SpentAllMyTokens

Preordered the gold Wiimote bundle from Target. Playing OoT furiously until then! I hope I'll get some time to sink my teeth into it during Thanksgiving weekend.

I miss being a student, and getting winter break just in time for holiday game releases.

Preordered the gold Wiimote bundle from Target. Playing OoT furiously until then!

Can you get the streetpass mystery blocks through with play coins or some other means? I love the streetpass function, but I very rarely get any. Even with a Mario bump in sales, I feel like it would still take me months to rack up enough to play everything.

Hard to believe! I just wish the series had been loved enough here to justify an NPC Pikmin 2 release in the US. I really like the first one, but I don't know if I can go back to GameCube controls. The wii's worked so well (plus the GCN version costs like $50 on eBay still, and the NPC titles were only $30).

Meh, not worth signing up for twitter. Looking forward to the next contest.

I remember really enjoying Pac Man 2 on Genesis as well as a kid. I never beat the last level. This sort of makes me want to go back and finish the game. I wonder if I'll still like it as an adult though...

Nice read guys!

@Thomas

I agree. Hopefully it means they're finally moving to an account system. I hope we'll see that fully developed on WiiU.

It will be great for when the 3DS Lite (or XL, or Dual Analog) model comes out.

It's kind of crazy that they're charging the same amount of money for it, but you can still get the original version, no problem. I guess they figure many people buying new Wii's don't care about gamecube, and NSMB is a strong enough seller to get people to buy for the bundle, not the hardware.

Once the free games are downloaded, there's still little incentive to pick up any paid games if you have an iDevice or other smartphone. If you don't have an iDevice or Smartphone, it's probably because you're young and/or poor and don't have the cash - good luck getting broke people to pay $7.99 for a $.99 game.

If they're going to charge more, they have to offer more - sales, free updates/dlc, a shopping cart system to pay for games individually, and...something else...that's all standard on all smartphone app stores. The only advantage Nintendo has now is a lower hardware price point - but that comes without a lot of functionality smartphones have too, so I don't think that even makes up for it.

Don't get me wrong - Four Swords went above and beyond the call of duty and is an awesome way to thank fans. How would any not-fanboys learn about this game, though? I can't see it really being an effective loss leader. Of course, that just means it's a nicer move on ninty's part. Thanks ninty!

With the VC on the Wii, I don't think it's necessary. If there was a budget line (say $25ish) I would be more likely to pick some of my favorites up. Otherwise, they'd have to add a lot of new stuff to them.

@James, for what it's worth, I hadn't realized it either until you mentioned it. I'm feeling pretty dumb now too.

I really enjoy the music. I hope this Zelda has some of the spunk Tetra and OoT/Shiek Zelda had too though. Too much mushy is icky.

My bad for not buying yen 5 years ago. Le sigh...

Great list. But you forgot Diddy Kong Racing.

They never said they were not going to release them. The just said that there were no plans to release them. We all know "no plans" can very well mean an announcement is imminent. I think it was just something that was said to entice people to buy up as much stock as they could at $250 before the price drop.

Man, I really hope we eventually get GBA games for real on the VC. I'd love to take the Sonic Advances for a spin, since I basically went from a GBC to a DSi.

@Rensch, my thoughts exactly. They always seem to do some sort of dual world system with Zelda, but this time, it looks like there really are two different worlds to explore. The thrill of discovering Hyrule and the sky world again are exciting.

Wait, you mean Star Fox 3D was a simple port rushed out to fill a lackluster release schedule after a premature launch? I can't give them too much crap though. Major releases on PS360 cost $60 (of course, those games actually get price drops), and companies are still struggling with the cost of maintaining online infrastructure for games. The stronger engine/graphics drives up the cost as well. $40 is in a weird area. Probably a bit too much for a game with Gamecube level graphics (even in 3D) nowadays, but probably not really enough to support a robust online system. We're not going to see it with every game.

Seriously, in a perfect world, this would have had online, but when you rush everything else, things are going to have to get cut. Personally, I would prefer an online mode on a portable system than a home system. Friends don't have a Wii? No problem, come on over. Friends don't have a 3DS, well, I can't convince them to drop $170 on it if they're not interested.

Great review! I really enjoyed the demo, so it's gotten added to my overly long wishlist.

Awesome! Congrats.

Awesome! Single player mode! I don't have enough friends with 3DS's/DS's to play, and it would be difficult to coordinate with people to play co-op online, since I'm pretty busy. I can't believe they're adding all these features for free. Sometimes, Nintendo is pretty awesome!

Bummer, I was hoping for Pokemon Gray. They'll probably announce that last minute though, to get as many sales out of B&W as they can.

There's a whole lot of want happening right now.

Nintendo actually providing promised future services through firmware updates?

Faints!

Still, it's a pretty neat feature, or it would be if the cameras were stronger than .5 megapixels. Great! A Blurry Blob now in 3D!

I tried really hard to be not sarcastically excited, but I failed.

/goes back to Pokemon and Zelda.

I'm the biggest hater of Dual Analog controls there is, but even I have to admit this was a stupid move on Nintendo's part. Should have just held off until the device was complete, and they could sell it with a second analog stick at a reasonable price (really, how much could that have added)? Nintendo sure does have a thick skull.

That being said, I hope that most games have well-done alternative control schemes, because I'm not picking this up. The add on is cheap, but it will still annoying split the user base.

It looks like a hodgepodge of 2D Mario Classics (seeing some SMB/SMB3), Super Mario 64 and some Galaxy 2 thrown in for good measure. I'm excited.

Meh, not too excited, since most of these won't get released in the West.

Some entertaining trolling/troll feeding going on though.

I'm only getting it if it comes in a bundle with Imagine Party Babyz 3DS.

_{Seriously though, the purple one was the shmexiest.}

Co-op? Very nice.

While this was the game I was most excited about for the 3DS, I'm not to plussed about this announcement. More time to polish is rarely a bad thing, and I'll be content with Super Mario Land 3D, Skyward Sword, and Mario Kart for the holidays.

I'm just going to be ticked if a redesign comes out and there are games I want that require a second analog stick (or the backup control scheme is so poorly implemented that you need it). I am happy there is an add on like this for my lefty friends. Hopefully it will work with other games for them.

I've been pretty happy with the advertising, to be honest. I'm glad you guys are going to be getting some more $$$ hopefully. You deserve it.

What I don't want to see is the NLife site family turning into an IGN type site. I hate the way they're laid out. If you start doing those "Top Ten" or even "Top 100" (I've seen IGN do this) with every item on a separate page, or if I have to start viewing ads BEFORE I can get to my content, I'll probably not visit as much.

I really love the way this site is laid out, so I echo the hope for tweaks of ad content, polishing of layout, but no major changes. If it becomes a big cookie-cutter site placing ad-revenue above good content, well, I can get that anywhere.

I'm sorry, I missed the part where Nintendo released VC games with frills. I'm already paying for no-frills roms.

I don't mind the clunky N64 graphics, so I'm going to pass on this one. I guess if they're not showing any actually new content in trailers yet, they never will.

Huh, that's interesting that you can use eshop cards on Wii and DSiWare too. Maybe the delay was in updating the Wii/DSi Shops to accept the new cards?

Not much of an excuse, but an interesting reason, nonetheless.

@edhe
Europeans pay more for games, but they make more too. The UK minimum wage is £5.93 which equals $9.67/hr. In the US, the minimum wage is $7.25/hr. You're paying more for things, but only because you have more money to buy things with in the first place (ok, it's more complicated than that, but the above example does demonstrate why it's not fair to compare economies by exchange rates alone).

Oh man, that stage's music was really good.

I hope Nintendo doesn't go third party. Nintendo games just take advantage of their hardware in a way that really makes the most out of it.

When it comes to smartphones, it would be silly for Nintendo to get into that market. Exclusives are the only thing its own downloadable services have going for them. Ninty can't sell on the app store with eshop prices. However, If pricing was actually made competitive on the eShop, this could work.

As for a company with more resources buying Ninty or Ninty becoming a true third party - that would probably be bad. Would it be nice to see Skyward Sword with all the power of PS3/Move? Sure. With a pre-order only Biggeron Sword and half the dungeons as DLC? Do not want. I like a lot of what Sony/Microsoft have done in the online sphere, but look at what happens to smaller devs that get aquired by big publishers. Creativity and innovation is squashed to churn out the next AAA FPS clone.

Also, is it really reasonable to say that Ninty would release more powerful hardware if aquired? They're sitting on lots of money from the Wii and DS - would a larger company necessarily have more funds for R&D? Also, people don't want to pay more than about $300 for new consoles - and that's the price point when PS360 started taking off. Why would I aquire a company, increase R&D, and sell at a loss when the "premium" tech exists in the market and my aquisition has a comfortable niche in providing cheaper systems with mass appeal?

What Nintendo does best is innovation in ways that change (and usually improve) the GAMEPLAY experience. If Nintendo was acquired and forced to focus on TV sales, advertisment delivery, or other nongaming related revenue streams first (extra revenue would not necessarily put back into the gaming R&D), Nintendo games would certainly lose some of their creativity, polish, and charm.

Oh my God! My Microeconomics teacher was right!

I'd bet these next couple weeks of sales represent a backlog of people who wanted a 3ds but couldn't justify the price. Sales won't maintain this weekly number without new good games, but it'll still be better than it was before.

Definitely will get SPM. Maybe Punch Out too if I find time for it. If you don't have Galaxy yet, what are you doing on Nlife? Go play it!

I don't see it happening either. While Hardy's viewpoint has his characteristically overly negative tone, his timeline's about right. It wouldn't be out until about when the WiiU drops. If we're lucky we MIGHT get it next summer, when there really is nothing new coming for the Wii and Ninty doesn't mind producing games that will only sell 200-250 thousand, because there really is nothing else that will sell more for them to release.

Bit.Trip: If I get it, it will be on the Wii
Cave Story 3D: Already enjoy the DSiWare version. Haven't heard of anything new besides graphics.
Star Fox 64: No difference from VC version except graphics.
Pokemon Rumble: I spend too much time playing the main games to bother with spinoffs.
Shin Megami Tensei: Maybe, though I have a pile of DS RPG's to get through still. I'll keep my eye on it.

@Kid_A
Agree, since NES games did not have wireless support either.

None of this is really a surprise, except for the lack of save state on GBA games. Hopefully, that's only because they're rushing them out, and eventually the games will be released for everyone and updated for ambassadors like the NES games.

This game was so awesome. Got my money's worth on Trilogy with just that game. Definitely a 10!

What if I just want the soundtrack?

I think a lot of people have a DS, Pokemon, and maybe NSMB or something and that's about it. Maybe that's bringing the numbers down.

@James
That makes a lot of sense. People can't afford $250, but the used market has already adjusted somewhat to take the price drop into account. Since the system has been out for such a short time, so most used units are probably still in decent condition. It's no surprise people who are broke but want the 20 free games are going that route.

I really liked the take on mazes in MFC. You really had to think more about where the best path would be, and some of the later levels were much harder then what you'd find on the back of a Lucky Charms box. I felt it really utilized the dual screens to improve on a classic.

That being said, if you don't like maze games, of course you won't like it. I haven't even gotten to Shantae and MMW though - I'm not sure when I'll get to this! It's a shame, because I love Wayforward's games!