Dcubed

Can't help but feel that this is a terrible time to release the game. It (and DQ7) really should've come out much earlier. This is gonna get released right after the Switch unveiling and it's gonna reflect really poorly as a result... A shame, but at least it's coming out in the end I suppose.

While I'd of course recommend the New3DS over the 2DS, the difference isn't gigantic if you're not that bothered by the lack of 3D and shorter loading times in general. Some titles look and run better on the New3DS than the older models (the most notable one being Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - Monster Hunter Generations is near identical on both though, strangely enough), while there are a handful of New3DS exclusive titles like Xenoblade 3D and the SNES VC games. But most games are just standard 3DS titles and will play identically on new and old models (if you do feel like playing those other games, you could always choose to upgrade later when the price comes down anyway). Pokemon Sun/Moon also doesn't support 3D anyway (not even on the New3DS - mainly because Game Freak suck at programming :p ), so you're not missing out on anything really if you play Sun/Moon on a 2DS instead of a New3DS. And with Switch supposedly not being backwards compatible with 3DS games, you'd be crazy not to own at least one model of the 3DS! The library is massive, wide, diverse and filled with a massive number of high quality titles. Go for it! : peace:

I don't think they'll directly advertise the Switch console itself in Super Mario Run (it's far too direct, crass, disrespectful and likely to be swept past and ignored), but rather they'll use My Nintendo as a vector for marketing the Switch (and the Wii U/3DS). The trick behind this is in getting people to sign up to My Nintendo through Super Mario Run (which they will probably have to do to play the game) - That's how they get 'em. From that point, they then have the My Nintendo coins and promotions to encourage them to check out their "real" games and consoles and sign up for their newsletters, watch their Nintendo Directs etc The indirect approach with My Nintendo has far more potential than any sort of direct advertisement within the game itself. Instead of throwing adverts at them which would be ignored, they're gonna encourage people to actively sign up and read up about their other products by themselves. Instead of it being an advert that they'll want to avoid, they'll actually want to read up about it and get involved; it's a far more positive approach that turns the marketing into a game in of itself. The fact that the Switch unveil is happening soon after Super Mario Run launches is surely no accident. They're gonna reward and encourage people to watch that live conference through My Nintendo; I'm pretty sure about it (earn coins and limited time only in-game items for Super Mario Run by watching this video through My Nintendo is something they could do... )

Monster Hunter XX comes out on March 18th in Japan so that date is probably true

Not just from Happy Home Designer, but they also nicked the best part of Amiibo Festival as well. Very strange. But who cares? Puzzle League is (kind of) alive again! That's what really matters here. There's hope for a glorious new HD/4K full fat Puzzle League game after this!

Do I... do I see... PUZZLE LEAGUE!?!?!?!? UNFATHOMABLE HYYYYPPPEEEE!!!!!!!!!! (Even if it is just a cut down minigame, it's still the first new Puzzle League game since 2007... THAT'S ALMOST A WHOLE DECADE PEOPLE!!!! PUZZLE LEAGUE FINALLY LIVES AGAIN!!!! )

A few interesting revelations... Firstly, the game is actually being developed by DENA themselves with Nintendo overseeing production (unlike Miitomo - where they handled all of the development in-house) according to Serkan Toto... Secondly, it's being built on the Unity engine instead of a custom Nintendo made engine like Miitomo... Interesting... I wonder if that means that Animal Crossing Mobile will be handled in the same way? (Fire Emblem will obviously be made by Intelligent Systems, so lord knows how that one's gonna work out; they already have loads of support studios working on Awakening and Fates, so presumably they might have a lot of it outsourced anyway)

The idea of a "real" 3D Mario is pretty hilarious when you consider that the gameplay style of 3D Mario undergoes drastic change every two games (and that's not by accident). Super Mario 64 - Super Mario Sunshine Super Mario Galaxy - Super Mario Galaxy 2 Super Mario 3D Land - Super Mario 3D World Super Mario Mexico - ???? By that logic, there hasn't been a "real" 3D Mario since 2002

Yeah, it's a quasi New3DS enhanced game (Like Smash Bros 3DS, it uses the old 3DS' 96MB memory mode and takes advantage of the New3DS for faster loading times, but nothing else), so Miiverse would be New3DS only as a result. Let's just hope that they don't ban screenshots this time... (given that there's some sort of QR code scanning mode, they might do... they tend to block games that allow you to use the camera from posting Miiverse screenshots)

Ahh! It's finally that time... We'll have to do one for 3DS soon as well, considering that Switch will end up replacing both I'll see about getting my one done in due course. Might need a bit of time, but I'll make my thoughts known for sure!

Aaaaannnnddd data miners are gonna have a field day...

Ooh! Some of Kirby Cafe's merch is gonna start being sold from normal Japanese retailers from Nov 23rd, making it actually accessible to importers! http://nintendoeverything.com/kirby-cafe-merchandise-to-be-sold-at-japanese-retailers-starting-on-november-23/ Whelp! Time to start writing that Xmas list!

Now I'm not a fan of TPC's extreme Genwunner pandering, not one bit, but I'm not gonna lie, this got a good chuckle out of me

Well she does actually provide the voice for Samus' grunts and groans in all 3 Metroid Prime games, so presumably, it was meant to be a similar kind of intro narration as seen in Super Metroid, Fusion and Zero Mission. Metroid Prime is really weird for localisation and version changes. The original PAL release added its own narration (different from the cut one), but then that narration was cut from the Player's Choice re-release and also from the Wii version. There's LOADS of little differences between regions and even different versions within the same region! Here's a snippet of some of the key differences, it's really interesting!

Just watched the latest DF Retro on Metroid Prime It's a good watch and a nice throwback, but there's one bit they highlight that I actually never knew... There's actually a cut version of the intro narration, hidden on the Pre-release Demo Disc files, voiced by Jennifer Hale as Samus!

Same. Mine don't expire until the 30th of November. Hopefully they do something alongside the NES Mini...

Ya don't say...

In theory... yes, actually there's some truth to it. Like Pestneb said, it depends on the read speed of these cards (which is a mystery right now), but it's safe to say that it'll load much faster than any disc based media; meaning that, compared to an equivalent console that runs games directly from blu-ray discs, less data needs to be kept in RAM at any given time in order to avoid long loading times as the system can just pull data off the card that much faster. As for loading from SD Cards? I dunno what they're gonna do. Maybe they'll require higher class ones that have a certain read speed? Or maybe they'll just let you use whatever and your loading times are just completely dependent on whatever read speed your SD Card has? Who can say?

I wish I had something to spend them on but...

It was 2 years afterwards and 1 year after the Game Boy Micro (where they released a special Famicom version), so yes, it does explain a lot Sakamoto isn't involved with the NES Classic Mini AFAIK though, but rather it's being made by Nintendo European Research & Development (same team that did the DS VC emulator for Wii U).

Huh, you're right. Nobody seems to have it! So much for this being a physical release

4GB RAM would be kinda low, but not catastrophically low. Unfortunately, mobile hardware has only just reached the 8GB point recently. Samsung just introduced the first 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM package this month, so that's really absolute bleeding edge. 4GB is double what the Wii U had in total (and 4x as much as what was available to Wii U games, which could only use 1GB in total of that). I bet that Nintendo will end up locking off 2GB for the OS though. They seem to like splitting the OS/Game RAM allocation 50:50 in recent times if the 3DS/Wii U is anything to go by; but they did resort to implementing a low memory OS mode in 3DS in its later years (that's when you're playing a game on an old 3DS model and the system has to reboot when you start/quit a game, like in Smash Bros 3DS or Pokemon Sun/Moon), so maybe they won't lock off as much memory this time? I would hope that they'd go with a 3GB:1GB RAM split in favour of the games themselves, but I get that sinking feeling that they'll go with 2GB:2GB... If they did go with 3GB for games, that's not a big disadvantage against the PS4/Xbone (which have 5GB available for games, with the PS4 Pro upping that to 5.5GB - with the extra 512MB being slow cache RAM); especially when you consider that this will be somewhat offset by the use of Game Cards/SD Cards instead of Optical Media/HDDs - so less need to store big caches of data as game assets can be pulled off a Game Card more quickly than the other forms of storage. Either way, I suspect that this is something that they will address in future versions of the Switch down the line. Unfortunately for now, I can't really see them going above 4GB at launch; the 8GB tech is too new and they're already standing at the bleeding edge when it comes to mobile CPU/GPU tech; they have to keep the price at something reasonable after all.

An interview with Yoshio Sakamoto regarding Balloon Fight, part of Nintendo's Famicom Mini interview series... https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0OUPKWFnncRMll6U1ZGdkJTU0E/view Apparatantly, Sakamoto had the idea for the NES Mini around 10 years ago, using a modified GBA (supposedly, they even had a mock up ready, with a box and all!)

Thanks for the offer, but sadly I'm busy on Friday, Saturday and Sunday that week and I can't book it off I'll make a donation on the 10th though!

There's 2 million Switches allocated for launch month. There won't be mass shortages. Don't waste your money at GAME.