much prefer the analog sticks. I still don't love the sliders on the 3ds, sometimes they slip and sometimes it's too easy to hold it off center misjudge where it is when making moves. It's great for a handheld but theres no reason to go there with a home console.
This looks nice and very comfortable but I think the "letter" buttons would be best a little higher and to the left next to the right analog. it's more natural to reach a little left than way down if you have to use those buttons AND the stick for things. then the start/select should be on the other side since they're more non-game options that you could well use your movement hands for when needed.
I like where this is going but overall this tablet thing is weird and risky. I also hope this isn't a dreamcast.

I don't get why people are lashing out about this. He happens to be a game designer so he gets the press and maybe his own stuff isn't great, I honestly don't know or care, but he's just saying what we're all thinking.
It is an odd looking console (not in an 'innovative' way) with little real draw beside that it's our beloved Nintendo with finally HD specs. He didn't say anything about "I can do better", he's just saying it's a tough market for games now, since there are so many options. I won't ditch my console for a phone or facebook, but my time is definitely more split up, so if I'm to really buy into a new console it has to seriously 'wow' me, since I also just got brand x and I haven't touched the Wii since. If the Wii U is just like the Wii but with HD graphics I'll loose intrest fast because it HAS to have 3rd party games and LOTs of other cool stuff to compete with the other 'Core' gamer machines;
Can anyone deny that they use the games on their apple device, and surf facebook now and again? that just pulls time away from console gaming, it doesn't replace it - and that can still hurt sales/interest.
I love Nintendo but there is truly some catching up to do so it has to come out REALLY strong to win anyone over.

I can live without it if that's the main redesign for it. but if that also means an xl version (since it's already slightly large, I'd prefer to just have the big screen)
with better battery life, and higher res cameras. That I'd shell out for now. Theres no excuse for cameras that are that bad, when 3d is it's big selling point. 3 mpix would be plenty and still cheap enough.

This looks pretty awesome, but I've never played the others. I don't get why through different eras he always has to wear those ridiculous hoody-pajamas. Maybe their not ready for a "re-boot" but a different outfit wouldn't hurt.

this is a nice idea and a nice editorial but so very hypothetical, almost fantastical.

It would also be nice if nintendo would have upgraded the Wii to HD a year earlier, or added some power gloves or a frying pan peripheral, or got smart and gave people some free wii points packed into the system, but we all know Nintendo here and it's pure fantasy.
Have they ever discounted anything? Heck no. it takes maybe two years before they discount retail games and Wiiware never, even in the face of failure. Maybe with the WiiU they'll smarten up, but I'll believe it when I see it. Until then it's dreamland.

agree with ATDI, these prices aren't that bad, you guys are just cheap. These things are obviously hand made to order and a lot larger than I expected.
unfortunate that the site has bad pictures of some of them. Why only close ups of some things that you're going to spend some money on?
I may get one of the Super Nintendo ones, I wish they had the purple NA version. Gameboy one is awesome, too.

hmm, cool idea. If only the 3ds browser wasn't a flaming pile of...
I'll give it a go when I get bored of the amazing 3d games already on there, like.. never. No, really this could be interesting.
I remember back when I got the ds browser along with that "memory booster" cart thing like the memory was what was holding it back from proper web browsing, I was so excited, until I realized how bad and slow it was.
Now we have the speedy 3ds and it's all... the same? Is it that hard to just hire some techies that have done it for other mobiles already, rather than the game-centric internal Nintendo people? Not everything needs innovation, some stuff just needs catching up.

Interesting. I hope that's a launch list. That could be cool, I guess, but there better be more than that coming soon. They got some serious catching up to do in terms of HD games.
Am I the only one dying for a GTA that's more of a sequel to Chinatown wars? I loved that game, and it's style more than any of the others. The 3dish top down was amazing and the mini games would suit that new tablet perfectly. I hope they've got something like that going on soon.

Seems like the boldest thing they could do right now is launch a brand new IP as a pack in that uses the tablet in a cool way. Something really weird and original from Miyamoto worthy of many sequels. All the hardware stuff has been done; surprise us!

I hope they can re-capture the magic of the Wii launch. The 3DS was pretty lackluster.
The Wii really broke new ground with the accessible controller that diid what it was advertised to do (sure we all complained later that it wasn't good enough, but it was sure amazing at first to add motion control to gaming that was really responsive for a first attempt)
The tablet thing is obviously going into everything right now, so there needs to be some heavily advertised innovative new stuff, and for now it seems like it's just another tablet thing. The pack-in game may make or break this launch like it always does.

I'm going to get it anyway, as a superfan, but everyone else and their mother? I don't see it happening yet. Zelda HD, Metroid HD, Starfox HD, Mario HD, even Wii sports HD, . That might knock people over if a couple of those are ready at launch and one is a pack-in. (NEW games, that is, not remakes)

nice! count me in. And congrats to Chicken! I can't imagine what your home page looks like on wii and 3ds; like a library of shame.

@Retro Hype
This is not a marketing hype site it is a Nintendo fan site. And even many die-hard Nintendo fans find this kind of thing pretty compelling. To be left out of the COD deluge even with a 'nex gen" Wii would be a pretty horrible thing and many of us are pretty interested in talking about it.
I'm not crazy about the COD games, either, but I can't deny how fun they can be for short periods. It really does feel pretty sad playing the Wii versions and seeing low res cut scenes that look 10 times better than the actual gameplay and knowing that the gameplay is at least that nice on the HD systems for the entire thing.

is there anything Cricket hasn't saved? hope he's better soon.

what a relief. I was so worried that I would be overwhelmed by the richness of the launch titles. thank goodness he's confirmed they're PLANNING on doing the same thing as the 3DS launch:
Set a date for launching great hardware and stick to it even though the great software coming for it won't be ready yet, and then freak out when everyone is disappointed. I never thought I'd say it about Nintendo but just delay the damn thing! Don't jump into a crowd of starving children with a popsicle, wait til you can get an ice cream truck. Didn't they learn anything after that messy launch!?

they sure love the west coast, didn't they already go all over there last time? All that and no Chicago. I guess we're chopped liver over there. I guess they looked at a map and said "oh, Minnesota is midwest enough". if you're a penguin, maybe.

seriously? part of the problem is not external advertising, it's just that with all these systems the online components are a central part of the system "home". just turning it on you immediately are walked through the online setup and all the benefits of the great online Stuff. There are millions of Wii's out there ready to go online and some great games in there but you can switch it on and never have any idea that there is anything to do online.
Why is that so hard? It almost makes it seem like they were trying to downplay the Wiiware to make sure the retail stuff was always given priority, and I don't doubt that that was part of the strategy in the beginning. But as soon as the second generation of consoles was out there should have been demos and some free trial wii points and a log in as soon as you turn on the wii, then sales would have at least doubled I guarantee it. Still nothing of the sort. A massive missed opportunity. I remember having to walk through a ton of menus and back and forth junk to set up the shop channel way back and thought it was pretty weird. How come they didn't figure that out?

on xbox you do everything in your 'home' through your online account and are always "logged in", and see all kinds of ads for games and movies and demos. It doesn't matter that it's HD it wouldn't be that hard to do with the nintendo home page, even now. They just didn't take those sales seriously, and only now are they getting it. It's time to step it up. All you need is a little free/ cheap content (or reduced games) to get people in the door and they will then buy like crazy, why is that so hard for them to understand?

I'm ok with that if, and only if, there are eventually price drops, and/or sales. Short of that the 'value' is really not there. Why should anyone ever buy any of those trash WiiWare games since the prices NEVER went down at all, it's a total joke. If there were suddenly sales on some of those crusty games, I'd consider buying them even now. Nintendo knows better than anyone how much price affects sales.

Me too. I put like 5000 points on last weekend determined to get entertained and just got fed up... so I caved and bought an xbox. I still got a couple thousand left and I don't think I'm going to spend them. wonder if I can trade them for a slice of pizza; or a WiiU preorder.

unfortunately they won't be cheaper, which is good for Nintendo, I can't see why they didn't see these dollar signs earlier when everyone else did. People will still buy them including myself, but not for long if there aren't price drops and sales over time.
Not being transferrable is indeed an issue for, like the 3DS when you want to play mobile or not have as much space on a card but for a console this is no big deal unless you're looking for something to knit pick about. The days of passing friends a copy to borrow have arguably long since passed already, it pretty much stays on your machine at home.
I won't even talk about including a big sd card, that's always a nice bonus, but don't expect it people, unless you support raising the price by $50, getting one at all is rare.
The issue, as always, is just nintendos true, REAL support for all this, which they haven't given us any reason to believe will be there. Actions speak louder than words. Like if this happens there has to be a simple way to store those games and access them. That little box is surely not hiding a 250gb hard drive but if we're going to be presented with retail digital downloads at full price there better be an easy way to store them. (snap a drive on the back, support playing from SD cards directly). There won't be any of this copying games from the card to the Home page everytime we want to play them, like it is now, especially 3gb games.

And we know the Wii's stringent rules about WiiWare, so what does that mean for getting 3rd party games as full downloads? Will it be a pain in the butt for them to do? And even if this all flies they have to learn to have sales, promotions and demos for everything, right out of the box. Now that I'm finally playing with brand-X I can't believe Nintendo has gotten away with their online system the way it is for so long; no wonder no one wants to use it. I really understand now that I'm playing an xbox too; the Wii feels like a tricycle on a motorcross track. I'm just glad I didn't get it sooner or I might have missed some of the good Wii games.

I have to say I really loved this game almost as much as the other zeldas but it did feel a little limited and overly guided. I can't see any fun in doing it again because it's so guided and linear. Maybe more so than many of the others. It's a great experience while it lasts but I see no reason to go through it again, and had I seen that coming I would have rented it and not bought it. I want to sell it now, honestly. I finally got an HD system and it's hard to believe how Nintendo can compete with so many other massive open world HD games. I hope things change with the WiiU online and in general. The third parties also seem to be where the other systems shine, I wish Nintendo could better support more of that.

Video games are the only place I'd ever run to the right.

holy moly! this is pretty mind-blowing. Then NFC thing is 'meh' but the game itself is totally amazing. Finally something showing WiiU game footage itself.
yeah, SURE, that's for internal purposes only. That's why there is fancy filmed footage of people playing and lot's of fancy graphic overlays. Internal developer video's are always that heavily produced. Nice save Ubi.

Ain't resident...
arguably rehashed...
another rental...
angular raisins...

I remember getting a good scare with the first R.E. when it came out way back. I lived in a scary dark attic and played it at night, not expecting it to be scary at all. The sound design really did wonders, though. The quiet spots and then a jump, and also those moments of moaning off screen, plus the cinematic angles.

totally a huge leap ahead for games at the time. I think it can still be done with simpler games now, but as stated above Nintendo is missing some more basic things about a classic scare. Even R.E. games now have lost a little of that simple suspense. Too bad. Part of the issue is game developers making the games, there needs to be more people with a film background directing these things.

Ha! Looks pretty funny, but not for that much money. Takes me back to the "SwordQuest" games on Atari where you had to have the crappy comic that came with it to know what to do at some points. Not a good idea for a digital thing to be tied to a cheap dated Physical thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pf0s1PvnVQ

@cowlaunch
very well said I totally agree. I really hope all these safety games mean there is something really crazy and cool at E3. I love my 3ds but I'm becoming wary about my time with all of Nintendo's stuff.

I expect pretty raw innovation and simplistic creativity from Nintendo, and while the classic Mario material is fantastic as it ever was it's getting a little stale. Without that innovative edge the Nintendo platforms are too stripped down tech-wise and online to be satisfying to anyone who wants deep, diverse, HD gaming as well. The Wii U will address some of that but it's pretty late.

I'm a lifelong, devoted fanboy, but I actually did the unthinkable and bought a "Brand X" console just yesterday, because I reached my limit of demo-less, tiny games in low-def, that are such a gamble if you don't buy 1st party. I just want to turn it on, get online and play something fun for a while, without buying retail Nintendo titles every time.

I'll be there at Launch with the WiiU but theres going to have to be pretty awesome services and 3rd party support to keep me there anymore, I had no idea what I was missing until now. It's time for Nintendo to step it up with something really unique. (The 3ds is giving us that for now but not the N- consoles, even the tablet could be a miss if not played right)

nice.
I wonder how many blocks I could save deleting Nintendo Zone; Totally Useless. doesn't even connect in the places where they have it.

I hate to add more hate but I would like to see a total re-working of these games or just an attempt at an entirely new ip. The first DS New super mario never did much for me, actually, it felt short and a little boring, sparse environments. I still like all of them but I think it's time to take a some chances or add some entirely new elements.

this is s nice piece, N-life. You should make it a regular weekly thing. It's nice to read what people are working on.

Loving excitebike, go for it, it's very worth it, especially in the online mode.
I'm playing that and I just got Tomen Nassaner and Pearl harbor trilogy to play when I have editing breaks all weekend.
also have Black ops from the game rental service but I'm trying not to touch it, it's such a time waster online.
Anyone suggest a really good WiiWare adventure I might not have tried? I want a good adventure to play (played cavestory already).

It's great and I love it. It's actually a very powerful full featured animation tool, but you need to practice a lot to get used to using everything properly. It almost does too much to be used easily without a full keyboard and mouse. That said, you can do very complex animations on it if you have any patience and skill with it. Well worth it if you like drawing, get this AND colors, they're both great but the animation tool is very handy.

Dinosaur office got old pretty quick but it's better than most of the xtreme sports, and bad R&B video junk on there. What happened to the arty short films they used to have so often? that's the stuff that I'd like to see more of.

can't wait to try KI: classics, and 'I must run', though. I wish I had that demo before I bought Pyramids; it's pretty lame. Not horrible but not very good, and the 3d effect is really cheap.

I don't understand why people think it's so "childish" or "mean" that they don't want to do games with Nintendo anymore. So what? they didn't say "they're big liars and we hate them forever" they just stated that they won't do it again because it was difficult and understandably annoying. Why is that so bad and mean?

They don't feel like dealing with Nintendo's sometimes lame system, so they prefer to stick with the many other platforms that are easier to work with. would anyone here do differently when this is your lifes work and one of your sales outlets is just more trouble than it's worth? Cut your losses and go with a better operation that's readily available. I see no issue here. If Nintendo does things differently later, maybe they'll reconsider, but they don't owe us or anyone else any special promises, and they surely could have been a lot less mature about it.

Definitely I'll tune in and give (though I'm in the US, no matter). Thanks for the cool event! Gives me ideas for the groups I work with in Chicago to lighten up some heavy/ emotional/ humanitarian work. The real task is getting the other 30-40 somethings I know to let their inner-gamer emerge!

I'm with ChocoGoldfish a little. He sounded preachy at first, but I can be that way myself with games I love, and I think video games are absolutely an important art form that will most likely be more heavily studied down the road. Personally I can't stand hardly any RPG's, just boring to me, but I can see how I might try Baldurs gate someday.
Too bad nintendo's online has sucked so bad. However you feel about this group or their games, it's still unfortunate that Nintendo is turning away lower budget games with potential because of their poor service. That's just the way it is, why shouldn't people have a better chance just because they don't have the budget of a Megaman game? Ridiculous.

Thanks Thomas,
I tend to sound pretty whiny, but this is a great group and pretty transparent, I only meant that I thought it'd be nice to have these groups listed somewhere clearly on the site and in the events pages not just in the video there. I'm not someone who looks at the video on a site first for the main info I expect things in actual text somewhere. Indeed, they are very legit and I love the ideas they have to creative outreach.
I work making film/video for non-profits so this is just sticky for me, and weirdly I don't actually expect my film to be the end of a persons research even though I'm often tasked with being extremely thorough about info, the web and print people should at least be as thorough as the video. Just thoughts I had.

I have to say I could easily double that if it was just 007 but having to switch every hour would kind of hurt my stamina if it was me. Cool idea.
I kind of wish it was clearer in print somewhere what organizations it gives to. After digging around the GamesAid website it doesn't say anywhere what actual organizations it gives to, but clearly shows in the video (which is great) No reason why it shouldn't be front and center, even in the above article. I like to know who I'm giving to and in what ways.

After the Kony 2012 nonsense, I'm even less willing to give to a group with little more than a flashy hipster marketing approach to fundraising for further operational costs. (true Games Aid seems pretty good, but transparency is always paramount) We don't need to be supporting more military action against situations we know little about, thank you.

sweet, 200 pts! this looks like loads of fun and cheap too. instabuy.

theres no defending Nintendo here and I'm a dedicated fan with no other systems. He wasn't even mean spirited or rude about it just firm. That sounds really frustrating and I can't blame him, he's not the only one they've ticked off with these policies.
was anyone else around when WiiWareWorld started as a site and all the talk about how WiiWare was going to be this great new platform for indie developers to try all kinds of new things freely along side the bigger retail games and VC classics? right.
Sounds a little like what happened to ios development, instead. Sure they want some Quality control but that's really pushing it. The only indies that ended up being able to afford it are the ones that also had ios hits or the odd PC based cult following previously. I was so excited that I downloaded "critter roundup". ouch. those days are gone.

nice idea, the dreamworld thing. I could really dig that more than anything else here. Great opportunity to utilize the HD system and controller mechanics too. LIke using the tablet for all kinds of 'dreamworld' vision stuff. I doubt it will happen but that would be more fresh than any sequel to anything out now.

wow, that's pretty neat. I wonder if they have a battery, seems like his are always plugged into something, which kind of defeats the purpose.

@gamesake
ha! best comment all week

I guess they accomplished their big goal then. No more pedo's trolling the lesser known rehashes of fighting games. The world is a little bit safer now, thanks Nintendo! It was totally worth the complete lack of modern interactivity in your last 6 years of... interactive video games.

@late
that one is a nice design but if you watch closely you can see that it's not truly a portable gamecube. It's a casing for a screen, controller and something that runs gamecube roms. He switches games without ever switching discs and quickly clicks past a "non-gamecube" menu between games. You can also see the input screen from the monitor so the monitor isn't truly integrated. It's a nice look but very much the work of someone looking to play large games on the go, not truly make a portable gamecube.

cool, I actually like the homemade spirit of this over the more slick ones. For personal use that's really neat and more a "to see if I can do it" thing, I think. For that kind of portable gaming I'd actually just get a 3DS or stay at home, but I love the ingenuity of this.

Hmm, actually looks like a fun concept and cheap too! There really does need to be more like this on there, let's hope this is good and sets the bar high for quality in that price range. If it's good I'll totally buy it to support that price model (and so will everyone else, clearly)

I don't care what it is, I trust their expertise with making a fun mario game (though I do prefer the 3d stuff and I agree with @Samholy it really needs to be less sparse and more interactive than they have been).

Honestly I just want a Nintendo HD system to be out, like, yesterday. I'm getting sick of having this stone age thing that doesn't utilize any of the other fancy media stuff here. My setup is dying for an Xbox or something and I can't hold out much longer. Just drop it here, Nintendo, that old Wii is growing a beard in my setup.

Wow, this is pretty sad. Is there even a "username" to identify or anything? Doesn't this basically amount to playing the CPU with a more randomized difficulty? In a different universe where Nintendo understood the importance of the new online market this would have been a great release just after wiiware started so that others could follow and improve up until now; But now?! like this?! what a let down.
I'm just now playing Black ops online on Wii and it's the best thing I've seen for Wii online, but that's being pretty generous. It's so sad that I have to be so defensive as a fanboy; Throw me a bone, Nintendo! (and sega and capcom or whatever, Nintendo is really to blame, though)

I'll also chime in that this is an amazing full featured tool for drawing even in hi-res and in 3d. I was blown away by it. I can't recommend it enough. With the number of features here this would be worth full retail to me. And for people wondering how accurate it is you have to keep in mind that you can zoom in very close to get very precise thin lines at the pixel level, even half way gives you pretty good control. Just get this!