Centipede: Infestation slithers onto the Wii and 3DS

By Jeff Hughes April 19, 2011

Atari has announced it will be relaunching the addictive classic shooter Centipede for the 3DS and Wii. There is no definitive date yet, but it is slated to launch this fall. The Valencia, California based game development company Wayforward Technologies will be in charge of the re-imagining. Wayforward Technologies’ noteworthy game development includes Contra 4 and A Boy and His Blob.

Centipede: Infestation has been given a backstory centered around an orphaned boy in a post-apocalyptic landscape rendered uninhabitable by nuclear war. Instead of the trackball shooter, gameplay will feature a run-n-gun shooting style with defense-style objects. The orphaned boy Max will be joined by a girl named Maisy who has the ability to grow plants to life in the wasteland. Though its not certain how Maisy’s ability will factor into gameplay, Max is tasked with protecting her.

Mutated grubs, beetles, spiders, caterpillars and big boss insects will swarm players in the new worlds and Max gets to tear into them with tasty weapons with names like Nuke Cannon and Lightning Orb Gun. Another feature carried over from the original arcade game alongside killing big bugs is the transformation of dead mutants. Like the mushrooms, dead mutant insects turn into objects which distract, block or attack during battle.

Gamers have the option of two player co-op multiplayer. Nintendo 3DS users can also look forward to enhanced 3DS visuals and ad-hoc Multiplayer. For the Wii, players will point the controller at the screen like a gun while using the nun chuck to control the main character; 3DS players will be using the touchpad.

Atari is hoping that growing a story will invigorate their old line of favorites. Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari S.A. said “ This game and other games to follow further define Atari’s strategy to build upon our library of celebrated IP and re-imagine them for next generation game platforms.”

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I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

Gaming

Nintendo’s eShop closures are a necessary, but messy move

A Nintendo Wii U gamepad flat on a table.

Nintendo last week announced its intentions to shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops, the systems' digital storefronts, in March 2023. This decision was disappointing for hardcore fans who stuck with Nintendo during that rocky era and extremely worrying as many of the games available on the platforms won't be preserved.
More significant Wii U games and a handful of 3DS titles were ported to Switch, but many titles are still stuck on those systems and can’t be ported. Once the digital storefront shutdowns, digital-only titles will be gone forever, and physical copies of these titles will get more expensive and harder to experience. Fans and game preservationists have not been pleased by this decision, with the Video Game History Foundation giving the most candid response.
https://twitter.com/GameHistoryOrg/status/1494398068346654720
Following this announcement, Digital Trends spoke to an industry analyst and game preservationists to get a better idea of what exactly caused Nintendo to shut down these stores and to learn how it could do a better job at preserving its legacy.
Why is Nintendo shutting down the 3DS and Wii eShops?
Officially, Nintendo’s FAQ on the eShop closures says “this is part of the natural life cycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time." The answer doesn’t get into specifics and might confuse those still playing games on the system or fans of games only available on Wii U or 3DS. Omdia Principal Analyst Matthew Bailey explains Nintendo’s user base argument in more detail, highlighting the massive gap between the number of people playing the Switch as opposed to the Wii U.
“While Omdia expects the number of Switch consoles in active use to exceed 90 million on a global basis this year, the Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022,” he explains. “Even when you include the more enduring 3DS family of consoles into the equation, the Switch still comfortably accounts for over 90% of Nintendo’s total active console install base.”
If one is going off just the numbers, it’s sensible that Nintendo would want to focus on the majority of its players. Bailey admits that “Switch users are already reaping the benefits of Nintendo’s singular first-party development focus on one platform.” Still, one might argue that Nintendo should just let the eShops remain up even if it isn’t actively updating or maintaining them.

Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t see that as possible due to cost and security issues. Game Over Thrity, a Twitter user with over 20 years of experience working on IT projects and infrastructure, shed some light on what might have influenced Nintendo’s decision-making in a thread.
“As these systems age, they require patches, security, special contracts, updates, and personnel that know how they were built (and maintained),” his Twitter thread explains. “As time goes on, there are security holes, servers, code, infrastructure, etc., that can’t be brought up to modern standards. It becomes a constant struggle between maintaining legacy systems, paying people to do so, and trying to keep up with global regulations. It’s not cheap by any means. They can’t just ‘leave the lights on’ and stop supporting them. What if someone hacked the payment processor?”
With every passing year, the Wii U and 3DS eShops likely became more expensive to maintain and an increased security risk for the video game publisher. Instead of investing the time and resources into pleasing a smaller amount of players, the easier option is to turn everything off entirely. While he isn’t affiliated with Nintendo, Game Over Thirty’s assessment aligns with what we’ve heard from Nintendo and Omdia.
"The Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022."

Gaming

Nintendo is ending Wii U and 3DS eShop service

Photos of the 3DS eShops

Nintendo has announced the end of its eShop service for the Wii U console and 3DS handheld. The eShop will stay live on those devices until late March 2023, after which players will no longer be able to purchase games or download eShop apps and services for those devices.

After the closure, players will still be able to redownload games and DLC that they already own, use online play, and download software updates.

Gaming

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Basim perched on a ledge overlooking Baghdad

In a company interview with CEO Yves Guillemot posted on the Ubisoft website Thursday, the executive reveals that there are remakes of Assassin's Creed games in the works, although he doesn't specify which ones.

"Players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them," he says, implying that it could pertain to games made before Odyssey. "There are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich."