^ Ah Okay. Yeah what happened was they came up with a new metrosexual-like character model for Cole. It was on the cover of Game Informer, then a few months later they took it to E3 and the general cnosensus was "Hey we want our character back". So after they issued a mea culpa that was basically, "we overthought it" they went back to the old Cole.

He's an ugly bastard with a bad attitude, and I thin kthat was part of why they wanted to change him, but it fits the character, and the character developmetn in the first one was so good, I think that is why they got the reaction they did.

Famitsu reviews

- Ni no Kuni (10/9/9/10, 38 points): It could be argued that Level-5's RPG is the most ambitious Nintendo DS game ever produced -- animation by Ghibli, music by Joe Hisaishi, a fancy book of magic included in the package. Famitsu dug it, certainly. "The animation, music, and story all combine together at a high level to keep the player constantly excited," one of the editors said. "The way the game links up with the book is innovative, and there's a lot of backdrop that allows you to understand the story on a deep level. It's not the light, easy-to-play sort of thing you'd expect with a potable game, but the sheer scope of the project makes it worth the time to play."


Another writer pointed out that "with all the little play gimmicks in the game, it's extremely Level-5 like in design... Not everything is explained very well, but the way you use the magic book makes the game seem like a lot more of an adventure."


- Donkey Kong Country Returns (8/8/8/8, 32 points): Nintendo's latest gets good, if not great, scores, just like it did over here. "It's an orthodox side-scrolling action game," one reviewer began, "but the stages are varied and there are some gimmicks that use the 3D space. The difficulty is set pretty high from the get-go, but the demo-play option can rescue you pretty well -- it would've been nice if there were more checkpoints to start from, though."


The game's high difficulty despite the help probably turned off a couple of the more casual reviewers. "The enemies, tricks, and hidden items are all positioned just so," one said. "It's a very 'game-like' game, and there's enough variety to the stages that you're continually inspired to keep going."


- Need for Speed Hot Pursuit (9/9/9/8, 35 points): For a US-made racer, Famitsu was pretty complimentary. "The graphics and sense of speed are top notch," one editor said. "This game has two modes -- one where you're an illegal racer, and another where you're chasing outlaws as the police -- which really provides two different types of fun. I like all the online functionality, but it's a bit of a shame your cars aren't freely customizable."


Another editor was a bit rougher on the game: "The races themselves are pretty samey, so it's the cool visuals that keep your motivation going. It's a really neat idea for a game, and that makes me wish there was a more detailed story that took advantage of the two very different viewpoints."


- Fuurai no Shiren 5 (9/9/9/8, 35 points): The latest Shiren the Wanderer game, a DS title, received its usual decent set of scores from Famitsu. "In a good way, it's the same old thing when it comes to appealing squarely to hardcore audiences," one editor said. "Despite that, there are a lot of rescue features at your disposal, and inexperienced players can still enjoy things well enough. The game's overall gotten a great deal easier to play, like in the way you can sell items directly from your storehouse now."


"A lot of stuff has been added to the basic formula from the previous game in very seamless fashion," another added. "With that in mind, I think this game might appeal more to beginners than to people who played the last game to the core."

The Analysis on state of Nintendo is interesting (in the updates)

We all know it's in decline, some interesting stuff there.

Gamasutra said:

Over the course of the past year, gamers and the gaming press have written Nintendo off as a company in steep decline; hailed it as the savior of the handheld industry; written it off again (a couple of times, in fact); and called it greedy.


          With Tuesday’s release of the 2010 Black Friday sales figures, the winds have shifted once again and Nintendo is now being called a powerhouse. The latest moniker is, of course, a temporary one – but it begs the question: exactly what is going on with Nintendo these days?


          The answer is anything but simple. This year’s Black Friday numbers were right on pace with 2009 – which turned out to be one of the best holidays on record for the company. Fueled by a September price cut, the company sold over 3 million Wiis in December 2009 and the DS and DSi set sales records.


          So matching those numbers is good, right? Well, yes – but this year’s numbers come amidst serious discounting at retail, meaning the margins likely aren’t as high as a year ago – though that doesn’t in any way lessen the critical nature of the season to Nintendo.

So their Black Friday sales matched 2009, wonder how it will compare to Christmas sales?

gamingeek said:

The Analysis on state of Nintendo is interesting (in the updates)

We all know it's in decline, some interesting stuff there.

So their Black Friday sales matched 2009, wonder how it will compare to Christmas sales?

Sounds like even Gamasutra is guessing a bit, to try and get it a little more negative than it really is. Yeah, there were discounts, but there are discounts for pretty much everything on Black Friday, hence why all purchases jump... It's the whole freaking point. Why isn't anyone saying "yeah so MS sold 2.5 million Kinects but, you know, Black Friday helped a lot, with discounts and stuff!" or whatever? Because it's dumb, that's why. And what about the permanent discounts all three systems have had? I'm sure Nintendo still gains more per sale than both others.

And there's no way to know exactly how many sold were really discounted beyond anecdotal evidence anyway. A Walmart store in Maine for example didn't list any particularly great Wii deals, and even sold the red Wii for 50 bucks over the normal, despite them having the same MSRP and features, outside replacing Wii Sports Resort with New Super Mario Bros Wii instead. Walmart.com didn't have anything really special either, like $10 savings on one older title (like Sonic Unleashed) if you bought it alongside a Wii. I just happen to know this cos an online friend camped out of Walmart to see what she could buy early Friday and I was here comparing the prices she saw to what's available online (phone not very good for browsing), to make sure she's not ripped off. I'm sure other stores, Walmart or not, had legit discounts but let's not pretend they sold 600k Wiis at $99...

It's more the holiday type deal getting people into a shopping frenzy than the actual discounts really, otherwise they could discount it permanently tommorow @ $150 (they will at some point anyway) expecting they'd have this many sales every day at that price. Of course, they wouldn't.

At this point I wouldn't even call Wii's state a decline, just the natural course of any non consumable product. It's apparently slowing down less than PS2 did so, I dunno why everyone's out to prove Wii 2 is coming next week, when Nintendo (not just Reggie, Japan also) have done pretty much everything they could to say they're sticking with it and have plans for more software for it more than anything else. I mean, sure, it's not set in stone but you can't just guess out of nowhere that a new system is coming. This is absurd really. A new system is coming because the Wii slows down? The DS didn't slow down and a new system came anyway. The GameCube and N64 did shit in comparison and still lasted a while. So, whatever really, shit is annoying. Nintendo will launch a system when they want to, not when random "journalists" think so. You don't release a system as a knee jerk reaction, you plan it. They may have one for next year, they may have one for 2-3 years later. We just can't know.

I wish they weren't ever 1st place, we didn't have so annoying shit with the GameCube, everyone just ignored that.

aspro said:

gamingeek said:

Yet another Epic Mickey review that doesn't realise that there is a lock on feature (hold down C). That is 4 big site reviews now, this is just cringe worthy games journalism at this point.

Joystiq review:

"Epic Mickey is a 10+ hour experience oozing charm and built around some fundamentally sound platforming. Amidst the spot-on atmosphere and serious obsession with Disney history, though, lie some pretty detrimental missteps. Specifically, the game's spastic camera, lack of any sort of target lock-on and copious amount of slowdown."

...

If there is lock-on in the game the PR people from Disney Interactive are going to be all over the Review Editors for those organizations.  Is it listed in the instruction manual?

.

I checked this morning and I couldn't spot it in the manual.

Bug is unintentional behaviour, what you said sounds like a design choice.

I'm pretty sure the Gremnlin tells you hold C to lock on at some point. Not that those reviewers read the manual.

No, GG mentioned he encountered a bug then just explained that the game closes off "completed" areas and provides a lesser alternative in case you haven't done some of the bigger tasks there.

Agnates said:

Bug is unintentional behaviour, what you said sounds like a design choice.

I'm pretty sure the Gremnlin tells you hold C to lock on at some point. Not that those reviewers read the manual.

Oh sorry, "bug to bear" is a saying, I didn't mean the game has a bug. It very intentionally closes off levels you have passed. I just don't like it. Some areas are closed whilst others aren't. And sometimes the midway point to a level is open, for instance Ventureland is the middle point to Skull Island - Ventureland remains open, yet Skull Island is closed.

Yet Tomorrow City is closed off for a very long time, though I am about to head back in, but I have a feeling it's for a very specific purpose and I wont be allowed to roam about completing quests.

Picked up Golden Sun today after work!

Will post impressions later!

Robio? Leo? Did you guys pick this up?