Dcubed

They're on at exactly the same time... Hope you're good at multitasking!

So much for embargos. BRING IT ON!

Any chance that a mod could update my thread title to include predictions for the EU launch? now that we know that there's an EU Nintendo Direct coming this Thursday as well! Edit: Cheers! : peace:

Ok here we go! £189.99/£229.99 November release Nintendo. Let's do this!

Did you fall asleep during E3 where every single game shown was some sort of Uncharted clone? P.S don't take my comment at face value, it's purposely flippant for S&Gs sake (I know that they're not all exactly the same) and we're veering off topic anyway.

Thankfully they've been largely proven to know jack shit about Nintendo's (and the rest of the industry's) fate. By and large as a collective, they also can't see game design for what it is if it came up to them and slapped them in the face (see all those who think that all 2D platformers should be cheap download titles, or those who think that the NSMB games do nothing new or innovative while wanking over the latest Mass Effect or Uncharted/Last of Us/Uncharted Clone) Best thing to do is take it with a good laugh, I always find their pissant and two faced comments to be quite funny actually Excellent! I was hoping they'd do this. That hub looked far too good to be wasted on being a simple game selection screen! Really looking forward to seeing what they do with it!

I smell post-release DLC levels!

Looks fun as hell and the aesthetic reminds of Kirby's Epic Yarn. Let's just hope that there's a 4/5 player battle mode to go along with Balloon Trip!

So with the US (and now EU, thanks to a last minute Nintendo Direct announcement, scheduled for the same day!) details incoming in less than 72 hours from now... How's about some final predictions on the launch details up in here! Just guessing the US launch details (since we don't know when we're getting EU details - but they'll probably be similar to what the yanks get anyway), what do you reckon we'll see on Thursday regarding the following? To start things off, here's my own set of predictions! Price: SKU1 - $249.99/£189.99 (Wii Upgrade Kit), SKU2 - $299.99/£229.99 (Standard SKU) Release Date: US - 11/11/12 EU - 23/11/12 Launch Day Titles: 1st Party - New Super Mario Bros U, NintendoLand, Wii Fit U, Ninja Gaiden 3 Launch Day Titles: 3rd Party - Assassin's Creed III, Batman: Arkham City - Armored Edition, Ben 10: Omniverse, Family Party: 30 Great Games, FIFA 13, Game Party Champions, Just Dance 4, Madden NFL 13, Mass Effect 3, Rabbids Land, Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Skylanders: Giants, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Tank! Tank! Tank!, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Nov-Dec 2012 titles: Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game, Rayman Legends, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, ZombiU Delayed till 2013 Titles: Game & Wario, Lego City Undercover, Pikmin 3, Project P-100, Sing, Darksiders II What comes in the box: SKU1 (Wii Upgrade Kit) - Console, Power Supply, UPad SKU2 (Standard SKU) - Console, Power Supply, HDMI Cable, Upad, Wiimote Plus, Nunchuck, Composite Cable, Sensor Bar Any surprise game announcements: Retro's Wii U title - slated for late 2013 Will Europe's launch differ in any way other than price? If so, how: No difference. Just to lend a hand, here's a list of Wii U retail titles currently scheduled for release in the "Launch Window" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_U_games Channel your internal Nostradamus and post your predictions!

Seems that somebody has found a prototype copy of the N64 version of Dinosaur Planet! (the game that became Starfox Adventures, for those who've forgotten) An hour long video of the prototype version has been uploaded to Youtube! Fascinating stuff! So many changes were made in the level design and such (even if the set pieces and ideas behind them remained largely the same) I reckon this actually looks more fun than the final game turned out to be! It also proves that David Wise wasn't lying when he said that the music largely remained unchanged when the game moved from N64 to GCN (How the hell he got such quality audio out of that console I'll never know!) The voice acting is hilarious too in its own kind of charming way (blatantly obvious that it's the staff members doing the voices themselves )

That's just plain creepy, I only just bought that game (the first one, with a couple of drums) a couple of months ago myself! Now I gotta catch up on the other Wii entries in the series (and then they go ahead and announce another one just a scant few weeks ago. My poor aching wallet! )

I can understand that. Took me almost a year of on-off playing to finish that game. Fire Emblem games are always ones I prefer to play on-off over a long period of time, rather than just plowing through (Layton is another series I like to do this with), so I can see why he might not have quite finished it yet. As for me, I have nothing in my backlog (on any console actually!). Just enjoying playing through Mario Galaxy 1 and Phantom Hourglass again currently

Super edit: Fucking Eurogamer missed out 3 games!!! (pricks!) There! That's better (still not a fantastic week for me, but a great one for people who don't already own Zelda 2 and Metal Slug X!)

But wait a sec, that's Sven saying that... And he's a chronic liar... So that means it's actually coming over here then?

Not a surprise but still nice to see. Here's hoping that we see 3rd party titles follow suit soon (and that it doesn't end up being an excuse to not have to bother uploading anything new each week!)

I didn't mean a reset on their servers, I meant a reset in terms of its effectiveness. With a whole new generation on the horizon, friends can bandy together and collectively decide to switch to another console if they don't like what MS or Sony are offering (you'd really see this happen at the start of the generation most clearly though. Ahh, I didn't think about multiconsole ownership (which probably accounts for a good chunk of both audiences) Disregard my idea then Ehh, I guess there's no way to prove either which way then (unless MS AND Sony lose massive chunks of their audience, which could well happen! So that's the end of my argument then? Hmm, kind of anti climactic really Oh well, it was fun!

The 360 is still ahead by a few million units WW, but it doesn't matter either way. Replace Sony with MS if you want. Besides, is the current friends list that big of a factor? Isn't that something that is effectively "reset" upon starting a new generation? Ultimately you'll go where your friends go (and if they all decide to switch over to someone else at the start of the generation because the competition offers better games/services etc or Sony/MS do something stupid like an Anti Used Games system, then you're pretty likely to follow) The biggest other locking mechanism in play in regards to the generational transfer is no doubt backwards compatibility/digital purchases tied to your account and admittedly there's no way to account for that with my suggested measurement, but that has never really been a deciding factor in each generation by itself; the Atari 5200, Megadrive and PS3 (which flopped at retail long before PS2 compatibility was cut) can attest to that! Granted it's a bit unfairly slanted against my own stance (since it doesnt validate my own opinion either way, it's either lose or draw for me :p) but it at least shows us if the 360's Achievements system is powerful enough to prevent Microsoft or Sony from losing a large chunk of their audience next generation (of what amount I'm not sure, maybe at least a 50-60% drop?) If that large drop happens, I may have to re-evaluate my opinion on the matter as it would show that the Gamerscore clearly has less of an impact on addiction than I would imagine! (as that wouldnt really be any lower a drop than previous downfalls - and MS are due for a fall - with Sony looking in dire straights to boot!) If it drops by only a small amount (or even rises!) then that just means that the next generation transition won't invalidate my own opinion.

I suppose then that the ultimate test of the effectiveness of these achivement systems will be when the next generation of consoles comes round. It is there we will see just how powerful they are in terms of locking people into the platforms they've already invested their time into (and I'd argue that next to MS' 3rd party support, is MS greatest asset in going into the next generation) Assuming that MS dont do something ridiculously stupid like breaking compatibility with the current Xbox Live (would make for a nice part of the upcoming Third Console Curse effect!), rightfully they should see most 360 owners sticking with Microsoft for the next generation. If they switch to someone else enmass, then I'm wrong about the strength of the impact that these systems have and I'd admit that it doesn't cross that imaginary line of morality (at least for their intended target audience), as it'll show that there if there is an addiction, then it is to gaming as a whole rather than these systems. I suppose the same could apply to Sony as well, but the 360 has a bigger userbase and arguably a stronger system in place (since it was there from the start) Sound good?

I think we're approaching this issue from two (yet perhaps equally valid perspectives here) I'm focusing on the severity of an addiction and the morality of maximising said addiction, while you are focused on the effects that stem FROM that addiction and the logic behind regulating an addiction that arguably has limited mental/physical impact in comparison to much more harmful addictions. Would you say that's right on your end? If so, I present my belief that it is immoral to purposely design systems that are designed to maximise addiction and that making Achivements external (as well as tied to a Metagame system) crosses that line of morality. Putting aside the point of warning labels and wider industry regulation (because this applies to F2P and MMO games much moreso and that's going waaaaaaayyyyy off topic!), do you not agree that this is immoral? If not, where does your own line of morality stand on the issue? (which I suppose was the original point of the topic in the first place!)

You don't have to be suffering from full blown OCD in order to become addicted, you may well have these tendencies lying dormant that are brought to the surface upon playing these kinds of games/systems; and if there are enough of these kinds of people to sustain an entire industry sector (F2P games), then it's clearly not a tiny minority that isn't worth helping surely? It's a significant enough issue for Gambling to be regulated and feature these kinds of warnings, why not do the same for those games/systems that use the same techniques? What's the harm in offering these people better optional, opt-in and inobtrusive tools/education in order to help them manage their own vices and enable them to enjoy playing games without having their lives becoming consumed by them?

Nuts have allergy warnings on the packaging, games do not...

I never said that these addictions were the same thing, nor as damaging/immoral, I simply said that the techniques used were very similar. You're right about the agenda not fully determining morality though, I didn't exactly make that clear (and it does make for some rather absurd comparisons which you helpfully pointed out!) Besides, Gambling companies are the closest example anyway. And it is the technique of combining achievements with external metagame systems that I despise so.

NO DON'T! You've already seen the best part of the game. Don't ruin the game (and the rest of the series - yes the ending retroactively ruins the entire series) for yourself!

He works for Bungie as of August 2010.