Dcubed

So sweet FA this week... Not even a VC game? Come on Nintendo! FFS...

Looks like Virtual Console Arcade is making a return on the Wii U eventually! 3DS too it seems... Will look forward to seeing the service start in 2020 :p

Oh neat! Nintendo are doing a special offer this week where you get Dr Mario VC for free if you already own Dr Luigi

Yeah, Burnout 2 is my favourite as well. Never did like how the sequels kept adding so much junk on top (really? Crashbreakers!? WHY!?) The arcade simplicity of it was what I liked about it so much; especially in the Crash mode, where it's just you and the junction. No silly slow mo, no after touch, no crashbreakers; just timing and placement That being said though, I did really like Burnout Paradise though. It's fun (and surprisingly chill) to just drive around and do stuff as you feel like. No pressure, just explore and the races had quite a bit of depth with how it took advantage of your memory of the city layout (keep a note of those shortcuts you find, they'll come in handy!) Heh, funny. I'm moving down this route too, but it's not Nintendo I'm giving up on but rather the PS360/PS4Bone combo. I'm hoping to eventually wean myself off of non-Nintendo consoles all together for the most part and replace my 360 and the eventual PS4 with a living room PC instead. The lack of BC in both of those consoles is a big turn off for me, especially when there isn't much to separate the PS4Bone from the PS360 really other than a slight visual bump. The bolded in particular is a big stickling point for me. I REALLY like having as many games in one place as possible (especially when it's basically just PS360 part two really) and true console exclusives outside of 1st party games are very rare these days, so I'd be missing out on hardly anything really (though Sony do still make some nice 1st party games on occasion...)

Why is it always just Nicalis (and occasionally Renegade Kid) that seem to be completely unable to handle an EU release!? What the hell is it with them that stops them while every other developer (even shovelware devs!) seem to have little or no trouble at all pulling it off... It's so bloody irritating because they're do great dev work. Their ports are usually always quality stuff (barring the occasional bug that slips through that they do patch), but they're utterly useless when it comes to publishing! If you can't handle it yourselves, then get someone to publish it in Europe on your behalf at least!

Ahh, that 2004 conference was something special indeed Every generation has that one magic year where all of Nintendo and the rest of the industry's hard work all seems to bear fruit at once. For Gen 5 it was 1998 (Banjo Kazooie, Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid etc...), for Gen 6 it was 2004 (Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Zero Mission , Metal Gear Solid 3, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door etc...) and for Gen 7 it was 2010 (Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns, God of War 3, Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver, Kirby's Epic Yarn etc...) This gen will hopefully get its equvilent of that-magic-year, but not for a good long while... (The current pattern suggests that it won't be till 2016 - it always seems to come once every 6 years).

Flipnote 3D at last!? SHIBATA PLZ!!!

It is. That's something that I really felt was missing from the 3DS game. The original WiiWare one was good fun in co-op! From the sounds of things though, there seems to be a versus mode this time... and a lot of other new modes too! There's an interview with Shinen on Nintendo Life later on today, so we'll hear more on that in a few hours Edit: Cheers for the thread split BTW! (Should've really done that in the first place...)

Shinen's second Wii U game is Art of Balance HD! http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/02/exclusive_shinen_multimedia_bringing_art_of_balance_to_the_wii_u_eshop While I think it's a bit of a shame that it's another sequel they're making here (was hoping for a new IP), I'm still really looking forward to this one. The previous AOBalance games are fantastic and I'm sure this will be no exception

These innovations will last as long as the enabling hardware exists (and in Nintendo's case, it certainly still does - they're still making games that utilise motion controls, touch controls, two screens, Streetpass etc and will do seemingly for as long as the company continues to make games) Many of these technologies have become standard now (certainly touch controls have been and motion controls in various forms have become standardised). After all, everything is a gimmick (who needs shoulder buttons, or a d-pad? Pfft, one button and a joystick is all we'll see need!) until it gets copied by everyone Name me a single (non motion control enabled) game on the PS360 (or even the PS4 and Xbone) that couldn't have been made on the PS2...

Outside of games that utilise the Wii U's unique functionality (Gamepad/TV 2 screen setup, 3DS connectivity, Miiverse, Spotpass, NFC, Cameras, Gamepad motion controls and touchscreen controls etc), those kinds of hardware-driven gameplay enhancements simply don't exist anymore. More powerful hardware alone is simply not capable of doing anything that can't be done on PS2/GCN calibre hardware on a conceptual level. That's partly why Nintendo moved away from that hardware rat race to begin with. Look at the PS3 and 360 (or even PS4 and Xbone) in comparison to the PS2 and you'll see absolutely nothing gameplay wise that couldn't have been done on previous generation consoles. All they added was shinier and prettier graphics (you also had other things like more convinient online functionality and downloadable content without the need for seperate storage but that has nothing to with the actual gameplay of these games in question). So new forms of gameplay and entertainment have to come via other means. Instead of trying to push for bigger, more detailed and expansive worlds in SM3DW, Nintendo rather choose to focus on other gameplay aspects that offer something different. Whether it be the multiplayer focus, the Gamepad or Miiverse features; coupled with the bevy of new gameplay ideas and features (like the Cat Suit or the Double Cherry), SM3DW offers just as much originality and fantastic gameplay as any other 3D Mario game (if not, moreso!) They're not interested in making another Mario 64 style game because they've already done that twice (thrice if you count SM64DS) and more powerful hardware alone won't provide anything interesting or new. So instead they're more interested in exploring other forms of 3D gameplay. Even Mario Galaxy moved away from that kind of open world 3D gameplay, so it's not a sudden change here...

Sweet Jesus, that is some extraordinary Nightmare Fuel right there! Can we go back to having this be the multiplatform Sonic title please! I don't want that 3rd exclusive anymore

Dr Mario NES is our VC game for next week http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/NES/Dr-Mario-851413.html This is actually a pretty significant release here since it's the first time that the original NES version of Dr Mario has EVER been re-released, other than as part of the Classic NES series for GBA (it never came to the Wii or 3DS VC service in any region and it wasn't included in Animal Crossing GCN or the eCard NES series). Even if you're not interested in getting the game, it's actually a pretty momentous event

Ha ha yeah right. As if they'd listen to anyone but me... You can't let me have just one victory, can you? :p

Still looks great! I wonder if they took my feedback into account and implemented some sort of notification on the TV whenever something special is being shown on the Gamepad (all the devs at Eurogamer Expo were taking user feedback on board - so if you see some kind of "look at the Gamepad" notification icon or message, when using both screens, you know who to thank... )

The Wondeful Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze... Will be released... On Febuary 21... The Wondeful Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze... Will be released... On Febuary 21... The Wondeful Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze... Will be released... On Febuary 21... The Wondeful Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze... Will be released... On Febuary 21... The Wondeful Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze... Will be released... On Febuary 21... :shakehead

Looks like my prediction is looking a bit more likely now Feb 17-21. Sometime during that week before DKCTF launches...

Droughts don't really push me away from Nintendo's consoles because I'll eventually buy everything I'm interested in anyway. I keep a list (mostly mentally, but sometimes written!) of the games that I want to buy and play through eventually across every platform in existence. In many cases, there are games that I will want to play for years before I actually get round to buying them (the Panzer Dragoon series is a good example for me. I've been wanting to play them for at least 5 years or so and I've only just gotten Panzer Dragoon 1,2 & Saga just recently - still need Orta too, goodness knows when I'll get round to getting it! Oh and I still need to get a memory cartridge or an Action Replay 4-in-one for the console, which is why I haven't played the later two yet - damn things are so expensive! Just gotta find one for the right price on eBay...) The problem for me is that (with single player games here), I need to be in the mood to play them. Right now I have a bunch of Wii U and 3DS games that I have either not finished but played a lot of (SM3DW, Etrian Odyssey 4, Tales of Graces F, Puppeteer, NES Remix), barely started (Ace Attorney 5, Deus Ex HR DC, NSLU) or haven't even touched yet! (Mario & Luigi Dream Team, Denpa Men 2, Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger, Bravely Default and more!) but I just don't feel in the mood to play any of them right now... Something is just putting me off playing them, even though I'm enjoying them. With the case of the Wii U games, I think it's partly due to the bad situation surrounding the console that bums me out whenever I turn it on - but with the PS3 and 3DS games, goodness knows! Lately I've only really been in the mood to play multiplayer games (mainly the Mario Party games, MH3U, Perfect Dark and Super Mario Strikers) and the occasional mission or so in Perfect Dark and Diddy Kong Racing. Then suddenly I felt like playing through Castlevania AOS again and I ploughed through it like a mad man! I'm never actually lacking anything to play, even during a tremendous drought (and if I ever do play through everything and am not in the mood to replay any of my older games - I can always dip into the near endless list of games that I still haven't bought yet but want to eventually ); but my droughts are usually kind of self inflicted as I sometimes struggle to find anything that I actually feel like playing... PSYCHOLOGY!!!

This shared architecture approach isn't about having handheld games running on console (and vice versa), but rather it's about having engines and assets that can be shared across all of their devices; drastically increasing their development productivity. Iwata has already said that they're not looking at making a combined handheld/console device (in fact he's hinted at even more SKUs possibly entering the mix!). Handhelds and consoles offer the chance for different kinds of experiences, both in terms of control interface and game design (handheld = shorter play sessions, different communication possibilities etc) and Nintendo don't want to give that up - not would they want to give up that extra hardware revenue stream...

Great stuff @tapedeck! There's a really nice moody feel to those tracks : peace: Oh and good call on the DKR OST @RedShell. One of my faves too! (It's like Kirby music, it's impossible to hear it and not feel cheery! ) It's a shame that almost all of the projects that David Wise worked on after SFA got cancelled. Couldn't imagine how frustrating it must've been for him (it's a wonder how he stayed there so long!) Speaking of which, that's another one that doesn't get its dues! Whatever your issue with the game itself, you can't deny that SFA had a fantastic soundtrack!

Anyone else think it's weird how all of the last four updates are Pokemon related? I mean, yeah some follow up ones in Lucario are to be expected; but the trend seems to be continuing even beyond Lucario himself now...

Looks like Capcom are now digging into their un-re released NES & SNES games, as the OFLC just rated Gargoyle's Quest 2! http://www.siliconera.com/2014/02/04/gargoyles-quest-ii-finally-getting-virtual-console-re-release/ It could be for the 3DS VC as well I guess... But chances are that it's probably for both as Capcom are good about supporting both services

To be fair I actually play retro games all the time so that's nothing new for me The weird thing is that I actually have a fair few games to play on Wii U that I haven't finished yet (Super Mario 3D World, Edge, Rush, NES Remix and I've barely even started Deux Ex HR DC or New Super Luigi U!), but I simply have no burning desire to play them right now... I go to turn it on and when I look at the games I have to play on there, I just look and think, nah... Not now... not in the mood... It's not that I wasn't enjoying them (I was definately enjoying them all! - especially 3D World, that game is fantastic!), it's just that I can't bring myself to really play much of anything lately (on most consoles, but especially on Wii U I feel really bummed out with whenever I try to play anything on it) I did start Castlevania Aria of Sorrow again just recently though and I'm loving it again so maybe I just need some time away from newer games and consoles in general (but especially Wii U...) Ever since finishing Zelda ALBW about 3 weeks back or so, I've not really been playing through anything at all properly (speaking strictly single player here). I've been playing stuff like Diddy Kong Racing and Perfect Dark sort of on and off casually, as well as the occasional dipping in and out of the SEGA 3D Classics on 3DS but that's it really... up until I started playing CV AOS again last week

TBH, this ridiculous drought and the terrible position that the console is in just puts me off playing the games on it all together. Hell I still haven't beaten SM3DW! I'm on what I believe to be the last world and I just feel no drive to play it at all, despite really enjoying it (just not been feeling in the mood ) I'll probably end up buying DKCTF on day 1 and not play it for months later once I've played through all of my backlog. There's a lot of 3DS/PS3/Saturn games I own that I still haven't even played yet! I also got Silent Hill Shattered Memories for Xmas that I have still yet to touch, so I have plenty to play; maybe I should just leave my Wii U for now and come back to it later...

Oh it's coming out in 2014 instead? Sweet!