Club Nintendo Closing Down

Nintendo offers various gifts to customers who accumulate points by purchasing various 3DS and Wii U games

Club Nintendo, the loyalty program that launched in 2007 and supplied free gifts to owners of the Nintendo DS, Wii, 3DS and Wii U, is to close down in September.

Nintendo says it is "working hard to create a new program," which is expected to launch later in the year. No further details were disclosed, aside from Nintendo's pledge that those who sign up to the new program will receive a free copy of Flipnote Studio 3D for the 3DS.

Existing Club Nintendo members have until September 30 to spend their remaining currency of Stars. After this cut-off date, all remaining Stars will be deleted.

By the end of April, new games from Nintendo will no longer come with reward points. A full discontinuation schedule, written by Nintendo, can be found below.

The New Nintendo 3DS, which will launch across North America and Europe on February 13, will not come with Club Nintendo reward points.

Launched in 2007, Club Nintendo has been offering loyal customers a range of gifts to claim in exchange for points accumulated. Prizes range from apparel to wallpapers, mobile ringtones, soundtracks and toys. The program has more than six million members, Nintendo said.

In a notice published on the Nintendo website, the company added: "There are plenty of unique and exclusive items already available in the Stars Catalogue, and we'll keep adding more over the coming months, so there's plenty to spend your Stars on before September 30th 2015."

Club Nintendo Discontinuation Schedule

April 1st 2015: From this date, Nintendo will no longer include product registration cards with its packaged games, so such products cannot be registered in Club Nintendo. You may still find product registration cards in games that were in stock before this date, however.

April 20th 2015: Termination of the registration of digital products downloaded from Nintendo eShop. Digital products obtained from Nintendo eShop after this date will no longer appear in the My Registered Games & Systems page in Club Nintendo. In addition, surveys for download software titles will no longer be available.

September 30th 2015: End of Club Nintendo programme. All Club Nintendo features, such as signing up as a new member, logging in as a registered member, earning Stars, and exchanging Stars for items from the Stars Catalogue will no longer be possible from this date.

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Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Will Include Older Cast from The Last: Naruto the Movie

Upcoming fighting game Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 will include the versions of characters who appeared in The Last: Naruto the Movie. According to Siliconera, the latest issue of Jump magazine showed that older versions of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata will all be playable in the game.

The Last: Naruto the Movie is set two years after the final arc in the Naruto manga. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 will be released this year for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It is being developed by CyberConnect2, who has worked on all the games in the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series since it first launched.

What do you think of the characters' new designs? Let us know in the comments below.

Click the thumbnail to view the full-sized image.

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Sony Offers 10% PS Store Discount Following PSN Xmas Woes

PlayStation 4 and PS Vita customers have been offered a ten percent discount on the PS Store for a limited time, as part of a peace offering following the PSN downtime over the Christmas period.

The discount will run for four days, valid from January 23-26 (starting and ending at 9am Pacific in the US, and 9am GMT in Europe). Exclusions apply too, with PS Plus subscriptions, Music Unlimited and video rentals not eligible for discount.

Sony says the code can be found on the PlayStation Store and via the PlayStation twitter account (the code was unavailable at the time of going to press).

Meanwhile, Sony has also begun to extend users' PS Plus subscriptions by five days at no extra cost. "You will receive an email in the coming days with a confirmation of details about the extension," the company said.

The discount was offered in response to the PlayStation Network outages over the Christmas period, with Sony's online network inaccessible following a DDoS attack. The culprit of the attack, an online group called Lizard Squad, is now being pursued by the authorities. At least one arrest has already been made.

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Next Dragon Age: Inquisition PC Patch Revealed, Includes 40 Fixes and Tweaks

BioWare has announced a third patch for the PC version of role-playing game Dragon Age: Inquisition. Set to launch soon, the patch's primary objective is to clear up lingering bugs, "particularly ones that blocked progression or hampered the player experience," BioWare explains on its website.

Among other things, the Inquisition PC patch tweaks the game's banter system to be less random (to prevent overly long periods of silence), and also fixes various blocking bugs related to personal quests for Dorian and Sera. In addition, the patch clears up a spawning issue for Solas.

The Inquisition PC patch also addresses issues for the game's multiplayer mode, fixing problems with the Reaver's rampage ability, and also making general balance changes to fine-tune the experience.

In addition, the patch introduces new features such as key-binding, and push-to-talk functionality and a new Destruction route for the game's multiplayer mode. The full Inquisition PC patch notes are below; BioWare adds that it will share more information about patches for the console editions later.

BioWare did not announce a release date for the third Inquisition PC patch, but producer Mark Darrah says on Twitter that it's "close."

General:

• Added key binding that allows players to walk.
• Added mouse cursor scaling.
• Fixed issue that could result in the mouse getting stuck in mouse-look mode when players alt-tabbed out of the game in full-screen mode.
• Fixed display bars to correctly reflect items that alter maximum health.

Single-Player:

• Changed party banter system to be less random to prevent extra-long periods where no conversations would occur.
• Fixed issue that could result in one of Dorian's conversations not being available for some players.
• Fixed issue that could result in a cutscene not firing for Dorian's plot when players enter the Gull and Lantern.
• Fixed issue that could result in Sera's Verchiel plot being broken.
• Fixed issue with the demon that could spawn during Solas's personal quest.
• Changed Tactical Camera so that it no longer re-centers when the player changes party members.
• Fixed exploit that allowed for infinite influence.
• Fixed issue that allowed players to exploit their gold value in single-player mode.
• Fixed allied mage AI so they did not dispel targets that the player had frozen.
• Fixed issue that caused the bar displaying armor rating to not update correctly for crafted gear.
• Fixed issue that caused extra potions granted by items to be lost when players return to Skyhold.
• Fixed issue that caused Mind Blast's upgrade, Fortifying Blast, to not provide additional barrier.
• Fixed issue that could result in the opt-in conversation UI continuing to be displayed if players opted out very quickly as the UI was starting to be displayed.
• Fixed issue that could result in the world map being permanently displayed in the Storm Coast.
• Fixed issue that could result in being unable to switch party members after looting.
• Fixed issue that could result in party members not following orders to revive a party member in Tactical Camera mode.
• Fixed issue that could result in people being unable to discover all the regions in the Exalted Plains.
• Fixed issue that could cause dragons to become unresponsive.
• Fixed issue that would cause dragons to freeze during their roar.
• Fixed issue that could cause some conversations to be "hitchy."
• Fixed issue that could cause Varric's legs to do odd things in some opt-in conversations.
• Fixed Masterwork Prowler Armor so it no longer distorts on certain characters.
• Fixed issue that could cause Harmon to disappear in certain circumstances.
• Fixed a few non-herb crafting materials that were showing up in the Herbs section of the inventory. They are now correctly in the Other section.

Multiplayer:

• Enabled push-to-talk functionality in the multiplayer end of match screen.
• Enabled push-to-talk in the multiplayer armor upgrade menu.
• Fixed issue where changing multiplayer match settings would take effect without confirming changes.
• Fixed issue that could result in players entering multiplayer matches without any mapped abilities in certain circumstances.
• Fixed case that could cause keys to not drop in multiplayer mode.
• Fixed issue that would cause the potion mapped to the first slot to also be used when pushing the 9 key in multiplayer mode.
• Fixed issue that would cause the camera to spin at the end of a multiplayer match and not display the end of match screen.
• Fixed issue in multiplayer mode that would result in the healing portion of Rampage to stop working in certain circumstances.
• Tuned Strength of Spirits to be more useful in multiplayer mode.
• Tweaked the balance of the Demon Commander in multiplayer mode.
• Fixed issue that could result in items not displaying their cards when chests are opened in multiplayer mode.
• Fixed issue that could cause pots to respawn in certain circumstances in multiplayer mode.

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Neverwinter Closed Beta Coming to Xbox One in February

Free-to-play massive multiplayer online role-playing game Neverwinter will be starting its closed beta on the Xbox One next month, publisher Perfect World Entertainment has announced. The closed beta will run for three days from February 5 and players can sign up to participate via the Neverwinter site.

The Xbox One version of the game will integrate with the friends list and use "optimized controls." The full game is scheduled to launch on Xbox One in early 2015 and will be free-to-play, although an active Xbox Live Gold subscription will be required.

Based in the Dungeons & Dragons Universe, Neverwinter launched on PC in 2013 to positive reception. An expansion, titled Tyranny of Dragons, launched in August last year. Speaking about bringing the game to console, Perfect World CEO Alan Chen said in a statement, "Consoles are a perfect fit for action-oriented MMORPGs like Neverwinter, and we are thrilled to be one of the first publishers to bring premium free-to-play titles to leading next-gen platforms."

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UK Chart: GTA 5 Holds Top Amid Release Drought

Grand Theft Auto V has held onto first place in the UK charts, atop a familiar looking top ten, as new releases dry up.

Familiar titles feature in the top ten, albeit in reshuffled positions. FIFA 15 climbs one place to second, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare slips one place to third, Far Cry 4 holds fourth again, Minecraft Xbox Edition rises to fifth.

All games in the top ten sold fewer copies than last week, with the market entering a period of post-Christmas stagnation. The only new major release of 2015 so far, Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, hangs at the base of the chart in 38th place.

The all-format top-ten follows:

• Grand Theft Auto 5
• FIFA 15
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Far Cry 4
• Minecraft: Xbox Edition
• The Crew
• Minecraft: PlayStation Edition
• Assassin's Creed Unity
• Destiny
• Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

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The Order 1886 Goes Gold, With Preorder Bonuses Revealed

The Order: 1886, a PlayStation 4-exclusive action title developed by the PSP specialists Ready At Dawn, has now finished production ahead of its February 20 release date.

Ready At Dawn announced the final milestone on its official Twitter page, closing out a production phase which began in January 2011.

As The Order 1886's creators prepare for printing, marketing, and distribution, publisher Sony has also announced bonus materials for those who preorder.

Those who buy the game ahead of release will be given The Knight's Arsenal DLC, a twin-set of costumes and weapons for protagonist Galahad. The alternate costumes can be seen below, while the weapons include an explosive Arsonist Rifle, along with an Arc Rifle Prototype, which is said to fire "devastating bolts of red electricity".

Meanwhile, those who preorder at GameStop will also receive the Knight's Endurance Pack, which includes Desert Khaki uniform, as well as an Endless Blackwater tonic - essentially a medkit tool.

GameSpot's most recent hands-on preview of The Order 1886 suggested there were some reservations about how the game was progressing. Critic Mark Walton suggested that the visuals were, at least form his play session, the only defining characteristic.

"Certainly, I want there to be more to The Order: 1886 than what I've seen so far, because it really is a beautiful thing to behold," he wrote. "A lot of love has been poured into those visuals, let's just hope by the time it sees release the same can be said for the rest of it."

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New NASCAR Game Underway for PS4, Xbox One, and PC

NASCAR 2014 was Eutechnyx's final full release in the series

A NASCAR game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC is in development at a newly announced studio, DMi Games.

As of January 1, the North Carolina-based DMi Games had acquired the license to develop and publish games in the series from previous custodian Eutechnyx. The change in ownership was said to be complex due to the complexity of the licence agreements.

DMi Games president Ed Martin explains: "Just to give you some context, a contemporary NASCAR video game has more than 1,000 licensed and approved properties in it. That's a lot of stakeholders and people to get organized!"

Martin, who has been working on NASCAR games since the early '90s, announced the new deal in an open letter to fans.

"We are already hard at work on several new games including an all-new NASCAR racing sim created by DMi for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC that we expect to release in 2016," he explained.

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Blizzard Sending Some World of Warcraft Vets This Statue

It appears that Blizzard Entertainment is sending some players who have been World of Warcraft subscribers for 10 years the statue you can see in this picture.

"The orc statue is a constant presence in our life at Blizzard entertainment. It's where we meet to talk, to eat, to celebrate," a note on the bottom of the base of the statute reads. "As we celebrate ten years of World of warcraft, we present this token of appreciation to you, stalwart adventurer. Thank you for being a constant presence in our lives as we adventure together."

According to mmo-champion, Blizzard said that to be eligible for this gift, a player must have created a World of Warcraft account within 60 days of the game's release in America or Europe. Players who are eligible should have received an email at the address listed on their Battle.net accounts. If you did not receive that email by now, you're probably not getting the statue.

World of Warcraft recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary. GameSpot marked the occasion as well with a 10-part video series, featuring 10 interviews with the real-life citizens of Azeroth.

For more on the game, check out our previous coverage of World of Warcraft.

Image credit: Battle.net forum user Smitti.

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Hatred Rated Adults Only in North America

Hatred, the controversial massacre simulator, has received an Adults Only rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, the organization that rates games in North America.

"Well, I'm not quite convinced why Hatred got AO rating while it lacks any sexual content, but it's still some kind of achievement to have the second game in history getting AO rating for violence and harsh language only," a Destructive Creations developer said on the game's official forum. "Even if this violence isn't really that bad and this harsh language is not overused. The guy from ESRB (by the way - very nice, polite and cooperative one) told me it's all about 'the context' which people they're testing gameplay video on will see."

The Adults Only, or AO rating, is the harshest rating the ESRB has for content. It's rarely used, and is described by the ESRB as suitable for ages 18 and up for prolonged scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content, and/or real money gambling. All three major console manufacturer—Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo—have a policy that forbids publishing Adults Only-rated games on their platforms, so unless Destructive Creations changes to content in Hatred, we won't see it released on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Hatred was pulled from Steam Greenlight recently and then reinstated a little more than a day later, following an intervention by Valve managing director Gabe Newell. However, Valve has never made Adults Only-rated games available for sale on Steam before.

"I would prefer to get a standard M+ rating, because with AO we will have problems to get to consoles in the future, but on the other hand I think you guys (our fans) would be disappointed with it," the Destructive Creations developer said.

For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Hatred.

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