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Episode 334: Stupor Guide

by James Jones, Jon Lindemann, Jonathan Metts, and Guillaume Veillette - April 21, 2013, 3:37 pm EDT
Total comments: 19

The RFN gang talks though one of the most exciting Nintendo Directs yet.

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We start this week's show with just three members present, but have no fear, the quartet is soon complete. Jonny begins with a return to the improperly maligned Assassin's Creed 3, a Wii U launch title that deserves more attention as the numerical sequel approaches in just six more months. James picked up Yoot Saito's Aeroporter, the Guild 01-associated luggage stacking puzzler, but he finds little to recommend even at the reduced eShop price. Gui continues the bargain warnings with escapeVektor on 3DS, a likable but glaringly flawed Pac-Man successor that was, until recently, on sale. Since Jon didn't have any New Business this week (he's been getting a head start on Mega Man, hedging his bets by playing both candidates), we had enough time for Jonny to come back around with a glowing review of Saints Row: The Third, an open-world game that finally recaptures the spirit of the "sandbox game".

For the second half, we celebrate an unusual dump of announcements for this time of year, as Nintendo hosted a Direct video event to trump all others. The focus was on 3DS, of course, and although we'd like to have more reason to be excited about Wii U in the year 2013, it's hard to complain about the lineup of sequels, revivals, and digital releases unveiled last week. We run through most of the notable tidbits and speculate on how this will affect the resurgence of 3DS as well as Nintendo's plans for E3, now just a few weeks out.

Urgent reminder: voting on the next RetroActive will end mere days after this podcast launches, so delay not in submitting your vote, good citizens! You can stay informed about the winner and get a link to the upcoming forum thread by connecting to the RFN Facebook page and following NWR's official Twitter account. You can also help keep the show interactive by filling up the mailbag, as Listener Mail is sure to return next episode.

This podcast was edited by Guillaume Veillette.

Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their newest album, Done with the Devil, directly from the record label, Amazon (CD) (MP3), or iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!

Additional music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is copyrighted to Nintendo and is included under fair use protection.

Talkback

Furious FrancisApril 22, 2013

The teams are hard at work creating new Wii U games. You guys just need to be patient. There are third party games out for the system to fill the gaps.


And for Lindy, you're opinion is welcome. Just don't bash Iwata when you don't know that the F*ck you're talking about. Then not give him credit for the Wii, 3DS, and DS success. If console/handheld generations were super bowls, Iwata has coached his team to three super bowl victories. DS won last handheld gen, Wii won last gen, and 3DS will win this gen.


Then say the Wii U sales are tanking worldwide, with no numbers to back it up, then you make it seem like the Vita is doing better than the Wii U. When the Wii U is kicking the Vita's ass worldwide, yet you only cherry picked the Japanese sales. You sounded like you worked for IGN PlayStation team or something.


The Vita is tanking worldwide, not the Wii U.


Nintendo is not perfect, they make mistakes, but please know what you're talking about before you speak about Iwata losing his job.

Pixelated PixiesApril 22, 2013

This isn't directed towards anyone in particular, but it's something that I've been thinking about recently. It's in regards to a phrase I hear expressed often on video game podcasts and which cropped up again on this episode; the use of the term 'bitch' or 'bitching'.

I'd just like to say that while the internet in certain corners is a very negative place (corners which I steer well clear of), not everyone who is critical of something is 'bitching'. Guys like the NWR crew have the podcast. It's their platform from which they can talk about what they appreciate and what they don't. For 99% of people out there, however, their only forum is...well, forums. I just think it's useful to make a distinction between people who are expressing an opinion or preference based on the information available to them, and those that are in fact 'bitching'. If you lump both camps together then I can certainly see why you might think the internet is a cesspool of negativity, but the truth is that proportionately there are far more in the former camp than in the latter.

Not everyone who uses their critical faculties to express a negative opinion of something is 'bitching', just as not everyone who expresses a positive opinion is being a cheerleader. It does perturb me a little when criticism is equated with 'bitching'. The two are not mutually exclusive, but neither are they the same thing.

Once again, this isn't directed at anyone. It's just something that's been on my mind for a while now.

Great episode as usual guys!

A fair point, though for the record, I wasn't talking about message board commentary but rather reactions on twitter. I shouldn't let it get to me, but I find it jarring when a new Yoshi's Island game is announced and all I can think of is "Holy ****, awesome!" and I immediately read a comment about how it looks like an ugly rehash.

It was actually a game journalist's reaction, and so I found it funny when I thought Jonny was going to make the point that game journalists don't have knee-jerk reactions (but his point was entirely different).

I haven't gotten around to seeing the reactions to the Nintendo Direct news on the NWR boards, so my comment about bitching wasn't aimed at anyone here. And I'm not on a crusade against everyone not impressed with the new Yoshi's Island graphics. But I do think that calling it ugly is exaggerated and premature given how no one has seen what it looks like on a 3DS screen, and it's definitely premature to talk of a rehash because of 10 seconds of footage.

Nintendo Direct never have actually bad news, only good news, right? Except perhaps when we learn that a game will come out much later than previously announced, like Pikmin 3. But when a ton of new games get announced, that's great news. And yet it never seems good enough for some people. I think saying that those people are "bitching" is appropriate.

FjurbanskiApril 22, 2013

Actually the phrase "never good enough" works really well. If a Nintendo Direct came out that announced ten new games and said they'd all be available tomorrow it still wouldn't be good enough.


As far as genuine criticisms of games go, the only thing people can criticize at this point is art style, and even then that's just their opinion. Some games may have a precedent for criticism (from what I've heard, the only good yoshi game was the first one), but others definitely don't. The people acting like the new zelda is gonna be bad are just crazy. Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, the Oracle games, Minish Cap. All those games are good, there's no reason to think the new one won't be.

Pixelated PixiesApril 22, 2013

Quote from: Pandareus

Nintendo Direct never have actually bad news, only good news, right? Except perhaps when we learn that a game will come out much later than previously announced, like Pikmin 3. But when a ton of new games get announced, that's great news. And yet it never seems good enough for some people. I think saying that those people are "bitching" is appropriate.


I completely agree. I just wanted to highlight that for each person out there who is complaining for the sake of it, there are loads of people who just want to discuss and debate video games because it's one of their favourite pastimes.

The only thing we need to be wary of is that we're not contributing the general negativity by 'bitching' about those that 'bitch', lol.

KDR_11kApril 22, 2013

Oh yeah, I remember playing lots and lots of Donald Duck in ABC on my C64. Not only did the train control job give you the most money per delivery, it was also easier on higher difficulties because the train moved faster and the only penalty for mis-directing the train was that it would have to go the whole way around again which of course is less of a penalty when it's faster. One edutainment bit of it was that you had to pick the coins and notes you wanted to pay with and then correctly select the change.

Quote from: Furious

The teams are hard at work creating new Wii U games. You guys just need to be patient. There are third party games out for the system to fill the gaps.


And for Lindy, you're opinion is welcome. Just don't bash Iwata when you don't know that the F*ck you're talking about. Then not give him credit for the Wii, 3DS, and DS success. If console/handheld generations were super bowls, Iwata has coached his team to three super bowl victories. DS won last handheld gen, Wii won last gen, and 3DS will win this gen.


Then say the Wii U sales are tanking worldwide, with no numbers to back it up, then you make it seem like the Vita is doing better than the Wii U. When the Wii U is kicking the Vita's ass worldwide, yet you only cherry picked the Japanese sales. You sounded like you worked for IGN PlayStation team or something.


The Vita is tanking worldwide, not the Wii U.


Nintendo is not perfect, they make mistakes, but please know what you're talking about before you speak about Iwata losing his job.


Wow, you really earned your username, here.

I personally enjoy a Nintendo fan's critical analysis of how Nintendo's doing.  Anyone whose not usually is very apocalyptic on their predictions as to what will happen to Nintendo, while the people on the podcast have not only been lifelong Nintendo fans, but have also covered them for a Nintendo-centric website.  You may disagree with their assertions, but I think there are some fair criticisms to be made for Nintendo.

Other than the aforementioned Vita, you don't often see such horrible gaps in software support for Sony & Microsoft systems.  While you could argue the 3rd party support is the reason for this, you can't argue that it means it's up to Nintendo to make up for their slack. 

There are games in most genres for the Wii U right now, but the difference between the Wii U & the Xbox 360/Playstation 3 is that Sony & Microsoft's consoles have several options in each of those genres.  It's a bit unfair to compare consoles that have lived for 5+ years to one in its infancy, but certainly it's fair to point out that Nintendo could have done more to make their software offerings more robust in the Wii U's first year.

I forget who said it, but someone claimed that Mario Party 3DS would be the third portable Mario Party title. This claim is incorrect.

1. Mario Party e
2. Mario Party Advance
3. Mario Party DS
4. Mario Party 3DS

Mario Party 3DS is the fourth portable Mario Party title! :)

TJ SpykeApril 22, 2013

I'm not sure Mario Party-e counts, all you use the GBA/e-Reader for it to play mini-games. The actual game itself can be played with or without the GBA (you can play it like a regular board game).

RazorkidApril 23, 2013

Great episode guys! I agree that the 3DS megatons were dropped prior to E3 because Nintendo wants to put all its focus onto WiiU.  They can ill afford to split their energies at E3, particularly at their press conference, during a year when 2 (!) new consoles from their competitors are gonna be blown out.  I think this is a smart move (and good timing on their part) because it allays any concerns about the possible absence of new or big 3DS info (unlike how Sony completely ignored the Vita last year with nothing pre or post E3 about it). 


I'm surprised that you guys didn't talk about how things like Operation Rainfall and Miiverse have seemed to have a real impact on games being released here in the west that previously didn't.  I would argue that if no noise at all was made about Earthbound (particularly on Miiverse, but not exclusively only there) it would not see a release here in the west on VC.  I think this is the first time that I've seen a major gaming publisher actually listen to their fans to the point of releasing software or addressing stuff like the Wii U system load times.  I hope this will be a new trend and Nintendo continues to listen and (more importantly) react appropriately.

eggface123April 25, 2013

You guys should get a "mute James Jones laugh button". :-X

Pixelated PixiesApril 25, 2013

Quote from: eggface123

You guys should get a "mute James Jones laugh button". :-X


You fiend. Who would want to stifle such a debonair and hardy laugh? I say it is you sir who should be muted!

And with that I bid good day to you! Hmph!

*throws scarf over shoulder and walks away*

I guess I am the mute button.

Pixelated PixiesApril 25, 2013

Quote from: Pandareus

I guess I am the mute button.

Don't you do it Gui! Don't you push that button!

CericApril 25, 2013

Quote from: Pixelated

Quote from: Pandareus

I guess I am the mute button.

Don't you do it Gui! Don't you push that button!

Your right.  Be simplier just to delete the whole track. :P

eggface123April 25, 2013

Im sorry, :Q but its ruining my computer speakers!

Good. You're unfit.


@Furious Francis:


Wii U at 3.45m units worldwide
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/24/wii-u-shipments-miss-targets-at-3-45m-fy14-forecasts-of-9m/


Vita is almost doubling Wii U's install base in Japan
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=546116&highlight=japan+sales


And this perhaps sorta accurate estimate has Vita at 4.62m worldwide
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Hardware/Global/


Of course, Vita has been out since December 2011, so it has 11 more months on the market than Wii U. Overall, Wii U is selling faster, but in recent months Wii U sales have slowed to a crawl while Vita sales are picking up. Couple that with the fact that...


Epic isn't providing Wii U support for Unreal Engine 4, no Frostbite 3
http://www.destructoid.com/gdc-unreal-engine-4-and-frostbite-3-won-t-support-wii-u-250006.phtml


We still don't have confirmation of a Madden for Wii U, etc. I'm sure I could sit here and find some more negative press about Wii U if I looked, but really, does all of this sound like a console that's THRIVING to you?  Maybe not TANKING totally, but THRIVING?  No, Wii U is a console that's struggling. Struggling mightily at that, and things are only going to get tougher - beyond the die-hard Nintendo base - when Xbox and PS4 come around.


Am I all doom and gloom on Wii U? Not at all. I expect Nintendo to come riding in with the cavalry the second half of the year, and for sales to pick up. But once they blow their wad with the big glut of games that will be released 2nd half 2013/first half 2014, it'll be interesting to see where it goes from there.


@Razorkid


Man, Operation Rainfall! I hadn't even thought of that. Good point. I wonder if that whole fiasco got NCL to thinking that maybe NOA is out of touch with their own market?  It's hard to tell who pulls the strings on what games go where (NCL ultimately, but internal politics certainly play a role), but you have to wonder.

pokepal148Spencer Johnson, Contributing WriterApril 26, 2013

Quote from: NWR_Lindy

@Furious Francis:


Wii U at 3.45m units worldwide
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/24/wii-u-shipments-miss-targets-at-3-45m-fy14-forecasts-of-9m/


Vita is almost doubling Wii U's install base in Japan
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=546116&highlight=japan+sales


And this perhaps sorta accurate estimate has Vita at 4.62m worldwide
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Hardware/Global/


Of course, Vita has been out since December 2011, so it has 11 more months on the market than Wii U. Overall, Wii U is selling faster, but in recent months Wii U sales have slowed to a crawl while Vita sales are picking up. Couple that with the fact that...


Epic isn't providing Wii U support for Unreal Engine 4, no Frostbite 3
http://www.destructoid.com/gdc-unreal-engine-4-and-frostbite-3-won-t-support-wii-u-250006.phtml


We still don't have confirmation of a Madden for Wii U, etc. I'm sure I could sit here and find some more negative press about Wii U if I looked, but really, does all of this sound like a console that's THRIVING to you?  Maybe not TANKING totally, but THRIVING?  No, Wii U is a console that's struggling. Struggling mightily at that, and things are only going to get tougher - beyond the die-hard Nintendo base - when Xbox and PS4 come around.


Am I all doom and gloom on Wii U? Not at all. I expect Nintendo to come riding in with the cavalry the second half of the year, and for sales to pick up. But once they blow their wad with the big glut of games that will be released 2nd half 2013/first half 2014, it'll be interesting to see where it goes from there.


@Razorkid


Man, Operation Rainfall! I hadn't even thought of that. Good point. I wonder if that whole fiasco got NCL to thinking that maybe NOA is out of touch with their own market?  It's hard to tell who pulls the strings on what games go where (NCL ultimately, but internal politics certainly play a role), but you have to wonder.

Learn to reply noob. :p

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