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”

SEGA Bought Atlus – What The Hell? Seriously What The Hell?

By now this news is kind of old but SEGA has purchased Atlus’ troubled owners Index Corp. Atlus’ well-being was a big concern for many people though most people pinned Nintendo as the company who would buy them since a) they made a few high quality 3DS titles and b) they are making Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei for WiiU. So the question is… is this a good thing?

Considering the company in question that now owns it, the answer from me is a flat “no”.

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Depressing Realities Surrounding Developer Closures

Around late 2011, Pietriots member Deguello did a written piece on people wanting Nintendo to go third party and why such a thing would do more harm than good. Even today, it still speaks volumes because lately everyone is pinning Nintendo as doomed because the WiiU isn’t selling X amount of units. The same thing happened with 3DS. While I can easily point out the issue (IE Third Parties making excuses…again, people not being early adopters), developers and their publishers seem to be under this boggling mind-set that Nintendo is not worth it and the Next-Gen systems Xbox One and PS4 will be better suited for them. Continue reading “Depressing Realities Surrounding Developer Closures”

In Today’s News, UbiSoft just screwed over Rayman Legends

In case you haven’t heard the news yet, all that free advertising Nintendo gave to Rayman Legends turned out to be absolutely worthless on Nintendo’s part: Rayman Legends is no longer a WiiU exclusive and it’s being put multiplatform, and as such it making gaming journalists, analysts and haters hard in the pants. The reasons given are batshit stupid but what is even more insane is the fact that the game, which is pretty much finished, has been delayed by six months and is now forced to compete with Grand Theft Auto V. Continue reading “In Today’s News, UbiSoft just screwed over Rayman Legends”

The Next 5 Years: Naka’s Prediction

Greetings everyone, I am Yuji Naka and I have something to share with you all. This morning I woke up with a clear vision of the future. It was the first time in weeks I had a dream without my pal Sonic interrupting my fishing trip. It started this year and went all the way to the year 2017! Can you believe that? 5 years in a single night! I will have to talk to SEGA about making a new NiGHTs game with this concept. We always have great discussions when they catch me sneaking into my old office, hehe. Anyway, let me start with the year 2012, which I’m sure you all know well!

Continue reading “The Next 5 Years: Naka’s Prediction”

Trick or Treat?

Definitely a “treat”.

THE ERECTION, IT DOES NOT CEASE. I want to dress her up like Rebecca Chambers / Lilith / Samantha Smith and exchange FRIEND CODES with her day and night throughout this Season of Mario.

We both like Super Mario Bros. – this is what brings us together.

The Capcom Five – Video Memorial

NEVER FORGET

Before they cancelled Mega Man Legends 3, before they ignored Wii Pointer controls in Monster Hunter Tri, before they rewarded Resident Evil fans with rail shooters, before Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop could handle 6 zombies at once, before they announce Resident Evil: Revelations including the free Mercenaries HD for PS Vita launching simultaneously with the 3DS version (hi-ho 2012 release date) – Capcom presented… THE FIVE.

Never one to forget 3rd Party achievements, I put this little post together to help last generation’s players and this gen’s newcomers remember the pain for years to come. Actually, before rambling about the quintet’s history that everyone’s heard before, I want to bring attention to the titles as they were announced: by sharing nice-quality versions of their debut trailers (well, 4 out of 5 of them). If we’ll remember ANY of it, let’s at least see clean copies of them; one last face-to-face before closing the casket. I know you can search for the moldy Flash videos originating from Matt C.’s IGN, but try to have some respect for the departed. Those videos came from a time when magazine, internet, and even Nintendo’s own coverage made “good” GameCube games look crappy.

Tracking down known copies of these trailers a couple years ago took some time and $rupees$. My search was narrowed to a couple auctions for rare promo DVDs from Japan, eventually making some sellers very happy. In addition, I managed to gather almost all the promo videos for these games since their announcement. One last step (took forever), each video was processed piece by piece – deinterlacing, cropping out blank borders, scaling the frames for consistency – whenever reasonable, trying to help them look their best. It’s only these past couple months that I seriously sat down to finish converting this junk. When hobbies start to feel like work… I tend to avoid them. Recently feeling an urgent sense of justice, I could delay no more.

So here’s what I got: a few custom screencaps, my personal thoughts/description of each game at inconsistent degrees of relevance, and links to the DivX-formatted media on my homepage. But seriously, I went overboard, so don’t read all of it.

This first one up was the first one to go down

Continue reading “The Capcom Five – Video Memorial”

Doctor Lautrec Collector’s Edition Announced

Charles, here.

It is with great ecstasy that I announce the Limited Collector’s Edition of Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights, arriving to the Nintendo Three D. S. (Discouraging Sales) in proper English. This rare package is decorated with a portrait of myself, as the official spokesmodel of the franchise, executing the role of the dangerously handsome Dr. Jean-Pierre Lautrec.

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Super Monkey Ball 3D

Super Monkey Ball, the once great franchise that kept gamers up at night perfecting their scores and mastering levels, was dealt a serious blow when Step & Roll came out on the Wii. Gone was the challenge, along with any originality in the level design, and the fans and success were lost with it. The original two games sold over a million copies on the GameCube, praised for their challenging, refined gameplay. Then Banana Blitz made things even more intense with the addition of the jump button and precise Wii motion controls, and sold two million copies.

Step & Roll was next, and Sega decided to change things up. The game was designed to be as easy as possible, in an effort to attract new “casual” players. It completely bombed and didn’t even make a dent in the sales charts. After comparing the reception of these two approaches, you would think Sega would go back to the old, successful approach for Super Monkey Ball 3D. You’d be wrong.

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The 3rd Party Wall of Shame

Editor’s note: This project was initially presented on January 27, 2010 and finalized on April 4, 2010 somewhere in Former Nintendo Fan Report Planet (FNFRP). FNFRP staff said its community was being too “positive” about Wii and Nintendo in general, so we decided to deliver some fresh, steaming negativity. “Why do you hate 3rd Parties so much?” they asked. “Did you not read the damn post at all?” I pondered.

Visitors making the pilgrimage for the first time:  Read The Text, or you will miss the context – this difference easily exposes the internet morons in your community. The specific order of the box arts and items in the text don’t match 100%; it was meant to read casually and maybe quickly, so the idea is what counts. This WAS just an overblown forum post on some fansite, after all. Caution: contains language most foul and intense 3rd Party imagery; some graphics are known to cause birth defects, depending on the laws in your country/state/community.  Kids, ask your government’s permission before buying 3rd Party software.

You might be thinking of the Vietnam Memorial, or the stars of the World War II memorial, or the wall of fallen operatives at CIA headquarters — THIS IS NOT THAT KIND OF WALL. This wall has its own significance, and its name below is exactly what it recognizes.

Continue reading “The 3rd Party Wall of Shame”