Tamazoid

If the 3DS homebrew eventuates and brings region free capabilities I'll definitely be importing a copy of this.

Thanks Dcubed. I'll definitely put both games on my list to buy, though part of me is holding out for the slim chance of a discount.

Excellent. I've been looking for another experience akin to Metroid Fusion, one of my favourite GBA titles. Though for some reason I feel compelled to purchase and play the first two Shantae games before jumping into this one.

Same here, though my backlog goes as far back as Luigi's Mansion. Still need to finish that game someday, it's on my list..... At this stage I've become more of a collector than a gamer unfortunately. My First Print Edition shipped out of France yesterday, so hopefully it arrives either late next week (probably not) or early the week after.

My first print edition is scheduled to ship from France tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to make its way to Australia, I can't wait to play the game. I seem to recall reading that there's a TV advert in the US for it. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo have given up on the UK market for the Wii U, with the recent restructuring of Nintendo Europe and the terrible sales. Haven't a lot of retailers stopped stocking Wii U related products? The situation isn't much better in Australia, TV advertising for Nintendo is sparse, there's a Mario Kart 8 one and not much else, not even on for Hyrule Warriors. Nintendo seems adverse to utilising billboard and other signage related advertising for some reason.

Fnac.com (French site) seems to have the first print edition in stock at the moment, and they do post to Australia. Does anyone here have any experience with using this particular site?

This game was hardly on my radar until I began playing Harvest Moon: A New Beginning over the last couple of months. While I know this game is completely different, it has made me more receptive to more open ended games that involve slow progression. Fantasy Life will no doubt prove to be much more entertaining and compelling due to actually have combat and RPG elements. To answer the question above, as far as I understand, multiplayer involves traveling in groups to defeat various monsters and complete quests, so it basically aids in your own progression as far as I understand. I think there may be certain multiplayer areas as well (not 100% sure on that one though).

I really wanted that first print edition, unfortunately it is not coming to Australia and the only European webstore which would ship to Australia is Game and as we all know they sold out pretty quickly. My only option for the last day was to buy it through Amazon France and then use a parcel forwarding service to get it to me. But unfortunately from the little digging I did that process seemed unnecessarily messy as well as pretty pricey. So if anyone decides to sell their first print edition and are willing to post to Australia (I'd cover the costs) let me know.

I agree, I'm excited after playing and enjoying Tekken Tag Tournament 2 earlier this year.

Details in Famitsu: - Shin Sekaiju no Meikyuu - Millennium no Shoujo - 3DS - 6/27 release in Japan - 6279yen Director: Shigeo Komori Character Design: Yuji Himukai Monster Design: Shin Nagasawa Music: Yuzo Koshiro Remake of EO1, expanded story scenario, voice acting. More details to come. Announced voice cast so far: Kousuke Toriumi, Daisuke Ono, Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Mariya Ise, Shizuka Ito Hopefully we get this after Etrian Odyssey IV

I completely agree with you on the Brawl point. While I do agree that the balancing is broken, I honestly don't play Smash for a competitive game, I play it when with a group of friends since it is such a great multiplayer experience. Brawl perfectly fit that requirement, and amongst some of my friends seemed slightly more accessible than Melee. While I did thoroughly enjoy Melee, when I'm with friends these days we always go to Brawl instead of Melee, albeit one friend is a fringe competitive player so he always insists on Melee. However, there is no way I can do so regarding The Phantom Menace. Defending that is like defending the plotline of Other M.

I honestly wasn't planning on purchasing the 3DS version, but with the announcement of the limited edition XL which comes with the game installed, it looks like it's quite likely that I will end up with the game. On the game itself, from what I played at Oz Comic Con, I wasn't the greatest fan of how it plays, simply the controls felt awkward due to the shape of the 3DS, and not being able to dodge using R felt unintuitive, hopefully the final build does include customisable controls. Not to mention perhaps it will feel better to play with a 3DS XL.

How exactly was Super Mario Kart tailored to the 'hardcore gamer'? I think an important point to note is that Nintendo games, even during the SNES era were in general always accessible and did not have steep learning curves like I noted in my earlier post. Games like Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Kart and A Link to the Past for example are testaments to this philosophy. Games such as those and ones I previously mentioned like Tetris show that Nintendo have also aimed at primarily developing games which are accessible to a wide audience, while also developing games that are aimed at a more 'core gamer' audience and their 'hardcore fanbase'. This trend was even noticeable in the Wii generation, as seen by games such as Sin and Punishment, Xenoblade, Last Story, Pandora's Tower, and the like. But their higher budget games and games with the most marketing have generally always been their most accessible titles. I agree with the need for improved online infrastructure but once again, this belief that series like F-Zero and Earthbound are the games that the 'core audience' want is laughable. You're key argument boils down to a belief that Nintendo needs to focus on games that appeal to 'existing/dedicated gamers' yet you suggest games that sit within genres that are hardly mainstream and are relatively niche. These are games that appeal to the Nintendo faithful and hardcore Nintendo fans, not 'hardcore gamers' as a whole. I think if your main argument is that if Nintendo wants to be successful they need to shift their focus towards 'core gamers' and develop games like F-Zero, Earthbound and Star Fox you're wildly misinterpreting the term 'core gamer' in its contemporary usage and infer that somehow hardcore Nintendo fans and 'core gamers are interchangeable. 'Core gamers' in general flock to games like Bioshock, Assassins Creed, GTA, Watch Dogs. All cinematic orientated games which has never been Nintendo's forte, yet you argue that to recapture success it is necessary for Nintendo to return to its roots and focus on the 'core gamer'. There's a a clear dissidence which is apparent between the two as Nintendo's apparent 'hardcore' past which it has abandoned include games in genres that are no longer popular or successful, as well as franchises and series which have rarely sold well or given Nintendo much success. For example Earthbound is a cult classic, it didn't even appeal to the so called 'hard gamers' of the SNES days which Nintendo apparently pandered to and were the reason behind their success. Finally I think it is fool hardy to suggest that Nintendo requires someone 'less conservative' to 'give the core gamers what they need.' It suggests an entire culture and philosophical change for the company which I'd argue would damage what makes Nintendo unique and appealing to even 'hardcore' Nintendo fans such as yourself who crave games like Earthbound and F-Zero which in all honesty would not be developed in such a reorientation. If Iwata, a man who is close friends with and a former colleague of Itoi won't greenlight a new Earthbound no one will, not to mention Itoi does not wish to make another Mother game. But sure, go on believing that it is likely that a successor to Iwata would actively attempt to pander to the Nintendo fanbase more than the current management is and would actively develop and publish niche games that have a proven track record of mediocre sales, while avoiding a sustained push towards courting the 'casual gamer' due to the continued rise of smart phone gaming.

This was seriously announced too early, it's ridiculous that there still hasn't been any footage shown.

I contest that point, Nintendo really only actively targeted the 'core gamer' during the 64 and to a lesser extent the Gamecube generation and both were hardly successful eras for the company. This was typified by their focus of Western developed games that were targeted at a mature audience, such as Body Harvest, Eternal Darkness, Geist and the like. Currently with the Wii U they are making an effort to target this similar audience, but now through Japanese developed games like Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors (The Dynasty Warriors link) and Devil's Third as well as their apparent funding of Eternal Darkness 2 before Silicon Knights lost their lawsuit. Not to mention that arguing that Nintendo always targeted the 'core gamer' before the Wii is disingenuous, since the modern 'casual gamer' really only developed after the Wii and a 'core gamer' is something hard to define. My personal definition of a 'casual game' is one that is accessible and has a low learning curve, games like the original Super Mario Bros and the ilk, games that Nintendo has always made but apparently now are 'casual' and 'not targeted at the core gamer'. That design philosophy has always been the mantra of Nintendo, you only have to read an interview with Miyamoto or Iwata to see. In addition you only have to look at the origins of the Game and Watch, that Gunpei Yokoi conceived it after seeing a Japanese businessman playing around with a calculator on a train, which is why the Game and Watch had a clock, it was a device designed to be used to kill time. Similarly, Tetris, the original killer app of the Gameboy was hardly aimed at core gamers, since I'd argue it is the genesis of a 'casual' game: a game anyone can pick up and quickly learn how to play. So really, I don't particularly understand the prevalence of this notion that Nintendo has somehow abandoned it's origins and are blindly chasing the 'casual gamer'.

I'm enjoying it, I see it as Nintendo returning to their roots after the Gamecube generation where they completely abandoned 2D games. They are filling a niche that is actually not really a niche these days, 2D games are more popular than ever these days, considering the indie revival. Nintendo are utilising their strength, it's not like a Nintendo internal studio to make a game like "Uncharted" or "Mass Effect" and honestly, that's why I am a Nintendo fan. They have finally revealed a third person shooter with a online multiplayer focus and it turns out to be Splatoon. That's Nintendo, they buck all the trends and deliver an experience unlike their competitors. I honestly don't see them changing anytime soon. Star Fox is the last Nintendo game that anyone would describe as "AAA", and i'm the one with a Star Fox avatar. It is easily a second tier Nintendo franchise with little selling power and appeal these days. Unfortunately the days of Arcade rail shooters like Star Fox have faded away, they are as niche as shmups, and I wouldn't call Dondonpachi AAA. The fact is, which I am sure will disappoint plenty of people is that games like DKCR: Tropical Freeze, Mario 3D world, NSMBU and Mario Maker have greater sales potential than say 1080 Snowboarding,Wave Race, F-Zero, Star Fox and their ilk. These games are niche, they have no where near the mainstream appeal of Nintendo's first tier IPs as well as the ones from other companies, such as Uncharted, Mass Effect, Call of Duty etc.

Pretty much, this announcement will no doubt aid in selling additional copies of the game. This is a masterstroke by Nintendo and Platinum. It gives people like you and I who missed the first game a real incentive to pick it up, while fans of the first game get to replay one of their favourite games which will doubtlessly be the definite version of it.

Yep, him explaining the plot background was cringe worthy, purely because it is such a generic western plot. Is it just me or is the protagonist of this game really unappealing and a turn off? I'm sure the gameplay will be polished before release but I don't think I could manage playing a ten hour campaign as that character.

Most likely:

Reminds me of Knack, which is hardly a good thing. Knack combat is so repetitive and mindless.

My Wii U library at the moment is: Assassins Creed III Batman: Arkham City Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Lego City Undercover Mario Kart 8 New Super Mario Bros U Nintendo Land Sonic All Star Racing Transformed Splinter Cell Blacklist Super Mario 3D World Tekken Tag Tournament 2 The Wonderful 101 With Tank! Tank! Tank! and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge on the way.

Mate, Atlus brought over Conception II to PAL regions, they will definitely bring over a Persona game, I'm just hoping this one will get a retail release.

I agree unfortunately, MK8 with its great sales is still mainly selling to the current userbase, just look at the Japanese sales, over 350000 copies of MK8 sold but only 20,000 new consoles sold. I was a key believer in the Wii U surpassing the Gamecube in terms of sales but I don't think it will worldwide (it will sell more than the GC in Japan easily). I think the impact of Smash will be diminished by the 3DS version releasing months earlier. Wii U sales will increase, I just don't think it's going to be some sort of miraculous revival.

Yep, I still find it to be ridiculous that this was released on the Wii U very close to the release of Mass Effect Trilogy on all the other consoles. I would have bought this day one if it was Mass Effect trilogy, instead I'm now waiting for ME Trilogy to become dirt cheap on PC before jumping into the series.

I really enjoyed this game when I played it last year. It has enjoyable combat, a decent soundtrack and plays well on the 3DS (even though it's a bare bones port). I thoroughly enjoyed the story as well, and I actually liked Luke as a main character (I thought that he actually developed as a character, unlike a lot of protagonists in other games) while it was clunky in some aspects I thought it was pretty coherent and made sense in the end. This was my first Tales game actually, I do own Vesperia and Phantasia though, so I need to play through those games.