Category: Industry Health

We’re about making games UALEUALEUALEUALE

When its hard to understand basic common sense.

Readers of our site probably know about Did You Know Gaming, a YouTube gaming “fact” channel that is semi-notorious for being run by Liam Robertson, one of the most notorious Nintendo rumor insiders alongside Emily Rogers and for flubbing up facts. Well, twenty days ago, they got copyright struck by Nintendo of America for a video on a cancelled Legend of Zelda DS game. And of course, they got a bug up their ass, as seen here:

Most would think this is, once again, Nintendo unfairly flexing their (rightfully) legal muscle to squash “journalistic integrity” (its hard not to laugh when mentioning that in the same breath of Liam Robertson). Since we’re in the Cancel Culture age where people don’t do their research and automatically believe people a’la Helena Taylor exposing herself as a bitter ex-wife, the same will no doubt happen again with this. Too bad, NoA and Nintendo by extension were in the legal right, again.

Liam and his DYKG crew decided to do a piece on a cancelled game nobody knew existed in the first place until its existence was proven via that notorious gigaleak that occurred in 2020. Game betas, source code, documents and the like were illegally hacked and taken from Nintendo’s databases. You have no doubt seen some of this stuff on The Cutting Room Floor wiki (only a matter of time before Nintendo strikes those down since they do ask for money donations to stay alive). Liam’s journalist integrity has no standing since he took stolen content from a copyright holder without their permission and DYKG also makes money off of their videos.

Word of the wise, folks, when you do shit like this, make sure you don’t make money off of it. Though asking mostly Nintendo-centric YouTubers to not be morons is a bit of a hard ask.

Yeah, I’m still buying Bayonetta 3 regardless of this recent ‘scandal’.

I put the word scandal in air quotes because, first, taking one person’s word as gospel without knowing all the facts is so common these days you can easily ruin lives (or someone’s hard work) based on something trivial and stupid. I am, of course, making reference to Bayonetta’s former voice actress, Hellena Taylor, going on a Twitter tirade at the risk of breaking NDA because of the fact PlatinumGames, the creator of the character she voiced for two games and an anime movie (dubbed by Funimation), wouldn’t pay her more money because they supposedly only offered her $4,000.00 (US or CDN. or changed from UK Pounds, don’t know). Now, while I would be delighted as a working-class citizen to have four thousand bucks right now in my pocket, her recent outburst is making it public that voice over performances get paid like shit in the industry.

Continue reading “Yeah, I’m still buying Bayonetta 3 regardless of this recent ‘scandal’.“ →

Ask Iwata – Leading With Your Heart

It’s been six years now and I still remember the day he passed away. I was living by myself in a lonely rural town and stumbled on the news in a tweet when I got home. We’d heard that Iwata was sick but the severity of it was not clear until now. It was a massive shock. It felt like I’d lost a family member, except unlike my real parents, Iwata was actually a good person. He had something that I had rarely seen in adults and certainly not leaders. That missing thing was empathy. Empathy for his peers, empathy for his employees, empathy for gamers, and empathy for people who didn’t game. Empathy is one of the most important parts of being human, our species simply wouldn’t survive without it. Yet, it is barely taught or understood.

Continue reading “Ask Iwata – Leading With Your Heart” →

Japan embraces new consoles, Switch struggling

The latest sales have been released from Japan and PS5 and Xbox Series X continue to duke it out for the top console, while Nintendo Switch remains the top selling handheld.

Famitsu Weekly Sales 30-Nov to 6-Dec

Nintendo Switch – 204,000
Playstation 5 – 12,000
Xbox Series X – 2,000

While overall numbers might not look great for these new consoles, they are building steady momentum. Both systems only dropped 300% week on week, rather than the 600% drop from the previous week. This steady flatline growth should have the Nintendo Switch worried, as it sees a relatively mild increase of 46%. Ignoring all comparisons, 2000 people is also quite a big number for Xbox Series X. You couldn’t fit that many people in a room.

Continue reading “Japan embraces new consoles, Switch struggling” →

Xbox and Motion Controls, Will Series X Leave Us Aimless?

If you’ve played any shooter on a Nintendo system in the last decade, it probably had gyro or pointer motion controls. Metroid Prime Trilogy, Splatoon, Zelda, and now Fortnite, Zombie Army Trilogy, Doom, Duke Nukem, Borderlands, and many other third party games are adopting it after the huge success of Splatoon 2, and general ease of use.

Even Sony have adopted this for 2 generations now, though you’d be forgiven for not noticing it. Much like their handheld legacy (just kidding), these features weren’t really used that much nor embraced. But the fact is, the Dual Shock has motion control and it’s used in a lot of big games like Gran Turismo Sport to steer. It’s not used nearly enough and it’s technically very primitive, but the option is there.

Continue reading “Xbox and Motion Controls, Will Series X Leave Us Aimless?” →

Doom Eternal – Always Offline

This game was recommended to me by Isabelle while we were chatting in the Town Hall. She said she spent the weekend “ripping and tearing” and when I noticed that my town’s weeds were still there, I asked her what she meant. “Doom Eternal, it’s pretty hype”. Oh okay, thanks for the recommendation Isabelle. I can’t believe I hadn’t played it yet, she said it was one of the biggest games of the year so far. I got my hands on an Xbox copy and I was excited to finally start the game up. However, that excitement quickly turned to confusion.

Continue reading “Doom Eternal – Always Offline” →

I know nothing about video games, but there’s something fishy about Animal Crossing and COVID-19

A guest post from Roland's partner.

With our lives suddenly controlled by social distancing and quarantine, my boyfriend and I are spending dramatically more time together. I thought this might be a wholesome bonding experience, however he’s dedicating almost his entire time to some game called Animal Crossing. I don’t know if you’ve heard about it? I hadn’t, but it’s popped up in my socials a bit and apparently it’s a bit of a big deal. So anyway, I thought I’d sit down and watch a bit, and after just 5 min I am 100% convinced this game is intricately connected, if not entirely responsible, for the covid19 pandemic. Let me explain:

Continue reading “I know nothing about video games, but there’s something fishy about Animal Crossing and COVID-19” →

Nintendo Switch Online App – What’s Next?

If you don’t play Splatoon 2 regularly you’d be forgiven for not even knowing this exists. The Nintendo Switch Online app was launched almost two years ago now and currently supports two games, with fairly comprehensive stats on Splatoon 2 and some Smash replay features that nobody uses. A large number of active online games remain completely absent, and there really hasn’t been much attempt by Nintendo to get people to use this. The biggest current draw is the ability to voice chat for people who don’t have Discord.

Continue reading “Nintendo Switch Online App – What’s Next?” →

Now hiring

Pietriots is a fast-paced startup looking to manipulate the narrative of gaming discourse. Do you want to work with a dynamic team of passionate industry unprofessionals who liaise with stakeholders of media conglomerates in the leading buzzword economy? You’ll be excited to learn that we’re expanding and welcome applicants for the following vacancies. Please note that working for Pietriots provides no benefits, compensation or prospect of future employment. You will however get exposure and valuable experience!

Continue reading “Now hiring” →

Xbox Adrift: Can Microsoft save the Xbox One? Should they?

An Xbox One X floats across a stormy sea.

Xbox One has the smallest presence in the gaming industry that the brand has ever had. It’s plain to see that while SS Microsoft sprouts wings and sails towards the clouds, Xbox is a raft floating hopelessly adrift in a choppy sea of home consoles. Microsoft are an astonishingly successful company who have been more than happy to abandon unsuccessful side ventures. Yet despite Xbox costing the company billions and forcing them to obscure the financial performance of the division every annual report, they remain committed to the brand. With the battle for the living room over and lost, it’s time for Microsoft to let go of consoles and reposition itself in the gaming industry. Continue reading “Xbox Adrift: Can Microsoft save the Xbox One? Should they?” →

Sorry Switch owners, we don’t matter to Capcom (and most third parties)

To most major Third Parties anyway, except for Bethesda, we/I think you are cool especially considering you put gyro aiming in Doom Switch, which I appreciate. Anyway, why state the painfully obvious besides trying not to make this site not look dead? It’s because it’s extremely aggravating to watch, least of all Capcom deciding that Resident Evil 7 can come to Switch, except with a catch.

A very, very big catch. It needs to be cloud streamed all the damn time. One must ask what is even the point; it’s like Capcom is trying their hardest not to make their Switch games a success from not including Ultra Street Fighter V in the the Switch version of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, undershipping and sitting on Monster Hunter Double Cross (sorry, I am not calling it by it’s localized name because I prefer that one better) for a year and releasing it when Switch Online shows up in September. Continue reading “Sorry Switch owners, we don’t matter to Capcom (and most third parties)” →

The MGS2 Effect

I like talking about video games, but I also like talking about hilarious and/or stupid bullshit that you sometimes don’t think is important, but actually is. Today, I am putting on my gaming historian glasses to talk in-depth about an aspect of video games we sometimes think is always a good thing, and it is! Most of the time. Great sale figures!

Pretend you are a game developer and a game publisher. Yes, both. We’re not counting self-publishing such as indie titles, because most of my examples I will present in this piece are major video game releases. Say you are a game developer who spent two-plus years working ungodly man hours and your publisher gave you millions upon millions of dollars to make a video game. You can either succeed massively, mildly or just fail. Such is the way of this gaming industry. But hey, if you made a great game and it sells very well? Good for you! You not only received tons of praise, you could probably make any game you want for the same budget, sequel or original game! Continue reading “The MGS2 Effect” →

Nintendo Dollars – Where Are They Going?

Amidst all the Zelda cheering and Joy-Con rumbling, Nintendo slipped a less exciting piece of news into their Switch event. There will now be a yearly fee if you want to play games online, a new service for Nintendo. It’s a tough pill to swallow for a userbase used to playing online for free. Now that we’ve all gotten over the kneejerk response and loosened our grip on our wallets a bit, I thought I’d bring up some discussion about this new structure.

Continue reading “Nintendo Dollars – Where Are They Going?” →