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Re: Activision Blizzard's Bobby Kotick Will Step Down Later This Month

Pod

Now Microsoft can pick apart the structure he leaves behind.
So:

Please let Blizzard Albany become Vicarious Visions again.
Please let Treyarch revive Die By the Sword.
Please let Raven make another Heretic or Hexen.
Please let Toys for Bob revive Star Control or Pandemonium!
Please don't force Candy Crush into every install of Windows.

Re: Fortnite's Dev Really Wants A Crossover With Nintendo But Hasn't Had Any Luck

Pod

@stache13
There are quite a lot of design choices that set Splatoon apart from the typical first person shooter, but you are still right.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to what another guy said. If they want Nintendo characters in there, it can only be on Nintendo's own platform.
They do NOT want Link and Zelda on PlayStation or Xbox.

Re: Fortnite's Dev Really Wants A Crossover With Nintendo But Hasn't Had Any Luck

Pod

Nintendo are brutally notorious for (or, if you prefer, meticulously careful with) not licensing out their characters to settings where they:

  • are visually altered to work in a different brand's art style
  • wield items that resemble real world firearms

Although, seeing how LEGO Fortnite is sidestepping both of these issues, I'm thinking they might have found an in to eventually persuade Nintendo.

Next hurdle would be Nintendo's conviction that FPS is too inaccessible as a genre for most of their audience, but if anything, Fortnite is proving that every child can play an FPS.

Re: Braid: Anniversary Edition Out Next Year, But There's No Mention Of A Switch Release

Pod

Oh yeah, here's another take:

It might still be coming to Switch. BUT. Quite a few games, released simultaneously on Switch and elsewhere have taken some pretty brutal hits in sales on everything that was NOT Swtich. Meaning, either perception or availability does something to how players see a game.

Perhaps some PC/Xbox/PlayStation owners perceive a game to be less enticing if it also able to run on the Switch's seven year old mobil chipset. Or, they might feel that they aren't getting to have anything to themselves anymore, because everyone wants a piece of the Nintendo cake.

Whatever the reason for the statistics, something that -could- seen as a strategy of not announcing the Nintendo version, but still eventually releasing it, is something I have seen happen before.

Whenever the Switch version does come out, it is still fairly sure to sell, it seems. So perhaps better to spend you initial efforts on getting your game to maket on the platforms that are, admittedly, more lavish to develop on, and let those players also feel that they are getting the best version, and getting it first.

/wild conjecture

Re: Random: This Drink Driving Game Is A Nasty Blemish On The Switch eShop

Pod

@Woderwick
Absolutely. Minor bugs and occasional game crashes have always been a thing.

It's just that there are games now on the eShop where you don't have to spend more than five minutes with them to see that they don't do what they say they do, or that they are so broken, buggy, and unfinished they ought not to be sold to an end user at all.

In my opinion, a Nintendo device shouldn't really feel like it's itch.io.
I love itch.io, but I don't think Nintendo wants the reputation of being an indie platform where hobbyist beginners can publish their WIPs, or deliberate scam artists can post whatever they want.

It's my impression that Nintendo COULD have their QA department at least play the weekly 30~40 eshop releases for five minutes, which they probably already do, and they COULD weed out the worst offenders. But they seem content with just seeing where things are going in this late stage of the Switch's lifespan.

Re: Random: This Drink Driving Game Is A Nasty Blemish On The Switch eShop

Pod

@Woderwick
While I do agree that -we- as the audience shouldn't be deciding what's suitable for the platform or not, it would not be a new occurrance for Nintendo themselves to play judge in this regard.
On paper they still pass all release clients through their traditional and mysterious LOT-check, but from what I'm hearing, they're not really failing any games in that these days.

I'm not saying an unfinished, short, cheap, or ugly game can't be good. Or that bad ports of AAA games should get a free pass because of their pedigree. The case is that the eShop now contains quite many games that are straight up misleading, buggy messes, for which, back in the day, a confused parent would have to twist the arm of some poor teenage store clerk to get a refund.

Re: Random: This Drink Driving Game Is A Nasty Blemish On The Switch eShop

Pod

My developer friends are starting to look forward to the next Nintendo system precisely for the reason that the Switch eShop is now flooded with trash, and getting worse every week.

Some people hope that games and ownership will carry over to the next system with their Nintendo Online account. But I certainly hope this won't be the case.

Re: Mario Producer: Sonic's Same Week Release Is "An Interesting Coincidence"

Pod

@samuelvictor
I'm sure you're right about the CG box art and promos being a matter of practicalities for Nintendo.
They want the characters and the gameplay portrayed as you can expect them to look, and they want it legible at all sizes.
Though I'm not sure I agree that the legibility is good to begin with anymore. If we compare the Japanese covers of Mario World and Mario Bros. 3 to that of Wonder, they're both easier to read, and much more popping and fun. But both were retooled for the west for some reason, with many elements removed for extra clarity and character emphasis. And one more time for various rereleases. It's work and consideration every time. However, each game had a visual identity. And now, we all just get weird CG slurry. :-/

As you say, it looks like it just isn't important to them, outside of setting reasonable expectations for the audience. And of course it is true that the box doesn't make the game. But it does set the expectations for it. And 20 years later the cover for Metroid Prime still rubs me the wrong way.

You're right that with Sonic, they still seems to make an effort with the promo art. But I do feel that the in-game graphics have suffered many times over the years. And while the Superstars box art isn't the worst we've seen for the series by a long shot, it just also doesn't look like it mattered to them for the game stand out on its own.

Re: Mario Producer: Sonic's Same Week Release Is "An Interesting Coincidence"

Pod

Both companies now have the technology to render the characters how they used to look in their eye-catching promotion art.

But they don't.

Instead of making Mario look like bright comic print, and sonic look like a 90s airbrushed poster, they made the games look all washed out candy fuzzy, and decide to make the promotion art also look like that.

Re: Soapbox: 'Switch 2' Doesn't Really Need Backwards Compatibility

Pod

It's unlikely to need it, and it's unlikely to have it.

Wii didn't need backwards compatibility to succeed, and Wii U wasn't saved by having it. GBC, DS, and 3DS adoption rates are not particularly apparent as having been influenced by it.

The feature undeniably pleases a select amout of users. But it is cumbersome to guarantee from a technical standpoint, and it might limit the design of the new hardware. Meaning some users might be disappointed if backwards compatibility takes priority over presenting the audience with something truly new.

It may be a controversial opinion of mine, but I don't want the eShop games to carry over to new hardware. Whether or not it's technically feasible. The eShop is a sordid mess by now, and I'd much rather follow the development of a new fresh platform, than hear people complain about which of the 4500+ existing titles haven't been patched to run 4K 144fps.

Re: Nintendo Reportedly Briefed Activision On 'Switch 2' Back In 2022

Pod

It -better- be as strong as PS4 and XB1.

We've seen a 30 to 50 fold increase in compute power since the those machines had their chipsets defined.

Conveniently, their power consumtion were set between 70 to 300 watts, depending on the models of each. While the Switch sits at 8 to 16 watts. On an already 7 years old chipset.

Roughly, this means a new Nintendo handheld EASILY can have a leg up on PS4 and XB1 in power and chip architecture. And it won't necessarily have to cost more than the Switch currently does.