Comment by Stephen East on March 5, 2013 at 5:06am

cannot say i am keen on the wii u as it stands just appears mostly multiformat games which i can play on my xbox or pc anyway however give a price cut and more importantly some great system exclusive games (metroid/zelda/starfox/3d mario etc).

Always puzzles me about system launches i mean how hard can it be to have at least 5 triple aaa system exclusive games at launch

Comment by Nicolás Viegas Palermo on March 5, 2013 at 5:22am

Hey stephen, as a matter of fact it could be really hard to have as much as 5 AAA games at launch. considering the fact that they tend to take many years of development and console hardware is not usually locked in until about a year or maybe 8 months before entering production cycle, then suddenly you have only let's say 6 months since you as a developer get a 'final' version of the console to fine tune a lot of stuff and since system development kits have embargoes themselves, you can't share or ask for specific knowledge on stuff related to the system in forums or support pages until the manufacturer says so.
There's a lot of bureaucracy involved as well as the actual "not knowing the hardware" excuse.

Comment by Stephen East on March 5, 2013 at 5:45am

yeah probably wishful thinking on my part oh one thing in this episode i thought i should touch upon always online connections.Ignoring the fact that where i am the connection is not reliable so like diablo is sometimes painful to play in places i did wonder if always online becomes the norm would that kill the idea of games being retro.Like for example that new sim city would i still be able to play it in 10 years time  ?

Comment by Mishiko Bjalava on March 5, 2013 at 6:21am

Awesome intro Brent.

Comment by Rowan - AzureCantabile on March 5, 2013 at 6:27am

Haven't got much to say, but some advice for Brent: Don't bother saving ANY of your golden keys for 50, since the probability of good drops isn't that high, and by the time you hit 50, players give away and share/clone level 50 legendaries so often that anything from the golden chest is redundant by that point. Just spread out the keys you have and try to cash one or two in every 5 levels or so. By the time you hit 50, you're going to be at the point where you can and probably should be turning up your nose at anything less than an orange drop. (Then again it's gonna take multiple playthroughs on true vault hunter and the DLC if you care to hit 50 anyway.)XD

Comment by Fluent on March 5, 2013 at 9:00am

Wow, I never noticed any bandwith issues, but if this is the new service it's flying.

Comment by Aussie Legend on March 5, 2013 at 10:36am

Hey all. The WiiU is in an interesting spot at the moment. It was both long overdue considering that the lineup of Wii games for the few years leading up to its release continued to drop in both number and quality (except for Xenoblade), and at the same time seemingly rushed out to get as many units into as many living rooms before the big boys really begin to blow the roof off things with 'the assault on the living room' (PS4, 720, Steambox, OUYA, Gamestick, blah blah blah). I don't think the first party software was remotely ready hence why we haven't seen any bloody games for the thing as of yet. The fact that the Playstation Vita, which many (myself included) to be a pretty rapidly dieing platform at this point, outselling it at some point this year (don't remember when off the top of my head). When the bloody PSVita is beating you, you know you're not doing a particularly effective job, and I'd argue that the PSVita has a far superior lineup to the WiiU at the moment.

Its a combination of problems I feel. As I mentioned above the first party stuff just isn't there at the moment, yes apparently its coming but that doesn't do Nintendo any favours in the short-term, and considering Nintendo gamers are the types to buy a system for one great game they better fast track these ASAP. I also have to wonder after hearing those reports of all this third party support leading up to the launch what happened. Save for maybe Ubisoft we haven't seen anyone step up to the plate yet. Let's take a look at the big third party releases this year. DMC? Not on the WiiU. Tomb Raider? Not on WiiU. Bioshock Infinite? Not on WiiU Dead Space 3? Not on WiiU. Crysis 3? Okay well that was on the WiiU but Nintendo and EA didn't care enough to pony up money for it to materialize for the consumer. It does highlight a rather poignant... point, the fact that the third party isn't as strong as was claimed and perhaps promised (obviously some of these could have been a little too far in development for a WiiU port to be feasible, but you get my sentiment). Obviously issues like built in fanbases within the Microsoft, Sony and PC families with third party franchises also play a part (like who the hell would have bought Mass Effect 3 on the WiiU? Now really) as well as ensuring that the fanbase stays strong with your brand and shifts over to the more heavy third party focused platforms.

I have always greatly enjoyed Nintendo's products all the way from the SNES to the Gamecube (the Wii had a few standouts, but much fewer than previous consoles) including both big series (like Zelda and Metroid) and smaller ones (like Fire Emblem and Mother). But third party support is not something I expect of a Nintendo console, and honestly isn't something that I feel is overly important. Its first party software that people buy Nintendo's for (and fitness machies if WiiFit was anything to go by, but I digress). The fact that they keep being either striving to be or put up by others against Microsoft and Sony is a bit of a false dichotomy, considering their typical target demographic, style and their inspiration for innovation. I've said this many times, Nintendo are a hardware innovator not a software innovator (hence why you get 3 2D Mario's a year). Nintendo would be better served to not try and ape the other two consoles and go off and do its completely own thing. The WiiU isn't giving me Dreamcast company destroying vibes, but Gamecube "meh we have a few good games but nothing too special" vibes. Nothing company destroying, but Nintendo better think long and hard with which part of the industry they want to venture towards next, because the "wanting to please everyone but pleasing no one" is a very apt observation at this time.

For what I've been playing, just to purposely piss Lorin off, I've beat Tomb Raider already considering the game has been on sale here since last Friday :P

Comment by Fluent on March 5, 2013 at 10:40am

On the subject of Nintendo, I do agree that they are in a tight spot right now. Also Lorin, you forgot "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line." I do however think that Nintendo's problem is a problem of marketing.

To begin, Nintendo has not really had to work very hard at marketing for a long time, they have been a household name with a very loyal fanbase. That creates a strong word-of-mouth culture which I think has sustained them pretty well. Even the "Wii" as a console name is not terribly brilliant other than it's safe trademarkability. That said, the Wii was an easy concept to get instantly as a console. You move the controllers in the air with your hand, that makes stuff move in the game.

The WiiU is just not as simple, and as such they need a really clever, simple, yet informative ad campaign to really sell the potential of the system. And really that's in asymmetric multiplayer. I also think that they need to be more aware of how they can use their existing properties to fill that app-centric gamer needs as well as keep existing gamers interested.

As for Pachter the Analyst, I'll paraphrase John Goodman in Argo: "You can train a Rhesus Monkey to be an analyst in a day."

Comment by FrankeeNL on March 5, 2013 at 12:39pm

I think Lorin raised an interesting point regarding the pricing of games with Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2. It has always baffled me that a game like, say, Skyrim with its hundreds of hours of game play and ridiculous amount of content, and a game like Mortal Kombat, which is still basically just two characters facing each other in a really tiny environment both cost about 50/60 bucks. That makes no sense to me. That’s kind of like a new Suzuki Alto costing the same as a new Rolls Royce...

As far as the WiiU is concerned, I think things aren’t shaping up well for the console. I think of myself as a Nintendo fan, but I have absolutely no desire to purchase a WiiU at this present moment. That said, if a year or two from now the system is a bit cheaper, and it has a proper 3d Mario, a Zelda, a Metroid, a Star Fox and, I don’t know, a reboot of the Donkey Kong Country series or something, I will definitely buy one. You know, Uncharted and Halo are nice and all that, but no company has IP’s like Nintendo in my humble opinion. Sadly, I don’t see this happening quite yet, but you know, fingers crossed and what not...

Comment by Christer Lindqvist on March 5, 2013 at 1:12pm

Thank you guys for this weeks show also. Always good to have on the phone with me to work, for my nightshift.:)

Just a line on Tomb RaiderHope you guys will enjoy as much as I have today.

Thus far its been phenomenal! Great story and setting, fun gameplay. As far as am concerned this game is awesome. Yes, the game is kinda violent, but that hasent really bothered me all that much. I thus far felt that it has been more of a "I must defend myself" case every time.

Tip: Lots of little side things to go find around the island as well, so dont rush it.

Am playing it on the PC. And man, does the game shine there. That new hair physics AMD has added just looks spectacular. But also a fps killer. So a rather good rig is needed.

Anyway. Take care and thank you!/Dedicated Swedish listener

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