwide,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “These new packs offer completely new levels that fit into the New Super Mario Bros. 2 world, but offer new challenges that will keep players coming back for more.”

The packs released on Oct. 4 include:

• Gold Rush Pack: Fun new courses that give novice players the best chance to collect lots of gold, and veterans the chance to set even higher Coin Rush records.
• Coin Challenge Pack A: The New Super Mario Bros. 2 website will track the rankings based on the scores for this pack, enabling players to measure their scores against other tallies from around the world in these more open courses.
• Nerve-Wrack Pack: Intense new courses designed for veteran players looking for new challenges.

For more information about New Super Mario Bros. 2, visit http://newsupermariobros2.nintendo.com.

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Mons, Belgium – On September 21, 2012, Fishing Cactus, the Belgian video game studio behind Shift and Creatures 4, announced, in partnership with Armor Games, Aksys and Rising Star Games that the brain-smashing puzzle hit Shifting World for 3DS is hitting the shelves of all European stores while you’re reading this. A free one-level demo is available for downloadthrough the 3DS eShop.

Originally released as a browser game that has now been played by over 20 million players worldwide, then ported to mobile smartphones and tablets, on which it has been downloaded and enjoyed by 16 million people, Shift is now making the jump into full 3D in this exclusive 3DS edition titled Shifting World. This is by no means a straight port but rather a reinvention that takes full advantage of the extra dimension.

The famous monochrome styleremains, and so does the core principle of the gameplay: invert the world to best the levels. Player will constantly switch between 3D and 2D views to find his way through 60 levels spread over 5 unique worlds.

Shifting World has been developed and designed by Fishing Cactus, in collaboration with license-holder Armor Games and U.S. publisher Aksys. Aksys has already launched the game in Northern America and Japan, where steady sales have already established the title as a solid slowburner. Shifting World is brought to European shores through reputable distributor Rising Star Games.

“We are very proud to bring the Shift franchise to a Nintendo platform, and we truly believe we have done the 3DS justice by exploiting its best features in this Shifting World opus. We’re also excited to team up with a savvy publisher such as Rising Star Games for distribution of the title across Europe.”, stated Bruno Urbain, Studio Manager at Fishing Cactus.

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If you’re looking to snap up New Super Mario Bros. 2 on launch day but can’t make it down to your local video game store, you need not despair, as Nintendo is introducing a new way to buy selected Nintendo games directly from the comfort of your home via Nintendo eShop on your Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo 3DS XL system.

From August 17, the much anticipated New Super Mario Bros. 2, along with the recently launched New Art Academy: Learn New Painting Techniques and Share Your Art and Freakyforms Deluxe Your Creations, Alive! will all make their download debut as they become available for download directly from Nintendo eShop. Many more Nintendo 3DS games are also on the way in the near future, so keep an eye out on Nintendo eShop. Downloading New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Art Academy and Freakyforms Deluxe will allow you to enjoy the same content as the traditional packaged game but as a downloadable version saved onto the SD Card of your Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo 3DS XL system.

As a further incentive to start downloading, each full game purchased from Nintendo eShop will be rewarded with double the normal Stars in your Club Nintendo account. To receive your Stars you must first link your Nintendo 3DS system to your Club Nintendo account and complete the Club Nintendo survey. Visit the Nintendo 3DS Support section of our website to see how to link your account.

So get ready to experience the newest way to purchase Nintendo games as New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Art Academy and Freakyforms Deluxe all become available as digital downloads from Nintendo eShop from August 17 2012. Each game is also available in its traditional packaged form via retail stores.

Image Courtesy of   Barone Firenze / Shutterstock.com

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Mind Candy, the family entertainment brand behind the global children’s phenomenon Moshi Monsters, and Activision Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard have announced the upcoming release of Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park, the second title in the Moshi Monsters video game series.

MoshiMonsters.com is an online world of adoptable pet monsters for kids aged 6-12. Players can customize and nurture their very own Monster as well as play mini-games, solve puzzles, share artwork and communicate in a safe environment. With more than 60 million registered users worldwide, the site has proved to be a hit and has expanded into a physical products line including best-selling toys, books, trading cards, the Moshi Monsters Magazine and a new music album. According to-market research firm, The NPD Group, Moshi Monsters was the No. 1 toy license-in the UK for the month of April.

Activision is a key partner in helping Mind Candy bring the beloved pet monsters to the handheld gaming platform. The debut title, Moshling Zoo, released in 2011, found success around the world and is one of only seven-3rd-Party games to ever top the UK charts, and is the only one to hold the No. 1 spot in Nintendo DS charts for an impressive five months.

“We look forward to working with Activision to build continued success for the Moshi Monsters brand and to bring new gaming experiences for our millions of fans to enjoy,” said Moshi Monsters creator and Mind Candy CEO, Michael Acton Smith.

Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park, developed by Black Lantern Studios, invites players to restore the legendary Moshi theme park to its former glory. Players progressively unlock six zones by successfully building attractions and rescuing the scattered Moshlings (adorable, itty bitty pets for your pet monster). Users of the Nintendo 3DS can also interact with other Nintendo 3DS players via the StreetPass feature and play cool games to bring the Moshlings to life in a whole new dimension. Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park marks the first time fans can interact with beloved characters via 3D technology and introduces players to a brand new, exclusive Moshling that can transfer across platforms to the online world.

“We look forward to bringing Moshi fans a brand-new gaming experience with fun, colorful gameplay; rich story and increased interactivity,” said David Oxford, Executive Vice President, Activision.

Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park will connect fans across the online and handheld platforms through exclusive codes and promotions, designed to increase engagement in new and exciting ways. Fans will uncover secret codes online at MoshiMonsters.com, which will unlock special areas and content on the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS.

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Sometimes the technology used in a product is so advanced that even its rivals cannot help but be impressed. While in Paris promoting a 3DS-powered visitor’s guide for the Louvre, Nintendo superstar Shigeru Miyamoto could not help but express his praise for the Sony PlayStation Vita’s technological capabilities. Of course, the legendary game designer found another way to criticize the machine.

Miyamoto says he finds the handheld’s software lineup ultimately unsatisfying. “[The Vita is] obviously a very hi-spec machine, and you can do lots of things with it,” he said. “But I don’t really see the combination of software and hardware that really makes a very strong product.”

The Vita was released in Japan last December in Japan and late February for the US, UK and Australia. Despite selling 325,000 units after its release date in Japan and 600,000 in other regions, sales of the handheld have slumped. In Europe both the Wii and PlayStation Portable—the handheld the Vita was supposed to replace—outsell Sony’s new console.  Sales in the United States are more positive. There only the PlayStation3, Xbox 360 and 3DS outsell it, with the Vita slowly catching up to the 3DS in weekly sales.

In Japan, though, the 3DS is trouncing the Vita, outselling it 10:1. This is in spite of a slow start for the Nintendo handheld, which only picked up after a price drop for the 3DS. Miyamoto blames the poor initial sales on a lack of games available at launch.

“When we launched the 3DS hardware we didn’t have Super Mario 3D Land, we didn’t have Mario Kart 7, we didn’t have Kid Icarus: Uprising,” he said. “We were striving to have all of these ready for the launch, but we weren’t able to deliver them at that time. We were kind of hoping that people would, nevertheless, buy into the product, find 3DS hardware promising, but looking back we have to say we realise the key software was missing when we launched the hardware.”

The solution to Sony’s problems, then, is more games with maybe a price drop, and few Vita owners would disagree. Despite a collection of launch title representing a wide range of genres, the trickle of games released has slowly dried up. Gravity Rush is the next big game due for release in the United States and Europe, coming out in mid-June.

Little support from publishers proved to be the bane of the PlayStation Portable. Although its sales were not abysmal, compared to its competition, the DS, they left something to be desired .

So will more games solve the Vita’s problems? At this point Sony may need to more than just that and to drop the Vita’s pricey retail value of $249, in order to see significant changes in sales. It worked for the 3DS, so a change in price may make the Vita victorious.

Image Courtesy of   Ricardo “Eb” Trejo

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Historically, Nintendo’s GameBoy consoles have always defined the handheld gaming experience. Intermittent efforts from Sega and Sony over the years have been unable to unseat Nintendo as the king of handhelds.

According to the latest sales figures from Sony, the PS Vita has surpassed 1.2 million units sold worldwide, despite an unenthusiastic reception in Sony’s home country of Japan.

In Europe, first week sales of the PS Vita outsold Nintendo’s new handheld console, the 3DS. In the United States and Japan, however, first-week sales figures for the Vita lagged behind other handheld gaming consoles of the current and previous generations.

The 3DS sold seven times as many units as the PS Vita worldwide last week. 3DS games have also sold well, making up 7 of the top 10 best-selling games of the previous week.

Nintendo’s perennial success with handhelds has had a massive effect on the platform as a whole. Of the top five best-selling handheld consoles of all time, four of them are made by Nintendo. Gamers who play handhelds have come to expect a certain experience, and this experience has been almost entirely defined by Nintendo’s vision.

The PS Vita also has its own strong vision for itself. It is meant to be the home console experience in your hands, with a large, high-definition screen and graphics comparable to the home experience. And this, possibly, is where it went wrong: It’s stepping on too many toes at once.

For the cost of a PS Vita (about $300 USD), you could buy an actual home console. And because the Vita requires a memory card made by Sony, that only works with the Vita, for an addition $100, you could probably find a Nintendo DS on the cheap for that price as well.

Handheld gamers do not expect, and quite possibly are not even enticed by, the ability to play home console games on a handheld system. The most popular handheld games by far are iOS games, which are often quick, shallow, and addictive. Even GameBoy and DS games are largely episodic, with frequent opportunities to quit and come back later.

Console games, on the other hand, are meant for prolonged play. To try to fit a full console experience into an intrinsically stop-and-go format is at worst a misjudgement of the nature and appeal of the platform.

At best, it suits a very particular, perhaps European, demographic. If you do not have the space in your apartment for a home entertainment system, and use trains or busses more often than a car to get from place to place, being able to experience console gaming in a handheld format could have appeal.

Taking into consideration, however, that the largest gaming markets are in the United States and Japan, the Vita seems poorly thought through. For now, gamers who want a home console experience still prefer to play on an actual home console. Add to that the exorbitant price tag of the Vita, its aesthetically unimpressive OS, and the additional hidden cost of a proprietary memory stick, and the Vita seems to be stepping on its own toes as well.

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