mike_intv

@JTMnM
It appeared to have lasted about two (2) hours.
Funny thing is that there are only two (2) on eBay (at 5x and 6x markup) — which makes me wonder where they all went.

This does not seem to fit the times.

In the US, I think AT&T WiFi HotSpots still work — mostly because the systems click into those (and on the Internet) automatically without you having to create an access point.

Locally, the Best Buy shut down over a year ago (and others were hit-or-miss before that). Finding a working McDonalds has become rare (though a couple of months ago, two were still working). The only real place to get hits was was Barnes & Noble.

To be honest, I haven't tried in a couple of months. My 3DS battery slowly died, so it no staying power and you can't go long distances on extension cords. I finally upgraded, then kept changing information on the old unit to get the last five US states (two of which I traveled to with my 3DS and did not get a Street Pass) and last 20-some birthdays.

I just wish I had gotten Market Crashers rather than Slot Racers.

Did anyone read the reviews? Did people troll or be toxic?

Either there is are announcements in a direct, work being done on a port that is taking longer, or EA likes leaving money on the table for spite. (If I were a shareholder, that third possibility would make me very upset).

Of course, another way to look at it is that EA has become more interested in the visuals than the playing.

The only time I have ever pre-ordered something digitally was when there was a discount. So in some ways, it makes no sense to do this.

Also, NIntendo could claim that in its system, you are not pre-buying but pre-loading since there is a download that occurs at the time of pre-purchase. That tells the system to automatically download the full game when it becomes available. So this situation is somewhat more complicated than what some make it out to be.

I fear this is the trend. Last year, three of the four used game shops in my town closed. This included one that had been in business for 21 years and another that had been around in various forms for over a decade.

Maybe a better approach would have been to post a message on the website, explain the situation, and then ignore the question or reference the website.

Also, didn't this game come out like 3-1/2 years after the original, Kickstarter estimate?

@Vin
One thing to note that these are not new accusations. They have been around for years — and the people who have questioned the scores have been treated like pariahs. It is only just now that technology to analyze the supporting evidence has become available to show that something may, in fact, be amiss.

This is better than the Kenner Christmas Box of 1977.

(This was an empty box pre-order for Star Wars toys which were not yet produced).

I wonder if there is more between the Wolfgames/Wolfgang Wozniack and NoA than is let on. (Or whether or not the site/author has it in for Nintendo).

The following is the end of an article about VA-11 HALL-A coming to Vita from dotesports by Anna Valens (same site, same author). The quotes in the second paragraph strongly resemble what was said in today's article. It came out Nov. 6, 2017 — four days before Doom was released for Switch. This leads me to believe that "mature" may actually mean "high brow" or "esoteric"

From: https://dotesports.com/the-op/news/va-11-hall-a-vita-switch-18534#list-1

As for whether VA-11 Hall-A will come to Nintendo Switch, there's some complications involved. While Wozniak would love to bring the game to the Nintendo console, both Sukeban and Nintendo of America would have to approve the game, and Game Maker Studio would have to work properly on the Switch. Furthermore, Wozniak thinks Nintendo of America is too concerned with keeping mature titles off the console, so the game might not get approved for release.

"The biggest challenge here [is] Nintendo of America's approval requirements and desires," Wozniak said. "We have another game that contains a mature situation where two people talk about [it] in a very kind and patient way... the concept was not approved because they are not currently looking for mature titles."

So for now, don't expect VA-11 Hall-A to land on the Switch any time soon. In the meantime, the game is available now for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and VA-11 Hall-A's PlayStation Vita launch lands on Nov. 14.

@onex I went back and read the original on "The OP"

Much of the story about indie developers was Wolfgang's complaints (he is mentioned 14 times in the article). It seems to be a click-inducing "Nintendo is bad" article. Though it does note he is not deterred from publishing on Nintendo by this — no NL did drum it up a bit too.

https://dotesports.com/the-op/news/nintendo-switch-indie-developers-19968

@onex Am I reading it wrong. NL just uses that title to ID Wolfgang Wozniak/Wolfgame.

And while it is not a Wolfgame license, it is all over its website.

@GC-161 I thought the same thing ... except that Wolfgame is US-based, so probably does not have access to NoE or NCL.

That being said, it does seem a lot of "word" vs. "nothing" without much detail from Wolfgame. And given that Wolfgame does not appear to have a lot of resources or have a lot of a track record (other than publishing VA-11 HALL-A), it could just be finding it tough to get noticed.

Can anyone confirm if the physical version will include the Nintendo-themed cars? Or am I asking a dumb question since they are part of the Nintendo version of the game?

@MegaTen I agree. It has been explained well. It makes sense. And it does not seem random or hidden in its approach (like some other companies).

Does anyone know if some of these same issues also exist with the physical version of the game?

From the context of the video, it appeared as if the test was on a downloaded version. An 8G Switch cart could hold almost everything uncompressed and might make load screens quicker.

This game divides audiences. People either love it or hate it.

@Trikeboy
Good points. Also eBay (and other auction sites) make this possible by allowing pre-sales to be resold. If this were not possible, scalping would be much less of a viable business.

FYI — Gamestop and ThinkGeek are part of the same company, so did good and bad.

I have heard Bots. I have heard limited stock.

All I know is that something does not add up.

And while everyone is focusing on Nintendo, there is plenty of blame to go around.

The retailers handle the sales. And the auction sites allow selling of pre-orders. The former was botched. And the latter encourages scalping.

I have an older version — basically because I got for $25 used.
These units are usually about equally split between Genesis games and "other" games.
And they are usually easy to find because they come out every year and they don't resonate with people the way that Nintendo does. So there is plenty of supply and much less demand.

My order says "Processing" which is what I would expect it to say.

I also received the email that it was available (for which I had signed up to receive).

@chrcoluk

Of course, doing it that way would cut out retail partners, which also could be a problem.

Also, not sure where you got the 300k number. Forbes says 1.5M sales for NES mini classic worldwide.

I have read a lot of complaints about how Nintendo is doing this.

What I have not seen much of is suggestions on how to do it.

My adviser in graduate school had a policy when he was in state government. You can come to me with a problem — but you better have a solution.

So let's have solutions.

The only one I can think of is to take orders (fully paid to limit the effectiveness of scalpers) and then produce. Even then, there would have to be a time or number limit on the production because the facility would have to be contracted to make the units.

It is doubtful, even at 80 USD/80 Euro/70 UKP, that this is much of a money maker for Nintendo. But it is great at raising awareness and interest — especially among 30-somethings and 40-somethings.

Also, one thing people miss (including Nintendo) is that when it does something (toys-to-life, retro consoles), there is a much higher demand than normal. In Toys-to-Life, Lego is flat, Skylanders are suspended and Disney Infinity is no more. In Retro Consoles, you can walk into stores and get last year's Atari and Genesis units (and maybe the one-off Colecovision and Intellivision units from two years ago). But if you aren't quick, you miss Amiibo and Minis.

Depends on price and availability. Usually they can be found cheap right after the holidays.

It reminds me of Excite Truck in a way. And that could be a good thing.

These units are the reason that Nintendo under-estimated the demand for the NES Classic Mini.

Annually renewed and selling mediocre at best, Nintendo created a hyper-charged demand where one did not exist before by making a quality product.

This Genesis will sell some — and then be back in another form next year.

Nintendo has not done a traditional presser in several years.
Generally, its presentation (Direct) and demonstration (Treehouse) approach has been well-received. So I am not sure why people are thinking it would revert back.

The e3 press conference is almost passe'. People want announcements and they want information. You can do that any time in many different formats. The big thing about e3 is getting people (especially but now not exclusively press people) a chance to play the games and talk to people about the games. And that will still be done.

@Wolfgabe
Thanks for the update.

@Moon
Jools has games coming — at least according to the graphic from this article. So he can't be too upset, even though he always seems to be.

As for Vroom — that was an NOJ decision (as has been noted here) and the issue has been with NOA. Plus, I will say the concept for Vroom sounds much better than it turned out to be (sounds a lot like Nights — just not done as well).

@IceClimbers
If true, then WF appears to not be able to pitch (another) port of Shantae. (And WF has not done anything just for Nintendo for three years - but has done some things for other consoles or mobile exclusively. So that developer has moved away from Nintendo (only Nintendo) — which is transactional.

@JHDK That is true. But it is also true that if you want to be honest and don't want to put yourself into purgatory, you might not want to attach your name to negative comments.

Like many people here, I too am unsure why Nintendo would not continue making NES (and Famicom) Minis. But unlike a lot of people here, I think that maybe they could not.

These classic collection units have generally not sold well — and have never sold this well. The most successful of these is probably the Atari Flashback Unit. Now in its seventh iteration (as well as some store special units and this past year a portable version), it has become annual holiday staple. Made by AT Games, it is available for a few months, goes away, and comes back new the following year.

AT Games has had some success with a Sega unit as well, but the Intellivision and Colecovision units relesaed in 2015 languished.

Likewise, self-contained controller-based units with games have generally been out there and taken months to sell limited stock.

So using this information, Nintendo probably contracted for so much manufacturing. It under-estimated by a long-shot. Likewise, since there are third-party games on the system, there is probably some licensing fee paid for a maximum of so many copies.

Going back to retool a factory or renew licensing agreements may not have been worthwhile for Nintendo — especially considering the profits could not have been that much on $90 million in sales worldwide. (The $60 US pricetag was only $10 more than the suggested price for an Atari Flashback — which only features RCA and not HDMI output).

Nintendo seems it cannot win because its demand curve is so much different than its competitors — meaning that its market assumptions are wrong. (I see some people have mentioned amiibo. Toys to Life has collapsed as for everyone else. Activision/Skylanders has paused. Disney has gotten out. And Lego appears weak. But Nintendo can still move amiibo).

Orange Park defines inflatables as portable signs (7.03.00) and bans all portable signs (7.05.00(f)).

In general, this restriction is content neutral. So it would probably withstand constitutional scrutiny.

Holiday or seasonal decorations are defined to be tied to specific time of year (7.03.00) and such are allowed in all districts temporarily (7.27.00(q)). (Temporary is defined as not permanent — and less than one year in nature (7.03.00)).

From this, a wooden, 2D Mario sign may be allowed — so long as it meets town requirements. Working with the officials is probably going to be much more successful than challenging this in court (though the PR is going to be good for business).

For those interested: https://www.municode.com/library/fl/orange_park/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIIILADERE_ARTVIISIRE

That is the sign ordiance for the Orange Park, FL.

I would love to see someone actually sign under what part of this ordinance he is being told he can't have the sign.

I did see that the blow-up sign is considered a temporary sign. And I have heard of places banning such signs for safety and aesthetic reasons. The mixed message is in the difference between commercial and non-commercial speech. I found a section of the code that mentioned that, but could not find the distinction that supposedly exists. (If true, it could be key in any litigation).

I have seen a lot of people question the estimates.
Has anyone joined the site and read the full article?

@Discostew
Agreed. It would be nice to know if this is a problem on all or just some hardware.

@DragonEleven Or a dropped "1" in front of the file size listing.

Because 17.1 GB would fit the Xbox size.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE There appear to be many GameStops in Ireland that have Switch units (and a lot that do not). So you are right that you can find one if you look — which is different than much of the rest of the world.

But as for it being easy-to-find in all places — that is another matter. According to these store's respective websites: It is not available on-line from Gamestop in Ireland. Amazon UK, which serves Ireland, is showing a 31 March ship date. Littlewoods Ireland is showing a 28 April delivery date. Player 1 Gaming does not show any Switch consoles (or any Nintendo consoles for that matter).

So the situation appears

@cdmoore74 It probably can — and will eventually.
But one thing people forget is that the iPhone and iPad are 2 times (or more) the cost of a Switch.

@Jessica286 Agreed. But difference between cool and being a problem/legit concern about the console.

@freaksloan No. But I take my iPhone (2x cost of a Switch) or my iPad (2+x cost of a Switch).

The TV on which I play my Switch can stream Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. I don't really need my Switch to do that.

Same thing with a web browser. My TV can do that. My iPad can do that. I don't need my game to do that. I used the feature once or twice on the WiiU.

My biggest issue is the left joy-con as my couch needs to be a bit closer to the TV.

@rjejr I had forgotten about that potential backlash. Obviously it was not as much as feared. But it is still a very good and relevant point.

And as you said, they are two very different consoles.

@rjejr True about PS4 launch in Japan. It was a bit different though as it had launched in other regions the previous November — meaning potentially there was more buzz and more stock for the console.

Still, I think we can all agree that the Switch — while not perfect — is not the WiiU.

Durability should not be surprising.

Back in the day, X-Play did a test of the three consoles at the time — PS2, Xbox, and GC — to see which one was more durable. They could not kill the GameCube, even dropping from 20+ feet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioWnoOjP9IA

Am I missing something?

I have a userid listed already.

Now I am worried.

This is unfortunate.

That being said, I too have wondered about the method used to ship the carts (the carrier, lack of insurance, and size of package).

I also wondered why not find a partner in Europe to do the PAL cart dumps there.

I doubt anyone stole it for money. Where would you sell this?

I wish it were bundled — or cheaper.
But buying it for fun with my non-gaming wife.