Splatoon! Bow to your immortal queen, and indisputed best girl- Marie

[LoseR]

Watched the new trailer.

 

I don't think I can describe how much I like the music. It's so erratic, but so clever and amazing.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Splatoon Q&A with Gamexplain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkNeRS9AoCY&feature=player_embedded

[Nexthehedgehog]

 

All aboard the amiibo and smash hype train again.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

 

All aboard the amiibo and smash hype train again.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Wasn't it confirmed already in a pre-order list items such as "Spatoon Inkling Amiibo" and whatnot

[Daisy-Fan]

pretty sure i hear this back 2 month ago.

[Junko]

Splatoon amiibo confirmed (instead of leaked) and new trailer.

Splatoon will launch for Wii U in North America on May 29 and Europe, Nintendo announced.

 

The company also detailed the paint shooter’s “Ranked Battle” and “Battle Dojo” modes, which are available for players in addition to the previously detailed single-player and online “Turf War” modes.

Ranked Battles ranks and matches players based on their wins in four-on-four multiplayer matches.

 

The Battle Dojo lets players enjoy one-on-one local battles with friends. One player uses the GamePad controller, while the other plays on the TV using a separate controller, competing to see who can pop the most balloons.

 

Additionally, Nintendo will release Inkling Girl, Inkling Boy, and Inkling Squid Amiibo figures alongside the game. All three will be available in a single pack, or you can buy the Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl individually. By tapping these Amiibo to the GamePad, players can receive special missions to unlock weapons and gear.

http://gematsu.com/2015/04/splatoon-dated-for-may-29-amiibos-announced

 

[Doctor MK]

High resolution images of the Splatoon amiibo:

 

 

And here's the special equipment that they unlock:

 

[Lady Soniko]

Hope you all realise I'm going to be rocking the school girl outfit.

Because I'm kawaii as FUCK.

[Chronozoah]

Definitely want the inkling squid amiibo, and as for the equipment they unlock, that third 'costume' must be mine.

[MegasonicZX]

I'm definitely going to rock that samurai armor.

[Doctor MK]

Artwork for Splatoon's single player campaign:

 

 

Looking fiiiiiiiine.

[WhoWhatMan]

 

Here's what the amiibos unlock.

[Sir Tynen]

Pretty sure this would go both in the Splatoon and Amiibo topic, so:

 

[Kaze no Klonoa]

http://wiiudaily.com/2015/04/splatoon-download-size/

 

Holy Crap

 

The game is only 1.8 GB big

[Blacklightning]

I can't say I'm surprised. It's a simple game, and that's kind of the beauty of it - that there can be a satisfying metagame because of it. I honestly wish more games followed that kind of example.

[Agie]

I'm definitely looking forward to this game. Which is so much more than other shooters.

 

The amiibos? Getting them if I can. If I can't, well, no biggie.

[Junko]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-first-look-at-splatoon-tech-analysis

We recently had a chance to take a closer look at a near complete build of Splatoon and, with two months remaining until release, the game is looking remarkably polished. Equipping players with paint guns instead of gaming's typical selection of assault rifles and other high calibre weaponry, Nintendo has approached the multiplayer arena shooter with fresh eyes, resulting in a fresh new experience that is welcoming for hardcore and casual players alike. Despite its unfamiliarity with the genre, Nintendo has manages to produce a visually striking game that delivers a level of polish one would expect from any of its high-profile releases.

 

At its heart lies the foundation of a proper shooter and as such, a stable frame-rate is a must. Fortunately, even in its unreleased state, Splatoon delivers a near flawless 60fps update across the board with only the occasional dropped frame detracting from the fluidity - mostly unnoticeable in action, and something that could well be ironed out in the game's final run of optimisation. The chaotic nature of the game mixed with a free aiming system certainly presents a performance challenge beyond the scope of most Nintendo games, but the results here are uniformly excellent. Without pushing the limits of the final game we can't give our final verdict on the matter but, at this stage, things are looking very good indeed.

 

Unfortunately, image quality isn't quite as impressive with Nintendo targeting an expected 1280x720 without any sort of anti-aliasing to smooth out the edges. The visual design does a good job of minimising aliasing but we can't help but feel that a bit of AA would have made a huge difference here. Distant structures often appear jagged while finer details are lost to shimmering but, overall, the look works. In fact, the strong visual language and bright colors distinctly recall the burst of creativity Sega enjoyed during the tail-end of the Dreamcast era.

 

Perhaps the most interesting visual element in Splatoon lies in its use of brash colour. The paint mechanic is key to the gameplay, allowing players to freely cover the entire stage in their assigned colours in order capture territory. It's a neat implementation that appears rather similar to the gels in Portal 2, which used surface-embedded sprites to efficiently paint the level while dodging potential visual artefacts. The way in which paint gradually layers over the environments or opposing colours is quite effective and nice shader work gives the paint an appropriate gloss.

 

Other visual elements appear strong as well - the industrial visual design is mixed with bright colours and strong lighting that help to build a vibrant, inviting world to play in. The game world is bathed in nicely filtered shadow maps while texture work appears relatively sharp - though perhaps unsurprisingly, anisotropic filtering is not employed here. The animation quality is also excellent across the board and helps give the cute characters real personality as they dive in and out of the paint soaked playground. The skybox even makes use of a nice soft focus depth of field effect creating a nice sense of scale. Overall it's a lovely game with a look all its own.

 

From what we've seen thus far, Splatoon holds a lot of promise. We've been disappointed by the number of unfinished games reaching the market lately, so it's a pleasant surprise to find an actual work-in-progress game in such spectacular shape some way out from its eventual release. In short, it's a beautiful new game in a genre Nintendo has typically avoided, filled with plenty of new ideas.

 

Even at this stage it seems to be yet another case of Nintendo doing what Nintendo does best; delivering high performance games that maximise the capabilities of the target platform. Despite the recent doom and gloom surrounding the Wii U with Nintendo's recent jump into mobile gaming and the early announcement of its new NX console, the Nintendo's existing hardware continues to deliver some great experiences. The Wii U's medium to long term future may look uncertain, but the creative fires of the developer still burn bright. Based on what we've seen of Splatoon so far, Nintendo continues to produce some of its more polished and visually satisfying games yet.

 

tl;dr 720p60fps and it's fucking glorious. Rarely fluctuates.

[PSI Wind]

The Single Player seems to be at locked 60, while the multiplayer fluctuates between 54 and 60, which isn't really that noticeable IMO.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Also, in regards to advertising, Nintendo has actually been swamping the kid's channel's (like Disney) with it lately, first Kirby's Rainbow Curse, and currently Mario Party 10, however these generally don't start until a few weeks before release, if not a week or two, but once they do its generally between 2-4 an hour

[Kittea]

Was hoping the game would be released before May expo but at least I can go about pre-ordering it now

[Blue Blood]

You can now order bundles on the Nintendo Store. 

 

Game + T-shirt: £34.99

Game + Boy or Girl amiibo + T-shirt: £45.99

Game + Squid amiibo + T-shirt: £39.99 or Complete package: £61.99

 

If you pre-order the game from Nintendo, you'll get a shirt to go with it. If you don't want to order from the Nintendo store or want to save a few quid by not getting the T-shirt, go order it from Amazon or somewhere else where it's less than £35.

[Doctor MK]

It's so annoying that the Nintendo UK Online Store are only selling the amiibo as part of bundles - the complete set has already sold out, so the only way to get all three of the figures (or anything beyond one, frankly) is to buy two separate copies of the game and t-shirt. So far I've plonked down pre-orders for the Inkling Boy bundle and the Inkling Squid special edition, because ideally those are the two figures I want, but I don't really want to end up with double everything else. Might have to just decide which one I want more - the Boy or the Squid? Hmm... decisions, decisions!

 

Tried ShopTo because they had the amiibo listed as separate pre-orders but they're all already sold out too. Go figure.

[Blue Blood]

lol what they're sold out already? Fucking hell. I thought I'd have more time than that to preorder. Glad I didn't wait. I bet you'll be able to buy them separately from Nintendo and other stores in the near future. The one to worry about is the Squid Amiibo. That's the one that'll sell out.

[Junko]

The Inkling is confirmed to be bundle-only and Squid Boy and Girl are confirmed to be sold separately, I thought?