How to advance the Megaman franchise:
1- remake and finish Megaman Legends 3 for modern platforms and and PC, Switch 2
2- a Megaman classic game that leads into the X series officially (not in a way that rips off the fangame Megaman Unlimited, BTW)
3- get back into some creative spinoff sometimes (and official and fully fledged fighting game spinoff, maybe?)
4- ACTUALLY MAKE GAMES WITH THE FRANCHISE
5- ACTUALLY MAKE GAMES WITH THE FRANCHISE
I know those last two were identical, but I felt it was so important I had to mention it twice, you smeeee-heeeeeeee....
I'm no economics professor or anything, but last I checked "if you liked / loved me you'd find a way to do it" is the behavior of a spoiled child or a soon-to-be-ex-lover. Regardless of whether he has a point, he opens to door wide open to ad hominem making it like that. And I am not a fan. Not of his behavior, or frankly of Borderlands, from a "I play it / I don't play it" standpoint. I do not play Borderlands, but I haven't got a problem with popular games existing that I don't care about
I do however care when people act poorly and treat people like nothing or worse. Especially when they want or need something of others. This guy "claims" to want business but his behavior does not deserve it any more than a fussy child ( and I was certainly one of those).
I will treat him, his company and his comments the way smart people treat spoiled ex-lovers - forgetting them - or like spoiled children - giving them what they need only - and he does not need me.
@Wool_Sheep Yep, I'm seeing this and a lot of comments about this above which are basically saying the same thing. I agree with you and all above. Skill issue, UbiSoft, Skill issue.
If you can't do it, Ubi, just admit it. Sell PoP to Sandfall, let them embarass you (again) and keep making AC sequels with your Monkey Paw and somehow give the fans things they want along with 20 things they did not. Plus Ca Change Plus Ce La Meme Chose for Ubi, here.
Yes. People are prone to emotionally reactant complaints.
Reactions such as being casually dismissive of a worthy complaint about the affordability of a hobby we are passionate about.
More people should engage in rational reflection.
Such as evaluating themselves and asking why they feel justified in ridiculing people who want to discuss for many objective and subjective reasons the severity of the gaming market price hike.
Rationally one would want to reserve their value judgements on others on the topic, rather than ridicule their stances out of hand.
@nhSnork Also, I shouldn't be chuckling, but I'm one of the guys bleeding in the chair myself since I was in high school - blame is likely in my genealogy from an uncle on my mother's side I never knew existed — probably because he had it when it was way easier to succumb to it.
Which is a roundabout way of saying "yes I agree, for that very relevant reason."
@Chlocean Sweet! I'm getting my husband into it sometimes, too.
Also, on that thursday, just for the meme, I spent some time on my outdoor walk like... literally touching grass - with my fingers, squatting down by the lawn - just for the meme's sake LOL
@Galaxy2IsTheGOAT The difference is, if $10 is a meal (healthy or not), then a $70-$80 game is about 2 and a half or three days of food you're not getting. $50 is only about One or one and a half.... still not great but a hell of a lot easier to work into a budget if one knows what they are doing.
Also, other hobbies which I have also had on back burner for too long, such as my novel and manga collection and my drawing habit, are also returning to my routine, so life outside video games is always an option, including the nearby park.
Everybody says "touch grass" but how many actually do? My last time was about thursday afternoon before New England started getting drenched - like all the April showers decided on April Fools' Day they'd all come out on Cinco De Mayo instead. LOL
As far as my gaming habits go, they were already beginning to change in recent months, so this is just more incentive to continue redirecting in that direction.
When my previous job started shorting my hours, I had to stop buying the latest and greatest just to keep eating... which is decidedly more important.
So I was already hooking my old NES back up for nostalgia's sake, and when Monster Hunter Wilds came out near my birthday, and some of my birthday cash made me able to spring for a reliable controller, suddenly I felt invested not only in that, but in my old-school library and the "Wasted money" in my Steam backlog I'd been building seasonally (who hasn't, honestly?)
My computer was built about 5 years ago, but it was slightly ahead of the curve on RAM and CPU, and about 2 years ago we switched it to an SSD, so my Steam Library is a much more appealing option with the larger companies charging over $60, and Clair Obscur is $50 - and I feel like that's an instant dark horse out of left field genre mainstay surprise hit.
I got my rights to to my opinions and the facts as I know them.
Nobody here has any chance of changing the facts or my opinions on them. All you're gonna do is piss people off.
but I'm not some "internet badass". That's not what I'm here for.
Someone did not like my invoking a political statement in my last post - Overkill I will admit, and yeah, it was poor taste, I'll cop to that. I got my reasons for saying it, and I will not justify them here.
But someone got awfully butthurt about my statements above so I will deal them and anyone who doesn't want to hear them the big ol' block button.
If Neumier doesn't do it for you, try Warlord Okeer: "I shall inflict the greatest insult an enemy can offer -to be ignored."
@DarkTron Ye I somehow forgot to mention Shadow of Mordor in my diatribe above, but yeah, that's more BS right there. The Nemesis System is a great way to make a game that constantly challenges you and it's locked to that single two-game franchise because the mechanic is locked up in patent jail with the company.
Furthermore, if Nintendo wins this Palworld suit, there's every chance that they or other high-profile AAA game makers may also follow with patenting their game mechanics, leading to a very likely scenario where there will be nothing legally safe to be inspired by, and a total creative vacuum for gaming.
That's a losing situation - it's also a grossly amplified worst-case, but the win would make it shockingly plausible.
So remember, whether you think Nintendo is in the right to shoot down a "B-tier Pokemon clone with guns and B-tier Valheim gameplay", or like me, you defend it's right to be what it is, warts and all... I think it's reasonable to want Nintendo to back off or lose the case because of the longer-term implications which could domino the entire game creation space.
I'm not a big Palworld fan - in fact I played the game a total of 5 hours in January 2024 and never touched it again - but I defend it's right to exist.
I'm also aware I'm probably asking for trouble saying this on a Nintendo fansite - which I love and have been happily watching since I got my Switch - but Ninty suing over "patent infringement" on Palworld is the highest tier of petty BS between companies and we all should realize that.
The reason they bring up these counter-examples is a legal slap in the face to the lawsuit. They are citing examples of how not only have Nintendo used other methods of controlling game characters and not sued their creators (Ninty sues Palworld for aping Pokemon, but not Farmagia for genesplicing Pokemon AND Pikmin into a Rune Factor-style game), but that Nintendo has tolerated several other games with Monster Capture mechanics which also have the traits that Ninty claims are "patented".
TWO of these games are published ON the Nintendo Switch:
Octopath Traveler was formerly timed-exclusive to Switch, they didn't slap down SquEnix for H'aanit's monster capturing with odds-based CPU die rolls, did they? Not when they stood to make bank off it.
Also many other commenters on this page bring up that Nintendo published Game Freak's iteration of monster capture, but also "forgot" that Game Freak (who were technically smalldev / indie before Ninty absorbed them) were imitating Dragon Quest Monsters and Megami Tensei when they made that game. ¿No Recuerdo, Nintendo?
and Henk Rogers recently stated that he was very angry that Nintendo stole him and Alexey's lunch when they copied Tetris' homework for Dr. Mario. Guess Pazhitnov should have "patented" falling blocks, right? He couldn't have done that even if he wasn't building computer games on government hardware. He probably would not have been allowed to do so anywhere or anytime in the 80s, but most especially not in the heyday of the USSR right in their computer research division.
This is BS and we all know it. Anyone saying else lost the plot.
'cause, you know... Heaven forbid people who like a Collectible Card Game would want to actually play a GAME with the CARDS they've been COLLECTING for years, only to find a-holes buying them all to sell off for profit months or years down the line instead of also playing the game...? Just a thought?
Okay, this reminds me of something I've been rolling around in my head lately. It's a bit weird and abstract, and tied in with a lot of odd trivia, so don't mind my rambling, but here goes:
The GameCube menu music is the Famicom Disk System startup jingle slowed to 128th it's normal tempo, in a softer synth set. This is true.
"Vaporwave" is the remixing of corporate art by typically doing things such as, for one, slowing down the startup chimes of 90s and 2000s electronics.
Yet, vaporwave is also considered outsider art, and Nintendo did the slowing-down of the jingle themselves officially on the GameCube menu screen.
Can a corporation, technically, "vaporwave itself", or is the fact that it is official invalidate it as "vaporwave" because it's internal and not external?
Kinda like the "God's immovable object" paradox, or as I prefer "Could Neil Peart of Rush write a drum solo so complex he himself could not play it?"
So a video game company with a huge backlog of historic IPs and the resources and talent capable of turning them into well made, time-tested masterpieces of the medium can make more money doing so than by crafting cheaply made overdressed Skinner Boxes to chase dollars on lame phone game trends which should only be an afterthought in the business model if they exist at all?
@MasterGraveheart Also, you have a screaming pony GIF in your image, but your name "Master Graveheart" reminds me of the character of Graveheart who was the leader of the Alliance in War Planets
@RetroGames Good game, bad game, I do see your point, but I think you may also be missing a particular point which would justify the author's wording.
Whether the game is good or bad on it's own merits IS besides the point of whether or not the game is deliberately trying to cash in on the name of a more popular and more well-produced game - which it objectively IS.
However, there is merit in wording the game in a negative bias, as opposed to omitting the gameplay quality, or even holding it up as "not that bad". The merit is in not accidentally creating a danger in doing the "objective thing".
That danger is, if people think despite the fact that the game is playing"keyword bingo" the game itself is not actually objectively bad AS A GAME, if people DO buy the game, it will encourage the bad behavior that created the problem.
If we say the game is "a scam but actually pretty good", it may drive people to buy the game, leading the scammer to believe the scam can and should work. They would then continue to scam others in the same fashion, and they would succeed.
So, while sticking to the objective truth without bias has it's place - a VITAL one in most circles - "poisoning the well" against a game linked to a toxic practice thus would only really hurt the ... err... toxic practitioner? IDK I'm losing coherence.
I love an early sidequest in Chained Echoes, the awesome indie RPG.
In the first playable map, a lush green valley called Rohlan Fields, we meet a fella named Don Q., who claims he was attacked by a monster, but all you see are windmills, one with a broken wheel.
You might think from the name you know where this is going, but... he's not crazy: the windmill with the busted wheel is a Mimic!
As buggy and choppy as it was on Nintendo Switch, I LOVED Tales Of Kenzera: Zau.
It was a truly moving story, had some decent elements in combat and conveyance that made me feel really invested. The framerates were not consistent, but the game still had the feel of guiding a nimble young warrior through a powerful journey, which it was, emotionally and otherwise.
I truly want to see more Tales Of Kenzera, be they more myths and stories like Zau, or more focused on the amazing afro-futuristic setting bookending the game's story.
The bookend segments of the futuristic main character were very touching and well thought out, and the setting was much like the Marvel movies' images of Wakanda, which I also liked.
In the first open area of Chained Echoes, your very first available side quest is right there in the Rohlan Fields.
You will find an injured and quite frantic young man named Don Q tending his twisted leg, after claiming he has been in combat with a vicious monster, blaming the windmill up the hill.
Now, anyone with an iota of literary history will know he is named after Spanish prevaricator Don Quixote, who would famously declare that a hilltop full of windmills was in fact a marauding army of giants, flailing their arms in menace, daring him to charge with his lance.
However... for once, Don Q is actually accurate- if you approach this windmill, a battle with a Mimic will begin!
This sidequest is barely a speedbump on your road to victory on chained Echoes, happening over about 3 minutes in the first 4 hours of a 70 hour runtime, but the sheer audacity of finally vindicating the ol' Man Of La Mancha by having a namesake ACTUALLY tilting at windmills which ARE ACTUAL MONSTERS is hilarious to me!
I didn't even know what anime or Dragon Ball were when I first played Dragon Warrior in 1989, but when I later learned what it was, and who did the art in both Dragon Ball and Dragon Warrior / Quest, I realized it was going to lead here eventually.
Akira Toriyama's work has touched hundreds of thousands, if not MILLIONS across the globe. If it isn't in DQ, it's usually Dragon Ball Z, which was being localized in syndication, and then shortly after, in Toonami, just as mass media in the US was beginning to recognize the anime movement beginning to gain groundswell.
That groundswell became a seismic shift in the early 1990s, and carried through the decades as kids who grew up with DBZ the way I grew up with Transformers, G.I. Joe and He-man scant years before, took their childhood memories of Toriyama's work and grew into the teens who continued to love Japanese pop culture, and today, anime pop culture is a leading influence in US pop culture as well.
I live in the Northeast US in the suburbs, and even before I spent the last 2 years working in a game store, I still could barely walk in public without seeing at least one or two guys in the mall or grocery store with a DBZ shirt, or tattoo, and a shirt for their kids. When I started working at the gamestore, it's almost each and every shift I work there... even without co-workers who also have them.
Even though "popular does not equal good always", DBZ IS good, if you know how to look past the outlandishly long buildups to painfully short battles. There are people there for everyone to resonate with, for the sheer tenacity present in nearly all Shonen characters, but especially so, here.
Even Krillin, often considered the weakest character (even with Yamcha existing... sorta, sometimes LOL), has the kind of courage you chalk up to a stubborn SOB who you're glad will show up and clock in. The kind of guy who cares about what he's doing, or who he's doing it for, so much, he'd rather die than own up to being in over his head — and he HAS literally died for this... SEVERAL times!
But saddest of all, Toriyama does not get to take part in the annual opportunity for resurrection his beloved warriors enjoy.
... may King Yemma be kind and understanding, when Toriyama-sensei's turn finally comes up in queue, that he be spared from the "Home For Infinite Losers" (best bowdlerization for Hell ever).
Like an inverse form of Spirit Bomb, your work spread far and wide, and has nourished the imaginations of millions on Earth.
@YunoboCo While I cannot agree completely, I do believe it should have placed higher, as Echoes Of Wisdom was my 2nd place favorite of the year behind Unicorn Overlord. Zelda steps up to protagonist in a unique way. I loved this game, more even than Tears Of The Kingdom (which, I REALLY want to love, but it's WAY too big and daunting for me right now), it made me feel like master of the game space at nearly every turn, with a unique story, for a Zelda game. They really stepped out of their comfort zone, while still making a game that was quintessential "Zelda".
I am STOKED that Unicorn Overlord won NL's top spot this year, it was my personal favorite of the whole year, too! To my recollection, these were the games I played through to the end (or AN end in some cases, as there are mulitple endings or post-games in some):
Unicorn Overlord
Tales of Kenzera: Zau
Ai: the Somnium Files
Sword Of Vermilion (NSO Genesis library)
Legend Of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Castlevania (NES, original hardware and cart - I've played it dozens of times, never actually beat Dracula myself 'til this past summer LOL)
I'm voting on the Japanese box art. I like the US/EU version for what it is - mid-90s game box art intentionally trying to sell an RPG with callbacks to Conan / Vallejo / Frazetta, but kudos to the OG art. For one thing, it makes Jean look decent even without his Shaman glow-up. Though, oddly, both do my boy Rand dirty by overexaggerating his big shoulders/small-looking head look some bodybuilders get... rather disproportionately so, especially in the Japan box, but I'm still voting on that one 'cause literally everyone else looks fantastic as drawn there. Even Bow, who got a downgrade from wolf in the first game to lapdog in the second, looks badass, here.
"What madness is this?! What pitiful form is this that I have come to inhabit? Death would be a release next to this travesty!"
"YOU DID NOT SURVIVE THE ABYSS, RAZIEL. I HAVE ONLY SPARED YOU FROM TOTAL DISSOLUTION."
"I would choose oblivion over this existence!"
"THE CHOICE... IS NOT YOURS."
"I am destroyed!"
"YOU ARE... REBORN!!
THE BIRTH OF ONE OF KAIN'S ABOMINATIONS TRAPS THE ESSENCE OF LIFE. IT IS THIS SOUL WHICH ANIMATES THE CORPSE YOU... 'LIVED'... IN. AND THAT, RAZIEL, IS THE DEMISE OF NOSGOTH.
THERE IS NO BALANCE. THE SOULS OF THE DEAD REMAIN TRAPPED. I CANNOT SPIN THEM IN THE WHEEL OF FATE; THEY CANNOT COMPLETE THEIR DESTINES.
REDEEM YOURSELF. OR IF YOU PREFER... AVENGE YOURSELF.
SETTLE YOUR DISPUTE WITH KAIN; DESTROY HIM AND YOUR BRETHREN. FREE THEIR SOULS AND LET THE WHEEL OF FATE CHURN AGAIN.
USE YOUR HATRED TO REAVE THEIR SOULS... I CAN MAKE IT POSSIBLE.
Comments 221
Re: Borderlands 4 On Switch 2 Won't Support Split-Screen Couch Co-Op
"Did you wash my car like I asked you to?"
"No, but I hit it with a rock!"
-Modern game companies
Re: Mega Man Is One Of Capcom's "Most Important IPs" Despite No New Games In 7+ Years
@Elitepatriot this
Re: Mega Man Is One Of Capcom's "Most Important IPs" Despite No New Games In 7+ Years
How to advance the Megaman franchise:
1- remake and finish Megaman Legends 3 for modern platforms and and PC, Switch 2
2- a Megaman classic game that leads into the X series officially (not in a way that rips off the fangame Megaman Unlimited, BTW)
3- get back into some creative spinoff sometimes (and official and fully fledged fighting game spinoff, maybe?)
4- ACTUALLY MAKE GAMES WITH THE FRANCHISE
5- ACTUALLY MAKE GAMES WITH THE FRANCHISE
I know those last two were identical, but I felt it was so important I had to mention it twice, you smeeee-heeeeeeee....
Re: Switch 2 Dock Supports VRR After All, But It Doesn't Actually Work With Console
@xzacutor "Twenty minutes into the future..."
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel - Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
...tasty.
(someone had to finish the quote lol)
Re: Talking Point: How Are You Finding Mario Kart's Open World?
On a map.
mic drop
I'M HERE ALL WEEK LOL
Re: Classic Atari 2600 Title 'Adventure' Is Being Revived As A Metroidvania
@DwaynesGames "Somebody get this freakin' duck away from me!"
Re: "If You're A Real Fan, You'll Find A Way" - Borderlands 4 Dev Gives Tone Deaf Response To Price Concerns
I'm no economics professor or anything, but last I checked "if you liked / loved me you'd find a way to do it" is the behavior of a spoiled child or a soon-to-be-ex-lover.
Regardless of whether he has a point, he opens to door wide open to ad hominem making it like that.
And I am not a fan.
Not of his behavior, or frankly of Borderlands, from a "I play it / I don't play it" standpoint.
I do not play Borderlands, but I haven't got a problem with popular games existing that I don't care about
I do however care when people act poorly and treat people like nothing or worse. Especially when they want or need something of others. This guy "claims" to want business but his behavior does not deserve it any more than a fussy child ( and I was certainly one of those).
I will treat him, his company and his comments the way smart people treat spoiled ex-lovers - forgetting them - or like spoiled children - giving them what they need only - and he does not need me.
Re: Ubisoft's Prince Of Persia Remake Expected By 2026, But It's Delaying Other Major IP
@Wool_Sheep Yep, I'm seeing this and a lot of comments about this above which are basically saying the same thing. I agree with you and all above.
Skill issue, UbiSoft, Skill issue.
Re: Ubisoft's Prince Of Persia Remake Expected By 2026, But It's Delaying Other Major IP
If you can't do it, Ubi, just admit it.
Sell PoP to Sandfall, let them embarass you (again) and keep making AC sequels with your Monkey Paw and somehow give the fans things they want along with 20 things they did not.
Plus Ca Change Plus Ce La Meme Chose for Ubi, here.
Re: Gearbox's Randy Pitchford Admits Borderlands 4 Might Follow Nintendo's New Pricing
@mangaTom Vraiment, mon ami
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (10th May)
Monster Hunter Wilds
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
my original NES cartridge games once in a while
Re: Gearbox's Randy Pitchford Admits Borderlands 4 Might Follow Nintendo's New Pricing
@MK73DS
Yes. People are prone to emotionally reactant complaints.
Reactions such as being casually dismissive of a worthy complaint about the affordability of a hobby we are passionate about.
More people should engage in rational reflection.
Such as evaluating themselves and asking why they feel justified in ridiculing people who want to discuss for many objective and subjective reasons the severity of the gaming market price hike.
Rationally one would want to reserve their value judgements on others on the topic, rather than ridicule their stances out of hand.
Re: Gearbox's Randy Pitchford Admits Borderlands 4 Might Follow Nintendo's New Pricing
@nhSnork Also, I shouldn't be chuckling, but I'm one of the guys bleeding in the chair myself since I was in high school - blame is likely in my genealogy from an uncle on my mother's side I never knew existed — probably because he had it when it was way easier to succumb to it.
Which is a roundabout way of saying "yes I agree, for that very relevant reason."
Re: Talking Point: With Prices Rising, Are Your Gaming Habits Changing?
@Chlocean Sweet! I'm getting my husband into it sometimes, too.
Also, on that thursday, just for the meme, I spent some time on my outdoor walk like... literally touching grass - with my fingers, squatting down by the lawn - just for the meme's sake LOL
Re: Talking Point: With Prices Rising, Are Your Gaming Habits Changing?
@Galaxy2IsTheGOAT The difference is, if $10 is a meal (healthy or not), then a $70-$80 game is about 2 and a half or three days of food you're not getting. $50 is only about One or one and a half.... still not great but a hell of a lot easier to work into a budget if one knows what they are doing.
Re: Talking Point: With Prices Rising, Are Your Gaming Habits Changing?
Also, other hobbies which I have also had on back burner for too long, such as my novel and manga collection and my drawing habit, are also returning to my routine, so life outside video games is always an option, including the nearby park.
Everybody says "touch grass" but how many actually do? My last time was about thursday afternoon before New England started getting drenched - like all the April showers decided on April Fools' Day they'd all come out on Cinco De Mayo instead. LOL
Re: Talking Point: With Prices Rising, Are Your Gaming Habits Changing?
As far as my gaming habits go, they were already beginning to change in recent months, so this is just more incentive to continue redirecting in that direction.
When my previous job started shorting my hours, I had to stop buying the latest and greatest just to keep eating... which is decidedly more important.
So I was already hooking my old NES back up for nostalgia's sake, and when Monster Hunter Wilds came out near my birthday, and some of my birthday cash made me able to spring for a reliable controller, suddenly I felt invested not only in that, but in my old-school library and the "Wasted money" in my Steam backlog I'd been building seasonally (who hasn't, honestly?)
My computer was built about 5 years ago, but it was slightly ahead of the curve on RAM and CPU, and about 2 years ago we switched it to an SSD, so my Steam Library is a much more appealing option with the larger companies charging over $60, and Clair Obscur is $50 - and I feel like that's an instant dark horse out of left field genre mainstay surprise hit.
Re: Rumour: Ubisoft Might Already Be Teasing More Switch 2 Games
Really? Wow.
So anyway...
I will get back to playing Clair Obscur Expedition 33, if you dont mind, Ubi lol
Re: Talking Point: Will You Be Buying Any Game-Key Card Switch 2 Games?
nope.
(they won't allow me to post shorter than that, but... nope.)
Re: Switch 2 "Code-In-A-Box" Physical Game Listing Spotted Online
Does anyone else remember when you could pay for a thing and actually GET a thing?!
If they want to sell us only digital games, I'll just buy them with "exposure".
Re: What's Palworld Dev's Defence Against Nintendo's Lawsuit? Pikmin 3, Apparently
I got my rights to to my opinions and the facts as I know them.
Nobody here has any chance of changing the facts or my opinions on them. All you're gonna do is piss people off.
but I'm not some "internet badass". That's not what I'm here for.
Someone did not like my invoking a political statement in my last post - Overkill I will admit, and yeah, it was poor taste, I'll cop to that. I got my reasons for saying it, and I will not justify them here.
But someone got awfully butthurt about my statements above so I will deal them and anyone who doesn't want to hear them the big ol' block button.
If Neumier doesn't do it for you, try Warlord Okeer:
"I shall inflict the greatest insult an enemy can offer -to be ignored."
Re: What's Palworld Dev's Defence Against Nintendo's Lawsuit? Pikmin 3, Apparently
@DarkTron Ye I somehow forgot to mention Shadow of Mordor in my diatribe above, but yeah, that's more BS right there. The Nemesis System is a great way to make a game that constantly challenges you and it's locked to that single two-game franchise because the mechanic is locked up in patent jail with the company.
Furthermore, if Nintendo wins this Palworld suit, there's every chance that they or other high-profile AAA game makers may also follow with patenting their game mechanics, leading to a very likely scenario where there will be nothing legally safe to be inspired by, and a total creative vacuum for gaming.
That's a losing situation - it's also a grossly amplified worst-case, but the win would make it shockingly plausible.
So remember, whether you think Nintendo is in the right to shoot down a "B-tier Pokemon clone with guns and B-tier Valheim gameplay", or like me, you defend it's right to be what it is, warts and all... I think it's reasonable to want Nintendo to back off or lose the case because of the longer-term implications which could domino the entire game creation space.
"First they came for..."
Re: What's Palworld Dev's Defence Against Nintendo's Lawsuit? Pikmin 3, Apparently
I'm not a big Palworld fan - in fact I played the game a total of 5 hours in January 2024 and never touched it again - but I defend it's right to exist.
I'm also aware I'm probably asking for trouble saying this on a Nintendo fansite - which I love and have been happily watching since I got my Switch - but Ninty suing over "patent infringement" on Palworld is the highest tier of petty BS between companies and we all should realize that.
The reason they bring up these counter-examples is a legal slap in the face to the lawsuit. They are citing examples of how not only have Nintendo used other methods of controlling game characters and not sued their creators (Ninty sues Palworld for aping Pokemon, but not Farmagia for genesplicing Pokemon AND Pikmin into a Rune Factor-style game), but that Nintendo has tolerated several other games with Monster Capture mechanics which also have the traits that Ninty claims are "patented".
TWO of these games are published ON the Nintendo Switch:
Octopath Traveler was formerly timed-exclusive to Switch, they didn't slap down SquEnix for H'aanit's monster capturing with odds-based CPU die rolls, did they? Not when they stood to make bank off it.
Also many other commenters on this page bring up that Nintendo published Game Freak's iteration of monster capture, but also "forgot" that Game Freak (who were technically smalldev / indie before Ninty absorbed them) were imitating Dragon Quest Monsters and Megami Tensei when they made that game. ¿No Recuerdo, Nintendo?
and Henk Rogers recently stated that he was very angry that Nintendo stole him and Alexey's lunch when they copied Tetris' homework for Dr. Mario. Guess Pazhitnov should have "patented" falling blocks, right? He couldn't have done that even if he wasn't building computer games on government hardware. He probably would not have been allowed to do so anywhere or anytime in the 80s, but most especially not in the heyday of the USSR right in their computer research division.
This is BS and we all know it. Anyone saying else lost the plot.
Re: Val Kilmer, Acting Legend And One-Time Video Game Voice Artist, Has Died
My favorite Val Kilmer role has always been and always shall be Madmartigan from Willow.
"Come on, Airk, gimme a sword, I'll win this war for you!"
"Mumbo, Jumbo, I am hungry, go get us something to eat! barks at Ruul and Franjean like a dog
"Now hold on peck-"
"It's Willow!"
"I mean Willow! You've done the right thing. Go home to your family and bring your crop in."
Re: Pokémon Center Singapore Sticks Its Middle Finger Up To TCG Scalpers
'cause, you know... Heaven forbid people who like a Collectible Card Game would want to actually play a GAME with the CARDS they've been COLLECTING for years, only to find a-holes buying them all to sell off for profit months or years down the line instead of also playing the game...? Just a thought?
TCG resellers sicken me.
Re: Nintendo Museum Launches Keychains That Play Your Favourite Console Jingle
Okay, this reminds me of something I've been rolling around in my head lately. It's a bit weird and abstract, and tied in with a lot of odd trivia, so don't mind my rambling, but here goes:
The GameCube menu music is the Famicom Disk System startup jingle slowed to 128th it's normal tempo, in a softer synth set. This is true.
"Vaporwave" is the remixing of corporate art by typically doing things such as, for one, slowing down the startup chimes of 90s and 2000s electronics.
Yet, vaporwave is also considered outsider art, and Nintendo did the slowing-down of the jingle themselves officially on the GameCube menu screen.
Can a corporation, technically, "vaporwave itself", or is the fact that it is official invalidate it as "vaporwave" because it's internal and not external?
Kinda like the "God's immovable object" paradox, or as I prefer "Could Neil Peart of Rush write a drum solo so complex he himself could not play it?"
LOL enjoy my morning ramble
Re: Niantic Sells Pokémon GO And Entire Gaming Division For $3.5 Billion
Really? Wow.
So anyway...
Re: This Super Punch-Out!! Style Game Is On The Way To Switch, Here's A First Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sryvc3sa2U4&pp=ygUNc29saWQgamogYmFraQ%3D%3D
This is my only exposure to Baki LOL
Re: "They Stole The Whole Game" - Horror Indie Dev Fights The eShop Scam Blatantly Ripping Their Work
You know what? I'm gonna buy Backroom 1998 right now to support the guy.
I wasn't even going to - hell I don't even PLAY horror games, generally speaking, just not my thing - but this guy needs support.
Hell it's probably on Steam too, I may double-dip just so my husband can play it on Steam
EDIT: I cut out the middleman and bought it on Steam for said husband, who DOES play horror games.
Re: Metroidvania 'Chronicles Of The Wolf' Takes A Few Cues From Castlevania II
looks again and notices the subheading
56709!!!
Re: Metroidvania 'Chronicles Of The Wolf" Takes A Few Cues From Castlevania II
I like it, it's got the chops, it looks the part, it's got retro charm and Robert Belgrade, to boot...
...but why is it called "Chronicles of the Wolf"... when you aren't playing as that werewolf?
Yes, my furry bias is showing, what of it? lol
Re: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Sold Above Expectations, Says Square Enix
So a video game company with a huge backlog of historic IPs and the resources and talent capable of turning them into well made, time-tested masterpieces of the medium can make more money doing so than by crafting cheaply made overdressed Skinner Boxes to chase dollars on lame phone game trends which should only be an afterthought in the business model if they exist at all?
Who knew? Lol
Re: Random: Oh No, You Can Buy A Life-Sized Gardevoir Plush From Pokémon Center
DREEEEEEEAM EATEEEERRR!
I believe you can get me through theNiiii-iIIIIIIIGHT!!!
(LOL)
Re: PSA: Don't Fall For This New 'Wukong' Game On The Switch eShop
@MasterGraveheart
Also, you have a screaming pony GIF in your image, but your name "Master Graveheart" reminds me of the character of Graveheart who was the leader of the Alliance in War Planets
Re: PSA: Don't Fall For This New 'Wukong' Game On The Switch eShop
@MasterGraveheart THIS
Re: PSA: Don't Fall For This New 'Wukong' Game On The Switch eShop
@RetroGames Good game, bad game, I do see your point, but I think you may also be missing a particular point which would justify the author's wording.
Whether the game is good or bad on it's own merits IS besides the point of whether or not the game is deliberately trying to cash in on the name of a more popular and more well-produced game - which it objectively IS.
However, there is merit in wording the game in a negative bias, as opposed to omitting the gameplay quality, or even holding it up as "not that bad". The merit is in not accidentally creating a danger in doing the "objective thing".
That danger is, if people think despite the fact that the game is playing"keyword bingo" the game itself is not actually objectively bad AS A GAME, if people DO buy the game, it will encourage the bad behavior that created the problem.
If we say the game is "a scam but actually pretty good", it may drive people to buy the game, leading the scammer to believe the scam can and should work. They would then continue to scam others in the same fashion, and they would succeed.
So, while sticking to the objective truth without bias has it's place - a VITAL one in most circles - "poisoning the well" against a game linked to a toxic practice thus would only really hurt the ... err... toxic practitioner? IDK I'm losing coherence.
I hope I made a good point.
Re: 15 Best Sidequests In Switch Games
I love an early sidequest in Chained Echoes, the awesome indie RPG.
In the first playable map, a lush green valley called Rohlan Fields, we meet a fella named Don Q., who claims he was attacked by a monster, but all you see are windmills, one with a broken wheel.
You might think from the name you know where this is going, but... he's not crazy: the windmill with the busted wheel is a Mimic!
Re: EA's Share Price Plummets After Reports Of Disappointing Financial Performance
E. A. SPORTS: It's f***in' lame!
(lol)
Re: Surgent Studios Enters Publishing Collaboration With Palworld's Pocketpair
As buggy and choppy as it was on Nintendo Switch, I LOVED Tales Of Kenzera: Zau.
It was a truly moving story, had some decent elements in combat and conveyance that made me feel really invested. The framerates were not consistent, but the game still had the feel of guiding a nimble young warrior through a powerful journey, which it was, emotionally and otherwise.
I truly want to see more Tales Of Kenzera, be they more myths and stories like Zau, or more focused on the amazing afro-futuristic setting bookending the game's story.
The bookend segments of the futuristic main character were very touching and well thought out, and the setting was much like the Marvel movies' images of Wakanda, which I also liked.
Re: Community: What Are Your Favourite Sidequests On Switch?
In the first open area of Chained Echoes, your very first available side quest is right there in the Rohlan Fields.
You will find an injured and quite frantic young man named Don Q tending his twisted leg, after claiming he has been in combat with a vicious monster, blaming the windmill up the hill.
Now, anyone with an iota of literary history will know he is named after Spanish prevaricator Don Quixote, who would famously declare that a hilltop full of windmills was in fact a marauding army of giants, flailing their arms in menace, daring him to charge with his lance.
However... for once, Don Q is actually accurate- if you approach this windmill, a battle with a Mimic will begin!
This sidequest is barely a speedbump on your road to victory on chained Echoes, happening over about 3 minutes in the first 4 hours of a 70 hour runtime, but the sheer audacity of finally vindicating the ol' Man Of La Mancha by having a namesake ACTUALLY tilting at windmills which ARE ACTUAL MONSTERS is hilarious to me!
Re: Best Of 2024: Akira Toriyama, The Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest, And Chrono Trigger Artist That Inspired The World
I didn't even know what anime or Dragon Ball were when I first played Dragon Warrior in 1989, but when I later learned what it was, and who did the art in both Dragon Ball and Dragon Warrior / Quest, I realized it was going to lead here eventually.
Akira Toriyama's work has touched hundreds of thousands, if not MILLIONS across the globe. If it isn't in DQ, it's usually Dragon Ball Z, which was being localized in syndication, and then shortly after, in Toonami, just as mass media in the US was beginning to recognize the anime movement beginning to gain groundswell.
That groundswell became a seismic shift in the early 1990s, and carried through the decades as kids who grew up with DBZ the way I grew up with Transformers, G.I. Joe and He-man scant years before, took their childhood memories of Toriyama's work and grew into the teens who continued to love Japanese pop culture, and today, anime pop culture is a leading influence in US pop culture as well.
I live in the Northeast US in the suburbs, and even before I spent the last 2 years working in a game store, I still could barely walk in public without seeing at least one or two guys in the mall or grocery store with a DBZ shirt, or tattoo, and a shirt for their kids. When I started working at the gamestore, it's almost each and every shift I work there... even without co-workers who also have them.
Even though "popular does not equal good always", DBZ IS good, if you know how to look past the outlandishly long buildups to painfully short battles. There are people there for everyone to resonate with, for the sheer tenacity present in nearly all Shonen characters, but especially so, here.
Even Krillin, often considered the weakest character (even with Yamcha existing... sorta, sometimes LOL), has the kind of courage you chalk up to a stubborn SOB who you're glad will show up and clock in. The kind of guy who cares about what he's doing, or who he's doing it for, so much, he'd rather die than own up to being in over his head — and he HAS literally died for this... SEVERAL times!
But saddest of all, Toriyama does not get to take part in the annual opportunity for resurrection his beloved warriors enjoy.
... may King Yemma be kind and understanding, when Toriyama-sensei's turn finally comes up in queue, that he be spared from the "Home For Infinite Losers" (best bowdlerization for Hell ever).
Like an inverse form of Spirit Bomb, your work spread far and wide, and has nourished the imaginations of millions on Earth.
Kamehameha.
Re: Best Nintendo Switch Games Of 2024
@YunoboCo While I cannot agree completely, I do believe it should have placed higher, as Echoes Of Wisdom was my 2nd place favorite of the year behind Unicorn Overlord.
Zelda steps up to protagonist in a unique way. I loved this game, more even than Tears Of The Kingdom (which, I REALLY want to love, but it's WAY too big and daunting for me right now), it made me feel like master of the game space at nearly every turn, with a unique story, for a Zelda game. They really stepped out of their comfort zone, while still making a game that was quintessential "Zelda".
Re: Best Nintendo Switch Games Of 2024
I am STOKED that Unicorn Overlord won NL's top spot this year, it was my personal favorite of the whole year, too!
To my recollection, these were the games I played through to the end (or AN end in some cases, as there are mulitple endings or post-games in some):
I've had a great year for gaming this year <3
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Breath Of Fire II
@daniruy 90s RPG covers did often go for Vallejo or Frazetta style covers that's for sure.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Breath Of Fire II
I'm voting on the Japanese box art.
I like the US/EU version for what it is - mid-90s game box art intentionally trying to sell an RPG with callbacks to Conan / Vallejo / Frazetta, but kudos to the OG art.
For one thing, it makes Jean look decent even without his Shaman glow-up.
Though, oddly, both do my boy Rand dirty by overexaggerating his big shoulders/small-looking head look some bodybuilders get... rather disproportionately so, especially in the Japan box, but I'm still voting on that one 'cause literally everyone else looks fantastic as drawn there.
Even Bow, who got a downgrade from wolf in the first game to lapdog in the second, looks badass, here.
Re: The Game Awards 2024: Time, Date - How And When To Watch
All his nonsense about the Game Awards...
... can we wrap this up? LOL
Re: 'Gal Guardians: Servants Of The Dark' Brings More Castlevania Vibes To Switch In March 2025
Cheers for the gold-hoarding boobadragon girl
Re: Review: Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered (Switch) - Raziel Returns With A Feature-Packed Pair
@kendomustdie
"You don't have to fight me, Bob.
Think about it. We could be a great team."
"I'd rather be erased!"
claws appear "...Your choice."
Re: Review: Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered (Switch) - Raziel Returns With A Feature-Packed Pair
@timp29
"I KNOW YOU, RAZIEL. YOU ARE WORTHY."
"What madness is this?! What pitiful form is this that I have come to inhabit? Death would be a release next to this travesty!"
"YOU DID NOT SURVIVE THE ABYSS, RAZIEL. I HAVE ONLY SPARED YOU FROM TOTAL DISSOLUTION."
"I would choose oblivion over this existence!"
"THE CHOICE... IS NOT YOURS."
"I am destroyed!"
"YOU ARE... REBORN!!
THE BIRTH OF ONE OF KAIN'S ABOMINATIONS TRAPS THE ESSENCE OF LIFE. IT IS THIS SOUL WHICH ANIMATES THE CORPSE YOU... 'LIVED'... IN. AND THAT, RAZIEL, IS THE DEMISE OF NOSGOTH.
THERE IS NO BALANCE. THE SOULS OF THE DEAD REMAIN TRAPPED. I CANNOT SPIN THEM IN THE WHEEL OF FATE; THEY CANNOT COMPLETE THEIR DESTINES.
REDEEM YOURSELF. OR IF YOU PREFER... AVENGE YOURSELF.
SETTLE YOUR DISPUTE WITH KAIN; DESTROY HIM AND YOUR BRETHREN. FREE THEIR SOULS AND LET THE WHEEL OF FATE CHURN AGAIN.
USE YOUR HATRED TO REAVE THEIR SOULS... I CAN MAKE IT POSSIBLE.
BECOME MY...'SOUL REAVER'- MY ANGEL OF DEATH."