Haywired

Considering many people complain that the genuine Pokemon sequels aren't any different from the previous ones, direct sequels seem pretty unnecessary.

@CrashMan
Well said! I don't know why Nintendo fans (who, along with Nintendo themselves, have been highly critical of DLC up until now) think this is such good news...

I'm sure Nintendo will do it right, but generally I'm not keen on them following others into DLC. It seems like the kind of guff that Nintendo should offer an alternative to rather then being a part of, to adhere to their philosophy of simplicity and accessibility (in fact only just recently they claimed to be anti-DLC). I know it's all optional, but as someone who likes to play more than one game rather than being tied to one single game forever, I really don't see the point of DLC, of a game that never bloody ends. Games have more than enough content these days and there are more than enough games on the market. How can people think it isn't enough?

It also segregates the audience of a game as now everyone has different experiences of it depending on which if any of the DLC they have. Instead of a complete game, a finished piece of work, it's now just a load of different bits. Oh well, maybe I'm just too much of a purist for my own good...

At the risk of putting a downer on this news (and I'll probably get crucified), I worry that they're releasing too many Mario games of late. Super Mario is my favourite franchise, but I don't want them to churn out too many in quick succession and lead to overkill (Sonic...), burn-out is death for franchises. It seems to have become a yearly release of late (something that other franchises are always criticized for). Having to wait for a new game (like we have for a new main Mario entry in the past) is a good thing, it makes it all the more special when it arrives. I don't have 3D Land yet because I've played a Mario every year for the past four, I've only just played the last one and I haven't built up a hunger for a new one yet (and by the time I do, they'll be another 3DS one and a Wii U one). I could understand if 3D Land bombed, but it's selling really well, so I am surprised by this announcement, particularly so soon. 3D Land could very well sell throughout the 3DS' life like NSMB DS did, in which case I don't see why they need to rush out another on the console.

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.

Well that's a relief... Thought the 3DS was starting to take its toll!

Yeah, the shoehorning in of Motion controls is what I feared about this game from the start. I can understand they'll want to use as much of it as possible to justify the MotionPlus (especially as this is going to be the Wii's swansong), but I think they're going to get incredibly annoying. They seem to have basically crowbarred all of Wii Sports Resort's controls into a Zelda game, but while they may be fine for Wii Sports Resort, Zelda is an epic adventure game, I can see them getting pretty tiresome. Like having to make an actual full-on bow and arrow mime every time you want to use the bow. Pretty clunky and jarring. Not intuitive because it's slow and cumbersome and not immersive because it puts the focus on actions you're perfoming outside the game environment rather than the actions taking place within the game environment. Good, intuitive, immersive controls should be unnoticeable, I don't see how motion controls can be.

I think the 3D on the 3DS is an incredibly impressive effect, but I haven't really felt that it's added anything to the games that I've played. In fact, I've found it quite distracting, always noticing it (therefore not immersive). On its fullest setting I don't like it at all, it's blurry and the colors aren't as bright. I generally keep it on a low setting or off. When you turn it off you can almost feel your eyes let out a sigh of relief.

So yeah, amazing technology, but such a strangely pointless and superficial gimmick to base a whole console around and especially name it after (it will surely be an albatross around its neck). Then with the (whether true or not) potential risks to kids' eyesight and all the other cautions you wonder whether it was really all worth it. I mean it actually says in the official warnings: "Please refrain from using the 3D feature while travelling as a passenger in cars or on public transport." It's a portable console!

@Boiglenoight Darkstar
Twilight Princess is an amazing game. Probably my second favorite Zelda after OoT. I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's sad that there's been a backlash against it, but that often seems to happen. It usually rights itself in time when there's something newer to criticize and compare to an older version. My only criticisms would be that I found the Wii waggling for sword-swinging a bit annoying and that perhaps it was a bit dark visually for a Zelda. But overall I loved it. I would say that (alongside Metroid Prime) it's the most immersive game I've ever played . In the sense that the world was so beautifully realised and atmospheric that I look back on playing it almost as if I was actually there.

@Vcize
It seems that it's going to be. It's in the official logo and official literature from what I've seen and it's probably a bit late in the day to change it now. I'm surprised because Nintendo doesn't usually go for the numbered sequel. Perhaps they intended to rename it Mario Kart 3D, but as they're apparently now playing down the 3D aspect of the console, they just kept it as Mario Kart 7.