Dcubed

YAY! it's here! (along with Spirit Camera ) Thanks for the early ship, Shopto! Impressions to come...

Hang on a tick. Seems that it may be coming to the UK only... http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=480234 NOE cheaping out and not wanting localising it into other languages? Seems so Guess that would explain why it wasn't in the Nintendo Direct video... knew this reveal smelt fishy...

I have. It's a fun little minigolf game that's nicely polished and decent fun. The trickshot mode is fun, the music is nice, the graphics are good (duh, it's Shinen!) and it's nicely polished - but it wont knock your socks off. It's a good little minigolf game, that's well made, but that's it. I'd say it's worth a pickup. I bought it for full price and felt it was well worth it. My only real disappointment is that the Pro and Super Cups just use the same courses as the first 3 cups, but with extra hazards, rather than all new courses.

Cough, Ahuhm, June? I never said June

Agreed totally. Always annoys the hell out of me and it's such a waste with games like Xenoblade which have beautiful reverse covers that are ruined by lacking the spine. Flip over... That's how it should be done!

EU Release: October 5, 1999 EU Release: October 1st 2004 EU Release: October 21, 2005 Seems pretty likely to me

Why yes I do actually! Apparently the US version of PKMN Conquest is region free though (Same as PKMN B&W EU/US version) Funny how it's only the English Pokemon games that are region free on DSi! I have an EU DSiXL a US DSi and an EU 3DS so I'd be set either which way. Still, I can't believe that they didn't mention it in the Nintendo Direct video, what the hell are NOE thinking!? What better way to set up a game to fail than to give it a silent launch out of nowhere? What's next!? Fire Emblem New Mystery of the Emblem coming out next week out of nowhere? (Actually, I'd be cool with that. Even though it deserves some fucking buildup, I just want the damn game. Please do it NOE! )

BAM! Coming July 27th (why the hell wasn't this in the Nintendo Direct video!?) http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/06/pokemon_conquest_reaches_europe_on_27th_july Announced 1 whole whopping month before release! Way to go NOE! I literally just imported this 3 days ago Ahh well, I still get it cheaper anyway!

Yeah it is, but not all cases bother with a full design (complete with logo). Some that feature art on the other side only fill the boxes and nothing else. Nice to see them put the extra effort in.

Wahay! At least the eShop maintenance wasn't for nothing :p Edit: Oh snap! Pokemon Conquest IS getting an EU release after all! Comes out July 27th (exactly one month from now, way to build up hype NOE! )

Well actually they did... kinda...

I already own it. I think that's a good enough excuse not to buy it :p Mildly interested in TiTS though... (cough)

Yeah, the normal 3DS' screen is so shiny that it doubles as a mirror! If I can see the game and not my ugly face while playing, I'll be happy WROAH! Soohohooo sexxy! Gimme!

You're right in saying that it refers to the players rather than the games themselves, but not only is the terminology too broad, it has also been corrupted beyond repair. If I'm to think with psychographic labels, this is how I would broadly categorise the populace at large; baring in mind that it's perfectly possible for people to overlap categories. Of course that's ignoring normal Geodemographic categorisation. The target audience for something like COD or ME3 isn't us here on message boards (although of course it's possible to like those games too!), it's 12-25 year old, C1-B, Light Gamer dudebros.

Time from Nintendo DS launch (JPN) to DS Lite (JPN): 16 months Time from Nintendo 3DS launch (JPN) to 3DS XL (JPN): 17 months Try again.

Metroid Prime Hunters was a crappy Metroid game, but it was an awesome Quake-alike!

Well I was speaking relative to its contemporaries and the (ridiculous) pricing standards people seem to have nowadays (where apparently a game as marvellous as VVVVVV is overpriced at £7.20! - seriously?! That's a fucking steal for a game that good!) Objectively it's well worth the price of entry and I feel I've gotten my money's worth for sure. It's a quality game through and through, even if it won't really knock your socks off. Quite an achievement when you consider that it's Renegade Kid's first 2D platformer (and as you rightfully said, making a really good platformer is incredibly difficult! Precious few developers are true masters of the craft and not every game has to be a DKCR to be good!)

Figured that a few people would appreciate some thoughts on Mutant Mudds. It's alright, but not amazing. The action is slow paced but doesn't feel slow. Really, it's collectathon with some mild platforming and shooting; actually, it's more about rhythm and timing than anything else. The platforming and shooting is pretty basic stuff, but it places a lot of emphasis on good timing and there's a decent amount of variety in that respect (in particular, it has a hard-on for shifting disappearing platforms!) The layer switching stuff adds a nice bit of variety to the environmental design and exploration (with it mainly being used to hide the hidden level entrances) and the 3DS' S3D effect does make it easier to tell which layer is which (though it's still very playable with 3D off, S3D does make it a more comfortable experience) Enemy variety is very low though and there aren't a lot of unique level gimmicks, so it does give each level a bit of a samey feel, but the pacing is pretty well done and the layer switching helps keep levels feeling fresh. I'm only about halfway through, but I'm still enjoying it. Probably not really worth the high price of entry, but worth a pickup in a future sale perhaps. It's no VVVVVV (which is astounding and a must buy BTW!), but it's decent fun.

Ok, I'm playing Gravity Rush (up to chapter 7) and I'm not feeling it at all. Feels like a lovely tech demo for a mechanic that goes nowhere. Lovely visuals, music characters, world design etc but it feels like they ran out of gameplay ideas by chapter 2 (outside of a cool stealth part that was ruined by the game telling you exactly where to go and what to do) Speaking of which, the game's non linear nature is really a farce in many ways. Yeah, you can explore the environment to, mostly, your heart's content (until the invisible walls stop you) but you are given basically no freedom in how you complete the story missions - and the game actively stops you from approaching tasks in any way other than the prescribed path: What a joke, chapter 7 was in this respect, where one of the characters points out that there's an optional upgrade hidden somewhere in the area and that you don't have to get it, when the game makes it impossible to miss it! (as you go past it, the camera shifts to point towards the area where the upgrade is hidden and Kat says with text saying "I wonder what's over there?" - hardly very well hidden!) And while the game certainly doesn't play itself like most modern AAA console games, the COD style directional/distance markers, constant unavoidable text hints and general lack of difficulty take a lot away from the sense of discovery and exploration that I was hoping it would have. It's not a bad game at all, but it feels like they spent more time crafting the world than exploring the (really great!) gravity shifting and traversal mechanics that they came up with. Feels like such a waste, especially when all the enemies in the game are basically the same Unless things shake up later on (though from what I hear they don't), I'd say that this is one for those who value a story/character based experience over actual nuts and bolts gameplay mechanics. A shame that such lovely gravity mechanics go largely unexplored (the demo basically showcases almost everything the game has to offer, outside of a couple of extra bits like picking up objects to use as weapons)

Unless Renegade Kid, NST or Retro Studios make one, the 3DS will never get a good FPS game

That's not really a fair comparison either. The only reason why Unite has as much content as it has is because it reuses most of its stuff from Monster Hunter 1G & 2G. Tri on the other hand started from scratch (though Tri G includes almost everything from Portable 3rd as well...) Listing Sin & Punishment 2 only as a "nice to have" tells you all you need to know about this list (No really, they actually listed Dead Space Extraction over fucking Sin & Punishment 2 ) Fuck this list.

Right! Tesco, Asda, Shopto. You know what to do...

Just found out that Headstrong Games is also making Rabbids Rumble for 3DS http://e3.nintendo.com/games/#/3ds/rabbids-rumble Might as well add that one to their part of the list...

Nintendo don't use the "core gamer" and "casual gamer" dictomy. It was Microsoft and Sony that created those terms and manufactured that divide in the eyes of the media, in order to de-legitimise Nintendo and their games in the eyes of their typical readership (and it worked - just as the "kiddy" label did before) They also don't design games purely for one audience or another. All of their games (to varying extents) are designed to appeal to both audiences. That's what the whole "bridge game" concept is about. Something like New Super Mario Bros is designed to appeal to the long time Nintendo fan just as much as grandma. So you're not really gonna see those kinds of words coming out of the mouths of Nintendo's execs, but rather it's an interpretation by the media in a way that fits the Core VS Casual narrative that they and MS/Sony created. Besides, it's not about winning back Nintendo's "core" audience (because they never really left), it's about attracting that audience that Nintendo never had - the typical dudebro 12-25 year old "gamer". In that respect, that is in of itself, an "expanded audience" for Nintendo!

The most significant takeaway with Nintendoland at E3 is that it does seem to have the Wii Sports effect on those who actually tried it at the event. Every preview has been glowing, with outlets stating how the game made them finally "get" the Wii U concept. The big problem Nintendo face however is that unlike Wii Sports, the way you play and the experience isn't immediately obvious to the expanded audience. Much like the Wii U console itself, it is immediately confusing and even a bit intimidating. Trial will be the biggest way of selling this game/console and to that end, having Nintendoland as a pack-in is the best way to ensure that anyone buying the Wii U has a chance to make this their first game and get a proper understanding of the asymmetric gameplay concept. I don't think it would be able to sell on its own; not because the game isn't good enough, but because it's confusing at first glance and your average consumer as well as so called "core gamers" are likely to dismiss it upon first impression. Judging by their terrible, slapdash presentation of the game at E3, I wouldn't hold out much hope for it generating much interest purely by advertising. It's all about word of mouth and hands on experience at the POS.