We are off to a great start, aren't we?

As a big fan of downloadable titles on any given platform, I was thrilled by the arrival of the Nintendo eShop on June 7th. Quickly, I prepared my Nintendo DSi to transfer my DSiWare to the shiny new Nintendo 3DS. I knew it would cost me my game saves, but I was happy to have a bunch of games with... Read more...

Also known as Xenoblade Chronicles: The Chronicles. Will this game ever be released?

Recently there has been widespread uproar relating to the absent North American release of Xenoblade, following the confirmation of the European release in September this year. The game was released in Japan as Xenoblade on June 10, 2010. It is Monolith Soft's second game under Nintendo, the first... Read more...

The RFN co-creator gives his thoughts on the newest Nintendo console.

Nintendo unveiled their new home console, Wii U, which will launch at some point in mid-to-late 2012. Initial reactions from the gaming community during E3 2011 seem to be mixed, but the stock market is pretty unified in their view. They don't like it. Nintendo shares dropped 5.7 percent with the... Read more...

And why we need to take the gaming press with a grain of salt.

Handhelds are dead. I have heard that phrase uttered on far too many a podcast in the wake of this E3's press conferences to not vent somewhere about it. Just last year, the Nintendo DS sold seven million units in the United States alone, surpassing any records for annual home console or handheld ... Read more...

Guest Writer Aaron Edwards tells what he thinks Project Café needs.

For the last console generation, the Wii has stood apart from its competition. Where Microsoft and Sony pushed the boundaries of graphics and processing power, Nintendo stuck with a simple but noble motto: gameplay comes first. As a result, we received the Wii: a console with power just above that... Read more...

StreetPassing ain't easy, but there might be good days ahead.

When Nintendo announced StreetPass back at E3 2010, it seemed like a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, there is a harsh reality for the service outside of Japan, specifically North America: our culture makes things such as this nearly worthless. In Japan, the concept of StreetPass is likely mind-blowing,... Read more...

The releases on Nintendo systems from April to June look terrible. Are we just spoiled or is this awful?

While most of us are still busy loving the hell out of Pilotwings Resort and Super Street Fighter IV on our shiny new 3DSes, there is still a large chunk of the Nintendo faithful that either couldn't afford or didn't want the 3DS at launch. If you're one of those people, I'm sure the next few months... Read more...

To those watching, Hudson's downfall wasn't a surprise, but it was still a sad occurrence.

Today, Hudson Entertainment is shutting its doors, with all operations subsumed by Konami. Growing up with a TurboGrafx-16, Hudson has held a special place in gaming for me, and I wanted to reflect a little on their closing.

I will note that I have a tiny bit of history with Hudson. Hudson Entertainment... Read more...

With Nintendo's Virtual Console service expanding to 3DS, maybe it's time to address some problems with the original version on Wii.

Despite a few notable releases in 2010 (Ogre Battle 64, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, and Final Fantasy II/IV), Nintendo's Virtual Console service is in its worst dry spell since the Wii launch. It's been a long, slow decline since the days of Nintendo releasing three classic games every Monday, like... Read more...

Or why you have to grind in Japanese RPGs.

I was asked in our "Ask the NWR Japan Crew" forum thread about why certain Japanese games tend to emphasise monotonous game elements such as grinding and fetch quests.

This got me thinking that a lot of people might be interested in why that is the case and because I've lived in Japan long enough, I think I can take a shot at giving everyone a decent answer.

The Director gives us his random musings on the non-first day of the show.

So I'm checking my email on Monday morning, waiting for anything important to come across the wire in terms of our L.A. team getting into the EA, Ubisoft, or Activision events that day. Karlie sends me a random missive with the subject, "No time to crop, and no words reqired". I notice that there's an image attached, so I download it and behold...

Our intrepid band of adventurers will have all the E3 coverage you've come to expect!

E3 is upon us, and I just wanted to lay out who's going to be there for Nintendo World Report. Our official crew this year is:

Neal Ronaghan

James Jones

Karlie Yeung

Jared Rosenberg

Michael "TYP" Cole

Jonathan Metts

Aaron Kaluszka

I am unable to attend this year, but there's... Read more...

Jon visits GameStop in search of a free disc and gets more than he bargained for.

Late last week I stopped in at a GameStop at a local mall to pick up Capcom's free Monster Hunter Tri demo disc. I stopped in on my lunch break, and thanks to several nearby schools the place was, predictably, a zoo. A large crowd is something I can handle, but what I have a harder time stomaching is the chain's borderline dishonest customer service.

We grows up, and we grows up, and we grows up.

Would you let this man run your website?

Is it March 7th again already? My, how the years fly by. Why it seems like only yesterday we were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the site, and here it is the 11th anniversary already. And of course, Nintendo World Report just keeps chugging along.

Jonny analyzes Mario Kart Wii's excellent online features, how they can be used in other Nintendo games, and where there's still room for improvement.

There is no question that Mario Kart Wii is Nintendo's most advanced online Wii game (it compares less favorably to some of the top online DS games). I thought it would be worthwhile to dissect and analyze just exactly what makes Mario Kart Wii's online features so great, and I also suggest a few... Read more...

Dave hosts a small debate on the subject of players being allowed to change the difficulty level in mid-game.

In the last few years, I've noticed a rather unusual trend in gaming. A number of recent releases allow the player to adjust the difficulty in the middle of the game. I haven't personally noticed this "feature" in any Wii or DS games yet, but I'm told that Trauma Center (Wii) has it. It's tempting... Read more...

Here's why you can be confident that there are no money hats or outside influence at Nintendo World Report.

We have used the same process for reviews since our very first reviews of import GBA games in early 2001. I oversaw the development of this process (although not the review format itself) and gained more and more influence as time went on, because my ideas seemed to work and make everyone happy.... Read more...

Take a look back at Nintendo's triumphs and stumbles in the new generation.

The one year anniversary of Wii's launch seems like the perfect time to take a look back and assess how the console has performed in its early life. I'm not only talking about sales – obviously, the system has performed spectacularly in that respect. I would like to praise some of Nintendo's choices... Read more...

If publishers want to stay in it for the long haul, the answer is to lower game prices, not raise them.

When EA CEO John Riccitiello said that the $60 video game won't work in the games industry of the future, it reminded me about something Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said at an investors' briefing last year:

"The real value of the software must be judged with its contents, not with the medium... Read more...

Why review scores are ruining gaming.

Today's art world is dominated by merchandising and consumerism; we buy art from the movie theater, iTunes, and GameStop. Because today's popular art is recordable, and therefore reproducible, it can be sent to as many locations as need demands. This has put a glut of art at our fingertips. No other... Read more...