Onosume

I'll be grabbing this digitally then if not all the content is on the game card. Shame as Nintendo is usually better at this than other developers and it's only really first party games I get physically.

@RadioHedgeFund It's better taking the Zonai games (BotW, TotK, AoI and the non-canon AoC) as a standalone soft reboot of the franchise. They wanted to ignore the timeline that they've put themselves into a corner with so they wave it away with things like "it's so far into the future the timeline doesn't matter".

It's interesting that they're going this far as the thing that people were complaining about was them ripping off designs of Pokémon and existing characters from other IP, not the game mechanics. But I guess this is focusing on the act of throwing a Pokeball just in very legalese speak.

Whenever I've played online I've always had the 'intermission' style point-to-point races and I've never seen the previously standard 'race 3 laps around a track' type of race.

I think people need to realise this is a fundamentally different game to what we are used to, and point-to-point races are the game's mainstay. If you want to play 'traditional' Mario Kart, 8 Deluxe is still there.

It was clear EA just bought them to get the F1 license. Now they've made Codies into a shell of a company all that's left is to finish the job and (if they want to keep the license) transfer it to other studios in the wider group.

Honestly having played it at the Switch 2 event I'd rather stick with the 3DS version. It's a low effort port that's just been blown up to HD and it looks really bad visually. Lacking the western release's QoL features is also a big miss.

I love the concept, but the execution is so... bland. Where's the vibrancy and style of something like ARMS or Splatoon? Feels like it could have been a lot more than the tech demo it appears to be.

It's a desirable tech product. The scalping bots will swarm on them and there'll be hundreds of thousands on ebay for £1000+ within seconds of pre-orders opening.

I'll have a go at getting one, but I expect them to be all gone within seconds.

This just sounds like standard business stuff / client relations with a few haughty egos mixed in. Sounds like Kit & Krysta making a mountain out of a molehill again and exaggerating for clicks.

Next update will be early next year with the Switch 2 reveal, hopefully in January. I'm sure they have more games in the pipeline other than what we know of for 2025, but Switch is past it now and it's time to move on.

It's a cute app but it does feel like Nintendo being very Nintendo and keeping all their stuff inside their walled garden. Fair enough and they can do what they want with their music but it would be better if they were added to Spotify and Apple Music etc...

Really not something I'm interested in, but seems like it would be a cool birthday or Christmas gift

@Yalloo After Iwata passed away and Reggie left it felt like the current leadership wanted less of a focus on big personalities, so the execs have largely faded into the background. I'm sure they're all good at their jobs (or I hope so!), but they've felt to me like pure business people rather than being the marketable face of the company. Which is fine I guess and it lets the games do the talking and the bosses to focus on the bigger picture, but I do miss the fun and quirky Nintendo which seems to have been lost a bit in the Switch era. There's also a feeling of it being more strictly led from Japan with less opportunity for the regional offices to do their own thing.

@gcunit I expect it'll end up on platforms like Freevee, Tubi, Roku, Samsung TV and TCL.

The main problem with the Pokémon anime was that it was fragmented between different platforms and channels. This brings it all under one roof and you should be able to watch it on most major smart TVs.

Nice survey! Looking forward to seeing the results, it's going to be interesting!

The idea here is tighter integration with Sports Direct, so you'll probably see the remaining standalone stores close in future.

I went into my local GAME-in-Sports Direct recently and was surprised to see it was a full sized store and not just a few games behind the till situation like some people I know had mentioned.

That doesn't change the fact I'm not supporting a Mike Ashley owned business where staff are treat like dirt though.

Feels a shame they couldn't revive it when Gamescom and TGS are still going as in person events, but as a hype reveal show, everyone has taken to Nintendo's online format now, so the era of big grandiose press conferences are all gone.

For those still wanting "gaming Christmas", Summer Games Fest unifies things, so what most consumers would have experienced anyway isn't lost. There's the dev backroom deals and showcases that have been lost, but I hope that they're doing things in alternate ways or at different events instead after the covid lockdown era.

It sounds like for Zelda, open world is here to stay. There is promise there in the evolution from Breath to Tears but it still feels like it's missing the depth in the dungeon design, enemy design and story that the older linear games had. I've also been struggling to get through Tears because it's set in the same world, and it's not that fun retreading the same ground, even with some slight changes.

Also it feels like some people are just getting bored of open world 3D action adventure games that take hundreds and hundreds of hours to complete. And I get that. Respect players' time and don't out stay your welcome.

Felt like all the stage award winners were given the same amount of time, this is probably a result of Christopher Judge's long speech.

I have more issue with the quick fire format for the "minor" awards and sacrificing them for more trailer time. It creates a bad impression like they don't matter because they are just glanced over.

It was largely the same as the last one, just with a bit more detail on Detective Pikachu and the SV DLC.

I'm just not a fan of Pokémon Presents in it's current form where you have to sit through 20-25 minutes of gacha game event announcements to actually get to the good stuff. I'd rather they just release everything as separate trailers on YouTube.

Glad to hear the industry in person stuff is being picked up by SGF, and there's been positive notes from the last couple of years. Seems like it's picking up the slack from E3 in that regard.

Streaming wise this year felt rather quiet with a lack of big announcements, but I guess that's a reflection of how long games take to make these days.

Probably a tie for me between GameCube and Switch Pro Controller. Switch Pro would take it if it had analogue triggers and a better D-Pad. GCN also falls down on the D-Pad being a bit rubbish. Otherwise both great controllers that are comfortable and work really well.

Worst for me is N64. I never had one as a kid, but the few times I've tried friend's I've always found it to be uncomfortable and really hard to use.

Years of mismanagement and confusion over what it wants to be has clearly killed its reputation in the industry. A gaming trade show can work, just look at Gamescom and TGS, but those tend to cater more towards local audiences in terms of the developers and publishers they attract (also TGS plays well to the Japanese indie scene).

It's a shame as I think people have said elsewhere it was a big conversation driver and had reach beyond gaming press, and I haven't seen the Geoff Keighley show do that yet.

In marketing terms I guess the online, smaller updates spread throughout the year model has won. I do love the Direct format (and the hype that builds up around each one) as it's to the point without any of the boring fluff that used to drag out press conferences of old, but on the other hand they can lack some personality (especially so in the post-Iwata and Reggie era, Takahashi and Koizumi don't have the same quirky presenting style that Iwata, Reggie and Shibata did).

I guess as a final thought I do hope that things hold to having a block of news in a single week. 2020 was a bit ropey due to the pandemic but 21/22 weren't too bad. Even without E3, I'm still looking forward to getting a bunch of gaming news in the summer.

Turquoise OG 3DS
Toad Club Nintendo OG 3DS
MH4 N3DSXL
Black N3DS [Japan]

Not really a surprise as they're each doing their own thing, and Nintendo and Sony prefer online presentations.

It'll be interesting to see which companies they actually get to attend after it being away for so long

@Madao Yeah this is a likely scenario. We know Orin Tegra chips were developed for more powerful Switch hardware, but for whatever reason Nintendo pulled the plug and we got the OLED instead.

Probably a 5 for me in it's current state. The technical stuff brings it right down, but I've so far found the game quite bland and sometimes just plain frustrating to get through (the opening segment is such a slog). It just feels a step back from Legends which done a lot of the concepts this attempts to do a lot better.

In terms of content it seems a step up from SwSh, but the overall presentation is severely lacking. If some of the technical issues can be fixed I could readjust to a 6 or 7 depending on how the story develops.

Everyone sounds great except Chris Pratt. Obviously not a lot to glean from the trailer but he just sounds so lifeless and bland compared to the other cast members. Jack Black as Bowser rocks though, you can tell he's really having fun with it.

"The 'Global Award' will be presented for both the Japanese title and foreign title most highly appraised overseas" according to the awards' website. So I guess it just got the highest number of votes then as Jireland92 said.

Either way, there are more deserving games that should have won rather than the buggy and unfinished mess that BDSP was.

Still got my launch model and no issues to report apart from the battery not lasting as long as it once did when I first got it but that's to be expected really.

I'm not sure this "more free content" will amount to much apart from the usual event unlock and some additional items, as it feels like the AC dev team have largely moved onto other things. I had my fun with game but I've long since moved on from it now, not really complaining though as I got about the same amount out of it as older AC games, sitting through an entire year with it. For those hanging on for a new big blowout update though, it's unlikely that that sort of thing is going to happen.

For those asking why, this is to do with more countries mandating support for 3D Secure version 2 (the little box that pops up from your bank / credit card provider when you make an online payment), the 3DS and Wii U eShops only support the less secure 3D Secure version 1. This has already been in the case in Europe since September 2019.

I own a launch Switch but play docked most of the time so it's a no from me. I've more been looking at getting a Lite as a secondary system I can take on the go that's a bit easier to carry around and less likely to get damaged

Checked my copies of ORAS and both still work fine.

Having tried the demo it definitely feels very clunky and dated, and with the reviews it's no surprise it isn't doing well. Might be something I pick up to have a proper go of if it was heavily discounted, but it's certainly not worth the current asking price.

Some of the negatives are a bit harsh and you do need to look at this in perspective for an NES title, which is honestly pretty decent for its time. The story itself again is fine, I personally enjoyed what it was when I played the DS remake. Like others have said though that one is probably the definitive version and the one to pick up if you do want to play this as it has more refined gameplay elements coming from the series' development over the SNES and GBA titles. Still a neat bit of gaming history, just a shame it's both digital-only and a limited time release.

I'd say about 70-30 docked to handheld. All depends on the game. More casual, 5-10 minute here and there titles like Animal Crossing are great in handheld, but for lengthier play sessions and heavier games like RPGs and such I prefer on the TV.

Really conflicted on this one as it sounds very charming, but that combat system just puts me right off. While I appreciate they've tried to do something different, slogging through puzzles with no reward just doesn't sound like fun to me.

The editor of NintendoWre posted on Era suggesting action-based combat and I'm now wondering if this might be the better road for the series to take in the future as the actiony bits seem to be better received.

This is mainly said so that if you use an alcohol based cleaner and it breaks then it's not covered by the warranty.

If you do need to wipe your switch with some disinfectant wipes it'll probably be fine.

Lazy money at the end of the day, which they are sure to catch a lot of people out on, especially with parents and younger Switch owners, who may have it as their only console. Nintendo systems have never been EA's target market - Soderlund can claim he's the biggest Nintendo fan in the world but it doesn't excuse the company from employing scummy business practices to make a quick buck.

As far as I'm aware these have only been released in the US and Japan, for those asking. I don't think Europe has been offered them yet.

Toss between GBA SP and the DS Lite. For the former the built in light for the screen was a godsend and made things easier to play and see the screen without needing a bulky third party peripheral. DS Lite was very Apple inspired but was the finest of the DS range. Against the bulky original model there was no contest

This seems to be to do with the new EU secure payment regulations where you ha e to authenticate online payments using your phone. Guess whatever payment code the 3DS and Wii U eshops use is not compatible with the new standard.

GameCube - Had an issue reading discs at one point, but somehow fixed itself over time? Original controllers got trashed by friends playing Smash but was fairly easy to get replacements.

Wii - Had issues reading dual layered discs which was solved by buying the lens cleaner

3DS - Circle pad plastic came off but managed to reattach it

N3DSXL - I have the MH edition and the silver paint has largely come off the back, and the front decal has completely peeled off. Also had to replace the battery.

Sounds like a very good port for those who don't have the original.

Don't see any reason to pick this up if you already have the original unless co-op entices you.

While I think both Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey are good, they're lacking in the usual Nintendo magic that makes them truly great. So I can kind of see where Takahashi is coming from.

Put a massive amount of time into BotW, but overall it didn't have the same impact on me as some of the other games. It needed a deeper story and I really felt the lack of the traditional Zelda puzzle solving (the shrines, while puzzles, didn't feel quite the same as going through a traditional dungeon).

With Mario it's more about how the game is structured and that you don't really get into the meat of it until after you've cleared the terrible story. (The whole "Peach has been captured again, go rescue her" as an objective is feeling very tired now.) If you simply follow the story through it's a weak 3D platformer with an extremely easy difficulty level; but once you get to exploring each kingdom and doing some of the more difficult moons I've found I'm enjoying it a whole lot more.

Otterly amazing! Looking forward to this one!

I expect anything with online functionality won't allow cloud saves. Large multiplayer games like Splatoon or games in which save data exploitation is rife like Pokémon I can understand. My worry is that single player games with online leaderboards like Mario Odyssey won't allow it when cloud saves are meant for large single player games so you don't lose your hundreds of hours of progress if something goes wrong. And if that's the case what's even the point of having cloud saves then?

Makes sense. The game seems built around the Joy-Cons similar to how Wii games were built around the Wiimote.

Not sure why people are complaining to be honest. It's a party game and you've got 2 controllers to use right off the bat.

The F2P model is certainly better for mobile games. Just look at the difference between FE Heroes and Mario Run. A lot of these games aren't really worth spending money on either. I've never spent a penny on any mobile game and the ones I occasionally play I still get enjoyment out of them.