To those who noticed the eShop is full of unmitigated junk this year: WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG???

When Nintendo launched their Year in Review site in mid-December, I did click in to see what my time on actual games was this year, knowing full well that I’d probably have to at least double it to account for all the time I was checking various regional eShops on weekends to update the Downloads... Read more...

Or other lessons from SIX HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE US DOLLARS.

Well, the absolute madlads did it. In the announcement today of Sony’s greatest upgrade since the 8GB SPOSTDFW or the PSVR 2, I’m not sure which, they managed to outdo the infamous $599 US launch price of the PlayStation 3 in 2006 with the PlayStation 5 Pro at $699.99. And since I don’t live... Read more...

The last release for Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter in English was contemporaneous with Xenoblade Chronicles X, for the record.

For my money, the biggest announcement of the August 27 double dip of Nintendo shows was actually tucked into a sizzle reel for Western consumption. During the Partner Showcase, the announcement of Trails In The Sky: The 1st led off the first of two different sizzle reels, presumably to keep the combined... Read more...

Caution: Although this is a Pokemon article, it is rated PG-13.

Well, that was surprising and in a way, not surprising. I believe I might have referred to a new mainline Pokemon game on Switch being announced in the Pokemon Presents as “the free space on the bingo card”, and it came to pass pretty much as expected. We do have a new Pokemon game coming to Switch, but it’s still leaving a lot of questions. Specifically, I have five.

For one thing, it means a once-in-a-decade event.

After Nintendo's last financial results release, the latest updates to Pokemon game sales indicated that the mega-franchise has shipped somewhere over 100 million copies on Switch, with “main” games - defined as anything that can move Pokemon into the Home subscription service - being more than... Read more...

Observations from a year that single-handedly proves Sturgeon’s Law to be true.

Early in 2023, author and hot-air balloon resident Cory Doctorow published a piece on how TikTok had shifted value from users to business partners to itself and now was in the process of dying, calling the process “enshittification”. For most of the year, I’ve thought of this as a good explanation... Read more...

Or “Nintendo, can I please get my weekends back?”

One of the fun features of the website is that it preserves the Talkback threads in the article proper, basically serving a function of a comment section but with actual moderation. Recently, friend of the site Syrenne took time out from her vacation to dig up this psychopathic comment from a 2010 blog post (yes, we had blogs at one point) by Neal called “This Week In Awful Downloads” and drop it in the Discord:

My original plan was to do this entirely in wrestling jokes, but the writing time was coming up to a Ric Flair 1980’s title defense.

We’re into the traditional dry period between the announcement of a new Pokemon game and the reveal of actual new information about it, but it’s left me with a lot of time to stew over things since our rapid analysis came out. As someone whose Pokemon playstyle is largely focused on Pokedex completion,... Read more...

Not saying you should, but is it physically possible to reach Survey Corps rank 10 before leaving the Obsidian Fieldlands? (SPOILERS)

Over the Christmas holidays, my brother introduced me to a new favorite YouTube rabbit hole: the “Professor Oak Challenge” in Pokemon. To put it simply, the rules of the Professor Oak challenge are:

It’s time like this the News Editor is glad weed is legal in Canada.

The NPD’s chief games analyst Mat Piscatella set tongues-a-wagging recently on Twitter when he made the following comment:

Nearly 1.7k unique titles launched on Nintendo platforms in 2021. That's 63% more than the 1.0k titles released in 2020, and an average of 4.6 titles releasing per day. If you thought Switch was a far more crowded platform in 2021... well... it was.

The stars may be aligning for something bigger than a new Monster Hunter.

When you have to keep track of release dates, certain dates stand out more than others. Sometimes it turns out to be a nothingburger, like July 13, 2018 which only had two Nintendo releases and a few Amiibo (Octopath Traveler and Captain Todd Toad on Switch). Small sample size is always an issue,... Read more...

Warning: Port begging is approaching fast.

We’ve gotten a few announcements out of the way already with this E3 replacement week, but for my money the main event of this month (barring an out-of-nowhere Direct that likely won’t happen) is on June 23. Because that’s the day of the New Game Plus Expo.

In terms of release quantity,... Read more...

First obligatory year pun: check.

As we begin a new decade, there’s still a lot of questions about what the Switch will see this year from Nintendo specifically. We have Q1 release dates and a few games slated for 2020, but mostly there’s questions about whether certain games will have a chance to land this year. You know which ones they are.

So the region that restricts immigration of Pokémon from other regions is based on England... too soon.

During the Treehouse Live on day 1 of E3, it was announced that the only Pokémon who can be imported into Sword and Shield via Pokémon Home (once it's live) will be Pokémon in the Galar regional Pokédex. This has upset a great many people and was widely regarded as a bad move. Series producer... Read more...

Donald reflects on the passing of the man who helped him in ways immeasurable.

Michael Cunningham, better known online as "Macstorm", passed away today (August 25) following a two and a half year long battle with stomach cancer. Michael was the operator of Pocket Console, and served as the editor in chief of RPGamer for many years.

Nintendo World Report extends condolences to Michael's family and friends, and the staff at RPGamer.

One man's ramblings about an E3 that gets the lowest grade possible: C minus minus

When E3 actually works - which happens once every four years or so - it's because there's something that I can look forward to without reservation. E3 2018 had the following announcements in that line:

Nintendo of America says the venerable handheld has another full year ahead of it. Let’s see if they’re right.

Two different discussions emerged about the 3DS at this past E3. One, from Nintendo, was that the 3DS was a full part of their business for at least the next year, as proven by the Treehouse Live announcements of Metroid: Samus Returns and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions. The... Read more...

Or how the only launch game Donald buys is from Konami.

Nintendo of America has finally confirmed the launch lineup for the Switch for March 3, and compared to their last console launch, the quantities are slim. 1-2-Switch, Breath of the Wild, Super Bomberman R, Skylanders Imaginators and Just Dance 2017 is the entire Day One lineup. The Wii U, for comparison,... Read more...

Nintendo said they’d listen to the conversation, and it seems to be a positive one.

The Nintendo Switch could retail for $250 USD if some leaks and rumors that circulated this weekend are accurate.

First, a page on the Canadian branch of Toys”R”Us (since removed) was discovered showing the price of the system at $329.99 CAD (approximately $242.91 USD). Later, a report from... Read more...

Maybe we should actually market Tokyo Mirage Sessions next time.

The hard part about annual releases is finding things that change from year to year. But Nintendo's new release Shareholder Q&A 2016 made a controversial decision. With a new man in charge under tragic circumstances, the questions that had some outlets calling the Shareholder Q&A series "good... Read more...