Sparing me from having to use more movie sequel titles are some new games this week and even a couple of unconventional Friday releases: Sniper Elite V2 for the Wii U and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D on the 3DS.

But looking ahead, prepare for “TWIG 2: Back in the Habit (of Not Releasing Anything).”

Wii U:

- May 21:

• Fast & Furious: Showdown
• LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
• Resident Evil: Revelations

- May 24:

• Sniper Elite V2

3DS:

- May 21:

• Fast & Furious: Showdown

- May 24:

• Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

DS:

- May 21:

• Nothing

Wii:

- May 21:

• Nothing

During yesterday’s Nintendo Direct, company president Satoru Iwata announced that they would be partnering with SEGA to bring new Sonic games to Nintendo systems.

According to a press release sent out by SEGA, the partnership is a three-game deal.

“Sonic the Hedgehog has performed incredibly well on Nintendo platforms and this exclusive partnership is a natural fit for the next evolution of Sonic games” commented Jurgen Post COO SEGA Europe Ltd.  “The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS are ideal platforms to showcase Sonic and we are looking forward to working with Nintendo on these three exciting adventures.”

Kotaku got ahold of a SEGA representative who says that the game announced during the Nintendo Direct stream – a new Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Sonic: Lost World — make up for two of the games in the deal.

Rumors are buzzing that the third game may be a possible Mario Kart/Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing crossover after Steve Lycett, executive producer at All-Stars Racing developer Sumo Digital, posted a series of messages on Twitter.

Having a beer, thinking of how we’d follow All-Stars Transformed…

— Steve Lycett (@S0LSUM0) April 26, 2013

@imranzomg the thought had crossed my mind ;)

— Steve Lycett (@S0LSUM0) April 26, 2013

Source: SEGA Blog, Kotaku

A representative for EA has revealed that the company has decided to not release FIFA Soccer 14 on the Wii U, citing “disappointing” sales of FIFA Soccer 13.

“Six months ago FIFA 13 was a launch title on Wii U,” the representative told Eurogamer. “Although the game featured FIFA’s award-winning HD gameplay and innovative new ways to play, the commercial results were disappointing. We have decided not to develop FIFA 14 on Wii U.”

The decision comes not long after the company announced they would not be bringing the 25th anniversary release of Madden NFL to the Wii U for similar reasons.

Despite EA stating that they have a “strong partnership” with Nintendo, the company currently has zero titles in development for the Wii U.

Source: Eurogamer [via Polygon]

#IwataSays We will discuss new Smash Bros., 3D Mario game, Mario Kart and other Wii U titles in our #NintendoDirectNA before the start of E3

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 17, 2013

After today’s Nintendo Direct, some of you may be asking, “Where’s Smash Bros./Mario Kart/that new 3D Mario game?”

Well, Nintendo hasn’t forgotten, but rather than talk about them now, the company has decided to wait until the pre-E3 Nintendo Direct to go into details.

Source: @NintendoAmerica

Nintendo appears to have gone with a universal stream for the latest Nintendo Direct. The content in both the European and North American streams are practically identical except for things like release dates.

The only major difference is the message from NoA’s Reggie Fils-Aime regarding Wii U demo events coming to Best Buy locations across the U.S.

Hit the break for a rundown of today’s streams.

North America:

• New Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for Wii U
  • Takes place at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia
  • Supports Wii MotionPlus
  • New events include: Figure skating pairs, snowboard slope
  • GamePad features include drawing strategic arrows on the ice in Curling and aiming your rifle in the Biathlon
  • “Dream Events” take place in various locales in the Mario and Sonic universes
  • “Mixed Event” has skiers, bobsledders and ice skaters all racing against each other at the same time
  • Launch date to be announced
• Sonic: Lost World
  • “Nintendo has entered into a ‘worldwide partnership’ with SEGA on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.”
  • New action-adventure game exclusively for Wii U and 3DS
  • More details to come before E3
• More Game Gear titles coming to 3DS eShop
  • Crystal Warriors
  • Columns
  • Sonic Blast
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • Defenders of Oasis
  • Tails Adventure
  • Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya
  • Sonic Drift 2
  • G-Loc Air Battle
  • Sonic Labyrinth
  • Vampire: Master of Darkness
• Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons coming to the eShop on May 30
  • $4.99 from May 30 – June 20
  • $5.99 afterwards
• Game and Wario
  • Multiplayer game Island: Use GamePad to launch “Fronks” towards a floating target
  • Patchwork: Puzzle game that has you recognizing patterns to properly place tiles
  • Kung-Fu: Auto-jump platformer that requires watching both screens
  • Coming June 23 for $39.99
• Resident Evil Revelations
  • Hunk and Rachel in Raid Mode
  • Touch screen controls
  • Off-TV mode
  • Pro controller support
  • Coming May 21
• New Super Luigi U
  • The thief Nabbit takes place of Mario in multiplayer
  • Nabbit cannot use powerups, but is invulnerable
  • Coming to eShop on June 20 for $19.99
  • Standalone retail version coming August 25 for $29.99, doesn’t require New Super Mario Bros. U
• The Wonderful 101
  • Coming September 15
• Pikmin 3
  • Three new characters: Alph, Brittany and Charlie
  • They’re in search of food to bring back to their home planet that’s suffering from famine
  • Food found on the Pikmin’s homeworld can be turned into juice to feed the explorers
  • Switch between the three characters to take on multiple tasks at once
  • If you mess up, you can restart the day or go further back to a previous day
  • There is no time limit like in the first Pikmin
  • GamePad serves as a map, showing Pikmin locations and letting you move players by pointing and clicking
  • Supports the Pro Controller and Wii Remote
  • Supports Off-TV play and you can also use the Wii Remote in this mode
  • Coming August 4
• Nintendo partnering with Best Buy to demo unreleased Wii U games during the week of E3
  • Available games will be announced at a later date

Europe:

• Game & Wario
  • 16 mini-games
  • Coming June 28
• Resident Evil Revelations
  • Coming May 24
• New Super Luigi U
  • eShop: June 20
  • Standalone: July 26
• The Wonderful 101
  • Coming August 23
• Pikmin 3
  • Coming July 26

It’s an incredible week in the eShop. Not only are Super Metroid, Mega Man 5, Harvest Moon GB and The Starship Damrey all coming out today, there are also a couple of sales going on.

Until May 26, if you buy Super Mario World in the Wii U eShop, you can get Super Mario Bros. 2 for half off. Not only that, Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien is 25 percent off until May 30.

3DS Downloads/ Virtual Console:

- May 16:

• Mega Man 5 (1 Player, NES, $4.99)
• Harvest Moon GB (1 Player, GB/GBC, $4.99)
• THE STARSHIP DAMREY (1 Player, $7.99)
• Bowling Bonanza 3D (1-2 Players, $5.99)
• Dress To Play: Magic Bubbles! (1 Player, $3.99)

Wii U Downloads/ Virtual Console:

- May 16:

• Super Metroid (1 Player, SNES, $.30)
  
• Super Ghouls’n Ghosts (1 Player, SNES, $7.99)
• Super Mario Bros. 2 (1 Player, NES, $4.99 [50% off if you purchase with Super Mario World - Ends May 26])
• BIT.TRIP Presents… Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (1 Player, $14.99 [25% off until May 30])

- May 21:

• LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (1-2 Players, $49.99)
• Resident Evil Revelations (1-2 Players, $49.99)

DSiWare:

- May 16:

• California Super Sports (1 Player, $4.99/500 Points)

WiiWare/Virtual Console:

- May 16:

• THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’99 (1-2 Players, ARC, 900 Points)

Nintendo Video:

- May 16:

• Nothing

Earlier this month, Nintendo became a YouTube partner and they’ve now begun filing “content ID match” claims on several Let’s Play and fan-produced videos featuring Nintendo games and franchises. The claims allow Nintendo to monetize these videos by inserting ads for the company before, next to or at the end of videos.

By doing this, Nintendo is preventing possible ad revenue for Let’s Players and the owners of Nintendo fan video, some of whom make a living producing these videos.

These content claims should only be for ad purposes, but according to sources speaking to Gamasutra, Nintendo has gone so far as to have certain videos removed from YouTube entirely.

“So far it’s mostly been affecting bigger channels and mostly videos posted recently,” said their source. “The main problem is that no one seems to know why they’re doing it or what their eventual goal is.”

In an official statement to the press, Nintendo denies the accusations of shutting down videos, even saying they do not want to block people using their intellectual properties.

“As part of our on-going push to ensure Nintendo content is shared across social media channels in an appropriate and safe way, we became a YouTube partner and as such in February 2013 we registered our copyright content in the YouTube database. For most fan videos this will not result in any changes, however, for those videos featuring Nintendo-owned content, such as images or audio of a certain length, adverts will now appear at the beginning, next to or at the end of the clips. We continually want our fans to enjoy sharing Nintendo content on YouTube, and that is why, unlike other entertainment companies, we have chosen not to block people using our intellectual property.

For more information please visit http://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/faq.html“

Many in the fan gaming community are seeing this as a very negative move from Nintendo. They feel that these videos are practically free advertising and praise for Nintendo and their games, and by going after them, the company is cutting off the nose to spite the face for no good reason.

Source: Gamasutra, Game Front

Both Nintendo of America and Europe have announced a new Nintendo Direct for tomorrow, May 17, that will cover games coming out this summer for the Wii U and 3DS.

The North American stream is scheduled for 7 a.m. PST, while the European stream is set for 3 p.m. UK/BST. As with previous Nintendo Directs, the streams can be viewed on Nintendo.com and Nintendo.co.uk.

Source: facebook

Phoenix Wright’s “daughter” Trucy and childhood friend/rival Miles Edgeworth are coming back for Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, the fifth mainline entry in the series.

Both characters’ were revealed, along with their new looks, in the latest issue of Famitsu. Trucy doesn’t appear to have changed much since her appearance in Ace Attorney 4. Edgeworth, on the other hand, shows his age by sporting a new, longer coat and a pair of glasses.

Capcom also put out a new trailer for the game, but it focuses more on Phoenix and the new prosecutor Jin Yūgami.

Source: Court Records [via Japanator]

Shin Megami Tensei IV artist Masayuki Doi and Dragon’s Crown artist George Kamitani will both be at E3 to sign prints for attendees and Atlus wants you to choose which ones they should make.

The poll is open to everyone subscribed to the company’s “Atlus Faithful” newsletter, but you can also click on the posted links to vote for your favorite print. However, not being on Atlus’ mailing list eliminates you from winning one of the twelve signed prints they plan to give away in the future.

Vote for SMT IV Print A

Vote for SMT IV Print B

Vote for Dragon’s Crown Print A

Vote for Dragon’s Crown Print B

Source: E-Mail