Messages

676

Gaming / Re: The Pre-E3 2010 Discussion Thread - HYPE SEASON! NEWS SEASON!

« on: May 19, 2010, 12:46:52 AM »

I'm kinda with Flame (hopes it's Legends 3 or something cool) and at the same time I'm wondering about Strider.

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Gaming / Re: The Pre-E3 2010 Discussion Thread - HYPE SEASON! NEWS SEASON!

« on: May 18, 2010, 09:18:03 PM »

Ever since FFXIII got a 360 port, I knew Versus would get one eventually. It was just a matter of time.

You know, it's funny. I thought that this was such a forgone conclusion that when it was actually even mentioned I was there thinking "derp". You wouldn't believe how many forumers and other folks came out of the woodwork to chime in and figuratively abandon/die with the ship once the initial post was made on other venues.

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Gaming / Re: Favorite version/edition of Street Fighter? Any series...

« on: May 18, 2010, 09:13:14 PM »

I don't give a crap about fond memories.

Nintendo games are better now than ever. Fact.

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Gaming / Re: The Pre-E3 2010 Discussion Thread - HYPE SEASON! NEWS SEASON!

« on: May 18, 2010, 06:49:47 PM »

Welp guys, we might have to man our e-fallout shelters if this next development from Square Enix is true. Yoichi Wada is heavily considering making a 360 version of Final Fantasy Versus XIII. (I say heavily since that's the only kind of word that can be used to describe his thoughts on considering this all the way up to the day of the E3 presentation itself.) Of course you know, [parasitic bomb] just got real as the internet and "those" kinds of gaming fans have already started the preemptive warring.

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Anime & Manga / Re: Fairy Tail

« on: May 18, 2010, 03:08:28 PM »

I really like how Lucy's been handling herself in battle lately, she doesn't come off as being completely ditzy like she once did. I guess she's getting better at being a FT mage after all!

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Gaming / Re: The Double Edged Nintendo Fallacy

« on: May 16, 2010, 07:23:28 AM »

I don't know about Nintendo's working practices, but as far as I've seen, tons of known developers have mentioned the Wii to be a scary console to develop for when you're not talking about throwaway games. Nintendo doesn't seem to be doing anything to remedy this situation at the moment. And I find it hard to believe that NO game-developing third-party in the world could ever enter new, exciting and highly sellable games, give them the proper amount of advertising, and simply release them on the Wii if it was that simple. No, I kinda think all the smart people simply went for the consoles you can pull out multiplatform on, where you can push the graphics to the maximum and have all the different genres you want without control limitations.

So, every single third-party in the world pretty much went up to Nintendo and gave them shovelware and less-practical games at the same time. No AAA games at all, as I can see. That's kinda hard to believe were they in a comfortable position as you described. They did it because nobody took the Wii seriously when it was launched. The limitation of the controller and the system itself got people thinking there couldn't be alot of buyers for that system. Surprise surprise, there were. So developers emulated what Nintendo was selling at the time, which was selling good. Did it work? No. Did they try again, with better games? The ones who did, like Capcom with Zack & Wiki, and Sega with Madworld, got burnt and their stuff didn't sell well. (Sega had quite a big campaign for Madworld, so no blaming that). What did Nintendo do about that? Nothing I can really think of, because THEIR stuff was selling.

First off, the bold right? That's the developers' and publishers' faults, not Nintendo's. They were given all they were needed to do what they did best and promptly dropped it all on the floor like a petulant child crying "waaahh this console is teh dumb/casual/don't do purty effectz". They don't want to provide for Wii plain and simple. They feel as though it's a novelty that is getting in the way of the "chasing Hollywood" model that a lot of people, both gamers and developers lap up at a moment's notice. They make gamer's games. They are programmed to make the biggest & best, but can't understand how to make something lasting and relevant to a new landscape and audience comprised of people who might be brand new to gaming or don't have a deep background in it. They haven't put thought into what kind of content resonates best within the new market and without that bit of experience, they can't make games with these new experiences that have/has been expected of Wii games.

As such, they have begun to spread the worst kind of FUD on what it's like to make a Wii game (recalls a blatant troll attempt by someone in the industry (as in holding a position as developer in this industry) stating that Madworld needed to sell 1 or 2 million units to recoup its development costs; also recalls the CEO of Epic Games constant and consistent comments on why developing for Wii was never going to be considered), all in an attempt to dissuade attempts at doing something with the console and market. At this point however, it doesn't make much difference. Customers have already made their assumptions on what to expect from any game that doesn't have a Nintendo logo, thus 3rd party games don't sell, thus developers [sonic slicer] and moan about how it's impossible to turn profits on the Wii, thus publishers scale back the amount of titles they want or have lined up for the Wii, thus gamers go around saying "Wii has no games" and everyone's unhappy with the exceptions being those developers who started the circle with the discouraging "support" and now have their bread buttered with checks made out by Sony or Microsoft.

Secondly, I don't know how intelligent these smart people who chased development elsewhere are when they can't think far enough outside of the box to come up with one or two little ideas or invest even a little in think tanks that could work around the supposed limitations of the system, such as the Wii being unable to do certain gameplay, and deliver new content that wasn't insultingly derivative. Remember the PS2? That console was absolutely murdered in terms of pure technical merit by the Gamecube and Xbox, yet despite that, developers were able to create the God of Wars, Metal Gear Solids, Zones of The Enders, Devil May Crys, Onimushas, Final Fantasies, Kingdom Hearts, Jak & Daxters, Slys, Ratchets, Personas, SoTC and Ico. (Please don't use the similar controller and hardware line against this. The point is if developers really wanted to develop for Wii and make good games in the face of all the Wii's issues, controls differences and limitations, it wouldn't be anything new since they all should have been used to making these great games and gameplay for the "inferior" PS2.) On top of that, Wii is actually capable of game play and applications that can't be done traditionally with buttons and pads. Developers had a choice at the beginning of this all to cover all their bases with equal support or do what they did and served up a steaming plethora of bad "me toos" and "I want ins".

Next up, I want to kinda take apart that Madworld thing for a second since it's popped into mind. SEGA made this game into some form of second coming, and honestly I can see why it would be so. Looking at what it had going for itself:

- It was made by Platinum Games, a group with a god tier pedigree thanks to the creative talent of Capcom's former Clover team making the bulk of its self
- It was a game tailor made to the Wii's strengths while addressing and (seemingly) working around its problems
- The game had a marketing blitz, actual ad campaigns & tons of promotions

It seemed like it was going to be a huge deal, however, there was tons of writing on the wall that spelled out Madworld's fate:

- The game was made by developers for a very niche group of fans. You could tell from its presentation to its inclusion of homages throughout the game.
- The game was rife with jarring content that would turn off anyone from even trying it unless they were of the mindset the game was catered to accomodating. This is made more true by its ultra gory and bloody (although stylized) combat, the absolutely profane (but damn hilarious ) commentary, and the whole "bloodsport" presentation it took upon itself.
- Although this is a very vain nitpick to most folks, there were quite a few instances of technical issues as well as situations where options that were standard on Wii games were completely lacking in the finished game (no 480p, Europeans got shafted in terms of the 50Hz/60Hz debacle). These are features that the hardcore (using this word to mean very invested in their gaming, not the kind of games they buy) supporters would notice right away and be put off by.

Yet, even for all of my stating that Madworld was a mismatch in terms of massive sucess, SEGA has gone on record and said that Madworld has done very well for itself over time. Capcom had a similar situation with Zack & Wiki (pure Monkey Island-esque adventure game in '07 with "almost but not quite controls" and a total lack of backing in the marketing area), and that game has done well enough that Capcom doesn't consider it a glaring mark of failure anymore. That was with practically nothing in the way of marketing.

So the fact of the matter is that Wii gamers will not shun quality, if it's good, they'll come to it. They are also open and receptive to things so long as they aren't overdone. They are also capable of making informed decisions and purchases which explains why developers & publishers get mad when C rate trash is straight up rejected and cash ins are relegated to eternal store display stand ins. It's now the developer's jobs (as it should be) to provide the gamers with content.

Finally, since I neglected to make a note on this, hell yes Nintendo has the right mindset there. Why the hell should I help you up for the umpteenth time when I already showed you how to move in the game? It's your choice to make bad calls when I already gave you a fair playing ground and rules. I'm not going to bend over backwards to accommodate you when time and time again you've shown that you won't put in any effort.

(Tangent: Wii games are notoriously slow burners. Best example of this is de Blob, a game that debuted with less than 250K copies that wound up selling more than a million within the timeframe of a year. Frontloaded sales don't happen often on Wii, but that doesn't mean that quality doesn't get picked up on with time and word of mouth. These things don't interest most publishers and developers though as the Hollywood model creeps into play and dictates that if you don't sell wild numbers at first, the [parasitic bomb] is BOMBA.)

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Gaming / Re: The Double Edged Nintendo Fallacy

« on: May 16, 2010, 05:22:30 AM »

- I'm blasting Nintendo because they've created an environment where developers don't believe they can make money on the Wii. They recognize this problem themselves. Why can't you?

False. Nintendo created a very open environment where any and every kind of developer could have prospered (*remembers old quotes on how they even lessened the QA needed for a game to be released on Wii) and Iwata personally saw to abolishing old Nintendo practices to entice the devs on top of creating the market space. 3rd parties [parasitic bomb] on that party though by passing along the worst kind of shovel wares and "me too" attempts at emulating the Wii ___ line.

Come on man, I just mentioned this in my last post!

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Gaming / Re: The Pre-E3 2010 Discussion Thread - HYPE SEASON! NEWS SEASON!

« on: May 15, 2010, 11:01:04 PM »

Well, this thread is off to a slow start.

Fear not though, here's a good and recent article for those interested, Nintendo expects to sell 5 million 3DS' by March 2011, hinting that the Big N will in fact have this out in two or more territories by then. Also of note in this article is a comment made about how this show aims to show off in the grandest way possible that gaming will always be a huge thing and can only get better from here.

EDIT: Epic whoops!

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Gaming / Re: The Double Edged Nintendo Fallacy

« on: May 15, 2010, 08:30:29 PM »

You know I really don't want to nitpick, but the PS2's software library was godly because everyone developed for it. Hardly anyone is developing on Wii because they either have a mindset against what the Wii is and the direction it's going it, have already invested in (and are making good returns on) 360/PS3 development and see no real need to develop Wii content, or they are wary of dedicating support to the Wii this late in the console generation. The second and last reasons are solid considering that a lot of things are decided upon and set in stone from the jump with publishers & dev houses. Radically changing up your strategies and shaking up the pot would require massive leaps of on the spot thinking that could lead to SEGA like instances of not knowing what the hell you can or should do, not finding a specialization, and leaking absurd amounts of money in the process. It's sad though that the folks making the big decisions couldn't learn to adapt so that even if they & their companies weren't gung-ho Wii specific developers, they would have things in place so that a good community of Wii developers (and as a result, a better flow of Wii games) could exist.

The other thing I have to ask is, why does Nintendo have to go out and court developers to build content for the Wii? This is business first off! Opportunity knocks, but she's not going to give you a blowjob and make you sammiches in order to make you realize that she could be worth it! You have to work for it!

EDIT: I just realized that this is even worse than my words convey because Nintendo even made sure to make a comfortable new landscape and playing rules to draw the developers to them since they might need persuasion after being burnt in the Yamauchi years and Nintendo's iron fisted tactics with them in those days!

Why can't (or couldn't) developers see that there's a new landscape there to create the new and interesting and make a pretty penny doing so? Instead of using this to their advantage, they churned out drivel of the worst kind intending to swindle the "derp derp casuals" out of some money here and there and as a result spurned the general Wii audience from being receptive of anything of any quality unless it carries a Nintendo logo. This puts an unnatural bit of focus on Nintendo as the sole provider of decent Wii experiences (part of the reason why I feel this thread exists currently and why this train of thought is still as current as ever). All at the same time, Nintendo has been doing things at its own pace the same way it has been since the NES days in terms of a release schedule. The only difference is that now, with all those circumstances behind it and Nintendo seen as the "champ" for selling a fuckton, the gamers are impatient and want their big glorious hits one after another constantly. It. Can't. Work. Like. That. Nintendo's a tiny company (go back to my comments on the staffing and methods behind its madness with money). They try their best to cater and provide all while growing at a rate they can handle, but you won't see the results of this instantly.

Here's an interesting tidbit one should keep in mind, within the amount of time from day 1 of this gen to now, Nintendo's output of games from their franchises this gen has been outpacing their output for every console of theirs outside of the NES (and possibly SNES) in terms of amount of time the console was released to time the game was released. (The circulation of IPs used on Wii is an issue though, so don't think I'm going to play the role of Nintendo good cop through and through. ) With the quality being subjective, they've done a good job for what little bit of manpower they have.

Tangent: I think this whole bit about getting people and franchises on board with one company's system(s) is a problem with the game industry. Instead of everyone creating brand new experiences and cultivating the market to be receptive to these things, all 3 companies were fighting tooth and nail for "exclusives" or big name franchises to grace their systems since they were banking on these "sure-seller AAA tier games" to carry themselves. In a sense, I feel as though this is the wrong way to do things. Why can't people build up from scratch anymore? I guess there's multiple facets to the answer, but in the end, I don't think that asking straight up for an experience that exists on one platform to be on another is ever a good solution, from a gamer or business position, especially now when dealing with the clear and blatant split between Wii & PS360 gaming.

My final note which is a bit far removed from the discussion thus fat is that if you're interested, there's a pretty recent article with an excerpt from Iwata stating that they have acknowledged the troubles Wii has been having with getting dev support and how Nintendo is now taking the initiative to bring them on board. Let me go fetch the link from GAF first though.

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Gaming / Re: Emotional Gaming (SPOILER WARNING?)

« on: May 15, 2010, 06:58:17 PM »

Pokemon Silver: Trekking through Mt. Silver and making it to the top to see a trainer, not knowing who it was. I chat with him only to get ellipses, then the battle screen scrolls in "Pokemon Trainer Red wants to battle" was there on screen. I was a mixture of FUUUUUUUUUU, Penny Arcade Metroid Other M reaction face.jpg, and thinking "sheeeit my team is under leveled" all at the same time.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokémon Black & White Discussion Thread

« on: May 15, 2010, 05:02:47 PM »

In response to the fire starter names, I heard a few already that I absolutely loved, namely Pignition & Piglit.

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Gaming / Re: The Double Edged Nintendo Fallacy

« on: May 15, 2010, 07:20:54 AM »

I'm kinda wondering what the hell happened in here now.

On another note, I think I'm just at an age of disconnect between folks. Sequences, presentations, and the like can all make a great impact within a certain game's framework for me (nothing as crazy as getting emotional though), but at the end of the day, game play is still the biggest draw for me. If you have solid everything else and the game play leaves more to be desired, well, you'll hear it from me when I'm asked.

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Gaming / Re: The Double Edged Nintendo Fallacy

« on: May 14, 2010, 01:54:48 AM »

THIS is the sad truth I have seen regarding the Wii and the DS. Too much "games" being cranked out by "developers" (those two words are in quotes because, well, can you call them "developers" and "games" after you've seen the utter barf-inducing quality (can't find a better word)?). The more I read the posts on this topic, the more I lose my trust in the big N. Come on, Ninty, have some ORIGINALITY for once, goddamnit.

This post confuses me, are you saying that Nintendo needs to crack down on these "developers and games"? If so then, they did do this and became notorious for closing off their platform out of fear of others diluting their name (in before "Official Seal of Quality"). This happened back during the NES era and gained Nintendo a bad rep with a bunch of developers for it. They eased up on it through the other gens then pretty much abolished it for the Wii in order to make a good playing ground for developers to take the plate and hit a home run, but no body came to play ball. (Which really [tornado fang]ing sucks considering how much opportunity was lost while companies hemorrhaged out the ass chasing the pretty and shiny and breaking their banks in the process.)

If you're saying this as a response to Nintendo in general, well then I don't know where you've been, but I'm seeing a ton of original stuff.

Final thought, people put way too much emphasis on this misguided belief that original = good. Good = good. End of story.

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Gaming / The Pre-E3 2010 Discussion Thread - HYPE SEASON! NEWS SEASON!

« on: May 14, 2010, 01:10:09 AM »

Yes, you were supposed to read the second half of the title like

Bugs & Daffy.

Now then, welcome RPM! How's it going? With another year gone by and a month to go before the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for all you cool people, I think it's time for one of RPM's newest traditions, namely the Pre E3 news gathering and general speculation thread, to make another appearance. This year we've been given numerous hints that things will be big and very interesting. Whether it be with the release of Sony & Microsoft's new attempts at motion & camera control, Stereoscopic (3D) gaming in the form of PS3's updates, Nintendo's brand new 3DS handheld, or the mysterious Xbox 360 update that only those in Korea have been selected to receive, or just hints at the games of the show (Zelda Wii, The Last Guardian, etc), this is the place for it all. So come on in and share as we wait for the video gaming event of the year!

News Reel:

Nintendo

• Zelda? E3 2010? More Than Likely - Complete with Playable Demo
• Nintendo Announces 3DS; Brand New Handheld Device Capable of 3D Gaming
• Nintendo: "5 Million 3DS' to be sold by March 2011"

Microsoft

• Cirque du Soleil to Perform at Natal World Premier Event

Sony

• Killzone 3 To Make A BIG Stereoscopic Splash!

Other Parties (Sega, Capcom, Square-Enix, SNK, etc.)

• Square Enix: Wada: "Square is looking into FFVXIII for 360."
• Capcom To Announce Bombshell Sequel at E3

Liveblogging of The Event
-Stay Tuned!-

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Gaming / Re: The Double Edged Nintendo Fallacy

« on: May 13, 2010, 05:43:53 AM »

Hmm, in a lot of ways, you and I are similar Flash. I really don't know how to answer these questions sometimes since I don't have any real knowledge of what Nintendo is thinking, but I am really taking a sort of gamble and being patient for those Nintendo quality things to roll out once again.

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Gaming / Re: The Double Edged Nintendo Fallacy

« on: May 13, 2010, 04:56:59 AM »

Actually, I'm kinda curious!   

Honest to God, I am too.

Activision, UbiSoft and EA don't really have legions of fans that come to their aid on internet debates. =P They're just regularly hated upon, no matter how fond our memories of Rayman and other properties are. Pretty much all companies get rage. Nintendo seems to be exempt from providing us with good online service or online multiplayer, new properties or any kind of changes from their current model. And yet... they're the most successful gaming company in the world. There's gotta be something wrong with that.

I think it's because a lot of people have grown up with Nintendo and can seriously attest to the ridiculous level of quality most (if not all) of their properties have when they come about. This makes an irrational situation where one side who can sit out and deal with the droughts of new content is content so long as the traditional and time honored franchises get new spins while the other side can't seem to deal with the releases of the "same old, same old" and crave something new from them.

Basically, it's a situation where Nintendo (to the general public eye) gets so much right when they get to it that it seriously overshadows their "lolwat"s and wrongs all at the same time. The more enthusiast groups however see that some of those wrongs and eye raisers are getting a bit harder to justify looking over as time goes by and things change.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokémon Black & White Discussion Thread

« on: May 13, 2010, 04:48:06 AM »

[tornado fang] that Fire Starter, it's a god damn pig.






I'll name mine P-chan.

I'll name mine Pumbaa depending on how his final evolutionary stage comes out.

can't unsee

I thought you couldn't see [parasitic bomb] already?

Well played.

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Gaming / Re: Dem Bosses

« on: May 12, 2010, 10:09:00 PM »

My Favorite Metroid Boss or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Prime 2: Echoes:

Quadraxis, Quadraxis, Quadraxis. I love how Retro managed to keep me wondering what the hell I should expect as the Dark World boss for Sanctuary Fortress, even though the writing was on the wall from as early as your first trip to the temple in the light world. (Honestly, there was one scan about some massive machinery that was recently being assembled which should have really clued me in.) Even then though, nothing got me ready to expect Quad until I had opened the gate to the arena in the Ing Hive and was on the elevator going down into it while noticing the giant [tornado fang]ing robot that was staring me down while offline at the moment.

Then a cut scene starts, and you see the black puddle being drawn into the machine complete with one of the best and most ominous songs in Prime 2's soundtrack and it's as if there's something that clicks in the back of your head telling you that [parasitic bomb] just got really real.

It also helps that this is really a shining achievement in terms of puzzle bosses, something that Prime 2 spoiled me with like mad, but took to its absolute apex with Quadraxis (and to a slightly lesser extent, the final boss, Emperor Ing). You had to take this thing apart piece by piece and the farther you got doing this, the more the game would throw at you to handle in a split second. Destroyed one of it's leg joints? Now you have to deal with it spiraling and sucking you into the center of its manic attack. Blew up a part of the motors that comprised its feet? Now it's stomping around you leaving shockwaves and [parasitic bomb] throughout the arena. Blew apart its body? Congrats, now its head has detatched itself from its dead weigh and is seeking to blast your ass with a potent bit of antimatter.

Further increasing the tension (unless of course you're a item stocking maniac like me), is the fact that throughout the match, you are fighting in the dark world with its erosion causing atmosphere without any of the bubble shields that were dotted around the dark world normally.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokémon Black & White Discussion Thread

« on: May 12, 2010, 08:47:29 PM »

Hipster grass mon is God Tier. Also, those trainers are absolutely awesome looking.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: May 09, 2010, 11:02:03 PM »

Awesome.

Now then, anyone want to battle?

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: May 09, 2010, 10:54:36 PM »

4297 5603 0391. I'll go wait in one of the trade lobbies now.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: May 09, 2010, 10:41:33 PM »

No nicknames. Also leave your FC here. I thought I had it in his Pal Pad.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: May 09, 2010, 10:32:33 PM »

...

I already have a hatched Cyndaquil...

>_>

<_<

Somehow I doubt you want a Rattata.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: May 09, 2010, 10:23:52 PM »

Ohhhh.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: May 09, 2010, 10:21:40 PM »

Any time now...