MarioBrickLayer

I thought Nintendo partnering in some way with Aquiris would have been a good idea, Wonderbox feels like the base game for a Zelda Maker.

I'll be joining in for Earthbound and Undertale!

I'd love a demo for this!! It's not a game I really want, but my oldest child might like it. The more demos the better!

I hope it's a Mario + Donkey Kong 3D game with both playable characters...

I have so much to play at the moment that I'm going to wait until wave 2 or 3 is released and then get this. These are look great to me!

@Enigk I saw the headline and immediately thought about a Game and Watch too!

I hear a lot of talk about being able to buy clothes or items (weapons etc) and being able to take them from one game to another...anyone who thinks that will happen doesn't understand game development or business...

I seem to remember a previous poll for a different series being posted not long before an announcement for a new game in that series...maybe this is nintendolife getting ahead of an official announcement of the Arkham Collection?

@PoliticallyIncorrect Do you know if any of the performance issues have been improved/resolved since release?

@KateGray Pixnlove.com are doing a physical release in europe along with a special edition and a few other bits.

I would have thought the chances of Zelda WW and TP are higher than 6/10? Could they be the last WiiU ports we get?

@Magician I picked up a physical copy but also haven't played it yet, it looks like this is turning into a really high quality series.

Hopefully this gets a physical release too.

@Toads-Friend Captain Toad 2 would be great!

Maybe we'll see an NSO update with 4 or 5 N64 games confirmed inc. Goldeneye + Kirby?

Maybe a Kirby Game & Watch?

I don't think we'll see anything about BOTW2 or MK9.

What are the chances we'll see a Star Fox game? I'd be very happy with that, but I think the chances are low

@majinx07 @shonenjump86 I don't think there will be an update on TMNT as it's multiplatform, but I hope i'm wrong!

@inenai I agree with that use case, I could see someone like Ubisoft building a market place where you could support that exact scenario - I don't know how popular that would be, but lets ignore that for the purpose of this discussion.

I don't think hacking is a big enough issue (especially in online games) to require the use of NFT's. NFT's can't stop other hacks and cheating. Existing encryption is enough to support protecting player purchases.

So I really don't think there is a killer feature that NFT's bring to the table which can't be supported with existing tech.

@inenai Fair enough! I just think game companies are jumping on a bandwagon and don't get it and aren't thinking about gamers.

There is so much to work out regarding NFTs, such as, if you bought the Mona Lisa from the Louvre for £200m and I owned a poster copy, there is a tangible difference between yours and mine, but if you own an original piece of digital art (with an NFT to prove it) and I own a copy, what is the difference?

@inenai you're talking about the underlying technology rather than the customer/gamer use case/benefit. You could build a market place around a FPS like COD with or without NFTs, I could write up a data model in 10 minutes to support this...

Gamers won't think...WOW I can use NFT's to buy better weapons in COD...they will think WOW I can buy and sell weapons in COD...there's a big difference, no COD player will care if it uses NFTs or not.

I also have a degree in Information Technology and spend my days talking about system development and user experience, I might also know what i'm talking about...

so again, I'll ask the question, what benefit do NFT's bring to a closed market place around a game?

@inenai why would Ubisoft (or any game developer) need to use NFTs to run a market place? you'll never be able to take a weapon from COD to Halo to Fortnite.

What is the benefit of NFT's for this use case?

@Aurumonado Ubisoft would take a percentage of each transaction!

If a game developer wanted to create a market place around a game, I don't know why they would need NFTs to do it?

Kirby Game & Watch

@Aispen Is that the best Shantae game? I thought about importing it but haven't yet. I haven't played any of the series.

As Assassins Creed The Ezio Collection is coming out next month, I have gone back to the The Rebel Collection, I bought it when it came out but didn't get into it. This time I really have! Black Flag is excellent!!

@link3710 I'm not convinced EA will lose the rights to FIFA, both sides want the best deal, I think there is a lot of posturing going on. It could happen, but the downside for FIFA is it would take a new developer a long time to build up the game to the level it's at now

@Dr_Lugae I don't think we fully know why they bought Minecraft yet, but the amount of money they would need to spend to get EA means I'm not sure they see value for them.

I think Microsoft will stop selling games and consoles within 5 years and everything will be Game Pass and Cloud - Mobile + PC Browser + Smart TV app/USB Stick. In that situation, creating FIFA for other platforms is a hassle.

@Rayquaza2510 I think the contracts will be a bit different, by the sounds of it there is some sort of contract which means some COD games have to go to Playstation, but that's not going to be every COD game forever, so they will go exclusive at some point if that is what Microsoft wants.

With FIFA for example, it's out of EA or a new owners hands. If FIFA says we want our game to be multi platform or you can't use our brand or trademarks anymore, that is a problem. In that scenario, FIFA could sign a deal with someone else (2K?) and you could have a game called FIFA but published by 2K.

so EA will have contracts with FIFA/the NFL etc AND Sony etc and they will need to work with both...that's why I'm saying EA might not be as valuable to Microsoft if their aim is exclusivity.

How much of EA's value is in its sports franchises and would FIFA, the NFL etc be happy if those games be exclusive to one platform/ecosystem? Take FIFA and Madden away from EA and they don't look anywhere near as attractive.

@dewokkel what issues are still there? I was going to buy the physical version if the patches improve it enough.

@ryancraddock are there any plans to review or update the existing review when the physical version is released?

@Damo @PJOReilly I really like the second opinion in this review, I don't recall seeing it before?

I remember @JonComms having thoughts when Super Monkey Ball launched, it would be good to see this in the future if other staff (from any of your teams) have a strong opinion. Including if this is a reviewer commenting on a game they are passionate about which wasn't assigned to them for the full review.

@HeadPirate to make $500m you'd have to sell more retail copies than any Halo game has ever sold $500m/40 = 12.5m ($60 - $20 - for the retailer) and I think the idea is that having all these games which can only be played via Game Pass then you attract more players.

There is nothing stopping them selling a line of accessories etc which can be used in game, but why does that mean the game can't be distributed digitally? How will the games you mentioned be played on XCloud on a mobile? MS will want to do that!! Also, how will those games be played on the XBOX Series S?!

@westman98 I forgot about that! I wonder if that makes it almost impossible for Sony and Microsoft to buy them? Would regulators allow a Microsoft acquisition after Zenimax and Activision/Blizzard?

@Gamer_Zeus what are you referring to in 2013?

@StuTwo EA is an interesting one, how much of their value is in their sports franchises and how would FIFA, NFL etc react if their games became exclusive to one platform? I don't think they would be happy? Maybe EA are the hardest for anyone wantong to make games exclusive to buy?

@FarsanBaloo those values aren't right? I think Ubisofts is €6.15bn (market cap) so an acquisition would probably be north of €10bn.

@westman98 based on that list Sony should try and buy Take Two!

I wonder if Take Two, EA, Ubisoft and Square Enix will remain independent? I'd love to know what their CEOs think of this...If you're Ubisoft donyou start buying up smaller studios so you can launch your own streaming service in 5-10 years?

Does it almost certainly mean Microsoft can't buy EA or Ubisoft, it will be interesting to see if they are still independent in 5 years.

Microsofts financial year 23 starts on the 1st July 2022 so technically the deal could complete anytime between then and end of June next year.

Another consideration is that if the is ongoing consolidation by; Microsoft, Sony, Epic, Tencent, Amazon(?) etc then Nintendo might be forced to make some acquisitions themselves.

@Specter_of-the_OLED I've been thinking the same thing. I think Microsoft see console generations as a limitation. If they can make cloud work properly, it may be better for them and gamers if they stop making consoles.

@Lakelimbo Welcome!!

I think Microsoft recognise the limitations of games being locked to a console, that's why Game Pass is also available on the PC and they are doing trials for cloud streaming. There were news reports last year that they were talking to TV manufactures about having an App pre-installed on TVs like Netflix. So if you can access Game Pass on your TV, PC, phone etc I think they will then start making games only available via Game Pass.

@Wexter You're probably right, which would be a big premium on their current $60bn market cap.

@NatiaAdamo Sega's divisions are fairly standalone, I don't know why a deal couldn't be done - at the right price, from Microsoft's perspective, they have loads of underutilised IPs.

@Raffles if MS bought Nintendo they would go for much more, i'd guess $100bn+ there is often a premium above Market Cap when a takeover happens.

@HeadPirate I disagree with that, Game Pass might not be profitable now, but what happens when they are are at 100m subscribers? If the cost then is $15 per month, that's $18bn per year, say then spend $6bn a year on game development and $6bn a year on managing the service etc that's $6bn profit.

My predictions:-

1. This could be the last Microsoft console generation - if XCloud really works it will be PC + Streaming devices only.
2. Microsoft will stop releasing games at retail, everything will be Game Pass only within maybe 5 years
3. Microsoft can't buy another big publisher (EA, Ubisoft, Square Enix etc)
4. They could still buy some smaller companies, it wouldn't surprise me if they buy SEGA and Konami

This sounds about right to me...the big question is...will there be a new Mario Kart game before then?!?!?

When Nintendo confirm MK8 has passed 40m units on the Switch, i'd like them to announce some free DLC as a thank you...4 new circuits + 4 new drivers?

I'd love to see an analyst explain the business logic of releasing a new Mario Kart game this year. MK8 is still a best seller and a release linked to new hardware isn't going to happen when Nintendo have said they won't be able to sell as many Switches as they'd like due to the chip shortage...

I think it's nailed on for a release in the next financial year (1st April 2022 - 31st March 2023), hopefully that's before Christmas!!

@Bunkerneath I really want to play this game, but I have decided to wait and see if they do release a definitive physical edition!

I wonder if Nintendo would do a classic DS in the same way they did the NES and SNES minis (but maybe not mini!) with 20+ games loaded on it?

@thaimbomb the issues are across all platforms, not just the Switch, this is a bad job by Rockstar. The Switch is already running far more intensive games without these issues.

This was a must buy for me, now I'll wait and see what happens.

Has anyone seen a review for it yet? I'm waiting for the Nintendo Life review before making a decision.