@Kifa: What I meant is: If $20 gets me this, $80 should get me something a lot better, but it doesn't. How do you rate that fact fairly? On an $80 scale every bug or imperfection rates a lot higher than on a $20 scale. At least in my book.
I'm not saying don't demand quality from indies, I'm saying cut those People some slack that unlike bigger studios - or God forbid, Nintendo - are taking a tremendous and very real personal financial risk in developing for this platform at all. It's all about money, and for them it's not just profit, it's lunch.
@Kifa: It's a figure of speech. What you make of it is up to you, but "supporting the platform" is not about frenetically cheering every time Iwata takes a dump, but it may be about giving a developer that has put in some serious effort into our little platform the benefit of the doubt that they will fix what little still needs fixing. And maybe generating them the revenue they need to pay the salary of the guy that should fix it.
I'm the last one to say anybody should buy anything for the sake of generating sales, but here we have a Mario-quality game (arguably better) for a small fraction of the price and people are going "yeah, but, um, what about when I want to play after bedtime?".
Everybody plays by the same rules? So do you hold Mario games to a four-times higher standard due to its price? Or maybe ten times, because additionally it's an established franchise where most of the content is kind of a given? I'd like to see that.
They're on it. They'll fix it. This is a great game from a small developer that deserves your support. But yeah, instead, let's complain about some little bug we found (wow, be careful, I saw some flickering elevators too! I refuse to enjoy this game until that is fixed.) and bicker about the great EA conspiracy to kill the WiiU. Complain away. Nintendo is totally on it so there's nothing to worry.
It's easily the best game I have on WiiU. Best 20 bucks I've spent on this platform.
You nit-pickers that won't support an indie developer going out on a limb for our measly low-circulation platform because of a few little release bugs need a reality check. You and your attitude are partly why this platform has so few games. Beggars can't be choosy, and here you're getting a fantastic game that is 98% perfect. As opposed to nothing at all. What is it you want, exactly? Because it seems that what you want is nothing you're ever - ever - going to get on this platform.
Why should a developer even bother with WiiU if every time one does, there's a vocal minority that bad-mouths their efforts all over the internet because it's not 100% where they feel it should be. These are devs with very shallow pockets pulling Nintendo's cart out of the pile of crap they dropped it in.
If you are ever going to buy it, buy it now and show some support. Show them there is a market. Hold back on the big bucks developers and the truly flawed proucts if you must, not the indie efforts that launch with maybe a few rough edges.
Yep, Nintendo screwed that part up too. Luckily they did something right though too, namely that you can just hook up an external drive.
The problem is that developers can't exactly demand an external HD for their games without losing sales. So even if it's fixable from a player perspective, it remains a problem for the devs.
Too much exposure is just a bad thing. With Nintendo currently just completely annihilating the rest of the market with their classic IP I can understand they don't want their formidable efforts watered down by some losers.
Jeez, get a grip guys. It's about money. The WiiU has sold exceptionally badly for a very long time now and EA not only has some profitability problems of their own, they have shareholders that want that fixed. Read the busines pages occasionally. They're not the Salvation Army and they are not in a position to blindly invest in a platform that may well be pretty much dead from a business standpoint a year from now. And if it takes off, they'll be back. That's how it works and that is what they are saying.
It's not up to EA to sink cash into WiiU to try and float it. That would be up to Nintendo, but they're just chugging along at a comfortable pace, making vague announcements here and there and the odd release too. The absence of panic or even just productive overdrive at Nintendo in the light of this disaster is just mind boggling. Zelda to the rescue? Don't hold your breath. The Zelda crowd probably already has a WiiU.
I'm amazed UbiSoft is hanging on like it is and as relieved as I am, it frankly doesn't make much business sense to me, unless they are just finishing up projects already in thepipeline and they'll pull an EA in a year or so when everything has been finished up.
Look at the missing features on WiiU versions from other devs. Everybody is either staying away or restricting their effort to a minimum.They have companies to run. Salaries to pay. Shareholders to keep happy. They don't care any less about WiiU than about Xbox or PS, it's just that on WiiU, with the current numbers, they can't make a profit. Simple as that. And unlike with Nintendo apparently, in most places bad business decisions will cost you your job.
Wake up and smell the coffee. Complaining over EA is just trying to kill the messenger. They don't owe anybody anything.
Next they'll be saying the guest contributions are delayed. Then that they are further delayed because of their incredibly high journalistic standards but that they have dozens of fantastic contributions just waiting to be included in 'upcoming' issues.
Why didn't they fix it, even a little, afterwards? It's one thing to rush production, but to let it lay there and rot in that state is just disrespectful of your actual and your potential customers.
I wrote the devs some simple suggestions at the time and never heard back. The physics are nicely done, so are the animations, and the artwork, but the best part is the welcome screen, where you can just fly around and do crazy tricks. Then you start a game it's all cramped tunnels and stuff.
"featuring an impressive number of tools a colors"?! That is so awesome! Nintendo does it again! Dare I ask: Does it feature GREEN, too?! Oh please say it does!!
Be honest. This is for MiiVerse only. It's a crummy drawing program by any standards except Miiverse. You're not showing loyalty by sugarcoating, just making a fool of yourself. It's ok to just say "hey, this is much better than what miiverse has, but it's not a real drawing program".
I mean seriously, the gamepad has a measly 854 x 480 resolution. Even if the program had the cabability (which it doesn't), you're drawing at less than 20% of your TV's resolution.
Drawing on a resistive touch screen. Helloooo Millenium!
But hey, at least for once the price is reasonable. Why hasn't anybody turned this into a game? Draw Something or Pictionary would be perfect for WiiU and should take about a weekend to code.
He's right in that generic rehashed sludge no longer results in hype and bestsellers. Today's gamers demand something new, fresh and better than what they already have.
Nintendo should print that on their elevator walls. Their bland remakes are well within the attention span of even a three year old. The problem is, even the three year old's attention is not piqued.
@banacheck: While I follow that dispute out of professional interest, what exactly do you deduct for consoles?
Most notably, that EU Court ruling applies to Nintendo as well, and they are even less in a position to enable reselling of digital downloads than Valve is. Heck, they don't even have an account based system. If anybody is royally screwed by that ruling, it's Nintendo.
Region lock is ridiculous. It serves only to monopolize and drive prices. I am absolutely speechless that people here actually buy into that corporate drivel they're feeding us.
What do Europe and Oceania have in common that would make that a sensible region under those purported 'important aspects'? - It's all made up.
It's about isolating highly competitive low-priced markets like Asia and the US from each other and especially from the less competitive high-priced markets, like Australia and Europe. Those are your regions right there.
@FineLerv: lol, indeed. Maybe because I'm an enthusiast. I'd like to see them realize a fraction of the WiiU's potential, because this console would take off. I got the WiiU on the promise of asymmetric gameplay and local multiplayer. I played nintendoland with my family and though, wow, I can't wait for Nintendo to bring out the real games, the ones where they really expand on these ideas and concepts. Now, almost a year later, it appears that Nintendoland was pretty much it.
So far, the indie devs are what make this platform anything but a complete failure. Bit.trip wipes the floor with Mario if you for once can let go of nostalgia and look at it for what it is. Trine 2 is gorgeous, charming and fun in co-op. Nano Assault Neo is beautiful. Little Inferno is fun.
As for the big names, why should I pay $80 for something on sale on Steam for $5 with exactly the same if not better gameplay experience? I just got Deus Ex for $3. Three bucks! What can the WiiU version possibly add that will offset the $70+ dollars more I'd have to pay there? Of course that goes for other console versions too, but they're not floundering. And I don't own one.
At least it seems to have registered with Nintendo, too, and they're exploding indie support. I could name literally dozens of indie games that would look and play great on WiiU. Quality games. Prized games. Innovative games. Not this generic shallow sludge Nintendo is feeding us.
I mean seriously, if Pikmin 3 was Xbox exclusive, would anybody even consider getting an Xbox just to play it? People are just ecstatic it's for once at least not some bland generic remake of Super Mario Something or Zelda Whatever. But yeah, the glass is half full.
I for one think most of Nintendo's recent games were and continue to be crap. They are completely full of themselves and so out of touch they somehow think that they can sell us a turd with a mustache and call it "classic IP". Nintendo do not have a clue.
Even their good stuff is absolutely mediocre compared across plattforms. Pikmin? Really? It's totally linear. It's an insult to the genre to call it real time strategy. Or strategy even. I mean, what do they do all day if that is all they come up with?! It's always too convoluted and plain bizzarre for kids, but too crude and simplistic for adults.
Watching nintendo flounder around with their WiiU I feel like I'm watching some crazy performance artist, where a crowd of hardcore enthusiasts are ooh-ing and aah-ing but all I see is a guy pointlessly dumping paint on the floor and laughing like a maniac. And I wonder why I paid money for this, and whether maybe I am part of the show.
Because of the lack of content, we have lost all objectivity. On the WiiU right now, tic, tac, toe would end up a five-star, top ten selling game.
I'm sure Iwata has some fantastic insight for us as to why tied to the colsole is better and why in fact, eShop should cost more, but they're doing us a favor by offering it for RRP.
Here again, Nintendo is stuck in the past. A eShop needs to be managed, and if it is, it can be a market maker and a driving force. It's not a just a filofax where you list your stuff and people can buy it for the worst price available.
Steam, iTunes and the Play Store are marketing tools as much as they are shops. You hype, you show off, you make people happy they're on your plattform. That's what it's about. Get the numbers up high enough and it feeds off itself. But Nintendo thinks it's still just about having an eShop...
@TwilightV: That's hilarious. You are seeing the right things but drawing the wrong conclusions: What Ubi are saying is that Nintendo sold so few WiiU consoles that Ubi can't be profitable, even though their game is a hit.
That is why they switched Rayman over to multiplatform. WiiU went from exclusive to sideshow. That's why it's taking so long too. They don't want an early release on WiiU to water down their market impact when it's released on the primary markets. I bet you with Lego City Undercover it's the same tragic story.
@Darknyht: They wanted a profit on WiiU. They have no problens getting a profit doing exactly what they do on other platforms, which is why they're shifting focus: No more WiiU exclusives. And if the console doesn't grow in the mid term, no more anything at all. The ball is still entirely in Nintendo's court, as it always was. Cue Iwata ramblings.
I don't get the dissing of ZombiU. ZombiU was a well made game. Not perfect, but they obviously put a lot of love and effort in. It has more atmosphere than any other zombie shooter I have ever played on any platform.
Also, at this point, if you feel this is a bad game, you really had better sell your WiiU now, because better ain't coming, that much is pretty certain. It's practically guaranteed it will be the last third party game that really tried to do something substantially WiiU-specific. But back then gamers thought there were dozens of great games around the corner and they could complain and nit-pick on ZombiU for this or that glitch or how this wasn't enough that or vice versa.
And ZombiU is flat out fan-freaking-tastic compared to the gaping nothing offered up by Nintendo so far, followed by truckloads of bullpoopies and bulk shipments of hot air. And it's become transparent to everybody but themselves.
I think it's that japanese cultural thing. The emperor has no clothes, but because he's the Supreme Iwata, nobody dares say anything. Meanwhile, he silently freezes to death.
ZombiU is one of the best survival horror games and possibly the only full length game that really tries to do something with the WiiU Gamepad.
Ubisoft (very unlike themselves) have tried and tried to make this boat swim, but Nintendo keeps running it back aground.
It's a measly $40 in the eShop. Really, everybody should own it. If only to have something to show off what could have been done with the Gamepad if anybody (including Nintendo) had a clue.
Come on. $40. Go get it if you haven't already. Vote for the WiiU where it counts, with your wallet, not by thumbs-upping Iwata's deluded ramblings.
People that comment should state if they are from the US. I understand that in the US, you may feel RL is a non issue. But that is because European consumers are picking up the tab for your $40 games with their $80 games.
Cartels and market segregation always lead to higher prices for consumers at no added value. Just because as a US consumer you're lucky to be on the winning end should't blind you on the entire issue.
RL is a tool to rip off certain regions with higher prices while bending to increased competition in others with lower ones. They simply would not do it if there was no money to be made off it.
It's maybe hot air for the US that always gets their games first and at low prices, while we in Europe wait to be shafted half a year later for twice the price.
You don't understand how markets work, Damien. It's not about how many imports we would buy, it's about what prices would still be viable if those of us that play it in english anyway would be able to buy it in the US.
It's simple market segregation to enforce a price structure where most of Europe pays double on everything. Plus tax. If it's a non-issue, THEN REMOVE IT. Simple as that.
@JaxonH: Have you compared features to the Sony and MS console? Features, not tech specs. The onboard blue ray alone pays for half the console. Then the whole DLNA thing. That is consumer value. The WiiU only even has youtube because google are great people and made it for them.
As for giving the WiiU a chance: I own one. But what drives me raving mad is how Nintendo is beating and starving their own product to death with their utter, total incompetence. Nintendo is killing the WiiU.
Like this talk, now, about not 'requiring' the second screen. It should have come before launch, to reassure the developers to go ahead and do what they wanted as long as they did something for the WiiU. Instead, they made it seem like the gamepad screen was the whole point of the console, so those devs that didn't want to field the effort to adapt their games just passed. Now Nintendo are in fact admitting they don't really need it themselves.
Oh my God. They're actually telling Devs to go ahead and ignore the pad now, that it's not such a big deal?
This is easily one of the most colossal product management failures ever. Without the pad, the WiiU would be a good $100 cheaper and a steal. Literally everybody would have one.
@JaxonH: Nintendo pushed the WiiU out the door because they realized it would be a complete joke and absolutely unsellable if they released it after or alongside the 'real' next gen consoles, especially at the price they envisioned.
They had screwed up their development of the WiiU by taking so long, then reassigned all resources to get it out the door while there was still a chance of actually selling it, now it's here and their skeleton game dev crew is completely over-worked so they're feeding us mediocre re-hashes, all the while babbling about 'Gameplay' and 'Content', like it's something proprietary to the WiiU.
All consoles have 'content' and 'good gameplay', it's just thet the WiiU has less of it, quantitatively. Maybe the quality to quantity ratio is better on the WiiU, that's up to the player to decide, but if your choice is much bigger on other consoles, that ratio is totally irrelevant.
And because they totally overestimated the consumer value of the WiiU gamepad, their console is a good $100 overpriced compared to the perceived value.
Heck, Nintendo is switching back to Wiimotes as the primary controller themseves. That alone should cost someone his job. That Gamepad is what is making the WiiU comparatively too expensive for what it brings to the average living room, and now it's proving redundant to useless.
@JaxonH: There's a lot of "ifs" there, for none of which there's even the slightest indication that they will come true. Iwata is playing games with his hardcore fans and their short memory span. He's been babbling this kind of vague nonsense for over a year now with absolutely no actual follow up. Look at your list again. Half if it doesn't exist yet and you're just quoting Iwata back to me (but I'll give you Wonderful 101 if that's your thing). It seems every week half the people here get excited again like it's the first time they hear it. Nintendo isn't Apple. Their 'awesome' and 'incredible' so far has turned out to be something between 'meh' and 'about time'. And now they're resorting to "so secred I can't tell you". Does anybody seriously believe they would deliberately sell themselves short at E3 at this point? because of the 'hardcore gamers' they focused on? At an E3 where the 'Hardcore gamers' are getting two next gen consoles presented? That would make them even stupider than I thought.
My screen name is misleading: I LOVE the WiiU's potential, I am DISGUSTED by how Nintendo has run this ship solidly aground.
"No wait, that's not all! Please don't walk away just yet! It's a secret so I can't show you, but in the back room I have something that will just blow your mind! No, really!"
It's not that they're backing away, it's just that even they think it's crap.
Oh. Ok.
Results, Nintendo. Results. Talk is cheap. We all know you want us to believe you have a million incredible games up your sleeve that you're just putting the final polish on before you release, but we all SEE that that is just. Not. True.
The only reason is price discimination and market control. The Regions are far to broad to allow any actual content localization at that level. Like DVDs and Blue-ray, it's about cheap and early US releases versus expensive and chronically late European releases. Milk each cow for what it's worth.
@cdude: Because they are. Who are they kidding, I wonder?
If at least they had a bunch of "nonviolent and accessible family games", that would at least expand on that market a bit, but they don't. They have two or three. Every conceivable demographic is left hanging.
And stuff like Game & Wario is just an insult at this point. They've been wasting time on what's basically just an elaborate joke?
It also shows that the WiiU has been left in the dust by recent developments. They think it's a cool idea but unlike Nintendo have realized that it's not unique to the WiiU at all.
Today, all you need is a nice iOS or Android app to link with your next-gen and a majority of your player base can have two screen gaming. That second screen on the WiiU is not as big a deal as it would have been five years ago.
How can you deduct anything from a low-cost 'anybody' toy like the 3ds for the high-overhead, years in the making living-room tech appliance like the WiiU?
It's about what it costs to make it and what it costs to make games for it. People are fine with a few run and jumps on their handheld. But if that's all their Console offers, they'll be looking around for a more versatile way to utilize that shelf space.
Nintendo screwed up the WiiU in every respect. Amongst all the other points, they should have taken the top selling tablet games and done what it takes to have those developers port to WiiU.
They wouldn't need 3rd party support if their own stuff wouldn't be mostly dusty old 1980s IP re-cast for the umteenth time, this time in HD. The pricing on their Virtual Console titles shows how totally out of touch they are. It's not even ported well.
@rilely: Absolutely. It's like a psych ward somehow. They're always dead earnest and so convincing, but what they say is entirely made up and only holds true in their own little fantasy. Like "it's all about content". Indeed. But where is it? Lack of content (and original content) is why they're under fire and not selling units.
Their stuff is so generic even reggie can't keep it apart. "Super Mario 3d land", "The New Zelda Game".
Wow yeah, I'm lookig forward to the, uh... the "New Zelda Game". Where can I pre-order that?
Comments 364
Re: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams May Get A Patch To Solve GamePad Audio Problems
@Kifa: What I meant is: If $20 gets me this, $80 should get me something a lot better, but it doesn't. How do you rate that fact fairly? On an $80 scale every bug or imperfection rates a lot higher than on a $20 scale. At least in my book.
I'm not saying don't demand quality from indies, I'm saying cut those People some slack that unlike bigger studios - or God forbid, Nintendo - are taking a tremendous and very real personal financial risk in developing for this platform at all. It's all about money, and for them it's not just profit, it's lunch.
Re: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams May Get A Patch To Solve GamePad Audio Problems
@Kifa: It's a figure of speech. What you make of it is up to you, but "supporting the platform" is not about frenetically cheering every time Iwata takes a dump, but it may be about giving a developer that has put in some serious effort into our little platform the benefit of the doubt that they will fix what little still needs fixing. And maybe generating them the revenue they need to pay the salary of the guy that should fix it.
I'm the last one to say anybody should buy anything for the sake of generating sales, but here we have a Mario-quality game (arguably better) for a small fraction of the price and people are going "yeah, but, um, what about when I want to play after bedtime?".
Everybody plays by the same rules? So do you hold Mario games to a four-times higher standard due to its price? Or maybe ten times, because additionally it's an established franchise where most of the content is kind of a given? I'd like to see that.
They're on it. They'll fix it. This is a great game from a small developer that deserves your support. But yeah, instead, let's complain about some little bug we found (wow, be careful, I saw some flickering elevators too! I refuse to enjoy this game until that is fixed.) and bicker about the great EA conspiracy to kill the WiiU. Complain away. Nintendo is totally on it so there's nothing to worry.
Re: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams May Get A Patch To Solve GamePad Audio Problems
It's easily the best game I have on WiiU. Best 20 bucks I've spent on this platform.
You nit-pickers that won't support an indie developer going out on a limb for our measly low-circulation platform because of a few little release bugs need a reality check. You and your attitude are partly why this platform has so few games. Beggars can't be choosy, and here you're getting a fantastic game that is 98% perfect. As opposed to nothing at all. What is it you want, exactly? Because it seems that what you want is nothing you're ever - ever - going to get on this platform.
Why should a developer even bother with WiiU if every time one does, there's a vocal minority that bad-mouths their efforts all over the internet because it's not 100% where they feel it should be. These are devs with very shallow pockets pulling Nintendo's cart out of the pile of crap they dropped it in.
If you are ever going to buy it, buy it now and show some support. Show them there is a market. Hold back on the big bucks developers and the truly flawed proucts if you must, not the indie efforts that launch with maybe a few rough edges.
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U's Limited Hard Drive Space and Future Install Headaches
Yep, Nintendo screwed that part up too. Luckily they did something right though too, namely that you can just hook up an external drive.
The problem is that developers can't exactly demand an external HD for their games without losing sales. So even if it's fixable from a player perspective, it remains a problem for the devs.
Re: Metroid Fan Film Fundraising Campaign Demolished After Claim From Nintendo
Too much exposure is just a bad thing. With Nintendo currently just completely annihilating the rest of the market with their classic IP I can understand they don't want their formidable efforts watered down by some losers.
Re: EA Executive Repeats That The Company is "Platform Agnostic", Cites "Tremendous Relationship" With Nintendo
Jeez, get a grip guys. It's about money. The WiiU has sold exceptionally badly for a very long time now and EA not only has some profitability problems of their own, they have shareholders that want that fixed. Read the busines pages occasionally. They're not the Salvation Army and they are not in a position to blindly invest in a platform that may well be pretty much dead from a business standpoint a year from now. And if it takes off, they'll be back. That's how it works and that is what they are saying.
It's not up to EA to sink cash into WiiU to try and float it. That would be up to Nintendo, but they're just chugging along at a comfortable pace, making vague announcements here and there and the odd release too. The absence of panic or even just productive overdrive at Nintendo in the light of this disaster is just mind boggling. Zelda to the rescue? Don't hold your breath. The Zelda crowd probably already has a WiiU.
I'm amazed UbiSoft is hanging on like it is and as relieved as I am, it frankly doesn't make much business sense to me, unless they are just finishing up projects already in thepipeline and they'll pull an EA in a year or so when everything has been finished up.
Look at the missing features on WiiU versions from other devs. Everybody is either staying away or restricting their effort to a minimum.They have companies to run. Salaries to pay. Shareholders to keep happy. They don't care any less about WiiU than about Xbox or PS, it's just that on WiiU, with the current numbers, they can't make a profit. Simple as that. And unlike with Nintendo apparently, in most places bad business decisions will cost you your job.
Wake up and smell the coffee. Complaining over EA is just trying to kill the messenger. They don't owe anybody anything.
It's all. Entirely. Nintendo's. Fault.
Re: Updated: Shigeru Miyamoto will NOT be Guest Editor for the 100th Issue of Official Nintendo Magazine
Oh, the irony, lol.
Next they'll be saying the guest contributions are delayed. Then that they are further delayed because of their incredibly high journalistic standards but that they have dozens of fantastic contributions just waiting to be included in 'upcoming' issues.
Re: Chasing Aurora Began as a Prototype Based on Secrets of Raetikon, was Developed in Five Months
Why didn't they fix it, even a little, afterwards? It's one thing to rush production, but to let it lay there and rot in that state is just disrespectful of your actual and your potential customers.
I wrote the devs some simple suggestions at the time and never heard back. The physics are nicely done, so are the animations, and the artwork, but the best part is the welcome screen, where you can just fly around and do crazy tricks. Then you start a game it's all cramped tunnels and stuff.
Re: Talking Point: What Games Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue Fifteen
Disney's planes.
Re: Zombie Title How to Survive Confirmed for the Wii U eShop, Without Online Multiplayer
It costs money to develop stuff guys. By not buying otherwise good games because they are stripped down you are proving them right.
Re: Yakuza 1 & 2 HD Reportedly Sells Less Than 2000 Copies in Debut Week
How does your region lock taste now, Nintendo?
You can lead a horse to water...
Re: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dream Coming To Europe and Australia Next Week
Oh man, that is fantastic! Gorgeous, fun and a bit of a new twist on the platformer mechanics with the character swapping.
@MeowGravy: I agree, but if anything, you made a mistake getting the other platformers. This is the only one you should have.
Re: Talking Point: The "Indie Spotlight" Was A Bright Point of Nintendo Direct, But More is Needed
Maybe first they need to upgrade their shop to an account based system before they make any noise at all.
Re: Review: Art Academy: SketchPad (Wii U eShop)
"featuring an impressive number of tools a colors"?! That is so awesome! Nintendo does it again! Dare I ask: Does it feature GREEN, too?! Oh please say it does!!
Be honest. This is for MiiVerse only. It's a crummy drawing program by any standards except Miiverse. You're not showing loyalty by sugarcoating, just making a fool of yourself. It's ok to just say "hey, this is much better than what miiverse has, but it's not a real drawing program".
I mean seriously, the gamepad has a measly 854 x 480 resolution. Even if the program had the cabability (which it doesn't), you're drawing at less than 20% of your TV's resolution.
Re: Out Now: Art Academy: SketchPad Arrives, Right on Time, in North America and Europe
Drawing on a resistive touch screen. Helloooo Millenium!
But hey, at least for once the price is reasonable. Why hasn't anybody turned this into a game? Draw Something or Pictionary would be perfect for WiiU and should take about a weekend to code.
Re: Iwata: Getting The Attention Of Gamers Is Harder Than Ever
He's right in that generic rehashed sludge no longer results in hype and bestsellers. Today's gamers demand something new, fresh and better than what they already have.
Nintendo should print that on their elevator walls. Their bland remakes are well within the attention span of even a three year old. The problem is, even the three year old's attention is not piqued.
Re: Two Tribes Planning Classics Series on the Wii U eShop
RUSH is fantastic. Edge... I never really could get into. Especially on touch screen. Fat finger syndrome.
Re: Talking Point: The Download Games Battle is Just Beginning
@banacheck: While I follow that dispute out of professional interest, what exactly do you deduct for consoles?
Most notably, that EU Court ruling applies to Nintendo as well, and they are even less in a position to enable reselling of digital downloads than Valve is. Heck, they don't even have an account based system. If anybody is royally screwed by that ruling, it's Nintendo.
Re: Wii U And 3DS Developers Share Their Thoughts On Region Locking
Region lock is ridiculous. It serves only to monopolize and drive prices. I am absolutely speechless that people here actually buy into that corporate drivel they're feeding us.
What do Europe and Oceania have in common that would make that a sensible region under those purported 'important aspects'? - It's all made up.
It's about isolating highly competitive low-priced markets like Asia and the US from each other and especially from the less competitive high-priced markets, like Australia and Europe. Those are your regions right there.
Re: Indie Developers Outline Nintendo's Approach Compared to Sony and Microsoft
The indies will save this console. Thank God Nintendo is making it as easy for them as possible.
Re: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Aiming For August Arrival on the Wii U eShop
Since it's an indie title it's be reasonably priced. Nintendo on the other hand would stick a moustache on it and charge us $80.
Oh wait, they actually already did that.
Got it on Steam already as a nod to the devs and couldn't put it down. This will be great on WiiU. More indies to the rescue.
Re: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Aiming For August Arrival on the Wii U eShop
Oh absolutely. Great news!
Re: Soapbox: When It Comes To Software Support, The Grass Isn't Always Greener
@FineLerv: lol, indeed. Maybe because I'm an enthusiast. I'd like to see them realize a fraction of the WiiU's potential, because this console would take off. I got the WiiU on the promise of asymmetric gameplay and local multiplayer. I played nintendoland with my family and though, wow, I can't wait for Nintendo to bring out the real games, the ones where they really expand on these ideas and concepts. Now, almost a year later, it appears that Nintendoland was pretty much it.
So far, the indie devs are what make this platform anything but a complete failure. Bit.trip wipes the floor with Mario if you for once can let go of nostalgia and look at it for what it is. Trine 2 is gorgeous, charming and fun in co-op. Nano Assault Neo is beautiful. Little Inferno is fun.
As for the big names, why should I pay $80 for something on sale on Steam for $5 with exactly the same if not better gameplay experience? I just got Deus Ex for $3. Three bucks! What can the WiiU version possibly add that will offset the $70+ dollars more I'd have to pay there? Of course that goes for other console versions too, but they're not floundering. And I don't own one.
At least it seems to have registered with Nintendo, too, and they're exploding indie support. I could name literally dozens of indie games that would look and play great on WiiU. Quality games. Prized games. Innovative games. Not this generic shallow sludge Nintendo is feeding us.
I mean seriously, if Pikmin 3 was Xbox exclusive, would anybody even consider getting an Xbox just to play it? People are just ecstatic it's for once at least not some bland generic remake of Super Mario Something or Zelda Whatever. But yeah, the glass is half full.
Re: Nintendo Reporting Technical Difficulties in Online Services
What 'online functionality'?
Re: Soapbox: When It Comes To Software Support, The Grass Isn't Always Greener
I for one think most of Nintendo's recent games were and continue to be crap. They are completely full of themselves and so out of touch they somehow think that they can sell us a turd with a mustache and call it "classic IP". Nintendo do not have a clue.
Even their good stuff is absolutely mediocre compared across plattforms. Pikmin? Really? It's totally linear. It's an insult to the genre to call it real time strategy. Or strategy even. I mean, what do they do all day if that is all they come up with?! It's always too convoluted and plain bizzarre for kids, but too crude and simplistic for adults.
Watching nintendo flounder around with their WiiU I feel like I'm watching some crazy performance artist, where a crowd of hardcore enthusiasts are ooh-ing and aah-ing but all I see is a guy pointlessly dumping paint on the floor and laughing like a maniac. And I wonder why I paid money for this, and whether maybe I am part of the show.
Because of the lack of content, we have lost all objectivity. On the WiiU right now, tic, tac, toe would end up a five-star, top ten selling game.
Re: Review: Donkey Kong (Wii U eShop / NES)
Perfect at 40 cents, absolutely ridiculous for their $5 full price. Nintendo Dreamland.
Re: Soapbox: Retail Games Cost Too Much To Download From The eShop
@SCAR392: That's a catalogue, not marketing.
Re: Soapbox: Retail Games Cost Too Much To Download From The eShop
I'm sure Iwata has some fantastic insight for us as to why tied to the colsole is better and why in fact, eShop should cost more, but they're doing us a favor by offering it for RRP.
Here again, Nintendo is stuck in the past. A eShop needs to be managed, and if it is, it can be a market maker and a driving force. It's not a just a filofax where you list your stuff and people can buy it for the worst price available.
Steam, iTunes and the Play Store are marketing tools as much as they are shops. You hype, you show off, you make people happy they're on your plattform. That's what it's about. Get the numbers up high enough and it feeds off itself. But Nintendo thinks it's still just about having an eShop...
Re: Nintendo: Wii U Fire Emblem Would Need To Sell 700K To Justify The Effort
@element187: I meant 'big' as in 'lots of development effort' here, sorry for any confusion.
As opposed to just slapping larger textures on the same old moronic sidescroller.
Re: Nintendo: Wii U Fire Emblem Would Need To Sell 700K To Justify The Effort
So even Nintendo is avoiding the WiiU now because they can't make big games profitable on it.
Oh the irony. Oh the tragedy.
Re: Ubisoft CEO Admits ZombiU Sales Were Disappointing, No Plans For Sequel
@TwilightV: That's hilarious. You are seeing the right things but drawing the wrong conclusions: What Ubi are saying is that Nintendo sold so few WiiU consoles that Ubi can't be profitable, even though their game is a hit.
That is why they switched Rayman over to multiplatform. WiiU went from exclusive to sideshow. That's why it's taking so long too. They don't want an early release on WiiU to water down their market impact when it's released on the primary markets. I bet you with Lego City Undercover it's the same tragic story.
@Darknyht: They wanted a profit on WiiU. They have no problens getting a profit doing exactly what they do on other platforms, which is why they're shifting focus: No more WiiU exclusives. And if the console doesn't grow in the mid term, no more anything at all. The ball is still entirely in Nintendo's court, as it always was. Cue Iwata ramblings.
Re: Ubisoft CEO Admits ZombiU Sales Were Disappointing, No Plans For Sequel
I don't get the dissing of ZombiU. ZombiU was a well made game. Not perfect, but they obviously put a lot of love and effort in. It has more atmosphere than any other zombie shooter I have ever played on any platform.
Also, at this point, if you feel this is a bad game, you really had better sell your WiiU now, because better ain't coming, that much is pretty certain. It's practically guaranteed it will be the last third party game that really tried to do something substantially WiiU-specific. But back then gamers thought there were dozens of great games around the corner and they could complain and nit-pick on ZombiU for this or that glitch or how this wasn't enough that or vice versa.
And ZombiU is flat out fan-freaking-tastic compared to the gaping nothing offered up by Nintendo so far, followed by truckloads of bullpoopies and bulk shipments of hot air. And it's become transparent to everybody but themselves.
I think it's that japanese cultural thing. The emperor has no clothes, but because he's the Supreme Iwata, nobody dares say anything. Meanwhile, he silently freezes to death.
Re: Ubisoft CEO Admits ZombiU Sales Were Disappointing, No Plans For Sequel
ZombiU is one of the best survival horror games and possibly the only full length game that really tries to do something with the WiiU Gamepad.
Ubisoft (very unlike themselves) have tried and tried to make this boat swim, but Nintendo keeps running it back aground.
It's a measly $40 in the eShop. Really, everybody should own it. If only to have something to show off what could have been done with the Gamepad if anybody (including Nintendo) had a clue.
Come on. $40. Go get it if you haven't already. Vote for the WiiU where it counts, with your wallet, not by thumbs-upping Iwata's deluded ramblings.
Re: Soapbox: Why Region Locking Is A Total Non-Issue
People that comment should state if they are from the US. I understand that in the US, you may feel RL is a non issue. But that is because European consumers are picking up the tab for your $40 games with their $80 games.
Cartels and market segregation always lead to higher prices for consumers at no added value. Just because as a US consumer you're lucky to be on the winning end should't blind you on the entire issue.
RL is a tool to rip off certain regions with higher prices while bending to increased competition in others with lower ones. They simply would not do it if there was no money to be made off it.
Re: Soapbox: Why Region Locking Is A Total Non-Issue
It's maybe hot air for the US that always gets their games first and at low prices, while we in Europe wait to be shafted half a year later for twice the price.
You don't understand how markets work, Damien. It's not about how many imports we would buy, it's about what prices would still be viable if those of us that play it in english anyway would be able to buy it in the US.
It's simple market segregation to enforce a price structure where most of Europe pays double on everything. Plus tax. If it's a non-issue, THEN REMOVE IT. Simple as that.
Re: Nintendo to Bring "Brand-New Types of Games" to Wii U in the Coming Months
@JaxonH: Have you compared features to the Sony and MS console? Features, not tech specs. The onboard blue ray alone pays for half the console. Then the whole DLNA thing. That is consumer value. The WiiU only even has youtube because google are great people and made it for them.
As for giving the WiiU a chance: I own one. But what drives me raving mad is how Nintendo is beating and starving their own product to death with their utter, total incompetence. Nintendo is killing the WiiU.
Like this talk, now, about not 'requiring' the second screen. It should have come before launch, to reassure the developers to go ahead and do what they wanted as long as they did something for the WiiU.
Instead, they made it seem like the gamepad screen was the whole point of the console, so those devs that didn't want to field the effort to adapt their games just passed. Now Nintendo are in fact admitting they don't really need it themselves.
Re: Miyamoto: Mario Will Likely Return To Single-Player
Who wants overpriced single player run and jumps? I have those on my phone, in full-HD, even. Nintendo needs to get out more.
Re: Miyamoto: GamePad's Touch Screen Primarily Used To Make Navigating Menus Easier
Oh my God. They're actually telling Devs to go ahead and ignore the pad now, that it's not such a big deal?
This is easily one of the most colossal product management failures ever. Without the pad, the WiiU would be a good $100 cheaper and a steal. Literally everybody would have one.
Re: Nintendo to Bring "Brand-New Types of Games" to Wii U in the Coming Months
@JaxonH: Nintendo pushed the WiiU out the door because they realized it would be a complete joke and absolutely unsellable if they released it after or alongside the 'real' next gen consoles, especially at the price they envisioned.
They had screwed up their development of the WiiU by taking so long, then reassigned all resources to get it out the door while there was still a chance of actually selling it, now it's here and their skeleton game dev crew is completely over-worked so they're feeding us mediocre re-hashes, all the while babbling about 'Gameplay' and 'Content', like it's something proprietary to the WiiU.
All consoles have 'content' and 'good gameplay', it's just thet the WiiU has less of it, quantitatively. Maybe the quality to quantity ratio is better on the WiiU, that's up to the player to decide, but if your choice is much bigger on other consoles, that ratio is totally irrelevant.
And because they totally overestimated the consumer value of the WiiU gamepad, their console is a good $100 overpriced compared to the perceived value.
Heck, Nintendo is switching back to Wiimotes as the primary controller themseves. That alone should cost someone his job. That Gamepad is what is making the WiiU comparatively too expensive for what it brings to the average living room, and now it's proving redundant to useless.
Re: Nintendo to Bring "Brand-New Types of Games" to Wii U in the Coming Months
@JaxonH: There's a lot of "ifs" there, for none of which there's even the slightest indication that they will come true. Iwata is playing games with his hardcore fans and their short memory span. He's been babbling this kind of vague nonsense for over a year now with absolutely no actual follow up. Look at your list again. Half if it doesn't exist yet and you're just quoting Iwata back to me (but I'll give you Wonderful 101 if that's your thing). It seems every week half the people here get excited again like it's the first time they hear it. Nintendo isn't Apple. Their 'awesome' and 'incredible' so far has turned out to be something between 'meh' and 'about time'. And now they're resorting to "so secred I can't tell you". Does anybody seriously believe they would deliberately sell themselves short at E3 at this point? because of the 'hardcore gamers' they focused on? At an E3 where the 'Hardcore gamers' are getting two next gen consoles presented? That would make them even stupider than I thought.
My screen name is misleading: I LOVE the WiiU's potential, I am DISGUSTED by how Nintendo has run this ship solidly aground.
Re: Miyamoto: Fresh Experiences Make A New Game, Not New Characters
They've got it backwards. Using the same characters is no excuse to make a lame rehash of a game.
Re: Nintendo to Bring "Brand-New Types of Games" to Wii U in the Coming Months
Oh jeez.
"No wait, that's not all! Please don't walk away just yet! It's a secret so I can't show you, but in the back room I have something that will just blow your mind! No, really!"
It's just sad. WiiU's only hope is the indies.
Re: Satoru Iwata - Tech Limitations Held Wii Vitality Sensor Back, But Launch is Still Possible
It's not that they're backing away, it's just that even they think it's crap.
Oh. Ok.
Results, Nintendo. Results. Talk is cheap. We all know you want us to believe you have a million incredible games up your sleeve that you're just putting the final polish on before you release, but we all SEE that that is just. Not. True.
Re: Pachter: Nintendo Has Lost Its "Mojo"
At this point he's more real than Iwata ever was.
Re: Satoru Iwata - "There Are Some Reasons Behind" Region Locking
The only reason is price discimination and market control. The Regions are far to broad to allow any actual content localization at that level. Like DVDs and Blue-ray, it's about cheap and early US releases versus expensive and chronically late European releases. Milk each cow for what it's worth.
Iwatas BS is just insulting.
Re: Video: Reggie Explains Nintendo's Approach to Ensuring Wii U Success
@cdude: Because they are. Who are they kidding, I wonder?
If at least they had a bunch of "nonviolent and accessible family games", that would at least expand on that market a bit, but they don't. They have two or three. Every conceivable demographic is left hanging.
And stuff like Game & Wario is just an insult at this point. They've been wasting time on what's basically just an elaborate joke?
Re: Wii U Turned Ubisoft On To Second-Screen Gaming, But Isn't The Focus Moving Forward
It also shows that the WiiU has been left in the dust by recent developments. They think it's a cool idea but unlike Nintendo have realized that it's not unique to the WiiU at all.
Today, all you need is a nice iOS or Android app to link with your next-gen and a majority of your player base can have two screen gaming. That second screen on the WiiU is not as big a deal as it would have been five years ago.
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U's Third-Party Concerns Are Brushed Off By 3DS
How can you deduct anything from a low-cost 'anybody' toy like the 3ds for the high-overhead, years in the making living-room tech appliance like the WiiU?
It's about what it costs to make it and what it costs to make games for it. People are fine with a few run and jumps on their handheld. But if that's all their Console offers, they'll be looking around for a more versatile way to utilize that shelf space.
Re: Wii U Turned Ubisoft On To Second-Screen Gaming, But Isn't The Focus Moving Forward
Nintendo screwed up the WiiU in every respect. Amongst all the other points, they should have taken the top selling tablet games and done what it takes to have those developers port to WiiU.
They wouldn't need 3rd party support if their own stuff wouldn't be mostly dusty old 1980s IP re-cast for the umteenth time, this time in HD. The pricing on their Virtual Console titles shows how totally out of touch they are. It's not even ported well.
Re: Video: Reggie Explains Nintendo's Approach to Ensuring Wii U Success
@rilely: Absolutely. It's like a psych ward somehow. They're always dead earnest and so convincing, but what they say is entirely made up and only holds true in their own little fantasy. Like "it's all about content". Indeed. But where is it? Lack of content (and original content) is why they're under fire and not selling units.
Their stuff is so generic even reggie can't keep it apart. "Super Mario 3d land", "The New Zelda Game".
Wow yeah, I'm lookig forward to the, uh... the "New Zelda Game". Where can I pre-order that?
Bubble around their heads is putting it mildly.