pawlslax

The most important part of that announcement:

"In the next round, teams will battle in the game’s Ranked Battle modes."

We're finally getting a look at how Splat Zones/Tower Control/Rainmaker look in Splatoon 2. Or maybe an as-yet unannounced mode....

@AlexOlney Link Error

@mateq There's also a fundamental difference between approaches to Turf War and the ranked modes that are the basis of competitive play (Splat Zones, Tower Control and Rainmaker) - although the techniques and styles learned in ranked play do actually translate really well to turf war.

@Fooligan Alex is S-Rank. A not-insignificant portion of those 400 hours were squad battles.

RGTS giveaways and the age-old Magnemite chain should take care of this one

Everyone else is tagging @AlexOlney so I may as well do so myself.

Hi Alex. Glad you like balls. I know your integrity is second to none, other than when we're playing Smash, you cheating goit. Journalistic integrity though, 100%.

My slider has been pretty much switched to off ever since the 3D effect tried to kill any ability to enjoy Pokémon X & Y. That and I play a lot of 3DS games alongside my girlfriend, meaning that the 3d has to be switched off so we can both actually see the screen.

@bezerker99 you're aware that the joy-cons + frame = pro controller, yes?

@Folkloner and amiibo skins for each block type.

@Folkloner I figured you'd be here to say that your optimism will rely completely and utterly on whether or not TetriSwitch is announced next week....

To be honest, it's too early to tell. I'll know how I feel about the rest of the year once we have the switch event out of the way. I suspect it'll be positive though.

@rjejr I can totally see there being a main hub with a castle as the centrepiece, with 8 pipe tunnels leading away from it to different worlds...

@Aeruon you mean you can SWITCH between held items?

Mario Kart Switch it is then!

@ChessboardMan HOLD IT!

Last week's DLC was Phoenix Wright: Asinine Attorney. This week is Apollo Justice: Asinine Attorney. Different scenarios/themes.

@kamikazilucas so aside from a very select few that have been chosen via competitions, the only people that have had access to the demo version of the game are people who work within the industry. I fail to see the problem here. It's still over 6 months until the game will be released on Wii U, I'd be shocked if they unleashed a demo on the public until much closer to release, if at all.

@DragonEleven this was my line of thinking, it's blurring the lines a bit. From my perspective, I've played MUCH less since the update, because it now feels like a lot of the fun has been stripped from the game and the unfairness ramped up. I'd imagine a lot of others dropped off too.

Sega - Project Sonic 2017, already confirmed
Square Enix - Dragon Quest XI, already confirmed
Just Dance 2017 - Ubisoft, already confirmed

Seems like MCV could have fleshed out their rumour reporting with the few actual facts we have about NX lol

Colour me in with the "Why isn't splatoon on the list?" crowd

Awful. Absolutely awful. There are much better franchises out there for collaboration if they want to do that. Urgh.

Hmm... a chance to hit @AlexOlney in the groin?

Tempted.

@Spin I think she's meant to be a stockbroker.

She seems the cold, ruthless, Gordon Gecko type.

Considering we've already had inanimate objects as mystery mushrooms, I'm guessing that there's a TON of crazy stuff we can still see.

Like a checkpoint costume. Or a Mystery Mushroom Costume (is that too meta?).

Or an invisibility costume. That would cause so much chaos.

@ShanaUnite Pokémon Puzzle League reboot, here we come!

Le sigh....

When are people going to get their head around the fact that the vast majority of amiibo are compatible with multiple games and easily become better value for money than traditional dlc? I mean, buying 1 amiibo gives you access to stuff from their primary game but also across several other games - such as Smash amiibo also working with Yoshi's Woolly World and Super Mario Maker.

Realistically, amiibo are here to stay. That means most future first party Nintendo games will feature them in some capacity. The list of compatible games is only going to keep growing. Which means as time goes on, their value for money only increases in terms of the content they unlock.

Imagine, if you will, that you paid £10.99 for a DLC skin in a game, but that in turn gave you a season pass of sorts a whole bunch of games already out and for future games as well. And if you don't care about the future stuff? There is still some trade-in value for the figure, albeit not much.

Oh, and did I mention that, for a large proportion of said content, you can simply borrow an amiibo from someone else? And pay absolutely nothing?

I get it, not everyone likes amiibo or the concept generally. But to continually ignore the fact that 1 amiibo works across a multitude of games when complaining about them is just bad form.

@AlexOlney We. Want. SPHEAL.

Virtue's Last Reward is a steal at under a tenner.

Will probably grab SMT at that same price.

@Xenocity

So, from what I can gather, their data which is used to form the definition of a casual gamer utilizes information gathered from 25 years ago, when Nintendo dominated the console market (the only alternative that is still around being the PC, also relegated to "casual") - does this not suggest that their data is horrifically skewed by historical sales data?

Combined with the Wii and DS being the highest selling consoles of their generation, I can see how casual gamers are more likely to have owned as Nintendo console in their lifetime, but that doesn't mean all Nintendo games are casual. That's as asinine a definition as I've seen in a long time.

Also, I think you're using the terms "hardcore" and "core" interchangeably which doesn't seem right. Again, from what you've shared with us, "core" seems to be referring to a core market - as in, which group will spend the most money on certain high-selling genres over a sustained period. This is NOT the same as "hardcore" gamers, who will spend hundreds of hours playing games, often regardless of genre and platform. PC owners are lovers of Steam, for example, which is known for delivering hardcore games at low prices which wouldn't fall under the "core" definition. I don't think you can use the 2 terms as 1, in the way that you have been,

In summary: XCX seems pretty much a game for hardcore gamers to me, not something I'd recommend to a casual gamer. I therefore disagree with you

@Rhydas I went into my local Game on Friday with my friend from work and there was no sign of XCX at all either. No shelf space, no display material, nothing. Which was a massive disappointment because I've been championing the game for her to buy her kid for Christmas for a while now. Looks like that's a sale lost right there.

I can't wait for amiiboobs compatability to be announced!

@AlexOlney maybe he did and there's a super injunction keeping that fact out of the press.

Plus, Shigsy ALWAYS strikes first.

If they can patch the bugs, might be worth giving a go.

@ryancraddock if they fixed the bugs, would that bump your opinion of the game up to 7/8?

One of my favourite games of all time (Virtues Last Reward) has a completely gamebreaking bug that can be worked around if you're conscious of it, but I personally would still score it 10/10 because the game is THAT GOOD. I'd just have an * next to the score.

So yeah, just curious as to how much damage to the recommendability was done by the bugs?

Also, I love your use of grammar.

@TheWPCTraveler Bananas.

Bananas will happen.

So THAT'S what Ryan was so giddy over!

@Takerkaneanite6 if Nintendo don't make that happen at some point, they've missed a HUGE opportunity!

@GoryDetail that's exactly what I was hoping hear. Hope people don't solve it too quickly though!

Wait... so you'll be able to win the copy based off the title screen alone?

I mean, yeah, they've got your money already (assuming that they manage to enforce the no-pirated-copies thing) and I guess it's still part of the product... but surely you should need to play the actual game for a bit first?

Carbon Roller Deco - Carbon indicates it'll be a faster roller than standard, but gotta be slower than inkbrush (i.e. it's made of carbon fibre and therefore lighter?) and... my god... Seekers combined with bomb rush? On a roller no less?

That thing could be DEADLY in splatzones.

Screw Batman, it's all about the Splat.... man!

... I hate the UK market though. Infidels.

I am going to make a Sonic-amiibo level, ideally with the finale being against Bowser flying in a clown car, with a chain chomp attached to the bottom.

Because I can!