Achievements with giant hammers and unlockable soundtracks? I wouldn't mind.

An anonymous developer revealed that the Wii U features a console-wide achievement system. This system is said to have a “Nintendo-spin” on it that “tracks gamer-time, scores and more.”

As with all stories sourced from anonymous developers refusing to name themselves, take it with a healthy dose of salt. Nintendo have not exactly had the warmest attitude towards achievement systems in the past, but they have implemented them into some of their biggest releases like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Wii Sports Resort. Anything is possible, especially in the final days leading up to E3.

Mark Lamia, the studio head of Treyarch (one of the two studios behind the main Call of Duty series), recently expressed his thoughts for the Wii U, stating that it “stimulates all kinds of thoughts about what’s possible.”

He seems to be as excited for E3 as we are, and commented specifically on his curiousity to see Nintendo’s first-party offerings.

Treyarch hinted at a possible Wii U version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 last month. Expect to see confirmation (or a debunking) of its coming at E3 this week.

Time Warner have buddied up with Nintendo to bring the HBO GO and MAX GO services to one of their platforms, by the sound of a recently posted job opening for the position of “Partner Manager”.

The Partner Manager position is responsible for the day-to-day relationship and ongoing marketing activities with several key Mobile, Tablet, Connected TV and Game Console digital partners for HBO GO and MAX GO. Partners include Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Samsung, Roku, as well as any new partners that will launch HBO/MAX GO in the future.

Nintendo currently have three platforms this service might come to. The announcement of this partnership is likely going to be saved until E3, so the Wii U definitely has a chance of being the platform that the service will be for.

Want a mature Nintendo? Shame on you! Ninty is always mature!

According to a NeoGAF user called “Shikamaru Ninja”, one of the first-party games being in development for Wii U might be something we didn’t think of yet. He claims it’s something that has already been mentioned in speculative discussions, and further emphasizes it’s “[not] Mario or Zelda or Pokemon related”, while assuming it probably won’t sell well.

Furthermore, when asked if this game was a racing game, he negates it, but hints at “a couple of first-party racing games [going to be] announced for Wii U and 3DS at E3”. Another member asked to be quoted if the game is either Luigi’s Mansion 2, a sequel to Eternal Darkness or a Star Fox game, but Shikamaru Ninja doesn’t respond, and even declares the Battalion Wars franchise “as good as dead” later in the discussion. Of course, these two last bits might be a distraction, as he didn’t actively rule out anything – “as good as dead” isn’t entirely dead, mind you, and he might have simply missed that other post.

Y SO MANY HEARTS? D;

Dual Pixels, the site which correctly predicted two Castlevania games in development, reported a new rumour concerning a possible HD collection of Kingdom Hearts games. This “Kingdom Hearts HD Remix” is supposed to be shown at this year’s E3 and will possibly be released for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Wii U.

According to the rumour, this HD collection will include Kingdom Hearts 1,2, Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, and Birth By Sleep. Furthermore, the Wii U version of the game will allegedly make plot connections with the 3DS title Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.

Pretty original name, huh? Slapping a "2" on it ain't enough, Konami...

Dual Pixels reported on the possibility of a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow sequel coming to Wii U. Shortly after that, Konami revealed a teaser page titled “The Dragon Returns”, which turned out to be a teaser page for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. However, while the original rumour predicted it to be released for Wii U as well as the current HD consoles, the trailer, which you can see after the break, doesn’t feature the Wii U logo.

Nevertheless, Dual Pixels’ predictions of this game as well as another Castlevania title coming to the 3DS turned out to be correct in the end, so there’s still hope the lack of the Wii U logo doesn’t mean anything.

Continue reading…

NetherRealm, makers of the Mortal Kombat franchise, announced a game called Injustice: Gods Among Us, which will be a fighting game “featuring a large cast of favorite DC Comics icons,” having “a deep, original story,” and “incredible battles set in the DC Comics Universe”.

Along with the announcement, a trailer as well as a video interview were released, which you can watch after the break.

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Come on, enough already! OPEN!

Nintendo’s official Wii U Facebook page isn’t just for show, it gets put to use! See for yourself:

“Initial game releases” probably means these games will be available at launch. However, it doesn’t specify whether these are 1st-party games or not… let’s hope they are.

So? Any idea what these might be? Leave a comment or discuss it on the forums!

Nope, not "Water meet fish", we want "Crytek meet Wii U"!

In an interview with German news website Golem.de, Cevat Yerli, CEO of Crytek, talked about new games and the next generation of consoles. The Wii U got mentioned as well:

IGM: Sony’s Playstation Vita has launched in February, Nintendo’s Wii U is supposed to follow towards the end of the year. What does Crytek plan for those consoles?

Yerli: We have no plans for either console yet. There will be games using the Cry Engine for Wii U, but these will be made by license holders.

It seems like we won’t see any Wii U games made by Crytek this E3. However, it should be noted that the original German article does not imply whether the games made by license holders will be, or are already being made; it merely says these games will be released in the future.  So, there’s still the possibility of a surprise!

In case there was any doubt, Gearbox have reconfirmed that the Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines is the superior one, citing it as “really fun”. They said that “Interesting controls equal interesting fun” but their NDA unfortunately prevents them from telling us anything further until E3.