Nintendo of Europe has announced they have formed a party with free-hotspot.com to spread their spotpass carnage to the pockets of European 3DS owners with free access to over 5,000 Wi-Fi Hotspots. McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, and Subway, as well as the in the Ibis and Etap Hotel chains were included in the list.

The partners will support 3DS owners with even more locations for users to receive spotpass content and updates, as well as send them through functions such as the popular new letterbox app. And of course, you can get free w-fi from them too.

With a Subway just a short walk on campus from my classroom, I’m personally happy to hear this, getting new ghost data for games like Mario Kart 7 and ? blocks for Super Mario 3D Land have had me getting more used to carry my 3DS around for more than just streetpass. But what do you European axeheads think of the new partnership? Do you enjoy the streetpass/spotpass functions, or are you possibly just stirring to it?

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So I should probably introduce myself before rambling on first. My name is Rowan, I go by the handle of ShinAzure, formerly ShinatoAzure here, and I quite like the shorthand, Shin. I’m another UK gamer, and I think the youngest of the contributors here, only recently 18. I play every currently available console, though the 360 is actually my little brother’s, so don’t expect to comment much besides on exclusives and splitscreen experiences there. I’m studying IT and software design at college, doing 2 full time courses simultaneously, so this year may not see me get around to all the titles I would of otherwise. I travel around quite a bit, so my main interest is primarily in Japanese developed games, Resident Evil being a prime example, so you can expect articles from me relating to JRPG’s fairly often, but I try to give everything as much attention as I can, and as DK often says, keep my finger on the pulse of the industry. Nice to meet you all, and expect to see more of me. Probably in much bigger doses than you’d like.

So onto Resident Evil: Revelations. I’m about 5 hours in, on episode 5 of what I’m told is a 12 episode game. I’ve fought 2 bosses, have 5 guns, and I’m using circle pad pro as my control method of choice. And from this point in, I’m absolutely certain this game is worth the £30 I paid for my preorder bundle, especially considering I’ve walked past the game being sold for £40 and the circle pad pro for as much as £20 separately. (For Americans, that’s a $60 game and $28 peripheral I got for $48.)

The most obvious thing I could talk about is the graphics, but there’s not much to be said. MT framework mobile has really found a place to sing on the 3DS, and while all the technical aspects of it are impressive for the 3DS, I can’t help but have mixed feelings about this Resident Evil game so far. It makes me hopeful for other developers to really take advantage of the hardware and actually push to use those 4GB cards more often. But the game itself also makes me more worried about the kind of games being heralded for the vita. (Which I have no intention of buying at launch, since the only games I want will be available on PSN for my PS3, and the devs of the vita versions have awful track records *cough*Bend & Nihilistic*cough*)

The game has one real major flaw, and one I can see being a much bigger sticking point for the vita. It feels a little too much like my console games now. The story is too detailed for me to breeze over a cutscene with the sound off and playing out and about, and at home I keep feeling that the game is too big for the format it’s presented in. Sure, the engine runs great and sidesteps all the stutters of the Mercenaries 3D (Elevators being the sole exception as the game loads in new maps.), and sure, it tries to break the episodic structure down further into a scene 1 -> cutscene -> scene 2 -> cliffhanger structure with the game building 10 minutes at a time. But the problem is, I really don’t want to play this game’s campaign any time other than when I’m laying in bed and it’s pitch black.

You could say this is also a strength of the game, but it’s a tricky line where I start to feel that a game runs the risk of not finding it’s groove on the platform. This is more of a general worry than a failing of Revelations though, as it manages to work in the 3DS‘ features in a way that makes more sense than taking charcoal rubbings of everything and gyroscope balance beams. The gyroscope offers a surprisingly accurate method of aiming while moving for those who don’t have the circle pad pro and prefer to play in 2D. But the game makes a good argument for playing in 3D with it’s 3 tiers of 3D strength, up to extra strong, which I normally kept cranked up. Even without the anti-aliasing I know it has in 2D, it just has a nice solidity and natural feel in 3D, with raindrops splattering 4 inches above my screen, and a welcome variety of locations both on and off the ship that give you new visual spectacles to look at every so often. And I have it on good authority from a friend who gave the game their whole weekend that a later boss not only pops in 3D, but pushes the expectations for the kind of scale the 3DS can create. I’ll see when I get to it myself. The best thing about the 3DS‘ features, that only the 3DS can really provide, is having almost all the UI on the bottom screen, freeing up a lot of the top screen for a more Dead Space-esque feel without any health bars or big weapon portraits to intrude on it.

What manages to help the game stay rooted as a portable game I think I can actually play on my couch as much as I did games like Peace Walker is Raid mode. I had expectations for it, but raid mode is infinitely more addictive and deep than mercenaries was. It unlocks partway through the story mode, with more stages coming as you progress. It adds more of an RPG element to the third person shooting with a heavier focus on gun customizing, loot drops, leveling and having numbers pop out of guys so you know which body part makes bigger numbers. I have 3 characters and two pages of other characters I can unlock, and importantly, your level isn’t specific to who you play as, just the passive bonuses you get for the character’s two weapons of choice. And while the weapon store takes both play coins for some items and “battle points” you earn from your performance in both Raid and Story mode in exchange for items and modifications, you can pretty much always win me over when the first gun I can buy is a P90.

Different guns take different numbers of mods, and an achievement system for both story and raid mode unlocks new items, like the Hydra, my favourite of the RE5 shotguns. And it just provides a fun replayable little compulsion loop I can see myself sinking many hours into on co-op to make myself stronger as the game provides more and more challenges to me, up to and including the hell mode difficulty and new game plus options. Even with the sense of power and progression, it’s an excitingly creepy and fun game that definitely manages to evoke the polished survival horror vibe that RE4 managed to ensnare me with, constantly changing things up by taking away my weapons or forcing me to go after and take down a nemesis style threat that can engage and follow me in almost any room of the ship.

So in a nutshell, I’m enjoying the game a lot, and while it may have me anxious of where other portable games may go if they start to focus too much on a “console” experience, I can only see myself enjoying the game even more as I play on. Unless they have some BS ending like Rage. Are you excited for Revelations? Are you a fan of the series as a whole? Do you think I’m full of crap? Feel free to sound off on these in comments below, or maybe just say hello.

Despite the latest Nintendo handheld being marketed largely around its 3D capability, lets face facts: Mario kicks maximum ass just fine in two dimensions; and he’ll be doing so again shortly.

During yesterday’s investor presentation by Nintendo President Saturo Iwata, we learned that Big N is “planning to release a totally new side-scrolling action Super Mario in 2D as a key title for the Nintendo 3DS in the next fiscal year.”

No further details were given but the timeline would fall sometime between March this year and next. Personally, we’ll take side-scrolling Mario anyway, anytime we can get it.

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It appears this summer’s gaming drought will be a little less dry, as Warner Bros. today announced that Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes will be available on practically every gaming device sometime next summer. As the “DC Super Heroes” subtitle teases, Lego Batman 2 will not only feature the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder, but also Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman. A mosh-pit of baddies will also join the fray, including the likes of Lex Luthor and Joker.

Lastly, expect to see Wayne Industries’ killer technology and vehicles, like the Batmobile and Batwing, as well as Batman’s Power Suit and Robin’s Hazard Cannon. If that doesn’t solve the case, then be sure to utilize all new abilities like flight–yes, flight–super-breath, and heat vision.

In case the platforms of release were too vague, here is the list in its entirety: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC, DS, 3DS, and Vita. Surely, you have/will have one of those by then, right?

Morning greetings, minions! As reported earlier in the week, the GBA Ambassador games are now available for download! This includes Japan, Europe, and now North America. Be sure to head to the “Redownload” section of the E-Shop, though, because I guess having it made simpler would just make too much sense.

The list of games available are: F-Zero, Super Mario Advance 3, Zelda: The Minish Cap, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Mario Kart Advance, Mario vs Donkey Kong, Metroid Fusion, Wario Land Advance, Made in Wario.

Enjoy!

Nintendo of Japan sent notices to 3DS Ambassadors [via the 3DS] announcing that they will be able to download their ten free Game Boy Advance titles this Friday, December 16. Naturally, they revealed the last handful of games to be included in the promotion, and you can view the entirety below:

• F-Zero
• Super Mario Advance 3
• Zelda: The Minish Cap
• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
• Kirby & the Amazing Mirror
• Mario Kart Advance
• Mario vs Donkey Kong
• Metroid Fusion
• Wario Land Advance
• Made in Wario