Cat Power: Super Mario 3D World preview

October 26, 2013 8:07 PM

"Meow." He forms his hands into claws and performs a slow cat-scraping motion. To his left and to his right sit the esteemed producer and the director of Super Mario 3D World. "Meow," they both say, before also demonstrating the clawing feline action. Shigeru Miyamoto on Super Mario 3D World, arriving next month on Wii U. Copies are beginning to show up in reviewer's hands: Super Mario 3D World is shaping up beautifully. It's a visual stunner, with gorgeous effects and lighting that take Mario graphics to an entirely new level, certainly showing greater flair than the 2D New Super Mario Bros. U. There are some attractive textures at work, with the art style flourishing with powerful hardware, alongside a rock steady and terrifically fluid frame rate. Eurogamer offers a look at 5 levels [part one | two | three] • Previews from Nintendo: E3 2013 Developer Direct | October trailer | Gameplay trailer • Nintendo Minute: Multiplayer | New Power-Ups
posted by porn in the woods (55 comments total)

Cat Power? I am disappoint.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:23 PM on October 26, 2013 [3 favorites]

It's no Cat Mario. What can be?
posted by mysticreferee at 8:35 PM on October 26, 2013 [5 favorites]

So this is basically a successor to the Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii U? I wasn't considering buying one...
posted by KokuRyu at 8:53 PM on October 26, 2013

ok, that ragequit cat mario video just made me nearly pee from laughter.
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:02 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's a sequel to Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS.
posted by porn in the woods at 9:03 PM on October 26, 2013

I guess you would consider it a direct sequel to Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS (Nintendo's portable system). At least that's what people expected when the game was first announced, but the more recent trailers are indicating that it's much more ambitious than 3D Land was.

3D Land was surprisingly very good in its own right, especially considering that Nintendo typically puts their "B" team on portable Mario games.
posted by zixyer at 9:04 PM on October 26, 2013

Super Maru.
posted by theredpen at 9:22 PM on October 26, 2013 [5 favorites]

VGcats weighs in. (slightly NSFW, definitely NSFtaste)
posted by poe at 9:58 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

It really is too bad that Nintendo is too stubborn to publish for other platforms. This looks fantastic and they would sell many, many copies for Xbox and Playstation.
posted by Average Mario at 10:05 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

Heh, VGcats. I remember when they were relevant. And funny.

It's been a pretty long time.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:20 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

It really is too bad that Nintendo is too stubborn to publish for other platforms.

No more so than the other console makers. Maybe when Microsoft puts a Halo game out for Playstation and Sony makes a Gran Turismo for Xbox, then we can talk about how stubborn Nintendo is about not letting their IP play on other people's hardware.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:22 PM on October 26, 2013 [10 favorites]

It's a visual stunner, despite its modest file size,

Don't ask me how I know, but a lot of Nintendo's games don't come anywhere near filling up the disk.
posted by JHarris at 10:44 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

I'm aware this is a minority opinion, but I thought Mario 3D Land was incredibly lackluster. The last 3D Mario game I played was Mario 64, and after the weird levels with an actual sense of place, the blatant obstacle courses of 3D Land combined with the incredibly shallow selection of power-ups and abilities and the repetitiveness of it struck me as a huge letdown. There's nothing open about it at all, just do the linear levels in order. They've taken the enormous potential and openness of Mario 64 and just pretended it never happened (aside from a DS port with awful controls). Admittedly, this was also my complaint about the wildly overhyped and overrated Galaxy games.

Super Mario 3D World looks to actually be introducing a decent amount of variety to its gameplay, but it's still frustrating to watch Nintendo turn its back on the best game in the series to make more uninspired obstacle courses.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:56 PM on October 26, 2013 [3 favorites]

Okay, I haven't paid attention to any modern videogames since Skyward Sword...and now it looks like I may finally have a reason to replace my Wii. This looks awesome!
posted by trackofalljades at 11:25 PM on October 26, 2013

I have to agree with Pope Guilty a bit. Mario Sunshine got negative buzz and caused Nintendo to turn their back on that entire style of game. It's worth noting that this is the fourth 3D Mario game in this style, and it could also be considered a merging of 3D Mario with the 2D New Super Mario Bros. games, of which there are three. I hate to say it, but I'm kind of getting burned out on Mario, at least in this style.
posted by JHarris at 11:26 PM on October 26, 2013

I would definitely welcome a return to Mario 64 style gameplay, I've missed that...it's still probably my favorite game of the entire universe (with a very close second being the utterly different but awesome SMW for the SNES).
posted by trackofalljades at 11:27 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

I actually really enjoy the 2D New Super Mario Brothers series. It's just the last several 3D games that I don't like.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:33 PM on October 26, 2013

From Nintendo's point of view, New Super Mario Bros. was a sales monster. The 3D Mario games only sell a fraction of what New Super Mario Bros. Wii did. I think that Nintendo is trying to bridge the gap between the two types of games and make a 3D Mario that's accessible to a wider audience.

Nintendo gets criticized a lot for revisiting the same series over and over again, but I think that's unfair because they are constantly reinventing their franchises with each game they release. Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, and 3D World are all very different kinds of games. I think they need to be doing this, but of course the tradeoff is that they disappoint fans that just want another Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy.
posted by zixyer at 11:37 PM on October 26, 2013 [6 favorites]

They're fun, but... I dunno. I kind of miss the days when Nintendo did all kinds of crazy things in every game. The last major franchise they created is Pikmin, back on the Gamecube. And in essence, most of these games would work on the Gamecube with only a graphical downgrade.
posted by JHarris at 11:37 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, and 3D World are all very different kinds of games.

I'm going to dispute this. I can't even see how you could possibly claim it. 64 and Sunshine have some superficial differences but are fundamentally similar. The same goes for Galaxy and 3D World. Nintendo puts a lot of work into providing new kinds of challenges in each, but they still kind of feel samey to me.

I admit, this might be another version of the malaise I feel when faced with the prospect of another Ocarina of Time-style Zelda. With the exception of the Virtual Boy, I've owned every Nintendo platform since the NES. But the 3DS I find it difficult to get interested in, and I'm kind of surprised I got a Wii U (It was probably the promise of Wind Waker HD and Chronicles of Mystara that pushed me over the edge on that one).
posted by JHarris at 11:42 PM on October 26, 2013

(Mind you, it's not like the other consoles have anything that looks interesting to me. At least Nintendo isn't offering an endless stream of gray-and-brown shooters and combo-based melee combat games.)
posted by JHarris at 11:44 PM on October 26, 2013

Meanwhile my 3DS continues to have been a good buy. In addition to the vast and excellent DS library, the 3DS library is surprisingly strong, though the paucity of Virtual Console games is a reminder that Nintendo has no fucking idea what the internet is or how to exploit it.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:49 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

Meanwhile my 3DS continues to have been a good buy.

Believe it or not, I checked one out for the first time last weekend. After all the hype, I was kind of surprised at how crappy the "3d" was - seemed to be about 75% blurring the background more than any active effect to me.
posted by smoke at 11:52 PM on October 26, 2013

If turning on the 3D just made things blurry, you weren't doing it right. Your head needs to be within a certain range of angles relative to the screen or else you're going to see blur. Whoever showed you the 3DS (or runs the location where you had access to it) should've been more clear about that.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:54 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

I meant very different in the sense that they're not just taking the same engine and building some new levels each time. Sunshine added the water spray mechanic, hover nozzle (which alters level design considerably and allows for the sprawling vertical levels that Sunshine has), and has a different setting that's really integrated into the gameplay. I think you're hugely understating the difference between the two games.

I'm also not seeing how you consider 3D Land to be an extension of Galaxy. Can you elaborate on that?
posted by zixyer at 11:54 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

Mario 64 and Sunshine have different levels, and Sunshine introduced a few new moves, but you basically have the same kind of game there. The water-based cleaning mechanic is interesting but only really matters in a few levels.

But the differences there are greater than between 3D Land and Galaxy, which are both linear sets of platforming challenges. They're entirely the same style of game, it's mostly some presentation pizazz that differentiates the two. 3D Land might not make as much hay with gravity-based challenges, but that linear 3D platforming obstacle course, with one unique gimmick on the way per level and sub-collectables scattered along the road, is basically what the two games are. The details change, but the underlying structure is the same.
posted by JHarris at 12:07 AM on October 27, 2013

Nintendo, use gimmicks?!
posted by Brocktoon at 1:14 AM on October 27, 2013

Sunshine may be my favorite of the 3D Marios...with 64 in an extremely close second. And I think that's only because Sunshine was the first Mario game I played after a 2-year hiatus and it was just so refreshingly sunny and cheerful. I have also enjoyed the Galaxies and the "New" platformers, but I agree with JHarris that they can be a bit rote. Interestingly my young children always prefer to watch me play 64 over either of the Galaxy Marios.

And yes the only reason I'm getting the family (i.e. myself) a Wii U for Christmas this is because of Windwaker HD. Oh my goodness I love that game SO HARD
posted by Doleful Creature at 1:15 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Cat Power. In the truest sense of the words. Cat Power
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 1:25 AM on October 27, 2013

I find Nintendo's emphasis on a cat power silly and hilarious. The spokesmen of a company with $11Bn cash on hand getting excited about a cat :) That said, a month ago I wouldn't have entertained the possibility of a Wii U yet now the question for me is when, not if. 3d World looks fun, which is my main criterion and Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze should be great if it's half as good as Donkey Kong Returns.

Nintendo are releasing 2DS, a kid-friendly 3DS redesign without the 3D and the 3D capability of the 3DS has been underemphasised lately. I mostly think of 3D in films, tvs and games as a stupid gimmick, but afaic 3D Land shows that the 3D effect could improve some games if the devs know how to use it. The new Zelda also looks promising in that regard.

I like 3D Land and I think there are differences between 3D Land, Mario 64 and Galaxy. I was massively burnt out on 64 and couldn't even bring myself to play the DS port for free, but I happily played a lot of SMG and I'm playing 3D Land these days. For me, 64 is the blueprint of the way Mario plays in 3d (and of 3d gaming in general). Galaxy has a much bigger scale yet allows for stages from tiny asteroids to bigger planets where gravity isn't that much of an issue. 3D Land is a series of vignettes or bite-sized obstacle courses.
posted by ersatz at 2:39 AM on October 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

I like Mario and all, but Nanukthedog, that Cat Power performance on Letterman was fucking aces!
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:55 AM on October 27, 2013

Sure, there are "differences," I'm just saying they don't really feel that important. The problem with 3D land is that, effectively, Galaxy and Galaxy 2 were also series of vignettes and bite-sized obstacle courses. The overall structure is the same, just with the occasional branching path thrown in.

It would be great if they made another game in the style of Mario 64. But they haven't not since Sunshine (unless you count that weird DS update of 64).

What alternatives are there? How about a big free-roaming Mario game, something like a single level of Mario 64 but writ large? Or, how about going back to the abandoned idea where you could go after every star in a level from the start? Or take the branching paths of Galaxy and run with it, with lots of those paths -- like the demo they showed of Galaxy so long ago, where one level had three end-points, which the player's actions determined? Or maybe something that looks like Miyamoto's old 100 Marios idea, the experiment that led eventually to Pikmin?

We used to wait with bated breath to see what kind of weird thing Nintendo would make next. Now, it's when is the Mario Kart game coming out, when is the Smash Bros game coming out, when's the next New SMB, when's the next 3D Mario, when's the next Zelda, when's the next casual game. Those days of rampant invention are vanishing into memory, and I'm saddened by it. If the indies weren't around, making their own weird and awesome visions real, I'd be in danger of dropping out of gaming all together.
posted by JHarris at 4:05 AM on October 27, 2013 [3 favorites]

I never really considered this before, but is Mario the gateway introduction for most little kids into the furry community?
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:31 AM on October 27, 2013

Mario is the gateway introduction for most little kids to shrooms, arson, killing small animals, and jumping around in one gigantic boot.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 4:37 AM on October 27, 2013 [5 favorites]

We used to wait with bated breath to see what kind of weird thing Nintendo would make next. Now, it's when is the Mario Kart game coming out, when is the Smash Bros game coming out, when's the next New SMB, when's the next 3D Mario, when's the next Zelda, when's the next casual game. Those days of rampant invention are vanishing into memory, and I'm saddened by it. If the indies weren't around, making their own weird and awesome visions real, I'd be in danger of dropping out of gaming all together.

I think a lot of this is because Miyamoto and Iwata aren't getting any younger, and I don't know that anyone at Nintendo has their vision.

On the other hand, I do love the old reliable games. I showed my wife the gameplay trailer, and as soon as Mario found the cat suit, she told me that we need to go buy a Wii U, now. That, Rayman Origins and Scribblenauts Unlimited would be a nice Christmas.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 4:47 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

I mostly think of 3D in films, tvs and games as a stupid gimmick, but afaic 3D Land shows that the 3D effect could improve some games if the devs know how to use it.

Monster Hunter is the one game that's really truly sold me on the 3DS' 3D having the potential to be more than a neat visual trimming. It looks great (and I really do like it as a purely visual thing, and almost always choose it over a higher framerate and AA) but it doesn't change anything in a game like Luigi's Mansion. In MH so much is about distance and positioning that going to the 1080p Wii U version actually feels like a downgrade in a lot of ways, because even speaking as someone who's been playing 3D games on 2D displays for as long as they've existed, I find myself missing the depth sense so damn hard. I bet the same would be true for a lot of players if Demon's/Dark Souls were available in 3D. And yeah, also Mario, absolutely. Anything with a strong focus on precise positioning in 3D space stands to gain something really substantial from a 3D display, it's just that for the most popular genres - the FPS, MOBAs, sports games and so on - it's at best a pretty but extraneous thing, and at worst expensive and headache-inducing.

My deal with Mario 64 is that it's so much less a platformer and so much more an adventure/exploration game than 3D Land or the Galaxies, or the 2D Marios that came before it, and I get so much more value from the sheer joy of movement and precision under pressure in environments built to foster it in those games than I ever would from the semi-openness of 64. I'd have no strong pro- or anti- stance if the next 3D Mario were to return to that sort of structure as long as it kept the pure platforming challenge of the more recent games as well.

Although thinking about this earlier, it did occur to me that if you lifted the exact route the player travels in going for each star out of the open-ish worlds of Mario 64 and put them on a map screen as discrete courses, you would have sets of eight levels where the first maybe 20-50% was exactly the same every time, and only the rest diverged. And that shit would (hopefully) not fly in a more traditionally constructed platformer.
posted by emmtee at 4:47 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

I would definitely welcome a return to Mario 64 style gameplay, I've missed that...it's still probably my favorite game of the entire universe

In my mind Mario 64 was a true milestone in video games, just an amazing leap from anything before it, Nintendo or not. That was what, 1996? It still looks amazing today, even if it's not HD.
posted by zardoz at 4:54 AM on October 27, 2013

Although thinking about this earlier, it did occur to me that if you lifted the exact route the player travels in going for each star out of the open-ish worlds of Mario 64 and put them on a map screen as discrete courses, you would have sets of eight levels where the first maybe 20-50% was exactly the same every time, and only the rest diverged.

Except:

1. The choice of where to go, and the act of figuring out how to achieve the goal, is a major part of the enjoyment of those games. You almost never take the shortest possible path to a goal, unless you're speedrunning. There are things in each level that don't directly relate to getting goals, but are just there for fun, or to help the player, or confuse what the objective is. If you think of it as only the critical path necessary to get the star, you're missing the point.

2. It opens the door to finding alternate ways of obtaining the objectives of each level. If there's only one route to the star you're not using free-roaming level design very well.

3. Finally, it's easier for a free-roaming level to present the illusion of being a real place, with an existence of its own, instead of a purpose-built obstacle course. Why does Bowser even build these places? Instead of World 5-3, just erect a big old wall. Sheesh, no wonder he gets beaten by a couple of plumbers each game.

Anyway, it's not that I don't like Galaxy and the obstacle course games. I loved Galaxy and Galaxy 2, and I'll probably get 3D World when it comes out. It's just we've seen a lot of that lately, and Nintendo shows no signs of stopping heaping more of it on our plates.
posted by JHarris at 5:12 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have to admit I'm a big Mario fan. I bought a Wii for no other purpose than Galaxy and after several years I only have 5 games for the system (Galaxy, Galaxy 2, Super Paper Mario, Mario Kart Wii and then the rather good Donkey Kong Country Returns). But I had ruled out a Wii U because of all the bad press and the weird controller design. However these gameplay videos are making me reconsider that decision. I'll probably still wait for a while and pick it up used (which may be the case for many people and can't be good for Nintendo's sales).

If they did pull a Sega and start releasing for other consoles I'd buy the game in a heartbeat. They could even release them on the current PS3/360 hardware, since I don't think the Wii U is much more powerful. That'd give them access to a massive console install base of gamers that would never buy a Wii U, but grew up on Mario games and is willing to buy a game if it didn't mean buying a new console.
posted by fishmasta at 7:59 AM on October 27, 2013

Get off my lawn but this struck me as basically the same game I was playing almost thirty years ago. They've gotten a lot of mileage from the basic concept.
posted by chisel at 8:29 AM on October 27, 2013

If they did pull a Sega and start releasing for other consoles I'd buy the game in a heartbeat.

With $11 Bn in the bank, a single year in the red and the leading handheld console, I wouldn't be holding my breath. I'd love to play Journey or Shadow Complex on my computer too, but I don't see Sony/MS doing that either.
posted by ersatz at 9:16 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Or maybe something that looks like Miyamoto's old 100 Marios idea, the experiment that led eventually to Pikmin?

Check out the Clone Mario power up in the Polygon video. You probably can't get to 100, but it looks like you can at least get to 6.

I haven't played every single Mario, and I think the excellent Super Paper Mario was the last one I played through. That's partly because I no longer expect games released within a couple years of each other to be more than a few iterations different. From that perspective, this one looks like a lot of fun. (Though I'm not going to get a Wii U.)

Although, yeah, I do wish big games made bigger turns, as unrealistic an expectation as that may be.
posted by ignignokt at 9:26 AM on October 27, 2013

I'm at a point where all the popular Nintendo franchises have lost a great deal of magic for me. I don't know if I should chock that up to getting old, or what. Even nostalgia has its limits. I think the only remaining one I could lose my shit over would be a new game in the 2D Super Metroid style. Nintendo also seems uninterested in pursuing two series that captured so much of my imagination as a kid - StarTropics and Earthbound/Mother. Get your priorities straight, guys!
posted by naju at 9:37 AM on October 27, 2013

I think, localization stuff aside, Nintendo's handled Mother pretty well! That's Shigesato Itoi's baby and it should stay dead unless he wants to do something new and interesting with it again. Keeping it all more available would be nice, though.
posted by byanyothername at 11:22 AM on October 27, 2013

I think Super Mario 3D Land is basically supposed to be a 3D version of Super Mario Bros. 3 (Tanooki suit, toad houses, musical note blocks, etc.). It seems logical that Super Mario 3D World would owe a lot to Super Mario World, which means probably Yoshi?

I am also wondering when they're going to make another Metroid game, even if it isn't 2D. A game like Other M without the awful dialogue would be nice.
posted by vogon_poet at 12:14 PM on October 27, 2013

I think the complaints are a bit overwrought. The game at this point is designed to get nostalgic adults to buy it for their kids. Kids don't need innovation. They need simple, fluid controls, and relatively clear objectives. This new Mario appears to have that, and any sea changes beyond that makes it no longer Mario. Sea changes anger the fan base like nothing else. This is not the vehicle for sea changes.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:15 PM on October 27, 2013

If Mario had been about that from the very start, then he'd still be climbing that building trying to rescue Pauline.
posted by JHarris at 2:00 PM on October 27, 2013

I want a new Viewtiful Joe. Screw this Mario shit. I've played essentially the same game how many times now? Oh wait, that's also a platformer, and could very much be argued to be the same game since platformers are apparently all the same.

For the record, Super Mario 64 in my mind holds an interesting distinction as being simultaneously both one of the most important games in the history of console gaming by bringing what had previously been crappy-running experiments on stone age PCs to the mass market (3D open world simulation) and one of the worst games ever by allowing it to be incredibly repetitive and boring if you were working towards the game's ostensible goals. That said, I spent hours and hours running around aimlessly climbing trees and whatever else, so it's not that it was an awful game, it just failed to give you a persuasive reason to invest yourself in it enough to finish like Super Mario World and to a lesser extent SMB3 did. It felt a lot like going back to the original SMB, which was a fine game for what it was, but not something that compels non-completionists to finish it. Finishing it is more of an accident of free time and boredom with other activities than a clearly defined goal.

Sunshine figured out how to combine open worlds and platforming into a somewhat compelling game. 64 was so awful to me that I was perfectly content to not buy an N64. Between that and the controller, I just couldn't do it, even after being exposed to some decent games. That disdain carried over to the GameCube for me, but I was rescued. Our GameCube (and copy of Sunshine) came with my SO. She managed to convince me to give Sunshine a shot and holy crap, it was actually a good game again. Galaxy was again a good game, with plenty of places to explore, a few interesting puzzles to solve, and a very entertaining gravity mechanic, but was ultimately a few hours too long.

On the too long complaint, I'm a little conflicted. On the one hand, there is nothing that says that I have to finish a game if I find it too long. It's an unmitigated good thing that there is extra content for those who want it, so long as the game is still of high quality. On the other hand, I feel a bit cheated when I can't bring myself to finish a game and find out what happens if it becomes a slog. Not that I have the right to call anything a slog, having finished MGS4 without complaint.
posted by wierdo at 2:42 PM on October 27, 2013

Super Mario 64? Repetitive? In what way? You did all kinds of things in that game.
posted by JHarris at 5:17 PM on October 27, 2013

Psychonauts is the true successor to Mario 64 and Sunshine. It was doing those subjective gravity tricks years before Mario Galaxy, and did it with open, explorable environments.
posted by straight at 8:24 PM on October 27, 2013

A game like Other M without the awful dialogue gender politics would be nice.

Slightly modified that for you.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:03 AM on October 28, 2013 [3 favorites]

Oh man, a Startropics reboot could be amazing. I'd probably buy a Wii U just for that. (Feverishly spends lunch hour drawing up specs)
posted by thecaddy at 9:51 AM on October 28, 2013

Startropics is a weird little game. Specifically made for US audiences, it has an unusual semi-level-based structure, a weird scoring system, and places where you can die through no fault of your own. It has a weird outside-the-box puzzle (the infamous 747 puzzle), and its control scheme is even weirder than the original Legend of Zelda (which is damn weird when you think about it). Yet it's still entertaining, and was popular enough to get a sequel, one of the last NES releases. It's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about when I talk about Nintendo's ingenuity.
posted by JHarris at 10:13 AM on October 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

(I said "weird" four times in that comment, but it still doesn't seem like enough.)
posted by JHarris at 10:15 AM on October 28, 2013

I know it's a labour of love and it looks very pleasing to the eye but...I can't get excited. I played this at an expo recently, and whilst it was functionally fine with reliably tight gameplay, it did nothing to spark my interest (also, the music was awful, it sounded like a pastiche of music that had been made but actually hadn't, like the New Super Mario Bros games).

I feel the imagery in Nintendo games is getting very repetitive, but that's the price for constant fan service. I want more Electroplankton or Chibi Robot type titles, the genuinely new games with few (or no) overhang from past efforts.

For me, Sony and its partnered parties have been producing far more interesting titles these past few years; titles like Journey, The Unfinished Swan, The Puppeteer and the upcoming title Tearaway have grabbed my attention far more than Nintendo's efforts. They have plenty of 'fan favourites' as well (I don't think their IPs are remotely as strong as anything Nintendo can produce) but the willingness to embrace original ideas seems greater for Sony.

(Of course the real answer for the fresh and new is PC gaming, but I can't be faffed with that)
posted by bumcivilian at 7:45 AM on October 29, 2013