cwong15

I personally find the isolation of the Metroid Prime experience a turnoff. I'm an introvert, but not that much of an introvert. Happy to see how the vibe of the game might change.

It would still be superior to code-in-a-box if you're still allowed to resell it. That's the main advantage to physical games, IMHO: the aftermarket.

@TbobB apart from the latency, the issue with Bluetooth audio is that there seems to be a limit to the number of concurrent Bluetooth devices, at least on the current Switch. If you have headphones and joycons fighting for limited slots, that could be a game limiting issue.

C is simply the letter that comes after A and B, the other lettered buttons on the lower part of the controller. I wouldn't read too much into this.

I've played a bunch of XCX, but always found the actual battles too complex to really comprehend. There's usually so much going on that I don't really understand what's going on. I just equip my characters the best I can, then when the battle starts I just hit the buttons (arts) whenever they glow and hope I win. In the Pokemon context there may be only one effective move for the given enemy type, so I fear I might just be sitting there waiting for that one move to recharge while getting pummeled.

Games that scale according to the power of the console have been around for a long time. After all, PC games have to run on a broad range of system performance profiles. I'm sure developers can build good adaptive games. I'm not worried about games that run on both Switch 1 and 2. I'd welcome them, in fact. Looking forward to the next Great Ace Attorney Chronicles installment ...

The point is to build on the success of Switch 1, not just throw out a new model in a vacuum. In a way, they're well positioned to sell a bunch of Switch 2 units even without a single new game. At this stage in its lifecycle, the Switch 1 has a pile of games that barely run on it. Thanks to backward compatibility, these games should would offer a much better experience with much shorter load times and better frame rates. It'd be the preferred way to run Switch 1 games.

Or there could be something totally off the wall that is not obvious. Somebody suggested in the comments elsewhere that the new USB-C port could power a Switch 1 as a second screen. Why not? Normally a second screen adds significant cost. But there are an awful lot of old Switch 1 units out there that would otherwise be obsoleted by a Switch 2. If you give them a second life as a 2nd screen, that's free functionality. And we'd finally be able to play DS/3DS games properly again.

What if everybody's wrong? Even Genki admitted their mockup is based on leaks. All it takes is one convincing leak for everybody to line up and pile on. But for an accessory maker like Genki, it's particularly silly. Imagine introducing — or at least pretending to introduce — a whole lineup of accessories based on a purported leak.

I'm not sure they really need a sensor bar for old school IR style aiming. The whole point of the Wii sensor bar was to present 2 points of light for the Wiimotes to sync with. You could put 2 candles on your TV and it'd still work. Since both sensor bars and candles are clunky to set up, if Nintendo really want IR-style aiming they'd just have games display guide dots/lines on the game screen and have the joy-con camera recognize them.

This is not a small game IMHO. It's significantly larger than the Wii U HD versions of both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. But I think file size is more a function of their development framework than merely "HD". I still hope there will be substantially more content in here than Link's Awakening.

What if they included a free game? From the buyer's perspective, that would offset the price by $60 or so but from Nintendo's perspective it won't hurt their hardware margin.

The inflation calculator shows that a $300 Switch in 2017 is equivalent to paying $384.96 today. So hopefully they can keep to $400.

Then again, the Atari costed $200 in 1977 ($1038.09 in 2024 dollars), so who knows.

I think it's silly how little information we have on NL about this game, given that it's been out over a year. Nothing in this article even hints at the gameplay. Just a hint? Come on. I had to Google for reviews on other sites to even understand what kind of game this is.

It's a combination of puzzles, investigation, action with QTEs, and it's a short 10 hour adventure. More emphasis on the action with Tintin in 3rd person and Snowy in 1st person. It's faithful to the comic, so if you read it you already know the story. As to why they used a 3D style, they thought a realistic immersive world was more appropriate for an adventure game. Additionally, the Eurogamer article quotes the producer: "The only person who knows how to make Tintin in 2D is Hergé".

I think the writer should stop obsessing about this and go outside and get some fresh air.

I can't imagine playing Just Dance without a Wiimote nor Joycon. That's why it's so dominant on Nintendo. On the PS5 you'd be waving your $1000 iPhone, which seems rather risky.

We effectively did get a price cut on the current-gen Switch if you account for inflation. An inflation calculator tells me $300 in 2023 dollars is equivalent to $244 in 2017 dollars. If it had maintained its price in real terms, the Switch would cost $369 today.

With or without sensor bar, IMHO the wiimotes are far more satisfying to hold than the joycons. Their size and rubbery grips makes for a superior feel, even for small-handed people like myself.

Why is fat Ganondorf a thing?

Link jumps like Mario! There's a village with mushrooms! Hyrule and Mushroom Kingdom fusion confirmed!

I'm neutral about this development. I do hate the fact that "mature" or "adult" in video games merely means female body parts and gore.

I doubt the hypothetical SNES Classic Mini would be anything like the NES Classic Mini. Now that Nintendo knows there's a huge market for retro gaming, they should offer something that can continue to make them money after the first sale. Maybe something with a set of base games, but takes Switch-style game cartridges to further extend the game library. Imagine themed cartridges with a generous set of games: an RPG variety pack, a shooter selection, a fighter package etc. It should be much cheaper than the Switch, of course — under $100 — to occupy a market niche that nobody else is taking.

It's a home console because it's priced like a home console and too expensive to compete in the pure portable market, it's replacing the Wii U, and Nintendo's 3DS is still selling. That's their official line because that's where it fits in their product line. We are free to call it whatever we like, however.

Amazon shows that the Wii U version will be available March 31st

It's a good thing. Since cartridge slots are small and cheap, Nintendo could have multiple cartridge slots on a console. Today, you can only have one retail game in your game console's disk drive at a time and have to shuffle disks when you want to switch games.

Cartridge media have much better random access performance (low latency). Games that would otherwise need to copy portions of the game image onto the console's hard disk can instead run directly off the cartridge media, saving disk space. Remember those big hunks of data that Xenoblade Chronicles X wants you to install in system memory for decent performance? No longer needed.

This thing has save states, so it's probably just a stripped down Wii that plays built-in Virtual Console games. It would have nothing physically in common with the original NES. Asking for cartridge support is like asking for NES cartridge support for the Wii or Wii U.

Oh, and @Kirk, to say that Nintendo's games are free to give away is like saying Disney's entire movie catalog is free to give away. Technically true, but irrelevant. That's not how intellectual property works.

Don't think of the NES Classic as a game console. Think of it as a $60 game cartridge containing 30 top tier games. Seems a good deal to me.

Where did they get those 2000 games? They must be double-counting a bunch. Even the Wii's entire VC library comes nowhere near that number. They might come close if they digitized the Wii's massive retail library, but that's unlikely.

I can see rewards for physical games being problematic in the short term. The Wii U has been out for so long, and there's no way to distinguish between recently purchased disks and those picked up years ago. Moreover, current games do not come with a Club Nintendo registration code flyer like the Wii games. They may not be set up with handle UPC codes.

Keeping everything digital-only makes it possible to get started with a loyalty program right away. Nintendo knows when you've made a purchase and which account to associate with that purchase, all without typing in codes. Hopefully we'll be able to register physical games in the future, when they start getting shipped with the right registration infrastructure, such as My Nintendo QR codes.

Are the Lego City load times better for the digital version vs the disk?

Anyone have any idea what the Snoopy discount will be? I'm interested in getting that game for my Wii U just for nostalgia's sake, but $40 seems a bit high for a basic platformer.

@zerotheclown: according to the article, the sale only begins Oct 26th. We have a couple more days to wait. I had the same reaction initially, and had to take a second look at the sale details. In the meantime maybe you can get into the Halloween mood by playing the Fatal Frame demo.

The big Costume Quest discount might be good timing for Halloween

It's a little confusing because the instructions talk about redeeming the purchase using your NNID. But that same storefront also sells Wii downloads — like Super Mario RPG — that you cannot buy that way because the Wii is not tied to your NNID.

What Nintendo should concentrate on are Wii games that can be played with the Classic Controller Pro. Only such Wii games can be played easily on the Gamepad using the Gamepad controls.

Comparing VC games, played on a console with real gamepads on a big screen TV, to casual touchscreen phone apps would be comparing 2 different markets. Casual games have different monetization (ads, micropayments) and play characteristics. Frankly, I can't imagine a casual game player wanting most VC games: VC games don't look as pretty and are much, much more difficult. VC games are for nostalgic old school gamers. This includes ROM emulator folks used to downloading pirated games for free, who are outraged that any such game would cost more than $0.01. This includes dedicated fans who still buy rare ROM cartridges for $150 and wonder what's the big deal with paying $5/game. Hence this debate.

I just bought a $8 RPG and spent over 30 hours playing through it. Personally, I think VC prices are so low that I give about as much thought about the cost as I would a sneeze. They are such great value as they are.

20 years ago, you'd pay $50 for a console game. 20 years ago, $50 is equivalent to $80 in today's currency. People were willing to pay for those games, meaning they were fun enough to justify that price. Now you can pay $8 instead of $80. What's the problem?