I wonder if EA has anything to do with this. Criterion said they planned to release every future NFS game at the same time on Wii U, and now we hear that they aren't planning to make any NFS games.
This would allow EA to continue their blackout of Wii U software, while still keeping Criterion true to their word. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to be perfectly honest. Hopefully they push to release whatever game they will be working on for the Wii U as well.
@Sanquine Yeah....almost all of the ATM's are located inside the banks and are closed to the public when the banks are. Even if they aren't, there is a good chance they won't accept another bank's card (that is nothing like other ATM cards other countries use...no magnetic strip I believe), and they aren't very wide-spread. If you plan on taking a train anywhere, be sure to bring all the cash you'll need.
That's partially why handhelds are such a big deal over there, most people commute by train, so they've got time on their hands. WiFi isn't all that common either so Nintendo has the market cornered because you can play games with people without needing an internet connection....or even multiple cartridges.
If people really want to prove something to Ubi, they should buy Legends on Wii U....and buy all Ubisoft games on Wii U. Show them that there is a fanbase that will support quality third party titles.
Boycotting the game only shows them that Nintendo fans are whiny and don't support a game they were originally excited for. It doesn't matter the reasoning behind it, your money doesn't come with a note saying why you bought the game and no one is going to send a letter explaining why they didn't.
I really don't have a problem with what he said. They aren't working on ANY next-gen projects seeing as none of them have an install base that warrants pouring the money into yet. The Wii U install base will most certainly grow, and considering Namco Bandai is working with Nintendo on Smash Bros, it is likely they will try to get an exclusive out of the deal as well.
The Gamecube only sold 22 million in its lifetime and it still got 3 exclusive Namco Bandai games (that I remember off of the top of my head). Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, and Baten Kaitos Origins.
I would like to see Xillia on Wii U, but if the timing just wouldn't work for a simultaneous release or Sony has dibs on it, it's understandable. Porting Vesperia would be a disaster. Nintendo stands to be huge in Japan this gen with Sony focusing on high-price, high-tech Western-type games and Microsoft being....well, Microsoft.
Japan is surprisingly low-tech and they don't really buy into super high tech things. They still use fax machines, loads of paper in the offices, few homes have heat/AC, and ATM's don't stay operational after 6pm. It's not that they don't have the technology or the capability to have it, they just don't care as much about it.
Considering the logo has images repeated (U, N, R) I'm not surprised it's fake.
Hopefully they are making another NFS since they said all future entries will come to Wii U, but I could see EA making them do Burnout or pretty much anything other than NFS, just to spite Nintendo.
@Geonjaha You do know that they didn't delay it just to add the new content right? The Wii U version was basically done, probably a week away from going gold.
It was delayed because MS can reserve the right to not allow a multiplat game if it doesn't come simultaneously to the 360, with feature parity on disc. That last point is probably more negotiable, but really it is all just a scare tactic because MS wouldn't refuse it most likely. Also, Ubisoft was afraid the game would fail due to the "low" Wii U sales (more than PS3/360 launches aligned).
The extra stuff is a bonus that keeps the developers busy, otherwise they would be sitting around doing polishing, which is far less fun than new content.
@Luigifan141 There are a lot of games that will be cross-gen or really close to the release of Sony and MS's offerings.
"If both Rayman Legends and Arkham Origins launched with the PS4 and 720 instead, then more units would be sold for Microsoft and Sony!" This is incorrect. The new console versions of games like ACIV, Watch Dogs, BF4 etc will sell much less than the PS3/360 versions.
It'll be the same situation as the Wii U when it launched. Why buy this expensive console for a game that I can get on the console I already own? Developers would be fools to pass up a user base of 140+ million just to bring it to a new console instead. The entire install base of the PS4/720 would need to buy the games in order for them to break even. That's being generous about the sales numbers for those systems too. The high price and games that can be found on systems people already own will definitely hurt PS4/720 sales, just like they did the Wii U.
@SCAR392 I'll say it again: EA games already require Origin just like on every other console. If you put in Mass Effect 3, NFS:MW, FIFA or Madden, you sign in with an Origin account and access the Origin servers. Without the ability to connect to Origin, neither of those would have multiplayer and in NFS:MW's case, the AutoLog.
EA has also said that if NFS:MW sells enough, the most recent DLC will come. So it's not like it is impossible for EA to bring the ME3 DLC over to Wii U, they just aren't going to.
Nintendo rejected EA taking control of the online because it is INHERENTLY a bad thing. Giving one third party complete control over your netcode and interface would be foolish. It would allow EA to set DLC prices however they want without Nintendo being able to do anything about it. They could charge $20 for what really should be $5-10 DLC and that would be that.
Every single game would have to go through Origin's servers. While it wouldn't be too bad for 1st party games (other than Origin's spotty service as it is), 3rd parties would run for the hills. Example: Call of Duty would have to go through Origin before connecting to Activision's servers. EA has Battlefield as a direct competitor to CoD. EA could intentionally throttle the bandwidth available for CoD to make Battlefield seem like a more stable, and therefore better game. No third party would want to risk that happening, even if it never did.
Hell, EA wasn't prepared for SimCity's release and their servers crashed HARD. Just think what would happen the day something higher profile like Smash Bros is released. There would be riots. Not to mention Origin's shady data mining that violates personal privacy laws in Germany.
To keep with your car analogy; yes you and your friend would take the same car, but he would make you pay for gas AND drive the whole way. Meanwhile, he eats 90% of the snacks, leaving you only crumbs in each chip bag. He also licks his fingers frequently.
The only way EA and Nintendo become a "dual entity" would be by way of a buyout. Nintendo has 10x (minimum) the amount of money EA does, so a merger would just be silly....especially since EA is a western company and Japan could give a rip about them. In a buyout, there is no teamwork.
Rarely is there in a merger either. Square Enix might seem like a good example of "teamwork" but even there, 80% of employees were Square and the President was from Square as well.
EA takes a "bear-hug" approach to acquiring studios. They buy it, envelop it, control it, and quite often....shut it down. They don't do "teamwork."
Partnering with EA would be a massive mistake for Nintendo, and seeing as they [likely] already have turned that down, it isn't going to change. I doubt it would "double their appeal" either, people REALLY don't like EA at the moment.
@SCAR392 The only way it that kind of deal could possibly work is if Nintendo bought EA outright. Full ownership of the company and all properties therein. This would never happen because EA stands to make more money by being a 3rd party, multiplatform publisher. EA couldn't even be trusted to simply help Nintendo create a better online system, so letting them have full control over sports on the Wii U would not turn out well.
According to the rumor (which essentially isn't a rumor considering all that has happened), EA provided R&D support in making low-latency netcode, usernames, social networking etc. Then, they offered to give more support to bring it to things like Facebook,Twitter, tablets, smartphones etc....but they wanted full Origin integration to do so. Origin is already available through all of those services so they could just merge the Nintendo Network in an call it a day, forcing literally every game on the NN to run through Origin.
If Nintendo went on to make an entire Mii Sports franchise with football, soccer etc, they would all have some special thing that separates them from the rest. Super Mario Strikers is not the same as any other soccer game out there for example.
EA throws the consumer under the bus for financial gain. At least, that has been the only time they have been successful at it. I know they didn't single-handedly cause the end of Sega and the Dreamcast, but they definitely attempted to throw them under the bus in lieu of control and finances.
They threw Nintendo and the Wii U under the bus with Mass Effect 3. They bring ME3 to Wii U, offer no DLC for it...ever, and charge $60 for it. Meanwhile, they release the Mass Effect Trilogy for every other format less than 10 days before the launch of the Wii U. 3 games, $60, on every other platform with varying degrees of DLC support. If that isn't throwing Nintendo under the bus, I don't know what is.
Real Racing 3 and their insane microtransactions. Taking Mass Effect and Dragon Age, stripping them of the RPG elements that intimidate the larger audience but were loved by the fans in order to make more money. Holding the "real" endings of games and important story elements hostage as DLC. Dead Space went from Survival Horror/Action to Action shooter/Survival Horror to Action Shooter with microtransactions simply to draw a larger audience. Doesn't matter what the fans of the original liked, screw 'em. EA has thrown the consumer and franchises under the bus simply to earn more money time and time again.
Riccitello suggested charging gamers to RELOAD THEIR WEAPON in a shooter because they aren't in the frame of mind to say "What? No. That's dumb." This was stated in 2011, long before he was fired/resigned whatever. It is likely it is the official stance of EA considering he kept his job for a year and a half after saying it.
I fail to see how adding EA's servers to Nintendo's online would improve anything, assuming you mean merging them. EA games already require Origin just like on every other console.....why can't that be enough? I don't have any problems with Nintendo's online service at all. The day 1 update took a bit, but it wasn't that big of a deal and could have been due to my internet.
There is nothing respectable about EA's businessmen or their practices. So no, a deal couldn't be worked out and I am just fine not spending my money on EA products. There isn't a single franchise they own anymore that would get me to pay them money for, maybe not even buy used without online.
@SCAR392 That would be giving EA exactly what they wanted for the Dreamcast, an unchallenged sports monopoly. EA wouldn't allow Mario Golf, Tennis, Soccer, 2k sports, Mii Sports...none of it. EA would want the license to Nintendo's first party characters in order to put them in the game....but would probably try to abuse that partnership. It's how EA operates.
The last company that tried to abuse Nintendo was Sony and they got burned. Cut off entirely without even being told beforehand. They may have created the Playstation because of it, but EA only has software and not enough capital to fulfill a vendetta. Sony barely does anymore.
I would much rather play Mario sports and Mii sports over EA sports games any day. Full on Mii football would be hilarious, as would soccer and hockey. Making "Mii Sports" with all of the typical EA Sports type games would be crushing competition for EA. I feel like "casuals" would love to see 11 on 11 football with Mii's and their bobble heads bouncing around with Nintendo themed stadiums and so forth.
Making a "EA fails, Nintendo fails" situation would be disastrous considering the public's current feelings on EA. I do not agree with that idea at all.
@NINTENBOY you started off strong, but quickly devolved into exactly the worst possible type of Nintendo fan. A simple boycott will suffice, there is no need to harass the company. Speak with your $, it means more to them than anything you could ever say. Berating them only makes them say, "Those Nintendo fans are lunatics. They are abusive and vitriolic and we don't deserve to be treated that way. We aren't going to support that kind of behavior." Boycott, and ignore them.
An "unprecedented partnership" indeed. There was no precedent set for what EA has done. They claimed that the Wii U was the first next generation console coming to market, claimed they were really excited to develop for it, then COMPLETELY changed their stance in less than a year. It's not like one of the biggest 3rd party publishers suddenly got dev kits from the other 2 of the big 3 and thought "Well, that's that. Never mind about Nintendo". They had those dev kits when they got on stage and supported the Wii U.
It doesn't matter if the rumors about them wanting Origin to control the Wii U's online are true or not, they pulled an cannibalized support for seemingly no reason. This coupled with their anti-consumer practices and repeated hypocrisy disgusts me as a consumer. This article is particularly damning: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/353349/ea-holding-fire-on-two-unannounced-wii-u-games/?
If the Origin rumor isn't true, it would likely become the price for getting full EA co-operation. If EA is going to focus their 3rd party efforts elsewhere, so should Nintendo. EA sales have been on the downturn lately. Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3 have both sold barely over a million, even though they had considerable hype behind them. EA can't be happy with those numbers. If this trend continues, EA support will hardly matter to Nintendo, MS, Sony, or customers, it will just just be filler for the next big game. Especially if they keep pulling crap like they did with SimCity. Even the mighty Madden has seen a slight decline in sales recently.
Putting their games on Nintendo platforms would at least help sales a little bit. As @GiftedGimp said, does Nintendo need EA? Not at all. Will EA need Nintendo? Yes, especially if their sales continue to slump.
For instance, Battlefield 3 sold quite well....but how much of that was due to the shock of how good it looked? With Battlefield 4....it looks great visually, but it doesn't have the same, "WHAT? WOW." factor 3 did, even though it was presented in 3k. This statement by Riccitello is likely where EA is heading, and might implement something close in Battlefield 4. Even though he "resigned", it could very well be the official position of EA and the board. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR6-u8OIJTE
Nintendo needs to show them that they made a mistake in pulling support and cannibalizing sales. Nintendo needs to get every other 3rd party on board that they can whether Japanese or Western. I'm guessing they have far more support than they let on, a large majority of third party developers have just put out games so naturally they won't have announced games for a system.
Off of the top of my head, we have CD Projekt Red, EA and Eidos with confirmed games that are not coming to Wii U. Big whoop. I'm not counting Bungie here because nothing has been said one way or another on the subject, same goes for Call of Duty, but Activision throws that onto every console possible and Wii U install base will be too large to ignore by then. Especially if it will be next-gen only.
Criterion is bringing all future NFS games to Wii U day and date with other versions, Crytek has a game in the pipeline (I am positive the game they talked about wasn't Crysis 3 since that would have been the main division), Sega does as well, Ubisoft is giving full support and Activision will continue support with Skylanders (whether you like it or not). Platinum, Capcom, Atlus, and Namco Bandai all have good relations with Nintendo so I fully expect them to bring games in the future. Then you get the large swell of indie devs that are now infatuated with Nintendo's eShop practices.
FIFA and Madden may be large franchises, but they will not make or break Nintendo one way or the other. EA is the last company they need to worry about.
It could very well be a revolution if people actually start to utilize the gamepad. It is capable of so much. With the Wii remotes, people thought that an RTS game would be perfect, but inputs were limited. The gamepad fixes that.
Dragon Quest may be more of a 1st few days type seller, but that doesn't mean more people won't pick it up. Also, if SE would have made a new DQ entirely rather than porting the MMO, it would have absolutely erupted. Heck, sales of the Wii U doubled in Japan last week.....22k isn't phenomenal but it is an improvement.
The Wii U is not performing well, but I am not worried about it in the slightest. Mostly, I am a touch annoyed that Nintendo still hasn't announced a Wii U Nintendo Direct considering it is now April and nothing has a release date. I have Monster Hunter to hold me over, but still. Even then, I am still confident they will have one in the near future, they know we are waiting and they will likely pump one out before the FY numbers are released or just after.
Well dang, that sucks. Granted, LA has been a bit misguided recently but hopefully people can find jobs and other developers can do awesome things. I imagine the license fees will be reduced somewhat....at least I hope so.
Hey Nintendo, time to make a Star Wars lightsaber game on the cheap....yeah?
Multiplat comparisons are silly anyway. If you only buy the one version, you will probably never see the others unless you go out of your way to search. If the game is fun and you enjoy it, why does it matter that [other version] is slightly less washed out or uses bloom lighting incorrectly?
I have Hitman on the 360 and FarCry 3 on the PS3....when comparisons say I should have those flipped. I'm not about to return them to pick them up again so they "look better." Even IF I were to buy a PS4 at launch (will get one, just not until there are games that interest me), I would get Watch Dogs on Wii U. It may not be the best looking version, but the gamepad will no doubt be used phenomenally. Ubi may have messed up with Rayman, but they are definitely supporting Nintendo and will make full use of the pad. They would have to go out of their way not to use it well for Watch Dogs.
I do look up comparisons/reviews to make sure one version isn't completely unplayable though. Pre-patch Bayonetta on PS3 is a good example.....as is Skyrim.
In the end, graphics<gameplay. Graphics are nice, but if they make the game boring because that was the main focus of the developer; or if the system can't handle it so it becomes unplayable...what's the point? My PC can't run the original Fable that allows it to be fun, so I don't bother. With the way engines are handled now, this kind of thing will not be a problem in the hands of a capable developer this gen.
@Captain_Balko I still see people trolling in Miiverse, but the overwhelming stomping they get by nintendo fans makes it worthwhile. My one gripe is that the character limits are short. I can be a bit long-winded at times, so combating a troll can get tedious. Even upping it to Twitter levels would be nice.
Once I get on Miiverse, I get completely sucked in. Whether I'm checking out art, just browsing posts or commenting on questions people have...I love it. Having it on my phone is going to be incredible. It truly is a social network for gamers.
Sony is going to be integrating Facebook with the PS4, which...eh. None of my friends really play games so they really don't want to see a million posts about stuff I'm playing. They just don't care and seeing a youtube video of a cool clip isn't going to change their minds. Who knows what the neXtBox will do, but honestly....I don't plan on getting one. They will have to really wow me in order to get me at all interested in buying one.
I love that the developers actually get on and post things as well. It brings a level of transparency that doesn't get swallowed up by PR spin. Same reason why I love the Nintendo Directs. Sure those are PR things, but it is straight from Nintendo instead of second or third-hand
@Peach64 I'm guessing you are getting the 6k and 14k numbers from vgchartz? That's silly....they don't have sources, and if they do, they don't reveal them. Kind of crucial to have hard data when talking about sales. They still have Tomb Raider with just over a million sales, when it has actually sold 3.4....I don't trust them. Same goes for @andrea987....those numbers might even be under tracked like everything else. There was definitely a large boost, but until there are official numbers, we just don't know.
We all have to keep in mind that these are sales numbers from the week ending on the 23rd. Two whole days of the sale and Monster Hunter being out made a 125% difference. I fully expect this week's sales to have an even higher jump with the sale taking place in earnest and with Lego City releasing yesterday.
Good news overall, but once we see a full week of sales we'll really have something to talk about.
Did it ever occur to him that the fiscal year ends in like....3 days? Nintendo isn't going to go hog wild advertising the Wii U at the very end of the fiscal year, when dividends from the ads wouldn't show up until next FY. It just comes out as a loss.
We have like....3 "next-gen" games announced. The Witcher, Thief and Battlefield 4.....Only one of them is confirmed not coming to Wii U. EA is obviously upset that Nintendo wouldn't hand over the keys to the Nintendo Network. There is no other explanation for the sudden lack of support and cannibalization of titles. It's not like they all of a sudden got PS4/Durango dev kits, they had them when they announced the "unprecedented partnership".
With games that have come out recently or are coming out soon, the devs probably didn't have the full tools in time to make a port financially feasible. Bioshock and Tomb Raider were both delayed into early 2013 so they could polish....not exactly a prime time to throw the game onto the Wii U. Crysis 3 was pulled by EA's bitch-fit, Saints Row is lucky it's getting released at all, Dead Island....who cares really?
It's easy to say "Wii U isn't getting any third party support!" without actually looking at what is going on. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Third parties are starting to work on their next-gen games....give them a little time for crying out loud. We also have to remember that Nintendo is a Japanese company, with a Japanese main market. They are gathering support from Japanese developers who simply haven't announced anything yet.
Iwata said at the end of the Wii U ND in January that he is excited to share what 3rd party developers are working on. We haven't heard any more on that.....and he wouldn't just say something like that if there was literally no third party support.
Tl:dr Nintendo isn't going to spend a ton of money at the end of a FY, just because games haven't been announced doesn't mean they aren't coming, Nintendo is going to blow us away and there will be 3rd party support. Patience.
I was watching the IGN off screen vid....and the guy was terrible....almost made the game look bad.
Literally every other vid from PAX shows off just how awesome this game will be. Super pumped for it.
Considering the Wii U eShop has it listed as "Coming Soon", I would expect a release date announcement pretty soon. We all know how Nintendo likes to keep secrets....and how good they are about keeping them....
Fez was fun for a little while, then better things came out and I just kind of go "meh" when I think about playing it. I was okay, but nothing that special.
I haven't played Spelunky but it looks better than Fez in my opinion. Looks more like the hard, old-school games of my childhood. Fez had the design, but there wasn't a penalty for dying...you just reappeared.
Monaco is pretty sweet looking and could be really fun on the gamepad. Not sure if any touch screen type stuff could be implemented, but the game looks really fun. Could even do local co-op with Wii remotes and so forth or online and chat through the pad.
I say Monaco and Spelunky should be ported and Fez should be left alone. Phil Fish is REALLY bad at PR and doesn't want to do any work...just wants to sit back and earn money.
If they decide to bring back MegaMan.....that would be the megaton to end all megatons for Capcom. Nothing after that announcement would register due to the sheer awesomeness of MegaMan making a comeback
I got it and Monster Hunter this morning at Target. Lucked out a bit since they were both the second to last copy. Target told me yesterday that they weren't able to sell LCU.....even though it was out and they had it. shrug whatever....fun game. Load times are indeed a little bit of a bummer but really not that big of a problem.
I have loved Luigi since the NES.....I would plug in the second controller and die as Mario just so I could play as Luigi. Kind of a shame they made him all......weird after Luigi's Mansion, but whatever.
It might have something to do with the L......I'm a lefty and so I kind have always thought Luigi was too...just like Link (lefty Link will be back for Wind Waker!! WOOOO)
Sweet. Always good to hear someone talk up the WiI U and "get it". When they announced the Wii, my mind raced with all of the possibilities of the motion control....the exact same thing happened when they announced the Wii U.
I mean.....it's like a DS....but BETTER. (severe generalization, I know.....but still)
Now if other third parties would actually take the time to develop for it. They seem to be the only ones who have taken the time. Not saying 3rd parties are completely at fault, they probably didn't have full dev tools until launch and their budgets didn't have enough wiggle room for it to make financial sense. Now that their games are out/coming out, they better start actually putting in some effort, because there is really no excuse not to.
They know the install base will grow by the time their next game is ready, the Wii U will have a larger base than the PS4/720 this time next year....they would be morons not to. Money left on the table.
@Nintendo4Lyfe I agree. He is the reason every EA game has half-butt'd, shoehorned multiplayer of some kind. He is actually proud of the fact that he hasn't greenlit a title that was single player only. Ugh.
This is what happens when you try a power grab on Nintendo, Riccitiello.
Jokes aside, if he is the main reason for the whole....microtransaction thing....I'm only glad he is gone if things turn around. He paints a scary future with what he thinks mt's should be and how easy it would be to exploit them in a game.
If that was all him and not a decision of the entire company.....good riddance. Mass Effect was the last franchise I cared about that EA had, now that the trilogy is over (for better or worse), I can do without playing their games, no problem. In fact, that was the last EA game I bought....not even out of principle.
Retro making it wouldn't be terribly unreasonable either. It turns out that Retro has been hiring.....big. They have hired 2 fairly big name artists, and a real-time 3d graphics programmer responsible for Crusta (link in the link...). The artists were from Naughty Dog and Vigil, environment and character respectively.
They have also acquired devs from Junction Point (Epic Mickey) and Bioware. While those might not seem to be the greatest considering those studio's most recent works, it doesn't mean they were solely responsible for what made them....not so hot.
Just think; a Bioware developer out from under the thumb of EA, environment artist from Uncharted 3, character designer from Darksiders, camera systems/cinematic/level designer from Force Unleashed 2 (Wii version), the Crusta guy (who also interned at Visceral), PLUS all of Retro's already stellar talent and the guiding hand of Nintendo and you've got yourself some SERIOUS dev power.
It certainly seems like they are gearing up for some sort of 3rd person title considering the history of those developers, the Darksiders guy would be excellent for creepy enemies/bosses. They also hired the artist who drew these: http://beastofoblivion.deviantart.com/gallery/
They are definitely cooking up something that uses creepy characters and gorgeous environments. If it's Metroid, sweet......but ED2 does look semi-likely considering those hires. E3 can't get here fast enough.
@Koto Until graphene or quantum computing become the norm. Either of those will absolutely rock the gaming world. Graphene being an atom thick and hardly having any electrical resistance (unlike silicon) means transfer speeds of data are astronomical. Wireless data transfer rates of 100tbps.....holy cow.
And since it is just an atom thick, it can be placed even on a painted wall without anyone knowing. If the rumors about Nintendo's next console being a console/handheld hybrid (possibly similar to, but better than the Vita), graphene would be the way to go. It is also extremely inexpensive to produce....scientists built >100 graphene supercapacitors in under 30 minutes with a consumer grade LightScribe DVD burner. Nintendo REALLY needs to look into that. Imagine.....console grade graphics, streamed flawlessly to your TV, on the go, for $100 if that. Graphene supercpacitors also store just as much (or more) energy as a Li Ion battery, but can charge in seconds. The future is going to be AWESOME.
Anyway, gameplay will ALWAYS trump pure graphics. Killzone Shadow Fall looked pretty (not better than Crysis 3 at max, but I digress).....but it was still just.....Killzone. Horribly linear shooter with a story that is just like every other action movie imo. Not saying the PS4 won't have great games (I plan on buying one when the price is good and there are games), just that graphical showcases are just that.....showcases.
I agree with just about every word in this article 100% It's a shame other sites don't take a step back and actually analyze the industry and the reality of the situation. Instead, they peddle DOOOOOOMED cakes and people regurgitate the anti-hype
It will be interesting to see how the PS4/720 will do if the current gaming economy continues the trend of shrinking. What I can't stand, is when people compare the Wii U to the Wii sales-wise. Of COURSE it isn't going to sell on pace with the Wii....the PS3 didn't keep up with the PS2 yet I can't recall ever seeing that comparison. The price will definitely hurt both of the offerings from MS and Sony as will a slow schedule of games. As of right now, we have 2 launch titles for PS4 (KZSF and Knack), one late port (ACIV) possibly another (Watch_Dogs), and that is it. Sure E3 will reveal things, but I expect delays considering a year and a half isn't exactly the best idea for a new console launch title.
Anyone who dismisses the Wii U as having "360-tech" is a complete moron in my book. Looking at the actual technology inside, there is absolutely no way it is "360-tech" and is definitely "next-gen" (even though not near the PS4 which has ridiculous specs....$500 incoming) Usually it is "gaming journalists" who just want clicks, devs who don't bother trying, or fanboys who compare launch titles to late cycle titles.
Unripened apples to apple pie. Sure the current games are a tiny bit better than last gen titles....but that doesn't mean they will always be that way. No one compares the games to 360/PS3 launch titles and the immense amount of growth shown there.
@JGer Yes, I am responding quickly as you predicted, but I won't have a list of obscure titles. The only "obscure" game I will mention is W101 which will be out likely before E3. Speaking of which, the next Mario and Mario Kart will be playable and considering Nintendo's history of announcements, they will likely be out this year. At the very least, one of them will. They didn't even say NSMB2 existed until 3 months before it launched for crying out loud. They are the best at keeping secrets in the industry. It isn't out of the realm of possibility that Retro will show off their game at E3 and have it ready for the holidays as well.
They will likely show off SMTxFE at E3 as well as "X", more likely to release in Japan this year rather than globally. SMT and FE have been gaining steam recently and "X" pretty much shocked everyone when it was revealed (possibly in Alpha but more likely Beta). Expect these to do well.
Nintendo is publishing Lego City next week and Monster Hunter seems to have a lot of interest from what I can tell. Not saying they will sell tons of systems or anything, but the games ARE coming.
Nintendo will pull a 3DS and start rolling out the games, they have worked hard to get 3rd party support and even though it isn't present at the moment, it is there. Even IF it sells around Gamecube levels, each system will likely produce a profit by the end of this year without needing a game sale. The Wii U is likely another 5-7 year console and by the time they are ready to move on, PS4 and 720 will be the ones with "outdated tech" while sitting around for another 5 years or so.
The Wii U could most certainly run it, and run it better than the 360 and PS3.
Considering it started as an expansion for SR3 and then all of the problems with THQ, this does not surprise me one bit. Resources are probably pretty tight for the game and fans of the series are probably lucky it is even being released.
I can't bring myself to finish a Saints Row game, as crazy as they are....it gets boring. It's all too over the top and the story isn't worth getting through for me. Not a huge loss.
Personally, I think next week is going to provide a pretty decent spike in sales. Target is having a few deals....that would really make it hard to to buy one.
Buy the console, get a $50 gift card AND Buy 2 games get one free. Basically it could come out to $375 for the console and 3 games.....BAM. That's if you get the basic, but if you get Deluxe of course you would tack on another $50....but also another game included. If I didn't already have a Wii U it would be VERY hard to avoid buying it.
I already plan on taking advantage of the B2G1 deal....MH3U and LCU here I come......need to figure out the third game though. I like NFS and Criterion should be supported for their efforts....but man...I really don't like EA and they shouldn't be supported. Conundrum.
"Viewers position detection means".........meaning the pair of cameras used to determine the viewers position....3DS doesn't have that. You have to hold it at a certain distance.
40% increase in sales during a month where literally nothing changed? I'll take it.
It could have easily been a 40% decrease, especially after the Rayman screw up. Instead, sales increased in a month where not a single game was released.
What I don't like.....is all of the sensationalist headlines. Why not say "Wii U sales increase 40% over January" or "Despite no new releases, Wii U sees 40% increase in sales." ? A 40% dip in sales would make for a "grim reading" for the Wii U.
The headline could have also easily featured the 25% dip in overall sales YoY....
@neumaus @TobieOBrown @KeeperBvK He is not a "patent troll" in the sense that he patented something similar with the hopes of suing......but he is in the wrong here.
His patent uses a set of cameras that determine the distance of the viewer, and then the image is rendered accordingly. This allows the viewer to have the best possible 3D at all times....no "sweet spot"
The 3DS (See: Sharp's 3D tech) uses a pair of screens that render the image differently to produce the 3D effect. Everyone knows there is a "sweet spot" and if you move it too far away or too close, it loses the 3D effect.
The concept is similar, but the execution and tech behind it is different. Nintendo does NOT use "exactly the same method" to produce the glasses free 3D, claiming so is just preposterous.
It's like if Sony were to sue MS over Kinect providing "controller free motion sensing gameplay" simply because they both use a camera. He doesn't deserve a dime.
@Peach64 Wii U sales were actually up 40% over January....which is a bit nuts considering no games were released. Hopefully it's the start of the inevitable recovery
I don't have a 3DS yet, can't decide between XL or regular. I'd like a black one but NA doesn't exactly have the best color selection :-/ Definitely picking this up when I do get one though.
I'm really glad that EDGE review was a fluke, judging by the numerous high marks on metacritic. Definitely looking forward to it....the humor in the videos has me really excited.
Kind of stinks that the official camera thing only works when "your feet are on the ground" but that's what the home button is for, right?
Also really glad that Target is having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal next week. MH3U, LCU and.....something.....next week. Aww yeah.
He is pretty much stating the obvious/inevitable. The tone makes it sound like "Oh no, Nintendo is in trouble, they have to announce some big titles to compete herp a derp a der"
Interesting to note, NPD numbers came out today. Wii U saw a 40% INCREASE in sales in February. Not too shabby considering no games were released.
57k + 40% = 78.9k. The upswing as started.....I hope. (I mean....March has a bunch of games releasing....)
@Koto Exactly. This guy's patent uses 2 cameras to determine the distance of the viewer so it can render the 3D appropriately....the 3DS does nothing like that. As anyone who has played the 3DS knows, you move from that sweet spot and it stops being 3D and starts being painful.
Besides, isn't it Sharp's technology anyway? Why didn't a judge decide the case as they do in almost every other patent lawsuit? So strange.
It will get set aside....if it doesn't....the hell? It only really amounts to ~$1 per 3DS sold so far which is less than their profit margin. It's hardly even a dent.
Hrmm.....I thought NFS was supposed to get a demo. Guess not :-
I really don't want to support EA because of their terrible business practices, but Criterion should be rewarded for actually trying with their port. Dilemma!
@Gamesake They dropped the price of the Vita in Japan because they were paying more per console than the rest of the world. The Vita is definitely overpriced (as are the memory cards), but I wouldn't anticipate a world wide price drop until closer to the PS4 launch. Especially after the Sony Worldwide Studios President straight up said "No it will not [be receiving a price drop in the West]"
This is good for the Vita (and the 3DS in terms of competition), hopefully it will be able to sustain high numbers. A two week spike is just a blip in the grand scheme of things, but it could very well be the start of higher numbers overall. Weegee's Mansion releases this month, so I'm sure the 3DS will climb again and now that Nintendo has announced FlipNote for the summer along with MH4......things will get interesting.
Anyone know what other games the Vita has coming up, Japan specifically? Not trying to troll or anything, I genuinely don't know and it will be a big factor in how well these numbers are sustained.
@dudey300
So...this is all assuming this isn't Deus Ex (Love the game... but that would be dumb) or another port (i.e. Tomb Raider):
I was looking up PAX exhibitors to see if Eidos would be there or if they were folded completely into SE (which they were) and I came across other subsidiaries of SE. When I looked up what Crystal Dynamics was up to, some interesting information popped up.
They have at least 2 new titles in the works and the new IP was rumored to be announced last year (according to the wording in that first link) Could this be it?
It is possible that in Nintendo's push to get third parties on board, they got CD to hold off announcing the game until launch died down. They pushed for Ubisoft, EA (who then tried to control things), Capcom (with Monster Hunter)....so why not Square Enix? PAX is the first large event that would make sense for an announcement. It gives SE control over the announcement as well instead of letting Nintendo pull the rug out with a Nintendo Direct. Iwata did say that he was eager to share what 3rd parties were working on in that January ND and mid-late March seems like the perfect time...
I know it's a bit of a shot in the dark considering the rumors about Deus Ex....but a 2 year old port would just be moronic. ESPECIALLY considering they have 2 new titles in the works. I know Squeenix has made some dumb decisions, but these puzzle pieces seem to fit quite well.
As much as I loved Deus Ex....porting it over to the Wii U is just asking for it to fail. Leading to SE to have the excuse "3rd party games dont sell on Nintendo consoles!" for not porting anything over in the future. If they don't try to charge full price for it, it might do okay and I might buy it again even.
Sadly, with all of the rumors....that's probably exactly what it is. It makes no business sense to bring a 2 year old game to a new console. Pretty much everyone who wanted to play it has probably played it already. It would make just as much sense to port something like Kingdoms of Amalur, Brink or Red Faction: Armageddon.
I really hope I'm wrong and it's something super awesome like a new Crystal Chronicles or Kingdom Hearts.
@sonicfan1373 The guys over at NeoGaf have pretty much determined that the Wii U GPU is in no way related to R7XX anything....it has no similarities with that line of GPU's even after the customization done by Nintendo. They don't even know what 30% of the silicon does...which is crazy. Just thought you should know....that it's more powerful than you thought
@duffmman I guess that's true. I don't have a 3DS so my knowledge of the AR stuff is pretty limited and doesn't appeal to my current wants. I think I might get one to take advantage of that XL Luigi's mansion deal though
Maybe they could pull a Monster Hunter and do cross-save and have both the AR stuff and NFC stuff on the cards?
I REALLY need to get into Ni No Kuni....I am just now at the second boss (the mouse) and I've had the game since early Feb. I had to at least finish up Far Cry 3 before starting on it....and then the Monster Hunter demo hit, and BTRunner 2.
I have 10-11 days before Lego City and Monster Hunter consume my life until Pikmin 3 releases, yeesh.
@chucknorrmis If you're talking about W101 and Pikmin, they are currently slated for Q2 2013 which is April-June. They both were originally going to be Launch Window with Pikmin most likely appearing in March.
Coupled with Miyamoto saying that it wasn't "delayed" so much as..."sort of shifted", I feel like Pikmin is at least pretty close to releasing. To me, the "sort of shifted" means they took a look at it and said, "Can it look better?" and then it moved back for pure visual polish. A delay, to me, seems more like they took a look at it and said, "X,Y,Z issues need to be fixed before it is released. Push it back."
Best news is.....the drought will soon be at an end regardless. In 10 days, Lego City Undercover releases....40-50 hour game and apparently quite good. The next day you've got the definitive version of NFS: Most Wanted that features upgraded visuals and some pretty cool gamepad stuff. Also on the 19th, there is Monster Hunter....which people have put well over 300 hours into....it's crazy.
*this thing really needs a notification system for when someone replies.
Personally, I think Nintendo would clean up if they reissued Pokemon cards with NFC in conjunction with a Pokemon Stadium/Colosseum experience. The main single player would allow you to roam around the open world, catch and train Pokemon just like the good old days. For battles on and offline, you can either use the cards to use a Pokemon, or you can use the ones you have trained. Healing items and the like can also be placed on cards so that you aren't buying a pack of straight Pokemon....keeps people buying. The trading cards were HUGE when they first released and as far as I can tell, they have fallen by the wayside.
The issue would be avoiding "pay to win." One solution would be that while the Pokemon in the card packs could be rare, they wouldn't be super powered and perhaps tailored to the level class of the battle (when chosen...not on a card by card basis). This would allow the people who spend the time training their Pokemon to potentially defeat people with more rare Pokemon, but also give card owners a fighting chance by using strategy to prevail.
The cards also solve the issue of having 600+ figurines laying around. Cards are easily stackable and can be put into card books (I still have all of my original Pokemon cards because of those )
I need to stop....I'll just be disappointed when it doesn't happen. This needs to be pitched to Nintendo because now I'm sad, haha.
I wonder if the MediaCreate sales lists had anything to do with it. I know the ¥/$ ratio was probably the main driving force....but the 3DS still outsold the Vita after a price drop and games being released. It is possible that investors are happy to see that even with such measures, the Vita isn't posing a large threat.
Some have also theorized that the recent interview with Miyamoto about him stepping back to let new people with fresh ideas take over had a part in it. Investors could be thinking that new blood is exactly what the company needs. Considering this isn't the first time he has said it, I doubt this to have any impact.
@ThomasBW84 It baffles me to think that people believe Ninty is anywhere close to being in the kind of financial trouble that would lead to them to go 3rd party. I guess that's the life of the internet where opinion is spread like wildfire as fact. If people actually took a look at their financial reports, they would see that they have enough money to last several decades while taking several hundred million in losses every year.
I also like to think that if Nintendo was ever forced to shut down, that they would take their franchises with them instead of pulling a Sega and basically ruining them.
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Re: Criterion Has No Immediate Plans For More Need For Speed
I wonder if EA has anything to do with this. Criterion said they planned to release every future NFS game at the same time on Wii U, and now we hear that they aren't planning to make any NFS games.
This would allow EA to continue their blackout of Wii U software, while still keeping Criterion true to their word. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to be perfectly honest. Hopefully they push to release whatever game they will be working on for the Wii U as well.
Re: Tales Producer Says The Series Could Eventually Make It To Wii U
@Sanquine Yeah....almost all of the ATM's are located inside the banks and are closed to the public when the banks are. Even if they aren't, there is a good chance they won't accept another bank's card (that is nothing like other ATM cards other countries use...no magnetic strip I believe), and they aren't very wide-spread. If you plan on taking a train anywhere, be sure to bring all the cash you'll need.
That's partially why handhelds are such a big deal over there, most people commute by train, so they've got time on their hands. WiFi isn't all that common either so Nintendo has the market cornered because you can play games with people without needing an internet connection....or even multiple cartridges.
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel "Wasn't Shocked" By Backlash To Legends Delay
If people really want to prove something to Ubi, they should buy Legends on Wii U....and buy all Ubisoft games on Wii U. Show them that there is a fanbase that will support quality third party titles.
Boycotting the game only shows them that Nintendo fans are whiny and don't support a game they were originally excited for. It doesn't matter the reasoning behind it, your money doesn't come with a note saying why you bought the game and no one is going to send a letter explaining why they didn't.
Re: Tales Producer Says The Series Could Eventually Make It To Wii U
I really don't have a problem with what he said. They aren't working on ANY next-gen projects seeing as none of them have an install base that warrants pouring the money into yet. The Wii U install base will most certainly grow, and considering Namco Bandai is working with Nintendo on Smash Bros, it is likely they will try to get an exclusive out of the deal as well.
The Gamecube only sold 22 million in its lifetime and it still got 3 exclusive Namco Bandai games (that I remember off of the top of my head). Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, and Baten Kaitos Origins.
I would like to see Xillia on Wii U, but if the timing just wouldn't work for a simultaneous release or Sony has dibs on it, it's understandable. Porting Vesperia would be a disaster. Nintendo stands to be huge in Japan this gen with Sony focusing on high-price, high-tech Western-type games and Microsoft being....well, Microsoft.
Japan is surprisingly low-tech and they don't really buy into super high tech things. They still use fax machines, loads of paper in the offices, few homes have heat/AC, and ATM's don't stay operational after 6pm. It's not that they don't have the technology or the capability to have it, they just don't care as much about it.
Re: Rumour: Criterion Is Rebooting Need For Speed: Underground
Considering the logo has images repeated (U, N, R) I'm not surprised it's fake.
Hopefully they are making another NFS since they said all future entries will come to Wii U, but I could see EA making them do Burnout or pretty much anything other than NFS, just to spite Nintendo.
Re: Rayman Creator Michel Ancel "Wasn't Shocked" By Backlash To Legends Delay
@Geonjaha You do know that they didn't delay it just to add the new content right? The Wii U version was basically done, probably a week away from going gold.
It was delayed because MS can reserve the right to not allow a multiplat game if it doesn't come simultaneously to the 360, with feature parity on disc. That last point is probably more negotiable, but really it is all just a scare tactic because MS wouldn't refuse it most likely. Also, Ubisoft was afraid the game would fail due to the "low" Wii U sales (more than PS3/360 launches aligned).
The extra stuff is a bonus that keeps the developers busy, otherwise they would be sitting around doing polishing, which is far less fun than new content.
@Luigifan141 There are a lot of games that will be cross-gen or really close to the release of Sony and MS's offerings.
"If both Rayman Legends and Arkham Origins launched with the PS4 and 720 instead, then more units would be sold for Microsoft and Sony!" This is incorrect. The new console versions of games like ACIV, Watch Dogs, BF4 etc will sell much less than the PS3/360 versions.
It'll be the same situation as the Wii U when it launched. Why buy this expensive console for a game that I can get on the console I already own? Developers would be fools to pass up a user base of 140+ million just to bring it to a new console instead. The entire install base of the PS4/720 would need to buy the games in order for them to break even. That's being generous about the sales numbers for those systems too. The high price and games that can be found on systems people already own will definitely hurt PS4/720 sales, just like they did the Wii U.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Make EA Co-operation a Priority
@SCAR392 I'll say it again: EA games already require Origin just like on every other console. If you put in Mass Effect 3, NFS:MW, FIFA or Madden, you sign in with an Origin account and access the Origin servers. Without the ability to connect to Origin, neither of those would have multiplayer and in NFS:MW's case, the AutoLog.
EA has also said that if NFS:MW sells enough, the most recent DLC will come. So it's not like it is impossible for EA to bring the ME3 DLC over to Wii U, they just aren't going to.
Nintendo rejected EA taking control of the online because it is INHERENTLY a bad thing. Giving one third party complete control over your netcode and interface would be foolish. It would allow EA to set DLC prices however they want without Nintendo being able to do anything about it. They could charge $20 for what really should be $5-10 DLC and that would be that.
Every single game would have to go through Origin's servers. While it wouldn't be too bad for 1st party games (other than Origin's spotty service as it is), 3rd parties would run for the hills. Example: Call of Duty would have to go through Origin before connecting to Activision's servers. EA has Battlefield as a direct competitor to CoD. EA could intentionally throttle the bandwidth available for CoD to make Battlefield seem like a more stable, and therefore better game. No third party would want to risk that happening, even if it never did.
Hell, EA wasn't prepared for SimCity's release and their servers crashed HARD. Just think what would happen the day something higher profile like Smash Bros is released. There would be riots. Not to mention Origin's shady data mining that violates personal privacy laws in Germany.
To keep with your car analogy; yes you and your friend would take the same car, but he would make you pay for gas AND drive the whole way. Meanwhile, he eats 90% of the snacks, leaving you only crumbs in each chip bag. He also licks his fingers frequently.
The only way EA and Nintendo become a "dual entity" would be by way of a buyout. Nintendo has 10x (minimum) the amount of money EA does, so a merger would just be silly....especially since EA is a western company and Japan could give a rip about them. In a buyout, there is no teamwork.
Rarely is there in a merger either. Square Enix might seem like a good example of "teamwork" but even there, 80% of employees were Square and the President was from Square as well.
EA takes a "bear-hug" approach to acquiring studios. They buy it, envelop it, control it, and quite often....shut it down. They don't do "teamwork."
Partnering with EA would be a massive mistake for Nintendo, and seeing as they [likely] already have turned that down, it isn't going to change. I doubt it would "double their appeal" either, people REALLY don't like EA at the moment.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Make EA Co-operation a Priority
@SCAR392 The only way it that kind of deal could possibly work is if Nintendo bought EA outright. Full ownership of the company and all properties therein. This would never happen because EA stands to make more money by being a 3rd party, multiplatform publisher. EA couldn't even be trusted to simply help Nintendo create a better online system, so letting them have full control over sports on the Wii U would not turn out well.
According to the rumor (which essentially isn't a rumor considering all that has happened), EA provided R&D support in making low-latency netcode, usernames, social networking etc. Then, they offered to give more support to bring it to things like Facebook,Twitter, tablets, smartphones etc....but they wanted full Origin integration to do so. Origin is already available through all of those services so they could just merge the Nintendo Network in an call it a day, forcing literally every game on the NN to run through Origin.
If Nintendo went on to make an entire Mii Sports franchise with football, soccer etc, they would all have some special thing that separates them from the rest. Super Mario Strikers is not the same as any other soccer game out there for example.
EA throws the consumer under the bus for financial gain. At least, that has been the only time they have been successful at it. I know they didn't single-handedly cause the end of Sega and the Dreamcast, but they definitely attempted to throw them under the bus in lieu of control and finances.
They threw Nintendo and the Wii U under the bus with Mass Effect 3. They bring ME3 to Wii U, offer no DLC for it...ever, and charge $60 for it. Meanwhile, they release the Mass Effect Trilogy for every other format less than 10 days before the launch of the Wii U. 3 games, $60, on every other platform with varying degrees of DLC support. If that isn't throwing Nintendo under the bus, I don't know what is.
Real Racing 3 and their insane microtransactions. Taking Mass Effect and Dragon Age, stripping them of the RPG elements that intimidate the larger audience but were loved by the fans in order to make more money. Holding the "real" endings of games and important story elements hostage as DLC. Dead Space went from Survival Horror/Action to Action shooter/Survival Horror to Action Shooter with microtransactions simply to draw a larger audience. Doesn't matter what the fans of the original liked, screw 'em. EA has thrown the consumer and franchises under the bus simply to earn more money time and time again.
Riccitello suggested charging gamers to RELOAD THEIR WEAPON in a shooter because they aren't in the frame of mind to say "What? No. That's dumb." This was stated in 2011, long before he was fired/resigned whatever. It is likely it is the official stance of EA considering he kept his job for a year and a half after saying it.
I fail to see how adding EA's servers to Nintendo's online would improve anything, assuming you mean merging them. EA games already require Origin just like on every other console.....why can't that be enough? I don't have any problems with Nintendo's online service at all. The day 1 update took a bit, but it wasn't that big of a deal and could have been due to my internet.
There is nothing respectable about EA's businessmen or their practices. So no, a deal couldn't be worked out and I am just fine not spending my money on EA products. There isn't a single franchise they own anymore that would get me to pay them money for, maybe not even buy used without online.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Make EA Co-operation a Priority
@SCAR392 That would be giving EA exactly what they wanted for the Dreamcast, an unchallenged sports monopoly. EA wouldn't allow Mario Golf, Tennis, Soccer, 2k sports, Mii Sports...none of it. EA would want the license to Nintendo's first party characters in order to put them in the game....but would probably try to abuse that partnership. It's how EA operates.
The last company that tried to abuse Nintendo was Sony and they got burned. Cut off entirely without even being told beforehand. They may have created the Playstation because of it, but EA only has software and not enough capital to fulfill a vendetta. Sony barely does anymore.
I would much rather play Mario sports and Mii sports over EA sports games any day. Full on Mii football would be hilarious, as would soccer and hockey. Making "Mii Sports" with all of the typical EA Sports type games would be crushing competition for EA. I feel like "casuals" would love to see 11 on 11 football with Mii's and their bobble heads bouncing around with Nintendo themed stadiums and so forth.
Making a "EA fails, Nintendo fails" situation would be disastrous considering the public's current feelings on EA. I do not agree with that idea at all.
@NINTENBOY you started off strong, but quickly devolved into exactly the worst possible type of Nintendo fan. A simple boycott will suffice, there is no need to harass the company. Speak with your $, it means more to them than anything you could ever say. Berating them only makes them say, "Those Nintendo fans are lunatics. They are abusive and vitriolic and we don't deserve to be treated that way. We aren't going to support that kind of behavior." Boycott, and ignore them.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Make EA Co-operation a Priority
I read the article, and wholly disagree with it.
An "unprecedented partnership" indeed. There was no precedent set for what EA has done. They claimed that the Wii U was the first next generation console coming to market, claimed they were really excited to develop for it, then COMPLETELY changed their stance in less than a year. It's not like one of the biggest 3rd party publishers suddenly got dev kits from the other 2 of the big 3 and thought "Well, that's that. Never mind about Nintendo". They had those dev kits when they got on stage and supported the Wii U.
It doesn't matter if the rumors about them wanting Origin to control the Wii U's online are true or not, they pulled an cannibalized support for seemingly no reason. This coupled with their anti-consumer practices and repeated hypocrisy disgusts me as a consumer. This article is particularly damning: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/353349/ea-holding-fire-on-two-unannounced-wii-u-games/?
If the Origin rumor isn't true, it would likely become the price for getting full EA co-operation. If EA is going to focus their 3rd party efforts elsewhere, so should Nintendo. EA sales have been on the downturn lately. Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3 have both sold barely over a million, even though they had considerable hype behind them. EA can't be happy with those numbers. If this trend continues, EA support will hardly matter to Nintendo, MS, Sony, or customers, it will just just be filler for the next big game. Especially if they keep pulling crap like they did with SimCity. Even the mighty Madden has seen a slight decline in sales recently.
Putting their games on Nintendo platforms would at least help sales a little bit. As @GiftedGimp said, does Nintendo need EA? Not at all. Will EA need Nintendo? Yes, especially if their sales continue to slump.
For instance, Battlefield 3 sold quite well....but how much of that was due to the shock of how good it looked? With Battlefield 4....it looks great visually, but it doesn't have the same, "WHAT? WOW." factor 3 did, even though it was presented in 3k. This statement by Riccitello is likely where EA is heading, and might implement something close in Battlefield 4. Even though he "resigned", it could very well be the official position of EA and the board. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR6-u8OIJTE
Nintendo needs to show them that they made a mistake in pulling support and cannibalizing sales. Nintendo needs to get every other 3rd party on board that they can whether Japanese or Western. I'm guessing they have far more support than they let on, a large majority of third party developers have just put out games so naturally they won't have announced games for a system.
Off of the top of my head, we have CD Projekt Red, EA and Eidos with confirmed games that are not coming to Wii U. Big whoop. I'm not counting Bungie here because nothing has been said one way or another on the subject, same goes for Call of Duty, but Activision throws that onto every console possible and Wii U install base will be too large to ignore by then. Especially if it will be next-gen only.
Criterion is bringing all future NFS games to Wii U day and date with other versions, Crytek has a game in the pipeline (I am positive the game they talked about wasn't Crysis 3 since that would have been the main division), Sega does as well, Ubisoft is giving full support and Activision will continue support with Skylanders (whether you like it or not). Platinum, Capcom, Atlus, and Namco Bandai all have good relations with Nintendo so I fully expect them to bring games in the future. Then you get the large swell of indie devs that are now infatuated with Nintendo's eShop practices.
FIFA and Madden may be large franchises, but they will not make or break Nintendo one way or the other. EA is the last company they need to worry about.
Re: Feature: The GamePad - From Waggling Remotes To Dual Sticks and a Touchscreen
This article reminds me a lot of this one. http://nintendoenthusiast.com/14331/nintendo-wii-u-strategy/
It could very well be a revolution if people actually start to utilize the gamepad. It is capable of so much. With the Wii remotes, people thought that an RTS game would be perfect, but inputs were limited. The gamepad fixes that.
Re: Dragon Quest X Posts Poor Sales Figures In Japan
@JFug Bingo.
Dragon Quest may be more of a 1st few days type seller, but that doesn't mean more people won't pick it up. Also, if SE would have made a new DQ entirely rather than porting the MMO, it would have absolutely erupted. Heck, sales of the Wii U doubled in Japan last week.....22k isn't phenomenal but it is an improvement.
The Wii U is not performing well, but I am not worried about it in the slightest. Mostly, I am a touch annoyed that Nintendo still hasn't announced a Wii U Nintendo Direct considering it is now April and nothing has a release date. I have Monster Hunter to hold me over, but still. Even then, I am still confident they will have one in the near future, they know we are waiting and they will likely pump one out before the FY numbers are released or just after.
Re: LucasArts Shut Down By Disney
Well dang, that sucks. Granted, LA has been a bit misguided recently but hopefully people can find jobs and other developers can do awesome things. I imagine the license fees will be reduced somewhat....at least I hope so.
Hey Nintendo, time to make a Star Wars lightsaber game on the cheap....yeah?
Re: Talking Point: The Unreal Engine 4 Gaffe Exposes Graphical Snobbery, Again
Multiplat comparisons are silly anyway. If you only buy the one version, you will probably never see the others unless you go out of your way to search. If the game is fun and you enjoy it, why does it matter that [other version] is slightly less washed out or uses bloom lighting incorrectly?
I have Hitman on the 360 and FarCry 3 on the PS3....when comparisons say I should have those flipped. I'm not about to return them to pick them up again so they "look better." Even IF I were to buy a PS4 at launch (will get one, just not until there are games that interest me), I would get Watch Dogs on Wii U. It may not be the best looking version, but the gamepad will no doubt be used phenomenally. Ubi may have messed up with Rayman, but they are definitely supporting Nintendo and will make full use of the pad. They would have to go out of their way not to use it well for Watch Dogs.
I do look up comparisons/reviews to make sure one version isn't completely unplayable though. Pre-patch Bayonetta on PS3 is a good example.....as is Skyrim.
In the end, graphics<gameplay. Graphics are nice, but if they make the game boring because that was the main focus of the developer; or if the system can't handle it so it becomes unplayable...what's the point? My PC can't run the original Fable that allows it to be fun, so I don't bother. With the way engines are handled now, this kind of thing will not be a problem in the hands of a capable developer this gen.
Re: Talking Point: Going Mobile Will Give Miiverse a New Lease of Life
@Captain_Balko I still see people trolling in Miiverse, but the overwhelming stomping they get by nintendo fans makes it worthwhile. My one gripe is that the character limits are short. I can be a bit long-winded at times, so combating a troll can get tedious. Even upping it to Twitter levels would be nice.
Once I get on Miiverse, I get completely sucked in. Whether I'm checking out art, just browsing posts or commenting on questions people have...I love it. Having it on my phone is going to be incredible. It truly is a social network for gamers.
Sony is going to be integrating Facebook with the PS4, which...eh. None of my friends really play games so they really don't want to see a million posts about stuff I'm playing. They just don't care and seeing a youtube video of a cool clip isn't going to change their minds. Who knows what the neXtBox will do, but honestly....I don't plan on getting one. They will have to really wow me in order to get me at all interested in buying one.
I love that the developers actually get on and post things as well. It brings a level of transparency that doesn't get swallowed up by PR spin. Same reason why I love the Nintendo Directs. Sure those are PR things, but it is straight from Nintendo instead of second or third-hand
Re: Monster Hunter And Price Cut Trigger Wii U Sales Spike In UK
@Peach64 I'm guessing you are getting the 6k and 14k numbers from vgchartz? That's silly....they don't have sources, and if they do, they don't reveal them. Kind of crucial to have hard data when talking about sales. They still have Tomb Raider with just over a million sales, when it has actually sold 3.4....I don't trust them. Same goes for @andrea987....those numbers might even be under tracked like everything else. There was definitely a large boost, but until there are official numbers, we just don't know.
We all have to keep in mind that these are sales numbers from the week ending on the 23rd. Two whole days of the sale and Monster Hunter being out made a 125% difference. I fully expect this week's sales to have an even higher jump with the sale taking place in earnest and with Lego City releasing yesterday.
Good news overall, but once we see a full week of sales we'll really have something to talk about.
Re: Talking Point: An Open Letter To Nintendo
Did it ever occur to him that the fiscal year ends in like....3 days? Nintendo isn't going to go hog wild advertising the Wii U at the very end of the fiscal year, when dividends from the ads wouldn't show up until next FY. It just comes out as a loss.
We have like....3 "next-gen" games announced. The Witcher, Thief and Battlefield 4.....Only one of them is confirmed not coming to Wii U. EA is obviously upset that Nintendo wouldn't hand over the keys to the Nintendo Network. There is no other explanation for the sudden lack of support and cannibalization of titles. It's not like they all of a sudden got PS4/Durango dev kits, they had them when they announced the "unprecedented partnership".
With games that have come out recently or are coming out soon, the devs probably didn't have the full tools in time to make a port financially feasible. Bioshock and Tomb Raider were both delayed into early 2013 so they could polish....not exactly a prime time to throw the game onto the Wii U. Crysis 3 was pulled by EA's bitch-fit, Saints Row is lucky it's getting released at all, Dead Island....who cares really?
It's easy to say "Wii U isn't getting any third party support!" without actually looking at what is going on. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Third parties are starting to work on their next-gen games....give them a little time for crying out loud. We also have to remember that Nintendo is a Japanese company, with a Japanese main market. They are gathering support from Japanese developers who simply haven't announced anything yet.
Iwata said at the end of the Wii U ND in January that he is excited to share what 3rd party developers are working on. We haven't heard any more on that.....and he wouldn't just say something like that if there was literally no third party support.
Tl:dr Nintendo isn't going to spend a ton of money at the end of a FY, just because games haven't been announced doesn't mean they aren't coming, Nintendo is going to blow us away and there will be 3rd party support. Patience.
Re: Video: The Wonderful 101 Was Looking Good at PAX East
I was watching the IGN off screen vid....and the guy was terrible....almost made the game look bad.
Literally every other vid from PAX shows off just how awesome this game will be. Super pumped for it.
Considering the Wii U eShop has it listed as "Coming Soon", I would expect a release date announcement pretty soon. We all know how Nintendo likes to keep secrets....and how good they are about keeping them....
Re: Nicalis Would Like To Bring Monaco or Spelunky To A Nintendo Console
Fez was fun for a little while, then better things came out and I just kind of go "meh" when I think about playing it. I was okay, but nothing that special.
I haven't played Spelunky but it looks better than Fez in my opinion. Looks more like the hard, old-school games of my childhood. Fez had the design, but there wasn't a penalty for dying...you just reappeared.
Monaco is pretty sweet looking and could be really fun on the gamepad. Not sure if any touch screen type stuff could be implemented, but the game looks really fun. Could even do local co-op with Wii remotes and so forth or online and chat through the pad.
I say Monaco and Spelunky should be ported and Fez should be left alone. Phil Fish is REALLY bad at PR and doesn't want to do any work...just wants to sit back and earn money.
Re: Capcom To Make "New Product Announcements" At PAX East
@Razalom Stole the words right out of my mouth.
If they decide to bring back MegaMan.....that would be the megaton to end all megatons for Capcom. Nothing after that announcement would register due to the sheer awesomeness of MegaMan making a comeback
Re: LEGO City Goes A Little Too Undercover At North American Retail
I got it and Monster Hunter this morning at Target. Lucked out a bit since they were both the second to last copy. Target told me yesterday that they weren't able to sell LCU.....even though it was out and they had it. shrug whatever....fun game. Load times are indeed a little bit of a bummer but really not that big of a problem.
Re: Aliens: Colonial Marines Seems To Have Been Abducted From The Wii U
@Le_Gazman Lego City undercover, Monster Hunter and NFS would like a word with you.
Also, W101 is listed as "Coming Soon" on the eshop and Pikmin 3 will be out soon as well. I don't know what you're on about, but you're wrong.
Re: Nintendo Launches Year Of Luigi Miiverse Communities
I have loved Luigi since the NES.....I would plug in the second controller and die as Mario just so I could play as Luigi. Kind of a shame they made him all......weird after Luigi's Mansion, but whatever.
It might have something to do with the L......I'm a lefty and so I kind have always thought Luigi was too...just like Link (lefty Link will be back for Wind Waker!! WOOOO)
Re: Wii U GamePad "Screams Innovation", Says Project Cars Developer
Sweet. Always good to hear someone talk up the WiI U and "get it". When they announced the Wii, my mind raced with all of the possibilities of the motion control....the exact same thing happened when they announced the Wii U.
I mean.....it's like a DS....but BETTER. (severe generalization, I know.....but still)
Now if other third parties would actually take the time to develop for it. They seem to be the only ones who have taken the time. Not saying 3rd parties are completely at fault, they probably didn't have full dev tools until launch and their budgets didn't have enough wiggle room for it to make financial sense. Now that their games are out/coming out, they better start actually putting in some effort, because there is really no excuse not to.
They know the install base will grow by the time their next game is ready, the Wii U will have a larger base than the PS4/720 this time next year....they would be morons not to. Money left on the table.
Re: EA CEO John Riccitiello Resigns
@Nintendo4Lyfe I agree. He is the reason every EA game has half-butt'd, shoehorned multiplayer of some kind. He is actually proud of the fact that he hasn't greenlit a title that was single player only. Ugh.
Re: EA CEO John Riccitiello Resigns
This is what happens when you try a power grab on Nintendo, Riccitiello.
Jokes aside, if he is the main reason for the whole....microtransaction thing....I'm only glad he is gone if things turn around. He paints a scary future with what he thinks mt's should be and how easy it would be to exploit them in a game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR6-u8OIJTE
If that was all him and not a decision of the entire company.....good riddance. Mass Effect was the last franchise I cared about that EA had, now that the trilogy is over (for better or worse), I can do without playing their games, no problem. In fact, that was the last EA game I bought....not even out of principle.
Re: Nintendo Renews Eternal Darkness Trademark
Retro making it wouldn't be terribly unreasonable either. It turns out that Retro has been hiring.....big. They have hired 2 fairly big name artists, and a real-time 3d graphics programmer responsible for Crusta (link in the link...). The artists were from Naughty Dog and Vigil, environment and character respectively.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34161262&postcount=1
They have also acquired devs from Junction Point (Epic Mickey) and Bioware. While those might not seem to be the greatest considering those studio's most recent works, it doesn't mean they were solely responsible for what made them....not so hot.
Just think; a Bioware developer out from under the thumb of EA, environment artist from Uncharted 3, character designer from Darksiders, camera systems/cinematic/level designer from Force Unleashed 2 (Wii version), the Crusta guy (who also interned at Visceral), PLUS all of Retro's already stellar talent and the guiding hand of Nintendo and you've got yourself some SERIOUS dev power.
It certainly seems like they are gearing up for some sort of 3rd person title considering the history of those developers, the Darksiders guy would be excellent for creepy enemies/bosses. They also hired the artist who drew these: http://beastofoblivion.deviantart.com/gallery/
They are definitely cooking up something that uses creepy characters and gorgeous environments. If it's Metroid, sweet......but ED2 does look semi-likely considering those hires. E3 can't get here fast enough.
Re: Reaction: Doom and Gloom Merchants on Wii U Being Nintendo's Last Home Console
@Koto Until graphene or quantum computing become the norm. Either of those will absolutely rock the gaming world. Graphene being an atom thick and hardly having any electrical resistance (unlike silicon) means transfer speeds of data are astronomical. Wireless data transfer rates of 100tbps.....holy cow.
And since it is just an atom thick, it can be placed even on a painted wall without anyone knowing. If the rumors about Nintendo's next console being a console/handheld hybrid (possibly similar to, but better than the Vita), graphene would be the way to go. It is also extremely inexpensive to produce....scientists built >100 graphene supercapacitors in under 30 minutes with a consumer grade LightScribe DVD burner. Nintendo REALLY needs to look into that. Imagine.....console grade graphics, streamed flawlessly to your TV, on the go, for $100 if that. Graphene supercpacitors also store just as much (or more) energy as a Li Ion battery, but can charge in seconds. The future is going to be AWESOME.
Anyway, gameplay will ALWAYS trump pure graphics. Killzone Shadow Fall looked pretty (not better than Crysis 3 at max, but I digress).....but it was still just.....Killzone. Horribly linear shooter with a story that is just like every other action movie imo. Not saying the PS4 won't have great games (I plan on buying one when the price is good and there are games), just that graphical showcases are just that.....showcases.
Re: Reaction: Doom and Gloom Merchants on Wii U Being Nintendo's Last Home Console
I agree with just about every word in this article 100% It's a shame other sites don't take a step back and actually analyze the industry and the reality of the situation. Instead, they peddle DOOOOOOMED cakes and people regurgitate the anti-hype
It will be interesting to see how the PS4/720 will do if the current gaming economy continues the trend of shrinking. What I can't stand, is when people compare the Wii U to the Wii sales-wise. Of COURSE it isn't going to sell on pace with the Wii....the PS3 didn't keep up with the PS2 yet I can't recall ever seeing that comparison. The price will definitely hurt both of the offerings from MS and Sony as will a slow schedule of games. As of right now, we have 2 launch titles for PS4 (KZSF and Knack), one late port (ACIV) possibly another (Watch_Dogs), and that is it. Sure E3 will reveal things, but I expect delays considering a year and a half isn't exactly the best idea for a new console launch title.
Anyone who dismisses the Wii U as having "360-tech" is a complete moron in my book. Looking at the actual technology inside, there is absolutely no way it is "360-tech" and is definitely "next-gen" (even though not near the PS4 which has ridiculous specs....$500 incoming) Usually it is "gaming journalists" who just want clicks, devs who don't bother trying, or fanboys who compare launch titles to late cycle titles.
Unripened apples to apple pie. Sure the current games are a tiny bit better than last gen titles....but that doesn't mean they will always be that way. No one compares the games to 360/PS3 launch titles and the immense amount of growth shown there.
@JGer Yes, I am responding quickly as you predicted, but I won't have a list of obscure titles. The only "obscure" game I will mention is W101 which will be out likely before E3. Speaking of which, the next Mario and Mario Kart will be playable and considering Nintendo's history of announcements, they will likely be out this year. At the very least, one of them will. They didn't even say NSMB2 existed until 3 months before it launched for crying out loud. They are the best at keeping secrets in the industry. It isn't out of the realm of possibility that Retro will show off their game at E3 and have it ready for the holidays as well.
They will likely show off SMTxFE at E3 as well as "X", more likely to release in Japan this year rather than globally. SMT and FE have been gaining steam recently and "X" pretty much shocked everyone when it was revealed (possibly in Alpha but more likely Beta). Expect these to do well.
Nintendo is publishing Lego City next week and Monster Hunter seems to have a lot of interest from what I can tell. Not saying they will sell tons of systems or anything, but the games ARE coming.
Nintendo will pull a 3DS and start rolling out the games, they have worked hard to get 3rd party support and even though it isn't present at the moment, it is there. Even IF it sells around Gamecube levels, each system will likely produce a profit by the end of this year without needing a game sale. The Wii U is likely another 5-7 year console and by the time they are ready to move on, PS4 and 720 will be the ones with "outdated tech" while sitting around for another 5 years or so.
Re: Nintendo Download: 14th March 2013 (North America)
@ThomasBW84
So.....this doesn't have much relevance to the topic at hand...but I felt it needed posting SOMEWHERE.
http://www.trademarkia.com/eternal-darkness-77932350.html
It could be nothing......or...... o.O
Re: Saints Row 4 is Skipping Wii U
The Wii U could most certainly run it, and run it better than the 360 and PS3.
Considering it started as an expansion for SR3 and then all of the problems with THQ, this does not surprise me one bit. Resources are probably pretty tight for the game and fans of the series are probably lucky it is even being released.
I can't bring myself to finish a Saints Row game, as crazy as they are....it gets boring. It's all too over the top and the story isn't worth getting through for me. Not a huge loss.
Re: Talking Point: The Pros and Cons of a Wii U Price War
Personally, I think next week is going to provide a pretty decent spike in sales. Target is having a few deals....that would really make it hard to to buy one.
Buy the console, get a $50 gift card AND Buy 2 games get one free. Basically it could come out to $375 for the console and 3 games.....BAM. That's if you get the basic, but if you get Deluxe of course you would tack on another $50....but also another game included. If I didn't already have a Wii U it would be VERY hard to avoid buying it.
I already plan on taking advantage of the B2G1 deal....MH3U and LCU here I come......need to figure out the third game though. I like NFS and Criterion should be supported for their efforts....but man...I really don't like EA and they shouldn't be supported. Conundrum.
Re: Nintendo Responds To Guilty Verdict In 3D Patent Case
@neumaus The patent in question: http://www.google.com/patents?id=ngetAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA2&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
"Viewers position detection means".........meaning the pair of cameras used to determine the viewers position....3DS doesn't have that. You have to hold it at a certain distance.
Re: U.S. February Sales Figures Make Grim Reading for Wii U and Wider Industry
40% increase in sales during a month where literally nothing changed? I'll take it.
It could have easily been a 40% decrease, especially after the Rayman screw up. Instead, sales increased in a month where not a single game was released.
What I don't like.....is all of the sensationalist headlines. Why not say "Wii U sales increase 40% over January" or "Despite no new releases, Wii U sees 40% increase in sales." ? A 40% dip in sales would make for a "grim reading" for the Wii U.
The headline could have also easily featured the 25% dip in overall sales YoY....
Re: Nintendo Responds To Guilty Verdict In 3D Patent Case
@neumaus @TobieOBrown @KeeperBvK He is not a "patent troll" in the sense that he patented something similar with the hopes of suing......but he is in the wrong here.
His patent uses a set of cameras that determine the distance of the viewer, and then the image is rendered accordingly. This allows the viewer to have the best possible 3D at all times....no "sweet spot"
The 3DS (See: Sharp's 3D tech) uses a pair of screens that render the image differently to produce the 3D effect. Everyone knows there is a "sweet spot" and if you move it too far away or too close, it loses the 3D effect.
The concept is similar, but the execution and tech behind it is different. Nintendo does NOT use "exactly the same method" to produce the glasses free 3D, claiming so is just preposterous.
It's like if Sony were to sue MS over Kinect providing "controller free motion sensing gameplay" simply because they both use a camera. He doesn't deserve a dime.
Re: Fire Emblem: Awakening's US Sales Are The Best In The History Of The Series
@Peach64 Wii U sales were actually up 40% over January....which is a bit nuts considering no games were released. Hopefully it's the start of the inevitable recovery
I don't have a 3DS yet, can't decide between XL or regular. I'd like a black one but NA doesn't exactly have the best color selection :-/ Definitely picking this up when I do get one though.
Re: Review: LEGO City: Undercover (Wii U)
I'm really glad that EDGE review was a fluke, judging by the numerous high marks on metacritic. Definitely looking forward to it....the humor in the videos has me really excited.
Kind of stinks that the official camera thing only works when "your feet are on the ground" but that's what the home button is for, right?
Also really glad that Target is having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal next week. MH3U, LCU and.....something.....next week. Aww yeah.
Re: GameStop: Wii U Will Need Great First Party Titles To Compete
He is pretty much stating the obvious/inevitable. The tone makes it sound like "Oh no, Nintendo is in trouble, they have to announce some big titles to compete herp a derp a der"
Interesting to note, NPD numbers came out today. Wii U saw a 40% INCREASE in sales in February. Not too shabby considering no games were released.
57k + 40% = 78.9k. The upswing as started.....I hope. (I mean....March has a bunch of games releasing....)
Re: Nintendo Loses 3D Patent Case Against Former Sony Inventor
@Koto Exactly. This guy's patent uses 2 cameras to determine the distance of the viewer so it can render the 3D appropriately....the 3DS does nothing like that. As anyone who has played the 3DS knows, you move from that sweet spot and it stops being 3D and starts being painful.
Besides, isn't it Sharp's technology anyway? Why didn't a judge decide the case as they do in almost every other patent lawsuit? So strange.
It will get set aside....if it doesn't....the hell? It only really amounts to ~$1 per 3DS sold so far which is less than their profit margin. It's hardly even a dent.
Re: Nintendo Download: 14th March 2013 (North America)
Hrmm.....I thought NFS was supposed to get a demo. Guess not :-
I really don't want to support EA because of their terrible business practices, but Criterion should be rewarded for actually trying with their port. Dilemma!
Re: Vita Knocks 3DS Down to Second in the Japanese Charts
@Gamesake They dropped the price of the Vita in Japan because they were paying more per console than the rest of the world. The Vita is definitely overpriced (as are the memory cards), but I wouldn't anticipate a world wide price drop until closer to the PS4 launch. Especially after the Sony Worldwide Studios President straight up said "No it will not [be receiving a price drop in the West]"
This is good for the Vita (and the 3DS in terms of competition), hopefully it will be able to sustain high numbers. A two week spike is just a blip in the grand scheme of things, but it could very well be the start of higher numbers overall. Weegee's Mansion releases this month, so I'm sure the 3DS will climb again and now that Nintendo has announced FlipNote for the summer along with MH4......things will get interesting.
Anyone know what other games the Vita has coming up, Japan specifically? Not trying to troll or anything, I genuinely don't know and it will be a big factor in how well these numbers are sustained.
Re: Unannounced Square Enix Wii U Title To Be Revealed At PAX East
@dudey300
So...this is all assuming this isn't Deus Ex (Love the game... but that would be dumb) or another port (i.e. Tomb Raider):
I was looking up PAX exhibitors to see if Eidos would be there or if they were folded completely into SE (which they were) and I came across other subsidiaries of SE. When I looked up what Crystal Dynamics was up to, some interesting information popped up.
It turns out, they are working on a new IP for "future platforms". They had a job listing mid-June that stated this and that it would be a "Third person action-adventure game" http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/tomb_raider/news/crystal_dynamics_new_ip_is_a_next-gen_title.html
Here's the interesting part, 4 days later this article was posted, detailing the podcast that CD just put up. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-25-tomb-raider-developer-crystal-dynamics-discusses-its-new-ip
They have at least 2 new titles in the works and the new IP was rumored to be announced last year (according to the wording in that first link) Could this be it?
It is possible that in Nintendo's push to get third parties on board, they got CD to hold off announcing the game until launch died down. They pushed for Ubisoft, EA (who then tried to control things), Capcom (with Monster Hunter)....so why not Square Enix? PAX is the first large event that would make sense for an announcement. It gives SE control over the announcement as well instead of letting Nintendo pull the rug out with a Nintendo Direct. Iwata did say that he was eager to share what 3rd parties were working on in that January ND and mid-late March seems like the perfect time...
I know it's a bit of a shot in the dark considering the rumors about Deus Ex....but a 2 year old port would just be moronic. ESPECIALLY considering they have 2 new titles in the works. I know Squeenix has made some dumb decisions, but these puzzle pieces seem to fit quite well.
Re: Unannounced Square Enix Wii U Title To Be Revealed At PAX East
As much as I loved Deus Ex....porting it over to the Wii U is just asking for it to fail. Leading to SE to have the excuse "3rd party games dont sell on Nintendo consoles!" for not porting anything over in the future. If they don't try to charge full price for it, it might do okay and I might buy it again even.
Sadly, with all of the rumors....that's probably exactly what it is. It makes no business sense to bring a 2 year old game to a new console. Pretty much everyone who wanted to play it has probably played it already. It would make just as much sense to port something like Kingdoms of Amalur, Brink or Red Faction: Armageddon.
I really hope I'm wrong and it's something super awesome like a new Crystal Chronicles or Kingdom Hearts.
Re: Pachter: Wii U Will Sell Between 30 to 50 Million Units During Its Lifetime
@sonicfan1373 The guys over at NeoGaf have pretty much determined that the Wii U GPU is in no way related to R7XX anything....it has no similarities with that line of GPU's even after the customization done by Nintendo. They don't even know what 30% of the silicon does...which is crazy. Just thought you should know....that it's more powerful than you thought
Re: Talking Point: NFC and AR - Two Cool Extras That Need Some Love
@duffmman I guess that's true. I don't have a 3DS so my knowledge of the AR stuff is pretty limited and doesn't appeal to my current wants. I think I might get one to take advantage of that XL Luigi's mansion deal though
Maybe they could pull a Monster Hunter and do cross-save and have both the AR stuff and NFC stuff on the cards?
Re: Talking Point: NFC and AR - Two Cool Extras That Need Some Love
@duffmman You should.....read my above suggestion for Pokemon and NFC.
How awesome would that be???
Re: Talking Point: What Games Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue Nine
I REALLY need to get into Ni No Kuni....I am just now at the second boss (the mouse) and I've had the game since early Feb. I had to at least finish up Far Cry 3 before starting on it....and then the Monster Hunter demo hit, and BTRunner 2.
I have 10-11 days before Lego City and Monster Hunter consume my life until Pikmin 3 releases, yeesh.
Re: Nintendo to Show a Lot of Unreleased Games at the SXSW Gaming Expo
@chucknorrmis If you're talking about W101 and Pikmin, they are currently slated for Q2 2013 which is April-June. They both were originally going to be Launch Window with Pikmin most likely appearing in March.
Coupled with Miyamoto saying that it wasn't "delayed" so much as..."sort of shifted", I feel like Pikmin is at least pretty close to releasing. To me, the "sort of shifted" means they took a look at it and said, "Can it look better?" and then it moved back for pure visual polish. A delay, to me, seems more like they took a look at it and said, "X,Y,Z issues need to be fixed before it is released. Push it back."
Best news is.....the drought will soon be at an end regardless. In 10 days, Lego City Undercover releases....40-50 hour game and apparently quite good. The next day you've got the definitive version of NFS: Most Wanted that features upgraded visuals and some pretty cool gamepad stuff. Also on the 19th, there is Monster Hunter....which people have put well over 300 hours into....it's crazy.
*this thing really needs a notification system for when someone replies.
Re: Talking Point: NFC and AR - Two Cool Extras That Need Some Love
Personally, I think Nintendo would clean up if they reissued Pokemon cards with NFC in conjunction with a Pokemon Stadium/Colosseum experience. The main single player would allow you to roam around the open world, catch and train Pokemon just like the good old days. For battles on and offline, you can either use the cards to use a Pokemon, or you can use the ones you have trained. Healing items and the like can also be placed on cards so that you aren't buying a pack of straight Pokemon....keeps people buying. The trading cards were HUGE when they first released and as far as I can tell, they have fallen by the wayside.
The issue would be avoiding "pay to win." One solution would be that while the Pokemon in the card packs could be rare, they wouldn't be super powered and perhaps tailored to the level class of the battle (when chosen...not on a card by card basis). This would allow the people who spend the time training their Pokemon to potentially defeat people with more rare Pokemon, but also give card owners a fighting chance by using strategy to prevail.
The cards also solve the issue of having 600+ figurines laying around. Cards are easily stackable and can be put into card books (I still have all of my original Pokemon cards because of those )
I need to stop....I'll just be disappointed when it doesn't happen. This needs to be pitched to Nintendo because now I'm sad, haha.
Re: Nintendo's Stock Price Jumps Higher than Mario
I wonder if the MediaCreate sales lists had anything to do with it. I know the ¥/$ ratio was probably the main driving force....but the 3DS still outsold the Vita after a price drop and games being released. It is possible that investors are happy to see that even with such measures, the Vita isn't posing a large threat.
Some have also theorized that the recent interview with Miyamoto about him stepping back to let new people with fresh ideas take over had a part in it. Investors could be thinking that new blood is exactly what the company needs. Considering this isn't the first time he has said it, I doubt this to have any impact.
@ThomasBW84 It baffles me to think that people believe Ninty is anywhere close to being in the kind of financial trouble that would lead to them to go 3rd party. I guess that's the life of the internet where opinion is spread like wildfire as fact. If people actually took a look at their financial reports, they would see that they have enough money to last several decades while taking several hundred million in losses every year.
I also like to think that if Nintendo was ever forced to shut down, that they would take their franchises with them instead of pulling a Sega and basically ruining them.
Nintendo, doomed since 1889.