@johnvboy It sounds more manageable in the UK. I'm not sure what the current conversion rate is, but in the US, until last week most marketplaces (Walmart, Amazon, eBay) scalpers we're running $900-975. Last week it dropped to around 820-850. There's another eBay like dealer that used to specialize in sneakers and limited clothing (where the whole scalping thing inexplicably started) and moved into electronics as this grew. They're a bit cheaper usually, previously $720-780, now $620-680.... But that store has processing fees and shipping fees that add another $55 or more to it. Last winter the scalpers we're over $1k though. Definitely sounds less crazy in the UK! Though you had the infamous thieves riding rooftops on moving trucks on launch day 😆
I still wonder how much demand is just toilet paper syndrome playing out. Though those November numbers compared to 2014 in that story here a free weeks ago seems like supply is genuinely dire, but Sony keeps giving numbers that say it isn't and it's all demand. Sony's numbers never added up since launch though, I think they're doing some Enron math and counting heads twice somewhere in those reports...
I still have an Onkyo that was one of the first receivers ever with HDMI! That's back when we thought the avr world be the center of the system and switch everything.... Then tvs and HDMI kept getting reinvented and tvs became the switcher and we'd have been better off with good old audio-only tube rigs and an external decoder. Live and learn.... I still have a Denon in reserve. Supports 3d tv. That puts a date on it...
@johnvboy I think that big wave at Amazon UK drove scalper prices down for the moment, so you still benefited from it! I hadn't even seen you over on PXB, but I have a feeling I will from now on
Instead of a TV I'm using a 27" 4k monitor (but up close so the pixel level details matter) and Switch very much depends on the game. Nintendo games with their smooth art style scale very well. ACNH, much as I detest it looks practically native short of the lack of AA, it relaly looks great. Other games like Ys9 looks pretty awful. Granted, that one doesn't even looks a little rough on PS5, but it's just gross on Switch. So it depends how well the content scales on the big screen for a given game. I'm sure your C1 has a better scaling chip than almost anything else, so it benefits from that, though my monitor is also an LG and seems to have a decidedly better than average scaling chip as well.
@johnvboy Hey, you finally did it! Congrats! And that's a heck of a TV, too!
You're going to love the XSX. Just a fantastic console. I've said it before, but 3DS remains my favorite console, having supplanted SNES. Switch was on track to become my favorite, but it lost some momentum, and I think XSX may have the potential to eclipse 3DS and SNES...it's just so smooth and seamless to just jump around your library and pleasant to use. 3DS being the exception, it's the most fun a console has been since they left cartridges dropped to 30fps, moved to discs. PS5, too, but that's mostly "just a game player", the XSX feels like such a complete package, especially if you get Game Pass and can just try all sorts of games.
You missed the drama of my thread over on pxb, but just 4 days after my warranty should have expired, my XSX failed, seemed like a PSU failure. I was playing FH5 for a few hours, and suddenly it just shut down, and that was that, wouldn't come back up. I've used it a decent amount all year, but right after warranty was a shocker. Fortunately it seemed pre-registered by the retailer and somehow I ended up with an extra 2 weeks on the 1 year warranty than I should have had. I was able to send it out for repair and they turned it around pretty fast, about 2 weeks, and I was back up in time for Halo (which I'm only slightly touching, because I'm waiting for coop in May.) I bought an XSS as a backup in the meantime because I have far too much money invested in the ecosystem to lose access to. XSS was a little disappointing in that games with an X1X patch only run the OG X1 version of the game, so some things actually look worse than on my old 1X, but for new games it's a cute little powerhouse. I'm probably going to set it up as a local streaming console now that Yakuza is being removed from Game Pass, and thus no streaming, and thus I have like 500 hours of the series left I want to stream to the small screen
I haven't heard of widespread failures at all, so I think I just drew the short straw.
While technically it's all true, the advice to "please open and use Christmas presents before you give them" kid if kills the entire joy of Christmas presents where everything is new in box unopened and untouched by non-elf hands.
If a kid is so ungrateful that the experience of opening a brand new toy and experiencing the initial setup of it's first time use from beginning to end is just too much hassle, they should have been on the naughty list and got a lump of coal, instead, anyway.
Something about SMTV just isn't hooking me the way SMT normally does. I'm not sure what it is about it, but for some reason I'm totally aloof and uninterested in picking this one up most of the time. I can't put a finger on it. But the choppy frame rate may be part of it. Somehow it feels like a "low quality experience" subconsciously. I'd have much preferred they toned down the visuals and kept performance smooth. It sounds strange, maybe it's an OLED thing since i"m playing on the OLED model, but it just feels kind of janky to navigate. 4 totally hooked me, 2 hooks me but the aged design doesn't keep me engaged, but 5 for some reason just lacks that addiction factor for me, and I'm very conscious of it's performance jankiness, turn based or not.
@BlueOcean Plus special surprise announcement on Twitter: Original Excite Bike bike with authentic 8-bit skin will be added to the MK 8DXU roster! $18.99 DLC. Available for a limited time only, while supplies last, some exclusions apply. Active NSO subscription required. Limit one per family plan.
To everyone saying she "legally could keep them" yes, perhaps, but can, and ethically should are two different things. It's someone else's property inadvertently conferred to her by mistake. Legal technicality says she can keep it without repercussion. Ethical behavior however says keeping 6 expensive objects on the down-low that are in scarce supply and high demand that only made it into your possession by mistake shouldn't qualify for "finders, keepers" and should be returned to the real owners.
Which this lady did try to do. Which is what makes it a nice story, that the company officially declined to have it returned and officially gave them to her, no guilt-strings attached.
@Yorumi I remember I was excited about sun/moon, bought them, and......they're still in shrink wrap! I just never even played them for some reason... LGP/E was my next one actually which was....okay....and Sw/Sh definitely had fun moments, but it felt like more LGP/E distilled into just....some bloat? I spent a lot of time with it last year, so I definitely got some fun out of it, but its empty grind also left me not wanting more, either.
Arceus has definite appeal...I'm just a bit tentative. It doesn't need to be an XCX level freedom of world, per-se, I think SMTV is probably a good template (Considering Pokemon is a literal SMT clone from the start) though I admit the new SMT isn't doing it for me as much as past entries, and I'm not sure why. So far. Though I'd love to see a truly free and open XCX Pokemon, don't get me wrong.
But yeah it sounds more confined than they initially made it sound. It still might be great...but I'm very cautious because GF, maybe understandably, doesn't really take risks or ambitious games.
@Yorumi That all makes sense, and yeah, I can't figure out how it's not possible for the games to be better even purely by accident. It's so low effort, I almost wonder if they're intentionally doing that because they're afraid if they mess with the golden goose in any way, they lose it. Like, it's the only game they make. How could it be so consistently mediocre? It's never really "bad" but it's mediocre and always smacks of low budget presentation.
I did actually like X & Y. They were a little simple but they were fun. I technically liked Sw/Sh, it did some things well but not enough, and it was so redundant I don't really need anything like it again for a long, long time. Maybe Arceus really is different, maybe it's not. It's so hard to tell. We didn't even get a Treehouse session out of it to see. Maybe in Jan we will. But kids will keep consuming it relentlessly because it's Pokemon. At this point it's like a cartoon licensed video game rather than a video game that spawned cartoons. It doesn't have to be good, it lets kids be in the world they know from media for a while.
@Yorumi I get it, on one hand. They're technically a smallish indie-size studio that's only ever made one series plus a handful of indie type games, and they never really transitioned out of the 2D 16-32-bit era successfully. The original idea was a re balanced, more accessible SMT.
On the other hand, they literally have the highest selling video game series of all time. Even CoD and Fortnite don't touch their numbers. HTF could they not successfully transition from 2D?
I wonder, though, how much sales revenue ever actually goes to GF, and how much is just consumed by the nasty holding company of TPC and funneled to investors? Maybe GF really is a poorly funded tiny studio that makes pennies on the dollar while the branding bank monstrosity siphons the unending rewards.
@Yorumi No it wouldn't. I'm going to need therapy just to get over having just imagined how bad it could be. I mean, Sonic VA is bad enough, and those are mostly top-top-top shelf A-list actors. Just imagine how horrendous GF would make it?
The one flaw with Xbox's controllers remains that they still don't have gyros. I hate "waggle" motion controls, but FPS aiming is substantially easier on a console and closer to PC mouse+keybo with gyros in the controller, and Xbox not including them is probably why most shooters, including on PS don't bother with them. I never (ever) want to return to the miserable input schemes of the Wii era, it was awful, but the utility of gyros for aiming is quite significant!
@SuperCharr Gates has nothing to do with the company, today, though. He even sold a lot of his stock. He may be the OG founder but he's otherwise just a former executive. Trip Hawkins (founder of EA) actually has more to do with his company than Gates does MS. Trip's still on the board at EA.
@Yorumi Do you even know what you're asking?!? You've heard the music. Do you have any idea how obnoxious the VAs would be if they ever put voice acting into this?
@Maulbert Hmm, that's a trick question... They're both bad at different things. Sonic Forces technically never does anything obnoxiously bad, it just never does anything good and never manages to actually be fun. It's just kind of there and has horrible pacing to the point it's never actually desirable to touch it.
Balan has a different problem. It's so horrifically infuriating in some design elements, and so utterly simplistic in it's single button concept it feels like you're playing a game with one thumb tied behind your back, and it makes you backtrack constantly to switch costumes/abilities.
But.... The gameplay is an ode to Saturn era platformers with modern visuals. There's a (small) audience for that. I won't say it's good. It isn't. But there's a charm to some of what it does that makes me feel guilty being so harsh on it.
I think Sonic Forces is probably the worse one. Despite never being overtly bad, it commits the worst crime a video game can: it's mind numbingly boring and entirely unentertaining. Balan, although not actually good, sometimes infuriates and sometimes makes you smile. The post stage dance revues with all the animals almost makes it worth enduring alone...
@Zyph Pretty much that. E3 is a large scale industry wide event by the binding industry group they're all connected to, ESA. Diminished or not, it's still a significant industry function. TGA is Keighley's own personal afterparty.
I assume this is because of the Chrono Cross remake on other consoles. Then they'll probably re-re-release CT remastered on iOS.
@Axecon The PS XB versions will release with HD2D visuals in the Octopath engine and no audio for $60. Then they'll later get a $50 port of the Switch version that has original 8-bit visuals and remastered audio.
Just get Yuji Naka back to do it. I hear he has free time. And it's not like he can do worse than what Sonic Team has been excreting of late. Even Balan had charm. Relatively. If you look at it from the right angle. In the dark.
I think to a large degree, TGA is just an odd program, and Nintendo splitting their presentations between a bunch of events isn't really going to benefit them as they have a relatively thin schedule and very tight control of their information. They do E3 which is a scheduled, industry wide event that fits their release schedules well. TGA is exactly when they're at their turnover between calendar schedules. .
None of the big 3 were there, though, and we hear every June that mean's "E3 is no longer relevant." Does that mean TGA is no longer relevant either?
No opinion on Idris, no idea who the guy is, and no real reaction to the line in the trailer, buy everything else in this trailer is just so bad. Tales being the usual tales almost saves it, but the Sonic voice actor doesn't fit at all, and the dialogue is 110% cringe 😬 I get that the target market is like 8 year olds, but yeesh
@NotoriousWhiz Definitely possible. I haven't had drift yet in the aftermarket sticks I installed to replace my OG drifting sticks, myself. Which is just sad if the $1 replacements you get on eBay and Amazon are superior parts to whatever Nintendo is using OEM....
@sultrybidoof But Mario Parties (ESRB M, PEGI 18) is my most anticipated game of 2022! We've already seen Mario's Nipples(TM). The party doesn't start until he breaks open those barrels DK throws at him!
@kurtasbestos @Rayquaza2510 Nothing "old school" about not getting it, it's existed since broadcast media began, with Bing and friends recommending products before a message from their sponsors.... But I also don't "get" the mindset. I don't know how some "important" person liking a thing makes you want a thing. Something about the human brain that applies to 90% of the species seems to not apply to some of us.
It's still the only practical, affordable handheld, so with no competition even minimal effort will be enough. What may bite them is if mobile streaming or just mobile hardware native really takes off to the point of making handhelds with very mediocre hardware obsolete, since right now that's their entire appeal. But that's not happening today, that's More switch 2s worry.
I think at this point switch is firmly back in Wii "blue ocean" market territory where it's a different market than other consoles and a second console for enthusiasts. And they're safe there, unless mobile apple/tencent etc catch up to competing against them. Then they have to compete against companies with the budget of a medium country's GDP head on. For now that isn't happening yet.
Geoff says Geoff would like to say that Geoff will be hosting the Geoff games event again this summer. Geoff will tell everyone more about it during Geoff's winter game awards. Everyone be sure to watch Geoff at Geoff's winter game awards tell us about what Geoff will bring to Geoff's summer games show starring Geoff.
It depends on the game, and the equipment. Back in the NES/SNES/Genesis days everything was basically 60fps (NTSC) with a zero-latency CRT display. That set the baseline for how I view everything after.
But then I spent a decade on PC maxing all the sliders at max resolution and ending up with 14fps slideshow games, and I was fine with that because it was oh so pretty.
Today, if it's an RPG or something the fps doesn't matter. Some games "look more cinematic" at low fps. But if it's any game with fast motion, I can't stand 30fps. Some of that depends on display tech. Forza Horizon 4 on X1X I preferred 30fps 4k because the gfx were so much better with so much less aliasing, and the 30fps didn't bother me. But I had a slow monitor at the time that "hid" the speed. On XSXS and even streamed I can't STAND the 30fps on FH5, it actually jitters, or flickers a bit with anything moving fast. And everything moves fast in the game. I think the difference is a faster monitor that uses different tricks to be fast. It makes it jarring and usettling to play, and makes the motion feel somehow slow. So it's 60fps all the way, even on XSS where it's very obviously cut back graphics to do it.
Calamity Warriors was an experience I couldn't even bother playing through, the framerate just bothered me to play it and it made the whole experience feel like a bargain bin reject. But SMTV isn't bothering me other than when it transitions to the menus at like 8fps.
@glaemay The OG PS4 version felt dead and lifeless. The "S" version feels like DQ though. The OG PS4 version feels like it was an upres alternate of the 3DS game for Western markets that didn't really get completed. It didn't even have VA in Japan. It's pretty, but that's all it had going for it. The S version unfortunatley lost the pretty gfx, but fixed the "feel" of the game, IMO.
I love how the headline makes it sound like he was arrested for reselling 200 consoles, to fan the flames, when he was in fact arrested for STEALING 200 consoles. What he did with them after that doesn't really matter much.
@HeadPirate Do you have a source for that Disney quote? It's a shining citation to have handy as I've tried to explain the same thing to so many people, and it mostly falls on deaf ears.
@westman98 True. But if that hardware were the switch I'm not sure it would have mattered. People just didn't want that hardware, even if they wanted the games. Heck PS4 launched with Jack squat and it smashed records. The hardware was more appealing than wiiu....
@westman98 WiiU started with a good lineup. Solid third party support, no big Nintendo game to launch, but numerous high profile games in the pipeline. And preorders sold out. It was after the holiday when the wheels came off the bus on console sales that other games started getting moved and cancelled when it was clear the hardware was stagnating. Rayman was supposed to be the first big exclusive to get it going, and that died quickly, and it just kept tumbling. Initially it didn't have a problem, but the bad turns turned into a freefall to the point that even Kart couldn't stop the bleeding.
@kkslider5552000 The same company that hasn't paid People Can Fly citing that the terms are on profits and Outriders hasn't turned a profit. Which is a very suspect claim, but they provide no sales data so they can claim whatever they want. I'm certain SE does some very.....questionable....Enron accounting, and siphons money from one place to another, fudging the numbers elsewhere. The fact that they claim almost every game they make "underperformed expectations" with an implied frowny face to their investors really makes me wonder what they're doing.
@westman98 Disagree there. I think compelling hardware tops software lineup, and I think WiiU really helped solidify that. "Software sells hardware" is an old, but somewhat relevant metric. But with WiiU we had hardware that nobody wanted at any price combined with a pretty compelling software lineup, and it failed miserably. The hardware has to be desirable above all else. Switch, because of it's handheld, and dockable handheld nature is desirable AND has a compelling library. WiiU had the library (at first) but not the desirable hardware. Vita had desirable hardware that fell flat with memory pricing, and on top of it, failed to build a comeplling library.
I could see the argument you need BOTH, but post-WiiU I don't think we can ride on "software before hardware" as a standard.
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Re: Nintendo Advises New Switch Owners To Complete Setup Before Christmas To Avoid Disappointment
@johnvboy It sounds more manageable in the UK. I'm not sure what the current conversion rate is, but in the US, until last week most marketplaces (Walmart, Amazon, eBay) scalpers we're running $900-975. Last week it dropped to around 820-850. There's another eBay like dealer that used to specialize in sneakers and limited clothing (where the whole scalping thing inexplicably started) and moved into electronics as this grew. They're a bit cheaper usually, previously $720-780, now $620-680.... But that store has processing fees and shipping fees that add another $55 or more to it. Last winter the scalpers we're over $1k though. Definitely sounds less crazy in the UK! Though you had the infamous thieves riding rooftops on moving trucks on launch day 😆
I still wonder how much demand is just toilet paper syndrome playing out. Though those November numbers compared to 2014 in that story here a free weeks ago seems like supply is genuinely dire, but Sony keeps giving numbers that say it isn't and it's all demand. Sony's numbers never added up since launch though, I think they're doing some Enron math and counting heads twice somewhere in those reports...
I still have an Onkyo that was one of the first receivers ever with HDMI! That's back when we thought the avr world be the center of the system and switch everything.... Then tvs and HDMI kept getting reinvented and tvs became the switcher and we'd have been better off with good old audio-only tube rigs and an external decoder. Live and learn.... I still have a Denon in reserve. Supports 3d tv. That puts a date on it...
Re: Nintendo Advises New Switch Owners To Complete Setup Before Christmas To Avoid Disappointment
@johnvboy I think that big wave at Amazon UK drove scalper prices down for the moment, so you still benefited from it! I hadn't even seen you over on PXB, but I have a feeling I will from now on
Instead of a TV I'm using a 27" 4k monitor (but up close so the pixel level details matter) and Switch very much depends on the game. Nintendo games with their smooth art style scale very well. ACNH, much as I detest it looks practically native short of the lack of AA, it relaly looks great. Other games like Ys9 looks pretty awful. Granted, that one doesn't even looks a little rough on PS5, but it's just gross on Switch. So it depends how well the content scales on the big screen for a given game. I'm sure your C1 has a better scaling chip than almost anything else, so it benefits from that, though my monitor is also an LG and seems to have a decidedly better than average scaling chip as well.
Re: Nintendo Advises New Switch Owners To Complete Setup Before Christmas To Avoid Disappointment
@johnvboy Hey, you finally did it! Congrats! And that's a heck of a TV, too!
You're going to love the XSX. Just a fantastic console. I've said it before, but 3DS remains my favorite console, having supplanted SNES. Switch was on track to become my favorite, but it lost some momentum, and I think XSX may have the potential to eclipse 3DS and SNES...it's just so smooth and seamless to just jump around your library and pleasant to use. 3DS being the exception, it's the most fun a console has been since they left cartridges dropped to 30fps, moved to discs. PS5, too, but that's mostly "just a game player", the XSX feels like such a complete package, especially if you get Game Pass and can just try all sorts of games.
You missed the drama of my thread over on pxb, but just 4 days after my warranty should have expired, my XSX failed, seemed like a PSU failure. I was playing FH5 for a few hours, and suddenly it just shut down, and that was that, wouldn't come back up. I've used it a decent amount all year, but right after warranty was a shocker. Fortunately it seemed pre-registered by the retailer and somehow I ended up with an extra 2 weeks on the 1 year warranty than I should have had. I was able to send it out for repair and they turned it around pretty fast, about 2 weeks, and I was back up in time for Halo (which I'm only slightly touching, because I'm waiting for coop in May.) I bought an XSS as a backup in the meantime because I have far too much money invested in the ecosystem to lose access to. XSS was a little disappointing in that games with an X1X patch only run the OG X1 version of the game, so some things actually look worse than on my old 1X, but for new games it's a cute little powerhouse. I'm probably going to set it up as a local streaming console now that Yakuza is being removed from Game Pass, and thus no streaming, and thus I have like 500 hours of the series left I want to stream to the small screen
I haven't heard of widespread failures at all, so I think I just drew the short straw.
Re: Nintendo Advises New Switch Owners To Complete Setup Before Christmas
While technically it's all true, the advice to "please open and use Christmas presents before you give them" kid if kills the entire joy of Christmas presents where everything is new in box unopened and untouched by non-elf hands.
If a kid is so ungrateful that the experience of opening a brand new toy and experiencing the initial setup of it's first time use from beginning to end is just too much hassle, they should have been on the naughty list and got a lump of coal, instead, anyway.
Re: Digital Foundry Gives Its Assessment Of Shin Megami Tensei V
Something about SMTV just isn't hooking me the way SMT normally does. I'm not sure what it is about it, but for some reason I'm totally aloof and uninterested in picking this one up most of the time. I can't put a finger on it. But the choppy frame rate may be part of it. Somehow it feels like a "low quality experience" subconsciously. I'd have much preferred they toned down the visuals and kept performance smooth. It sounds strange, maybe it's an OLED thing since i"m playing on the OLED model, but it just feels kind of janky to navigate. 4 totally hooked me, 2 hooks me but the aged design doesn't keep me engaged, but 5 for some reason just lacks that addiction factor for me, and I'm very conscious of it's performance jankiness, turn based or not.
Re: UK Charts: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Still Leads For Switch In Another Positive Week
@BlueOcean Plus special surprise announcement on Twitter: Original Excite Bike bike with authentic 8-bit skin will be added to the MK 8DXU roster! $18.99 DLC. Available for a limited time only, while supplies last, some exclusions apply. Active NSO subscription required. Limit one per family plan.
Re: Random: Grandmother Accidentally Receives Six Nintendo Switch, So Target Gifted Them To Her
To everyone saying she "legally could keep them" yes, perhaps, but can, and ethically should are two different things. It's someone else's property inadvertently conferred to her by mistake. Legal technicality says she can keep it without repercussion. Ethical behavior however says keeping 6 expensive objects on the down-low that are in scarce supply and high demand that only made it into your possession by mistake shouldn't qualify for "finders, keepers" and should be returned to the real owners.
Which this lady did try to do. Which is what makes it a nice story, that the company officially declined to have it returned and officially gave them to her, no guilt-strings attached.
Re: UK Charts: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Still Leads For Switch In Another Positive Week
MK8 is the new GTAV confirmed.
Re: Sakura Santa Fills Stockings With, Ahem, Festive Cheer On Switch This Christmas
Next article by Gavin: "NL Guide: How to access the Switch's hidden web browser"
Re: New Pokémon Legends: Arceus Trailer Introduces Hisui's Clans And Merchants
@Yorumi I remember I was excited about sun/moon, bought them, and......they're still in shrink wrap! I just never even played them for some reason... LGP/E was my next one actually which was....okay....and Sw/Sh definitely had fun moments, but it felt like more LGP/E distilled into just....some bloat? I spent a lot of time with it last year, so I definitely got some fun out of it, but its empty grind also left me not wanting more, either.
Arceus has definite appeal...I'm just a bit tentative. It doesn't need to be an XCX level freedom of world, per-se, I think SMTV is probably a good template (Considering Pokemon is a literal SMT clone from the start) though I admit the new SMT isn't doing it for me as much as past entries, and I'm not sure why. So far. Though I'd love to see a truly free and open XCX Pokemon, don't get me wrong.
But yeah it sounds more confined than they initially made it sound. It still might be great...but I'm very cautious because GF, maybe understandably, doesn't really take risks or ambitious games.
Re: New Pokémon Legends: Arceus Trailer Introduces Hisui's Clans And Merchants
@Yorumi That all makes sense, and yeah, I can't figure out how it's not possible for the games to be better even purely by accident. It's so low effort, I almost wonder if they're intentionally doing that because they're afraid if they mess with the golden goose in any way, they lose it. Like, it's the only game they make. How could it be so consistently mediocre? It's never really "bad" but it's mediocre and always smacks of low budget presentation.
I did actually like X & Y. They were a little simple but they were fun. I technically liked Sw/Sh, it did some things well but not enough, and it was so redundant I don't really need anything like it again for a long, long time. Maybe Arceus really is different, maybe it's not. It's so hard to tell. We didn't even get a Treehouse session out of it to see. Maybe in Jan we will. But kids will keep consuming it relentlessly because it's Pokemon. At this point it's like a cartoon licensed video game rather than a video game that spawned cartoons. It doesn't have to be good, it lets kids be in the world they know from media for a while.
Re: New Pokémon Legends: Arceus Trailer Introduces Hisui's Clans And Merchants
@Yorumi I get it, on one hand. They're technically a smallish indie-size studio that's only ever made one series plus a handful of indie type games, and they never really transitioned out of the 2D 16-32-bit era successfully. The original idea was a re balanced, more accessible SMT.
On the other hand, they literally have the highest selling video game series of all time. Even CoD and Fortnite don't touch their numbers. HTF could they not successfully transition from 2D?
I wonder, though, how much sales revenue ever actually goes to GF, and how much is just consumed by the nasty holding company of TPC and funneled to investors? Maybe GF really is a poorly funded tiny studio that makes pennies on the dollar while the branding bank monstrosity siphons the unending rewards.
Re: New Pokémon Legends: Arceus Trailer Introduces Hisui's Clans And Merchants
@Yorumi No it wouldn't. I'm going to need therapy just to get over having just imagined how bad it could be. I mean, Sonic VA is bad enough, and those are mostly top-top-top shelf A-list actors. Just imagine how horrendous GF would make it?
Re: Bill Gates Apparently Put "A Lot Of Pressure" On Xbox's Team Leaders To Respond To The Wii Craze
The one flaw with Xbox's controllers remains that they still don't have gyros. I hate "waggle" motion controls, but FPS aiming is substantially easier on a console and closer to PC mouse+keybo with gyros in the controller, and Xbox not including them is probably why most shooters, including on PS don't bother with them. I never (ever) want to return to the miserable input schemes of the Wii era, it was awful, but the utility of gyros for aiming is quite significant!
@SuperCharr Gates has nothing to do with the company, today, though. He even sold a lot of his stock. He may be the OG founder but he's otherwise just a former executive. Trip Hawkins (founder of EA) actually has more to do with his company than Gates does MS. Trip's still on the board at EA.
Re: Random: Usain Bolt Says Mario Kart Helped Him Become An Olympic Champ
Video games, like Little Chocolate Donuts are clearly the ingredients to make a champion athlete!
Re: Random: This Dude Fused A Nintendo Wii With A Toaster, For Some Reason
I'll toast to that. The Wii was just bread for this kind of mod.
Re: New Pokémon Legends: Arceus Trailer Introduces Hisui's Clans And Merchants
@Yorumi Do you even know what you're asking?!? You've heard the music. Do you have any idea how obnoxious the VAs would be if they ever put voice acting into this?
Re: Soapbox: Sonic Frontiers' Open World Has The Potential To Deliver On An Old Promise
@Maulbert Hmm, that's a trick question... They're both bad at different things. Sonic Forces technically never does anything obnoxiously bad, it just never does anything good and never manages to actually be fun. It's just kind of there and has horrible pacing to the point it's never actually desirable to touch it.
Balan has a different problem. It's so horrifically infuriating in some design elements, and so utterly simplistic in it's single button concept it feels like you're playing a game with one thumb tied behind your back, and it makes you backtrack constantly to switch costumes/abilities.
But.... The gameplay is an ode to Saturn era platformers with modern visuals. There's a (small) audience for that. I won't say it's good. It isn't. But there's a charm to some of what it does that makes me feel guilty being so harsh on it.
I think Sonic Forces is probably the worse one. Despite never being overtly bad, it commits the worst crime a video game can: it's mind numbingly boring and entirely unentertaining. Balan, although not actually good, sometimes infuriates and sometimes makes you smile. The post stage dance revues with all the animals almost makes it worth enduring alone...
Re: Soapbox: Sonic Frontiers' Open World Has The Potential To Deliver On An Old Promise
@Maulbert as much as could be tolerated
Re: Random: This Guy Can Reload Anything Like A Gun In An FPS, Including A Toaster
I clicked this expecting bait, but this genuinely made my day.
Re: Soapbox: Nintendo's Game Awards No-Show Proves It Simply Doesn't Need Anyone Else
@Zyph Pretty much that. E3 is a large scale industry wide event by the binding industry group they're all connected to, ESA. Diminished or not, it's still a significant industry function. TGA is Keighley's own personal afterparty.
Re: Rumour: Could Square Enix's Latest ROM Takedowns Mean The Return Of Chrono Trigger?
I assume this is because of the Chrono Cross remake on other consoles. Then they'll probably re-re-release CT remastered on iOS.
@Axecon The PS XB versions will release with HD2D visuals in the Octopath engine and no audio for $60. Then they'll later get a $50 port of the Switch version that has original 8-bit visuals and remastered audio.
Re: Soapbox: Sonic Frontiers' Open World Has The Potential To Deliver On An Old Promise
@Maulbert Maybe. But is it actually worse than what Team Sonic has been doing?
Re: Random: Fancy Dressing Like You're In The Witcher? BlackMilk Has You Covered, You Complete Oddball
I'm sorry, but I call false advertising. That is not a picture of a goth.
Re: Random: It Takes Two May Just Be Playable Solo, If You're Masahiro Sakurai
How is this guy not a pianist? Or a pipe organist?
Re: Soapbox: Sonic Frontiers' Open World Has The Potential To Deliver On An Old Promise
Just get Yuji Naka back to do it. I hear he has free time. And it's not like he can do worse than what Sonic Team has been excreting of late. Even Balan had charm. Relatively. If you look at it from the right angle. In the dark.
Re: Soapbox: Nintendo's Game Awards No-Show Proves It Simply Doesn't Need Anyone Else
I think to a large degree, TGA is just an odd program, and Nintendo splitting their presentations between a bunch of events isn't really going to benefit them as they have a relatively thin schedule and very tight control of their information. They do E3 which is a scheduled, industry wide event that fits their release schedules well. TGA is exactly when they're at their turnover between calendar schedules. .
None of the big 3 were there, though, and we hear every June that mean's "E3 is no longer relevant." Does that mean TGA is no longer relevant either?
Re: Idris Elba Took Great Care Voicing Knuckles, Wanted Him To Be The "Best Version" Of The Character
No opinion on Idris, no idea who the guy is, and no real reaction to the line in the trailer, buy everything else in this trailer is just so bad. Tales being the usual tales almost saves it, but the Sonic voice actor doesn't fit at all, and the dialogue is 110% cringe 😬 I get that the target market is like 8 year olds, but yeesh
Re: Video: The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum Game Gets A Brand New Cinematic Trailer
A whole game about Gollum? I'm very divided.
Re: Banjo-Kazooie Is Getting Jiggy With Nintendo Switch Online In January
Game Pass on Switch confirmed!
Re: Masayuki Uemura, Creator Of The NES And SNES, Has Passed Away
Uemura and Miyamoto, together, are responsible for much of the best things in the world for the past 35 some years. Sad news, indeed.
Re: Feature: How One Small Company Is Making The Switch Joy-Con You Always Dreamed Of
@NotoriousWhiz Definitely possible. I haven't had drift yet in the aftermarket sticks I installed to replace my OG drifting sticks, myself. Which is just sad if the $1 replacements you get on eBay and Amazon are superior parts to whatever Nintendo is using OEM....
Re: Random: Waluigi And Wario Get A Much Deserved Celebrity Endorsement
@sultrybidoof But Mario Parties (ESRB M, PEGI 18) is my most anticipated game of 2022! We've already seen Mario's Nipples(TM). The party doesn't start until he breaks open those barrels DK throws at him!
@kurtasbestos @Rayquaza2510 Nothing "old school" about not getting it, it's existed since broadcast media began, with Bing and friends recommending products before a message from their sponsors.... But I also don't "get" the mindset. I don't know how some "important" person liking a thing makes you want a thing. Something about the human brain that applies to 90% of the species seems to not apply to some of us.
Re: Feature: How One Small Company Is Making The Switch Joy-Con You Always Dreamed Of
I love how many words to took to just echo Nintendo's "what drift problem, we don't see a drift problem" stance.
Re: Video: Our Thoughts On Animal Crossing: New Horizons, One Month Into The 2.0 Update
We Fed Kate Gray Articles To A Bot, And It Gave Its Own Interview
Re: Talking Point: Are Nintendo's Exclusives Enough To Win A Next-Gen Handheld War?
It's still the only practical, affordable handheld, so with no competition even minimal effort will be enough. What may bite them is if mobile streaming or just mobile hardware native really takes off to the point of making handhelds with very mediocre hardware obsolete, since right now that's their entire appeal. But that's not happening today, that's More switch 2s worry.
I think at this point switch is firmly back in Wii "blue ocean" market territory where it's a different market than other consoles and a second console for enthusiasts. And they're safe there, unless mobile apple/tencent etc catch up to competing against them. Then they have to compete against companies with the budget of a medium country's GDP head on. For now that isn't happening yet.
Re: Hideki Kamiya Talks About Why He's Making Sol Cresta, And What's Next For PlatinumGames
@KayFiOS Kenzo Tsujimoto (辻本憲三, Tsujimoto Kenzō). Enjoy your evening!
Re: Feature: The Best (And Worst) Of Nintendo At The Game Awards - Zelda, Smash, And More Zelda
I award the Keighley Awards 5 out of 10 Keighleys. Not enough Keighley.
Re: Back Page: We Fed The Ace Attorney Scripts To A Bot, And It Wrote Its Own Court Case
I wonder what the bot will write about Trucy's magic panties.....
Re: The Summer Game Fest Returns In 2022
Geoff says Geoff would like to say that Geoff will be hosting the Geoff games event again this summer. Geoff will tell everyone more about it during Geoff's winter game awards. Everyone be sure to watch Geoff at Geoff's winter game awards tell us about what Geoff will bring to Geoff's summer games show starring Geoff.
Re: Random: Bizarre Animal Crossing: New Horizons Glitch Is Making Villagers Lose Their Clothes
It's not a bug, it's just the Japanese localized version.
Re: Talking Point: What Can This $1200 Portable PC Tell Us About The 'Switch Pro'?
Alternate but equally significant titles for this article:
What Can This $1200 Portable PC Tell Us About 'Sasquatch'?
What Can This $1200 Portable PC Tell Us About the 'Lochness Monster'?
What Can This $1200 Portable PC Tell Us About 'Chupacabras'?
What Can This $1200 Portable PC Tell Us About 'Deep Down'?
What Can This $1200 Portable PC Tell Us About the Mother 3 English localization'?
Re: Talking Point: Great Game, Poor Performance - When Does A Bad Frame Rate Not Really Matter?
It depends on the game, and the equipment. Back in the NES/SNES/Genesis days everything was basically 60fps (NTSC) with a zero-latency CRT display. That set the baseline for how I view everything after.
But then I spent a decade on PC maxing all the sliders at max resolution and ending up with 14fps slideshow games, and I was fine with that because it was oh so pretty.
Today, if it's an RPG or something the fps doesn't matter. Some games "look more cinematic" at low fps. But if it's any game with fast motion, I can't stand 30fps. Some of that depends on display tech. Forza Horizon 4 on X1X I preferred 30fps 4k because the gfx were so much better with so much less aliasing, and the 30fps didn't bother me. But I had a slow monitor at the time that "hid" the speed. On XSXS and even streamed I can't STAND the 30fps on FH5, it actually jitters, or flickers a bit with anything moving fast. And everything moves fast in the game. I think the difference is a faster monitor that uses different tricks to be fast. It makes it jarring and usettling to play, and makes the motion feel somehow slow. So it's 60fps all the way, even on XSS where it's very obviously cut back graphics to do it.
Calamity Warriors was an experience I couldn't even bother playing through, the framerate just bothered me to play it and it made the whole experience feel like a bargain bin reject. But SMTV isn't bothering me other than when it transitions to the menus at like 8fps.
Re: Video: Hands-On With The 3DS Dragon Quest The West Never Got To Play
@glaemay The OG PS4 version felt dead and lifeless. The "S" version feels like DQ though. The OG PS4 version feels like it was an upres alternate of the 3DS game for Western markets that didn't really get completed. It didn't even have VA in Japan. It's pretty, but that's all it had going for it. The S version unfortunatley lost the pretty gfx, but fixed the "feel" of the game, IMO.
Re: Tokyo Police Arrest Man For Re-Selling Around 200 Consoles And Games
I love how the headline makes it sound like he was arrested for reselling 200 consoles, to fan the flames, when he was in fact arrested for STEALING 200 consoles. What he did with them after that doesn't really matter much.
@HeadPirate Do you have a source for that Disney quote? It's a shining citation to have handy as I've tried to explain the same thing to so many people, and it mostly falls on deaf ears.
Re: Forget Black Friday, Animal Crossing: New Horizons' 'Nook Friday' Sale Has Begun
@Teksetter @Clyde_Radcliffe It's depressing that Nintendo actually has better discounts then the Nooks, as bad as they are...
Re: Talking Point: 5 Reasons That Nintendo Switch Is Still A Hot Product
@westman98 True. But if that hardware were the switch I'm not sure it would have mattered. People just didn't want that hardware, even if they wanted the games. Heck PS4 launched with Jack squat and it smashed records. The hardware was more appealing than wiiu....
Re: Talking Point: 5 Reasons That Nintendo Switch Is Still A Hot Product
@westman98 WiiU started with a good lineup. Solid third party support, no big Nintendo game to launch, but numerous high profile games in the pipeline. And preorders sold out. It was after the holiday when the wheels came off the bus on console sales that other games started getting moved and cancelled when it was clear the hardware was stagnating. Rayman was supposed to be the first big exclusive to get it going, and that died quickly, and it just kept tumbling. Initially it didn't have a problem, but the bad turns turned into a freefall to the point that even Kart couldn't stop the bleeding.
Re: NEO: The World Ends With You Has 'Underperformed Expectations', Square Enix Says
@kkslider5552000 The same company that hasn't paid People Can Fly citing that the terms are on profits and Outriders hasn't turned a profit. Which is a very suspect claim, but they provide no sales data so they can claim whatever they want. I'm certain SE does some very.....questionable....Enron accounting, and siphons money from one place to another, fudging the numbers elsewhere. The fact that they claim almost every game they make "underperformed expectations" with an implied frowny face to their investors really makes me wonder what they're doing.
Re: Talking Point: 5 Reasons That Nintendo Switch Is Still A Hot Product
@westman98 Disagree there. I think compelling hardware tops software lineup, and I think WiiU really helped solidify that. "Software sells hardware" is an old, but somewhat relevant metric. But with WiiU we had hardware that nobody wanted at any price combined with a pretty compelling software lineup, and it failed miserably. The hardware has to be desirable above all else. Switch, because of it's handheld, and dockable handheld nature is desirable AND has a compelling library. WiiU had the library (at first) but not the desirable hardware. Vita had desirable hardware that fell flat with memory pricing, and on top of it, failed to build a comeplling library.
I could see the argument you need BOTH, but post-WiiU I don't think we can ride on "software before hardware" as a standard.