Mario maker reaches out to original Wii owners to say new version is an "entirely new system."

Nintendo has reached out to original Wii owners to inform them that the Wii U is "not just an upgrade." The Mario maker has dispatched a message through the Wii system explaining why consumers should upgrade to the HD console.

"It's time to discover Wii U," the message reads (via Kotaku). "Wii U is an all-new home console from Nintendo. It's not just an upgrade--it's an entirely new system that will change the way you and your family experience games and entertainment."

Wii U sales have struggled, in part due to marketing efforts falling short, according to Nintendo. Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto said in March that communicating the novelty of the Wii U relative to the Wii has been a challenge.

"I think Wii U certainly has a little bit more of a challenge because it doesn't have that 'looking-fun' element to it," Miyamoto said at the time. "But I think that as people bring it into the living room and begin to play it, particularly when you experience with five people, you really do get a sense for how fun Wii U is."

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata last month laid out a plan to make the Wii U profitable. It includes releasing "key" first-party titles on a regular basis beginning in the second half of 2013, increase efforts to communicate the uniqueness of Wii U, and reduce manufacturing costs.

Worldwide Wii U sales currently stand at 3.45 million units. Nintendo hopes to sell 9 million systems by the end of March 2014.

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Head of product management for middleware company says "it will not longer be acceptable to walk into a room where you can't punch a hole in the wall."

Destruction must be at the heart of next-generation games, according to Havok's worldwide head of product management. Speaking with Games Industry International, Andrew Bowell said destructible environments will be a cornerstone of PlayStation 4 and next Xbox games.

"The way that ragdolls became the last generation thing and everything had to be ragdolls, we reckon next generation, everything's going to have to be destructible," Bowell said.

"It will be no longer acceptable to walk into a room where you can't punch a hole in the wall or break a table and see it splinter," he added.

Havok Physics is a physics engine that has been used in a number of high-profile games including the Halo series, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, L.A. Noire, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deceptionl, among others.

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Disc contents exactly the same as the digital release.

The Xbox 360 edition of blockbuster Minecraft will be released physically in the UK on June 28, Microsoft has announced.

The boxed versions will be identical to the downloadable versions, with the exception of a 48-hour Xbox Live Gold code included in the case.

The UK release date follows the previous announcement that the retail Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition will launch in North America on June 4. It had previously been scheduled for an April 30 release.

Minecraft's ever-growing sales numbers currently sit at over six million for the Xbox 360 version and 10 million copies on the PC.

A Time magazine poll has also named Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson the second-most influential person in the world, behind Egypt president Mohamed Morsi.

Developer Mojang has said it will "consider" releasing Minecraft for Sony platforms once its exclusivity deal with Microsoft lapses.

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The critically-mauled game has been accused of false advertising in a Californian court.

The disappointing Aliens: Colonial Marines is now the subject of a class action lawsuit, with both Gearbox Software and Sega accused of misrepresenting the game to consumers with false advertising.

The lawsuit, filed yesterday in a Californian court and spotted by Polygon, alleges that the final game "bore little resemblance" to the early footage of the game shown in demos and gameplay trailers.

"Each of the 'actual gameplay' demonstrations purported to show consumers exactly what they would be buying: a cutting edge video game with very specific features and qualities," reads the claim filed by law firm Edelson LLC on behalf of plaintiff Damion Perrine.

"Unfortunately for their fans, Defendants never told anyone--consumers, industry critics, reviewers, or reporters--that their 'actual gameplay' demonstration advertising campaign bore little resemblance to the retail product that would eventually be sold to a large community of unwitting purchasers."

Another complaint to the UK's Advertising Standards Agency has previously forced Sega to add disclaimers to the game's trailers stating that the footage shown in commercials was not indicative of the final product.

Other sources told GameSpot earlier this year that Gearbox neglected development on Aliens: Colonial Marines in favour of Borderlands 2, the company's own IP.

Gearbox President Randy Pitchford has acknowledged the criticisms. Responding earlier in the year on Twitter, he called the complaints "fair" and said the studio was "looking at that."

"Lots of info to parse, lots of stake holders to respect," he added.

The long-delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines finally launched this year to a largely negative reception. In the wake of its release annoyed ex-developers expressed their frustration with the way the title was handled, and reported that much of the game was outsourced to other studios.

The Wii U port of the game, once promised as the definitive version, was also cancelled.

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