Nintendo is attempting toys-to-life games in a far different way than Skylanders and Disney Infinity.

By the end of 2014, Nintendo, Activision, and Disney will be embroiled in a war that spans gaming and action figures. Much like the great plastic instrument wars of the late 2000s, the ongoing toys-to-life war is about to get even more contested with Nintendo joining the battle by launcing Amiibo later this year. However, their concept for their figures is way different than what the others have already done.

Ten years ago, something special was brewing within Nintendo.

Ten years ago, Nintendo started a revolution that paved the way for some of their best-selling systems of all time. At E3 2004, Nintendo held what can easily be considered their best press conference ever. The GameCube was clearly struggling and the company promised to talk about a new dual screen handheld device.

Just what will Nintendo show at the big event? Here's some good 'ol speculation.

Nintendo’s E3 presentation will be bright and early on June 10th. Like last year, Nintendo has opted to do a presentation via the Internet as opposed to a press conference in Los Angeles. This has disappointed some people, including myself, but this isn’t what this article is about. I’m ready to do some speculation. With less than a month to go, lets get down to the nitty-gritty.

The RPG modes from the Game Boy games are gone as a focus on online play is now par for the course in the 3DS iterations.

After playing a lot of Mario Golf: World Tour, I kind of understand what Nintendo and Camelot were trying to do with Mario Tennis Open, a game that nailed the tennis gameplay but felt insubstantial. While past portable Mario sports games were focused on delivering a superlative single-player experience,... Read more...

If Nintendo made these changes, the Wii U eShop could really help the system out.

We all know that the Wii U could really do with a shot in the arm right about now. Even with some solid first party titles like Wind Waker HD, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and arguably the two greatest Mario games since the NES, it's no secret that Nintendo's latest system is failing to capture the same audience that the Wii did. It needs all the help it can get.

We're off to a good start, let's see where Nintendo takes it from here.

The NES Remix series is an exciting new direction for Nintendo. The Virtual Console is a great way for Nintendo to give gamers access to the classics, but it doesn’t do much to bring in new players. Now that NES Remix 2 has released, we’re left wondering if this will become a regular franchise... Read more...

Spoiler alert: It is very depressing.

A season changes and another month passes, which means we likely had more confirmation that the Wii U is not selling well. With very few, if any, releases, the expectations from month-to-month are dismal. But exactly how bad? According to analyst David Gibson, a little more than 70,000 Wii Us were... Read more...

After you take away the HD, what does this game actually have left?

Mario Kart 8 is on its way to Wii U, and there is a lot of hope on this game turning the console around. While I absolutely disagree with that line of thinking, my focus today is much smaller in scale, discussing why I am personally less excited for this game than some of you might be. Please understand... Read more...

Hear the good, the bad, and everything else from a person that has played more Smash Bros. than is probably healthy.

Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct focusing solely on the two upcoming Super Smash Bros. games was filled with a ton of incredible information. It’s clear these titles are going to be something special for Nintendo fans.

I’ve been playing Smash Bros. since the day the first one hit North America.... Read more...

Maybe it's not quite as sad as the blank screen in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, but it isn't much better.

There’s no easy way to say this. The use of the GamePad for Mario Kart 8 is generic, boring, and dumb. When we first saw Mario Kart 8 back at E3 2013, there was a big horn in the center of the GamePad. When you were Wario, it would emit a fart noise when pressed. Surely, we all thought, that’s not what the final use of the GamePad will be in Mario Kart 8, right? Well, not entirely, but it’s not much better.

Seriously? You think that is the reason it is not coming?

Every time I bring up the issue of Flipnote Studio 3D currently not being released in the west, I always seem to get the same complaint. ''Well, that is fine and good, but without SpotPass...'' Wait a moment, I am going to stop you there. For the people not in the know, services like Letter Box/Swapnote... Read more...

Collecting random stuff was fun once: Now it is ruining games I enjoy.

Old friend, we had some good times. You helped me spend more time in worlds I enjoyed. Back when I was wished the days of your game being played on my Nintendo console would never end. You were with me in the trading sequence of Link’s Awakening. You challenged me as I sought out who would need... Read more...

Even that new R.B.I. Baseball isn't coming to Wii U. That means the only new sports games on Nintendo systems have Mario in the title.

I carried a weird torch as a gamer 10 years ago. I was one of the few who was a serious sports gamer and only had a GameCube. That meant I had a whole lot of memory cards and rushed out to buy Madden and MVP Baseball on release day to game shop clerk's bewilderment ("Don't you mean the PS2 version...?").... Read more...

We revisit Sumo's Sultan to see how it holds up to hours upon hours of gaming.

I've always loved bean bags. As a young gamer they were a great way to get up close to the action on screen while maintaining maximum comfort with an unreasonably short controller cord. As I got older I ended up veering away from them as my primary gaming chair because of the advent of reliable wireless... Read more...

When exactly is Mario Kart coming out? Will Mario Golf ever come out on 3DS?

At the end of 2013, I laid out some self-admitted ridiculous predictions. It seemed natural to update those dumb predictions for each Nintendo Direct. So, let's take stock of what I was right on and readjust my predictions accordingly for the February 13 Nintendo Direct.

Here's what I predicted for the next few months:

Slashing projections and talking up changing business structures add up rough days ahead.

The idea of 9 million Wii Us being sold in the current fiscal year, which began back in April 2013 and ends March 31, 2014, was a joke back when Nintendo stuck by it after the Wii U didn't touch 500,000 units worldwide in the first half of the year. Well, it's no laughing matter for damn sure right now.