Out next year

Ubisoft's next Sam Fisher game, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, is coming to Xbox 360 with Kinect voice commands in early 2013.

The game has a new cover system and looks more like a third person shooter than the stealthy sneaking we've come to expect from Splinter Cell. With Kinect you'll be able to shout commands and have Mr Fisher react accordingly, lobbing grenades and so on.

It's out early next year.

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From the makers of And Yet It Moves

Broken Rules — the team behind WiiWare gem And Yet It Moves — has just confirmed Chasing Aurora is coming to the Wii U eShop in late 2012.

The game aims to recreate the sensation of flight using the Wii U GamePad, with a single player story mode told without dialogue. This puts us in mind of SEGA Saturn classic NiGHTS into Dreams, which has one of our number very excited indeed.

Here's the latest gameplay trailer, with concept art right below.

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DDDlightful

Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is out next month, but the publisher doesn't want you to forget about it in the upcoming E3 rush, so it's put out a new trailer to keep it fresh in your mind.

Mickey, Donald and friends reach Nintendo 3DS in late July, and you can get a taste for their upcoming adventure in the video below.

One for your shopping list?

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With care

Gearbox Studios has revealed development work on Aliens: Colonial Marines for Wii U is being handled by Demiurge Studios.

Demiurge, the team behind Shoot Many Robots on PSN, spent nine months creating a prototype of the game before being given development duties. Gearbox is also collaborating with Texan studios Nerve and Timegate, but 80% of development work will be handled in-house by Gearbox.

By all accounts Aliens: Colonial Marines won't be playable on Wii U at this year's E3, but hopefully we'll at least get some new details. Stay tuned.

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Guardian heroes

Atlus has just announced it'll release Code of Princess on 3DS in North America this Fall.

The new action RPG from the creators of SEGA Saturn classic Guardian Heroes, Code of Princess is a 3DS exclusive and comes with online cooperative and competitive play.

Eager players can pre-order the game now and receive a free art book and soundtrack sampler when they purchase the game.

We can't wait.

ATLUS TO BRING CODE OF PRINCESS FOR NINTENDO 3DS, ACTION RPG BRAWLER WITH COMPETITIVE AND COOPERATIVE MULTIPLAYER, TO NORTH AMERICA THIS FALL; FANS WHO PRE-ORDER AT PARTICIPATING RETAILERS WILL RECEIVE FREE "SOUND & VISUAL BOOK" BONUS

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA — JUNE 4, 2012 — ATLUS, a brand of Index Digital Media, Inc., today revealed North American publishing plans for Code of Princess™, an action RPG brawler for Nintendo 3DS™ with cooperative and competitive multiplayer.

Slated for release this fall, Code of Princess offers players an exciting yet unconventional hardcore experience, deftly blending fighting gameplay with components from classic arcade side-scrolling beat 'em ups and the character development and customization of an RPG. Up to four players can take on challenges cooperatively or battle against one another in competitive play. Both modes are available locally or online via Nintendo Network.

"Developed by an all-star team of industry veterans, Code of Princess is unlike anything else available for Nintendo 3DS," commented Tim Pivnicny, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ATLUS. "Fans of action will savor the game's combat, which is loaded with satisfying chain attacks and plenty of depth--both in terms of attack options and also quite literally in the sense that battlefields employ a three-railed design, letting players move forward and back as tactics dictate. Fans of RPGs will relish the ability to level and improve their characters, converting their gained experience into boosts for the stats that best suit their play style and tactics. This appealing amalgam of game designs is wrapped in a beautiful package, boasting lovingly rendered and animated characters and eye-catching flurries of punches and kicks. With something for virtually every kind of old-school gamer and with an esteemed pedigree to draw upon, Code of Princess is certain to be one of the most anticipated Nintendo 3DS games of the year."

In keeping with proud ATLUS tradition, fans who pre-order Code of Princess (at a participating retailer while supplies last) will receive the Code of Princess Sound & Visual Book, a collection of art work from famed designer Kinu Nishimura and music from ACE's stellar soundtrack that are the perfect complement to the game and a wonderful collectible to proudly display.

Code of Princess is set to release this fall exclusively for Nintendo 3DS. For more information, visit http://www.atlus.com/codeofprincess.

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Here it is!

Nintendo said we wouldn't see any Wii U games in tonight's Nintendo Direct Live, but Satoru Iwata snuck in a cheeky glimpse of Super Mario Bros. to show off the system's new Miiverse functionality.

It was only a short video and focuses more on the system's all-new social networking functions, but we'll never pass up an opportunity to show you the new Mario.

Expect to see a lot more of this game on Tuesday.

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Better late than never

Nintendo's pre-E3 show just wrapped up, with an unprecedented focus on Wii U's online functions.

The machine's innovative new Miiverse online system took centre stage, and Nintendo's put it front and centre in the console itself too. When you power up your Wii U, you'll see the Miiverse Plaza, a vibrant, online connected community: other players will fill the plaza with comments about games they're playing, introducing you to new games and a whole community. Wii's online functions are all behind Channels; Wii U puts them right in your hands, right from the start.

It's the scope of the features that impress most, though. Miiverse aims to connect consoles and players even for single-player games.

Imagine playing the new Zelda and getting stuck in a temple; instead of opening up a strategy guide or a web browser, the Wii U's social networks can be accessed from any game with a few taps, suspending the game in the background. Post a message asking for help, and other users will be able to respond; if you get really stuck you can start a video chat with them to discuss strategies. You'll be able to check into the Miiverse on 3DS and, in future, all web-enabled devices.

No Nintendo console has offered such open communication before, and while that's damning with faint praise, Wii U truly does look leaps and bounds beyond Wii and even 3DS. While there will undoubtedly be limitations — hey, this is Nintendo we're talking about — the framework is far stronger than we've seen before.

Yet there's still an unmistakable air of Nintendo-ness to all this. Mii characters gathering around icons in a plaza; sending handwritten notes and doodles to friends and social networks; commiserating when you die on Super Mario Bros. for the hundredth time. It's less about connecting consoles and more about connecting players.

After spending so long trailing so far behind the competition, Nintendo could finally have an online service that leads the way.

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Watch it again inside

Can't wait to find out more about Wii U? Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will bring you brand new information about the upcoming console right here tonight.

We've got the embedded video below so you can watch it here, plus we'll be doing live text updates throughout the show too so you won't miss a thing.

Remember: this is for new information about the Wii U console only. We will not see any Wii U games tonight — they're coming Tuesday.

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Don't forget that E3 'proper' starts on Tuesday with the Nintendo Press Conference 9am Pacific / 12 midday Eastern / 5pm UK / 6pm Central European Time / Wednesday 6th June, 2am Australian Eastern Standard Time. Where to Watch: http://e3.nintendo.com, Facebook, on MTV2 and Spike TV.

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Let the games begin

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This time last year, PS Vita was known as NGP and everyone on the web was buzzing. Here we are on the verge of E3 2012, and Vita needs another big show to ignite its sales for the rest of the year.

We've already talked about what we expect from Sony at E3, and while PS3 will have some great games on display — everyone is excited about The Last of Us — it's Vita that will dominate headlines, good or bad.

Nobody with any sense would call Vita dead if it has an underwhelming E3, but if it can drum up the same levels of excitement as last year, it could be just the shot in the arm it needs.

Vita Statistics

Last year Sony wowed us with Vita's horsepower, and we'd be extremely surprised if the next wave of Vita games didn't look even better than its launch titles. But what Sony needs to reinforce is just what got us all excited about the machine in the first place: that glorious OLED multi-touch screen, the twin analogue sticks and everything from a camera to GPS. It's still a real powerhouse, packed with more technology than you can shake a Move controller at, and trumps practically everything on the market.

Nobody else has a handheld console on the way — Vita is the undisputed power king of this portable generation. Like PS3 before it, Vita is a hardware investment that will last, a machine built for a marathon, and what seems like a lot to pay now will prove its worth in years to come. Sony shouldn't shy from shouting about Vita's grunt even now we're all familiar with it.

Ready for Deployment

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Stacks of big franchises were announced for Vita last year — Call of Duty, BioShock, Killzone — but we've seen precious little of them since. Sure, they're all first-person shooters, but they're as different to each other as MotorStorm is to Gran Turismo. With Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 sure to dominate, perhaps now's the time for Activision to reveal the first details of its portable partner.

We all got giddy at the sight of those twin sticks, and now it's time to see them put to good use in some solid shooters, the sort PSP arguably never had. Unit 13 is a decent starting point, but there's better titles ahead to be sure — we just need to see them.

Keep Calm and Carry On

More than anything, though, Sony just needs to stand by Vita. Yes, the system's off to a shaky start, but Sony still believes in it and developers do too. A strong line-up of games, repeated emphasis on the console's strengths and a few big franchises should make sure Sony comes out of E3 2012 ready to sell millions of units of a reinvigorated Vita.

What do you make of Vita's chances this E3? How should Sony ensure it recaptures the headlines for the right reasons? Join the debate in the comments below.

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Seven months out

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, the much-anticipated collaboration between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli, lands on PS3 in Europe on 25th January 2013.

The adventure contains English and Japanese voice overs as well as subtitles in French, Italian, German and Spanish, so most European players should be able to enjoy it.

Here's a trailer from April. January 2013 can't get here soon enough.

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