Thanks for the feedback. It has quelled my concerns regarding the direction of the Pokemon series. I think i will wait until Smash Bros is available until jump back onto the Nintendo bandwagon.

Hopefully they can make some progress on the e-store.

Japan or Egypt & Jordan. Although maybe Ubisoft should have a break for a year. A huge fan of the series, but would like some anticipation and be drawn back in.

N64 All the way. Mario 64 was a leap forward, Goldeneye brought fps to consoles and was excellent with multiplayer, Mario Kart multiplayer improved on the original in leaps and bounds, 1080, Zelda, loved that console.

Nintendo needs to stay in the hardware race, but start competing with the other consoles. I feel as though they are always behind the competition i.e. Gamecube did not use DVDs when the new medium was replacing VHS, owning a PS2 allowed for a game system and a DVD player. The Wii was a good idea, but there needs to be an option for a more traditional controller and better specs.

Have not used the gamepad so cannot say I love it, hate it or feel indifferent to it. The issue I saw was that the Wii U was being released before the industry new what the PS4 and Xbone could do, and the Wii U was not a huge hardware upgrade over the 3 and 360. Now Sony and MS have PS+ and XBL, which offers great value over the e-store, and there hardware is better pushing the best 3rd party experience to the other consoles.

Innovation is great and so is competition, but buying a Nintendo to me create there own barrier as hardware is an entrance fee to play maybe 2 Zeldas, a mario or 2 and Smash Bros over the consoles life. Compete on hardware, get the multiplatforms on the system and then it would be console of choice.

Bringing jrpg into western mainstream and Tony Hawk 1 and 2.

Hi everyone, I have been out of the Nintendo scene for a long time, and like most some of my most treasured gaming memories were brought to me by this company. The SNES, and N64 were probably my favorite consoles, skipped the cube as the PS2 had a built in DVD player and missed the Wii as i wanted a more "traditional" controller. Anyway enough from memory lane.

I have been considering the 3DSXL, but having a little trouble justifying the expense (just bought a PS4, XBone, Vita, and have 2 tablets). I work away a bit so the tablets and Vita are great for remote gaming / multimedia and the value proposition through the playstation store and PS+ is exceptional, that being said there is only 1 system to get Pokemon on, and hoping handheld smash bros is great.

How are the new Pokemon games compared to the original 3 and Gold / Silver, i am kind of put off by all the new monsters and would like to go back to the original 150 but cannot win everything. Are they still as enjoyable and straightforward or has there been too many things added in that detract or overcomplicate the experience?

I also wanted to know how people find the e-store? Is there good bargains like PS+ where you can get old school nintendo games i.e. lylat wars or classics from the 64 Snes era (original mario kart), and how much do they sell for? PS+ has the FF series at $6.50 a game and classics at $10.45, which from looking at the online e-store everything was still around $40-60, but the nintendo website was not very intuitive.

@charizard1605: Never played a Zelda game, however major yes to all the above. 13, AC3 and DA 2 hurt because they were major let downs by predecessor bench marks. I wanted Dragon Age 2 badly then life happened.

Just want to get the community consensus if SE should persist with the FF series or create a new IP, and if to continue what is wanted in the future?

My preference is that SE continue with the series, but go back to having an overarching story where the lead characters embark on a journey, with the conventional class type system. My FF experience is 7,8,9,10,10-2 and 13. I really enjoyed exploring the worlds and cities of 7-10 with each game changing up the combat system, the world and the characters.

In 10 I really enjoyed playing blitz ball, grinding to face dark aeons, getting limit breaks and the journey with the characters. 10-2 became such a huge let down as I was invested in the story and SE pulled a "mario choose your adventure mystery ending" by changing the conclusion based on how much you completed 10-2. I thought it was a bit sloppy after spending circa 110 hours getting through 10 only to not have a definitive resolution.

FF13 was a let down as the plot seemed convoluted, they kept mentioning pulse and falcie, but it was not Kuja, Sin, Seifer/Ultimecia or Sephiroth, 15 hours in and I did not know what I was fighting, and hated that they split you in pairs forcing you to play with people that would normally be relegated and never levelled in a conventional FF game.

I really have missed the series and wanted to see how other people felt, if they miss the old FF series? Do people like the new cinematic direction? or are there enough JRPGs now that other series are worth playing?

@ewalthour: If I could only keep 1 system, or someone was looking into both and was undecided I would go the PS4 as I think it will be the best over this generations cycle. I think Sony have the better exclusives with Drive Club looking really interesting and the indie scene is something that has been emerging on PS3 and depending on how the steam box performs maybe the PS4 could allow Sony to become the console version of steam, which would make it exciting. I know Xbox will have indie games but I think the PS4 indie scene will be significantly better.

This being said as of right now I find the Xbone to be the better launch system and if Infamous (which doesnt do it for me), Unchartered (love the series) and indie games are not what someone is hanging out for there is just as good a reason to go XB1 as a lot of big titles (AC, FIFA, Battlefield, GTA, Final Fantasy) are mutli platform now, with watch dogs, destiny, Witcher, dragon age and probably Mass effect 4 all going to be multi platform as well.

I cannot address Ryse or Knack for launch exclusives, but Forza 5 is what really made me acknowledge next gen had arrived. The opening that is narrated by Jeremy Clarkson is really good if you like cars, and that first test drive where the game puts you in the new McLaren and you do a lap through Prague is visually breathtaking. I compare that moment to the first time I stepped onto Halo on the original xbox and just looked at the surroundings and was in awe of the advancements made.

Aside from the games (Forza) I currently prefer the Xbone as the PS4 needs to allow theme changes, it still feels like the same interface from the PSP. It may be streamlined, but even apple just did a major IOS update last year to become more modern (or more like android if you want to put the knife in). The Xbone interface although cluttered is just as easy to navigate and seems more interesting on screen. I always disliked the idea of Kinect, mainly as I viewed it as a cheap Wii clone introducing things I didn't want into the consoles, but on the X1 it works effective enough, and the idea of snapping with Skype to watch a movie and talk to someone seems like a cool novelty to keep in contact across distances (not sure how useful, but a good advancement). The X1 just appears to have more things going for it right now, and with media player you can use the push to service to watch videos from computer to X1. Sony has confirmed they will patch this with software updates but as of right now that promise doesn't put content on my screen.

The dualshock 4 is a good controller, and I tend to go for Sony over Xbox in general but I'm really liking the X1 controller although it will come down to preference. I don't know if I like the idea that the X1 makes you use AA batteries (or a plug and charge kit) or if rechargeable batteries inside is the best way to go. The DS4 has a button to record features, saying "xbox record that" is cool, but Sony will probably also make it voice activated with the camera. As for graphics, I know there are a lot of bench marks and comparison pics which show PS4 is better, but display is good on X1 as well. I don't think either system will alter the experience graphically for the user unless playing the game side by side. And lastly the install time of games. The PS4 does install faster to allow you to play the game, but it is not that bad on the X1 to where it is really noticeable. Installing 2K14 took a long time on PS4, and until 100% complete you could only quick match, no other options. The in game had no commentary and a cycle of 3 songs playing over and over so although it is nice you need the full game installed in some instances to start fiddling and doing what you want to do.

Sorry for making the reply lengthy, just wanted to down play the "console war", and try to be impartial / not come off as a fan boy and cover the aspects I find important and hope it helps. Xbone has the stronger launch offering, however aside from Forza 5 and some of the apps (which are convenient but there are other work arounds) there is a lot to do on the PS4. You really don't need both consoles, and although the PS4 is not entirely there yet with multimedia and gaming software I think mid year and definitely towards the end of 2014 the PS4 will overtake X1 and be better over the distance.

@Celtic_34: With the new launch I think it depends on how you like to game on how much it will keep you entertained. When I played the NBA 2K series it was fun doing manager mode, change the season to 27 or 29 games and before transfer deadline would move my number 1 pick for a team coming near the bottom so i would normally get a top 5 pick. It was fun to try and build a strong team and also pick up someone with a lot of topside in the draft and watch them develop into an all star, but i like the idea of building a team, which takes several seasons to complete. And since i was picking a missing piece to my team i.e. needed a good small forward, when I picked one high in the draft i felt invested to develop them into one of the best in the league. In the first season they were on the bench as a 6 man and was not until end of yr 2 or 3 they became my starting SF.

Being a huge soccer fan I love Fifa and every year i will start with liverpool, play with them and rebuild the squad, then have too many great players to where it doesn't feel like liverpool so i start a new career with a low division club with the aim to get to the champions league and win the league and that takes a long time, so if you enjoy football this is something to potentially do and if you don't sim matches there is hours upon hours of play in this.

That, AC or online battlefield should be able to hold you over until next year until more releases start happening. There is a lot to do if you like sports or FPS. Unfortunately if it is racing, the indie scene or rpg there is a gap at the moment.