Ecto-1

Wow, I thought Game of the Weekend was going to be a permanent addition. Disappointed to see it gone.

As one door closes another one opens. Best of luck to you on your next adventure!

@mirnkaya I don't know if anyone has had enough time to thoroughly test that, but looking at the design, Nintendo have made efforts to prevent it. Look at the location of the bumpers on the top half; they are lined up to land on the frame around the lower screen, hopefully resolving the previous iterations' problem with scratchs.

Can't wait! I do hope that this and Luigi's Mansion aren't too close together though, as I think October would be the ideal release month for that game as well and I don't want to have to neglect one to play the other.

Just noticed something in the Mario shot. Anyone else see a hidden enemy?

For me, it wasn't so much what was or wasn't shown that disappointed me the most; it was how it was (or wasn't) shown. For the last two years Nintendo's E3 conferences have felt like celebrations of everything Nintendo. Whether it was the epic orchestral opening of last year's E3 or the fantastic reveal of Donkey Kong Country Returns from two years ago, Nintendo's shows had a certain pizazz that made them special. Even the screens at last year's show became fascinating as they transformed from Mario's racetrack to Luigi's mansion. Perhaps it is irrelevant, but it kind of saddens me that the closest Nintendo got to bringing that kind of charm and wonder to this year's show was this:

I still am a huge Nintendo fan, and I will defiantly get a Wii U when I can, but I can't help but feel that Nintendo could have done so much more with yesterday.

If the black one isn't going to be available at launch, why is it being pictured on their website more than the white one?

For the first time in a few years, I find myself generally disappointed in Nintendo's E3. Like numerous others here have already mentioned, there just seemed to be something missing from their lineup; that one game that absolutely proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Wii U would be worth owning. Reggie touted that they would be showing 29 (if I remember correctly) titles for Wii U, and most of those were only touched on briefly in the form of sizzle reels. But out of those 29 titles, I only personally found interest in two of them. One of those two titles is already available on other consoles (Batman) and the other quite frankly does little to showcase the system's capabilities, either graphically or control wise (NSMBU). Don't get me wrong, Mario looks great, but it doesn't look like anything the Wii couldn't have handled. Pikmin also looked good, but just isn't for me.

But ironically, it wasn't what was or wasn't shown that disappointed me the most; it was how it was (or wasn't) shown. For the last two years Nintendo's E3 conferences have felt like celebrations of everything Nintendo. Whether it was the epic orchestral opening of last year's E3 or the fantastic reveal of Donkey Kong Country Returns from two years ago, Nintendo's shows had a certain pizazz that made them special. Even the screens at last year's show became fascinating as they transformed from Mario's racetrack to Luigi's mansion. Perhaps it is irrelevant, but it kind of saddens me that the closest Nintendo got to bringing that kind of charm and wonder to this year's show was this:

I still am a huge Nintendo fan, and I will defiantly get a Wii U when I can, but I can't help but feel that Nintendo could have done so much more with today. Hopefully the 3DS show tomorrow will bring something more to the table. Sorry about the novel.

I was never concerned that they wouldn't come out in the west. What does concern me is pricing.

@MrArcade
Hehe, I was just about to say something along the lines of "he sounds like a jealous vintage cowboy doll," but you beat me to it.

The first one wasn't too bad, so I may give this one a try when it comes out.

One of my favorite 360 games is Forza 4. When I get a Wii U, I might try this as it seems fairly similar in setup. Add in the extra features made possible by that controller, and I'm certainly interested. I'm still hoping to hear about decal creators though. It would be great to be able to draw designs onto the cars or even paste photos from the camera onto them. Ultimately, for me at least, it'll all depend on the cars. Give me some great classic American muscle cars and I'm sold.

One thing that stands out to me in those scans is the prevalence of older pokemon. There are more drawings of older pokemon than there are ones from generation five. They are even in the screen shots. Perhaps they are making the appearance of older species after you beat the elite four in the first Black/White part of the story in this one?

The new character models look nice (although I'm going to miss my regular hat) and I'm always open to tweaks in the region. Platinum's subtle changes to the looks and progression were nice.

@NintendoKid85 Like Duney said, Black/White are the newest games and offer pretty much every pokemon out there (though you will need to use trading).

However, if your looking for bang for your buck, I would strongly recommend HeartGold or SoulSilver. They are remakes of what many people, including myself, consider to be the best games in the series. Additionally, they offer the most content by far. Beating Platinum gives you access to the Battle Frontier, an area with special challenges. Black and White allow you to explore a few new cities and a special challenge area. HeartGold and SoulSilver offer the Battle Frontier from Platinum, plus an entire second region for you to explore. Plus, them being a bit older, you could save a bit of money compared to Black and White.

I'll definatly be trying the Mutant Mudds demo, and if I like it (and I can come up with enough money) I'll download the full game.

One of my favorite new features that I didn't see mentioned here is how the eShop is sort of a hub for information on games. I like that you can view 3D screenshots and trailers not only for eShop games, but also for full retail releases, all in one place.

One thing that I would personally like to see them add is the ability to use hats outside of Streetpass Mii Plaza.

wow... I'll pass on these.

By the way, Uggie? Really?

@VintageBoy

That was my line of thought exactly. I never meant that they should take up half of the review or that they should have a drastic impact on the score, but it would be nice to see the added features mentioned, just as extra VC features like restore points have been mentioned in other reviews (Metroid and SMB for instance).

THANK YOU!!! Eagerly looking forward to building some insane roller coasters and watching my poor maintenance staff having to clean up to subsequent messes!

I've been playing this for the last few days, and I have to say I am really enjoying it. It isn't quite as good or as challenging as the first two Genesis games (my personal favorites in the series), but it is quite fun. It kind of reminds me of the New Super Mario games; the DS one wasn't nearly as hard as the Wii one, yet it was still a fun game that I came back to numerous times. Personally, I would give it an 8.

One thing I am shocked that none of the Game Gear reviews have mentioned are the special features that these releases include. They have tons of options: customizable button mapping, three screen modes (Normal, Full, and Dot by Dot, which is basically native resolution with the system border like GameBoy VC), color options for the system border in Dot by Dot mode, blurring, and I am sure that there is something else that I am forgetting. Also you can change any of these options without having to restart the game, unlike the GameBoy games where if you were playing in regular screen mode and decided you wanted to go to native resolution, you would have to restart the game holding Start and Select. These games also save your custom settings when you exit them. The wealth of options available here almost put Nintendo's own VC releases to shame; hopefully, Nintendo will included similar options in future VC releases as well as update the existing ones.

Any way to obtain one yet (without cheating)?

@XCWarrior

We don't have any real information on the game yet, but as someone said in the other thread (the one with 314 comments), this isn't necessarily "version 2" of the same game. The originals were titled "Pokemon Black Version" and "Pokemon White Version." The word "version" was a part of the title, not something that has just been added to these.

@ryanthehedgehog

Where did you hear that? As far as I had heard, they only announced the titles and showed the new mascots.

@DanteSolablood
True, the sounds are more complex, but being just sounds, the developers can compress them further without risking too much. If they had used voices, they would only have been able to compress them so much before they lost the quality of the sound. I'm also glad that they've stuck to the sound bits; it adds a bit of nostalgia hearing Charizard (my personal favorite pokemon) still using the same roar as he did in Red, and I imagine I would quickly tire of hearing "Charizard!" every time I went into battle. In the future, I guess they could make it an option that the player could toggle on and off, kind of like how HeartGold and SoulSilver had the ability to substitute the original games' soundtrack in place of the remastered one.

@Knuckles
Sure, why not?

@SilentTardis
It really isn't too surprising that they haven't added voices to the games yet. Using voices would require more memory on the game cards than the current space saving beeps and screeches. Between having room for animated sprites (8 sprites per image) for each of the 649 pokemon, front and back, plus alternate sprites for shinies, plus different sprites for different forms, plus different sprites for species with gender differences, plus adding in voices, there would be little room on the card for much of anything else. On 3DS, they could possibly pull off having voices, but I can't see how they could have done it before now. That said, I like the beeps and screeches; they give the games a kind of nostalgic feel to them.

After giving it some thought, this could be great. Sure they could have put it on the 3DS, but this way they're giving the game to a much larger install base, and it gives them more time to create a 3DS exclusive game. Hopefully, they will use that time to create something incredible (although I personally hope they don't go to using 3D models for the Pokemon, just more detailed animated sprites please. The battles in the 3D console games, to me at least, never had as much charm as the 2D ones). Personally, I'm interested to see what they can do with the franchise with both these installments and what ever inevitably comes to the 3DS.

As for people complaining about it being on DS rather than 3DS because of the DS's "ugly" graphics, what happened to "gameplay over graphics?" If the game is great, are you seriously going to ignore it just because it doesn't have great graphics or 3D effects?

@NintyPuristZach
I agree, and I see what you did there... Nice.

I don't really know what to think of this quite yet. I guess it is best to just wait for more detailed information to drop. Until then, I'll reserve judgement.

Also keep in mind, they may have features specific to 3DS users; Black and White could utilize the cameras if played on a DSi, DSi XL, or 3DS.

I wouldn't mind seeing these in NA. I would probably have to order one of each (my DSi needs a home too).

While I am a Nintendo supporter, I don't want to see Vita tank. Competition is what drives the industry and leads to innovations and improvements which benefit everyone. Hopefully, Sony will be able to turn their fortunes around like Nintendo did with the 3DS. There is no reason that the two can't coexist peacefully, they're aimed at very different markets.

@irken004
I am curious about that as well. If not, I'll definitely try it, although I'll probably download the app regardless (just to see if it will give me Club Nintendo coins like Netflix did).

Ehh... tried the demo, and, while it wasn't necessarily bad, the quality of the minigames seemed to vary wildly. The gun shooting event and the trampoline thing were fairly interesting, but others like the swimming thing and the bike race were terrible in my opinion.

I have to say though, that first screenshot is hilarious. Its like Sonic's dream come true!

I was actually looking forward to this. Hopefully it will be released at some point.

I like most of the changes, particularly the larger avatars. Actually, the only thing I really don't care much for is the repositioning of the recent forum topics on the homepage. Everything else looks pretty nice. Great job!

Personally, I kind of like the way the games look and sound. Sure the system is capable of more, but these games always remind me of simpler times, where we would use our imaginations to fill in what the game was missing. To me, making the game fully 3D and implementing sounds like the TV show would take away from the games' character and charm and would result in the game simply blending in with all the other expansive 3D RPGs.

The one change I can think of that I would really like to see in the next go round would be a further streamlining of importing old characters into new games. The import feature they have now, while functional, could be much better. Currently, you have to have access to multiple consoles in order to import your pokemon from an old game to a new one. With future installments, why not create an app that can be downloaded to your 3DS (or for that matter installed from the game like the Mario Kart Channel from Mario Kart Wii). Using the app with an older game inserted in the card slot would allow you to select pokemon for importing, then the next time you played the new game, those pokemon would be added to your collection. No need for multiple systems or annoying minigames.

@James
The 3DS game case is the only new reward other than the games. The notebooks and pencase thing have been there since the site was redesigned. I may actually pick up some of these rewards. The case might be useful.

How long has it been since we got a VC game? More over, how long has it been since we got one worth getting? I'll probably get the demo and maybe pick up MM later on.

@warioswoods
I really want that color as well. I have always wanted an orange handheld, but they have thus far eluded me.

@120
Keep in mind that they only said they don't have plans to release them. They didn't say they would never be released, they just don't have immediate plans for them. A few months ago, Nintendo of America said they had no plans for releasing Xenoblade Chronicles; now, it is slated for an April release.

@skywake

Keep in mind, based on the article, this happened well before the 3DS's launch (during the development of Nintendogs plus Cats). They wanted to have the game ready for the holiday season, so they brought in some additional help, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the game was rushed.

@GlasS post #87
uhh... Nintendo doesn't make the Sonic games. Sonic is Sega's pride and joy. Just wanted to point that out, although I understand what your getting at and I kind of agree with you. However, its not just Nintendo that does that. Companies in general tend to put stronger efforts into projects that stand to be more successful. Just look at Activision or EA with their Call of Duty and Battlefield games.

Regardless, I can't wait to play this for myself.

WOW! An animal's rights group making jokes about violence towards animals! That is hilarious!

Skeleton Pirate Robot Guy: Link, I am your father.
Link: [yells then makes grunting sound and bashes Skeleton Pirate Robot Guy]

Can't wait for this game.

@Capt_N
Game Informer has released the score they gave it (although not the entire review). It got a 10 from them. Really though, there isn't much reason for you not to be able to see the reviews and get the game early; the embargo on its reviews lifts on November 11, meaning we'll have reviews for the game from most sources a full 9 days ahead of its release.

I went to link one of my songs, and was surprised to see a few of my creations were already there! This is an awesome idea. Now if they can just make it possible for me to save my songs as MP3's/AAC's on the SD card, I'll be really happy.

Its not unheard of for Nintendo to release a new version or bundle of a system after its successor came out. They released a new version of the GBA after the DS (GBA SP+). Now that I think about it, wasn't the Micro also released after the DS, or was that just the 20th anniversary thing?

@tendoboy1984
I would agree that they are trying to clear stock if it weren't for the fact that the pink XL just came out.

I'll take the demo, please.

@RetroEagle
Don't forget Windwaker and Phantom Hourglass.

Anyway, nice intro, but what I really care about is what comes after the intro ends.

WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME MY TAIL WAS THIS BIG!!!

@SamHoly
You do realize that the last two CoD's have had online play right. Also, in all honesty, there isn't that much difference between the Wii and 360/PS3 versions of Black Ops. Other than the graphical differences and a handful of annoying killstreaks, the only omission that irks me is DLC. I have played both, and I honestly liked it better on Wii soley for the pointer controls, which felt far more comfortable and accurate, to me. Also, some, including myself, find the keyboard and mouse setup to be cumbersome and awkward, just as you don't like the Wii's setup for shooters. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions; please, just respect that not everyone will agree with your opinions. Peace.

I respectfully disagree. The Wii's motion controls persuaded me to purchase games like Call of Duty for my Wii rather than my 360, even though there were numerous downsides. It is all about preference. Some prefer the more traditional dual analog setups. Some, like myself, prefer the Wii's pointer controls. Now I can't go back; dual analog just isn't comfortable for me in these types of games.

Anyway, getting back on topic, I think the correct statement here would be that Ubisoft couldn't figure out how to make shooters better on Wii. Other developers did, in my opinion at least.

Wow, I didn't see that coming. Looks awesome!

Also, shame on you, Toad. Its bad enough that Super-Man couldn't really fly, but now you too. Consider this my resignation as the chairman of your fan club. Wait, I never liked you to begin with, so... yeah... never mind...

This white system looks, ehh, odd. Between the white, the black bezzle, and the grey circle pad, it just looks off balance and even a bit ugly, in my opinion. Give me the orange one from E3 2010. Please, Nintendo, ORANGE!!!