@mr_dimsum: How long have you played this game for in order to determine that it's 'horrid'? An hour? Half an hour? Not at all?

@Spartan1308™: I live in Europe. Like many people here, because I don't use my phone much, I have a pay-as-you-go model. You pay the full cost for the phone, then you only pay for calls you make, texts you send, and data you download. For me this probably works out at around $20 per year... Even people who use their phone more often or have a contract may likely ay more like $40/month than $70/month.

I could get an iphone if I wanted but er, no: it's unnecessary and also way too big.

Has anyone played the Nancy Drew DS game that just came out? I couldn't find a review of it...

That's why Sony is being named as a target here. There's not much point doing a news story or consumer-focused campaign against Yang Zhenjou Xi Electronics Ltd* - or whatever even lower-down trading company actually originally bought the raw material that the electronics company uses to make capacitors - because consumers don't know who the f*** they are and can't possibly put any pressure on them.

* I made up that name, it's not a real company. with any luck I happened on the chinese words for 'horse with small penis' or something

I agree with the original post though that it may well be questionable to blame Sony alone for this (also is this a continuing problem? if not what's the point). It seems what Sony did was order a very large quantity of components in a very short timeframe which contributed to a spike in the world price. But there's clearly nothing morally wrong with doing that. What IS (or was) wrong with Sony's practices is that they didn't make an effort to check their supply chain was free of 'blood coltan' or whatever... something which would also be true of every other electronics company, the Samsungs and Nokias and suchlike.

@Archaotic: Probably. DQ5 in first week sold about the same as MGS4 lifetime (Japan) sales though...

Anyway - unless I'm confused, the article didn't mention that Girls Bravo (picture is a DVD not manga...) would be one of the featured manga - so the actual series available may be tamer; perhaps kids' manga from Shonen Jump, Nakayoshi etc. I imagine that like the games, Nintendo wouldn't restrict anything except actual porn, though...

You might be right, maybe it can work. But they also seem to be pretty big on emulation right now.

@phatnacky: Ahhhhhhh, fanboys. Aren't they sweet!

Nintendo are absolutely rolling in cash and if they haven't stopped selling Wii yet - they haven't - I don't see why they should in future. They haven't even needed to cut the price from where they were profiting on day one! It's pretty much unprecedented and I'm willing to bet Nintendo were absolutely expecting to make a price cut well before this time.

As a Nintendo fan I hope the next Nintendo console will be more powerful (it would've been nice if this one was! except that then it would probably have bombed). But as long as it's a significant improvement on Wii, that'll be good enough.

And I think you're way off with the comparisons. Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) has so far sold fractionally more than Devil May Cry 4 (PS3 version) and significantly more than the 360 version, for instance - both are established series and though RE is a bigger series, UC is very obviously not a 'main series' game, so they're somewhat comparable.

The reason why hardcore games may sell better on PS3/60 is only partly because those consoles have more hardcore users, but significantly because they're released for both. When you consider PS3/60 as a single platform - and for most publishers it is - the user base is a lot bigger than Wii. You'll notice this from the way I quoted the numbers above: when you add up PS3 and 360, DMC4 sold nearly twice as much as RE:UC, despite selling less on both individual platforms.

As for why FF4 is on Wii, two words: Money. Hat. Nintendo bought the franchise, or at least this game.

@original post

I have a horrible feeling the explanation is simple: it's not, as most of us had hoped, going to be released for Hallowe'en in the US. Instead it won't be out until next year. Hence no US publicity as it's beyond the time frame for stuff they're showing. :( Really hope this is wrong, but...

Don't get me wrong I'm not planning to buy it, I just think it would be a good idea not to jump to conclusions before the final version is done and there's reviews out.

+1 for short topic-based video clips, btw.

Not the situation Sega were noted for in the Dreamcast days - and not a situation that would prompt most companies to throw in the towel or drop some of their profitable operations.

@smuckers is good: IMO they won't use that camera, it's a crap concept and won't work.

@phloog: Yes but you can still make some predictions. Nintendo's next console has to have HD, for instance, because by that time it will be absolutely expected in consumer devices (not just by geeks and early adopters). That means they need to go for something several times more powerful than Wii. Like others, I figure they are planning to stay one generation behind the ~$1k range launch cost that the other two have been following, making their next system similar to 360 in power.

My other guess is that they'll want to keep backward compatibility (with Wii not necessarily GC). Question is whether they will do this in hardware or software. For something similar to PS3/60 I would think they can do the CPU emulation in software, though I don't know about GPU emulation, anyone have an opinion on that?

Anyway these are just guesses. I agree Nintendo probably doesn't care too much about power of the new system but there are certain limitations that would suggest it does need to be similar to PS3/60.

Sometimes this can be a bit unfair in his terms - e.g. maybe the choice wasn't between this fighting game and a 'proper' console game, maybe the choice was between this fighting game and no console game - but from fan perspective it's entirely logical.

It's the same situation as Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (except that we've played: it is a good game, in my opinion, and deserves somewhat higher than its already-OK - 75 - metacritic score). Nobody was really mad about getting a Resident Evil rail shooter. They were mad about not getting a proper Resident Evil game for the system.

I don't know whether fans are right that getting the one game really does contribute to not (or not for ages) getting the other, better one they really want, but it does at least seem likely in both cases. I'm glad I played RE:UC, I had a lot of fun with it, it's a good game that I would recommend to every RE fan and also anyone new to the series who just wants a horror-styled game for Wii. But if you ask whether I'd rather the team had spent that time developing (or even just beginning work on) a 'real' new RE story or sidestory for Wii, then hell yes I would. Same is true of the Castlevania fighter...

Which major games did or will Nintendo release for casual gamers this year? Wii Fit, Wii Music. (Wii Sports Resort is early 2009 according to Nintendo's release list.)

Which major games did or will they release for 'core' gamers in the same time period? Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart.

Since you think Animal Crossing is a 'casual game' but it's also a traditional Nintendo 'core' game, I'm leaving it out of both lists.

It's a two-all draw. In other words, Nintendo's attention to the casual vs. core market (and yes I mean the Nintendo core market not the online-FPS raging-testosterone 'hardcore' market), in 2008, is exactly equal.

Do you get that impression from the comments here? No. Is it still true? Yes.
I think if you actually look at minor games as well

As for this year, Fatal Frame 4 (right?!) from Nintendo and Dead Rising from Capcom are the ones I'm interested in... definitely not a very long list for the remaining five months of the year, but eh, I can do other things than play games. Also, I'm probably forgetting a bunch of games from other companies that are due. (Oh... and I might get the last Lego game I suppose...)

...

...How is that supposed to be a half elf! Look at those ears! Clearly full elf!!!!

(And because I had to look up the word, she appears to be screaming 'no!!' - fair enough - 'don't get me pregnant!!!' - wtf. I suspect dictionary fail, i.e. can that last word be used a bit more directly.)

I don't like tentacle porn though :( Why oh why can we not have some consensual elf sex on our DS? Does Nintendo not care? :(

(a) who would buy this? really? to be a success it needs to sell to casual gamers who've never even heard of dreamcast. why would that happen?

(b) Sega are already rereleasing half their Dreamcast games on Wii... and the other half are probably being saved for the Virtual Console on Wii 2...

@Mokona: Don't you think Apple fans are more closely akin to/overlap with Nintendo fans? It's not just that their product design is similar; there's a similar focus on interface/polish/quality. (Even if some of the Nintendo UI could use a little work - please, Nintendo, DECIDE WHICH SIDE OF THE SCREEN IS THE OK BUTTON AND STICK TO IT DAMNIT.)

I also can't see Apple releasing an actual game console; and like the guy says, Sega makes plenty of money selling games on Wii, PS3 and 360... it would be a big risk to partner exclusively with an individual company. Does Apple have a history of buying large companies? I'm not aware of it...

@Risky+Safety: Hey, two of your Nintendo requests were pretty much handled already... there was Fatal Frame 4 gameplay (about ten seconds of it in among that trailer) and they did announce a 1:1 duelling game - okay it's not lightsabers but it's clearly a big chunk of the way there (which wouldn't have been possible w/o that hardware announcement). Plus, there's a Wii lightsaber duelling game coming out anyway (but Nintendo's fencing game will probably be better due to the hardware).

@CptCarnage: Um, Wii is the console Okami lives on - I'm sorry but you have a paintbrush? To paint with? Wii. Case closed.

If they ever do an Okami sequel it needs to be Wii exclusive, for sure. No question. There are other Wii games that could be better suited to the PS3/60 (arguably Fatal Frame 4, just for one instance), and even more games that do come out on PS3/60 not Wii, but Okami is definitely not appropriate for that treatment.

That said, part of the improvements in Okami 2 would definitely have to include proper detection for those symbols that works all the time (which is absolutely definitely no-question completely feasible and possible, you can do it on a DS ffs). It's a shame that the 'yes obviously this belongs on Wii' feature is the one thing that was kind of botched in the Wii port...

And that also said, I don't think there should be a sequel to Okami. Make a new game instead (no I don't mean a new game in the same world... I don't think it needs another one. That one's finished, it's done, it was good, make a new game). A new game with similar themes would be good though (rather than say a new game in which you put roadsigns through people's heads). What's more, depending on the mechanics of this game, maybe it would be more suitable to PS3/60, which would no doubt make you happy...

...oh, wait.

seriously my guess is the game will sell a lot the first couple of weeks (especially when half the people getting it buy three copies) and make only a small difference to hardware sales (this only sells to male geeks, male geeks already have PSPs)... then nothing.

@Geminosity: @Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic: According to Wikipedia, most PSP games aren't region-locked, so you can just buy it anyway (Japanese proficiency permitting).

Seriously, it's obviously a matter of opinion and those who are very used to thumbsticks, maybe they can aim as quickly and precisely (without undue auto-aim assistance) as using the pointer. Also I know 'hardcore' FPS players may also be annoyed by the way turning works, especially in games which don't let you control the bounding box or not adequately. But personally, sure it's better in every way: I can control it more accurately and, just as importantly, it also feels better.

Regardless, the exec clearly missed the point; as far as I'm aware, MotionPlus won't materially improve the pointer feature because - love it or hate it - the pointer is perfectly accurate already. There might be slight improvements possible to the gesture-detection for offscreen movement, but other than that? I can't see a difference.

It's with gestures (eg because supposedly there isn't the same limit on how fast you can move it before the detector maxes out) and anything using 1:1 movement that MotionPlus might improve things. So Tiger Woods - a really accurate golf swing - or Skate It would probably be the best EA examples...

It's not just Mario or Zelda - any of those 'epic' games, new IP or old IP, take a very long time to develop, even a new one. And they've released a huge number of 'core' games over the last year or so, which means a bit of a dry patch seems almost unavoidable.

For example (2nd party but) what if the Metroid developers started work on a new IP, or at least a less-recently-used IP, after Metroid Prime - would it be ready to show yet? No. The Mario developers working on something after Mario Galaxy? No. The Zelda developers after Twilight Princess? I think we can assume they're working on another Zelda, and, er... No. The team that made Mario Kart? No. Smash Bros folks (again 2nd party)? No.

What are they supposed to do, magic up a top-quality programming team with the experience to work on those 'epic' games out of nowhere?

Sure they could outsource or buy exclusives or whatever - sounds like that worked real good with 'Disaster'... (hopefully it will work better for Fatal Frame).

Nintendo cannot and should not be expected to release every single game that 'core gamers' want on their platform. Third-parties have to release some games too. Some of them are (hello Capcom).

@Torgen got his apology faceplate but not his fixed GH3 disc: Damn, you mean they didn't announce a US date (month/range at least) for Fatal Frame yet? I thought they already had. :(

@rcgaryk: I want to disagree about RE:UC being a 'shitty rail shooter'. I finished it recently. Definitely not as good as a real RE game but I thought it was still very good - and there's an awful lot of content in there. I think it deserved to sell a million, in other words...

Note this does not mean I think RE5 is really coming to Wii... although I didn't expect Dead Rising so who knows. Maybe DR is kind of a test case?

RE5 is the main driver for me to buy a PS3, and I'd kind of like to wait until there is a smaller PS3 revision (ie I may not get a PS3 immediately that RE5 comes out) - so if a Wii RE5 is announced that will certainly delay my PS3 purchase.

However I think the real potential value of the addon is if it's feasible to make games which use it, but don't require it. (Like all the games coming out now which support the Balance Board.) In that case you'd have a nice encouragement that might get extra users to buy your game - you can certainly bet that the people who write reviews will have 'em, for instance.

By the way I'd be surprised if LucasArts (the bosses at least) would be even remotely disappointed that they haven't been able to get MotionPlus into their new lightsaber game... because that means they have to release another version, at full price, a year later... and we all know Lucas love to do that.

Real question: will this be used in Zelda?

The draw distance also looked poor in some other cases when still (eg you would have a blank area of sky, then you walk a few paces and suddenly it's occupied by a huge distant building) but I think this may be due to dumb technology, i.e. there ought to be some way to fix that with a single polygon or whatever. Anyway that wasn't a real problem, driving fast was. (Clear road ahead... OH F*** THAT'S A T JUNCTION!)

So anyway it was absolutely playable for sure and obviously it would be equally possible to make a decent GTA game for Wii. Just saying that the limited graphical power does come with some issues. (Mind you, if they had more graphical power... would they use it to improve draw distance, or to make the close-up graphics prettier?)

Unless you have epilepsy - and plenty of people who have epilepsy don't know they have epilepsy. That's why it can be dangerous.

Anyway, it doesn't seem like this is likely the problem.

@Channing: Well, they definitely don't tone down the voice-acting while singing... that's something I guess...? ;) leaving aside the quality of singing, song was a bit blah; boring production, imo...

Wonder if they will release this service in other countries - I guess they will need to find partner companies in each one...

Anyway, there are other PS3/60 games you didn't list as well, so I'm not remotely suggesting that the lineups are even comparable. They're not. But Wii doesn't quite have nothing of interest for the rest of the year.

@excel_excel: OK but Starfox wasn't really expected particularly was it? Like those other games? I mean are they even making a new Starfox?

btw, where do they dig these people up? :) Damn.

@Dalren: dunno about Nintendo but you can be sure that most parents haven't heard of parental controls...

Why? Because it saves you the trouble of making up a username (then finding out it's taken, trying another 17 variants, etc etc). You get a name as well, and it doesn't have to be unique - which means in multiplayer gamnes I can be called what I want. And I know exchanging what are, basically, phone numbers is a bit old-fashioned but then again it is actually a quite nice standardised way to do it. If you're exchanging the code in text it doesn't matter either way; if you're doing it in voice, friend codes are slow but reliable, whereas with names you have to be like 'stup1d_sh1t_69, that's with a 1 instead of the i in both stupid and shit, and an underline between each word, and the 69 is in digits not spelled out'. When you go through all that you've practically already read out a 16-digit code, only it starts sounding like a logic puzzle. (Yes, some people manage to come up with friend codes that are easier to say.)

In addition I'm fine with Nintendo's policy about not being able to meaningfully communicate with people who are not on your friendlist. Yes, the downside is that if I enjoy playing with somebody I can't get in touch with them afterward. The upside is that I don't have to ever hear or read from internet arseholes - and not just any internet arseholes, but gamers

What I really don't like is having different friend codes for each game. I'm simply not going to bother setting up different friendlists for every game, which means I generally miss the opportunity to play with friends at all. And no, ways to 'make it easier' to exchange those codes based on your system code, or whatever, are no good at all. It has to be one code, that's it. If they want to give you (in the system menu) some way to configure a friend code so that it only gives access to certain games, that's fine, but the default should be everything.

The other thing I don't like is that they don't let you meaningfully communicate with people even if they are on your list. The new microphone might make a difference with that but I'm a little concerned about the implementation - I can see they might want this to be a 'standard' way of doing it or the one they recommend to parents, but I'd prefer if they also allowed people to choose to buy a standard Bluetooth headset.

Everything else yes. Story no.

Because it's so easy to forget that over the past year or so, they've released new entries in everyone of their major 'hardcore' (as hardcore as Nintendo gets) series, pretty much all of which - while not perfect - were up to their usual standards?

I agree there appears to be an upcoming gap in these 'core' games (although on the other hand Animal Crossing probably counts as one, so maybe not). That's a bit disappointing for sure. It's also disappointing that they haven't announced anything for MotionPlus beyond the hardware and Wii Sports Resort. (Think the next Zelda might support it? I'd be guessing yes.)

Hopefully third parties (oh and Nintendo-published Fatal Frame) can work to fill that gap...

I mean don't get me wrong I play games in 'normal' mode (not easy, and not hard; except very very occasionally if I've already completed it in normal). But I'm really pleased that the 'normal' mode in most games is now easy enough that you can generally, with some effort, make progress and only rarely get stuck on trying something dozens of times.

I downloaded the Contra demo for DS yesterday (it's on DS download service now, if anyone hasn't noticed) and wow that is a reminder of how games used to suck. Don't get me wrong I'm sure it is great example of that type of game but I played it about 10 times and still didn't get to the end of the demo... The first few times, it was fun. After the tenth time I'd had enough of replaying the same two minutes of game.

Why do you think that? I mean, it may be possible by reducing detail or whatever - but the 360 is at least ten times more powerful, and HD graphics only eats up a portion of that. I don't see that it's a 'should' situation.

@PapaBear: seriously you're still doing this? It's a Wii game, you hate Wii, we know. So you join the rest of the thread (and the Kotaku editor - though it's their job to stir up trouble; being a Kotaku editor is basically same job as a forum troll, except you get paid) in jumping to conclusions about zombie counts in a few screenshots for an unfinished games.

Capcom's Wii track record has been excellent (yes, I know some people didn't like Umbrella Chronicles; I finished it the other week, I think it's extremely good, even though it's obviously not as good as RE4) - which means assuming that the game will suck, or not be a similar experience, simply because the system can render fewer zombies, seems an even worse conclusion-jump.

If it's worse than the 360 version (the graphics definitely will be, and unless they are miracle-workers it will show fewer zombies at once, though who knows whether that will be a factor of four or ten or what; the controls should be hugely better if RE4:Wii is anything to go by, but that alone is not going to be enough to encourage most 360 owners to buy it again) then most of those complaining here have nothing to worry about. You played the 360 version, this is a port, you don't have to buy it (and some of you don't even own Wiis). And if the Wii version does well maybe they'll come with a PS3 port too.

But for those of us who haven't played the 360 version the only question is 'is it a good game' and even if those screenshots let us accurately estimate the precise zombie ratio relative to 360, which they don't, we still wouldn't know. It may be a shitty port. It may be great. Let's wait and see.

@humongous_mouse: So every Nintendo game is easy now? That explains why I took about 100 attempts to beat Luigi's Purple Coins... no wait, it doesn't. (Seriously, I agree obviously games are easier these days, but I think that's a good thing, and it's not just Nintendo doing it. Which is also a good thing, since this thread is about a Capcom game, which Capcom have said they're going to make easier, and nothing to do with any Nintendo decisions.)

@Jerkfish: Or they could figure out a way to render less detailed characters in the distance. I mean I haven't played DR so I dunno what it should be like but to me these screens look fine in terms of showing you zombies close-up, but there's nothing in the background...

How close to finished is this game anyway? Is there a release date? I.e. are these early shots or final...