Topic: Episode 320: Twas the Night Before Jonmas

[Pandareus]

It's the first show of 2013, so we plow through the holiday gaming backlog and get ready for a big month here at RFN!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/32915

We're back from a week off with lots of games that got played over the holiday break. Jon is coming back (for good) in the next episode, so it's good that we had this chance to run through a lot of games before he helps kick off a very active content schedule in January that includes predictions, our Top 5 lists for 2012, and the Live RetroActive for Majora's Mask.

For this week, it's a pretty simple show with New Business and Listener Mail. James finally gets into his dream game, Crimson Shroud, continuing the epic reversal of critical consensus since the Japanese version was originally panned. He also shares some fun anecdotes from Universe Sandbox, a galactic simulation available on PC. Gui discovers the multiplayer side (a.k.a. the good side) of Nintendo Land, as well as the multiplayer side (a.k.a. the bad side) of New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS. Jonny revels in the portable sequel to Fluidity and revisits one of his first-ever portable game purchases, Wario Land 2.

Listener Mail is relatively brief this time around. First up is a frustrated listener's concern about Nintendo hardware losing its legendary robustness. Next, we discuss why the Wii U eShop hasn't had a new digital-only game released in over two months, and whether that could be ominous. The last question is about The Last Story and how it might inform future Zelda games. All great topics, thanks to our wonderful audience who keep sending meaty emails -- won't you join in the fun? Maybe you could submit your own Top 5 list for 2012, and we'll read a few when we cover our own in a couple of weeks.

There's a lot going on in the next few weeks, but don't forget to keep playing Majora's Mask (hey, it's pretty long) to get ready for the live show coming up later this month. It's ten bucks on Wii Virtual Console, so no excuses!

[Crimm]

YOU ACTUALLY USED THIS TITLE!?

[Plugabugz]

An inside joke that results in James being pseudo-trolled on the podcast?

Win.

[Crimm]

More like I trolled everyone else. I came up with the title to their disgust.

[KDR_11k]

Little Inferno is a bit messed up but it hardly registered on my messed-up-o-meter after games like Binding of Isaac.

[house3136]

 In terms of the Nintendo hardware, since November 18, I’ve vacuumed the ventilation ports on my Wii U at least three times. Being positioned between my TV and speakers it collects a lot of dust, even though I dust the whole entertainment unit at the same time.  I’m just afraid it will run inefficiently or overheat. Also, I don’t let game discs run in the drive unless I’m playing them. Partly because it makes more noise, but it’s also unnecessarily running internal components that will break down over time, as alluded to in the discussion, which is a waste if I’m not playing said games. I’ve personally never had a problem with my Wii or 3DS, yet, but it would be interesting to know what precautions other owners have been executing with their own hardware.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I've had no problems with the 'robustness' of my 3DS, in other words it hasn't deteriorated over time, but the build quality out of the gate was pretty terrible (Although I understand some of these issues were fixed with later builds).
 
The hinges are very loose, the buttons squeak, the touch screen has too much give, and the right trigger is more squishy than the left one (this was the case for both mine and my sister's launch 3DS).

[Fjurbanski]

Yeah, I've had my Wii since launch and never had any problems with it. Dunno what's wrong with this guys 7 Wiis (unreal).


That's not to say that Nintendo never has oversights (the 3DS' screen scratching was a pretty shameful oversight), but if we compare the build quality of a Nintendo product to one of Microsoft or Sony, Nintendo wins in my eyes.


As far as Zelda needing to mix up the formula.... yeah, they do need to. They don't even have to change the core formula, they just need to change/add enough stuff so we get a game that feels more like Majora's Mask, and less like Ocarina. Personally, I think Skyward Sword does do enough to set it apart, and it does have plenty of innovations and "newness". People overlook it though, because it came out in 2011, towards the end of the Wii's lifecycle. If the 1 to 1 wiimotion plus tech had been ready before the launch of the wii, and in 2006 we got skyward sword instead of Twilight Princess, it would have been a game-changer. It would have been revolutionary, instead of just an inevitability (and one that was far too late to the game to really wow most of us). Timing is important to how people perceive things, and Skyward Sword came out well after motion control disillusionment set in. Add that to the small list of other annoying problems the game has, and it doesn't feel so fresh.

[Lithium]

"Twas the night before Lindemas" would have rolled off the tongue better