Features

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Just a Chat, Videos, Wii U | 1 Comment

NintenDaan joined me to discuss the latest Nintendo Direct. There was plenty to talk about between the New 3DS, a new Fire Emblem 3DS game, and more!

Random note: we did this recording with me having very little sleep under my belt. Actually, I’ve been exhausted these past couple of weeks. So please understand if I come across as a boring mess.

Check out the discussion below:

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Posted on 10 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 6 Comments

(Note: Throughout this podcast I referenced how you can view certain images on your listening device if you’re listening to the “AAC” version of the podcast. That doesn’t work anymore, so I’ve included the images below if you want to see them.)

Podcast Crew: Austin (Twitter), Jack (Twitter), Laura (Twitter)

Everyone’s favorite podcast that they’ve never listened to has returned for a reboot— a reinvigoration, a reincarnation, a rethinking— of old concepts, with all three crew members recording in remote locations over Skype, rather than in the same room as had become customary.

For this episode, we have three primary segments:

Segment 1, What We Played: Intro discussions about an old NES soccer classic, a bit of complaining about The Sims 4, plus the first ever discussion of Itoi-made curiosity MOTHER 3 on our podcast.

Segment 2, Anecdotes: Jack talks about signing “poop sheets” at work, Laura talks about some weird movie named “Tusk”, and the whole crew gives a quick shout-out to everyone’s favorite Daan man.

Segment 3, Discussion: WarioWare Inc. takes the stage as we talk a whole lot about this classic GBA game and others in the series. In addition to giving our general opinions on the game, we talk about connections this game has to the Gameboy Camera, how we feel the aesthetics are paramount in why this game is so good, and what particular micro-games stand out to us.

Download this episode (click this link)

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Posted on 10 years ago by Vincent Ward in Features, Game of the Month | 3 Comments

Mario was always the character who got to sit in the spotlight. Wanna go karting? Sure, but only if it’s called MARIO Kart. Wanna spend a day playing tennis? Of course you can, but it has to be called MARIO Tennis. Hell, even a social gathering has to be called a Mario Party. So after years of watching his childhood best friend get all the attention while he sat there doing nothing, it didn’t take too long before Wario started thinking of ways to get his own time to shine, and what better way is there to be the star of your own video game series than to have once with your name in it!? So let’s spend today reminiscing the history of Wario’s series, and see what made them so special.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Game of the Month | 0 comments

An unfortunately truncated Game of the Month for January because the holidays left us a bit lazy and unworkable, but we’re here nonetheless and we’ve got a truly wonderful game for you: WarioWare, Inc. Mega Microgame$!. Released back in 2003 for the GBA, it has spawned plenty of sequels on many different platforms using many different gimmicks, so we’ve tasked our staff writers– Vincent, Kira, Jonathan, Patrick, and Scott– to shed some light on the series as a whole, their thoughts on it, or any other interesting things they might be able to pull out related to the game or its development.

We don’t have a concrete schedule for you, but here’s a short list of some of what you’ll be seeing on the site over the weeks of January:

– Vincent with “A History of WarioWare”
– Scott with “WarioWare’s Characters and the Minigames Behind Them”
– Podcast Gang with “Why is WarioWare so Wonderful?”
– Patrick with “WarioWare’s Heritage on 64DD”

The first article will be going up tonight, with all the rest coming over the course of the month.

Do you like writing and have something interesting you’d like to share about WarioWare? Email us using the “Contact Us” form with your idea and we may select you to have an article published on the website as part of our Game of the Month feature!

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Posted on 10 years ago by Vincent Ward in Features, Reviews, Wii U eShop | 1 Comment

Author:Vincent W.

Nowadays, finding a good couch co-op game to play with a friend isn’t as easy as it seems. In an industry that strives on giving an experience targeted towards online play, enjoyable games that let you sit down with a close friend or sibling in the same room are few and far between. That’s not to say that online gaming is bad or a step in the wrong direction. But there’s a feeling you get when you’re close enough to smack the controller out of their hand after they wreck you in games such as Smash and Mario Kart that feels like no other. Now Frima Studio is ready to take it back to the good old couch co-op days with their puzzle-platformer Chariot.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Developer Musings, New Nintendo 3DS | 5 Comments

Nintendo has a notorious reputation when it comes to iterating their handhelds and in the past it has created an environment with a unique set of issues to consider for developers. Whether it was the Game Boy to Game Boy Color, DS Lite to DSi and now the 3DS to New 3DS, every generation there’s always questions among fans regarding the value and longevity of each new system. You don’t have to look very far to see how fans react to mid-cycle announcements like these, but how do developers react when a new system emerges from Iwata’s coat pocket?

We reached out to developers Stuart Ryall, Brjann Sigurgeirsson, and Ken Patterson to offer their thoughts on the announcement of the New 3DS and what implications it has on each of their development processes, if any. Will focusing on the extra processing power and C-stick split their player base too thin? Do these new units put too much pressure on fans to upgrade and consequently put pressure on developers to focus on the new units? How do these iterations impact the overall life of a console generation? Our guests this week help shed some light on the impact these mid-cycle hardware announcements have on developers, and what questions they have to ask when developing with these challenges in mind.

(Unsure as to what Developer Musings is about? Check out our first entry here for an explanation.)

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Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Podcast, Reader Poll, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments

It’s that time of year again! Last year’s game music podcast seemed to go over much better than I expected a two-hour show to, so let’s do the same thing for the soundtracks from this year. And once again I’m looking for reader (listener?) input to help put the thing together and narrow down a top 10 list.

The rules are pretty much the same as last year. Vote here to rate each of the twenty shortlisted games and add in any comments if you have them (you can also use that section to tell me if neglected to include certain soundtracks). Since some of them were included in last year’s show, the voting excludes games that were released in other regions last year like Bravely Default, but not ones like Fantasy Life that I previously forgot about. I’ve also excluded any games with an English release confirmed for next year like Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate – save it for the 2015 list! There are a handful of games like Guacamelee on the list that were released on other platforms last year, but as 2014 was their first showing on a Nintendo platform they’re up for voting.

So please get your votes in and look forward to the final podcast whenever it posts. Maybe there’ll be guests or co-hosts this time? Who can say. Since I’ll be out of the country for a while – I’ll probably have left by the time this posts – don’t expect any results until mid-January at the earliest. That’s kind of late for a retrospective, but I’m sure you’re all sick of top-10 lists at the moment. I know I sure am after putting together all that Nintendo DS stuff.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Vincent Ward in 3DS, Features, Game of the Month, Wii U | 6 Comments

It’s no wonder a game such as Super Smash Bros. has become the big hit it is today. Even after its near 15 year lifespan, it seems that the Smash community only grows larger and larger every day. I mean, a game where you get to mound Sonic the Hedgehog’s smug little face in with Mario’s fire-spouting fists as Mega Man tries to intervene for that one extra kill is already my game of the century based on that scenario alone. While the series is also known for its kick-ass gameplay that’s just simple enough while still providing the necessary elements to begin a huge competitive scene, it’s mainly known for accomplishing a seemingly impossible task and gathering together all of Nintendo’s star players and making it all seem so… right. As expected, there’s a huge roster of characters to select from, boasting characters from huge series’ such as Mario and Legend of Zelda all the way to lesser known series such as Earthbound and Fire Emblem. I thought it would be fun to delve deeper into some of the more unique newcomers’ history and analyze why the characters might’ve been chosen join the battle, so let’s go ahead and do that, shall we?

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More: 3DS, Duck Hunt, Fire Emblem, highlight, Kid Icarus, Lucina, Palutena, Robin, Smash, wii u

Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Game of the Month, News, Wii Shop Channel, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 6 Comments

Author: Patrick

Part of the appeal of Super Smash Bros. to me is the history behind it all. With their large cast of characters, range of collectibles and obscure music picks, I always seem to be discovering new games with each installment. The original game introduced me to Earthbound, while Melee first brought Fire Emblem to my attention. This new Smash Bros.’ cast of newcomers are largely from games released in the last few years, but what I find interesting how Namco-Bandai’s involvement in development resulted in Namco’s history finding a way into the game.

Pac-Man is one of my favourite characters to play as in the new Super Smash Bros. and it’s partially due to his “Namco Roulette” taunt. This taunt involves Pac-Man summoning a bunch of old Namco sprites from the company’s golden age for a quick cameo, but there’s no trophies or anything to give context to these characters. With that in mind, let’s look at all these Namco icons as we take either a trip down memory lane. Namco have a legacy of creating incredible arcade titles that still persists to this day –I’ve been hooked on Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. Full Boost lately- and it’s great to see it represented in Smash Bros. in some form. So let’s start by traveling thirty-five years back in time…

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Discussing Everything | 1 Comment

Update: Now over, but you can find the full replay below.

This week’s Discussing Everything will kick off in about 3 hours – roughly 4:30 PM ET / 1:30 PM PT. Come join us through the application below.

Note that you can log in with Facebook/Twitter, but these are optional. You can choose a random username as well!

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