Kotaku has the complete list of characters on your team in the upcoming sequel to Project X Zone, which is really one of the more interesting success stories of the 3DS and the eShop.

It’s technically the third game in a series. The first, Namco X Capcom, was only released in Japan and never made it here. The second was Project X Zone, which seemed a longshot for making it to North America but later ended up doing so as a limited release.

Now, we’re getting a pre-order bonused wider release for the third game. I’m currently in the middle of finally trying to finish Project X Zone to try and stay ahead of the February release of the next game.

It’s as good as I remember from my initial partial playthrough. An interesting mix of characters with a fairly thin plot, just to mash together various franchises.

That’s a lot of colons for one game title, but I’m happy this is seeing an NA release. It’s essentially a double-dip, but seeing an eShop logo in the final bit makes me happy; I’ve never liked that the first Theatrhythm was cart-only and I’ll probably bite on this one just because it’s a digital copy.

Eurogamer:

Nintendo appears to be using the inferior 50Hz mode for games on the European Wii U Virtual Console, whereas other regions can use the 60Hz mode.

PAL 50Hz versions traditionally run slower (due to old European TVs having a slower refresh rate), with compressed graphics and borders. A video comparing the difference in speed between 50Hz and 60Hz is below.

Nintendo of Europe used the 50Hz standard for games on the Wii’s Virtual Console, too. This suggests that the Wii U versions come from the same code, although you’ll have re-download a new version of each game to play it on the GamePad. These new versions will individually be made available over some time, Nintendo has said. Each will also incur a small additional cost.

The issue is particularly surprising because, more recently, all NES games on the 3DS Virtual Console (including Balloon Fight) were 60Hz regardless of region.

Don’t ever change, Nintendo.

Nathan Brown for Edge, on Nintendo’s recent statements that they won’t allow a race to the bottom for 3DS downloadables:

Nintendo’s Hideki Konno has renewed the firm’s attack on low-cost software, saying that neither hardware manufacturers nor software developers want to see 3DS games sold at smartphone prices.

“We don’t want content to be devalued,” Konno told Gamasutra ahead of 3DS’s launch this weekend. “Let’s say there’s a ton of other software out there that’s free, which forces you then to take your content which you want to sell for 10 dollars and you have to lower it down to one dollar to be competitive. It’s not a business model that’s going to make developers happy.”

I love and admire Nintendo, and they are the caretakers of a vast amount of IP and a number of franchises that I have enjoyed since my childhood.

But in my opinion, the Nintendo DS was the pinnacle of handheld development and existed in a pre-iPhone/iPod touch era. They are pricing and hardware-designing (look at the 3DS battery life!) themselves right out of competition. I’m sad that it’s going away and I unfortunately don’t believe the 3DS is going to be as successful.