Dcubed

OMG! They actually voiced the Raccoon in the training mode. And his voice is AWESOME!!! YES!

That's how I feel as well. They could've just had camera buttons on the touchscreen ALA Super Mario 64 DS. Mind you though, Nintendo were probably planning on doing this anyway. They did mention how they wanted Kid Icarus Uprising to have support for left handed play (now we know how they're going to do it!), so it makes perfect sense for Capcom to take advantage of it I guess. The game itself looks fantastic. Graphics are a clear upgrade from the Wii version (proper shadows FTW!) and all the extra stuff (12 weapons?!) sounds awesome. Just need online play to be confirmed and I'm in (despite the downer about the slide pad expansion) Also, has anyone noticed how there's no HUD on the top screen? It looks like they're moving the map, inventory and all that HUD stuff to the bottom screen!

Where do they come from? What source?

Oh dear. Just read a translation on GAF from the Japanese Dragon Quest website that states that there is no offline single player mode. You HAVE to play online! Not happy, not happy at all

No you're not. It's looking pretty fantastic so far, much more interesting than the PSP ever was to me! Mind you though, half of the stuff we've seen probably won't be coming out until around 9-12 months after launch so I wouldn't hold too much stock in the lineup just yet.

Ok, now I'm completely confused.

Yes but they wouldn't have had to suffer the effects of that campaign if NOE hadn't leaked that info. Anyway, I'm glad to see that EU IS getting London Life after all. I still think that "mistake" in the press release was done on purpose though (no way could they have made put such an inflammatory message there by accident - they knew what they were doing there)

For the damage done to NOA's public relations image by NOE leaking the details about the release of The Last Story & Pandora's Tower and the revealing of how NOA have no intention to localise Xenoblade (This leak was the spark that lead to the Operation Rainfall campaign) From this happening right after NOA mentioned how they wanted to capture the "core" gamer with the Wii U, Op Rainfall did a lot of damage to their public image as it directly contradicts what they said they wanted to do.

Wow! WTF?! The fact that they take the effort to point it out as a "North American Exclusive" would almost certainly mean that the EU version doesn't have London Life period (why else take the effort to point it out?) I can't believe that they've taken such a direct potshot at NOE here. This is no doubt revenge for the Xenoblade/Operation Rainfall debacle. Me thinks that there's some animosity between NOE and NOA! (Oh how I'd love to be a fly on the wall at both branches right now!)

Yeah, the video recording update has been 100% confirmed. It's coming, but we don't know when.

Been playing for a bit now (about 4.5-5 hours). It's the best "serious" RPG (I.e non Mario or "silly" RPG) I've played since Skies of Arcadia for sure. The pacing is perfect, the combat is revolutionary and the world is so vast and lovingly crafted (everything is there for a reason) that it puts all other RPGs to shame. Bosses that walk the plains as hidden battles, trillions of items and weapons, tons of quests that invest you in the game world (and most NPCs have their own relationships and backstory!) and some of the best music to ever grace a video game. It's pretty much the RPG I've been waiting for. Special shoutout to the awesome English localisation as well. I can't believe Nintendo's UK localisation team pulled it off (I usually hate their works), but it is really genuinely fantastic. A great script that's full of life and little touches, with a dub that is nigh on perfect. If the quality keeps up as it has done so far, it could be the best RPG since Chrono Trigger for me! And what a treat it is to see it hit No 3 in the UK charts! The ultimate middle finger to NOA! (WHATA BUNCH O' JOHKAS!)

You forgot Four Swords in September and Cave Story DSi in Q4.

Bingo. But then again, doom and gloom has been Nintendo's speciality with the media since 1996. Hell most of them probably don't even know that Pokemon Say Tap? is just a glorified advert for the TCG and is not even the first promotional app of its kind, see Pokemate below from Square Enix! Or to go even further, a Pokemon game for the Sega Pico (Yes that's right, Pokemon on a SEGA console! - an edutainment machine but still a SEGA console!) It may have been bad timing on Nintendo's part, but the media should know better; then again, researching facts is too hard for the gaming industry media...

You can choose to swap between 1st person aiming or RE4/RE5's over the shoulder aiming (I prefer the latter).

No you're right. Most RPGs don't need to be that long at all and many clearly overstay their welcome. The problem is that one of the big USPs of the genre back in the early/late 1990s is that it offered more bang for your buck with how long they were (hence why you constantly saw "OVER 60/80 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY!!!" plastered on the back of the game boxes). Sadly, this has resulted in much of its audience being conditioned to expect a long game and anything that doesn't live up to those standards (read: Is overbloated with tons of filler) is instantly thought less of.

Sadly the "crunch culture" is pretty much the norm in the industry. Some are worse than others (EA Spouse and Rockstar Wives anyone?) but pretty much all of them treat their employees like shit. Hell there are developers that actively revel in how much they can screw over their employees (Gameloft just recently, http://www.tsumea.com/australasia/new-zealand/news/180711/developer-blows-whistle-on-120-hour-weeks-and-crunch-at-gameloft) (Ferguson's famous "you can't make a good game without crunch" speech at GDC 2010 http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22945) Overtime is almost never paid either (Free Radical used to pay overtime though, before they shut down and became Crytek UK) The only western developers (Japanese devs aren't exactly forthcoming with their work conditions, but work culture there leans towards workaholics anyway) that I know of that actively avoids crunch are Next Level Games (http://www.gamasutra.com/newswire?story=23616) and 5th Cell (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34628/5th_Cell_Delays_Hybrid_Avoids_The_Crunch.php) and they're easily two of the best western developers in the business. Not only do they make amazing games, they make them on time and on budget. Sadly, most publishers/developers actively ignore decades of sociological research that shows that productivity hits its peak at 40hrs a week and that after 60hrs you actually start getting negative returns (where programmers/artists actually start making more mistakes then they're fixing) Here's a nice repository to see what developers/publishers have done to actively screw over employees (http://ilovecrunch.co.uk/?page_id=2) It's been this way for a while. Recently with the start of this gen it's gotten much worse, but that's alright, the AAA blockbuster driven part of the industry is due to collapse soon enough anyway.

Ok, here's an updated version with the whole auditorium.

It depends largely on the market that the Wii U and 3DS eventually manage to cultivate. Iwata has gone on record to say that he aims to create a market on both consoles where games of all budget ranges can succeed and if he can manage that, then I think we'll be seeing a lot more RPGs. Also, you have to remember that the Japanese market is dominated by handheld consoles now, a large factor in the move of Japanese developers from console to handheld. The Wii was selling well, up until around early 2009 when it all fell apart (and what little support it had dried up immediately) There is a chance that you might get some multiplatform Vita/PS3 releases but I think that they'll largely flock to the 3DS anyway (budgets are lower and it'll probably be the better selling console) Demand for the genre is still there, these games do still sell well and even in the west! (Look at DQ9!) Outside of maybe the Wii U, you won't be seeing much support for RPGs on Sony and MS' consoles. The market is too small in Japan and the western audience for their consoles have been conditioned to accept nothing less than blockbuster AAA budgets, so that dismisses the grand majority of games in the genre. Just one issue I have with what you've mentioned here. Monster Hunter isn't really an RPG. It's an action game with loot and very minor RPG elements (It doesn't have EXP or leveling up), so I wouldn't really count that one.

Nice idea, but that's just the Stalls isn't it? I'm at the front of the Dress Circle, so I can't put my location in here (and the map on the main site has changed to the interactive map (which is a flash file and isn't particularly well suited to what we're doing here) Does anyone have a complete map they can upload?

Got mine here in London (Took em bloody long enough!)

The offer is for the US only so far (Promo code is ZELDA, but that didn't work for me ) Oh well, got my tickets booked (Seems to be selling out pretty fast, 15 mins in and all the VIP tickets seem to be gone already! - not a big deal since there's no way I could afford 4 VIP tickets anyway!) We're gonna be in the Dress Circle, Row J, seats 17-14. Can't wait

Nope. It was apparently submitted for approval by NOE, but nothing else has been mentioned yet so it should still be coming. Meanwhile, Cave Story DSiWare happily sits on my US DSi (which I cannot transfer to my UK 3DS )

Apparently Ireland has them, but I haven't seen anything in London yet. BTW: Detana Twinbee is the next 3D Classics game! (after Urban Champion) http://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/eshop/sacj/index.html Also, I haven't seen it posted here yet but Japan just recently got a sequel to Picross DS! (The one made by Jupiter!) http://www.jupiter.co.jp/3ds/picrosse/ The Japanese eShop actually has quite a few original 3DS download games now.

I don't give a toss about Achivements. They should've given you the option to just disable leaderboards and achivements when you use the cheats (not actual saving) Hell they could've put a little "cheater" icon next to your save file. It would've been funny!

Phew! Finally done! I have officially added everyone on the first main page! Remember, I'll appear as N.Muffin on your 3DS instead of "Dcubed"