Gizmo

Ask. Mine was too lazy to put them out.

Gizmo

Pikmin is really friggin hard.

Gizmo

I would pull my hair out looking for secret menus. The game is tough enough on Day 3.

Michael Corvin

Have you played the other two?

Gizmo

Yes.

This is way harder.

Pikmin had the 30 day limit which I hated, and Pikmin 2 felt a little bit easier. But holy crap is this one tough. I think it's the controls. I miss the C-Stick. I'll need to watch some videos to see how others are playing it. I'm convinced I'm doing something wrong.

I might consider going with the Nunchuck combo and using the Gamepad as a map.

I've yet to play only on the GamePad, but I wonder if I could 'touch' where I want my Pikmin to go. Makes too much sense so I'm going to figure not.

Michael Corvin

Does the right analog not take the place of the c-stick? If not that seems pretty shortsighted.

Adam Tyner

That's how Nintendo had it setup at PAX, reportedly.

Several articles I've seen about the game (USA TODAY; Wired) mention that it plays much better with the Wiimote/nunchuk than with the gamepad.

I've read that it doesn't. (My copy won't get here till tomorrow, so I can't speak from firsthand experience quite yet.)

XavierMike

I'll wait on Pikman until I finish NSMBU and Lego City. I'm finding NMSMBU to be the best of the "new" series.

I went to the GameStop demo of Pikman and your only option was nunchuck/wiimote.

Gizmo

Not on the Gamepad. They have this weird Lock and Charge mode instead.

Supermallet

Wait, they make an overhead isometric view game that requires you to delegate tasks between groups of units and it DOESN'T use the touch abilities of the game pad!?

Gizmo

RiGHT?!?!?

Michael Corvin

And that is on top of bumping the game from the Wii to make use of the WiiU gamepad.

XavierMike

There is an incoming Nintendo Direct tomorrow talking about already announced WiiU and 3DS games. It starts at 7a Pacific.

I'm hoping we get firmware details too.

Lone Wolf

Cloudberry Kingdom is highly addictive.

Gizmo

On Day 10 in Pikmin. Still pretty tough.

Is there any easier way to make two teams? I always have to dismiss the Pokemon, select a new leader, have them whistle a few, and go. Seems like there is an easier way.

Adam Tyner

Lotsa footage from today's Nintendo Direct but not a lot of Wii U news.

3DS / Wii U social integration with Animal Crossing - http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/...ommunity-plaza
Luigi is in both the Wii U and 3DS versions of Super Smash Bros.
Pokemon Rumble U is coming out on the Wii U eShop this month.
Dress up as Mario and Luigi in Rayman Legends.
Local wireless between the 3DS and Wii U versions of Sonic: Lost Worlds.
Super Mario Bros. 3 on the Virtual Console at some point this year.
There's a Wonderful 101 Direct coming this Friday.

XavierMike

Yeah, the footage looked great. The new Zelda looked particularly cool.

slop101

The only WiiU news I'm interested in is the inevitable price-drop and details there of.

Adam Tyner

You'll be waiting a couple more months, probably.

Gizmo

$150 in Canada for the base.

It's cheap plenty of places. Not sure what a price drop will do of you won't buy a deluxe for $350 with $50 gift card. If the Wii U drops it'll probably be $299.

RichC2

$249 for the deluxe Wii U seems likely by the end of the year. IMO at least.

The only system to drop more than $100 in its first price drop was the Saturn (from $399 to $199). The first Price Drops on the Xbox, PS1, PS2 and PS3 were all $100 and generally within a year. Nintendo usually drops by $50 but the Wii U is unusually expensive for them.

Adam Tyner

slop101 is in California, not Canada. Why not point out that it's going for a similar price in New Zealand?

It seems kind of crazy to tout $150 in one breath and then call someone nuts for not wanting to pay $350 (with a $50 giftcard). Even after the gift card, a 100% / $150 difference isn't exactly a rounding error.

Supermallet

Well, that info about Pikmin not using the touch pad drops it from buy today to buy some time down the road. That is total bullshit.

Gizmo

I was just pointing it out incase he wanted to go on eBay etc as they will likely be flooded with them from resellers. Fuck it. Nevermind.

Michael Corvin

Got my Pikmin on tonight.

Never thought this would happen but I drained my gamepad for the first time. 4 whopping hours. I'm currently staring at a "unable to communicate...battery low" screen. Thought I'd be able to turn on the Pro controller and continue on, but nope. Playing with the gamepad while plugged in doesn't do anything either. I'm sitting at 75% through my day and stuck with no way to save. Lesson learned.

As for Pikmin, love it but disappointed at the same time. Love it because it's Pikmin and it's pretty but at it's heart it's a true Nintendo sequel. i.e. it's an evolution of the series on the tiniest scale.

• Turning the second analog into a camera is a mistake. It was far more effective to use it to direct Pikmin. Didn't realize how much I'd miss it until I had the controller in my hand and my brain/reflexes took over like I was playing Pikmin 2 all those years ago.
• It's pretty, but man it could be so much prettier. I want a hyper realistic garden and flowers in gorgeous HD kinda like the cover design.
• Give me more weather effects like rain, snow, wind, etc.
• Fucking text bubbles, text bubbles and more text bubbles.
• As previously mentioned, the gamepad is a waste. Glorified map and inventory screen. You can see a breakdown of where your Pikmin are, and direct your characters but I don't find myself doing that often. It does however work for remote play if that's your thing.
• 11 years and two generations ago it was amazing to see 100 little Pikmin running around carrying bottle caps and whatnot. Fast forward to now adding in widescreen televisions & advanced console tech how many Pikmin can they throw on the screen now? 200? 500? 1,000? Nope. 100.

This game would be the perfect sequel... if it were released 9 years ago on the Gamecube or even on the Wii. As it stands Nintendo has failed to move the series forward an inch but the Pikmin formula is solid as ever. Damn it's so frustrating being a Nintendo fan.

If you go in expecting a nostalgic trip through Pikmin 2 with a few new Pikmin and characters you won't be disappointed. If you're expecting a true next gen sequel that takes advantage of the gamepad, advances in tech, widescreen and HD... well no soup for you.