zeeroid

@MDee14 Oh, snap, swag at Square One too!? ME WANT

Need to find a moment to drop by Square One this week... it's a 45 min drive each way for me, so hopefully I'll be able to find a convenient opportunity. Really want to try the damn thing before I buy it. Although the pre-ordering has been done already. Not too interested in the launch event, seeing as I'm picking it up from a local store anyhow. I do like swag though

Whoa, Corbie. Excited much?

500! I'm in dudes

The Xbox 360 is the only system from the current and previous generations that I don't own, and that can be attributed to a dearth of exclusive titles that truly capture my interest. It's ironic that most of the titles that I would buy are on XBLA, and the capital investment required to play those games is the highest of the bunch, since you need a model with a hard drive, more or less. Rare is definitely one of those studios that could get me interested in buying a 360, but only if they're at their prime. I'm sceptical that they will ever march under Nintendo's banner again, but more than anything I just want the studio I once loved to renew its golden era.

Rather than a full-fledged and standalone Wii title, what I really want to see them create is a more connective experience between the DS games and the Wii. For example, in the next iteration of Pokemon Stadium, it would be nice if there were a way to seamlessly play the actual game on your handheld while watching the action up on the TV, using the 3D assets on the Wii title. The optimal case would be the ability to completely replicate the action of the DS game, but alternatively just the battles would suffice. Imagine if every time you played Pokemon Black or White at home on your couch, whenever you landed in a battle, it would instantly be replicated on your television using the 3D Pokemon models and animations. Pretty amazing, right? And entirely feasible. That is, if Nintendo were to give a crap about its fans.

congrats, folks

I feel sorry for all those Ebayers who bought it for upwards of $80. Oh wait. No, I don't.

Rayman 3D. That is all.

Well, as someone who doesn't own an iOS device, it's hard to for the comment on the value of the games available for that platform. Nevertheless, I have managed to formulate some opinions on the matter.

I agree with Reggie, in part. His argument really boils down to the issue of expectation. If consumers are given games that cost $1-2, then yes, they will begin to expect games cost that much regularly. From what I understand, the iOS game library is chock full of garbage, with a very marginal percentage of the total succeeding as quality gameplay experiences. These are the few which are likely worth more than what they are charging for. Angry Birds, for example. It's a game of statistics, really; obviously you will stumble upon quality eventually, but it will be rare. People just don't seem to mind too much because there's so much available, that there are enough decent games to occupy people's free time. Where I see a problem is that by charging only that much, developers are artificially being restricted in what they can accomplish, both technically and creatively. The merits of the model are that any fledgling developer can easily make a simple game without high expectations. On the downside, experienced developers with the talent and resources to produce quality content as seen on dedicated gaming handhelds may be forced to look the other way and produce simple (albeit fun) games on the iOS.

Maybe that's all most people want in handheld gaming experiences, and I suppose only time will tell if that's the case. I, for one, enjoy deeper experiences that are bound to cost $30 or more. As successful as the iOS games may be, if they continue to attract gamers in the manner they are now, there may come a time when it simply is no longer financially feasible to produce higher-end handheld games. I would hope this day never comes.

But one thing is for certain, Reggie. If you want gamers to play the deeper experiences you tout the 3DS for, then you'll have to get them in the door first. Buy the system. The very least you can do is use a pricing model for the games that compete directly with those available on iOS that is, well, competitive. After that happens, we can discuss how to keep gamers interested in buying a $45 title.

@slapshot82: Picking up publishing rights for Platinum Games' titles is one of the smartest moves SEGA's made in recent memory. Granted... that's not exactly a high hurdle to jump, but a great decision nonetheless.

Well that's certainly good to hear. Hopefully these solid sales numbers'll convince Sega that, yes, making good Sonic games actually will translate to decent sales. And trailing some of the most lacklustre Sonic titles in history couldn't have helped build this one's reputation much either. With any luck, future titles will be able pick up from the strong momentum Colors has now.

The more I hear about this, the more interesting it sounds.

Obviously I don't really know what it is, but my mind does jump to conclusions, and what I envision StreetPass Quest as being seems pretty cool. Hopefully the real thing won't disappoint either. I'm concerned, however, about how people will be rewarded for completing these "Quests." Bonus Coins? That might be fine, but Ninty really has to make sure this Coin system is well-supported, and ideally by 3rd party games as well. If that happens, this could be one of the surprise hit features of the system.

It was mentioned earlier that it wouldn't be released till after OoT for 3DS. And that's not coming out till after E3. So I wouldn't get hopes up for an imminent release. Probably not until late summer.

According to an Iwata Asks feature from a while back, movies displaying in 3D will indeed only be capable of toggling between on/off; the depth will not be mutable in the same way as games that are rendering the images in real-time.

Did April 1st come early this year, or what?

@siavm I see what you did there

WANT. SO VERY MUCH WANT.

The cradle is handy for letting you simply plop the system down and let it charge, which people are much more likely to do on a regular basis if they don't have to specially plug a cord into a socket. It really comes down to a matter of effort. Of course, you can still use the plug if you want to charge while playing, or if the battery is running low but you're not ready to switch off just yet. Personally, I think everything will work out all right.

I will likely pick this up at a more affordable price. Something in the vicinity of $30 should suffice.

@BellGoRiing: Square Enix now owns Taito, which had originally developed them.

Yeah, I like Puzzle Bobble, but not at $29.99. At $19.99, I may consider it.

I briefly played the N64 version of this game, but I've always wanted to experience it in full. Definitely excited now, I'd like to see some actual footage first, but this just jumped up to the top of my most anticipated launch window titles, along with Devil Survivor Overclocked.

Awesome. These Wii points need something to be spent on, dammit!

No 802.11n support? Disappoint. What is this... 2007?

299€? Ouch.

A fair review. I do not regret buying it, but objectively speaking (laying my fanboy-collectorism aside), Nintendo really dropped a dud with this thing.

DLC should hopefully be stored on the game card now. All they'd have to do is when you buy it, it "unlocks" it on your particular system (or, preferably, a hypothetical user account). This would be fantastic. I'm also going to be expecting a lot more games that are fully voiced, among other things that tend to take up physical space. More elaborate cinematics, perhaps, although I do encourage those to be rendered in real time whenever possible. Whatever happens, this is great news!

Bam, son.

Ho...ly. Where has this game been all my life? 2010. I love you. Galaxy 2, Epic Yarn, DKC Returns. I love you so, so much.

@15: Even assuming I agreed with your assessment, I would happily take more PixelJunk Shooter gameplay at any time. Still waiting on its sequel. This game does look excellent though. I think of it more as a cross between LocoRoco and PJS.

That would actually be amazing. For $20 I would absolutely buy it. Retail titles always have a certain winning charm for me.

The messenger bag is amazing. I ordered it instantly I know I'm going to regret it once they put up a SNES Classic Controller or something like that, but I couldn't resist. Still have 400 coins and a couple unregistered games so hopefully I'll manage somehow.

By the way, all you complainers, there's a new free 10 coin survey available now for you to provide feedback on the sorts of rewards you'd like to see from Club N in the future. It actually really gives you the opportunity to emphasize it so go ahead and fill it out.

Mario Clash remake, in all its monochromatic glory!

@35 & @36 Clearly the Apple site is going to be called iPho9

Hurr, hurr, hurr. <3

Got this one preordered. Really, really excited. This is a great season to own a Wii. I was cautiously optimistic in the beginning, and still am to a lesser extent, but I have little doubt that this game will be superb. Every time I see it, it just gets me more and more excited, and the production values all-around look fantastic. The only thing I worry about is whether the whole morality system will really pan out or not; this just isn't something you can get a handle on from one or two hands-on impressions or gameplay videos. So, for this reason, there's a sliver of a chance that I may return the game after it's shipped to me, upon reading the reviews. At this point it would take some serious flaws to get me to do that though. I mean, I'm already picking it up for $45, with a $10 gift certificate thrown in as a pre-order bonus, so it's almost like getting it for $35.

Such a shame that there's no PSN version.

I would spend 800 coins for the set of 4. But this is absurd. I knew they were going to release 25th anniversary prizes eventually, however I'm still holding out hope for something a bit nicer. Like those awesome tote bags they got in Japan. And maybe a T-shirt? Why is it we STILL don't have any T-shirts!

This will be in my mail box in approximately 11 hours.
(btw, to the spelling nazis above, don't forget 'realize' was also spelled as 'realise'.)

fans the flames

@Kholdstare ... And you call yourself a Canadian! For shame.

Sadness. I'm such a trophy whore on ps3.

Ugh. I suppose it's an interesting idea, but there is no way in hell I'm buying another peripheral. Certainly not one that costs more than $25.

That is some seriously sexy Wiimoteage

@PALgamer: I think the way it'd work is that there will only be one page shown at a time (on the top screen), while on the touch screen there will be a way to "turn" the page by some flicking action, and it will probably show some standard information about the book, such as page number, chapter title, etc.

I have to admit that I've never been a huge Kirby fan. Even though they were fun, I was always disappointed by how short they were and how they typically weren't that challenging. In spite of that, I am so in love with how this game looks and plays that I'm probably going to buy it regardless. Even if it ends up being less than 3 hours long.

@Zork2: Y'know, with the 3DS coming out soon, I'd say there's no better system to put sidescrollers on than the Wii. Also, interestingly, in an interview, Retro said that in spite of being played in 2 dimensions, DKCR will have a great deal more detailed graphics than even Metroid Prime 3. Apparently, the Metroid Prime 3 engine that Retro had wouldn't even be able to handle the level of detail in DKCR. Sounds like a brilliant retail release for Wii to me.

Although I am seriously doubtful that this is true (if anything, I think that the newspaper article was derived from a misinterpretation of facts), I think there's one way this feature might really work well. I believe that there shouldn't be a limit on the number of installs or a system lock, but rather each install should automatically be deleted after a short period of time (like 12 hours, perhaps). That would be fairly convenient, prevent permanently giving the game to non-owners, and also allow you to give full-game timed demos to friends. The only downside is that you can't keep the system apart from the cart for an extended period of time. But if you're going on a trip or something, you should probably carry the game with you anyway. I would think the feature is more useful when you're stepping out of the house and don't want to carry around loose game carts.

It's worth noting that the 3D effect does not work in 'book' mode.

My guess is $250

daaaaaamn this looks good