Video Game News and Miscellany

I just found out Shadow Warrior is getting a sequel this year. It's even going to have co-op. I've had a lot of fun with the first one so I'm pretty excited for that.
 
Oh that's super exciting, I've been wanting to get Tropical Freeze, and I sold my copy of Galaxy 2 awhile back. I wouldn't mind having DKC Returns on my 3DS, either.
 
Lots of news and release dates in today's Nintendo Direct:



New Paper Mario, Starfox in just a couple months, Twilight Princess HD tomorrow, and all sorts of other stuff.
 
Oh my God they had to bring in the producer of Metroid Prime to convince people to please not hate Federation Force anymore, hahaha.
If anything, I'm less interested in Metroid Prime FF.

SNES games on New 3DS is something we needed a year ago. I got tired of waiting for Nintendo to give a shit. My wife might buy Earthbound when that's released, but I already have almost all of those games on the Wii U. No cross buy means having to pay for them again, and they're the same price as on Wii U i.e. no discount if you already own it. And I'll bet that when the NX comes out, Nintendo will expect them to be purchased again. The Wii U VC is nothing compared to the Wii VC, and the 3DS will be even less. It dwindles by hardware release and it's never going to be as thorough as it was on the Wii.

Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem Tokyo Idol Wars Whatever they're calling it ... that was unfortunate potential they laid waste to.

Pretty much the only thing I got excited about was Monster Hunter Generations. Look forward to playing that this summer with my wife; it'll likely be the only use my 3DS gets this year until Pokemon or Shin Megami Tensei IV Final, whichever comes first.

Amiibo crap, the next underwhelming Paper Mario game, LoZ: TP HD ... I just don't need it.

The new Kirby game looks ridiculous and adorable. I probably won't play it, but I'll love seeing images and art of it.
 
Yeah all in all I'm interested in Kirby and hashtagFE. I've watched gameplay of FE and it does look pretty fun, and since I'm a huge weeb anyway the JPop thing is fine with me.
 
Oh my God they had to bring in the producer of Metroid Prime to convince people to please not hate Federation Force anymore, hahaha.
The Federation Force video on Youtube had thousands of down votes on it mere minutes after it was uploaded by Nintendo. They actually removed the ability to see up/down votes on it shortly after because the Prime community was so angry. I really don't get what Nintendo is thinking here... the Metroid community wants another Prime game or another Super Metroid style game, not this. They don't want this at all and Nintendo has now failed TWICE to stir any excitement for the game. I don't even think Federation Force looks BAD, I just don't give a shit about it except that it's standing between us and a game I actually want!

SNES games on New 3DS is something we needed a year ago. I got tired of waiting for Nintendo to give a shit. My wife might buy Earthbound when that's released, but I already have almost all of those games on the Wii U. No cross buy means having to pay for them again, and they're the same price as on Wii U i.e. no discount if you already own it. And I'll bet that when the NX comes out, Nintendo will expect them to be purchased again. The Wii U VC is nothing compared to the Wii VC, and the 3DS will be even less. It dwindles by hardware release and it's never going to be as thorough as it was on the Wii.
It's not that Nintendo didn't give a shit... it's that TRUE emulation is HARD on the 3DS from a design standpoint. Seriously, read up on those ten GBA games we got on the 3DS sometime... it's apparently a miracle they got the emulation to work with the 3DS hardware at all. As for the game son multiple systems issue... Nintendo is coming out with unified accounts sometime in the near future, so at least you won't need multiple accounts to access your Nintendo content anymore. I don't mean if this will lead to universal unlocks though.
 
The Federation Force video on Youtube had thousands of down votes on it mere minutes after it was uploaded by Nintendo. They actually removed the ability to see up/down votes on it shortly after because the Prime community was so angry. I really don't get what Nintendo is thinking here... the Metroid community wants another Prime game or another Super Metroid style game, not this. They don't want this at all and Nintendo has now failed TWICE to stir any excitement for the game. I don't even think Federation Force looks BAD, I just don't give a shit about it except that it's standing between us and a game I actually want!
I mean on the one hand I feel for the guy, he obviously really wanted to tell a story about the FF instead of just another Samus thing. Putting this out there with the Prime title on it, though, after a drought of Metroid content that began with Other M, is kind of a gut-punch to those looking for a new, real Metroid game.

The problem is this is like saying "here's a brand new Legend of Zelda game, but instead of Link you're going to play as a Castle Guard." Or that Third Age LotR RPG where you played as clones of the Fellowship and basically followed their footsteps for the whole game. Sure, it could be entertaining, but it's not what fans really want to play and it's more like a tease for something we might never really get.
 
It's not that Nintendo didn't give a shit... it's that TRUE emulation is HARD on the 3DS from a design standpoint. Seriously, read up on those ten GBA games we got on the 3DS sometime... it's apparently a miracle they got the emulation to work with the 3DS hardware at all. As for the game son multiple systems issue... Nintendo is coming out with unified accounts sometime in the near future, so at least you won't need multiple accounts to access your Nintendo content anymore. I don't mean if this will lead to universal unlocks though.
That's fine, but they could've announced it was coming. They could've done something so you get a discount, like with Wii to Wii U, or charged a different price, or actually gotten their shit together. I truly believe that when the next console comes, they're going to start rebuilding the VC all over again. And expecting people to buy the games again.

I stuck it out loyal to Nintendo for the last few years, but they've largely been giving me disappointments through 2014 and 2015. I would've bought most of these SNES games, but they're just not giving me reason to trust them at this point.

 
I mean on the one hand I feel for the guy, he obviously really wanted to tell a story about the FF instead of just another Samus thing. Putting this out there with the Prime title on it, though, after a drought of Metroid content that began with Other M, is kind of a gut-punch to those looking for a new, real Metroid game.

The problem is this is like saying "here's a brand new Legend of Zelda game, but instead of Link you're going to play as a Castle Guard." Or that Third Age LotR RPG where you played as clones of the Fellowship and basically followed their footsteps for the whole game. Sure, it could be entertaining, but it's not what fans really want to play and it's more like a tease for something we might never really get.
To be fair, I actually fairly enjoyed actually playing Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, and the Evil Mode (where you play through an area's encounters as the monsters / bosses versus the party) in order to win rare equipment was actually something more games should feature.
 
No Man's Sky has a release date: June 21st, 2016.

And more good news: it's no longer PS4 exclusive! PC and PS4 versions will release the same day.

... and nothing for Xbone.
 
No Man's Sky has a release date: June 21st, 2016.

And more good news: it's no longer PS4 exclusive! PC and PS4 versions will release the same day.

... and nothing for Xbone.
Still on the fence.
Not because I don't want to buy it.
But because I don't know if I'll have the time.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Amazing, amazing, amazing interview with the woman that had to cobble together the abomination that is the 3DO version of Doom. Really interesting read.

http://www.nodontdie.com/rebecca-heineman/

Here's some video of it. I know when I got it I was SO fucking disappointed.

Hah, that 3DO footage is exactly what it was like to play DOOM on a 386-SX-16 (the barest minimum that could run it)... minus the 80s-tastic soundtrack interpretation.
 
I first played DOOM on the SNES. That blood red cartridge was the scariest thing young poe ever experienced.
The SNES version played better.[DOUBLEPOST=1457156664,1457156580][/DOUBLEPOST]
Hah, that 3DO footage is exactly what it was like to play DOOM on a 386-SX-16 (the barest minimum that could run it)... minus the 80s-tastic soundtrack interpretation.
By contrast, the 3DO Wolfenstein was great and easily the best port available.

 
Amazing, amazing, amazing interview with the woman that had to cobble together the abomination that is the 3DO version of Doom. Really interesting read.

http://www.nodontdie.com/rebecca-heineman/

Here's some video of it. I know when I got it I was SO fucking disappointed.
Well, some of that interview made me feel like an ass. I'm loyal to the developers I'm loyal to--I've paid way more than I should for Atlus titles at release, or getting the collector's editions. I've bought some of their stuff multiple times for one reason or another (wanted collector's, but also digital).

But I admit, when it comes to indies, I do the sale wait-out. Like right now I'm on the fence with Crypt of the Necrodancer because I'm not sure I'll enjoy it, so I'm just waiting for a sale. But in the context of that interview, that's not going to foster more good indie games. I guess I figure if it's an indie I'm really gung-ho about, like Shovel Knight, I'll buy it right away at full price (which I did). I don't feel bad waiting for sales on PSOne Classics, because I pretty much bought all those games many years ago when they were much more expensive, and they're by big developers anyway, but supporting the little guys if it's a game you actually want seems like the appropriate thing to do. That, or if you buy it cheap and like it, gift it to someone else.

I don't know.
 
Well, some of that interview made me feel like an ass. I'm loyal to the developers I'm loyal to--I've paid way more than I should for Atlus titles at release, or getting the collector's editions. I've bought some of their stuff multiple times for one reason or another (wanted collector's, but also digital).

But I admit, when it comes to indies, I do the sale wait-out. Like right now I'm on the fence with Crypt of the Necrodancer because I'm not sure I'll enjoy it, so I'm just waiting for a sale. But in the context of that interview, that's not going to foster more good indie games. I guess I figure if it's an indie I'm really gung-ho about, like Shovel Knight, I'll buy it right away at full price (which I did). I don't feel bad waiting for sales on PSOne Classics, because I pretty much bought all those games many years ago when they were much more expensive, and they're by big developers anyway, but supporting the little guys if it's a game you actually want seems like the appropriate thing to do. That, or if you buy it cheap and like it, gift it to someone else.

I don't know.
I think she's actually wrong about a lot of that. I found the interview really interesting, but some of her ideas came across as too old school, one of the older developers still stuck in a mindset that doesn't work anymore.
 
I think she's actually wrong about a lot of that. I found the interview really interesting, but some of her ideas came across as too old school, one of the older developers still stuck in a mindset that doesn't work anymore.
In what way is she wrong about it though? Because the only way I can see is assuming that everyone who's genuinely interested in the game buys it at full price, while the people who buy it at sale only are just curious, so they weren't going to buy it at full price no matter what. Sometimes that is the case and sometimes not.

Although, with Steam's return policy now in existence, there's nothing to stop someone from trying out an indie they're interested in and then either keeping it or not based on whether they enjoyed it.

I will say she probably is going overboard with AAA sales worry, because the $60 releases tend to sell well if only due to advertising. The only reason we get shit like Square-Enix and the Tomb Raider situation is because they invested way too much in the look of the game, so that even when it sold really well, it still didn't make a profit. But that's that one developer's fault; gamers still bought the game in droves at release.

Something not touched on in the interview in regards to that is where the developers are failing us in return--looking at you, Ubisoft. The last thing they released that was worth buying at full price was looted from THQ's corpse. Assassin's Creed games should be so par the course for Ubisoft by now that there's no excuse for the mountain of glitches and dumb shit anyone playing them has to put up with. And that's not even touching on the DLC situation with EA, or Street Fighter V with Capcom.

The Doom 3DO thing was definitely the highlight of the interview; I'd love her to write the blood and guts version of that story.
 
She's wrong because there are plenty of studies that show steam and steam sales are good for indies and non indie alike. That an indie developer that puts their game on steam, and participates in the sales (which it is up to the developer how much they discount) leads to their game reaching thousands of people it never would have otherwise.

It's not up to the consumer to cater to the creator, it's the other way around. Indie games are experiencing a boom right now, but the competition is also more fierce than ever before. Any struggles that AAA titles experience are usually due to them treating their consumer base like shit.
 
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