cornishlee

Onimusha trilogy for Wii U? I can but dream...

Seems like a sensible move.

Good news.

A good article. If only the publishers read it and took it on board.

The mind boggles.

Good news. Don't know whether or not I'll get any though. I might look at AC3 but I really didn't like the first one.

Looks good.

He looks eerily like David Mitchell.

@jacksayspurple
Just keep on eye on sites like SavyGamer. I paid £220 for a new premium bundle at the end of December (from Zavvi). Currently Amazon are offering them "like new" for £221 or with "cosmetic damage" at £197. I've bought "cosmetic damage" goods from Amazon in the past and it usually means that the box has been damaged somehow - in other words the brand new goods inside are fine - but be sure to look at the small print.

@Peach64
Agreed, money is not the main issue. Without wanting to appear too cocky, most people willing to pay £250 for a console are also able to pay £300 for a console even if they'd rather pay less. Games will drive sales.

@Mason
Thanks for explaining it fully, I appreciate that.

Well, finished reading the review and I'd still like to see a demo on the eShop. I've never played a Lego game before and the only truly "open world" game I've played was GTA3: Vice City, which I thought was terrible.

What the hell's 'a responsive reversal-centric combat system'?

Not for me but 'The Wii U has allowed us to significantly enhance the game’s visuals' is always nice to hear.

@JSuede
Interesting digging, well done! I'm looking forward to a big third party Nintendo Direct in two weeks, roughly midway between the Wii U Direct and E3.

If it's a port, I'm still hoping against hope that it's Hitman but Deus Ex rumours are strong and TombRaider would be the most logical.

@SethNintendo
The problem with a scale like that it is that it allows no room for ambivalence. It's my one criticism of Grouvee and the thing I like most about GoodReads. There are plenty of things I might rate as 'OK' - i.e. that I neither particularly liked nor disliked it, whereas if I don't like something then I'd be hard pressed to describe how much I dislike it. Frankly if I can find no merit in something then it matters little how much I wanted to stop playing it.

That said, I know others don't like the GoodReads system I just mentioned which only goes to show we all think in different ways.

@DarkCoolEdge said:
@cornishlee I agree on the first point. I totally disaggre with the second. More numbers is not the solution. People would start complaining about all of them and comparing with other games like crazy.

The first suggestion I regard as a stronger one too, so thanks. The second one has other alternatives like pros and cons, as mentioned elsewhere here but really, as you imply, should do nothing to detract from actually reading the review.

@Lan said:
I don't really rely on reviews, I prefer to read around and see what people say about the game. And reviews are too much opinion, I'd rather have facts than someone's opinion.

What facts? Whatever someone says about a game is opinion, I'm vaguely intrigued but really don't understand what you're saying.

Like everyone I have a limited amount of time and so I tend to approach reviews (video games, books, whatever else I'm interested in) the same way as I might read papers for work: I'll read the conclusion first to get an overview (then look at the score if there is one); if I'm still interested I'll read the first paragraph and if that's still got my attention I'll read the rest of the review. Like others have said here I might then check a video review or other game play footage if I'm still on the fence.

Those games I'm anticipating before release I'll read the whole review from the off.

Some suggestions NL might like to consider:

• Change the score graphic to one which includes a definition too (i.e. 8/10 Very Good) - reviewing policies are different and not everyone visiting the site will have a look at your reviewing policy. Let readers know straight away what your 8, 7, etc. means.
• Break scores down. I think it was Sega Power that used to do this but I may be confusing my magazines. What I mean is, give an overall score, but then subsidiary scores for things such as graphics, sound, gameplay, narrative, etc. This is like a half-way house for someone between checking out the overall score and reading the whole review, letting readers quickly get a rough idea of why a particular game got a certain score (does Gamespot still do that? Some kind of memory triggered while I was writing this; I tend to avoid their reviews these days).

of Wii U:
"gamepad plus TV not innovative"

of PS4:
"huge RAM will drive innovation"

I'll go get my dictionary. I understood that word differently...

Ah, happy days.

Have to say I much preferred the Megadrive controller to the SNES one, I found it much more comfortable. I reckon you can actually see the influence of it on modern controllers too, with the curves and points becoming more exaggerated.

I don't have a 3DS but I cannot see the point of NFC in games, I really can't. Until Miyamoto's comments the other day I'd assumed it would never be used except maybe in some little first party eShop offering. Honestly, his "NFC's a priority" comments, even if they were taken out of context, have me more worried than any amount of the 'Wii U is terrible/doomed to fail' stories over the past few months.

Hooray for them!

Actually, while I'm neither an EA or a sports game fan, I'd look at a rugby game and I'd be genuinely interested in a boxing sim with motion plus. Don King, on the Wii, had a lot of potential that was ruined by the controls.

@Haxonberik
The controls in Skyward Sword drive me mad and that isn't a knock on motion controls - Red Steel 2 is one of my favourite games and I thought 'if Ubisoft can do this with the hardware imagine what Nintendo can do'. Sadly, combat regressed into a waggle-fest and I am astounded at how pointer controls (for menu selection and for looking around) constantly need calibrating; how is that possible for a game so late in the Wii's cycle when it wasn't necessary for any earlier titles that I know of?

@Mk_II
Thanks, that makes a bit more sense.

@Damo
When did NL become a redtop? This is sensationalist, irresponsible journalism.

That's their priority?!?

Didn't they say the only included it as an afterthought because it was cheap and they could?

Of all the thing's that Nintendo's said over the years, this one has confused and concerned me most. I sincerely hope those quotes are taken out of context.

I'm still predicting a big E3 show from Nintendo. You're right to say that it's a different audience to that which Nintendo Direct serves but wrong to dismiss it as a necessarily 'casual' (Just Dance) audience. If Nintendo's still serious about targeting 'core' video game players (inverted commas used because I dislike both terms but can't think of any better) then E3 is still the best place to reveal some new games.

Nintendo direct is watched by Nintendo fans. Those people will get excited by confirmation of a new Mario/Zelda/Metroid. Those not bothered to watch will likely simply shrug that it was inevitable; even the new Yoshi platformer is one that will appeal to Nintendo fans but won't get others excited.

E3 is a time when all video game players, regardless of brand loyalties, console ownership, or any other considerations, are watching all of the video game news. That's when it's best to reveal new IPs and new directions.

I'm faintly jealous of 3DS owners.

Well, mine only ever froze during Darksiders 2 anyway and I've finished that.

@Einherjar
Actually, if you live in the northern hemisphere, the traditional date for the first day of spring is the equinox on March 20th. Alternatively, meteorological calenders simplify things into months and, so, the first day of spring is March 1st. Either way, there's a lot more than two weeks left!

That's not a tease, it's simply a statement that he has nothing to do with it.

@BRAINFOX
Iwata has gone on record as saying that the final dev kits weren't made available until last summer. That's well after "most of these games started production".

@SonataAndante
Two years, I believe.

Unlucky speculators does seem like the kindest interpretation.

Seems plausible. Not my kind of game and naturally I'm disappointed it's not Hitman that's being worked on but hey-ho, good for Wii U owning Scif-Fi and FPS fans.

A fun article and a lot of very good comments - I intended to mentione specific posts that chimed with me but there are a lot of them! Basically, this is a very personal article that, although valid, suffers from the same problems as IGN's equally interesting research review articles published recently. By adopting a defensive attitude from the beginning, the article lacks balance and, therefore, is easier to criticise.

I'll look for reviews but I don't think it's something that will appeal to me. I'm probably in the minority though.

Well, I hope they look at attach rate rather than overall sales figures if they're hoping for a big success.

Judging by other people's comments here, I'm looking forward to this a lot less now. I downloaded the demo but I haven't played it yet and if multi-player really is a central element to the game then I'm out - I simply don't have anyone to play with.

Well, these comments certainly help to explain why he was interested in hiring the Vigil staff but not in acquiring the IP to their games. Something slightly ironic though, isn't there, that he could allegedly enjoy Darksiders 2 but think there's no market for that type of experience in the near future.

That said, I have no gaming friends and I don't use Facebook or Twitter, so what do I know.

"Those competitive FPS players, in particular, may find themselves drawn into paying a dollar for a weapon that they're unwilling to grind for, all in order for some better XP and stats."

I'm not a fan of run & gun games, whether FPS or 2D, but there's a salient point here hidden beneath the FPS crack: micro-transactions only make sense in an environment where the player is only interested in the online multi-player experience. My online experience is limited to one play of MArio Kart Wii four or five years ago and a recent trip on NG3: Razor's Edge. Both were enough to put me off for a while. I don't have any online gaming friends and in both instances I thought it might be a way to extend the gaming experience beyond the single player mode. In both instances I quickly grew bored.

Using NG3 as an example, I went online after about day 5 of the main game. Immediately I got overpowered by the other players. So, if I was only interested in the multi-player experience, I can see how I might want to boost my stats quickly.

As others have already pointed out here though, for someone primarily interested n the single-player experience, like myself, they simply don't make sense. Hopefully we never get forced into the situation of having to pay more money to finish a game - that really would drive a lot of people away.

Good news for the Wii U. Probably not for me though. Has this series improved? I'm all for a bit of third person non-run-&-gun action but I tried the first one on a friends Xbox when I was staying in their house and they were out and, after around four hours of incredibly tedious tutorials (run here - cutscene - press A, press B - cut scene, etc.) I was bored rigid and gave up. I don't play computer games to be told what to do.

If my Aussie friends are anything to go by they're pretty used to buying all sorts of things from British internet sites now anyway but really that only further begs the question. When there are no further costs associated beyond shipping then why not make it available there?

@ThreadShadow
Where did you find information on the lots? Judging by that interview I linked to in a previous comment, I'd guess Crytek USA are only interested in developing an original IP at this point in time.

He can control two characters at once?!

@JJfromTexas
How is that "reverse"?

Not just wifi - the original console comes bundled with Wii Sports as well.

That does seem like a somewhat archaic law. I'm familiar with that situation in various countries from my own line of work but I never expected it to apply to the Japanese video games market!

@NotEnoughGolds
"“We had chosen Austin as the destination for [our U.S. branch], and we needed a lean and core team of expert to run the studio,” said Yerli. “At the same time, we didn’t want to continue with Darksiders 3, since that doesn’t fit with our strategy. So when I heard that [THQ laid off everyone at Vigil], I decided on Saturday morning to fly out to meet with them to see if the team would be interested to join our mission, which is significantly different than what this team has done before.” - Crytek

Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/04/how-crytek-ceo-cevat-yerli-decided-to-hire-the-ex-vigil-team-based-on-a-single-meeting/#XJZzhGhrZibdXSHy.99

Almost finished Darksiders 2 now and I have to say I've really enjoyed it. It doesn't have the instant emotional hook that Zelda games do but, for me at lest, it's been a more fulfilling experience and combines the Zelda RPG mechanics with effective platforming and third person action mechanics, which are two of my favourite genres.

Basically, I'd love to see the series continue (and the first one get ported to the Wii U) but with the studio already dead and its staff fled there has to be concerns over the development of any possible next instalment. Concerns which would rightly be shared by publishers and consumers alike. Platinum, if they are genuinely interested and have the available cash (a big if) I could see doing something great with the IP. Nintendo would probably entrust it to someone like Platinum if they bought it; they have a happy knack of placing the right IP with the right studio. It's a lot of big "ifs" though and we're not going to be any the wiser for a few months.

In some ways, it does make sense as a Nintendo IP, in other ways it doesn't. It doesn't because it could be seen as a Zelda competitor (although, of course, they could always release in different years given current development cycles). It does make sense as Nintendo try to create a platform offering more "mature" and/or "core" (whatever those terms mean) games. Like Bayonetta 2, this could fill that niche nicely - a game that could help shed the "kiddie" image of Nintendo whilst still playing up to Nintendo like gameplay values.

Excellent news, I was hoping we'd get this.

COD had half the top ten US games in the last generation?!? I assume it's probably the same in the UK.

I actually find that quite an alarming industry split: COD (& GTA) vs. Wii (Play, Fit, New).

Well, that is a surprise.