tapedeck

That is insane....I'm sure I read he was in his twenties haha! Thanks though lol.

Phew! Now we wait.... Aaand they've cancelled them all...ffs.

Bought! Will be a lovely 15th birthday present for my nephew! Thanks for sharing

It could be argued that Nintendo's approach to online gaming is aimed at a wider market...encompassing everyone and not alienating too many gamers. Y'know, having some sort of control in place which enables gamers of all ages/backgrounds to just jump into the world of online gaming isn't bad. They don't have any subscription services and instances of abuse etc. are limited through the way in which they have set up their ecosystem. Even Miiverse is a HUGE step for Nintendo and it feels like a nice place to visit and revel in people enjoying their game time. To me such ideas would be the sensible explanation as to their practice as opposed to the "they are out of touch" argument. I believe such a statement is wrong and it just adds fuel to the fire to the ever-trendy mindset that Nintendo aren't cool/have lost the plot/just don't matter in the console space. I'm not sure such a global company fiercely built around a passionate and vociferous fan-base can simply be 'out of touch', especially in an industry built around collaborative discussion/engagement. Again, I would argue it's just an off-hand, easy way of bashing Nintendo's ethos without stopping to think "why" Nintendo might not be doing what other's are doing. We have the embedded image that Nintendo just do what they want as if it's random. I believe that to be funny but false. If they did just 'soldier on blindly' they wouldn't have existed for so long against a raft of competitors over the years. They protect their assets firmly -- their legacy is at risk if they don't, and the 'walt disney of video games' and other iconic figures are what/who have enabled Nintendo to be where they are today. Culturally (in the words of Dylan), the times they are a-changing and a company as creative and as flexible as Nintendo will adopt to this. Iwata is (again) creating a third pillar. He's not as stupid as people would like to think. The ageing 'entertainment doped' populations who have lived their entire existence as digitally literate individuals are going to buy tech devices that can combine health with fun. Nintendo are risk takers. They always have been as seen in their software and hardware. This will enable them to continue to exist. One thing that IS safe to assume is that they will always vehemently protect their identity as a family-friendly and accessible company at all times. Just my thoughts on the wider issues...

Click bait as we've seen this story earlier... I'd have preferred: IGN have REVEALED their review of Mario Kart 8, giving the game an 'amazing' 9.0 score. But yeah, we all know that wouldn't have stirred it up as much resulting in gamers kicking off with Nintendo for being out of touch and thus wanting to read the article... We have enough negative shock tactics in mainstream journalism parading as the sole 'reality' of a situation without this industry becoming entrenched in such shoddy tactics. /2cents.

I've tried in the dark. Same issue. It does drift though so maybe there is the sensor bar calibration turned off. Wouldn't have thought so though as don't even know where that option is?

I really believe that the age of Nintendo's top staff have had a huge impact on Nintendo. They used to be brasher and have a youthful cockiness and swagger about them in my opinion. Pikmin kickstarted Miyamoto's turn toward using his hobbies as inspiration and we've had Brain Training, Nintendogs, WiiFit and shortly, QOL software follow. With Wii they went all 'inclusive' and are now trying to be a jack of all trades but also appeal to and capture the cool kids/core gamers. As a company they are in their mid-life crisis years! Nintendo need to embrace new staff and potential 'young ideas' that may come with such staff. Create R&D groups that are filled with new talent amidst 'classic' divisions housing Miyamoto and co. Just look at Masahiro Sakurai for proof of how a fresh, young director can re-ignite the Nintendo brand in a modern way.

They really need to sort out the controls in Tennis. They keep freaking out randomly. I tried to go back to this the other night and ended up quitting out of it. You have to keep resetting the default position with the D-Pad. The crazy thing is, is that sometimes it is flawless. I just can't fathom out what the hell is wrong with it.

This is Nintendo. Yes. Yes they would. It's a global warming thing. That's putting all the 'winters' back to March.

It would be like a dream...within a dream! It's interesting to see who people main with. I think I use Mario as the red stands out on the background well enough for my ageing peepers. :awesome:

lol

I must be casual as I always main as Mario lol. The old guy just has the appeal as like. Also, really like Mii's. Feels more personal. Definitely in the minority...

Never gets old... This is BE.A.UTIFUL.

Mario Strikers only. PES has the new engine too and only after significant patching did PES 2014 become something approaching acceptable (in my opinion). It would be a nice game to have on WiiU. The GamePad functionality could be great ala FIFA 13. Not getting the EA World Cup game indicates EA won't be coming back I would guess.

I'm still in the championship hah. I've been taking my sweet time with it and my nephew has it so loads of competitive play. Not sure on end credits yet. I need to start looking at more eShop games. The fridge is full with DKC being a culprit with 11gb and Sanic Transformers racing being 4gb.

Yep. Too many good games on the go at the moment... Pocket Footy is now top of my 3DS played list. Insane amount of time spent on that. Still playing the insanely deep ACIV on WiiU too. Too much goodness and MK8 incoming. :-0

I was watching a few Infinity video's the other night and have noticed it's mainly the ToyBox mode that's the main draw. Ala Minecraft, the creation is a huge part of the appeal. I'd love to see Nintendo do this so we can create our own worlds or Mario Kart tracks. Even giving objects to characters from other universes would be neat. Infinity has items like Buzz Kightyear's jet pack/gun. Nintendo could have the FLUDD or Zelda etc. available. It could be awesome. Unfortunately, Nintendo have yet to allow gamers to really create their own worlds/tracks in their games. This is where they could really embrace this idea and step up into the sharing/online community. Allow 'worlds' like Pokemon/Mario/Zelda/Metroid/StarFox/FZero/Donkey Kong/Earthbound/Mario Kart (Sanic too!) to be bought and give gamers the chance to build and play. They can then take their characters into mainline games too. (Which would still maintain their value as they are so good...and could come with new item disks for their Infinity-style game). The WiiU GamePad suits this perfectly and, as they haven't got minecraft on their systems, it sits as a huge untapped market for them. Just an idea - but as others have said, the potential is there. Just call it Nintendo 'Universe' please!

Damn. Nintendo can't catch a break at the moment. Even when they release the games they get hammered!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Nintendo gambled and lost. With the Wii, I do believe two things happened that had a significant impact on Nintendo's vision for the future landscape of the industry: Sales were incredible for the first half of the systems life. Sales fell off a cliff years later. Due to a culmination of: smartphone gaming became standard/Nintendo not being able to come up with motion ideas anymore/the casual audience leaving/a lack of horsepower/lack of third party software. This must have been concerning for Nintendo. They had sold the Wii on the strength of their own games (particularly Wii Sports which led Iwata to change his idea that a single piece of software couldn't change the industry). But with WiiU they needed third parties back as I'm sure they may have guessed the Wii casual crowd might not come back. Unfortunately they have been stuck between a rock and a hard place ever since. As I said above, they gambled on how the world of technology was changing. To be honest, I am actually surprised gamers are still buying the latest FIFA/COD/GTA/Battlefield/Madden/Assassins creed as much as Nintendo probably are. This is now a period of transition for Nintendo. Just as EA/SONY/MS/UBI/Activision are doing to sell hardware and software, let the IP extraction commence!

As much as the WiiU is failing, this is completely wrong. Just as they did with the Wii's Blue Ocean strategy, Nintendo had carried out extensive research into market trends - specifically linking to the uptake of multiple screens in households. They frequently cited Sherry Turkle's book from 2011 entitled Alone Together: why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Turkle had pioneered research into relationships with technology from 1980 onwards and is a highly respected American researcher. (Her Ted talk from last year is great, highly recommended). Her findings and changes in how we engage with our entertainment were cited as reasons for the WiiU having a GamePad in a Nintendo direct and presentations during the unveiling of the hardware. And the logic was sound. We now spend more time on electronic devices, engaging with shorter, sharper experiences that can be used at a moments notice whilst in the same space as our friends and family. The idea of the GamePad was to embrace this train of thought. The market was everyone. I really enjoy gaming while my other half watches TV and pausing to talk to her or showing her where I am in a game. Even uploading images to Miiverse and accessing them on a mobile is Nintendo leaving behind the boundaries of TV and engaging with this train of thought. Unfortunately Nintendo haven't pushed that angle effectively. Their reasons were sound. Their follow through was confusing/costly and, just like with Wii, the newest tech (compared to other consoles) was found in the controller. I also believe that the thought of quick, accessible gaming arguably remains at odds with the ideologies of gamers who want epic (in size and scope) games. The biggest surprise for me so far is how well the PS4/XBox are selling. That core audience of gamers have spoken, and they don't want change. Read about the ideology behind WiiU here.

Or a pack-in game? I think this would work amazingly for sports games. Imagine something like the following: It would be great to have something like Mario strikers where you can add to your team. Then there are Mii's as well. Imagine being able to create your own Mii in store and have a model of it. I think Nintendo would do well to release a Wii sports-type game too. Have the GamePad flat with the figure on it and it unlocks a game. Could be a tennis racquet and bat. Linking to the trophies in smash could indicate a future direction. Further ideas could be a boardgame. The GamePad sits on the floor with the 'active' player's character on the GPad and the touch screen is used to manipulate the board. There' small kinds they can do. E3 just got a whole lot more interesting! :awesome:

Dejavu...

The repercussions might be huge here. Adding famed IP to titles that may not traditionally sell well could be a good move for titles that have traditionally struggled to gain traction due to unrecognisable branding. This approach also gives a sense of ownership to an individual character. Smash Bros. is the obvious franchise yet this could widen Nintendo's portfolio. And yet they are leaning on their franchises more than ever, adding fuel to the dire that Nintendo aren't creating new franchises. This is a huge announcement and who knows how it will be met. I'm not keen on having more 'toys' in my house, but if it allows for more software to emerge then it can only be a good thing. Really fascinating move by Nintendo in my opinion.

More details coming at E3. IR Dongle for 3DS releasing as well. Will allow Nintendo characters to function across multiple games. Figures can be used across WiiU and 3DS Goodbye monies!