Video Game News and Miscellany
- Thread starter figmentPez
- Start date
Next in the wacky world of Nintendo:
- New console to be revealed 2nd quarter, likely around E3 (be nice if Nintendo showed up this time)
- Release aims for fall of this year
- Probably won't be named NX
How old is the Wii U? I'm guessing Zelda U will be cross-console release, maybe with graphic upgrades for the new system. And that'll probably be the only launch title worth getting if other console releases are anything to go by, so unlikely to be worth getting out the gate.
- New console to be revealed 2nd quarter, likely around E3 (be nice if Nintendo showed up this time)
- Release aims for fall of this year
- Probably won't be named NX
How old is the Wii U? I'm guessing Zelda U will be cross-console release, maybe with graphic upgrades for the new system. And that'll probably be the only launch title worth getting if other console releases are anything to go by, so unlikely to be worth getting out the gate.
Anyone who wants to pre-order Psychonauts 2, go for it. MAX FUNDING BABY!
It better be good. Nintendo only stays in my good graces at the moment because I love my 3DS.
Because all of those other Tim Schafer kickstarters turned out so well, right?
I'm not touching this until it releases (late, and likely only half the game promised) and is proven to be decent. Otherwise I have to assume that it will suck, and people need to stop giving Tim Schafer money.
I'm enjoying my Wii U more at the moment now solely because of Xenoblade Chronicles X, but looking at upcoming games, Wii U is a sad forecast compared to the 3DS.
Rumor has it the next console will hybrid console and handheld so Nintendo can quit fighting against itself, but I'll believe it when I see it.
See, I don't really understand this. Yeah, Broken Age didn't exactly go as planned, but it's finished. It's out. It's done. They released it. And it's not a bad game. It's a pretty solid adventure game. Plus, unlike any other game in development, we got to see the process behind the scenes and the frustrations in making the game.
Massive Chalice is finished and it turned out okay from what I understand. It has a Mostly Positive rating on Steam.
That's the only two games that were Kickstarted and they're both finished and released. You could say something for Spacebase, but that wasn't Kickstarted and really, it's Double Fine's one and only actual, unfinished disappointment.[DOUBLEPOST=1452182086,1452181996][/DOUBLEPOST]Personally, the only reason I didn't back Psychonauts 2 is there's no reward option for JUST the sequel. I already own the first one. I don't need to buy it again.
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It's because Tim Schafer can't manage money. Broken Age had a huge success of a Kickstarter, gaining over a MILLION dollars, several times more than he had budgeted for his game, and he still ran out of money. He had to start selling the unfinished game just to fund the completion of it, which is terrible business. And while the game was ok (the second half was shit) it was not the game that was advertised. He pitched the game as an old school adventure game in the vein of monkey island or any of the old adventure games, and what was delivered was not that.
I like doublefine games. Tim Schafer can make good games, I've seen it. But people need to stop giving him money.
Most of these complaints come largely from the unplanned nature of the broken age kickstarter. In that campaign, DoubleFine basically said "Hey, let's make a game, don't know what it'll be about, but we'll figure it out". Then they got a lot more money than they expected, scaled up their expectations on the fly, and ended up overreaching. They didn't know how to run a kickstarter campaign for game funding and it bit them in the ass. Though to be fair, it was not only their first kickstarter campaign, but one of the earliest of it's kind, so they didn't have a lot of experience to build off of. Notice that for their next kickstarter, they went into it with a set plan, knowing the game they wanted to make and were able to budget accordingly, ending up turning out what they promised without significant issues during development.
Of the two kickstarters they've done, which one does the Psychonauts 2 campaign have more in common with? The answer is clearly Massive Chalice, not Broken Age. A company having one project turn into a learning experience shouldn't be held over their heads forever when they've already demonstrated they've learned their lesson and adjusted accordingly.
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I don't think it's unreasonable for people who gave money before to be apprehensive of doing so before the final product comes out.
I mean, everyone bashes pre-orders ... that's effectively what this is. And with games that, from what I'm told, aren't exactly the quality stuff Tim Schafer is known for.
I mean, everyone bashes pre-orders ... that's effectively what this is. And with games that, from what I'm told, aren't exactly the quality stuff Tim Schafer is known for.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge anyone not pre-ordering something until they see it complete. There's always a risk there, regardless of who's putting the game out, as we saw with ME3 and Arkham Knight. I just don't agree with the idea Doublefine is particularly unreliable and shouldn't be getting anyone's money because of some issues they had with their first crowd sourcing experiment.
It's not one event.
The Broken Age problem has already been mentioned, and is what most people are familiar with, so no explanation needed there.
There was Spacebase of 9, which was funded via early access, with Schafer promising continual support over several years to continue to expand the game until it was complete. That is what was pitched to people to buy the game before it was even close to complete. Schafer even went so far as to say:
Development was later ended.What's worse, it was ended right after getting a bunch of people to buy it during a Steam Sale. So a ton of new sales were put into an 'in development' game, and then the plug was pulled. This was before the age of steam refunds.Tim Schafer said:
Notch, creator of minecraft and person now with more money than God, approached Schafer offering to fund the creation of Psychonauts 2. Tim agreed, until money concerns forced Notch to pull out. http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/04/exclusive-minecrafts-notch-no-longer-funding-psychonauts-2/
Of his crowd funding endeavors, only Massive Chalice wasn't a complete fuckup. So maybe third try's the charm. Though, that project was managed by Brad Muir, who left Doublefine right after to join Valve.
This history does not exist solely in crowd funding. Brutal Legend was severely behind schedule and massively over budget, which is why the last third of that game turns to total shit.
I love Doublefine, and I love Tim Schafer. I used to wonder why publishers wouldn't publish his games anymore, and now that they've turned to crowdsourcing so that this sort of stuff is now in the open, I realize why. He's a great creative mind that's terrible with management. If you want to give him money, hey, go for it, I wish it the best. But the odds aren't in your favor.
GasBandit
Staff member
Yahtzee's top 5s for the year 2015.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vid...ion/116617-Top-5-Best-and-Worst-Games-of-2015
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vid...ion/116617-Top-5-Best-and-Worst-Games-of-2015
Between Tim Schafer and Keiji Inafune, I worry about Hideo Kojima's independent studio since he's also known to go over budget, and there won't be a giant corporation to keep him afloat before the game's money starts rolling in. I mean, you can see why some of this stuff happened between these guys and the publishers--they're a mess. They can't handle money because that's not their skill set. Creatives are not often accountants.
When a billionaire is willing to throw money at you for a project, and then backs out due to financial concerns, you need to sit back and reevaluate how you're budgeting things.
Without actually saying any story elements, but still being a little spoilery:
There's a crucial game mechanic, but you really REALLY should find out for yourself.
When a billionaire is willing to throw money at you for a project, and then backs out due to financial concerns, you need to sit back and reevaluate how you're budgeting things.
No need to be. It's inexpensive, a single playthrough is short (though you really should do more than one), and it's an experience especially for a gamer. But I can understand your skepticism since Yahtzee's review, along with many others, has pretty much been "I don't want to tell you; you should experience it yourself." Which is true.
Without actually saying any story elements, but still being a little spoilery:
This game breaks into what gaming is on levels that reach Bioshock and go beyond.
There's a crucial game mechanic, but you really REALLY should find out for yourself.
Spacebase was not your typical crowdfunding project, but an Early-access funding project, one where continued development is funded through early access sales (successful examples would be Dwarf Fortress and so far, Prison Architect). The team made statements that they were going to keep developing as long as it kept bringing in the money for it...and then it stopped bringing in the money for it. While development ended, they didn't just pull the plug silently, but announced it ahead of time and got what was already done in a completed state and continued bugfix support. Still, if they were doing Early Access funding for Psychonauts 2, I'd suggest staying away from it to, but they do seemed to have learned from their experiment with that model as well (specifically, that they shouldn't use it). It's an inherently riskier model, and really, I don't think anything other then some very small indie teams with no other options should use it.
Looking at the overall record for Doublefine, they've had their missteps, but the good outweighs the bad, with Psychonauts 2 having more of the structure of the good projects rather than the problematic ones.
I've read up on it too... I'm not too terribly impressed if that's all the game has to say. I'll pick it up eventually though, just to experience it for myself.
Undertale is in the same place for me as Steven Universe. It sounds like something I would like, but with the massive amounts of fan hype I have heard in only very particular friendship channels and nowhere else, I'm reasonably sure that my first reaction at this precise point will be, "...that's it?"
I figure I will come back and play it when people calm down about it.
I figure I will come back and play it when people calm down about it.
I think there's two levels to this, as with Steven Universe.
There's the Tumblr side "This show/game is so great because it's progressive!"
Then there's "This show/game is great because it performs well in the elements that tell a good story and pacing/gameplay etc."
So if the hype you see is because of the first one, then don't worry, because the stuff Tumblr tends to get excited about is nice, but it's a tiny thing. That Youtube show "Couple-ish" is socially progressive, but it's also boring. You need the thing to work at its core before that other stuff.
That contributes to it, but that's not it. If you don't know, then the hype won't ruin it. I knew about the playstyles too beforehand.
I reblog all kinds of Steven Universe shit; you can't peg on me if all you're seeing is essays.A tiny thing maybe, but boy do I see a hell of a lot of it on my dash... I wonder who keeps reblogging it?
But I barely reblog anything about Undertale. I agree with people who recommend others to go in cold. I saw a bunch of stuff on Tumblr about the characters and stupid shipping crap, and I just ignored it like I ignore a lot of stuff on there. My wife got it for me as an early Christmas present and while it wasn't my #1 game of the year (as evident in Frank's GOTY thread), it was certainly unique and deserves the amount of attention it's getting, even if all that attention isn't on the elements that truly deserve it. I mean, yes, it's cool that the gender of the main character isn't specified or there's a lesbian fish and lizard couple if you're into fish/lizard stuff, but if that's all a person's getting out of it, they're missing the point.
I feel like some people let Tumblr ruin stuff for them, and that's kind of like doing stuff because everyone's doing it or not doing stuff because everyone's doing it--either way, that's letting other people dictate your behavior. If one avoids every media that has annoying fans, you're left with very little to watch or play.
At this point, the winter sale is over, so anyone on the fence over Undertale should just wait until the next Steam sale so there would actually be something to buy.
This isn't as game I'd likely get because I tend not to put games on my cell phone (not snobbery, just battery drain), but I need to share this. Cartoon Network is putting out a Rick and Morty game by the name of Pocket Mortys, a Pokemon-style game where different Ricks collect and battle Mortys.
The craziest thing is that the show's fiction supports this.
The craziest thing is that the show's fiction supports this.
That's the real reason "our" Rick hates the Council of Ricks. He sucks at Morty battles, and gets bullied about it all the time.This isn't as game I'd likely get because I tend not to put games on my cell phone (not snobbery, just battery drain), but I need to share this. Cartoon Network is putting out a Rick and Morty game by the name of Pocket Mortys, a Pokemon-style game where different Ricks collect and battle Mortys.
The craziest thing is that the show's fiction supports this.
Sony apparently tried to trademark the term "Lets Play" but was denied. Because of course they did, it's not like it's a completely fan created and oriented phenomenon that has NOTHING to do with Sony, right?
I saw that.
It reminded me of the time someone tried to patent the idea of suing other people over patents.
--Patrick
It reminded me of the time someone tried to patent the idea of suing other people over patents.
--Patrick
Nintendo is releasing more special edition New 3DS's, which really isn't news. They're Pokemon shells, and each has Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue, which can be downloaded pretty cheap next month anyway.
What is news is that they'll be distributing legendary Pokemon throughout the year, likely ones that can only be received through such distribution.
And while I may put in the minimal effort to download those, I'm struggling to muster any enthusiasm. This is Pokemon's 20th year, and I was playing those games close to then (western release, anyway). Pokemon really needs to evolve (haha) for me to get much enthusiasm for it. X/Y were too simple and ORAS was a dull drag. I got bored with Yokai Watch, but at least it was devoted to its world and characters. The next Pokemon game is unlikely to be all that different from its predecessors. There have been nice game mechanics and quality of life elements added over different editions, but I just don't have any motivation to play pretty much the same story yet again, with all the characters acting like mouthpieces for that particular Pokemon game's moral.
But it's a Nintendo series, so it's unlikely to deter from the formula in any way.
What is news is that they'll be distributing legendary Pokemon throughout the year, likely ones that can only be received through such distribution.
And while I may put in the minimal effort to download those, I'm struggling to muster any enthusiasm. This is Pokemon's 20th year, and I was playing those games close to then (western release, anyway). Pokemon really needs to evolve (haha) for me to get much enthusiasm for it. X/Y were too simple and ORAS was a dull drag. I got bored with Yokai Watch, but at least it was devoted to its world and characters. The next Pokemon game is unlikely to be all that different from its predecessors. There have been nice game mechanics and quality of life elements added over different editions, but I just don't have any motivation to play pretty much the same story yet again, with all the characters acting like mouthpieces for that particular Pokemon game's moral.
But it's a Nintendo series, so it's unlikely to deter from the formula in any way.
It was one time events like this that actually completely turned me off from Pokemon. That, and the pokemon bank that flooded the game with hacked pokemon. Oh sure, all of your pokemon are perfect stat shinies, I so believe you.
Huge things are happening in Elite Dangerous. Alien life has been discovered.
http://www.pcgamer.com/space-barnacles-discovered-in-elite-dangerous/
http://www.pcgamer.com/space-barnacles-discovered-in-elite-dangerous/
figmentPez
Staff member
Can it be crafted into a grappling hook?
Jim is pretty on the money this week. While sometimes cutting games up into episodes is fine and works well (Telltale stuff, Life is Strange, etc.), other times it's clearly a money grab (Resident Evil Revelations, Hitman, etc). It's especially worse when you have to end up paying more than $60 for the normal experience... not even the "complete" experience, but the base one.