Wii U

Still, it's like... well, a bit like thinking discs will never work, if I'm being honest.

Eh, I dunno. Someone in the comments section pointed out that if Nintendo had partnered with them we might now be seeing Pokemon figures at Skylander prices, which totals to, what, $6000? Not to mention the other Nintendo franchises.

Might have been a little bit too far on the microtransactions side of things for Nintendo, is what I'm saying. I understand they generally are against that.

On the topic of Zombi U, you probably haven't used the Pistol nearly enough times to prefer the Cricket Bat. Two headshots is all it takes, and it's actually not that hard to aim there (provided you have the "auto-aim"). As for ammo issues, in order to bypass the supply starvation, consider hunting in places that you've already been to that aren't related to your objective. Chances are, you'll run into a zombified survivor, hopefully containing some precious ammo. When Ubisoft wanted to create the ultimate hunting anarchy experience, they succeeded.

When it comes to dealing with those electrifying whores, pack a shotgun. Especially dealing with one-on-one fights, it'll take that demonic enemy down quicker than you experienced last time. The key is to not go wandering out looking for it; let it come to you.

Back onto Skylanders, maybe Nintendo just wanted a third-party game that's available for everyone, including themselves. To show other third parties that it can be done.

That's Activision's influence. They make no secret of the fact that their goal is to make as much money off a franchise in as short a time as possible.

No doubt. But figures generally don't come particularly cheap, regardless. Even if the price was dropped to about $6 per figure, that'd be at least, what, $3600? And that's not taking into account how much it would cost to produce the figures. I can't really blame Nintendo for passing on the concept since it would probably have required a significant investment on their part and they didn't really have any way of knowing it would become such a big hit.

And, of course, there's no guarantee it would have become such a huge hit as a Nintendo exclusive.

You do realize they did the exact same thing later, right? Pokemon Rumble U?

It's Pokemon though. It's more of a sure sell then Spyro, who a lot of kids didn't even know at the time.

That's not the point I was making.

What was the point you were making? The Rumble U figurines are cheaper (easier to impulse buy), less detailed (cheaper to produce), and — most importantly — optional. I understand that you can get all the Pokemon in-game. Is this not the case?

More importantly, the Pokemon brand is pretty much a zero-risk. Everything that made Skylanders look like a bad investment doesn't really apply to Pokemon.

edited 16th Apr '14 4:53:53 PM by CorrTerek

My point is that Skylanders could have been a Wii U exclusive. That's a huge franchise.

And it wasn't at the time it was demo'd to Nintendo, and there's no guarantee it would have ridden to such heights as a Nintendo exclusive.

And then later Nintendo went and did basically their own version of it, and included the technology that makes it work in the Wii U Gamepad.

Sugar coat it all you want, but it was a mistake. Not a make-or-break one, but one that would make an executive smack their head against a table when they realized what they passed up.

edited 16th Apr '14 5:00:00 PM by BadWolf21

It's kind of hard to see it as a mistake when Nintendo doesn't have to pony up any development costs and the Skylanders series still sells more on Nintendo consoles than anywhere else. Sure, they could have had all the sales, but they would have had to do all the funding, too.

And again, Rumble U is significantly cheaper than either of the others, and can also be a mere $15 investment if you're not interested in collecting figurines.

I think we're kind of arguing at cross-purposes here. I'm mainly responding to the idea (which sadly seems to be espoused by the Toys for Bob devs) that Nintendo was somehow stupid to pass up Skylanders, when in reality Nintendo had some compelling reasons to do so.

If you want to say that Nintendo could have made more money with Skylanders, then yeah, maybe it could have. But not having Skylanders hasn't exactly killed Nintendo.

edited 16th Apr '14 5:25:02 PM by CorrTerek

Is Mario Golf for the N64 any good?

It's okay, but I'm not a big fan of golf. I found Mario Tennis more enjoyable.

It's fine, but not up there with the classic 64 titles. It's a good "bored on Saturday night" type of game.

I think it's probably the weakest of the Mario Golf games, but still pretty fun. Worth 250 coins.

I only have to spend 220 by the end of June. I think I may get Super Mario World for Wii U instead (always good to have that one on as many platforms as possible) and wait to see what next month's games are.

edited 17th Apr '14 7:14:05 PM by BadWolf21

Yeah, I went for Super Mario World. Still have 190 coins that are expiring, so I may see if May's downloads are any good.

Trajectile's a fun little game to waste time on if you want to grab that.

Nah, I've got enough on 3DS. And if I'm downloading games, I prefer classics. I'm fussy.

And you thought the German government was the censorship Reich of video games? Take a peek at this:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/china-reveals-censorship-rules-for-console-games-nothing-that-promotes-drug-use-or-violence-will-be-allowed/1100-6419151/

Though perhaps, maybe this will make the Wii U a better seller in China...

edited 23rd Apr '14 9:18:30 AM by RainingMetal

Oh, China, will you ever stop being completely amazing?

How will that help the Wii U?

Mario: Violence, drug use.
Zelda: Violence
Kirby: Violence

Etc.

That assumes that they consider cartoon violence to be bad

Also, Zelda should be on banned list for overthrowing oppresive re-*gets assassinated*

...Seriously though, even if they are banning cartoon violence, wouldn't most nintendo games still past? Or at least most mario spinoffs?