Culdcept Revolt Tops Japanese Charts as Splatoon Bundle Boosts Wii U Sales

Splatoon does it again.

@rjejr
Perhaps the plan is to sell all 800,000 Wii U units in Japan?

Spla2n is a lock with all the success and a particular hit in Japan. You know that team is already deep in development on the NX version(s). Target Holiday 2017? Actual release March 2020?

And 10,000 of those 15k Wii U were traded-in or sold after the amiibo were taken out of the boxes.

I really never understood why they didn't keep the Smash Splat bundle as the base Wii U model. Even if they didn't keep it at $249 those 2 games for $299 is a decent deal. And SSB has over $100 worth of DLC to sell. Mario Kart 8 is over 2 years old now, if people wanted that game and a $299 Wii U they probably have them by now.

@aaronsullivan Don't cross the streams.

I'm glad you have better things to do w/ your life than comment on here - I skipped 2 weeks myself, didn't miss anything as I got back in time for P Go - but it is nicer when you are around.

Have you purchased the Dory playset for DI? I want it, and it's on Amazon for $20, but I spent over $500 on Amazon yesterday, maybe closer to $600 I lost track, so will hold off for now. Kids did finally buy Lego D for $49.99. Did you skip that one? I already accused Spoony_Tech of playing DI but he scolded me as they are a Skyladners family. I know you are DI. Somebody must play Lego D. (We were holding out for Lego D on PS4, which may be a Chirstams gift now, but 4 player is 3 more controllers than I'm planning on getting for PS4, so Wii U won out. $30 off $150 on my Visa card didn't hurt.)

"Target Holiday 2017? Actual release March 2020? "

Hey don't steal my shtick. I'll say Spal2oon May 2018 - May worked for the first - and they actually make that one. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. How will it play though if NX doesn't have a 2nd screen? I'll have to take that up w/ @ThanosReXXX Maybe Spla2oon will be the first game to require the separate Gamepad, I mean NX controller tablet, or NX Away. We could get a Spaltoon port for NX holiday 2017 if the Wii U Gamepad works w/ NX and they sell in separately. In which case Mahe will finally be right.

Terrible software sales all around this week. Wii U sales up over 300% because of a simple bundle, it's like Nintendo hasn't even been making an effort to soften the blow of this failed console. Why not do this more often?

@Grumblevolcano I think you mean Splat Tim does it again

@rjejr Yeah, pull me back in, why don't you?
Wouldn't want to interrupt your bromance with @aaronsullivan...

"don't cross the streams"
The last time I heard somebody say that, was during a restroom visit in a pub with some friends...

As for Spla2oon: will probably work with a special controller/mobile phone or whatever, or simply with pro controller v2, since that is also an option for the current Splatoon game on Wii U, so second screen isn't really necessary per se, except maybe for the people that have gotten used to and prefer GamePad controls.

@ThanosReXXX But the Pro controller doens't really work w/ Spaltoon, you need the Gamepad touchscreen to do super jumps, you're dead in the water w/ the Pro. And I don't think people would want to play Spaltoon w/ ONLY touch controls either, they would need that tablet w/ the Circle Pad Pro, whatever they call it - "NX Tablet Controller Pro". Though the tablet should sell w/ it, so maybe the NX Away is the tablet, there's just no mobile device to play Pokemon Go or Miitomo. Though I suppose they could port them to the NX OS for tablet play, may ultimately be the way to go. I woudln't really consider it a true "tablet mobile device" w/o Google Play or Apple iOS App Store, but it could still be a tablet like Amazon w/ it's own ecosystem I suppose, as long as it gets Candy Crush. (How long until real NX news?)

Now they could make Spalton like every other 3rd person shooter currnetly on the market and ditch the superjump, but then why not just play PvZ:GW? I think Spla2oon needs both the gyro controls and the touchscreen, or else it isn't Spaltoon.

Oh, and I always say "dont' cross the streams" whey somebody replies to one of my comments in another thread. That 800,000 number was from the San Diego comic-con comment I had just posted over there.

@rjejr And that's why I said "will probably work with a special controller/mobile phone or whatever, or simply with pro controller v2" more like as an additional option than as the main means of control.

And I got the Ghostbusters reference, but I just decided to add a little twist...

What might have been for Wii U in Japan at least had Splatoon and a corresponding bundle arrived earlier.

@ThanosReXXX I knew you got the Ghostbusters part, who wouldn't?, but I didn't know if you got my use of it for replies to one pos tin another article, that's the part I was explaining.

Too bad Gamefreak wasn't making a Pokemon NX exclusive, we'd know all about NX by now. S&M on 3DS family just prolongs the wait.

Nice to see splatoon boosting sales(maybe it could reach no1 spot again!)

@rjejr Yes I did, should have elaborated on that, but I forgot that part. I was also in another discussion with Yorumi so I'm kind of distracted.

Talking about this little gizmo that is right now back in the spotlight again because a consumer version is almost ready for production:
https://www.magicleap.com/#/home
Let the videos on the homepage run, there are four in total. The cool thing is that all footage is captured through the actual device itself, rather than a green screen representation of the technology, so this is what you would actually see.

Now besides the examples given, imagine playing Pokémon GO with that instead of just seeing them within the smaller frame of your smart phone...

I'm glad Culdcept did well this week. I'm still hoping for a western release.

Splatoon is the miracle of the 8th gen.

@ThanosReXXX I remember that elephant pic, isn't it like 2 or 3 years old now? I assume Hololens will destroy it. And I think there were 5 videos, the 5th 1 had 11 planets.

As for the rest of your comment:

@rjejr "I assume HoloLens will destroy it"
You assume too much, my friend. It won't: HoloLens is only meant for inside the house, with a console or PC, whereas Magic Leap is a wearable that can be used anywhere, anytime, (like Google Glass will be: they are also hard at work on an improved version that will be released, contrary to the first model, that never got out of concept stage) so there's a HUGE difference both in target audience and reach.

And yes, that "pic" of the elephant (it's a movie clip, which is why I said click the link and let the page run the demo) is from when they started this campaign, but they've moved on now. Still looks great, though. And what about that whale in the school's gym?

Nobody's telling me that it's not cool to see that with an entire audience...

Sorry to say that I'm missing the point of the image in relation to me saying "imagine playing Pokémon GO" with the Magic Leap glasses.

Good for Wii U and Splatoon! (But why is Nintendo ending Splatfests if it's still selling decently? Less people will want it if it has less features. Right?)

@ThanosReXXX "You assume too much, my friend."

Apparently I'm not the only one.

"HoloLens is only meant for inside the house, with a console or PC"

https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us/hardware

It may not be meant to be used outside, but it probably can be as it's self contained and wireless, doesn't even need WiFi.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/hololens-release-date-news-and-price

"However, the HoloLens is "fully wireless", which is something that Microsoft is keen to stress. There's no wires and no PC tethering required."

@rjejr Funilly enough, they're not even able to demonstrate any unit without wires or tethers, whereas Magic Leap already has.

But I suppose that Microsoft will be able to fix that soon enough.

So, I guess I was wrong then, my bad. All I've ever seen from HoloLens was demos inside buildings and always connected to other units and wires, which is why I made the distinction between that and Google Glass/Magic Leap, since these have been advertised as "go anywhere" devices from day one.

I do have to say that from a personal preference point of view, I'd rather wear a Magic Leap or even a Google Glass, since these are designed to look more like normal glasses, whereas HoloLens will make us look like a modern day Geordi LaForge from Star Trek TNG.

Which is why I would still use it inside my house only, unless it catches on like Pokémon GO! and we will all be walking outside with our AR helmets, so I won't be the only one looking like a total nerd...

Of note, the top 5 games are for Nintendo consoles. And also 11 out of 20.

Maybe a Pokemon Go side effect?

@ThanosReXXX Only a matter of item before we all look like Locutus. Resistance is ...

Gotta get the squid sisters amiibo.

@rjejr Forgot I had Nintendo Life reply-emails siphoned off into a folder.

We haven't gotten the Dory play set. If you do, let me know what you think. The problem with DI is that there was a feeling of continual potential that added value. My son especially will just open up the Toy Box regularly and try stuff out. Now that the cut-off of all things new is done, well, the proposition of using those characters in new ways is gone. Maybe we should do the Marvel Battlegrounds thing because the Marvel figurines are the only ones I regret.

The worst part is that the trajectory for quality was going way up. I felt like it was finally coming into its own in DI 3.0. The play sets were shorter but better overall (like the original sets) and the features were smoothing out into something much nicer overall.

I'm not too bothered about the whole cancelling of it except Hera from Rebels was coming and I was still holding out hope for a Star Wars Rebels play set. (Seen that yet? We like it) It still feels shortsighted from a business perspective. I'm almost more bothered about that! I mean, this is Disney! If they can't afford to keep it going even losing a bit of money but counting it as advertising, I'm not sure who can.

On Spla2oon (I guess that spelling works better) that's a good prediction. The earlier the better though. That game still has "street cred" (which I just lost by using that phrase I think). I think you are right that Summer is the best time to release it. The theme fits and it apparently worked to keep updating it over the Summer. For Marketing it's quite an unusual win, right? Can't think of any Summer releases to count on except for the Steam sales.

Will Nintendo still promise it for Holiday 2017 though? I wonder if Nintendo has stats on the single player in Splatoon. It was really way better than I expected and could easily be expanded, but maybe the percentage of players who played through it or care is so low that they won't bother in the sequel. If that's the case the game can release earlier. Personally, I'd love to see it have a more extensive "adventure" mode with co-op options.

@aaronsullivan I really liked the single player in Spaltoon, but I can easily see them not wasting time on it in Spla2oon. Same for offline multiplayer, what a joke. I would like to see them integrate more of those obstacles into multiplayer though - invisible walls for sure, fountains, sponges. I know the last few levels I never got around to playing had some movement, but too little to late for me. I think they'll just focus on the online multiplayer and be done w/ it. Voice chat?

If we ever get Dory I'll let ya know. We saw Home in theaters yesterday an dit would have made a nice DI level. Not that it could being Dreamworks, but I agree w/ you, if Disney can't make it work, who can? I wouldn't be surprised if this is Skylanders last year unless it has a big turnaround. So far the "Spore" creation tool isn't motivating us all that much. LEgo Dimensions it is.