Not a big fan, it looks very "toy-ish". I'm happy to see analogue sticks replace the circle pads though, even if the 3DS pads were really good.

@ChosenOne25 A lot of people will buy from retailers regardless. Some aren't tech savvy enough to know how to buy things digitally or simply prefer getting a physical box and instruction manual to use.

If digital games cost the same, what advantage is there?

@Mickeymac WoW is a massive, persistent online world that gets new content added regularly. DQX functions much like Guild Wars 1, you meet up with people in a town, form parties then go out and complete missions in instanced areas. By strict definition, it's not an MMORPG and shouldn't have a monthly fee.

They're charging one, simply because they know people will pay it. It's exactly the same as what happens with Monster Hunter in Japan.

There is absolutely no offline mode. The tutorial is played offline and that's it. I'm really surprised by that, considering the amount of backlash, I really expected them to massively delay the game and go back to rework it.

Charging people to play a Guild Wars 1 style MMO just isn't going to fly (especially with games like GW2 coming out), so it'll be interesting to see how they handle it when it's eventually released over here. I've loved every entry in the series, but I'm not prepared to pay monthly for this one.

@47drift What was innovative about Skyward Sword compared to the likes of Little Big Planet, Portal or the hoards of highly original and unique indie games? Skyward Sword was good, but not innovative in the slightest, it was just another Zelda game, albeit with a bit more focus on the story.

The fact Portal 2 received so much praise and Call of Duty was completely ignored speaks volumes about their credibility. They didn't even just go crazy over Skyrim, like almost everyone else has.

@FonistofCruxis Other than FIFA, which is obviously only there because of how big the series/football is in the UK, I don't see anything wrong with the picks.

@Joshers744 It probably deserves a spot for story over Skyrim (which is a game with great lore and side stories, but a disappointing main story). Portal 2 pretty much has it in the bag though.

@stromboli I hope you now realise that the show Power Rangers is based on (Super Sentai) predates the Transformers by over a decade and has been running continually for 36 years.

(so no you guys, the green and white rangers from MMPR were NOT the originals, they're considered little more than a footnote in the grand scheme of things..)

So, will this finally stop the "it's a ruby and sapphire in the logo" speculation?

Don't mean to rain on the parade, as I'm sure the game is really good.

But why do Famitsu scores continue to be reported on by news sites, when they openly admit to the fact their review scores are influenced by the publishers and advertising space? A perfect score from Famtisu means nothing besides the fact the game is being seriously hyped.

@PALgamer I'm sure there was some exaggeration, but I'm not sure I believe his version of the story. I certainly don't believe the whole "it was my friend.. but I said it was me to take the blame!" part.

@TrueWiiMaster
If you're going to be offended by them re-writing some parts of history in this game or by killing American (and British) forces, then yes, I'd stay away from the game. It's NOT going to paint the Americans as saints, nor should it.

@moomoo Through hacks, yes. This is the official reveal.

@Duney Then why not simply include Hoenn is a second region in one of the new games? It gives us a chance to revisit it, while giving the younger gamers a chance to explore a completely new region as well, without simply rehashing exactly the same thing.

I really hope we don't see a Ruby/Sapphire remake ever. It made sense for the first two games, for a way to redistribute those Pokemon and for their huge popularity. But do we need remakes of every single one of the games?

At this rate, we'll have a Black & White remake in a few years, and for a franchise where each game is so similar to the last, that's just completely unnecessary.

@Morpheel
That would be down to Microsoft, not THQ and it's much more likely we'll see a Viva Pinata Kinect.

This is hardly surprising. Microsoft and Sony have been trying to push their consoles more and more as multimedia platforms, the next generation will be geared towards that even more.

@XCWarrior
They will not be free. You get more of the games and you pay more money for it.

I'm really looking forward to Animal Crossing, It'd be very disappointing if it didn't make it this year. The 3DS has finally hit its stride and has had some really good releases, but they need to keep those coming now.

Monster Hunter I wouldn't expect this year, if at all. I could see them waiting until 4, which seems to be quite a step up and might appeal to the western audience more.

@MasterGraveheart
I doubt it'll rival the big two. Microsoft spend a lot of years and money developing XBL and PSN has slowly been playing catch up since it launched.

Nintendo has been very reluctant to move into this territory, so I very much doubt they're going to instantly be better, especially in terms of the social networking and DLC add on content. But it's at least a step in the right direction.

I really enjoyed the first one, I'd definitely be up for a sequel.

Like others said though, the character/stage selection in the original were a little disappointing. Include the obligatory Sonic stuff, by all means, but they need to realise a lot of people were interested in the game, simply because of the inclusion of Ryo, Beat and the Chu Chu's, etc. We need a much better variety this time.

(Include Vyse and this will instantly be a day one purchase).

@koops330
This most likely affects all upcoming EA Sports games, the Wii is pretty much a dead system now.

It would be an interesting addition, and definitely a good sign that Nintendo is taken the modern times a bit more seriously. It wouldn't replace my kindle though, it's e-ink or nothing when it comes to e-books.

This is hardly surprising. WiiWare has a lot of silly restrictions (including the fact games cannot be over 40mb). They had a lot of problems with the original and WiiWare is just a very unpopular system.

I'd be very surprised if it didn't come to the Wii U though, assuming Nintendo have finally stepped up their game and started taking online content seriously.

The third timeline really ruins it for me, it comes from no where and makes no sense. It isn't created by a logical paradox, like the young Link/Old Link thing, it's completely arbitrary.

If alternate outcomes can just occur randomly, what's to say the next game isn't a continuation of Windwaker Link dying? Or not bothering to get up in the morning? It makes the timeline completely inconsequential, because there could be millions of alternate realities now and any game can potentially fit anywhere.

In my opinion, the best Mario games have been 64 and Galaxy, the ones with big open levels, with a lot of exploration to find the many objectives.

I'm not sure why Nintendo now seem to think they were bad games or that people didn't want gameplay like that. Sorry, but we've moved on from super linear games that take four hours to complete..

@Gamesake
In the beginning, the only reason the (original) Xbox and PS3 sold at all, was their power. Halo single handedly kept the Xbox alive, just because it was so far beyond what other consoles could do.

Regardless, I don't think those are great comparisons. The Wii has been such a failure with gamers because its lack of graphical power makes it impossible to play games like Assassins Creed, the Elder Scrolls, Grand Theft Auto, etc.. "Graphics" may not be important, but the power of the system still affects how complex games can be and how developers will make games for it.

The Wii U may be capable of playing all the games we're seeing on the 360 and PS3 now, but what's going to happen a year later when Sony and Microsoft reveal they're much more powerful systems? Nintendo are going to be in exactly the same position they are now with the Wii.

@SMEXIZELDAMAN
No, in Japan you can buy things from the Stars catalogue, as long as you register games, etc. It's a much better system than what we get in the US or Europe.

@grumblegrumble
Tetris lost points because it's a full priced 3DS game in an age where games like Tetris can be played for pennies, if not for free on other platforms.

Tetris is still a classic, but it's impossible to justify the price. The rest of these games are unfortunately just bad.

Discounts would help massively. Just because I don't want to pay £5 for a virtual console/DSi Ware game when it's first released, don't mean I wouldn't pay £2 a few months later.

That's the single biggest reason I own very little on my Nintendo systems, compared to XBLA, Steam and PSN.

I'm not someone who believes in the iPhone vs handheld console argument, but this is one case where it makes sense.

When you can play games like this on your phone that literally cost pennies.. how can they justify something like this being a full priced game? The market has changed and they need to adapt to that.

There's definitely too much nostalgia for this game, 6/10 sounds about right. SA2 was the beginning of Sonic turning to complete rubbish. Too many annoying characters, really bad level design, annoying rock music, atrocious story.. and so forth.

The first Sonic Adventure at least had some of the Sonic charm and didn't take itself too seriously. This one went way off the rails and turned the franchise into something I despise.

I never thought I'd be sick of the koopa kids, but they're being overused to a Metal Sonic degree.

Other than that though, the game is looking great.

@Luffymcduck
Yeah, getting the variations is needlessly difficult. Hopefully they just add them all for everyone in a future update.

I wasn't really impressed by this on the GBA, but I'm gonna give it another go tonight on multiplayer and see how we do.

Still hoping we see a Crystal Chronicles release on the 3DS.

All electronics in Japan are crazy expensive. Look at something like the Star Wars blu-rays that were just released.. it'll cost you around $80 in the US, where as in Japan it'll set you back a good $180

And that's a website that tends to be cheap, there's nothing even remotely unusual about Zelda costing that much over in Japan..

Why is it now you guys in the US are saying you won't complain about prices? You've always had much better game and video prices than anywhere else in the world (sorry for the rant, but it is frustrating to hear people complain about $60 videogames, when most of Europe and Australia pay almost double in some cases).

I think Mario is too common a name for Nintendo to claim ownership over. Super Mario was a totally different story, especially because of what it was being used for.

Nice to see Mario Land 2, but I think I'll wait for Metroid before adding any more money to my account.

Suddenly the circle pad add-on looks less ugly.

@Link79
In my opinion, the Advance games were terrible, they're the pure epitome of everything wrong with "modern Sonic". Poor level design, annoying friends, pits of death everywhere, bad music..

@John-john
It probably can't, this was just concept footage. There's not a chance the 3DS could do areas that size.

I'm looking forward to this though, hopefully it does mean we have a more open environment (still with loading between areas) where you can find more random monsters and such going about. Having to take specific quests just to find certain encounters feels very dated, it's my single biggest complaint of the game.

It needs to be much more about the survival and hunting aspects, which this concept kind of showed.. Betting it'll be exactly the same as the past few hundred games though.

How about a new Snap game or at least another Ranger? You know, something people actually care about? The amount of these bad spin-off's they release is really disappointing.

@TeeJay
I might be making this up, but I seem to recall hearing that Mario Kart was never a big seller in Japan. It's ridiculously popular in Europe though, which is likely why we're getting it first.

@LittleFuryThing That's my concern as well, as someone with small hands.. I'm not sure how you're supposed to be able to use the new circle pad and still be able to reach the face buttons.

The screen being completely lop-sided with the thing attached doesn't help either. This is just an awful looking little peripheral that obviously only exists so early adopters don't throw a rage when we see the revised model in a few months.

It still looks awful, uncomfortable and is only going to split the user base. It may not be a requirement, but why are so many games supporting it? Well I'll answer that myself: because they essentially need it, and it should have been there in the first place.

It may not literally be a requirement, but I'm guessing we'll be stuck with terrible controls if you don't use it.

I dislike the terms "hardcore" and "casual" but you're very much wrong if you think hardcore only refers to games like Gears of War or Mortal Kombat. The distinction is actually between games like Farmville or Wii Sports - things that traditional "hardcore" gamers don't particularly want and things like Metal Gear Solid or Mass Effect. Games like Mario or Pokemon that have no violence are still hardcore games, they aren't designed for the 40+ Facebook crowd.

My problem with this list of games is that not a single title appeals to me in the slightest. Yes, it was a Japanese event and we should have expected them to cater to that audience more.. but like was said, it was a world wide event and the leaked list showcased games that would have appealed to Western and Japanese audiences.

I'm sure some people out there care about these games, but this has only increased how disappointed I am with the 3DS.

@Shockwave
But it's still a game many people played to death over a decade ago, would you blame someone for not wanting to buy an expensive new system just to play old games?

Starfox and Zelda might be good games, but they're not system sellers. The 3DS still lacks any real reason to purchase one.

@MasterGraveheart
As much as I love Starfox, Deus Ex 3 is certainly not an inferior game. So far, I'd say it's easily the best contender for GoTY.. slightly edging out the Witcher 2.

Dead Island seems like a great game, glitches aside. Warhammer has a rather big following in the UK and Lego Pirates is an immensely fun game.

More likely they'll just roll out in America at different times. For example, you guys just got a Zoroark theme, where as everywhere else got the Deerling. Everywhere will get all of them, eventually.

I don't really see the point though, is anyone really still playing the game? This sort of stuff needed to come much closer to the release.