New Leaf Cat Tower DLC Today

Time for a new Animal Crossing New Leaf SpotPass DLC item! This time around your special DLC gift is a Cat Tower. As in the past, you can get this downloadable item exclusively at Best Buy at their Nintendo Zone locations for the next two weeks. To get the Cat Tower, once you're at the Best Buy Nintendo Zone, go see Pelly the Pelican (or Phyllis, depending on when you go to Best Buy) in the Post Office on Main Street. You'll want to ask her about gifts and then your 3DS will go searching for the SpotPass DLC items. Pelly/Phyllis will then come back and present you with your gift.

There will be several other DLC events in the coming weeks at Best Buy, so be sure to head on over and pick them up while you can. Don't forget, you'll want to be sure to call the Best Buy location that you want to get your DLC items from before you head out to make sure that they have a working Nintendo Zone.

Here's a run down of the past, present and future SpotPass DLC items:

6/16-6/29 RACCOON WALL-CLOCK (expired)
6/30-7/13 CAT TOWER (going on now)
7/14-7/27 ROLLING SUITCASE (future)
7/28-8/10 DOUBLE NECK GUITAR (future)

Super Luigi U Acorn Plains 1 Star Medal Coin Locations

Game: New Super Luigi U
World: World 1
Level: Acorn Plains-1
Stage: Waddlewing Warning!

Acorn Plains-1 Waddlewing Warning - 1st Star Medal Coin Location

1st Star Medal Coin Location
After the first question block but before the second question block, in the air over the top of the fourth grassy wall portion

Acorn Plains-1 Waddlewing Warning - 2nd Star Medal Coin Location

2nd Star Medal Coin Location
After the second red pipe, below the 13th grassy wall portion

Acorn Plains-1 Waddlewing Warning - 3rd Star Medal Coin Location

3rd Star Medal Coin Location
Above the flag pole at the end of the stage

Animal Crossing New Leaf Rainbow Screen DLC

One of the cool things that Animal Crossing New Leaf offers is exclusive downloadable content (DLC) that you can receive via SpotPass. Currently, you can get a Rainbow Screen from Pelly (or Phyllis, depending on the time of day you visit) in the Post Office on Main Street. To get the Rainbow Screen, you have to ask Pelly/Phyllis about a gift, then agree when they ask you if you want to connect to the internet to receive limited time items. Once they finish searching, they'll apologize for keeping you waiting and will hand you your gift.

This Rainbow Screen DLC is only available for a limited time (until June 30th, 2013), so if you haven't gotten it yet, head on down to the Post Office and collect your gift!

Nintendo Limiting GameStop Game Supply?

I went down to my local GameStop recently to pick up some Wii U games I had pre-ordered. When I got there, I was told that I didn't have one of the games on pre-order like I thought, but luckily they had one new copy of the game left that I could purchase. I thought WOW, they must have sold out of that game pretty quick, because it was just released today and it's pretty early in the day! I did think that was kind of strange though, as the game I was purchasing was not one of those highly anticipated, sought after Wii U games. When the store rep went to get the game for me, he grabbed the case off of the shelf, then went into a drawer to get the game disc out to put in the case. I wondered why if the game was new, it was not shrink wrapped and the disc had already been removed. I've purchased "new" games like this before from GameStop, but that was in a desperate, last minute Christmas Eve situation where I didn't really have a choice. I never understood why, if the game is new, the shrink wrap is removed! Of course, with the game today, since it was just released today, the likelihood of it being used was slim to none, but still, it bothered me that the game was not shrink wrapped, so I decided not to purchase it. I just have to have the shrink wrap!

The GameStop rep told me that the way Nintendo is supplying the stores with their games now, they do not receive a bunch of inventory of games to have the available at the time of release; instead, they only ensure that they have brand new sealed versions of the games for people that pre-ordered the games, but then only receive like one or two copies of the game outside of the pre-ordered games. So they may have several copies of game cases on the shelves as placeholders, but they may only have a couple of games in stock. The rep explained that because they only had a couple of copies of the game, that is why the game they had available to sell was not in the shrink wrap. That still didn't make sense to me, but the rep said that that was how Nintendo was supplying the stores now with their Wii U, Wii and 3DS games, and that once the copies they have in the store have been sold, they could put in an order for more, but they didn't know exactly when the items would be back in stock.

If this is the case, was GameStop just singled out with this type of piecemeal inventory management, or are other stores subject to this as well? I know I can walk into my local Wal-Mart or Best Buy right now and pick up a sealed copy of the game, with several more being available for purchase, all in the shrink wrap, so why should GameStop be any different? Since I'm not privy to the inside details of how things work in retail, this may be the norm, just seemed kind of strange to me though.

Have you heard of or experienced this before when you went to pick up a game at GameStop?

Wii Connect24 and Animal Crossing City Folk

Even though Animal Crossing New Leaf has been released, we still have love for our older versions of Animal Crossing and still play them regularly. Recently, Nintendo announced that they would be discontinuing the Wii Connect24 service on Friday, June 28, 2013, and that channels, data exchange via the Wii Message Board, and games that utilize the Wii Connect24 service on Nintendo Wii consoles would either no longer be functional, or at the very least, have some of their functions limited. In Animal Crossing City Folk, Wii Connect24 allows friends to send messages from one player's town to another player's without the other player being logged on and present, and also allowed for the receipt of special Nintendo items that Pete would happily deliver to you occasionally. As such, you will no longer be able to send messages from one Animal Crossing City Folk player's town to another's after June 28th. It's probably safe to say that there were no longer going to be gifts from Nintendo delivered to City Folk players since the focus is now on New Leaf (not to mention the fact that City Folk is about 5 years old), so from that perspective, it's not such a loss.

Since Wii Connect24 is part of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection feature, when this news was first announced, we were asking the question "Will I still be able to travel from one City Folk town to another since Wii Connect24 is being shut down?" After all, this is a really cool feature of Animal Crossing City Folk, and vastly expands the enjoyment of the gameplay. Nothing is like going to Copper at the gate and being denied a way out of town. Luckily, we have since found out that you will still be able to travel from one town to another and have friendly socials with other City Folk players in their towns as usual, it is simply the letter sending function that will no longer work.

Since you will still be able to visit other towns via Wi-Fi, if you really wanted to send a letter to another player, you can always visit the post office in the town where the player lives that you want to send a letter to while you're visiting and send a letter from there -- I'm sure Pelly and/or Phyllis will be happy to oblige you.

Playing as Nabbit in New Super Luigi U

We've been having a fun time playing the stages on our New Super Luigi U game! One of the cool things about the game is that you can play as Luigi or as Nabbit. If you want to play as Nabbit in first player / single player mode, you can hold the ZL button on your Wii U Pro Controller or the Wii U Gamepad and then press the "A" button while entering a stage. If you are using the Wii Remote to play, you can hold down the "B" button and press "2" while entering a stage and access Nabbit that way. You'll then be flying through stages as the infamous Nabbit in all of his invisible glory.

New Super Luigi U DLC Launches Today

Nintendo has declared 2013 the Year of Luigi, so there have been and will be all sorts of Luigi-themed games released this
year. One such game was released today -- the New Super Luigi U DLC for the Nintendo Wii U. New Super Luigi U offers over 80 new levels to enjoy with similar gameplay and the same World Map as New Super Mario Bros. U. The new stages provide greater difficulty than those in New Super Mario Bros. U, and feature Luigi as the main playable character -- not Mario. When playing in single-player mode, Luigi not only has to contend with the usual Super Mario Bros. enemies, but also has the task of catching the infamous Nabbit, who is happily stealing items from Toad houses. When played in multi-player mode, Nabbit has invisibility against enemies and serves as an assistant to Luigi in the various levels. New Super Luigi U can be played with the Wii U Gamepad, Wii Remote or Wii U Pro Controller.

New Super Luigi U can be downloaded from the Nintendo Wii U eShop starting today for a pricing of $19.99 if you currently own New Super Mario Bros. U. The title screen at the bottom right of New Super Mario Brothers U needs to be version 1.3.0, so if it is not, you will need to launch the game to update it before you can download the New Super Luigi U DLC. If you don't have New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo has announced that a separate stand-alone version of New Super Luigi U can be purchased starting in August for $29.99.

We already purchased the downloadable content version of New Super Luigi U today, but will probably end up getting the physical copy as well -- just gotta have the game case and box art!

New Leaf Raccoon Wall Clock DLC Today

Enjoying your copy of Animal Crossing New Leaf? We sure are! There are a lot of new and exciting things to do in New Leaf, and one of them is getting exclusive SpotPass DLC (downloadable content) items from participating retailers. One such event started today and is going on for the next couple of weeks at Best Buy. At participating Best Buy stores with Nintendo Zones, you can walk up to the Nintendo Zone with your copy of Animal Crossing New Leaf and go see Pelly the Pelican (or Phyllis, depending on when you go to Best Buy) in the Post Office on Main Street. You'll want to ask her about gifts and then your 3DS will go searching for the SpotPass DLC items. After a little bit, Pelly/Phyllis will come back and apologize for the delay and give you your gift; this time around, it's a Raccoon Wall Clock.

There will be several other DLC events in the coming weeks at Best Buy, so be sure to head on over and pick them up while you can. Oh, and be sure to call the Best Buy location that you want to get your DLC items from before you head out to make sure that they have a working Nintendo Zone -- I actually went to three different Best Buys in the area before I found one that still had an active Nintendo Zone!

Nintendo has said the following exclusive SpotPass DLC items will be released at Best Buy Nintendo Zones:

6/16-6/29 RACCOON WALL-CLOCK
6/30-7/13 CAT TOWER
7/14-7/27 ROLLING SUITCASE
7/28-8/10 DOUBLE NECK GUITAR

Best Buy Nintendo Zone

Happy SpotPass-ing! :)

Spot the Difference - AC New Leaf Style

We got our spanking new copies of Animal Crossing: New Leaf the other day and have been having fun exploring and building up our town. One of the neat things about building up your town is the beautiful and interesting items you can donate to the museum. Good ole' Blathers is always ready and willing to receive your philanthropic donations, and also provide you with an encyclopedic lesson on the items you decided to donate. Donating fish, bugs and fossils is pretty straightforward and without risk, but donating paintings (and now sculptures!) can be a risky venture. In previous versions of Animal Crossing like City Folk and Wild World, you could purchase paintings from Tom Nook and Crazy Redd. These paintings would sometimes cost a small fortune, but you were willing to fork out the bucks in the hopes of completing and adding a "cultured" presence to your museum. Unfortunately, we all know that you could purchase a painting from Redd and take it Blathers to donate, only to have him tell you that your painting is a forgery.

Well, this time around in New Leaf, it appears that there is a way to tell if you're looking at a forgery or an authentic piece. In the Animal Crossing New Leaf Guide
by Prima, Chapter 14 - Museum Donations, has pictures of what the authentic pieces of art and sculptures look like. When you're in Redd's black market tent of potential goodies, look at the picture in the book for the item and compare it to the one that he's trying to sell you. If you can't find any differences, grab it up; but if you do spot a difference -- and sometimes they're really subtle -- move on to the next piece and don't waste your bells on it.

Of course, if you like the mystery and intrigue of picking up an piece of art and not knowing whether it will be accepted by Blathers or if he'll kindly reject it when you try to donate, don't bother with the guide -- it'll pretty much be the same experience you've had with the older versions of Animal Crossing. Oh, and one other thing -- be sure to check and make sure that the item you're about to purchase/donate has not been already donated to the museum. In previous versions of Animal Crossing, if you tried to donate an item that had already been donated, Blathers would reject your donation, while politely accusing you of producing counterfeit items. I haven't experienced this yet in New Leaf, but I don't have any reason to think it wouldn't be the same. Have fun building your museum!

Animal Crossing New Leaf 018-0512 Error

We've been having a great time playing Animal Crossing New Leaf and exploring all of the features and townsfolk it has to offer. We decided we would go ahead and take the plunge and see who else's town we could wander into and share the fun with -- you know, the more the merrier! Well, we were able to see a list of towns we could venture into, selected one, and patiently waited with Porter for the next train to arrive and take us to our exciting new destination. Imagine our utter disappointment when we received the 018-0512 error and were not able to travel! Well, thinking maybe it was something simple, I ensured all of our internet settings were correct on our 3DS systems, and even moved closer to our wireless access point -- still nothing. We tried a little later with a relative that had also downloaded a copy of the game and lives about an hour away from us, and we were able to gain access to their town -- the frolicking began! We even had another unexpected visitor show up and enter our town, which was cool, so we thought we were good to go. We tried again later on to access some other towns, and ended up with the dreaded 018-0512 error again -- UGHHH!!!!

When I searched on the internet, I found one thread on the Nintendo Support Forums where other unlucky New Leafers were marooned to their own towns, and experiencing the same fate as we were. Some of the people experiencing the error had physical game cartridges, but it seemed like the majority of people had downloaded versions, just like us. We tried various times throughout the day to connect to the other towns, but didn't have any luck. Well, I searched again on the internet and found that Nintendo had updated their Support page for the error code 018-0512 and included a possible fix for the error.

It appears that you have to assign a dedicated IP address for your 3DS, and then also open the DMZ settings on your router to allow for communication between your 3DS and other 3DS systems you want to connect to. Well, I was able to assign my 3DS a fixed IP address and also log into my router settings and follow the suggested fix by Nintendo to try and resolve the issue. Once I followed the instructions, I was able to get into one town, but still unable to get into others. The fix did say that if you still experience difficulty, you may need to have the person on the other end follow the same instructions you just followed to ensure communications are not blocked, so maybe that's the issue.

Funnily enough, I had issues long time ago with my Animal Crossing Wild World towns and could never communicate via WiFi because an error always occurred when I tried to go out of the gate; we always just used local connections to communicate between towns. With this proposed Animal Crossing New Leaf error fix that was suggested, that issue is now resolved, so I guess I will finally get Blanca to visit my Wild World towns (yes, we still play Wild World too!) -- either way, I'm getting out of a town one way or another!

If you want to view the proposed fix for the Animal Crossing New Leaf 018-0512 error (it may also fix the 018-0511 error), visit the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Customer Service page. I still have intermittent issues with visiting some towns after the fix, but hopefully it'll all get worked out eventually. Good luck!

Animal Crossing New Leaf Released - Yay!!!

The day is finally here! The seemingly elusive Animal Crossing New Leaf game for the Nintendo 3DS has been released and there is joy abounding everywhere around the USA. The game was available at the start of the new day (right after midnight) and we were happy to jump in and download a digital version. It didn't take long at all to download, and soon we were having fun selecting a town layout, meeting our new neighbors and getting acquainted with our new duties as Mayor. Our town started off with cherries as the local fruit, and they looked ever-so delicious in their 3D glory. Funnily enough, when we started our Animal Crossing City Folk town, we had Twiggy as one of the initial townspeeps, and she was right at home as one of our welcoming neighbors in our New Leaf town as well.

Being that we're fanatics in our household, we also had three physical copies of the game along with a New Leaf game guide pre-ordered, and promptly picked them up later on in the day (after we had a chance to nap after playing ourselves silly with the digital version all night!) We look forward to enjoying all of the features available in Animal Crossing New Leaf -- hope you enjoy it too!

Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess Wii Box Art

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess Nintendo Wii - Front of Box Art

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess Nintendo Wii - Back of Box Art

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess was originally released on the Nintendo GameCube, but was revamped and relaunched for the Nintendo Wii with the gameplay being the opposite of the original gameplay, and making use of the new Wii Remote and Nunchuk accessories. There were two versions released for the Nintendo Wii -- the original version which sold for around $50.00, and the Nintendo Selects (Player's Choice) version that came a bit later but still in all it's glory for a steal of a price at $19.99. The game box art is pretty much the same too for all three versions; shown are pictures of the front and back of the original game box / case released for the Nintendo Wii.