edcomics

Monster Hunter games look so cool, but I admit I wish there was a casual mode. I played Tri and enjoyed it until it started to feel more like a chore than a game. granted, I've never played multiplayer, so I can't comment on that. As always, though, the designs look great. I look forward to some new Monster Hunter artbooks. Love the design art.

Sigh. I feel like there's just a serious lack of originality in the games we're seeing. It's like... we're getting the next-gen consoles, but we're getting games from two generations ago. I'm mainly talking about the 3DS here.

Yeah, I want to play this one. Looks like a lot of fun.

Too bad. I want to play Crysis, but I don't have anything other than Nintendo systems.

I think it's a cool idea. If the cartridge came with the Circle Pad Pro XL and some software, it would be a serious upgrade for the system. Of course, it would make more sense to just have people buy a second Gamepad, but the idea is fun. Of course, first we need games that support two gamepads.

On the topic of confusion over Wii vs Wii U, I can attest that a lot of people really don't understand the difference. I always thought the Wii U name was stupid, and it seems it really was a mistake. Anyone who doesn't read sites like this seem to think it's just another iteration of the Wii, like the DS to DSi upgrade. I know this is getting off-topic, but looking at the consoles from the NES to the Wii, I think Nintendo blew it with the design and marketing of the Wii U. I don't think it'll kill the system at all, but I think Nintendo hurt themselves by continuing in this Apple-inspired, minimalist theme they've been following, and the Wii U doesn't stand out as its own brand.

Phew. Sorry about that.

Time limits could kill the game for me. I don't want to be stressed when I'm playing a game.

I know the reviews are lousy, but it does look kind of fun. I'll probably buy this pre-owned in the future when the price comes down a bit.

I took the plunge for Trine 2 not that long ago, and now it's 20% off. Sheesh.

Pleased to hear it's a good game. I look forward to the North American release. I would imagine keeping the system entirely open (thus flat) might make the 360 turn a bit easier.

I only had Mega Man 3, and I fully admit it was way too hard for me. I love the art style and characters of Mega Man, but the games just aren't fun for me. I wish there was a way to enjoy the world of Mega Man without the game getting in the way

Nice sense of humor. The game animation looks really smooth. If this comes to the US, I might give it a go.

How many times do you really need to play a demo before deciding whether or not to buy the full game? How many times do you really need to play a game, for that matter? Some 3DS demos give you 30 plays. I rarely play a game that many times. Other demos offer 10 plays. Sounds reasonable to me. After all, these are supposed to be samples — not free minigames. Granted, if you're satisfied with the demo experience and don't want to buy the full game, that may suggest the game isn't worth buying. Either way, I think Nintendo or third party companies should have the right to do this kind of thing. Limiting a demo to ONE play might be a bit extreme, but sometimes one play is enough.

I'm not pleased with this.

It's a nice-looking system. If I were just into collecting consoles, or if I didn't already own a Wii, this would be pretty cool to have. It's like a little piece of art, in a way... or maybe it just seems that way because the Wii and WiiU designs are so bland. Yup, I said it.

Donkey Kong most definitely IS a stretch. It's like a real theme park, though. The attraction has a theme, just like Batman & Robin - The Rollercoaster. It has little to do with the franchise as far as gameplay goes, but it has a nice DK dressing. That being said, it's a fun game. THAT being said, I think Nintendo could have included more, smaller mini games that are truer to the actual franchise experiences. Excitebike is an interesting choice, though. I never would have expected that.

Between uninterested family members and anti-Nintendo friends, I've had trouble getting anyone to play multiplayer with me. When Double Coins shows up under the Mario Chase icon, I sulk. I think every multiplayer attraction could have used a single player mode, and vice versa. That would have made NintendoLand near perfect.

He probably died playing Donkey Kong Crash Course.

@DrKarl I shared my personal opinion and it hasn't changed. I feel it's unethical for a company to create what is essentially a sequel to someone else's game.

Of course, if you want to buy me a copy of Puddle to change my opinion, you're more than welcome to do so.

@DrKarl To answer your question, I think JRPGs and FPSs are mostly boring rehashes, especially if the gameplay and storylines are identical to previous games... which is the case far too often. A new control system and a creative plot are usually enough to make something "new enough" or "different enough." Ripping off not just the core concept, but the entire concept, look and feel of a game is just... creating a ripoff.

To me, it's like creating a game about a pixie boy named Plink, who wears green and uses a sword and shield to venture through dungeons to collect parts of a golden pyramid, and fight against the evil Garnonoff. There's such a thing as "too close," and from what I've seen of Puddle, it may be too close.

It would have been possible to create a physics-based game using sand, pebbles, or something equally different from water. For example, Donkey Kong's Crash Course from NintendoLand could be compared to Fluidity, but is very different in a number of ways. Puddle is, from what I can see, just a ripoff. A person can say they're just "standing on the shoulders of giants," but a copycat is just a copycat.

Or maybe Nintendo shouldn't offer Mature content on its gaming platforms.

@mumof2kids82 Or you could preorder the game, and sell the case on eBay.

This really is so close to Fluidity that I smell a lawsuit. Seeing as there'll be a new Fluidity coming out for the 3DS pretty soon, this just seems weird. It looks cool, but I don't know if I want to reward a company that rips off their entire concept from a pre-existing game.

XL here, plus it looks a bit gaudy, like a kids' lunch box. Oh well.

Cute. It's the exact opposite of what I suggested yesterday, which was a disc-less Wii that only connects to the Wii Shop for downloadable games. I like the design of this system, but I do agree that it seems a little pointless. If I hadn't already had a Wii for the past three+ years, sure... maybe I'd get this... but with the new Wii U, and no new support for the Wii in the form of new games, I don't see the point. An attempt to push old product... by selling a new product?

I'm just so tired of the zombie thing. It's been mainstream for so long now that I'm actually shocked that anyone cares anymore. Since this game is a zombie game, I won't even consider the purchase. If it had remained a sort of quirky, Mars Attacks kind of experience, I probably would have jumped on board.

Saying the reason for substituting zombies is the speed factor makes little to no sense, considering we've seen faster and faster zombies on the big screen over the past ten years. "Zombie" doesn't automatically mean "slow" anymore, and there's no reason you couldn't just have large alien freaks that move slowly. So it must be a cheap appeal to a built-in fanbase that will eat up anything with zombies in it. I don't mean to knock zombie lovers, but I just see this as a wasted opportunity to do something a little different.

What Nintendo COULD do is release a mini console that only plays digital downloads, thus pumping the eShop service.

As mentioned above, I can't access my favorites, which defeats the purpose almost entirely. Browsing is a major pain, and there's essentially no gamepad support. Again, it defeats the purpose. I'll have to try loading the website through the browser, but I had assumed it wouldn't work. I hate to be negative, but some WiiU features are disappointing me.

This is why I bought the WiiU at launch — so I could get a full cycle of support for one of Nintendo's consoles. In the past, I've ALWAYS picked up the systems later than most others, and Nintendo has dropped support much earlier than I expected. This is what Nintendo does. They cast off the past. I don't buy a lot of Mario games — almost none — so for me, the Wii had a pretty light selection of games I wanted to play. Zelda's my big thing, but I got Twilight Princess for GameCube, so... yeah. While I love Zelda and games like it, I would almost prefer smaller games with more frequency, rather than waiting ages for a few gems to show up. Smaller, better games, more frequently.

Already have it preordered.

Played the Mickey demo. It felt more like punishment than entertainment. I'm not sure what they were going for, but it just felt like a terrible mess to me. What a waste of SD card space.

The DSi game was decent, though I felt it got boring in the second segment. There did seem to be a great amount of content, but I almost would have been more entertained by a shorter game. I did feel a bit ripped off after playing the real game, because the trailer made it seem like animated cinematics would appear throughout the game. Instead, you get a beautifully animated intro video with great music, and then it's just jagged pixels and MIDI music for the rest of the experience. Perhaps I expected too much. Like I said, though, it was a decent game. It just got old after a while.

I played the demo and found it to be boring. I think the small screen of the regular 3DS hurt it a bit. There's a ton of detail in there, but you can't really see it. The whole package is a failure, though. The custom character creation is a joke, and that's the first thing the demo hits you with. Then you have a bizarre menu system, and gameplay is just very basic and boring. I wanted to like it, but it just didn't deliver an experience I would want to repeat.

Eternal Darkness was a great game. That's all I can say.

Muscle March is perhaps the best WiiWare purchase I made. What a great game. I just wish there was a sequel!

Now I know why I hate turn-based RPGs.

I think it's a valid point, and will likely end up being very accurate. I'm not sure the "three pillars" suggestion by McFerran will be the case, considering Nintendo has projected almost no support for the regular Wii system for 2013 (unless I've missed something). It seems to me that Nintendo has put all their eggs into the Wii U basket. It may be true that it's merely the next version of the Wii, and that a true next-gen console will be revealed by Nintendo a number of years from now. For now, though, I think the Wii U will fit comfortably into place.

The real question is whether or not Nintendo purposely limited the power and graphics of the Wii in anticipation of releasing a Wii-U-like upgrade at some point in time. Maybe Nintendo's plan is to create their own generation timeline and release new consoles with incremental advancements rather than huge leaps in technology. The Wii is kind of just an upgraded Gamecube with the addition of motion controls. The Wii U is kind of just an upgraded Wii with HD graphics and the new gamepad. Likewise, the subsequent console probably won't offer a dramatic leap in technology, but will likely feature some new "innovative" control feature.

I would absolutely love some long-range playability. I actually had hopes it would work easily, but now it sounds like it's not going to happen. I live in a four-floor house. The wireless router on the top floor does manage to get a pretty strong signal to my Wii on the bottom floor. For example, Netflix streams quite well. In theory, I should be able to use certain Wii U features one or two floors away from the console, but I guess the only way to know is to just wait and see. "Test it in your own home" made me chuckle on the inside. $350 is a bit expensive for a test.

That Howard & Nester Tetris comic was great stuff. I'll always remember that.

I didn't see any dragons in that trailer.

Seems like the dates keep changing on a number of these games. Since I'm not going for Mario or some of the other "obvious" choices, I'm actually going to have a very small Wii U game collection at launch.

shrug It always worked for me, and my NES cartridges are still going strong.

I paid $60 for Majora's Mask (the gold edition) when it was new, so there's a precedent for charging that much for a Nintendo game. I wish they could have stuck with the $50 price tag, but with lots of Nintendo Wii titles like NSMBW still on sale at retailers for $50, it only makes sense that WiiU games will have an upgrades price tag. I do think price should depend on the type of game, though. Looking down the preorder list, it seems some games are actually only $50 or even as low as $40. There's even a Family Party game listed at $30, though I often doubt anyone buys games like that. The top games, though, will most likely stick at $60. Let's just hope that price doesn't go UP. I expect it will for Xbox and Playstation games when the new iterations of those systems are released. I wouldn't be surprised to see $70 or $80 games become the norm for those systems.

Odd. It's a launch day title, yet Gamestop left it off its preorder list. Hmph.

I think there are a lot of people who've missed out on games like Bayonetta, God of War, Devil May Cry, Gears of War, etc, because of only owning Nintendo systems. Not everyone is a hardcore gamer, and not everyone can afford to own multiple systems. For Nintendo to get one of these "sexy" games as a WiiU exclusive is quite the coup, and if marketed correctly, it could reach a huge audience. To put it another way, I was on the fence about the WiiU and considered waiting a year or so until the first price drop. After seeing the Bayonetta reveal, though, I went out and preordered the system. shrug

I don't like the name. Something like "Hundred Heroes" might have been better. Something solid, you know?

My problem is that I would love to trade my Wii toward the purchase price of the WiiU at Gamestop... but obviously I'd have to get rid of the Wii before obtaining the WiiU, making any kind of system transfer impossible. If I wait to trade it in until after I obtain the WiiU, I most likely won't receive as much trade-in credit for the Wii. Maybe it's better to just hold on to the Wii as a backup gaming system.

@Ulala "Toadette" is a good idea, and you've proven how easy it is to come up with something fun and different. Nintendo's on auto-pilot when it comes to Mario.

This just doesn't appeal. I'm satisfied with my NSMBW. Maybe I've just been around too long and have encountered too many Mario games, but I don't think I can get excited about Mario again until they do something really different with the series. Some people may not like SMB2, and I understand why, but I think it's a lot of fun. It's a breath of fresh air, and that's what the Mario series needs right now.

This is actually something I was really looking forward to. I'm surprised that, in this day an age, we're being excluded from enjoying these types of games. It's such a shame.

Yeah, the music is cool.