Cipher

I wonder if "opening the floodgates" on Wii U and 3DS kind of helped Nintendo to recognise which developers and games were going to provide the highest quality content in the long-term future. Certainly, the Nindies Showcase seems to have indicated that, and a lot of the developers involved have already brought previous games to Nintendo platforms. Reigning it in a bit makes perfect sense for the time being.

Easiest day one buy I've had in a LONG time.

Every time recently that one of these pops up, I get an XML file error and I can't go further - does anyone else get this? (EDIT: It appears in Firefox, but I've just tried with Microsoft Edge and it worked, so maybe it's Firefox?)

Nicely done with the last couple of paragraphs. I know it's only a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but when you're sitting next to the god that is Eiji Aonuma, a fictional character's preference shouldn't really be your desired line of enquiry. Especially not immediately following a discussion about how said character is a little bit weird, as if the two need to be connected.

Tingle's an awesome character, though. I'm very glad he exists, because even the world of Zelda needs a little bit of crazy.

3DS is listed - just not Wii U.

Diesel is fuel! For crying out loud, that's completely ridiculous.

"I always wanted my own action figure!"

@PinkSpider @6ch6ris6 If the project's funding goal (in this case, $580,000) isn't reached, nothing happens. No money gets taken from anybody. If you pledge, you're essentially paying for a product rather than donating to a cause, so if the product doesn't get funded, you don't lose out.

@OdnetninAges I don't believe that to be the case. If data exists on both systems - sava data, for instance - then the data from the Wii console will overwrite the data on the Wii U console. However, I don't believe data that's already been transferred is removed if it doesn't exist during the latest transfer.

@PrincessEevee9 Maybe even summer - you never know. Later this year for sure, though, which is a relief to hear.

@Spoony_Tech I found it strange that the original never got a digital release in the West, but Curtain Call will definitely receive a digital release.

The official website shows packshots and notes retail prices, so the game isn't going to be download-only. Fantastic to hear it's coming, though.

Yep. I can live with this.

As I said yesterday, I really feel as though "if you wanna make money, back the folks who fail properly" is the best quote to come out of yesterday.

Iwata and everyone else at Nintendo is well aware things aren't right - that's why the forecast was changed so drastically. However, I truly dread a Nintendo with no Iwata, because unless someone like Miyamoto, Takeda, or Shibata takes over - which will probably never happen - Nintendo will never have another President who cares so much about the fans and their input. If not for Iwata, we wouldn't have Nintendo Direct or Iwata Asks, both of which have been vital additions to Nintendo's representation in recent times.

@UberHund @Peach64 An error it may be, but Nintendo's honouring purchases - I got Mario & Luigi for £7.95 and I've received and redeemed the code. It's downloading as we speak.

Just in case anybody gets charged full price (though I'm sure that wouldn't happen), might be best to err on the side of caution, take a screenshot of the order details showing the lower price.

I've purchased Mario & Luigi and apparently the download code is going to be "dispatched" via email tomorrow. Maybe they're going to announce some sort of sale tomorrow. For sure, it's the first time any digital downloads have been added to the Nintendo UK Online Store.

Really sad to hear this, it couldn't have happened to a nicer team. Wishing them all the best going ahead - I'm sure the new team will do amazing things.

The only new entries are Mega Man X2 and the Bravely Default demo, and the list is repeated likely because of that. It seems as though Nintendo will resume normal service next week - North America might only have had two new downloads this week, but Europe only got one, and Japan didn't get any.

I'm going out before I start feeling the need to punch a thing repeatedly.

If anything, I'd say this betters the chances of Flipnote Gallery: World being free when Flipnote Studio 3D does eventually launch in the West.

A lot of people seem to be forgetting the fact that this will continue to be updated as new Pokémon games for Nintendo 3DS - no more fidgety transfers. The application gets updated, and bam, up to 3000 Pokémon right there in your shiny new game.

And, I mean, £5 a year is nothing. Really, nothing. And the games themselves will still have plenty of local storage for you to use.

Didn't think this promotion would leave Japan, great news that it is.

I hate it when Vettel does stuff that makes me like him. >_<

I didn't have any issues with the 3D, personally - I did notice that some platforms were layered slightly strangely, but I never had problems figuring out what was where and I certainly wouldn't call it disastrous. I also would put the fairly simple level design down to the fact that the levels on offer were 1-1, 1-2 and 1-3. They're not going to challenge you that early in a game such as this.

Maybe it comes down to personal preference, I don't know, but I enjoyed it very much the couple of times I played through it.

I still think these are both really enjoyable games - though you need to play the Wii version of The Power of Two as opposed to the Wii U version - and despite both being flawed, they're utterly charming and they deserved to do far better.

Oh, dear lord, subtitles. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Yes, in a perfect world, this game would allow anyone of any gender to marry anyone else of any gender. Men could marry men and women could marry women, just as it should be in life. Here's the thing, though: this game is currently only available in Japan, and the fact of the matter is that Japan does not, and has absolutely no intention, or recognising same-sex marriage now or in the future. In all honesty, for Nintendo to combat this glitch by patching female-to-female marriage in would be a bad move and would reflect very negatively on Nintendo within Japan, even if the opposite would be true elsewhere.

So they had no other choice, really.

Given that prices are cheaper when buying from GAME online - Mario Kart 7 is £31.99 digital as opposed to £39.99 - I'd be very tempted to buy download codes if that trend should continue, yes.

My thoughts are with his wife and their family. Terribly sad news.

"I do not fear death. I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear."

A hairball, I am choking.

Not one single person who ever plays this game will go and kill a whale.

I still want to pick one of these up one day. I need something to play GBA games on, and as much as I adore my Micro, it's a little too small for me.

I read another comment, either here or on another site, from someone who had the exact opposite experience - Nintendo issued them with a full refund and a $50 credit on top as an apology. This is a rare occurrence and a very unfortunate one at that, and I really think Jon should contact Nintendo again and see if they're willing to do any more - and if not, lodge a complaint.

It should also be pointed out that the notion that purchases are tied to the hardware hasn't really been confirmed to be the case - Nintendo's said before that they're tied to the Nintendo Network ID, and although NNIDs can't be transferred between systems yet, that will be possible following a future update, which could very well be either the spring or summer update we've been promised. Presumably, your Nintendo eShop and Wii Shop Channel data will move with, otherwise there'd be no point in them at all.

And yes, he should have contacted Nintendo immediately, not returned it and had it replaced. That much is blatantly obvious, because then they would just have transferred everything to a new console. So, yes, that was a very stupid thing to do.

@darkgamer001 And it wouldn't be fair on those who aren't English if they were forced to wait for possible translation of titles just because they spoke a different tongue. To all intents and purposes, that's discrimination.

@the_shpydar It's translated by Nintendo (or at the very least it's published on the official Nintendo website), so it's accurate.

Nintendo's tried the "third pillar" approach before, with Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS, and neither the Game Boy Advance nor the Nintendo DS respectively lasted very long after the new system came out.

What I would like to see happen in the future is more hardware options for new system launches. Sort of like if the Nintendo 3DS and the Nintendo 3DS XL both launched at the same time - and similar to two (three in Europe) different Wii U bundles launching at once. This sort of variety is what I hope to see from these comments - it would make a lot of people happy too.

We already knew this. Iwata confirmed the Wii U Virtual Console in the last Nintendo Direct before the Wii U launched. He also made clear it was to be the "Wii U Virtual Console" - which sounds like a new library of titles, not existing Wii Virtual Console titles. He specifically said "Wii Virtual Console" titles cannot be played on the GamePad but that Nintendo was planning for the "Wii U Virtual Console" which would include Wii U functionality.

Keep in mind there was a Wii U update last week, even if it was only one retail download, and it wasn't included in the Nintendo Download update. It's entirely possible the same could happen this week.

@LuigiMan200 I recently beat the Wii version and I enjoyed it just as much as the first. Yeah, it's got flaws, but I never found the co-op to be a negative thing and overall I thought it was still a pretty great game.

I enjoyed it a lot more than this, I'd give it a 6 or a generous 7. Yeah, it's got flaws you can't ignore, but it's still a charmer.

This is one of my favourite 3DS games, and the thought of some people only playing it on a phone makes me very sad. It deserves far better.

@madgear Nintendo set up shop in Europe long before any other major video game developer, and long before any German laws were written to explicitly involve video game censorship. But yeah, damn them to hell for not being able to see 22 years into the future.

@belmont PSN isn't affected because Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is based in the UK. Same for XBLA and Microsoft Studios Europe. They are UK companies - ignore the name, it's the location of the registered office that matters - and thankfully we don't have any daft laws over here (well, where games are concerned, anyway).

The fact of the matter is this: Nintendo's servers are in Germany. It's alright saying "move them elsewhere," but the head office is in Germany, and it'd be a logistical nightmare for Nintendo if the servers were anywhere else. As things stand now, it would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for Nintendo to obtain permission to allow this content at all times of day in other countries because the fact still remains that it's on German servers. As a result, it's under German jurisdiction, and if the law dictates that it doesn't just apply to the people of Germany - it might, I've no idea - then Nintendo has to abide by that or suffer possible legal consequences.

@evildevil97 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Microsoft Studios Europe are both based in the UK, so don't need to apply German laws to their online stores as Nintendo apparently does (if that is indeed the explanation).

Next step for Nintendo is to work with PEGI and possibly even consult with German courts to try and lift this restriction elsewhere.

If I can quote this post from GN, as taken from a Nintendo email:

"Legal age restriction requirements vary across a number of European countries. Since Nintendo of Europe is based in Germany, Nintendo eShop is complying with German youth protection regulation which therefore applies to all our European markets. Under German law, content rated 18+ must be made available only at night."

Nintendo would have to either move their offices or their servers - or both - out of Germany in order to avoid this. It might be possible to lift the sanction in all EU countries excluding Germany, or it might not. We don't know, but to place all blame on Nintendo is unfair - though unsurprising, given how many people take so much pleasure in attacking it.

THAT PICTURE, THOUGH. You trying to finish me off or something?

I actually sort of want one. It looks really cool. If it's sub-£100 when/if it comes to the UK, I may have to consider getting one, if only for the collection!

@squashie Yup, they're the folks - lovely lot. I was a little concerned at first that Nintendo might be dropping them in favour of internal PR, which was a bit of a worry, since... well, it's a small part of a big company with a very big pile of stuff to do.

I'm hoping the new changes and faces are going to be a positive step for Nintendo UK. I was very disappointed when they dropped Good Relations - a wonderful group of people who I always felt were a pleasure to work with - though the folks at the new company are just as kind and helpful.

I wonder if the fact that Kemp is apparently new to this industry will be a good thing or a bad thing. You can only hope it'll be the former.

@ThomasBW84 I noticed on NOA's updated Wii U website it says demos were "coming soon" - not sure what to make of it, it's interesting though. http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu/built-in-software/#/eshop

Buying DKC2 and DKC3 at some point, then. Not missing out on these.

@antonvaltaz The official Wii U website for Japan says the Wii Shop Channel will still be available on Wii U via the Wii U Mode, so that much is fact. Iwata confirms in the video that Wii U Virtual Console games will soon come to Nintendo eShop and will be playable on the GamePad, so that's also fact. I grant you that, while I am assuming there'll be two separate pools of VC games, that's a pretty safe assumption to make. It's very, very unlikely that any games from the Wii Shop Channel will be reissued on Nintendo eShop. It really wouldn't make sense for Nintendo to do that as it could well cause confusion among buyers.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to use the GamePad to control Wii VC games - these games have to be played in Wii Mode, in which the GamePad is automatically turned off. You'll still be able to use all Wii accessories though, including the Wii Remote and Classic Controller.