Dcubed

Lets be honest though, those two games are super niche and would never have sold better on any other platform. The few "core" 3rd party games that were actually high profile and not neutered in any stupid way (like RE4 Wii, the Guitar Hero series, Monster Hunter 3 and Epic Mickey) all ended up actually selling very well. Hell look at the sales of Guitar Hero on Wii VS Rock Band on Wii for a perfect example of how a series that was given proper treatment on Wii utterly annihilated its shoddly made competitor; despite Rock Band selling better on other platforms in general. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Wii is this industry's biggest ever missed opportunity. If it wasn't sabotaged by pretty much the entire industry, the traditional gaming sector would've not only have grown so much more than it did last generation, it would also have been in far better a state than it is in now. The massive increase in budgets could've been avoided, sales could've been higher across the board and mid tier games would still have had a place at retail. Note that they say direct competitor, it doesn't mean that they have no impact at all. To Nintendo, MS and Sony are seen as indirect competitors. They might not be targeting the same market as them directly, but they're still pulling from the same pool of developers out there and are certainly indirectly competing with them for people's time. Honestly, I have no idea. That being said though, it may not necessarily matter as much as you might think at first, if they succeed at bringing in that expanded audience back from mobile. Mobile and the devaluation of software in general is a far bigger problem for them right now than PS4/Xbone are really. Their biggest challenge is finding a way to get people to spend money on honest product, in an age where games are worth nothing and are funded almost entirely by sleazy and underhanded psychological manipulation of a select, vulnerable few. Supposedly there's a lot more happening behind the scenes than you see in public, the general consensus that I keep seeing from many developers is that they actually do go out of their way to help developers, get kit into their hands and such and are generally pretty strong in that area... But they're just not public about it... ... which always leaves me thinking why!? If they're giving them this push, why aren't they shouting from the rooftops about it? It's like they're doing the right things and then shooting themselves in the foot by not getting the word out! As far as their support goes, supposedly they're at least as good as Sony in that area (and in some cases even better according to some), but with one exception. They supposedly do not actually outright give out money hats like Sony do, that's the one big thing that they seem to lack in comparison. And while it's not their style to do so (and it could eventually land them in a bad situation if they end up being bullied into having to pay for everything when the going gets tough), I do think that they need to start playing the game a bit more. If not actual outright payment for exclusives, then other incentives like Amiibo (see Shovel Knight) or use of their own IP, or other co-marketing deals. Same. I bet it would make for a real juicy read! The analogs to the EA/Dreamcast and Sony/SNES CD add-on debacles are shockingly apt! This! Nintendo already employ many of the original Konami developers who created these IPs in the first place! It's crazy to think of all the IP that is rotting away at that festering corpse! That being said, supposedly Nintendo has actually licensed one of Konami's IP already (Momotaro Dentetsu) and is having a new game in the series being developed as we speak, so fingers crossed for the likes of Goemon and Bomberman to follow!

Well with EA supposedly they were asked for advice and support when Nintendo were developing Nintendo Network and the Wii U eShop; after which they gave Nintendo an ultimatum, either adopt Origin (EA's own online store they use on PC) as the exclusive storefront that all developers (both 1st and 3rd party) must use to sell their digital content on Wii U, or EA will pull all support for Nintendo's consoles. Nintendo obviously refused. Looking at what happened with how EA blatantly sabotaged their own releases (ME3/Mass Effect Trilogy, Fifa 2013 lacking basic features, NFS being delayed to the point where it had no chance of success etc), after which they publicly dropped all support for Nintendo and publicly shat over their consoles in the press, and the fact that they actually did exactly the same thing to SEGA, back with the Dreamcast; it's all very believable. As for Take Two? Well Rockstar seem to have a bit of a grudge against Nintendo in general (ever since Body Harvest on N64) and none of their other developers have ever really supported Nintendo platforms, so... yeah. Not gonna happen.

All very true. I don't see many people jumping ship from Xbone/PS4 mid generation to the NX console if it comes out, say November 2017, no matter the unique features, more powerful specs etc that it may offer. However, there is still a large audience that has not jumped ship from PS360. They're still up for grabs... I don't see Nintendo going head to head directly against PS4/Xbone. Not only does it go against everything they keep saying about how they don't see them as direct competitors, it is also a battle that they cannot win. Their strategy with using mobile to convert users over makes it clear that they're still hoping to cast their net more widely and win back a chunk of that expanded audience that went mobile. They'll obviously try to win support from Ubisoft, Activision and Warner Bros, but EA and Take Two will be eternally out of reach. Either way, they're certainly not going to make the same mistake they made with Wii U and they're not going to try to make that same deal-with-the-devil that destroyed their relations with EA again! Ultimately as far as large western developers go, there's only so much that they can do and they're probably not going to bend over backwards to win them over. Their efforts will mostly be focused on smaller independent developers (and if they were smart, they'd be chucking some money/IPs their way to win some good quality exclusives!) Otherwise, I reckon that they'll focus on taking back widespread Japanese developer support. By effectively sharing their handheld 3rd party support with their console, they will essentially have everyone who is still supporting dedicated platforms on their side - so as far as Japan goes, their main battle will be trying to find a way to win support from mobile game developers (see Puzzle & Dragons Z/Gung-ho for what they're gonna be looking for) It's probably progressing just fine. Remember that it's not a gaming product, so why do they need to talk about it before it's ready for release? Their sleep monitoring device is a standalone healthcare product that doesn't need a long running marketing campaign before its release.

Full game on eShop is £39.99, so that's quite a bit cheaper than the retail version! Either they made a mistake or that sold out FAST, because it's gone now!

This week's haul... £39.99 for PZ Maiden of Black Water is a good bit cheaper than the retail version Freedom Planet is legit BTW! Anyone who hasn't played the Nindies @ Home demo, do yourself a favour and check this one out! If you like the old school Mega Drive Sonic games, you'll like this one!

This week's goodies... Nice! Wasn't expecting us to get the Zip Lash demo

Huh, that's disappointing. You'd think that they'd have something else for Halloween as well, like Project Zero 2 Wii Edition, or some of the HOTD games on Wii, or some of the other Wii Resident Evils as well... Well I guess they have Project Zero 5 this week as well, so they probably don't want too much out there to compete with it Still, will gladly cop RE4 yet again though. Will be nice to play it in bed on my Gamepad with the lights off

The game is ripe with opportunities for DLC here, so it's not surprising to hear that the game is setup for it. New costumes, new stages (both for Drablands and for the Colosseum), new bonus challenges... Yeah, not surprising at all. Nice to see that they're planning on releasing some free updates though

Well it depends on the game itself. They're really good for making quick motions and for button mashing, so they're great for games like Metal Slug, Magical Drop, many old school shmups or the many 2D fighters out there (though I'm not really a fan of traditional fighters myself). But mostly it just better replicates the controls that those arcade games were originally designed for; makes it feel more like you're playing on an actual cabinet There's a tactile feeling that you get that just feels nice, even if it doesn't necessarily make you play better.

Yup, that was me. Wallmasters are terrifying in this game! Cheers for the laughs

I'm probably the only person here who cares, but whatever! http://store.steampowered.com/app/377860 November 5th is the day for Mushihimesama on Steam! So it's 25% off for the launch period. Probably will be £13.99 for us, so probably a price of about £10-£11 ish for us in the UK on day 1. Not bad at all! (Especially considering how much the import costs on 360! Not to mention Ver 1.5, which is nigh on impossible to obtain period!)

Oh snap!! 3rd party Wii games outside Japan at last! Will definately cop this one! Off TV play is a very nice bonus with this one (it supports the classic controller, meaning that you'll be able to control it with the Gamepad's buttons/sticks) Of course, the Wiimote & Chuck controls are infinitely better, but even then there will be a nice improvement to the loading times regardless Now that the floodgates are open, lets get Trauma Team released in Europe already! Japan has it right now, come on Atlus!! It's a crime that Europe never got it originally! It's one of the best games that the Wii ever got and it's completely unavailable in Europe! Yeah, it's a shame that we can't have a HD version on Wii U that features the Wii Remote controls, but I'd still rather play the Wii version regardless. That being said, even if you want to play the game with the traditional controls, this re-release is still worth considering since you'll get Off TV play with this one

Free Mario Tennis 64? Don't mind if I do! So that's three side games that we know about now (Knockout Challenge, Mega Ball Smash and that odd Kamek/Super Bowser mode). Still awaiting gimmick courts and other modes like Ring Shot though... Knockout Challenge sounds very similar to the Streetpass Challenge mode from MTOpen. Which is fine, I had a good time trying to aim for a high score on that one

Looks like all the different courts take place in the same arena, but with the turf changed... That's disappointing. Yeah they've got their different stats, but there's not much visual variety and where are all the cool gimmick stages!? There does seem to be more unannounced modes though, there's one where Kamek makes a super powered up version of Bowser that you play against... Still, no sign of Ring Shot has me worried though...

Oh snap! I just realised something... There's no Daisy, Boo or Waluigi Amiibo! Is it finally time for Waluigi time? Oh and @Glen\-i...

Oh yeah, single player is a mess in that game. The semi-random nature of the dungeons doesn't work well in single player as the dungeon layout lack a sense of purposeful design (the need to move each player individually is also a pain) and the focus on rupee collecting is totally pointless without multiplayer. The bosses are also not fun to fight alone at all. It's a multiplayer only game with single player hacked in and it shows.

Finally some solid info!! Online play confirmed (Doubles and Singles this time - with two players per system supported). Amiibo support as well (works like in Smash Bros, you train up an AI player who you can play against - with data saved to the Amiibo itself). Supports Wii Remotes (sideways), Wii Classic Controllers, Wii U Pro Controllers and the Gamepad (no GCN controller support or motion controls of any kind). Control setup is the same as Mario Tennis Open (so purple Smash Shots are controlled by a seperate button instead of A+B and you can dive manually by pressing L or R). Gamepad can be used to display the opposite end of the court in multiplayer, so players will always have the camera behind them, otherwise it can be set to duplicate the TV display (for Off TV) or can be set to display a scoreboard. A new mode called Mega Ball Smash, where you play with a giant ball that you have to keep going in a rally for as long as you can. And something that is sure to please more than a few people... There is an option to play without Jump Shots or Chance Shots! Yes, you can turn them off and play just pure tennis! More characters are revealed as well, including Rosalina. Suspiciously, no other modes have been seen, nor even any gimmick stages... Surely it can't be THAT light on content though, even the N64 game had far more than that on offer! (Surely it at least has Ring Shot!? Every single Camelot made Mario sports game has had it for Christ's sake!!)

From the sounds of things, it does actually work exactly like Four Swords DSi (which also suffers from the same problem - no actually that one was even worse because the single player is a total snooze fest in that game! The GBA original didn't have a single player mode at all and after trying it single player on DSi, I can definately see why they didn't bother originally!) Problem is that it's just so heavily designed around multiplayer and nothing else, with little to no concessions made for solo players. Perfectly valid complaint, even if we all knew it going in.

Oh you'll absolutely love it! Just stay the hell away from anything about the game online. Don't let a single thing get spoilt for you!! Trust me!

Yeah, there is a good point to be made for that. The whole idea of AO Rating = Ban in the US is utterly absurd. Movies have the X rating, so why can't erotic games at least get a limited distribution? It's terrible that there's a blanket ban on erotic content in this industry outside of PC! That being said, there's also an argument to be made for appropriability and I would argue that in this specific case, the costumes are of questionable taste... Considering the otaku culture present in Japan and the series' historic poor sales, it's very possible that it might actually have been forced onto the developers against their wishes in the first place in order to sell a few more copies to that crowd... (especially with Team Ninja getting involved with this one...) It wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened... Even with Nintendo as publisher! Just look at the way the Fire Emblem series is heading with Awakening and especially Fire Emblem Fates (speaking of which, I wouldn't be surprised one bit if the face rubbing/waifu simulator stuff gets exorcised entirely in the western version and I would once again say that it's for the better because it absolutely is not appropriate for a series like Fire Emblem to be pandering to the Loveplus crowd!)

Finally! Some new footage at last! ... and it doesn't show much new... No, really. Would it kill them to actually show something outside of the main mode? There has to be something else to it... They can't have nothing else at all surely? Every single Mario Tennis game has had a bevy of extra modes, even the N64 original had stuff like Ring Shot and the topsy turvy Bowser's Castle stage!

Looks cool. Glad to see that the game seems to have some variety outside of the main mode

Nah, Nu Trek's tone is far more dark and serious, the pacing is much faster (it's practically on speed in comparison) and the style of cinematography is totally different (no that doesn't mean just lens flares The shots are quicker, scenes don't have the same levity and pace, you get lots of wide angle shots that you just don't really see in the original 6 SW movies etc; the list goes on and on). But eh? I more or less expected that. It's an Abrams movie and I expected it to be like one; so I'm not too bothered. It's pretty much a fan made sequel and I'm gonna look at it (and the upcoming future movies) differently from the first 6.

It's an amazing game that is well worth the money it goes for on eBay, but if you want the SNES version for cheaper (and it is the best version of them all still), you can get it on the Wii Virtual Console for about £7.

Can't say that I can think of any specific ones, but I have a set of el-cheapo clear plastic ones that I got from Argos for about a tenner many years ago that I use for my various gaming accessories (old controllers, cables, adapters etc) and it does the job just fine. I don't use them for games, but I'm sure that they'd do the job for you if they still do them... More on topic though, in preparation for the upcoming release of Mushihimesama and the onslaught of Cave shooters on Steam (as well as my recent arcadey game binge), I finally got round to upgrading my Wii Tatsucap arcade stick with proper Sanwa parts! Also got a Mayflash Classic Controller adapter that lets me use classic controllers/the Tatsucap stick on my PC (and bizzarly enough, it works on PS3 too ) My fingers are ready for bullet hell!