Tag: Talking Point - Page 7
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (February 12th)
Time to Switch it up?
It was a big week in the Nintendo Life, with the big N serving up the first major Direct of the year. It was packed with exciting reveals, including the likes of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes,
Talking Point Nintendo Sticks With Mario Kart 8 Through 2023, But What About Switch?
Don't hold your breath waiting for a new generation system
The frenzy and excitement around this week's Nintendo Direct is settling down, and it seems that the general consensus among the majority is that it was pretty darn good. Through first- and third-party reveals, Nintendo has set out a release schedule up to September that is busy, to put it...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (February 5th)
Time, sweet time
Another fun week in the Nintendo Life is finished, and it had some interesting bits and pieces of news. The highlight was probably Nintendo's Q3 financial results, which generally showed that Nintendo is making a lot of money; even shareholders are relatively happy, crikey. For you NFT watchers, multiple projects were
Talking Point Nintendo's Mastery Of Physical Game Sales Hides Limited Digital Growth
Download revenues lag behind rivals
Nintendo's Q3 financial results have been shared and an overall take could probably be a simple "yep, business as usual". Arguably it's a little better than that, though, with an exceptional Q3 (driven by strong sales in the Holidays) allowing Nintendo to increase its projected profits (albeit while shaving a...
Talking Point Who Is Nintendo Going To Buy? Don't Be Shocked If The Answer Is "Nobody"
That's not how Nintendo usually does business
The big news of 2022 is industry consolidation – with Microsoft buying Activision and Sony snapping up Bungie, it's all about big fish gobbling up the smaller fish. As we discussed yesterday, this isn't necessarily something
Talking Point A Poképro And A Pokénoob Discuss Pokémon Legends: Arceus
It's a Tom and Kate debate!
As we all know by now, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has taken the well-trodden Pokéformula of the last 20 years and turned it on its head. For fans who've been playing the games for years, it's an exciting reinvention of the series — but what about people who are completely new to Pokémon? And what about people who really...
Talking Point Triangle Strategy Is A Bad Name, Which Hopefully Won't Matter
Looking forward to the next Mario title, Platform Jumper
Nintendo is starting off the year rather strongly on Switch, with exciting games to keep us busy towards Summer. Despite fierce opposition the Nintendo-distributed game at the top of this scribe's list is Triangle Strategy, which is coming to us thanks to Square Enix and continuing the visual...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 29th)
Hm, let's take a guess...
It's been another interesting week in this Nintendo Life, culminating in a rather big release. Yes, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is out and is causing plenty of excitement; we enjoyed it a lot in our review. Though there were a good number of game announcements - particularly for the eShop - and it was also a week full of fun...
Talking Point Do You Consider Pokémon Legends: Arceus To Be A Mainline Title?
It doesn't even have two parallel versions!
Let's get this out of the way, first: Pokémon Legends: Arceus is, canonically, a mainline Pokémon game. Serebii master Joe Merrick confirmed as much late last year: As he puts it in another tweet, "it is not a spin-off... It's no more a spin-off than Super Mario Galaxy is to Super Mario World." He's...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 22nd)
The week before you-know-what
Another week has passed, which brought some interesting news in the world of Nintendo and the wider games industry. A lot of attention fell on the planned Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, of course, and its potential impact on the industry. Back in the Nintendo Life, it was confirmed that Switch was the...
Talking Point Don't Worry, Microsoft Probably Isn't Going To Buy Nintendo - Here's Why
It's not just about money
With this week's unprecedented news that Microsoft is kickstarting the process to acquire Activision Blizzard for a little under $70 Billion, there's been a lot of talk about what the company could do next. The likelihood is not very much for the next 12-18 months; like with the Bethesda deal the process will have...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 15th)
What are your gaming plans?
Another week down in this new and mysterious year of 2022. This week we got a new trailer and a March release date for the lovely-looking Kirby and the Forgotten Land, news hit of Among Us getting a manga, the fifth anniversary of the very
Talking Point What Could NFTs Mean For Gaming, And Why Are They So Divisive?
We try to make sense of blockchain technology in games
If there's a topic that's led to consistent debate and occasional toxicity in online gaming discourse over the past few months, it's NFTs. Non-fungible tokens aren't actually particularly new to early adopters of blockchain technologies, but 2021 was the year when they broke into mainstream...
Talking Point As Lifetime Switch Sales Jostle With The Mighty Wii, Can It Possibly Catch DS?
Well, it depends...
The benefit of hindsight makes it easy to declare that the Switch was a masterstroke in design that could not fail. That'd be revisionism, of course, as Nintendo released the system against a rather challenging backdrop in early 2017. The Wii U had been a failure, and that's not hyperbole — it managed lifetime sales of just...
Talking Point Could 'Mario Kart 9' Be The Smash Bros. Ultimate Of Racers?
Rarely does a project have so much time to simmer
Optimism is a wonderful state of mind, especially if it's rewarded. Around all of the recent renewed talk about Mario Kart 9 being in 'active development' we've definitely succumbed to giddy positivity about its prospects, and with some very good reasons. Nintendo rarely has so much time to work on a...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 8th)
New year, new(ish) games
The first week of 2022 has passed, and it was relatively quiet as everyone settled back into their routines. That said there were still some interesting bits and bobs, such as the revelation that producing the grass was a bit of a pain for the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity team. Elsewhere we had Metacritic listing...
Poll So, Do You Think Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2 Will Actually Release In 2022?
Will we be playing it next holiday season?
We might still be saying "Happy New Year" to people we meet, but we're well into January now and when we survey the upcoming slate of games for Switch, we have to say it's looking particularly tasty. However, as great as Pokémon and Kirby are shaping up, it's The Legend of Z
Talking Point Nintendo's Lining Up A Huge Year Of Gaming In 2022
Setting its stall early
Even in more 'normal' times Nintendo would often head into a new year with a lot of its big hits still under wraps. A 3-6 month turnaround from announcement to release isn't uncommon from the company even for its most important games, and it still follows this template for some titles - Metroid Dread being a good example in...
Talking Point Remember When People Thought Switch Would Fail?
Nintendo is DOOMED
2016 is a long, long, loooong time ago now, but I'll try to take you back to October 20th, 2016, the day the Nintendo Switch was announced. The US Presidential Election was looming, Brexit was still a massive question mark, and Disney's Moana, Disney's Rogue One, Disney's Captain America: Civil War, and Disney's Finding Dory were...
Talking Point New Super Mario Bros. Is 15 Years Old, And It's Still Fantastic
Celebrating Mario's big 2D comeback on its anniversary
It’s quite funny to consider that the highest-selling Nintendo DS game of all time - shifting in excess of 30 million copies worldwide – is still a title I’d consider to be under-rated. If anything, it’s respected as the formative entry in a divisive series that’s considered to never...
Talking Point Nintendo And The Industry Needs To Get Serious About Game Preservation
Lots of catching up to do
For those following the general chat around video games, one topic that has generated debate recently has been Sony’s announcement of the upcoming closures of digital stores on PlayStation 3, PS Vita and PSP. As news, it wasn’t necessarily surprising, for reasons we’ll expand upon, but it did bring the whole subject...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 25th Holiday Special)
What's cookin'?
So, this is Christmas. And what have you done? Well, not a great deal to be honest — as is typical at this time of year, it's quiet out there in the world of video games as everyone settles down for a well-earned holiday break. We're into the very final stretch of 2021, but a few things have been occurring nonetheless. Not...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 18th)
Because it's cold outside...
Another week finished as we get very close to the holidays. This week's highlight was undoubtedly the latest Indie World showcase, the Analogue Pocket got some retro gamers very excited, Super Mario Bros. 3 still has some secrets,
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 11th)
Ever feel like you're in a loop?
Another week down as we roll towards the holidays. This week we've seen a bunch of games, a few performances, and even an award or two at The Game Awards. Elsewhere, Paper Mario came to the NSO Expansion Pack, some wag hacked Chris Pratt's voice into
Talking Point What Did You Think Of The Game Awards 2021?
Hours of games
The Game Awards — Geoff Keighley's pet project that's a bit like the Oscars and a lot like a three-hour advert with the actual awards hastily shoved in the cracks — took place last night, and although a lot of things happened during those three hours (plus the 30-minute pre-show), not much of it was destined for the Nintendo...
Talking Point Are Nintendo's Exclusives Enough To Win A Next-Gen Handheld War?
The 'next Switch' will need to match the current system's all-round strengths
When it comes to the world of entertainment technology, everyone likes to get ahead of themselves. Everything is 'the next big thing', until about a year later, that is, when it's evident that the tech isn't ready yet. Augmented reality and virtual reality are good...
Talking Point Should The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack Library Expand Faster?
Paper Mario is the first addition after nearly two months
It's fair to say that the announcement and launch of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack could have gone better. The Nintendo Switch Online Subscription service wasn't exactly blessed with a spotless reputation prior to the reveal of the premium tier, either. Though some of the YouTube...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 4th)
Will you be putting your brain to work?
It's been another interesting week in the Nintendo Life as we all head towards the Holiday season. We learned that you can pump iron in Animal Crossing, there was a welcome new look at Triangle Strategy, someone
Talking Point What Can The $1200 Aya Neo Tell Us About The 'Switch Pro'?
We go hands-on with the Aya Neo 2021 Pro
Next year, the Switch will be five years old – a fact which makes the continued demand for the console all the more remarkable. Despite being powered by technology that, even back in 2017, could hardly be described as cutting-edge, the hybrid system has shifted over 90 million units worldwide and shows no...
Talking Point Great Game, Poor Performance - When Does A Bad Frame Rate Not Really Matter?
Shh, don't tell Digital Foundry
It seems that no game release is safe nowadays without frame rate graphs and resolutions being counted. That is fair enough, as games should ship in a competent and playable condition, but it's easy to forget that we're often spoiled in this modern gaming era. We gasp if gameplay regularly dips below 30fps, and with...
Talking Point Mario Kart 7 And Its Infamous Course Skip Are Now 10 Years Old
One of the earliest Nintendo game updates we can remember
We're in a gaming era of plentiful patches, where it's common for games to get frequent updates starting on day one. There are some rare releases even today that receive either no updates or very few — unless there are frequent DLC additions — and one of Nintendo's selling points is its...
Talking Point How Do You Feel About Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl's Affection Rates?
STOP LOVING ME SO MUCH
How can your pets loving you ever be a bad thing? Well, in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it can very easily ruin your strategies. In the Pokémon games, there is a statistic that's often called "friendship" or "affection", which can affect a few different mechanics in the game. It tells the player how close...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 27th)
Playing some freshly acquired bargains?
It's the end of another week, and there've been plenty of quirky developments and storylines in the world of Nintendo. GTA Trilogy stayed in the headlines to an extent and had its first notable update, sequence breakers struck again in Metroid Dread, Mario Golf: Super Rush
Talking Point 5 Reasons That Nintendo Switch Is Still A Hot Product
Even if it doesn't feel that way to long term fans and owners
Many reading these pages have owned a Switch for nearly 5 years. We likely have extensive game libraries, a wonky Joy-Con stick or two, and a lot of fond memories. Yet the feverish attempts to wish a Switch 'Pro' into existence this year, as opposed to whenever Nintendo is good and ready...
Gyroids? Brewster? The return of Tortimer?
It's been about two weeks since the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons' massive 2.0 update, as well as the Happy Home Paradise DLC, so hopefully most of you have had a good crack at it so far! With two weeks of Brewster,
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 20th)
Pokémon, back catalogue or another new gem?
It's been another big week in the Nintendo Life, with a significant arrival on the Switch. That's Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl of course, which we naturally reviewed for your reading / viewing pleasure. Elsewhere there was
Talking Point Is There A Better-Looking 20-Year-Old Game Than Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II?
Rogue Leader standing by
Feel old, everyone — Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader is now two decades old. The GameCube-exclusive title launched alongside the console itself in the US and was something of a show-stopper in the visuals department. Developer Factor 5 had turned in an excellent arcade-style X-Wing action game with the original...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 13th)
Tell us your weekend gaming plans
We're almost at the halfway point through November, and it's been a busy old time all right. With Pokémon arriving very soon, we've been digging into the minutiae of the excellent Animal Crossing DLC while we have the time. Elsewhere, Twitch appeared o
Talking Point The Transformative Impact Of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Version 2.0
Team NL has a virtual chat in The Roost
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has had its major version 2.0 update, which includes a bunch of freebies and also the paid DLC option of Happy Home Paradise. A number of Team NL have been enjoying its charms, and a topic that kept coming up was the new content's ability to bring back lapsed players. It's also...
Talking Point Will Nintendo Abandon The Switch Concept For Its Next Console?
Could we see another Wii – or another Wii U?
Nintendo isn't a company that likes to stand still for too long. It has often innovated and driven the entire industry forward, such as when it popularised motion-control gaming with the Wii and touch-based interfaces with the DS. However, this desire to experiment hasn't always worked out; the Virtual...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 6th)
Tell us your weekend gaming plans
Another week down in the inexorable march towards 2021's holiday season, and it's been a busy one Nintendo-wise. The platform holder released its quarterly financial results — profits are down but on track, with industry-wide production issues being a particular thorn in Nintendo's side at present — and the...
Talking Point Switch Is A Juggernaut, But Nintendo Will Still Feel Investor Pressure
Production issues and no 'Pro' will remain topics
Today brought the Q2 Nintendo financial results, which would be easy to miss with the understandable excitement of Animal Crossing: New Horizons version 2.0 arriving a day early. In some ways they're results with two sides, though within Nintendo's boardroom they may feel like they're somewhat stuck...
Talking Point Super Mario 3D Land Turns 10 - Was It The Best '3D' Game On 3DS?
The golden era of stereoscopic 3D
Ten years ago on 3rd November 2011, Super Mario 3D Land made its debut on 3DS in Japan. It's not typically held up or remembered as a glorious entry of the Mario series — indeed, at the time of writing it inexplicably doesn't rank on our dynamic reader-rated list of the 50 best 3DS games — but several of us in...
Talking Point Are You Preparing Your Island For The Animal Crossing: New Horizons Update?
Time to get back to work?
It's been about a year since I last visited egg, my Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. I played a lot of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, so I knew what to expect when I booted it up again, following the jam-packed Animal Crossing Direct recently: weeds everywhere, cockroaches in my house, and villagers being more disappointed...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 30th)
Tell us your weekend gaming plans
Another week down as we head into the spookiest weekend of the year and onward into November. This week Nintendo launched its Switch Online Expansion Pack to a mixed response, we got our first look at
Talking Point Five Years On From The Frenzy Of 'NX' Becoming The Switch
The more things change, the more they stay the same
This week marked five years (yikes) since the mysterious Nintendo 'NX' became the Switch. It was a pretty big deal and, to the relief of Nintendo, it was received well. Let's be honest, the reaction wasn't going to be worse than the Wii U E3 reveal, when most follow-up questions were "so is the...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 23rd)
Tell us your weekend gaming plans
We made it through another week, well done everyone! There was a varied slate of news this week, with one of the slightly disappointing stories being allegations of poor management practices at Metroid Dread developer MercurySteam, but in happier news we also had the arrival of Sora in Smash, we confirmed that
Talking Point How Many Hours Is A 'Short' Game For You?
It's what you do with it that counts
There was a time when we wished every video game were never-ending. Back in the old days we'd save up all our pocket money and wisely invest in only the very finest games after weeks and months of meticulous research; consulting reviews, collating opinions and perhaps even renting or borrowing from a pal to make...
Talking Point Do You Have A 'Way' You Play Certain Switch Games?
Metroid Dread = portable + headphones + a dark room, right?
The Nintendo Switch has various strengths, but the key aspect of its design that has helped to fuel its success is flexibility. It's a concept that is ultimately more than the sum of its parts — when you break it down, it's a tablet with mid-2010s technology and a USB-C connector to hook...
Talking Point The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
The video game development industry needs to respect its contributors
The conversations around Metroid Dread have been mostly positive since its launch, but a recent topic that has caused a good deal of debate and criticism of developer MercurySteam has related to the game's credits. Multiple contributors to the game have raised the fact that...