Retro?

That's a nice birthday present for me.

Well, good, except I have the Megadrive version on Wii virtual console and, while save states will be useful on these I'll be waiting to pay the reduced update fee. Hope the Sega consoles appear before the end of the year.

It at least sounds better than Nintendoland. I don't think I'll be getting it though.

@Flashman
Agreed. What kind of compensation does he expect? He paid c. £40 for a product he didn't like. I guess we still just don't understand that culture on this side of the Atlantic, even if the plethora of 'accident at work' adverts on TV suggests that it's changing, sadly.

I had to get rid of my Windows 'phone due to Microsoft's insistence on cloud storage. Frankly, cloud storage is not for me and cloud gaming even more so. I understand some people may want it, in which case offer it as an option. I'd much rather Nintendo's approach though than one which means you always need to have access to the internet (which means paying) to access your own files.

Well, it looks interesting and novel but I really have no idea exactly what this game is. I'll keep an eye out for it but the fact that it's being developed for iOS doesn't fill me with confidence.

I'm intrigued by the office related problems since the separate business premise restrictions are meant to have been removed.

That third paragraph's the key one.

If I'm lucky, a new IP. No guns. No Sci-Fi.

Wasn't Mega Man already announced for this week?

Like I said yesterday: that's what Platinum games are like - clarification shouldn't have been needed but I guess it was for some people.

With all this noise are we finally getting close to a release date?

@LittleIrves
That's exactly the game the trailers keep reminding me of.

Platinum games are usually pretty short if you can complete them without dying.

Now, can we have a release date?

That is weird.

@Kifa
Thanks again.

@Kifa
Thanks for the detailed response. I'm still confused though (maybe it's my age?); does standby mode only apply to downloads? i.e. does it go into 'standby mode' for downloads and then shut off fully, or does it stay in standby mode the way that that the Wii did if you didn't hold the power button down forever?

If the latter, I'm starting to think they should have just called it 'download mode' instead of Standby or SpotPass.

@SCAR392
No I don't, but I would point out that it's mentioned separately from being able to download in standby. That last point I don't really see as a benefit - I'd rather have the auto-shutdown feature than have my electricity bill go up through the console constantly being on standby. It's nice that they give you the choice though.

If that is all SpotPass is (and I'm not saying you're wrong, as I say I don't really understand what it is) then why give it a gimmicky name? That's just asking for confusion. 'After a planned system update the exchange of information via SpotPass will also be available' makes it sound as if this is an additional feature (probably coming into effect after the summer update) over the download in standby one.

@Kifa
It says something about SpotPass too. Since I don't own a 3DS I've turned stand-by off, I really don't see the point of it. but then there's always a chance that I'm missing something crucial.

Nice to see that 60hz is being maintained.

@manu0
Thanks, that's very good news. I wonder why it wasn't mentioned...

@Fusion14
I know nothing about that game.

That's a lot of different features improved/added. I'm happy.

I'm not in the US so I can't comment on that but otherwise, yes.

@sweetiepiejonus
They never are. That's my point. I enjoy playing them but I don't like being reminded how much time I've spent doing so.

I don't know anything about 'bunches' or 'whores' or what that particular profession has to do with video games. Maybe you know something I don't though.

To be honest, all I know about achievements is people asking for them - I only have a Wii U and they don't exist on there.

It's beginning to feel like half the games on the Wii U will be survival horror games.

I couldn't vote in the second poll for the simple reason that I haven't seen any adverts before reading this - that wasn't an option.

I actually thought the first three were pretty good as a family entertainment device. The fourth one though, what was that? I thought it was an Apple advert to begin with.

Also - Jordan's a boy's name now? You learn something new every day...

I confess I'd never heard of Nordic this morning but they're making all the right noises and reaching out to the fans, so I hope it works out well.

I really don't get the 'achievements' thing. They're anything but. I have no wish to be told how much of my life I've frittered away on something non-constructive.

@luminalace
Thanks, that isn't clear in the review. One to two minute levels and the whole game completed in under three hours suggested that there isn't much of a challenge.

@kdognumba1
That's exactly what this auction was for. All IP has now been bought.

OK, I wasn't convinced by this game anyway, but can anyone tell me how a game with levels that can be completed in one to two minutes gets an eight? Any help would be appreciated.

Vigil is dead and buried, they were closed after the first auction. Nordic Games has bought Darksiders.

I selected 'yes' in the survey, but not for the reason suggested. I've written about this so many times on Nintendo Life that I've lost count.

This is just the first step in a really positive direction - hopefully the exclusivity deal is just timed and we'll soon see games appear from other distributors too. I'd like to download games but the price is prohibitive - having regular retailers sell download codes means that prices should be competitive and allows me, the consumer, to shop around for the best price. Doing so on the internet means that I'll be emailed a download code and I need never leave my home but can start downloading straight away - the best of both worlds.

As for Network Premium, I bought a download code for NG3 (privately, from a reviewer, I believe) and can confirm that I got my voucher for that.

One thing I have noticed is that all of the titles currently available as download codes from Game are published by Nintendo. I wonder if other publishers are free to negotiate their own deals?

Well, it's a step in the right direction at least. I just checked their store online and they currently have six titles available as download codes (Monster Hunter, Nintendo Land, Maro Bros., Ninja Gaiden, Lego City and Sing Party), all priced at £41.99 (or £32.99 for Sing). That's cheaper than the eStore but still not as cheap as what they're selling the discs at. Some more open competition should result in this being a very good thing - I hope the exclusivity deal isn't for too long.

@Xilef
A good, optimistic point.

It's been nearly twenty years since I last played a Prince of Persia game, and all I remember about that one is getting very bored flying around on a magic carpet. I understand the series has changed a lot though and I'd certainly be interested to see reviews.

You're right that Nintendo doesn't get the credit for this that it deserves: I'm always seeing developers praise Nintendo here on Nintendo Life whereas on multi-platform sites like IGN and Edge all I ever see is how the PS4 is 'going to be' the premier home for indie developers. It seems that shouting about it on the hardware launch stage certainly got the mainstream video games media's attention.

Personally, I'm happy with the way the Wii U eShop's developing right now - there's a steady stream of quality titles; a big contrast with the Wii, which saw releases of higher rated games drowned out by a river of throw-away titles.

@Klinny
I've just checked the US dictionary too, in case this was something I wasn't aware of (I'm not just being pernickety, amongst other things in my job I sometimes have to edit papers written by foreign authors (including USA) which pertain to fauna and, indeed, sometimes translate my own writing into U.S. English, so if 'carps' was acceptable U.S. English then I'd want to know that). Saying 'carps' is the same thing as saying 'sheeps'. It's intelligible to a native speaker but incorrect and something that will obviously mark you out as a non-native speaker.

@Nacho-Abylight

From the Oxford English Dictionary:

Definition of carp
noun (plural same)

a deep-bodied freshwater fish, typically with barbels around the mouth. Carp are farmed for food in some parts of the world and are often kept in large ponds.

I'd keep an eye on it. I poured a lot of time into Street Fighter 2 in the early nineties but these days I don't know anyone else who plays video games so it really is single-player experiences only for me now. That said, even at the time, my favourite series was Streets of Rage and we don't really get many beat-em-ups of that type these days. MadWorld was great but that was a few years ago now. If the could develop a single player mode along those lines then I'd almost definitely pick the game up if it came to Wii U.

I predict a riot!

HavI been misreading NintendoLife's coverage of this? I thought there was something a few days ago that had a Wii U logo on it.

@Nacho-Abylight
Haha! I guess I just did. It's nice to see developers so engaged with video game players; welcome to Nintendo Life.

Someone should tell them that the plural of 'carp' is 'carp'.

Put me down for the 'what about the U?' lobby.

Frankly, even after watching the trailer, I don't get what the object of this game is.

@Dunban
Agreed. Until I can convert my stars to eShop credit, like I could (and still can, for what it's worth) to Wii points, this is worthless.

For "'Tales Of' games" read "games".

@belmont
I'm not certain what the case is in the rest of the EU but I believe that it's the same as in the UK. A manufacturer is not allowed to set a price point on a product - that's known as price-fixing and is illegal. That's why you often see "RRP" stated online (usually in the context of an alleged discount). The manufacturer can recommend a price but it cannot set one - it is always up to the retailer what price to charge.

Nintendo can control its wholesale price in Europe but it cannot dictate retail price - that all comes down to what margin retailers expect to make and what they think they can get away with.

I hope that clears things up a bit. I'm a little tired of the "Nintendo should fix prices in the EU like they do in the US" rants online (that's not directed at you). The simple fact is that they can't.