After a short wait Pokemon Bank has finally become available in Europe, Australia and New Zealand today.

Pokemon Bank is Nintendo’s subscription cloud storage system for the Pokemon X and Y games, costing £4.49/€4.99 a month. It comes with the space to store up to 3000 different Pokemon in the 100 provided boxes for each paying player as well as a one-way transfer to bring prized Pokemon forward from the Gen 5 games to use in both X and Y (see diagram below).

Users can download the Bank from the Nintendo eShop and try it for free until March 14^th after which the subscription fee comes into action. Anyone who tries it before September also get a free super-rare Celebi as a present.

Pokemon Bank originally had been scheduled for a December release but was pushed back after the release in Japan put unexpected strain on the servers used. As of yet there has been no word on a release date for North America but the subscription fee is said to be $4.99 a month.

[UPDATE FROM SEGA]

SEGA has released a response to rumours of a new Sonic for PS4, XBOX One and Wii U in 2015, “SEGA is yet to announce details of upcoming console video games for Sonic the Hedgehog or further details regarding the new Sonic CG TV series. “The recent information coming out of Nuremburg Toy Fair was incorrect.”

SEGA also reminded everyone that “For official and up to date news regarding Sonic the Hedgehog please go to www.sonicthehedgehog.com or follow Sonic on Twitter (@sonic_hedgehog).”

It seems Sonic Adventure 3 may not be coming as soon as we thought. Sorry fanboys.

[ORIGINAL STORY]

Looks like Sonic may be speeding onto a Next-Gen console near you in 2015! A display spotted at the Nuremberg Toy Fair shows a new title for the Wii U, PS4 and XBOX ONE. Of course, the name of the game is TBA. Curiously, no mention of the third Nintendo exclusive title was found.

Nintendo and SEGA entered an exclusive partnership in 2013 to produce three Sonic titles for Nintendo’s home console and handheld. The first was Sonic Galax…I mean Sonic: Lost world. The second was, of course, the dismally un-fun Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. (On a side note, can we get shorter titles for those things? PLEASE?)

The third game is nowhere to be seen. The deal certainly could have changed as it did with the so called “Capcom Five” back in the Gamecube games. Popular speculation seems to be that this is a new game instead.

With the abysmal track record Sonic has had recently, is a new Sonic game a good idea? Or is SEGA just milking it’s half dead hedgehog for all the money it’s worth?

Watch Dogs is a game that a lot of people are looking forward to, so when it was delayed it upset a few people who already had it on pre-order. Rumours about it being cancelled on the Wii U caused more waves and those waves might have had a part of play in this latest incident related to the game, strange as it seems.

It seems that someone claiming to be Ubisoft submitted a Request for Express Abandonment for the trademark on the ‘Watch Dogs’ name to the US Patent & Trademark Office, supposedly signed by the Ubisoft Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot. The only problem? Ubisoft says they never submitted this request.

Ubisoft Entertainment submits this Petition to the Director under Trademark Rule 2.146 to prevent the abandonment of Application Serial No. 85642398. A fraudulent Request for Express Abandonment was recently filed in connection with Application Serial No. 85642398.

 

Facts

On February 1, 2014, Ubisoft Entertainment received an email from TEAS@uspto.gov notifying Ubisoft Entertainment that a Request for Express Abandonment had been filed in connection with Application Serial No. 85642398. The Request for Express Abandonment purports to be signed by the Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft Entertainment, Yves Guillemot.

Mr. Guillemot, however, did not sign the Request for Express Abandonment, nor did Ubisoft Entertainment file the Request for Express Abandonment. The Request for Express Abandonment is fraudulent and was not filed by Ubisoft Entertainment or its representative

Ubisoft say that they are now working with the USPTO to reinstate the trademark and that it should once again be active in the coming days, reassuring the players who have been disappointed once before with a delay that this shouldn’t cause any further delay on the game’s release.

Makes you wonder who would go to so much trouble though to try and remove the trademark from Ubisoft, and why. It’s a lot of effort to go to for the sake of a trolling attempt…

Smashdate! #2 and a returning favorite is causing some controversy among gamers (not to mention among us) so in this smash date we will take a look at the contender and also some of the stages that you’ll be using to smash your friends into the floor.

The Fighters Return:

Lucario

This puppy ain’t rolling over for no one; Lucario is back for a second round his Aura powers make him an odd beast to tame. In Brawl Lucario made his appearance to mixed review due to: 1. Replacing MewTwo in the roster and 2. His peculiar fighting mechanic where the higher damage percentage Lucario Suffers the harder he hits back. Now this is great for someone like me who’s main brawling strength is his uncanny and somewhat frustrating ability to stay on the stage regardless of damage. So for me Lucario can pack a massive punch but needs alot of time to build up his power. But my god when you hit the 200%+ mark and set off an aurora beam shit will hit the fan.

Now obviously Lucario’s announcement has come with a bitter sweet taste as a lot of Brawler were looking forward to getting to play as MewTwo again after the release of X and Y. But all hope is not lost we still have a way to go and a load more characters to see.

What do you guys think MewTwo vs. Lucario sounds pretty cool right?

The Stage is Set:

Animal Crossing

This stage appears to be set on a floating platform above the Town of Animal Crossing. The stage appears mostly flat with a stage area at the rear for the games cameo character like KK Slider. It looks pretty similar to the Brawl Stage so should be a pretty simple stage to get to grips with.

Willey’s Stage

Set outside Dr. Willey’s Castle Megaman’s home turf is shaping up to be a good choice for brawlers with very flat ground and not a lot of distractions. In most screen shots you will clearly see Yellow devil now I’m hoping this is due to the adventure mode as having Yellow devil flying round the stage will cause havoc with Brawlers. It’ll make for a fun stage but not a fair fight.

The Stadium

A boxing ring is always a safe bet for a fair high impact fight, the lack of a drop off does make this stage allot more interesting than it initially appears. This means that contenders will really have to rack up the percentage in order to perform vertical and O.B. Smash kills

Skyloft

Everyone’s favourite Zelda game makes an appearance in this instalment, now I know Skyward Sword may have left an odd filling with classic Zelda fans but damn if it wasn’t pretty. The screenshots don’t show allot of the actual stage bar the different angles of the back ground meaning the main stage must be moving … Beadles airship anyone.

So that’s your Smashdate! For now please remember to let me know your hopes for the Smash game in the comments below.

So whilst you all go back to your normal lives I’ll just be sat here hoping to catch a faint whiff of Garlicy goodness (he has to be out there somewhere I shall keep believing)

Warner Bros has decided that it won’t be releasing downloadable content for the Wii U edition of Batman: Arkham Origins.

Nintendo has cited low demand for the downloadable content as the primary reason for calling off the content, meaning that those who have already bought the season pass will be getting a refund.

Here’s a note found by GoNintendo:

“Thanks so much for your support of Batman: Arkham Origins on Wii U. We are contacting you today because you purchased the Batman: Arkham Origins Season Pass for Wii U. We hope you’ve been enjoying the content that has been delivered thus far. Based on demand for Downloadable Content on the system, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has made the decision to remove its offering of the upcoming new story campaign for Wii U.

“As a result, we will be crediting the entire $19.99+tax cost of the Season Pass back to your Nintendo eShop account. You will still be able to enjoy the content already released thus far.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your support of the game.

Sincerely, Nintendo of America Inc.”

Nintendo always seems to struggle when it comes to third party support on the Wii U, and it seems like things aren’t getting any easier. Can Nintendo turn the Wii U’s fortunes around?