Nintendo are always a wild card when it comes to making appearances at E3. Most years, the company does not make a physical presence, instead releasing a special “Nintendo Direct” video detailing their plans for the year, which is broadcast during their segment of the show. This, they say, is a cost-cutting measure; as why come to the show to show off anything if you have nothing physical to talk about and a pre-recorded segment can do the exact same job? Therefore, usually when the company makes a physical appearance, chances are they have something big coming out for which only a physical demonstration can do proper justice.

A rumour earlier this month suggested that once again, Nintendo would forego a physical presence this year and rely on a Nintendo Direct instead. But earlier this week, a new rumour called that into question, when various sources each made similar claims that Nintendo was working on a new Hardware project and was considering a physical E3 appearance to show it off.

Though the company revealed in its most recent financial briefing that they were currently working on new Hardware, Chief excutive Satoru Iwata clarified this would be for a new ‘Quality of Life’ platform, seemingly implying they were not working on a new console or handheld successor to the existing Wii U or 3DS. He additionally stated Nintendo would reveal the system before the end of the current financial year – which opens a window between now and March 2015. However, little of this device is known.

While many gaming journalists originally ignored the new E3 Hardware Reveal rumour, some flipped on this position when the widely respected media outlet VideoGamer claimed it had heard from a third-party source that the speculation was true. VideoGamer linked the rumour to previous speculation about Nintendo planning a new hardware line, “Nintendo Fusion” – which we ourselves reported on several months ago – stating that similar technical specifications were once again quoted.

However, it now appears the original rumour was correct; as despite the above evidence suggesting Nintendo COULD have hardware to show off this year and the repeated rumours of E3 reveal plans, representatives from Nintendo contacted various members of the gaming press to state that there were no plans to make any such reveal in E3 – stating that they neither planned to reveal any new Hardware, nor any re-iteration of any existing platform. Nintendo have confirmed there is to be no physical presence at E3 at all, with the platform holder again hold a special Nintendo Direct on Tuesday, June 10 to share “further detail on the gaming experiences on the way for Nintendo platforms in 2014 and beyond”.

While we may now know Nintendo is not planning to be at E3 and will do a Nintendo Direct for it once again, the rumours remain interesting. Is Nintendo’s own admission of a planned hardware reveal next year actually a gaming device, or something health-related but nothing to do with gaming? Do the leaked Tech Specs mean anything at all, or are they a figment of someone’s imagination? Stay tuned to Sanitarium.FM and hear the latest as it’s discovered!

Disney Interactive loves Disney Infinity, and apparently the Avengers. During an even in Los Angeles, Disney Interactive President Jimmy Pitaro announced that characters from Marvel’s vast stable of heroes and villains will be joining the Disney Infinity universe this fall as Disney releases the 2.0 Edition of the game.

Characters revealed so far include Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk. For those keeping score, thats pretty much all of the Avengers. MODOK and Loki were also shown as well as Groot and Rocket Raccoon from the upcoming film Guardians of the Galaxy.  The Marvel characters also come with a new environment, Marvel Manhattan for players to explore. Each character will have their own unique abilities to give them that signature feel folks have come to expect from the famed Marvel characters. Iron Man can hover, Hulk can climb walls and Black Widow can….punch things. The figurines and in game characters will feature a stylized look that has been “homogenized” across the Marvel spectrum. That isn’t to say the designs have been dumbed down. They just fit into the Disney Infinity universe while remaining instantly recognizable.

For those worried that 2.0 will force you to start over, fear not! All content from the original version will carry over, including toys, play sets, power discs and Toy Box levels. marvel Manhattan is promised to be four times larger than the size of the Incredibles play set in the current game. Players will be able to engage in airborne combat, scale buildings and perform super jumps. In addition, Disney is adding in a degree of customization as they raise the level cap from 10 to 20 for characters and add a skill tree interface.

Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition will launch with a new starter pack that will include and Avengers-themed play set, two power discs and three characters: Black Widow, Thor and Iron Man later this fall. The game will be available for iOS, PC, PlayStation 3, WiiU, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Around this time in 1989, this big grey brick to the left started to hit the shelves in a move which would revolutionise the way we play videogames. A bulky, squarish device capable only of greyscale graphics; and requiring no less than FOUR AA batteries to power (for these were the days when internal, rechargeable batteries were unheard of – though a later model, the “Game Boy Pocket”, would later slim down the console and reduce the power requirement to a more reasonable two AAA batteries), the Game Boy was a hand-held games console that, while neither Nintendo’s first foray into hand-held gaming nor the sole entrant in the market in its era, brought the idea of gaming on-the-move to mainstream attention; while its games, such as the still-addictive-today Tetris and the forever evolving, eternally popular juggernaut Pokémon would bring new emphasis to the concept of “accessible to all” and “better with friends” gaming respectively. And now, this piece of gaming history is 25 years old.

Cut me a slice of that cake – and let’s go grab a round of drinks.

Colour me confused. As we all know, the Gamepad controller that forms the main gimmick of Nintendo’s Wii U console, incorporates with it an NFC Reader. Back when this was first announced, many of us assumed this would allow NFC-enabled toys, for example Skylanders figures, to work on the console without the need for a separate device (the Skylanders Portal, for example). Indeed, Nintendo even made numerous references to such functionality in a subsequent Nintendo Direct – but despite this; and even as Skylanders games continue to make a presence on Nintendo’s consoles and the 3DS, this ability simply hasn’t been utilised.

Why not? Surely Skylanders’ child-friendly nature, emphasis on collectivity and vast array of funny characters is a natural fit for Nintendo – so the company should be trying to support them as much as they can right? Well apparently, Nintendo was “confused” about the whole concept of Skylanders when they were first told about it – and that confusion led to them pulling out of a potentially lucrative deal, according to Fred Ford and Paul Reiche, co-founders of Skylanders developer Toys For Bob.

Speaking to the gaming website Polygon as part of a larger Skylanders feature, the two developers revealed that the company approached Nintendo to discuss Skylanders in the hopes of getting the company behind them during early development of their big toy-centric action game. They believed the title fit in with Nintendo’s own family-friendly image and childlike charm; and at one point even discussed combining Nintendo properties into the Skylanders game world – could you imagine Mario, Zelda or Samus standing beside Spyro and the other Skylanders? However, Nintendo appeared confused by the concept.

The company’s lack of understanding over what Skylanders was supposed to be and how they’d work with it, appears to have led to Nintendo deciding not to commit to the IP. To this day, Toys For Bob remain confused as to why Nintendo didn’t give them a chance. Said Reiche: “Clearly, they have got properties well suited to this world. Why it is that they didn’t rush in here will probably haunt them for the rest of their days.”

Indeed, Skylanders has gone on to sell millions of games and hundreds of millions of the individual figures over its relatively short lifespan; and now has three separate series. Whether you’d like to admit it or not, the franchise has become an enormous global success – a fact that must hit Nintendo hard given their recent financial woes. Perhaps this could be behind recent rumours that Nintendo may be looking into turning its own virtual, toy-based series, Pokémon Rumble, into an actual physical toy line? Of course, these are just rumours right now – but you gotta admit, it makes a ton of sense; and Nintendo do have a history of showing people how things should be done…

Child Of Light is an upcoming RPG from Ubisoft Montreal, utilizing the visually stunning UbiArt Framework.

The game looks stunning, and Ubisoft has just released a new trailer showcasing the world you will explore when the game launches on April 30th for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U and PC.

Check out the trailer below: