Is it weird that I want to listen to this episode backwards?

Don't ever change, James! I love your humor.... Though I am the same guy who loves Jim Sterling's humor on Podtoid. I believe good ol' Jim went on a 50 minute rant on rubber dildos on last week's episode. It was amazing. And yeah, the game talk was cool, too. Never change. One other thing: opinions!

I was happy with this post...then it went to a place I don't feel great about being compared to...

The Luigi's Mansion MP is weird... I was able to play it locally with friends (as a joiner) before I even touched the SP, but Ceric couldn't join an online MP game I opened up a few weeks later until he cleared the first mansion. And yeah, there's no voice chat - it's either scream at someone locally or use Skype/something similar.

There's a few different modes to try, including a find-the-exit one as well.

In my book, you should feel honored that I compared you with Jim Sterling. I'm being serious. Anyway, RFN is perfect the way it is

...it wasn't Jim Sterling part...more his topic of conversation

I'm still listening to the episode (very much enjoying it, as usual), but just thought I'd say that my experience with Nano Assault EX was very similar to Jon's. I had fun with it, but nothing about it really grabbed me and it speaks volumes that I forgot I had actually played it until I heard it being discussed on this week's episode.

On a related note, I've never thought that the games that Shin'en makes look appealing. I don't really understand why it's necessary to make a distinction between a game which looks 'technically good' and one which looks 'aesthetically good'. As far as I'm concerned, something either appeals to my eye or it doesnt, and in the case of Shin'en games they most certainly do not.

Having said that, I thought Art of Balance was a lot of fun.

Oh! Well, that's what happened with last week's episode... Couldn't think of anything else. Anyway, you don't go that far (no one does), but your humor is very much appreciated - you always manage to make me smile. <3

The guy who made the whiny comment about James is wrong. He is funny, most of the times his energy level brings the rest of the crew up, and he is the right amount of chaos. When the discussion is getting to blah blah he derails it into absurdity and helps end it. The whole crew has their quirks. Just because James is one that annoys you doesn't make you right. Guillaume is a lacking confidence, Metts has a habit of being a know it all  and Jon well lets be honest Jon is old. :D The whole crew helps to balance out the character quirks of the others. I was worried when Greg left but you guys struck a great new balance. there is slightly less push into the fine print style discussions but now we have a great person with different taste that is fun and doesn't let the conversations go into technical blah blah as much any more. For real guys you are awesome. I moved to Hawaii 2 and a half years ago and when i was feeling like a lonely fucking lump this podcast held me up. You're like old friends. And I don't fucking know you at all. James is awesome the end.


PS still don't let him host. Chaos in human form shouldn't wield such power. haha

Sure, as a huge Nintendo fan, I was really bummed that Nintendo decided not to go with the press conference at this years E3. Yes, I do really enjoy the Nintendo Directs, but I think Nintendo is wrong not having a press conference. People will perceive it as a weakness. I've never been one to think Nintendo is doomed & I don't think that now, BUT unless Nintendo does something soon, the Wii U might end up being Nintendo's worst selling console.

I think  people have got used to Nintendo's consoles always being around the $200 range. Sure, the Wii was $249 for a few years, but people perceived the price as fair, esp. w/ the new motion control tech plus the high prices of the hd twins helped make the Wii a huge success.

While I really enjoy the gamepad, at the same time I could have did without it. The money that went into the tech and production of the gamepad should have went into beefing the Wii U up even more & Nintendo should have just made the pro controller the standard controller w/ backwards compatibility of the Wii motes & nunchuck. Just like motion controls were limited to few games like Wii Sports/Resorts, Skyward Sword & a few other games...I see the same thing happening with the gamepad. Hell, Ubisoft's Zombi U is the  only game that take unique advantage of the 2nd screen. Nintendo hasn't even shown us why we really need a 2nd screen, other than using it as a handheld device.

Lastly, that damn U after Wii. No one, other than us Nintendo hardcore, understands what the U means. Shakes head slowly at Nintendo.

Keep being yourself James. Another great podcast guys!

I feel the need to point out that within one episode the guys proclaim that Nintendo will never release E3 demos to the public AND have their amazing prognostication powers (jokingly) referenced.  This, coupled with the Pandora's Tower AND Earthbound hilarity earlier this year, I've decided that you guys are wizards.  Whenever you make blanket statements about things Nintendo won't do that we wish they would, practically the next day it's announced.

LOL awesome.

Well I was going to offer an honest gentle poke at your lifestyle not being conducive to you finishing games and blah blah. In honor of James being verbally abused I decided to keep it crude. :D

You're the tops, Jim!

James Jones would not be James Jones without the sultry counterbalance of Jon Lindemann to keep him grounded.

Otherwise he would scream at every living point and Gui would have to edit his diva rages to an absolute minimum.

On 3DS revisions.

Can they really do a micro? It's probably possible physically, but will it be actually usable from ergonomic point of view? Original 3DS was already pretty bad about it with edges cutting into your palm.

On Nano Assault EX

Shin'en, god bless them, but they're always generic. Everything is done competently, production values and technical achievement are always very good. But everything else is very meh.

I was kinda hyped for 3ds game after PAL snub i lost interest and then tried Wii U game and it was supposed to be a superior version of that and it was kinda meh already and yeah...

Unfortunately Jet Rocket 2 is not looking much better. If first Jet Rocket went after (or you can say "ripped off") Mario 64, second one removes free 3d movement in favour of Super Mario Land 3D-style diorama and again it looks kinda "eh". Unoriginality of the first JR was more tolerable considering we don't really have anything made nowadays in the style of SM64 with flat surfaces and huge vertical levels, but JR2 became 2d platformer and there are lots of similar stuff being released.

From gameplay perspective one of the best Shin'en games is Art of Balance, which can be interpreted either as compliment to them managing to pull it off with such a stupidly simple idea of stacking shapes or insult to their every other game.

Are we going to regurgitate the same complaints about the Wii U launch until the games come out? Because if that's the case, then this podcast is going to become very repetitive until August.


Making the same complaints over and over and over again is not going to make these games come out any sooner. "Give us these games. Give us these games." Give you what games? Games that aren't finished? Look, it's a sucky situation, it has been for a while. But you guys act like Nintendo is sitting around doing nothing, rather than what they are actually doing. They're busy making these games that you all want to play.


As much as it sucks, the time for complaining about this issue has passed. They know the complaints. They've heard the complaints. They've blatantly told us that they're working to fix things (whether via Directs or other means). The time for waiting has arrived. I don't like it any more than you do, but your complaints are falling on deaf ears, because they're not listening to you, because they're already working hard to fix the things you're complaining about.


It's getting kind of annoying listening to the same complaints over and over, so find something new to complain about please.

Well, it is the reason why I don''t own a Wii U yet. And to be honest, I don't see much on the horizon. Call it a hunch. I really am starting to believe Nintendo should just leave the console market. I waited for Skyward Sword and look how that turned out: one big disappointment.

We all strive to avoid repeating ourselves. Themes will recur, but it's our job to bring fresh angles to them and incorporate the newest information. In this case, there hasn't been new info for months, and we've probably started to run out of fresh angles, as you say. But we don't need to wait for months to get a refresh -- just until E3, when Nintendo will present a lineup that either revitalizes this system or dooms it to another disappointing year. Either way, it will give us more to talk about!

James Jones is a pretty great wide receiver on the Green Bay Packers. He's seemingly cured his issue with dropping balls that he had during the Super Bowl run, and with Jennings and Driver gone, he could totally step up and be the number one.

Keep up the good work, James!

This episode illustrates another reason why I love RFN so much.  Besides great dialog and discussion about Nintendo from both positive and negative views, you get things like James reading a super critical email about his persona on the podcast with no bombast.  With no discussion or reply following, James' reading of that letter seemed like an answer in and of itself to that listener' complaints.  I don't know if that was done purposely or if I'm seeing way too much into it, but I thought the subtlety of it was brilliant. I like that you guys read both positive and negative feedback on the show and address it humbly yet never shirking from what you're all about.


Keep up the great work!

I don't get why there's any question whether the Wii U is a hardcore system. What else should it be? Look at the games, Nintendo Land is the only thing that could arguably be aimed at casuals and even that is decidedly less aimed at those than Wii Sports.

As for the guy who got the Wii U as his first system in years and is happy with it, don't forget that the Wii U has all those late ports. They're of some truly great games, we're just ignoring them because the rest of us already played them much earlier and/or cheaper. For someone who's been out of the market for a long time they're all new games.

While at first I thought James reading his own hate mail with no comment afterwards sounded a bit sad, I realized that it was the best way for the sender to not only NOT get a satisfying response from their bitching, but also making them look most like a complete ass for the level of complaining about one person, and requesting a resignation from someone who donates a considerable amount of time to take part in such a good podcast.

I'm not sure if it was done specifically to make the email sender fall on their own sword, but if so, we'll done!

This is by far my favorite post I've ever seen since being a forum member ;D.

I lurk these forums and rarely post, but I listen to all the podcasts religiously. James Jones is an absolute necessity and balance for the rest of the crew. I get the jokes, I laugh out loud at times to them. I respect his opinion on all things jrpg and enjoy his cynicism.


Frankly, I think Franky is a jerk.


Keep up the good work James.

James Jones is terrible in all ways!


(I haven't listened to the episode yet)
(also, just in case it isn't obvious, j/k)