Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios have apparently taken on new staff in the form of Eric Kozlowsky, formally of development studio Naughty Dog famous for the Uncharted series.

Eric has held the position of Artist at Retro since July 2011 so although this news isn’t exactly new, it’s certainly something that has been brought to my attention recently. We can only wonder what the staff are up to behind the scenes. Of course, this doesn’t confirm any new Metroid game but it’s nice to see that something is going on at Retro Studios and only time will tell as to what that is..

Sources: NeoGAF

N-Gamer, a popular unofficial Nintendo magazine in the UK has relaunched as Nintendo Gamer. Back in August, the magazine offered us a platform to contribute an article to mark Metroid’s 25th anniversary. The four page feature had contributions from staff at Metroid Database, Metroid Headquarters and Shinesparkers.

Nintendo Gamer will reach more Nintendo fans than ever before with a complete overhaul of the print magazine, iPad edition, social media reach and impending website launch.

The new-look magazine, on-sale January 5th 2012, delivers even more fantastic Nintendo content in its new super-wide format; now filling a hefty 148-pages. In addition, the cover price has been reduced from £4.99 to £4.50 providing even better value-for-money for consumers.

Inside the magazine, readers will find the same honest and opinionated Nintendo content that was the trademark of the old magazine, wrapped up in a cleaner, more contemporary design. Nintendo completists are well catered for, with coverage of every Nintendo console past and present – from NES to Wii U and everything in between.

Nintendo-gamer.net will launch in early February 2012, reaching a greater audience of core Nintendo gaming communities with Nintendo Gamer’s brutal honesty, unrivalled authority and irreverent humour. Opinion and reaction to breaking Nintendo stories, editorialised video trailers and strong community focus will position Nintendo-gamer.net as the leading website for true Nintendo fans.

Nintendo Gamer’s Facebook page has an eight page sample of their first magazine that you can check out. You can purchase a digital download online or on Apple Newsstand or in store from various outlets in the UK.

The latest 3DS firmware update is now available globally. It brings with it some big changes to the 3DS system, allowing owners to capture 3D video and enjoy an enhanced eShop experience allowing you to purchase games and content for their exact price, rather than paying for a set price and having money left over. The update also brings a brand new street pass quest game, building on the experience of the first game which allowed 3DS owners to take to the streets and use the streetpass feature to find other 3DS owners and collect Mii’s to use in battle against various monsters. Players could also collect a variety of different hats for their Mii’s, two of which were a Samus helmet and a Metroid hat. The update brings almost 60 new hats to collect, but it’s not known if any of these new hats will be Metroid related.

You can get the update by following the following instructions:

Step 1: Go to your 3DS home screen and click “System Settings”
Step 2: Select “Other Settings”
Step 3: Search until you find “System update” and continue to follow the instructions from there.

Nintendo Ambassadors have also been promised ten free GBA games this month, one of which will be Metroid Fusion. It is not yet known what five of the ten GBA games will be, perhaps they’ll announce one of them to be Metroid: Zero Mission? Eligible people will find out very soon!

I felt it was worth mentioning that the Nintendo Gamecube today celebrates its 10th anniversary. It’s amazing to think that the console that brought us Metroid Prime (which celebrated its 9th anniversary a couple of days ago) and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has reached such a milestone. I feel that the Gamecube is a console that has been very under appreciated and has a great library of games that people may have overlooked.

As well as two fantastic outings for Metroid, the system also brought Nintendo fans The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Super Smash Bros: Melee, Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door, Animal Crossing and many more. Before I became a Metroid fan, I was a Pokémon fan, and I remember buying the system exclusively for Pokémon Colosseum, which I have many fond memories of. To this day, my Gamecube still sits on my desk with a Gameboy Player attached to play some Metroid Fusion or Zero Mission, or in case I want to relive the moment of playing Metroid Prime again how I originally played it.

Do you have any happy memories of the Gamecube? Be sure to share them on our Facebook page!

Metroid Database celebrates its 15th birthday today, an incredible milestone deserves a mention. The website has had a brand new addition made to it, the Metroid Database Bestiary! It offers detailed information on enemies from the Metroid universe and features some stunning artwork.he project was supposed to be released on the 25th anniversary of the Metroid series back in August, but the project was delayed slightly. However, it truly is an amazing project and I URGE people to go and check it out. Metroid Database also announced a new competition today called “Design a Samus contest” to win a variety of goodies, including a physical copy of our Harmony of a Hunter album!

We are extremely pleased to see such a well loved and respectable website such as MDB continue to impress all these years later. It is not only the longest running and most extensive Metroid website, it’s one of the oldest websites on the whole internet! May it continue and may we all continue to respect its presence. A huge thanks to all the staff and its members for helping to keep the Metroid online community alive.

www.metroid-database.com

Andrew Wilson has created this stunning Samus Aran sculpture and felt it was worth sharing with the wider Metroid community. The sculpture was created for Gallery1988′s “Old School Video Game Show” which starts tonight. The piece stands at around 9 inches tall and looks unique and stunning.

Andrew states in his blog that he hopes to sell the sculpture and quotes:

“(maybe?) for BILLIONS OF DOLLARS”

Andrew also has plans to create a Mother Brain sculpture and we wish him the very best of luck with that. We have contacted Andrew to give us some further information on his model and future plans for a Mother Brain sculpture and will update this news post if we receive something quotable from him. If you would like to see more images and information about the sculpture and the process it went through for building, you can check out Andrew’s blog here.