Zaruboggan

Just make it a Real-branded game and suddenly it'll have soul!
(Manga by the author of Slam Dunk and Vagabond)

Looking forward to another console launch with Fast along for the ride!

Nintendo's games look spectacular.
The direct spent way too much time on late 3rd party ports. I came away disappointed with how little we saw of Nintendo's first year first party lineup. But hey, that half hour let me get ready to go to the office.
The real bad news came after the direct (game prices, console price, etc.). Well, the paid tech demo was during the direct, I guess. All that has left me with mixed feelings...
But hey, Gamecube!

Like my cousin said, I like a Nintendo that's losing.

+Path of Radiance, Chibi Robo, Pokemon XD, F-Zero GX are coming to NSO+
-I can't preregister to buy a Switch 2 because I'm on a family plan.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about today's news (only half of which was actually in the direct), because it was such a mixed bag. Mario Kart World looks peerless...but it's $80, a horrifying prospect for the (very near) future of game prices. DK looks fantastic, with an incredible sense of momentum. Air Riders is hypothetically exciting. And Gamecube on NSO+ is definitely sweet.
$450? Okay, sure. It's doing 1080p at 120FPS. The deck has a fan built in. It's capable of 4K on the TV. There's plenty going on under the hood and in the controllers. I can do $450, considering what I paid for my PS5 and how much more I'll be playing this. Am I secretly rooting for it to get a $70 price drop in just a few months a la the 3DS? Absolutely.
I love getting to upgrade my Switch games. $10 is industry standard. $20 for the content-based updates, alright, like DLC. I don't want either of them, anyway. But if Metroid Prime 4 launches at $70 on Switch and $80 on Switch 2, I'll be royally pissed.
Worst-case scenario, the Switch 2 is a Switch Pro with a limited Gamecube library. Best case, Nintendo uses variable pricing to ensure our hobby remains affordable. Because I don't know about you guys, but just because game prices are finally going up doesn't mean my salary is, too.

I just want to know how much, uh, more MP it is than a game like Eldin Ring.
Which I already played entirely in co-op, while being jumped by random people from the internet.
In that way, Souls have always been 'pvpve', but calling it that in marketing is new and concerning.

Damn they couldn't at least make the NSO icon match the rest? Sigh.

I got f***** since I'm on a family plan. TBH, I never thought I WOULDN'T meet Nintendo's criteria for a console preorder preregistration.
Hopefully Best Buy has my back next week. If not, well...I had to wait three Christmases to get my PS5. Let's hope I do better than that.

@SpaceboyScreams Yeah that's an uncomfortable angle to play at for any length of time. Maybe I just have bad wrists.

Yikes.
$80 prices me out of a lot of games. At $80, I wouldn't buy any Mario Sports games anymore. I'd have to skip more experimental purchases. Games we'd get two copies of in my household we'll now only get one, and make do with digital sharing and GameShare.
$80 mostly just means I'll be spending less on gaming.
Will digital games be priced differently? Will the rest of the industry follow suit? Will they bring back Nintendo Selects? The vouchers? Something to make gaming a little more affordable in the long run?

First one's story was butt, but it was fun, looked nice, had great music, and a decently fun co-op.

Absolutely dope game. If you haven't played it, be sure to give it a try on Switch 2! One of my favorites from last year.

I really hope it has gyro aiming.
Sorry, but I'm not set up to play games at a desk, so where exactly am I supposed to put my joycon for mouse controls?
I've tried PC gaming at my TV, and whether the mouse is beside me, on a table in front of me, or on my leg, it's not comfortable.
Anybody with couch+tv mouse setups that work want to share their secret?

"C" for "Cverse," the new Miiverse-like functionality.

Neat. F-Zero music is great.
I wasn't around to complain about the half OST that is the Forbidden Land release, so I'll complain about it now. You've got too many OSTs to be splitting them into pieces!

@Not_Soos I had a similar experience with the original (minus the letter--thanks for doing your part!). Enjoyed the quirkiness of the demo, but ultimately only got like 16 hours out of the full release. Which probably is pretty decent for a handheld title, but I just wanted there to be more to it.
I also had a similar experience with the Sims. I liked building and designing a house, but after that, nothing about the gameplay kept me engaged.
Unfortunately, I can't help you on your hunt for a better life sim!

I'm only like 14 hours in, so I can't score anything. That said, the original is one of my favorite games of all time...so take that as you will!

NA, easy. They're all busy enough you have to activate your brain to focus on any individual set of Miis. NA just has a way better color balance and way better logo.

I remember the PS5 preorders were supposed to go live on a certain date, and they went live like a day before that.
I'd rather take my chances with a Switch 2 shadow drop since I've got three potential retailers within 2 miles of me.

Like most everybody else, Xenoblade Chronicles X DE! I'm about ten hours in, and finally got the necessary treasures to drop to wrap up Lin's affinity quest. It took a while, which meant I was locked out of doing most anything else.
I'm using the same class I used when I played on Wii U (Javelin/Sniper), but trying to change my approach. The Y button has made a real difference!

I also got through Victory Road on my Pokemon Red playthrough on 3DS, so I expect I'll polish off the Elite 4 sometime today!

There might be some multiplayer (Windblown or Monster Hunter Wilds) as well.

Metroid, Pokemon, Rhythm Heaven, and Tomodachi Life for me. I'll be getting the Marvel one for palling around locally, too.

Oh boy Rhythm Heaven!
Some fun stuff but no solid dates for the games I'm interested in. I guess it's just as well, since the first half of this year has been pretty stacked for me.

Yes please!
Unfortunately I won't be able to watch it live, or for another 12 hours after it comes out...but I can be patient!
As long as my colleagues don't spoil it at work...

I somehow got sick...again, so I don't know. I decided to continue my Pokemon Red file during the week and I'm just about to surf down to Cinnabar Island, so maybe I'll continue that while I consider my underachieving immune system.
I have Xenoblade Chronicles X downloaded. But unless this is a miraculously short ill-gotten illness, I'll probably be saving it for next weekend.
Ugh. At least I got to be well for a week of skiing!

Remember what I said about keeping rumors vague and not ruining every surprise (surprising or otherwise) before we get to the direct?
Yeah, keep that in mind. I can just go full 0-Nintendo Life for the next few weeks, but neither of us really want that.

This weekend I will be mostly in a car, doing a twelve hour drive to get to a ski resort. Fortunately, we've got three drivers, so I might be able to get some game time in.
I'll be bringing my switch (Urban Myth Dissolution Center, Pipistrello demo), Steam Deck (maybe Firewatch, maybe some demos), and 3DS (Etrian Odyssey Untold, Pokemon Red), and the three consoles will be sustaining me for the week (when I'm not skiing).
I'm also bringing a Bluetooth keyboard to do some writing, plus The Bladed Faith to do some reading.
Should be a nice vacation!

Edit: I should mention we absolutely polished off Monster Hunter Wilds last weekend. We all finished our crafting goals so now I guess we'll sit on it until the expansion. So much good game throttled by so many questionable decisions, so yeah, it's definitely a MH World sequel.

I bought FFIV so far, and my brother got FFV. We're looking forward to playing through them!
We had them on Gameboy Advance once upon a time. I had gotten about halfway through FFIV before moving on to other things, so I'm excited to catch back up and polish it off.
Mostly, I just want to play them alongside Final Bar Line lol.

XCX! A one-of-a-kind RPG dripping with an atmosphere all its own. In no small part due to that OST. The game constantly surprised me.

The others are cool, too.

I'll have to give the demo a DL! I've had it on my radar since it's announcement, but I didn't know it was by the Dodgeball Academia team. Good for them!

I don't know how but my dumb*** read the headline as 30 million copies sold.
500k in 30 days makes a lot more sense lol

Super Smash Bros Ultimate, because picking any other game would mean never playing it again.
I'll never give up my local multiplayer sessions, even if they only happen a few times a year!
In the meantime, maybe I'll pick up gardening...

Better deliver with Okami 2 then lol
Otherwise there won't be any sequels or new IP.

@WarioInAHardees @Servbot_EJ
If you've got a friend to play them with, I think any MH game is a good jumping in point. I'd recommend Rise.
Otherwise, I'd argue there is no good jumping in point for Monster Hunter. It's all the deep end. That doesn't mean it's not a leap worth taking, per se... You're just gonna have to teach yourself to swim lol.
(Personally, I wouldn't bother playing it alone, but I know a lot of people who do.)

I exclusively use external devices for voice chat for literally every console. Including PC, if you can believe it (heat problems mean I run voice chat through my phone lol).
So while I dgaf personally, I hope the people who are hoping for improved accessibility get it.

Basically just Monster Hunter Wilds when I'm not otherwise engaged (which will be most of the weekend). I'm still kinda hoping to fit in Avowed sometime before Xenoblade Chronicles X DE, but I don't see it happening.
I'm also trying to decide between continuing my Pokemon Red file on 3DS or buying Pokemon Let's Go Eevee, but have made no headway on the decision-making process.

I like Pokemon's battle system as is.
That said, I'm excited to try out this one.
If they do make it the future of mainline games, then they had better make sure they port every Pokemon game ever to every future Nintendo console so that I don't have to give it up when my 3DS dies.

I don't particularly care for Xenoblade's battle systems (and XCX is one of my top ten games of all time), so...please don't make it like that lol.

Cute, but I don't know if I'd want to look at a perpetually distraught Sentret.

I hope the Power Surge games are a matter of games announced too early, and not games that got cancelled and the public won't find out for a while.

Shout-out to Urban Myth Dissolution Center and Stories from Sol: The Gun Dog!

Monster Hunter Wilds, which has been kind of a kick in the teeth. As someone who plays with friends from the top, this game is a far cry from the ease and simplicity of, say MHR or MH4U. In those games, you just join a lobby and get to it.
Wilds returns to Worlds absolutely mindbogglingly ridiculous hurdles. I hate it. You can't just play together like normal people. You have to do solo play homework between every fight, and the most efficient thing to do is just fight the stupid thing yourself, and all gang up on whoever is furthest behind.
Because you can't join your friend if you haven't watched the cutscenes for the current battle.
They make Nintendo look like the industry standard for multiplayer.
Even worse is figuring out which of the five ways of adding friends you need to do. Lobby up? Squad up? Add as friends or followers? Environmental link? Link party?
Environmental link let's your walk around together in the world (a la expeditions), but you can't do quests. Lobby let's you see each other in town and see quests on the board. Link party members get automatically invited to quests (but can only join if they've done their homework...). Being friends just makes it easier to join all the other stuff. And you squads are like your clans.
It's such a nightmare in a game that's already a nightmare of menus. It's all been made especially noticeable because we've got a first time hunter along for the ride. Just listening to ourselves try to explain what he has to do has been... eye-opening.

Mickey Mouse is 96 years old. Pokemon has made more money. Doesn't seem impossible to me.
The real question is...will we still be around in 71 more years?

Gasp, no way, a F2P (presumably) title drip feeds it's content?
Gasp!

Kind of a death knell for the service in my eyes.*
Like, yeah, I don't care about this game, but the problem with these subscription services is games get taken away, then added later as if it's a new value proposition.
A constantly building library? I'm happy paying monthly for that.

*I will continue to pay my $10/yr for the service, so take my grumblings with a grain of salt. Gotta have my online multiplayer.

What lol Arceus also looked like butt
The game was so muddy I couldn't tell when I left the swamp.

Still enjoyed it, though (and I'll say this every time: in spite of its God awful story and horrible battle changes).

Hey, I love Patrat!

I don't like the mobile-as-a-primary platform timeline.
I miss console Pokemon spinoffs, the days of pinball, trozei, park, XD, ranger, mystery dungeon, etc.
Now it's mainline game or bust, because F2P mobile trash is exclusively bust.
(Though the argument could be made that Legends is itself a spinoff.)

But that's not new or surprising. Pokemon Champions' first impression: another mobile game. Quest, Unite, and Cafe all came to the Switch, too, and they're all F2P junk, so no real hope for this one.

Legends looks dope. I'm loving the change to the battle system, and the focus on one city. Emboar, Meganium, and Feraligatr are clearly going to get mega evolutions, but are they also going to be kalosian forms? If so, I hope my regular Emboar gets his own mega, too.

What was the final bit even teasing lol

Please don't have dumb monetization.

Not a hope or an expectation, but I was just thinking it'd be really cool (and supremely low budget) if they did a Gen1 port that came with a swath of updates.
Like, it still looks and sounds like our ol' favorite GB(C) game...but it has Mega Evolutions, held items, new moves, stat splits, typing changes, etc. all accounted for. Plus any evolutions that have come out since then. All with new GB sprites.
They could even add on a hundred grand of development costs and animate the battle sprites.

If remakes are going to look worse than the originals, then why not just make them look LIKE the originals?

Repeat for every generation as necessary.

Re: iterative sequels, I WISH many of my favorite franchises stayed the course. Each time one of them attempts to make a big change or shake things up, the result is a lesser game.
COD, Pokemon, Disgaea, Battlefield, Fire Emblem, Tales of, etc. were belting out nothing but winners in my book. Until they started listening to online desperation for different games and started delivering different games.
That's not to say none of them have made good games, per se.
But I miss CoD and BF when they weren't chasing trends. I would have bought their yearly iterations forever. Pokemon's evolution has someone mostly been less game per game. Disgaea hit on something special with 3/4, then dropped geoblocks and left beautiful 2D art behind. Fire Emblem, well...
My point: give me iterative. Give me another Chibi Robo in an open house with crazy characters and some QoL improvements. Not 2D action platformer franchise swan song. Give me a sharp shooter with new maps, guns, and perk systems every year, not character shooters with ultimate abilities that relegate shootouts into who has the most bar saved up.
Etc. etc.