Tag: Talking Point - Page 5
Talking Point The Switch Is Following Nintendo's Successful Portable Playbook
Slowed down, but familiar
With the Nintendo Switch OLED model now just a couple of short weeks away, we're heading into the system's fifth Holiday season with three distinct 'tiers' in its hardware family. We've written previously about how each Switch iteration offers something different, in terms of features and price points, and how that stacks...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (September 18th)
Got gaming plans?
Another busy week in the world of Nintendo has flown by. We've seen the return of a famed arcade racing series, a price 'adjustment' for Switch in Europe, the 20th anniversary of a treasured console, and a surprise Switch firmware update that included a much-requested feature:
Talking Point Was The GameCube Really A Portable Console In Disguise?
Love handles
If you're a Nintendo fan, then since day one you've probably always had at least two consoles on the go: one for the TV, and one for the car/bus/plane/bed. From 1989's Game Boy to Nintendo's boundary-blurring hybrid Switch, there has always been an option for players on-the-go. But the Nintendo Switch isn't their first foray into home...
Talking Point What Games Are You Looking Forward To Playing On Switch OLED?
14 games we're dying to (re)play
It's an odd phenomenon when new hardware comes along which makes you delve into your back catalogue for gems you might have missed, or perhaps just revisit classic titles to see how they look and perform on your shiny new system. It's something that PS5 and Xbox Series X gamers have encountered over the last year,...
The battle for Holiday sales is about to begin
Nintendo can't be accused of being reactive with the Switch ahead of the fast approaching Holiday season. In a time where sales and demand remain strong, the big N has been lining up a steady flow of varied games to keep the console on the wider gaming public's agenda. There are major first-party titles...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (September 11th)
Big games, or micro games?
It's been another busy week of the Nintendo Life, with plenty of news and points of interest to chew over. There were some shenanigans and surprising visual glitches in Sonic Colors Ultimate, we shared our review of WarioWare: Get It Together!, a LEGO Super Mario 64 '?' Block was revealed, so
Talking Point Which Nintendo Console Has The Best Start-Up Sound?
Ding! Boop! Click! etc!
Look, I know what you're thinking. You're already pre-emptively scrolling down to the comments to say "OBVIOUSLY it is the GameCube, Lord of All Noises", but just hold fire, okay? Let me at least make the case for some of the others. Before I do, though, a quick note as to why I'm not including the Nintendo 64, since I know...
Talking Point Just How 'Finished' Is Your Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Save File?
Any% of the Wild
It's four-and-a-half years since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launched on Switch (and Wii U — don't be forgetting the Wii U!) and it's one of those evergreen games I've been dipping back into ever since. That's not to say I'm constantly restarting the game (although there are plenty of people who begin again on the...
Talking Point What's The Best Sound In Video Games?
Our favourite bleeps, bloops, and vwoops
Our summertime Video Game Music Festival has largely, if not entirely covered the wonderful world of soundtracks, which you could probably have guessed from the name. But what about all the stuff that isn't-quite-music? Don't noises deserve love too? YES. So, here you go: Our favourite sounds in video games...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (September 4th)
Well, what ARE you playing?
It's been another fun week of the Nintendo Life, with some interesting news and announcements giving us plenty to chew over. A big one was the report that Nintendo is set to add Game Boy / Color to Nintendo Switch Online, there was intrigue around updated PEGI rating requirements around gambling, we shared our
Talking Point It's A Golden Era For Video Game Music Fans, So How Do You Listen?
When you're not playing the games, obvs
Being a fan of Nintendo-based video game music has historically been pretty tough. Older aural aficionados would cling tightly to their Killer Cuts CDs, dedicated collectors wept at the triple-digit pricing of rare Japanese CD sets containing most, but never quite all, of a popular '90s RPG soundtrack, and...
Talking Point If Nintendo Switch Online Adds Game Boy, Why Not Throw In GBA, Too?
Imagine the entire 2D Metroid timeline playable before Dread...
Nintendo Switch Online has been relatively static, as a service, for quite some time. We have had some turnover of free online games, most recently with Pac-Man 99, and a slow and steady influx of NES and SNES titles, but generally it's been a quiet time. Aside from some oft-demanded...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 28th)
No More Time
It's been another hectic week of the Nintendo Life. Let's see, there was a Monster Hunter Rise x Street Fighter free update, all sorts of reveals from Gamescom Opening Night Live and follow-up streams, accusations of foul play in the world of retro collecting, a surp
EMMIs in pursuit mode
Earlier today we reported that another impressive-looking fan-made Metroid game — a 2D reimagining of Metroid Prime this time — has been shut down after the makers received an inevitable cease-and-desist communique. Nintendo wasn't specifically named, but there are no prizes for guessing the "certain games-related company"...
Talking Point How Much Would You Pay For A Mint Copy Of Super Mario Bros.?
6 golden coins? 8 red coins?
Following on from the recent record-breaking sales for retro games, including $2 million USD for a copy of Super Mario Bros. and $870K USD for The Legend of Zelda on NES — not to mention the unf
Talking Point Million-Dollar Retro Game Auctions Help Remind Us What Matters Most
Passion and preservation
As you've no doubt seen over the past couple of years, there have been some high profile and eye-watering sales of retro games which have reached hundreds of thousands of US dollars, and now more than $2 million. It's been rather baffling to onlookers; these are copies of extremely common games, after all, and the downside...
Talking Point Which Video Game Song Could You Listen To For Ten Hours?
Ten hours is a loooong time
We've all been witness to the rise of "Ten Hour Versions" on YouTube, and while many of us may have scoffed — who wants ten hours of something that isn't either sleep or a Lord of the Rings marathon? — I will say that I have actually listened to some of them for way longer than I would like to admit. Except I will...
Talking Point Which Pokémon Legends: Arceus Starter Are You Going To Pick?
Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott, oh my
Rowlet. Wait, sorry, I have to write more words than that? Fine. The 2022 release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus was shown off earlier this week, during the latest Pokémon Presents, but we already knew that the game would feature three returning starters: Oshawott for the Water type, Rowlet for the Grass type,...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 21st)
Go on, tell us...
Another week of 2021 goes zipping by like a zippy thing in Zippy Mode — a zip, for instance — and we can but look back on the events of the past seven days as events dropped into the fast-flowing river of Time. Treasured memories, like that time when some Nintendo fan turned their N64 into a Switch, or when the Special Edition
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 14th)
Go on, tell us...
Another week of that Nintendo life has passed, and there were certainly some highlights. There were all sorts of gems in the Indie World showcase, a blabbing comedian may have given up a Mario movie character, while on the rumour front we have the likes of Xenoblade Chronic
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 7th)
Plenty to choose from!
Another seven days go by in the world of Nintendo. This past week the Streets of Rage series turned 30, Nintendo updated investors with its latest quarterly financial results, and both New Pokémon Snap and
Talking Point Nintendo's Business Remains Strong, But Is The Bloom Off Switch Lite?
The Switch that doesn't 'switch' likely needs a price drop
Nintendo published its Q1 financial results today and they were, largely, what was expected. The extraordinary boom in business from the equivalent period in 2020, as Animal Crossing: New Horizons took off and gamers around the world were forced to seek home entertainment above all else, was...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 31st)
Plenty to choose from!
Another week has passed, with plenty of Nintendo-related news that's kept us intrigued. There were our reviews for games like The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and NEO: The World Ends With You, Streets of Rage 4's DLC finally arrived on Switch,
Talking Point What's Your Switch Game Of 2021 So Far?
Decisions, decisions...
We're well over halfway through 2021 and we're steadily sliding down the back half of the year, having negotiated the six-month hump. Holiday season is waaaay off in the distance and we've still got several months to go before we get into video game 'silly season', but while recently discussing the upcoming Sonic Colors...
Talking Point Which Game Stage Have You Replayed More Than Any Other?
Green Hill Zone Act 1 is my new-old timesink
The ability to devote entire days to nothing but video games is a past luxury unavailable to me right now, or in the foreseeable future, unfortunately. The addition to my life of small humans that look a bit like me has substantially diminished my available free time, and I've recently realised that it's...
Talking Point Every Pre-BOTW 3D Zelda Now Has A Remake, But Which Is Best?
Featuring *two* polls!
Like Disney remaking all of its old animated movies into live-action versions, Nintendo has slowly been remastering all of its old Zelda games to bring them to new audiences — and to remind old audiences why they loved the games so much. Unlike Disney's live-action movies, though, the Zelda remakes are fantastic, and now...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 24th)
What are your weekend gaming plans?
We're all another seven days older and in the past week we've seen (among other things) a bunch of leaked early designs for the Wiimote, possibly the rarest e-Reader card in existence sold for a five-figure sum, Nintendo announce th
Talking Point Nintendo's Quirky Creativity Hasn't Always Paid Off On Switch, But It Matters
Standing out from the crowd
Nintendo is in a particularly strong position in the games industry at present - it's a hugely popular, talked about brand, and the company is still selling tens of millions of systems each year that - by this stage - will be increasingly inexpensive to produce. When you take relatively old, readily available technology...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 17th)
Time for taking flight?
After last week's OLED shenanigans things were a little calmer this time around, though there was still some intriguing news. Atlus is teasing big things for the Persona series, there's a remarkably expensive Mario watch from Tag Heuer, and there has been a lot of focus on a
Talking Point Everyone Has A Bad Game They Love, So What's Yours?
"All that is gold does not glitter"
Recently, I set out on a quest to track down a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: Volume 1 for the Super Nintendo – a game that I awarded a paltry 3/10 to some time ago. I didn't seek out a copy as a strange kind of punishment, or to be ironic – I wanted to re-own it because, despite being pretty...
Talking Point Can Metroid Dread Be The Franchise's 'Awakening'?
This could be a breakthrough for the series
Over the weekend our lovely folk in the video team posted a detailed chat, above, asking a simple but intriguing question — "Why hasn't the Metroid series traditionally sold well?" It's a good question, and it feels like one with a lot of varied answers. Let's summarise a few, before shifting to a fully...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 10th)
What are your weekend gaming plans?
Another week, another addition to the Nintendo Switch family. Yes, we all got a little post-E3 surprise drop (surprise might be a bit generous, to be honest) in the form of the Switch OLED announcement. It elicited a variety reactions from existing Switch owners and Nintendo fans, although none so passionate as...
Talking Point Where Does The Switch OLED Announcement Leave The Rumoured Switch Pro?
Was it hot air all along, or is it still coming?
This week, Nintendo did its usual thing of shadow-dropping a major announcement on a (largely) unsuspecting world, and now the dust has settled on the reveal of the Switch OLED Model, it's time to ask the vital question: where does that leave the much-rumoured Switch Pro? In case you somehow missed...
Talking Point Nintendo Switch OLED Model Looks Lovely, But May Also Disappoint
In tricky times, just make the screen bigger
Well, after over two years of speculation, Nintendo has finally unveiled the new Nintendo Switch, simply called the OLED model that's due to arrive on 8th October. It falls in line with some of the more recent rumours, offering a larger and higher quality screen – at 720p resolution – along with some...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 3rd)
What are your weekend gaming plans?
Another week in the world of video games has come and gone. This week we saw Nintendo acknowledge an evergreen meme, we learned that a 'realistic' F-Zero was on the cards at one point, and Nintendo dodged a bunch of questions at a shareholder Q&A (the respondees also
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 26th)
What are your weekend gaming plans?
And here we are at the end of another packed week in the world of video games. We've had a ton of anniversaries this past week — specifically on Wednesday when the Nintendo 64 turned 25 (along with its launch games like Super Mario 64, which we think you might have read about enough already), Sonic Adventure 2...
Talking Point Our Favourites From E3 2021
It's been one week since we watched E3
You're probably tired of E3 coverage by now, and believe us, so are we. But it's been a week since Nintendo's Direct, and now that the dust has settled, it's time for us to pick our actual favourites rather than just following our adrenaline-fuelled gut feelings. Of course, this year was a little strange. In...
Talking Point What's That One Switch Game You Can't Bring Yourself To Delete?
This is my comfort game! Leave me alone!
I've finally reached the point where almost every new game I download onto my Switch gives me the same response. "There's no room," it says, gesturing around the virtual space cluttered with games I haven't touched in months, or even years. "Where am I supposed to put this? Why don't you get rid of something...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 19th)
What are your weekend gaming plans?
E3 2021 is finally over, and we're still digesting the ins-and-outs of all the announcements. Nintendo's Direct presentation offered a little something for everyone, from the return of smaller-scale fan favourites to fresh peeks at Breath of the Wild 2 (no proper title yet, though), not to mention A NEW 2D MET
Talking Point Why Metroid Dread Will Be Worth $60
You're gonna pay for this
With the announcement of Metroid Dread, a brand new 2D entry in the 35-year-old franchise that lends its name to an entire genre, the majority of reactions we've seen online have been overwhelmingly positive. As you may have noted with our rather comprehensive coverage since the game's E3 reveal, we're definitely in the...
Talking Point Nintendo Delivered An Excellent E3 Direct For Fans Old And New
Big franchises and overdue comebacks
The dust has settled on the E3 2021 Nintendo Direct; the big N stuck to its usual approach ever since the 'Digital Event' days, of approximately 40 minutes and plenty of announcements. On this occasion, no individual game hogged the limelight to excess, as even the biggest hitters only had an assigned couple of...
Talking Point E3 Leaks Are Inevitable, But Do You Actually Want To Know?
What's life without surprises?
We're now into the latter half of E3 silly season, as rumours and leaks — some real, some clearly not — bombard us gaming enthusiasts at every turn online. If you know where to look and have the inclination, you can often find entire run-orders for the likes of the Xbox presentation hours before the show, or...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 12th)
More watching than playing this weekend
All aboard the E3 Hype Train! Choo-choo! Yes, after a year off, E3 returns this weekend. We’ve already seen the opening show of Summer Game Fest and with Nintendo’s Direct coming up next Tuesday, we’ve got our fingers crossed for megatons. In other news, some Switch owners reported problems with the...
Talking Point How Good Are You At Games?
Skills to pay the bills, bro?
Back in the olden days, when my world was decidedly smaller, I used to think I was pretty handy when it came to video games. When schoolmates came over to play GoldenEye or Mario Kart 64, I'd wipe the floor with the lot of them and I naively believed it was down to my unrivalled reaction speed and prowess with the pad...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 5th)
Before all the Summer Fest / E3 events steal our time
Another week has passed, with lots of intriguing news and a certain thing still not appearing [yeah, let's forget about that for now - ed]. We're in that pre-E3 / Summer Game Fest period of leaks and rumours, so much fun for all! This week's big news was confirmation of the date and time of...
Talking Point With Sony And Microsoft In Next-Gen Limbo, E3 Is Nintendo's For The Taking
Software sells systems, after all
It's a strange time in gaming, especially if your main platforms of choice are PlayStation or Xbox. Both systems do — despite often hysterical takes found on social media — have plenty of games to play. What PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S don't have is an overabundance of new 'next gen' exclusives...
Talking Point Do You Want To See More Apple Arcade Games On Switch?
Core, what an a-peel-ing thought
It has not escaped my notice that lately, a few games are coming to the Nintendo Switch that were previously Apple Arcade-only. Now, a fun fact (and also a disclaimer) about me is that I actually worked on an Apple Arcade title — I was the writer for Winding Worlds — but I know nothing about how the contracts...
Talking Point What Do You Think The "Switch Pro" Will Actually Be Called?
New Super Nintendo Switch Pro XL Ultra Reloaded
Another day, another ten thousand Switch Pro rumours with not much to add. Trust me, we're as bored of the "BREAKING NEWS: SWITCH PRO TO HAVE BUTTONS????" as you are, but the latest is that the founder of XboxEra on Twitter is predicting Thursday as the announcement, but the more interesting thing is...
Talking Point Do You Replay Games?
Live, die, repeat
There are some conversations that I had as a kid that, for whatever reason, I still remember clear as day. It's weird to remember discussions I had when I was little, because my brain transplants a very adult version of me into the memory, since that's my perception of myself, and then I'm just a large human talking to a very small...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 29th)
Well, what are you playing?
Another week has passed, with lots of intriguing news and a certain thing not appearing. You know what we mean, but let's focus on stuff that actually happened. SEGA hosted its first Sonic Central, which confirmed three games and various other cameo appearances to celebrate 30 years, more games arrived on Nintendo Switch...
