Serebii

Someone posted it on GAF

Well yeah, that too. That didn't cross my mind. After the 3DS's price cut, it was being sold at a considerable loss. Its price cut took it to $170. This damaged their financials. The innards being $101 was likely wrong, but that's not the issue. A console's costs are far more than just the sum of their parts. Also, yes, I agree that handheld pricing is not the same, but that's the logic that occurred. Higher budgets + inflation as @Cube mentioned = higher cost of product. We may not like it, but that's how it is.

Well, it is conjecture yes. However, it's logical conjecture. Struggling company. Investors wanting a particular thing. New CEO comes in. Of course it will happen. Region locking doesn't benefit or hinder consumers. The people it affects are a vocal minority. Should Nintendo remove it? Absolutely. Does it hinder sales? No. The 3DS launch price was a mis-step, yes, but it wasn't them trying to be asses. It was them trying to, funnily enough, turn a profit with their hardware. Also, the "price hike" was not "un-necessary". Unwise? Perhaps. Un-necessary? No. It's just like all generational price hikes. Look at Xbox One and PS4 RRPs, higher than PS3/360 ones. Why? INCREASED BUDGETS. For them to make the same amount of money they would have, they need to increase the price to further account for that increase. Just because we don't like it does not mean it's un-necessary. Yes, Iwata's job and aim is to make the company money, but what I'm saying is that he doesn't do it by means of screwing the consumer.

No. Look at what happened with Square Enix when they got rid of their CEO and replaced him. The CEO, in an effort to please investors, went straight to mobile. Situations such as this would occur if Iwata leaves. Yes, the Wii U is a mess and the 3DS had a rocky start, but Iwata can sort it out. I just feel that we shouldn't try to get rid of the one CEO left who actually truly cares about the games and consumers. This is a man who saw that they could microtransact Animal Crossing and make a fair bit of money, but chose not to. This is a man who mandates that any DLC done by his developers is conceived of and developed after launch. He may not be "with the times", but the current times suck for games and how publishers treat the consumer. He has admitted there are issuesand has been planning things to fix it. 2013 featured the biggest expansion of Nintendo ever. They funnelled 23 billion yen further into R&D and marketing, as well as a new building and hiring a load of staff. They're also going to reveal a whole new strategy very soon. Give him a chance to fix the mess. He has earned it.

Let's hope the game is quality too. Seriously, it's too far zoomed in. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING??? Oh, and the pre-order bonus

March 14th in the UK confirmed as well

That's so weird. I've heard the complete opposite for developers. Nintendo need to sort that out

Na, I don't think so. I'm on the side that it's fake.

They do that though. It's very accessible for indies and third parties, much moreso than Xbox 360 & Xbox One. They can set sales whenever they want etc. There are price reductions weekly on it, just not with Nintendo's own software. All Nintendo asks for is for your game to not be broken. Microsoft, however, have ridiculous stipulations like you can't release it on other platforms first, and then there's next to no visibility.

11.4GB to download. Crikey, that's almost as big as a Dead Rising 3 patch :p Can use all controllers except Classic Controller. Weird.

It's not worth it at the moment.

I believe it's due to licensing and classification. Until recently, Nintendo had their games classified by PEGI, BBFC, ERSB, USK etc. with the console they're on. Doing this means that, if they wish to re-release them, they'll have to go through the long process of reclassification which is a little costly, especially for a load of games. There's also the issue of how the games work. The DS mode on the system is an isolated pocket of the console, rather than using the SD card. As such, they'd have to recode all the games to act like 3DS download software.

I maintain that the Virtual Console subscription idea is the best. It will get many players back and will make them a tonne of cash.

After so much gloom and bandwagoning of late around the net, we actually have a well thought out pro-Nintendo article http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2014/01/nintendo-mobile/ One of the best ones I have read.

Many of those games don't fit the point you're trying to make...

It annoys me when they have long cutscenes, but they aren't exactly common. Thankfully, it's done with text and I read very quickly, so I can get through them very quickly. I do vastly prefer 2D ones though, yes.

I'm saying that presentation isn't why I buy a game. I buy it to be something to played, not to look at and think "Oh, this is rather good". If I wanted that, I'd go to an art gallery, or for it with story, I'd watch a movie. The Last of Us, in my eyes, is not a good game. As I said, great graphics, story and presentation, but the gameplay is mediocre at best. It is nowhere near being one of the best games ever, not even one of the best games last year, at least to me. I may be in the minority since I dislike it, but as I said, check GotY posts around the net. Few people praise the actual gameplay of the game.

Congrats

Exactly. QTEs are the worst thing to happen to gaming. Also, I play games to play games. If I have to sit watching a cutscene for more than 120 seconds in one sitting, I'm not a happy chap. I remember getting the Assassin's Creed 3 DLC. That frustrated me so much. Cutscene. Load gameplay. Walk for 15 seconds. Cutscene. Load Gameplay. Walk for 30 seconds. Cutscene. FPS games are quite guilty of this also. A to B. Shoot a few people. Cutscene. B to C. Cutscene.

Didn't say they were flaws. I said that is how gaming is shifted, and you just have to look at all the GOTY threads from recent months across the Internet. Few people mention the gameplay in regards to those games. Typically it's presentation, narrative, atmosphere etc.

Off the top of my head from last year. The Last of Us. Stunning game. Decent graphics & presentation, with a story that hooks you. However, the gameplay...at least to me...was woefully mediocre. It would have made a brilliant movie, but for a game? No. Grand Theft Auto V Decent story, and it definitely held the game together and the presentation was strong. However, so many missions in it were just drive from A to B while the characters discussed the story, then much of the actual narrative occurred in cutscenes. The actual missions it had were great, but there were far too few. Hell, even Assassin's Creed 4 was somewhat like this in a lot of places. Just sit and follow people while they discuss the story, and then stab them.

They did chart their own course. They decided to do Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. Nintendo didn't force them http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/06/retro_chose_donkey_kong_over_metroid_as_its_first_wii_u_title New hardware before 2016 (absolute earliest) would be more detrimental than useful. It's the Sega situation. It erodes consumer faith in Nintendo, and that is what Nintendo needs to have the most.

I know, and the answer to that is a resounding no :p I just hate how gaming has become at the moment, especially for western gaming taste. It has become far more about presentation than gameplay and that is quite depressing. People suggesting Nintendo follow that route...I just don't get how they can think that. But to each their own. I'd just rather Nintendo stick with what they do, even if it makes them niche, than see them turn like that.

You say that, but look at how well Metroid Prime did. Was it a good game? Sure. Did it have mainstream appeal? No. As annoyingly sad as it is, those things you listed are what have western appeal. Has to have a "gritty" story, lots of cutscenes and decent gameplay if you're lucky. Anyway, that article has some flaws. For example, with their EA source That's an attempt at justification. Mass Effect 3 on Wii U didn't do well due to the fact it was full priced almost a year after initial release, and was released after Mass Effect trilogy on 360/PS3 which contained all three games at the same price as Mass Effect 3 on the Wii U. I'm not saying it would have sold amazingly if those factors didn't exist, but to ignore them is negligent and trying to prove a point that is not necessarily true. Far more likely is the whole Origin spat that leaked out. The article does make many good points, and Nintendo does need to sort things out like western developer relations, but the article too is pushing for smartphone crap. We just need to wait and see, but we can guarantee it won't be that and it won't be third party.

GAME are offering this as pre-order bonus