Nintendo Interested in Wii U/3DS Connectivity

In an interview with IGN, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto discussed Wii U and 3DS connectivity, saying that the company is thinking about ways to get the best out of both systems - but it doesn't look like it's exactly a top priority at the moment.

Nintendo has a long history of connecting its portable and home console systems, from the Game Boy Player to the N64's Transfer Pak to the myriad ways in which the Gamecube and Game Boy Advance that could be used together to enhance the experience of games like Zelda: Four Swords and Animal Crossing.

“

Of course we are trying to think about a way to expand the experience of 3DS and Wii U when they are connected with each other, one way or the other.

"Of course we are thinking of the possibility of connecting Wii U and Nintendo 3DS once again," Miyamoto said. "[But] we have challenged connectivity on many occasions, and one of the great lessons we have learned is the simple fact that those who own both are much fewer than those who don’t own both. So what we decided early on when considering the Wii U design was that we had to make it so that every single purchaser of the Wii U is going to have the same play conditions, the same equipment."

That doesn't mean that Nintendo is discounting the possibility of connecting the 3DS and Wii U in interesting ways, though. "Even between Wii and 3DS, there are some things that can be done by connecting with each other – Mii channel is interchangeable on both systems," Miyamoto reminds us. "There are things that can easily done by transferring data between Wii and DS or 3DS systems.

"If we are going to do that with Wii U and 3DS, there would be three screens to consider. The reason why we were not so eager to do a similar thing between Wii and DS if that it would have become very complicated using two screens on the DS and one screen on the Wii. But of course we are trying to think about a way to expand the experience of 3DS and Wii U when they are connected with each other, one way or the other."

Look out for our full interview with Miyamoto very soon indeed.

Keza MacDonald is in charge of IGN's games team in the UK. You can follow her onIGN and Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

3DS XL Starts Strong in Japan

Japanese sales data from Enterbrain (via Famitsu) has revealed that nearly 200,000 3DS XLs were sold during the system’s first week on sale. According to Famitsu, 193,441 systems have been sold since the system launched in Japan on July 28th.

Separately, New Super Mario Bros. 2 (which launched alongside the system) saw equally impressive sales, with 430,185 sold in the same period. That figure is only for copies of the game sold at retail and does not include customers who downloaded New Super Mario Bros. 2 via the eShop.

The full Japanese hardware and software sales chart won’t be revealed until tomorrow, but things are certainly looking promising for Nintendo’s supersized handheld. The original New Super Mario Bros. on DS went on to sell more than 10 million units, while lifetime sales of the original 3DS have crossed 19 million units worldwide.

3DS XL was also released in Europe, but sales haven’t been revealed for that territory. The system will launch in North America on August 19th alongside New Super Mario Bros. 2 (which hits Europe on August 17th). For a look at the changes in Mario’s latest outing, check out our tour of New Super Mario Bros. 2.

Source: Andriasang

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com