Talking Point News, Talking Point Features

Nintendo's first freemium game scores a direct hit

Let's all be brutally honest here — when Nintendo announced that its first foray into the wild and wacky world of free-to-play gaming was going to be an update of 3DS launch title Steel Diver, it was hardly the most heart-stopping news ever. Steel Diver was — and still is — a nice enough...

Lessons to be learned from successes such as Minecraft and Disney Infinity

This year is vitally important for Nintendo, just like 2013 and 2012, admittedly. 2013 was a strange year in that notable successes and triumphs were overshadowed by missed targets and Nintendo's own disappointment. It was a year of contradictions — 3DS was the...

The Wii U eShop could have quite a mix of games

Considering the fact that Nintendo Life began in part — through the pre-merger WiiWare World — as a resource dedicated almost exclusively to covering download games, we've seen hundreds come and go in the continually evolving online stores. WiiWare was a big deal when it launched, as for the...

The eShop should tide current owners over

In the past week Nintendo delivered its first Nintendo Direct broadcasts of 2014, a little later than was perhaps expected. The truth was that January was not a good time for the company, as it revealed and then dealt with the fallout of drastically lowered sales and financial projections. It was a...

Though we hope for so much more

Throughout 2013 Nintendo Direct broadcasts were a monthly affair, with some being small broadcasts focused on specific titles. After the pre-Christmas broadcast that surprised us with games such as NES Remix and more so with Hyrule Warriors, January passed without a further update. That was hardly a surprise due to...

How important that is for the system is up for debate

Before the Wii U was launched Nintendo made the right noises about third-party support — here was a powerful system with backing from major players like EA, Activision and Ubisoft, we were told, and the innovative new controller would encourage unique, multi-screen experiences. Of course,...

Potentially a large, developing market

Satoru Iwata's Investor Briefing this week included a few surprises and, in limited detail, some of Nintendo's key strategies for the coming year and beyond. Yet it was the final announcement that caused the most head-scratching and, not surprisingly, didn't prompt investors to rush to buy up Nintendo shares;...

Past-generation trends need not apply

In some respects today's financial results were the least surprising and eye-opening of recent times, and that's mainly to the credit of Nintendo's decision to jump the gun and reveal major reductions in sales and financial projections, blunting the impact from today's Q3 results. Nintendo's previously bold...

Could sacrificing the console's main selling point be the way to success?

When the Wii U was first announced, the confirmation of the GamePad controller — complete with a second-screen bursting with tantalizing asymmetrical gameplay possibilities — caused quite a stir. The reaction from the industry and general public was mainly positive, and...

It's tried to stick to a winning Wii formula

Last week was a bit grim for Nintendo and its followers, as it changed from an official stance of predicting a positive year to the polar opposite. Gone were optimistic projections aligned with profits, and in their place were lower numbers — distressingly so with Wii U — and predicted losses...

Adulthood awaits for WGAYPTW

It's been a while, for which the features editor in question is receiving a firm reprimand, but the treasured WGAYPTW series returns. And it's all grown up for its 21st issue — that means doing the laundry, paying taxes and being more miserable than in its younger years. Thankfully video games are here to save the day...

The wider picture shows more than "Nintendoomed"

So, it was a funny old day at Nintendo HQ. Within a short space of time we went from 3DS topping hardware sales in the U.S., alongside the Wii U enjoying its "highest month", to Nintendo confirming major reductions in its sales and financial projections. The timing of this — after the December NPD...

A flash sale... well, 'flashed' before our eyes

There was a moment this week when, for a brief and glorious moment, Nintendo ran a Steam-like flash sale on retail games. It may have passed plenty of people by, especially as it was for download codes on the official Nintendo UK store, but it was a glimmer of a brave new world where Nintendo creates...

Problems may have been resolved since, but are nevertheless still relevant

Over the weekend there was an interesting article published by Eurogamer's Digital Foundry, in which a "secret developer" shared their Wii U development experience. It made tough reading for anyone loyal and committed to the Nintendo and Wii U cause, but did provide some...

Fangs for the memories, but is it time to move on?

Ever since it began in 1986, Konami's Castlevania series has been closely associated with Nintendo. The vampire-slaying lineage started life on the Famicom Disk System in Japan and shortly afterwards found worldwide fame on the NES. Since then, the franchise has seen some of its most famous and...

We can all improve

With 2014 now here, it provides an opportunity to take stock and consider ambitions for the year, as well as identify areas of improvement. We can all do better things and improve ourselves, but what of major corporations? The same rule applies to them, so below are some suggestions for Nintendo, which brought us so much to enjoy...

Tens of millions of Nintendo fans can now interact

This week Nintendo finally delivered Miiverse, along with the Nintendo Network ID and shared eShop fund support, to the 3DS. While it has its flaws — which we'll cover to some degree this weekend — that's to be expected with any launch, especially one such as this that fundamentally shakes up...

The numbers don't add up

It seems that a month can't pass by — in the past couple of years — when investment analysts, games industry figures and Nintendo's own investors aren't saying that Nintendo needs to expand and release games on alternative platforms. It's creeping into discourse around the Wii U due to the hardware's struggles to date,...

So long teens, hello more awesome games

It's finally happened, the WGAYPTW series has left its teens, and the emotional crisis it prompted led to it missing its normal schedule — that's right, it was nothing to do with the features editor forgetting to organise it, no way. But it's fine, this little series of game-related tittle-tattle is ready...