Dringo

@Heavyarms55 Because their careers are built on knowing this stuff, and they’re deep in the industry. If they keep making stuff up, then they inevitably lose their jobs.

@BlueOcean I think it’s unfair to suggest they stopped caring about Pikmin. The fact they still make it despite its limited sales suggests the opposite (for the record, I loved both of those GameCube games but I think 2 is the superior one).

Racing games they’ve lost favour with, by the looks of it. They’ve not been able to compete with the rival platforms, sales were low, lack of appetite within the company to do new ones, so they’ve faded away.

But there are a tonne of racing devs out there. Especially in the UK. It would be great if Nintendo decided to invest in its driving games again and expand into that market.

Nintendo has done some incredible work since the GameCube. I mean, the quality run on Switch is sky high

@StevenG I am not the one suggesting a piece of work created by a game development team that’s not only still alive but still active should be in the public domain. Even in books, which is generous with these rulings, do they become in the public domain until 70 years after the death of the author.

You’re advocating support of theft of someone else’s work

@NotoriousWhiz I mean... I did come to it a few years late, but boy did I dislike that game. I’d been spoiled by Tekken etc

@BlueOcean VGChartz is a bit like Wikipedia. I’m loathe to criticise it, but it’s really not reliable with anything that isn’t in the public domain.

Even if it did break a million, it’s pretty low for a first-party Nintendo game. Nintendo do invest in small franchises if they bring in different audiences, hence their commitment to games like Xenoblade and Metroid. They’re not unsuccessful, but their true value is that they bring in RPG and Metroidvani fans who then go and spend money on other games. I’m not sure Pikmin fits that.

But I also think Pikmin has such potential. It’s not its fault it’s been released on two of Nintendo’s lowest performing consoles. I think a port is fine, but I would love for the series to get a full blown new entry with full marketing support on a platform with a bigger audience. We’ve seen with Luigi’s Mansion what can happen if you do that well. That was a modest seller on GameCube and is now in Nintendo’s Top Ten franchises

@StevenG Oh I didn’t realise this only used the ideas of a Mario game. I thought it was the same game.

I’m now going to go around and take all the things you’ve ever done. Paste it in a nicer font and explain how that now makes it mine, because I was only using your ideas.

@BlueOcean According to GSD, Famitsu and NPD combined data, it’s much less than that.

@Impaler-D Sea of Thieves just had its biggest ever month. I did a big interview with them in February and have done a lot of coverage on that game’s comeback. They did a number of major updates that has transformed the title and it’s perception amongst Xbox and PC gamers. Take a look at the recent coverage (anything in the last year), it staged a really big comeback and it’s fast becoming Rare’s biggest game. I just finished the story mode today and it’s proper great. It has a lot of that silly Rare humour. I’m an old school fan of the studio and this new game feels like a Rare game... although you need a friend or 3 to really enjoy it to the maximum.

Robin Beanland (Rare legend) did the soundtrack and Gregg Mayles is the architect of the game (he who led Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie). Their new game Everwild is also being led by Louise O’Connor (Conker’s Bad Fur Day). So although a lot of the legends have moved on, those that remain are still running things.

Rare’s post-Nintendo games weren’t sub-par, not overall. Ghoulies needed a co-op mode, but is actually great and made by the exact same team as Banjo (it’s a real hidden gem). Viva Piñata and its sequel (and the DS one) are among their best games. Nuts and Bolts isn’t what fans wanted, but is actually a thoroughly great game in its own right. Kinect Sports is fantastic, although again... not want fans wanted.

Kameo is ok. Perfect Dark Zero is bad. And Kinect Sports Rivals was below par. But they made disappointing games for Nintendo, too. Starfox Adventures, Mickey’s Speedway USA and Killer Instinct Gold, for instance.

It’s a myth that Rare got bad after they were sold. It’s just in the old days they could make 2 (sometimes 3) games a year. Some new IP and some sequels. Some games were classics and some were ‘ok’. Now AAA games take so much longer to make and require so many more people, you only get a couple of games a generation.

@mesome713 No. Donkey Kong and StarFox were always Nintendo brands. Rare-owned brands like Perfect Dark, Banjo etc... was sold along with the company.

@Impaler-D Robin, Gregg, Louise, Marlowe, Machachek... they're all still at Rare. And that Rare legacy has clearly been passed down. Sea of Thieves is one of the best games of the generation

Incredible article. So many funny little stories in here.

A genuine classic. There were a bunch of games released late into the N64's life that suffered in sales because of the new consoles were coming. But they were incredible — This, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Banjo Tooie (ish, isn't as good as the first), Paper Mario, WWF No Mercy, Majora's Mask.

Pikmin 4 has clearly been paused or repurposed

@Curly_Brace Nintendo announce first-party game that exceed a million copies in their financials, and Pikmin 3 has never been listed.

I never played Pikmin 3 on Wii U. In fact, very few people did. The game did less than a million units. Marvel Alliance 3 did more than that.

I wouldn't be surprised if Pikmin 3's failure would have killed the series.

Now it gets another shot

@RazumikhinPG Because one results in a few grumpy tweets. The other results in severe financial penalities and people losing their jobs

You can't take someone else's work, update it, and release it as your own without permission. That's true of Nintendo, as it's true of you. Imagine if you wrote a book, and I took that book without asking, updated it and gave it away for free on the internet. Who am I to do this? What right did I have?

It's even more of an issue with a franchise. Mario is Nintendo's biggest franchise. Forget commercially, it is an IP associated with Nintendo. Now imagine if this developer added something dodgy into the game. Or made blood squirt from the enemies, or redesigned bowser to look like a giant penis... Nintendo cannot have that go out, because it's their IP and it's associated with them. It makes complete sense that they would want to have control of their IP.

Of course, this stuff sneaks out there in the corners of the internet. But supressing this in the main is understandable. Especially as Nintendo is planning a Mario 64 port for Christmas.

It'll almost certainly be the EA Originals games

Switch is not on its way out. Sales need to have peaked before that happens and it’s still selling out. I was talking to a publisher today who predicted it could have a Game Boy-sized lifespan

@ACNHislit Yeah. That is what I’m talking about

@NintendoWiiDS You’ll be pleased to hear about a certain Star Wars game I saw at E3 last year is coming to Switch. And is vastly superior to the previous games in the series (which were all pretty good)

I’d rather they just kept working on Sea of Thieves. Which is both better and more popular than Banjo ever was.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love a Banjo remake. But I would rather that was done by a smaller team elsewhere. Rare build massive expensive AAA projects. Which this wouldn’t be

@00-Aretha It's not just the console, but the chips, the screens, all the stuff Nintendo don't own are also made in China. They could move manufacturing to some of the other major manufacturing territories, but they're also impacted by COVID-19.

@Cotillion Both we’re transitioning themselves to a new business model. GAME much further along in that regard. You can’t download a controller. There is a role for physical stores. The slow rise of digital was a real threat, and esports and Belong was their answer to counter it.

But transitions take time and careful management and can be impossible to get right. With Sports Direct money, they were saved twice and given the chance to develop this.

But now... now their chance might be gone

You’re welcome with the picture

I don't expect GAME, or an specialist games retailer, to survive this

So finally Nintendo drops its H1 Direct. Now we await to see what H2 has in store.

E3 is still the biggest marketing best in the games industry calendar by a massive margin

@KitsuneNight There are not many GTA bundles at all

@dew12333 The game is in the Top Five globally. It's because whenever anyone buys a PS4 or Xbox One, it's one of the 'gotta have this one' games. See: Mario Kart 8: Deluxe

Come on folks. Nintendo often surprise launch stuff during Directs, and then announce stuff for the end of the year. They could do a Direct now, or next week, or next month... there's no urgency. And with issues around Switch hardware supply, I suspect they're not in a huge hurry to fill the schedule with system selling products.

@NotoriousWhiz Yeah, I think it had quite a premium price. Don't get me wrong, I love the games and were happy to pay for it. The lack of local multiplayer disappointed me

Turok wasn't a direct port, to be fair. Still expensive.

We all know Nintendo has games coming for the year. They’ve a bunch of dev teams who have been working on stuff for a good while.

It’s just clear they could announce them at any time really. And we are all growing a bit impatient

@HobbitGamer She's on the driveway on the way in. They have Conker, Banjo and the Dinosaur Planet statues as you go in. It's quite lovely.

@rushiosan i doubt their no investors are comfortable with them investing in a port of one of their biggest commercial failures. I suspect it’s Kickstarter or nothing

@roboshort Because Wonderful 101 is absolutely never going to make millions

@roboshort It’s more likely the rights to the IP have reverted to the studio. A bit like Alan Wake has with Remedy from Microsoft.

It is coming to Kickstarter

@Ventilator Ubisoft hasn’t released a great deal in the last 12 months full stop. Over Christmas it was Just Dance and Ghost Recon, and one of those came to Switch.

It takes time to make these games. And I know of 2 Ubisoft games for Switch that are either unique or partially unique to the platform that people can look forward to. One is a sequel.

Surely Ubisoft commissioning unique Switch games targeted at the platform is more interesting than just ports? I love Bethesda’s support for Switch, but they haven’t gone out to create something new like Ubisoft have

If it’s the ‘big’ Christmas game, it 100% isn’t Excitebikes/truck/bots or F-Zero because they’re big franchises. As much as I’d bloody love them.

Would be nice if it’s an original racer. A Diddy Kong sequel or something completely left field. Star Fox maybe.

Nintendo’s line-up for the year is looking pretty dull. Surely that Direct better be on its way

@Ventilator Surely Starlink and Mario + Rabbids proves you can count on Ubisoft a bit.

The Kickstarter rumour is 101% true. Half the games media have been briefed on it

I think Xbox will bring games to Switch if it might help sales of Xbox. A bit like why they put Ori on Switch, six months before the Ori sequel comes out on Xbox.

So maybe if a new Perfect Dark gets announced, it'll be a reason to port Perfect Dark HD to Switch...

@Octane Consoles rarely get announced at E3, to be honest. E3 is just the first time they put it in front of the press.

For the record, Nintendo Direct doesn't have a much bigger reach. There is nothing that comes close to E3 in terms of online viewership. The Top Ten most popular games on YouTube during E3 last year generated 420m views... Gamescom, the nearest competitor, managed 55m.... that week remains the biggest, noisest week in the calendar.

And I'd argue doing lots of smaller events is worse for the environment.

Not sure I need all 3 Pikmin games. It's not as if the title has a highly engaging story to follow across the titles.

I adored Pikmin 1 and 2 on the GameCube. I bought Pikmin 3 on Wii U, but I never played it. It would make complete sense for it to come to Switch.

I am just disappointed it's only two ports. I do hope one is a Zelda though. And soon... because Breath of the Wild 2 is Christmas... right? RIGHT?

Getting disappointed about a Pokemon Direct because you wanted a Nintendo Direct is a bit like being upset the cricket is on when you like football. The existence of one does not impact the existence of another.

Studios are always hiring for staff

This is a Pokemon Company initiative

Sea of Thieves is fantastic. Nobody has ruined Rare. They probably made one too many Kinect games, but outside of that, they still do excellent stuff. Kinect Sports is actually excellent and Viva Piñata and Nuts & Bolts were proper good (even if the latter isn’t what fans wanted).

So I don’t go along with this ‘ruined Rare’ nonsense. AAA games just take more people and longer to make these days.