Sceptic

Really, their VC pricing makes me want to punch somebody. Seriously. Those games are total garbage by today's standards (with very, very, very rare exceptions) and only good for a nostalgic chuckle. They should be given away for free as a bonus kind of thing ("play all classic nintendo games on WiiU VC for free!").

Asking €5 for such trash is not just out of touch, it's plain insulting. Who in the world buys that crap at such a price? Who, really? I mean, Golf? Tennis? I'd probably pass at 40c even.

Little Inferno however is a fun little time killer. It's not necessarily worth €10 player unless you like that kind of 'Alchemy'-style puzzler, but it's well worth €5.

@element187: CAPCOM. Great example. Read the news lately?

All you wise guys should open a game developing company. You seem to have it all figured out.

When you're paying for every hour spent by your programmers on something, opting not to spend a week on feature A to be able to improve feature B has nothing to do with "lazy" or "cheating". It's how you run a business, to stay in business, to be able to pay wages and make more games. When you're all grown up you'll understand.

So there you have it. Finally a dev that's up front about the reasons for dropped features.

Releasing on WiiU takes more work than other platforms because of the tight gamepad integration required. That extra work needs to be offset either by extra sales (forget about that), or then it means dropped features to meet the budget.

@Einherjar: I would bet they got some cash from Sony and Microsoft to implement dual displays as a proof of concept and to show the WiiU Gamepad emperor has no clothes.

Especially SmartGlass only requires a phone, tablet or Win8 laptop. Everybody has one or the other in the house. Or both. Or several of both. When this launches, the whole WiiU Gamepad novelty will be history. SmartGlass in particular is a much more elegant solution, even if it doesn't cover 100% of what the gamepad does.

@Technosphile lol, exactly.

Anyway, it's obviously gone.

Great news. RUSH is awesome. Ceterum censeo: Screw you Nintendo for not even managing what a bunch of indies can do in a few months' work.

_{If you have questions, comments, or concerns you'd like to share with our editorial staff, please feel free to get in touch directly — TBD}

Let me help you gauge opinion, at least from the WiiU camp: It's somewhere between "yawn" and "screw you Nintendo". Even Nintendo seems to have abandoned this platform. They must have been so busy upscaling Windwaker's textures that they didn't find time to finish their other generic sidescroller in time for Xmas. Do they realize that the WiiU section in retail stores is smaller than the bargain bin now?

And with that, they basically said they have nothing new of their own for this holiday season.

Better late than never, but too late is still too late.

Not even a "sorry for the wait"-sale or something? It's been on sale for like $5 on Steam twice already.

Nope. I'm with @taffy: I was interested last year.

They finally figured out that they had banned what was basically one of the best ways to spy on their citizens. I'm sure Microsoft is working with them on a China-specific version of the Xbone. If they play this right, it may even become mandatory.

This will make sure they sell for more than Blackberry did.

@bezerker99: lol, which one did you buy?

If Nintendo needs to cut prices to Steam levels they're done for.

@unrandomsam: Ah yes, those "cards" that nintendo still has "to play". I hear a lot of about that, but all I see is Windwaker HD and the likes. Those are no "cards" unfortunately, and so far the market sadly agrees.

@Kirk: Jesus, of course. But that's not really saying very much.

Steamboxes are a threat for the next gen consoles and their business model. In that universe, Nintendo is already dead or reduced to handhelds.

If they go fully free and open like Ubuntu, you'd be able to buy an aging PC with no OS and no peripherals for $200 and install SteamOS on it and have an incredibly powerful 'console'. If that is how it plays out, it would flat out terminate the entire console market. Game over.

lol, you peeps are being trolled. EA stuff gets quoted here just for clicks.

It's hopelessly overrated on mobile even at a dollar. There's no scale to express the ridiculousness of $22.

What it really came down to was cross licensing and product placement. Tapping into another fan base to push sales and creating some much needed exposure for the other brand (DC).

Nintendo customers must really have a rep for being stupid. Ninty and certain devs sure seem to think so.

Oh and don't bother bringing this out on WiiU anymore. We're fine just getting if for a few bucks on steam.

Hm, Nano assault sure is pretty, but it's not exactly GTA V as far as graphical complexity goes.

@Link41x: You probably are.

But you're in luck. For something between $10 and $30, you can get that incomparable phone experience on your WiiU console!

Well, minus the multitouch and the capacitive touchscreen, which is, like, kind of instrumental to an intuitive 'fling' gesture.

For a non-hardcore console guy, what does this game offer? I tried the demo and the visuals reminded me of vintange Morrowind, very ugly and dated looking, the gameplay seemed like a Duke Nukem boss battle. Get the hang of the AI pattern and play on it until the monster is dead. Going by the gameplay footage, the quest element is, um, rather simplistic.

I can totally see this on a handheld, it has that vibe, and it's deep for that kind of game, but fullscreen on a console on a TV it just seemed shallow, rather ugly and repetitive.

There must be something there or why the enthusiasm. Could somebody fill me in?

lol, anybody that doesn't have this game on their phone already deserves to pay $10 for it.

@MrGawain: I think your wrong. It's rather that a significant portion of WiiU owners call bullpoopiedoodledoggieloviepoopsiedoos when they see it. As has been pointed out countless times here, this article would not exist if GTAV had been released on WiiU as well. It's like being stuck on an island with no food and writing about how great it is you're not gaining weight.

As for real violence/video game violence correlation, I think it's safe to say that if the psych/soc professionals can't figure it out, this board can't either. Let's just leave it at that.

And finally, I'd just like to say I'm still ROFL from this:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/09/soapbox_why_grand_theft_auto_v_isnt_for_me#comment1874118

@Doma: LMAO. Righ. On.

Liking a game is a matter of taste. To claim or even imply there is something objectively better about a lame regurgitation like Windwaker HD is just plain comical.

"More worthy of our undivided attention"? - Like we have a freaking choice.

It's not coming guys. As stated in the article, Nintendo is flat out ignoring the issue even when it's brought up by their own regional managers. Just like region lock, lack of an account system basically means more revenue for them. In this case from those suckers that get a new console or lose/break/trade the old one. What's not to love, from their perspective? They blabla and yaddayadda as usual but, as usual, nothing happens, because they like it this way, and they're just barely clever enough not to tell us.

Now that we have bought their console, we have nowhere else to go, and they know it. It's the Nintendo Business Model. Think Apple minus the success.

@zool: Exactly. Not only does the gamepad raise the cost of the WiiU console itself, the fact that you need to get a classic controller anyway adds to it even more. They're cheap bundled, but they're over $100 on their own where I live.

And add the fact that you're then sitting on this console that, like in the supposedly oh-so-fantastic Pikmin, is not even needed (!) to play. Their own big summer title doesn't need it. I mean what the hell?!

Nintendo themselves are not only not using it anywhere near its potential, they are literally saying "hey, that thing that pushed the price of yor console up another $100 and is scaring away developers because we told them at first that we expected them to do awesome stuff with it? We have great news: You don't really need it, it's actually better and more fun to play with Wiimotes!"

Really, I don't know what to say. Nintendo are like in this dream world where everything is great and nothing matters. Insanity.

@Great_Gonzalez: It's the same device. Just sell him the new one.

Oh dear, the guy is basically saying they keep telling Japan it's an issue but they're not sure if there's anybody home. Another bad hunch confirmed.

@RandomNerds: Ashamed? In most of the rest of the world they'd be out of a job by now, busking on Taiko drums at the waterfront with Iwata.

@jmularczyk: Nintendoland has so many great ideas but you're stuck with mostly ultra-short games. Metroid Blast is one. That ghost hunter game is another. It's an asymmetric gameplay work of art, but only has IIRC three levels. I thought there would be a fully-featured standalone game coming, but nope.

@Zael: Spot on. Every game that supports both Wiimote and gamepad I prefer the Wiimote. Smaller kids can't even hold it up for long enough. As a controller it's a huge step back. I hate using it. Every time I get to use the Wiimote I think, "Man, they ditched this awesome and engaging gaming experience for that stupid slab?"

They should bundle two Wiimotes as well. The Gamepad is only good for off-TV play (and asymmetric gameplay, but nobody uses it. No, I'm not counting little gimmicks like in Rayman and Pikmin). I think people understand fully well that the WiiU is not the Wii, but there's no reason they should get it. They probably got the Wii because of the uniqueness of the Wiimotes, swinging swords and golf clubs. Now that whole aspect seems to be missing.

There's not much to talk about. We should spread the word when there are words to spread. Right now we'd just embarass ourselves. Sort of like those Nintendo Directs do. Nintendo couldn't sell bread to a starving man.

Hm, yeah it's very hard. Similar to Chasing Aurora in that every time you drop out of the picture you lose a 'life'. I was hoping for a bit more laid back experience à la 'Reckless Racing' on my Tablet, but this is too hard to play with my kids and kind of too 'silly' for grown ups. This missed balance seems a frequent problem on this platform. It's ok though, albeit something you'd get for a dollar on mobile.

Fifty bucks for just plain old Angry Birds? I am laughing my donkey off, literally. They must have consulted with Nintendo and Nintendo, being Nintendo, didn't know that it's already been out on phones. For, like, years. For 'free' (or rather, a fistful of your privacy).

But is there a 'Mario Bird'? Because if there is, I can totally see some people here buying it. Besides, selling $2 mobile games at retail is totally in line with Nintendo's own pricing policy, so maybe we shouldn't be so harsh.

As much as I appreciate their opening up the shop to devs like this (nothing to do with the current struggle for survival I'm sure) I'm not investing any more money than I could stand to lose until there's an account based system.

Heck, you can't even change your ID, not even your birth date, you're supposed to delete the account and make a new one. How reassuring is that?

It still looks like Pikmin on crack. Other than that 'giant whatever' formation, the mechanics seem exactly the same: Collect as many characters as possible, throw them at some random bad guy. Repeat until done.

I come from a PC gaming background so I seriously wonder: Is this (and Pikmin) "great" by Console standards? Because man, I watch my son go through that linear drudge that is Pikmin and I seriously can't see the gameplay at all. It's pretty and funny and cute and all, but that is really it.

It's so linear, it practically plays itself. It's like the player is an afterthought. Collect Pikmin and throw them at the only things by and large that offer any possibility for interaction. How is that even a game? Because there's a time limit? And W101 seems the same. Like dumping a bucket of ants onto a cookie and waiting for them to finish it off.

Family friendly on WiiU so far I've found parts of Nintendoland (although not everything), The Cave (three player coop, but dad can take over in the hard places), Disney's Planes (once you get past the tedious intro levels), TNT Racers (a bit hard for all ages though), Trine 2 (three player coop if kids are older to handle the complexity. Possibly the best game on WiiU anyway).

I have high hopes for Mario 3d world, but other than that, what is there? I'm seriously desperate. I got this console because the whole world seemed to be raving about the family friendly Nintendo, but so far, as far as Nintendo goes, that label seems to be mostly an excuse to release mediocre and/or shallow games featuring some classic 'family friendly' character.

New IP, old IP. I don't care, but give me some actual games. Something that doesn't vaguely remind me of a game I had on my phone for five minutes but refunded.

@element187: That ridiculous. Region lock is a technical barrier. Of course you still release local and localized versions of your games where it makes sense.

It has nothing to do with ratings or anything of the sorts. Otherwise other companies, not to mention the entire PC game market, wouldn't do fine without it. Do you actually believe what you're saying?

How about getting TVii to Europe and the rest of the world first.

Indies are the only ones that can supply a moderately steady stream of play-worthy content for WiiU.

Nintendo should actively push for every DoubleFine et al. Game to be ported over and offer financial guaratees for the best games. Less risk for the indies than porting out into the blue, less risk to nintendo than developing completely on their own.

@Senario: Yes, tell me, what games could you give a kid? Another Mario? Or maybe Two? Zelda 'Sameold' HD? Is that something parents spend $400 on?

"For your Kid" you buy a 3DS, that is precisely why that sells. With a higher price tag, parents want something that benefits the whole family, and there's no substitute for choice with content.

I naively got a WiiU on the promise of Family gaming, but right now, a year later, other than the bundled Nintendoland full of great ideas in tiny doses, there is still nothing. Nothing at all. Nada. Zilch.

So tell me, what do you buy a kid? I'd really like to know.

I still don't know if I should laugh or cry at the stupidity of the claim of a "continuing relationship".

Like the chubby guy pointing out girls he supposedly "totally made out with" last summer. So sad.

I frankly have no idea how Nintendo will turn this around. Aside from their utter marketing incompetence and stubborn inability to even acgnowledge the problem, it's pretty obvious that, yes, one freaking year after its launch we will maybe finally have a lineup of actually released games that might make this console worth its while, but these will simultaneously be the crest of a rather average wave, followed by an even worse games drought 2014, where hardly anything is even ennounced.

It's a decent product. With some serious sacrifices in pride and short-term revenue they could penetrate the market, then build on that. Instead, those morons e.g. move their price cut even closer to the release of the threatening next gen consoles, like they have no use, much less a need, for a month of extra sales. Like by October people won't already be pre-ordering their newly CPU/GPU-upgraded XB1.

They should be in panic mode, airdopping free consoles into the suburbs, but instead they're all "yeah, well, maybe, ok, but not until October, and just a bit."

All is far from lost, but Nintendo obviously lacks the ability to fix things. They're a deer in the headlights. Deaf, dumb and blind.

What exactly is a "Continuing Relationship" with a company you have never, ever had a relationship with? Aw man...

Watch Nintendo sue them to hell and back.

There's no way to stick it to Ubi in this. Buy it, and it's sales for them, but they're getting more sales overall thanks to multiplatform, so it proves them right. Don't buy it and shows there's no market on WiiU and it proves them right.

People may have to come to terms with the idea that Ubi probably did the right thing. For a third-party developer, platform exclusivity is an obsolete concept these days IMO.

Good to hear some good news. There's obviously an actual market here, if you do it right.

@ACK: Wow, I totally agree on your first post.

Add to that the fact that most parents (even my wife! Go figure.) have now realized the bait and switch that was Skylanders and they will do everything in their power to avoid getting sucked into another multi-hundred-dollar toy collecting spree.

We have a drawer full of Skylanders. As neat as these Disney figures are, I will use every dirty trick in my arsenal to get around having a drawer full of these guys too.

What could save them though is quality over quantity. If the idea they are marketing is that on average you just have three, four or five of your favorite figures, people may go for it after all. And then end up buying ten...

Four or five as opposed to 20 or 30 Skylanders where you 'had' to buy three-packs to get one particular one of them, and where the game is constantly reminding you that you really need a water Skylander for this, you need an earth Skylander for that bonus level, you find a sould gem for another one that you don't own, "do you want to preview?" etc. But all those tie-ins where what made it so successful. We'll see.

Also, throwing all their characters into one franchise doesn't leave much individual charm IMO. As cool as Jack Sparrow and Sully were in their own films, my gut reaction to having them in a game together is "that's pretty stupid."

Lol, barely any online multiplayer, a crummy, hardware-tied shop system. This is what digital was like 10 years ago. Before Steam. No, I'm afraid they don't 'get' digital.

It will have been on sale on steam three times by then for under $5. I was excited when this was announced for WiiU for early 2013 and was waiting to preorder. Then as the delays started stacking up I eventually got tired of checking back and forgot about it. This now reminded me of it but I just realized I no longer really care. I may get it on steam during one of the holiday sales, but with unexplained delays of almost a year I feel somebody is just jerking my chain. That region lock working out for ya Nintendo?

The gameplay seemed to have some quirky ideas but overall seemed like Pikmin on Crack.

It being new IP had nothing to do with it IMO. It looked funny but confusing and very much like a "rinse, repeat" gameplay experience. But no, I didn't get it. I'm not that desperate yet.