Feature: The Big Nintendo Direct Summary - 12th November 2015

Hey TW - this probably took you awhile, but now that's its done, how about an acknowledgement for SMM up for GOTY? And no Splatoon is an outrage. I know, I know, I'm always outraged.

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2015/11/bloodborne_the_witcher_3_and_fallout_4_all_nominated_for_game_awards_2015_game_of_the_year

OK - on topic - the ND was very good. Reggie should have said "$279" instead of "Black Friday" but that's pretty much my only complaint. Of course I wasn't waiting for Minecraft or Pokemon Z though. 3DS has about a gazillion hours worth of gameplay next year. Wii U has enough to last until NX when a brand new Pikman 4 game and a Zelda U port arrive as launch titles. But that's for late next year.

Nintendo = amiibo. There's your summary.

Is PushSquare like a Sony version of Nintendo Life? The websites look just alike.

@abbyhitter yes they are there is also PureXbox

@abbyhitter Yes, NL merged (took over, but they like saying merge to be PC) PS about 2 years ago. Maybe 3 now. Damo is even a bigwig at both.

I am surprised they didn't mention Project Giant Robot or Project Guard considering they are both supposed to be coming out this year. I take it they've both been delayed? I really want to know what these games are going to be outside of last year's E3 tech demo.

So, whatever happened to the PEGI rating for Minecraft Wii U? Was that just a fake?

The Direct was great. Lots of games to look forward to. The pacing was ok too, not the mess that the Digital Event was.

@rjejr Splatoon is up for Shooter though. Would be good for the industry if it won and with the likes of Overwatch and Battle-born due next year colourful shooters may become a thing.

Right as I release MY Amiibo summary xD Well if you want an in depth summary of all the amiibo stuff specifically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30dTXQsRqzw

I don't know what it is, but there's something about Reggie angrily shouting at Bill that I find hilarious. Anyways, I liked the direct. Nothing too mind-blowing (aside from Pokemon on the Virtual Console and Cloud in Smash Bros...still in shock that he's actually in.), but still pretty good. Besides, it was definitely better than the Digital Event; in that it didn't seem rushed and didn't pi$$ a bunch of people off (except for maybe the people who are butthurt over Cloud.)

That Tim bloke seemed alright. Looked very nervous.

OMG Japan get physical editions of the Pokemon Virtual Console releases. Wish we could have them over here in the west

Oh the picture of Reggie where he went to a soprano voice.

@BrizzoUK OK,thanks, didn' knwo that.

Splatoon!

I actually predicted everything they announced in the direct, so the whole thing was kinda disappointing to me.

still, can't get upset over a release date for paper jam.

@rjejr Splatoon!
Got the badge arcade in EU yesterday; that bunny is such a great talker. He should front a Xmas campaign for Nintendo, just honestly explaining how businesses operate... He could front Directs, I'd trust him to sell me 1 copy of FE for the price of 3.

@llamareborn Actually, it's a digital code that comes with the special editions. But all the extras are awesome nonetheless

I really enjoyed the Direct on NL(although it was a shame live chat was very broken) up until the point some idiot had obviously hacked the stream and put a ridiculous trailer for Cloud in Smash. I mean as if ANYONE would believe that for a second. So fake. (My wallet was the only loser last night.)

I'm surprised they didn't say anything about Project Guard

I noticed there was zero mention of Metroid Prime: Federation Force.

@Zizzy If you watch gameplay videos of project guard you can see Star Fox logos on the cameras.

That and the fact that Platinum Games seems to be helping on Project Guard as well as Star Fox Zero leads some to believe it's going to be a mini game of sorts in Star Fox.

When you line it up like this there are stuff that will be way more satisfying than I realized. Pokken, StarFox, RBY, DQ and Fire Emblem. It'll give me lots to do and everything else will keep others busy for a while. Not so bad!

It was a good Direct. A lot of it was expected, not that that's bad. I'm still not certain I can accept Nintendo's apology, called Twilight Princess HD, but we'll see. The nice surprise for me was Pokemon coming to VC. Awesome, and it's about freaking time! It's really nice that you can still trade pokemon.

Also, Typoman looked awesome, I need to research more about this title.

I don't care about Wii Zelda's, Pokemon, Animal Crossing board games, or JRPGs.

Maybe that's why I've gone back to PC gaming lately. I'd rather have Nintendo port over more SNES VC games.

No mention of Genei Ibun Roku ♯FE

Once again Nintendo has perfect timing with the Dragon Quest announcement. It was an excellent Direct. I think Bill Trinen should take over the Directs. He has the right amount of goofiness to entertain and is very clear when describing upcoming releases. He would get my vote to carry on the Nintendo Direct Tradition. All around it was an excellent presentation

@Zizzy They obviously had a lot of other content to cover. Still this one is on my radar as well as Project Giant Robot.

Looking at the Direct from a general gamer's standpoint vs. a die-hard Nintendo fan at this point, it was an average direct at best. Another Zelda game being rehashed is not for me. I would have much preferred a dormant franchise like Eternal Darkness being brought forward again. The inclusion of Cloud to Smash makes zero sense. I hope that's not suppose to appease Wii U owners feeling the lack of 3rd party support. The 3DS offerings looked good. I feel as if these Directs should be attempting to appeal to the lost N64, Gamecube and Wii Owners. Instead they're attempting to milk their remaining console owners for as much as possible.

@Windy I love Bill Trinen. The European show was very boring, today I was comparing it to the American one.

I was one with low expectations before this Direct: The Twilight Princess HD and Pikmin 4 and I got only one of the two! As I predicted, most of the show was about already known games and mediocre spin-offs: the Badge Shop, Pokemon Picross...

On the bright side, Square Enix is bringing some of their games to the West.

@Cyberbotv2 The new Nintendo-Amiibo-Badges-for-money-era.

Great to see the Directs back. I just hope that Nintendo continue to do them every few months. I hope they don't change the format too much in the future. I like the simplicity of the European/Japan Directs and America likes to do its own thing, which is fine. Have special Directs like the Smash Bros. one coming in December, but I hope these Directs stay how they are, a 'less is more', to the point style.

I really liked that they didn't rehash already released games. I know in E3 they spent a LONG amount of time going over games we had already heard about 6 months before and were sick of hearing about. This direct had pretty much all new stuff.

It was a good direct but a bit long and too much info. Could have been 2 directs, by the end I kinda lost focus. Still the 3DS seems like an RPG machine for the rest of its useful life which will make a few people happy. The Wii U seems like it will be OK in 2016 but once again we will have a big drought of games between Devils 3rd and Star Fox unless there is some truth to the "games ready by end of year" quote.

Anyway I enjoyed it and hopefully we will see them more regular now that Nintendo is back in the groove.

@BrizzoUK You're so right about that bunny. Nowhere does he mention that you can use the practice machine once a day to grind for free plays.

@Gerbwmu Well I think they meant for TP HD to count as the game between DT and SFZ. I think it got dated for early March.And it does have a great looking amiibo, and I don't even like Midna. My son watched me play it when it first released, he's 13 now so I think he'll pick it up. I was going to play it again if it looked like the E3 spider trailer, but not now. And PokKen should be around SFZ as well. My younger son wants that one.

So I think it looks pretty good for the slow time of the year. Then SMTxFE. And Zelda U.
Not sure what else though as I'm guessing they all start working on NX games. It would be strange though if Wii U doesn't get Super Mario Universe (ie Galaxy 3). SM3DW was fun, but it wasn't Galaxy, or even Sunshine. And no Paper Mario, but those 3DS games makes me wonder if we ever get another home console version. And Pikmin 4. Supposedly it's almost done, but no mention of it makes me think it's NX bound as well.

So Wii U still has some games coming, 12 months worth maybe, but I'm not sure about after that. The list has all been checked off - NSMBU, MK8, SSBU, SM3DW, Zelda U. That's the list.

@BrizzoUK @Sakura Bunny rocks! amirite? Going to go play now in fact.

@Sakura @rjejr
I am so close to putting 90p in just in the hope he'll be really happy that I've done it. I feel I'll log on after a month of not putting money in and he'll be curled in a corner with a newspaper keeping him warm as he couldn't pay the business rates.

Found it disappointing tbh. Mostly games we already knew about, some remakes and a new game that ended up being f2p.

nobody's mentioned the most important thing of all: Directs will continue.

oh, and pair that with 2016 being labelled the year of zelda

@day 2016 is the 30th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda so thats why there are several games being released, albeit one is port of a spinoff Wii U title and another a slightly enhanced Gamecube title.

The major thing for me was the confirmation of what Mr.Horii had disclosed without permission durung the Japan Expo.
Then comes obviously the fact that the two Fire Emblem stories will be released as cartridges in Europa. My last wish now is that the third one will be on a card too (in the deluxe limited package).

On another side, the free-to-play Pokémon Picross seemed at first to be a good surprise. Not that I am happy with the theme but a free picross can only be welcomed. That was until I saw the japanese Direct presentation where they actually talk about a "free-to-start" game.
To continue on this note, I am disappointed that Shin MegaTen IV Final was not even mentionned in the US video.
Also, I am wondering was exactly was this Culdcept game about (again, watch the japanese Direct) ? After some readings, it seemed like a S-RPG blending of board and card games. Do you thing it might be released in the "West"?

PS: the "suprise" inclusion of Cloud to Smash Brothers is not so surprising, it is a good move from Square to advertise the 2016 (?) release of their highly anticipated (I still can't figure why) Final Fantasy VII remake on another platforms.

Not the best direct ever, but it sure was hell of a lot better than the catastrophe of E3.

One of the best Directs ever! From the Iwata tribute to all of the heavy hitting games (and the Yokai skit), this Direct was worth the wait.

@BrizzoUK I can't imagine ever putting money in, 5 plays for $1 is insane. How many badges in that game? $100 maybe to get them all? That's not the way to do free to play. And the thing is the perfect app. Yesterday the bunny gave me a spiel about Spaltoon. Today it was the website Nintendo Play. And he was so excited about both of them, he made me want to go play them. That's what a marketing budget is for, games like this. Pokemon Rumble world was ok, a $30 limit to buy all of the balloons. Pokemon Shuffle I played a lot and never considered paying. But $1 per 5 plays is insane. $1 per 25 plays and we can begin to discuss it.

And doesn't it seem odd there's no "bonus" amounts. $1 for 5, $2 for 12, $3 for 25. It's like they just want you to keep putting in $1 forever. I don't get it.

Sorry, I realize you are just having some fun and I'm taking this way too seriously, but I like the bunny, and I like the game, just don't like the $1 for 5. At all.

It was a decent direct overall.

But on the other hand there has been a big negative reaction from many sites and gamers, especially Neogaf.

The donut skit cracked me up. XD

@Xenocity well yeah it wasn't bad. Most of the content is something we've all seen before and the announcement of Pokken was fresh and new to me anyway. That looked pretty cool.

@Tempestryke
My wallet is crying...
Today I did get to preorder Twilight Princess and Fire Emblem Fate SE from Gamestop (mine is quite good).
Though I think the register glitched, as it shows me a $25 preorder or FEF SE and no listing of Tom Nook Amiibo on my receipt.
Obviously I picked up Amiibo Festival (which is very fun dynamic board game, I haven't unlocked anything else yet).

Who thinks with all the square games that final Fantasy GB,GBC and NES will come to the 3DS.At least Finial Fantasy 1 to 3DS and Wii U virtual console in NA and PAL.Also Final Fantasy 2 due to it has a English translation to NES also can come too.

@llamareborn That would be great for NA and PAL regions.How much dose anyone think it going to be mine idea was 4.99(blue and red)and 5.99(yellow).

@Xenocity Yes! Make your wallet cry! Make your bank account tremble in fear-uh I mean, ahem that's cool that your enjoying the AC Amiibo game. I need to go down and pre order some stuff too.

@Tempestryke
It's not like I'm getting any real interest on a bank account.
I must resist the urge to get Mable!

@Xenocity at least your getting Isabelle and Digby, our GameStop is sold out and I stupidly thought the game was coming in December. cries

@Xenocity good luck finding her.

I thought the Direct was quite good. Certainly better than the E3 Direct was.

Not one but TWO new Dragon Quest games heading to 3DS, and an HD remaster of Twilight Princess. That right there is 3 new games announced.

The biggest win of the Direct though was Fire Emblem Fates. It's coming a lot sooner than I thought, AND, it's getting a special edition with all 3 paths on a single cart! Not just that, but the 2nd and 3rd paths are being sold for 50% off, whether digitally or physically. I couldn't have asked for a better bit of news

No mention of SMT x Fire Emblem tells me they're going to space that one out until late summer or fall though. That's ok, it comes when it comes. I've got Fire Emblem Fates in just 3 more months!

@Tempestryke
Well don't like Isabelle and will sell her off in the coming day or two.
My Gamestop had a bunch of copies and tons of Amiibos.
Granted it was ~1:30pm when I picked up.

Cloud Strife, the Super Mario Maker web portal, Linkle's reveal, the generation one Pokémon games, Final Fantasy Explorers' gameplay feature known as "trance" and Dragon Quest VII+VIII coming out in the west were all highlights for me.

Off-topic: is anyone from France okay here? I've just heard of the terrorist attacks in Paris.

While nothing earth-shattering, I still thought the Direct was really good. The 3DS easily stole the show with it's abundance of RPGs hitting shelves within the first few months of 2016. Seriously, less than 2 months into 2016 and Project X Zone, Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam, Final Fantasy Explorers, Fire Emblem Fates, and Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow will all have been released. Then Bravely Second and Dragon Quest will come out not too long after.

On the Wii U front, things are looking alright. The Twilight Princess remake is neat, although nothing to get worked up about (at least for me). I was more interested in the fourteen seconds of Zelda Wii U gameplay we saw. Star Fox Zero keeps looking better, and Pokken Tournament is still a must-buy. The DLC for Splatoon looked really good. Cloud in Smash Bros. was a nice surprise, although to get him you need to buy overpriced DLC (well, that's what I think at least. I haven't bought any DLC for Smash due to the pricing). Overall, the Direct was a pretty good and I'm excited for the strong start the 3DS will have next year.

@Xenocity that's awesome!

@Rei It's dubbed in English. There's a great chance these will be brought over to the west.

@bezerker99 Right? And funny that I saw NO mention of it anywhere!! LOL

@rjejr You know what's funny? Splatoon is up for both Best Shooter and Best Family Game, and I'm pretty sure that's a first.

But yeah, I totally think it should be up for GOTY - even in SMM's placr if need be.

Splatoon for life!

A) I'm happy Nintendo Direct's are back! Nintendo took their time but got it right. I'm hopeful they will continue semi-regularly from now on.

B) They had a lot of content in this Direct. Some may have been for games we already knew, but still, they talked about 25+ games in the Direct so that was encouraging.

C) The 3DS is in great shape. 2016 will be chalk full of fantastic titles and we don't even have firm release dates for Bravely Second or the Dragon Quest games. I'm sure another Pokemon game will be around but it may not be until the fall of 2016.

D) The Wii U is clearly on it's last legs. The only new title talked about was TP:HD and that's a re-make. So far there is Star Fox, TP and Zelda U on the radar for Wii U owners. E3 2016 will most likely involve the NX now. I don't expect much for Wii U this year.

Bill....Bill! BILL!!! Cant wait for that GIF image. Lol

I wa surprised how quickly Amazon and Best Buy put the special edition Fire Emblem up: missed on both of them. Guessed right that it would show up on Gamestop's website at 10am est. Big relief.

@rjejr Pikmin 4 and Zelda U as NX launch titles???? Do you have the site that shows this (not trying to be rude, just being curious)

The Direct as a whole was pretty meh, but RBY VC saved it.

And yeah, Federation Force was suspiciously absent, hopefully that means they're either overhauling the entire game to improve it or outright cancelling it.

I thought the direct was better than E3, at least. I'm so excited for Red and Blue. I'm happy to have Cloud in Smash, too. Hopefully we get the remake on NX. You'd think that would be obvious but you never know with Nintendo.

@Windy
The Reggie-Bill tandem is fine. I watched the 2 Directs simultaneously switching audio when the other one shows games I'm not too interested in. No disrespect to Shibata but the EU Direct was painfully boring and I couldn't understand Shibata sometimes. The US Direct was fast-paced and fluid. But anyway, I love Shibata for always giving us cool Limited/Collector's editions.

My summary opinion in a nutshell: If you own both a wii u and a 3ds the direct was a runaway hit with 2 Dragon quest classics, Awesome Fire emblem news, A new and amazing looking character for the Hyrule warriors port, Vc Pokemon, Bravely default sequel, Support for Triforce heroes and a few more items ive probably forgot. And thats just news for 3ds. Needless to say 3ds owners have it covered over the next 6 to 9 months and with a few Wii U projects on the horizon the near future is looking grand.

However, If like me you only own a Wii U the direct was slighlty less shiny. Basically the only "new" reveal was Twilight Princess HD which was practically all but confirmed weeks ago. Dont get me wrong I am hugely excited for the game and despite the usual outcry of "Lazy port" being screamed on this site I cantveait to hear more about it. But thatbwas pretty much it. Sure we got dlc news, and great news at that, in the form of Cloud as a playable smash character and a release window for Fast racing neo. Yet as usual Wii U owners I felt were neglected some what.

Dont get me wrong, Wii U has some fantastic games incoming. Xenoblade Chronicles X, despite me owning Fallout 4, Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Bloodborne and Batman: Arkham Knight, Could still be my game of the year. But in terms of the direct the Wii U was once again almost pushed into the corner with news we already know about. 3ds owners had a much more exciting stream of news and updates and game releases.

@rjejr Haha no I agree, I give Nintendo and gaming in general enough of my money, they'd never get cash from me on this! He mentioned SMM to me the other day as well, it would definitely make sense as an app and if it was more generous in its free side it could work seriously well as a marketing app. It's currently just geared for short term profit not overall brand promotion. And we both know Nintendo never do discounts... If they did it'd be 5% off max!

Did anyone else think that Nntendo (NOE at least, I haven't seen the NA direct) itself seems aware that amiibo festival and Mario tennis are both a bit lame? That segment of the direct was so understated.

Is it just me, or has this website made absolutely no mention of the Bravely Second Collectors Edition that was announced?

Possibly my favourite direct ever. I'm very hard to please when it comes to these. I don't care about new footage for games we've already seen, don't care about new DLC for games they've already announced, so while everyone else goes crazy for each direct about how good it was, I just don't see much to get excited about.

Dragon Quest VII and VIII made this one for me. Definitely my favourite announcement via a direct.

I found most of the early announcements quite dull, largely because a lot of it was offering very little expansion on what we already know. There was quite a bit of filler going on with Triforce Heroes, Badge Arcade and Animal Party 10 amiibo edition. However, the second half was bloody great with Pokemon 1st Generation, Dragon Quest, some interesting indies and THAT Smash Bros. announcement.

In a strange way I found Satoru Shibata's straight approach unintentionally funny. It was definitely worth a watch, just for the finish.

There's also Bravely Default collector's edition for 3DS in Europe. Oh wait, it's European news, so you don't give a crap.

@Churchy "In a strange way I found Satoru Shibata's straight approach unintentionally funny"

Yep me too,I just watched it earlier and he had me laughing a few times.I'm not sure he's the man to front them going forward though.I think he could announce F-Zero U and make it sound anti-climatic.Same with the guy with the beard,his awkwardness had me chuckling.

@BestBuck15 There was a brief 13 second clip of it after the TPHD trailer.Whatever happens,it's still coming to Wii U ,the Wolf amiibo will even carry over data to it.

Going to be honest
twighlight princes HD:unnecessary
Star fox zero:looks better than at E3
Dragon quest 7 and 8:I don't know much about dragon quest but they look ok
Hyrule warrior legends: played it on wii u not interested on buying to again
Final fantasy explores: didn't even know IT existed but it looks fun!
Tri force heros DLC: generous looks fun
Amiibo: Ac ones look cool I'll getting shadow mewtwo maby Lucas
Fire emblem fates: never played fire emblem really want to though
Paper jam bros: his looks fun
Typoman:meh
Fast racing Neo: looks alright
Mega man legacy collection:looks fun
Pokemon picross: anyone notice the guy kept saying pokemon wrong? Anyway looks really fun
Pokken:hell yeah!
R/b/y:Huzzah

Overall decent direct

@ricklongo "Best Shooter and Best Family Game"

That may be the highlight of my day, I like irony. And my day started w/ my 10 year old waking me up b/c the PC won't work. The PC that died last Saturday and I've spent all week and gone thru 3 motherboards fixing. Not a good deja vu. And apparently I didn't do a very good job fixing. Time to update the BIOS.

@JLPick No, but I do have links saying that Pikman 4 is a real game:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/09/pikmin_4_is_very_close_to_completion_though_its_platform_is_unclear

And it's "close to completion". Well if ti's a game that's close to completion, but they haven't officially announced it yet, makes sense it's on NX, no? I mean they probably would have said "2016" if it was on Wii U by now. Unless you think it's a smartphone game? Could be I suppose.

I also have a video of them saying in Dec of 2014 that Zelda would be out in 2015. At the 3:12 mark:

Question: "Are you SURE that's a Wii release next year?"
Answer: "Yes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amno3GrIrZU

But now they just say "2016". And TP HD is coming out in 2016 on Wii U.

And of course TP is the game that came out at the end of the Gamecubes life and launched the Wii.

Full circle. Illuminati confirmed.

No links yet, but I'd start saving for a very expensive Christmas next year. Or March 2017, Nintendo is always delaying things these days. See above.

Oh, sorry if I got your hopes up.

@BrizzoUK "Nintendo never do discounts"

Not really Ninntedo per se, but I am really getting annoyed at the 20% discounts in the eShop of late. I don't think anyone at Ntindo has ever had a business course. Or a Psychology 101 course. You don't put $19.99 items on sale for $15.99. People's brains don't register that as a discount. $19.99 goes to $14.99, the human brain works on $5 increments.

Both Swords and Soldiers 2 and Affordable Space Adventures were both $19.99 on sale for $15.99 recently. I get 20% is a nice round number, but it probably much less effective than $14.99. And the amount of sales would probably more than make up the $1 price difference. Its a digital download, not a disc in a box w/ a cover sheet. If you are going to have a sale, make it count.

@rjejr Agreed, it does hurt when bring multi platform I see a PS+ sale that does the reverse and take 80% off, I bought Cel Damage HD for pretty much no reason than the fact I once had it on GameCube (or was bad then too!)... No regrets, it was like £2, they weren't getting that money otherwise.
Bandai Namco's Nintendo sale was good recently, again barely played it but got Project X Zone on 3DS for £6, that to me is a bargain... But I'll probably never play it much and yet wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't on sale. We like a bargain and will buy stuff we normally wouldn't at a heavy discount. If something is 20% off I'll likely already have it at full price if I'm ever going to buy it (I think that made sense!).

@BrizzoUK "If something is 20% off I'll likely already have it at full price if I'm ever going to buy it (I think that made sense!).

YEs that made perfect sense, it was kind of my point, peopel who are waiting for a ale on a $19.99 aren' going to se much of a sale on $15.99.I fthey wanted it for $15.99 they woudl have bough tit at $19.99.

I remember that Cel Damage sale! The only reason I didn't buy it - and 1 of the few things Nitneod does much better than Sony - is Sony requires $5 on yur wallet for a purchase. I had about $1.78 and that game was $2, so I had to put $5 on my CC to buy it. Which in this day and age of 99c apps and microtransactions, I'm not paying $5 for a $2 game. or a $4 game. There are usually 1 or 2 games every few months I don't by simply b/c of that.

Nintendo on the other hand, my kid was 7 cents short buying the $2.50 MM stage in SSB. And Ninteod let me charge 7 cents to my credit card. It probably cost them more than 7 cents for the transaction fee, but we bought the level.

I actually htink it's kind of crazy I had to type in my CC# for 7 cents, and I'd be ok w/ a 99 cent minimum middle ground for Sony and Nitndo, but I'm not putitng $5 on my CC for a $1 or $2 purchase. My kid is missing some Mincraft skins and themes b/c of that as well. I just refuse.

So win 1 for Nintnedo. External HDD is the other win. And free online. Though I'd pay $50 per year for voice Chat in Splatoon, cloud saves, and a better ID system, so thats a tie.
I think the rest is all Sony.

@rjejr
Yeah that is stupid, big companies everywhere soak up the credit card fees, it's crazy Sony won't. Yeah I was reluctant with ps+ but rocket league alone feels like it was worth it (not quite, but it helps), got a great discount on Witcher 3 (again haven't played it much though!), so these things if you're a heavy user can work out good. A fixed fee and maybe having unlocked VC would be awesome, maybe with the odd indie/bad Nintendo game chucked it would certainly be a winner in my eyes. Again I barely play the free ps+ games, but having them gives a certain value and allows you to try new things... You should definitely bite on a ps4 in a Black Friday sale (if you're brave enough), next year is looking good and with a most likely transition year with Nintendo would be perfect timing.
I like the idea from my own selfish perspective of Nintendo and PlayStation having 2-3 years between their launches, from a business standpoint for them it might not work out, however, it means they both get their best games (peak years) at different times.

Without any mention of Metroid Prime Federation Force, probably the upcoming game I have the most anticipation for, much of the Direct I have an indifferent reaction to. About the only thing of interest to me is the fact that Cloud is on his way to Smash 4 and that there will be a Smash Direct next month. Otherwise, I did not hear about anything that makes me want to watch the Direct, as I really wanted to see how Federation Force would look or be presented following all its backlash. It's probably an August 2016 release though, and may be covered in the next general Direct which likely will be in January.

@BrizzoUK "Nintendo and PlayStation having 2-3 years between their launches,"

Well that's how I buy them. Since Idont really play online it snever bene a problem to play a few games 2 or 3 eyars later. And Sony games are always half price a year later. Bought Wii and Wii U upon release, PS3 and PS4 3 years later.

I would get a PS4 for Christmas, but I have that $85 XCX Colelcotrs ed for undr the tree. And I already purchased Skyaldners Dark edition for $100 for my Wii U for my kid. And many Disney Infinity 3.0 toys adn sets adn we have that on Wii U. Getting a PS4 now would kind of make Santa look like an idiot. And I don't want that. Plus if I buy it for my birthday next year, its mine, and I can hang that over my kids heads.

And I will get PS+ again once I get a PS4. $50 dosn't seem worth it these days for just PS3, the game catalog has deteriorated immensely over the past 2 years. No AAA titles like Batman, Tomb Raider or DmC, all indies.

@rjejr
Yeah that makes so much sense doing it that way, I need to just stay away from hype sometimes to take advantage of ps discounts.
Fair enough, that's responsible parenting! Haha yeah you don't want to have to share it... Just pass them the gamepad and you can play away! Such a great selling point for families.

@BrizzoUK "Just pass them the gamepad and you can play away!"

you laugh, but my kids will sit next to each other on the couch, 1 playing on the PS3 on the TV, the other playing Wii U on the Gamepad. That's not a hypothetical, it actually happens.

Oh, after my last post I also remembered just yesterday I bought my kid Dragonball Xenoverse on PS3 - B2G1 at Target.com - so a PS4 would look really bad under the tree now.

My birthday is in July, but I'm not opposed to getting my gift in March for a Ratchet and Clank or Uncharted 4 bundle. I never got anything this year, $150 is just siting in the bank, collecting .035% interest.

Just watched a little bit of both the Europe Direct. It seems really bland compared to the American one. Is it just different advertising / marketing? It seemed just so different. I never thought it would be!

@rjejr @BrizzoUK

Speaking of sales, Nintendo is planning on some eShop sales for select Wii U and 3DS games (up to 50% off).

http://happyholidays.nintendo.com/cyber-deals

@IceClimbers Thanks. I'll be out of town the 25 and 26th so hopefully they last at least until Friday night. Maybe they'll finally get Lego City Undercover down below $50?

Whatever they do, good to see them both doing it and advertising. Maybe they'll actually take the whole holiday by storm?

@rjejr The sales last until December 2nd at 8:59 am PT.

Not sure Nintendo will take the holidays by storm. I honestly expect Sony to do that despite not having a major holiday exclusive to boost them.

@IceClimbers Well the thing is, Sony doing the least it possibly could, and Nintendo doing more than it's done the past 3 years, would still leave Nintendo looking inferior, but it could be a massive undertaking for them.

If I see 3 commercials on TV and a new in store display it will be a Christmas miracle.
Maybe they can get Conan to play Mario Tennis w/ an amiibo as his partner. That would be hysterical I'm sure.

I think its too late for Wii U, but if Nintendo gets it's name out there w/ some marketing stuff then maybe people will know what an NX is when it releases. I still think half the world doesn't know what a Wii U is.

Oh, and thanks for the date/time info. Hopefully there will be something we're interested in.

Still haven't bothered fixing your incorrect articles? Shows how much of a crap you actually give about your European readers!

I swear, people on the internet will find anything to complain about. I thought this direct was amazing. Obviously they can't please everyone, but I think this was one of the best directs in a long time. Cloud in SSB just blew my mind. I hope this means more Square-Enix characters will come. The 3DS benefited the most. Dragon Quest VII/VIII, Final Fantasy Explorers, SSB content, plenty of indie games, Hyrule Warriors...I'm going to be one happy camper Great job Nintendo!

@rjejr You didn't give my hopes up, just made me look forward more to the NX status. It would be nice if these games came out on launch (would definitely give the system a nice boost), but just like what you said...the delays are coming too much too recently. Hopefully they fix all of these problems and actually come back into the spotlight.

Thanks for the link, though!

@JLPick "Thanks for the link, though!"

You are welcome.

What an incredible disaster Reggie has become. Unreal.