Cakes

WOW. Man o' man is the Japanese market so different from North America. Too bad I live in the US yet my gaming tastes veer heavily toward the Japanese side of things.... but I won't complain about living here.
Just curious: What's the highest selling Vita game so far?

Whoa. That tease about no Hi-Def Pinball for Wii U... does that mean Pinball Arcade is scheduled to come out soon?? Really really hope so. Will be my next Wii U eShop game after Little Inferno.
About to start Fluidity: SpinCycle. Although I hope it's more than just a kind of level pack for the WiiWare game (awesome as that was).

Excellent stuff. Like Adelman said in the interview, I was losing interest in games too, worried about the trajectory of the industry. But then, as @arrmixer said, the Wii launched and I felt my old excitement/curiosity return. The 3DS and WiiU have only furthered that sense of wonder. People who say gaming isn't as good as it used to be aren't paying attention or aren't looking in the right place.

Side note: Time to tweet/email/snail mail Terry Cavanagh and tell him we want Super Hexagon on 3DS eShop! And how about Knytt Underground, hmm Nifflas/Nicalis?

I've loved both NintendoLand and Mario U, but for sheer odd delight I think Little Inferno has been the most fun I've had with WIi U so far. I've put 10 hours in to get to the ending and find all of the combos. For $15, that's a great value. At the present sale price of 10 bucks, it's a steal. Sure you could wait for a humble bundle. But then you couldn't use your Wii Remotes as fire pokers! Buy it, play it till the end, weep in joyful anguish. Thank you, Kyles.

Everyone who reads this site should read Nintendo Magic. Only goes up through 2009 or so, but so much of the history and R&D tidbits foreshadow both the 3DS and WiiU. It's neat to see how the higher-ups in the company have been thinking about ideas for a long time, and sometimes decades later an idea comes to fruition in the market. What could be next....?

Mine's on the way.
Although I'm a bit hesitant to use it, since if you lose the normal case you're out one game... lose or have this one stolen and you've lost 18! (almost double my 3DS catalog). Very clever, Nintendo. Give us rewards that deplete our game library, which we'll then want to re-buy. And digitally, at that. VERY clever.

Love these indie dev interviews. Great to see a site focusing on the smaller studios putting out unique games. Still not sold on Chasing Aurora (I'm more of a solo player) but I love the style and hope Broken Rules sticks around and is able to put out their next titles on the eShop in the future.

@ThomasBW84 Hmm, doesn't look too hopeful. Thanks for the details anyway!

Does anyone know if OTA (Over the air) broadcast will work with TVii? Stopped paying for cable awhile ago. I use a digital antennae to watch the major networks and a few local channels... I'd love to still be able to search for shows or at least pop into Miiverse while watching something. But I've got a bad feeling this will only tap into pay subscriptions (cable/satellite) like the article mentions.

Wow. What's most impressive to me is realizing how many units the PSP has sold over there. Almost 20 million? Man, the market in Japan is sooo different from the west. The fact that 3DS has already outsold the PS3 is astonishing. Hope the Wii U is able to get a foothold, enough for Japanese 3rd parties to support it, at least

Interesting... didn't Konami publish this on XBLA/PSN in North America? I remember it coming out and thinking it was some weird Fluidity knock-off, but I guess it's quite different in tone and a wider variety of fluids to interact with. Looks nice. Seems like a good fit for the GamePad. I hope it launches in NA with a sale price also.

And interacting with devs on Miiverse has got to be one of the cooler aspects of WiiU so far.

What @Mike1 said (#17).

One of the best times I've had with my Wii U so far. So weird and beautiful and disturbingly funny. And to those who think it's too slight or shallow, it took me 10 hours to find all of the combos and eventually reach the end (a very worthwhile sequence to reach for, too.) A relaxing, addictive alternative unlike pretty much anything else out there. I shall be downloading the lovely music just as I did with World of Goo's superb soundtrack years ago.

Out of curiosity, I went and finally read IGN's review. Didn't realize it was Greg Miller. Huh. Also interesting that in his "Play These Instead" sidebar he lists Borderlands 2, Dead Island... these same to be trying for something totally different than ZombiU's survival horror vibe.

The last thing I did was start reading the comments. Now there's some true survival horror for you.... yikes. Someone mentioned the problem of eventual Wii U sequels all sounding like U2 albums, and the conversation on Bono & Edge went on for pages. Then just Nintendo vs. Sony vs. Msoft flaming. BLECH. Never again, IGN.

Oh, it cracks me up to see people refer to Street Fighter and MvC as Capcom's arcade "classics"... so young and untarnished by time's cruelty...

@V8_Ninja: Yeah! Gun.Smoke is possibly my favorite Capcom arcade game, and I waited years for it to come to VC. Finally broke down and found a used cart of the NES port. But would love the original verson. It's a super-hard western-themed vertical shooter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSkAc0uKvnY

I don't think other sites are "out to get" Nintendo or anything... but I do think a majority of reviewers play other systems more and often don't give Nintendo games a fair shot. Not due to some professional payola-like set-up, but just good ol' fashioned personal bias.

I was listening to a pretty popular podcast the other day and after one of them discussed having a lot of fun with Nintendo Land, one of the others sighed a loud "MEH," completely dismissing the experience without having any time with the game at all. I think the Wii era pushed away tons of gamers, who happen to then report on the industry, only they tend to report on what they like, which for many is no longer Nintendo. As a fan, I think it's kind of fun to be the underdog (if you can call a billion-dollar company an underdog), so I don't care one bit. But as a lover of games overall, it's too bad when so many dismiss quality work for no good reason.

But yeah: Opinions are opinions. And those that exclusively play Nintendo games while railing against all the good stuff on PS360/iOS are just as bad. So.... anyway.

Bring out Zombi2, holiday 2014!

Possibly the most fun I've had on my Wii U so far. That's not a burn (!) on anything else I've played... just love the unique and grotesque charm found here.

So people really have a fetish for release dates, huh? Don't really understand why. If a game comes out on March 1st, it'll come out on that day whether I know or not. If I'm told "Q1," it'll still come out whenever it's going to come out. Personally, I kind of like the anticipation and mystery of a vague window over a specific date anyway. People take for granted the level of access and information our connected age gives us. Please calm down, citizens of earth.

The fact that reviews of NSMBU and Nintendo Land went up days before either had their Miiverse integration (which play a fairly big role in each) is pretty silly. Some sites actually held back their reviews, which I respect.

The whole notion of reviewing a piece of hardware is ridiculous in my mind, especially on Day One. How can you possibly tell if it's good or not so early in its lifespan? It's a review for the review's sake. A movie is a 2-hour long thing you can watch and, boom, critique it. Okay. A console is this evolving thing that will change and grow. Reviewing a day-one console is like reviewing a green, hard banana. "This tastes bad! I can barely chew it!" Nobody would take that seriously, and nobody should take early hardware reviews seriously.

I feel like I remember Reggie stating that not necessarily all of their "launch window" games had been announced.... this could be just a bare-bones Trailers-&-Release Date round up, but man, I hope there's an unexpected game that releases soon in there. Love the last-minute nature of these. Keeps you on your toes.

Absolutely the secret killer app of this system. Reggie said so much a month or so ago.
GamePad : Miiverse :: Glasses-Free 3D : StreetPass

@Burning_Spear If I could "Yeah!" you here, I would.

And yeah, I just used the Wii Photo Channel yesterday, in fact. Buddy came over and wanted to show some photos on the TV. Wii worked a charm.

Which brings up an interesting point.... with no online, no SD card... there's almost entirely no reason for the normal Wii Menu with its channels layout, right? I bet this thing has a new menu screen. OR most likely just boots up directly into the game. Wow. Sort of cool in a "Remember when all systems were like this?" way.

At the very least, I'm glad to see a 7 being received as a "good" score. Just goes to show review scores are all about perception — people think of NG3 as a poor game, so a 7 seems high. Other games with superior advance notice get an 8 and people flip out like you slapped their unborn child.
My point is... looks fun! Might give it a try.

All hail bearded Miis..... Come on DarkEdi, get with the program.

@WaveBoy You crazy? I think it looks just lovely. Really dig the matte black and red.

When I saw and read this yesterday, it floored me. Bogost does some cool experimental game development (Cow Clicker, Simony) but I hadn't read much of his stuff. It's great to see smart people invested in the industry actually paying attention and writing thoughtfully about what Nintendo is doing.

Wow. I came to this news backwards, first seeing a games journalist tweet out how the one thing she felt was wrong about the Wii was that it was too big <sarcasm>, which confused me. Now I see the origin of her remark.... and yep, still confused. But hot DAMN that's a nice two-tone design. Honestly, I would consider this if it allowed access to Virtual Console. Would sort of be a perfect system for a secondary, older TV in a kids room or something. Still tempting. But yeah, hopefully they release it in other territories with WiFi built-in.
Anyway. Back to Donkey Kong's Crash Course.

@RetroGBHippie92 Yeah, I'm kind of with you. I'm trying to balance Paper Mario and Crashmo on 3DS with NLand & NSMBU and it's like I flit from one to the next without ever going deeeep into one. I try to play one game per system at a time, but it's hard when so much excellent stuff is out! Not to mention there's a dozen other games I'd love to have but haven't bought yet, due to time. Keep that focus alive! It's a rare and diminishing thing these days.

And good luck Euro-gamers! The U is an awesome system. I'll look forward to your Miiverse doodles soon...

My Wii U GamePad is looking at me.... saying, "Turn me on. Just for a bit. See the pretty drawrings people have made. Give them a "yeah." Play some NSMBU if you feel up to it.... and there's this oddity Little Inferno on my home screen. What's that all about? Open it up and play. I'm here waiting..."

Very sad, both for the dev teams and for what it means to the future of console gaming in general. Really hope Wii U provides a kind of middle-ground for devs to produce high-quality games for reasonable budgets... good luck Eurocom!

A perfect arcade port of Killer Instinct on XBLA would make my 360 purchase worthwhile. And yes, a crazy HD KI3 would be nice, too. Make it happen, Rare!

The price is right! Will give this a shot, then. Especially since one time, Mr. Saito replied directly to a tweet where I mentioned him. You have my five dollars, sir. (Or your 2.70, or whatever the cut is.)

Why all the negativity and caution? I see this as great news. The world could use more inventive, curious, unique ways to create a very old kind of game with very new technology. Can't wait to see what they do.

First of all: That teaser is incredible. I think.
Secondly: I think it's awesome that indies are already thinking of how to use the GamePad for unconventional ideas. Having a small screen that's mobile and can work with Wii-motes, etc., opens up all sorts of possibilities, even without using the big screen TV. In fact I love the idea of party games that keep the TV off in the first place. The perfect compromise between video games and board games. Please let this pave the way for other, similar ideas.

(I know the original is linked below the summary as a source, but I bet a lot of people miss it.)

The full article at CVG is definitely worth a read.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/378029/features/revolution-the-story-of-wii/
Sort of crazy, too, that Nintendo bought this tech in 2001, and didn't commercially use it until 2006. Makes you wonder what they have up their sleeves......

Ooh they feel so nice. They do, they do.
(Enjoyed that last caption, btw.)

@Knux To anyone that complains about Nintendo for making decisions purely on a cash-grab basis (releasing NSMB2/U, etc.), this is a good indicator that their principles go beyond simple economics. You're right--this is probably a bad business decision. But they went with their gut over the fear of investors breathing down their neck.

I think the biggest reason they don't do achievements is because it divides the user base. Someone just starting out with 100 points will see someone else with 50,000 and think, geez, there's this huge gulf between us. If only psychologically, it can be something of an obstacle. Not to mention an attention-breaker; I'll be happy never to see a tiny icon blip up on my screen while playing Wii U.

Wow, those Vita numbers.... just wow.

This is one of my most awaited eShop games on Wii U. I've specifically avoided the Xbox version since I didn't want to double-dip (which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I've heard Microsoft's made it difficult to release new table packs...).
W/r/t the 3DS game, that'd be a shame, especially since Farsight put out their Williams Collection last year for 3DS and it runs pretty smoothly. I know these versions are supposed to be a vast improvement, so I can see how it'd be hard to optimize for 3DS, but hopefully they figure it out. I think I'd prefer it on the big screen anyway, as cool as the 3D is for pinball.
As for @hydeks, shame on you!
As for @tech101, you are an absolute Zen fiend. Those scores are ludicrous.

Whether it's to your taste or not, the fact is that Disney has a HUGE audience, and if this drums up interest and sells more consoles, more games of all stripes will be made, which is good for all. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the marketing efforts Nintendo is putting together.
[@Emaan posted while I was writing this] — Yeah, what he said.

@StarDust I saw that ad before last night's viewing of Wreck-It Ralph, too. Is it just me or was it slightly different than the one linked above? Anyway, the sound levels were mixed much better in the theatre, not as annoying. As for the movie: Excellent!!

Once you figure out the odd controls scheme, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity is actually quite fun. Just sayin'.
As for a new F-Zero on Wii U, I'd rather see one for the 3DS first. Or if it does come to the home console, at least give it a good name: "F-U."

I'd worry that the "Shake and Shoot" might trigger unintentionally when you're just playing normally... Maybe you can turn it off, though? Otherwise, if I was into FIFA, I think the idea to watch a game and manage entirely through the GamePad would actually be pretty cool. Sort of like a God Mode in a sports game. I know other games have offered this kind of sim-only style, but the Pad + TV configuration seems ideal and pretty novel.

There's still plenty of Wii gems I've yet to play, so yes, BC is a huge incentive. (Although I'll probably keep my Wii hooked up and play them there.) Just started Zack & Wiki... it's a shame so many missed this one. I think the bigger question is whether motion controls will be ignored now that the GamePad is the next big thing. I hope hope some devs still try and push the Remote + Nunchuk, as I think there's still much potential in smartly implemented gesture-controls. See: WarioWare, Z&W, Skyward Sword, Wii Sports Resort, etc.

I still have my TurboGrafx-16 hooked up to a second smaller TV in my room. I remember trading games with kids in elementary school... I think I let someone borrow Bloody Wolf, and I borrowed his Legendary Axe. A cool but limited system. Then one Christmas I had to decide: Either upgrade to the TurboDuo, or get a SNES. Yeahhhh, I think I chose wisely. (Although I'd love to have a TurboDuo — beautiful system.)
Also: Release the original Snatcher PC-Engine CD game on Wii U Virtual Console!! Please and thank you.

Even if I don't know what any of those numbers mean, I'm psyched to open up those red velvety curtains and let my living room guests see .... something!

I love the idea that a couple of PhD students thought up and developed a game, sent it to Nintendo, who liked it and sold them a dev kit for their new system. Um, that's crazy, right? Hopefully it means more small, inventive studios will have access to the necessary tools and make the eShop a great source of unique titles.

And I think they do enough to emphasize that this is a new system. "The All New Wii U." Boom. If you haven't figured out this isn't just a new controller for Wii, your 8-year-old or your gaming buddy or the Best Buy employee will tell you soon enough.

1. The music isn't techno, it's dubstep — or something like it.
2. Nintendo isn't catering to the 360/PS3 crowd because they're more likely the info-saturated "gamers" that already know what the deal is. This ad is aimed squarely at Mom or Johnny.
3. So yeah, it doesn't strike my fancy. But it feels like an "event" ad, something big is coming.... I think it'll at least get people to ask 'what the heck is that?' if they hadn't heard of it already.
4. IMO, this is better than the UK ad — more image/showing, less text/telling. We 'Mericans can't read all that good.