Comments 278

Re: Nintendo Not Accepting Independent Wii U Developers Based in Japan "At This Time"

AlbertoC

@Dambuster With all due respect, i'd like to point that your comment is somewhat shortsighted, dear sir. This is not the United Kingdom, but the internet. Many computers WORLDWIDE connected between them. And the news pertains Nintendo: the company not being congruent with policies being applied in western regions on their own homeland without stating the reason. This news is certainly relevant.

Saying that nobody from Japan reads this site is very similar from saying nobody whose mother tongue isn't english or isn't located in the UK visits it. And that's FAR from true.

Re: Code of Princess Receives Temporary Price Cut in North America

AlbertoC

@DePapier: That's just half of the story. Sure, frame rates drop but only when there are a lot of elements on screen and there is some hazard hitting them all with the 3D on, and chances are you're going to get caught in the ruckus anyway. Moreover, those situations don't compose the whole game, just some of the harder stages, so i wouldn't call them "dramatic".

@Skotski: I have played online just once because of the inactive multiplayer rooms. So hopefully this price drop will revive it again, at least for a while.

Re: Phil Fish: Animal Crossing: New Leaf Not Having Microtransactions is "So Special And Precious"

AlbertoC

I like it. You have to actually play the game to get through it.

Nintendo didn't lend itself to the "pay us USD$0.99 to play less to unlock this cool virtual hat or to bribe this character into moving to town, and another almost-a-dolar-but-not-completely-so-that-tempting-zero-is-there-to-lure-you for some in-game currency so you can burn it and then return wanting more" like many mobile games (or even "games") or EA do.

And that's good because they have their head in making games, not money. And that's good because that gives Nintendo reputation and customers who swear allegiance to them by the experiences they offer instead of just ways to milk the most instant cash possible.

And that's amazing because Animal Crossing is about collecting stuff and enjoying the stay in your virtual village, not yet another selling platform when it could easily be one.

To many commenters above: You are confusing DLC, new content that it's not in the game and that you pay for and download from the internet to extend your experience, to microtransactions, which I explained in this comment. Or in EA's own words, "...the ability to pay for things along the way, either to get to a higher level to buy a new character, to buy a truck, a gun, whatever it might be." Monetize anything virtual.

Lastly, sorry for the eventual grammar mistake - please know that english is not my mother tongue.

Re: Nintendo Blocks 3DS Flashcard With Latest Firmware Update

AlbertoC

Open the posibility for homebrew and don't endorse piracy, just like the guys that made Wii homebrew possible did. Then you have a supporter here.

I will stick on buying boxed copies, even if it costs me a lot of work (do you have any idea how hard was it to get a boxed cartridge of Luigi's Mansion Dark moon? Terrible, i tell you... Ditto with Rhythm Thief, i had to IMPORT it from Amazon...) Those boxes make me the owner of my games... I know i just have a license to use them and the code is not mine and whatnot, but if my 3DS gets stolen or broken THERE is the rest of my games. Everything boils down to buying another console and case closed, play away. (Do you see the point of "backing up" games? Huh?)

There Nintendo, i'm not a pirate. Where is the account-based system in your consoles? And when do you plan we can upload the progress in our games to the cloud? Where is the LEGAL way of doing this? When? Know that I'm waiting.

Re: Feature: The Big Nintendo E3 Survey

AlbertoC

@Ulala comment 13: "The people who praise Mario 64 and Sunshine for being "open world" are idiots. They're barely open world, they're structural missions sprawled across medium-sized worlds. You pick an objective and OCCASIONALLY you can do the mission that you didn't pick, and that's the only part that doesn't make it linear, and it isn't even a very fun aspect of it." - Comment by TylerBurrito, who BTW shouldn't be around calling people names just because they have different tastes than theirs. Ah, the internetz.

How about them being 3D games where you can explore whatever you see fit in the moment you see fit? I like finding hidden warps or stumbling accidentally with a non-optional hidden area better than getting from point A to point B within a time limit a la 3D land or 3D world. A great deal of hidden areas in the galaxy games are optional and just contain green mushrooms or coins or whatever except in the green star quest in the second galaxy game. They aren't even close to hidden areas in 2D platformers where you acquired a rare power-up or item.

Nintendo's "Open World" is not Grand theft auto games' "open world" in the sense that you can't go and do whatever you please right at the very start of the game. True. But it still gives certain non-linearity and freedom to explore a given area. That's what it's being referred to with that term.

Re: Third-Party Characters in Smash Bros. to be Kept to a Minimum

AlbertoC

Continue speculation.

1. Sonic and Snake will probably not be in this game, which is a shame.
2. I don't want to play differently on WiiU and on 3DS because of watered-down moves, so if that's the case, i'm just getting the uncut WiiU version. This is specially important because i mainly use Zelda/Sheik.

Re: Super Smash Bros. Won't Feature Cross-Platform Play Between Wii U and 3DS

AlbertoC

As long as the 3DS version is not being a water-diluted version of the console one, it's fine. (A la Need for Speed games).

I think the stress you give a WiiMote or classic controller is not equal of that you give a 3DS. Thinking of durability perhaps the controllers will be different on each version, hence the differences (Mario kart and Luigi's Mansion both changed the controls a small bit to put less stress on the circle pad). Just speculating, obviously, but it may be the case here.

I still wouldn't mind buying both 3DS and WiiU versions.

EDIT: Scratch that. I don't want to do the same thing on both versions. If the progress is synchronized somehow (unlockables, etc) or the methods of getting them are different, all right. Getting the WiiU version for sure. The 3DS one is in question now.

Re: Pokémon X & Y Trailer Shows Off New Gym Leader and Battles

AlbertoC

"Tierno"? It's spanish for "sweet" or "tender"... It will be Awkward to refer to him like that. "Tender challenges you to a battle" (cross-language, yes... but you get the idea).

But, know what? There is worse. I can't call K.K. from animal crossing. I always refer to him as "Totakeke" (siblings, other gaming communities).

Yet i still prefer to play both in english.

@zipmon: I did. And i think it's better than ride pokemon around.

Re: Masahiro Sakurai Demonstrates Super Smash Bros. in Developer Video

AlbertoC

How is... What? Why?

But... C'mon, let's not try to make sense of this: a 1990 game where you could fly around with a RACOON TAIL when you grabbed a LEAF is one of Nintendo's most legendary platformers. So if it's granted that this is going to make week-end gatherings until late hours with friends, or if this is going to feature a server-based online play (or at least otherwise improving the lackustre method Brawl introduced to people without fiber internet connections), who cares?

Re: Pachter Predicts Wii U Price Cut, Feels Nintendo Is Losing "Non-Traditional" Players To Social And Mobile

AlbertoC

Since i read his opinion at this very site not long ago I respect his opinions, part of his own work.

It doesn't mean that I agree completely with them, but I now understand that it isn't personal. It's his job.

EDIT: Especially at the mobile market > handheld market department. But it's people's general perception. I prefer my 3DS or a console over a tablet or phone any day of the week, but you could be surprised that some of my friends find traditional games "too complicated" or that they take "too much time". Some people just want to tap on the screen to boost at race games and flick their fingers to launch birds. Or "Cut the rope" or whatever. Short games with no learning curve that can be left anytime. But that's a general tendency that Pachter has just highlighted. I, for one, prefer full-fledged games and dedicated gaming hardware

EDIT THE SECOND: Uh, NL guys? Don't you think the subtitle is a bit misleading? This is perhaps what's adding logs to the fire:
Subtitle: Also says gamers see tablet and mobile as "perfect substitutes" for 3DS
Article: as many non-traditional gamers consider smartphone and tablet games a perfect substitute for casual games played on dedicated handheld hardware.

Re: Wii U GamePad Teardown Reveals Upgradeable Firmware, Dual GamePad Support As Standard

AlbertoC

One step closer towards making Wii U homebrew a reality. This console could be used as a PC + Drawing Tablet combo. Perhaps a Skype client, given that Microsoft is a rival company and most likely never make an official one (I know Miiverse has a video chat functionality, but ~95% of my skype contacts don't have or use a Wii U). I'm looking forward to hearing more advances on this topic. Kudos to all those guys who make this possible without asking any money in return. Thanks to NL for this info, too.

I also reiterate that I condemn any and all attempts, successful or otherwise, to play pirated games using homebrew.

Oh and, guys? That you don't care to understand why any average Joe would want to know how the Wii U works doesn't mean that nobody should care. Not to mention this requires a lot of technical expertise, time, patience and effort.

Re: Review: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)

AlbertoC

I'm still saving up for Fire Emblem and Harmoknight and Luigi's mansion come out on sunday. First, there weren't any games for 3DS... Now i can't keep up...

Hopefully something similar will happen to the Wii U.

Re: Sneaky GBA Emulator Makes Brief Appearance In Apple App Store

AlbertoC

@sak904: Sadly, the two are often together and the conversation can leap from point A to point B any moment. Even if one can use them to make texture mods (like Mario 64) or some other hero-swapping mods we have seen here on this very same site, some use them for running unauthorized-by-nintendo, still being sold on new consoles (only some of them though), old-cartridge-memory-flash dumps, the so-called ROMs.

Being the emulator disguised as a legit application, and being it the Apple Store, i'm surprised these kinds of mistakes still happen to them. We're not talking about dissasembling the code or something, but this could have been effectively avoided by something as simple as checking the file size. Didn't they suspect anything when it's just a name generator? Assuming the emulator was downloaded along with the ROMs and not until the secret interface was acceded, Either A) Someone was not doing their job properly or B) Apple's App Store mods are just elitist snobs.

Re: Miyamoto Overseeing Series of Animated Shorts

AlbertoC

Ditto. I will redownload nintendo video, then. Even when it's free it's been a while since there was new, interesting content in there. Add in the fact that the extra data takes up good space on the stock 2GiB SD card, and it resulted in me wanting to delete it every time i opened system settings until i finally did it - Not that i have a better content to replace it, though, it's just to free up the space and stop downloading the same content i have already viewed many times before.

Re: Talking Point: The Slippery Slope of Micro-Transactions

AlbertoC

@Slapshot First of all, I recognize this text is sightly biased against micro-transactions. But I also think you completely missed my point.

Apps that cost little are given that price tag because they will have more revenue later, and with ads the income will arrive regardless if the user downloaded a free app or paid pocket money for it, and that's a legitimate business model. However, by paying $60 I expect a full game experience, not an incomplete or excessively hard one that can be just easened, and nothing more, by paying even more money. I'm not necessarily applying those labels to DS3 since I have played it and have seen they are completely optional. It's the approach titles like Angry birds took where like i said, if the user pays the game pampers them, that could make micro-transactions dangerous to players' perceptions: "I can just buy my way through any game". It might be also dangerous to the creation of original content since, and i'm quoting EA, they just can sell a truck, a gun, or whatever it might be for more, easier profit.

You also seem to have conveniently dismissed the rest of my text, where i give my thoughts on why the DLC and online multiplayer fees approaches are a lot better IMHO. But maybe you're right, EA can, must, should and will have all the greed it wants just because it means money and more money, and this is what is certainly damaging their image with, at least, some commenters on this site.

Re: Nintendo Gives US Government Recommendations on Tackling Piracy Abroad

AlbertoC

What does the US government have to do with Spain, Mexico, Brazil and China? The recommendation was to the US government to these countries to follow? Really? Like... Really? Is the United States government the fairy grandmother or something?

Put in very simple terms: WT*.

EDIT: Oh, and this: "Possibly the most bizarre thing about this is that many of the recommendations have not even been carried out on US soil. While copyright holders are demanding illegal sites be blocked in foreign nations, people in the US can gain access to these sites without any issues."

Re: Talking Point: The Slippery Slope of Micro-Transactions

AlbertoC

"...there's something a little worrying about a concept originally conceived for the smartphone/tablet space being increasingly shoe-horned into the conventional gaming market. "

This. Thanks, Thomas, for getting the point across. You can't begin to charge on 60 USD games what you charge on 5 or 10 or freebie, ad-supported, smartphone ones. Like Angry Birds, so can now customers buy their game-through experience? So nowadays,for EA, if they pay a lot the game pampers them, just because casual gamers are the latest trend shout?

Take fire Emblem, for example. Its DLC content is amazing and it can breathe new life on old games, but buying it all isn't an option for most people. Hardcore fans and rich people can afford that, but even if the content offered is good, a game is still just a game. There is a limit on how much a customer can spend on a game before moving on.

Things are a bit different for most people if that DLC is offered for Mario Kart 7 or similar games. Do you know what makes "those" games similar? Solid online gaming, which adds a lot of replay value. You can gather with your friends anytime and play, near or far. (But then there is Microsoft charging just for letting gamers use their servers.)

How about Nintendo begins to offer a premium Mario Kart online service offering every single track, item and character in existence for a fee? And that server is connected to Nintendo IDs, with cross-console points, times and records? Something like the pokemon global link but with Mario Kart, and paid.

But there is this problem called "people are not made of credit cards and internet money." Say i'm interested on buying something from the eShop, have enough real cash in my hands, but i'm a student and don't have a credit card. What do these international, renowned compaties wanting money and more money have to say? Greed? "I have this gold mine and must leech from it the most i can?" (Just putting a non-realistic example that never happens.)

Re: New Pokémon Revealed for X & Y, Say Hello To Ninfia

AlbertoC

Following the X&Y cromosome theory, and considering the eeveelutions are coming in pairs, i think this is a female evolution.

But is so PINK... I know japanese girls like this かわいい thing and this eon probably makes them go nuts and buy merchandise. But, c'mon. This isn't even cute. It has a bow with ribbons hanging all the place, then another bow with even more ribbons hanging all around the place, and it's TOO pink even for being female (Not in japan, there is never enough かわいい it seems). And if this thing can be male, now they have done it.

And here i was thinking the gears that evolve into more gears, or a trash bag that evolves in a bigger trash bag, or an ice cream that evolved into bigger ice creams were the worst pokemon designs.They come up with a Y-shaped flying thing... A wooden squirrel thing and then... This pink thing. What follows? http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/yugioh/images/f/f3/MorphingJar2DB1-EN-R.jpg http://magiclampoon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/Inmato.jpg

I miss G/S, where new pokemon were actual animals or cool concepts, or even both (Misdreavus, Mareep, Unown... Lanturn... freaking Feraligatr...) The only fifth gen pokemon i could defend were the Litwick evolution chain... And i'm afraid the rest give me the "What's that thing?" feeling. (Excepting the obvious animal look-alikes, like Vullaby)

Note i'm not talking competitively and i know a caterpie can beat anything if certaing conditions are met, that unown is almost useless and whatnot. I'm talking about the designs.

Re: Prepare To Be Jealous At This Amazing Nintendo Collection

AlbertoC

That guy actually owns Nintendo playing card decks, and even several ones?

Four questions.

1. How much everything would cost nowadays?
2. How much everything costed him?
3. Just how much free time he has on his hands?
4. Has he played everything (Excluding, of course, some non-playable items)?

Re: Wii U Advert Banned In The UK

AlbertoC

That commercial was banned and deemed misleading thanks to that "XPeria" label at the ending.

(Before someone takes this comment seriously: I know, i know. Just kidding.)

Re: Talking Point: The Emergence of Download-Only Retail Games

AlbertoC

I love NintendoLife for not siding with anyone, voicing both arguments from both sides. Taking a neutral stance.

"I'm in the USA where credit cards are a first need article so i can buy in the internets all i want if i need repairs i can call by phone because they have offices in here and have then do what i want because i pay them so if you like videogames but live in Nairobi where you don't have eshop prepaid cards or even vg consoles though luck punk lol"

Ninty, make eShop cards available in Mexico. Thanks.

Re: DreamRift: Publishers Are Scared Of Piracy

AlbertoC

I have voiced my opinions on piracy several times now. My stance is pretty neutral, even if it may appear to be bad not siding with the "good guys, making stronger DRMs and more walled gardens" and not being against pirates, who "obliterate billions and billions of dollars in sales".

I believe it will help if developers are aware that Nintendo has really built self-destructing security measures into 3DS/WiiU, and that ways of running "not authorized" software on these systems ("pirated games" or otherwise) simply don't exist to date. It will help sales and will stop rants about "how easily the DS was pirated, and (I THINK) the same numbers apply to the 3DS". We're in the internet era, use your favorite search engine. I assure you it's not that hard.

I love NintendoLife for not siding with anyone, voicing both arguments from both sides. Taking a neutral stance, too.

P. S. As we all are aware, NL also has some rules to follow. Thank you.

Re: Goodbye Galaxy Games Responds To Renegade Kid's Piracy Claims

AlbertoC

@KawaiiPikachu: Your comment really makes me wonder if you really read the article.

First of all, what the heck is Dementium? It's seriously the first time i've heard of that.

Second. Blaming piracy nowadays is the solution for every developer's lack of money, it seems.

See Tomorrow Corporation's bold moves. Those guys didn't increase DRM on Little inferno even knowing the high piracy rate of World of Goo: 82%. Did they got angry, yelled, ranted and flailed like angry monkeys, blamed piracy, and stopped making fun, weird little games? To give this a little more perspective, those guys are no big company. (Source: 2D Boy http://2dboy.com/2008/11/13/90/ )

And for those of you guys not following what i mean: I don't say piracy is right, developers are working for a living. But let's be realists and not just say: "If piracy didn't exist i'd make just anything and then i would be filthy rich just because." Goodbye Galaxy is taking an objetive approach.

One of the main issues of piracy is this: If you construct a wall, you get paid for that wall and that's it. But if developers make software, some of them want to profit without measure from that. (Bringing more complexity to the table, since you can copy software pretty easily: developers wanting to sell more and more, blaming piracy for the fact they lose non-existant money and customers that simply want everything for free). Tomorrow corporation, IMHO, is taking the right attitude since they are winning over their people.

(My take applies for indies. Nintendo makes a whole lot of money so they can afford more infrastructure, paying lots of security professionals for protecting said infrastructure that in turn is giving lots of more people work.)

EDIT: @AlGator: That second paragraph is a delight to read. Because of DRM i lost all my data and savegames when transferring from the stock 2GB to a 32GB card, even when every file was copied verbatim. Savegame and other exploits are a hassle to the developers, but when security measures are a hassle to end consumers compromising performance or funcionality they are useless, period. (for example, the "sandboxed" security mode Adobe Flash Player has that makes it incredibly sluggish. Another topic that could be discussed another day or googled.)

And no matter how convenient buying downloads may appear, should i lose or break my 3DS having spent over twice the handheld's price on games that i know beforehand i can't recover, based on my currently owned games, i seriously wouldn't buy another one ever again. (That's why i haven't bought or will buy in a near future retail games on the eShop, no matter how hard they advertise this to me and think carefully what eShop games i buy, aside from the fact i have no credit card). They really need a secure yet reliable account system.

End of colossal wall of text.

Re: What's On Your Game Boy Camera?

AlbertoC

What is this? This isn't news! It's just some photos of a game boy ca...

Sees title screen, remembers the space-invaders like game

Sees the box (and the photos' convenient labels: Box. Back of box.)

Sees the freaking RECEIPT dated freaking 1998

...Okay.

Re: Hacker Claims To Have Deciphered Wii U CPU and GPU Speeds

AlbertoC

@Tsuchiya: I really think it was about the wii emulation mode, not Wii U software. These consoles are pretty robust. Moreover, both the 3DS and the Wii U are programmed to self-destruct if you try to tamper with them, and they say it clearly on the box. And as we already know they aren't cheap.

Re: Hacker Claims To Have Deciphered Wii U CPU and GPU Speeds

AlbertoC

Haters are hating. And Marcan is at work. All right.

I personally believe him at this field, so i'll take these numbers as true. Moreover, what he said about being three PowerPC 750 cores, the same as the Broadway Wii processor but with more cache memory, sounds right considering Nintendo created the Wii U stacking several Wii consoles together according to another, previous article posted here at NL.

Also, clock cycles mean nothing. It's all about resource and development kit optimization.

@Lan: For the first line, yes, the Wii U is being hacked in the sense that they are using measures not authorized by Nintendo to gain direct Hardware access. For the second and third line, well said.

@Jumpy: Let's be objetive here. Being the Wii a simpler console, how many credit card numbers have been stolen to date? And the Sony network is truly indestructible, sensitive info has never been stolen there. Oh, wait: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20058513-83.html

Re: Microwave 'Artist' Returns to Melt a Wii U

AlbertoC

To all the people up there calling him all sorts of stuff, losing hope on humanity and whatnot:

I's for fame. More precisely, internet fame. It's not about destroying it. It's about destroying it, FILMING it and UPLOADING it to the internet, so people can watch it and make internet articles about the video, and then for a lot of people to comment on it, generating a lot of traffic. He's much less of an idiot when he has ads on the video. Ah, yes. Let's not forget that eBay URL.

How much money does true internet fame cost, without directly paying for ads? Money alone can't buy it. Doing this, on the other hand, can. But probably you already knew all of this.

Really, guys. Why not stop pointing out the money and his mental capacity, and notice that resulting pile of toxic waste instead? Why is the IQ and the cash only?

Re: Wii U User Accounts and Nintendo Network ID Detailed

AlbertoC

@HarmoKnight: If you are worried create another eMail just for the Nintendo ID that you don't share with others. Also, I seriously doubt Nintendo would allow brute force attacks on accounts to get passwords, not to mention they take a lot of time and resources... They will get caught before breaking in. (SOURCES: I'm currently in the university majoring in computer security.)

And... Hacked consoles that FORMAT data (do you even know what to format is)? What are you talking about? The 3DS is pretty hard to mod, i can assure you the Wii U will be as robust.

Other basic security measures can help, like a strong password: longer, upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. Man, it's vital to know all that when on the internets, be it you are a "techie" or not. If people can guess your account number... Then don't put six ones as a password next time...