Neram

Bad decision from the get go. Doesn't exactly make video games look good, in light of the "violence in video games" accusations lately. "Violent video games don't inspire or influence people... Now lets make a pool of 'blood' and body parts and swim around in it to celebrate a game release."

I think everyone knows that Rare isn't the same team anymore, and anything they make wouldn't be as good as it used to be, so there's no point in getting seriously excited over this.

I don't think Nintendo has too much to worry about. For once, I actually believe that they have an advantage when it comes to their controller. What Microsoft and Sony have shown so far, in terms of controllers, is very generic and obviously isn't the focus of their products. The GamePad can basically do everything their controllers can, and even more thanks to the second screen.

When it comes to tech specs, obviously Microsoft and Sony are the clear winners, but if you really take a look at various breakdowns you may notice that the gap between Wii U and these new systems is MUCH smaller than it was with Wii and 360/PS3. The biggest difference is the RAM, whereas the CPU/GPU's are areas that the Wii U (more notably the GPU's) could actually be a contender, given some technical wizardry and the will of third-party developers to take advantage of. I'm not saying the Wii U is almost as powerful and the One /PS4 are, just saying the difference won't be as blatantly appalling.

So, Nintendo has a controller that isn't waggle-fest motion controlled focused, capable modern hardware, and online features that could always be improved via updates (who knows, maybe they will enable similar cloud services as MS and Sony.) Couple that with unique software and games which take full advantage of the awesome GamePad features, I think Nintendo's platform stands a chance against these multimedia machines coming from the competitors.

Well, the Xbox One is just an extension of Microsoft's last console, so I think this guy is wrong about the "new boxes" being more exciting.

I get the feeling that EA really doesn't know what's going on out there.

Hmm, not exactly much incentive there. I could care less about paying real money for in-game items.

I don't think Nintendo Direct broadcasts need to be huge, ground-moving announcements. It's still pretty early in Nintendo's endeavors when it comes to these broadcasts, so I think jumping to rash conclusions that people are going to "start to lose interest" if every Direct doesn't get your heart racing with excitement is a bit preemptive,

I say give them time, and don't expect every broadcast to be more monumental than the last. Honestly, we can't expect "E3" every time Nintendo decides to show off some of its products.

@ungibbed It came out here in Canada, so I assume that means it came out in the US too.

"[Ubisoft] has been providing plenty of titles for the system as it aims to work with Nintendo to grow the console's user base."

That's exactly what it takes, and how other third-parties need to look at new platforms. Instead of playing the blame game, like those other guys, Ubisoft actually understands the role that both first and third-party publishers need to take to ensure a platforms success. If a platform has no support, people won't buy it. How are third-party games supposed to sell on a system, when there aren't any on it?

+1 for Ubisoft.

I just recently acquired this game again. I still love it. Although, I do prefer the Dreamcast version just for the extra fidelity, but the N64 version will always hold my fondest memories.

Somebody should make the "unprecedented partnership" thing a meme, to be used anytime someone makes big promises but epically fails to deliver them.

The "it is an utterly intentional decision to focus our resources on markets which actually matter" bit will be the thing that gets him in trouble. Speaking on behalf of your employer over Twitter is a big no-no. I'm surprised someone in his position would be stupid enough to actually do something like this, regardless of how true or false he is. This was just plain dumb.

I'd like to point out that this doesn't reflect the opinion of EA in general, but when he distinctly said that "it is an utterly intentional decision" for EA not to support Nintendo, the safety net of "personal opinion" not being reflective of his employer just totally fell through the roof there.

I'm not going to start an uproar and declare boycotting EA like some rabid Nintendo fan or anything, but I'm personally choosing not to buy games under the EA banner anymore, simply because they don't want to take Wii U owners seriously, so why should Wii U owners take them seriously? Screw that nonsense.

Holy crap that's good graphics! watches the trailer Oh wait... That's not the graphics, what's going on here!?

Normally I'd try to be as fair as possible while judging something like this, but for some reason right now I just want to say screw EA. I've never liked ANY of their in-house developed games, and the only reason I stopped disliking them is because they bought up smaller companies that I liked, BioWare and DICE to name a couple.

But now that those companies have practically lost their identity, or will sooner than later, I'm ready to give up on EA. Their snubbing of Nintendo's platforms is the last damn straw for me. I hate Madden almost as much as I hate aids, cancer, or any other similar disease, but you know they don't give a damn about Nintendo when they've decided not to release it on their platforms for the first time in over twenty years.

It's because they are thinking from a business perspective. All the suits out there now believe that the future lies in mobile games, and EA thinks they're being smart by investing into this business model.

I personally don't think the future of video games lies in mobile devices, so this move seems rather short sighted and ignorant, to me. I think that once the novelty of being able to play games on your phone wears off, that people will come back to traditional game consoles. Obviously that's not going to happen to everyone all at once, so I think that mobile and dedicated game machines will coexist, but EA would NOT be wise to rule out Nintendo's platform.

I hate to nitpick, Nintendo Life, but the title of this article is a bit out of context, don't you think? Sort of putting words in the guy's mouth a bit.

Mega Man going stagnant had nothing to do with the lack of risk-taking. In fact, it was misplaced risks that brought it to stagnation to begin with. This is of course my point of view, anyway. I think the reason Mega Man is where it is, is simply due to bad support by Capcom, and their lack of confidence in the franchise because of those misplaced risks. By that I mean the X games going sort of "gimmicky" in hopes of changing up the series to keep fans interested, which ended up degrading the lasting appeal of those games, (especially in contrast with the older titles, and the core Mega Man gameplay.) and Mega Man Legends being a risky new endeavor that lead to a niche audience. In my opinion, it was around the PSX times when Mega Man and Mega Man X started to become niche, probably due to Capcom trying too hard to keep it fresh by taking risks, straying too far from formula.

I think the only way for Mega Man, or any old franchise, to truly survive is for the developers to continue where they left off before things went wrong. By this I mean for them to make a new Mega Man, utilizing today's technology, but keeping the core gameplay formula as close to the original as possible. Look as far back as Mega Man 8, things had evolved nicely up to that point. If they could continue that innovation, and have full confidence to make it great, I think that would be the key right there. Not this Mega Man 9 throwback stuff, which I liked, but it was indeed merely a throwback to the "golden age" of the series.

Sorry Dave Cox, but drastic changes in creative direction, complete reboots, or throwback titles aren't the answer to a game surviving the test of time. The answer lies in staying true to the core concept of a game.

This isn't surprising at all. It's insomniac, who made their name on PlayStation systems.

Awesome interview. This is what I love about Nintendo Life, you guys have the best interviews around.

All I know is that would be awesome if the CPU and GPU were codenamed Espresso and Latte.

I thought Nintendo was doing a better job of reaching out to developers than they ever have. I honestly don't think these guys are trying hard enough, but expecting Nintendo to come knocking on their door instead.

Is this a joke?

Maybe CNN is paid by Microsoft to discredit the Wii U before they announce their shiny new Xbox on May 21st? =P

I'm kidding (ish), but this guy is seriously misguided if he thinks Kinect is innovative. Also, Nintendo has been making huge strides in the indie and digital distribution scenes, reporting otherwise just makes you look ignorant.

Oh, and Nintendo doesn't follow trends, he's right. They SET trends.

Could care less. Moving on.

It just annoys me that publishers treat Wii U owners differently than PlayStation and Xbox players. How is the Wii U supposed to content with the next-generation consoles if it can't hold its own against current-gen? I mean, not saying it's worse by any means, just saying publishers and developers are treating it like a black sheep.

The only thing i'm wondering is if Disney would push for all next-gen consoles to get Star Wars games. I mean, it makes sense from a business perspective, and the Wii/DS got versions of licensed multiplatform games. It wouldn't surprise me if Disney called for all platforms to be included, and EA told DICE to go back to the drawing board and get FB3 running on Wii U.

After seeing what BioWare and EA did with Star Wars: The Old Republic, I really don't think it's a bad thing that Nintendo systems could be left out.

Okay, well not really. I love the first Knights of the Old Republic, and it would make complete sense for DICE to do a Battlefront game, both of which I'd want to see new games of on Nintendo's platforms. However, times have changed and so have these companies, so my hopes aren't exactly high about the future of Star Wars games. We'll see how things go.

Not a huge fan of that art style. Looks just a tad on the Saturday morning cartoon side. I honestly hope nobody ever tries to bring Streets of Rage back, it wouldn't be possible to capture the same essence using today's technology. There was something inherently unique about the 16-bit Genesis audio and video that worked to create the Streets of Rage essence. Not to mention it's not the 90's anymore so there's no chance of it being nearly as awesome.

I agree for the most part, just not about Nintendo not having any games that are going to shine. I think they'll still want to feel relevant during E3, just by doing things their own way.

"For each release legwork is required, in areas such producing digital manuals, integrating the code into the Wii U infrastructure and applying compatibility with the GamePad, other controllers and Miiverse. In that sense the slow and steady drip-feed of well-worn releases is to be expected,"

Somehow I doubt it takes that much work to release a Virtual Console game. Sure, digital manuals have to be made, but the emulator (which I believe is made by M2) is already complete, and GamePad functionality is sort of inherent to the system.

i still stand my ground in thinking they could have had the entire Wii Virtual Console library available at the launch of the Wii U, much like they had the DSiWare library available on the 3DS at launch. All they would've needed to do was integrate the catalog from the Wii Shop Channel into the Nintendo eShop on Wii U, update the digital manuals (but use the same information from the Wii ones) and pair the ROM's with the new emulator. i'm sure it would take time to make Miiverse communities for each game, so that part I understand, but it's not a good enough reason to trickle feed re-release the games, and expect us to pay an upgrade price for the hundreds of games we already bought.

It's kind of funny there's an article about this right now, because just last week I was debating with friends about this very thing. It got me thinking about this while I was playing Duke Nukem 64, which I recently acquired as it's been years since I've played it. One thing I noticed was that in the PC version there are girls hanging upside down that are topless and wearing underwear.

Well in the N64 version, Eurocom (I'm suspecting), instead of covering up the sprite's breasts with a bikini they actually replaced it with complete mutilation and dismemberment. The sprite was split in half, with her spine hanging out and just guts were the breasts were.

It was actually far more disturbing and bothersome than naked breasts could ever be. What I don't get is the backwards mentality that society has where gore and mutilation is okay but some sexual suggestion is immoral and wrong.

Sweet!

@HaNks Nintendo has made unprecedented leaps in their digital business. Going from a company that hardly had any digital strategy at all, with people like you saying they're just being old and stubborn, to having one of the most robust and modern services available.

@GN004Nadleeh It's called economics. They aren't punishing us, unless you're looking at it with the misguided understanding that they're "giving" us these games as gifts.

I don't agree with cutting up games into smaller pieces and trickle feeding them to us just so Nintendo can have better sales momentum. We shouldn't have to be the ones to suffer because they messed up. I think a few people would agree with me if I assumed that we would rather have a full package rather than episodic bits of games.

This is awesome. The Combat Simulator menu music brings back great memories, waiting for everyone to jump onboard for the next match, good times.

I'm getting crazy deja-vu for some reason...

This report is just so full of fail. It's obviously been conducted by people who don't really know anything about video games and who think they can "tell all" simply by looking at current trends.

I agree completely with Iwata. Another reason I'm glad they're not going that route, for me personally, is that I like to feel that i own something after I buy it. It's the same reason I'm taking it really slowly with digital downloads, but the concept of cloud gaming scares me even further. At least you own the bits and bites you've downloaded, whereas cloud gaming it's all in the hands of the company.

I think, considering digital games are almost entirely optional, it should be left up to the customer to upgrade the SD card themselves. Having said that, I also don't think it would hurt to unclude an 8GB in the 3DS and a 16GB in the 3DS XL, as a minimum of 8GB seems to be plenty of space from my experience so far.

I seriously can't stand the Clone Wars art style. Hopefully there isn't too much of it in the tables.

I think players expecting long game lengths has become something of a problem in the past few generations. Games should, in my opinion, be played over and over. It's all about getting practice, and ultimately getting better at the game by learning all the tricks and trades. I like how Nintendo Life pointed out Star Fox 64 as an example of that. It's one game I have spent many, many hours on trying to master the different levels and routes.

I think it's pretty bad that we have to pay more to unlock the Wii U Virtual Console versions of the games we already paid for on the Wii Virtual Console.

I'll only be buying the games that were never released on the Wii Virtual Console, because I simply refuse to pay more for something I already have just to use it on the new emulator.

It's great that 3DS is doing well, and is set to continue its success, but I really hope the Wii U can pick up. I love my 3DS, don't get me wrong, but I don't necessarily prefer handheld gaming by any means, to me a handheld is like a side dish, whereas a console is the main course. I'd like to have Wii U as my #1 platform, and 3DS as my #2, but with Nintendo focusing on 3DS so strongly it looks like I'll be juggling between Xbox 360, 3DS, and Wii U for the odd game that comes out.

Here's to hoping things turn around for the big N.

This is great and everything, but it just hit me that it seems strange to get excited over something that Nintendo should have done from the beginning.

I was interested until I read the part about the crappy conversion. Why...? Why doesn't Capcom fix that? It can't be that hard.

I actually agree with him. The Wii U won't start picking up until around fall, and if Nintendo doesn't unveil a strong holiday line-up at E3 then I think this year will be all about the PS4. If PS4 grabs everyone's attention this holiday, I could see it being very difficult for Nintendo to reverse that in the months following the holiday madness.

I hate to say this, and I hope I'm wrong, but it's really starting to look like the whole Dreamcast situation for Nintendo. The mere announcement of the PS2 killed almost all consumer interest in the Dreamcast, which I believe was doing relatively well before that. So in that sense, I hope history doesn't repeat itself.

I was hoping for a Wii U Direct announcing the Spring update, but this is better than nothing. My bet is the Oracle Zelda games will come out on Virtual Console this week. I'd like to see some talk of Miiverse integration for 3DS, though.

This is frustrating because there's no reason for it. When are third-party publishers going to start treating the Wii U like a contender? Damn it.

The game looks pretty good, actually. I don't like the randomly generated dungeon thing though.