@Kevin: I'd give it only 9 for leaving out Super GameBoy features .

@BalrogtheMaster: Mario VS Donkey Kong (GBA) is pretty much a direct sequel, if I remember correctly.

Oh God. I can't un-see Barry's costume. Need to wash my eyes out with soap ...

I give up.

@ecco6t9:
"So why is a game $2 on the iPhone and $5 on the DSi?"
For the reasons I painstakingly explained in detail further up...

I'll also just leave this link here, which in my mind adds weight to Reggie's argument
http://www.develop-online.net/news/36968/EA-undercuts-iPhone-indies-again

@jwl: "Also, many of these cheap handhelds games are in concept more like oldschool retro games"
But with sh*t controls...

Well, I'm not sure why everyone keeps saying they can only name 4 enjoyable DSiWare titles. I mean on this site alone, a quick look shows over 100 titles with a 7/10 or better score. Does that mean they're enjoyable? Obviously not for everyone, but I'm pretty sure I can name at least 20 which I really enjoy.

I'm thankful the DSi isn't overrun with 100,000 games quite frankly. Despite which the likes of a flashlight app (or Fireplace on WiiWare) turn up. These days, Nintendo lets stuff through if it complies with all their terms (and thankfully, there are no fart apps so far...) but it's not like they go and ASK developers to make shovelware, so I'm not sure either why people seem to be blaming Nintendo for the content devs submit.

Similarly, Nintendo has a proper submission process, with proper procedures and strict size restrictions, etc. This may initially put iPhone devs off I suppose if they're used to the AppStore with its mockery of submission rules. Literally any old crap can turn up on there, and quite often does. Not to mention plagiarised, copyrighted materials.

The other price issue here is addressable audience. Nintendo's digital software prices may be higher, but they're also not supposed to be the main gaming medium of the device. By that I mean, Nintendo still expect to make the majority of sales from physical game sales (which is fair enough; after all, gaming - expect on PC - isn't quite ready for full digital yet). So the DSiWare store is an "extra", a place to try new stuff perhaps, or indeed put stuff which they didn't think would qualify as a full release. And since it is optional (and not main revenue generator), not everyone is connected to it. I can't remember the figures, but due to the fact Nintendo's consoles in general don't require any online account for most of the features, I think percentage-wise fewer people are online (hence all those ambassador programs).

So, what was I talking about? ... Oh yes, addressable audience. I can't remember specific DSi numbers, but let's say for the sake of argument that out of all the DSi owners worldwide, only 3million are regularly using the connected features. That's the audience that developers need to address, and even then their games won't appeal to everyone. Contrast that to the AppStore. Just taking the iPhone4 as an example, I think Apple sold 14mil in 2010. Since the AppStore is the MAIN outlet for any content on the device, and it's instantly connected, you have an addressable audience of 14mil straight away.

Thus the odds of selling more are (clearly) higher, and it's easy to adopt the lower price-point model. Nintendo simply can't guarantee the same numbers, so I would think they advise the developers on a suitable price-point based on market research, etc.

Obviously both cases have their pros and cons. The AppStore's connected nature does drive down prices, however it's "accept anything and everything" stance means it's so swamped that you can't guarantee success. The DSiWare store has lower visibility and a more complex development and submission process, but if done correctly, will yield more revenue from fewer unit sales.

Right, I don't think anyone's still awake so... c ya.

@JumpMad: Reggie didn't actually call anything DSiWare, since he was talking about retail releases.

@The Fox: Do you even know the meaning of the word abysmal? There's more decent (and exclusive) DSiWare titles out there than there are PSPGo Minis, which given Sony's resources is pretty disgraceful. I'll hand you the phrase "poorer than Xbox and PS3 offerings". But abysmal... pshh.

@HugoSmits: That's my (and Reggie's) point. When you devalue games so much, they become throwaways. Not entertainment, but distractions. The AppStore model also means though one studio can have a hit with one game, there's next to no guarantee that their next game will achieve similar success.

Similarly, this "devaluation" point is why I was strongly against supermarkets charging £26 for the likes of FIFA and Modern Warfare. If you out in people's minds that these hyped up titles are only worth that price, anything that comes after will be forced to match or be lower in price, otherwise suffer a loss in sales.

People also totally forget publisher costs and other costs associated with physical products when they start comparing everything against the AppStore.

I didn't know putting things in asterisks made the text go bold, so the jaw-dropping thing was supposed to be a simulated action...

@Swerd_Murd (interesting name!)
I was a bit surprised to, I expected it to do better. Perhaps timing and "no multiplayer" affected it. There was also something about the graphics engine and main character that didn't quite grab people in the same way as whatsername from Heavenly Sword.

Oh, and to everyone being negative about the Wii. I recently looked through a selection of used PS2 games and that had at least as much shovelware (I'm being polite - it probably had loads more).

Also, Enslaved, which garnered critical acclaim from many corners, and was released on both "HD" platforms, sold under 500K copies. Not sure why people are acting shocked about that; yes, it DOES happen on other platforms let's jaw drop in mock fashion.

And finally, the Wii has so far had more first-party support than either the N64 or GameCube, yet someone gets loads of hate for "abandoning the hardcore".

[Sorry, I seem to be in snarky mode again... not a good day...]

@Sylverstone: Indeed. And that isn't a new viewpoint, many were feeling the same over a year ago (including me - but I seem to remember a well-written gizmodo article floating about which may be worth tracking down). In fact the effects can be felt already. Some companies are naturally blaming piracy for their newer games not selling (that's everyone's favourite excuse - see: Ubisoft).

@Zach: Thanks. Sorry for coming on a bit strongly there.
I agree there's need for debate on purely digital download prices. I just didn't feel that was being referred to here.

But as slapshot82 just mentioned too, Nintendo's other problem has been a lack of promoting their digital stuff and no sales, etc.

Plus of course, the ridiculous size limit which they kept, even after adding the SD Menu and allowing SDHC cards.

How did this get attributed to Eurogamer? It was said during and interview on GT.TV (go to gametrailers.com) AND they were comparing the appstore prices to Nintendo's boxed games, not DSiWare. Please amend, as the headline itself is also misleading.

Tut tut, and all that.

Interesting, since the Gamesbasement screenshots showed USK logo which caused some of the confusion.

@WiiLovePeace: They'll just literally be a card with a symbol on. AR tech on phones works in a similar fashion, recognising specific symbols. Usually you can just print them out off a website using your PC then download the software to your phone and have its camera look at the symbol.

Actually, Inazuma Eleven was a really bad example. Why? Even hardcore online fans weren't sure whether it was actually coming out or not!

That's an extreme example, but the case is somewhat repeated for all the titles you mentioned. They had a ridiculous LACK of marketing. Even online, the Okamiden trailers I've seen have been boring and lacking anything which fires up the excitement for it. Golden Sun is still "on my list", but similarly they seem to have counted on nostalgia rather than marketing to new players.

There's one other thing which is affecting sales of these games in particular. A lot of wii gamers also own a DS, and the Wii had a really good 2010 itself, which I believe resulted in people having to make a choice which device to spend money on. With most of the games costing the same, or in some cases LESS on the Wii (!), many people opted for the home console. I noted myself recently that my Wii game collection has actually surpassed DS despite me buying the handheld 2 years prior.

So it seems in some ways Nintendo is a victim of its own success.

Given the final statements, the score seems too high...

It's not like they've kept the same SKU out there at the same price. They added WiiSportsResort and a MotionPlus peripheral last year and newer ones will start shipping with a WiiRemotePlus. Meanwhile, there are bundles like the Black Wii MarioKart bundle or the Red Wii NSMB bundle which seem to be around the regular price (and there's a somewhat more expensive Black Wii WiiFit bundle). So it's not like they're just sitting back going "nah, we don't want to offer customers better value".

As for the 3rd party issue: he just sounds like he's whining again. EA can more than afford to do their own marketing and publicity. The Apple comparison is invalid. I keep saying you can't compare a purely digital marketplace with a physical-media or mixed one. And as for Apple's "support", what's he talking about? The fact their controls are so lax that they'll let anything onto the AppStore unless there's full frontal nudity involved?

P.S. Oh, and his argument fell apart when he brought up the SNES.

Sigh

@rjejr
Oh I'm not saying the camera in Crystal Bearers was its only problem, but it was a big one. It almost never gave me a comfortable viewing angle and I constantly had to adjust it using the directional pad which was also uncomfortable because it seemed to take ages to move.
By contrast, Epic Mickey's sensitivity when it comes to directional pad adjustments feels just right. It's just the auto camera chooses (or forces) bad angles sometimes.

@Bulbasaurus Rex
See above .
Apart from the directional pad movement being quite smooth, you can tap 'c' to quickly set the camera behind Mickey a la Zelda games. And tapping '1' puts you into first-person view for a better look at your environment.

For what it's worth, the camera in The Crystal Bearers was worse.

@Kirk: It requires approximately 2-3 hours before you 'get' what it's about. I started to feel bored too with all the boats but it improves drastically.
Same with MonsterHunterTri: you had to spend 4-5 hours playing offline to get familiar with stuff. Then the constant gathering/grinding starts to feel tedious. Then you jump online for 2 hours and it becomes the best co-op game ever made.

Not that shocked. The Japanese gaming industry is failing because of the gamers, not the developers. It's been clear for a while now that quality can't be measured by the consumer trends over there.

My, that's a terrible trailer. This is actually the sequel to a very old (and mostly ignored, but loved by some) PC adventure game called "3 Skulls of The Toltecs".

This sequel was released some time around 2003 or 2004, and had similar mixed reviews. But why this trailer makes it out to be more of a minigame collection rather than an adventure game I do not know...

Anyway, I'd say don't knock it off the radar entirely until some reviews for this version come in.

Linkage:
http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,443
http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Westerner/Westerner.shtm
http://www.mrbillsadventureland.com/reviews/0-9/3skullsR/wantedR.htm

I totally agree with the review!
I love the minimalistic graphics and soundtrack.

@WaveBoy: 90%? That's way too harsh. As KDR_11k has already pointed out, there are a number of good titles on there. There are quite a few mediocre ones, but I blame the iPhone for that (bringing the quality of downloadable games way down).

Oh, as for this game, I think it remains interesting due to the price-point, which is much more reasonable than the ridiculous 500 for Flight Control (an iPhone game which costs 0.59p).

Agreeing with Sean: This does look (visually) really good. Haven't finished Asphalt4 yet though, so probably won't get it.

@skywake: I was wondering along those same lines so tried to view those images stereoscopically (duplicated, side-by-side), but didn't really discern any 3D effect, so either this won't be running on 3DS or they're using some different technique entirely to achieve a 3D effect. I still expected to be able to perceive some kind of depth of field, but didn't.

And of course, it could just be that my eyes are wonky .

Now you're REALLY making me feel nostalgic, as this was the first game I ever wrote a review of!
I expect it's still in the back of a notebook somewhere... must fine it one day...

Dammit! I predicted this just over a week ago! Way to steel my thunder Nintendo before I managed to blog about it!
Grrrr...

Oh F*** (pardon my French), it's the invasion of iPhone SH*Tware...

Isn't the US getting some kind of soundtrack included in their premium bundle? ...

@MethodOne and @Vendetta: Damn, you stole my thoughts .

Anyway, a rumbling touchscreen is hardly setting the world alight... it'd have to do more than that...

@jesao: That looks great! I'm checking it out now. Where'd you get it? eBay?

I think the main problem here is people assuming 7/10 is a bad score...

7/10 sounds about right. Apart from the leaderboards being removed, I thought the other main criticisms were: lack of music/sound effects, price and a rather "slim" experience overall. If so, the score is very fair. The depth of KuBoS's mechanics or the bonus content (music) in PictoBits aren't really replicated here.

That said, again, 7/10 is a very good score and it's a nice game. Wife loves it on her iPod Touch.

You know something's dodgy in a press release when the phrase "technological forensics" pops up .
Do they just mean "we logged onto ***hunt, and typed 'Mario' in?"

Anyway, other sources have estimated the ratio of pirated download to actual lost sales to be around 1000:1, so 30,000 downloads would actually mean 30 copies. So maybe he could have afforded that after all... but then if that was all he was fined in court it wouldn't send the strong "message" Nintendo wanted.

I do agree piracy is a problem in certain cases, but proof that it dents sales significantly just isn't there. In facts, I'd say if a game /isn't/ pirated it's most likely crap and not selling very well either... success can almost be measured in "piracy"... now wouldn't that be a shocker?!?!

Here's a bit more clarity on the matter: http://wosblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/more-piracy-bullshit-whodathunkit/

See, NOW I want to get this... sigh.
Also, given the reasonably good reviews it's been getting I wouldn't say Rabbids was "aimed at kids", I think the phrase should be "family friendly". In any case I've seen more adult jokes in Ice Age 3...

It was hardly a rumour it was coming. Their 'temp' page since the Internet Channel was updated has always said "a dedicated iplayer for wii is coming later this year". They just didn't mentioned the word "channel"; was it so hard to work out? In any case, having a date is nice, now I can watch Mock the Week in my living room again. I'm guessing the quality will now be closer to the Nintendo Channel rather than the previous iPlayer or YouTube pages were/are.

@Machu: You don't need a TV Licence to use the iPlayer. On a PC or otherwise. The rule is literally "you need a TV Licence to watch LIVE TV".
But yes, you have to be UK-based .

I just thought I'd drop in to comment on game length, since some people assume rail-shooters are short: IGN's Modern Warfare 2 reviews states the single-player portion would take about 4.5 hours... and yes, you can't compare with deadspace on that front, but wasn't MoH:H2 at least 6-7 hours?
I don't expect a major studio's game to be less than 10 hours no matter how many multiplayer modes it boasts.

You know, that disc label is so cool, it almost made me buy the game now. But I think I'll wait. Got too much else to play. The Wii has sooo many good games on it (and no I'm not being sarcastic).

@odd69: You've contradicted yourself by saying on-rails games don't interest you, then proceeding to make a bold statement that "compared to the original it's a laugh". Since you're in no position to compare the two, I don't think it's wise to make such statements.

Also, you seem to think it was EA's decision to make it on-rails, rather than the design team. If something is forced, it usually doesn't turn out very well. Yet this is very highly reviewed (everywhere) and they clearly put a tonne of effort into it since it's frequently claimed to have the best graphics on the Wii of any game.

I'm not saying you should buy it of course if you're not into on-rails titles. But you seem to have made the decision for everyone else not to buy it at the same time.

How long's Dead Space been out in the US? It was end of last month in the UK and no one had a chance to buy it! I wish these companies would stop looking at first-month-sales. It's bloody stupid, and if that means they drop publicity after the first month, then it's their own fault.

@gii:
1) MOH:Heroes 2 had 32-player online if I remember correctly.
2) Dead Space is one of the most highly reviewed games on the Wii, so dismissing it based on "genre" is just bloody stupid.
3) Let's not make things personal -- Sean

I could be proven wrong, but I didn't think it'd be economically sound to make yet another DS redesign. I also haven't seen that many old people complaining about DSi size, but maybe it's different in Japan.

I also find some of the various website reports confusing as apart from the "bigger screens for older people" argument some list "web browsing" and "music playing" as other advantages in the DSi LL.
Really?! Usually the smaller the music player, the better (unless this has a built in radio?) and I'm guessing still no MP3 support?
As for web browsing, while I'm perfectly happy just checking Facebook's mobile page on my DSi, I can't see it being taken seriously unless they've at least doubled the RAM yet again.

I can't help feeling they're somehow hoping to compete with netbooks (yes I know, blue ocean strategy doesn't compete, blah blah blah, whatever), but in that regard it still falls short.

Plus of course the screen res issue which everyone's talking about.

@Betagam7: I agree Nintendolife should report it. I haven't denied that at all. I'm just saying the headline blew things out of proportion as far as I can see (I'd love to be proven wrong).

This site has recently become one of the most popular for Nintendo-related news and reviews. And this'd be the perfect moment to quote that Spiderman line about power and responsibility. So, errr there you go.

Not trying to attack Nintendolife or any users, just trying to keep the peace so to speak.

~all the best.

@wanderlustwarrior: thanks for amusing me for all of 20 seconds.

@Betagam7: there is a warning message displayed just before you proceed with the update, although I can't remember whether it specifically mentions internet disconnections though (it does however mention unofficial software I do recall).
Also, regarding said Eurogamer "myth" quote - I don't see anything wrong with the statement. They didn't say "none", they say "usually" and "very small number". So far I haven't seen anything to prove otherwise. If you look at the comments on this thread and several other sites, I've seen plenty of comments saying nothing happened to their Wii rather than the opposite.

Thus I stand by my statement. This story has been overblown, and the title of this news piece didn't help at all.

@citizen_zane: I can't remember the source of the story, but I believe some people have had their Wii repaired and got it back with downloads and saves intact. I hope you are eventually one of them .

@wanderlustwarrior: So you would like them to go around to each individual Wii owner and just ask them whether they're using the Homebrew channel to pirate games, would you?

Get some sense; are you 8 or something?