GreenDream

@Mr_LztheBleh Kind of like how Robotrek, an Enix/Quintet game on the SNES in 1994, had the main character create, invent and capture robots which were kept in balls, and sent them out into battle without fighting for himself? Hmmmm.... Sounds familiar...!!

Maybe Nintendo should authorize "Crush the Castle" and "Tiny Wings" to complete the collection! (LOL)

Didn't get the earlier print, will get this one!

"It's ~wheelie~ rather good"
BAD PUN!!!!!!!!

Amazing what 3 people, backed by a publisher, can do...

The possibilities of data compression really are miraculous... Don't forget that titles like Perfect Dark N64 can fit into a 32 MB cartridge, though! Adding the 8 MB expansion pack and 32 KB controller pak, that made for about a 40 MB game.

So if you cut some graphical corners, even a measly 40 MB is enough to make a great game. Ironically enough, without the hindrance of data cramming these days, data wasting has become more of a problem. So, of course we think that every game needs to use at least 4.5 GB these days...

None of the portable Monster Hunters have ever had online. They have always been Ad-Hoc, with XLink Kai compatibility. The online has always been reserved for consoles.

@Samholy has a good point, online functionality for handhelds is always inferior to that of consoles / PC.

And this is why I rejected an iPhone when I had the chance to get one. Chortle like this.

If anything, white is less of a visible fingerprint magnet than black, especially for glossy finishes. For matte, it doesn't matter as much.

This game reminds me of a cancelled Xbox game called "True Fantasy Live Online", which was being developed by Level 5.

Maybe this is it's resurrection!?

Innovative? Maybe, maybe not. Comfortable and ergonomic? Let's hope so.

"Or any other planet, for that matter"

OH YOU.

The Game Boy Color is boss! I still have my atomic purple GBC. It is one of the only handheld systems that is actually EASIER to view AND has an improved graphical display under direct sunlight! Modern handheld systems can't handle direct sunlight!

Down with the vampires! We need the Belmonts back!

Is every revision of the 3DS over the years going to get a CPP?

SIGH... thumb stylus, damn it!

This is a Japanese game, people. All of this stuff is completely normal in Japan. Our "normal" lives are what's weird to them!

@Chrono_Cross "Black Ops has more replay value than your silly runner up adventure game / RPG"

That depends on the game... and in CoD's case, your enjoyment of the replay value depends on your tolerance for 13-year old boys calling you a pile of sticks and racial epithets while dry humping your corpse. I don't know if that's your idea of fun, but it definitely is not mine.

OH YES.

@A-Hungry-Banker SARAH PALIN IS BAYONETTA? Well... THAT explains a lot!

@MeloMan "Black and bigger" OH HO HO.

High-end graphics affectionados should just get a good PC and be done with consoles. The whole point of graphics on consoles is to have a smooth, unified coding process that is markedly different from a PC environment.

@tealovertoma Until the system launches, we won't get to see whether USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 or any other myriad types of external hard drives or solid state drives are effective or even function properly for in-game saving (for offline AND online games). SD or SDHC cards could be better or be the only option for external in-game storage; or none of the above may function as well as the built-in memory, such as this 8GB vs 32GB device... And what IS it, exactly? A chip? A card? A removable piece?

Game & Wario, Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Monster Hunter 3G, Toki Tori 2... pretty nice-looking launch.

Until the system launches, we won't get to see whether USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 or any other myriad types of external hard drives or solid state drives are effective or even function properly for in-game saving (for offline AND online games). SD or SDHC cards could be better or be the only option for external in-game storage; or none of the above may function as well as the built-in memory, such as this 8GB vs 32GB device... And what IS it, exactly? A chip? A card? A removable piece?

Wow, Xbox Live does this as part of its subscription, while Nintendo Network does this for free... Xbox Live is getting crappier by the minute...

WHATCHUYALL GOT AGAINST THE BLACK WII U!?!?

Well, looks like WiiU won over PS4 in Japan already. (LOL)

We can also see here that Intel and NVIDIA gave Nintendo a less attractive deal than AMD and ATI, or other smaller companies. Whereas you are more likely to see Intel and NVIDIA pairing up with Microsoft and Sony... hm... so Nintendo is less likely to work with corporate monopolists... despite having some history of that themselves! (Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi days, Microsoft, Sony, NVIDIA, and Intel all have long histories of monopoly tactics)

That being said, Nintendo still shows a strong love for modding a mass-produced, more common component (IBM's Broadway CPU, in this case) into something that is cheap, but effective within their own devices. I sure hope they've moved beyond the old 90 nanometer CPU die manufacturing processes into at least the relatively newer 45 nm ones, though. IBM moved onto the 32 nm process a couple years ago, after all. We could probably expect the NeXtBox and PS4 to use 22 nm dies or lower.

All of that is important because it's a part of determining CPU processing bottlenecks, which affects what the system is capable of doing, as well as the modding scene...

Personally, I'm more interested in the uses of the technology moreso than the games. The Wii Remote was an interesting modding device, and I'm sure the Upad will be too.

I'm also pleasantly surprised with the physical engineering upgrades of the 3DS XL over the 3DS. I think it will last 5 years or more, just as every Nintendo console and handheld has for me. My NES, GBoy, SNES, GBoy Color, N64, GBA, GCN, DS, and Wii all still function to this day. That's probably one reason for the relatively high price tag of Nintendo hardware compared to PC hardware that is rarely ever mentioned - Nintendo hardware just doesn't DIE.

Whereas with just about every other console (PC, PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox/360, PSP, Vita), you really have to go out of your way for them to last any more than 5 years.

Also a little disappointed with adhering to the 6-year old HDMI standard, instead of using the relatively newer DisplayPort or another newer specialized display format. But hey, whadya do...

Also a little disappointed with adhering to the 6-year old HDMI standard, instead of using the relatively newer DisplayPort or another newer specialized display format. But hey, whadya do...

Personally, I'm more interested in the uses of the technology moreso than the games. The Wii Remote was an interesting modding device, and I'm sure the Upad will be too.

I'm also pleasantly surprised with the physical engineering upgrades of the 3DS XL over the 3DS. I think it will last 5 years or more, just as every Nintendo console and handheld has for me. My NES, GBoy, SNES, GBoy Color, N64, GBA, GCN, DS, and Wii all still function to this day. That's probably one reason for the relatively high price tag of Nintendo hardware compared to PC hardware that is rarely ever mentioned - Nintendo hardware just doesn't DIE.

Whereas with just about every other console or system (PC, PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox/360, PSP, Vita), you really have to go out of your way for them to last any more than 5 years of heavy use.

Personally, I'm more interested in the uses of the technology moreso than the games. The Wii Remote was an interesting modding device, and I'm sure the Upad will be too.

I'm also pleasantly surprised with the physical engineering upgrades of the 3DS XL over the 3DS. I think it will last 5 years or more, just as every Nintendo console and handheld has for me. My NES, GBoy, SNES, GBoy Color, N64, GBA, GCN, DS, and Wii all still function to this day. That's probably one reason for the relatively high price tag of Nintendo hardware compared to PC hardware that is rarely ever mentioned - Nintendo hardware just doesn't DIE.

Whereas with just about every other console or system (PC, PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox/360, PSP, Vita), you really have to go out of your way for them to last any more than 5 years of heavy use.

@Samholy If those issues are all you are concerned with, you may as well just get a good PC. Good PC's will trump consoles on all of those issues you mentioned any day. Maybe it's just time for you to bow out of console gaming? Unless you're an RPG type of person... but even then, none of the next-gen consoles will have any of those any time soon. Almost none of the western Sony exclusives can hold a candle to PC exclusives, or the PC versions one-up the Sony/console versions.

Yeah... just stick to handhelds and PC's.

@yosoyyo Para un plataforma juego aficionado, cinco estrellas! Para otro las personas, tres estrellas.

(Art by lunarmew, of the Shantae wikia)

Wayforward is THE way forward for respectable Nintendo eShop titles!

@Geonjaha Ever heard of graphene? Look it up: one of the most common building blocks of life on Earth (carbon) is also one of the most valuable, in more ways than one.

So... Keldeo is an orphaned, exotic unicorn of the forest, with a "Secret Sword" ability, akin to Samurott? With every Pokemon gen, it's been getting more difficult to tell what exactly these things are... I had to look up info just to understand what it was...

And... we have a unicorn already:

Honestly, though, Keldeo would make for an interesting cameo appearance in My Little Pony:

What this article did not mention was that the DS Phat was not prone to broken L button syndrome like the DS Lite. ;P

"The whole campaign is a tutorial!"

...Really? Then why bother?

LOL "Hero" Turtles... Talk about cultural ignorance... Not to mention, this system seller was a "turkey". TMNT 2/arcade is the real hero of the franchise!

As for pricing, many SNES-exclusive RPG's were $80, and one Genesis-exclusive RPG, Phantasy Star 4, was $100. Durable cartridges housing games with an expensive production track aren't cheap, but £65 for Super Street Fighter 2!? They knew it was basically a multi-platform patch of Street Fighter 2, right?

This game's design was about as unique as it's premise. Definitely an unlikely spin on the classic 3D platformer! Anyone who can appreciate tongue-in-cheek humor would be entertained by this game.

Don't forget, folks... PLAY IT LOUD!

@Hyperstar96 LMAO

@SkywardLink98 He might be talking about relatively poor sales of games like Sin and Punishment or Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, alongside the unnecessarily bombastic sales of Wii Play and Mario & Sonic at the 2008 Olympic Games.

It's not Nintendo's fault if the customers buy nothing but mini-game compilations, never giving fleshed-out games a glance... "But that's what marketing is for!", you might say. Why shouldn't people seek out information for themselves, i.e. searching for sites like NintendoLife, to learn about the gems in the rough? The only necessity to kindle a spark of adventure is the will to embark on a journey!

Why does the Wii U remind me of ROB's head...!?

/Cranky Kong mode

Don't forget, Nintendo devices don't need constant paid subscriptions... what good are smartphones without their overpriced subscriptions, anyways? I'm fine using a dedicated (cell) phone device and a dedicated gaming device. Who really needs smartphones or tablets, anyways? They're just spruced-up amalgams of other devices, designed to monopolize the technology market with anti-competitive, anti-worker corporate philosophies!

/end

GASP...GASP... I'M........ getting old...

Don't forget... Nintendo used anti-competitive strategies in the past, too...

@Tsuchinoko It's rare to not have stubby characters in any turn-based strategy RPG xD

Yep, that is indeed the iconic art style of Akihiko Yoshida, the character designer of such famous titles as Final Fantasy Tactics and Ogre Battle. For some ungodly reason, he's one of those people who think noses are the bane of all humankind...

Also, if you apply the legal definition for "default" in this case...then yes, one would need to be VERY brave (or just foolish?) to "Bravely Default" on the law.

Charging the "full" price tag on digital downloads is a trend that needs to stop. Games typically sell for "full price" in physical stores because the salaries of shipping drivers, warehouse packers, bankers, and middleman managers have to be accounted for in the price tag. If you are reducing the salaries accounted for (in product delivery) to just data sorters and bankers... then a digital download of NSMB2 should be closer to $30, not $40. Keeping the price high for a digital download is just giving an unfair deal to the customers, whilst not promising fairer wages and compensation to the developers.

This is definitely a "mixed feelings" situation. I want Nintendo's digital strategy to succeed, but I hope people don't digitally download "full price" retail games under any circumstances...

Nintendo should have integrated 3DS Play Coins into this game... One could exchange a certain in-game coin amount for 3DS Play Coins (but not vice-versa). Then buying this game would be obligatory for any future game making extensive use of 3DS Play Coins! (Of course, there are ways to cheat them in, but that takes a while... and perhaps this process would require a Nintendo Wifi Connection to check for official cart/system connections?)

Come to think of it, I wonder how many of that 36 billion count are from illegitimate copies or cheating of the game?

@ogo79 More like dead after the Gamecube/GBA era. Until then, few people had access to the internet, few people had written elaborate FAQ's, and few reliable news sources existed for raw, hard data. All of these things, which we take for granted today, were a revelation for many people ten years ago.