Tag: Talking Point - Page 23
Talking Point The Good and Bad Sides of Moderating Miiverse
Big Mario is watching
As we were bombarded with announcements and details about Wii U in the past week, perhaps one feature stood out as something distinctly new in the world of Nintendo: Miiverse. After enduring the lacking online options on Wii for the past six years, Nintendo gamers can look ahead to potential levels of social interaction unknown...
Talking Point Reviewing Nintendo's E3 Press Conference
7/10?
The dust has settled on Nintendo's E3 2012 press conference. Here in the Nintendo Life offices the pizza boxes have been pushed to one side and we've taken a few minutes to collect our thoughts and summarise how we think it went. James Newton, editor: I wouldn't say this was a classic show for Nintendo — a lot of the right components were...
Talking Point Why Gaming Needs E3
A spectacle like no other
It’s the final weekend before E3 2012, and thousands of members of the gaming industry and mainstream press are descending on Los Angeles to attend. It’s amazing that a single convention has risen to such prominence in the gaming calendar, but that’s the status that E3 has earned: while there may be a number of other...
Talking Point Should Zelda Go Episodic?
"Next time on The Legend of Zelda..."
For more than 25 years, The Legend of Zelda series has grapple-hooked the hearts of gamers across the globe. Thanks to the consistent quality of its library of titles, the Zelda brand has generated a worldwide recognition that few games achieve and has become the standard by which all other action-adventure...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend?
Last one before E3
It's that time again, the weekend is upon us. It's been a busy week here at Nintendo Life, so naturally we're planning to unwind for a couple of days with some quality gaming. This will be the last of these features for a few weeks, however, as we'll be busy bringing you all of the content you could ever want for that gaming...
Talking Point DS Games Deserve Digital Distribution on 3DS
Too good to ignore
Not long ago, we brought you a feature on Bargain Bin DS Games, detailing some excellent games available for relatively little money. The response to the article highlighted how many little-known or under-appreciated gems the DS library has, as it seems to have been a platform that encouraged a lot of creativity from developers...
Talking Point What Games Are You Playing This Weekend?
Time for another round
It's Friday, so there's a temptation to quote the lyrics from the worst pop song ever, but instead we're going to get ourselves ready for another gaming weekend. After we first shared our weekend plans with you a few weeks ago, we thought that more members of the team should share the most intimate details of their gaming...
Talking Point Nintendo Should Offer Indie Game Bundles
Competitive download prices for a good cause
We’re just one month away from the 3DS eShop's first anniversary, a busy period that’s seen the service grow and evolve. A modest start, including a slow-burn of actual 3DS exclusives, made way for a vibrant period of service improvements, game demos and, most importantly, some top quality games. The...
Talking Point The Critical Importance of Black Ops 2
CoD always sells
For those of you that follow gaming news beyond Nintendo, one title has been dominating all headlines: Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The Activision behemoth has been everywhere, grabbing attention ahead of a 'global reveal' and then accounting for the bulk of news stories on many multi-platform websites in the aftermath. While it's...
Talking Point Why Skyward Sword Sales Failed to Soar
Sword blunted
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was one of the most anticipated Wii games ever. After years of teasing it finally launched in November 2011, and has so far racked up 3.52 million sales around the world, a decent performance over a five-month period. It's on par with Wii launch title Twilight Princess, which sold 3.27m units between...
Talking Point Does Nintendo Finally 'Get' Digital?
Mario out of thin air
Now that Nintendo’s got the announcement of financial losses out of the way, it can look ahead to plans for the coming year. As expected, follow-up statements to investors revealed some interesting insights into the company’s plans, with the biggest news that Nintendo's 3DS retail games will be available to download later...
Talking Point A Big Year for Nintendo
Time for a transition
Today Nintendo announced its annual financial results, and the big headline is that it made a loss of 43 billion Yen, roughly $529m USD or £327m GBP. While we don't need to fear for the future of the company at this stage due to its significant stockpiles of cash and assets, it’s nevertheless a blow for the big N. The loss...
Talking Point Could AR Games Drive eShop Sales?
Augmenting profit
Nintendo made a big deal of augmented reality at 3DS' launch, but it's all gone a bit quiet on the gaming-on-your-table front aside from scant appearances as extra modes in titles like Kid Icarus: Uprising, or in its various uses in horror games that don't cut it. The 3D overlay technology, through which games and avatars can...
Talking Point What New Super Mario Bros. 2 Means for 3DS and Nintendo
Aside $$$
The biggest news that came out of Nintendo Direct yesterday was the announcement of New Super Mario Bros. 2 for Nintendo 3DS. To say that the revival of 2D Mario has been a gigantic success for Nintendo is somewhat of an understatement; both New Super Mario Bros. on DS and New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold over 25 million copies each worldw
Talking Point What Games Are You Playing This Weekend?
What else are weekends for?
Another busy week has passed, whether you've spent it at work, school, college or somewhere else, and now it's time to sit back and chill out over the weekend. For many of us that means taking some time for gaming, either delving into something new or playing an old favourite. We've taken a quick poll of four members of...
Talking Point Lessons to be Learned from WiiWare and Beamdog
Cool heads should prevail
One news story has been dominant on Nintendo Life since it was posted, attracting a significant number of comments from the community. The news that MDK2 developers Beamdog will never develop for Nintendo again seemed to strike nerves, as strongly worded statements generally do. Writing on Twitter, studio president Trent...
Feature Super Mario on Wii U - Crowd Pleaser or Game Changer?
The plumber's conundrum
The news that Shigeru Miyamoto will show off Super Mario Bros. on Wii U at E3 is more or less confirmation of what we all expected. When 3DS faltered many said Nintendo needed to show the way with a Mario game, and Super Mario 3D Land's Christmas appearance gave the console a big shot in the arm, becoming its first...
Talking Point Is Nintendo Over-Reliant on Super Mario?
Lots of plumbing to do
Back in 1985, no-one could have imagined that a plumber saving a princess from the clutches of an evil turtle king could become one of gaming’s defining moments. Since the release of the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES, Mario has become not only the face of Nintendo, but arguably the face of gaming as a whole. Shigeru...
Talking Point Is Wii U's Power Really That Important?
It's how you use it
One topic's dominated the Wii U news since Nintendo revealed its new console at E3 2011 — just how powerful is it? Nintendo's Wii U technical specifications give the vaguest of nods to its under-the-hood power, just mentioning a multi-core IBM processor — which we know is based on game show-conquering chip Watson — but it...
Talking Point Why Wii U's Image Must Grab Attention
First impressions count
With each passing week we get closer to the arrival of Nintendo’s next home console, Wii U. It’s due by the end of 2012, yet there’s still so much that we don’t know: technical specifications, prices, planned launch games and even the final name. All of these factors will be important to its early success, but...
Talking Point The Inevitability of Digital Retail Games
How will it affect our gaming?
For Nintendo gamers, the video game market is currently a simple, relatively traditional place. If you want to buy a retail title, you hit the high street or visit your online retailer of choice and pick up a box with a disc or game cart inside. Pop that media into your Wii, 3DS or DS and you’re immediately playing...
Talking Point Achievements, Trophies and Wii U
Achievement unlocked?
Back in 2005, Microsoft kick-started the HD console era with Xbox 360, at the time a technical marvel with online capabilities that were one of the jewels in its creamy white, far-too-easily overheating crown. However, while online play, reams of downloadable content (DLC) and a single, unified community were indeed admirable...
Talking Point 3DS Depends on Nintendo Titles for Success
Developers left out of the party
Recent weeks have seen some positive news for Nintendo and 3DS: a truly abysmal launch period has been forgotten by many, as a major price drop and some heavy-hitting titles have resuscitated the device. It’s now exuding respectability after a difficult summer in 2011 when it looked like a flawed idea and,...
Talking Point Wii U and the Future of the Online Pass
'Project $10' and what it could mean
With the number of gamers indulging in online play on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at an all-time high, it’s disheartening sometimes to observe how far Nintendo has been lagging behind, as far as online functionality goes. For those lucky enough to own more than one console, the Wii isn’t exactly the go-to...
Talking Point The Future of Pokémon
Time to evolve onto 3DS
Given that the 3DS console has been on sale worldwide for nearly a year now, the desolate wastes of its almost non-existent software library have finally blossomed into a variety of must-have titles. But there’s one Nintendo property that’s still criminally under-represented on the handheld: Pokémon. The franchise has...
Talking Point NFC and the Latest Wii U Wizardry
Near Field Communication: cooler than it sounds
As you may have noticed, we've seen a flurry of news stories coming out of Nintendo HQ in the past few days. We started with bad news, that Nintendo expects to make a loss in the current financial year, though the news that Wii U will launch in time for Christmas 2012 helped ease the pain. Of course,...
Talking Point Using Glitches - Cheating or Clever Gaming?
Everyone stay calm
This week game cheats have been in the news. We learnt about the origins of the Konami Code and, controversially, that Nintendo has no plans to fix Mario Kart 7’s Maka Waku glitch. All this talk of codes, shortcuts and glitches got us thinking about the morality of these gaming quirks: when is it acceptable to take advantage of...
Talking Point Your Nintendo Christmas Presents
What was in your stocking?
By now you've unwrapped (and probably discarded most of) your Christmas presents and digested your Christmas meal. It's time to talk what you got this year. No, we don't mean the Christmas meal: tell us about your Nintendo Christmas presents. Was Satoru Claus good to you this year? Drop us a comment below and let us know...
Talking Point Why Is It So Hard to Make a Good Christmas Game?
Coal in the stocking
Merry Christmas, everyone! It's that magical time of year again, a time for all of us to indulge in Christmas movies, Christmas music, Christmas TV specials and Christmas video games! Alright, we admit... not so much the last one. But that poses an interesting question: why not? Christmas-themed video games have been around for...
Talking Point Nintendo's Year of Giving
Making Santa look bad
As we approach the Holiday season, it seems appropriate to reflect on the act of giving. Although it’s nice to say that the real pleasure is in giving gifts, 3DS owners can be honest and say that receiving them is also rather enjoyable. Nintendo have provided a lot of free content since the handheld’s launch, in a variety...
Talking Point The Evolution of the 3DS
Learning to walk
On 7th December the latest firmware update arrived on the 3DS, adding new features, functionality and playable content to the handheld. In fact, the system now has a more rounded feel to its functionality, with the current fully updated console boasting significant additions to its original capabilities. We've already put together a...
Talking Point The Overcrowded Holiday Release Schedule
Time for a congestion charge?
There’s a popular analogy that likens the act of waiting for buses to other everyday occurrences in life: around this time every year we’re all inevitably subjected to the same situation as we were last year, and the year before that, and so on. Picture the scene: you’ve endured summer months of crippling boredom,...
Talking Point Nintendo's Plans to Fight Back
Mario’s gloves come off
If we were to summarise Nintendo’s year so far, we’d say that it’s been having a tough time. There have been moments of brilliance that have reaffirmed the faith of loyal gamers, but there have also been a lot of mis-steps, mistakes and bad publicity, some of which has been unjustified. In fact, despite the release of...
Talking Point Should Nintendo Regularly Offer Free Games for Download?
Is continuing in Four Swords' footsteps the answer to the $0.99 download mentality?
As of last week, every DSiWare gamer can download The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition for free. This was originally a full retail title, now with added wireless connectivity, a new single-player mode and bonus levels. Compare that to Super Mario...
Talking Point The Role of the N64 on the 3DS
Classic games for a new audience
It's no secret that Nintendo has been having something of a tough time of it in regards to the 3DS. Since its launch in late March of this year, Nintendo's newest handheld has battled through a significant price drop, a shaky start as far as its online functionality is concerned, complaints about poor battery life...
Talking Point The Most Memorable Nintendo 64 Games
Get N, to the Nintendo Life Poll
It seems like the year of major anniversaries in all things Nintendo, as this week we celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Nintendo 64. The good old N64 was released on 29th September 1996 in North America and introduced 3D polygon graphics at a level that hadn’t been seen before. Throughout the course of this...
Talking Point Why No Plans for GBA on 3DS Virtual Console?
If the Ambassadors are getting them, why not everyone else?
It's been a few weeks since the first half of the Ambassador Programme titles hit 3DS consoles everywhere, and now we're getting more anxious than ever for the upcoming ten from the Game Boy Advance line-up. So far, Nintendo has announced five of them: Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island,...
Talking Point The Most Memorable Third Party Game Boy Advance Games
We’re a bit late to the party
Back in June, the Game Boy Advance was celebrating its 10 year anniversary. We’re sure there was a party, with lots of balloons and a GBA shaped cake, but we weren’t there. We were a bit tied up with the excitement of E3 and the unveiling of the Wii U, while also looking ahead to what was next for the 3DS. Now we...
Talking Point Nintendo's 3DS Press Conference
Is the 3DS back on track?
After a busy week of announcements, reactions to announcements, and Nintendo Life’s epic appearance on the eShop (we had to mention it), it seems like a good moment to sit back and take a deep breath. With so much news coming out of Nintendo’s Tokyo conference on 13th September, as well as localised press releases in...
Talking Point The Second Circle Pad and the 3DS Evolution
What next for the 3DS?
Another week, another major 3DS announcement. That may be an exaggeration, but it is nevertheless true that the 3DS has had a busy first six months in the market. Since the device launched we’ve already heard about disappointing sales, a number of delayed 3DS titles from third party developers, Nintendo’s decision to...
Talking Point The Future of No-Frills Emulation on the eShop
Why should it stop with the Ambassador scheme?
Before the Virtual Console, emulators provided the only way that people could relive their favourite gaming experiences of years past. Allowing players to download "rom" files and load them onto their personal computers and other platforms, their only real legal application is to allow those...
Talking Point The Five Remaining GBA Ambassador Games
What could they be?
With the NES half of the Ambassador titles hitting the eShop last week, it's only a matter of time before the ten Game Boy Advance games launch. So far Nintendo has announced only half: Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, Mario vs. Donkey Kong and WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$...
Talking Point eShop Card Delay Proves Nintendo Still Doesn't Get It
Why the wait?
The Nintendo 3DS eShop was supposed to be available at the console's launch, but was delayed by nearly three months. It promised to improve on the company's so-far lacklustre efforts at building a digital presence for itself, but until recently it's struggled to impress, with one of the main problems being a total lack of payment cards...
Talking Point What Was the Best Super NES Game Ever?
It's time to decide
It's 20 years ago today since the Super Nintendo saw official release in North America, and over the following years it amassed a truly incredible library of games still thought of today as some of the finest ever. But what really was the top dog on Nintendo's 16-bit wonder machine? Did the 96 levels of Super Mario World do it...
Talking Point What If Nintendo Became a Third Party?
And would it prove a wise move to embrace the smartphone?
It's no secret that the 3DS sold far below expectations, even after Nintendo wowed us at E3 and promised to clean up its online act. Many are going as far as to suggest that the Ambassador programme and slashed pricing is as good as a death knell, while investors argue that Ninty should do...
Talking Point How Much Fan Influence Should Game Studios Allow?
What's the magic formula?
There was a time not too long ago when the origins of the games we play were somewhat mysterious. We knew the company names and could view credit sequences until the cows came home and magazine readers could gain some extra insight, but by and large the thought processes, discarded ideas and development stages that went...
Talking Point The Great Nintendo 3DS Price Drop Debate
What's the impact?
The Nintendo 3DS dropped in price recently — you might have noticed — and with the Flame Red 3DS hitting North America on 9th September and both Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 due for Christmas, many are predicting a resurgence in fortunes for the console. But is the price drop and the promise of these two much-needed...
Talking Point The Future of Metroid
Where next, Samus?
It’s a big anniversary for Metroid, joining Mario and Zelda in the 25 year club. It’s interesting to note that there hasn’t been much fanfare from Nintendo, with the upcoming 3DS ‘Ambassador’ release of GBA classic Metroid Fusion being the only sign of Samus this year. It seems that as a franchise, Metroid is very much...
Talking Point Your 25 Years of Metroid Memories
Charge your beaming smiles
Today is the 25th anniversary of Metroid and we want to know your favourite Metroid moments. Do you remember the first time you faced off against Ridley? Touching down on Tallon IV for the first time in Metroid Prime? Whatever your favourite moments and memories of Metroid, we want to know. Leave them in a comment below...
Talking Point The NES Games You Want on 3DS Virtual Console
By popular demand
We've already heard about the GBA games you want on 3DS Virtual Console, but that's only half the equation: Nintendo will also be giving away 10 free NES games to 3DS users too. The NES games announced so far are: Super Mario Bros.Donkey Kong Jr.Balloon FightIce Climber
