Dcubed

Why is it that we're getting the Wii Netflix this week, but not the 3DS one?!

It's all really good stuff, the whole series so far (and this episode is no exception - even if it is a bit far fetched). Goes a long way towards washing out the bad taste of the crappy movies!

Only certain stages are vertically orientated. Most of them are horizontally side scrolling (ALA Mario) and it also features Zelda style dungeons! (with other types of stages later on) Some of those "empty" rooms are filled when you reach certain conditions (the instruction manual is actually pretty thorough!) KI was one of the first real genre bending games (which is why Uprising is so different in flight and on ground in terms of gameplay) It's also really weird in that it features a reverse difficulty curve (the first stage is actually the hardest!)

Oh fucking hell! Why these clowns!? Great, now I'm gonna have to buy them separately (not that I'm planning on using it with Revelations, I just want one for future's sake and just for the hell of it anyway) Bet the demo will come out on the week the game comes out.

Anyone here have any impressions of Army Corps of Hell? That and Gravity Rush are the two Vita games I'm looking forward to the most! That, and being able to play Monster Hunter Freedom Unite with a 2nd analog stick

I'm not going mad am I? I swear that 3DC: Kid Icarus is much easier than the original! Even on the "Original" control mode (the game includes an arranged mode with modified controls), Pit turns on a dime in mid air! Normally I'd struggle like crazy to get past the first level, here on the 3DS I did it first time! I need to go back and try the NES version again, but I swear that I don't remember Pit being so agile that he could turn on a dime in mid air.

I want the rainbow pen!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! The English dub is fantastic! You're crazy to miss out on it! Yeah, I can appreciate the battle dialogue being annoying (though it does help to telegraph what your partners are doing, which is kind of the point), but you must leave it on English for the rest of the dialogue! To do otherwise is sacrilege! The gem crafting is fairly simple really. You choose which gem you want to craft (leftovers get turned into cylinders which can be combined to make other gems) and you pick Rein & Dunban whatever two characters give the best result (dependant on how strong their bond is) Skill Trees allow your character to learn different skills (like healing after every critical hit for example!). The AP you earn goes towards learning these skills and you choose which skills you want by selecting the corresponding tree. There are additional trees that you can unlock for each character as well by completing certain quests... Skill Linking allows characters to mooch skills off of each other. The stronger the bond between each character, the higher the level of skills that they can borrow from each other! Also, what controller are you using? Wiimote + Chuck or Classic Controller Pro? If it's the latter, I highly recommend switching to the Wiimote + Chuck! (It lets you move while you're selecting your attack in the menu. Perfect for Back Slash ) You do know that you can get a recap of what's happened with the Story Memo right? (Open up the menu and press Z on the Nunchuck - or whatever button is used on the CC Pro)

Eh, as soon as I saw it say "thinner but with longer battery life" I knew it had to be bunk. There's no room inside the chassis to make it smaller (unlike the DS, which had loads of empty space to cut down on for the DS Lite) And a year isn't a long enough time to make those kind of space savings necessary to fit a bigger capacity battery inside (or to cut down on power consumption enough for a substantial battery life increase)

It's funny because Okami's ingame graphics are actually closer to Wind Waker's artwork than Wind Waker itself!

I was actually referring to Xenogears. It had roughly half of the game's intended content cut out (the 2nd disc) and the game suffers heavily for it.

For me, my top 5 is as follows: Bit Trip Flux: The perfect way to finish an awesome series. Looping all the way back to square one, with a new take on the original Bit Trip game was a great way to wrap up a great series that really defined the best of Wii Ware. Wii Play Motion: Like Bit Trip Flux, it personifies the very best and the very worst of the Wii. It's great fun, with some enormously innovative mini games - only matched by the equally innovative Jam Session style development that the game underwent (with 8 different developers all pitching in with different games) and the music/presentation is just as charming as ever (the Mii voices are hilarious in this game!) While it's a fantastic game in of itself that really goes a ways towards redefining how you can interact with a game, there's also something bitter sweet about it arriving so late into the Wii's life cycle. It feels like this game should've been released back in 2008, when the Wii really needed support and for me it stands as a great "what could've been" if 3rd parties gave a damn about the console. It's a shame that it's gone forgotten, but it was sadly just released too late. Kirby's Return To Dreamland: 11 Years in the making, 6 years in the waiting and a decade since the last traditional console Kirby game. It's fabulous! While perhaps not as innovative as Kirby's Epic Yarn, it doesn't mean that it's just a rehash of the pink puff's former glory. From the secret sub stages, to the new powers and innovative level design, it's bursting with new ideas - married with familiar gameplay (even if the art style isn't as original). It deserves more love and more respect than it gets. Xenoblade: It's the best traditional JRPG since Chrono Trigger. While it is totally different from its contemporaries, it's probably best described as Final Fantasy 12 done right. More or less everything about the game is perfect, the pacing, the innovative battle system that's flawlessly integrated into the story, the characters, the music (OH GOD THE MUSIC ), but most of all; the environments. If you can see it, you can go to it. It's scale, but with the level of craftsmanship that you wouldn't find outside of the likes of Zelda. It's the gold standard of RPGs and the best traditional JRPG released in the last 16 years... So it takes one hell of a game to topple a giant like Xenoblade and there is one that does so (barely) Skyward Sword: It's the game that we waited for since the Wii was first announced. What a tragedy that we had to wait so long for it. But what more is there to say? Chances are that you've already played it and it's Zelda. It's the perfect 25th anniversary game and the best game of this generation. Overall I'd say that 2011 was a year of quality over quantity. Not the Wii's strongest year, but it features some of the Wii's (and this generation's) very best.

Banjo Tooie is so awesome that it makes the list, despite it not even being a Nintendo game! BTW: Even if for some reason you don't count Xenoblade as being a Nintendo game because it was made by Monolith, do note that it was actually co-developed by Nintendo SPD as well (who acted as "editors" according to Xenoblade's Iwata Asks) Either way, Nintendo's influence on this game is clear to see. It's so far beyond Takahashi's previous efforts (and without masses of content cut this time!) that it's comical to say that Nintendo had no influence on the game's development.

Hey I didn't say that it was a good solution

Probably done to stop people from just clicking through the same boxes again and again in a rush to get it over and done with. Forces you to actually read the questions.

I know I'm a bit late in posting my impressions (I actually finished it a while ago) but here they are anyway! It's simply stunning. The game is so densely packed it is just astounding, the motion controls work perfectly and add so much more depth to the combat/traversal that it's really just incredible. There are so many ways to tackle various situations (every boss has multiple ways to kill them!) that it simply astounds me how they managed to come up with them. The way that each enemy encounter was unique, even if you've already fought them before was simply a design masterpiece. And the blending of dungeon and overworld really works spectacularly well, turning every little part of the game into a puzzle of its own is just wonderful! (with environments and game mechanics constantly re purposed to be used in completely different ways. There's no time where you're simply asked to repeat an action or traverse an environment in the same way twice) Reading through the responses on other sites is really funny. The reactions are so predictable that it just makes me laugh. As I played through the game, I noticed countless sections where I thought to myself "yep, internet folk are going to hate this part". The Silent Realm is really the ultimate culmination of this. A great big fat middle finger to everyone who hated Forsaken Fortress from Wind Waker, the Tears of Light from Twilight Princess and the Temple of the Ocean King from Phantom Hourglass; and I loved every minute of it! That's not to say that it's flawless. The pacing does slow down towards the end, the slow text speed and collectable reminders are annoying (but not that big of a deal really), the dungeons are a bit simple in comparison to the best of the series (suffering from 1 key syndrome again) and the final boss/last hour or so is really anti climactic (though mind you, it was really incredible to see how much better I had gotten at the game in the last Ghirahim battle. I used to die from a single Bokoblin at the start and by the end I found myself destroying hundreds of them with ease! Also, the bird flying feels like a missed opportunity, they could've done much more with that aspect of the game (relegating it mostly to simply being a fun means of transportation.) As for the story, there are some real revelations made here that I would've never expected them to ever do! WOW! @ Hylia! Never thought they'd ever go back to ALTTP again! It explains so much! Tatl mentioning the Goddess of Time, the difference between the Hylia and the Hyrulians etc. The main villain I'm kinda conflicted about though. While Demise being a setup for every villain in the series does go a long way towards explaining their appearance, it does kinda take a little bit away from Ganondorf's character. If it weren't for Wind Waker, his character would've been ruined forever! But really, it lives up to the hype. Well worth the 5 year wait, even if it's not my favourite in the series (that title still belongs to Majora's Mask). It's well up there though! And while it is most similar to Minish Cap in terms of game structure, it really does feel like a 25th anniversary game. It takes on something from every game in the series, despite feeling so different from past games. This is one of those games where you'll still be discovering new things about it even years from now! Just for the record Ancient Cistern is the best dungeon and also features the best boss! BTW: Did anyone else figure out that you can cheese the final boss? By putting your sword away (the one sword motion that he can't copy), he leaves himself wide open when he attacks!

I always thought that the Hero's Shade in TP was Link from OoT. Glad to know I was right This feels right to me. I always thought that if any of the two games should come first, it should be OoS. So he's not the same Ganondorf being revived (like in Zelda 2 and the Oracles games), but just a reincarnation of Ganon? Thank god! That never made any sense whatsoever before!

Wow! There are some awesome levels in here (Love the RT one RedShell!) This is amazing! Really well made!

Oh, BTW. One other little thing. It's possible to copy certain AVI format videos to play on the 3DS! Someone converted a Xenoblade trailer to play on the 3DS http://www.mediafire.com/?upckmo8rum3iqk7 Details on the video format used can be seen here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33245080&postcount=547 There seems to be some sort of length/size restriction in place though (probably a 10 minute limit, just like your own recorded videos), so you probably won't be able to watch whole movies on there, but it's a start at least! (until Youtube 3D comes around )

It works when you are playing a game and have the 3DS in sleep mode (so it doesn't have to be while on the 3DS main menu)

This update is all around awesome! Streetpass Plaza update is amazing BTW! Soooo happy that they added an option to listen to the soundtrack, always was sad that I couldn't hear the old music after getting more people! Street Pass Quest 2 is already epic! The gameplay is quite different from the last one (very cool that you can recruit past encounters. I have 330 odd Miis ready and raring to go!) The achievement accomplishment for seeing 100 Miis in a single day is just nuts though, I'm never gonna be that lucky! There's a metric ton of new content and neat little touches (like the seasons changing as your character walks on the Puzzle Swap screen The intro to Streetpass Quest 2 is just all kinds of LOLworthy. Nice and awkward start! Video recording quality is surprisingly good too. Seems better than the quality for pictures! We need a 3D video depository for viewing on the 3DS! (at least, until Youtube 3D inevitably arrives) Also, the sleep mode downloads are VERY much appreciated! It's basically a background downloading queue (and yes it works even when playing a 3DS game) where it downloads up to 10 games while in sleep mode via Spotpass and pauses whenever you open it (you can see the download progress on the gift icon itself) It doesn't work when you're playing a game online though (so you can't be playing online in Mario Kart, put it in sleep mode and have it download in the background). It also doesn't work while playing an original DS/DSi game (Well DUUUHHH!!!) BTW: I'm shocked that I've already met people from 20 different countries and I've filled in every region in the UK except for Wales and Northern Ireland! - didn't realise that I got so far already! Here's a list of all the changes in this update (thanks Neogaf!) Other little things I've noticed. StreetPass Plaza now saves all the Miis that are part of any online Community you add to your games (Currently only Mario Kart 7 supports this. I have quite a few Miis now - including yours Red Shell! Mine will come up as Deanie!) They will not come with puzzle pieces though and cannot be used in StreetPass Quest You can now do face merging on the 3DS menu, instead of having to load up the camera app. The QR code reader is there too (speaking of which, it doesn't recognise game specific QR codes. Just web sites and presumably eShop ones. Pretty stupid, it should prompt you to open up the game that the QR code is specific to) There's a new section in the Data Management menu (3DS Settings) for Add on Content (so it's not counted as Extra Data) 3DS loads up apps/games faster now (no little weird Wii style pauses any more!) eShop loads up faster (and those weird little sound crackles that you'd sometimes get on the ratings screens are gone now ) The register friend button is now always accessible in the top right of the touch screen, regardless of where you are on your friends list (shamelessly copy/pasted from RedShell because I'm too lazy to type!) The eShop game icons now display how many reviews a game has been given, alongside the star rating. The game pages on the eShop have been redesigned slightly (everything is arranged in a line now and the screen scrolls left and right (probably because of the extra "demo" icon that will eventually appear there) The "Available in Shops" text has been replaced with "Not available in Nintendo eShop" You can now set a filter for the New Software arrivals screen (so you can just look at new DSiWare games, or just new VC games etc)

The firmware update that comes with SM3DL is NOT the November update (it only includes the friend invite/game joining system, not the video recording or the revamped eShop or anything else)

I've got it. It's a decent Solomon's Key clone with some decent levels. It's a bit amateurish in terms of visuals/production values but it's fun. Worth £3.60 for sure, if you like puzzle platformers.

It's not dead yet. We still have Zelda Skyward Sword, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Rhythm Heaven, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, Fortune Street, Mario Party 9, Family Fishing and (hopefully), Rodea the Sky Soldier to look forward to! (I suppose that there's also Pokepark 2 as well if you're a nut for anything Pokemon!) It's amazing to think that just a few months back (back in March/April) all we had to look forward to was Skyward Sword and in the span of just a few months, we've gotten another 10 great games added to that list (the above plus Wii Play Motion and Xenoblade) Not a bad sendoff I say, far better than what the GCN got in it's final year! As for me recently, I've been playing Xenoblade. Lots and lots of Xenoblade! (Wii Play Motion is good fun as well, but Xenoblade is getting the lion's share of my playtime at the mo!)

Simple. Investors/shareholders care only about short term gains, while the CEO of a company (should at least!) care about the mid/longterm. It's a classic conflict of interest and it's not a phenomenon that is unique to Nintendo. Almost every public company is subject to it (that's one of the first things I learnt as part of my degree - Business & Marketing in case you're wondering!) The shareholders want Nintendo to jump on the latest trend/fad because it would mean a quick short term gain that makes them money personally. Iwata is thankfully smart (and confident) enough to put the company's long term health over the demands of their shareholders. One company that actually serves as the opposite to this rule is Activision, where short term gains are all that matter to them (see Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk and soon to be Call of Duty), at the expense of the company's long term health. Kotick probably plans on jumping ship as soon as the COD and WOW cash cows are good and dead (with Activision collapsing into a pile of dust)