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If you visit Nintendo of America's official site for Xenoblade Chronicles, you'll see a set of links at the bottom of the page. The one on the left links to a series of Iwata Asks interviews regarding Xenoblade Chronicles... but wait! If you slide your mouse cursor over the link button, you'll see the text description displayed at left - "A Discussion on Game Development with the Creators of Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story." But why mention The Last Story interviews if the game's not coming to the U.S.? I cross-checked the link with the Nintendo UK Xenoblade page and it's safe to say that the mouse-over text wasn't just a remnant from the original site (which the American site is based on). And since the only mention of The Last Story in any of the Xenoblade Chronicles Iwata interviews appears in a footnote... could this mean Nintendo's planning to bring The Last Story stateside sometime this year?...

Swapnote, the 3DS's "messenger system," has garnered success since its launch during the holidays. While there is no quantitative data as to how many times the software was downloaded, there have been ten million handwritten notes exchanged, which is quite good for something as simple as Swapnote. I actually like the software, considering at first I thought it wouldn't get off the ground. Having said that, in other news, Shigeru Miyamoto is currently developing new projects. More on that, after the jump....

Yesterday was mostly about Iwata, Wii U, 3DS, and investors, but that doesn't leave Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto and the Zelda series out of the picture. Miyamoto decided to make it clear to investors that, no, he is not retiring as previous rumors suggested - he's just stepping out of his current role and into a new one. He also talked about Wii U, graphics, and the future of the Zelda franchise. There's no official transcript, but David Gibson, who attended the event, managed to Tweet out a rough translation of a few of the details. Miyamoto says that while Wii U's graphical power might not be fully tapped for some games - rather similar to what we saw with Wii's expanded audience titles - for certain franchises, The Legend of Zelda among them, it will be important to make good use of its visual capabilities. Whether this means we'll see them take on the style we already got a peek at in the Zelda HD Experience or a new, unprecedented style that really draws on graphical muscle remains to be seen. But I do know that, if they're really going to take visuals in Zelda as seriously as that...

Let's play the "tell me something I don't know about Wii U" game! Iwata was more than ready to rise to that challenge with the announcement of a new feature of the Wii U's tablet controller that I don't think any of us saw coming. The controller will make use of "Near Field Communication" (NFC), which is a type of short-range radio communication that Nintendo plans to use so that the Wii U controller can interact with accessories like figurines, cards, and other devices. This could allow for AR-like functionality, where players load data from a special card onto their controller for use in gameplay, as well as the transmission of things like character or account data. Another example the Nintendo president mentioned was the ability to conduct micro-transactions via NFC. Imagine a world where you don't need to input card numbers to load download store credit onto your system. Just scan the pre-paid card and go! Iwata also talked about why Nintendo's waiting until the holiday season to pop out the Wii U. Hop inside for his reasoning....

Iwata couldn't hype up investors for Nintendo's future without talking about the until-now nebulous "Nintendo Network" we keep hearing about. Yes, this is indeed Nintendo's new online system, and yes, it will encompass online functionality for both 3DS and Wii U. The Nintendo Network system is going to be a unified system that covers everything from downloadable add-on content - which THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY is, as previously confirmed, going to be the first game to make use of. How will Nintendo make use of these features for its own games and services? You'll have to hop inside to find out. (Full quote from Mr. Iwata after the jump.) ...

Rayman Origins, that kooky-as-hell side-scrolling joyride from Ubisoft's Montpellier studio, has been in the wild since November, but the handheld versions coming to both 3DS and PS Vita weren't scheduled to debut until early this year. We didn't know exactly when - only that they were coming... until now. Rayman Origins is set to hit 3DS on February 20 (or the 16th if you live in Europe!). This game's been on my "must-buy" list since it was announced, but I've been holding out to see how the 3DS version compares to the console editions in terms of content, visuals, and features. Unfortunately, we're still not really sure what the differences are, if any significant ones exist at all. On the flip side, a free downloadable demo of the 3DS version is set to hit the eShop sometime between now and the release date, so hopefully we'll learn more when that time comes. In the meantime, Ubisoft has put together a "Making of" interview collection, where important team members talk about the level design, creative direction, artwork, and music. We've already got a million videos floating around on the front page, though, so you'll have to hop inside to check it...

You might have noticed a new video series that sprouted up on our YouTube channel called The Gossip Stone hosted by Andy Scott. In this episode, Andy talks about the next Zelda game to release for the 3DS, takes a shot at Operation Moonfall, and makes a pretty solid conclusion that there are indeed a [...]

The second part of the 1989 interview between Shigeru Miyamoto and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii is now online. This time the conversation steers away from specific talk, like in the first part of the interview where the two discussed A Link to the Past and Dragon Quest IV (the games they were currently working on at the time), and moves into a more general discussion about RPGs. Amongst other topics, the two discuss dungeon design, balancing gameplay and story, silent protagonists, the future of the RPG, and more....

The January 2012 issue of Game Informer is now available to subscribers across the country and it has some Zelda goodies for us. In particular there is a two-page interview with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma and sound composer Koji Kondo. Both of these gentleman are two of the biggest names when it comes to the [...]

The December 2011 issue of Nintendo Power has hit subscribers this week and it contains several Zelda goodies. In addition to the Nintendo Power Skyward Sword review, the magazine also had a two page interview with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. Within the interview, Aonuma talks about the controls of Skyward Sword, the development, some storyline [...]