Peek-a-boo

I really like Apple and I own an Apple TV, iPhone 5S, iPad Air as well as a MacBook that I have had since 2010 (and is still going really well too), but nothing in their conference yesterday made me sit up and take notice.

A much bigger iPad that runs the same old, same old iOS? It may have its place in the art/photo/video media industry, but it's (obviously) not for casual users like me.

A new Apple TV that is indeed 'late to the party'? The new remote control asides, both the tvOS and belated App Store integration doesn't seem as compelling as a reason as it could have been a couple of years ago.

An update for the two new iPhone's that offers a slightly quicker way of 'holding down to touch' (3D Touch) and an improved camera (albeit with a protruding bulge that remains); it only makes me long for a new 4" iPhone and one that you can easily use with one hand.

It was quite disappointing in all honesty.

One thing that I can take away from this is that I thoroughly hope Nintendo are not going to go down the new Apple TV route, with a puck-sized box, an eShop of sorts along with yet another 'unique' controller. I would swiftly wave goodbye to Nintendo if this does indeed happen.

$60 for Star Fox Zero?!

It is also a bit of a shame that Fatal Frame is digital only too.

: (

A Nintendo Direct once every three or four months would be perfectly fine by me.

There will be an obvious vacuum/void in any future Nintendo Direct however, it would be a shame to see them go. They were a short but sweet highlight for Nintendo fans to look forward to.

I am thinking we may see one more this year, perhaps in September or October time, then a continuation of (an all new) Nintendo Directs from 2016 onwards.

@Cia For a beloved franchise, Nintendo sure doesn't seem to care about it lately.

This would have been something different, which I always welcome. The blast ball federation squad game looks terrible so, whatever MercurySteam were up to would have been preferable.

Best decision I ever made, choosing the new 3DS XL over the smaller model, even though those SNES coloured face buttons were a hurdle to overcome!

I am not even sure why Microsoft bothered to release the Xbox One in Japan; it is being outsold 90 to 1 by the PlayStation 4.

The Xbox 360 did a shy over 1.5 million, which is pretty good by their standards though, but this time round is simply awful in every conceivable manner.

I really enjoyed this on my iPad! Badlands was also chosen as Apple's game of the year award (in 2013) too.

It was also the best year for iPad games too with the likes of Ridiculous Fishing, Device 6 (from the makers of Year Walk, which is coming to the Wii U soon), Impossible Road, Plants vs Zombies 2, The Room Two and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

For those of you who haven't played this before, you are in for a treat!

Only just seen the price; £10.79 for what is a £2.99 game on iOS is quite a hefty price difference. I think I shall patiently wait for a sale before I double-dip.

Whilst I enjoyed Mario Kart 8 more than any other game last year, Shovel Knight was my personal favourite game as it not only nailed the whole 8-bit retro aesthetic, the game was also really good fun - as well as offering a worthwhile challenge - to boot.

More Shovel Knight is great!

@spikain Except that Desert Golf is absolutely brilliant! It was also listed in a lot of Game of the Year awards and nominations last year too.

This is just a poor intimidation of that game.

@Totaldude911 You are thinking about PangYa Golf; that was a really good time waster during my high school days!

To be honest, I just cannot see this doing particularly well on the Wii U; maybe 50,000 units and a few ten thousand more when it is on sale.

The Oddworld series has mainly been associated with the PlayStation brand, even though they released Munch's Oddssey and Stanger's Wrath on the Xbox, which didn't do anywhere near as well - sales wise - than Abe's Oddssey and Exodus on the PSone.

I just don't see this game doing all that impressively on the Wii U, although I would very much like to be proved wrong, of course!

Some (good) things just doesn't need to be changed in the first place, and this Miiverse update is one of them.

For the first time since I've had my 3DS and Wii U, I have not felt compelled to switch either of them on both out of respect for Iwata's passing and the fact that I just really do not feel like playing anything at this moment in time.

His death was - and still is - an enormous shock to me, especially after the use of those puppets in their E3 digital presentation. Nintendo won't be the same without him.

: (

If only Reggie was as cool as Shu is!

At the end of the day, whether the NX manages to have a respectable amount of 'power' to the PlayStation 4 or not, I genuinely believe that this system, be it a home console or a handheld hybrid that some folks think it shall be, will arguably be Nintendo's last chance in this business.

Failure is NOT an option after the agreeable failure of the Wii U, even though its first party line up is stellar.

Next year is certainly going to be interesting times for Nintendo, that much I can say!

@garthvader

I am pretty sure that the Wii U is almost at the ten million milestone, with 35-40% of those being in the United States alone. At last count, the PlayStation 4 is between 22-23 million worldwide whilst the Xbox One is a good ten or eleven million behind its nearest competitor.

Japan is becoming increasingly irrelvant by the day (in terms of sales), but any kind of good news for Nintendo is good news.

@AugustusOxy I am both a Nintendo and Mega Man fan and even I can see the justification in the omission of a collectors (physical) edition release for the Wii U.

It isn't particularly great news however, Deep Silver probably came to the conclusion that there were more reasons in choosing the 'rival systems' (to have the collectors edition) over the Wii U, with market share being one of them.

Hopefully Splatoon marks the beginning of Miyamoto and Co. allowing his young(er) peers to take their (new) ideas and pave the way for future games for future Nintendo hardware.

Looking forward to playing this very much!

Before this news:

'Oh, this sucks! I am never going to buy any of Igarashi's games ever again! No Wii U, no sale!'

After this news:

'Oh, this is awesome! I always wanted to have this game and I am definitely supporting Igarashi!'

The fickle ignorance of Nintendo fans, hey?

I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing what Nintendo shall bring to the show, even if it is through a 'digital presentation' as opposed to an on stage presence, which I kind of miss actually.

My expectations are quite low this year, mainly because of the NX rumours that seemingly implies that the Wii U has another 18 months or so before development shifts over to their new (hardware) vision.

As long as I can play a new Metroid game, be it in 2D or 3D and on either the 3DS or the Wii U, I shall be relatively happy with their E3 showing!

I wish Afforable Space Adventures was (much) more affordable.

Will patiently wait for a sale later in the year.

No Wii U Virtual Console line up is a bit of a bummer too. It is the Easter holidays Nintendo!

I think you and I have a different definition of the word 'beautiful', but at least the game has a bundle of sorts. The 3DS XL would look better without the logo, methinks.

I am still SMH at the lack of AC adaptor though; terrible Nintendo being terrible.

There's only five third party games on that list.

... no wonder they chose to no longer make games for the Wii U!

Those top five games are a perfect choice for new owners, although Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze is much too hard for the little 'uns compared to Rayman and Super Mario.

@dumedum ... how is the PlayStation 4 a 'flop' if it outsold the worldwide Wii U sales in a shy over four months on sale?

You are a blinkered Nintendo fanboy.

I reckon Mario Kart 8 will reach number two.

... why?

Watch_Dogs. It is on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 compared to one solitary game - even though Mario Kart is a popular series - on the Wii U.

I know it isn't coming out on the 3DS or Wii U however, the biggest Kickstarter news of this week is seeing Amplitude being remastered for the PlayStation 3 and 4 respectively.

... I am sssoooooo happy that the game has been funded!

: )

Here we go: - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/harmonix/amplitude

Christ on a bike.

... that is such a small line-up, of which only four of them are third party.

: (

Nintendo will need to blow their load at E3 this year because this is a sad state of affairs.

I'm surprised at the price.

... as in that it is actually quite sensible!

First good thing Nintendo have done this year.

I really like the original Advance Wars however, I can already foresee this costing upwards of £10 (or $15 for those over the pond).

... please price this sensibly Nintendo.

@electrolite77

Or preferably have a re-download(able) scheme that both Sony and Microsoft have implemented.

... since 2006.

Nice to see Second Son topping the charts!

... easily the prettiest 'next generation' game yet.

I hope Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright does well - love both of those characters (and their respective games).

The tracks seemingly gets wider and wider with every Mario Kart release.

: (

Just as well that Super Mario Kart is coming out on the VC soon!

@Ryno

Enough for it to be one of the top most issue(s) during the G8 summits?

... you are utterly and profoundly deluding yourself if you think there has been 'no global warming '.

Well, I just arrived home to see a dozen e-mails in my inbox regarding my comment(s) on Nintendo Life.

To whoever said Nintendo would 'sell out' if they made The Last of Us, I and many MANY other people would proclaim it to be the bravest, boldest and brilliant new direction if Nintendo could actually tell a story (within a game) let alone making a game as tremendous as The Last of Us.

... I still doubt 95% of you have played the game because the words 'cliche', 'boring', 'unoriginal' and 'terrible story' keeps getting thrown around and yet the industry - and more importantly, those who work within the industry - proclaim The Last of Us as being the new benchmark.

And that was in the very same year we had BioShock Infinite too!

I thoroughly enjoyed Super Mario 3D World and played The Wind Waker HD with a silly grin on my face, but there's something about The Last of Us that took ahold of me and wouldn't let go for months after completion.

It also has one of the greatest closing scene in any videogame ... ever.

That's fine if some of you disagree however, my original comment(s) stand:

The Last of Us deserves all the plaudits that was dished out at the BAFTA Awards last night, whether there was a Nintendo game in sight or not.

@NodesforNoids

The Last of Us is an 18 rated game.

... what on Earth were you expecting?

Sounds like you just didn't enjoy the grown-up premises of the game, which is fair enough! It doesn't let up, that's for sure.

p.s. Your 'graphic rape' comment is not only totally bizarre, it also makes zero sense whatsoever seeing as there is absolutely no rape (scenes) in the game ... at all.

@Memeboy3

... and there we go. A perfect example of somebody who has NOT played The Last of Us.

If The Last of Us was a Nintendo developed game, Nintendo fans would hail it amongst their very best work ever.

... however, because it isn't on a Nintendo console, it is either 'crap' or provokes comments like 'Super Mario 3D World should have won'.

The Last of Us will be fondly remembered in ten years time, Super Mario 3D World less so.

It is nice to own all three consoles by the way as I used to be a blinded Nintendo fanboy who knew no better.

... perhaps some of you should go down this route too.

@Guitardude7

The Xbox One had a far, far harder hitting media and advertising campaign, and yet it is trailing the PlayStation 4 by a few million already.

The PlayStation 4 has given the general gaming audience what they want; a powerful console at a reasonable price. If anything the PS4 makes the Wii U looks too expensive.

... the GamePad is great, but the screen fails at doing what my iPad does that makes so many touch-based games so good, which is multi-touch, not the restrictive screen Nintendo bizarrely decided to use.

Anyway, as a Nintendo fan, I think Sony have done well thus far, considering there is no real 'big' game available for the PS4 yet.

Goes to show that the Wii U can only compile a 'top 20' list by including old games that had been on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 YONKS before they came out on the Wii U.

... and to worse technical performance too.

I do think there is at least five or six 'must own' games though, which is not bad for a 15 month old console!

Oh, and LEGO City Undercover should be in the TOP TEN you silly sods!

: (

Only took the PlayStation 4 three months to reach (or perhaps even surpass) the worldwide number of Wii U's.

... not good. Not good news at all!

A surprise would be nice.

... and going in with startlingly low expectations too.

This is the price the Wii U should have been from day one.

... and thus, we wouldn't have been hearing all these persistent doom and gloom stories over the past year or so.

Super Mario 3D World, just after one month on sale, is now available for £30-35 in some shops.

... this NEVER happened on the Wii!

In that case, I shall attempt to go down the 'humourous' route (like MAB did) when Nintendo exits the console market.

... how about that, hey?

@MAB Then you clearly have absolutely no idea about the stock market and how it works.

... 'nothing to see here' (!)

Utterly delusional.

@SanderEvers The things you seemingly continue to daydream about will never, ever come true.

... and someone had to tell you that, okay?

Be interesting to see how some of you spin this as 'good news' as some of you miraculously manage to do so in (dire) times like this.

... Nintendo are EXTREMELY fortunate that the 3DS is doing very well.

I'm not surprised to see that Peach64, once again, is the only person who speaks common sense.

... God only knows why the rest of you think this is 'good news'. You'll be soon (daftly) saying Nintendo's financial report later today is good news too!

Reading 80% of these comments, as a Nintendo fan myself, just makes me frown.

... wake up guys, a number of third party games have already flopped horrifically on the Wii U hence third party support slowly becoming non-existent.

Apart from Bayonetta 2 and Watch_Dogs, I cannot for the life of me think of any other third party game coming out this year.

The Wii U is a GREAT little console, but to solely own the one Nintendo home system is inconceivable because the amount of high quality third party games you'd be missing out on is ridiculously absurd.

Perhaps Nintendo ought to stick with handheld(s) in the foreseeable future.

... I cannot wait until the next time we see 'Wii U sells 700% more this month' article in the future because I will be wise enough to know it won't be as significant as an increase that the majority of you folks implies them to be, which is just a little bit better than doing poorly.

Props to him!

... you'd NEVER hear anyone from Microsoft or Nintendo mention, let alone own not one but two of their (rivals) system.

Not. Good. Enough.

... they are taking far too long with this unified account system of theirs!