McHaggis

Microsoft took this a lot further with the IllumiRoom, but it would presently be too expensive for the average consumer. It looks like Nintendo got their patent in first, too, but being a peripheral that stands on top of the TV and emits colours, I don't think Microsoft's would be infringing.

You can't blame Ubisoft, but it still sucks, either way.

The 3DS is a bit "cutesy" for my liking, but I'm looking forward to the game.

@Tsuzura: I think you need to invest in a blackboard eraser .

These lot could show politicians a thing or two. Instead, politicians increase their salaries whilst the country is in financial trouble.

@Wonder_Mask: it's not that bad, really. It's not like he'll have to start wiping with 1 ply toilet paper any time soon.

@Baum897
'I really sound like an "Iwata-fanboy" - even to myself - by now, but he is excellent at his job'

I have to disagree with this. Don't get me wrong, I think Iwata is great as the face of Nintendo and I like the guy much more than shark-like executives that you see running western companies, he just isn't excellent at his job. He's solely responsible for the bad decisions the company makes. It's those bad decisions that have led to the Wii U's disappointing performance and the company's third consecutive annual operating loss. Again, I don't think he's a particularly bad CEO, but he's far from excellent right now.

Just like with real jobs, none of them pay that well until you become more experienced in them .

It's nothing special, it's not even a particularly good mockup. There's no originality in the design, and it doesn't look anything like a product Nintendo would make.

@Kifa Other M wasn't 2.5D―a term that was coined for 3D games that restrict movement to a 2D plane―, and it certainly wasn't what anyone would consider a classic Metroid game. I'm talking side-scrolling, more akin to Super Metroid, but with some nice 2.5D camera panning, perhaps.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the Prime Trilogy and I even enjoyed Other M, albeit to a lesser extent. But we've had 4 3D Metroid games since the last 2D game (Zero Mission), so I'd be happier if the games returned to their roots now. Or, perhaps they could work on a 2.5D game for the 3DS whilst creating the next cinematic 3D game for the Wii U, I certainly wouldn't argue .

I'd prefer a classic Metroid game, perhaps 2.5D, since we haven't seen the likes of that since Zero Mission on the GBA. Of course, I wouldn't say "no" to a Wii U Metroid game as good as the Prime trilogy.

This is actually one area where I think GAME are moving in the right direction. I purchased my first full retail download title, Bravely Default, at the end of December and got it for £32.99 instead of the eShop's £39.99. One of the few times that I've applauded the price points at GAME.

It's Nintendo that need to move forward with digital content. They charge so much but there are so many disadvantages over buying cartridges. The 5 3DS XL consoles in my home make downloading retail games a no go because we can't share them, so I'm still sticking with game cards for the majority of my purchases.

@Therrus: so you're willing to write this guy off as a patent troll until someone shows you otherwise? To quote your original post:

"I'll be honest: this company sucks. Let's sue everyone cuz we can make money with it..."

Maybe you'd like to provide a source for other companies that Tomita Technologies USA have sued? Perhaps some credible article that bolsters your reason to believe that the company sucks? No? But I'm the one conjuring out of thin air?

Since you asked, there's plenty of articles stating a few more facts, including one here on Nintendo Life.

@AVahne

'So how about all the other companies that Nintendo claims to have come to them with 3D technology? Should every one of the other options that Nintendo turned down come back and sue them then?'

Well, only if they sincerely believe that Nintendo's technology infringes. My guess is that they have all thoroughly investigated the 3DS and found it to be non-infringing otherwise they would most definitely have sued by now (assuming they could afford it).

This is exactly what I was talking about in my first post; you guys were quick to write off the supposed inventor of the technology, but how would you feel if you tried to sell a patented invention to a company and they sidestepped you several years later with suspiciously similar technology? For some people, inventing technology is their livelihood and they're just trying to make a living like everybody else. They deserve to get paid if people use their technology and that's the whole point of patents.

Of course, Nintendo could be innocent in all this and they really might not infringe. Then again, anyone remember Anascape v. Nintendo? Nintendo were ordered to pay $21 million back in 2008, they lost an appeal that same year and the judgement was finally overturned in 2010. That could happen here, too, although it's been up in front of 3 judges already and not looking good for Nintendo.

You guys are forgetting that this guy approached Nintendo with his patented technology before they built the 3DS. It's not like he patented something akin to vapourware; he invented something, patented it and tried to sell it. Calling the justice system a joke, or the guy a patent troll, or evil is just embarrassing for you because you know absolutely nothing about the case and can't see past your oh-so-obvious bias for Nintendo.

Of course, I'm not saying that Nintendo are infringing, that's for the courts to decide. Which they have done, several times in Tomita's favour.

Maybe he wouldn't need so many if the 3DS was region free.

Although I enjoy some of the sports, e.g bowling and golf, I refuse to purchase them for £8.99 each. Wii Sports Resort included 12 sports at an RRP of £39.99. If Wii Sports Club ends up with the same 12 sports, that's just shy of £108.

I would have definitely considered £4.99 per game.

@zipmon: not sure if this helps, but the demo says the final version is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. I'm not sure if all those languages are present on the UK version of the retail game, but that usually is the case, IIRC.

The PS3 got off to a terrible start too, but sales picked up after a couple of years. The same could happen with the Wii U (although I am a little sceptical myself).

@MadAdam81 you'd think so... except that StreetPassing each other 3 times a day doesn't get us any pink puzzle pieces, and we're all at the point where spending play coins usually results in pieces we already have.

Well, this is good news for me, since our household has 5 3DS consoles. So at least the odds of all of us streetpassing has gone up. The downside is, I've visited 3 MacDonalds restaurants in my area since the relays were launched, and none of them seem to give me any hits.

My son is still playing the digital release I bought on day 1, almost every day (he's only 3, but can do pretty much all the levels apart from the final "race" without needing any help).

I do think this game is a bit short for a retail release, even at $19.99. If you're quick and don't care about unlocking the artwork/soundtrack extras even a novice could complete the game in about an hour.

@CountWavula: it's not exactly the same, no. Some of the layout has changed with new tasks in each level, the boss battles are different, and there's also cut scenes and voice acting. Also, the soundtrack is fantastic.

@unrandomsam: still not over the Rayman Legends delay? I was a little miffed at first, but... seriously, it's gone, it's in the past. Buy the game and you will not be disappointed.

To say that Ubisoft are poisoning the 3rd-party market for the Wii U makes you reek of bitterness and you're clearly blind to the fact that Ubisoft are one of the few companies still driving 3rd-party on the Wii U. If they went the way of THQ and sold their IP to other companies, the Wii U would see even less games (god forbid any of this stuff would be bought by EA). Of course, that's not going to happen.

On a side note, did you actually watch the trailer? This game looks amazing and quite original. The battle mechanics remind me of Grandia's, particularly the timeline and being able to cancel an enemy's action.

@Geonjaha: I suspect Chrom will make it into the roster, too. Marth is a classic hero of the series (and even referenced in Fire Emblem: Awakening), although I never really liked him as a SSB character. I would have preferred Ike.

@belmont: Hackers have been able to play around with the 3DS RAM for a while now, even when games are running.

Smealum doesn't really have any reason to lie. He's made some good progress hacking the 3DS recently, although I prefer it when people don't ruin surprises for the rest of the world.

Ironically, Wii homebrew developers already beat Nintendo to supporting GameCube games on the Wii U.

That Zelda 3DS looks really nice. I'm happy enough with my Fire Emblem: Awakening 3DS, though.

I wouldn't have noticed. That song is so appalling that I'd never have let the advert stay on the screen for more than 3 seconds.

The only thing that would get me to pay eShop prices for games is if I could download the game to more than one 3DS. As it currently stands, buying a game download for myself means that I can't share it with my kids, whereas if I buy a retail game card then we can all share it between us.

I get it, Nintendo don't want to undercut retailers, but they should at least try to do something to offer extra value for money.

@Emblem just after I posted a whiny comment about publishers wanting the Wii U to fail, I saw your own about the price in the UK. That pretty much puts it in the "can't complain" category for me.

I had a little trouble finding it as "deus ex wii u" brought up the spanish import version at £33. The link is here if anyone's looking.

I think I've said this several times on NL, but I would kill for a Faxanadu remake.

Console sales set to increase in the same year that two major companies release their latest console? And you say this is compared to previous years where console sales have been declining, perhaps because most people have one by then?

I don't know how these industry experts come up with such wild predictions, it's totally radical!

Just NA then? I'd consider Etrian Odyssey if it's slashed in Europe.

Clearly, people are blind enough to fork out another £40 on new kits and rosters. This is why I haven't bought a FIFA game since FIFA '98.

This is living proof of greed on EA's part. They could have quite easily released this as FIFA 13 DLC instead and charged people much less for it. Instead, they deceive unsuspecting customers into thinking this is a new game, when it isn't.

I finished BoF I and BoF II when they were re-released on the GameBoy advance. Breath of Fire III (PSX, PSP) will always be my favourite of the series, I'd love to see that game come to a Nintendo console.

I'd buy it, and I still have the original from the GameCube.

I'm getting my kids Disney Infinity for the Wii U for Xmas. I know for certain they'll like it because it has characters from their favourite films. I can't say the same for Skylanders, but it's definitely going to be able to hold its own.

One of the problems I've experienced with the relays is when you visit in groups. Say a family visit the relay location and two of the children have 3DS consoles. There's a race between the consoles to retrieve the relay data first, and the first to do so becomes the next relay data. The other child's console would have already exchanged StreetPass data with his/her sibling, so they would receive nothing.

In my household, there are 5 3DS consoles, so we don't really benefit much from the relays. It's pretty much luck of the draw.

Already had this (and A Link Between Worlds) pre-ordered since it first went up on Amazon.co.uk. Lucky for me, since the price has gone up by £5 in the last couple of days. I'll be looking forward to not sleeping much on the weekend it's released.

The updated graphics really do the original so much justice, it is just about perfect. An extra dungeon wouldn't have gone amiss, but it's well worth the money just as it is.

I bought Duck Tales: Remastered, but I don't think it was quite worth £11.99... about half that would have been fairer, I think. I would consider Chip N Dale if it were remastered, I still have that (and Duck Tales) for my NES.

@ejamer: you're right, it's a flawed system and the outcome isn't always the right one (though, appeals can help here as they have done for Nintendo in the past). My point was more that we can't really judge either party as commenters like @Tobias95 does in #26, @Justaguest in #27, @DarkKirby in #21. Particularly the latter makes an unfair statement regarding Tomita being a patent squatter, when in fact he actually approached Nintendo with the technology 10 years ago.

We shouldn't be so quick to judge, is all I'm saying.

@Araknie: you meant "Virtual Boy" to imply that Nintendo should be somehow protected because they had a 3D device before. Your "serious" reply just confirms that you don't really know how patents work. I'm no expert, either, but I tend to reserve judgement unless the verdict is extremely apparent (and I don't agree with software patents at all).

You don't patent the end result (ie 3D screen), you patent the method used to achieve the result (ie parallax barrier).

"How do you prove that Nintendo has infringed it's patent? They found the original creators schemes in Nintendo's HQ or something to prove it in the Nintendo schemes, becuase it needs to be 100% the same to be a patent infringment or something similar."
Patent infringement does not need to be wilful in order for a lawsuit. Two entities can develop similar technology completely independently without knowing about the other's work. If one obtains a patent before the other's work is made public, then the other party would be infringing by making their similar technology available.

And, no, it doesn't have to be 100% the same technology. For Nintendo to have lost this case twice, it either must not be abundantly clear that their technology is different or they must actually be infringing. All I was saying is that people should have a right to protect their intellectual property, and barely anybody reading this article will be qualified to judge either party.

@The_Joker, @Araknie: The Virtual Boy is different technology. It uses two screens, one for each eye. Chances are that the technology was either ubiquitous and not patented or Nintendo licensed the technology. What Tomita is suing for is the parallax method used on the 3DS screen.

Aside from that, I think you're embarrassing yourselves by leaping to Nintendo's defence. If somebody invented and patented the technology before them, then that person is fully justified in seeking compensation for their invention. Nintendo may be entirely convinced that they're not infringing, but it's up to the courts to decide, not us Nintendo fans with little-to-no legal expertise who haven't even looked at all the relevant documents.

@GridAttack: the guide would be suitable for the non-HD version too, so I don't think it matters

I remember choosing the GameCube version of Soul Calibur 2 because you could play as Link (vs Heihachi or Spawn on the PS2 and XBox), so stuff like this should encourage a few people to buy the Wii U version.

Dixon Group (Curry's, PC World, Dixons at the time) did the same thing with the GameCube. If the stock isn't selling then it's costing money by taking up shelf space, so you can hardly blame them.

@Maneauleau: yes. 'Attachment' is a common term in the retail industry, used for the combining the sale of an add-on product (e.g. software or an accessory) with the main product that it can be used with (e.g. hardware).

Interesting... I wonder how many of these sales were attached to Wii Us.

It's always worrying when a developer says they want to change the formula for a game. Hopefully it won't change for the worse. I often wonder why they don't create a new franchise when they want to make a different type of game, though.

Aonuma has said before he wanted to do an open world Zelda game. Maybe they'll ditch the repetitive dungeon crawling and blow the whole thing wide open. Either way I'm sure it will still be a great game.

I had this back on the NES, and sank countless hours into it. The only really annoying thing about playing it now is that you try to crouch but you just can't!

I think NES games look better on the 3DS than on the Wii U, though

Maybe he's one of those people that hates playing games because he works with them all day long

In one paragraph you point out that, 'Publishers might be reluctant to spend cash on producing region-specific versions if they know that consumers can simply import the title from overseas'. In the very next you continue with, 'The vast majority of gamers who plough their cash into the global interactive entertainment industry would never even consider buying a game from outside of their respective territory.'

The latter completely contradicts the former point. You're saying that the number of people who would consider importing is insignificant, which counters most of the points you make in the whole article. If we're insignificant, we're not going to impact sales that much.

Also, the paragraph about territorial marketing doesn't make much sense. If NoE advertise a game on TV, why would somebody order it to arrive from another country? You said yourself, there's no difference between regional games these days; they all run at the same speed and same resolution. In fact, ordering the game from another country will take longer to arrive, so it may not be worth it at all in most cases.

One thing you didn't even mention is that people who are on the fence for their next console of choice. When they see the features stack up against competing consoles, they could be put off by the fact that the Wii U isn't region free when all competing consoles are. If additional hardware sales were made by making the console region free, surely that would offset any loss cause by software importers in certain regions.

Something else you missed was convenience. It's not all about ordering a game from Play Asia so that I can get it much earlier. I may be on holiday and want to pick up a game to take back home, or play on the return flight on my 3DS.

At the end of the day, it's about consumer choice. As consumers, we have a right to make our voices heard and, when the discussion is about improving choice for everyone, we should all stand together to improve the chances, whether the cause would benefit us as individuals or not. Help out your fellow gamers by supporting their cause.