@P-Gamer-C
I think a better question would be why bother using GDDR5 over DDR3. Yes, its faster but then only GPUs actually use it due to the cost, so why the unnecessary expense?

The PS4 uses an APU so the only thing I can think of is maybe the rumors that they're cross-firing the integrated GPU with a dedicated one is true, in that case it makes sense to use GDDR5 knowing the APU would be using a few GBs. Of course thats assuming their not just useing the integrated GPU by itself.

As for Mattrick's statement, you could say the same thing about their view on things.

I defenitiely won't refrain from buying a console just because it lacks backwards-compatibility, but I certainly use it a heck of a lot. I like the fact that I can play a good chunk of my game library just between my PS2, Wii, and 3DS despite still having my old consoles. Too bad they removed PS2 compatibility from the PS3.

A Monster Hunter fighting game would actually be a pretty cool take on the genre, you don't see these sort of games very often anymore.

I'm glad they're not canning the series, but you gotta wonder how much of the problem is lack of interest and how much is lack of awareness. Most people didn't really know about the series until SSBM featured Marth and Roy, and the series just sort of crept up on us.

I just find it odd that the series just started selling all of a sudden after they finally advertised the heck out of it after all these years.

@Melkaticox
Your right, they aren't actually canon to the games (not counting yellow version) but I'm not saying they are.

you asked-
"Why do people keep mentioning the anime/movies/manga as if they were related to the games at all?"

I was simply pointing out that they are in fact related, just not story-wise. Even Satoshi Tajiri himself has stated the manga is the most accurate depiction of the world he imagined and its been hinted that the anime would have been closer to how the manga is if if they weren't pressured into making it more broadly appealing (i.e child/family friendly).

@Melkaticox
The manga is actually based very closely on Satoshi Tajiri's original vision of the series, so its probably the most accurate representation out there.

The anime is like the more "child friendly" version of it and aside from a few creative liberties it sticks to the source material pretty well. Theres actually a good chance the anime would have been much closer to the manga if they weren't pressured into changing it (and thus the manga was born).

I really enjoyed this game, its easily my favorite spin-off since the mystery dungeon games. I'm actually still slowly working my way through it too and according to my 3DS's activity log its my most played game so far.

A sequel would be a welcome addition to the 3DS's library.

I think some balance between the data and physical size theories seems about right. Things like how pokemon centers work, storage, and transport seem fairly consistant and the data theory would explain them, but that doesn't explain how Pokemon seem to be aware of whats going on outside their pokeball.

What I find weird about the whole thing is what happens to the actual pokeball during all this, being a solid object that changes size and can be stored on a PC.

Considering Jeremy Pope is a former Rockstar employee one could say he actually has the experience to backup his stance on violence in the industry.

I would be very surprised if all three consoles didn't suffer from a slow start this time around. The odds are certainly stacked against them between the rising mobile market and the bad economy causing people to be tight with their money and seek cheaper forms of entertainment.

The problem isn't stupidity, too much help available, or even that games today are too easy, the problem is that kids these days give up way to easily. I understand not wanting to be stuck for hours on one small part but the moment they get stuck they give up.

I don't expect anyone to pull the solution out of thin air but if I can teach myself to cook surely they can solve some basic puzzels in a video game.

Looking good, as far as I'm concerned they can take their time bringing it over though. It hasn't been all that long since the rest of the world got MH3U so theres no rush.

@Fafulec
Do you even know what an early PS1 game looks like?

This doesn't look any worse than earlier games in the series, which isn't that bad considering the size and scale they seem to be going for.

Assuming its a fully functional smartphone, then yea, I'd be interested. But then I don't know if I would trust Nintendo to not find a way to screw things up given their track record of trying to "simplify" things and keep things family friendly if left to their own devices.

I've always liked Tom Nook, sure he may seem greedy at first but then who in their right mind would give you a free house? The tanuki knows that his services are beneficial to you while remaining profitable to him, it may be shrewd but he goes to great lenghts to make things work for both sides which shows he cares about the customer.

Besides, as the saying goes give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Tome Nook doesn't just saddle you with a loan and part-time job, he teaches you the ropes.

Really looking forward to this, the banjoe series makes up two of my favorite game soundtracks and I honestly can't get enough of the opening tune and Spiral Mountain theme. The only thing that could make this better is finding a good deal on the games themselves.

@StarDust
I think a big part of it is that those consoles are outdated and no longer supported and to most people hacking=piracy (or leads to it) so its automatically bad. Its an uderstandable concern and to be fair the big three share a similar point of view.

I like seeing what sort of things the community can do and as long as we can benefit without harming the company I don't see a problem with it.

The only way I can see this being true is that since the world is becoming increasingly reliant on the internet people already familar with it will have an upper hand, in the same manner that skills gained from the technical side of PC gaming can be beneficial.

Otherwise, I wouldn't consider taking survays or the like an actual "skill".

I actually really like that design, too bad it has a snowball's chance of making it out of Japan since its a limited release.

Still have the cart but its still nice to see this game get a release. Hopefully HM3 sees a release someday too, its easily the best of the 3 GBC games.

To add to @Burning_Spear's list of good starting points in the series, Animal Parade would also be a good choice for a more recent/modern Harvest Moon. The game has a pretty good balance between content, story, and modern gameplay/features without impeding progress much at all.

I think the age of technology combined with a poor economy is slowly taking its toll. People no longer need to rely on consoles to get good games and a blockbuster budget is no longer an indication of quality. Why "upgrade" to another $400+ console when budget (off the shelf) PCs, mobile devices, and handhelds can also offer comparable experiences at a fraction of the cost?

I'm really interested to see how things go but as of now I'm not very excited for next gen barring Nintendo. I'm not looking forward to more of the same bull and I'm definitely not looking forward to paying upwards of $400 for more of the same but prettier. There are plenty of games I've been wanting to play still anyway.

I understand where their coming from but it just doesn't sit right with me that they're just now complaining about the Ace Attorney games not selling and yet we have companies like XSEED and Atlus that actually make a living out of taking a chance on games nobody else would.

If long term support is the problem why not do a limited print at first and see how things go from there? I keep getting the feeling these bigger companies are just so used to big AAA games now that they don't know how to handle anything else.

The other thing I don't get is why does anyone care if somebody else has a problem with it? If a restaurant did something to offend you or something you don't agree with would you keep coming back without question?

I wouldn't call it the best console ever quite yet, but its really come into its own and definitely has a lot of potential. Sure it has its flaws but then so does every platform.

I wouldn't put too kuch stock into what the tabloids have to say but the more good publicity Nintendo gets the better.

@FOURSIDE_BOY
Your aware that while Game Freak seems adament about keeping the main series games on handhelds, it was actually Genius Sonority who developed those for Nintendo right? We may not see another but they did well enough that colosseum got a sequel so I wouldn't exactly call them failures.

At this point handhelds are getting powerful enough that they won't need consoles for 3D Pokemon games anymore, and X & Y are proof. I'd actually be interesting to see weather or not a colloseum/XD sequel would do much better as a handheld game.

Looks like @sweetiepiejonus beat me to it.;P

Most people see things done differently in other countries and find it completely backwards, its all based on perspective and what people are used to. Not that it can't be confusing for them too.

@Koto
Yea, I certainly wouldn't expect a story on par with Shakespeare either but then the series really doesn't need it. Just look at games that are similar to Monster Hunter such as Phantasy Star Universe that manage to have a decent story while keeping the gameplay at the forefront.

As long as they keep going in the direction they went with MH3 and curb the feeling of deja vu a little bit tehy should be fine. My problem wasn't with the writing I actually thought they did a good job with that, my problem was that most of the missions were exactly the same as well. Again its understandable but they could have at least switched some of the missions around and not reserve most of the new monsters for the later part of the game.

@Koto
Wouldn't exactly call it random but I found the thread and as it turns out the way I remembered it and the way the conversation went don't quite match up. Either I got the conversations from two separate discussions on the same topic mixed up or the lenght of time between now and then screwed with my memory....oops. Turns out your probably right.

Your right about the time constraints being a problem, I had forgotten that MH3U was made along side MH4. However thats why I said its something they could improve upon going forward, MH3U's story was fine as is but if they want to improve the franchise's story telling thats something to work on.

@Koto
Soneon brought it up in a news article on Neoseeker thats why I said "from what I've heard", I apologize if I came off sounding like I had some sirt of insider knowledge. Unfortunately I can't find the exact article but the comment was made by a former mod of the MH forums. I didn't mean that it wouldn't be expensive only that it might not be quite as costly as making a game from scratch. Things like the damage formula likely wouldn't need to be entirely redone

I'm well aware of how the usual pattern of releases goes, my point was that they could put a little more effort into making them feel different. Using your example even the third Pokemon games and remakes did a better job of mixing things up. I'm not suggesing a complettely new story just enough changes so that it doesn't feel like you bought exact same game you already put 500+ hours into.

I'll have to keep an eye out for Syntertainment then. I just really like the way Will Wright thinks, people like him and Miyamoto are the guys I respect most within the industry.

I've been slowly working my way through the book on Spore (if you saw it, you'd know why) and its actually really interesting, he goes on about adapting the wonder and awe of the universe and how evolution works into a game and does so in great detail.

@Koto
From what I hear that game is basically Hunter Blade reworked using CryEngine3, so its probably not as costly as you'd otherwise assume. Kinda funny when you think about it, a reskinned Monster Hunter knock-off being made into a true addition to the series.

I think one thing they need to work on is not making Monster Hunter games carbon-copies of the previous one story-wise. I loved MH3U but it was a bit annoying how few changes there were to the story from MH3, it was fun seeing the little changes yet at the same time rather disheartening.

I partially agree with the first quote, Nintendo does seem to more often than not gimp their consoles' features in some way if for no other reason than only to do things differently. Things like console tied purchases shouldn't be a thing, an account system should have been the base of their online model and they had over five years to work things out.

Otherwise I think what Nintendo does is a good thing. They're one of the few companies left these days who seem to remember their roots and all that is good about the video game industry. They're not perfect but I wouldn't say being "tone deaf" is such a bad thing given how awful some of these trends are.

They sure don't make games like they used to, thats for sure. I'd be nice if many of the classics made a comeback even if its just as small downloadable titles.

@TimLatshaw
I see what you did there.

The zebra turkeyfish one was my favorite, pretty clever I think.

Violent games didn't have anything more to do with this than being a catalyst for the argument, this kid obviously already had anger management issues or some other mental health problems. Given the situation the parents have far bigger problems than their son playing violent video games, you've gotta wonder how many red flags have to go off before someone realises somethings wrong.

@Ballordie01
Satoshi Tajiri did indeed create the series but I think Nintendo bought the rights to the series, so just like Capcom kept the rights to Megaman when Keiji Inafune left the same will likely happen with Pokemon.

It all depends on the agreements made between the two but I doubt anything will come between them since both sides pretty much have it made at this point, Pokemon is one of Nintendo's biggest franchises and from what I've heard Game Freak pretty much gets to do their own thing.

@C7_
I doubt that has anything to do with it. A big part of the series is connecting and sharing with others, and they prpbably know most people will be expecting (or demanding) multiplayer to work with them.

Not surprised by this at all. Not just because there would be a lot of people new to the series wanting to play the previous games but also because they're still lots of fun. I still replay them myself infact I recently restarted Emerald and Gale of Darkness again.

Thanks for being honest about it guys, it makes the site more enjoyable for everyone and says a lot about where your priorities lie.

@StarDust
As many fond memories as I have of the original game the fact that its the first really shows, it was also originally an N64 game so theres that. The series is all about doing your own thing so its kinda like Harvest Moon but without the pressure of having to get things done.

Not trying to convince you to like it all I'm saying is the first game might not be a good starting point anymore, its like judging the current Pokemon games after starting with red and blue/green.

I understand Nintendo's side to some extent, after all they're known as a familty-friendly company and need to uphold certain standards to remain as such but there comes a point where enough is enough. For some reason this industry can't seem to hold itself accountable and has no clue how to handle public perception. A lot of peoples' problems with these "issues" stems from the pressures of society. We're taught from a young age that these things are wrong and shameful, they're not treated as just another fact of life.

Now I personnaly don't have a problem with these sort of touchy subjects when handled tastfully and not used simply to appear "edgy" or controversal. Its embarrassing enough to see a scene pop up that could be taken out of context by someone who has know idea whats going on but its even worse when the developers or publishers treat it like a joke themselves. Take Team Ninja for example, Dead or Alive is an otherwise great franchise but its just down right embarrassing hearing them brag about state of the art "boob physics" in their games let alone actually being known for such a thing.

@Heatbombastic
Well actually they probably could, but....ew.
This would be really interesting if used right but it would be a lot better off built into the controller.

@retro_player_22 You sound like your actually happy that those failed.

Wow, talk about nit picking. You'd think someone that knows enough to name his pub after that phrase would realize how rediculous this is, but guess not. You'd have to be pretty full of it to think there would be any brand confusion here.

@HeatBombastic Just out of curiosity, do you watch ReviewTechUSA?
I actually agree with you for the most part, I can see mobile devices becoming an all in one device in the future as you said, but I just don't think it'll kill tradtional gaming. I believe that console and PC gaming will just revert to an enthusiast market, and in the case of home consoles the term "console" will simply refer to your dedicated home entertainment device.

Battery life is also a big concern, unless battery technology improves substancially in the next 4-5 years mobile devices aren't going to be a viable replacement for dedicated gaming devices while also serving as your phone, music player, and everything else. All those functions will also constantly get in the way of each other if your phone is your primary device for everything, at which point you might as well use a dedicated device and let your phone be a phone.

Ita a pretty interesting article, but it doesn't really have much to do with the affect of video game violence on society. Its rather interesting that the majority of games are either rated E or M and the majority of them don't involve guns, but all it proves is most games involve some form of violence which is already pretty obvious.

If anything this just goes to show that you can't just go by the ratings on the back of the box, the context of it is just as if not more important. After all, if you have concerns about your child not understanding that what happens in Tom&Jerry or Loony Toons isn't real then you have much bigger problems than Saterday morning cartoons.

I swapped the stock 2GB card in my 3DS with the 4GB Sandisk card from my camera, yea it was a cheap solution but the only things I have on my 3DS as of now are a couple demos, MH3U downloads, and a handfull of songs for when I need a quick distraction while I'm out so thats plenty for now.

To me 4GB is the minimun amount of space a handheld should have, any less and it runs out before you know it. If anything Nintendo should include a bigger card in the bundles since they've been selling them with the games pre-installed, not only to make up for the space taken up but to drive home the idea that its all set and ready to go digital right out of the box.

@steamhare
Thats actually a pretty good idea as long as they keep the fees low and have some free ones now and then. As long as they keep the paid stuff completely optional and benefiticial for both sides I'm ok with it. Actually, I'm rather curious about what Nintendo will come up with for those kinds of price models.

Haven't played this in a long while since my disk was wearing out, but after 500+ hours its sad to see this chapter in the series coming to a close.

The really annoying part of all this isn't just that you can't do the event quests anymore, but that you loose access to all the high-rank quests as well. I know they assume everyone will just move on, but thats still a terrible way to design a game and theres not excuse for it.

This was certainly a pleasant surprise, and I found it a bit tempting despite not being interested in this sort of game. I think the Warioware series is a good way of showing off what the Wii U can do with a bit of creativity.

Probably a bit late, but I like that the title pays homage to the Game&watch series.

@AcesHigh
You took the words right out of my mouth.
The Wii already comes in so many colors that a simple color change wouldn't make much of a difference, people would simply assume its another color variant of the Wii. The name isn't that much of a problem by itself after all the SNES was simply called the Super Nintendo.

I really like how sleek the Wii looks even next to the other consoles but nothing sets the Wii U appart from its predecessor, even Luigi has a distinct appearance despite being a palette swap of his brother. I'm also in favor of it because it makes consoles more fun to collect when they're so different from one another, even the seemingly unimaginative Sony consoles have their own distinct look.

The 3DS has/had similar problems, infact just the other day I had to explain why you can't play 3DS games on a DSi to my aunt but thats more of a problem of video format compatibility than outright hardware confusion (she thought you could forgo the 3D). Unfortunately for the Wii U that was the main problem with the 3DS, along with Nintendo's habit of making handheld revisions.

Boy, Eevee sure has been getting a lot of love lately, not that I'm complaining. I hope they do some sort of fur pattern for it instead of sticking it's face on it though, I think it'd look much nicer that way.

This is easily one of my favorite GBC games, still have the original but this would be a day-1 buy if it were localized. Well, heres hoping it sees the light of day outside Japan.

Since the original DQM games were compatible with one another it'd be neat if they did that with the remakes, but I doubt they would.

There are so many games for the 3DS on the horizon I honestly wouldn't need any other console at this rate, especially with games like Animal Crossing or Monster Hunter.

I'm really hoping to see Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland, Fantasy Life, and Digimon World Re:digitize among others. Theres actually a pretty good chance we'll get MH4, since we usually get the main games in the series.

We don't get classic style 2D Zeldas nearly as much as we used to so its rather refreshing when we do, and this brings back memories of playing Links's Awakening back in the day. That alone has me rather excited.

I think thats a rather ingenious way of making use of their hardware besides your standard console. With karaoke being as big as it is in Japan it makes for great marketing too.

@HeatBombastic @Five-SeveN
Aside from just not taking hold elsewhere I think its because most Americans don't see making a fool of themselves on stage as "proper" or "civilized". For most people its the sort of thing you only do if your already drunk. Its the same reason most people like watching the American Idol try-outs but wouldn't dare do it themselves.