News: Passing the Time

Twenty-Five Years of Triforce
This past February, Nintendo celebrated the passing of a quarter century since the release of the original Legend of Zelda. Just as with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo has promised a celebration to its fans. The recent 3DS release of Ocarina of Time is part of this, as well as a free download of the soundtrack to those that own the 3DS remake. However, these celebrations seem like nothing in comparison to the announcement that Nintendo will be taking over Los Angeles for a Legend of Zelda orchestral concert. On the 21st of October, the Pantages Theatre will be host to Nintendo composer Koji Kondo, with a full tour due in 2012. Tickets to the Los Angeles concert go on sale tomorrow, so you better get prepared.

Fifteen Hours of J-Pop
What do you do if you are a middle-aged school teacher in California, living in complete obscurity, but want to obtain a goal of slightly less obscurity? Then you break a Guinness World Record for playing video games. Carrie Swidecki did just that in West Virginia on Wednesday, playing Dance Dance Revolution for fifteen hours, seventeen minutes, and forty-four seconds, almost two hours longer than the previous record set in the UK in 2010. An elementary school physical education teacher, Swidecki said she trained for six months straight prior to her record-breaking arrow stomping. “I started playing DanceDanceRevolution 10 years ago,” she said, “and when I saw that it was helping me become more physically fit, I integrated it into my physical education program at school and the students love it. Since then, I’ve become more active, lost 75 pounds and won the Guinness World Record!” Konami president Shinji Hirano expressed his congratulations to Swidecki and his pride in his game, encouraging others to follow her lead and take an active role in their physical fitness, even if it is with a video game.

Ocular Violation, Now on Sale!
Loyal yet broke Nintendo fans were overjoyed this week to hear the news that the Nintendo 3DS will be dropping in price in American markets. Starting 12th of August, the system will drop eighty dollars, from $250 to $170, a rather telling sign seeing as the system only launched six months ago. The launch itself was poorly handled worldwide and with reviews complaining of eye pain and motion sickness, its no wonder they are desperate to get consumer to buy the system. Admittedly, Nintendo is slowly but surely making the system a better buy; also announced this week was the addition of downloadable 3D content. Earlier this month, Netflix launched on the 3DS but only offered 2D content. The rock band OK GO released their first 3D music video as a premiere to the service, with Nintendo offering promises of more content like CollegeHumor and Blue Man Group as well as sports in 3D and 3D trailers for upcoming movies. Does this drop in price and this new content make the purchase of a 3DS worth it? We will have to wait until September’s NPD numbers to find out.

Prancing Aboot With Yer Heads Full’a Eyeballs
Developer TopWare announced this week the development of a rather curious technology, one that you would expect to find on the Kinect rather than an iDevice. The version of Two Worlds II: Castle Defense for the iPad 2 institutes what they call 3D-ET technology, the ET short for EyeTracking. Just as it sounds, this technology uses the cameras on the iPad 2 to change the game based on the motions of your eyes, allowing players to look around corners. The game will also change perspective relative to the user’s point of view. Given this description and the limitations of technology, it is more reasonable to say this is HeadTracking technology, but still a rather interesting innovation nonetheless. For the skeptics out there who do not want to buy a full game for one feature, TopWare also adds that this feature will be available on the Lite version of the software as well. Will you be testing out their latest innovation? Let us know what you think!