MS7000

Yeah, that logo is very eSports. It reminds me of the minimalist trend that companies are going for with their logos. Bleh.

Well this is some absolute ********.

Ooh, this is a neat find. Certainly faster than booting up the console and navigating menus.

@CharlieGirl I remember seeing the trailer for this game and being interested, but I don't think it ever came out in Europe sadly. =(

I feel like all the 3D Classics are good picks because of them being unique versions of the games, but if you don't care about the 3D, probably not the best picks. I feel like the Ace Attorney games will be rereleased sooner or later. The Guild01 and Guild02 are good picks.

I still need to pick up the Pushmos. Too many good games to pick from.

I already went over my figures in the forums but will repost here.

3DS:

Total Play Time: 2633 hours
Titles Played: 279
Most Played:
1) Fire Emblem Awakening - 264 hours
2) The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D - 180 hours
3) Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - 154 hours
Favourite Genres: RPG, followed by Action and Adventure, with a hint towards strategy

Wii U:

Total Play Time: 1760 hours
Titles Played: 153
Most Played:
1) Hyrule Warriors - 219 hours
2) Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - 128 hours
3) Xenoblade Chronicles X - 97 hours
Favourite Genres: Action, with everything else being fairly balanced.

I have no doubt my total play times will increase. I know for a fact these figures don't include internet purely because if we include internet, my Wii U usage would go up by another 5000 hours (no joke, 5131 hours and 10 minutes according to my Wii U Activity log).

Comparing some of these figures to my Switch is interesting:

Splatoon 1 vs Splatoon 2: 60 hours vs 290 hours. Definitely a difference when I owned two from the start as opposed to the first 1 year in.

Hyrule Warriors Wii u vs Switch: 219 hours vs 325 hours. Add on Legends from 3DS (147 hours) and you get 691 across all three. This is versus 55 hours for Age of Calamity.

Fire Emblem Awakening vs Three Houses: 264 hours vs 275 hours, with me still needing to do the fourth route.

@ThomasBW84 Amazon still sell new copies of Awakening for £40 usually; looking right now, it even has a slight discount at £37.

I only know this because I finally got a physical copy a few months ago after getting a digital copy for free as part of a promotion back in 2013 (Buy 3 of these 8 games, get a 4th for free as a download code). Nintendo doesn't do offers like those anymore...

Edit: Funnily enough, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is £20 right now on Amazon as well.

Thank heck for the physical edition with all three routes... you know, the limited release?

Nintendo made this whole thing with Fates really convoluted.

Virtual console and DLC going missing is a big pain in the behind. As I have said in the forums, I will probably be going through the eShops during the weekend and planning what to get in the next few months.

To be fair, this wouldn't be a problem for me if virtual console was on Switch, but nope, subscription only. So little choice.

@RupeeClock Agreed. Nintendo certainly like this model with the Splatoon games, ARMs, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis etc...

Everyone says Nintendo lag behind the industry in some practices, but I feel like in others, they are right alongside the rest of the industry.

For **** sake. I was talking about this hypothetically happening maybe an hour before this got announced...

****.

I was on here commenting a few hours ago about the Wii U eshop closing to talk about lack of choice and then it gets announced and 3DS too... for **** sake.

@Astral-Grain You have options as a consumer, but you also need to take into account giving you what you're asking for is a bad business move for Nintendo.

It's a bad business move generally to do what I ask. =)

As you say, it is ultimately consumer will that decides the success of this model, but I just wish people would stop thinking it (subscriptions, digital, paid online) is inevitable.

@Astral-Grain Nintendo is no different than Disney here.

True. But referencing my earlier comments, NSO is but one example. I am aware Disney and other companies are no better, but that doesn't make it okay. I also mentioned earlier that this is great for the companies, but what does that do for us as consumers? And this goes back into what I was asking about why are we (not the companies, we) okay with this lack of choice?

I disagree that such alternatives are available legally. (Edit: This comment was surprisingly well timed given the situation with the Wii U and 3DS eShops... ****)

@SNESDisney To be fair, whilst I don't normally agree with the contents of the soapbox articles, they are far from a waste of time. It is always interesting to see other perspectives, and talking in the comments can lead to understanding even if an agreement is never fully reached.

@Astral-Grain Regarding the grey area of ROMs, if the landmark case did happen, and the outcome was in favour of people being able to rip their own ROMs, I would agree with you completely, but until it happens, I would assume illegal even if highly unlikely to get caught as an individual.

Regarding the mini-consoles for Sega, that is fair, they are still being actively sold (although quality will vary).

Regarding NES and SNES mini, they are no longer sold, which means second hand is your only option, which could be stupidly expensive.

Virtual console on Wii U, I agree, but again, no longer actively supporting, no longer produced, not to mention, sooner or later the digital store will probably close.

If Nintendo chose not to release retro content at all, that would be one thing. Heck, I would probably even be happy to an extent since hopefully the resources would be put to new games rather than developing or maintaining an emulator. But since they are releasing retro content, again there is no choice bar subscription (outside the obvious of not subscribing and getting nothing full stop). I am interested but there is no way to obtain legally, and given the choice was there originally...

@Astral-Grain If NSO was the only legal way to play emulated games, that would be one thing, but you have the choice to play emulated games on just about any device that has a screen.

I might be missing something, but could you elaborate? Emulators themselves aren't illegal but ROMs are. What other choices would I have?

@Browny Regarding revenue, I believe the article itself also mentions about how more beneficial it is for companies to have consistent if smaller revenue. But that also irks me, because that is great for the company, but how does that benefit me? Sure, it will benefit someone, hence choice is good, but yeah, I agree with your comment completely.

@KateGray If I only had $30 a month to spend on games, Game Pass is a better value proposition than... half a full-priced AAA game.

And that I understand. I understand that not everyone plays the same, and that in and of itself is okay. I don't expect every person who plays games to have the equivalent of a shrine of merchandise or anything like that.

What I am trying to say, is that there seems to be a push to making subscriptions the only model. Subscriptions don't seem to be another choice anymore, otherwise, why can I not buy the retro games individually on NSO for example, or why must I now pay for online? At least with something like GamePass, as you said, you can still buy those games separately.

I don't know, maybe I an overthinking it, but it certainly seems to be affecting all parts of entertainment, including TVs, film, and music. Like I said, general rant, not just NSO, but NSO I feel is a good example of why I despise subscriptions. I just feel that people not having choice is a problem that is only going to get worse.

@k8sMum That's good in theory, assuming you don't have a s****y landlord, or your local council have it in the budget to do repairs. Otherwise you're scuppered.

"But I do think that Nintendo has finally cottoned on to subscriptions being not only the future of games, but the future of how people want to play games."

Why would you want subscriptions to be the future? Why would you want to pay for something you will never own? I am willing to bet most people wouldn't want to rent a house but own it instead. People only rent because they have to, because their is, for whatever reason, little choice. Same with people who would love to own the incentives of NSO, without paying for a subscription, but again little choice. People don't want to pay for online, but they do because little choice. Why are we so desperate to give away choice? I could agree that subscriptions expand choice, if it wasn't or this obsessive push toward making it unfeasible to be without it. Sure, you can argue Nintendo and other companies are trying to make money, but I am more than happy to give them money if the choice was there. The companies may argue that the programs themselves offer loads of benefits outside online, but in that case, why not make online free again? I don't get it.

This is not just generally against Nintendo, so I realise this comes off as a rant (which it is), but I hate the idea that we should just accept this and not having it full stop as a choice, when choice was offered freely before.

No.

No to paying for online, even if it means missing out in future. I doubt Nintendo is ever going to invest the money into the online infrastructure, and the experience is no better than the Wii U or 3DS online,

It has been 6 months now, and still going fine without it.

The limited edition is already sold out on Nintendo UK...

Edit: To be fair, it is mentioned in the article, but... bleh.

Yeah I do; no NSO, because **** paying for online beyond ISP.

Now that I have said that, the price is decent given the number of courses, but I will hold off until all courses are available as I am in no rush to play, and I am kind of hoping for a definitve physical release, though I doubt it will happen.

FINALLY!!!

That's what I wanted to hear.

Asura's Wrath sequel?!

Nah, probably NFTs.

@Crono1973 Just be happy it’s coming soon and that it’s only $20.

When you first replied to me, you clearly didn't bother reading the rest of my first comment:

"...but I am just glad I can finally play this legit without the hassle of importing a PS1."

Get off your high horse.

@Crono1973 "Large PS1 game" doesn't mean much. The problem FF7 has is it is not just the original game, but Crisis Core and Advent Children and other aspects I am probably forgetting which Nomura is trying to cram into the remake. Cross does not have that problem. I doubt a Cross remake would take anywhere near the length of time to develop as FF7 Remake Part 1. Not to mention that progress on the FF7 remake was scrapped and development stalled multiple times from what I recall.

@Crono1973 Of course not; that's a loaded question. But you have games like Trials of Mana that got remakes without the stupid segmenting they are doing for Final Fantasy VII. Would of been nice for Chrono Cross to get the same treatment. Especially since it would of been a good oportunity to gauge interest for a sequel in the series, or maybe even a remake of Chrono Trigger.

That said, I have not played this before due to it never being released on Europe, so I am excited to finally play this.

Uh oh...

...Just "Uh oh..." Nintendo Life, nothing more.

Definitely one of the strongest directs recently. Quite a few announcements that really spoke to me, such as Mario Strikers and Chrono Cross.

I feel like MK8D DLC is Nintendo's replacement for the Smash DLC packs.

It feels like they are trying to push NSO really, really hard by including DLC in the expansion pass, not to mention, showing off lots of online multiplayer games such as the Wii (Nintendo, but really Wii) Sports game and Splatoon 3's Salmon Run. Admittedly, and regrettably, I feel they are starting to make the pass more worthwhile, but it still has the problem for me of not keeping the content when subscription ends. I might suffer for it, but I am still not coming back to NSO.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 excites me in theory as it seems to have quite a bit of connection to 1, but I still cannot convince myself to play 2; I just cannot gel with the battle system.

Somewhat surprised they didn't smash Breath of the Wild 2 news in our face. I am not personally excited for it, but given the reputation, I was expecting to hear about it. Also, no Pokemon which surprised me.

I was hoping for a new Fire Emblem and kind of got it with Three Hopes? I like it in theory, more than Age of Calamity as I quite enjoyed the world of Three Houses. That said, I did not enjoy the first Fire Emblem Warriors all that much, so cautiously looking forward to it. I am also kind of concerned that the story situation will be similar to Age of Calamity. Those who have played will know what I mean.

Still no F-Zero or Wario Land... get it together Nintendo.

Overall though, pretty good. Even now, remembering smaller announcements like Force Unleashed coming to Switch. And almost forgot Klonoa, which really came out of left field for me.

I kind of wish this was part of the Splatoon 2 updates back when I begrudgingly subbed to NSO.

This came out of left field, but I am definitely on board.

I am kind bummed that it is not a full remake, but I am just glad I can finally play this legit without the hassle of importing a PS1.

Played the PSP version and quite enjoyed that, as well as the sequel. I kind of wish they made a third.

Never thought we would get another one of these. Me likey.

Never heard of this game, but funnily enough, I recognised the music, from a romhack of all things. Kind of interested to see where it came from. Not gonna lie though, I saw the enginenand though we were gonna hear more about the Dragon Quest 3 remake.

Not too interested in the new difficulties, but I will take that Boss Rush, heck yeah!

It is cheap enough that I might bite. It has been a hot minute since I played either, and I can still hear Cave Johnson ranting about lemons.

I was wondering what they were going to replace Smash DLC with...

This should be interesting...

I do like that image of Link seemingly dragging that Wallmaster. Clearly had enough of being dragged back to the start of the dungeon.

Regarding the company itself, don't really have too much to say. The "online experiences" they want to develop doesn't exactly thrill me, but hopefully someone gets a kick out of it.

I mean, I can't buy it separately, so...

@RupeeClock I forgot the 3DS eShop also counted towards Platinum. I think I will do that later to try and bolster my points.

I want these, but have no platinum points. Also don't have the pin set from Dread as a result.

Final Fantasy X, because it has been sat on my shelf long enough (having never played a FF), and I am determined to get to the scene with the stupid laugh. "STAY AWAY FROM THE SUMMONER" was a good bit too.

Not interested in Snap myself despite the good price, but I do recommend that people buy Metroid Dread if they are even faintly interested. Very good game.

Meh, I stand by what I said when it was first announced; this is too soon.

My personal circumstances have also changed as I have not been subscribed to NSO for a few months now, so I would not be able to play the main bulk of the game (unless Online becomes free again... which it won't).

Only thing that would save it for me is if the single player content was expanded bigger than ever.

Metroid Dread and Warioware... otherwise, meh. Dread alone definitely made this year better than last though.

My friend got me some eShop credit just a few days ago as a birthday gift, so this sale is well timed. Will have a look tomorrow.