micronean

In Canada, I have to pay $67 for a new game. Sometimes the content just doesn't feel like it's worth the price. I wish the MSRP could be about $20 less. And prices online are just ridiculous sometimes! It's such a missed opportunity when its the easiest way to promote your stuff--especially from 3rd parties.

This is great forward thinking by both the developer, and Nintendo for making it happen. I hope there can be more games that allow cross-platform online. Games like chess would be a natural. Ditto for trivia games like Jeopardy or trivial Pursuit.
...and I can only wish a game like Project C.A.R.S. could do this with the PC community...

This is probably too much to ask, but, does the game support two microphones? Singing duets is a big deal in the Karaoke world...just ask Selma Bouvier and Sideshow Bob...

Why do you keep writing "Wii Karaoke U By Joysound"? Are you being forced to write it that way?

(This post was brought to you by Lenovo and it's Thinkpad line of computers)

From the looks of it, I don't feel very optimistic about this game. There doesn't seem to be any new challenge to it. it just looks prettier. I hope this was only the beginner level, because whoever was playing did not lift off the gas pedal in any of the races, and that worries me, because I'd like to see the player be in charge of multiple driving variables aside from gas/steer/slide. Otherwise it's just an overpriced "Sonic Racing".

Does this chart count Download sales? ...because I'm sure plenty of WWHD sales will come off the Wii U bundle sales, especially come Christmas.

"...we needed to make the right choices". <<-- I think this is the key sentence in the article. They, for whatever reason, felt like they couldn't have everything included in the Wii U version, and had to do the best compromise. That's life.

What bothers me most, though, is how sometimes online is...shoehorned...into a game that doesn't need it. Take, for example, Metal Gear Online. Metal Gear is a single-player stealth game. by its very nature online should not be required. Same thing applies to the recent GTA V. Suddenly, everyone wants to put some online component to their game, and I think it ruins the integrity of the software to stand on its own.
If developers want to do an online component, they should ONLY make an online game for genres that are a natural fit (sports, certain "tournament" shooters, fighting games). and leave a good single-player story alone without compromising manpower or resources.

The funniest part is that Microsoft shows a Nintendo game being played rather than its own Xbox line of games.

Also, here in Japan, Windwaker HD was not marketed with any significance. No ads to speak of, definitely no bundles, and no retail displays at all from Nintendo. It was just another title quietly placed on shelves. I figure it was because so many people had already bought the gamecube in japan compared to other markets, that there is hardly any new players. In North America, Gamecube sales were pretty dead, and so there are proportionally more people who are playing Windwaker for the first time (myself included, as I was a PS2 owner back then).

Portables will always sell better in Japan because A) they can be sold individually to each person. B) because it's the system that adults buy for themselves. In Japan, adults don't play home systems nearly as much as they do portables. Obviously this is from the fact that they are almost never home. They're either working or commuting for 12 hours each day.
In North America, adults have more "down time" at home, so they are more able to play their home consoles. That's a bit of a difference in markets.

This competes more with the other x86 PC based systems: Sony and Microsoft.
They will all be running the same games (for the most part). Whichever one is most affordable, and user-friendly, will get the best sales. And, of course, whichever has the best online infrastructure.

Big surprise. Another delayed game on Wii U.

....I wonder if the developers' coding problems are all the same, or it's Nintendo who's scrutinizing the game ever so carefully (as it has its licensed characters) that they gave the game back to the coders to re-work on it.

Well...it's their holidays to lose, as the PS4 will not be coming to Japan in 2013. Their only competitor, amazingly enough, is none other than the 3DS.

it makes the most sense to make a mario 3d world bundle...as that's the game they were hyping the most at e3. No better way to bring it into living rooms than as a pack-in game. Nintendo always did well with a Mario Bundle (SMB, SMW, SMAS, SM64...) anyway.

The game totally sucks
...but the intro, and its music, is excellent! That's about it.

Don't underestimate the power of Nintendo franchises in Japan. Zelda, Mario, and especially pokemon with the new 3DS colours, are going to blow the charts away.

Weird.... from what the independent 3rd parties have said Nintendo is very helpful and supportive towards them bringing games to the console. Meanwhile, PC-centric Bethesda feels Nintendo needs to involve them in designing the Wii U?? Give me a break!
If Bethesda really wanted to have a game on the Wii U, they would do it--and Nintendo would help them get there. Heck, Iwata himself is a former developer!
Bethesda, Epic, and the other PC software makers just need more self-justification in rejecting Nintendo and that's it. Besides, even if they were to make a game for the Wii U, I doubt it would sell much. Their fanbase does not touch a Nintendo console. They are from different worlds.

...I'd rather these VC reviews focus on the experience of playing the game on the new hardware than just retreading their opinions on 20+ year old games. Say, for example, how touchscreen integration (if any) works, or "waggle", or miiverse, etc.

well, when you're so deeply involved in one system, as reggie is, you end up developing a certain "tunnel vision" about your own product. So Reggie is a bit wrong to say "meh" at Sony and MS. Most everyone else is eagerly awaiting their launch software.
Reggie should be more polite about his competitors, seeing as Nintendo is already far behind in software support this coming generation.

Funny. I remember people used to complain when Nintendo's handhelds DID fold (i.e. the original NDS). Now they complain when it doesn't. To me this seems like a neat, solid, 3DS to keep around at home (without the 3d). Hopefully it can also double as a Wii U gamepad someday.

"Compare this to two decades ago, and most gamers would perhaps get one new title every few weeks, if they were lucky — a very different situation".

One new title every few weeks? Are you nuts?!? Back in '94, games used to cost almost $100! In 1989, Super Mario games never went below $50. A kid (which, at the time was the major consumer of video games--not the 24-35 demographic) would be lucky to get three games a year. The rest of the time you rented or borrowed from a friend.

People today are inundated with media, yes, but it isn't information that attracts people to go elsewhere. it's the different buying options that are out there. In Nintendo's case, attention is with "Hardcore" 3rd party developers. If Nintendo wants attention, it's going to have to create it with a brand-new "hardcore" IP that will make the Xbox owners of the world stand up and listen. And so far it hasn't happened.

The market will decide if there's a price cut or not. And, so far, the market is beginning to cut prices whether Nintendo wants it or not. They need to do whatever it takes to get sales this holiday, and, at least, stay within 30% of what Sony and Microsoft will do. If a price cut is what it takes, then it would be real stupid not to do it.

Corny promo.
I still think there's nothing better than having the games do the talking. I remember the first commercial I saw for the Super Nintendo. It wasn't even about the Super Nintendo at all--that's how memorable it was! It was about Super Mario World, and it showed the new graphics, artwork, and worlds. At the end, it said it was only on Super Nintendo, and that was the 1st time it was revealed on TV.
Nintendo needs to promote a game that can only be played WITH the Wii U and the gamepad. Until then, the Wii U will never sell as it has no distinction with previous consoles.

pacman platformers almost always suck

I think it's more like there's not enough interest in i.d. (Or Carmack) to actually TRY to make a game for Wii U.

besides, i.d. software is known for DOOM, Quake, and other PC-based games. They couldn't care less about Nintendo anyway..

Personally, I think this has been a pretty boring summer for games. Aside from "The Last of Us", there really hasn't been much to get anyone in gaming truly excited. Pretty much since E3 everyone is just waiting for the fall/winter to come.

Right now, everything feels like the water at the beach, rolling back, before a big wave hits. It just looks worse for Nintendo right now.

The original NES game wasn't really that hard. Most of us that played it were just kids. I think that by now, a lot of players are hardened platformer experts, and should breeze right through the game--and enjoy every minute of it!

BTW: The way I see it, what makes some NES games really hard, wasn't so much the gameplay, but the limitation of the technology at the time where you could not save your progress. You had to devote a long time, and serious attention, to play through in one sitting. Many of us kids at the time, couldn't do it (whether from lack of time, or lack of attention span). SNES corrected that limitation, and the rest is history.

I don't know, eh. I would think that any official Zelda bundles would come in some kind of gold trim. I think it's too early for something like that out of Nintendo specifically.

But a bundle of some kind has to be coming out for the holidays. Nintendo-land wasn't popular enough to still retain it a year later--especially when a new Mario is coming out.

@SyntheticPerson
It might be a commonplace thing. the Japanese PSN store, for example, has nowhere near the amount of indie titles that the American PSN store has. Also, they are (or certainly were up to a year ago) classified by publisher name, rather than by alphabetical order...well...hiragana order.
I think it has changed now, though, when the PSN store was updated. I haven't checked it out recently, because the games aren't anywhere as good as the US store.

also, the word "independent" is a no-no in Japan. Their culture is all about collectivism and uniformity. They just do things in a different way.

I think the worst is over for Nintendo. They had a really rough time the past two or so years, with the drying up of Wii enthusiasm, the tsunami that fell right around the launch of the 3DS, the price cut of the 3DS, the weak launch of the Wii U, and the delay in 1st party Wii U titles.

They now should go back to being like it was before 2010-ish, but hopefully improve with the Wii U.

...also, retro games that have lasted this long were the best of the best. There was definitely a lot of crap that has been largely dismissed, and today non-existent, as well as other titles that were good, but people may never know about them. Heck, my avatar is from a 1990 game called "Al Unser Jr's. Turbo Racing", which I consider the best racing game on the NES...but it wasn't popular then, and if not for YouTube, I doubt people would even know it existed. Small details like these that get missed over when looking back at the period today.

It's not so much that older gamers are 'snobs' toward younger gamers when it comes to retro, but just like history itself, it's just a completely different mindset between a person who lived that history, and someone who just read about it. You could compare it to a sports pundit. It's considered important to have someone who played the sport talk about it rather than someone who knows all the stats but never entered the field. It's the same with retro gaming--especially when you talk about in terms of the time period. The mid to late 1980s was a golden period for games, not just with what people see on the screen, but with everything around the world back then: the local arcades, the stores, the t-shirts, the movies, the trading cards. When gaming was on TV it was a big deal because there was no internet, never mind a movie like "The Wizard". It was just a time when everything was being done for the first time--and it was incredibly exciting! That kind of experience is hard to replicate, and that's what the older gamers feel "snobbish" about. It's hard (at least for me, who was enthralled by the, now ugly-looking, Pacman, simply because it was such a new experience) to hear someone who never lived those days talk about it and consider himself an expert.

I just came from BIC Camera in Tokyo (Yurakucho). They had some nice Pikmin displays and a looped demo on a tv screen. I'm happy Pikmin is selling, but I hope nobody is actually thinking this game is going to sell the system.
At most, I would hope this is the 1st--and lowest--step in the Wii U's climb to greater sales.

Steve Hood is lying!

Codemasters never had Nintendo in mind when making their F1 series since 2010. Their F1 games have been built on the same EGO engine since back then, save a few tweaks and improvements--which is why they will not release their F1 2013 game on a next-gen system--and it was never fitted for use on the Wii.
Trust me, this is not as bad as it seems. Those Codemasters F1 games have all kinds of setup bugs, driving bugs, weather bugs, they've gone simpler and simpler, and their online options are terrible! What's worse, is that they only patch the game for consoles one time, before forgetting about it and moving on to next year. They have a knack for abandoning consumers.

I'm moving on to Nintendo to get away from 3rd party developers like Codemasters.

Goodbye Ubisoft.
This is the same reason why I don't watch hollywood movies anymore. Franchises are both derivative and boring! Ubisoft might as well buy CoD and develop it, or Madden, or GTA. Why even beat around the bush?

I doubt they're going there to show anything to consumers, but rather to schmooze with developers into coming over to the Nintendo camp. If they're going to show anything, it'll probably be just new trailers for upcoming games...

I just hope they've taken advantage of having more buttons on today's controllers. The only thing I didn't like on the original was the awkward button combination of [down] + [A] [B] to do the pogo hop. It always messed me up (...but, then again, I was 10 yrs old).

Aside from Super Glove Ball, I can't remember any other games that used the power glove as advertised. Generally, button combinations were mapped to finger movements, so in order to move left you had to flex your index finger. In order to use the A-button, you had to flex your thumb, etc. It was more like a DDR type of peripheral--not so much like a wiimote. I got the hang of playing R/C Pro-Am on it (made by Rare, 1988-ish), after much trial and error.

I think this is going to be one hell of a Christmas shopping season in regards to gaming. I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but the delays in software for the Wii U has made Nintendo's marketing arm ALSO wait for the holidays. That means that all 3 system makers, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, will be marketing the crap out of their systems at the same time! I've been around gaming for ages, and I can't seem to remember any other time when systems have gone toe-to-toe so simultaneously in a vital year.

It wouldn't surprise if Nintendo deliberately did not go all out to market the Wii U yet, because even they knew they didn't have the software to promote.

...I also don't think Pikmin is a strong enough title to spend the marketing bucks on, either. They are going to have to wait (just like all of us) until the fall & winter to really get the ball rolling. It's just too bad it will be alongside the PS4 launch...maybe that's why they are sparing all their marketing ammo until then.

@koopakid
I don't know what you, or any of the others, are really complaining about. I think Nintendo has given both players and developers everything they could possibly want.
They've given them a traditional controller layout, a camera, a visual card reader, secondary speakers, a microphone, A SECOND SCREEN, touchscreen compatibility, motion controls--and the option to use the wiimote and a traditional controller. The rest is up to the imagination of the developers. Nintendo shouldn't have to spoon-feed developers, or gamers, about how to use the gamepad. Talk about lazy!
Even from my couch, I can think of a couple of ways to use the gamepad. for example: use the 2nd screen as a different camera angle, say, for a sports game (i.e. view from the bleachers); how about laying it aside and using the camera to view your opponent's facial expression during a strategy game; how about laying out a series of macro buttons--maybe even a keyboard--in tandem with the nunchuk, and use them just like how PC gamers do it in shooters?
There can be so many variations on input and functionality. Why are people so stuck on the same old thing?

@banacheck
I was talking about the software development environment, not about the price of the Wii U.

Ahh, Michael Pachter...
I remember, back in 2004, when both Sony and Nintendo were about to release their portable systems, pretty much everyone was quick to dig Nintendo's grave. They all heard the specs of the PSP, the screen, etc, while all Nintendo could come up with was a 2nd screen. Until then I had never seen such overwhelming hype placed on one system over another. It was literally "David vs Goliath". In the end, of course, Nintendo saw where consumers were heading, and their "touchscreen" experiment was a success to the detriment of the PSP, which was merely a shinier way to play the same old overhyped mature games.
Fast forward to 2013, and I'm sort of feeling that same tension in the air. Sony and MS have made very nice systems, but neither has caught up with the changing trend of gaming, which is new, affordable to make, independent games--specifically tailored to be used with a touchscreen (ipod/smartphone-type) interface. I really really feel this is where the "next gen" of consumers will come from. If Nintendo just does well with indie developers, and online sales, it might not matter that the 3rd parties in Sony and MS' camp aren't with Nintendo. They'll eventually come crawling back like they did with the DS.

@MadAussieBloke
...as for Virtua Racing: It was really only good for arcade. The home console editions were a poor imitation. About as bad as Killer Instinct for the SNES.
Even the 32X version wasn't as good.
Nevertheless, for 1992, Virtua Racing was totally jaw-dropping amazing!

hmm...if the FX chip was ready that early, why were there so few games utilizing it (and all of them from Nintendo)? And why was it released well into the console's life?
...It may have been "talked about" putting it into the SNES, but I don't quite believe it was very close to reality. --Also, the FX chip games were damn expensive!

Third party publishers have no interest in selling systems, nor the loyalty to stay with any one game console. All they want to do is make the most money from the games they publish.
Nintendo just needs to make the Wii U special enough, or generate a critical mass of sales to make third parties climb on board. Then third parties will have no problem making games for Wii U.

This is popular in Japan (at least from the number of microphones they sell alongside the Wii U), but I don't know about America. But who knows? It may very well become a craze like Nintendogs was, but for closet singers (rather than closet pet trainers).

You basically have to look at Donkey Kong Country to see where download-only is heading. The company that sells you the game can easily take it from you, and make it disappear from existence. With a physical copy, it's still available for anyone to use.

Meh. Even if it's meant to come out in April, it's par for the course to have a popular game delayed. These days, I get more surprised when a top title actually comes out on time...

Oh Wow! Tokyo Big Sight is in the middle of a big tourist complex on Tokyo bay. That place is already full of weekenders walking about. The building itself is obviously smaller than the hall that the TGS uses, but access, proximity to the center of Tokyo, and popularity as a tourist attraction--and pokemon--is going to make this event explode!