New TMNT 'Movie Tie-in' Game Announced [3DS]

Activision have today announced that they are developing a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) game for the 3DS. The game, simply titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set to tie into a new movie about the crime-fighting amphibians, which is reportedly due for release in cinemas in August 2014.

In the game, Shredder's Foot Clan Army have chosen to team up with mad genius, Baxter Stockman, whose own robotic mutants are terrorizing New York City, and only Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello can protect the innocent public from this devastating evil.

Players can choose to play as any of the four main characters. Each turtle has a unique fighting style and set of abilities, which means that the game has tons of replay value. Players can also swap between the characters. For example, Raphael uses brute strength, whereas Michelangelo has super speed instead,which can be handy when dealing with different aspects of the game. Unfortunately the game does not feature a co-op mode though, which is a bit of a shame.

The game has been developed by Magic Pockets, the developer behind the previous TMNT 3DS game, and this game promises to be just as fun and exciting as its predecessor. Players will start with low abilities, regardless of which character they choose to play first, but new abilities and power-ups will be acquired as players progress through each level in turn.

If you are a fan of the TMNT franchise, or if you want a new fast-paced, hack-and-slash type game to play, then this is likely to be the game you were looking for. Watch this space!

Why Have These Popular 3DS Games Been Cancelled?

It has only been four months since the Nintendo 3DS launched throughout the UK and the rest of Europe, but already several top video games publishers have announced that they are cancelling their up and coming titles for the handheld console.

The list of 3DS games which have been confirmed as having been cancelled includes the following:

Saints Row: Drive By

My Garden

Assassin's Creed:  Lost Legacy

Mega Man Legends 3

Bomberman

Tetris 3D

Omega Five

As well as the above confirmed cancellations, there are also four more games whose production has been halted, pending decisions on whether to cancel them or not. These games are as follows:

DJ Hero (delayed, pending cancellation decision)

Crush 3D (delayed, pending cancellation decision)

Shinobi (delayed, pending cancellation decision)

BloodRayne: The Shroud (delayed, pending cancellation decision)

It is unclear why  many of these games have been axed, but what is even more worrying is that these titles come from big-name franchises and developers, and thus should have been extremely popular upon their release.

However, Sega has come forward and announced that it has chosen to delay their pre-released games, Crush 3D and Shinobi because of potential poor sales of the Nintendo 3DS console.

Studio Chief, Paul Mottram spoke to GameIndustryBiz about the cancellations recently. He said: "we're finding that everyone is not knowing what platform is going to succeed - we did our first 3DS title - we got Crush onto that, but we had to delay the release of that because of the success of the platform." [sourced from: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-07-14-nights-at-the-roundtable-interview]

Assassin's Creed: Legacy cancelled? Why?!?

The cancellations are also going to mean big gaps in the current 3DS release schedule, meaning that Nintendo 3DS users will have to wait even longer before new titles become available.

Nevertheless, It seems as though some of the cancellations have nothing to do with the Nintendo 3DS at all, but are rather the unfortunate consequences of major shifts within the video games industry instead.

For example, DJ Hero for the 3DS has reportedly been delayed, pending cancellation, because Activision is eventually planning to cease production of ALL its music-related game series, including Guitar Hero for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox because of: "Continued Declines in the Music genre..." [sourced from: http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/23615/news/dj-hero-axed-alongside-guitar-hero/]

Furthermore, according to a recent article on the CVG website, new 3DS titles like Bomberman and Tetris 3D, which were going to be developed by Hudson Soft, may have in fact been cancelled because of a company shift in which Hudson Soft has now become a wholly-owned, (as opposed to partially-owned,) subsidary of Konami, but this has not yet been confirmed.

However, even if this is the case, it still does not explain why other well-known videogame developers including EA (My Garden), THQ (Saints Row: Drive By) and Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy) have all cancelled their 3DS projects as well.

These game cancellations certainly do not bode well for the future of the Nintendo 3DS. An article for Kotaku.com summed up the problem nicely: " If developer after developer jumps ship, what kind of message does it send studios thinking about making a 3DS title?" [Sourced From: http://kotaku.com/5822519/whats-with-all-the-cancelled-3ds-games]

Mini Gamers is very disappointed to learn that these cancellations have occurred. The hope of the 3DS now rests with the other highly-anticipated game titles such as Resident Evil: Revelations, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle, Kid Icarus: Uprising, StarFox 64 3D, MarioKart 3D, to name but a few.

However, it has to be said that with many of the above games not being released until Winter 2011 at the earliest in Europe, 3DS gamers could be in for a long and boring wait before something truly interesting comes along.

Let's just hope that these games can do enough upon their release to promote and secure the Nintendo 3DS' dominance in the handheld gaming market over the next twelve months or so.

HAVE YOUR SAY...

What do you think of the above cancellations?

Do you think these cancellations will harm the Nintendo 3DS' reputation?

If you would like to share your opinions with other readers on the blogsite, then please leave your comment in our comment's box. We appreciate your thoughts.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Launched at Midnight.

Video game producers Activision staged a midnight launch last night for the latest Call of Duty game, known as Call of Duty: Black Ops.

As part of the UK launch, entertainment giant, HMV opened 100 of its highstreet stores overnight, including its flagship Oxford Street branch, which was attended by approximately 350 gamers, some of whom had been queueing for more than twelve hours in order to get their hands on the game!

A free version of the special Prestige Edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops was handed to student Imran Chowdhury, who happened to be the first customer in the Oxford Street HMV store at midnight. Other prizes were also on offer for the store's first 500 customers.

All UK HMV branches are currently offering an Exchange Promotion on the Xbox and PS3 versions of EA's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which means that gamers can get the new Call of Duty: Black Ops game for £7.99 when they trade in an old copy of Modern Warfare 2. Unfortunately, this offer does not apply to the Nintendo DS. 

HMV were not the only retailer to take advantage of the midnight launch. Supermarket retailer, Tesco also opened up 362 of its UK stores.

Meanwhile, a special launch party was held at the disused Battersea Powerstation last night. A life size image of the Call of Duty: Black Ops logo was beamed onto the side of the building in celebration. The party included a celebrity tournament of the game and a performace by British rapstar Tinie Tempah.

The US launch was an even more lavish affair. GameStop opened a total of 4408 branches of its retail chain across the country, whilst Best Buy and Walmart also opened many of their branches at midnight as well. The US launch party was also headlined by a stage performance from rock veterans Metallica.

So far, one million sales are predicted for Call of Duty: Black Ops in its first week of sale alone, which could put it at the very top of the Christmas gaming market. Judging from the amount of pre-order sales alone, this is very likely.

HMV's Head of Games, Tim Ellis said: "Call of Duty: Black Ops is set to challenge last year's phenomenon Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to become the fastest and biggest selling title in games history." [sourced from: http://www.gamesindustrybiz/articles/2010-11-09]

Whether the game does indeed manage to top the Christmas gaming charts or not, one thing is for certain, with its use of  heart-racing action and an in-depth storyline which sees players engage in secret warfare, and millitary operations, as well as explosive conflicts across the globe, the Nintendo DS version of Call of Duty: Black Ops is definitely worth a try.