Cipher

@Peppy_Hare No, you can't repurchase VC games. Please don't forget that the Wii Shop Channel will still be accessible on Wii U via the Wii Mode - thus, Wii Virtual Console games purchased in the Wii Shop Channel cannot be purchased from Nintendo eShop because they won't be there at all. If you want to buy the likes of NES, SNES, N64 games and so on, you still have to get them from the Wii Shop Channel, and they will remain unplayable on the GamePad. The same applies to any new games released for these systems after Wii U launches. Wii U VC will only consist of systems not on the Wii Shop Channel, so presumably the likes of GameCube.

@Peppy_Hare I literally JUST replied to that on the GamePad thread. You're misunderstanding, I've explained why in the other thread.

@Peppy_Hare No, I think you're misunderstanding. Games from the Wii Virtual Console won't be playable on the GamePad. Games from the Wii U Virtual Console will be. Two completely different sets of games - Wii VC is everything currently on the Wii Shop Channel, Wii U VC will be stuff you can only buy on Nintendo eShop.

@Magnet_Man018 It's not quite as complicated as it's made to sound. The vast majority of HDDs should and will work, but from what Iwata's saying, it sounds like any external HDD that has its own power cable will definitely work, and if you use a Y Cable (with 2 USBs on the end), that's also a pretty good bet. Might be an idea to wait for NOE/NOA to offer some guidance here, though.

@snax007 You CAN play games directly from external HDD. One of the main points of the Nintendo Direct broadcast was to clarify that - watch the video, you'll see Iwata clearly point out on the Wii U Menu an icon for New Super Mario Bros. U, stored on the Wii U console, and an icon for Nintendo Land, stored on an external HDD. That would NOT be displayed if you couldn't boot games right from the external HDD. Forget everything you learnt from ONM's shoddy journalism earlier in the week, because frankly, most of it was bull.

Much better. Now we can stop the witch-hunt.

@Bluezealand Yup - Nintendo has plans for Wii U Virtual Console and those games will be playable on the GamePad.

@Discostew Can't possibly be the case - Wii games (i.e. WiiWare and Virtual Console) are stored on the SD card. It seems that's the only reason the SD card slot is there - to maintain backwards compatibility with Wii and the Wii Menu.

Why are some people assuming you'll have to manually transfer games from the external hard drive onto the console itself? That's very unlikely to be the case. Remember how the SD Card Menu on Wii functioned - you'd pick a game and it'd automatically move the necessary files to and from the Wii console. I don't believe for a second you'll have to manually transfer games with Wii U. This might be from the official Japanese website, but this is by no means an official translation, so I expect there's some very unfortunate mistranslations here.

Work today is cancelled. I gotta think of a good entry...

Love how people are accusing Nintendo of lying about the Ninja Gaiden release for NES. Yes, they said it was coming out today, but that was well over a month ago. There's a big difference between "lying" and "things changing prior to release" - maybe there was a problem pushing the game to Nintendo eShop, or maybe Nintendo just decided to release it next week instead so it was closer to the release of Razor's Edge. Accusations of lying and false advertising are uncalled for, unhelpful and just plain bull.

Happy 7th birthday!

@zeldazero It's a Dragon Quest X open beta for Wii U, but it's not available outside Japan.

Pokédex 3D Pro for me. I don't care if the same information is available for free on the internet - I would much rather use a specially-designed app.

Would be really nice if it came to the UK, especially with YouView starting to enter more homes. BBC iPlayer (and other catchup services), Netflix, LOVEFiLM, Sky, TiVo, YouTube, YouView, maybe even the likes of BT Vision... it's not like we don't have any services for TVii to support.

This was my first ever Sonic game, and I absolutely loved it, so if it comes to Europe it's an immediate purchase for me.

So in order to play EA games online on PS3/X360, you have to have an Origin account? Well, like you said then, this is expected. If EA has their own online infrastructure in place on other systems, there's no reason why they shouldn't use it on Wii U too.

Definitely downloading Professor Layton, it'll be far less hassle when it comes to the daily puzzles.

@Assassin87 As I recall, Nintendo has already said they're developing voice chat and video call applications for Wii U, the latter of which we've already seen in several promotional videos, and they will use the GamePad microphone.

Not really surprising - it was already confirmed Q2 in Japan and just 2013 in Europe, so it's more than likely going to see worldwide release. It might only be delayed a month or two; I think we could see it in April.

@Ducutzu Since when have they given up on it? It still updates every week or two as it always has done - the only difference these days is that Nintendo doesn't mention which new offerings are coming in the download update itself. They tend to do it on Twitter now.

Life: made.

Great review. Not sure where you get "Mask of Miracle" from though (re first paragraph), as it's only known as that in Japan - it's known as "Miracle Mask" everywhere else, including North America. Just check the NA pack shot.

I can absolutely see why people don't like the prices of digital versions, but in my personal opinion, I will happily pay £39 for Mario Kart 7 or Animal Crossing. I know it sounds like laziness, but it's just so convenient to have them right on the system. It'll guarantee I'll play them an awful lot more, and for considerably longer, than if I just had the packaged versions. I'll more than likely do exactly the same when nintendogs + cats comes to Nintendo eShop as well.

I appreciate that it's unfortunate that Nintendo has to stick to the RRP, and that retailers in the UK almost always immediately undercut that RRP by about £10, but the very best way they can combat that is by releasing as many download cards in retail stores as quickly as possible.

@hydeks There are considerably more reasons why it shouldn't be integrated than why it should.

I think the most viable option would be for each game card to include one digital version of the game. That way, if you decide to sell the physical copy later, it won't come with the digital version. On the one hand, you'll always have the digital version, but on the other hand you'll likely have to sell the physical copy for significantly less than retail since you already used up the digital version.

Also, with Animal Crossing and Mario Kart 7 taking up a combined 2GB, I just invested in a 32GB SDHC card.

@Tsuchinoko New Art Academy is around 506MB, or 4050 blocks.

Thanks a lot for this, it's really informative. Watched the broadcast on Friday but couldn't get much other than what was shown, so this gives a lot more detail.

...The Moomins were Finnish?

@Phantom_A The available packs so far have cost anything between Y250 and Y400 in Japan, so presumably in the States it could be anywhere between $2.50 and $5 per pack. Pure guesswork, though.

@C-Olimar To be fair, maintenance is usually between six and ten hours, and only on rare occasion has it resulted in any major changes. If Nintendo of America announces their own Nintendo Direct or they confirm they're pulling eShop down for maintenance as well, then maybe something is going on.

Most likely to be a regular maintenance update. Don't get your hopes up.

See, now this is a good week. The "Denpa" Men looks great, two good Virtual Console titles, and there's also a Kid Icarus montage video that isn't listed above. Definitely one of the better weeks.

@rjejr Pokémon Dream Radar launches the same day as Black 2 and White 2 - October 7 in the States, I think - and if the Japanese price is anything to go by it's probably only going to cost $3.

@sandwhich Just in case you weren't aware, Pokémon Conquest was released in Europe at the end of July.

@Fry If you want The Minish Cap or A Link to the Past on a handheld, pick up a cheap Advance and copies of the games. It might not be the cheapest thing to do on the planet, but if you want to play them that badly, that shouldn't really matter. And please don't even get me started on the subject of wanting to play something like ALTTP on your 3DS - that's obviously not legally possible, ergo, shouldn't be done/attempted - or expecting Nintendo to just magically add 2000+ games to Nintendo eShop in the first 18 months. Do not get me started on these subjects.

On topic: I take the point that not every game is released in every region, hence why "some" (not "many") people use flashcarts, but the fact of the matter is they are illegal, they have made a noticeable impact on the industry, and people who have been found to be dealing in large quantities of them have been charged and, in several cases, imprisoned. Illegal = no excuse. They're illegal for a reason: because many people are using them to get free games that they should be paying for.

</RANT>

This is a damn good list. I can't wait to see Europe's launch schedule.

@redclow Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate wasn't on Nintendo's list, for some reason, hence why it isn't included above - but it's definitely coming in March.

I had the Aladdin game on SNES. Absolutely loved it. Can't wait to get my hands on this game.

@Zekrom025 There are no more songs to be released for Theatrhythm - all 52 songs have now been released.

@MrWalkieTalkie No, but try explaining to people why the base unit has been made bigger, bulkier and more expensive for no good reason when less than half a dozen games in the entire 3DS library use the additional Circle Pad, L2 and R2 buttons. Then try explaining to consumers who aren't as much in the know why said additionals aren't working when they play Mario Kart 7 or Ocarina of Time 3D.

I need this in my life.

This is clearly a mistake. There would be an announcement by Nintendo if they decided to start releasing Game Boy Advance games to the public.

Will be updating Zelda II and downloading the Shifting World demo.

@Windy As I've learnt myself - owning an Android device - you simply cannot get the same experience as you get on a dedicated gaming device. Nothing is exciting about playing games on Android.

Very pleased to see this come to Wii U. I wonder if SEGA will publish this version as well as the others.

@Cesco Full update won't be confirmed until Monday. And try to think quality over quantity - this is likely to be a stellar game.

I quite like the Charging Station Pro, it could be handy. Judging by the URLs of these images, you clearly disagree.

Nintendo has already said at least once that they will be releasing a new Zelda game before they release any more remakes, so they is very easily debunked.

Keep in mind Nintendo has yet to formally announce this week's update, so - while it's unlikely, bar DLC as Thomas says - there could be more than this.

Didn't know the Luigi trick, I just assumed he was unlocked somehow - I never even knew he was playable in the original. Time to break out the green dungarees. Thanks!

@edhe Taken a look at the Japanese music list and this is the Japanese total so far, bearing in mind they've only had a total of twelve updates thus far:

• Final Fantasy - 2 tracks
• Final Fantasy II - 3 tracks
• Final Fantasy III - 4 tracks
• Final Fantasy IV - 1 track
• Final Fantasy V - 4 tracks
• Final Fantasy VI - 2 tracks
• Final Fantasy VII - 3 tracks
• Final Fantasy VIII - 4 tracks
• Final Fantasy IX - 4 tracks
• Final Fantasy X - 7 tracks
• Final Fantasy XI - 6 tracks
• Final Fantasy XII - 5 tracks
• Final Fantasy XIII - 4 tracks
• Final Fantasy XIII-2 - 1 track
• Final Fantasy Type-0 - 1 track
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII - 1 track

Having played a fair bit of New Super Mario Bros. 2, I can see where they're going with the paid add-on content. There are different "packs" of levels in Coin Rush mode, so by creating new levels and releasing them as packs, it allows for a bit more variety.

@MRWalkieTalkie Nintendo confirmed at E3 that Wii U would use Nintendo eShop, just like Nintendo 3DS does.