Lin1876

I'm not a great fighting game fan (mostly because I suck), but I'm not sure how much a good story would add. It would probably end up like a lot of fighting Manga, where it would just link the fights together. Difficult to make that not throwaway, but kudos for trying.

I won't vote since I won't be able to race (sorry, but football does take precedence when it's a title-deciding match), but it has to be bananas. They're the quinisential item which rewards strategy and punishes inattention.

@Tech101 Exactly. I don't want to think about a kawaii version of call of Duty, either!

Can I honestly see genres like dating sims becoming popular in the west? No, because that's a genre which has appeal in Japan (for whatever reason) and not in the west. Likewise, Black Ops II, a very American game which was very popular in the west, sold just 480,000 copies in Japan (out of around 23 million worldwide).

Japan and the west are fundamentally different markets which will be best served by their own developers. If a game has global appeal, then that's great, but that shouldn't be an end in itself. Good games will be successful in their own way, regarless of what they are and where they're developed.

I've waited for nine years for Pikmin 3, so it has to be that. Wind Waker HD, Bayonetta 2, Rayman and Watch Dogs are all shaping up very nicely too.

Nice, well done!

I liked Nuts and Bolts. Remove the fact it's Banjo and there's a decent game in there!

Fairly inevitable, really. WiiWare is yesterday's technology, and the stupid split between the Wii Shop and Wii U eShop is only making things worse.

I bought the Xbox 360 version of Assassin's Creed II for £15 and enjoyed it, and I'll pick up AC III for Wii U if I see it for a similar price, but I don't think I'd particularly relish buying a series every year.

I think that Nintendo have badly dropped the ball with the Wii U launch, which is especially galling when you consider that they swore to learn their lessons after the botched 3DS launch. I don't agree entirely with the letter, but I do sense an arrogance about Nintendo these days which I don't like — a sneer which says "we're right, deal with it".

Consoles work in cycles. If people buy them, the games will come, and more people will buy them. If they don't, then developers will miss the platform (as they are doing), and more people will overlook it. As platform holder, Nintendo have a responsibility to ensure that the former scanario plays out, and they do that through making a console and games that people want to buy.

In that respect, I do see light at the end of the tunnel. The UK sales spike in the aftermath of Monster Hunter and a few price cuts shows a genuine interest in the system, while Lego City Undercover, Pikmin 3 and others (such as Rayman Legends, which looks awesome in spite of an insulting delay) will provide reason to buy the system.

Whether there will be reason enough for 360/PS3 owners to shun their natural upgrade path is another matter entirely...

No. I love the Wii, don't get me wrong, but I have to put the N64 and SNES further up the list. I don't think we'll remember too many Wii games in 10-20 years, put it that way.

Whoops. Hopefully NoE will learn from that and ensure there are enough copies for our release!

I haven't played a Need for Speed game in years (Shift is the last one I remember), but Criterion's Buronout Paradise was awesome, so I'm certainly going to have a long look at this.

It's not confirmation, but it's closer than we've come so far.

Please, Nintendo/Sqare, do what it takes to make this happen!

Amazingly, I watched episode 1 of this last night. Coincidence?

But how will they compensate for the lack of analogue triggers, I wonder.

Hopefully it'll be compatible with a standard USB steering wheel.

Can't argue with ZombiU and Assassin's Creed for £30. That's as good as it comes in most shops, and finally a decent reason to download games now that there's the Wii U bonus loyalty scheme thing.

Actually, £45 for Need for Speed is less than Amazon are charging for it. I'm not sure my bank balance will survive this sudden barrage of games.

I remember reading about this in Retro Gamer years ago, so it's good to see it back. Apparently it was inspired by 3D Monster Maze for the Sinclair ZX 81, which is pretty cool.

Less than 2 weeks after bought one, blast. Such is life I guess...

I think it would be cool, but Minecraft is best on the PC. It's a very modding-friendly game, and that kind of thing doesn't transfer to locked-down consoles very well. The core idea is still fun, but from what I've played of it on both PC and Xbox the console version just loses something.

They shut Nintendo Gamer for this!? I have to question whether or not they can fill 13 issues a year just on Pokemon, but I've been wrong before...

Count me in!

This is my problem with Nintendo. I still love the games, but stupid things like this simply should not happen in 2013. D -, must try harder!

That's a blow, not because I particularly care about playing people from the US/Japan, but because Monster Hunter has such a small fanbase in Europe, never mind Britain and Ireland

I hope it's a technical issue and not Nintendo trolling us, but Mario Kart 7 on 3DS had players from around the world. Just saying.

People will react, but I think this is a good thing. I'm not convinced that friend features are a good thing for kids under 12, while the restrictions for under 13s seem sensible. Well done Nintendo.

When you consider there are far fewer Wii Us than any other consoles (that's not a comment on the system, just a reality since it's only been out for a month), a struggle is to be expected at first. This especially since the launch titles are nothing to write home about.

I agree about game pricing, though it's not the issue at hand. I refuse to pay more than £35 for a game, and in reality I rarely spend more than about £25 unless there's a darn good reason.

I'm scared of zombies myself (please don't laugh, I don't know why), but from what I have seen it's a clever take on the FPS and zombie genres, if one you need an acquired taste for.

That's pretty insane considering how long the PS3 has had to reach that point. Unfortunately, I don't see any games which would give the system a similar boost over here.

It's certainly a strange one. I could live without GameCube compatability, but removing all online functionality is a step too far, as it removes the ability to use Netflix, BBC iPlayer, etc.

If it was a redesigned RVL-101 with an ethernet port instead of Wi-Fi that would be fine (if increasingly less practical), but this is... a bit rubbish. Especially considering a used Wii with full functionality is around £60 these days.

Why not? My previous fear was that it wouldn't mix as well as Smash Bros does, but if Sumo can put Billy Hatcher and Ryo Hazuki in a karting game and make it work then I don't see why having Mario and Link in a karting game wouldn't either.

It would be a great chance to bring back character specifical special items, too!

I can see where this is coming from, but I think even a 9pm-5am window would be an improvement. It's a wee bit parochial for my liking, and surely it falls to the parents to ensure they're happy with what their offspring are downloading, but like I say, there is merit to this.

edit: I suspect this is a temporary measure until more robust controls can be brought in place. Actually, scrap that — this is Nintendo we're talking about.

I hope this Nintendo ID integrates the Wii U, 3DS and Club Nintendo systems. That would be worth buying into.

That's a rather cynical plan, but I could see it happening, albeit not for a while yet. Nintendo have traditionally held on to successful consoles for longer (the NES, SNES and Wii lasted for 6-7 years, compared to the N64 and Gamecube which got around 5). If the Wii U flops, and its success is far from certain, then I can see a successor being released in around 4-5 years, which would take us to around 2017.

Assuming consoles are still a viable business plan by then, Nintendo could release a successor around that point, but to call the Wii U a stop-gap is pushing that definition a bit far.

Edit: I will add that Nintendo are likely to cling to consoles for longest, making a Wii U successor more likely than a PS5, etc, but that's another matter entirely.

I'll get the premium version if I can afford it, but money is pretty tight right now so there's no guarantee.

I have so many questions in my head right now. Most of them begin with "Why...?"

That a real shame. ONM hasn't been great since Lee Nutter left, even despite its insane popularity. Nintendo Gamer appealed to a a fairly narrow audience, but did so extremely well, but these days the Internet is the way forwards, so its closure was probably inevitable.

Meh, I've always preferred Dragon Ball over Dragon Ball Z anyway. Before anyone asks, there is a difference.

@ThomasBW84 Animal Crossing is about the only retail game I would consider downloading because it's so convenient to have sitting there. Everything else I'll keep beying from the shops unless the download is significantly (£10-£15) cheaper.

It might just be a different model, but that doesn't look like a typical NES prototye board. I recently watched Clan of the Gray Wolf take apart one of the Earth Bound (Zero) prototype carts, and it looked significantly different inside.

Still, my understanding is that a NA version of Final Fantasy II did exist before it was cancelled, albeit in incomplete form, so I'm not going to dismiss it. The bigger issue is that I don't have $50k to spend on it.

That's pretty cool, but not quite worth the $60. I'll wait and see what the various import shops come up with.

That is pretty cool. The Dragon Quest nut within me is going wild!

No, Nintendo, you were so close to getting it right, now you've blown it!

Sounds interesting, but I hope there's an option to use traditional controls instead, even if that means using the Pro controller. What I am interested in is the ability to change formations, etc. It's fiddly to do on other systems and is buried in sub-menus. I usually just take a 4-4-2 and run with it, but making it easier to do could change that.

I'm surprised how nice he was about the N64, because I've often heard that it was absolute hell to develop for compared to the PS1. Reading the rest of the article, it sounds like the PS1 was easier to fully utilise, so perhaps that's what these comments really mean.

The cartridges, on the other hand, were absolute hell. Only a few hit 64MB, and that's less than 1/10th of what a CD can hold.

@ThomasBW84 It's a big support, but it's nothing like the bigger English clubs. You'd be surprised how few people ouside Glasgow support either of the old firm (though the reverse is also true), but when you take into account the size of Glasgow compared to everywhere else, and the fact that the Old Firm smother the other Glagow clubs I think your figure is probably right.

Hadn't thought of this, but I'm going to suggest they just license the whole SFL. It's only 30 teams, it really wouldn't cost much, and I would be able to play as Partick Thistle for the first time since FIFA 2004!

Also, you're figure of "hundreds of thousands" of Rangers fans doesn't quite bear out when you consider they've sold less than 300 season tickets, but still...

edit: you could also take on the challenge of trying to restore Rangers to their former glory in manager mode. Even I might be tempted to do that.

Certainly on my to-buy list. I found myself playing the demo over and over again.

I find I usually get at least a few hits in Glasgow, but considering my route in the city is pretty much Gamestation-G-Froce-HMV that's not too surprising.

I think I've got one random hit in my local town, despite taking my 3DS there at least once a week. Telling.

I did find Flowmotion a bit clumsy in the Demo, but that's probably because I've never played a Kingdom Hearts game. I also got lost and had no idea what I was doing, but hopefully I'll clear that up when I play the demo again.

Nintendo Land would be a nice bonus. It's basic, gives a good idea of what the system's about and would struggle to sell on its own.