kantaroo

LOL at this sale. Ultimate NES Remix is £11.99 at Zavvi right now (new) vs. £20.99 at the "Black Friday Sale" price.
More like "Black Friday Fail" price.

Ni no kuni port please. What a lovely game.

12 out of 15 games are 1st party titles; I think this list is too skewed towards Nintendo's own output. I personally would have listed Rayman Legends & Deus Ex ahead of some of the titles on this list. Or even LEGO City Undercover or LEGO Marvel Superheroes. Also, where is Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate? There were some good 3rd party games earlier on in the system's life which should have made the list or the honourable mentions ahead of some others (looking at you Wii Fit U).
Just my opinion of course.

Happy birthday!

I think Nintendo is playing it smart with Miitomo. Worst case scenario, it creates a bit more awareness of Miis / Nintendo products, and serves as a mobile linchpin for the new Club Nintendo. Best case scenario, the outfits become a fad amongst fans and non-fans alike and they end up raking it in, a bit like amiibo but without production costs. Here's a thought, will they restrict supply of the outfits?
Let us see how the other apps/games develop; Nintendo is keeping its cards close to its chest on the rest. But making it clear that they are not about to turn into the next Konami.
Their future is in dedicated machines... for now.

Looked nice. But Samus was wearing way too much make up; you just don't have time to put on lipstick when you're going to kick investigate a space ruin which may be creeping with Space Pirates. Seriously, is that the right time to apply eye shadow?
But yeah, the setting and the action were nice.

I don't think the cencorship is the real story. The real story is that Nintendo is selling a game with a 13 year old, semi-naked, sexualised character. I have been following XCX news and I do not recall this being highlighted before and I wonder why not, in a year when we have been starved of Nintendo news.
To be clear: I do not think that this is traditional Japanese attire for 13 year olds, she is clearly depicted in a sexualised way for the pleasure of a male audience. And Nintendo is the publisher. That is the real story for me.

I have to say these type of costumes are one of the things that turned me off the first XC. I just can't get into a story where characters are dressed in that way, sorry but it prevents me from getting into the game. I cannot engage with semi-naked women in the story and if you don't build a bond with your party you might as well stop playing RPGs.

As for the censorship, it didn't really help me with XC and I suspect it will not help me with XCX. So Nintendo might as well not bother.

I know that this is not a finance website but...
What has the rest of the Japanese stock market been doing? Could it be that it was falling for most of September and has recently started to pick up? Shocker - a Japanese company moves with the Japanese market? Well, I never...

Still going strong at 5:20AM. Got Alleway and some ringtones for my last few points.
I hope we get the announcement of the replacement service soon.

It's not just Nintendo that should be miffed. I think Microsoft should feel even more annoyed. Firstly the iPad Pro is basically an Apple Surface, even down to the keyboard cover. But whereas the Surface was panned, the iPad Pro has the press drooling already. And the business model of the Apple TV is basically the same as the original proposition of Xbox One (TV and gaming in one platform). But whereas the gaming community reacted badly to the inclusion of TV features in a gaming console, the TV watching community is curious about the addition of games.

As for the console itself, I was tempted to call this the next Philips CDi...

However this will reach a decent user base (sadly larger than the Wii U) simply based on Apple's brand power. But it will be no console-killer because it will lack quality games.
Having said that, if momentum builds then we could find some good games being developed for it and that could change the equation.
Speaking as someone who has 5 games consoles under his TV, and whose wife has issued a 'cease and desisit' order on purchasing new consoles, I can already see the attraction of a box that can be labelled as a TV product! However no quality games at the moment means I am not interested.

If Pachter says so it must be true right?

I am sure Nintendo is legally right to sack him.
I am sure Amazon is legally right to pay minimal tax in the UK.
This does not mean I have to like either action.
I feel sorry for the guy; he has made a mistake and his employer has done what is within their right to do.
Nintendo has not won any goodwill from me in this episode. perhaps they don't need to, perhaps how they deal with their employees is their own business.
I will carry on doing what is best with my money too, without any emotional connections with Nintendo.

All the best to him, he must be going through tough times.

Come on, someone post that GIF.
You know the one I'm talking about.

Wouldn't it be nice if Nintendo and Microsoft agreed to re-publish Diddy Kong Racing as DLC for Rare Replay AND in Wii U VC? Everyone would be a winner...

Nintendo's priority should be to avoid releasing hardware that is easy to hack. I expect they're working with DeNa on some sort of subscription business model for China (and maybe the rest of us too!)

I'll be in Kyoto in April next year. Are there any other cool Nintendo or more generally videogames related spots that I should try to visit?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

There is another 3rd party market that does not need power. It is the Android/iOS market. That's what Nintendo is after.
And the mistakes they've learned from are the lack of killer apps at launch. Expect to see Zelda, F-Zero, Mario etc at launch.

There is another 3rd party market that does not need power. It is the Android/iOS market. That's what Nintendo is after.
And the mistakes they've learned from are the lack of killet apps at launch. Expect to see Zelda, F-Zero, Mario etc at launch.

I actually really liked Wave Race: Blue Storm.
As someone has already pointed out, Nintendo sure could use another active studio right now...

Very interested in this game. I'll play it with my 2 daughters.
Does anyone know if the 3D effect is important to the gameplay, with the totem mechanic and all?
We have a 2DS you see...

@Damo True enough. But you know us old fogeys, we like to hear the same war stories over and over again.

Article does not mention Ultimate Play the Game.
A Nintendo site, I know, but context is important...
Edit:ACGL is mentioned but this was only ever briefly their trade name...

Tbh, I'm not surprised about this development.
It does make me a bit aprehensive about future Nity games on mobile though. Regardless of whatever others say defending whether Nintendo has broken a promise or not. Those promises are pointless. And they can change any time Nintendo pleases, so what's the point of holding them to them?
This time last year some were saying "Nintendo will never make mobile games, Iwata said so!"
Now we hear "Nintendo will never do straight ports, Iwata said so!"
What's the point of arguing whether this counts as a broken promise or not? And who exactly do Nintendo need to make promises to, and for what reason?

An interesting implication could be that Miyamoto is stepping back from hardware 'decisions'. One could say perhaps that all Nintendo's consoles since SNES have been driven by his vision of what the next generation of Nintendo games would be about. The implication in this brief article is that he has become more of an spectator with NX.

The Wii U's 1st year was a total mess.
What should have happened is it should have launched in 2011 with a much stronger lineup. I won't speculate on what should have been in the lineup; F-Zero would have helped though.
I'd love for one day to get sone insight into how Nintendo dropped the ball so much between 2008 (top of the console world) and 2012 (launch of a console that sinks like a stone). And let's not forget that Wii sales flatlined in the last 2 years it was on the market...
What a shame for a company that arguably has the most fun games on the market!

The comments have been made already but I'll say them again.
Between 2010 and 2012 Nintendo was MIA. They were clearly not developing a cutting edge console (otherwise they would have come out with an iPad - by the time Wii U released Apple was on iPad 3). I really hope that one day we will get a bit of an inside story of how they dropped the ball between '09 - 12 (developing of the next gen would have started at least in 2009).
And then there was the price point... while PS4 and XB1 were pushing the boundaries and asking for a premium price, Wii U launched for just a bit less money with a souped up PS3 performance. And with a tablet which you could not even take very far away from the console.
All would have been forgiven if they had had a stellar line up of games, showing what the Wii U is capable of. Sadly only Nintendoland managed it (and Zombi U to an extent, but it is not nearly a solid / memorable of an experience as, say The Last of Us). It just seemed (seems?) that Nintendo never had a clear idea of what the gamepad was.
Sure there is off-screen play. And maps. And the generic concept of "asymmetrical multiplayer". But none of those are killer apps that make people say "I want one of those".
On top of that, they reaped what they sowed with the Wii: marketed to a fickle "casual gamer" crowd, they never saw the need to upgrade to a better model to replace the machine that had been gathering dust for 4 years or so. The fact that the Wii U's marketing was atrocious did not help.
And to top it all off there was the fact that they somehow had not realised that developing HD games takes a lot more effort - which led to a notorious games drought in H1 2013.
All in all a fiasco of a console launch, from which they never recovered.
I had not meant to write a tirade like this but there you go. That's how I see it anyway.

I did not like this ND very much at all. Most of the games that I have any passing interest in were already known about. The only exception is the Zelda Triforce Heroes (I really think they should re-release the Gamecube 4-Swords on 3DS...)
Should we start a poll on "what was the worst / most disappointing part of the ND?"
For me it would be the end. I kept thinking that Reggie must have saved a good game for last, perhaps a new 3D Mario. But no. Just a bunch of people playing Mario tunes. 4 minutes of my life that I will never get back. Go away Reggie and come back when you've got some new fun games for my Wii U.

Why sad face time? That sounds very parochial. Why not celebrate that others can now enjoy games that we grew up with, and that those games are being kept alive and in the public consciousness? I think it is great that the likes of Blast Corps are having another go at being appreciated.
If you are sad because they are not coming to Wii U then that is a different matter, but let us remember that Nintendo had a chance to buy Rare and did not do so. Of course they invested their money otherwise and gave us a lot of joy as a result. But let us not be sad that others are getting to enjoy some good games.
Personally, this gives me an excuse to dust off my XB1, which has seen very little gameplay (it's basically a Forza Horizon 2 machine) since I got it a Christmas. My Wii U on the other hand, is constantly in use and can now have a little break!

Let's forget about the troll and get back on subject: how to trap Tim for an interview!
If you do get to sit down with him, could you please ask him what happened to Mine Mare and whether even a screenshot is available anywhere for it?
Then you can ask him about Dream; I did not know much about it but it would be cool if there were anything remotely playable.
Finally you should dare him to get back in the saddle for one more go at games development!

@dcharlie if you do remember the name of that store I would be much obliged. Better yet if you can find a map but even with the name I'll have something to go on.
As you noted most of the articles about shopping in Japan are about Tokyo and Osaka, but I only have a short amount of time and I've decided to spend it in Kyoto instead... I am going with two young children and I hope that the sights in Kyoto will be more appropriate than the bustle of Tokyo.
Thanks!

Are there any branches in Kyoto? I am going for a couple of days next year and I would not mind visiting some retro video game stores.
Not the best city for this, I know. Next time I will go to Tokyo or Osaka.

can I make a humble plea for NeoGeo Pocket Color games on 3DS VC?
pretty please?

But regarding the headline, why utilise the word utilise when you can use the word use?
I much prefer words of one syllable even if they sound less 'high-falutin'.

Welcome to Candy Crush Pokemon, or Pokemon Crush Saga.
A really bad idea if you ask me. I certainly will not be going anywhere near this.

I think they will announce the concept of the Wii U's successor in 2016 and launch in 2017.
This is what they did with the Wii and Gamecube. It will also result in a 5 year lifespan which is the norm (the Wii was the exception at 6 years).

Sure, after the announcement interest in the Wii U will drop... but frankly, it will not make any difference as it's not like it's setting the house on fire sales-wise.

Alternatively, they may go for an early release in 2016 if they were to promote it as a "third pillar" as they did with the DS vs Gamecube.
The idea would be a very different console/portable hybrid or something like that.

In any case if anyone thinks that 2017 is going to be a strong year for Wii U I think they are deluding themselves. Remember that the last year before a new console is released (and I don't see it being any later than 2017) is usually a drought for the incumbent. In particular, the 6 months prior to release will see no new games for Wii U.
2016 will have some interesting games I'm sure, but they are going to be mostly niches. Perhaps they'll manage to get the Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem project off the dry dock that it is rumoured to be in. And they will have some other announcements (Metroid is my prediction). But yeah, Holiday 2016 will be the Wii U's last hurrah.

I too think that getting the NNID-linked downloads will be key, but it will not come easily. The problem of course is not technology - every system from Android to Xbox offers this feature nowadays.
I think that the real problem for Nintendo is business related. Their business is reliant on selling the same piece of software to the same people many times over. For example, how many versions of Super Mario Bros have there been over the years? Even a much more recent game, such as Ocarina of Time has had several: N64, Gamecube (two emulation discs), Wii VC, 3DS..

As we are speculating, I will use my crystal ball to predict that the next system will not be backwards compatible with Wii U or Wii, allowing a clean break with the systems architecture of the last decade. It will have a full controller with analog triggers and have Gamecube VC from the get-go. It will also launch with a strong line up including the next 3D Mario game. Some Wii U games will be ported over either by ditching the tablet (in some games it does little other than provide a map) or by linking it with the successor to the 3DS which could act as a gamepad substitute. There will be a subset of the eshop which will offer games that work on both the next Wii U and the next 3DS (most indie games will be on this section, and if they square the sums I mentioned in the previous paragraph, most of the VC too).
It will be cheap to be able to compete with the PS4 and Xbox 1 which will be seeing price drops at that stage of their lifecycles. It will be a success, but not in the scale of the Wii.

My wishlist, in order of preference.

1. A proper account system for downloadable games, as opposed to the outdated sytem of tying downloads to hardware.
2. Better range for the Wii U controller. Or better yet, make it a standalone device.
3. Better media integration (either do it or don't do it - not like the current half-baked TVii)

All the other suggestions (e.g. N64, GCN VC games) are nice to haves but seem more tactical decisions - e.g. they may prefer re-releases of N64 games on 3DS (both Zeldas, Star Fox 64 etc.) rather than make or break next-gen design decisions.

The sad comment is that given the Wii U's poor sales not many people would have noticed if it had been banned for sale in the US.
And I say that with sadness - I own two Wii Us myself! (one at home one at my parents')

BTW I went to the one 3 years ago in London and it was really worth it, highly recommended.

Hilarious about the Canadian who complains about having to travel 650Km and then BensonUli says he's not willing to travel from Turin to Milan. Obviously Europeans have a different sense of what is too far to travel!