PS Vita UK preorders have begun. We go window shopping for the best deals.
PS Vita preorders have gone live across retaillers such as Play.com, Amazon and Zavvi. Most stores are selling Sony’s handheld at £229.99 (Wi-Fi only model) and £279.99 (Wi-Fi and 3G model).
However, NowGamer has searched the internet for the best PS Vita deals and has found that Zavvi comes out on top with £199.99 (Wi-Fi only model), and £244.99 (Wi-Fi and 3G model).
You can preorder the PS Vita Wi-Fi only model at Zavvi here.
Or the PS Vita Wi-Fi and 3G only model here.
Zavvi is also taking preorders on PS Vita games, such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Wipeout 2048, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Little Deviants and surprisingly, Bioshock Vita. All of these games are preordered at £34.95.
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A quick look at the highlights among the games coming out in Japan this coming week, courtesy the review pages of Famitsu magazine:
- Mario Kart 7 (10/9/9/9, 37 points): The point winner in this week’s issue was a pretty predictable one. “The game’s made so you’re always able to stage a comeback, making it approachable and enjoyable for anyone,” Famitsu wrote. “Competing for time is also exciting, and there’s more than enough room for hardcore play here. The Community feature makes netplay a lot more accessible than before, and finding opponents via Street Pass is also impressive. It’s really exciting to think how the community’s going to unfold.”
It seems fair to say that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a success for Nintendo, what with the largely positive reviews it’s been getting (including the requisite 40/40 from Famitsu). Following up on last week’s interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, the Japanese magazine sat down with Skyward Sword producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi to discuss the game in further detail — here are some of the highlights:
- Plotwise, Skyward Sword is a prequel to Ocarina of Time, telling the story of the origin of the Master Sword. This came about despite the fact that the game’s Wii MotionPlus support came along long after plot details were finalized. “It’s funny,” Aonuma said, “but Fi, the sword-spirit who appears in this game, was something we finished up before we decided this would be a Zelda that used Wii MotionPlus. We already had her as a sword spirit beforehand, and during our announcement at the 2009 E3 show, her design was modeled after the Master Sword. At the time, though, you used her in a completely different way gamewise than you do now. The MotionPlus swordplay was something that was completed later on, and as a result the game’s story and action gameplay came to both focus more on the Master Sword. It wound up coming together pretty well.”
I was pleasantly surprised when I sampled Nintendo’s upcoming Wii party game Fortune Street last month at New York Comic-Con. Despite being a multiplayer title starring Mario and other game mascots in a virtual board game setting, Fortune Street is the furthest thing from Mario Party you could imagine. The few minigames it contains are generally automated affairs that play themselves in a few short seconds: no button-mashing or stick-twirling required. Rather, Fortune Street has far more in common with Hasbro’s Monopoly than with the usual minigame collections that have shown up as multiplayer releases over the past decade.
What I didn’t realize based on my NYCC hands-on is that it’s even deeper than that. Fortune Street is playable in both standard and simplified modes, and at public events Nintendo has been demoing it in the latter mode. With the training wheels taken off, Fortune Street is kind of ridiculous. Like a real “grown-ups” board game such as Risk or Monopoly, a single match can take hours. I recently played a demo with other members of the gaming press — including IGN’s Audrey Drake — and two hours wasn’t enough for us to complete a game. And that wasn’t even on one of the more complex boards!
Why Wario Land 4 Remains the Best Portable Mario Game
We’re marking this overlooked spin-off’s 10th anniversary by finally giving it its due.
By: Jeremy Parish November 19, 2011
With Super Mario 3D Land freshly delivered to the eager hands of gamers the world over, Nintendo’s portable platformer legacy is at the front of many people’s minds. Sure, 3D Land isn’t as closely related to the old Super Mario Land games as its name would suggest, but that doesn’t make it any less fun… even if it does err on the side of being a little too easy. Much as we’ve enjoyed 3D Land, though, it still isn’t our favorite portable Mario game.
Admittedly, I’m using the royal “we” here, but I will cheerfully defend my claim that the best portable Mario game is the sublime Wario Land 4 for Game Boy Advance… which, by a handy coincidence, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this week. No, it doesn’t star Mario, but it can trace its lineage directly to Super Mario Land, and that’s good enough. Sadly, Wario Land 4 has never really commanded the loyal following and vocal praise it deserves. Launched in the early days of the GBA, it was generally overshadowed by Super Mario Advance and its sequel, despite the fact that (unlike those higher-profile titles) Wario’s game was wholly original, built from the ground-up for the system. What better time than its decennial to right the wrongs of fickle gamers and properly canonize Wario Land 4? Chances are you overlooked this portable masterpiece when it was released. Well, here are 10 reasons you need to correct that mistake.
Let’s face facts: regardless of what I say about Mario Kart 7, it’ll end up being one of the best-selling games on its platform, just like the past two installments. Though the presence of an actual challenge in Mario Kart DS didn’t detract from its popularity, Mario Kart Wii marked a new movement for the series, and one that essentially turned Mario Kart into a party game. Not that there’s anything wrong with party games, of course; it’s just that Mario Kart Wii made any display of skill a losing prospect, as it perpetually sabotaged success in an attempt to level the playing field. Some would view this approach as a masterstroke on Nintendo’s part, as it allows a group of people with differing skill sets to complete on equal ground without nasty things like “experience” getting in the way. As expected, Mario Kart 7 takes this same tack, and its regressive nature promises to annoy karting fans looking for the series to hop back on the highway to the danger zone.
Before this ends up reading as a total condemnation of Mario Kart 7, it should be noted that the game features a few interesting additions. Instead of choosing from an array of vehicles — which has been the case since Double Dash — MK7 allows the player to individually choose the wheels, chassis, and glider for their kart, with each part affecting its stats in some way. Coins collected during a race can be cashed in for further parts; these coins also boost your kart’s acceleration (only during the race where you grabbed them, of course), and spice up things up a bit by hinting at prime power sliding arcs and possible shortcuts. If you’re looking for other interesting mechanics of twists on this staid series, you might want to look elsewhere; even the promise of land, sea, and air travel is little more than lip service, as indicated by Jeremy’s E3 preview.
There has been much said about the slow sales of the 3DS early in its life. And it’s not as if it was just a creation of the media or fanboys — it was failing to meet expectations to the point where Nintendo decided to drop its price by $80 in August, not even six months after it first went on sale. Besides the money it’s losing — which will contribute to the company’s first annual loss in 30-plus years — this drop might cause consumers to be wary of picking up a Wii U early in its life for fear that its price will be dropped soon afterward.
As dire as that may all sound, the DS didn’t have the hottest of starts either, yet it went on to become the best-selling portable game system of all time worldwide, and the best-selling game system of any sort in the United States. While it’s no guarantee the 3DS will follow in its footsteps, Nintendo has delivered word today that first-year sales of the 3DS are on track to surpass those of the DS.
There has been much said about the slow sales of the 3DS early in its life. And it’s not as if it was just a creation of the media or fanboys — it was failing to meet expectations to the point where Nintendo decided to drop its price by $80 in August, not even six months after it first went on sale. Besides the money it’s losing — which will contribute to the company’s first annual loss in 30-plus years — this drop might cause consumers to be wary of picking up a Wii U early in its life for fear that its price will be dropped soon afterward.
As dire as that may all sound, the DS didn’t have the hottest of starts either, yet it went on to become the best-selling portable game system of all time worldwide, and the best-selling game system of any sort in the United States. While it’s no guarantee the 3DS will follow in its footsteps, Nintendo has delivered word today that first-year sales of the 3DS are on track to surpass those of the DS.
