Ville

I think it's just their way of getting free advertisement. It does work in a way, but a two-week gap is too long in my opinion. I mean some review embargos are only lifted on the day before or even the same day a game launches, which has the benefit of boosting the launch day excitement and getting people to buy the game right then. Now it feels like there was a separate early launch for all the press people and several other parties, which kind of mellows out the excitement for everyone else, especially when every little thing is being spoiled in the videos etc.

Probably gonna get NSMBU or Pikmin 3, not sure which one though...

Yeah it seems like they only want to do it their way and that's it. Why not give players the flexibility to choose what features to implement or not? If you have voice chat, have to option to turn it off; if you have a map on the screen, make it possible to display that on the gamepad or not at all etc. I mean it's not exactly brain surgery...plus different people have different preferences. In Monster Hunter for example you can choose what to display on the screen and what on the gamepad, lots of different combinations. I chose to display everything on the screen, and appreciated the flexibility very much. Simple as that...

Yeah, I think they just made a mistake with the second screen. Maybe they overestimated its potential, although we've yet to see what they will come up with at E3. I'm a bit sceptical of what they can really offer, but we'll see... Still, niggle here niggle there, the game itself looks pretty good and these kinds of small things are not gonna affect it so much. I mean there's split screen multiplayer and the 2-player multiplayer even runs at 60fps, plus you can take it online. The messaging quirks you can go around via various means, so they're more annoying than really harmful. Still looking forward to this game, but of course it's also an indicator of where Nintendo is going at the moment. They do need to get these small things sorted out as well...

@Serebii Yes but it's a game by Nintendo, they have all the power to fix the system.

Well you could do it like in Monster Hunter where private messages are only delivered to you after you've finished the hunt. Maybe just have a small letter icon in the main menu or something, it doesn't have to be that intrusive...

But wouldn't it be much more convenient to have a pop-up / notification in-game? A light glow is awfully vague...

@Serebii Ok maybe that was a bit harsh. I meant that Nintendo themselves are advertising the tablet as a cool addition to multiplayer, yet still you see that it can't really do much with these kinds of more demanding games. With these kinds of limits, which are totally understandable, it begs the question that do we even need it? Btw, watching the IGN video review and patching up the information, it seems that: -you can't invite friends to a game (but you can join your friends via the friend list?) -there's no message notification (but you can still send messages?) Seems pretty weird...

From the Nintendolife preview: The IGN review states the same thing. It's probably something related to the power, i.e. the system can't run two different streams at once with a decent framerate / no lag. I think it's totally understandable, but it also shows how redundant the gamepad really is...

Well that's what I gathered (IGN review again), but I'd certainly like to see a confirmation of this from someone / video source for example. @Ashley & @Daft, did you try the local multiplayer?

Btw, the reviews are saying that even if you play local multiplayer, you have a split screen on both the tv and the tablet. I wonder why, I mean doesn't that kind of defeat the whole idea of having a tablet controller?

Speaking of Soul Calibur 2, it seems that Namco made of remake of that, aka Soul Calibur 2 HD Online. It was released in November 2013 on ps3 and xb360, but "surprisingly" not on a Nintendo console. Pretty weird considering the fact that Namco and Nintendo are doing some stuff together now... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulcalibur_II#Soulcalibur_II_HD_Online

So what's that messaging option in the picture then? Is it in-game messaging or something you do via Miiverse?

Chibis. Plus a lot of tentacles. #yourewelcome

Well, even if some things are out of whack, at least the game seems to be a good one overall. Metacritic's aggregate score is 89/100, based on 43 critics. Plus you have the whole "buy MK8, get a free game" deal there too, making it an even better purchase... Two more weeks.

Congrats man, may you have a happy journey together.

Indeed. I think this is an especially poignant point if you think about how Nintendo view online, as it seems like they don't think it matters so much, and they often go with just the bare necessities and sometimes not even those. It's a very archaic and "traditional" view, like "this is how we have always done it and so it shall be", so it would definitely be nice to have some new blood or even cultural exchange in there to shake things up a bit.

Well the headset thing was just something HoT wondered, I don't think there's any actual source for proving it right. Unless someone can present a source of some kind, I presume that the headsets should work as normal like they do in any other game that has voice chat. I mean why wouldn't they? You just plug it into the gamepad, it has nothing to do with the software...

Well it should. I mean at least with the Turtle Beach headset you just connect the two-way jack into the gamepad and that's it. It has nothing to do with the software (except that voice chat is allowed by it), so I don't see why it wouldn't work...

Compare with for example Steam. -see your friend online → open text chat -open voice chat -start game Doesn't get any more simple and convenient than that. In this day and age, there's just no justification for not having this kind of a basic online functionality there...I mean even Monster Hunter 3U has a messaging system for your contacts. Yes it's a bit clumsy, but at least it is there! #sigh @Hero\-of\-Time Wait, the headset doesn't automatically work with voice chat?

Eurogamer 10/10, wuuut?

@Tales Tell me about it. Very pleased that they're actually making this happen, a free game is quite a big incentive...

Ok, good point. So basically what you mean is...Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2 and X all confirmed for December Winter, probably launching on the same day too! #scoop

But...if Smash Wii U is coming out at the end of the year, would they release this at the same time?

Great news for Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway! At least in Finland, the whole thing seems to work like this: 1) Buy the game, get the code 2) Register the code at the Finnish Nintendo site between 30.5.2014 and 31.7.2014 3) Receive the download code into your email by 31.8.2014 at the latest. So basically, you have to wait till August to get the code but still, at least they're making it happen... #goodjob