I'm glad they ran the Testfire another hour considering the issues. I was able to get a few more games in, cementing my need for this game. Hoorah!

I only got to play one round. Was pretty fun, but I'm not sure I liked the map I played.

Will this have custom controls? I would really like to be able to move the camera left/right and jump at the same time.

I've already got the game on preorder but last night confirmed how much I want this game in my life. Roll on Friday.

@warerare

Amen to that!

@cusideabelincoln

I think turning if motion controls does this automatically.

Played quite a few rounds and had a lot fun. I turned off gyro aim but I end up turning it back on because there's no auto aim and sticks are mad imprecise. I wanna preload but man, $70 Canadian is steep.

So I finally got to play this go-around and... it's pretty much exactly the game I've been expecting, and that's the best compliment I can give it!

Last year during my annual post-E3 appearance on the podcast, I said that Splatoon was my most anticipated game from the show. That's still true. This is going to be like a Nintendo take on Team Fortress and I'm going to love every minute of it. I may end up being terrible at it, but I won't even care. I will play this game to death.

@kriswright
That's part of why I'm so impressed with the game; It seems like even those who might be truly terrible can still enjoy it without feeling bad about themselves, thanks to the focus on painting stuff. Sure, there is a lot of skill and strategy involved, but everyone can feel like they're contributing, and that's pretty awesome.

@kriswright

Will you be in the show this year? We are looking to sign up folks now! Planning to have many guests, each with their own time in the episode.

Visit the Podcast Planning Thread for signing up.

@r_hjort I agree, and I think anyone who claims the game is too simple may not understand this point. This game isn't aimed at the Call of Duty crowd, it seems to be for people who find those games too complex or intimidating. It's supposed to be a relatively simple game, and I think the devs succeed at that, while still having some depth to learn.

@Mop it up

Agreed. It has the potential to have a huge online community because of that fact.

@Mop it up
Classic Nintendo design, and the best kind of game design, IMO. Easily accessible core gameplay, but plenty rewarding for those who want to master it.

@DrFinkelstein
Will be really interesting to see how busy the lobbies are come friday!

Flowchart time!

Are you a squid or a kid now?

The final testfire was an odd one. It seems it stopped working for just about everyone, so they extended it for another hour. Maybe they were trying a different server setup or something like that, but either way, hopefully Nintendo have gathered enough data from these to be able to provide a solid launch.

A few more people showed up in chat this time compared to my last time, so that was nice to see. It was fun to chat with you folks about the game, and hear about how your matches were going.

As for me, this time I went with the Splattershot Jr., and I never switched out because I was worried about getting errors if I tried to start a new game. Although I don't think it's as fun to use as the normal Splattershot, it seems to have better utility: its spray is a little better at covering the ground, and the shield special definitely helps in skirmishes. Without the shield though, its combat ability is a bit lacking, though that doesn't matter too much in Turf War. I still prefer the fun carnage of unlimited bombs though. I saw a lot less rollers this time than previously, though there were still a couple cases where a team had three of them. This time there were more charge guns, I guess people wanted to learn them and some people did use them well. My performance was better this time, as I often ended up as the top player in the match; it's tough to tell if I got better or if I just didn't run into competition as stiff. Maybe a little of both. Of the few games I lost, a couple were because someone on our team dropped or was inactive, which is a tough handicap to overcome. It'd be nice if they let a player join mid-match.

It hasn't changed my opinion or buying plans, but it wasn't supposed to; I just wanted to play one more time.

10 pages of discussion before the game even comes out. That might be a record.

@Jargon

Not to mention the additional 3-page discussion over in my Splatoon Global Testfire: My Impressions of a Nintendo Experiment thread.

Music rip playlist on YouTube!

Some spoilers in there in terms of music obviously, but this one should be familiar to most of us:

@r_hjort

So who's up for some Splatooning on Friday night?

@ludist210

My copy should be here by then so definitely. I won't be able to play at night until around 10pm ET though.

@VofEscaflowne

Oh yeah, it'll be evening for me too...my wife is out of town, and I have a new 42" TV to use however I want.