Rumour has it that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is a big Week in Gaming fan. There's nothing he likes to do more on a Saturday morning than chow down on some lovely big bananas and read through TechRadar's pick of the gaming crop.
And rumour has it that, having realised how humdrum the gaming news had been this week, he decided to reveal two new designs for the 3DS and 3DS XL on Friday - just for us. Thanks Iwata!
And what do these new handhelds add? A faster processor, new trigger buttons, a better screen, and most importantly, a new directional nubbin. The only downside is that some new games, such as the upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles, will be incompatible with the existing versions.
Other than that we're pretty damn pleased with Nintendo's new handhelds, but we'll be waiting a while to get our hands on them: the new designs will launch in Japan on October 11, but won't reach here until 2015.
Oh, and while we're on the subject, Nintendo's American president (and TechRadar hero) Reggie Fils-Aime did the ALS ice bucket challenge - and didn't nominate anyone after. Which means the ice bucket challenge is now over for everyone. That's it, done.
Son of a twitch
Ok, we lied, there was some other important gaming news this week. Amazon announced it had bought Twitch, which is kind of a big deal - and a bit of a shock too: following numerous reports, we were led to believe that Google was in the final stages of making a deal with the streaming giant.
Why this is good news for gamers
The justin.tv spin-off has rocketed over the years thanks to a thriving fanbase, a lot of which has been aggravated by the Amazon buyout. But Amazon is no longer just an e-tailer, and while selling stuff might still be its bread and butter, the company is betting big on home entertainment and gaming right now. Twitch.tv falls into that plan quite perfectly.
The cynic inside us worries that Amazon recommendations might start creeping into the service, but the optimist sees an opportunity to build its presence in gaming alongside its own studio (announced earlier this year), as well as building a serious YouTube rival. And Twitch, in turn, gets access to the Amazon bank vault.
So yes, while it's a shame to see another growing swooped up by one of the big dogs, we'll remain hopeful that Twitch will only be all the better for it.
Incidentally, these 'Twitch plays' are getting really out of hand.
Smash and grab
Super Smash Bros fever is sweeping the office as Nintendo continues to drip-feed us like the hype hamsters we are. This week the treat was a medley of music tracks from the upcoming brawler, including the one below. TUNE.
Nintendo also revealed the next character in the lineup of fighters, Shulk of Xenoblade Chronicles fame. This adds more credence to an earlier character roster "leak". We won't spoil anything here, but if you really want to know who else might be joining the party, CVG has the skinny.
Nice to meat you
Team Meat, creators of Super Meat Boy, has been teasing a new project - and it's just revealed that project is an endless runner called A Voyeur for September.
All was announced at PAX this week, where attendees were able to play a demo of the endless platformer. The game is actually based on Super Meat Boy, maintaining the same art style and gameplay, but will be available on phones and tablets as well as Steam.
Unfortunately the name isn't an indicator of its release date. A Voyeur for September is just an anagram of Super Meat Boy. The game will be out "when it's done". [CVG]
- We're at PAX Prime 2014 right now - check out what's going down.
