Crowbar Man

Exactly. I wouldn't care even if they WERE "bland and undetailed" as long as the gameplay is solid that is all I care about. But Nintendo generally makes really good looking games on TOP of solid gameplay. I can't really think of any Nintendo games created recently (or ever) that have just flat out "bad looking" graphics, and outside of the Mii/Wii series and to a far lesser degree NSMB series none that have "bland & undetailed graphics" (NSMB, especially NSMBU still looks good though) But even if they did make "bad looking games" wtih "bland and undetailed graphics" as long as it had that awesome gameplay magic who cares? Why focus only on one element? Brandon just seems really focused on flash and not substance.

I shouldn't really bother responding since its obvious you've reverted back to trolling, but I don't have to rationalize Nintendo's games "looking bad" because they do not. They look great? What is so terrible looking about SMG1 & 2, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, DKCR& TF, Skyward Sword, Mario Kart Wii & 8, Nintendo Land, Pikmin 3, Super Smash Bros (Melee, Brawl, 4), heck even though it isn't SMG level from an art direction standpoint, Super Mario 3D World looks really great. What "Bad Looking Games" that Nintendo has made that you are you referring to exactly? There aren't really any games Nintendo makes outside of the "Mii/Wii" series and maybe NSMB that have "bland and undetailed graphics" They are all either fairly detailed or stylized or both. They just aren't brown gritty realistic.

SSB: A crazy experiment by HAL/Sakurai, mostly created to be a fun party game, they didn't even expect it to be popular and at one point weren't even going to release it outside of Japan. The models have lower polygons because the game needed 4 players (including AI and "physics"), items, 2.5D interactive backgrounds, etc. It pushed the N64 pretty hard. Still looks good for an N64 game though. They don't look worse than the Mario Party games actualy, and a LOT more is going on in Smash than Party. SSBM: This game was created pretty much as a more "serious" fighter once the popularity of SSB soared. They improved every aspect of the game, and used it as a tech demo to show off how powerful the GCN was (which was a beast at the time). The GCN could handle a CRAZY amount of polys/textures/etc where these were all weak points of the N64 version. This game definitely showed a dramatic change between the two. This was the GCN's killer app. Very unfortunate that the GCN was released so late and the PS2 was far too ahead so the GCN didn't pick up too many sales by comparison, but MOST people who owned one owned this game or bought it for this game and still play it for this game. SSBB: Wii didn't exactly need more sales, but regardless for this one they pumped up the production values (graphics, music, and even added a lengthy story full of FMV) through the roof and tried to pull in a more casual audience by adding a lot of fluff, silly stuff, and making the controls a bit floater. They also got rid of things the Tourney folks clung onto for Melee to that gave them competitive edge over newer players. Unfortunately of course, Tourney folk usually do not like this game and have stuck with Melee. Game is still great though, and sold well thinks to Wii's massive installed base. It also introduced online play to the series... too bad it was kinda broken :/ SSB4: This is one of those games that need to push Wii U. They are pulling larger outside resources (Namco Bandai) to help create it and hopefully keep production values as high as the previous one. I beleive it has been said this game will somehow meet a happy medium between SSBM and SSBB. I'm sure if the controls are tighted up at all from SSBB and they put back some SSBM mechanics SSB4 will easily replace SSBB in Tourneys. Though I am sure SSBM will still remain lol. Since Namco Bandai is involved with this game, I'm hoping they use some of their netcode and the Online of SSB4 is more stable. The Wii U is certainly a more capable machine than the Wii for online play

Skyward Sword was a medium between those two styles and I thought it was pretty amazing on its own. Nothing wrong with WW style though, I wish they'd do something like that on Wii U (not just an HD update of the GCN game but a full new game using all the Wii U's horsepower) I could go either way. As long as a game is great, I don't care what style they use. Graphics don't really do anything for me anymore. People focus too much on looks and that is why games are generally becoming pretty things to look at rather than fun things to play. Stuff on Wii U looks pretty great though. Heck, I thought Wii despite being super weak compared to 360/PS3 managed push out some nice visuals (especially Galaxy), the thing that really hurt it was the 480p resolution making everything jaggy as possible. If you pop them in emulators and jack those native resolutions up those games look great. The 720p on the Wii U is slick and the GamePad with its great quality screen really makes things look nice too If i want to look at gritty realistic brown games, I can those in boatloads on other platforms anyways. I think this would destroy the entire concept of what made Punch-Out fun.. if it was "realistic" instead of stylistic/cartoon-like it would just be a boxing game. There are plenty of those

Add Dillon's Rolling Western to that new Puzzle list EDIT: oops, was added last month... well still a relatively new puzzle!

SSB looks incredibly dated graphically and even plays dated compared to SSBM. Its like night and day. There is very little reason to go back to SSB other than nostalgia. SSBM improved absolutely everything that SSB started and then some. People go back to SSBM instead of SSBB because A) Graphics aren't that much different (sure there is definitely a step up but SSBM still looks great) Controls are floatier in SSBB and not an improvement. In SSBM some things that might have been glitches (like Wavedashing) became serious game mechanics for high level tourney players, and these were removed/fixed in SSBB C) Lots of things/characters the Tourney playing "serious" folk don't like D) All of SSB's characters are in SSBM, but not all of SSBM's are in SSBB

Well thats why I said "Bad Demos" too. Generally I'd say Demo's traditionally have been custom tailored to show only the best parts of a game though (Kinda like how the first level is usually the most polished). Most of the time these days they are released past the release so it would be final code and not test/beta code like a lot of PS1 era demos I remember the demo to FFVII (Got mine from PlayStation Underground) still have it... had Tifa in your party and gave you some summons to show off the games graphics lol Anywho, Timed demos are definitely not something special/new, and masking them as a feature of "Family Sharing" is kinda dumb. I still say there is NO reason they could of done both. Have their stupid DRM crap to control how games work in the digital library (without a disc) but still keep the disc itself as a fail back option for when the internet is down (or their service, because crap happens). The digital library was a decent idea. The no offline option combined with the no used/trade/rent option by default was not.

Yeah I'd have to say bad demos, or demos for bad games, will lower sales. Hitting people with an unexpected bad game will sell more than warning them ahead of time. A good demo to a good game I would not think decrease its sales though

I mean Resident Evil: Directors Cut for PS1. It came with a demo for RE2. Guess maybe there was a different demo than the one that came with your magazine

I'd give up trying to figure out what Brandon wants at this point. I don't think even he knows. Good games are coming for the Wii U for those who want them. For those who just want to be extremely negative nothing would make them happy

sorry for the double post but this post would be way too big to fit both of these in. Just some notes on this one (this whole post can probably be ignored, or the one above.. or both. *shrug*): Rounding Back To Some Figures: Best Selling N64 Games: #2 Mario Kart 64 (9 Million) #5 Super Smash Bros (5 Million) Best Selling GCN Games: #1 Smash Bros Melee (7 Million) #2 Mario Kart DD (7 Million) #4 Zelda: Wind Waker (4.6 Million) #20 Pikmin (1.2 Million) Best Selling Wii Games: #2 Mario Kart Wii (34 Million) #6 Wii Fit (22 Million) #7 Wii Fit Plus (20 Million) #9 Super Smash Bros Brawl (12 Million) #17 Donkey Kong Country Returns (4.9 Million) Best Selling 3DS Game (Still selling): #1 Super Mario 3D Land (8.3 Million) #2 Mario Kart 7 (8 Million) So what games are we seeing on Wii U? System Sellers For Sure: Super Mario 3D World: Best Seller Follow Up, System Seller (Mario, and 3D Mario) Mario Kart 8: Best Seller Across ALL Nintendo consoles, system seller for sure Super Smash Bros: Always a best seller, definitely a system seller Wii Fit U: Okay, not really a game per se, but an extremely popular product on the Wii. If Nintendo can convince Wii Fit owners to update, this is a huge system seller. But that is a big IF. The console's price is a major obstacle Games that should at least peak someones interest in the system: Zelda WW HD: Everybody is a sucker for Zelda games (For good reason: They are good!). Whether nostalgic or people that weren't a part of the measly 22 Million GCN owners / 4 million purchasers, this should at the very least catch peoples eyes, if not be a system seller to a small degree. Pikmin 3: Miyamoto's pet project and a semi popular GCN game. Seems well suited for the Wii U either way. IMO a system seller of sorts, simply because fans have been waiting for another since GCN era and it is built to Wii U's strengths. I bought one for this game at least so you can count at least 1 system sold! DKCR:TF: Probably not really a system seller, but a popular game none the less, does not hurt to have in the list Wii Party U: Not exactly a system seller, but something that could attract a casual audience's attention more so than Nintendo Land. A simpler style that people are used to with Wii and simpler games while showcasing what all the Wii U can do. [Co-Published by Nintendo, exclusive] Sonic Lost World: Sonic is a pretty high seller on Nintendo consoles (apparently we live in Bizarro World), not sure if it can sell a Nintendo console, but it certainly doesn't hurt if this is the first "Great" Sonic game in a long time. Those terrible Mario & Sonic Olympic games sell well too and those are coming to Wii U. Sonic for better or worse has a following None of this matters if Nintendo doesn't do some aggressive advertising and probably a price drop. Nobody is going to buy a Wii U if they A) Don't know what it is Confused if its different than the Wii C) Costs as much as a PS4

Resi 2? Resident Evil 2? The one that came with RE:DC? Not a timed demo, it just ends at a certain point. If you have a GameShark (or probably just put codes in an Emu now) theres a lot of unfinished placeholder areas in that demo. Fun stuff.

Tokyo Jungle: Animals have taken over and destroyed the city, and now war against each other for dominance/survival Has 2 modes: Story: which is kinda goofy in a fun way Survival: The meat and potatoes (need to play this to unlock more Story actually). An arcadey beatem-up-ish platformish rpgish rogue like (permadeath, randomness to animal placement/missions) where you have to fight to survive, eat food (plants for veggies, other animals for carnivores) breed to continue (you can die of old age, breeding passes better stats to next generation) and sometimes survive the elements (radioactive smog/rain, irradiated areas, etc). Has RPG elements (stats, "equipment" (pet clothes)), you earn points/achieve goals to unlock more and different types of animals, and best of all its either single player or 2 player co-op! Sorry, I'm a fan of this game Its really quite simple but addictive

Grabbed this game too. Not disappointed so far! Playing it co-op is super fun. Love the art style, and the game play is pretty spiffy. Can't wait to see what all they add to it. Needs some music though. I just play Secret of Mana OST in the background and I'm good for now, but I'd really like some in game music (that sounds like SoM please!)

As far as the speed of the Wii U, it could definitely use improvements but its not unusable. The "Summer Update" (which was pushed back to Fall) is supposed to speed things up a bit. The 3.0 update in April sped things up a little bit too I don't know how anybody couldn't feel the magic from Galaxy... it was such a nice feeling to play that after playing the awful excuse for a Mario 64 follow up that Sunshine turned out to be IMO. To each their own I guess, but I was no fan of SMS. Galaxy was the game I was waiting for since 1996. I really liked the GCN, but I'd have to say the Wii has so many great games I couldn't rank it higher... but since the Wii is basically a GCN (and plays GCN games) anyway it doesn't really matter. Same difference really I wasn't talking up the GCN in any sort of manner though. I was simply trying to put things into perspective. I'm under no delusion that the GCN was a hot seller, but that was kinda my point of saying "on the GCN?" You can't go "well this didn't sell a 3 million copies so it was a niche/failure/not a system seller" if all the hottest games released in the same time era on the same console had similarly low numbers. Everything is relative. You can't pull figures from PS2 or Call of Duty and compare them to GCN numbers. As far as PS4 Vs Wii U... well, obviously PS4/XBO are going to completely outclass Wii U in sales. Wii U will more than likely rank 3rd (unless XBO tanks), I'm just hoping its still a decently sized number. Wii U is strictly a secondary console you play for whatever games it gets exclusive. PS4/XBO is pretty much for everything else, much like PS3/360 were "Everything else" compared to the Wii. Outside of casuals, younger generations, or diehard Nintendo fanboys, I don't know anybody who used a Wii as a primary console. Made a great 2nd console though. Thanks to some terrbile design decisions on Nintendo's part, you can't even use it as a replacement for 360/PS3 because 3rd parties have to put effort into getting games to run. Nintendo screwed up big time here. That would of helped sales and kept 3rd parties more interested. Not much that can be done there now In the end if you want to play a Wii U exclusive title, you can't pop it into a PS4/XBO/360/PS3. Simple as that :/ Conversely, XBO/PS4 make terrible "Second Consoles" if you have PS4/XBO. There is little difference between the two to justify buying the other one

Well, obviously Games are #1 on my list for a game console! Some Good Exclusives for PS3: MGS4 The Last of Us Heavy Rain Flow, Flower, Journey (Journey's Collectors Edition has all 3) Little Big Planet 1 & 2 Valkyria Chronicles God of War 3 Tokyo Jungle Uncharted series Ratchet & Clank Future series Infamous series PixelJunk series Coming Out Soon: Beyond: Two Souls If you didn't catch these on PS2 tons of HD collections: GOW HD Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection (MGS1 + MGS2/3/PW HD + MGS4) Ratchet & Clank HD Zak & Daxter HD Ico & Shadow of the Colossus HD Okami HD Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Final Fantasy X & X-2 HD

Ah, I guess because you designate it a flop it must be true. Also because it was a flop, there were no good games on it and nobody enjoyed any of the 22 million GCN units sold. No system sellers for those 22 million units either. It is impossible for anybody to enjoy a console or its games if it isn't on top. I guess Nintendo didn't make any money on it during that process either. (Hint they probably made the biggest profit out of the 4) Also it being a "flop" somehow COMPLETELY CHANGED ANY OF THE INFO I POSTED about Pikmin selling almost as well as any other GameCube hit It being a "flop" only proves that Pikmin was a pretty hot item to have sold as much on such a low installed base.

If we're judging only numbers higher than 3 million to be a "success" and not "niche"/"failure", than outside of SSBM, Mario Kart, Sunshine, and Wind Waker, the GCN didn't have any other games BUT "niche" and "failure". Everything else sold less than 3 million, (including Prime, Luigi's Mansion, REmake, RE4, FZero GX, Eternal Darkness, Animal Crossing, etc) so I guess they were all failures, niche games, and not system sellers :/ Don't use your modern day mega-publisher numbers to judge how successful a GameCube game was. Also just because other modern day studios are seriously over budgeting their games to the point where less than 3 million will cause the game to be a commercial failure doesn't mean the same for Nintendo. Well, if Disney didn't produce movies on any other type of DVD player, I guess? But what else are you supposed to do if you want to watch Disney's movies? ^ This. If you like Nintendo games, you have to get a Wii U. If you don't like Nintendo games... don't buy a Wii U? Kinda simple. Its no different than owning any other console though. I got a 360 because it had exclusives PS3 didn't (well, at first at least), I got a Wii because it had games 360/PS3 didn't, then I got a PS3 because it eventually got exclusives 360 didn't. Same for GCN/XB/PS2/DC... N64/SAT/PS1.. SNES/Gen, etc Buying a console because it has the games you want on it isn't really a new concept. I'll own a Wii U for Nintendo games and games that wont be on PS3/360/PS4/XBO. I'll own a PS4 for 3rd party console-only games and the one off Sony exclusive that might show up (not counting on it though) I'll own a Xbox One for uh...um.. hmm... well...probably not.

Brandon, it doesn't seem many (if any) Nintendo titles interest you so that isn't surprising. Pikmin is a wonderful series. Also, 1.6 million is considered bad numbers? On the GCN? Metroid Prime, arguably one of the best titles on the machine only sold around 2 million. RE4, the best entry into the series, sold 1.6 million on the GCN. By your same logic, these are also niche games. 1+ million is not only an excellent number in general, but an especially excellent number on the GCN.

"Niche series" or not, it is the first full length game that Nintendo has spent a large amount of time on and fully utilizes the Wii U's potential. It is also a follow up to a series many fans have been waiting for years and years to play. In fact, it was the only game announced at launch that made me want a Wii U Nintendoland while a blast is a party game/tech demo, and New Super Mario Bros U is their quick-buck NSMB series. Many may have bought it, but its because there was really nothing else, not that people WANTED a Wii U for it. Their only other title on Wii U so far is Game & Wario, another party game which is literally tech demos, and not even very high quality. So yeah, I'd consider Pikmin 3 their first high quality game that could actually move systems (at least to those like me that wanted it). More is on the way after that to boot

Well the biggest problem is there is no Nintendo to buy on Wii U. That is why the Wii U is having a hard time selling in the first place. That is changing, so once sales pick up, I'm sure 3rd parties will become interested again. But unless they were expecting every person who bought a Wii U to buy the game I don't know how it didn't churn out a profit. Another case of overspending and unreasonable sales forecast (and/or they were expecting insane numbers like the Wii had) Sad news though, unlike EA's garbage ports, Ubi brought some nice material to the table with ZombiU and Rayman Legends, and Wii U isn't getting a ZombiU 2 (at least not unless sales suddenly shoot sky high) and Rayman Legends got delayed AND moved multiplatform. But just like EA, it the market picks up, there is no reason they wouldn't visit it as an option. But thats a big IF. The problem here is Nintendo has to pull their weight and get people to buy the console in the first place, and they are the one to do it, not a 3rd party. Pikmin 3 is the first "system seller", and it was supposed to be a launch title, and is coming out next month :/

Not sure how this is specifically Wii U related, but from the description it doesn't mention where the hackers obtained the data TO log in. It doesn't sound like Club Nintendo itself was hacked, but rather they detected someone was using a hacked database (from someone else that got hacked)/brute force of emails/passwords to do a mass login of their site. If they were truly hacked why so many failed attempted and only 23,000 success? It doesn't sound like the site itself was hacked. Though either way, their website needs to have better threat detection to allow this to happen for 5 days The best news though is there isn't any financial risk, and hackers don't care about your personal info per se (except maybe to use to get into other accounts on other websites)

It would be a scene in a 3D modeling program (3DS Max, Maya, etc). Assuming they kept a backup of all the source material (this would be the biggest issue if they didn't. You'd be surprised how often this stuff gets tossed). It could technically be done, but they'd have to open up each and every scene and wait for it to render again. Computers have come along way since then so I dont think it would take the time it did before, but its still a large time investment. Also if switching to a widescreen angle, probably make sure the static camera sees everything correclty in widescreen, which could lead to them adusting every single scene. Its much more than just putting it in HD res (maybe doubling some texture sizes) and calling it a day like they do with "HD" versions of games.

I was just refering to hardware. 3DS: GC/Wii level graphics, single analog stick, single touch Vita: PS3 level graphics, twin analog stick, multi touch both priced at $250, and both at the time not having very many good games, the Vita looked like a better value (minus those crap expensive proprietary memory cards that spoiled everything on the Vita) 3DS: Price drop + lots of good games, the 3DS is awesome and Vita is struggling to stay relevant The situation is similar (but far worse for Nintendo, and far better for Sony) with the Wii U vs PS4 since they are sitting in the same price range. Nintendo needs every advantage they can get and I think the price is putting them at a big disadvantage when the odds are already stacked against them at this point Aren't all new consoles technically just a hardware "upgrade" for the previous console? I don't understand this statement. On top of that there is nothing similar to the 360 in the One. Xbox One is a completely different hardware architecture wise than Xbox 360. PS4 is completely different architecture than PS3. Wii U is marginally different than Wii (some shared architecture stuff, but not as bad as GC to Wii where it was literally the same thing)

Eh, 360 was $400 when it launched. $400 is an OK price really. It isn't like the ridiculous $600 PS3 launch price. I'd say this round of consoles is priced more fairly than last generation (minus Nintendo's Wii U). But $350 for what boils down to a last generation console is way too steep, especially stacked next to a relatively cheap $400 PS4, which is a generation ahead. Wii's massive success was due to a new popular idea (motion controls) combined with its low price point ($250). Wii U's new feature is NOT a runaway success (in fact it has confused the market more than anything), and its price point is not only above "impulse buy" ($300+ is an investment) but way too near another product which is superior. They didn't even have manufacturing problems, which funny enough probably increased the Wii's popularity because it was hard to get one for almost a year. It really does mirror the situation with the 3DS, where the 3D didn't take off, and it was priced too close to a powerful rival (Vita). Good games + Price drop saved it and now 3DS is doing great. Nintendo had to take a hit for a while and sell it at a loss, and I know Nintendo probably won't like selling the Wii U at a loss, but they have plenty in the bank from the GBA/Wii/DS surplus of money they could do it just fine. MS/Sony always sell at a loss at launch anyways