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Nintendo announce their New 3DS XL for America & Europe

Posted: 14 Jan 2015 12:56 PM PST

Nintendo had their big multimedia event, the Nintendo Direct today, and they used it to introduce the New 3DS, their latest portable console, which is now confirmed to get an American release.

The last few days had seen a series of possible ads and leaks that suggested that Nintendo of America was just about ready to announce the arrival of the New 3DS to Europe and America. Turns out all of these leaks were true, and the Nintendo Direct from today saw the official confirmation. Europe is getting both the New 3DS and New 3DS XL, while America will only get the New 3DS XL, the bigger version.

These new iterations in the 3DS family were introduced by the charismatic Reggie Fils-Aime, president of the American division, who walked the audience through some of the new features such as the improved L y R, with the new ZL y ZR right beside them. This new console also adds a second analog pad to control the camera in some titles and create an experience more similar to those of home consoles. Yet, despite all this, the biggest change is the improved 3D functionality: the front cameras now track the user’s head, and from that calculate the optimal angle for the 3D ensuring they don’t have to shake their head around anymore to get the best effect.

The system will be sold at $200 USD, and Japanese gamers (who have already been playing with it for a while now) are claiming it’s absolutely worth it for such a substantial upgrade. The console will launch in red and black versions, but we already know for a fact there are two special editions coming based off of Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and Monster Hunter respectively.

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Flappy Bird Makes the Jump to Arcade Cabinets

Posted: 14 Jan 2015 12:30 PM PST

Flappy Bird was quite the phenomenon when it was launched, and the fact that its creator took it off the app stores short time after that made the game even more appealing, with iPhones featuring it selling for up to $10K on the black market.

Considering that it was downloaded 50 million times in the almost 10 months it was available, saying that Flappy Bird was a popular game would be a tremendous understatement. The reason the Vietnamese developer removed it from the app stores was the addictive nature of the game and its capability of bringing any productivity left in modern people to a sudden stop. Needless to say, Bay Tek Games, the creators of the Flappy Bird arcade cabinet, have no such remorse for the poor people who might end up playing the game for days on end.

With an effect that’s quite similar to the Hypnotoad, the Flappy Bird arcade cabinet sports a 42-inch display and a few large buttons, to keep things simple for the ones who aren’t into complex RTS or RPG games. According to the manufacturers, the Flappy Bird-licensed machine has “a game play that will have players coming back for more.”

The nastiest thing about this arcade machine is that it works with coins (or tokens you can buy with coins), so productivity is not the only thing it could ruin. Players get arcade tickets for each set of pipes they bypass, and can struggle to beat the daily or the all-time highscore.

Bay Tek Games hasn’t made public the price of the arcade cabinet, but I’m pretty sure it won’t come cheap. After all, the machine measures 37″ W x 40″ D x 91″H and weighs 300 pounds (370 including the padding necessary for transportation), so even getting it shipped to you will cost a bit. On top of that, I don’t see many individuals paying to have such a cabinet in their homes, so chances are that if people are going to see any of these, it’s going to be in poker bars and other similar locations. After all, the machine was built to make money for the ones who already have money, while offering the poor souls playing the game a very short-lived entertainment.

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