Omelette du fromage!

What the previous poster said, except with a toilet involved.

How about we just get lost and I use the DS to play Harvest Moon?

It will be interesting to see the many ways in which third-party developers do NOT use this feature.

I think it's a good idea, but not for me. I'd prefer a game card that could be used on my XL during home play.

Wii awakened me from a gaming slumber and provided a great outlet during a difficult personal time. IMO, Nintendo has delivered a great set of games over the past six years while providing a system that gave third parties the ability to reach nearly 100 million gamers. Sure, some things could have been done better, but every console has room for improvement. If there was a failing, I believe it belonged to third-party developers who were adverse to using their imagination. I'm sad to see the Wii ride off into the sunset, but I'm looking forward to the future.

Her kids probably take a lot of bashing for being worse gamers than their mother.

@Uncle_Optimus: I've been saying all along that he'll be back as one of the top few in the game, but I'm becoming more doubtful every day. He has so many issues: health, confidence, mechanics.

You know what? I'm going.

I hope this means Tiger Woods PGA is coming back to Nintendo!

If James isn't going, I'm not going.

I don't think this list is based on anything other than conjecture and the few release titles that have already been confirmed. It's probably just an advance list so they have something in their electronic system.

My favorite arcade game of all time!!!

@metafaniel

"Now I can play easily and precisely even with my thumb on a moving bus!!"

I have to play parent here and say it's really not safe to play while you're touching a moving bus. Please be more careful.

What's the Virtual Console again?

Tempting, but I'll wait until we get one with a better battery.

My guess is they don't want the price to detract from the hype. They want people buzzing about what the system can do and creating positive publicity.

Animal Crossing is so much about individual expression — making your own clothing, landscaping your town — that to make it about buying stuff rather than creating stuff would rob the game of its unique essence.

Giving up Mario's exclusivity would be a rockhead business move.

@James:

LOL, I thought you were going to add, "... lost money on every 3DS sold except Spear's."

They didn't lose money on the 3DS they sold me last March.

@My responders:

Perplexing. WiiFit sold for $19.99 on a standalone basis here in the states, as opposed to $49.99 for MK Wii with the wheel. Who knows?

?? If they're ignoring the value of the packed-in accessory, how does Wii Fit have more revenue than Mario Kart Wii with fewer sales?

No interest in AR. Not a comfortable or engaging experience, IMO.

Picross 3D can be found for 10 or 12 bucks new, and it's a ridiculously good value. One of the top 10 DS games, IMO.

I don't want to sound like a complainer. I just think it's too soon to have another Mario on the 3DS, especially since one will apparently follow on Wii U within a few months. What's the rush?

The Wii is a toy. So are the PS3 and the XBox. But he's wrong about Wii Sports. It was packaged with the console, so most of us didn't have to buy it.

One thing that sticks out in Beamdog's situation is that it took nine months to work out all the bugs. How is that Nintendo's fault? I have no idea if a two-week turnaround is industry standard for bug-checking, but the fact that the process lasted nine months means bugs kept popping up. I can't see how Nintendo can be faulted for that, and, to its credit, I think the company should be commended for exercising in-house quality-control on third-party download titles. As much as people complain about the Wii being a shovelware console, imagine how much worse it would be if Nintendo weren't checking things in this manner.

On the other two issues, I'm not an industry insider, so I don't know if 6,000 units is a reasonable sale minimum. But there definitely needs to be a minimum: It's Nintendo's way of saying, "Don't even think about trying to market bad or broken games to make a quick buck. Don't bother us unless you're serious." Of course, like everyone else, I'd like to see a bigger file-size limit, so I can't argue with that one.

See ya!

3D Land was a fantastic game, but to me, it only seemed fresh from the standpoint of utilizing 3D as a component of the game. The levels themselves seemed like a best-of-Mario collection. That's really the only time I've felt that during the Mario series. I think Nintendo needs to tread carefully now. There's a fine line between giving the people what they want and flogging something to death. Mario is the No. 1 system-seller, so I understand what they're doing, but after this, I think the franchise would benefit from a long break to develop something fresh in the vein of Galaxy.

Another anonymous tipster. ... Interesting that we could briefly be looking at a scenario in which Sony and Microsoft are presenting the cheaper alternatives to Nintendo's more-advanced and pricier technology.

I didn't see anything overplayed about having three Mario platformers on the Wii. However, I'm a little concerned that the 3DS will have two Mario platformers before its second birthday. Please be careful, Nintendo.

I'm not concerned with power, but I think it's important from a standpoint of having third-party involvement. I'll happily play my Nintendo franchises and the few third-party franchises that I really enjoy, but I can't see the console sustaining success unless there's serious third-party support. ... and I can't see that happening if the console isn't more powerful than the current HD consoles and at least in the ballpark of the PS4 and the XBox 720.

So four versions, and Wii U's will be one of the best. I guess that means it's better than the HD consoles but not better than a PC.

Those quotes don't sound like actual quotes. The "graphics are just not as powerful"? No tech guy would say that.

Almost everything else we've heard has Wii U being at least as powerful, if not much more powerful, than the current HD consoles. I think this a hoax, a bunch of blather or both.

Maybe if they'd said something ahead of time I would have bought it. I have Tetris DS and Tetris Axis, but it would have been nice to have one on the 3DS home menu for when I didn't have the cartridge.

Releasing the GameBoy version of this makes no sense, given that Dr. Mario Express is available on the same download service. I still have my original GameBoy and GameBoy Color, as well as the original GB Dr. Mario cartridge, but I feel no nostalgia for this release. Couldn't the effort have been devoted to a GameBoy title that was never re-released?

I'm glad that we won't have to see more of that ridiculously redundant title: Successfully Learning. You either learn something or you don't. You can't unsuccessfully learn something. If you were not successful then you didn't learn it. Maybe there should be a sequel that teaches grammar.

I would say black and white available at launch. I'd choose black. For collectors, other colors could be made available for limited times during a holiday shopping season.

To be precise, the blue Wii was available as a limited-edition, Wal-Mart-only item last fall.

I have the other Wii Ware version of this and it's OK, so I don't see any reason to buy this one. How about just porting the arcade version that many of us grew up with? People are still interested in ports of other arcade games from that period. These remakes staged across the tops of skyscrapers just don't appeal to me. Oh, and change the control scheme — holding the Wii remote as a pointer when you're only using the D-pad is a bit awkward.

@Samholy: 5 dollars only? this reminds me some people bough SteelDiver for cough 40 dollars cough

Yeah, I got Steel Diver for $5 new at Best Buy during the holiday sales. That's NOT a $5 game. Definitely tons more content in that game.

I've found this to be fun (fun!!!). I thought the Wii Ware version was good too. Yeah, there are some camera quirks, but they're largely harmless. It's definitely good for 10 or 15 minutes of pick up and play. But like Patrick says, once you master the courses, there's not much left to do.

Thirty-five hours. That means eight or nine battery recharges for me.

This is so obviously a hoax. Whoever did this is having a great laugh at all the attention it's getting.

@12: Natsume has said that its staff has looked into converting HM64 for the VC, but that there's some coding issue that is virtually insurmountable. If you do a search on this site, I'm sure you can find the story. They understand that it's the most popular HM, so I don't think it's a matter of not wanting to do it. It's a shame. For that reason, I'm holding onto two brand-new copies of that game — one to last me the rest of my life and one to be buried with!

Edit: Here's the aforementioned link. ... http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/08/harvest_moon_64_will_not_sprout_on_virtual_console

GREAT article, James!!! HM is my favorite franchise. It''s interesting to see how it all started. Thank goodness Wada persevered!

Let's face it: Game manufacturers prefer downloads because they're cheaper and they largely prevent resales. It has nothing to do with making things better for the gamer, and I'd be shocked if any of the cost savings were passed on to the customer. They're going to tell us that cost savings and greater sales will mean better games in the long run, but that's a crock. If anything, I think downloads will lead to games being more expensive because of additional DLC.

I think the balance we've got right now is just right: Smaller gaming experiences are available for cheap prices via download, and major releases — games you'd be more inclined to hold onto for years of replay value — are sold through traditional and online stores. I buy so much stuff off Amazon that I actually look forward to going to the store and browsing through the games every now and then. And I'd be reluctant to switch to downloadable games if it meant the game might someday disappear off of a server or be rendered useless when my console needs to be repaired or replaced.