The Opinion Herd: The Nintendo Network
Nintendo just announced the Nintendo Network, which looks like it is going to revolutionize the way Nintendo looks at the online market. We already know some of the details about the Nintendo Network, such as individual user accounts, digitally distributed games and the offer of post release DLC. “What is one thing you’d want to see the Nintendo Network have that would make it more successful in bringing Nintendo’s online presence up to par with their competitors?”
Want a uDraw Tablet? Now Might Be the Time.
The uDraw Tablet saw a decent amount of sales after it was released for the Nintendo Wii in 2010. The game launched with an art studio program, a new Pictionary game and some other small software titles. It would then go on to have almost a dozen different titles developed for it.
THQ thought they had a hit on their hands, especially once the announcement of Wii U came about so they developed a version of the device for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. That version of the tablet didn’t do so well and THQ lost a lot of money in the deal. In fact, THQ blames a lot of their recent financial woes on this device and their other software titles for younger gamers.
“Sales of the uDraw GameTablet and related software, and other titles in the kids, family and casual category were far weaker than anticipated, substantially reducing our financial results for the quarter,” – THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell.
Now they’ve announced that they are no longer making the device. That means the price is going to drop.
In fact, right now, the original Wii tablet is listing on Gamestop’s website for $29.99 with the uDraw Studio software. All of the games are below $20 and some of them sold very well. I’ve been interested in the device for a while, but it’s been listed at $70. I think I’m going to have to splurge on this piece of “history” and pick one up.
I Now Own Mario Party 2
Courtesy of Club Nintendo. Their latest round of digital rewards expired on January 31st and a new set of rewards went up yesterday. From now until February 29th you can download a copy of Mario Party 2 (150 Coins), originally for the N64 or Art Academy: Semester 1 (150 Coins) for DSiWare.
While many people will tell you that Mario Party 3 is the best game on the N64 any Mario Party game is good to have when you’re looking for a good party game to play with friends or family. I don’t know anything about the Art Academy software.
Con-soul Searching: Is Skin Tight Alright?
Perhaps it’s due to my fondness of Metroid but I am a fan of women protagonists in video games. My obsession with Samus is well documented at this point, so y’all get that. What you probably don’t know is I always choose to play as a female character when given the choice. When given the ability to create a character, I will recreate Samus; again, documented. For some reason, I always gravitate to 
female characters in fighting games. You could argue that it’s simply my fondness for the fairer gender but I attribute it to something else. It’s because I like the idea that women can save the world too. I’m not going to get into the societal issues of equality between men and women. That’s far too complex an issue for me. However, I am wondering how something I see as functional others claim as degrading.
In Resident Evil 5, Jill Valentine goes M.I.A. and is presumed dead. Spoiler warning by the way but it turns out she is alive and her mind is being controlled by Wesker. Now while you could delve into the premise that a man is controlling a women and another man has to save her, I’m not going to. Again, that’s a little more complex than I want to get right now. What I am focused on is Jill’s outfit; her Battle Suit. It’s a skin-tight outfit that looks kind of like a wet suit. I imagine it’s supposed to have some special temperature regulating and armor capabilities, but when most people look at it they just see a skin tight suit. Some will argue Jill’s attire is inappropriate and sexist against women. I don’t see it that way. Yes, the outfit does show off her feminine figure but she is an assassin for crying out loud; you can’t put her in a sweater vest, it just wouldn’t fit the situation. Read more…
Go Round – Taz-Mania
I had no idea what to expect when we picked Taz-Mania for this week’s Go Round. Turns out this game is pretty bad. There is really nothing to do and the game never tells you anything. Will and I end up talking about Looney Tunes. It’s weird.
What will Nintendo DLC look like?
One of the big features of this generation has been the dawn of significant paid DLC. Gone are the days of Horse Armour and in have come full expansions to games, offering up new levels and new content to the player. Obviously adding new content to an existing game is nothing new, with Sid Meier’s Civilisation series being a pioneer of offering a selection of new features and enhancements in expansion packs that build upon the original game. What has made the adoption of expansions more prominent in this generation has been the rise of online gaming, and with it, the ability for publishers to deliver patches and new content to the player routinely.
But this easy content delivery system has had its flaws, and has tarnished the reputation of numerous previously faultless series. Dome games are now released in a semi-beta state, with patching work begun as soon as the game goes off to be printed. While it allows an earlier release, early adopters essentially become beta testers, reporting bugs which will be fixed a few weeks down the line. To make matters worse, some developers are releasing games literally half finished, essentially demanding that you buy the DLC at inflated prices to complete the game. Ultimately it makes business sense but the net result is an angry and alienated player. And now Nintendo are joining in. Read more…
SSX Online Pass Details
EA isn’t a company that looks like it will shy away from the recent craze of the online pass. They recently announced that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will include an online pass that unlocks seven quests in the single player campaign. It recently came to light that another EA published game, SSX, is also going to have an online pass, but the details were unclear.
EA has confirmed that there will be an online pass for the upcoming snowboarding game, but that it won’t lock players out of the multi-player portions of the game. Rather, it will unlock the in-game credits that are won while playing the game that allow you to purchase other in-game content. Used players will have to fork over $10 if they want to unlock these credits, which will be banked until the fee is paid.
An EA representative commented on the pass when asked:
“Economy balance makes it possible to unlock all available content and allows you to participate in all event drops across both Explore and Global Events, with credits earned solely in Explore.”
So, Online Passes really look like they are here to stay, but publishers are now going to play with what the pass gives you access to. I’m not a fan of locking single-player content away in any game and this version of the scheme seems to only make it faster to earn the items that you can acquire while playing the game.
Tony’s Time: Is Nintendo Listening In On My Conversations?
In case you missed it last week I posted an article where I said one thing that Nintendo needed to do to turn around some of their financial fortunes was to get people excited about the Wii U. It seemed, at least to me, that they weren’t really doing anything to get people excited about the system. The only thing we really seemed to know about the system was that it was going to have a new controller. Even then we don’t know how many of these new controllers the system will use. Well, over the weekend Nintendo released the details of their latest earnings call and there was a ton of information about not only the Wii U, but the 3DS as well.
The biggest announcement was that of the Nintendo Network. This appears to be the successor to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. A number of details about what the service could entail were also mentioned and they were quite exciting.
Nintendo Announces New 3DS Color
My daughter saw this picture in my email earlier today and freaked out. She’s now attempting to save her money to buy her own pink 3DS.
Nintendo announced today that this new system will hit stores on February 10th for $169.99. In true Nintendo fashion it’s not just pink, but Pearl Pink. According to the company this is the perfect gift for your Valentine this year.
My problem with this system is that’s it’s not purple. When is Nintendo going to release that sexy purple system that they showed off at E3 when they announced the system?
Dragon Quest X Beta Announcements Being Sent Out
Many of the off-air conversations we have when we’re recording the podcast revolve around Shelby and Micah talking about how they live in the wrong country. Japan gets all this cool gaming related stuff that we just don’t get over here in the United States. One of those things that make me wish I lived in Japan is the upcoming Dragon Quest X. The game is coming to Wii and it is going to be one of the biggest online experiences that you’ll get on a Nintendo console.
Japanese gamers were recently able to get signed up to participate in a beta for the game and word is going out now that final preperations are being made for the Japanese Beta of Dragon Quest X. I’ve participated in a few betas over the years, but this was one I really wanted to get into and I just won’t be able to.
The game hasn’t been officially announced for North America just yet, but with the success of the last few games in the franchise it makes total sense that the game will be coming to this continent as well.
Top Story
Reader Feedback
Do you have a favorite Go Round moment? If so let us know so we can include it in the upcoming best of Go Round video for the 100th Go Round celebration.
Friend Code Exchange
The Great Friend Code ExchangeFind Us
