Ubisoft has a great thing going: the power couple of the eminently lovable comedian Aisha Tyler and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. Every year, we look forward to their self-aware, irreverant press conference stylings, and was more of the delightfully quotable same. Oh, but that's right - you're here to see some games. Ubisoft delivered: over the course of the show, it demoed off PvP in The Division, revealed a new medieval action game called For Honor, announced a new South Park adventure, and unveiled the future of the Ghost Recon franchise.

We've bundled up all of Ubisoft's announcements right here, so you can get up to speed even if you missed the show. Read on to see what kinds of trailers, reveals, and dancing games the storied third-party publisher brought to the table this year.

Welp, that's EA's conference done and dusted. We got our first taste of a new Mass Effect, gameplay footage from Mirror's Edge: Catalyst and Star Wars: Battlefront, and way more Pele than we were expecting. I mean, sure, EA has a huge line of sports games, but seriously, there was a hell of a lot of Pele. And it's all here in our EA conference recap.

There's no need to worry if you missed out on watching the entirety of the conference, we've put in all of the most important information and announcements from the EA press conference at right here. Check out all of the new game announcements and everything else in the following slides.

Nintendo loves to make game announcements in rapid succession, and even a day notorious for literally unbelievable news isn't enough to deter a parade of updates and trailers. The most recent Nintendo Direct just aired on April 1, with a slew of new info and reveals that shouldn't be missed. But what if you don't have an hour to spend scrubbing through the looking for the breaking news? That's where we come in.

What follows is a list of the biggest announcements from the Nintendo Direct, with all the really good stuff front-loaded for your convenience. Check out what you might've missed, then let us know in the comments which games and new amiibo you're personally pumped up for. You can even imagine us speaking in the same dulcet tones as Satoru Iwata or Bill Trinen, if you like.

We still don't have a title for the new Fire Emblem game on 3DS, but we do know that it's . Alongside the release window, Nintendo revealed a ton formation about the game's single-player campaign, which casts your created character as the star (rather than as a companion to the real hero of the story). That doesn't just mean more dialogue - your character will literally determine the entire course of the campaign.

Early on, you must make the choice between fighting for the peace-loving Hoshido faction or the warlike, revolutionary Nohr faction. Striving to preserve peace with Hoshido will provide a more traditional Fire Emblem experience that's also more welcoming to newcomers, while fighting for glory with Nohr will make for difficult battles and a more complex narrative. Sounds like a pretty awesome excuse to play the game twice, whichever side you decide to start with.

The Nintendo Direct had no shortage of updates on and 3DS. First off, the Mewtwo DLC will be out this month. If you registered both games on Club Nintendo, you’ll be getting a download code on April 15. Everyone else will be able to buy the character on April 28, costing $4 on either version, or $5 if you want the Legendary Pokemon on both platforms.

But that’s not all. This June, Mother 3 protagonist Lucas will join the game as a downloadable fighter for a yet-to-be-named price. Additionally, new costume packs are coming for the Mii fighters, all as paid DLC on April 15. There are themed costumes for Legend of Zelda and Mega Man, plus cute animal outfits that are 75 cents separately, or $6 in a bundle.

Ready to write a 500-word treatise on why Ridley absolutely, positively belongs in the Super Smash Bros. roster? Get your thinking cap ready, because Nintendo is about to let fan demand influence who might be the next DLC character.

By hopping over to , you can fill out a survey suggesting who deserves to join the Smash Bros. cast next. Who knows how long it'll be until this survey is botted out of control, but it's a nice sentiment for Nintendo to let the fans make direct suggestions. If we all type in Goku, do you think it’ll finally happen?

After it was teased more than a year ago, we were told little about this crossover game beyond a few facts: It's on the Wii U, is being developed in tandem by Atlus and the Fire Emblem team at Intelligent Systems, and brings together two of the most hardcore series in gaming. The was finally shown during the Nintendo Direct, and it blends the SMT and Fire Emblem influences into a dazzling, anime-riffic display.

As in most Shin Megami games, the main characters are Japanese teens with special abilities, and they look to be battling monsters in a near-future version of Tokyo to the tune of a catchy theme song. From the Fire Emblem side of things, the turn-based battles show classic FE characters helping out the the team. No official date or title has been given to the game in North America; it’ll be out this year in Japan with a title that roughly translates to Illusory Revelations#FE. The rest is still a mystery, but hopefully we’ll hear more around E3 this year.

Amiibo are fun and all, but Marth and Wii Fit Trainer break way too easy when you try to cuddle with them. Thankfully, Nintendo plans to get out ahead of the snuggle issue with a new line of amiibo planned to release alongside - one green, one pink, and one light blue.

Aside from being oh-so soft, squishy, and lovable, the Woolly World amiibo will let you play as Double Yoshi when you tap their little bottoms to the GamePad. You control both characters at once, letting you slurp up the second Yoshi into an egg, toss him to new areas, and run around with him once you get there. You'll also be able to swap between the difficulty-determining "Classic" or "Mellow" modes in the middle of a level, the latter of which gives your Yoshi wings… if you can ever stop cooing at the figures long enough to play, anyway.

Because people will buy up amiibo figurines faster than bottled water before an impending earthquake, you know Nintendo isn't about to stop making them any time soon. The newest wave of Smash-themed amiibo is now know, with Dark Pit and Palutena coming this July, and Olimar, Zero Suit Samus, Bowser Jr., Ganondorf, and Dr. Mario set to debut in September. That noise you just heard was your wallet screaming, by the way.

In addition, Iwata assures us that amiibo toys for Smash Bros. DLC characters like Mewtwo and Lucas are also on the way, alongside the aforementioned Yoshi's Wooly World and Splatoon amiibo sets. You'll also be able to boot up demos of classic games with the amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Hits app, which releases this spring on Wii U as a free download. By tapping your amiibo to the GamePad, you'll gain access to a limited demo of a randomly selected game from Nintendo's storied archives. It's basically like a , only better.

For Western fans of Fatal Frame, who haven't seen a localized release in the snapshot-happy horror series for ten years, it may feel like this franchise has one foot in the grave. But apparently Nintendo has a resurrection planned, with a U.S. localization of Fatal Frame 5: Oracle of the Sodden Raven set for release later this year.

Little is known about the title as of yet, aside from the standards common to every Fatal Frame game: you play as a (presumably) teenage girl stuck in a haunted locale and use a camera to protect yourself against homicidal specters while trying to solve the mystery of their deaths. What makes this Wii U release special is the use of the GamePad, with the inlaid screen functioning as the only access you have to your life-saving camera. And you thought these games were nerve-wracking before.

If you've had your fill of space battles, planting flowers, global conquest, and battling ghosts, Nintendo has a pair of new games to freshen up your StreetPass Plaza. Ultimate Angler sees your Mii travelling to the StreetPass Islands to bag more than 150 varieties of fish, using bait that they receive from fellow travellers. Meanwhile, Battleground Z lets you engage in action combat with hordes of zombies using weapons pulled from each Mii's hobbies.

The two games will be available on April 16 together for $7.99, or separately for $4.99 each. "StreetPass Mii Plaza Premium" will also launch on April 16, letting you store designated Mii characters in a VIP room and set StreetPass birthdays for your virtual travelers on a new calendar. StreetPass Mii Plaza Premium will be sold separately for $4.99.

Do you enjoy collecting amiibo, but wish they were easier to fit in your pocket? That’s what the upcoming amiibo cards are for. They function similarly to the figures, meaning the cards are scanned via NFC to unlock features, and the first set is themed around Animal Crossing. As it so happens, a new Animal Crossing spin-off will launch alongside the cards by the end of the year.

Called , the game focuses on the series’ indoors action, making players do some interior design to the desired specifications of their animal neighbors. And you get unique assignments by scanning different amiibo cards for characters like Isabelle. The game and cards launch this fall, along with the long-promised NFC add-on that allows non-New 3DS handhelds to scan amiibo and add the content to their games.

Go-karts are fun, but as far as racing goes, they're not actually all that fast… unless you drop an even bigger engine and some Super Mushrooms in there. Nintendo plans to add a 200cc racing class to in a free downloadable update on April 23, enabling a new, super-speedy mode on all tracks. Get comfortable with tapping that brake button, because taking corners at full speed is about to get a whole lot trickier.

The free update will release alongside DLC Pack 2, which adds three new characters (Animal Crossing's Villager, Isabelle, and Dry Bowser), four new vehicles, and eight new tracks, giving you plenty of new wheels and pavement to tear up as you zoom around at ludicrous speeds. You do have to pay $8 for the DLC pack, mind you.

It may not have the established fanbase of series like Smash Bros. or Fire Emblem, but is shaping up to be a fun, inventive shooter that still retains Nintendo's classic sense of whimsy. Two online modes were shown off during the Nintendo Direct: Ranked Battle, with 4v4 matches that determine your (what else) rank, and Splat Zones, a king-of-the-hill style melee where everyone's fighting over one central location. Offline multiplayer will also be available in the Battle Dojo mode, a 1v1 skirmish that puts one player on the TV and the other on the GamePad in a race to pop balloons.

Being that it's a relatively big game for Nintendo, you knew there had to be some amiibo involved. Three Splatoon amiibo will be available starting on May 29th: an orange humanoid Inkling girl, a blue humanoid Inkling boy, and a green Inkling in squid form. You can buy the humanoids separately, or pick up all three in one convenient pack.

Super Mario Bros. is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and Nintendo revealed has a bunch of surprises in store for the occasion. Thankfully, Mario Maker's release date is no longer one of them: it will finally democratize the piranha plant placement process in September.

The Wii U game / level-creation workshop will feature four different visual themes pulled from across the 2D Mario canon: the original 8-bit goodness of Super Mario Bros., the classic look of Super Mario Bros. 3, the SNES-talgic Super Mario World style, and the 3D-rendered visuals of New Super Mario Bros. You'll be able to swap between the four at will and easily share all of your creations online. No better way to celebrate Mario history than by making some of your own, right?

If you've been pulling your hair out waiting for for the day you could play Super Mario 64 on glorious new-gen tech, then yank no more! , starting with Super Mario 64 and Yoshi's Island DS, which are available immediately - yeah, right now! Go get them! Other titles you can play on your Wii U in the coming months will include Donkey Kong 64 and Mario Kart DS, and we can undoubtedly expect more nostalgic goodness in the future.

In addition, Nintendo has shown off a slew of games for the eShop that'll be released throughout the next year. The headliner is Pokemon Rumble World, a free, simplistic brawler starring toy versions of pocket monsters. And in addition to previously announced games like Don't Starve: Giant Edition and Runbow, games like forma.8, Dementium Remastered, and Starwhal will join Nintendo's collection of indie offerings.

Phew! Of all those announcements, which are you the most excited for? Do you plan on diving headfirst into the JRPG goodness of Fire Emblem and SMTXFE (the best acronym ever, pronounced 'smit-ze-fee')? Or are you gearing up to take part in the battle for those precious amiibo? Let us know in the comments below.

And if you're looking for more, check out .

Do you ever find yourself getting a little bit sidetracked in games? Some journey needs embarking on or some nefarious tyrant needs toppling, but you just can't summon up the interest to slog through the grand ordeal. On the other hand, helping this dude you met on the side of the road find his lost goat sounds pretty damn compelling.

Games like Chrono Trigger have awesome side stories that let you literally reshape the world just by checking out some stuff that's off the beaten path. Still, the journey to destroy Lavos was pretty epic itself. Instead, this week's Top 7 is dedicated to games with campaigns that couldn't help but be a little bit overshadowed by their tremendous side quests. Just make sure you read them all before you start the final mission, or else you're totally gonna miss out.

Lots of folks complained that the ending of Mass Effect 3 was too impersonal, that it boiled three games worth of choices and relationships down to a handful of color coded options. Whether you feel that way or not, you definitely can't say the same about Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC, which adds a fairly involved side story concerning a plot to assassinate Commander Shepard. Fortunately, Shepard's made a bunch of friends along the way - and they're all quite happy to help him deal with his would-be killers.

That's not really the point of the sidequest, though - the point is that you get to throw a massive party at the end and invite everybody you've ever fought alongside (and hasn't been blown up/shot by Collectors/killed by Cerberus yet). It's cheesy, sappy, and fan-servicey, but it's exactly what you need to break up Mass Effect 3's apocalyptic despair. Plus, you can have a one-night stand with Vega and let him cook you breakfast in the morning. Turns out he's good for something other than coming up with shitty nicknames.

World of Warcraft is full of stories - literally, that game has about a bazillion quests, even if most aren't much teresting than "bring me 10 murloc heads". But there are some seriously eye-opening events hidden in that huge pile-o-narrative, and my favorite is the sad tale of Tirion and Taelan Fordring.

For tragic reasons (those are kind of a theme with this guy) that I won't get into here, Tirion is banished from his home and family in Hearthglen. He stays nearby to watch his son Taelan (who thinks Tirion's dead) grow up and follow in his footprints as a paladin. Unfortunately, without his dear old dad to show him the ways of the world, Taelan joins the religious zealots of the Scarlet Crusade. That's where you come in - by collecting artifacts of Taelan's childhood, you can convince him that his father lives, allowing him to abandon the crusade and reunite with his long last pappy. Expecting this to end with a tearful reunion between father and son? Well, you're half right…

There are so many different angles to consider about Tenpenny Tower that I'm still amazed it's entirely optional - just make sure you look for the tall (and oddly well preserved) skyscraper standing a few miles west of the ruins of Washington DC. Tenpenny Tower spins a subversive story of haves and have-nots in the nuclear apocalypse which makes the campaign to restore Project Purity seem one-dimensional.

Unlike almost everywhere else you go in the Capital Wasteland, the tower is pristinely maintained and reassuringly secure. That's because the owner only lets a select number of rich residents stay - even though there's enough clean water and electricity to house dozens more. A group of ghouls would like to see that policy changed, and helping them talk their way into the Tower seems like the obvious, goodie-two-shoes thing to do. Until you come back a few days later, at which point you'll find all the human residents gone. The ghoul leader mentions a "disagreement" and, oh yeah, don't worry about that rotten smell coming up from the basement. Whoops.

The Riddler's always been a bit of a second-rate Batman villain. Unlike the Joker, the Penguin, and the other stars of the evil menagerie, he's more preoccupied with proving he's smarter than Batman (spoiler: he's not) than taking over Gotham. His endless schemes endanger some civilians here and there, but ol' Edward Nigma is usually as much of a threat to himself as he is to anybody else.

His talents finally get a fitting spotlight in Batman: Arkham City, where players can spend the entire game searching for hundreds of trophies that he's hidden in various nooks, crannies, death traps, and hostage situations around the chaotic streets and desolate buildings. You may think Arkham City is about taking down Dr. Strange's nefarious schemes for the city, but it's actually about collecting Riddler trophies. And when you finally get them all, you get to track down the Riddler and subject him to his one of his own sadistic schemes before taking him out. I'll take that over concept art any day.

If you try to play Persona 4 like an old-school JRPG, charging into a dungeon at every opportunity, grinding up your stats, and collecting all the Personas, you'll probably have a pretty awful time. It's all perfectly competent, but there just isn't enough to unravelling the mystery behind the Midnight Channel to keep you coming back for dozens of hours. What will really keep you playing are the Social Links.

Yeah, going out for steak skewers or attending basketball practice does come with a sort of XP system and some video gamey rewards. But that's not what makes Social Links fun. They're a surprisingly poignant metaphor - it's up to you how to spend the little time you have in Inaba (or in life, man) and you're going to get out what you put in. So let the next dungeon slide for a little while. It'll be there when you're ready for it. Until then, while away some afternoons hanging out with Yosuke and the gang.

The main quest of Skyrim is fine, if you like prodding at dragon corpses and getting wrapped up in the fictional politics of fantasy Swedes. But it still can't hold a candle to all the other crap you can do in that game, particularly the crowning non-critical path that culminates in the assassination of the emperor. Yup, the real emperor of Tamriel (though you do mistakenly kill his double first), not some podunk twerp who will be written off from the canon either way. But you've got to join the Dark Brotherhood if you want to do the deed.

Rising through the ranks of the brotherhood starts with taking a contract from a little boy to kill his cantankerous orphanage headmistress, and it only gets more twisted from there. You aren't just joining an order of assassins - the Dark Brotherhood has some seriously freaky stuff going on, of which you'll be well aware by the time you spend a night in a sarcophagus next to a shriveled, telepathic corpse. Y'gotta do what y'gotta do if you fancy some regicide.

Majora's Mask is unlike any other Zelda game, partially because its main campaign is a bit… more compact. While Ocarina of Time has eight huge dungeons between you and the credits screen, Majora's Mask only has four. But if you take the time to explore Termina and help out its many residents, this quest feels no less grand and yet immensely timate. After all, could you help a couple face the end of the world together in Ocarina of Time?

The process of reuniting Kafei and Anju is long and involved, requiring keen observation and multiple trips through the three-day cycle. Once you finally bring the young lovers back together, you're reminded that this is still just a side quest… and the mad Moon is still going to destroy everything. There's no grand redemption through the power of love (even if it is tougher than diamonds and richer than cream), just the comfort of gazing into oblivion side by side. You want to shout at them to keep fighting, but it's midnight on the final day and there's nothing more to do but wait. It's sad, happy, frustrating, satisfying, and a more compelling conclusion than a thousand dead Ganons.

Those are some of my favorites, but video games have definitely made a habit of overshadowing their main stories with awesome offshoots. What side quests have kept you amused long after the thrill of the campaign wore off? Let me know in the comments!

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