indienapolis

@Rambler

Typically between Thanksgiving Nov 24th (4th Thursday in Nov) and New Years.

To be fair though, when it's eventually in Orlando it will likely be bigger, as the Universal City plot is limiting. I'll gladly go there too

Jesus, so much California hate around here. As a transplant to SoCal myself I get that its not everyone's taste, but letting your politics keep you from something you'd otherwise enjoy is kinda mind boggling. I guess enjoy your self righteousness? As someone who lives down the street from Universal, I'm stoked!

I’m glad they’re going in a different direction with it. They had to. Not just for the big names to sell tickets, but the general approach. Mario cut-scenes are fine for the gameplay focused games, but can you imagine watching something like that for 90 min?? No offense intended to Martinet, who I love, but c’mon. That wouldn’t have worked. I’m glad he’s still involved and I’m not convinced he’s not going to be playing a version of Mario in some capacity. The multi-verse is in this year!

A friend recommended this from when it was exclusive to Apple Arcade. The genre isn’t normally my cup of tea, but I’ve been playing for the past week and am surprised how many hours I’ve put into it. VERY ADDICTIVE. Disagree with reviewer about the music. I love it

I assume the Seth Rogan hate is political and not about him as a TV producer. Between Preacher, Future Man, and The Boys he’s been killing it

I'll probably buy this again as I'm a fan of Behemoth, and it's among the best of it's genre if you've got a friend to play with, but would kill for Battleblock Theater!

It’s on sale in NA so maybe I’ll give it another look...

@LinktotheFuture Base Wars! Was Base Wars ever released on any of the Virtual Consoles?

I'm enjoying it way more than I expected. I actually like the small maps. For mobile, they're about as big as I'd want them for limited sessions and they scratch that itch when I don't have time to dig into a proper FE map. You definitely don't have to spend money to enjoy this game, or even progress through it, and for that reason I will probably spend a little just to support this approach. Given that mobile gaming will be a necessary revenue stream for Nintendo going forward, I want to vote with my money for how I want to see it executed. They could've made this an awful cash grab just to appease investors, but I think what they've done here is a nice balance, and I'll give them $10 (as I did with Mario) for the experience.

Cool article Mitch. I didn't know about this place in Old Town, but I'll definitely check it out. If you or anyone else in SoCal hasn't been to Button Mash, I highly recommend it. Excellent rotation of pristine original cabinets and great food. http://www.yelp.com/biz/button-mash-los-angeles?utm_source=ishare

I'm sure it being a choice was a compromise. They figured there'd be pushback at forcing a female Link on the fans, which is sad, but probably correct. I would have preferred a fully realized female iteration, but gamers have some major hang-ups about gender and race switching in their popular entertainment.

@LordGeovanni Same. It's nice to hear that there are other people who actually enjoy the 3D. The New 3DS' head tracking was a major upgrade. I only hear people saying they turn it off, likely because the old model required a steady hand to not induce headaches. It's a shame, because it's brilliantly implemented in games like 3D Land and under appreciated IMHO. This will probably be the last we see if this sort of 3D tech so I'll be holding on to my New 3DS for as long as it will still power on. Might even by a backup when they inevitably see the discount bin.

I enjoyed the demo. I agree the platforming was a little clunky, but the concept was interesting enough for me to see past it. Plus, like Limbo, you typically start right where you died, so dying is clearly an intended part of the discovery aspect of the game. It's not meant to be a tight Mario style platformer, but rather a paced puzzle platformer. If you enjoy such games, I think there's plenty to enjoy here. I'll pick it up.

There are Japanese designed levels online. Would these costumes be playable in the US if a part of someone's uploaded level?

If they would just make this cross-save compatible, I'd gladly buy another copy. Love this game, just don't see me putting in the time to start over. Spent too many hours on the DLC...

Plenty in stock here in Los Angeles. Over a hundred at the location in Burbank. Maybe they're fixing their stock issues??

@mordo887 Yeah, that's who I emailed. Thanks tho. I'll prob just pre-order the physical copy. It will sit with reverence, alone in my collection.

Question 2: Does the WiiU version have the option of the Wii controls?

@mordo887 Bummer. I went all digital this gen (small apartment) and had hoped it might be similar to how Bayonetta was handled. I wrote the company and they never got back. I guess that answers that.

Anyone know if the Wii version will be available for download or only through the physical copy pre-order?

Yeah, I totally forgot and expected them to be gone by now. Didn't have any problem and it's almost a full hour past at this point. Nintendo, why can't they all be this available!?!

@Jayvir I agree with you on race to the bottom pricing. If you wait till it's a part of a deep discount sale, then you voted with your wallet that the market won't support games that require a certain level of development. Pretty soon all we'll have is Freemium garbage and only ourselves to blame. If it's an indie, and you're interested in it, as well as gainfully employed, PAY FULL PRICE.

Loved RIVE and have been excited for Assault Android Cactus and Fast Racing Neo. This is a really great lineup. Anyone know if Hyper Light Drifter is coming this year? The clips of it look awesome, but its been a while since its been mentioned and was only a footnote here...

@FragRed Well, the two aren't identical situations, and I do remember that whole fiasco, but I think there are important analogues here. When Nintendo mentioned the NX, though at the time I assumed it was to simply assuage investors, it sent the signal to the larger gaming industry, now picking apart every utterance over the internet, that the WiiU is no longer the focus for the company despite what would be a short life cycle. I didn't want to believe it before, but I'm starting to now. The Saturn had good games too, but it didn't matter because most people had grown gun shy of being early adopters for Sega.

I had really hoped to be getting at least two or three more AAA games, along with some smaller titles, maybe GameCube VC, and probably further DLC for Splatoon, Mario Maker, and (crossed fingers) MK8 before the release of NX in late 2017. After E3, I'm really beginning to wonder if I'll see any of the above. The fatal mistake Sega made back in the 90s was accelerating their hardware release cycles, starting with the 32X, and thus losing the trust of their core customers. I worry that Nintendo risks doing that here by abandoning the WiiU too early.

@Rect_Pola I agree. I was skeptical about Splatoon's controls at first and actually turned off the gyro after hearing so many people insist that it was terrible. Thankfully I eventually gave it a try. Now, I would never go back. I think there's a large group of gamers that really believe that the evolution of game controls should stop at the PS2 controller, and anything that deviates from a traditional two stick control scheme is automatically suspect. It's a shame really.

Unless there's some kind of cross save, I don't see me starting over. Is that too much to ask?

I'm a huge fan and am completely baffled. When they showed off Metroid Federation, I assumed that it was to whet the appetite for the obvious Retro WiiU reveal, but then...nothing. In fact, nothing from Retro whatsoever. Soooo, was their project (still probably Metroid) not far enough along? Are they really migrating all AAA content to NX? I would have said absolutely not before today, but now, I might have to agree with all the haters. And it seemed like they were finally turing things around for the WiiU on the heels of Splatoon, but my god, what are they doing? Of course I want Xenoblade, Yoshi, and Starfox, but those have been public for over a year. Xenoblade since launch. The WiiU may be my favorite Nintendo system since the SNES, but are they really giving up on it???

@sotoam Yeah, this is exactly what I did, and would urge others to do as well. I already had most of the games, so I gave money to Humble and distributed the codes to my friends who recently got WiiUs. Would love to see the eShop be sustainable for indies, so that's what I'm giving my money towards.

God, so much gloom and doom around here.

There's two issues here that seem to be getting mixed. 1. Should mobile be seen as a legitimate gaming platform? 2. What will its effects be on 'traditional' console gaming? When I read people decrying Pac Man 256 for its reimagining of Pac Man, I feel like its a lot of angst over the latter coloring the writer's view of the former. As someone who has been gaming since the Atari, I think there are a lot of compelling gaming experiences to be had on mobile. Its a completely different platform and so its experiences are different. I don't know anyone who thinks Flappy Bird is a good game or that F2P has yielded a lot of positives for gaming, but getting all bothered about what looks like an interesting take on Pac Man (probably not as good as Championship DX but surely better than the numerous 3D platformers) seems off the mark. And I'll agree with the writer: out of touch.

I love retro gaming, I love console gaming, and I love Nintendo (to the tune of a proudly displayed Virtual Boy) but I also love indie gaming, experimental gaming, and mobile gaming. I enjoy gaming in all its flavors. So, I guess I'd say if you are bothered by the trajectory of console gaming and don't want to see it go the way of arcade gaming before it, support it with your consumer habits. Pointing the blame at mobile doesn't absolve gamers of their own hand in creating the gaming culture they deserve. Don't wait for sales and don't buy second hand. I read on this site all the time about people complaining about the lack of original content for the WiiU, and by extension home consoles, and yet when new games come out, many people proudly express their plan to 'wait till its on sale'. Or point out that you can get it on Steam for cheaper. Or that you can get ROMs of virtual console games for free. And people wonder why Konami got out of console gaming! There's always going to be casual gamers to support the mobile shovelware and bartop touch screen garbage of the world. Hell, Nintendo made a fortune off of them the last go-round. But if you want a vibrant console gaming culture the way you've always had it, you're gonna have to pay for it.

@mjc0961 Figuring out what to do, quickly, is actually the core mechanic of the game. It's like a rapid fire puzzle game. If you don't like that, then sure it's not for you, but it's certainly not a broken game.

This and Twisted are far and away the best in the series.

I think there's room in gaming for fans to reimagine characters through fan art, particularly women. I don't understand why when things like this come up, gamers get in such a frenzy to tear it down. Things on this site are generally civil, but elsewhere it quickly gets degrading. No one is suggesting that Peach should carry a bazooka, but the Mushroom Kingdom is also not dealing in a post-apocalyptic aesthetic. It's a reimagining! For fun! Men do it all the time, it's how a lot of fans like to interact with their favorite characters, so why is it such a problem when it's from a female perspective? Are you surprised that some women would reimagine characters differently than men? Sure the Samus drawing misses the point of the Zero Suit, but so what? If you're honest with yourself, there's a reason why Samus' zero suit is a popular image and it's not because of it's perfect ergonomic fit into her armour. Men like it that way!

This is all to say that we need a broader tent as gamers, and not act so threatened by different perspectives on popular characters. Some women like the sexy renderings and some enjoy more realistic representations. There should be room within gaming for everyone.

When this all started there was talk of future installments (episodes) beyond the serialized rerelease of the original game. Any word on that Conor?

@Henmii "Worst case scenario: A Smurfs/Chipmunk travesty!!"

EXACTLY

@PlywoodStick I haven't read that. I'll have to track it down. Was it published in Nintendo Power?

I'll agree that Miyamoto isn't a great storyteller. Even though I consider him an important cultural figure of the 20th/21st century, I'll state the unpopular opinion that I was underwhelmed by the Pikmin shorts. It's just not his form. I disagree, though, that that's the reason he doesn't focus on storytelling. He's a visionary game maker, probably unrivaled at his craft. His Mario games are pure expressions of creative thought and play, and nearly every one daring in their exploration and evolution of their play mechanics. There's no story in them because that just ins't the point. They are perfect expressions of their medium: games.

I love movies, I just don't think that every idea is best expressed in that form. Some ideas are best expressed as comics. Some ideas are best expressed as songs. Some are best as movies, and some as video games. I just have a hard time imagining my love of Mario being enhanced as movie, but I'm always hopeful to be wrong about such things.

All that said, if Studio Ghibli wants to take a crack at Zelda...

@YoshiTails My concern exactly. Sony Pictures has no interest in spending money on a failure just to spite a different Sony divisions rival. The real problem with this is that Mario is a game first and storied character second. I am a huge Mario fan, but I challenge you to name one personality trait that makes him a great narrative character. This is by design! Mario games are about play mechanics and level design, not character or storytelling. That's not to say they can't make up a whole character from scratch full of personality traits and character flaws, name him Mario and spin the thoughtful Pixar-esque tale of our dreams, I just really doubt it. It's a cash grab for a marketable brand. The lack of quality in the subsequent film won't be a Playstation conspiracy, but because Mario is a character better suited to the platforming bliss that is unique to the medium of gaming not the narrative demands of the medium of film. If someone at Sony is smart they'll use Lego movie as a model, but I don't see Nintendo giving them that latitude with the characters. Mario is just better realized as a game. And there's nothing wrong with that!

Does anyone know if New & Tasty comes out for Wii U this week? I thought I saw that it was dropping for the other consoles.

I think I read it elsewhere, but Guard and Robot are likely being developed as a part of StarFox U and not as stand-alones. Also, these are clearly very early builds, so I wouldn't judge them too harshly. I have full confidence in Miyamoto.

It's a great game, but my big problem with it is that it forces you into GamePad (or headphones) only audio, to echo the criticism mentioned above. So while you can only really play it from the pad as it's touch based, the review aptly points out that it displays beautifully on the TV which makes the absence of a tv/speakers audio option strange. The music is great, and the gameplay as relaxing to watch as it is to play, so why no way to fill your living room with the aural "zen" as it were? Yeah, it's a nit-pick, but frustrating nonetheless for a game that otherwise deserves a place on everyone's WiiU. Patch?

These kind of statements are just frustrating. YES! I'll buy more of these, but what amount me and other like-minded fans expressing our wishes results in said wishes being answered. Or even acknowledged. With no metric or measurable progress for such market response, it starts to just feel like screaming into an empty room. Of course these decisions are based on money, but why give a false sense of hope. Maybe bring back the voting channel or weave it into Miiverse as an occasional way to let the fans decide things like extra characters, or interest in a game sequel. There's just better ways of drawing in the fans than teasing them with hypothetical follow-ups.

That said, I'd say SNES Remix seems likely. Third Party NES Remix would be great, but legally complicated.

LOVE THIS GAME! Please bring back this and Geist.

@element187 And I guess I assume if you had some kind of system failure and had to purchase a new one they would do the same...again, maybe naive, but I would be very surprised if they expected you to re-buy games they have record of you purchasing. At least, I'd like to hear someone's account of this actually happening before jumping to conclusions like many here do whenever this comes up.

@Tysamu I'm curious if anyone has substantiated evidence that Nintendo would really leave someone out in the cold if their system broke down. I'm very concerned about the antiquated way they do their accounts, or lack thereof, and remain hopeful this will change in the future, but I haven't really heard a lot from people who have actually had a negative experience with losing their data. Nintendo has given some vague answer about handling such issues on a case by case basis, but they clearly can tell from my Nintendo Club account which games I have purchased online, and I find it hard to believe that if there was a system failure or something that they would tell me tough luck. Maybe I'm being naive, but I've nothing but good experiences with Nintendo customer service. Something I can't say about Sony.

Space is at a premium in my apartment, so i download anything i know ill keep. I'm grateful that Nintendo offered an easy external hard drive solution out of the box. I begrudgingly had to buy a new PS3 recently to meet my download needs because they offered no such solution.

Also, there doesn't necessarily need to be gender role reversals in existing franchises. We'd all love some new IPs...

@tsm7 That would truly be shocking for a Nintendo game. It was kinda funny how it was about gender politics and Miyamoto jumped head first into sexual identity. But, hey, why not. We've always wondered about Toad.

I think that's an honest answer. Their games obviously put gameplay first, something people either love or hate about Nintendo games. It's refreshing to see that Miyamoto has thoughtful ideas on the issue though. I love the man more and more.

I know this is going to start a huge argument, but I thought I should add that while Samus can certainly be an example of a strong female character (though the game isn't much about her as a woman), I don't think I'd consider Bayonetta a like example. Gameplay aside, she's not much more than a teenage fantasy and is debatably part of the gender politics problem with gaming. I know, I know, no one wants to hear this, and I'll admit I'm interested in playing the game, but I don't think I could celebrate it as a stride for feminism with a straight face.

@GamerJunkie @mike_intv I bought the DLC, but there's a lot of people who flat out refuse to do digital downloads. Nintendo knows this, and that's why they are releasing a boxed copy. Plus I believe it plays as a standalone which the digital DLC does not. It helps fill out the meager WiiU shelves at retail, and gives people who need to own a disc what they want. Not that Nintendo won't take money where they can, but I don't see this double release as that. They'd rather people be downloading as opposed to retail, its a higher profit margin, but their market just isn't there yet.

@Spartacus3765 I would love to see Nintendo set the standard for doing DLC right. I don't think the stuff they released for NSMB2 was a great start, but I think they are getting there.

As for the Luigi DLC, so far so good. In case anyone is wondering about it, each course is redesigned and shorter. No halfway points. Courses were definitely created with Luigi's controls and time constraints in mind. It's more of the same in some respects, but if you're a fan, I think it's worth the $20. I'll get a lot of play out of it, and I actually like the shorter courses given its a second run through of this material. Or maybe video games are just giving me ADD.

As long as the shipped game feels complete, I don't have a problem with DLC. And I agree, games like Mario Kart and Smash Brothers seem like obvious candidates for periodic additions. I've always wanted to see HD course packs from previous Karts be released. The thought of having a comprehensive Mario Kart with every track ever created is a personal dream.