It's a thread! (Games discussion, etc.)

[Moge]

My top 10 for 2019 --

10. Umihara Kawase Fresh!
9. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
8. Link's Awakening

7. Nier Automata
6. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!
5. Silent Hill 3

4. Ninja Warriors Once Again
3. Cuphead

2. Resident Evil 7 -- The franchise has been floundering a bit since Resident Evil 4. While the sequels that followed after were commercial successes, they incorporated less and less horror elements each time. While i enjoyed action RE, it was not why i became a fan of the series. To my surprise Capcom went back to the drawing board with 7 and gave hope to those of us who prefer horror RE, and boy did they deliver. The horror was tense, the action was superb, and the plotwas surprisingly very engaging. Not quite up to Silent Hill but it's a leap for the series.

1. Into the Breach -- This game flashed me back to those halcyon days when i was wholly addicted to Advance Wars. While not exactly the same type of strategy, it incorporated enough elements from AW while at the same time improving the formula in ways i didn't think about. Replayed this game so many times throughout the year thanks in part to the crazy amount of team configurations you can make.


Biggest Disappointment 2019 -- Octopath Traveler
Runner-Up -- Travis Strikes Again

Most Wanted 2020 -- Deadly Premonition 2
Panzer Dragoon
The Good Life
Moon Remix RPG Adventure
Streets of Rage 4
Resident Evil 3
Trials of Mana
Xenoblade Chronicles Remaster
Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
Bravely Default 2
No More Heroes 3
Final Fantasy VII
Breath of the Wild 2
Cotton Reboot
Ganbare Goemon 2 fan translation

[JG]

A couple of other games from last decade that are due some review:

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
2013: 3DS
I liked that it was a direct sequel to Link to the Past, and a lot of Hyrule/Lorule was identical to LTTP's Hyrule so that it felt like a nice homage to the earlier classic.  The 3D effects helped, especially when falling down holes. But I wasn't too fond of the tool rental experience. I realize it gave some more open-ended gameplay by letting you explore where you want but with only one of the items, not a pair that were usually required to get to more advanced places. I think I prefer the more classical approach of earning tools as you go along, despite being more linear. The 2D merging into walls was a little weird, and I only found it used well for doing things we'd already seen in Paper Mario games, like squeezing through cracks in the wall. Overall, the switch-to-2D thing was done much better by Super Mario Odyssey. But I probably should have given this an honorable mention though as its probably the number 27. It's good, just not good enough.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
2009: DS (Android and IOS in 2015)
I had to disqualify this because I'd played an hour or two of fan-translated SNES version on emulator back around 2000 or 2001. But it certainly would have made it into the 5-10 range otherwise. This is my second favorite Dragon Quest game, behind only the excellent DQ IV: Chapters of the Chosen. The monster recruitment is a little goofy, but its mostly optional so I skipped it where I could and stayed with a mostly human party. With three brides to choose from each with different characteristics (warrior, magician, balanced) and different dialogue for each, it gives some nice replay value for those interested. In my opinion DQ5 also has the best standard battle music of the series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETRpiz734Sw) [others have better boss music though.] In most RPGs I get tired of battle music before halfway through the game (some, much earlier) but this one has the right amount of pep and variety to keep the juices flowing. Unfortunately real cartridges of the game in English are unicorn rare - a mere 60,000 in North America and 70,000 in Europe were ever made (despite selling over a million cartridges in Japan and over 6 million plus that the game as now sold across all systems and digitally.) It took me over six years to find a copy (without box or manual though), finally playing it for real in late 2015. If you come across a cartridge at reasonable price, consider buying it as an investment just because of its extreme rarity and series popularity, which outside of Japan is on an upswing of late thanks to remakes of 7 and 8, the new 11, and the recent Heroes and Builders spinoffs.

[Moge]

My top ten for the '10s --

10. Resident Evil 7
9. Wii Sports Resort
8. The Last Window

7. Into the Breach
6. Mario Kart 8
5. Nier

4. Gunpoint
3. OutRun
2. Deadly Premonition

1. Splatoon -- Between the first and second Splatoon i've racked up over 2000 hours. You could say i developed an addiction, and only just recently (a few months ago) did i finally break from it. The visuals and rockin' jpop-like themes are fantastic, and the motion-controlled aiming combined with traditional 3rd-person movement offers a level of precision that's been almost exclusive to mouse and keyboard after all these years.

[JG]

Grrr. The Series X controllers are going to feature the same moulded shoulder trigger shape that the One controllers have. This has led to a lot of mistriggers in the past, where I mean to press LT/RT and hit LB/RB or both by mistake. Sony and Nintendo still (appropriately) put some space between the shoulder triggers so much less likely to hit both in error.  Almost always need two fingers to activate both triggers on PS4 and Switch, but Microsoft's design makes it possible with one. I appreciate the added texturing, but c'mon guys - stop making me reload in games when I mean to fire. Given the announcement that the new controllers are going to be about 10 percent smaller, this is only going to make the problem worse for my giant hands.

[Moge]

Can't say the shoulder button distance has ever bothered me. While i don't own a XBO, i do however own a XBO S controller that i use for fighting games. Modified mine to use Elite parts --



Definitely like what i'm seeing with the upcoming Series X controller. Lower latency and lower power usage are very much welcome features. Now if it had a gyro it would be perfect, but i guess i'll have to stick with the Procon and Dualshock for that. Been having a blast lately playing Resident Evil 2 with gyro aiming; i'd rather not go back to analog stick aiming if gyro's available (technically RE2 doesn't have it, but Steam has a feature to hack it in).

[Moge]

Well that PS5 tech reveal was really something. Definitely was not for the laymen, but i appreciate Sony had the nads to stream an extremely technical conference.

Seems the Series X has an edge in raw graphical performance over the PS5, while the PS5's advantage is that it can read data a bit faster off of the harddrive.

[JG]

while the PS5's advantage is

Games.

Games. Games. Games. Games. Games. And more games.

Xbox One had the edge over PS4 as well, and it still got thoroughly trounced because of the wide disparity in exclusive quality games. I have seen Microsoft make no plans to change this situation for the Series X, and it's in clear position to finish behind PS5 and Switch. I don't care about the technical specs - it just looks like more of the same Xbox One disaster to me. They need major exclusives on the 2-4 month timeframe the Switch and PS4 get, not one every 12-18 months they've given during the One's sorry lifetime. And they aren't ramping up to that speed when they get no help from the Japanese.

If I was Microsoft, I'd be sitting across the table from SquareEnix's board of directors, asking them how much money they need to get Dragon Quest XII finished in just 18 months, in exchange for console exclusivity. It's going to take a game of that magnitude in Japan to reverse Microsoft's terrible image there: so bad that the Xbox One is sold as a Blu Ray player, not a game machine. In the March 8 - March 14 week, Nintendo sold 57,726 Switches and 1,393 3DSs/2DSs in Japan, Sony sold 14,499 PS4s, while Microsoft sold just 53 Xbox Ones. That can't be repeated with the Series X, and yet, what makes anyone think it won't?

Also, Switch, and Wii before it, proved that graphical performance is not at all related to sales.

[JG]

Today's pseudo-E3 replacement Nintendo Direct was a pretty big let down.  https://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/03-26-2020/ if you haven't seen it.


Today's video was hyped to show off what Nintendo was planning to bring to the November-December timeframe to compete with the Series X and PS5 launches - assuming they both still meet their launch timeframes as well.  Namely, all the rumors had pointed to the Breath of the Wild sequel (and its subtitle) to be spotlighted with a November or early December release date. Plus news about Metroid Prime 4, Pikmin 4, and either a late 2020 port of either Super Mario Sunshine or Super Mario 3D World or a 2021 preview of a new Mario-centric game, with a Paper Mario game being named a few places. I saw one site hint Mario Kart 9, but I find this extremely unlikely with MK Tour recently adding multiplayer support. And as I last reported, its time to put a stop to the Paper Mario games as bad as they have been the last several outings.

It was mostly remakes and ports of older games, a few indie eshop releases, and DLC updates for Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Pokémon, and news of a delay in the next Smash Bros character release (to June) but did identify the character as being one of the fighters from ARMS (but  didn't say which one.)

Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition set for May 29 is going to come with an epilogue chapter, which at least makes it somewhat intriguing, having already bought it twice already. But its a strong must-buy if you never played the Wii or 3DS versions. It's one of the best RPGs I've ever played. Loot heavy but otherwise absolutely fantastic.

Its going to have competition with Bioshock, Borderlands, and Xcom2 collections all arriving same day.  Bioshock is getting a little long in the tooth but all three games in the series are great. If it comes in at $40 or less I'd recommend it for those that missed them the first time around. The other two collections don't move me as much.

Bravely Default 2 is one of the few games covered that's farther out in the future than June. Looks a helluva lot better than it did at E3, which looked like it was running on 3DS hardware.  Can now see sharper graphics, smooth animations, and even some voice-acting. I like the idea of having both a main job and subjob - the whole single job class system has been overdone. Didn't put a release date so still sometime late 2020, but did say demo was available today.

One minor thing that caught my attention and probably overlooked by most others: News of impending Star Wars Episode I Pod Racer into eshop to join the new Jedi Academy game is a strong hint that the N64 Classic isn't coming anytime soon. That's one of the premiere games that certainly would have been included and makes little sense to put it in eshop if a N64 Classic as indeed in the works.

[Moge]

I was pleased with the Direct overall. If you were expecting AAA game announcements in a "mini" Direct then lower those expectations

Glad i held off on replaying Xenoblade. Had a strong itch to replay it with the fan made HD texture mod, but now i can play a version with a bit more content and a shiny new graphical style. One thing that does concern me is that Melia's English VO likely won't be returning; apparently she's hit the big time on British television.

I never got to play Bioshock, although i had a strong desire to play it back in the day when it was making waves. If i ever do play it i'll just nab the PC version on the cheap.

Played a bit of the Bravely Default demo, and can confirm it'll probably be a day 1 purchase for me. The soundtrack is pure bliss to my ears with the composition team from the first game back on board. Don't think the demo is especially friendly to noobs with the amount of information it doesn't bother explaining, but as a series vet i can appreciate it not hand-holding me too much.

Most impressive game for me in the Direct is Ninjala, the Splatoon rip-off. Looks very promising, and i'm looking for something to fill that hole of a fun multi-player game ever since Splatoon 2 became stale to me. Being free-to-play does concern me, but i'll hold off judgment when it's finally playable.

[JG]

I was pleased with the Direct overall. If you were expecting AAA game announcements in a "mini" Direct then lower those expectations

Glad i held off on replaying Xenoblade. Had a strong itch to replay it with the fan made HD texture mod, but now i can play a version with a bit more content and a shiny new graphical style. One thing that does concern me is that Melia's English VO likely won't be returning; apparently she's hit the big time on British television.

I never got to play Bioshock, although i had a strong desire to play it back in the day when it was making waves. If i ever do play it i'll just nab the PC version on the cheap.

Played a bit of the Bravely Default demo, and can confirm it'll probably be a day 1 purchase for me. The soundtrack is pure bliss to my ears with the composition team from the first game back on board. Don't think the demo is especially friendly to noobs with the amount of information it doesn't bother explaining, but as a series vet i can appreciate it not hand-holding me too much.

Most impressive game for me in the Direct is Ninjala, the Splatoon rip-off. Looks very promising, and i'm looking for something to fill that hole of a fun multi-player game ever since Splatoon 2 became stale to me. Being free-to-play does concern me, but i'll hold off judgment when it's finally playable.

Well it wasn't supposed to be a mini until the day of launch.  Since they hadn't done one in many months, the assumption was full-sized. It was nearly full-sized length, just weak on content.

All the Xenoblade voice staff is British.  Frankly I found the voice of Shulk (the main character) most annoying British sounding. I thought Melia's high-Victorian style of British kind of appropriate for her character. Can't really explain it without spoilers. XBC2 is better voiced, but its so god annoyingly long (250+ hours).  XBC1 is more appropriately sized in the 100-120 hour range and doesn't really have a dull spot.

Yeah if you can get Bioshock cheap for any platform, its worth it. Any of the three really. 2 is actually a pretty good game, but the story isn't as strong as 1 and Infinite, which are mind-blowing quality stories.

I still need to play the Bravely Default Demo 2.  I figured I've got plenty of time with FF7 and Trials of Mana on the near horizon.  The web reviews say it looks good but is very difficult for a demo.

[JG]

I realize its got new graphics and sound, an expanded story and whatnot, but if the original FF7 weighed in at 1.5 GB, and the Remake covers only the first sixth of the story (Midgar events) and tops 100 GB, its hard to say there isn't a fair bit of bloatware going on here. I greatly question whether making games this large is in the best interest of gamers - most PS4s spout a 500GB drive and the PS5 doesn't do much better with 825GB. 100GB is just too big for these drives.

[Moge]

The Bravely 2 demo will probably be difficult for anyone who hasn't played a previous entry (or even Octopath). There's so much in there that they don't bother explaining. The difficulty is otherwise pretty fair.

The production values for Remake are off the charts. Not surprised it's over a 100 GB.

[JG]

Were it not for COVID-19 shutting everything down, this is what today may have been like at E3 2020:

* Actual photographs of the PS5 system. We'll see it Thursday, but those would have been out no later than today. Actual pricing might have been saved for the keynote speech this week though.

* First hand experience from players for Xbox Series X and PS5 on the floor. We'd know how things look and felt from independent reviewers, rather than what MS and Sony are willing to tell us or show us.  These would likely be Xbox One and PS4 games (like Cyberpunk or Last of Us 2) souped up for the X/PS5 specs to show off the difference, with a smattering of X/PS5-exclusive demos.  I would expect the fast loading times of the PS5 over PS4 to be more impressive to reviewers than the graphics upgrades of either console. Halo 6 would be playable, but likely only on the Series X to put it in the best light possible.

* Paper Mario Origami King and the Pokémon DLC would be playable on Nintendo's floor. And possibly a few more games, such as Bravely Default 2. Whatever they've got planned for holiday season would probably be the focus and floor theme, not Origami King or the Pokémon DLC, neither of which seem strong enough to me as the floor theme. I don't know if this would be the so-called "Legend of Zelda: Dark Tombs" game (though I maintain Catacombs of Darkness is a far superior title translation) or the rumored Super Mario Odyssey sequel (which I'd like to see named "Super Mario Galactic Odyssey".)  Or maybe something else like a Donkey Kong game or Mario compilation to celebrate the 35th anniversary. I don't think we'd see Metroid Prime 4 Tuesday or Wednesday. Nintendo would save its big surprises for Thursday anyhow. I'd expect the next Smash Bros player (from ARMS) to have been announced today though.

* Sega would probably announce when and where to find their Game Gear Micro for the holidays. I don't think the announcement would go over so well. I think it needs to be reworked for western audiences (i.e., one unit with 16 games)

* All the major third parties would be announcing their big ticket games for the next year today, with the indie groups taking over Wednesday.

[JG]

I know Sony said they were skipping E3 before the virus wiped out everyone else, but imagine if E3 had taken place this week and right in the middle of day two, Sony announces they WON'T be showing the PS5 this week at all. Instead, only a few videos of games we already know to be on Series X and naming some future exclusive titles (which may or may not have videos)

This would utterly undermine the PS5 versus the Series X. And yet this is exactly the gameplan Sony is executing.

These continued delays continue to reinforce the rumor that Sony is having a very difficult time either controlling the cost, or ensuring enough component supply (or both) to ensure a worldwide holiday season launch. If it comes $50 or $100 higher than Series X AND misses the holiday launch window, that's a disaster. Its getting to the point where they may have to settle for at least one to keep a bad situation from getting worse and they need to start telling retailers which its going to be so they can get marketing underway. Sony has handed Microsoft a huge lead in the marketing race; everyone knows what it looks like, how it functions, and what its launch hook game is (Halo) - all that's missing is price. At some point, Sony's got to realize you can't spring all this on retailers at the last minute. Sega did this with the Saturn, and being both badly overpriced and severely underavailable (as PS5 may be), the announcement backfired dramatically with numerous retailers refusing to even sell the thing. I don't think retailers are going to jump ship on PS5, but if they aren't going to get as many as they want, or it isn't arriving by early December, they're not going to heavily market it for holiday season while the Series X is.

[JG]

Sony did show the PS5 console late in their reveal event.  Said they wouldn't, but maybe had their hand forced by retailers and reviewers who'd had enough of this dance.

No price (obviously), but fired a shot across Microsoft's bow with the Digital version, which probably comes in lower than Series X price while normal version comes in higher (as rumored). Xbox One S Digital Edition didn't do so hot in stores though, so maybe this is merely a means to deliver a sub-$500 unit for Christmas. It certainly looks better than the normal version with its bulbous BluRay drive sticking out the side. Sony's in a lot of trouble if the Digital version isn't at least priced to match Series X though. Don't want to see a $500 Series X, $550 PS5 Digital, and $650 PS5 Standard.

Of the 25 games shown, most gave no release date or specified 2021.  I counted just four announcing 2020 date: Spiderman: Miles Morales, JETT: The Far Shore, Godfall, and Bugsnax, though Hitman III pegged itself to January while no other 2021 gave a clearer idea. (Pragmata even declared itself for 2022.)  A Spiderman sequel is a strong launch title. The Master Chief has some competition this Christmas.

Turned off a bit by two games following the "Groundhog Day" / "die and reborn next morning" mechanic though - both Returnal and Deathloop incorporate this element. Too many games with the "decayed future, need to bring back green life" (aka WALL-E) storyline as well. I think Sony should have shown fewer games, with more focus on each so these similar ones don't get confused with each other.

This is it if you missed the video or don't want to bother watching it all. They look big to me.  At least as big, if not bigger than the original Xbox One, and much larger than the original PS4 (or even PS3). No pictures of it being set on side, but it looks more able to do so than Series X. It should still fit into television console tables on its side while Series X will be waiting on a Slim redesign to do same.

[Moge]

Decent game line-up, weird system design. Being a stream it was hard to tell how much the games improved over last gen. Out of all the games shown, Rachet might have been the most obvious - lots of crazy particle effects, shiny raytraced surfaces, and a steady framerate.

Breathed a sigh of relief when they confirmed the DualSense has a gyro inside of it. The Dualshock 4 has served me very well over the past few years as my go-to pad on PC. I don't normally play shooters, but using gyro aim in games like Resident Evil 2 and 7 has made playing those games exponentially more fun than using plain old analog. The touchpad too has been a game changer when navigating the desktop or in a point and click adventure.

Most interesting games of the PS5 reveal --

8. Kena: Bridge of Spirits
7. Miles Morales
6. Stray
5. Project Athia
4. Demon's Souls
3. Resident Evil 8
2. Little Devil
1. Ghostwire

Don't think i like the system design. I see some prefer it over the XboxSX. Not me. I like the simplicity of the SX, although it's still too damn big (not that i would prefer to sacrifice power for size).

[JG]

The touchpad too

Best feature of the Dualshock 4.  Wii U and Switch obvious didn't need such a pad, but I was shocked to see the Series X controller not introduce some kind of feature for quick on-screen pointing. Especially given Microsoft's well-known obsession with mouse pointing in Windows. Missed opportunity.

I think the Ratchet & Clank game was most impressive as well.  I've never payed one in the series, but this preview was neat.  I liked the Halo-borrow of having NPCs ooh and awe when the heroes pass by them.  And real gameplay, too.  Not so fond of previews that only show captured motion video.  Fine when you're doing a surprise or first look (Breath of the Wild sequel), and it may sound silly, but if you're showing off the power of new hardware, you need to show off the power of the new hardware. FMV is old hat, and may not even be rendered on the same hardware (a major complaint of earlier PlayStation games whose commercials looked a lot better than actual games.)

If you get to do those massive jumps to move through the terrain, that Project Athia might be a winner, too.

Spiderman: Miles Morales looks to be the biggest seller for first few months, based on the masterpiece that was the first game. At least until RE8 and Horizon come along.

I liked the edgy plot of Deathloop. Might have some fun dialogue if its voiced as much as the demo seemed to be.

Somewhat surprising that in 25 games, not one of them was FF7 Remake Act 2. This tells me the game is much further downstream than expected (2022.)  I just can't imagine why one of your strongest future exclusives wouldn't be shown, if it were running same engine as Act 1 and therefore should have *something* to show.

The console design is getting mocked. Clearly not so popular.  I've seen it compared to a duck's bill, a Linksys wireless router, a floor standing air conditioner, a white ring binder, and even the Barclays Center.  Perhaps the most damning though, an original Xbox 360, given the offset hourglass shape and white exterior. If your design reminds people of your competitors product, that's not good. I've also seen someone remark that the inset fan design at the corner, with white tabs protruding beyond it will be prone to dust collection and that this is a sign that Sony chose aesthetics over proper cooling design (something Microsoft went all-in on.)  I think the digital looks striking but the normal looks goofy with its drive bulge (as if the designers didn't really want to put a drive in the expected location.)  I've seen a few photos sitting on its side now though which gives me some relief - at least I now know where I can put it while the Series X still confounds me as to how I'll be able to connect it near my TV without another table.

[Moge]

Word on the vine was that Final Fantasy XVI was originally going to debut but it got cut out at the last minute. Whether that's true or not, Square has a notorious reputation with announcing games too early. Perhaps they've wised up and will wait to announce their games at a more appropriate time.

An odd omission in the PS5 reveal was the lack of any fighting games. Combined that with the fact there's only one USB and USB-C port, i get the feeling Sony isn't taking the fighting scene seriously this time around. Of course there could be some USB ports on the back we don't know about.

[JG]

Word on the vine was that Final Fantasy XVI was originally going to debut but it got cut out at the last minute. Whether that's true or not, Square has a notorious reputation with announcing games too early. Perhaps they've wised up and will wait to announce their games at a more appropriate time.

An odd omission in the PS5 reveal was the lack of any fighting games. Combined that with the fact there's only one USB and USB-C port, i get the feeling Sony isn't taking the fighting scene seriously this time around. Of course there could be some USB ports on the back we don't know about.

Some SquareEnix teams anyway.  Final Fantasies get announced way too early. (FF7 Remake announcement was about 5 years before they had anything to even show.)  This Avengers game seems to be have been too early, too and has gotten mixed up with Spider-Man (from Insomniac Games.)  Meanwhile the Dragon Quest games usually never announce anything until they have Toriyama's character designs to show off and maybe some screenshots. DQ12 already announcing by writer, but not officially by SquareEnix that I'm aware of.

Original PS4 has no USB ports on back - and badly needed them given the need to recharge controllers via unattractive USB cable sticking out the front. I don't know about Slim or Pro. So no certainty that PS5 has them either, though the case is so humongous that there's certainly room for them.  If not, one USB-A and one USB-C should be enough. Can use adapters to change one type to another or splitters to create one port into multiple - controllers wouldn't use full USB bandwidth anyway. Nor flash drives. The expansion drive is supposed to have a dedicated port on the back of the unit, rather than being USB-based. (It's probably an eSATA-derived port that Sony has modified to be proprietary so they can make extra money selling expansion drives.)

Now that you mention it, you're right there was no Tekken game or anything like that in the preview. But I really haven't seen too many fighting games of late since Super Smash Bros Ultimate arrived. Maybe Mortal Kombat 11 and Dragon Ball FighterZ are the only ones with any advertising I've seen. I know they're still making Street Fighters, DOAs, Soul Calibers and Capcom/SNK/Marvel games, too, but they're all second bananas selling in the 3-5 million range (compared to Smash Bros 19+ million.) Frankly I don't think 3-4 million is all that impressive for 20+ year old fighting franchises if newcomer ARMS can make it over the 2 million threshold.

Time for Microsoft to show off for Series X games beyond Halo 6 and Forza. Don't need 25 like Sony's presentation, but need to know what 2021 holds as far as exclusives. I have a feeling Series X will do very well between release and Christmas Eve, but then its sales will level off while PS5 sales continue to climb, unless the price difference between the two is much greater than expected (i.e., $150 difference or larger.)

I'd really like a new Nintendo Direct (even a Mini) to tell us what they've get in store this winter as well.  Xenoblade Chronicles and the collections for Borderlands, XCOM and Bioshock all just launched which I think were the furthest out titles from the March Mini with definitive release dates. Paper Mario: Origami King is just over the horizon (July 17) and they haven't dropped a Direct for it yet, which they do for almost all their first party games. Nor have they told us what is remaining on the 2020 calendar besides Bravely Default II (which isn't anywhere strong enough to compete with the PS5 and Series X launches.)  Where's that Super Mario 3D World Deluxe or Super Mario 3D compilation that was rumored for the 35th anniversary?  What's the Christmas season hook? BOTW2, Prime 4, something else? Some advertising for the Lego Mario series and Super Nintendo World at Universal Japan would help flush it out to a full-sized Direct, too. I'm hoping the wait for the Direct is because of the pending Super Nintendo World reveal, but they can't delay it too much longer with the Origami King release in a month. The Directs are usually a couple of weeks in advance of a game's release so if ones coming its got to be in the next two to three weeks.

[JG]

Moge: That Splatoon-style Ninjala game from the last Nintendo Direct is supposed to be out today. Let us know your thoughts if you're giving it a go.

Also, now we really are to the point where Bravely Default II is the last thing on the horizon from last Direct Mini. I really expected a new Direct or Direct Mini by the time the Pokémon DLC launched, and now that's a week in the past, along with the Fighter Pass addition (Min-Min) that's been announced in the last few days, too. Backdoor announcing the fighter spells bad news that we might not get a Direct before Origami King launches - to my knowledge every other fighter was first revealed in a Direct. Still got a few weeks before Origami King, but two of things that could have been brought up in a Direct are no longer surprises.  Curious missteps from the Nintendo marketing department that's usually pretty good about promoting their stuff.

And Microsoft really hasn't replied to Sony's announcements of better looking games, new user interface, a larger launch set, and cheaper digital model. Xbox unit is dragging their feet, too.