Insert “Skell of a time” pun here.

There’s no question what the biggest game – in terms of file size, quality or length – is for all of the Western eShops this week: Xenoblade Chronicles X. My opinions on the game are well documented (in both a text review and a video), so you might want to start the download now if you haven’t already so you can grab all 22GB of goodness.

Japan takes to the spinoff as much as the mainline games

The newest Monster Hunter title launched in Japan last week, and it's already cleared a couple of major milestones.

Capcom has issued a press release confirming the title, which released last Saturday, has already shipped 2 million units. The game has outsold the previous game, Monster Hunter 4G... Read more...

One big one we knew about, one is live, one will be soon

Some news from updates around the Nintendo universe this week:

Diamonds can't the that expensive if three thousand of them cost 30 quid.

On the day Pokémon Picross releases, one of the other Pokémon free to start titles is expanding its reach.

Pokémon Rumble World, the free to start Rumble title released back in April, will release at retail in Europe on 22 January and Australia on 23 January. No pricing was given for Europe... Read more...

December continues to deliver the big hits on the eShop.

Tomorrow's eShop update in North America will be bringing a relative rarity.

Trauma Team, the 2010 Atlus published adventure game/surgery simulator, will launch on the eShop tomorrow at noon Eastern time for US$19.99/C$24.99. This marks the first 3rd party Wii title to get a digital release on the North American eShop.

Truly karma for the next day's retail release.

December 10 will have major games on both eShops.

FAST Racing Neo, Shin'en Multimedia's much hyped futuristic racer, will join SteamWorld Heist in launching next Thursday, December 10. Expect to shell out US$14.99/€14.99/£10.99 for the ultra fast action.

#FAST Racing Neo - The wait is (almost) over! Release Date: December 10 Price: 14.99€/14.99USD/10.99GBP #WiiU #eShop pic.twitter.com/YtQiizr7f1

A December surprise that comes with some neat rewards. UPDATE: Rewards program announced

The Nintendo Account has launched in Japan. This new system will work as a cross-platform connection between consoles, PCs, and mobile devices, allowing data transfer between games these various devices through a cloud-based data service.

The online registration site went live overnight (North... Read more...

A tale of food that will *not* be fresh.

Following a November hiatus, the Splatfest has returned to North America.

The next event, scheduled to kick off just before midnight Friday night and run all day Saturday Eastern time, will pit Callie's Team Hamburger against Marie's Team Pizza in the battle of the fast food staples.

Whatever side you're on, we encourage you to get the splatting in before or during the NWR Child's Play Telethon the same day.

Stamps! Costumes! Quizzes! Oh my!

The 2.0 update for The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes will be launching tomorrow.

In addition to the costumes and Den of Trials announced in the last Nintendo Direct, the patch notes confirmed a group of additions to the game.

The 3DS hit's sequel will launch on other platforms next year

Image and Form has confirmed the date and price for SteamWorld Heist.

The indie hit will launch in North America and Europe on December 10, at US$19.99/C$21.99/€19.99/£14.99. A launch discount of $3/€3/£3 will be active until December 31.

Image and Form confirmed in their note to us that the game is expected to last 20-25 hours, and will not go on sale for "a very long while" following the expiration of the launch deal.

Now, how many Pokémon have the letter "N" in their name...?

Pokkén Tournament's roster will expand slightly next week.

The game's official Twitter announced today that they plan to unleash the next playable Pokémon into the game on December 10. According to Gematsu the teaser contains the Japanese character ン, which roughly translates to the letter N with no vowels.

Reminder: That's shipped to suppliers, not consumers.

Some members of the supply chain may have begun floating shipment numbers for new Nintendo hardware to release in 2016.

According to the Taiwanese newspaper DigiTimes, the new system would enter production at the end of the 1st quarter of 2016 - whether fiscal (April - June) or calendar (January - March) is not specified - and would ship between 10 and 12 million units in the first year.

A few updates round out the week

Some of the big Nintendo games have had minor content releases today:

Some things to play when the uncle crosses the line twice.

Of course, the big focus this week on the eShops is the various sales. Although half the eShop isn`t on sale right now, it just SEEMS like it. But there are a couple of new titles for your perusal before the football games kick off. On the Wii U, the sole newcomers are a Cuite Pets title and the VC... Read more...

Prepare to get Heracrossed up by some of these puzzles.

The newest Pokémon puzzle title has its launch date.

The Pokémon Company confirmed the free-to-start puzzler will be available starting next Thursday (December 3) in both the North American and European eShops.

Pokémon Picross, which debuted in the most recent Nintendo Direct, uses the... Read more...

The 3DS picks up the newest game from an indie favorite

Following the success of Retro City Rampage, its sequel will hit the islands on 3DS.

vBlank Entertainment announced the game today in association with Sony as the game will first be viewable at next week's PlayStation Experience event, but vBlank has confirmed they will be targeting the 3DS with... Read more...

Pick up some puzzle pieces with your shopping

The Nintendo fan newsletter has announced a National StreetPass Weekend will be held in North America from Thursday to Sunday (26th - 29th).

As with previous weekends, Nintendo Zones across North America that normally send data for the last six players that passed it will randomize the tags sent out. You can find your nearest Nintendo Zone here.

"Mr. Judd, wear down this wall."

The bi-weekly Splatoon update tonight will bring a new favorite son for bucket fans.

Coming to the rotation at the standard time regular update of 9 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Pacific) is the Slosher Deco, a modified version of the existing Slosher that uses its arc to evade Splash Walls.

As a taunt to the above, the Slosher Deco packs a Splash Wall sub to go along with a Kraken special.

And it looks like this one won't wipe your save file.

Another Splatoon update will drop this week in the form of the Hydra Splatling.

The long range weapon fires ink in a similar fashion to a fire hydrant, but it's balanced by a long charge time. It brings the Splash Bombs as a sub and the Echolocator special. The weapon will come at 11 a.m. JST tomorrow, or 9 p.m. Eastern time.

No, the Canadian Mario Tennis and Stella Glow prices aren’t a typo, man.

As this happens to be the downloads that preceed Nintendo’s biggest release day of the year (allegedly), obviously the big movers of the week for North America are supposed to be Mario Tennis Ultra Smash (Wii U) and Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon (3DS). But in this case, there’s probably more fun... Read more...