Best episode title ever.  ;D

I wanted to share this with someone who would appreciate it's bizarreness, so I am sharing it with the Newscast and it's followers: On Tuesday, I actually laid my eyes on boxes of Ubisoft's BattleTag behind the glass underneathe he counter at a nearby Zellers department store. I guess I must be living in one of those test market areas (I live in BC, Canada). I had to laugh out loud because I couldn't believe that I was actually seeing that thing being sold in a store.

I'm excited to listen to this, and the title can only mean you somehow ridicule the predictions/thoughts I sent you to bring up, or get way off track and start talking about something else.

I'm glad you guys recorded what appears to be a pretty awesome show even though I was a late scratch. The last time I was a late scratch, Cricket Cast happened. Anything else would be better, I think.

- Lego Rock Band is $17 on Amazon new (360 version) Andy, or are you trying to go lower than that?

- Nintendo does have the two RPG bullets in their holster if they elect to use them between now and next year (Xenoblade/Last Story)

That's a hell of a price, thanks for the heads up.  I suppose what I really need to do is sit down and figure out how many of the songs on the setlist I would be interested in, and the price per song if I have to pay $17 for the game, and another $10 for the export.

Controversial predictions... I concur on certain points, less so on others.

As I see it, the Wii situation will potentially see a repeat of 2010. Around January time, there's only a handful of titles on the horizon, but gradually it builds up so by the second half of the year, there's plenty to choose from.

On the handheld front, obviously the 3DS will take centre stage. I reckon, for its launch year, 3DSware and Virtual Handheld will be well-supported, although whether that'll be sustained into 2012, I don't think I'm qualified to pass comment. Meanwhile, the DS, slowly fading away, will likely have a respectable showing in 2011.

Here are some of my predictions:

E3 2011:

Wii 2 is teased and Iwata walks out with a prototype Wii 2 controller and then proceeds to say that the Wii successor is on the horizon, but that we will have to wait for E3 2012 for more information.

Super Smash Brothers, Zelda, Metroid and Mario games for the 3DS will be slightly revealed with more information through out the year. Not sure whether they will get released in 2011, but more likly in 2012.

The Wii will get a $50 price drop to coincide with the holiday release of Skyward Sword. This in some sense would indicate that the Wii reign is closing.

Kid Icarus will not be a major success, but good enough that fans will want more and that the series hass made a farely good come back.

Gameboy Advance, Game Gear and Neo Geo Pocket Color will be made available for the 3DS virtual console along with remakes of Virtual Boy games for the 3DSware shop.

Sony and Microsoft will anounce a $50 price cut for the PS3 and 360 to coincide with their motion control systems and a robust holiday season.

Retro City Rampage will suffer the same fate as Super Meat Boy. If this comes to pass, I will be convinced that Wiiware, along with the Wii itself, is on the path of closing down.

Sequels to Epic Yarn, Epic Mickey, Goldeneye 007, Conduit 2, and galaxy 2 will be revealed as sequels for the 3DS at E3 2011.

Xenoblade and Last Story will be released in America in 2012 and will be the Wii's true sawnsong.

Dragon Quest 10 will be revelead at E3 2011 for the Wii this holiday season (I hope so).

3DS sports is shown at E3 2011 with walking, jogging, running and stair climbing as some of the sports.

Monster Hunter Portable 3 will be ported to the 3DS.

Sony shows off the PSP 2 at E3 2011.

Activision creates Call of Duty 3DS with a holiday 2011 release. This game will be unique in that it will allow 3D images to be made via the 3DS camera  and then translated as the in-game vision mode of a Unmanned Aerial Vehicule used in the game. For example, I take a picture of my living room and the outline of my furniture is then translated as the outline for the  terrain of the game.

Not getting into anything, but why on Earth do you think they would ever shut down Virtual Console? ESPECIALLY while the Wii is still out?

I meant to edit that part out, but I over looked it.

My reason for asking is that the VC still makes more than enough money to keep up the service as the costs are minimal.

It just seems to be slowly dying, or atleast tom that is.

Epic hate! Hahaha!
I enjoyed the time I spent with Kirby's Epic Yarn but knew before hand what to expect out of it. I was expecting something along the lines of Kirby's Adventure made out of cloth and yarn and got exactly that. I guess it is a bit sad that Kirby moves a bit slower in Epic Yarn than in Kirby's Adventure. Also, the absence of damage from enemy contact makes the game even more easy. I haven't played much of the co-op, but I feel it suffers from the same problems that New Super Mario Bros. had. I think it may be worse in Epic Yarn since two can feel that the cute visuals and pleasant music are mocking failed co-op efforts.

As for the predictions, I was surprised that there was so much pessimism in the proceedings. The statement that Nintendo got really lucky with the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii hit me and rang true. I think the reason why I don't share the same pessimism lies with my expectation of Nintendo. All I care for Nintendo to sell to me is a Nintendo system and Nintendo games. All I care for in those games is to play them in a similar (ie. mostly solitary) manner that I played them in my childhood. As for online and what not, I have a capable PC if I so desire such features that Nintendo doesn't seem to care all to much for.

Hmm.... My predictions are that Nintendo won't fix a damn thing when it comes to providing features and support that the video game enthusiast cares for. If they are fixing, then it will still be in a half-hearted manner. I will be pleasantly surprised if the Wii successor has a feature set that matches the current competition and hardware that surpasses competing hardware. I will be ecstatic if the Wii successor has a feature set and hardware for the next generation beyond its competitors.


Edit: Oh yeah! I forgot the portable discussion. iOS and Android (and Windows Mobile Phone Series 7 in time) becoming portable gaming competitors is still weird to me. Are people really giving or lending kids iPhones or iPod Touches to play with? I can see Apple cutting teenagers, young adults, and older adults away from Nintendo. However, an 8GB iPod Touch is only US$229 and an 8GB iPhone 4 is US$449 without a plan (US$199 with a plan). The Nintendo 3DS will need to price itself around those two as well as Android phones, WinMoPho7 phones, and the PSP2.

Last night at dinner, the kid in a high-chair at the adjacent table was playing fruit ninja.

Mustafa hosting.  Love how you guys change up who hosts each episode.

Also your bleak predictions for the future are in line with mine.

They only let me host once.

**cough** cricketcast **cough**

Can we convince you to purchase this?

This is the first Newscast that I have ever listened to, and I think I picked one hell of a podcast to start with.

I could not agree more with the statement that Nintendo seems to be overlooking the Apple iOS and gaming on mobile phones. There is no way in hell that the 3DS is going to be as popular or sell through as many units as the current DS/DSi. Nintendo WILL overprice the 3DS at launch. Nintendo WILL overprice the Virtual Handheld titles. While the 3DS will most certainly appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike, the price is what will keep it from picking up steam when that's exactly what they're going to need to do right out of the gate. As mentioned above, you can now get an 8 GB iPhone 3GS for as low as $49.99 with a two year contract in the United States. Couple that with another $50 in games for iOS, and a person could be set for a long time! NCL needs to wake up before they get lulled back into the dream state they were in at the beginning of the Nintendo 64 era.

As for the successor to the Wii...CAN lightning strike twice? I doubt it. Nintendo had better try to find a way to keep their fan base because there are a lot of options out there today. Mario and Zelda will keep most coming back (this guy included) for sure. I just don't see another generation of "Wii _____" games as a reality. Similar to what was said in the podcast, the non gamers are not going to buy Wii Fit Plus + Cats.

Awesome job, guys. I look forward to more great podcasts to come. Seriously, I listen to IGN.com's podcast, but they don't have anything on you guys. Keep up the good work.

It's a shame product successors can't be like actual lightning. The wonders of physics has lightning striking the same place twice with no problem. Man, who and where did that saying come from.

So far, it looks like the consensus is that Nintendo will be Nintendo for 2011: idiosyncratically conservative, stubborn, and narrow-minded. It would be nice if Nintendo would make an exception from their usual MO this year.

Well, Enner, we can always count on Nintendo to disappoint us, that's for sure. I love the company and the products, but my god, I don't know what in the world they are thinking sometimes.

The hardest thing for Nintendo to do with the Wii 2 is justify another HD console on the market. Also, the Wii 2 presents a good opprotunity to revitalize the virtual console. I agree with Neal that the Gamecube BC will be phazed out in favor of emulation. This means that the Gamecube will be made available for the virtual console, but why stop there? I would like to see Dreamcast and Saturn added to virtual console as well.

I apologize if this comes off as bitchy, but I turned this podcast off about halfway through the Wii predictions segment and I likely won't return to it again.  I found the segment dull, not very insightful and unnecessarily whiny.  Also:  completely unrealistic.  "No Zelda game has ever been a critical or commercial failure but I think the next one will be".  Really guys?  I expect more.

On another note, I've grown tired of the long shows.  I don't have enough free time to add another 2-hour weekly podcast to my lineup.  Forgive me for saying so, but you guys just aren't interesting enough to hold my attention for 2 hours every week.  (Don't worry--I'm not that interesting either.)

I wish you the best in 2011 but I probably won't be listening again.

I'll agree that the crew seemed to be reading too much into what Nintendo's shown of Zelda so far (They focused only on the control mechanics at E3, so I'm going to go ahead and assume that's the only thing they've put real effort into and everything else will be the same as it's been in recent games, and that kind of thing). Otherwise though, great show. Unlike vudu, I do find you guys interesting enough to listen to for two hours (though more so when Neal's there).

Who ever said that Skyward Sword is going to be a failure is very arrogant.

First, kudos to insanolord for buttering me up. We're tight, yo.

I have to completely disagree with all the Zelda hate at this point. It's just rampant speculation, partially due to the fact that Nintendo hasn't shown much. That E3 demo was really solid, and the controls are fun. Personally, I dug the visual style, but I can see why people wouldn't like (much like how I can see why people won't like Kirby). Regardless, that demo was rather awesome. It was simple, and didn't really contain any puzzles, but it totally worked as a showcase for the controls.

And that's exactly what it was: a showcase for the controls. It wasn't representative of the entire game. That section was for the E3 demo. I believe it was said that segments are from areas of the game, but the overall composition, art style, etc. was for a controls-focused demo.

Outside of the retroactive hate for Twilight Princess (which I wholeheartedly agree with, though I adored the game the first time I played it), when has a home console Zelda game been disappointing? What evidence/reasoning/what have you do you guys have to think this is going to be a failure? General malaise towards the franchise? A "feeling?"

Bottom line is that if Spirit Tracks wasn't a commercial failure, then no Zelda game has a shot at being a commercial failure. I could see some cynical critics (probably someone from Game Informer) shit on the game, but I don't think this will be anywhere near Other M levels of critical/commercial failure.

Consider that more of my predictions, which are totally tame because I wrote that while feeling like total crap. It was fun listening to this episode because I forgot what I wrote.

Other than that, I don't want to kill any of you guys, except maybe Zach, but that's because he likes it when Shantae's boobs jiggle.

Also, Inazuma Eleven is a European release.

I think it's important to realize that the word "failure", as it applies to any Zelda game, is very different than it is in any other context.  No Zelda game will ever be a complete failure, and I think we all realize that.  That said, I think it's totally fair to think that it's possible that Skyward Sword runs the risk of disappointing us, and my concerns stem actually from them staying too close to the established formula.  If they really mix up the overworld/dungeon gameplay, then I will be happy.

That said, sorry to hear you're done, vudu.  I will agree that we've been letting the episodes get too long lately, and part of that has to do with the subject matter (year end/predictions are meaty topics) which should be scaling back pretty dramatically starting this week.

I really do appreciate the feedback.  No harm, no foul. 

I consider twilight Princess to be my favoirte Zelda so far, but after you beat the game there is really no reason to go back to it and play it again. This is why I hope Nintendo puts DLC for Zelda in their future consoles. Also, there will most likely be a super guide for either the bosses or the puzzle, but not both. Actually, I have a feeling that Skyward Sword's bosses might be a little more difficult this time around.