3DS Catch-all

March was the last window I heard as well, but they haven't said much about it. Wonder if it's going to slip again?

I just got back from a two week trip to Japan and StreetPassing there is a lovely experience. =) I was getting on the order of 50-60 tags per day, with the only limiting factor being how willing I was to pull out the 3DS to clear them. The 10 tag limit actually became really annoying.

Because they were coming fast and furious, I didn't do much Find Mii 2 (takes too long), but I did manage to complete all the puzzle panels. At first I was going to be happy to get all the pink pieces, but when I realized what was possible, I started taking a lot of extra walks. =)

It's funny how much fun I had with that functionality once a critical mass of people was reached. Even in a city like Toronto, I think the most tags I ever got in a day was 3 (and that was a BANNER DAY), which made the whole thing an exercise in getting Play Coins and totally pointless/unwinnable. Granted, even if I was still there, I wouldn't be doing it now since I'm done, but it was a fun ride for a stupid little app that's been on the device since I bought it.

I think some functionality like that could make tagging in a game like The World Ends with You a lot more fun than it was. Of course, now I'm back in Toronto, it kind of doesn't matter.

Thanks for that, necroyeti. I think we tend to forget how much geographic and cultural differences influences what games / systems are popular. Monster Hunter on the PSP was my first aha moment in that regard. It made complete sense that if the game was popular and you could easily find people to play with then something like that could take off. The US equivalent would be Call of Duty because we tend to be spread out, etc. Nevermind how many people play games, even in our most dense cities. I've been to New York with a 3DS and never seen that level of tagging.

Yeah, no problem! I was shocked since I hadn't even thought of it and was just playing Crimson Shroud on the plane and had clicked the DS shut as we were landing. Apparently I forgot to turn off the wireless. Oops. Was unpacking in the hotel, saw the green light, and the rest was history.

That's an interesting point about the CoD/XBL model supporting a more geographically dispersed population, and I'm sure there is something there. It's pretty dense in Japan, even out in the country where we were a lot of the time.

Not really for this thread, but there is definitely a moderately healthy arcade scene there as well. Lots of people were playing a big involved co-op/TDM Gundam game, and there are a lot of games that you play with trading cards and some kind of RFID/nearfield reader. Interesting stuff!

Yeah, most tagging I've seen when I visited NYC was at the Nintendo World Store. After that I walked through all kinds of attractions and got maybe three tags, and that was over the course of several hours.

It's also one of the reasons I feel like I can count on the 3DS for more interesting ideas. Instead of trying to appeal to a Western market, I imagine you'll be more likely to get cheaper but intriguing concepts fitting to a different sort of gaming style. More risky stuff, so to speak. Hopefully the eShop will see similar interesting ideas as time progresses.

Not sure if anyone else picked it up, but I grabbed the new Harvest Moon 3DS ("New Beginning" I think) after reading very positive reviews on it.

I'm not very far in; looks like you have to get through all of the first Spring season before the meat of the game unlocks. But the basics at least are good, and I'm looking forward to being able to start building the town and bringing in residents, upgrading the farm, etc.

I've tried Harvest Moon's past the Playstation 1 game and A Wonderful Life (that was the GameCube one, right?), but I just haven't been able to get into them the same way.

If you know of a Harvest Moon that plays like either of those, I'd totally dive in. Portable seems like a good platform for the franchise, too.

Per Nintendo of America, your 3DS release list through the next few months:

Retail:

  • Fire Emblem: Awakening – February 4th
  • Brain Age: Concentration Training – February 10th
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 3D – February 12th
  • Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – February 12th
  • Monster High Skultimate Roller Maze – March 13th
  • Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan – February 26th
  • Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate – March 5th
  • Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate – March 19th
  • The Croods: Prehistoric Party! – March 19
  • Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon – March 24th
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity – March 24th
  • LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins – April 21st

eShop: (includes retail games released on eShop)

  • Bloody Vampire – January 31st
  • Witch’s Cat – January 31st
  • Disney/Pixar Finding Nemo: Escape to the Big Blue – January 17
  • Deer Drive Legends – January 17
  • Tokyo Crash Mobs – January 17th
  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars – January 24th
  • Jewel Master: Cradle of Egypt 2 – March 19th
  • Ikachan – Q1
  • Guxt – Q1
  • ATV Wild Ride 3D – Q1
  • Nano Assault EX – Q1
  • Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D – Q1
  • Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D – Q1

Cool. Not a huge number of titles I want, volume-wise, but the anticipated playtime of the main two (EO4 and MH) should make that a moot point. Always interested in eShop titles with appealing names, too. (Witch's Cat??)

Bloody Vampire looks odd and possibly appealing too.

That is a pretty solid Q1.

Minarchist wrote:

That is a pretty solid Q1.

Seriously. Feb-March are supposed to be the dry season.

I'm a bit confused. Is Monster Hunter going to be downloadable on release?

What time do things appear on the Eshop? The demo for the new Fire Emblem game comes out today and I wanted to download it.

SixteenBlue wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

That is a pretty solid Q1.

Seriously. Feb-March are supposed to be the dry season.

I thought June-Aug was the slow game release season?

BNice wrote:

I'm a bit confused. Is Monster Hunter going to be downloadable on release?

Yes. It's also supposedly getting a demo Feb. 21st on Wii U and 3DS.

farley3k wrote:

What time do things appear on the Eshop? The demo for the new Fire Emblem game comes out today and I wanted to download it.

At some point during the day. It's just one of those things that happens when it happens. Usually before noon PST.

And this is why I should just stop buying consoles and be happy with my 3DS as a "next-gen" system. Games below are of interest, bolded are my definite purchases.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Retail:

  • Fire Emblem: Awakening – February 4th
  • Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – February 12th
  • Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan – February 26th
  • Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate – March 19th
  • Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon – March 24th
  • LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins – April 21st

eShop: (includes retail games released on eShop)

  • Nano Assault EX – Q1

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate lands right before PAX East. I wonder what its street pass functionality will be?

NOA tweeted about the FE demo so it should be up soon if not now.

Oh look at that, a reason to boot up my 3DS for the first time in two months. Fire Emblem here I come!

ccesarano wrote:

And this is why I should just stop buying consoles and be happy with my 3DS as a "next-gen" system. Games below are of interest, bolded are my definite purchases.

I'm kind of already there. Between the Vita and 3DS I'm only playing a couple of games on mainline consoles.

Looks like you forgot one, Clock. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers: Revenge of the Colon-Subtitle: Colon releases April 16.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Oh look at that, a reason to boot up my 3DS for the first time in two months. Fire Emblem here I come!

Bwuh? Heck, I've used mine a ton in the past two months. NSMB2, Sticker Star, the new Harvest Moon, that recent meal-sized rpg on the e-Shop (I forget its name, the one with the dice-rolling and pen & paper feel), Unchained Blades; and those are just the ones I've picked up.

Farscry wrote:

the new Harvest Moon

I love Harvest Moon, how was this?

Farscry wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:

Oh look at that, a reason to boot up my 3DS for the first time in two months. Fire Emblem here I come!

Bwuh? Heck, I've used mine a ton in the past two months. NSMB2, Sticker Star, the new Harvest Moon, that recent meal-sized rpg on the e-Shop (I forget its name, the one with the dice-rolling and pen & paper feel), Unchained Blades; and those are just the ones I've picked up. ;)

I finished NSMB2 and that was the last thing I wanted to play. I'd already finished Code of Princess, and played Theatrhythm for over 30 hours. Plus Persona 4 Golden pretty much trumps every other game in existence.

ccesarano wrote:

Looks like you forgot one, Clock. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers: Revenge of the Colon-Subtitle: Colon releases April 16.

I just stole from Nintendo's announcement. Atlus did their own little shindig.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Plus Persona 4 Golden pretty much trumps every other game in existence.

Well yeah, there's that.

Demyx wrote:

I love Harvest Moon, how was this?

I'm not terribly far in yet, but so far I'm rather enjoying it. It starts off really slow and uneventful, even for a Harvest Moon game (I personally don't mind that they tend to have slow intros because that's just part of their relaxed charm). The core gameplay of the series is intact; nice variety of crops to grow, cows and chickens to raise (different varieties of each) and some pets (cats and dogs are all, I think), cooking foods you can eat to restore stamina, wilderness areas to roam and collect things like bugs, fish, etc.

The town starts of basically empty of almost everyone, and the big "twist" of this version of the game is that you are reconstructing the town and getting people to move in that way. It's much more detailed in that regard than Magical Melody was: you're actually collecting the materials and blueprints, and then constructing everything in the town by placing it where you want it. I haven't gotten much into that yet but I like what I'm seeing.

If you like Harvest Moon, then HM3DS: New Beginning is definitely one of the particularly solid entries in the franchise from what I've been reading. The chief complaint I've read (but can't corroborate yet) is that the townspeople are lacking in personality compared to some of the better-regarded HM games, but the solid gameplay somewhat makes up for that.

That sounds pretty neat, thanks. I like the idea of constructing the town from blueprints. Especially if it lets you make a sensible layout.

I downloaded the demo for Fire Emblem. I haven't delved too deeply into it, but I really like what's there. The cutscenes and combat animations are really pretty, and the UI does a good job of showing you a lot of information about the units on the field. This seems to be taken straight from the beginning of the game, and it does a good job of introducing basic mechanics.

I'm definitely more interested in the full game, now.

Nice list of Q1 stuff, but I think I'm ultimately just getting Luigi's Mansion

ccesarano wrote:

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers: Revenge of the Colon-Subtitle: Colon releases April 16.

Wow, didn't know they were releasing that so soon. Hmm, might have to look into that one.

Luigi's Mansion is mostly what I'm looking forward to. But I was hoping for Animal Crossing being mentioned... Ah well. Might pick up Harvest Moon since that's a franchise I haven't touched in a while.

I'm actually *less* interested in Fire Emblem after the demo. As I played it I couldn't help but feel like they'd traded the 2D charm and semi-serious story for a game that looks a little worse than Jeanne D'Arc and seems even sillier. I've been playing Advance Wars: Dual Strike and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon on my 3DS. Those games are great. I'd be shocked if I liked this game more. In fact, that demo made me want to just play Jeanne D'Arc instead.