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Nintendo can sometimes come up with some really weird ways to promote their games. Turning Times Square into Super Mario Land was pretty amazing (especially when I got to jump all around and hit blocks and stuff in reality), and turning Times Square into a beach resort for Wii Sports Resort was probably cool (I wasn’t able to make it to that one). But now the West Coast gets some love because to promote the May 24 launch of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for the 3DS, Nintendo is hosting an event at the Los Angeles Zoo, specifically at the Campo Gorilla Rerserve!

“Fans will get a chance to spend time with Donkey Kong and some of his friends from the animal kingdom at the L.A. Zoo this Memorial Day weekend,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “They’ll be able to experience a fun day with Nintendo at the zoo and play Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D.”

For all of Memorial Day Weekend (May 24-27), the zoo staff will be feeding the real-life gorillas from giant cardboard barrels like in the game, but fans will have to settle for taking pictures with a costumed Donkey Kong character in the zoo. Oh, and naturally, there will be demo stations so you can sample Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, and get a coupon for $5 off the game at GameStop. Honestly, the whole things sounds bananas. Get it? Bananas? I’m here all week. Don’t forget to tip your waitress!

Capcom is releasing a two-pack of the classic Dungeons & Dragons arcade titles, Tower of Doom and Shadows Over Mystara, as Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles Of Mystara. It’s a remastered version, although as you can see from the screenshots, the modernization has taken place in the gameplay, not so much the graphics. They’ve gone decidedly old-school here, embracing every pixel of the original. You can adjust the views as you see fit, either with a frame or filling the screen, but the best one I thought was probably the one where you can make it look like the arcade cabinet and add scan lines to the game screen so it looks authentic enough you’ll want to put quarters on the edge of your TV.

They’ve added what they’re calling “House Rules,” which let you adjust the game settings to suit your mood. Either make weapons and items unbreakable, have enemies drop lots of gold, or whatnot. You also earn Vault Points by completing specific tasks while playing the game, like achievements. These points can be used to unlock treasures in the vault like new House Rules as well as fan service like concept art and original flyers for the games. If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll love it. There’s also four-player co-op gameplay both on- and off-line, and it’s drop-in/drop-out, so you don’t have to worry about losing your progress.

I played some of it, and it’s pretty much the side-scrolling beat-em-up you remember. Of course, with the added benefit of not having to waste a ton of quarters every time you want to continue. Well, unless you want to set the House Rules so that you only get the one life. Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles Of Mystara is due out in June as a downloadable title for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC at a price of $14.99.

As you can tell from my shirt (not that you can see it in the thumbnail), I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness this weekend. And despite what a lot of people on the interwebs  seem to be saying, I rather enjoyed it. A lot more than this last series of Doctor Who, which is getting a lot of love for some reason. And I’ve been playing more than Animal Crossing: New Leaf this time around! Swear! Make the jump and watch the video to find out what!

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The internet fairly exploded when Capcom announced that it would be updating the classic 8-bit title DuckTales, and I can happily report that WayForward has done right by all the fans. They have taken the basic framework of the game and its levels and redrawn all the art and enhanced all the sound to make DuckTales Remastered.

The hand-drawn sprites are beautifully rendered, but still feel old-school in that as modern as they look, they still retain the old-school animation. The levels are the same structures, but now fully 3D. And to make sure that DuckTales Remastered lives up to the classic ’80s TV series, episodes were used as reference to inspire the backgrounds. And not only did WayForward upgraded the 8-bit chiptunes, but for any new music, they actually went through the effort to first create 8-bit music that they could then upgrade in the same way so the entire game would remain consistent. And many of the actors from the TV series were tapped to provide voicework for the game.

In addition to the original game, there is also some new content. Like a tutorial level and a museum where you can track your progress and leaderboards. And what would Scrooge McDuck be without his Money Bin? Nothing, that’s what. So WayForward has added the Money Bin as a playable level where you can not only track the amount of wealth you’ve accumulated throughout the game, but go for a swim in it!

I played through a level, and even with the modern HD polish, the charm still comes through. Underneath all the stunningly rendered sprites and backgrounds, at its heart it’s a really strong platformer. I have to admit that I had a little trouble getting the hang of Scrooge McDuck’s pogo attack, but by the end of my demo, I was okay. Well, aside from the stupid ghosts that you can’t hurt and have to just avoid. I hated those things. And unfortunately, I was unable to even attempt the boss fight, because I kind of broke the demo. I find that I do that a lot at these press events!

DuckTales Remastered is due out this summer on Xbox LIVE, PlayStation Network and the Wii U eShop. I was told that there’s also the possibility of a PC version, but they can’t confirm anything on that yet.

Dear Diary,

Well, Geneva is turning out to be a wonderful place to live. Of course, whenever you move into a new town, there’s always so much to do. And being mayor keeps you even busier! All the projects and stuff… it never seems to end! So unfortunately, it’s going to be another long one — get ready!

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Ever since Remember Me was announced, I was intrigued. Both by the Neo-Paris 2084 futuristic setting and by its strong, female lead (who actually wears functional clothes that cover her realistically-proportioned body!). But it wasn’t until now that I was able to get my hands on a controller and actually play through some of the game. It was such a lengthy demo that I stopped after a while because I felt like I had been hogging the game for too long, and also because I’d reached a cinematic and I didn’t want to spoil the story. Read on for my impressions…

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