Ville

So, Nintendo said they're going to reveal games that utilise the gamepad in some unique way at E3, so any predictions of what those are going to be? I hope it's not just more minigames and platforming...

@Sheikah Well at least tell us what's the total amount of forum members in the whole thing, surely you can do that?

@Sheikah Do number the pictures, that'll help a lot...

Whatever the case, the reactions of some of the Russian authorities have been pretty damn ridiculous. Yeah, the world is gonna end now, a drag performer won. Like seriously...

Because... Has he stated otherwise somewhere?

I don't care about the trans aspect, but I still think the beard just did not suit the character. Good voice though.

I bet we're gonna see Iwata with a grapefruit come E3.

Yep, I do want to see Nintendo succeed, and that holds even if they're doing something a little different than what I'm asking for myself. Like the Wii: it had it's strengths and weaknesses, but it still sold and most importantly I had a lot of fun with it regardless of its limitations. The problem with the Wii U is that it's not selling so well. If it did, I wouldn't have that much of a problem with it, because after all Nintendo are a business and they've gotta do what they've gotta do to succeed. If it's a casual strategy and it works, fine; if it's a hardcore strategy and it works, same thing. But if it's mixup of this and that and it's not even selling well, everyone loses basically... In the end, it's their company, their vision. Whatever it is, I hope they do succeed with it...

Amazing stuff. MEGA PANTENE CONFIRMED. MEGA LANCHU SETTO CONFIRMED. MEGA POKEMON COCKKU RINGU CONFIRMED. MEGA TROLLING AND 5 SECONDS OF OPENING CONFIRMED. #onceinalifetime

I don't think they want to go head to head. So why not just go fully "blue ocean" so to speak? The Wii U is trying to be red, blue, green, purple ocean all at the same time, and it's not working, so why bother? The Wii wasn't trying to be a compromise, and it worked just because of that, i.e. because it was different enough and had a lower price. All they need is a clear vision of what they're going for, a main selling point for the (next) console. For the ps4 and xbOne, it's power, latest blockbuster games, good online, gameplay streaming etc. For the Wii it was motion controls, affordable price, different experience. For the Wii U, it's the...tablet? A separate screen for inventories / maps? Nintendo games with some of the multiplatforms with some of the features, with some kind of online play every now and then? Exactly...it's all over the place. No wonder they seem confused about how to market the console, they don't have a clear picture of what the console's supposed to be about either!

Maybe they don't know, or maybe they just don't care. Either way, I think this is a perfect example of how oblivious they really can be about the markets outside Japan...Makes you wonder what the NoA and NoE are even for, just local distribution? Anyway, this kind of cultural short-sightedness and Japan-centricity is gonna bite them in the ass sooner or later, probably has already...

Great article! What dawned on me while reading that was that Nintendo really doesn't have a clue of who they're trying to attract with the Wii U. The Wii was its own thing, while the Wii U tries to be everything at once like she says in the article. Also, the bit about the off-tv play...jesus christ, did they even do any research before committing to that? Most households in the US and UK have more than one tv? Well who would've friggin' guessed! Just shows how out of the loop they are what comes to the western markets...

Yeah, that's a good deal. I just hope it works in Finland too, as we don't have our own Club Nintendo section...

I try to buy most of my games used or just go for the cheap Steam / VC games, usually under 10€ in price. Which brings me to one really bad thing about the Wii U: there doesn't seem to really even be used games out there! And even if you have a multiplatform game that is going down in price naturally, the Wii U version is always the most expensive one! It makes no sense to me, the console people are buying the least, with the highest priced games, with the most gimped versions....aaaargh goddamnit. Anyway, not sure about Mario Kart yet, but Smash Bros I probably will buy at launch...In general, I don't have that much money right now so I just don't think spending 50-60€ on one game is worth it, especially when you can get 5-6 other games with that same money!

Well it's definitely gonna be interesting too see what they cook up with these...

@dazzybee Well I do hope they do something about it. You're right that it's a first party console mainly, but the question is that do they have the capacity to push out more games than they're doing right now? I don't think so... All I know is that my Wii U's sitting there without use. 2 retail games bought, and I can't even get any used stuff because they don't exist or are just as expensive as normal games. It's really not a good console if you don't wanna buy games at full price...

@King_V They're probably affecting each other, relations with 3rd parties and system specs that is. Nintendo has always been about 1st party games, and is still taking that route...which means the Wii U was also probably tailored with that in mind first, other developers second. The problem is that the 3rd parties seem to be opting out completely now...and why wouldn't they, much easier to just focuse on the consoles which will help sell the games!

@Serebii The specs matter in relation to the other machines on the market. The ps4 and xbOne are going where the Wii U can't follow, meaning it's gonna miss out on the big multiplatform games. The machine might be ok on its own, but what does that matter if it's supported mainly by just Nintendo, and it's not gonna have the best, most cutting-edge 3rd party games on it? From a consumer viewpoint, it makes no sense to buy such a console that is behind the competition and which is gonna miss all the big games that are coming to all the other platforms. As for the lack of advertising, that's on Nintendo.

Yet what consoles are people buying?

Well, I did finish Emerald just a few months ago, but I'm still interested to see what this is gonna be like...

I'm pretty sure we get some Mario. Plus some NEW stuff and Mario.

But what's the point of making them "secret" unlockable characters, when they have been in previous games already?

Do we really need 3 Marios and 3 Peaches? Baby Peach, Daisy AND Rosalina? Seems like a waste of character space to me...

That's battle mode? You play on the actual racing tracks now?

It seems that all we really need is pizza with voice chat. Get on it, Nintendo!