The Nintendo news and discussion thread

[PressEscToExit]

Thanks for the recap, I missed the first 15-20 minutes. I think Shibata said Liberation Maiden is going up on the eShop tonight? edit: confirmed. It's up now.

Also, kinda relieved Luigi's Mansion isn't coming out this year. Don't think my wallet could handle any more Nintendo games in 2012 with the WiiU coming out and all.

[PlexShaw]

The Layton release date has been known for a while but Fallblox? Sign me up!

Also, I hope Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is released sooner rather than later in Q1 2013 as what I played at Eurogamer was fabulous.

[Roy42]

The timing of this is incredibly hilarious to me, since a couple of hours ago I just had $600 go towards a Kickstarter, which kinda shuts me down on spare funds until the new year or so. Still, bunch of stuff I'm interested in, Fallblox especially.

[PlexShaw]

Watched it this morning. Delighted to see Hydroventure: Spin Cycle will be out on the EU 3DS eShop before the end of the year.

[Xantiriad]

I really enjoyed Hydroventure on Wii

[dezm0nd]

Despite an impressive showing at Eurogamer, Rayman Lemons is not a day one title and has been pushed into a vague window of "Q1 2013". I kind of expected this when Nintendo released a list of US games for launch day and saw that it wasn't on there but to have it confirmed is a kick in the nuts. It was genuinely a more exciting game to play than Mario U but to go head to head with Mario is somewhat of a silly move.

It must be ready, everyone including the Nintendo Reps were saying launch day.

[AndyKurosaki]

Yeah, I dare say Rayman will be the more innovative title, as while Mario Bros U will be a fun game, it doesn't look that different from the DS/Wii version.

[PressEscToExit]

Real shame, that.

Raymond Lemons was very much in pole position to be my WiiU launch title to go along with the Nintendoland bundle. I guess it does make sense from a marketing point of view, they can make its release more of an event now and avoid it getting trampled by Mario on 30/10. Still balls though.

[JaySevenZero]

Polygon's video review of Nintendo's latest.

[DomsBeard]

Hmmm nothing there screams out BUY ME NOW!!!. It's going to be weird as this is the first home Nintendo console I've not bought around launch. I'll see how it's doing in 12 months.

[JaySevenZero]

I'm a little dismayed to how unresponsive the touch screen was in that video. Time will tell but I guess they have 12 months or so to get a foothold before the others next gen consoles will be hitting.

[DomsBeard]

I want Nintendo to blow me away with a first party game, it tends to be sequels of previous games now. Imagine Super Mario Wii U where on screen it's a 3D platformer where as on the pad you see it in first person?. That would be amazing.

[Toffer]

I do want to get one of these, if I don't it will be the first ever Nintendo Console I've failed to own. Money is certainly an issue, as is the worth of buying it. I'm a huge Nintendo fan, and have stuck with them right from the NES through to the Wii. I'm genuinely interested in what they could do with this. But the only series, for me, that's a console seller is Zelda. Mario hasn't appealed to me since the first Galaxy.

So I'll probably end up getting one, but can't justify it now.

[magicjoef]

Obviously I haven't tried one of these out, so I'm just speculating, but I agree that part about the unresponsive touch screen in that video is quite alarming. It also can't do multi-touch, so it is going to feel like very old tablet technology. I guess it depends how the games use it.

Also, I wouldn't like the idea of having to play with a cable connected past a couple of hours, that seems like a bonkers decision.

[Xantiriad]

It has been pretty typical of a major console release. Lets not forget the PS3 & Xbox 360 launches were beset with supply issues (my 360pre-order came 6 weeks late) and technical problems. Not to mention a weak launch line-up of largely ports & weak first party titles (PDZ, Kameo, etc).

As always the sensible gamer waits 6-12 months for the first wave of games to come through. Mugs like me pre-order them just because, as an enthusiast, I'm keen to sample the new technology.

I'm disappointed that Increasingly new consoles are being written off before they've had a chance to get going: for example, the press coverage of the 3DS and the troubled Vita.

From what I have seen, the Wii-U is a bit of a mixed bag at moment. I watched 4 hours of the GiantBomb launch, and it is fair to say there were technical issues and weak games. But these were counterpointed with moments of joy and interesting new gameplay mechanics.

[PressEscToExit]

Edit: haha, didn't see Xantiriad's post above me. Snap!

Watched about 4 hours of Giant Bomb's WiiU live stream last night, much of which was spent trying (and often failing) to get various updates and features to work properly. They did have a lot of issues with their own network, which didn't really help.

My overall impression was that it's exactly what we've come to expect from modern Nintendo - some fantastic and well-implemented ideas, lots of surprising, charming little touches and some utterly fucking bewildering design choices. The interface seemed painfully slow at times (which wasn't improved by the day 1 patch) and there were some concerns about hand cramp due to the flat shape of the gamepad.

Ryan Davis also tweeted this morning that Wii mode limits your storage options to those of the original Wii console, meaning that you still end up having to store stuff on SD cards due to the limited storage space for Wii data.

That said, the exclusive games got a largely positive response, which I guess is what matters most at this point. Most of the problems so far seem to be soft/firmware related rather than limitations of the hardware itself, which hopefully means the creases can eventually be ironed out via patches.

I'm still looking forward to next Friday immensely.

[magicjoef]

I'm disappointed that Increasingly new consoles are being written off before they've had a chance to get going: for example, the press coverage of the 3DS and the troubled Vita.

Wasn't quite a lot of that to do with where handheld consoles fit into people's lives now that so many have a smartphone with lots of gaming power? I think it was a fair question.

I've only read a few bits and pieces, but seems like there is some cautious optimism for the Wii U.

[Roy42]

I've watched the quick looks of ZombiU and Mario U, solely because I'm not getting the former right away and the latter because I remember what the quick look of Mario Bros. Wii was like. Beyond that, I haven't looked at anything on GB for the system, including the stream. I'll watch it after I've gotten it for myself.

In any case, I'm looking forward to next Friday as well. Assuming I'll have the money for it by then. Might be short ten or twenty.

[ratsoalbion]

I would buy a Wii U solely to perform this data transfer process:

[Xantiriad]

@Ratso you'll get plenty of time to enjoy it. I've read it can take a loooong time. I think the 3DS one was about 40 minutes for me.