Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Noble_Haltmann I mean... it might mean they are about to make an announcement. It's a little odd they suddenly stuck it up considering it is such a looked forward to game and it hasn't been in any discussions or announcements lately. It's just also possible that it got stuck up by default after some ESRB process finished. So... maybe either we hear something soon ish or else we assume this gave us zero information? 😅

To be fair, Silksong was featured in an Xbox presentation early last year with the implication its release was expected in 2023. I imagine it's not far out at all

@PikaPhantom If I remember correctly it was also announced as day one for Game Pass too, so I guess less likely to be a shadow drop - they usually get announced at least a couple of weeks in advance

I've gotta be honest, I beat Hollow Knight (not the best ending, admittedly), and I still don't see what's so great about it. I'd take a Metroid game or the new Prince of Persia any day if I wanted to play a game like that. Maybe it's just a bit too "hardcore" for me lol

We’re past 3pm UK time on Wednesday and no announcement so no Directs this week. As for the whole Silksong thing, I’m leaning towards April 10th shadow drop via general Direct. The Game Pass batch announcements every 2 weeks aren’t always the full list. Sometimes events add in more and the current batch has a Game Pass release every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday except the 10th.

While Team Cherry are an indie studio, I feel that Silksong is so anticipated that the game appearing in Indie World would overshadow everything else so if announcement is in a Nintendo event it would be more likely to be general Direct.

@Grumblevolcano It's not very often we get a Direct during a UK Easter holiday (well mine anyway!)

We'll probably know if there's a direct next week within the next few days via Pyoro.

I predict there will be a direct before the end of the year.

And I’ve never been wrong with a Nintendo prediction yet.

I'm burnt out on Nintendo rumors - were they floating around that we'd have a direct this week? I'm at the point where I'll be pleasantly surprised if we hear anything before September.

If we're getting a Nintendo Direct this month I think it'll be a Mini at best that announces a handful of remakes/remasters. We're probably not going to get much until they're ready to reveal the Switch 2, and if that's expected to be a March 2025 launch I don't think it's getting revealed anytime soon. Rumors are saying a June reveal, that might even be optimistic. Remember that the Switch wasn't revealed until October, we might be waiting until the Fall to fully lift the lid on this thing. We could be sitting on next to nothing for the next 6 MONTHS.

@GrailUK Wouldn’t have made much sense to be this week given the 3DS/Wii U online shutdown. That’s another reason why I predicted the 10th, Nintendo probably want people to forget about the shutdown so having a big general Direct after the shutdown with software people beg for every time a Direct happens like Silksong and Prime 4 would help keep the focus on Switch rather than the shutdown.

@Grumblevolcano I know Youtube is a bit of an echo chamber but why do folk say it's "a weird year" or "a transitional year" or even "a quiet year"?

Despite every channel and their gran saying we don't know anything about Nintendo's plans, they have a game a month till June! How is that weird or quiet lol.

This month has no title and I would put money on something being shadow dropped. If that needs a Direct, I wouldn't say no of course. Love em. But if folk are expecting announcements for the back half of the year, I fear it's a little too early.

I think most channels are just burnt out from expecting new hardware and the rumoured delay of the rumoured console has probably bummed them out to the point of being indifferent to the Switch line up lol. Coz, hey, they have to grift a bit harder for views. God forbid they get excited about titles this late on in the console's life! I don't remember many people wishing Panzer Dragoon Saga was on new hardware. Switch will have a couple more gems right up to Switch 2.

As for timing with the shutdown. I think they'll just be as quiet about it as possible lol. Less said the better.

@GrailUK It's because they're mainly coasting on remakes/remasters and don't have much in the way of big new entries for AAA IPs. People are waiting for games like Prime 4, the next big 3D Mario, the next big DK game, the next big Mario Kart, etc. Not a whiff of any announcements of that caliber officially announced from Nintendo. There is an element of people get sick of talking about the same things over and over, but that's more because it's been almost entirely all rumors and no confirmations. That's why people are burnt out waiting.

@Bolt_Strike 'Coasting' is so dismissive. Metroid Prime looked like loads of love and attention went into it. Same goes for Thousand Year Door. I guess certain channels need to look fresh and up to date to compete (hence going multiplatform lol!) There will be a AAA title this year, but it's not going to be released in summer lol. But whatever it is, I'm already not looking forward to 'why didn't they save it for Switch 2!?' So, Nintendo aren't going to win either way. Remakes is sensible. Because anything new is going to get Youtubers day dreaming what it would be like with ray tracing, or in 4K. And opportunistic emulators will get publicity because they can do it. Armchair analysts will be wondering if we should hold out for a Switch 2 version. Etc etc. It's all too obvious lol. I dunno, I guess I don't make videos (I'm reluctant to call regurgitating the internet content) I just see things a bit more...chill.

@Bolt_Strike
"People are waiting for games like Prime 4, the next big 3D Mario, the next big DK game, the next big Mario Kart, etc."

I think I'm not since I prefer 3rd party games than 1st party Nintendo games.
And I prefer the non popular / underrated games.

@GrailUK I think it’s the side effect of Nintendo announcing some games too early in advance and then all of them except Prime 4 having been released.

• Pikmin 4 - Announced September 2015, released July 2023
• Fire Emblem Three Houses - Announced in January 2017 (as untitled new Fire Emblem), released July 2019
• Metroid Prime 4 - Announced June 2017, release TBA
• Pokemon Sword/Shield - Announced June 2017 (as untitled core Pokemon RPG for Switch), released November 2019
• Yoshi’s Crafted World - Announced June 2017 (as untitled Yoshi game), released March 2019
• Bayonetta 3 - Announced December 2017, released October 2022
• Animal Crossing New Horizons - Announced September 2018 (as untitled new Animal Crossing), released March 2020
• TotK - Announced June 2019 (as sequel to BotW), released May 2023
• Splatoon 3 - Announced February 2021, released September 2022

People get really used to the far out announcements and see the absence of them as a sign of the end. Same thing happened last year before the June Direct about post-TotK lineup and the same is happening with PS5 (a system that’s only 3.5 years old).

@Grumblevolcano True enough i reckon. It's quite normal for a console to lean heavily on third party in it's twilight years. And I guess that would make another Partner Showcase a possibility (with another Nintendo game announced - whatever Namco is working on?) Nintendo being so prolific is a small wonder I think. When do they get time to make anything for their new system lol. Releasing a Windwaker port nearer the holidays could be announced later on in the year (for example)

The problem with remakes and remasters is that it's an experience that these types of hardcore internet fans have already played before. It's not going to be as entertaining the second time around. That's why remakes are often seen as "lesser" releases.

Metroid Prime Remastered, I think that game is overrated actually. It LOOKS improved yes, but it's the same content we had in 2002 with a new coat of paint. No content improvements, in terms of gameplay experience it's practically a 1:1 port and that was highly disappointing (doubly so when the 2D remakes have set a higher standard, the likes of Zero Mission and Samus Returns have improved FAR more than graphics from the original experience and I wanted to see Prime get a similar treatment). Thousand Year Door I'm not as familiar with admittedly but it doesn't really stand out to be as noticeably better.

Overall though, remakes generally won't be as exciting to people that have already played the original. When you know what to expect, it's less fun. Maybe for some of the bolder reimagining types of remakes, like FFVII, Pokemon HGSS/ORS, or the aforementioned Zero Mission/Samus Returns it's a bit more exciting, but in general most of them have come off like (it's not exactly like this from the developer side, but this is how it feels from the consumer side) they just copy/paste the original and turn up a graphics slider and that makes them unexciting.

It's usually revealed by February though. This year we didn't get a full February Direct and again they've just been coasting on smaller games that they announced back in September with no further 1st party games announced (the only thing remotely resembling such an announcement is an outsourced Endless Ocean game, but Endless Ocean is far too niche an IP to get the majority of the Nintendo fanbase excited). In a typical year we don't go this long with them announcing this little, so I'm NOT actually certain there's going to be a AAA title released this year. I suppose it's still possible, but they typically don't wait until June to reveal one anymore, it's usually February now.

Well that's always the dilemma in a console transition and this period of the console life cycle is never fun yeah. But I think the rumored delay is what's really making this especially not fun. As I said we didn't get our typical February Direct this year, which already kind of throws people into a tizzy. But the notion of next gen being imminent made that easier to swallow, especially when everyone thought the announcement could be as early as March. But then that rumored delay, that's just made the situation so much more painful. Since now that means we're likely enduring several months of silence.

As for the Youtuber/content creator side of things, well, they need constant engagement to keep their metrics up and make their money. So they can't just stay silent for 3-6 months like Nintendo is right now, if Nintendo isn't giving them anything to work with they just have to try and make something out of nothing. They don't really have much choice than to make videos freaking out about nothing or pouncing on rumors that might not be very credible. We shouldn't be very surprised about this kind of phenomenon, Youtube's algorithms and monetization operates in a way that encourages this kind of environment.

This too. Nintendo's been announcing some of the AAA games far in advance and they've stopped at this point so that makes people more concerned about the lineup.

You're probably in the minority, yeah. Most of the sales seem to be more with the 1st party than the 3rd party. Some 3rd party games do well enough on the Switch I think, but the lion's share of the revenue seems to be going towards 1st party.

As for me personally, I'm definitely more towards the 1st party. Nintendo just displays a level of creativity and innovation that other developers rarely even come close to, let alone touch. I play a few third party games here and there, but a good 80-90% of what I play is 1st party so certainly for me it feels like there's a whole lot of nothing going on in the industry right now and I am certainly waiting more for the aforementioned types of games.

@Bolt_Strike I suppose I'm bring selfish. I have a new Monkey Ball game to look forward to!

I'll tell you what would make a nice release for this 'quiet year'(tm), Mother 3 localisation / Collection / remake. Wouldn't detract much from next gen hype and would definately sate Nintendo fans. Come on Switch, you can do it!