MrGawain

I liked Astrobot. It was very familiar in relation to a lot of the Mario Mechanics. Stylistically it was very fresh.

If there was a few gripes I had with it was the fact it didn’t do a good job letting you know where you were in the 3D space sometimes (the camera angle shifted at awkward moments), the level design on the challenge levels were unfair as you had no awareness of what was coming next before it killed you, and on occasion the buttons where fractionally unresponsive when you had to jump multiple times in succession. Mario does these details better.

Even the worst Mario games are better than the competition. Astro Bot was fun, but judging the jumps in 3D was off, the buttons occasionally felt unresponsive, and some of those challenge levels threw unfair blind surprises at you so you had to keep trying and failing to extend the play time. It isn’t just an image- Mario gaming is a feeling of control that appeals to people. Banjo Kazooie isn’t know by the general public, especially in a modern gaming context.

People know Nintendo quality, and any challenger to the crown is going to have to build up a lot of trust before selling numbers like the plumber.

As Nintendo continually tells us: Software sells hardware. It’s a very nice another Switch, and the new Mario Kart looks fun, but it will need a strong first year lineup for me to bite straight away.

It looks like it will be more a long form rally type game from the footage.

Competition time! Let’s see who can hold their breath until the reveal. Last one conscious wins the Internet.

To me the joy of the Switch is it catered for so many different tastes. It has 3rd party, it has indies, it has retro, and perhaps the greatest collection of Nintendo titles ever.

You can’t talk about the Switch without noting it has the greatest collection of RPGs ever either. I don’t think you can define this system with just 8, 10, 20, or 50 games.

You wonder why Xbox are making their own handheld (or any platform) when they want to put all their games on everything else.

We’ve seen a 3D print out of a slightly larger Switch. Undoubtedly that will be the Switch 2, but without the games we don’t know the stuff that matters.

Just think of all the Assassin’s Creed games we will be able to play on the Switch!

(Goes back to playing Ace Attorney and Tetris).

The fact that they’re celebrating shows they’re committed to Bayonetta 4.

The strength of Star Trek has always been the stories and deep, relatable characters. I really don’t see the point of a game like this that ignores that.

With the N64 and Gameboy advanced add on to the NSO I found that once I played through the things I wanted to play and realised some of it didn’t hold up, it became pretty redundant so I cancelled it. Same with Netflix. It doesn’t matter if it’s £20 or £2 a month, if you’ve had your fill you don’t remain subscribed.

I love Nintendo, and my interest in PlayStation has been waning as they really aren’t making much for my appetite, but I think the ‘Next Gen’ is so uncertain at this point there is no guarantees anyone will succeed, or even by competing with a black box that connects to the telly.

Besides, Nintendo has been syncopated with the other two on its releases for a while now, would it in Gen 9 or 10 anyway?

He couldn’t really accept his award and say: ‘nope, never heard of Nintendo’ could he?

You would hope Sony might be paying attention to the fact there is more to games than live service shooty games and cutscene dense games about child/parent issues, and they should lean into this success.

I’m pretty sure the PS5 will be the last monstrous box connected to my telly. The games I envisioned for the system (fun Japanese stuff) haven’t really materialised, and there are now other ways to access streaming tv- basically just through the tv. I can think of better ways to spend £700+ than on a PS6. I can’t be the only person in my situation, and that’s going to hit PS and XB bad next Gen.

As for Nintendo, I know their console will have another Mario, Zelda, Xenoblade, Bayonetta, MK9, and all the rest that I love to play. I may not buy the Switch 2 day one, but I can put enough confidence in knowing they will deliver.

Neither company is thinking ‘let’s make a handheld and then craft games that will work well on the system’. They’re thinking ‘this Gen has been really disappointing, let’s put out a handheld and then slap all the games designed for 4K TV’s from this Gen on it’.

Power, Battery Life, Memory, File Size, Sound, Text Size, Save Points, Internet Connectivity- they all have to considered when making games for a handheld console.

Nintendo always designs their games to work on the console, not the console to play a bunch of games from wherever.

Even though Nintendo and Sony’s tech was compatible, I very much doubt their business practices would have been for very long even if the SNES/Playstation had been put into production.

Two sets of big feet waiting to be stepped on.

All the game awards has done this year is highlight how few really fun games have come out, and barely any of them have been full triple A games.

I’ve enjoyed Zelda and FF7R this year, but my favourite game has been Eiyuden and pretty much everything else has been remakes or just old games.

I don’t think I’m the target audience for the gaming awards.

I love these games, definitely both in my top 5 all time games.

Not entirely enamoured by the updating of the opening or the profile pics (I always think these redrawings make it look like a flash game. Even so I think this will probably be the final game I will buy for the original switch, which seems like a beautiful bookend for a system that has everything I could possibly want.

@Simone93

It probably is, as Immortals wasn’t that bad either.

But it’s pretty obvious their R’n’D department is a bunch of people sitting around playing Nintendo games.

@Tempestryke

Yes, Ubisoft bought it in 2001.

But the last one (the lost crown) was DEEPLY influenced by Metroid Dread.

Remember their BOTW copy Immortals?

Remember their Metroid Dread copy Prince of Persia?

Oh well, at least Ubi is aware the lack of variety on other consoles and is borrowing from the best. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

I prefer to see the story of Link and Zelda like a fairytale. Fairytales don’t have sequels- Sleeping Beauty doesn’t go back to bed for an afternoon nap. But Sleeping Beauty has been retold many times where things happen differently, and I see every Zelda game just as a retelling of the story again, but from a different storyteller’s perspective.

…Because there aren’t enough original triple A games released this year to fill out an entire programme of backslapping.

How to watch the Game Awards.

With little expectation.

Seeing there isn't much further they can go with power that makes financial sense, a portable system could attract a different audience.

IF the have offline games to play on it.

Xbox is trying to change the way we pay for gaming. Playstation is hell bent on selling us high priced tech we probably don't need that isn't supported properly. Lots of people who like that sort of gaming are considering in moving from console to PC. The concept of live services is a bad taste in everyone's mouths.

In the meantime Nintendo are reassuringly stuck in their ways as just making fun little games that distract us from reality for a bit.

I owned this on PS1 and the DS. It was even remastered for iPad I think.

I question if we really need another remastering of this game, even if it is a high point of the genre?

Good to know EA will still be releasing FIFA 17 under a different name each year.

It’s the 4th best Xenoblade, so I think it will all come down to if there’s anything else to play at the time.

I loved this game on the PS1. There is a very subtle Super Hero/Villian homage about 4 costumes in the game that I don’t think anyone ever has ever written about on the internet.

I love Nintendo music, but I'm more of a greatest hits kind of guy than listening to deep cuts of NES Fire Emblem game over screen music.

If I get a chance of hearing the Nintendo land song I'm there.

I think Nintendo will announce when an announcement will be announced.

The fact they’re celebrating Bayonetta gives me hope for the 4th game.

The fact they’re celebrating Bayonetta with artwork that doesn’t include Viola gives me A LOT of hope.

I’ve read the reviews.

It was panned.

I really liked Ys 8. It was a no frills sort of game, but it had heart and humour that I appreciated.

Not sure I need to play another game just like that however.

The best way to get the Internet to talk about something is to tell us not to talk about something.

Genius marketing.

Is it worth using Raye in a Nintendo commercial?

Yes. She got them an article on the BBC about it. Nintendo is targeting a market all the other games companies are ignoring, beyond 15-40 year old men. And they have a much healthier business strategy because of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdrjrljx1dzo

I had the expansion pass for one year, played a bit of Pilotwings 64 and Minish Cap, but after that I found a lot of the games to have aged badly beyond stuff that had already been re-released. I just couldn’t justify paying for it again.

The video and photo assets are just an advert. The way to have a successful console launch is to have stuff people want and show there’s more stuff coming in the rest of the year. Nintendo made the right choice of holding a reveal back until they had enough stuff to show with the Switch, and I think they’re using the same plan again. I expect at least 8 big games in the reveal which will be available in the first year on the Switch 2.

Meanwhile Sony have a State of Play almost every month and drip feed announcements of stuff coming in a year and a half.

This is more than likely a really dull and pointless addition to the service. But by asking testers not to discuss it, Nintendo has made everyone interested.

I call that genius marketing.

Although I’m not fond of any shareholder having too much power in a company, I can see why Nintendo is an appealing option to invest in, as they continue to produce quality products and have the trust of their customers- mainly because they don’t allow shareholders to control how they do business.

I loved W101 on the Wii U.

Then I played it on the Switch and it really didn’t translate without the 2nd screen.

Seeing this isn't a knee here reaction, I would guess Ninty has done their homework and think they can win.

They haven't gone after Astro Bot and that's got a lot of Nintendo DNA in it.

I think there comes a time in any hobby that you love where the price, effort, or fun you get from it makes you think: ‘this is as invested as I can get and no further’. I’ve had the same issue with concerts recently, as prices have doubled for bands I’m not fanatical about playing at venues that are just grief to get to.

That’s what the PS5 Pro is for me, an expensive product with lots of bells and whistles I don’t really understand the benefit of, to play the sort of games I don’t really like.

As long as Nintendo stick with the fun experiences I like on a console I can see the value of I will stick with Ninty, but I think going forward I don’t care enough about Sony.

I sort of understand why the PS5 Pro is priced like it is with the components inside it, but the reality is it isn’t really giving a discernible difference for the money. It will play the same games as an original PS5, and will not make game production any cheaper, faster, or open avenues of creativity. The games will be held back as they need to be playable on the original PS5. If you have a cheap telly chances are you won’t see any difference between the vanilla and the pro.

We know the successor to the Switch will be more money than the current one, but we also know Nintendo will care more about being able to produce lots of fun games than a handful of visually stunning ones- that is in the DNA of Nintendo. I get 3rd parties may want the system more powerful, but I doubt they expect it to be £700 more powerful.

Seeing how long it’s taking them between reveal and launch of the Suikoden 1+2 remaster, this is hardly surprising.

I’m amused by several reviews I’ve seen that call Astrobot the greatest ever platformer… almost as good as Nintendo.

At the end of the day it stands out on PS5 because there isn’t much else on the PS5 like it. Perhaps a bit expensive for the playtime.

I would guess the best stories about Minecraft are the ones the kids who play it make up in their own heads.

Mario and Luigi welcome you to Concordia.

Meanwhile Sony kicks you out of Concord.