Dcubed

And that kind of M&A is totally pointless if the staff just leave. It would leave Nintendo with an empty husk of a studio. Nintendo are only interested in developers that share the same kind of development philosophy as them; so that they can be sure that they won't just suffer a massive staff exodus, making such a purchase a total waste of money. What doesn't work in the videogame industry MAY actually work in different sector though... The circumstances are very different there...

They're not gonna buy game companies... If they end up doing any M&A, it'll be in the health sector. If they buy game companies, the staff would just leave (that's why they've never really done M&A in the videogame sector - except in cases where the developers actually want to merge with Nintendo because they have a shared development philosophy - like with Monolith, Hudson/NDCUBE and Flagship). Nintendo are interested in the people, not just the IP. The health sector however is different; the staff involved would be happy as long as they're given the opportunity to do the same kind of research as they currently are - so the circumstances for M&A are different there. There IS opportunity for cross sector devlopment though. Staff that they aqquire in the health sector may also end up doing research that will aid their videogame development too!

Super Mario 3D World needs it for certain levels, Deux Ex HR DC needs it, New Super Mario Bros U needs it for Boost Mode and the Boost Mode challenges, Wii Party U needs it, Sonic Lost World needs it for the bonus stages, Rayman Legends needs it for about half of the whole game, Dr Luigi needs it for Germ Buster... (and then there's all the games that are greatly enhanced by it like Pikmin 3, Zelda TWW HD, The Wonderful 101, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Resident Evil Revelations...) But it doesn't matter because it's not getting dropped and Nintendo are doubling down on it with their future games (as they should be!)

And split the community? Nah. They don't do DLC that adds into the main game. Whenever they do DLC, it's always for a mode that is seperate from the main game (Coin Rush, Outrealm Gate, Mission Mode etc). But I've already said this thousands of times, so I'll end it here...

I want so bad FPTRR was a chucklehuck of epic proportions! So many great DS games that didn't get localised

I can. Major ones come once every two months and the last one was in late December... Mid Febuary is my bet. Probably the week before DKCTF launches... BTW, forget Arkham Origins (nobody should be supporting season passes anyway), I'm much more gutted about Pacman Museum being cancelled for both Wii U AND 3DS. Was really looking forward to those... (Battle Royale on my Wii U and Pacman CE in digital form on my 3DS!? Sign me the hell up!) I have a gaming quality PC, a 360 and a PS3; but it just wouldn't be the same on any of those. So too bad Namco! You get NOTHING from me you fat fucks!

I want Retro Game Challenge, Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey, Etrian Odyssee 1-3, Mario Party DS (would be nice to play multiplayer on my TV), Chibi Robo Park Patrol, Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem in English, ASH (a full English version does exist, locked away in the vaults of NOA), Ace Attorney Investigations 2 in English, Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland 2 in English, Tingle's Balloon Trip, Retro Game Challenge 2 in English... Yeah there's loads that I'd want

Any sane person would've thought it was a good idea to fill the release drought with a decent amount of VC games... It's a fucking joke! But what's new there? There's nothing to say that I haven't already said a thousand times

Would you rather have Pokemon Trainer or 2-3 brand new characters? Don't forget that they're making two games (one of which being a HD game) in less time that it took for them to make just Brawl. Something has to give (and not just Subspace Emissary)

I honestly didn't think he'd make the cut. Guess that means that we'll probably only get the one new Pokemon character then (cause there's no way that Pokemon Trainer is coming back - waaayyy too much work; he takes up THREE character slots on his own! Still think it'll be Zoroark (although there's a decent chance that they might go for Mewtwo instead - nostalgia grab from the Melee players and he has a really obvious Final Smash, 2 in fact!)

Next week's game is NES Open Tournament Golf http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/NES/NES-Open-Tournament-Golf-523811.html

Yeah, Afterburner Climax is more like a glorified ride than a traditional game (even by arcade standards!), but the original was like that as well... It might be short, but it's one hell of a ride!

Yes please! I loved the crap out of WWDIY! Miiverse support (content sharing, comments in-game, games made OUT of comments even!) with this game would be bitchin'!

He did mention what they're going to do. They're going to double down on on partnerships with specific companies, like they have been doing for years (see Hyrule Warriors, the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, Monster Hunter 4, The Wonderful 101 or Sonic Lost World for examples of this in action) and allow for more liberal licensing of their IP. If you're expecting a push to gain the support of the major western publishers like EA and Take Two, forget it; that's never going to happen and they know it. The only way they can get support is by working directly with specific partners like Tecmo Koei - the likes of Rockstar and EA will NEVER support Nintendo, neverevereverever. Sony and MS have that market on total lockdown and they have a shared business & development philosophy that simply flies completely in the face of what Nintendo want to do. This strategy will also extend to their Lifestyle business unit too. They'll open themselves up to work with an entirely different range of 3rd parties who would otherwise never work with a videogame developer

They already said that these games will be shown at E3 this year, so I think it's safe to say that they've been in development for a while (and one of them is undoubtedly Zelda Wii U) Seriously. Does nobody even bother to read the Investor Briefing!?

Did they stop working on traditional games when the likes of Brain Training and Wii Fit went on to become runaway successes? There's your answer there

DS games aren't designed to be run off of SD Cards, while 3DS games are. Getting DS games to speak with hardware that they're not designed to work with is difficult, if not impossible. 3DS games however are designed to work with SD Cards from the outset. That's also the reason why DSiWare games can only run from the 3DS' internal memory and not from an SD Card. With GBA games they were able to get around this limitation by loading the entire ROM into the 3DS' RAM on startup (which is why you have that long delay when starting up those GBA ambassador games). Saving is done by copying save files from the 3DS' RAM onto the SD Card. The same trick wont work for DS games though as many are too large to fit entirely in the 3DS' RAM in one go. So they couldn't use the same method to have DS VC games on 3DS, they'd have to use pure software emulation instead and the 3DS probably isn't powerful enough to do that for DS games... Yep, that's how I feel exactly. The slow drip-drip schedule is just killing me and my enthusiasm for the service altogether

The only way they can. Better software support (making the Wii U their focus, while letting the 3DS coast on the already great lineup it has coming up this year) and a stern focus on games that could ONLY be made using the Gamepad/TV 2 screened setup. The key is to add value, NOT to just price drop. There's nothing else that they could possibly do. A price drop is impossible (due to how much money they're losing) and not a solution to the root problem anyway (likewise, dropping the Gamepad to lower the price would only make things worse as it removes the console's main USP and does nothing to add value to the product). Dropping the Wii U altogether is not an option either as they have no replacement for it and it would destroy all consumer confidence in their brand overnight. I don't know what else you're expecting here...

Diversification is something that any Nintendo fan should be happy about. It means that they can reach a wider audience without having to compromise on the quality of their games. This cross-platform approach with the shared NNID, discounts and such also means that this new audience would also be given an entry point into Nintendo's games too. Even if Nintendo-Lifestyle and Nintendo-Games end up being separate divisions; there's a lot of potential for cross platform synergy and a bigger audience for Nintendo products in general. It also helps to subsidize the gaming products that end up being high quality, but don't sell very well. It's a win for everyone, even if you're not personally interested in their new QOL products and services.

There's still Steel Diver Subwars that's due before the end of March for what it's worth... Well I'M looking forward to it at least. The 3DS game was an underrated gem...

Those are things that will entice people to buy the console. Software pricing is something that is really holding people back these days (across all platforms, not just Nintendo's). The downwards pressure on software prices in general is damaging the entire industry and this is a way Nintendo intends to combat that. And they're looking to further improve the Wii U's sales not by slashing hardware pricesm but rather by adding value through new services and games that really show what the only the Gamepad can offer. They're providing a value that no other platform or developer can; that is what made the Wii and DS the successes they were - they provided something that no other platform could, It was probably both. They probably could've released it back in November, but decided to put it back in the oven for a little longer when they realised that MK8 wouldn't make it for this fiscal year. They probably have indeed been improving it further still these past few months, simply because they could afford to do so now.

3DS has no way of loading DS games via SD Card when using the 3DS' native BC mode and it's not powerful enough to do pure software BC. It was able to do it for GBA games because the 3DS has enough RAM to load even the largest of GBA games fully into RAM; that's not the case with the DS though...

I'm glad to see that they're not willing to rush games out of the door before they're ready, even if May is a hellishly long wait to endure... The boxart kicks ludicrous amounts of arse too Looks like that's it for now

I don't think it'll be a standalone "Touch Generations" console, but rather that they'll release standalone products and services that embody the same ideas and concepts (so maybe they'd release something like the vitality sensor seperately that comes with a smartphone app that integrates with it) True dat! Gimme something to munch on while I endure the gruelling wait till May Iwata!!!

Yeah true that. When I read that I thought that he was targeting that directly at me lol! I already abuse the hell out of Nintendo Network Premium, so getting a similar program going across all of their consoles (hopefully for physical and digital games) would be simply brilliant for me! Hopefully it'll also encourage other people to step outside their comfort zones and try other games thanks to these rolling discounts too!