Nightly News Roundup, 2010.07.20

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded dated for Japan; Professor Layton DVDs announced for the UK; Nintendo fights off Red Dead Redemption & Co. in U.S. retail charts

By Andrew Hsieh. Posted 07/20/2010 21:04 Comment on this     ShareThis

Nightly News Roundup

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded Set for October 7 Release in Japan

From June 2009 to January 2010, Square Enix released eight episodes of Kingdom Hearts coded for Japanese mobile phones. Taking place chronologically after the Kingdom Hearts series’ PlayStation 2 entry, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts coded was co-developed by Square Enix and the Disney Internet Group. Director Tetsuya Nomura described the effort as “a playground for fans, [like] Disneyland, where there are many attractions for people […] but with content instead.”

Square Enix has announced a October 7 Japanese release for Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, a DS remake of Kingdom Hearts coded. No Western release has been announced yet, though Square Enix has confirmed that a Western release will eventually occur. h.a.n.d., a Japanese video game developer best known for developing Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon and co-developing Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, repeats its duties with Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.

Source: Eurogamer

Professor Layton to Solve Puzzles on UK Televisions

Amazon has just put a DVD/Blu-Ray box set of Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva up for preorder in the United Kingdom, set for an October 4th release. The box set is set for a RRP of £49.99, though Amazon sets the price at £37.49; Amazon provides no details for the box set’s contents, though the image shown depicts three discs, as well as a companion booklet.

While gamers may best know Professor Layton and his boy sidekick Luke from their eponymous DS games Professor Layton and the Curious Village and Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, as well as the upcoming Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, mainstream audiences– at least in Japan –might be more familiar with Professor Layton’s foray into film with Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva. Directed by Masakazu Hashimoto, who also directed episodes of the anime series Scrapped Princess and Kemonozume, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva found release in Japan on December 19, 2009 and March 18, 2010 in Singapore, and is slated for a September 2010 theatrical release in the United Kingdom. A North American release is not yet confirmed.

Source: GoNintendo

Nintendo Staves off Software Competition in First Half of 2010

Though the NPD Group recently halted full distribution of unit sales figures for software titles, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have compensated for that loss by including such figures in their monthly press releases. As such, analyst Matt Matthews of Gamasutra has put together data for these software sales indicating overwhelmingly powerful sales figures for Nintendo, with New Super Mario Bros. Wii selling over two million units– the only software title to sell that number –and Wii Fit Plus and Pokémon SoulSilver Version selling between 1.5 to 2.0 million units, though the Wii Fit Plus numbers (and, indeed, all software numbers) include both bundle and standalone numbers.

Matt Matthews specifically notes strong sales of Just Dance, the sole third-party effort for a Nintendo system placing in the top sales charts. Just Dance, notes Matthews, has sold over one million units in 2010 alone, though Ubisoft released it in November 2009. For the most part, however, franchise games such as Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continue to dominate the sales charts, with games like Just Dance and Red Dead Redemption being merely surprising anomalies, however pleasant.

Source: Gamasutra

Nightly News Roundup, 2010.07.20
Kingdom Hearts Re:coded dated for Japan; Professor Layton DVDs announced for the UK;

Nintendo fights off Red Dead Redemption in U.S. retail charts

From June 2009 to January 2010, SquareEnix released eight episodes of Kingdom Hearts

coded for Japanese mobile phones. Taking place chronologically after Kingdom Hearts’s

PlayStation 2 entry, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts coded was co-developed by

Square Enix and the Disney Internet Group. Director Tetsuya Nomura described the

effort as “a playground for fans [like] Disneyland, where there are many attractions

for people […] but with content instead.”

Square Enix has announced a October 7 Japanese release for Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, a

DS remake of Kingdom Hearts coded. No Western release has been announced yet, though

Square Enix has confirmed that a Western release will eventually occur. h.a.n.d., a

Japanese video game developer best known for developing Final Fantasy Fables:

Chocobo’s Dungeon and co-developing Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, repeats its duties

with Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/kingdom-hearts-re-coded-in-october
http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=130892
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29518/FirstHalf_2010_Results_Nintendo_Dominates_To

p_US_Retail_Games.php

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/07/20/sega-making-three-versions-of-thor-the-video-

game/

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