Mr-Paul Posted August 24, 2015 Posted August 24, 2015 The Wii U lineup looks alright. There's a decent number of games out each month till the end of the year; even if it's arguably lacking a major guaranteed mainstream hit out of the lot. The 3DS lineup looks terrible though. Style Boutique 2 was a nice surprise, but they really did need more to flesh out the lineup. Rhythm Heaven 3DS or Bravely Second would've been nice... (Though I suspect that we're probably looking at March/April for those) Yeah, Wii U there's plenty enough for me, seeing I don't buy every single release anyway. Will be getting Mario Maker, Star Fox and Xenoblade for sure (and seeing I may buy a PS4 for Star Wars Battlefront, that's plenty enough money spent on gaming!) But in comparison to what the release schedule would be if Wii U got all the multi platforms, even just the ones that PS3 and 360 were getting, it'd look a lot better. I don't think I've actually bought anything for 3DS this year other than Majora's Mask. I got Xenoblade 3DS as a review copy, but it's making me glad I got my New 3DS for cheap from France, because it's looking like quite a poor investment!
FireMeowth Posted August 24, 2015 Posted August 24, 2015 I've been satisfied with both the Wii U and 3DS lineups this year. By the end of the year, 2015 will have brought me 10 Wii U games and 7 (maybe 8) 3DS games... and even a Wii game. Half of those games have yet to be released. That's more than enough to keep me happy, at least. (And more than enough for my wallet as well considering how much I'm also spending on amiibo, Skylanders and soon LEGO Dimensions products, ahahahaa...)
RedShell Posted September 21, 2015 Author Posted September 21, 2015 Updated the first post (it's been a while ) and after removing Star Fox (and the rest of the delayed, or now released titles) from the TBA list, we're left with just 2! Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival and Rhythm Tengoku: The Best Plus. Yes, I know Rhythm Tengoku isn't even announced for the West yet (and probably unlikely to come out this year/ever) but I'm clinging on to the hope that it could end up being a sneaky Xmas release. Anyone reckon we'll get some surprise releases, or is this really gonna be it for Q3/4?
S.C.G Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 One for next years thread... Mighty No. 9 February 12th 2016 With portable versions to release at a later date. : peace:
Andyliini Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 So, now we can start guessing, how closely Mighty No. 9 and Megaman Legacy collection physical release. Would be comical if it was the same day.
peterl0 Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 Fast Racing Neo could go on the TBA list could it not?
Ike Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 Good to see Devilish Brain Training managed to stay on the list.
Dcubed Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 Good to see Devilish Brain Training managed to stay on the list. I always see the name and can't help but think of it being a challenge for Europeans looking at the release schedule. The name is a just a little bit ironic here
Rob3008 Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 Pokken Tournament not coming to Japan? Bizarre.
S.C.G Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 Pokken Tournament not coming to Japan? Bizarre. They do have the arcade version though to be fair.
Grazza Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 Strange how they were once sure Zelda would be 2015, and now they can't even give it a "2016"!
Dcubed Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 Pokken Tournament not coming to Japan? Bizarre. I think it might be published by Namco in Japan, so that would explain why it's not on this list. Same with Hyrule Warriors Legends (replace Namco with Tecmo-Koei though :p )
Hero-of-Time Posted November 9, 2015 Posted November 9, 2015 Cracking article on Nintendo Life popped up over the weekend. If you'll allow this wistful 30-something to get out his pipe and slippers for some reminiscing, there was a time when game releases were a mystery and seemingly scheduled by the Marx Brothers. There could be months - or years! - between regional releases in the West, nevermind localising Japanese titles, and translation was so shoddy that many retro games provide the material for various memes nowadays. There was either no or only slow internet, too, so only enthusiasts with magazine subscriptions realised they were being wronged. Heck, I only learned how shoddy 50Hz games were - in terms of running slower - when the '90s were drawing to a close. Of course, they were different times, and we're now in the online world, and businesses use all manner of clever things and have a love of keywords like connectivity and logistics. Everything happens quickly and we want the best products yesterday, and no mistake or quirky decision escapes immediate assessment and critique online. Yet this year's been a bit of a throwback on the game release front, with bizarre differences in release schedules between Europe (and Australia) and North America. We've often joked about Nintendo of Europe and North America behaving like sibling rivals more than colleagues, but this year has brought a level of dysfunction that suggests it's only getting less organised between the two. Yes, they need to do some work independently of each other to cater to their relative markets, but game releases seem like something that should be shared by as many people together as possible. Instead, Nintendo likes to keep us in our own little boxes. The year started badly with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker's release in Europe being pushed to January, then bizarrely soft-launched - only in the UK, if memory serves - right after Christmas 2015. Then there was a drought in Europe while North American gamers had the chance to play Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, before Yoshi's Woolly World dramatically reversed the trend. While this brilliant platformer came out a month after Splatoon in Europe and functioned as a nice Summer release, it arrived in North America months later in mid-October, surrounded by big-name titles and seemingly - from my perspective - having a low-key launch. At times it's hard to tell where collaboration between the two regions is and is not happening. Sometimes I'll be playing a Nintendo game, see American spellings and think that perhaps there's a bit of cohesion, but then it'll emerge that there are differences between versions of The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes. While localisation variations aren't exactly a problem, when combined with release date discrepancies they point to the lack of intersection between the two major subsidiaries of company. As mentioned above, there are always regional teams, as there's plenty of region-specific work to do around marketing, age rating systems and so on. Yet Nintendo doesn't seem to even try to keep its two siblings in sync and, by extension, allow its global fanbase to share gaming experiences. It's madness, and consider the consequences if major triple-A games on other platforms - you know, Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed etc - had a few months between EU and NA releases? There'd be petitions out before you could say hashtag. To get to my main point, then, Nintendo's Holiday 3DS line-up perplexes me. First party releases on Wii U for the rest of 2015 are pretty well synchronised, to be fair, with the only oddity being the delayed arrived of Devil's Third in North America. Yet the portable's line-ups are completely different in Europe and North America, which means online buddies on social networks - you know, the communications tools that set trends - will have little in common on both sides of the Atlantic. Let's break down the two key 3DS games out between now and the end of the year in Europe and North America - primarily those that will aim to drive sales of the portable. North America Yo-Kai Watch - out now, released 6th November Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon - 20th November Europe Nintendo Presents: New Style Boutique 2 - Fashion Forward - 20th November Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. - 4th December On a selfish level I'm particularly pleased that Mario & Luigi is out this year in Europe - though I'll be dropping the random 'Bros.' from the name as I did with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - as it was high on my wishlist; it's now my 'Christmas game'. Just think about that line-up though - Europeans will have to wait for an already-crowded first half of 2016 for two major RPG franchises, while likewise North American gamers have to wait for two very different offerings. My suggestion isn't that all four should have come out in both territories this Holiday season - maybe three? - but greater cohesion would have been nice. The frustration is that, at times, Nintendo allows what I suspect are logistical and process issues to get in the way of common sense and a re-focusing of its efforts. Games like Animal Crossing: New Leaf spread like wildfire on social media when players across the West jumped into it in Summer 2013. Twitter and Facebook timelines were awash with talk of Bug Hunts, and online buddies could share that conversation. The power with word of mouth has never been greater, and many of us probably have many friends online that we've never met because they live thousands of miles away; yet we can still talk about great games we're playing. Even looking beyond Nintendo right now, look at the buzz generated by the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Fallout 4 online - players around the world are talking about them. For 3DS owners, though, this Holiday season is disjointed and those of us in Europe will likely be playing different games from buddies in North America, and vice-versa. This Holiday 'strategy' for 3DS isn't actually fit for the name, because each region is doing its own thing. Sometimes I roll my eyes at localisation differences - Fatal Frame vs. Project Zero and so on - but except it's a daft thing that happens. Yet I get frustrated by bizarre release timings such as those highlighted early on in this article and, particularly, the portable's festive line-up. When we see Xenoblade Chronicles X hitting both territories at once there's a glimpse of sanity, before it tumbles down elsewhere. Heck, I haven't even talked about the whole New Nintendo 3DS mess over the smaller models. Nintendo needs subsidiaries to manage their own areas, I'm not naïve enough to not know that's the case. There will always be differences in special editions and perhaps minor gaps between releases, and even the odd tweak to localisation texts. Yet there's no need for them to be so narrow in their focus that they can't keep their community close-knit through shared experiences. Yes, games will often hit Japan long before Europe and North America, but those Western territories need to do a better job of working together. Nintendo clearly knows that its gamers are no longer meeting down the schoolyard to talk about games, nor reading the latest magazine to look up cheat codes. Its gamers are global friends, meeting in Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and various others. Many love to share their gaming experiences, showing off the box arriving in the mail or talking about how awesome something is. The miles between territories and countries is less relevant than ever, and until Nintendo brings its teams - and schedules - closer together it'll continue to divide and frustrate some fans. I'd love to talk about Mario & Luigi this Christmas without feeling like I'm trolling my buddies Stateside. Here's hoping for a more unified 2016.
Dcubed Posted November 9, 2015 Posted November 9, 2015 Agreed so wholeheartedly. The disparity between regions in terms of releases is utter lunacy in this day and age! It lessens the impact that their games have on social media and causes endless amounts of confusion. Their insistence on noticeable differences between regional versions is also completely stupid. We don't need dialogue to be heavily reworked, especially when NOA's Treehouse division is generally considered to be the best of the best at what they do (NOE's UK translation work is generally lacking in comparison to NOA's - it tends to be dry and very literal in comparison to Treehouse's work; just look at Advance Wars Dark Conflict vs Days of Ruin or Splatoon US vs Splatoon EU - it's not even close!) They're not even consistent about the games they change! Splatoon has almost entirely different dialogue between versions, but the Zelda games are almost the same outside of some minor changes. Changing US spellings to UK ones? Sure, go ahead. Changing words that are offensive in some regions that are not in others? (like "spastic" here in the UK, or "hell" in America), absolutely fine and necessary. Changing names of characters!? HELL NO!!! Why the hell they insisted on changing Burne's name to Staven with Zelda Spirit Tracks I have no bloody idea! Or adding a pointless "Bros" onto the end of the names of the latest two Mario & Luigi games; why!? It doesn't even make sense from a FIGS localisation standpoint! Just use the US versions of names, scripts and dialogue and just make the bare minimum of changes! You'll save so much money, improve social media consistency ten-fold and overall be left with better product! Stop making unnecessary changes!
Hero-of-Time Posted November 9, 2015 Posted November 9, 2015 The switching of release dates is what annoys me the most. We live in an age where gamers are connected and know what each other are playing. Releasing a game in one region, then delaying in the next just doesn't make sense at all. The conversations about the games in question become disjointed and staggered, stopping any kind of meaningful impact. I can accept difference between the schedules of Japan and the rest of the world but the US and Europe should get games at the same time or at least a couple of days inbetween. I remember this annoying me back when Brawl and Mario Galaxy 2 came out. We had to wait months or weeks before getting our hands on the game, while US gamers were enjoying playing them before us. These are big titles and should be treat as such. You look at the likes of Halo, Uncharted, Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Fallout, Tomb Raider etc. All key titles and all releasing in the US and EU on either the same day or the same week as each other. Hell, in recent years, even games like Final Fantasy, a JRPG with massive amount of text and voice over work, got released near enough on the same day in the West. It's about getting people talking on a global scale and creating momentum.
Ike Posted November 9, 2015 Posted November 9, 2015 Their insistence on noticeable differences between regional versions is also completely stupid. We don't need dialogue to be heavily reworked, especially when NOA's Treehouse division is generally considered to be the best of the best at what they do (NOE's UK translation work is generally lacking in comparison to NOA's - it tends to be dry and very literal in comparison to Treehouse's work; just look at Advance Wars Dark Conflict vs Days of Ruin or Splatoon US vs Splatoon EU - it's not even close!) They're not even consistent about the games they change! Splatoon has almost entirely different dialogue between versions, but the Zelda games are almost the same outside of some minor changes. Just use the US versions of names, scripts and dialogue and just make the bare minimum of changes! You'll save so much money, improve social media consistency ten-fold and overall be left with better product! Stop making unnecessary changes! I disagree, I usually think the NoE translation is superior. NoA seem to like throwing memes in for no reason.
Dcubed Posted November 9, 2015 Posted November 9, 2015 I disagree, I usually think the NoE translation is superior. NoA seem to like throwing memes in for no reason. In recent times, yeah they have been really trigger happy with those memes (I'm looking at YOU Pokemon X&Y and Pokemon ORAS!), but honestly? I'd rather be subjected to them then a boring and dry translation like what you see in Hotel Dusk. That being said, NOE's UK English translations have generally gotten much better in recent years - especially when it comes to the games that they localise themselves (like Xenoblade, Project Zero 2 and 5 or Pandora's Tower), but whenever they're editing NOA's scripts, it's usually not for the better (really, Splatoon's changes are just terrible!)
Ike Posted November 9, 2015 Posted November 9, 2015 In recent times, yeah they have been really trigger happy with those memes (I'm looking at YOU Pokemon X&Y and Pokemon ORAS!), but honestly? I'd rather be subjected to them then a boring and dry translation like what you see in Hotel Dusk. That being said, NOE's UK English translations have generally gotten much better in recent years - especially when it comes to the games that they localise themselves (like Xenoblade, Project Zero 2 and 5 or Pandora's Tower), but whenever they're editing NOA's scripts, it's usually not for the better (really, Splatoon's changes are just terrible!) I don't mind the odd meme, but I don't need doge memes in Zelda. I know Triforce Heroes was a spin off and the game doesn't take itself seriously but I think it was a terrible inclusion. Seems like they are relying on that a bit too much these days. Not to mention some of the forced ones on the Twitter account. What was wrong with the Hotel Dusk localisation, boring and dry suits the game perfectly. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon had a better localisation, at least with the character names, I much prefer Shiida rather than Caeda, although I think I saw a FExSMT trailer use with Caeda, so...
Dcubed Posted November 9, 2015 Posted November 9, 2015 Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon had a better localisation, at least with the character names, I much prefer Shiida rather than Caeda, although I think I saw a FExSMT trailer use with Caeda, so... That wasn't done by NOA or NOE. It was done by 8-4 (who also did FE Awakening).
Ike Posted November 9, 2015 Posted November 9, 2015 Of course it was, dunno why I thought that. Must be it's too early in the morning for me.
Ike Posted November 23, 2015 Posted November 23, 2015 Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival came out 20th November didn't it? Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros needs adding for the 4th December. NoE's genius release schedule strikes again as it comes out the same day as Xenoblade. Although not sure which game will affect the other sales wise. :p
Pestneb Posted March 5, 2016 Posted March 5, 2016 Just thought I'd check the 2016 version of this thread and realised there isn't one...is that mainly because we don't have enough announced titles yet to warrant one?
RedShell Posted October 24, 2016 Author Posted October 24, 2016 (edited) So I finally decided to update the first post again (it has indeed been a while ) now that we have a bit more to look forward to, including the Nintendo Switch! Just ignore the 2015 in the thread title for now... :p As always there's probably mistakes or stuff missing, in which case please let me know, and I'll add it to the list. Happy waiting. : peace: Edited October 24, 2016 by RedShell
Ike Posted October 24, 2016 Posted October 24, 2016 Those 3DS games are being sent out to die if they do release in March, aren't they?
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