Man, I wouldn't be surprised in the least. As I've been saying (adjusted for date) since the DSi XL was announced, Nintendo's released 8 handhelds the 11 years of this millennium so far.
I've been waiting for 2 or 3 revisions to pass before I consider getting a new handheld. I've had a GBA, DS Lite, and DSi (only because the Lite had hinge and screen problems). I've never seriously considered getting a 3DS, and will likely only somewhat consider getting the first or second revision to it.
Wouldn't really care. I've never been a fan of most Nintendo first party stuff, and it would make choices easier if I ever buy a future console, which isn't particularly likely.
On the other hand, it might be bad for competition.
I'm not sure if this will make much of a difference. To me, it seems that people aren't too interested in the 3DS as a machine, for the same reason as me.
What else can it do that the DSi can't, besides better graphics and 3D? There's other things, yes, but how many people will actually use the AR cards?
What else can it do that smartphones can't, besides 3D? There's a lot they can do that the 3DS can't.
What else can it do that the Vita can't, besides 3D? Again, the Vita is an all around better package.
From what I hear in other media, the 3D front is fading. If so, I wouldn't be too surprised if Nintendo released a new 3DSi or 3DS XL next year. And yes I do mean next year. As I've pointed time and time again, they've released a new handheld 8 out of the 11 years this millennium. Unless they have a very compelling firmware update, which I wouldn't expect given their track record on every device with connectivity so far, it will just be more flooding the market with incremental upgrades.
@91: Exactly. Like I pointed out, there's only a small handful of quality games on the service, few and far between, with next to no way of knowing about them besides coming to this site, with an interface that's so bad that I haven't used it in about a year.
WiiWare just fails on every front that is overseen by Nintendo. And considering that everything is managed into the ground by Nintendo except for sequels to successful series, that's pretty much every front.
@92: That's only if you care about the virtual console. I don't, and WiiWare still is a poor service to me.
Which is still Nintendo's fault for not putting more than a pathetic amount of storage in the machine.
Oh, for the record, I have about 20 WiiWare games. All six Bit.Trips, 3 Art Styles (a Nintendo property), and the rest were various 3rd party releases. I'd accidentally bought the first Strong Bad game (I hate that the Back button switches with the Confirm button on the last screen), and wish I didn't buy Tomena Sanner (it's decent, but Bit.Trip Runner hadn't been announced yet) and some other games.
Apart from the Bit.Trip games, I could really take or leave the entire service.
On the whole, I can't really think of a better way to describe the failure other than a stubborn stupidity on the part of Nintendo. That pretty much goes for everything online Nintendo's done between the Wii and the DSi. I don't have a 3DS (a separate problem Nintendo's facing) so I can't really say for that.
I think you should do a similar feature for the Virtual Console, which to me seems to have been left in the dust in terms of support by the Playstation Classics.
I wonder how/if it will be possible to transfer save files. I'm also pretty damn against buying the same game again, but nintendo seems to make a lot of money that way.
I don't really agree with what he's saying. With the WiiU, it seemed obvious to me that they announced something early to prevent from having a long, dead space. The "announcements" of the Smash Bros. games were confirmed to be that.
With Nintendo's past handhelds, considering they've launched a new handheld nearly every other year since the turn of the millennia, I'd more chalk launch failure recently up to fatigue of incremental upgrades combined with an already flooded market of DSs. At least with the DS and DSi, there were multiple things the predecessor couldn't do, right out of the box. With the SP, Micro, DS slim, iXL and now 3DS, there hasn't been as much of a reason to by it quickly.
Also, economics. Sure 3D and better graphics are nice, but I'm not going to shell out the money for it when I just bought a DSi 2 years ago.
Though one possible agreement is that a longer launch gap can give more reason to persuade a user to buy eventually, given enough reasons. There simply weren't enough compelling reasons for the 3DS. Two fighting games, one of which is out everywhere but nintendo products, isn't doing it for me anymore (again, economics).
To be honest, what I'd heard was "we were so busy trying to keep fire on the hype, we forgot to make the game".
I don't love or hate High Voltage. I find Gyrostarr fun, even if I don't play it often. Never really cared for the Conduit series once I'd seen footage of the shipped product in action (shooting the environment not doing anything is inexcuseable), and I never cared for FPSes in the first place.
Also, High voltage had been disappointing ever since they let their company website fall 3 years behind, only updating it because of The Conduit.
I was never going to get this game anyway, but it bothers me that Capcom would do this, seemingly be dishonest about reasoning, be insensitive to economic concerns of potential customers, and especially on a game that doesn't seem to have much value anyway.
I'm just hoping this is an experiment, and I hope it fails.
I typed this on my phone, which will make it hard to clean up and remove a factual error or two (I still haven't beaten Sonic CD, the gamecube was my first console and a birthday present, not counting the 3 days i had the N64 my dad accidentally got instead), but the gist of it is still there: Sonic the Hedgehog has been more than a media series to me. It's been a friend.
@James: that was touching. Seriously. And suddenly the corporation cynic shrank a size that day. @patrick: my first Pokemon experience was Diamond, which is inextricably linked to Aesop Rock's None Shall Pass and Kanye West's Graduation.
My first Sonic experience is linked both to a hospital visit and UK's Sonic Fever. As I'd mentioned elsewhere, I'm a year, almost two, older than the start of the series, and Tails and Sonic are my favorite characters. One of the earliest pictures we can find of me is me in a London hospital bed, recovering of nearly dying of dehydration and germ based disease. To encourage me to get better, my parents had surrounded my bed with pictures I'd drawn or colored in. Sonic was right over my headboard.
We were very poor when I was a kid, so we couldn't afford games. We did have books though, and I would read mine over to over until the covers fell off. One book that is to this day my favorite: "Sonic The Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension". My introduction to several characters, chiefly Tails. The TVTropes page "In Their Own Image" was written by me over 10 years later, solely with the intent of doing something for that book.
When I moved to America, a couple characters helped me with the transition. Thr cast of both Sonic shows, especially Scratch and Grounder, the best worst villains ever.
My first games I could ever say I owned? The Sonic Action 4 pack: SEGA smash pack 2 (my rpg intro would be the first Shining Force), Sonic R (first game I ever completed, also first I wrote a secrets guide for), Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Not being particularly talented or given the time to play, I never finished the latter two until recent years. The whole thing was $14.99 for pc, my favorite deal ever in gaming.
Sega stopped making consoles, so to continue, I had to get a Gamecube, and a gba, to play Adventure 2 and advance. I stopped my hype aversion to knuckles and started to love game soundtracks with adventure 2, and bonded with friends over chao in both. I don't play adventure 2 anymore, to make sure that my chao are immortal, because i worry if i wasn't a good enough parent. Those nintendo consoles I got to play Sonic are the reason I'm here on this site.
My second time in San Francisco, I detoured my dad for a half hour, because we'd passed the new SEGA of America headquarters on the highway, and I wanted to go in. They had no idea why some teenager would want to visit, nor cared (this caused the birth of the corporation cynic in me). But Sonic had been a friend to me my whole life, and I wanted to return the favor with the first thing that came to mind, a visit to his house.
My copy of Mega Collection has a save file from last month of me and a friend running through the whole thing, splitting skills and secrets to get everything we could find. We missed a giant ring, so no Hyper Sonic. I played Tails, like love to on my own, but don't know how I'm going to tell my friend we're switching player characters once we get to the last stage. Sonic and I are crossing the finish line together.
Of all my wii games, the only one I play online at all is Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Not because I don't want to play more, but because the Wii's online is quite frankly terrible. We had a Brawl matchmaking thread here, and I only rarely got to fight because setting anything up through the wii was a large hassle. I don't play any wii games socially since I got out of college because if they're not in the room with you, nintendo doesn't believe they're your friends anymore.
After the Wii online experience, I have practically no hope that Nintendo will ever make an enjoyable online experience. As usual, it'll be up to 3rd parties to make the framework at least useable.
Since Nintendo is a gaming company, and the only console manufacturer to be one chiefly and solely, one would think they would try to be the best they can be in all aspects. But, they settle for admittedly popular first party games, and rare successful innovation, pat themselves on the back, and call it a day.
I don't play those first party games, and I see the innovation as a temporary solution consistently outclassed by competitors. Nintendo's behavior, and statements like this, disappoint me.
Fortunately, the Wii has rare gems like Bit.Trip and No More Heroes that I love. If not for those, I'd say I settled on console due to price. Unlike my DSi, but like with my gamecube (bought for Sonic, kept for Smash, Joe and Soul Calibur), I own a Nintendo console and not the competition not because of Nintendo, but despite them.
Full disclosure: my only other console not mentioned above was a Disc Read Error PS2. I wish I still had a ps2 to keep playing the games for it, none of which were by sony.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just wanted to speak my mind for a bit.
I found Sonic Battle to be awesome, and Sonic Rush was pretty fun. So, as usual, I disagree with some of James' personal opinions, but on the whole, this was pretty good.
A couple corrections though: *Cream debuted in Sonic Advance 2, not 1. *Sonic Battle was connected in story with Sonic Heroes (which it debuted almost simultaneously with), Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog. Minimally connected, but still connected. ** It was also very subtly but intricately connected with Sonic Advance 3, which I wish you'd spent more time on due to its unique playstyle and omission of the Tiny Chao Garden. But, what're you gonna do. *You omitted the existence of Sonic Advance 3 (which I found to be one of the best games in the series, alongside Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Rush Adventure)
I reread. You mentioned Cream and Advance 3 in a blip. My bad.
Also, to respond to an earlier commenter: yes, Tails Doll was in Sonic R. No, he won't brighten up your day.
Unless SEGA decides to give the characters an actual non-retconned birthday, Knuckles is perpetually 17, Sonic is perpetually 15/16, and Tails is perpetually 8.
Happy anniversary, Sonic1 I've been a fan since you were born and I was 1.
@2: Maybe that's because anytime there is something good in the sonic series, like the Advance and Rush series, Colors, etc., people/"fans" love to ignore it.
I'm really disappointed that Nintendo does this. But that's why I've only ever bought two games fom the virtual console, one that was never released in America and one that I'd never played and couldn't on another console. I can't really understand their obsession with selling the same game with little to no value when their competitors can undercut them. Either VC sales don't matter or their profit margins from the ROMs they use cause them not to care.
@17: Me and a friend played some of Mega Collection a few weeks ago, on an Emerald/lives run of S3&K. When we got to that one point in Launch Base Zone, we taped down the controllers and went out for pizza.
Yeah, I was going to edit my last post to say I realize I could come across as 'holier than thou'. I don't intend to, but I also don't care if I do. I made my opinion in an earlier post, so they can delete that last one if they want, and I should probably stop coming to this article, because I don't really have anything to add.
I'm surprised by a couple things. Not the content of the article itself, because this is nothing new for Jack, and I've already said, he has a point this time, instead of his usual crazy smack talk.
No, I'm surprised by the, the amount of anti-fanboyism, persistence of fanboyism, the number of people who've called out NLife for making this a featured article, and the fact that Nintendo Life actually made this 3 sentence statement from a known PR machine, who has less relevance to the site than Cammy Dunaway did, a featured article.
Maybe it's just a slow day and this is what we've got to talk about, since the WiiU is still a year away, the Wii is practically a zombie, and the 3DS has had most of its upcoming games covered already.
As I've mentioned before, the Gamecube/GBA and the PS3/PSP had console to handheld connectivity similar but lesser to what the Wii U has. Remember Sony's terrible 2006 E3 press conference that's already been mentioned on this page? That same conference used the PSP as a controller for Ridge Racer with a different viewpoint.
It's not "nintendo = good, sony = bad" here. It's "nintendo = main thing to talk about, sony = occasionally relevant". There's been plenty of negative comments about nintendo, such as the barebones online and download service, and there's been positive reception to some of sony's things, such as the Vita's price (and I for one am jealous of the Little Big Planet franchise).
Sure, we're (me, other posters, the writers) not always completely objective, but hopefully we're also not Animal Farm type sheep.
(Say it with me now, "Four letters BAAAAAAAAD, two screens goooood")
Just going off what he said, he's actually absolutely right. As odd as it is to agree with Jack Tretton, the Wii U doesn't really pose a threat to the Playstation.
Of course, as per the usual, Sony is the biggest threat to the playstation.
Well, that's enough out of me. You may return to flogging/fellating your companies of choice.
Considering history, that's not really much of a reason to sell Nintendo stock, it's just a reason to look closer at buying sony's.
@madgear: this controller does everything the wiimote, classic controller and nunchuck can do combined, except move in two different directions simultaneously. Only difference is the shape.
And considering the price of those controllers, and expected price of this one, this one woud have to be above $80 to surprise me. And wouldn't any new controller be a new extra controller?
It's not strange at all. Their presentation's structure issued death tolls for the Wii, and more subtly for the DS. The 3DS will have a second wind in a couple months, but the key piece, the WiiU, is still relatively far away with few details (which to me made that part of the presentation seem rushed).
All of that seems to add up to "sell a bit now, buy later".
I'm happy with the number of people who aren't responding with stereotypical BrooklynFanboy RAAAAAAAAAAAAGE.
He's right. Both handhelds are updated versions of their predecessors. The biggest difference that the 3DS has is the 3D, while the NGP has the touchpad that, while one generation behind nintendo, could still be more of a step forward for the overall package.
Neither handheld has wowed me enough to justify purchase. But then again, I wait at least a year on every hardware purchase to evaluate games, hardware issues, cost, etc.
Comments 379
Re: Rumour: Nintendo Preparing Dual Analogue 3DS Revamp
Man, I wouldn't be surprised in the least. As I've been saying (adjusted for date) since the DSi XL was announced, Nintendo's released 8 handhelds the 11 years of this millennium so far.
I've been waiting for 2 or 3 revisions to pass before I consider getting a new handheld. I've had a GBA, DS Lite, and DSi (only because the Lite had hinge and screen problems). I've never seriously considered getting a 3DS, and will likely only somewhat consider getting the first or second revision to it.
Re: Talking Point: What If Nintendo Became a Third Party?
Wouldn't really care. I've never been a fan of most Nintendo first party stuff, and it would make choices easier if I ever buy a future console, which isn't particularly likely.
On the other hand, it might be bad for competition.
Re: Current Wii Model to be Discontinued
I can't say this move makes any sense to me. Who's going to buy this new machine that has less features?
Re: Review: Wii Play: Motion (Wii)
Just wanted to point out, Skip, Ltd. is the company behind the Art Style / Bit Generations and Chibi Robo games.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Makes Bold Move with the 3DS
I'm not sure if this will make much of a difference. To me, it seems that people aren't too interested in the 3DS as a machine, for the same reason as me.
What else can it do that the DSi can't, besides better graphics and 3D? There's other things, yes, but how many people will actually use the AR cards?
What else can it do that smartphones can't, besides 3D? There's a lot they can do that the 3DS can't.
What else can it do that the Vita can't, besides 3D? Again, the Vita is an all around better package.
From what I hear in other media, the 3D front is fading. If so, I wouldn't be too surprised if Nintendo released a new 3DSi or 3DS XL next year. And yes I do mean next year. As I've pointed time and time again, they've released a new handheld 8 out of the 11 years this millennium. Unless they have a very compelling firmware update, which I wouldn't expect given their track record on every device with connectivity so far, it will just be more flooding the market with incremental upgrades.
Re: There's Nothing Suggestive About This Video At All
Bizarre Jelly! FIVE!
Oh, and for anyone saying "Japan", and "creepy" and stuff, 90% of all the world's porn is produced in Los Angeles. Just saying.
(Granted, 8 percent is probably Tokyo)
Re: Collect These Sonic Generations Screenshots for a Continue
For the record, a version of this same special stage was in Sonic Colors on the DS.
Re: Amazon Suspends 3DS Sales
I clicked this headline expecting a much worse story than it was. For one, it's not even all 3DSes.
Re: Feature: The State of WiiWare
@91: Exactly. Like I pointed out, there's only a small handful of quality games on the service, few and far between, with next to no way of knowing about them besides coming to this site, with an interface that's so bad that I haven't used it in about a year.
WiiWare just fails on every front that is overseen by Nintendo. And considering that everything is managed into the ground by Nintendo except for sequels to successful series, that's pretty much every front.
@92: That's only if you care about the virtual console. I don't, and WiiWare still is a poor service to me.
Re: Feature: The State of WiiWare
Which is still Nintendo's fault for not putting more than a pathetic amount of storage in the machine.
Oh, for the record, I have about 20 WiiWare games. All six Bit.Trips, 3 Art Styles (a Nintendo property), and the rest were various 3rd party releases. I'd accidentally bought the first Strong Bad game (I hate that the Back button switches with the Confirm button on the last screen), and wish I didn't buy Tomena Sanner (it's decent, but Bit.Trip Runner hadn't been announced yet) and some other games.
Apart from the Bit.Trip games, I could really take or leave the entire service.
Re: Aonuma Opens a Treasure Chest of Skyward Sword Details
Once you used the word "past", I got irritated by thinking of how this is early in Zelda chronology.
About the bad guy, I can't help but think of Pulp Fiction: "Does he look like a b****?"
Re: Feature: The State of WiiWare
On the whole, I can't really think of a better way to describe the failure other than a stubborn stupidity on the part of Nintendo. That pretty much goes for everything online Nintendo's done between the Wii and the DSi. I don't have a 3DS (a separate problem Nintendo's facing) so I can't really say for that.
I think you should do a similar feature for the Virtual Console, which to me seems to have been left in the dust in terms of support by the Playstation Classics.
Re: First Impressions: Kirby: Mass Attack
This really seems like it could've/should've been a Pikmin platformer.
Re: Capcom Blames the Fans for Mega Man Legends 3 Cancellation
As far as I remember, Capcom's got a pretty active blog at http://www.capcom-unity.com.
They've also got a vocal, interested fanbase, as their thread on the subject, here: http://www.capcom-unity.com/gregaman/blog/2011/07/18/a_message_from_capcom, has over 600 comments.
Re: Capcom Blames the Fans for Mega Man Legends 3 Cancellation
Douchetastic, capcom.
Outside of maining Volnutt in Tatsunoko vs Capcom, I don't care about the series, but even I know that there was support.
As long as they don't say anything similar if they ever get to work on a Darkstalkers game.
Re: GameCube to See New Downloadable Life on Wii U
I wonder how/if it will be possible to transfer save files. I'm also pretty damn against buying the same game again, but nintendo seems to make a lot of money that way.
Also, Gamecube controller sucked.
Re: Metroid Remix Album Sounds Pretty Sweet So Far
Only commenting to commend on the pun.
Re: Iwata: "Difficult to Launch Hardware Close to Its Announcement"
I don't really agree with what he's saying. With the WiiU, it seemed obvious to me that they announced something early to prevent from having a long, dead space. The "announcements" of the Smash Bros. games were confirmed to be that.
With Nintendo's past handhelds, considering they've launched a new handheld nearly every other year since the turn of the millennia, I'd more chalk launch failure recently up to fatigue of incremental upgrades combined with an already flooded market of DSs. At least with the DS and DSi, there were multiple things the predecessor couldn't do, right out of the box. With the SP, Micro, DS slim, iXL and now 3DS, there hasn't been as much of a reason to by it quickly.
Also, economics. Sure 3D and better graphics are nice, but I'm not going to shell out the money for it when I just bought a DSi 2 years ago.
Though one possible agreement is that a longer launch gap can give more reason to persuade a user to buy eventually, given enough reasons. There simply weren't enough compelling reasons for the 3DS. Two fighting games, one of which is out everywhere but nintendo products, isn't doing it for me anymore (again, economics).
Re: High Voltage Explains What Went Wrong With Conduit 2
To be honest, what I'd heard was "we were so busy trying to keep fire on the hype, we forgot to make the game".
I don't love or hate High Voltage. I find Gyrostarr fun, even if I don't play it often. Never really cared for the Conduit series once I'd seen footage of the shipped product in action (shooting the environment not doing anything is inexcuseable), and I never cared for FPSes in the first place.
Also, High voltage had been disappointing ever since they let their company website fall 3 years behind, only updating it because of The Conduit.
So at this point, I'm just, meh.
Re: Talking Point: The Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D Save File Debate
I was never going to get this game anyway, but it bothers me that Capcom would do this, seemingly be dishonest about reasoning, be insensitive to economic concerns of potential customers, and especially on a game that doesn't seem to have much value anyway.
I'm just hoping this is an experiment, and I hope it fails.
Re: Rumour: SEGA Preparing a Third Sonic Storybook Game
Sigh. I hope it's enjoyable, but I don't plan on getting it.
Re: BIT.TRIP COMPLETE Fills Retail Void on 13th September
Commander Video could kick Mr. Game & Watch's ass.
I'm looking forward to all these extras, especially the difficulty levels and music.
Re: Review: Pro Jumper! Guilty Gear Tangent!? (DSiWare)
How exactly does this connect to the Guilty Gear series?
Re: Feature: Staff Memories of Sonic the Hedgehog
I typed this on my phone, which will make it hard to clean up and remove a factual error or two (I still haven't beaten Sonic CD, the gamecube was my first console and a birthday present, not counting the 3 days i had the N64 my dad accidentally got instead), but the gist of it is still there: Sonic the Hedgehog has been more than a media series to me. It's been a friend.
Re: Feature: Staff Memories of Sonic the Hedgehog
@James: that was touching. Seriously. And suddenly the corporation cynic shrank a size that day.
@patrick: my first Pokemon experience was Diamond, which is inextricably linked to Aesop Rock's None Shall Pass and Kanye West's Graduation.
My first Sonic experience is linked both to a hospital visit and UK's Sonic Fever. As I'd mentioned elsewhere, I'm a year, almost two, older than the start of the series, and Tails and Sonic are my favorite characters. One of the earliest pictures we can find of me is me in a London hospital bed, recovering of nearly dying of dehydration and germ based disease. To encourage me to get better, my parents had surrounded my bed with pictures I'd drawn or colored in. Sonic was right over my headboard.
We were very poor when I was a kid, so we couldn't afford games. We did have books though, and I would read mine over to over until the covers fell off. One book that is to this day my favorite: "Sonic The Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension". My introduction to several characters, chiefly Tails. The TVTropes page "In Their Own Image" was written by me over 10 years later, solely with the intent of doing something for that book.
When I moved to America, a couple characters helped me with the transition. Thr cast of both Sonic shows, especially Scratch and Grounder, the best worst villains ever.
My first games I could ever say I owned? The Sonic Action 4 pack: SEGA smash pack 2 (my rpg intro would be the first Shining Force), Sonic R (first game I ever completed, also first I wrote a secrets guide for), Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Not being particularly talented or given the time to play, I never finished the latter two until recent years. The whole thing was $14.99 for pc, my favorite deal ever in gaming.
Sega stopped making consoles, so to continue, I had to get a Gamecube, and a gba, to play Adventure 2 and advance. I stopped my hype aversion to knuckles and started to love game soundtracks with adventure 2, and bonded with friends over chao in both. I don't play adventure 2 anymore, to make sure that my chao are immortal, because i worry if i wasn't a good enough parent. Those nintendo consoles I got to play Sonic are the reason I'm here on this site.
My second time in San Francisco, I detoured my dad for a half hour, because we'd passed the new SEGA of America headquarters on the highway, and I wanted to go in. They had no idea why some teenager would want to visit, nor cared (this caused the birth of the corporation cynic in me). But Sonic had been a friend to me my whole life, and I wanted to return the favor with the first thing that came to mind, a visit to his house.
My copy of Mega Collection has a save file from last month of me and a friend running through the whole thing, splitting skills and secrets to get everything we could find. We missed a giant ring, so no Hyper Sonic. I played Tails, like love to on my own, but don't know how I'm going to tell my friend we're switching player characters once we get to the last stage. Sonic and I are crossing the finish line together.
Re: Sakurai Yet to Start Work on Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS
I used to think it would be funny to see Sakurai get trolled.
That was a move, Iwata.
Re: Nintendo has no Desire to be Number One in Online Gaming
Of all my wii games, the only one I play online at all is Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Not because I don't want to play more, but because the Wii's online is quite frankly terrible. We had a Brawl matchmaking thread here, and I only rarely got to fight because setting anything up through the wii was a large hassle. I don't play any wii games socially since I got out of college because if they're not in the room with you, nintendo doesn't believe they're your friends anymore.
After the Wii online experience, I have practically no hope that Nintendo will ever make an enjoyable online experience. As usual, it'll be up to 3rd parties to make the framework at least useable.
Since Nintendo is a gaming company, and the only console manufacturer to be one chiefly and solely, one would think they would try to be the best they can be in all aspects. But, they settle for admittedly popular first party games, and rare successful innovation, pat themselves on the back, and call it a day.
I don't play those first party games, and I see the innovation as a temporary solution consistently outclassed by competitors. Nintendo's behavior, and statements like this, disappoint me.
Fortunately, the Wii has rare gems like Bit.Trip and No More Heroes that I love. If not for those, I'd say I settled on console due to price. Unlike my DSi, but like with my gamecube (bought for Sonic, kept for Smash, Joe and Soul Calibur), I own a Nintendo console and not the competition not because of Nintendo, but despite them.
Full disclosure: my only other console not mentioned above was a Disc Read Error PS2. I wish I still had a ps2 to keep playing the games for it, none of which were by sony.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just wanted to speak my mind for a bit.
Re: Feature: Sonic: The Nintendo Years - Part One
I found Sonic Battle to be awesome, and Sonic Rush was pretty fun. So, as usual, I disagree with some of James' personal opinions, but on the whole, this was pretty good.
A couple corrections though:
*
Cream debuted in Sonic Advance 2, not 1.*Sonic Battle was connected in story with Sonic Heroes (which it debuted almost simultaneously with), Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog. Minimally connected, but still connected.
** It was also very subtly but intricately connected with Sonic Advance 3, which I wish you'd spent more time on due to its unique playstyle and omission of the Tiny Chao Garden. But, what're you gonna do.
*
You omitted the existence of Sonic Advance 3 (which I found to be one of the best games in the series, alongside Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Rush Adventure)I reread. You mentioned Cream and Advance 3 in a blip. My bad.
Also, to respond to an earlier commenter: yes, Tails Doll was in Sonic R. No, he won't brighten up your day.
Re: Sonic the Hedgehog is 20 Years Old Today
Unless SEGA decides to give the characters an actual non-retconned birthday, Knuckles is perpetually 17, Sonic is perpetually 15/16, and Tails is perpetually 8.
Happy anniversary, Sonic1 I've been a fan since you were born and I was 1.
Re: Looks Like There's No Sale on Sonic Games This Week
@2: Maybe that's because anytime there is something good in the sonic series, like the Advance and Rush series, Colors, etc., people/"fans" love to ignore it.
I'm really disappointed that Nintendo does this. But that's why I've only ever bought two games fom the virtual console, one that was never released in America and one that I'd never played and couldn't on another console. I can't really understand their obsession with selling the same game with little to no value when their competitors can undercut them. Either VC sales don't matter or their profit margins from the ROMs they use cause them not to care.
@17: Me and a friend played some of Mega Collection a few weeks ago, on an Emerald/lives run of S3&K. When we got to that one point in Launch Base Zone, we taped down the controllers and went out for pizza.
Re: Sony: Wii U is No Threat, Says "Welcome to 2006, Nintendo"
Yeah, I was going to edit my last post to say I realize I could come across as 'holier than thou'. I don't intend to, but I also don't care if I do. I made my opinion in an earlier post, so they can delete that last one if they want, and I should probably stop coming to this article, because I don't really have anything to add.
Re: Sony: Wii U is No Threat, Says "Welcome to 2006, Nintendo"
I'm surprised by a couple things. Not the content of the article itself, because this is nothing new for Jack, and I've already said, he has a point this time, instead of his usual crazy smack talk.
No, I'm surprised by the, the amount of anti-fanboyism, persistence of fanboyism, the number of people who've called out NLife for making this a featured article, and the fact that Nintendo Life actually made this 3 sentence statement from a known PR machine, who has less relevance to the site than Cammy Dunaway did, a featured article.
Maybe it's just a slow day and this is what we've got to talk about, since the WiiU is still a year away, the Wii is practically a zombie, and the 3DS has had most of its upcoming games covered already.
Re: Sony: Wii U is No Threat, Says "Welcome to 2006, Nintendo"
@Corbert: I hope Penny Arcade says something about Jack again. Those are always hilarious.
There should really be a Tretton and Thompson sitcom.
Re: Sony: Wii U is No Threat, Says "Welcome to 2006, Nintendo"
Wow, and here I was thinking that my last post would seem slightly out of place due to ninjaing.
Also, I wonder why you could've possibly been banned? Whatever were they thinking?
[/sarcasm]
Re: Sony: Wii U is No Threat, Says "Welcome to 2006, Nintendo"
As I've mentioned before, the Gamecube/GBA and the PS3/PSP had console to handheld connectivity similar but lesser to what the Wii U has. Remember Sony's terrible 2006 E3 press conference that's already been mentioned on this page? That same conference used the PSP as a controller for Ridge Racer with a different viewpoint.
Re: Sony: Wii U is No Threat, Says "Welcome to 2006, Nintendo"
It's not "nintendo = good, sony = bad" here. It's "nintendo = main thing to talk about, sony = occasionally relevant". There's been plenty of negative comments about nintendo, such as the barebones online and download service, and there's been positive reception to some of sony's things, such as the Vita's price (and I for one am jealous of the Little Big Planet franchise).
Sure, we're (me, other posters, the writers) not always completely objective, but hopefully we're also not Animal Farm type sheep.
(Say it with me now, "Four letters BAAAAAAAAD, two screens goooood")
Re: Sony: Wii U is No Threat, Says "Welcome to 2006, Nintendo"
Just going off what he said, he's actually absolutely right. As odd as it is to agree with Jack Tretton, the Wii U doesn't really pose a threat to the Playstation.
Of course, as per the usual, Sony is the biggest threat to the playstation.
Well, that's enough out of me. You may return to flogging/fellating your companies of choice.
Re: Wii U and Its Controller Near Their Final Form Factor
...tablets have been around for the better part of a decade, reggie. My mom had one for hr medical practice before the Wii-basic was even announced.
Re: Nintendo Taking "Massive Leap" with Wii U's Online Set-Up
For Nintendo online, a "massive leap" to me sounds like "short of the competition, but free".
Re: Share Your Own Stages Online in Tekken Wii U
2012: Year of the penis tattoo.
And thus, the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a banger.
Re: Gaijin Games Details New Content in BIT.TRIP COMPLETE
Sold.
Re: Wii U Controller Gave Suda51 Ideas for No More Heroes 3
YEEEEEEAAAAASSSSHHHHHH!
Suda 51. System seller. (I was likely not going to get a Wii U until this announcement).
Even if it's just Sylvia having video calls before bosses, as Shinobu and Mr. Sir Henry take down the UAA on Travis' behalf, it'll still be awesome.
New-New-Destroyman and Dr. Mrs. Letz Shake, please.
Re: First Impressions: BIT.TRIP SAGA (3DS)
I haven't been checking the site much as the E3 front page is nearly breaking the site on my phone, but info on the collection coming to wii:
indiegames.com/2011/06/e3_2011_bit_trip_complete.html
If it was already on this site, ignore me.
Re: Following Wii U Unveiling, Nintendo Shares Drop 10%
Considering history, that's not really much of a reason to sell Nintendo stock, it's just a reason to look closer at buying sony's.
@madgear: this controller does everything the wiimote, classic controller and nunchuck can do combined, except move in two different directions simultaneously. Only difference is the shape.
And considering the price of those controllers, and expected price of this one, this one woud have to be above $80 to surprise me. And wouldn't any new controller be a new extra controller?
Re: Following Wii U Unveiling, Nintendo Shares Drop 10%
It's not strange at all. Their presentation's structure issued death tolls for the Wii, and more subtly for the DS. The 3DS will have a second wind in a couple months, but the key piece, the WiiU, is still relatively far away with few details (which to me made that part of the presentation seem rushed).
All of that seems to add up to "sell a bit now, buy later".
Re: This Video of Kirby Wii Does Not Suck
What a pleasant surprise!
Also, using your friends as ammo? That's a Waddle DO right there.
Re: Dead or Alive: Dimensions Pulled from Sale in Australia
@1: Well, you can view models by playing the game...
Watch some country bans every game in which not all characters are over the legal age.
Re: Looks Like That Red 3DS is Releasing in Japan
Has it ever been a good idea to adopt early? I wait until all the kinks are known.
Red does look nice, but I prefer black.
Re: Review: FAST - Racing League (WiiWare)
So just to be sure, no attacking other ships with multiple weapons? Cause that was why I always preferred Wipeout to F-Zero.
Re: Sony President Thinks 3DS is Just an Updated DS
I'm happy with the number of people who aren't responding with stereotypical
BrooklynFanboy RAAAAAAAAAAAAGE.He's right. Both handhelds are updated versions of their predecessors. The biggest difference that the 3DS has is the 3D, while the NGP has the touchpad that, while one generation behind nintendo, could still be more of a step forward for the overall package.
Neither handheld has wowed me enough to justify purchase. But then again, I wait at least a year on every hardware purchase to evaluate games, hardware issues, cost, etc.