Topic: Episode 293: Four on the Floor

[Pandareus]

With the new crew finally all gathered, we preview E3 2012. Also, a Wii U game in New Business?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/30290

With James back this week, the gang is finally complete, and Mr. Jones wastes no time before launching into a full-on rant for Disaster: Day of Crisis (from the makers of Xenoblade Chronicles). Guillaume checks out Kirby's Block Ball on 3DS Virtual Console, an oddly challenging spin-off for the pink puff. Kirby, that is. GUI also checks out the obscure variant All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. and provides a book recommendation. Jon finally digs into Mario Kart 7, which he had largely ignored in favor of 3D Land since picking up his system early this year. And Jonny caps off a brisk New Business with Cloudberry Kingdom, a zany 2D platformer coming not only to Steam (where Kickstarter supporters can already play the beta) but also Wii U! Hey, what other podcast gives you impressions of a Wii U digital download title (and a hugely promising one, at that) more than a week before E3?

As this will be our last big show before E3 (with several to come during the show itself), we scrambled together the annual preview feature with a little help from an old friend. Foci include Western support/enthusiasm for 3DS, online strategies, and reintroducing the world to Wii U. It's probably the biggest E3 since Radio Free Nintendo began, and we are thoroughly excited and scared by all the possibilities.

Hey, did you know we just added new designs and styles to the NWR t-shirt store? Check out the latest options and get one for yourself! Also let us know what you want to hear about during E3 or any other questions/comments.

[Shaymin]

Disaster: Day of Crisis

[Pixelated Pixies]

Early RFN? I'm on board with this!

[Pandareus]

If you downloaded the m4a file as soon as this went live (perhaps automatically, if you're a subscriber), you may find that you do not have chapter stops. Just redownload the file, it has been fixed.

[Plugabugz]

*yoink*

This.

In other news, has anyone got an iOS bug where you don't see chapter titles?

[supergtt]

The cloudberry kindgom kickstarter did get funded!

[supergtt]

oh, and the cloudberry levels are fully procedurally generated. They assure beatablity because the AI plays through it and knows how to play the game.

[TJ Spyke]

This.

In other news, has anyone got an iOS bug where you don't see chapter titles?

That bug is a couple months old and is the result of a iOS update that screws up chapter titles for podcasts. Apple has not fixed it even though they have done at least one iOS update since then.

BTW, that GIF is REALLY slowing things on this page down.

[Massimo]

I love that Greg is still writing notes for features of the show. Is he to RFN what Syd Barrett was to Pink Floyd in the late sixties? Shine on you crazy diamond, I'd say... ;-)

[ROiDS]

Sweet! That is all...

[Ignoramus]

Great show! This was my first E3 prediction episode and I thought it was really interesting. I hadn't really realized how bare the known 3DS game lineup was until you guys mentioned the 4 or 5 big titles that have been announced.

I personally think the Wii U will steal the show at E3, and I can't wait for all the coverage!

[Dropkik]

Another great episode guys, but I miss the end stingers.

[Traveller]

On the 3DS Zelda front, I'm thinking at least a Majoras Mask announcement.

[KDR_11k]

What you should mention (maybe you didn't get that far yet) is that the main plotline of Disaster is taken from The Rock: The rogue spec ops group was declared traitors by the govt so they steal nuclear warheads and use those to blackmail the govt into restoring their honor. Just in this case they get the nukes by capturing that scientist dude since he has a way to predict earthquakes and they use the cover of the earthquake and hurricane to get to the nukes. What they didn't count on (beyond Ray being some sort of superhuman murder machine) is that the earthquake triggers a tsunami and a volcanic eruption.


Oh also when Ray grabs his pistol to go alone into the building where a whole SWAT team was wiped out he says "I'll show you how it's done".

[NWR_Lindy]

Yeah, I really struggled to come up with much for the E3 prediction segment because there's so little known about the upcoming 3DS lineup. I was thinking "Surely there's something I've missed," but nope, I hadn't missed a thing. The confirmation of Castlevania: Mirror of Fate is pretty much it.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Cloudberry Kingdom sounds really interesting. I've been playing VVVVVV recently, including some of the user created levels on the 3DS version, and have found it to be refreshingly difficult. There's just something about difficult platformers. Whereas I can often find difficult games from other genres to be frustrating (Strategy RPG's, Online shooters etc.) I feel like difficulty in platformers never bothers me. I think it has something to do with the fact that in platformers (especially those which are 2D) it's almost always apparent what you have to do. It's usually just a matter of finding the best way to go about it and then executing it. I'm always up for more difficult platformers, particularly if they bring something new to the table as CK seems to. I haven't yet decided whether or not I want to buy a Wii U, but these are the sorts of games I'd like to see on the platform.

[Lithium]

Having just finished Xenoblade and hearing Jame's hilarious rant about Disaster: day of crisis I'd really love to hear him talk about the ending to Xenoblade. He's mentioned it before but shied away from spoiler territory. This was my first monolith soft game, but the disaster day of crisis talk leads me to believe that bat-**** insane plot lines are their specialty.

[KeyBilly]

Great show, guys!  I hope E3 is fun for both the home and away teams.  I also hope that the Mario game looks very different.  I do not expect a true 3D Mario sequel, but at least a more rigorous attempt at making the "new" games look and feel new.

[Crimm]

...that ending...

[Glad0s]

Great episode, as always, gents. I had never heard of Cloudberry Kingdom before this, but it sounds GREAT. I'll have to pick it up. Also, the E3 coverage was spectacular, as usual. Greg just can't stay away, can he?

[Uncle_Optimus]

Cheers to the start of your new Fearsome Foursome, gentlemen.
G-man, I encourage ya to speak up more! You are funny and we can see you have a different take than the other hosts.

Anyway,a lot of recent Wii U talk has mentioned that Nintendo is holding very core operating system-level functionality close to the chest.
Very curious how this pans out and if their aim is to increase the scope of the Wii U into the fabled "set-top box" that combines everyday base computing functions (browsing, watching videos, email) with casual gaming functions AND higher-bit gaming functions. After all, that is what Microsoft, Sony (and probably Apple) will all strive for.

Google (outside of their "smart-TV" developments) seems to be missing from the group above, but powering Wii U with some version of Chrome would give them their ticket into "living room computing" and light the internet on fire :p
...
...oh no cannot suppress mini-rant...

But Seriously, who loses here???

Google gets another outlet to put ads in front of eyes, in a highly coveted setting no less, while possibly beating their main rivals to market. Maybe they can even frankenstein Google+ functionality into some kind of hybrid Nintendo Network account; It could easily net their social network some 10s of millions of new users.

Nintendo gets top-flight software engineering resources committed towards improving the utility of their main platform, likely for FREE (They might even negotiate a cut of advertising revenue). In addition, Nintendo could definitely use some help in developing their new Nintendo Network services and it has been rumoured that indeed they are working with a partner (could be EA or Valve, tho).

Nintendo has to compete in an ocean with bigger whales with bigger...baleen or something. Google has to find ways to stay competitive with Apple iOS, Facebook and whatever the heck Windows 8 becomes. Its high-stakes time and both of these company's need to up their ante... or combine their ante-powers! 

...phew.

As for expected games on Wii U and 3DS, Ubi and Square-Enix aside, I expect big announcements from EA and Capcom, in particular.
EA because they seem to be collaborating much more closely with Nintendo than before (evidenced by last year's E3 conference appearance) and Capcom because they seem intent on supporting everyone and obviously have an excellent relationship with Nintendo as can be seen with their high profile 3DS support, their delivery of quality original games to the Wii and heck the decent loving they gave the 'Cube (Seems like so long ago, I know.)

My outta left-field hail-mary would be an announcement that Chair (of Shadow Complex and Infinity Blade fame) is working on Metroid Dread 3D...   

[VickiL]

Oh, man.  I wanted Paper Mario this year.  It was to be my first anniversary gift.  What's he gonna get me now, a Prima guide?   

[Fiendlord_Timmay]

Great to have the whole crew together. Guillame, unsurprisingly, is a great fit for the show. I just think he needs to stop being so down on himself!

Also, no stinger two weeks in a row? C'mon, that's one of my favorite parts of the show!

[FZeroBoyo]

One episode with the four of you, and it was pretty great. Games sounded interesting and E3 previews are always fun. Greg must have suddenly sat up in bed and went, "I sense RFN is in danger."

[roykoopa64]

I'm hyped for E3! Great points discussed on this episode by all four of you; Nintendo has a lot to do to get people excited for Wii U.