Reminder: The Splatoon Summer Testfire Demo is Now Live

I might give it a try

You should! I was skeptical about it at first (shooters aren't typically my thing), but it's been one of my most played wii U games!

Obligatory Smash-Splat pic.

Nintendo has been promoting Splatoon for over a year, yet this bundle was on shelves for only a couple of days. Plus, there is over $100 worth of DLC for Smash. Plus, both of these games promote and work with amiino, so that's more money for Nintendo. They made such a great bundle and box for Wii U, then quickly pulled it. An outsider would call it sabotage of Wii U sales. That, coupled with no price cut for 3 yesrs, and all the 3DS focused marketing. Nintendo gas only themselves to blame.

Doesn't bode well for NX for Nintendo learning from their mistakes, they are very good at making new ones.

This rare occasions, when Europe has better than North America. And of course I have Splatoon for about a year and played over 300 hours, so...

But maybe someone, somewhere will download this demo and see how superb this game is.

@rjejr A Wii U bundle without the GamePad that costs $199 (with extra GamePads sold separately) seems smart to me as there is no game I can think of where the GamePad is a MUST. If only Nintendo actually made Pokemon Snap 2...

@LegendOfPokemon zombiu, capt toad, star fox, are a couple awesome games that require the gamepad. Zombiu would be terrible if it wasn't for the gamepad. Outside that, in our house, the gamepad is the major reason we have it. Our wii u is literally on more then the tv is. I've never understood why people don't like it.

@Donutman I like the GamePad as well, but it causes the Wii U to cost $300. Your average consumer would buy, say, an Xbox One for around the same price because it has more storage, more power, and more games. Something needs to be done by Nintendo (like the Smash Splat bundle or removing the GamePad) to get consumers to buy it rather than another console. (Although Nintendo says that they're not competing against Sony and Microsoft, there's only one home console market, and it's being dominated by those two. Nintendo should try and change that.)

omg i played a few matches on the demo and i keep destroying the newbies !!! it was so fun lol

I have yet to buy Splatoon, so I gave it a whirl. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but it's just not for me. I don't like shooters and am pretty bad at them, which became very clear when I was killed every couple seconds. My hands are anything but steady as well, so those gyro controls are next to impossible for me to use competently. I really, really want to like this game but every time I get a chance to play, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

@LegendOfPokemon It's 4 years after launch, Wii U should be $199 WITH the Gamepad. No console hardware goes 3 years without a price drop, it just isn't done. Especially not 1 selling this poorly.

I think it's quite clear Wii U should have launched as Wii HD or Wii 2 for $249, promoting NSMBU and Pikmin 3 in HD. (Pikmin 3 really didn't need the Gamepad at launch, it got patched in later.) About 18 months after launch announce Wii U - The Wii 2 Gamepad - at E3 for launch that holiday. Include Nintendo Land in the $89 bundle. Show off SFZ, Spaltoon and SMM.

In case you are one of those "Accessories don't sell, they split the market people" here's a little info - Wii Balance Board at $89 sold over 32 million, that's double Wii U. And they sold that many based on 1 game, Wii Fit and it's sequel Fit U. And considering how well SPaltoon and SMM were both received, I think a $249 Wii 2, reduced to $199 after 2 years to time w/ the $89 Wii 2 Gamepad, would sell much better than Wii U.

I know that's just Monday morning QBing and nobody could have known but in retrospect I think that makes the most sense, sell Wii 2 cheap, get it in homes, release the peripheral when good games are ready to be shown off and sold. Nintnedo Land is not, was not, and never will be a system seller, but SMM and Spaltoon could have been an accessory seller.

@LegendOfPokemon "Although Nintendo says that they're not competing against Sony and Microsoft, there's only one home console market, and it's being dominated by those two. Nintendo should try and change that."

I think Ntineod means what they say, they aren't trying to compete in the "home console" market, Reggie said almost exactly that this morning.

"One of the things that we have to do better when we launch the NX—we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product. We have to do a better job helping people to understand its uniqueness and what that means for the game playing experience."

You don't have to "position" or explain the "uniqueness" of a competing home console product.

"There's no play like" it has no place in the home console market. It's all about playing someplace.

it won't let me join any servers yet it says its still undergoing
maintenance

@rjejr You should go work for Nintendo! 😛
But the company should at least tell us about the NX sooner than later in order to communicate it's positioning in the market. It's been almost a year and a half; even if it's going to be revealed soon, Nintendo needs to announce when (and where if at an event) in order to reassure and communicate to its consumers.

@FullyBurrito420 You can only play from 3-5 PST through Sunday 8/28; it's unfortunately not available to play all the time. 😔

@Donutman It's new, different and exciting, so for many it's strange and scary.

@TheBigK You can still use the sticks instead of tilt aiming.

@LegendOfPokemon "tell us"

We should organize a flash mob outside of Ninteod HQ in Seattle holding up a big sign that says that and only that "tell us". I think it's self explanatory.

As much as I hate Reggie, well maybe hate is a big strong, strongly dislike, reading that article I feel like even he knows they should have shown it at E3. At last years E3 n 2015 when he said in the NDE - "We'll tell you more about NX next year." even he probably assumed E3 next year. Though he probably also assumed NX wold be out for the holidays in 2016.

Makes me wonder if they had a timeline for announcing NX exactly 3 months before launch, at E3 2016 for holiday 2016, then when they delayed it to March (for whatever reason, hardware or software delays, doens't matter) they kept the idea of having the reveal 3 exactly months before launch, even if that means mid-Dec when everyone is buying Xboxen and PS4 variants.

As crazy as that seems, a pre-launch timeline like that - month 1 announce hardware, month 2 show games, month 3 advertise - kind of makes sense in explaining the unveil delay. Nintneod Japan might be rigid enough to stick to such a timeline, while westernized Reggie may hate the idea.

All guesswork, I have zero knowledge. I just want to know. More about the games than the hardware at this point. Though cost would help. How much do I spend on Christmas presents if I have to buy an NX in March? Do I save $200, $300, $400? March is such a nutty time to launch, at least tell us how much to save while Christmas shopping. Sony will tell us how much Neo and Slim cost on Sept 7th, Nintendo needs to get a move on.

http://www.vg247.com/2016/08/22/ps4-slim-ps4-neo-playstation-meeting/

That game is such a rental. Yeah it's fun, but it'll be close to worthless when the servers go down.

I tried it, and I had loads of fun. But it's not a game I would value at it's current price. It's just not something I would play long term. Maybe if they make it a Nintendo Select I would throw $20 at it.

If it had local splitscreen (i.e. Mario Kart) I would spend more, but as others mentioned there are server concerns and end of life to be wary of.

@Captain_Gonru I had that timeline discussion w/ my wife and decided 3 months was a bit too snarky on my part, but if they had planned for a November launch (thats my story and I'm sticking with it, b/c only a complete and utter moron would PLAN a console release in March) then they may have had a 6 month plan. Show the hardware in May, games in June at E3, spend 4 months playing stuff up. Launch delay from Nov to March means announcement delay from May until September and they still keep that same 6 month timeline. Maybe they figure 6 months is enough?

Too bad Iwata said NX a full 2 years before March 2017, and Reggie said it 21 months before at E3. That's too long, just way too long. Most people think MS spoke to soon about Scorpio and that's only 18 months out.

@LegendOfPokemon No Mario Maker, and Splatoon would be terrible without the motion controls and onscreen map. The Miiverse would be barely usable to the point of why even include the feature at all. At that point, why even get a Nintendo, when everyone else makes systems like that.

@NintendoThumb Yeah, the Wii U would be pretty terrible without the GamePad. It's also ridiculous that the Pro Controller doesn't have motion control. And since the NX will probably be Nintendo's core focus for games, I would be surprised if the Wii U didn't receive a price drop around its launch.