Nintendo has re-released The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition on the eShop today.

The DSiWare game is available for download on 3DS and DSi for free until February 2, 2014.

Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition was originally announced as part of Nintendo’s 25th anniversary celebration for the series at E3 2011. The remake, developed by Grezzo, is an update to a multiplayer mode from the Game Boy Advance port of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

So at E3 2013 (yes I realise it was forever ago) Nintendo announced the next Smash Bros. on WiiU and 3DS, and ever since then they’ve been trickling info about the game.

So that’s what Smashdate! is here to do, keep you up to date on all the new announcements. Now this one is going to be a bit heftier than the ones that will follow due to the fact that we have started so late and the luscious pool of Brawl news has been rising since its announcement.

The Fighters Return:

Mario

The Italian Plumber is dropping his Toolkit into the fray once more. Mario is no big surprise to anyone he’s been in Smash since the start and with his healthy mix of range and average damage means that Mario has become a main for allot of Brawlers and a first choice for any newcomers to get to grips with the game

Luigi

Little Bro is back to show his Brawling prowess. Once again Luigi gets his opportunity to smack his big bro down a peg. With his floaty jump arc and heavy hitting smashes Luigi is not everyone’s first choice but he has worked his way into my heart with a safe spot as my second, so if you come at me you can be sure I’ll be sending some Green Thunder back your way

Peach

Kidnap victim no more Peach is here with her army of Toad shields and OP butt smashes, peach is a safe choice for any brawler despite her lack of speed, She has allot of recovery potential and can deal some massive damage.

Bowser

Have you ever hated someone so much that you just dream of one day pummelling their face into the dust? Well Brawl is once again making Bowsers dream come true because what is Mario without the King Koopa?.. Happy? Bowser is your typical tank Big, Slow and Packs a Punch. I find Bowser a hard beast to tame although he does pack some handy self-sacrifice moves if you’re in a pinch.

Donkey Kong

He’s the leader of the bunch, you know him well.
He’s finally back to kick some tail.
His Coconut Gun can fire in spurts.
If he shoots ya, it’s gonna hurt!
He’s bigger, faster, and stronger too.
He’s the first member of the DK crew!
Well he doesn’t actually have a gun, but this old school Kong has a cannon for a right hook. Dk’s AOE attacks coupled with that crazy charge punch makes him a favourite among newcomers.

Kirby

SUCK IT UP SOLDIER!!! This little pink puffball is tougher than he/she/it…(I don’t fucking know) looks Kirby’s ability to mimic a foes B move makes him a force to be reckoned with, and the fact that he can fly for a considerable amount of time only makes him more of a threat.

King DeDeDe

Announced earlier this week the King of Dreamland has marched his army of Waddledoo’s to the gates of Smash. Another heavy hitter DeDeDe’s Jet powered hammer can clear a screen in seconds; his main downfall is his incredibly risky recovery move that makes him plummet down after reaching its apex.

Link

Hey! Listen! Link has been a part of Nintendo for just as long as the Plumber himself so know how to hold his own equipped with the triple B assault (that’s Bow, Bombs and Boomerang) Links agile move set means he’s one to watch out for. If you prefer a fast character but still want to pack a punch then Link is the Brawler for you

Zelda

Another princess has decided to take matters into her own hands Zelda packs a gigantic arrow of light to smite her enemies, now normally Zelda can transform into Sheik but judging by the screenshots on the smash website Sheik is missing from Zelda’s move set instead she is seen controlling a Darknutt to smack the triforce of wisdom right out of Fox McCloud.

Toon Link

With Windwaker back on shelves it’s no surprise that Toon Link is back for round two, his small stature in no way limits his strength in brawl he pack more of a punch than the original Link but was always a little slower. Toon Link is my choice just because well just look at that face.

Marth

Marth …. Marth …. I should really play Fire Emblem at some time …. Fuck, Oh well on to the fighting style. Marth has similar speed and reach as Link but packs a bit more of a punch, his downside is allot of his power moves require a short charge time meaning that if you pick this Lord you’ll need to time your strikes well.

Sonic

Rolling around at the speed of sound this Speed daemon debuted in Brawl but was the subject of numerous playground rumours during the Melee days. Sonic used his crazy speed to run rings around other Brawlers but my god be careful with him because I guarantee that 90% of your deaths as sonic will be self-inflicted.

Pikmin & Olimar

This little green thumbed Spaceman has returned to throw his sentient vegetable patch about the battlefield. Olimar’s power is in his Pikmin making him very difficult to play unless you’ve practised. Looking at the screenshots it appears that the Stone and Flying Pikmin from the 3rd instalment won’t be joining his arsenal.

Samus

From Brinstar to Zebes, Samus is one chick that can kick your teeth in across the cosmos. Her massive arsenal of Charge Cannons, Missiles and Morph Bombs makes Samus a versatile Brawler that can take on any matchup.

Fox McCloud

He’s becoming more like his farther. Fox is a Nintendo classic but he’s not saving Slippy or that small triceratops (not sure which was more annoying) today instead he’s using his Cyber legs to dart across the battlefield and put a size 9 up your backside. He’s become the staple for showdown matches in Smash (Final Destination, Not Items, Fox only) for a reason. Now I just wish they could make another Starfox with Arwings AND NOT FUCKING DINOSAURS!!!!

Pikachu

PIKA! Everyone knows Pikachu with his face so cute you just want to punch it. Pika packs more punch than a 9V battery calling down Thunderbolts like Thor. Pikachu’s ranged mores will rack up damage to any foe.

Pit

From the land of ancient myth, where gods and titans make the Sky fall and the Earth shatter comes a little fairy boy who has the spammiest attacks this side of 2,000 B.C. Pit is and easy character to pick up but my god do I hate him with an unquenchable passion? Fuck his buzz saw move.

Now on to the new comers this is the best part of a new smash seeing all the new fighters that we can play with for 5 min before going back to our mains. So in true smash fashion.

[*ALARM*]
A Challenger Approaches

Rosalina & Luma

Rosalina has been appearing all over the mushroom kingdom of late, most recently appearing in Super Mario 3D World so it’s no wonder that she is taking up wands in smash and she’s not alone she has her trusty companion Luma that by the looks of it will mirror her moves in an ice climber type fashion.
But so far all I’ve had to go off is the announcement trailer so all theories in the comments please and I’ll try and include them in Smashdate #2

Villager

This is an odd one, now I’ve never played animal crossing but if it’s not a game about serial Killers I’d be surprised because that is the face of death right there… but the villager does seem to have a very interesting move set, with his pocket move that allows him to steal any projectile headed his way and his axe …. OH GOD THE AXE ….. AAAAAAAAAgh!!!

Megaman

Now I’m quite a calm person with emotions ranging from Meh to Meeeeh on a good day but OH MY FUCKING GOD if I didn’t lose my shit when Nintendo reviled Megaman at E3 last year. I played my first Megaman game last year and I’ve been in love ever since. The move set he comes to Smash with is equally as phenomenal with moves from all the NES robot masters he will me a fun character to play around with.

also I really want to find that Dr. Willey Metal Mix

Wii Fit Avatar

Yeah… ok … this is a thing. Not sure who wanted it buuuuut ok. Fighting style wise she look ok agile with decent jump height but I just feel that they have used up a space they could have given to a far more intriguing character.

And if you want to see who I think would be a better contender check out this video I made god know how long ago (NSFW)

Well that’s all the fighters up to date and I’ll be back with another Smashdate! soon. In the meantime I’m gonna sit here and hope the bring Wario back I am literally losing sleep over it. But there was a screen cap of Ashley from the Wario Ware games so it’s looking promising for my Garlic fueled Main.

So a new type of gaming headgear has just come out.

The headset from foc.us is the first wearable transcranial Direct Current Stimulation or tDCS. This device sends a low electrical current to your brain, improving brain power. This is achieved by 4 electrodes located at the front of the headset while the headset rest on the back of your head.

This headset claims to overclock your brain, improving your cognitive performance. The headset can be controlled manually by using either a touch sensor or your iPhone. Later models will include control via Android phones. Currently, you can only change whether it’s on or off, the mode or the current level with the app. There is no way to change the duration of the current.

This cool device will be sold $249 for US customers and £179 for UK customers and the rest of the world. They will ship to Canada, US, UK, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and continental Europe. It comes in two colours black and red.

If you want to check this cool headset for yourself head over to http://www.foc.us/.

A rumour has surfaced claiming that Nintendo is hard at work on its next generation of home and portable consoles, collectively known as “Fusion.”

An anonymous source claims that Nintendo, which is reeling after an absolutely disastrous year, is working on the successor to the much-maligned WiiU. Called Nintendo Fusion, it’s a collective name for Nintendo’s next generation of both the home and portable consoles.

Nintendo actually purchased the nintendofusion.com domain in 2003 in support of the Nintendo Fusion Tour, a rock and video game music festival that ran for four years, but it has since gone dormant. And while news that Nintendo isn’t just watching its money evaporate is not in itself remarkable, it is noteworthy that there are actual “possible” specifications for the hardware, suggesting that development is relatively far along.

Fusion DS:

CPU: ARMv8-A Cortex-A53 GPU: Custom Adreno 420-based AMD GPU
COM MEMORY: 3 GB LPDDR3 (2 GB Games, 1 GB OS)
2 130 mm DVGA (960 x 640) Capacitive Touchscreen
Slide Out Design with Custom Swivel Tilt Hinge
Upper Screen made of Gorilla Glass, Comes with Magnetic Cover
Low End Vibration for Gameplay and App Alerts
2 Motorized Circle Pads for Haptic Feedback
Thumbprint Security Scanner with Pulse Sensing Feedback
2 1mp Stereoptic Cameras
Multi-Array Microphone
A, B, X, Y, D-Pad, L, R, 1, 2 Buttons
3 Axis Tuning Fork Gyroscope, 3 Axis Accelerometer, Magnetometer
NFC Reader
3G Chip with GPS Location
Bluetooth v4.0 BLE Command Node used to Interface with Bluetooth Devices such as Cell Phones, Tablets
16 Gigabytes of Internal Flash Storage (Possible Future Unit With 32 Gigabytes)
Nintendo 3DS Cart Slot
SDHC “Holographic Enhanced” Card Slot up to 128 Gigabyte Limit
Mini USB I/O
3300 mAh Li-Ion battery

Fusion Terminal:

GPU: Custom Radeon HD RX 200 GPU CODENAME LADY (2816 shaders @ 960 MHz, 4.60 TFLOP/s, Fillrates: 60.6 Gpixel/s, 170 Gtexel/s)
CPU: IBM 64-Bit Custom POWER 8-Based IBM 8-Core Processor CODENAME JUMPMAN (2.2 GHz, Shared 6 MB L4 cache)
Co-CPU: IBM PowerPC 750-based 1.24 GHz Tri-Core Co-Processor CODENAME HAMMER
MEMORY: 4 Gigabytes of Unified DDR4 SDRAM CODENAMED KONG, 2 GB DDR3 RAM @ 1600 MHz (12.8 GB/s) On Die CODENAMED BARREL
802.11 b/g/n Wireless
Bluetooth v4.0 BLE
2 USB 3.0
1 Coaxial Cable Input
1 CableCARD Slot
4 Custom Stream-Interface Nodes up to 4 Wii U GamePads
Versions with Disk Drive play Wii U Optical Disk (4 Layers Maximum), FUSION Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) and Nintendo 3DS Card Slot
1 HDMI 2.0 1080p/4K Port
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 or 7.1 Surround Sound
Inductive Charging Surface for up to 4 FUSION DS or IC-Wii Remote Plus Controllers
Two versions: Disk Slot Version with 60 Gigs of Internal Flash Storage and Diskless Version with 300 Gigs of Internal Flash Storage

Nintendo News claims it has an “impeccable reputation” with regard to rumours but also notes that none of this is substantiated and is subject to change and/or outright denial at any time. And while it’s only been a little over a year since the WiiU was released, it’s been such an unmitigated disaster that I wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo is in a rush to get a successor out the door. Whether or not it will do anything to restore its credibility is another matter entirely, but at this point, anything is better than nothing.

Source: Nintendo News

Well, christmas 2013 has come and gone, meaning we all had pressies and do dads under the tree (real or digital)

Here’s a roundup from each of the station team of what they got/treated themselves to this Christmas

Lonesamurai –

Well, no tree for me, so as I spent Christmas in the studios this year, I treated myself to a few things on the STEAM sale, plus I jumped back on World of Warcraft (the Mist of Pandaria upgrade was on special offer and I finally caved and resubbed)

Ok, first off, World of Warcraft – Mist of Pandara. (https://eu.battle.net/shop/en/product/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria)
Yeah, its been out a year now, but patch 5.4 just came out recently and it peaked my hatred of Garrosh Hellscream, so I had to jump at the chance to slap him around abit. The BIGGEST thing I am loving about this expansion is the Pet Battles! Sure, they are a blatant Pokemon rip off, but damn I am loving playing them and they really break up questing in areas aswell
Yeah the questing hasn’t changed much outside of the new areas, but it has a renewed feel to it, especially when you find rare pets to battle aswell
Ok, I concede the community is still incredibly harsh, but ignoring trade chat and sticking to my guild helps
Fun Factor – 7/10, worth upgrading if you like WoW, and the unlimited starter edition is great for people to try the game out

Next up, SimCity Cities of Tomorrow Expansion Pack. (http://www.simcity.com/en_GB/buy/ep1)
I sat and tried this for a few days and honestly, it’s disappointing
The new buildings and changes make very little difference to your cities and the biggest gripe the community has with the game is the size of city plots. Instead of increasing this though, the devs have decided to go upwards instead of outwards and now future city buildings have multiple layers that you can build up
The game still doesn’t feel polished and there are still bugs that have been mentioned loads of times
Fun Factor – 4/10, if you have SimCity and enjoy it, get the expansion, but ONLY if you see it on special offer, it’s not worth full price at all

Crimsonshade –

It’s not very often that I get anything truly techie or videogame-y for Christmas, but this year has to be one of the rare exceptions, since ever since Pokémon X (http://www.pokemonxy.com/en-us/root/) came out worldwide I’ve been mentioning it several times in front of various family members and placed it high on my Amazon Wish List – so I knew, inevitably, it would become my main present this year. Yet I must admit, even up to the moment I tapped that glorious “X” icon, I felt a small sense of trepidation about whether the game would even live up to the lofty expectations I’d given it. Despite all my desires to get the game and enjoy the new 3D aspect and customisability and social options, having covered the game from its initial announcement all the way up to release, I’d also learnt of many features I WASN’T keen on. NPCs rating you on your “stylishness”? Poké-amie?

While I haven’t yet played the game long enough to properly judge either of these features, nor the Horde Battles and other touches I’m also iffy about, after two hours of play I must say I’m already in the mindset that even if they DO turn out to be crap, this is still going to be one of my favourite Pokémon games. One of the reasons for this has to be the battles, which are simply BREATHTAKING. The viewpoints, animations and even the way the Pokémon now faint and are recalled into the Poké Ball on defeat all feel directly lifted from the 3D Console games like Colosseum, Stadium and Battle Revolution. And while the 3D Slider doesn’t actually add much to the scene, throughout every battle now there’s a real sense of depth and of opponents standing a distance away and then getting up close for physical hits. It’s beautiful, in the way I never expected from a handheld Pokémon.

Another thing that pleasantly surprised me is just how extensive customisation of your character is. Oh yes, we already know about how the game now offers three male and three female pre-designed character models to choose from as your initial appearance in the game; and how you can later buy clothing to customise it further. But did you know you can actually give your in-game character two different NAMES? As well as setting your actual character name at the start of the game, pretty early into the actual story you’ll meet up with a group of “friends”, who will give each other nicknames. They’ll then offer to give you one too; and whatever you decide will be the name those NPCs, and a few others across the game, will call you by instead of your Player name. In a homage to early Pokémon games, as well as being able to type this name yourself, the NPCs will suggest three alternatives that you can choose from if you prefer. In a nice touch, these nicknames are generated based on your chosen Player name – for example, I chose to call my character Jay and was offered Big J, Li’l J and J-Meister as options. (In case you wondered, I wrote my own)

I still have a lot more play ahead of me before I can come to a final, fair opinion as to just how good Pokémon X is. But for now, safe to say, Santa was good to me this Christmas.

Predictedcyborg –

For me, the typical family Christmas. By that I mean waking up at my Dad’s spending most of the day there, then going over to my mother’s for Christmas dinner. Mmm, that turkey! Got only one thing I could review.

I like to go to at least one weekend event a year if I can, so what I wanted was a portable speaker that I could plug into my iPod Nano. Thus I received the Kitsound Invader Portable Speaker (http://www.kitsound.co.uk/product/KSINVADER) for Christmas and it is this I shall talk about.
The speaker cost about £15 (I was allowed to choose one myself based on what I needed) and feels fairly solid as well as being small enough to comfortably fit in one hand. The actual speaker part twists out of the base and back in, the base contains the three buttons: on/off, Vol Up and Vol Down. The box lists the three main features of the speaker, one being ‘fluorescent colour’ and it certainly has that. Mine is bright orange which’ll make it easier for me to find it in a dark tent should I choose to go camping again for my next gaming festival event. The battery has ‘up to 6 hours’ of playlife and recharges in 2 hours after being plugged into a USB port through a provided cable which also comes with a jack plug connected to link up more than one of the small speakers in a line for more power.

I haven’t been able to test the 6 hour playtime life of the battery, but for what it is the small speaker is fairly impressive. The audio is clearer than I was expecting to get from something this size and because you can twist down the speaker part into the case it makes the kit nicely portable, which is exactly what I needed from it as well as protecting what is the most delicate part of the thing. The buttons are a little bit stiff, but that’s only a minor complaint in the scheme of the thing. Not sure if I can recommend getting it if you want something amazing, but as a fairly cheap portable speaker that you can stand some chance of locating in a darkish room it’s right up there. I’ll be taking it with me to my next event and hopefully it’ll prove to be durable as well as portable.

7/10 for the small speaker.

Poultergeist0 –

Christmas is always one of my favourite times of year, unlike some people from the station *cough* Lone *cough* (Bah Humbug ~Lone)

So after the season of joy is over and we are all left penniless this January we should all look back over our holiday takings. There are a few bits i’d like to share with all of you, so you can all evaluate how much better your presents were this year.

Let’s kick of with the beginnings of a legend. I’ve decided to start building my own PC (yes I’m still 100% console at heart but I need more editing power in my life) and what’s a PC without a case with MILLIONS OF FANS!!!!! So I got the Cooler Master Cosmos II (http://www.coolermaster.com/microsite/cosmos_ii/design.html).

This master of cooling comes with 10 fans that will quite literally Blow you away (why does my brain come up with this awful excuse comedy) it also has enough space to fit 13 HDD, 4 Graphics cards, motherboard, you neighbours cat and a partridge in a pear tree. Standing a mighty 70.4cm this Titan gives me all the cooling, compartments and buttons that i need.
theirs a load more spec stuff you can check out here http://www.coolermaster.co.uk/product.php?product_id=6781
(but to be honest I don’t understand any of it i just sat spinning the fans for 4 hours Christmas day)

The next two pressies are much more my speed Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and Windwaker HD that’s right the biggest Nintendo fan in here is up his WiiU collection to 6 games now… (Shut up it’s a good console)

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (http://www.monsterhunter.com/?lang=en)
Now i’ve always had a hit and miss relationship with the Monster Hunter series, I really wanted to get Monster Hunter G for the PSP and badgered my mum for ages till she got it me for my 13th birthday, but I didn’t understand what to do the game, the game was very text heavy tutorial wise and i never got what to actually do. But now that I’m older and (Contrary to popular Belief) wiser monster hunter 3 is a great experience; planning hunts with friends, scavenging loot and monster parts for armour and specialising yourself in certain weapons to benefit your play style. The game just seems to make sense this time around and although my characters are total green horns I’m having fun researching each monster and planning how to take them down.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate gets a: Well-Cooked Meat/10

Windwaker HD (http://www.zelda.com/windwaker/)
Mwahahaha you don’t think i’m gonna leave this to a micro review do you? oh no my friends you’ll have to check back at the end of the month to see how well i Wake said Wind but if it still feels like the original but with super clean Graphics the it’s gonna be worth getting.

One thing i can talk about is the Collectors item, included with the Windwaker collectors edition comes a 4” tall Ganondorf figure, the figure itself is made from molded colour plastic so should stand the test of time allot better than a painted model, in the UK version the figure comes with a plastic bell jar which to be honest looks nice and will keep the figure safe but it does feel a bit cheap and thin. the US variant however gets no such case but on the flip side the smaller plastic base in my opinion looks better.

The Collectable Wind Waker Ganondorf Figure gets a: Triforce of Power/10

Finally a small aside must go to a book I received from my mother this Christmas, a big blue book about a madman in a box. Well eleven different madmen that have saved the galaxy for the past 1200 years.

Doctor Who: The Vault (http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Doctor-Who-Vault-Marcus-Hearn/?isbn=9780062280633) includes the trials and tribulations of the Doctor and the lovely BBC crew that brought him to our Televisions, Detailing the history behind the original concept to the rebirth in 2005 and beyond.

Doctor Who: The Vault gets a: allons-y/11

Hope you all found yourselves with Glad Tidings this year and keep the spirit all year long.
In the words of Tiny Tim “God Bless Us Everyone”
(is that enough?.. that fills the quota for Christmasy stereotypical bullshit right?.. Cool)
Happy 2014 everyone.