Nintendo Direct Japan

[Icemage]

Apparently this just happened with some announcements. I'll leave it to the peanut gallery to decide which ones are good, which ones are bad, and which ones are ugly.

* There will be a new version of the 3DS, called the 3DS XL. It has a 90% larger screen, slightly longer battery life, and no second analog nub (and is incompatible with the existing Circle Pad Pro). Will retail in the Japan and Europe on July 28 (no word on EU pricing?), and in the US for $199.99 on August 19.

* Namco-Bandai is making the next Super Smash Brothers game (3DS, Wii U)

* New Super Mario Brothers U will have paid DLC for gold rush levels.

* Bunch of 8-bit era games will be showing up on the North American 3DS e-Shop in the next month or so. The Legend of Zelda (7/5). Kirby's Pinball Land, The Sword of Hope II (7/12). Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, Tumblepop (7/19). Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Sonic Blast, Sonic Labyrinth (7/26).

* Pokemon Black & White 2 coming this fall to NDS.


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

Corrections:

Project Sora and Namco Bandai are on the next Smash Bros.

Smash Bros Director explains the Namco Bandai partnership -Destructoid

Nintendo has a fairly good track record on collaborating with third parties when it comes to thier IP and The folks at NB might just be what the doctor ordered to refresh SSB a bit. I wonder how Sony's feeling about their clone game now.

It has the director and producer of Tales, the producer of Gundam Vs., the art and sound designers of Soul Calibur and the bulk of the Tekken team on Smash Bros. This isn't even mentioning some of Project Sora's team is comprised of former Namco employees.

So I guess it goes without saying we'll see a few Namco characters here.

As for New SMB games, only NSMB 2 was discussed and DLC for coin rush mode was said rather pragmatically to come some time after launch. Nothing regarding NSMBU was discussed.

Ive got nothing to say on the DLC. We really don't have any to judge Nintendo on the matter, of course, it's not stopped some people from putting on thier tinfoil hats and claiming the sky is falling.

My prediction for NSMB2 is Peach will be kidnapped and Mario will traverse eight worlds, collecting coins and consume all manner of hallucinogens along the way as he always does while battling turtle people and dodging bullets with faces. Mario will "stop" Bowser from getting it on with Peach and they'll reschedule the kidnapping/secret birthing of new Koopalings for November on NSMBU.

3DS XL? I think most sensible people knew it was coming. I've seen nothing beyond KH3D that even supports CPP and after playing the demo for that it's not even needed for that. About the only game that needed it was MGS3. Even that was manageable without it. Second stick really isn't needed.

[Malacite]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

God damn it, why did they remove the 2nd analog? If not for that I would be all over that as I've been waiting for them to come up with a newer model with a better battery damn it.

Oh well.


I know it's a different company, but a tonne of crap about MS and the 720 just got "leaked"

Xbox News: Microsoft claims ownership of leaked Xbox 720 document - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

Microsoft rejects Motorola settlement offer as Xbox patent row escalates • News • Eurogamer.net


They also are apparently going to launch a rewards program later this summer for your Gamerscore. So all that achievement whoring will actually have some tangible (though likely crappy) reward.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

There never was a standard second analog stick to "remove," just an optional add-on no one uses or implements. Four games have used it and only one game is it even marginally useful for. I just demoed KH and didn't miss it.

Let's put this in perspective. Kingdom Hearts is the only remaining game known to support Circle Pad Pro. Nothing else coming for the next several months is using it. Nothing. And it's beating the handheld that does have a second stick senseless.

A second stick simply is not needed and for some touch-enabled Vita games it's actually proving to detract from the experience, such as Resistence. And that wasn't even a good game to start with.

[Malacite]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

I thought you said RE: Revelations made good use of it?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

Yeah, but it played like RE4 so strafing and 180 turns were just as functional as they were in RE4 Wii Edition and even the GC version. To say that the second stick was requisite would be ridiculous.

Plus I thought you hated Capcom and were boycotting them. There are plenty of other great games for 3DS now. SE is releasing Theatrhythm, Heroes of Ruin and KH next month and then you have all that VC stuff and Mario after that. And it has functional BC so you can enjoy current DS games, unlike the Vita where you have to hope and pray the latest PSP releases somehow got a digital release and it made it safely to Vita.

[Armando]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

God damn it, why did they remove the 2nd analog?

They COULD make a Circle Pad Pro XL to go with it. It's too early yet to tell if they will or won't.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

New footage of Bravely Default from Japan's Diect show:

[Malacite]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

Boycotting all their crap, yes (and there's a lot of it). It's my understanding that RE: Revelations is actually a decent~good game.

It's not like these companies don't keep track of where the money's coming from. That's why I can still buy Blizzard's games and hate on Activision as a whole - I will not support CoD, but I will support D3/SC2.

[Icemage]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

It's not like these companies don't keep track of where the money's coming from. That's why I can still buy Blizzard's games and hate on Activision as a whole - I will not support CoD, but I will support D3/SC2.

Call of Duty gets a C.
Starcraft II gets a B-.

Diablo 3 as it stands right now? On a generous day I "might" grade it D+ what with all the metric tons of stupid Activision has heaped onto the game. I suppose it at least works somewhat better than Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor.

Anyway, back on Nintendo, I'm curious to see what the general reaction to their first-party DLC will be. Also, the 3DS XL seems like an odd SKU to announce. It doesn't really do anything differently from the base model, other than just being larger and having an ever so slightly larger battery capacity. I suspect some feathers may fly in Japan whenever Capcom gets around to releasing comparable Monster Hunter games on the 3DS and Vita; that's one of the few handheld franchises out there that would tangibly benefit from having a second analog stick for camera control. Even so, it'll probably be a tempest in a teacup sort of situation.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

There was also another video for Project X Zone showcasing the "overworld" and battles. Was all in JP though.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

Well, Vita has a larger screen and smartphones are starting to trend toward larger displays as well so it would seem strange for Nintendo to Not at least provide an option to people that find larger screens more attractive and easier on the eyes. I could see myself picking one up at some point.

I'd want it midnight purple, though.

[Icemage]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

Well, Vita has a larger screen and smartphones are starting to trend toward larger displays as well so it would seem strange for Nintendo to Not at least provide an option to people that find larger screens more attractive and easier on the eyes.

I'd buy that argument, except that the resolution of the 3DS XL doesn't hold up. It's got the same pixel resolution as the standard 3DS, 400 × 240, which is sort of woefully inadequate for such a large increase in screen real estate. It's not like 3DS games aren't already jagged enough as it is, but doubling the pixel size is going to make that even clearer.

For grins and giggles, the resolution of the 3DS contemporaries:

3DS (original) is 400 x 240, 3.02" screen.
3DS XL is 400 x 240, 4.88" screen.
PS Vita is 960 x 540, 5.00" screen.
Samsung Galaxy S3 is 1280 x 720, 4.80" screen.
iPhone 4S is 960 x 640, 3.5" screen.

I'm sure Nintendo will still sell a fair number of these, especially to people with larger hands who don't like the smaller form factor of the current 3DS. The larger screen will probably help with eye strain, but if anything you're going to lose some image quality because the pixel size is so much larger (which causes a different sort of eye strain).


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

I'd buy that argument, except that the resolution of the 3DS XL doesn't hold up

Improving resolution would raise cost further, create two different standards and DS games would become even more desaturated, to say nothing of various virtual console games.

When it comes to developers that make a real effort with 3DS, there's rarely any aliasing to make out. And for most people, it's not something they worry themselves over. The DSi XL sold well, this will sell well. That said, this new model is going to spell the end for Nintendo producing DSis by at least this time next year. There seems to be little beyond Pokemon B&W2 to go on.

[Armando]

Re: Nintendo Direct Japan

Personally I'm just glad the 3DS has a higher vertical resolution than an NES/SNES/PSX. It was kind of sad that you couldn't fit the entire screen of an NES game on a DS. Anyhow, I agree with the both of you. It's going to look even jaggier but like BBQ said there's probably enough people that both don't care and want something easier to hold with their large hands or something easier to see. I'm actually interested in it, just gonna wait and see what becomes of the Circle Pad Pro.