Comments 324

Re: Nintendo's Stock Price Jumps Higher than Mario

Grackler

@pashaveliki Pretty much any multi-format site's comments on a Nintendo article are endless rants about how poor business performance mean the device they've never used is awful and somehow a personal attack on their "hardcore" values...

Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Offer Indie Game Bundles

Grackler

Sales would so help. Steam gets constant purchases from me thanks to them, and I end up paying more than I would without them, no doubt. Also: general support for the e/u/wii shops, it's good to be a little hands-off on people's work, but it does sound like Q&A testing just takes too long.

Re: Nintendo UK Boss David Yarnton Suffers Health Scare

Grackler

@BudrSbastig Well, if you don't why bother commenting? In fact, if your being pedantic about news content, when does anything posted on a sodding gaming website constitute SUPAIMPORTENTNEWSS1111!!!!eleventy-one!!!! It's about nintendo, not global politics, get over yourself.

Glad to hear he's ok!

Re: Video Games Become the Biggest Entertainment Medium in UK

Grackler

The UK is an odd one: on the one hand I heard it's the second biggest gaming nation in the world after the USA (bigger than Japan!), and per head of population even more into games than Japan and the USA, but the culture isn't exactly "game friendly". The press disregard gaming at best, and villainize it at worst (Murdoch and co), and it's much less culturally accepted than in Japan. Still, selling is good, lets hope this much delayed tax relief brings some of the talented development studios back!

Re: Pokémon Champion Stripped of Title After Hotel Incident

Grackler

Good thing, childish behaviour at a proper event smears the reputation of everyone. Also: smells bad! I also think it's a bit rich that he gets to enter in several different countries. Don't get me wrong, people of any nationality should be able to enter the UK championships to ensure everyone gets a fair shot. However if what people said on ONM forums is true (takes an entire shot of salt!) and he and his friends enter in every country's event to get a better chance of reaching the final, that's not on. There are many people who won't get a shot at it since these guys take up places multiple times over.

Re: Capcom Open to More 3DS Resident Evils

Grackler

Like many other here, loved Revelations to bits and I'm still playing it. Here's hoping sales keep going up, because not only would I like more, but I'd like to send a message that this kind of high-quality 3rd-party content is A Good Thing(tm)!

Re: Wii Motion Gaming Won't Guarantee Better Fitness

Grackler

While I don't really see "active" games as exercise, or even care if they are, this was a terrible study and its lack of scientific rigour should be addressed. Firstly, the sample size of both groups was only 78 children (39 per group), which is far too small (although they did mostly use a proper selection process to be fair). Secondly, the amount of time spent on each game wasn't factored in at all. Thirdly, and possibly most importantly, the "exercise" was recorded by an accelerometer at hip height to track leg movement and turn this into effective "Calories burnt" for an average child. This is very foolish, since the games selected involved mostly upper-body movement, which isn't tracked at all. Finally, currently what exercise actually is good for you is something still under debate (see BBC's '3 minutes intensive exercise' story this week), so sweeping statements like this without taking other work into consideration are stupid. Basically, this is a headline-grabbing non-story using statistics (as most if not all of the "Wii games are good for you" studies were too). Still, all the kids got to keep the Wii's and games, so at least they're happy!

Re: Pokémon Black & White Version 2 Announced

Grackler

Damn, I wanted a technically impressive Pokemon, and (though I maybe pre-judging), this will likely be the not-that-good-looking even-for-a-DS-game Black and White game engine. 3D battles Pokemon Company! You had it on the 64, Dragon Quest can do it, pleeeeaaase! A move to 3DS would force their hand, which is why I'd like it on that.

Re: Talking Point: 3DS Depends on Nintendo Titles for Success

Grackler

I think Nintendo are doing all they can, the rest is up to developers (to make lots of great games), and gamers to pay attention. Perhaps a change in advertising/selling tack would help too. At the moment, they all try and get one big burst of sales at launch and then mark success or condemnation based on that. If they go head to head with Ninty's top-flight titles, they will lose sales, simple as. No-ones going to let a new Zelda adventure go unplayed, and if, say, Rayman, Sonic or (even more difficult) a new IP stops appearing on shelves and advertising, people will forget about it unless they are in the small group of dedicated fans. A constant stock flow and more even advertising spread would really help. Resi: Revelations for example, sold out on day one around here, (with signs up, internet ads, the lot going), and that was it. They didn't announce new stock, stopped the adverts and it languished way out of sight in stores and website listings. Capcom wouldn't even tell me when it'd next be available! They didn't seem to care post-launch day. I just can't imagine it will get the general public buy-in if they don't wander in and consistently see it on shelves, or if it's not listed consistently as in-stock or advertised slightly online. Mario Kart Wii, Goldeneye, even the DS itself, all garnered massive sales though word of mouth and continued (slight) support over time. With DLC and the internet available to inform people, ever growing sales through word of mouth as wallets free up in dry-release spells is more than possible these days!

Re: Review: 3D Classics: Kid Icarus (3DSWare)

Grackler

I got the code e-mail....and it was missing the code! I'm not the only one either, there were several others with the same blank code entry commenting on the ONM story about Kid Icarus' release. No reply from Nintendo yet, so I'm hoping they're working on fixing it...

Re: Nintendo Donates 5,000 3DS Consoles to The Louvre

Grackler

I seem to remember Miyamoto doing a talk about the DS several years ago, and a custom device Ninty had designed based on it for museums in Japan. It had a form of tracking, so it knew which exhibit you where at, and would show you close-ups and extra information in menus, it looked really smart. Hopefully something similar is on these 3DS (like some AR tagging of picture features)

Re: Charts: 12th December 2011 (UK)

Grackler

It's always nice to have charts rather than vague, circumstantial guesses on how well these things are doing. Looking forward to having time to play Pullblox soon....

Re: Review: Fortune Street (Wii)

Grackler

Glad to see this get a good review, especially after the other party hopefully (M&S at the London Olympics) isn't looking to good.

"...the Mario Party series is a perennial favourite, and rightly so. Those games are colourful, exciting and, most of all, fun."
Did you play Mario Party 7!? It'd be more fun to paint dots on the GameCube and roll it into the M1! (2 was great though )!

Re: Review: F1 2011 (3DS)

Grackler

I'm glad you did this review, I was sorely tempted, but concerned that it might (despite looking good in trailers) be lacking after so little coverage or reviews anywhere. Bad AI utterly ruined F1 2010 for me, so anything worse would be unbearable. A great shame! Oh well...* goes back to Mario Kart 7 *

Re: Feature: Memorable Zelda Moments

Grackler

The Phantom Hourglass moment was less notable if you'd played Another Code (is that Trace Memory in the US? The one with the White Haired Girl on an island), which had a similar puzzle. Still made me grin though! I always liked saving Epona and leaping to freedom. Every time I do it; in 3D, Virtual Console or a replay on the old N64, it brings back so many memories of what was (for young me) a defining moment in gaming.

Re: It's Official: Xenoblade Chronicles is Coming to North America

Grackler

That's less time than we had to wait for Smash Bros. Brawl to make it over here! I'm glad it's happening, it's an awesome game, but I hope this ends the persistent whining about how horrid Nintendo are to the America's and divert attention to place that really do get screwed over a lot (Australasia, natch).

Re: Round Table: Let’s Talk About the GameCube and Wii

Grackler

These round table's are a great read! Bravo NL!
I agree with @14. Whilst the mainstream media seems to be full of hate of the Wii generally (I've lost count of the number of Skyward Sword articles saying that Wii has had few good game 'til now), I think the number of distinct and under-appreciated titles might make it a cult console in years to come. Y'know, in the future, when all the current gen machines look rubbish and only gameplay shines though. There have been some really experimental ideas on Wii with controls and gameplay. Whilst shovelware dominated the charts and it did lack in AAA shiners the Xbox and Ps3 have been getting, the likes of Eledees/bits, Little King's Story, Red Steel 2, Murumasa, Boom Blox, S&P 2, MotoHeroz, Kororinpa, Xenoblade, Wii Music (hush you, it was a fun play about I say!), Zack and Wiki, any number of light gun titles, 2D platformers and a multitude other games that break the mould with unique concepts, might well stand the test of time, simply because they won't get superseded by new, shiner offerings so quickly. I for one have loved the Wii, it's something really different to my Xbox in terms of games and I've had the best multiplayer of the generation on it for sure.
...
Oh, and the GameCube was great too!

Re: Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva DVD Out 8th November

Grackler

@5, 6, 9 ah I see, I though so, I just wasn't sure if my Layton-loving mate hadn't got a copy from foreign climbs! It's a shame the States had to wait, but it does make more sense after the 4th game introduces some of the characters! (A side note: I thought it wasn't half-bad, an enjoyable animated romp)