QCF: The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD

This Review was Freelanced by Cody Winn; you can find his other work here.

he Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker caused quite a stir in the days of its original release on the GameCube. Fans had wanted and expected a dark, mature tale akin to Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask, made all the more real by next-gen hardware. What they got instead was a painted cartoon world full of stubbly-legged characters and a vast, empty water world. Though received quite well by critics and eventually by fans as well, backlash from such a huge change hit it pretty hard. Despite all that, over the years Wind Waker has fought its way into history as a Damn Good Zelda Title deserving of every ounce of love it now receives.

10 years later, we've been given an HD remake for the Wii U, complete with prettier textures, Gamepad support, and access to Nintendo's social network-esque MiiVerse, where you can take Link selfies -- a great addition for the Instatweetbook generation -- and post them for all to see. I joke about it, but it's actually pretty entertaining.

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Why the Nintendo Holiday is boring, and their future looks scary

hether most of us (myself included) want to admit it or not, Nintendo has been flailing on the scene as of late. The lack of compelling Wii U software have gradually influenced the deflation of units sold throughout 2013, and with only the 3DS to shoulder the weight, it’s been a frustrating waiting game for those who have endorsed in the promise of the Big N into the next generation. Nintendo hasn’t been completely deaf to their situation though, and during a press release yesterday, made several announcements towards release dates, price drops, and their newest revision of the 3DS for the budget-minded consumer, or parent…and one has to ask if Nintendo has thought this all the way through?

The way I see it, it seems like it’s just more pandering in disguise, and pandering is one of the biggest factors that lead them down to this path to begin with.

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QCF: New Super Luigi U

ou know, if there’s one thing I hear or read more often than not when Nintendo is involved, it’s that Mario is for babies, but that couldn't be more untrue with New Super Luigi U. This expansion of downloadable content hitting New Super Mario Bros. U stars Mario's sibling in a retread through the HD Mushroom Kingdom like you’ve never played it before; this return isn’t for the faint of heart, so be prepared to die—and not always with a "well, I deserved that" smile.

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QCF: Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

ack in the day, when they weren’t developing half-hearted motion titles or games with papier-mâché animals in them, Rare had a partnership where they developed games for Nintendo, and they got their big break reviving one of the Big N’s biggest icons; Donkey Kong.  While the reception toward the Donkey Kong Country franchise has always been wildly mixed (seriously, what’s up with these guys?) it’s definitely secured enough of a following for Retro Studios to live up to their name so to speak, and release a modern sequel on Wii…

Flash forward to 2013, Nintendo makes the call for Retro to port the monkeys over to the 3DS, and Retro being the forward-thinking bunch that they are, decided to work on all of the criticisms of its Wii cousin, it’s safe to say that they succeeded.

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PPR 73

ometimes life can be like a hurricane, and when it is, then you should be sure to grab on to some Disney games. The podcast gets heavy as we discuss all of the games and news from EA securing publishing/developing rights for Star Wars to Nintendo fucking around, and finally the featured topic, Walt Disney video games. Over the last 20 years we’ve seen a variety of licenses from the big D transformed into games, and we discuss whether these games are a testament of quality because of the license itself or their design-- we get steamy folks.

Rate and subscribe to us iTunes today, follow us on our new Twitch page, mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, and be sure to stop by at our Forums and register as well!

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QCF: Pandora's Tower

 think it's just about time to call it. The Wii has finally drawn its last meaningful breath. Unless some other game finally makes it to the system that somehow never got its day on North American Shores, this is finally the end for Nintendo's original profitable waggle-wonder. But hold on, that doesn't mean it's time to move on; as it turns out, Pandora's Tower, the final noteworthy word on the Wii, is one that definitely deserves recognition.

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Press Pause Radio at GDC13!

t’s over everyone, the gauntlet of video game events is OVER! George and Sean return from GDC and get in touch with Toast as they talk about a myriad of topics from the 2013 Game Developer’s Conference—sessions concerning the evolution of storytelling in games, post-mortems, tons of indie games, The Phantom Pain, Nintendo Web Framework, and PS4 social functionality? Yeah, it’s all here and more on the latest podcast, some audio issues occurred unfortunately but the episode is still very much listenable.

Rate and subscribe to us iTunes today, follow us on our new Twitch page, mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, and be sure to stop by at our Forums and register as well!

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PAX East 2013: Pikmin 3 Impressions

hen it comes to Nintendo, they sure have been playing it really safe lately with their core franchises on the Wii U. New Super Mario Brothers U has only been subtly evolved since the original entry on the Nintendo DS in 2006, and even then, almost entirely in an audio/visual sense. The first Legend of Zelda game that Wii U owners are going to see is an HD redux of Wind Waker.

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