Nintendo isn't releasing new games cause they've been busy with this...

A whole theme park area at Universal Studios in Japan. Gotta say it looks really immersive and the amusement park people did a fine job constructing everything. The Mario Kart ride looks intriguing.

I understand this will be expanding to the other Universal parks, including the ones in the US and this one is opening in Feb.

What do you guys think? Would you go to a theme park for this? Would you go to Japan or wait for it to expand to other parks? Do you guys enjoy going out to theme parks? Have you been to Universal Studios before? Is this why Nintendo just doesn't seem to be supporting the Switch right now?

Blurgh, amusement parks. Been to one in England, can't remember the name. The crowds, the lines, the rip-off prices of, well, pretty much everything.

Never again.

Looks awesome. I love theme parks myself and would most definitely enjoy going to one like this. As for it interfering with game development I doubt that it would. I’m sure that all the developers that Nintendo have are busy working on something. Nintendo just generally have a habit of holding off of announcing stuff until it’s pretty far along.

This makes sense for it to be in Japan, but I don't know if it explains the lack (allegedly) of Nintendo material. The type of people that work on rides and stuff are not the same people that work on electronics and software, for the most part, I would wager.

Definitely want to check this out. I've been to Japan a couple times. Right now with COVID it'll be a while. But if it's in the US, may be a better idea (might not lol).

Live near Orlando. No thanks at all.

It'll be coming to Orlando eventually. I'm gonna guess it'll be several years though given how Covid-19 has complicated planning and construction.

What first party titles are Microsoft and Sony supporting their new systems with this holiday?

Nintendo needs to stop doing Mario Kart Live karts and amusement parks and make good games.

Cancel hyrule warriors we all know that game is garbage.

Focus on Breath of the wild 2. and make some classics ocarnia of time 3ds version bring that to the switch with the garbage 3d and give us some other zeldas on there.

Where final fantasy 6 on the snes emulator thing where the hell is good games we need good games.

We have a Mario-Kart "inspired" track in Niagara Falls on Clifton Hill. I don't venture into the a-hole of Niagara, so i've not tried it.

Definitely an interesting thing for Japan, as Ninty has been part of their culture for over a century.

Hopefully the rides have more maintenance than their thumb-sticks.

Nintendo is sitting in some bangers right now. They’re just waiting for the hardware sales to slow down.

If only they could spend a few dollars on fixing the joycons that would be nice. (I really mainly use pro controllers but still common people I still rely on joycons for RINGFIT!)

Nintendo shows why gamers should not worship and treat companies like gods.

Let's go Nintendo. Beat those filthy mice with your mushrooms.

@jaydan: What a time to release when there is a blasted pandemic. Japan ain't out of the woods on it unlike Taiwan and New Zealand.

@jaydan: In the middle of a global pandemic...hell no

Sony devs create games. Nintendo devs create games and amusement parks

Looks great. Not sure if I'd be keen to visit though. I'm not really into theme parks. Kind of tire me out. Would much prefer visiting the Ghibli Museum possibly.

As iconic as Mario is, I'd imagine I'd get bored rather quickly at a theme park like this. I'd get bored at any theme park themed after a single franchise, really. Throw in some Zelda, Star Fox, and some other properties, and I might be interested in making the trip.

Morons planning to open an amusement park during a pandemic. It's my type of humour.

I wouldn't go to Japan for it, but I'd definitely go if I was already there.

Yeah, me too. Looks really cool.

So wait, they used to be able to make games for both handheld (3DS) and Console (Wii)

And yet now that they are developing games for just one system, they can release only two games this year?

Sounds like a badly managed studio to me.

What the hell is going on even with Retro Studios, they haven't made a game since 2014.

That's 6 years!!!

I have no idea what the hell Nintendo is doing. My guess is that they don't put in a lot of effort, since they obviously don't have to in order to sell a shitload.

Pretty fucking sad. Hopefully people will not buy too many copies of their lazy $60 ports.

I imagine this would be a dream come true for younger gaming fans, great idea and I hope it pays off for them.

Yeah some of these games like 3D all stars are just phoned in affairs.

I bought my Switch on the prospects of great AAA games like Metroid Prime or just more big releases, sadly.

I guess I should be used to droughts by now, being a Nintendo fan for so long.

Yeah. Hoped we wouldn't get such droughts anymore, since they only need to develop games for one platform. I didn't know they would just.. do less games altogether instead.

Well, they pretty much fucked up this gen, and I'm worried they're not going to step up their game for the next, looking at the sales they got this gen.

I've got a feeling these new system hardware rumours are true and it will come out in 2021 allowing for 4k upscaling for games. Retailing at £349.99 the rumours have been going around for too long probably release at the end of the year alongside BOTW 2.

I live near Skegness so no thanks also!

Yeah I'm either a Nintendo fan, or completely averse to them.

Developing for one platform has failed... Nintendo direct has failed (so much fluff, never a big announcement).

I'm growing to be the latter, more and more.

Do understand that it takes many years of development and millions and millions of cost for production. If it was not for the pandemic, this theme park attraction would have already been open. It's not like they want to open something up during a pandemic, but there's really only so much that can be done over something like this.

Do you spend the entire day visiting castles trying to find the princess?

I do understand that. Still a bad time. This is DEAD before it even got started. Sniped down like a Legionnaire shot by Craig Boone.

To be fair though, amusement/theme parks have been open in Florida for much of the pandemic now, and that involves the major theme park chains including Universal and Disney.

To this day there have not been many Covid-19 cases linked to theme parks despite them being open in certain regions. They're pretty on top of the regulations and safety measures, and it seems to be effective.

At the end of the day, people that don't want to take risks will stay home regardless. If you do go outside at all, whether it's going for walks or going for a run - you might be putting yourself at greater risk with activities such as those versus being in a controlled and regulated space like a theme park.

Sounds like, feels like, smells a little bit like...

lol :P

So....they see what looks like a worldwide shortage of Switch to ship/sale (not to mention software droughts from the look of it), and instead of investing in their gaming division, they build a amusement park? In the middle of a pandemic? *sigh*...

I'm already there, and I've been a Nintendo fan since NES. I've bought nothing but Nintendo the previous gens (Except for having gaming PC's the last 2 gen's). Their bad business practices have just worn me down...

The last straw for me was Wii. Wii U is the first Nintendo home system I missed and it looks like Switch is about to follow the same road.

And although I would like a Switch, Nintendo hasn't provided enough big game releases for me to want to purchase one. And it still amazes me that they are able to get away with selling 3 year old games still at $60. Or the fact that Switch still haven't gotten a price drop after all this time...

Theme parks? No. Entire countries? YES! Japan is doing quite badly on COVID19. Better than America, sure (lower death count and at least Japanese politicians NEVER faced terrorist threats in retaliation unlike some US politicians). But it ain't saying much. Again, this is going to fall FLAT on Nintendo and Universal's face.

Nah, I disagree; but even if it did fall flat on any company's face, it would be on Universal and all the theme park industries, not Nintendo.

Nothing like that is going to happen though, because as we speak these parks are currently open and running. If anything was going to fall flat then that would have happened long ago when they started to reopen during a pandemic.

And like I stated before: there's far fewer confirmed covid cases linked to amusement parks than some might expect, and that's much because these places are highly controlled and regulated for everyone's safety.

These days? Not me. Starting next February or next summer? Hell yeah, if I were in Japan.

I haven't been to disneyland in forever and that's like a hour drive from me. I do understand the appeal though, if there was a Final Fantasy Amusement park in the country I would go maayyybe once every 5 years.

Look at that misleading title ...

Anyways, looks really cool ... wish i had the chance to go and try it, maybe in a few years from now, who knows.

Honestly, this feels like their version of virtual reality just without the headsets. Sony and Microsoft will never have anything like this, their franchises aren't strong enough. At its current status the park is not worth the visit because you wouldn't just go there to do the Nintendo part of the park, but everything else at Universal Studios. It is interesting that Nintendo is now under the sheets with Comcast though. Ultimately there will only be 4 of these places around the world and the United States will have 2 of them.

As far as support for the Switch? There were rumors that if you bring your Switch to the parks there is some form of connectivity. This will most likely be some kind of connection with the Nintendo World mobile app, MyNintendo & the Nintendo Account.

@Coolyfett: The theme park industry is a whole different beast from the video game industry. It's not so much a virtual reality experience as much as these theme parks aim to completely immerse a visitor into a popular IP by being in a highly themed and detailed "land". Rides often push technological innovations. Theme parks wanna have a one-of-a-kind ride system these days. I think over the last couple decades, theme parks (or at least Disney and Universal) have been throwing major money into these projects. Universal previously added a massive Harry Potter world to their parks and they did an incredible with that.

The Mario Kart ride sounds like it's going to be a highly technologically advanced dark ride of sorts, that will also utilize AR technology and interactivity. I'm definitely most excited to see how the Mario Kart ride will turn out, I think it has the potential to be something very amazing.

I don't think it's that you should go to a theme park for any one thing, but Nintendo World is going to be a solid new addition to the Universal Studios collection along with everything else offered in a park. I definitely can see it will be a popular one with guests.

At the end of the day I bet the reason Universal is doing this Nintendo expansion, is because we're due for a Super Mario Bros. Animated movie in several years. Having Nintendo in the parks by time the movie comes out will be perfect for marketing.