The thing about being a gainfully-employed adult and parent is that time becomes your most precious commodity. So any time you use for games can only be used on the good ones — if you can figure out which ones those are. Vinnk and Sean reveal how they balance their real lives with gaming life, how the Wii U is great for that, and get all excited over Future Retro that’s really just a quasi-remake of a 20 year old game.

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http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/99

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It’s amazing how things looked a year ago, with Nintendo all but left for dead by the gaming press. Now, with a much-needed lift by Mario Kart 8 and a killer showing at E3, Nintendo looks like it might earn the title of number one console (in Japan) — and not just because the PS4 is selling so poorly there. And perhaps do better in America too. Whatever works. Sean and Vinnk skip Future Retro and Pile of Shame to dedicate the entire episode to E3 reactions. And maybe pepper that stuff throughout the show anyway. You better believe we won’t be letting Ubisoft off lightly, either.

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Nintendo appeases the hardcore Super Smash Bros. tournament crowd with a wired adapter for GameCube controls, playable at the Smash Bros Invitational. The newest Mario Kart was released last week, selling out Pro Controllers everywhere, crashing the Club Nintendo website, and increasing sales of the Wii U in the UK alone by 666%. In less than a week, Mario Kart 8 has sold 1.2 million copies worldwide. YouTube announced a monetization scheme for users uploading Nintendo videos. Is Nintendo finally listening to its fans, or did it just take this long to unlock the Wii U’s potential? Vinnk and Sean put down Mario Kart 8 long enough to discuss what Nintendo is doing right, and if there are bigger things on the horizon. The Wii U is having a renaissance, and it’s not even E3 yet.

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We’ve long been wary of digital services on consoles at Famicom Dojo, because every time one shuts down there’s the inevitable pain that follows, and features that can never be recaptured. This is what is happening with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection going dark this week, which takes with it all online multiplayer (and related features) for not only Wii and DS titles, but anything that relied on GameSpy for online connectivity. Similarly, Microsoft has continued its Xbox One backpedaling and has decided that the Kinect 2.0 isn’t required hardware after all. Sean and Vinnk wonder if this change to the Xbox One will make them more likely to get it over the PS4, and decide how best to go out on Nintendo’s original online service. Also, we discuss the Amplitude Kickstarter by Harmonix (which, by now, should be fully funded). We review a brand new game in Future Retro, and Pile of Shame isn’t about video games at all!

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Physical game releases, and increasingly their digital versions as well, often get a hefty price cut as the game ages, but the price of the DLC never goes down. Should it? Vinnk and Sean backtrack on some earlier positions to talk about DLC they like, grapple with their feelings on DLC in general, and what alternatives publishers can pursue without giving up a revenue stream that helps to increase the software development tail of a game and its engine.

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NES Remix 2 is chock full of sequels to games from NES Remix 1, and of course NES followups to other games not seen in the series before. Conventional wisdom dictates that sequels are mere cash-ins of a great idea, but sometimes they can perfect that idea in fun and surprising ways. Sean and Vinnk discuss the sequels we think are better than the originals, some clearly superior, others more controversial. Vinnk touches a game designer’s hair in Future Retro, and pile of shame goes digital-only… kind of like this podcast!

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Recent installments of the Super Smash Bros. series have included characters from third party companies as fighters joining the Nintendo menagerie. Game developers often hide references to their other titles in some of their games, either by obscure references or through sharing characters — sometimes where they don’t really belong. Gamers seem to enjoy these cross-overs and in=jokes… but why? Vinnk and Sean share their favorite cameos in well-known games as well as more obscure titles. Future Retro looks more at the recent past, and Pile of Shame spans a couple of generations.

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While the rest of the world is picking up the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at an admirable pace (sorry, Wii U), the former was only just released earlier this year in Japan, and the latter is not yet on store shelves. The latest Nintendo Direct makes it seem like the company doesn’t understand that they need to support the Wii U over the 3DS with games like Smash Bros., but perhaps the situation underscores a deeper problem. Sean and Vinnk discuss what happened to all of the console gamers, where they went, and what it means for the future of game companies if it all goes away forever. Mayne Nintendo’s mobile strategy isn’t so short-sighted after all.

Leave your own voicemail at 608-492-1923, or just share your thoughts in the show notes at FamicomDojo.TV:
http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/93

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