To be fair, it'd be reasonable to expect a joint wallet for 3DS/WiiU since Sony does a PSP/Vita/PS3 wallet. But I doubt they'd do the DDP under those circumstances.


I'm surprised Jonny's so gung-ho on downloading since the whole police report incident.


Also, I do get 10% off on the download because of tax issues. I'm still leaning retail though, simply because of the system loss paranoia and lack of an (easy) DRM tool.

You can *BACK UP* all of the content on your SD card to your PC.  As far as  I know, if you lose your 3DS, get a new one, and have nintendo recover your purchases, you can put your old SD card in and have everything come up.  I'm not 100% positive about this, because I dont know if the saves are locked to your hardware ID, or your soft-ID that nintendo uses to transfer the purchase history.  There is a chance it'll work.  You can definitely keep all of your pictures though :) 

Shaymin, you seem to have missed the true lesson of my experience last summer. My digital games cannot be lost or stolen, because the receipts, licenses, and files themselves are all on Nintendo's servers and verified by two semi-independent databases (eShop and Club Nintendo). Their recovery process may be clumsy, but this feature still makes digital content much more secure than physical. If my system had been in a carrying case full of game cards (as my DS Lite used to be), I wouldn't have gotten anything back. Instead, I ended up with >$150 credit in my account to replace my games on a brand new system. I was absolutely thrilled with the resolution, if not the process.

The only problem I have with digital is that unless I plan on buying a game at launch, which I rarely do, it's just not financially worth it. Prices don't seem to go down. It's not a nintendo problem, I know on the Xbox games you can get for $10 to $20 are still $40+ on their games on demand service. If I could get Wii/3DS games digitally for the same price I can get boxed copies six months or so after release I'd go full digital.


I think Nintendo is just kinda hosed on this third party thing, and there's nothing they can do about it short of becoming the dominant player in the market. People's minds are made up. I just feel like Nintendo (due to their own decisions) are part of a self fulfilling prophecy where both consumers and publishers just don't think third parties will work on Nintendo Platforms. I do think it doesn't matter ultimately for me, because I buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo stuff, and everything else is kind of gravy.
The one thing I think Nintendo could do is market their eShop a lot better and try and get more developers to that. I think it's a lucrative market.


Maybe since the video game industry is dividing a lot harder between Japan and everyone else Nintendo will have to focus themselves on just being Japanese and being a niche player in the rest of the world.

LORDS OF THUNDER

That's so weird. I just suggested that game in the Retroactive nomination thread, and then popped on here to see if the article had been updated with the next nominees, only to see 'LORDS OF THUNDER'. Freaky!

I don't really see what else Nintendo can do to get 3rd party support other than making a console that's a carbon copy of what Microsoft and Sony are doing.

They're being extremely nice to 3rd parties, but still aren't getting anything out of it. What else can they do but get into a bidding war with Microsoft (which is stupid)?


Not to mention companies are so stupid that they don't understand the real reasons why their games fail on nintendo consoles. Hint, it's because the games they put out aren't good enough (like all the shovelware they put out on the Wii), or they do something utterly stupid (like the Rayman Legends delay), and then blame everyone but themselves.


When Rayman Legends doesn't sell well on the Wii U this September, do you think Ubisoft is going to say, "Man, guess everyone was right and we should have released in Feb..."? No, they're gonna say that the Wii U instal base isn't a viable market.


The phrase "damned if they do, damned if they don't" couldn't be more apt when it comes to Nintendo.

I can see by John Metts reaction, and the rest of the cast that you guys are in full panic mode for no reason. Nintendo is in a real bad bad position? Hardly, the Vita is in a real bad bad position. The system has been out for a full year and it still has no games on it.


Its simple what Nintendo has to do to turn it around. Release new games, Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Pikmin, Smash Bros, Pokemon, Fire Emblem x Shinmegami, and Xenoblade will drastically help the console sell units.


Everybody, especially Johhny is looking at how things are now and painting a doom situation, when its FAR to early to panic, I can tell you never played sports, and if you did, when you got behind, you thought it was over.


Lets see how the Wii U sales are going to do this fall when all the big hitters come out. Trust me, just like the 3DS, Nintendo will come out of this one.


As far as third party support, it will grow, don't base Nintendo's 3rd party support on ports and EA not wanting to make Madden on the system. Once the PS4 and Xbox 720 come out, we should see more support for the system. No need to panic before a Mario Kart even comes out.


And as for Nintendo not campaigning 3rd party games like Black Ops 2....... THEY DID! Remember the media conference they had when the surprise of Bayonetta 2 was announced as a console exclusive? The dude from Activision went out their and they showcased the game and some of the exclusive features like Off Screen play.

Bull****.  Despite its poor sales, there are more great (exclusive) games on the thing than on the Wii U right now. Hell, Persona 4 Golden alone is probably better than most of the stuff Nintendo showed the titles of in that last Nintendo Direct.  But hey, that's just my experience as a person who actually owns a Vita and knows what he's talking about.

If what the Vita has doesn't appeal to you, that's fine. But it's had more than a few quality games on it in its first year.

What podcast were you listening to?

Nobody is panicking and nobody has sayed they thought it was 'over'. The Wii U is facing serious problems as far as western third party support is concerned (that's not debatable, it's a fact), but that's not to say that Nintendo can't respond and initiate changes which can help foster a more healthy environment for third partys. In fact, that's exactly what I took away from what was said on the podcast, that Nintendo has at their disposal a number of tactics which could make the platform more enticing.

Let's not kid ourselves though, this is not the position that Nintendo wanted or planned to be in. The Wii U is facing a serious image problem at the moment, amongst a not insignificant proporation of gamers but more importantly at this point amongst western developers and publishers. Confidence in the system needs to be bolstered by Nintendo, but it needs to be done sooner rather than later. That's not being alarmist, that's just being practical.

I did not hear panic and doom.  I did hear that there is some frustration in the voices of genuine Nintendo fans.

We all want the Wii U to do well and we all want Nintendo and third party games.  We know that Nintendo will provide but, how long will it take is the real question.  As for third parties, let the DS and Xbox serve as an example that if the system sells the third parties will show up. 

I know this system is not on par with 720 and PS4 but so far playing games on the gamepad has made it worth it for me and I see tons of potential for fun and unique experiences. 

I think I remember having these same conversations about 3DS........ bring on the ambassador program!

Well I guess you're alone 'cause nobody is buying that thing -- no matter how many "good" exclusives it might have. Also, why on earth would someone buy a Vita to play a damn PS2 game. Persona 4 no less! Ugh.

I bought my Vita for so-called "lesser" games (Lumines: ES, Uncharted: GA, and Gravity Rush), but what's your beef with Persona 4? It's up there with some of the best RPGs ever made, and the Vita version currently has a 94 on Metacritic, making it easily one of the highest reviewed games in the past few years. Not even Xenoblade, as much as I love it, has reviewed that well.

happyastoria is right in a way, Persona 4 Golden is just a enhanced port of a 5 year old PS2 game. It would be like 3DS getting a port of something like De Blob and bragging that is a great "exclusive" game.

brood, even if you like Persona 4, it was a enhanced PORT of a FOUR YEAR OLD GAME. And that is one of the few big name games the PS Vita has. Kind of pathetic when one of the biggest games the system has was a 4 year old port of a PS2 game.

That's a hilariously ironic point of view considering the next big game the Wii U has coming is Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, which is a port of a 3DS game that is itself a "port" (in the same way Persona 4 Golden is of its original, meaning it has so much new content it's practically a new game) of a 3 year old Wii game.  :P: : :

Wii U has other big games though, PS Vita has very few.

It has ZombiU and New Super Mario Bros. U, only one of which could even be considered a "big" game in the way you're using the term.  Nintendo has a bunch of names on a mythical 2013 release list that someday will actually mean something, but at this current moment they're pretty meaningless.

The screenshot posts on Miiverse are universal. When in a game hit the home button, then go to create your post and you will be able to add a picture of the screen that was being displayed in game.

That Rayman story....  Is it possible that Nintendo knew about the delay?  That this wasn't some surprise?  Or maybe that they even suggested it?  Ok, it's unlikely they came out and suggested it, but there is a possibility that Nintendo is intentionally not pushing their system.  Because of the exchange rate, Nintendo is losing much more money on Wii U sales than in previous console launch years.  Normally this is offset by software sales, but (as Nintendo admitted) they had issues getting their software out on time.  So now there's a drought of games and selling consoles is hurting your bottom line....  so don't push the system.  Wait until you have the games on hand and then push it again.  No different than the 3DS.  They didn't give it another big push until they were able to build the system profitably and simultaneously launch a newer version. 

Idk why you guys are spelling doom for sega. They're buying assets from thq's asset auction! not going bankrupt themselves!


I never would've guessed 10 years ago that sega would own my 2 favorite strategy titles. But with Rome:total war 2 and Company of heroes 2 coming out this year, They're one of my favorite publishers out there.


So go go sega!

RE:  Rhythm Thief

I don't have a lot of musical training, but I'm guessing that a lot of Guillome's problems with the mini games near the end might be because a lot of them seem to be based on up-beats rather than down-beats.  That made them very difficult for me, and like Guillome, I had to give up on trying to get perfect A ratings, because I am not just THAT musically inclined.  Also (maybe someone with more musical training can confirm this) it seemed harder because of that more Jazzy themes (rather than Rhythm Heaven's pop focus).  Jazz tends not to follow 4-4 time, right?  It seems like that, because I had a lot of problems finding beats on some of the games, especially the one where your dog has to bite the stupid dolls. 


Despite my problems with the game, I have to agree with James, this is really a very excellent game that, while not perfect, has a lot of potential to improve with subsequent sequels in this series, published in that alternate dimension where this game sold well and Sega isn't cutting off IP's like gangrene infested limbs.

I do not think Nintendo will ever do a combined eshop for Wii U and 3DS. That would open up the whole issue of having to purchase the same game for both systems (especially Virtual Console) and Nintendo will not give up that cash cow anytime soon.

sega has just been being stupid for quite a while
also i take issue that your 'favorite publisher' released Sonic 06

It's not working in some games, namely Darksiders 2 and Tekken. Probably something to do with weird sub-HD resolution those games run in.
I'd also liked if they upscaled screenshot cause as of now they so small, and you can't really see anything. Feature to draw right on the screenshot would also be nice, like you can draw an arrow to show something particular on your screenshow.

On Rayman, people forget that Legends was supposed to be published by Nintendo in Japan. Probably they're still gonna do it.

Hm i was certain they also would publish it in Europe too, but i guess i was wrong...

he didn't get kid icarus back sadly
nintendo's customer service is excellent but the framework is broken beyond hell