Dcubed

Bear in mind that Zelda Wii U is the only game playable on the showfloor, that doesn't mean it's the only game that will be shown period (in fact, we already know they're showing Paper Mario Colour Splash and Pikmin 4 - Retro's new game is a shoe-in as well). I'm betting that we'll see a Wii U mainline Animal Crossing as well. The mobile app is a big hint (coming out in August, around the time you'd expect a new AC game to come out? I smell a tie-in ). Also, you know, AC series 15th anniversary and all that. Not impossible that we might see Mario Party 11 and another game from HAL as well for Wii U.

They've had some manufacturing issues, resulting in heavy shortages in Japan. It wasn't intentional. Good point. Didn't consider the Star Wars factor, that might play into it a little bit. But yeah, Pokemon S&M is getting the B&W treatment here for sure. Yup, very odd. But I suppose it doesn't matter too much to us at home since they don't do live conferences anymore and given the success of the Nindies@Home programme and the Nintendo World Championships, I suspect something similar but on a bigger scale this time. Nope. They've yet to announce anything other than the release month and Zelda Wii U getting an NX version.

The era of Europe getting belated releases is long gone (thank God!). Remember that EU was considered an afterthought up until the late GCN era. The release timings were based all around the needs of the JPN and US markets, so that's what we need to consider here. And yet ironically enough, the 3DS is the one that is due a replacement first, just by virtue of coming out a whole year and a half before Wii U (and thus, the NX handheld would have been put into R&D first). HD game development is a bitch sadly Consider myself chinrubbed! That's a surprise! They clearly want to push the Wii U version HARD! (which in turn seems to further indicate that they want people to turn to the Wii U as the console version of choice - since the NX version will be handheld). Mind you though, that's for the showfloor. No doubt that their E3 Direct will heavily focus on their other Wii U games as well like Pikmin 4, Colour Splash and whatever Retro have in store for us. Maybe they'll actually release E3 demos of their 1st party games on the eShop this time, like they did with the Nindies@Home programme last year. That way they needn't bother getting journos to play the E3 demos of their other games since they can just make them playable for everyone)

Don't worry, I read it alright (great article BTW!), but in the context of historic sales for older Nintendo consoles, the US and JPN release dates are the ones that matter, not Europe. Remember that Europe was considered an afterthought up until the later GBA/GCN era and release timings were based entirely around the US and JPN market's needs). The tweet seems to be gone, maybe it was a mistranslation? Either way, I wouldn't put any stock into specifics until the official English transcript of the event comes out (consider this a warning in general for anything involving Nintendo Investor news. Lots of things often get lost in translation, so wait until the official transcript comes out in a few days before putting stock into things like this).

Same thing happened with the 3DS. It was originally scheduled for release in November 2010 but was delayed till March 2011 (blame N-Vidia for that one). No way would they ever release a home console outside of the holiday season. Just wouldn't happen. Touche, but that was Europe only. The US release date (the most important one for worldwide sales) was September 1996. Also holiday sales have only become that much more important for Nintendo over the years. They literally make more than 50% of their yearly sales during the Xmas season. They can't afford to miss that with a console because it is much higher priced than their handhelds and thus, has a higher proportion of sales made during the Xmas shopping season as a result.

I'm just being deliberately disingenuous, I know exactly what he was getting at :p But even so, you can hardly just discount ALBW (and though Triforce Heroes was a spinoff like Four Swords was, it still is something that should be considered). 6 years is a long time, but it's not like we've gotten nothing in that time. It is the longest gap we've seen in new console releases since ALTTP-OoT. Well, that's what Nintendo get for biting off more than they could chew with this one :p

Consoles do not come out in March, handhelds do. Not only that but the 3DS is due to be replaced first. End. In fact, if you want to take the conspiracy further, Pokemon Sun & Moon comes out at roughly the same time Pokemon Black & White did, relative to the 3DS'/NX's release. There's a clear reason why they are skipping Pokemon Z

Fixed that for you. Nintendo has been pumping Zelda HARD these last 6 years! (even ignoring remakes/remasters, that's 3 brand new games in that timeframe! )

Of course it wont be a fully fledged Fire Emblem game. In fact, I bet it'll be a mobile version of the Fire Emblem 0 card game that's currently doing the rounds in Japan... As for Animal Crossing... Could we be seeing a tie-in to an upcoming Wii U game? (do pattern designs, house designs etc on mobile, transfer them to Wii U and carry on when you get home!) Given the Autumn release timeframe, that seems quite possible... (it's also the series' 15th anniversary this year... high time for a new mainline game!)

Pikmin 4, Paper Mario Colour Splash, Retro's new game. Hmm... this lineup seems familiar... In fact, 2004 was one of the greatest years ever for games and so far, Nintendo is copying it to a T this year with Wii U! Why don't we settle down and wait till E3 before judging their Wii U lineup this year? It's less than 2 months away now

Hmm... Looks like Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing are getting some sort of mobile entry... I wonder if that means that we might see a Wii U Animal Crossing after all, where this mobile app ties into it somehow? (Design houses on mobile, import them into the Wii U game?)

Indeed. That's the biggest surprise takeaway here! Why on earth they're still keeping mum about it is beyond me. Could we be seeing the return of Spaceworld? This announcement also gives us a bit of a hint about the NX itself as well. It must be capable of handling the Wii U Gamepad's featureset if Zelda Wii U is coming to it, so it probably means dual screens. But if it's a handheld, then will it necessarily be done in the same way as 3DS? Hmm...

It'll also be the only version you can play on your TV when it releases as well And like I've been telling you guys before, this console will be treated as a third pillar at first. It's being released like the DS was. Eventually it'll take over from the 3DS and the NX console will take the place of the Wii U though.

Retro Studios' new game is due for unveil and release this year. That'll probably be their big holiday title for Wii U. Otherwise, we have Pikmin 4 and probably another EPD developed title as well. So the Wii U ended up getting a 5 year lifecycle after all (because there's no way the NX console is coming out before November 2017 now). Nice

Wow, no E3 appearance!? That's a shocker! Told you guys that the first NX console was a handheld. That's the standard month of release they choose for their handheld releases (GBA/GBC/DS/3DS). No way would they ever release a console worldwide outside of the Xmas season.

Nope. No subscription nonsense here

QoL time! LET'S GO!!!l

Absolutely mental! Will be copping those for sure!

Ha ha! That's where you're WRONG! Because I just managed to wrangle the day off work! If me and UFA joined, that would mean we only need one more player! Come on mystery player! Get IN!

Because the cursor works in 3D space now instead of 2D, you need to look at both the TV and the Gamepad and glance between the two of them. By doing this, they've made it so that you can now shoot at off screen enemies and enemies at completely oblique angles (strafing runs are now possible for instance and you can shoot directly upwards and downwards as well). You can't just rely on the TV screen, you have to use both. It's tough to learn, but it allows you to do things that you could never otherwise do with the old control system. You just need to practice glancing between the two screens and knowing when to shift the focus of your eyes between the both of them. Generally you need to focus on the Gamepad more when you're trying to shoot at a distant enemy, or when it's at a very oblique angle, relative to the Arwing onscreen.

Nah, Jim's wrong on this one. I'm usually one to thank God for him, but not this time. He ends up coming across as someone who refuses to accept anything that deviates from the norm or even give it a fair shake... Considering his heavily negative review of Kid Icarus Uprising and his lambasting of that game's controls though? (Not to mention his general views on motion controls as a whole) That comes as no surprise to me And no, the controls/dual screen gameplay couldn't have been made optional. Not without completely redesigning the game. It's just like Skyward Sword in that regard.

Hmm... What about 22:00 on this upcoming Saturday, Sunday and Monday? Hopefully that's fine by @S\.C\.G and @The Mole!

Believe it or not, that was actually part of the review embargo :p

Right now, we're looking at 11 PM on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, going by people's preferences so far. Thus far, we have managed 6 people (Myself, @S\.C\.G, @Glen\-i and @Ugh first aid). We could really do with at least 2 more people!!! Come on guys! get IN!