Dcubed

So when everybody here went and bought the Mario Kart 8 DLC, did you guys notice that there was a new built-in DLC purchase screen? It's much nicer than the old way they handled the in-game purchase of DLC. Much faster, no need to exit the game and it even downloads and installs the DLC for you to use right away without even needing to exit the game itself!

For what it's worth as well, using the Gamepad as a map doesn't necessarily mean that it's not going to use the Wiimote & Nunchuck either. It could be handled like how Pikmin 3 used a combination of the Wiimote & Chuck AND the Gamepad on the stand (in fact that wouldn't be far fetched at all, since Pikmin 3 also has a similar top-down map - even if it was just a 2D representation) Having the two perspectives also lends itself to lots of potential for perspective based puzzles and a mix of touch screen controls too (top down view allowing for objects to be manipulated via the touch screen, while TV stuff gets controlled via Wiimote plus & Nunchuck anyone? )

Yeah, it's basically a season pass in all but name. For all I vilify the practice, I never thought that I would end up buying one so happily and willingly! And now I get to stare at this for the next 9 months... You must have JavaScript enabled on your device to view Miiverse posts that have been embedded in a website. View post in Miiverse Damn you Nintendo... damn you... Agreed. It's a complete pisstake. They're reaming us in the UK (even when you take off the VAT) for no justifiable reason... Still well worth the money though, even with the price hike it's still ridiculously cheap!

When Aonuma uses the term "open world" in the context of Zelda, he is clearly referring to how the world is large and free of loading (that's what the whole Aonuma section of the Nintendo Digital Event E3 video was all about after all). What I think he's trying to say here though is that the world will still be constructed in that same handcrafted manner that Zelda worlds always are, rather than the generic sort of factory made way that environments like Skyrim's and GTA's worlds are. Environments that are based around gameplay mechanics and not just on sheer landmass/looks, where you can clearly make out things like puzzle elements, climbable ledges, landmarks etc just by looking at them - the art style plays into this too as I mentioned back when the game was first announced). They're also looking to break away from the linearity that you typically see in Zelda and move things closer to how it was done in the original NES Zelda. There's another quote from that same EDGE interview that feeds into that... Think more Xenoblade (or Skyward Sword's open areas but on a much bigger scale) and less Skyrim/GTA in terms of the world design and how it is constructed... Also that comment about the Gamepad use is very interesting... Sounds to me like they're planning on doing a top-down view on the Gamepad and a 3D view on the TV (notice how he says "the world as it is" - that's a big clue right there! It's the same environment being viewed from a different perspective )

Whelp! Now that the MK8 DLC is out of the bag and that it does contain content that affects the main game (a first for Nintendo) and potential splits the userbase, the floodgates are officially open for Smash now! Fuck it! It's a free for all now! DLC characters, stages, god only knows what is now up for grabs! I expect to eventually see all of the cut past characters characters from the first 3 games end up as DLC additions at some point now (Ice Climbers might end up being Wii U only though).

Well I guess we got that August Nintendo Direct after all... ... just in the form of leaks and dodgy Pokemon livestream announcements

Holy shiz! Talk about the motherlode! 16 new courses!? MOTHER OF GOD! That's a whole new game's worth of tracks! And £7 a pack!? That's ridiculously cheap! Can we even call it "Mario" Kart anymore with them starting to add non-Mario characters now? I shudder to think how many EAD staff Nintendo has spent on this game at this point for spending a whole year on making DLC though... How many could've been put on a whole new game instead...

Pokken Fighters will 100% certainly come to Wii U after the arcade release (in fact, the arcade machine it's running on is probably just a modified Wii U). Fighting games going to arcade first (where they take the opportunity to take on board feedback and balancing data) and then heading to console in refined form is generally the norm for the genre (plus Nintendo isn't going to pay Namco to make a game exclusively for the arcades, especially not when the Wii U is gasping for support).

That was different. The Gamecube and Wii already had a Mario Kart game for each of them respectively and each Nintendo console only ever gets one MK game for the whole generation. This is a traditional fighting game though, where console releases following the arcade one is the norm...

Bit weird that they didn't announce it for Wii U yet, because it's obviously coming; in fact I wouldn't be shocked the arcade machine it was running on wasn't just a modified Wii U (much like the Triforce board or the Wii based hardware that the arcade version of Tatsunoko VS Capcom ran on). I suppose they probably want to get Smash out of the door before they start talking about any other sort of Wii U fighting game. They wouldn't want any chance of taking away sales from Smash after all

Aww shit Guess I can't win 'em all... Dammit! You win this round Serebii...

If it's just the one game, I wonder if Nintendo might take a blunt hammer approach and just outright disallow the game to run from a retail card by blacklisting it through a system update? Since it was an early launch window title, it came out before the period where retail games could be patched, so there's no way to update the retail version of the game itself (the eShop version of course is a different story). What they could do is blacklist the game via a system update, withdraw the game from retail shelves, issue a recall/free transfer to a digital version and put out an updated version. It's very much a brute force tactic, but it should work...

Supposedly the hack can only work within the confines of the game that is being exploited though (meaning that permanent changes can't be made) and they're not certain if the region lock can actually be deactivated from within the game itself... The actual system wide encryption hasn't been broken into, but rather it's something specific to one particular game (not unlike the one DSiWare game that allowed hackers to bypass the DSi security before Nintendo took the game down - following which, the DSi was never successfully hacked). Of course if this is a retail game (and by the looks of things, it is), then that complicates matters...

Yay! Spectator mode! That was great fun for when you wanted some downtime entertainment! I wonder if they allow spectator mode for local wireless matches too? (4 people playing and 4-12 people watching)

We're up to final testing now Looks like it's probably gonna make it in time for end of September/October, just as I predicted Unless they fail cert the first time of course...

AWWWWW YEEAAHHH!!! Mario Golf Advance Tour this week! My favourite of the handheld MG games! (and yes it did have a pass-the-GBA option for multiplayer, so yes - multiplayer will be intact here!)

Oh goodie! Looks like Rusty's Real Deal Baseball has been trademarked in Europe, so it should be coming out here soonish

That part about Digitalscape contractors being kept on is interesting. Can't say that I noticed it myself! As is that part about there being enough room in that building for another 400 staff, though I imagine that a large chunk of that will be taken up by QoL staff. The really interesting part about the whole restructuring though is just what is happening with Sakamoto's team at SPD. It looks like they may be working more closely with EAD (theoretically meaning that Sakamoto would now be given the chance to work on big budget titles and fully 3D games, without the need to work with an outside studio like Team Ninja, if he wanted to!) That and just what is happening with the old building... BTW: Try not to get too hung up over the idea of this restructuring causing delays for EAD Kyoto, this is just the writer's own conjecture (I seriously doubt that Splatoon would ever have made it for 2014 anyway).

Was playing Smash Bros Melee earlier on today... A sweet reminder of a much more humble era, where games were so much simpler to make and play. Makes me sad to think that we still don't have GCN games on the VC for newcomers to pick them up and discover them easily Edit: Heh, pretty funny reading Nando's plea for Starfox Wii U at E3 2014, just a month before it actually happened

True, but with this series they did actually innovate a lot more than most people give it credit for. Whether it be new level and stage gimmicks (particularily with NSMB Wii) or new ways of handling pacing and philosophies behind level design (particularily with NSMB 2 and NSLU) or even wholely new and original ways of handling game design in general that can be applied to any other game (NSMB Wii's introduction of the Super Guide - something originally designed for Zelda that became a staple of almost all of Nintendo's subsequent games - and bubble/carry system for multiplayer are perhaps the most obvious examples). Monster Hunter and (to a lesser extent) the Mega Man series are not that dissimilar in that respect actually. On the surface they all look the same, but when you look past that, you can see that they all bring something new to the table with each entry - be it the underwater swimming and better tutorial/difficulty curve design of MH3 or the verticality, jumping/climbing action and wide open level design of MH4. Unfortunately, many people are quick to judge based on surface detail and no further

And why would Iwata have to be the one hosting the video? There are plenty of other people at Nintendo who could host it just as well... Miyamoto, Tezuka, Konno, Eguchi, Sakurai, Takao Shimizu, Kenzuke Tanabe, Aonuma, Koizumi... They've all hosted parts of Nintendo Directs before, so what's stopping them from doing a video without Iwata? I think it's more likely that they've got something specific in mind to show. Something that they have a certain timeframe that they would want to show/release it in... Something like N64 VC games for instance (and it's available... right now!), where they can't be shown until they're ready for release. Or something like Flipnote 3D in the west. God only knows it's been overdue for long enough!

You clearly know a lot, because NSMB Wii is the best 2D Mario game ever made (and I've played them all!) Miyamoto was directly involved in the level designs in that game in particular and it shows, it really really does! Nobody gives it the credit it deserves, because it achieves an absolutely incredible amount throughout its level designs. A game that's just as fun in 4 player as it is in single player is an enormous achievement! (and it's something that I don't think that SM3DW quite managed personally - though the 4 player is very fun, it is also very messy and doesn't mesh in quite the same was as NSMB Wii or even NSMB U does) NSMB 2 is also very underrated and despite outward appearances, it has a very unique feel to its level designs too - very much meandering and slower paced; and that's not a bad thing at all (its levels encourage exploration and more calculated jumps than the other 2D Marios, rather than the focus on sprinting to the goal). It's actually a pretty daring game when you look closely at how the levels have been constructed and definitely one of my favourite 2D Marios (The 2 player mode is also pretty unique as you fight over who gets to be the "leader" in control of the camera and yet you also co-operate to earn the most amount of coins possible as you both earn the total coin count that you both collectively earn in each level). And while NSMBU is clearly based on the foundation laid by NSMB Wii, it sort of straddles a slightly uncomfortable line between a marathon and a sprint. While it's still a really fun romp, it lacks the focus that NSMB Wii and NSMB 2 had respectively and comes across as a bit confused. I suppose all the extra modes like Boost Rush and Challenge Mode sort of showcase that as well - NSMBU doesn't quite know what it wants to be and so, pretty much took the Everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach. No doubt that's why they wanted to take a clearly focused approach with NSLU and that focus works spectacularly well! (it's a much better game than NSMBU is because of it! ). I love the short form gameplay in that game! It's a shame that so many people dismiss the NSMB series outright and 99% of the time it's because they all share the same broad art style and because of the way they were soured by the mediocre first entry in the series on DS (which is by far the weakest mainline Mario game ever made).

My gut is starting to tell me that the bi-monthly Nintendo Direct has been delayed till next month... Would be only the second time that this has ever happened (the last one being one that was due in December 2012 - yeah, they didn't count the one that they had then as a "major" one) I wonder why this one seems to be late... The last time this happened, Iwata apologised and said that it was down to "materials preparation and announcement timing issues" - with the following ND in January being the big Wii U panic button one where they announced like everything they had cooking up for Wii U. Now I don't think that's gonna happen again after this (because they've only just played their full hand again at E3 a couple of months ago - so doing the same thing as last time would be impossible), but I can only imagine that the reason for it being late comes down to something they want to unveil that has specific timing in mind... (perhaps something that they want to make available as soon as the Direct is over... like an eShop title, or even N64 VC games...)

I suppose that means that the leak is probably real then. 2 days and no rebuttal? With this update, he's basically telling us "look! There's still stuff other than stages and characters that haven't been leaked yet!"

Japanese Reggae is a thing!? That vid is terrifying BTW!