Messages

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TalkBack / Re: New Wii U Hardware Bundle Announced For United States

« on: September 08, 2015, 12:23:55 PM »

All these bundles but it's just rotating the game that's included so it isn't like there is any improved value to this over the Super Mario 3D World one.  Changing the pack-in game isn't going to suddenly convince me to make a purchase.  Frankly I would prefer a lower price without the game and then I can use the savings to pick whatever game I want.

Switching the bundle around at this point doesn't suggest a price cut coming any time soon.  Bummer.

Wasn't there was a Mario Kart 8 bundle back when that game first came out?

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TalkBack / Re: Pikmin 4 In Development, Mario Galaxy Looking At New Hardware

« on: September 07, 2015, 10:08:38 PM »

Well since Pikmin 3 is one of the few titles that I really want to get a Wii U for it would be nice if another Pikmin made it to the Wii U and gave me an extra title to justify the console purchase.  Yeah, they probably can make a derivative sequel pretty easy using the same engine.  I don't care for sequels made with that mentality but Pikmin hasn't been overexposed yet so it's not a big deal.

Assuming this does end up on the Wii U then Pikmin gets two games on the Gamecube, skips a generation, and then two on the Wii U.  Is there some unofficial rule here that Pikmin is to only get new releases on underperforming Nintendo consoles?  At least they're making Pikmin 4 and didn't come to some idiotic conclusion that Pikmin isn't marketable based on sales of a game on a failed platform.  The jury should still be out on almost every Wii U game in terms of their true sales potential as they have all been restricted by the low console sales.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: NX Rumors and Speculation Thread (Unprecedented partnership with Square Enix?)

« on: September 04, 2015, 07:08:14 PM »

Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it can't. It isn't unreasonable to think Nintendo would consider leveraging some of Wii U's big titles to give NX more games at or around launch. Mario Kart 9 is the only sequel I could see Nintendo being ready because it released the last round of DLC a while ago, but if not, re-releasing a quality game a lot of people didn't play isn't a bad move. Just making a new Super Smash Bros. like you suggested is much easier said than done. Keep in mind Nintendo admittedly almost re-released Melee on Wii with online support had Sakurai not returned for Brawl so Nintendo at least considered a re-release. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was in development for over two and a half years, was released incomplete, and the team is still working on content. At this rate, the soonest Nintendo could get a new Super Smash Bros out is 2018 and that's assuming Sakurai finishes DLC for the current Super Smash Bros. and immediately moves on to a sequel. He left HAL Labs because he didn't want to do that.

Yeah, it still could happen.  Though I suspect Nintendo hasn't done that sort of thing with Mario Kart and SSB because they figure having more than one title in those series on the same platform will dilute the series or hurt sales in some way.  And what could they even call a SSB port?  The game's name is literally Super Smash Bros. for Wii U!

They'll call it Super Smash Bros. For NX (or whatever the final name of the system becomes). 

That name is reserved for the SSB designed specifically for the NX.  Oh wait, no, they could just call that one New Super Smash Bros. for NX.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Sales Thread

« on: September 04, 2015, 06:17:32 PM »

If someone asked me to describe a squid the first thing I would mention would be the tentacles.  Anyone else find it odd that Nintendo squids, both here and with Bloopers, de-emphasize that feature?  It would be like if Nintendo rabbits had tiny little ears or Nintendo leopards had very few spots.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: NX Rumors and Speculation Thread (Unprecedented partnership with Square Enix?)

« on: September 04, 2015, 04:44:29 PM »

Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it can't. It isn't unreasonable to think Nintendo would consider leveraging some of Wii U's big titles to give NX more games at or around launch. Mario Kart 9 is the only sequel I could see Nintendo being ready because it released the last round of DLC a while ago, but if not, re-releasing a quality game a lot of people didn't play isn't a bad move. Just making a new Super Smash Bros. like you suggested is much easier said than done. Keep in mind Nintendo admittedly almost re-released Melee on Wii with online support had Sakurai not returned for Brawl so Nintendo at least considered a re-release. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was in development for over two and a half years, was released incomplete, and the team is still working on content. At this rate, the soonest Nintendo could get a new Super Smash Bros out is 2018 and that's assuming Sakurai finishes DLC for the current Super Smash Bros. and immediately moves on to a sequel. He left HAL Labs because he didn't want to do that.

Yeah, it still could happen.  Though I suspect Nintendo hasn't done that sort of thing with Mario Kart and SSB because they figure having more than one title in those series on the same platform will dilute the series or hurt sales in some way.  And what could they even call a SSB port?  The game's name is literally Super Smash Bros. for Wii U!

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Sales Thread

« on: September 04, 2015, 04:35:44 PM »

Since this a squid shouldn't it have eight muscular human legs?

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: NX Rumors and Speculation Thread (Unprecedented partnership with Square Enix?)

« on: September 04, 2015, 01:28:10 PM »

When does Nintendo re-release Mario Kart and SSB games outside of the VC?  They just make a new one.  What the hell does Mario Kart 8 have that is so damn essential that Mario Kart 9 won't have.  When Nintendo did the NPC titles on the Wii they didn't have NPC SSB Melee or NPC Double Dash.

Splatoon I could see a re-release because it was something brand new for only the Wii U.  Super Mario Maker would make sense but doesn't it really need the Gamepad?  I can't see that being standard issue even if they include backwards compatibility.  Any Wii U game that gets a "remaster" would need to be something that works on a normal controller.  If you have to have the optional Gamepad to play it that's niche enough they might as well sell you the Wii U version.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: NX Rumors and Speculation Thread (Unprecedented partnership with Square Enix?)

« on: September 03, 2015, 07:54:26 PM »

Console gaming on the go" is a selling point, "handheld gaming on your TV" is not.

Oh really?

*Metaphorically glances at the Super Gameboy, the GBA & DS games on the Wii U VC, and the copy of Danganronpa: Another Episode - Ultra Despair Girls he's currently playing on his Vita TV.*

I think the fact my brother just bought a Vita TV in clearance for $50 and it came with a PS3 controller demonstrates my point pretty well.

I like playing handhelds on my TV but I don't think it's a big selling point.  Plus there is very much the idea that handheld games are scaled down and "inferior" to console games.  So if Nintendo released some new Mario game on the NX handheld first and then a few months it showed up for the NX console launch I worry it would be seen as a handheld game and thus the NX console (already I'm seeing a major annoyance in this naming convention) is offering "inferior" handheld games while the competition has "real" console games designed specifically for consoles and not compromised in any way to accommodate handheld limitations.

Increased hardware doesn't just make the graphics prettier.  It allows for more items on screen and larger areas and more complicated AI and physics.  Go play some HD remaster of a PS2-era game and while the graphics look nice you'll notice that everything else seems somewhat subdued compared to the large open areas of current console games.  Play a game like MGS: Peace Walker on the PS3 and it is obvious that it was originally designed for the PSP.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: NX Rumors and Speculation Thread (Unprecedented partnership with Square Enix?)

« on: September 03, 2015, 06:42:11 PM »

I'm not really digging that rumoured design.  It's actually the lack of an optical drive that really turns me off.  If I can't do physical media I won't buy it.  The rumour says it optional so can you buy an external drive?  Doesn't matter anyway.  If that's an optional accessory then most games won't support it.  I want it standard so that the big games pretty much HAVE to have a physical release and it will be indie and niche titles that don't, like we have now.

If Nintendo releases the handheld NX first then the console NX is not going to sell worth a ****.  The sheer idiocy of this company to look at an embarrassing disaster like the Wii U and think "we'll replace THAT one second" just drives me up the wall.  So there will be exclusives but that's just going to make the two systems only sort of necessary.  Nintendo typically has enough exclusive to their handhelds and consoles that it is worth it to own both.  But if it's just a little handful of exclusives for each with most of the content being for both then it isn't really going to be worth the cost to own both.  People will pick one and most of them will pick the handheld because they trust Nintendo handhelds and the handheld is coming FIRST so any killer app will sell handhelds but will be old news if it shows up on the console a year later.  The console should come first and should come out next year.  You want your best titles to have a period of console exclusivity to encourage its sales as the handheld will sell itself to the market that likes handheld games.  "Console gaming on the go" is a selling point, "handheld gaming on your TV" is not.

The rumour sounds plausible (usually they throw in ridiculous over-the-top wish fulfilment stuff but this doesn't have that) but then most of it sounds like stuff that's already been rumoured or is a logical conclusion based on the existing rumours.  So it might be someone that isn't a moron creating a credible forgery.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X. Monolith Soft's Next Game.

« on: September 02, 2015, 07:57:41 PM »

Skell is literally one letter removed from "skull" so I find it very easy to pronounce and not awkward at all.  Is this like an accent thing?

"Overed" sounds like how a British person with an accent that drops the 'h' says "overhead".

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TalkBack / Re: Super Mario Maker (Wii U) Review

« on: September 02, 2015, 12:28:44 PM »

Bummer about the weak interface for finding levels.  For me I would think a big draw would be designing levels specifically with my friends in mind and asking them to try them.  You figure they could just search for my user and see all the levels I've created like it's my YouTube channel.

This seems like typical present-day Nintendo.  For the most part the game sounds really awesome but then you get questionable designs like the 9 day unlock and the interface for finding levels.  It is very odd that a company that can really deliver the goods will consistently get the easy stuff wrong.  Only Nintendo would struggle with making a decent interface for sharing levels.  All over the internet people share movies and photos.  So why is this hard for Nintendo?  Don't they use the internet in their personal lives?  Has Miyamoto never used YouTube because if he has why would he not see it as a design to copy for sharing content online?  A practical interface is not hard because users just want it to work so you can copy from existing software.  Thinking outside of the box to come up with new creative game ideas that stand out in a crowded marketplace?  That is hard.  Yet for Nintendo that's actually the easier part.  Huh?

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TalkBack / Re: Amazon, Nintendo Team Up For Digital Code Store

« on: September 01, 2015, 12:11:15 PM »

What is the point of this service?  Those download code cards were for customers that don't have credit cards.  To use this don't you need to have access to the internet and a credit card to pay for your purchase?  Why not just go through the damn eShop?  You have to go online with your system anyway to download the title you bought from Amazon!

Is there some little detail about this that makes it different from the eShop that I'm missing?

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TalkBack / Re: Shovel Knight Digging Into Super Smash Bros Wii U/3DS?

« on: August 28, 2015, 12:06:12 PM »

Not sure about others, but I'm very nervous the figure won't be available in sufficient supply.

Is this sarcasm?  Of course the figure won't be available.  As far I know they don't even make Amiibos beyond the standard Mario ones.  Any photos of them are obviously photoshopped.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Screw it, I'm making a Devil's Third Topic

« on: August 27, 2015, 05:43:10 PM »

Most of what NOA does "right" is so routine and expected that you figure anybody with the slightest familiarity with business and videogames could run it as well or better.

If that was even remotely true, if just anybody could run a video game company, all of these companies wouldn't have gone out of business. In fact, the reason this is even a discussion is because THQ, a company that had been in the industry for over 20 years, closed down and Devil's Third was left without a publisher.

NOA isn't so much of a videogame company but more of a regional distribution branch of the actual videogame company in NCL.  Their main role is to sell NCL's products in the United States.  If NOA goes out of business it will be because NCL themselves committed THQ levels of incompetence.  THQ went tits up because of their idiotic uDraw product which is well beyond what NCL allows NOA to do.

Anyway NOA appear to be way more incompetent then their European equivalent so I question the value in the current leadership in that branch.  What do the people on top bring to the table, aside from being not THQ terrible, that makes it worth keeping them?

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TalkBack / Re: Shovel Knight Digging Into Super Smash Bros Wii U/3DS

« on: August 27, 2015, 05:12:03 PM »

Go to GameRankings.com, search for the all-time best for the Wii U (min 20 reviews which is the default) and the number five title and highest ranking game not published by Nintendo is Shovel Knight.  That's the justification to include him.  This is one of the only third party games on the Wii U that anyone has even heard of that wasn't some compromised port released during the launch window.  I would say it is a lock as the most well-regarded and well known third party title on the system.

And if you're upset that it's some flash-in-the-pan character you KNOW they'll make a new SSB for the next Nintendo platforms and if Shovel Knight is the next Gex then he ain't going to show up in it (and even if it becomes a big franchise rights issues may keep him from showing up again).  SSB is a celebration of Nintendo past and present.  It isn't like some hall of fame or something.  Characters that don't hold up to the test of time will be replaced in later games and the most iconic ones will stick around.

Solid Snake was in Brawl and that is the ONLY Wii game he ever appeared in.  They even had a trophy for those Metal Gears with the lizard legs and they only appear in the PS3 EXCLUSIVE MSG4!!  A trophy in an SSB game that you would only recognize if you owned a competitor's console!  Clearly the shark has already been jumped for SSB guest characters.  At least Shovel Knight appears in a Wii U game.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Screw it, I'm making a Devil's Third Topic

« on: August 27, 2015, 02:44:53 PM »

Rumor has it that Nintendo of America may have damaged their working relationship with XSEED with their constant waffling over the publishing of Devil's Third. If so, it's a brutal blow. I can understand why XSEED is pissed if they were willing to take a chance with the game, only to have their work ruined by Nintendo's indecision.

Because when you have very few allies the smart thing to do is burn MORE bridges.  Nintendo seems to have a good relationship with indies but I wonder if that's entirely because most indies are new to the industry and Nintendo just hasn't had enough time to make enemies out of them yet.  Hopefully this rumour in unfounded because XSeed publishes good stuff on the 3DS and I don't want to miss out because of Wii U dipshittery.

Aside from the very talented translation team is there anyone at a high level at NOA that brings anything worth a damn to the table?  Might as well clean house.  Most of what NOA does "right" is so routine and expected that you figure anybody with the slightest familiarity with business and videogames could run it as well or better.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Sales Thread

« on: August 27, 2015, 02:02:37 PM »

I hope Splatoon's success teaches Nintendo that they need to branch out more from the usual Mario fare.  They launch the Wii U with a by-the-numbers Mario game that's the same routine everyone has played a million times since 1985 and the console just DIES.  Later they release a brand new IP in a genre that they've pretty much never touched before and the game sells great considering the platform it is on.  An endless assortment of 2D platformers is ignored but something new that's not quite like anything else on the market attracts attention.  If you want people to buy a new console you have to give them something new and different.  If the same tired franchises moved systems they would have moved Gamecubes and they didn't.  So next time around they should put some real effort into new stuff like they did with Splatoon and not assume that trotting out tired Mario clichés is going to sell systems.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Screw it, I'm making a Devil's Third Topic

« on: August 27, 2015, 01:42:12 PM »

Bayonetta 2 has sold over 150k retail copies in America so there is a small audience for M rated Wii U titles that still buy physical copies.

I'm guessing the Bayonetta audience has a lot of crossover with the audience that follows gaming news and reviews online.  Still I think NOA should have released Devil's Third in some capacity simply because the Wii U needs every game it can get.  There is a certain value in offering the illusion that games are coming out on a regular basis (though NOA has put this in a cluttered part of the release schedule so they're not even doing THAT right).

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Screw it, I'm making a Devil's Third Topic

« on: August 26, 2015, 04:56:50 PM »

So Nintendo joins up with Team Ninja to make Metroid: Other M and it is absolute ass.  Then they team up with former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki to make this and it is absolute ass.  If Nintendo ever teams up again with anyone that has ever even so much as interned for Team Ninja I'm going to... bitch about it on the internet!

It must be really frustrating for a company like Nintendo that usually gives a **** about their games being good to put funding into a game like this and realize partway through that it is clearly going to be trash.

You figure this would get a digital release instead of Fatal Frame for the simple reason that you can't trade in digital copies of shitty games. Videogame companies are always afraid of used sales eating into new sales.  Which game is more likely to have owners quickly trade in?  Of course bad reputations also hurt sales so maybe they don't care.

Really terrible games that the publisher KNOWS are terrible usually don't get review copies shipped out to try to conceal bad word-of-mouth as long as possible.  NOA isn't releasing this until December, giving English-speaking European Wii U owners months to spread the word to North American gamers on how stinky this turd is.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Final Fantasy Explorers- also known as "Summon Hunter"

« on: August 26, 2015, 12:25:05 PM »

I'm somewhat interested in the game but I need to try a demo.  Monster Hunter in theory sounds up my alley but I've played the demo for both 3 and 4 and didn't like them at all.  So I wouldn't risk taking a chance on this.  Thankfully Square Enix has been good about 3DS demos.

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TalkBack / Re: Amiibo Bundle Blunders

« on: August 25, 2015, 05:47:35 PM »

Since I don't like the Amiibo concept I say let NOA do more and more to **** everything up and piss off their Amiibos customers.  The sooner this whole thing dies under NOA's incompetence the better.

Putting an exclusive Amiibo in a console bundle reminds me a lot of how Nintendo originally made the Legend of Zelda Collection on the Gamecube a pack-in for a new console purchase, flipping the bird to pretty much every existing Zelda fan in the world because they would have already bought the console to play Wind Waker.  The company doesn't think of things from the fan perspective.  They're probably not trying to get you to buy a Wii U over again for that sort of deviousness requires intelligence NOA doesn't have.  They're thinking that throwing in an extra doodad will make the bundle all the more attractive to potential new Wii U customers.  They are oblivious to how this jerks around their existing Amiibo customers.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: NX Rumors and Speculation Thread (Unprecedented partnership with Square Enix?)

« on: August 24, 2015, 05:36:52 PM »

No one ever sold used Mac software, at least not at a level where their business model pretty much revolves around it.  That's a big difference between Apple and Nintendo.  Unsurprisingly I didn't see record stores where their whole business was selling CDs pushing the **** out of the iPod like the general electronics stores were.

Thinking about it, Nintendo games rarely drop in price so I wouldn't be surprised if for GameStop used Nintendo games probably sell pretty well, at least if you take into account the smaller userbase.  I'm not going to bother to buy a game that it's in the Wal-Mart discount bin used but Nintendo games are practically never in there.  You want a cheaper Mario Kart you get it used.  When the Wii was hot GameStop probably made a killing on parents looking for used first party titles.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water | Coming to NA Fall 2015

« on: August 24, 2015, 05:28:57 PM »

I suppose we could have not gotten it at all so while this could be done better it could be much worse.

Reggie came aboard shortly before the DS and Wii kickstarted the biggest period of Nintendo prosperity since the NES days.  As a result I think the current management of NOA thinks of that casual buck as the "normal" thing and main focus so they're really thrown off by the Wii U and they don't get the idea of appealing to more dedicated gamers with releases that are more niche.  We see another game to help keep the Wii U puttering along where every new release on the shelves just makes it look that much less of a failure to the public.  NOA sees Fatal Frame as the sort of game that won't appeal to the Wii Fit crowd so they don't see value in it.  They're hit focused so stuff like Mario Kart is what matters and the smaller stuff does not.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: NX Rumors and Speculation Thread (Unprecedented partnership with Square Enix?)

« on: August 24, 2015, 01:13:44 PM »

I won't buy an all-digital console and especially not one that uses any cloud based processing.  That goes for any company, not just Nintendo so I'm not holding them to a special standard.  I figure someday the industry will move in that direction but I'll be older and probably have less time for games anyway.  This concept is pretty similar to what MS first presented for the XB1 and it was so poorly received they completely backpedaled on it.  So Nintendo is now going to bust out concepts that were poison only a few years ago?  And again it's NINTENDO.  The guys that think voicechat is bad are going to suddenly be so competent with online gaming that they're going digital-only?  I'm not saying they won't for sure but you know they would completely **** it up.  If Nintendo is ever going to get up to speed on online stuff it will be noticeable over a period of several years.  They won't go from the clueless dipshits they are today to savvy online-only guys tomorrow.  They could try but they would fail for certain.  I don't think they have enough confidence in the online concept to even want to try that.  If anything I would expect them to continue being followers.  Online in general seems like something they never wanted to do and were more or less forced to by the market.

Yeah, designing hardware based on how Nintendo makes games and ignoring what everybody else wants is what got them into this mess in the first place. They need to make something so easy for third parties to work with that they see it as worth porting things to even if they don't expect it to sell huge. Assuming it's going to have physical media, it pretty much has to be discs to fit that criteia.

I think we're well aware of what they NEED to do but that doesn't mean they'll do it.  If anything doing some goofy Nintendo-specific thing that completely screws up third party support is what I expect.  Should they use discs?  Yes.  Will they?  Beats me.  "That's stupid" is never a valid justification for assuming Nintendo is not doing something.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Release Calendar For North America, Europe.

« on: August 24, 2015, 12:29:44 PM »

Interesting to see Star Fox and Xenoblade releasing mere weeks apart.  Nintendo usually tries to space their releases more.

Well since the Mario Maker bundle has a price we can assume no Wii U price cut before then.  I'm still hoping for one before Christmas.