Re-Logic and 505 Games announced that the Metroid meets Minecraft meets city builder hit Minecraft will FINALLY be hitting the Wii U and Nintendo 3ds early next year. With the recent Mac and Linux beta, this will make the game available in just about every currently format. For the uninitiated, Terraria puts players in a 2D world in which they must mine and gather materials to construct buildings, weapons, and items. Non-player characters can move into the buildings you create and deal you various services, and various enemies will appear as you explore the randomly generated land. No doubt the dual-screen format of the NDS and Wii U will allow the game to have an experience that is very close to the original PC, which was released over 4 years ago. My how time flies! You can learn more about the Wii U and 3DS versions from the developers themselves by clicking here.

The gaming world lost one of it’s great innovators this past weekend. Satoru Iwata passed away due to complications from Bile Duct cancer. Following his graduation from Tokyo University, Iwata worked with frequent Nintendo developer HAL Laboratories, where he developed games such as Kirby, Balloon Fight, and Mother (a.k.a Earthbound). In the early 90s, he became president of the company, helping turn its fortunes around, and contributed to Pokemon Gold/Silver, the start of another classic Nintendo franchise. In 2002, he became the fourth president of Nintendo, and the first not to be related by either blood or marriage to the Yamauchi family. Taking over Nintendo, Satoru began an initiative to make gaming more appealing to all different audiences. To that end, Satoru was the catalyst behind the development of the Nintendo DS and Wii, along with their successors the Wii U and 3DS, all of whom provided Nintendo fans with unique styles of gaming that were unseen on either of their competitors’ consoles. He also improved communications with fans as well, creating the Nintendo Direct conferences, a series of online presentations aimed at introducing new software and hardware to the public outside of regular channels. In 2013, Iwata took over as head of Nintendo of America. Under his direction, the company nixed large E3 presentations in favor of the smaller Nintendo Directs, such as last month’s puppet show. Earlier this year, Iwata cut a deal with mobile developer DeNA to bring its properties to the mobile market.

Ever since it entered the console gaming market in the early 80s, Nintendo has been an innovator in the industry. It was thanks to the efforts of great men like Shigeru Miyamoto, The late Gunpei Yokoi, Reggie Fils-aime, and Takashi Tezuka that the company continues to be innovative. Satoru Iwata is another one of these innovators, and he helped pushed the company above and beyond what it was. The impact of his loss will no doubt be felt throughout the gaming industry.

Click here to see project releases for upcoming Wii U and 3DS titles.

Tuesday morning, Nintendo held its E3 digital presentation. Things were a bit underwhelming on the Wii U side (as they were likely preparing for the NX), but they went deeper into some of the newer things they were planning to release throughout the next several months. Square-Enix also had their press conference later that afternoon. While they showed more of what we had seen during the Sony and Microsoft conferences, they went deeper into what they have panned for gamers, and they also showed off a few new titles.
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Yesterday, we reported on a leak of possible new DLC for Smash Bros. This leak included everything from new costumes, to new characters, to new levels. We’re happy to report that not only is the DLC official, but it’s now available. The new content was revealed as part of Nintendo’s live Smash Bros stream this morning. Basically Smash Bros players can now get 7 new Mii Fighter Costumes (including Jacky and Akira from Virtua Fighter), a classic Smash Bros stage, and 3 new characters, including Ryu from Street Fighter. There is even a free Miiverse Plaza stage available. Click below to see the prices. The stream also revealed that several new amiibo will be released this fall, including R.O.B, Mr. Game and Watch, and Falco.
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As you know, next week is E3, the wonderful time of the year where we get hyped up for games that we won’t see for at least another 4 months. We can only guess what surprises that Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, along with several major publishers and developers will have in store for gamers this year. However, today sees a couple of huge potential leaks: One, being a cel-shaded Transformers brawler and the other being new DLC for Smash Brothers. Unless and until they are confirmed at E3, these two rumors should only be taken as little more than speculation, even if we have screenshots.
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Puhleeze. Who wants a Hideo Kojima produced Silent Hill game written by Guillermo Del Toro and starring Norman Reedus anyway?

A few weeks ago, a potential classic, Silent Hills, was cancelled, and all trace of it was removed from the Playstation Network Store. What would have been a potential game changer for both the franchise and the survival horror genre in general is yet another case of what could have been. Although no definite reason was given for it, if you’ve kept up with the drama over the past few weeks, it’s evident that business politics, internal conflict, and the pending departure of Hideo Kojima all played into the cancellation. Sadly, Silent Hills isn’t the first high profile cancellation, nor will it be the last. Gaming’s history is rife with games that could have been classics being canceled due to a variety of reasons. I’ve done 5 previous installments on this subject alone.

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Metroid II is seen as the dark horse of the franchise. In fact, it was slightly panned by critics when it was originally released. However, while it wasn’t as received as favorably as its predecessor at the time, it would go on to become one of the biggest games on the original Game Boy, and the events of the game would have major repercussions for every other Metroid game that followed outside the Prime trilogy. Taking control of series hero Samus Aran, players travel to SR388, the Metroid homeworld to permanently wipe out the species (of course we all know how that ended). There is even a counter to display the number of Metroids remaining on the planet to drive home the fact that Samus is basically attempting galactic genocide. In a bit of a departure from the series norm, Samus starts the game with both the missiles and the morph ball. In true Metroid fashion, players will find other suit upgrades. Despite the Game Boy’s limited color palette, the game’s graphics are surprisingly detailed. You’ll also encounter bizarre new enemies, and you’ll see the evolution cycle of the titular creatures. Fans of the series will no doubt want to play this game. If you’re a member of Club Nintendo, you can get this game on the 3DS virtual console for only 150 coins until June 30th.

While it doesn’t have half as many entries as Mario, Pokemon, or Legend of Zelda, Metroid is one of Nintendo’s most prolific franchises, at least in North America. Along with introducing one of gaming’s strongest female characters, it helped pioneer a new style of gameplay that developers frequently revisit in everything from open world titles to indie retro throwbacks. Even today, Super Metroid is regarded as one of the greatest video games of all time and it’s Virtual Console appearance is a top seller. However, the franchise’s success isn’t as widespread in Japan, Nintendo’s home base. This probably explains why we haven’t received a new title in the series since 2010’s lukewarmly received “The Other M”. It also possibly explains why Nintendo decided to make the series then-next gen debut (it was on GameCube, and it was the first game in the series since Super Metroid 8 years prior) as a FPS. While many players were unsure of the new direction, Metroid Prime, developed by Retro Studios, managed to hit it out of the park. Two sequels followed, both managing to be good in their own right. Despite the first person gameplay, Metroid Prime retains everything that fans loved about the Metroid series. It’s still exploration heavy, and there were loads of gadgets to collect. Metroid Prime Trilogy was previously a Wii-only disc title. It received a limited print run, and copies of the disc would be sold for as much as $50 used. Thankfully, Nintendo announced plans to include Wii games on Wii U’s virtual Console, Metroid Prime Trilogy being one of them. It’s only $20 now, so if you have yet to expereince these games, now is the time. Since this is the Wii version, you’ll need a Wiimote and nunchuck for it.