Okay, so the news from this Nintendo Direct was fairly standard outside of a few highlights like unified account balances for 3DS and Wii U (finally!) and Miiverse on 3DS, but how about that intro with Bill Trinen and Reggie Fils-Aime? I adore these things.
Even if you don't stick around to the end, find your way there to catch some wonderful footage of Super Mario 3D World. It's nice to see Rosalina confirmed as a playable character, too.
Before you get excited -- no, it's not the Cat Goomba!
Super Mario 3D World has a new "top 10" video out in the wild that details some of the new features in the upcoming Wii U game. Most of them aren't really that big of a deal, but there are a few major extras that will make some people really happy.
Nintendo spoils the fifth playable character and the extra mini-game in the trailer so don't watch it or check out the comments if you want to go dark until launch! As for our review, you can find out my thoughts on the game in the 19th -- you won't want to miss it.
If you aren't a member of PlayStation Plus, Sony has released a new trailer to show you the reasons why it's neat. If you are buying a PlayStation 4 on Friday, you should definitely think about signing up for Plus, since you'll need it to play multiplayer, and it gives you some free games.
Here is something awesome you can do if you are getting a PlayStation 4 on Friday. Kyle Orland, the senior gaming editor for Ars Technica, sent out a Tweet letting us know that we can download the PlayStation 4's day-one patch now, and install it later from a USB drive. Sony has a guide on how you can do this that includes the link for the 1.50 update.
This should save you some time on launch day, and I highly recommend that you do it. I did this for the PlayStation 3 I got my girlfriend last Christmas, and I was able to install the updates in minutes off a USB stick so she could start using it right away.
If you've fancied watching your favorite online videos on your Nintendo portable, then you're now in luck. The 3DS will support YouTube in a firmware update that will arrive next month. Sure, almost everything and its mother supports YouTube right now but it's good to see Nintendo following suite.
Also included in the update is the option to combine your balance on your Wii U and your 3DS, meaning gamers just need a single unified account. This makes a lot of sense and I'm surprised it wasn't adopted earlier. Also included in the update is the 3DS version of the Miiverse, which will bring all the fun of the Wii U version to your handheld (the Dafoeverse is dead, long live the Dafoeverse).
During this morning's Nintendo Direct event, the platform holder issued a reminder regarding its plans to release a custom 3DS XL to celebrate the launch of the recent entry in the Legend of Zelda series, coming out November 22nd in North America
This version of the handheld will feature a gold colored cover along with the triforce emblems stamped on the front and back of the system. In addition to this, the device will also come with a downloaded copy of A Link Between Worlds ready for play when the system is powered on.
Shuhei Yoshida, Sony's President of Worldwide Studios, was just on an episode of Giantbomb's Interview Dumptruck podcast, and he confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will get support for MP3 music and DLNA media streaming after launch.
In Sony's FAQ for the PlayStation 4 it was revealed that the console would not play back MP3 music, and you wouldn't be able to use DLNA media streaming. A lot of people weren't happy about those things, and they made it known. During the interview, Yoshida said that "the biggest surprise for us all internally at Sony was; there were so many people who passionately reacted to our announcement that there's no MP3 support and DLNA support on day one."
A Chat With Shuhei Yoshida [GiantBomb via CVG]
