@Patron As a strategy RPG, it wasn't eligible for the list. If it were eligible, I'm sure it would have ranked - considering it's one of the best SRPGs to come around in a long time.
@VmprHntrD I haven't seen the current Blu-ray, but I've heard the A/V quality on it is pretty awful - barely any better then the DVD.
Here's what blu-ray.com said in their review:
"To be blunt, The Wizard's 1080p transfer is one of the worst Universal, or any studio for that matter, has released. The movie appears heavily processed, with rough and uneven edges, edge halos, regular wobble, and smoothed-over details."
Hopefully this anniversary edition means it'll be getting a proper transfer this time around.
@JayJ Except everything that WynnThornton has said is objectively correct. Regardless of whether or not you agree with Nintendo's choice, it does not fit the actual, established definition of censorship.
I mean - I get that you feel this simply must be censorship, but your feelings don't actually change reality. You frame it in those terms because it makes you feel righteous and noble to be fighting against something self-evidently "bad" like censorship. You're twisting things around to fit your preferred narrative.
There are plenty of valid reasons to criticize Nintendo's decision here - but yours isn't one of them.
@RevampedSpider
Eh... The best critics have a far greater understanding of film technique and history - and art in general - than the average viewer. They know quite a bit.
With that said, there are a lot of trashy critics out there too - and responses to art are going to be subjective anyways. Most critics worth their salt will be the first to admit that fact.
In my opinion, the reviews of my favorite critics - whether or not I agree with their assessment - can be helpful in providing context, elucidating themes, and offering a different perspective. But in the end, it still comes down to my personal reaction to the work.
Which is to say... I think it's a mistake to dismiss all critics out of hand - there are some very smart and insightful ones out there - but it's ultimately up to each of us to make up our own minds about a film/game/book/album/etc
For the record, my opinion is that Larson is a pretty good actress who has given one great performance so far—in the underseen “Short Term 12.” “Captain Marvel” was fine but forgettable—just like a vast majority of the superhero movies I’ve seen.
But those aren’t facts. They’re just, like, my opinion, maaan.
@nessisonett Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed that. Maybe it's just the ultra hyperpartisan times we live in, but their unthinking parroting of Rightist rhetoric is an embarrassment. Fortunately, I think many of them will grow out of it as they get older and leave their bubbles.
On a related note, I've found it's a pretty safe bet that anyone who mindlessly whines about "SJWs" isn't someone who's going to contribute anything of value to a conversation.
This seems a bit silly to me. Flawed online mode notwithstanding, “Red Dead” is still a fantastic single-player game—and a massive seller. I can guarantee that Nintendo would love to have it on its console.
It has nothing to do with their standards being too high for one of the most acclaimed games of the generation, and everything to do with the simple fact that it would be really, really hard to port such an enormous and graphically-intensive game to the Switch while still keeping it playable.
I don’t understand all the technical details at play here, but RDR2’s file size alone is several times larger than the Switch’s hard drive. I guess it could come with its own 128 GB SD card, but that would of course significantly increase the price.
In the meantime, I’m happy to keep playing one of my favorite games of the generation so far on my PS4.
I'm not sure where this notion that indies are all just retreads of older games comes from, but it's quite baffling to me.
Yes, there are plenty of filler/shovelware indie titles, just as there are AAA games that fail to give us anything new, but... The best indie games - including some that mimic the graphical styles of older generations - are actually quite innovative and bursting with creative ideas. Others have offered emotional experiences that no AAA game has replicated.
To dismiss everything made by a smaller studio as inferior to bigger games strikes me as being no less misguided than assuming that big budget Hollywood productions are inherently superior to everything else or that John Grisham and Dan Brown are obviously the best writers on the market.
Eh, this is a tangent, but I think you're off-track here. There's little correlation between box office success and quality. Some terrible movies make tons of money, while some fantastic movies make very little. And vice versa. That's not because people are dumb - it's because almost anything can be a "blockbuster" if you give it a $100 million marketing push, and because people are simply unaware of anything playing outside their local multiplex.
It's also partially a matter of expectations - Hollywood has trained people to expect certain styles and formulas and special effects. If someone who has only ever watched films with $100 million budgets randomly stumbles upon a film by Andrei Tarkovsky or even a Hollywood hit from 60-years ago, they'll almost certainly be bored. It'd be like trying to read Proust after only reading Dr. Seuss books.
However, if they keep exploring outside the arbitrary boundaries of Hollywood, they'll find that it gets easier and easier to get into the "rhythms" of other styles of filmmaking and appreciate what they have to offer.
The barrier is a cultural one, not an intellectual one.
To put it another way - the worldwide box office charts of the most profitable films of all time are almost exclusively filled with Hollywood films. But anyone who has actually explored the wide, wide world of films made outside Hollywood will realize it's absurd to suggest that almost every single one of the greatest films ever made came from Los Angeles.
And yes, I understand that art is subjective - but even then, the notion that box office success proves a title's worth is silly. Once again, that's not because people are stupid. It's because most people aren't even aware of movies that aren't advertised on TV and billboards.
People aren't objectively evaluating the great Hong Kong action films and finding them inferior to the films of Steven Segal. Rather, they're generally not even aware that the Hong Kong films exist.
As someone who watches both Hollywood blockbusters and many foreign films and indies, I understand that Hollywood makes some great movies - and so do smaller-scale filmmakers like Kelly Reichardt and Mike Leigh and Werner Herzog and Hayao Miyazaki.
Even if someone only wants over-the-top action movies, I know of some French and Japanese filmmakers who do that style of film better than Michael Bay - but their films will still only make a fraction of what the next Transformers retread makes.
In short, Hollywood's stranglehold on the worldwide box office is about marketing and exposure, not about quality. If people were exposed to more indie and foreign films, they would quickly realize there's a great deal of creativity and innovation happening outside the confines of Hollywood mega-studios.
Haha, I love it. I haven't tried a Labo yet, but I can appreciate an honest reaction like this.
On a side note, in regards to the last sentence of the article - I actually rather like "In the Mouth of Madness." Some of the performances are... Not great, but it's one of the most successful attempts to make a Lovecraftian film that I've seen.
"Square Enix knew this game wasn't very good and they must be scratching their heads wondering why people like it so much?"
I kind of doubt they'd be surprised or puzzled to learn that not all gamers have the same opinion. Many, many far less interesting and far more monotonous games than this have sold millions of copies.
I also doubt that everyone at Squeenix shares your opinion that the game "isn't very good."
After Zelda and Mario, “Prey” was my favorite game of last year. I also enjoyed the first “Dishonored” quite a bit (the second is sitting in my backlog)—so I’m up for whatever Arkane develops next.
@BigKing @BigKing
"But you don't know, because you didn't play it because you like overhyped games. A bandwagon gamer."
I like how you say "because you like overhyped games" as if being "overhyped" is some sort of intrinsic, objective quality that everyone would agree about.
Of course, that's more than a bit presumptuous. It's nice that you're so confident in your opinions, but the simple fact of the matter is that they're just that - your opinions. Unfortunately, you seem to have mistaken your subjective response to a video game for objective truth.
That BotW is "overhyped" to you doesn't mean it's true for everyone else. In reality, it's quite possible for someone to have played all three of those games, and to still prefer the Switch games to "Yakuza 0."
Take me, for instance - I've played and beaten all three games. "Yakuza 0" was my introduction to the franchise, and I loved it enough to immediately buy "Kiwami" (and 6 as soon as it came out) - yet "Breath of the Wild" and "Super Mario Odyssey" were still more enjoyable experiences for me.
That's not a criticism of "Yakuza 0" - it's just that those two particular Nintendo games are all-time greats, in my opinion. You disagree, and that's fine - but spare us the condescending attitude of assuming that your opinion is the only accurate one, or that anyone who disagrees is a "bandwagon gamer."
"There are tons of great games that didn't sell well and tons of crappy games that sold millions."
Well, this is true, but it doesn't exactly prove your point. As is true with film, literature, music, and the other art forms, there is little correlation between video game sales and quality - some great games sell millions, and some great games sell almost nothing. Some of us are capable of appreciating both the "hidden gems" and the "mega hits" that are actually good.
"Adult games never sell well on Nintendo platforms."
Never? I'm not privy to any non-public sales figures, but I'm pretty sure "Bayonetta" has done decently - as have the Bethesda ports (like "Skyrim" and "Doom.") But you're right, in that it's almost always first party games that are the big sellers on Nintendo systems.
(Incidentally, according to VG Chartz, "Yakuza 0" sold about 570,000 copies worldwide during the first year of its release - while, nine weeks after release, "Bayonetta" had sold 400,000. Not amazing numbers for either game - but not too far apart either, especially when considering the relative userbase size.)
The simple fact that all the gun defenders have to ignore is that all these other "issues" - violent media, mental illness, etc. - exist throughout the world. The one thing that makes the US unique amongst developed nations is its lax gun policies. Even places like Switzerland, where there are quite a lot of guns, have far stricter regulations regarding where and how guns can be carried.
There are also, not coincidentally, far fewer people being murdered in those countries - by guns or any other weapon.
So no, as hard as it may be for you to imagine living in a place where you can't carry your own personal arsenal with you everywhere you go, the fact of the matter is that you wouldn't be any less safe as a result. In fact, in almost any other developed nation, you'd be far less likely to become a victim of violent crime. It's always been astonishing to me how terrified some Americans are of the very thought of not being able to carry a deadly weapon with them everywhere - that doesn't reflect well on American culture at all.
Here's the thing: I don't support anything resembling a total gun ban. That genie is out of the bottle here in the US. Yet anyone who thinks that there isn't a problem with guns in this country is in denial.
Of course, I suppose I'm expecting too much by wanting something more incisive here than regurgitated, long-debunked NRA talking points.
"CDC statistic show that 500,000-3 million people saved is staggering in comparison to the 14,000-33,000 killed by firearms, take away suicides and the number of deaths decrease from 33,000 to around 14,000."
Wowzers - this reflects really terribly on American culture. This should make anyone who's thinking of coming to the US run as fast as they can in the opposite direction.
So... You actually believe that there would be 500,000-3 million more people killed every year in the US if it weren't for guns? That'd be a breathtakingly high rate of violent crime that would eclipse that of every other nation on Earth, including wartorn third world countries.
You'd think that all the countries without easy access to guns for civilians would be a bloodbath, what with all those Americans having to defend themselves with guns - yet, somehow, they're actually far safer than we are.
The posts by gun fondlers in this thread are just embarrassing for their poor argumentation and even poorer understanding of statistics.
On a side note: I can only laugh at those who think their personal arsenal is going to protect them if the government goes rogue and decides to turn its missiles, fighter jets, drones, and tanks against the populace.
@GraveLordXD If gun-free zones are so dangerous, how do you explaint the fact that the violent crime and gun violence rates in the US are far, far higher than most of the rest of the developed world?
You act like only already violent third world nations are the only places where guns are strictly regulated - but, in reality, the US is actually quite unique in the developed world for how unregulated firearms are. Guns are pretty ubiquitous here, yet we're considerably less safe than countries where they're far more strictly regulated.
@Yorumi "You make excuses for the FBI, why? Why is that an excuse? How about we fix that problem? No no one seems to care about that, as long as a fake russian investigation keeps going who cares how many people die. What about the ATF? They're failing too."
There are thousands upon thousands of people working at the FBI - anyone who thinks the (very real) Russian investigation is what prevented them from acting on the tips isn't actually thinking at all.
@PanurgeJr Get some perspective, man. Literally every news outlet makes errors occasionally, including ones far more significant than this - the legitimate ones go back to correct and acknowledge the error, as happened here.
And getting the name of a fictional planet wrong is about as minor as such errors get.
Obviously there's never going to be a "definitive" answer to this question, since - beyond some technical aspects - it's all subjective.
With that said, depending on who's invited, it could be an entertaining and informative discussion.
I personally think the Super NES has the vastly superior library - but that's because I love JRPGs, and I've never had much interest in fighters or arcade-style games.
The panel is being hosted by the Guardian, but it's apparently going to be made up of various people who actually work in the industry. So the answer is... They probably know a bit.
@RatlankAA3 Amen. That review is perfectly legitimate - the issues it raises do matter to some people, and there's nothing wrong with pointing it out. Some here think it's ridiculous to care about that stuff - but then again, I think it's exceedingly ridiculous to respond to a perfectly reasonable review by whining about feminism and "virtue signalling."
If it doesn't bother you, there's absolutely no reason why a moderately negative review of some aspects of the game should detract from your enjoyment or cause you to rant about feminism. That kind of response is just childish and myopic.
Personally, I loved, loved, loved SMT IV - but I do find some of the character designs a little bit over the top. Does that mean I want them to be censored? Nope - it just means the game isn't quite perfect, for me. And that's all right. I'll still be buying Apocalypse, and any future games in the series.
Oh my, it's been a long time since I've seen someone reference "natural philosophy." Flashbacks to my college philosophy courses.
I've read a lot of arguments against same-sex marriage over the years, and I have yet to encounter one that stands up under intellectual scrutiny. Even the arguments presented to the U.S. Supreme Court were exceedingly weak.
As for the "immorality" of it: Concepts like morality (and sin), if they are to have any meaning, must indicate some sort of harm. When someone robs another person, there is a harm done. When someone cheats another person, there is a harm done. (Those are fairly obvious examples - there are more subtle versions of harm than stealing another person's money or hitting them, but they make a point.)
When two men fall in love and decide to form a lifelong commitment to each other, there is no harm done. You cheapen the concept of morality and render it meaningless when you call such relationships immoral.
(Mind you, gay individuals are just as capable as anyone else of committing immoral acts - but there's nothing inherently immoral in a same-sex relationship.)
To use an anecdote: I know two gay couples that have been together for more than 30 years. Collectively, those couples have raised nearly a dozen children, all of who have grown up into wonderful and well-adjusted adults. When I see the way these couples interact with each other, and with their (now adult) children - well, let's just say that there's nothing "immoral" about it. The fruit of their life choices is all good.
Also, just fyi: Putting quotation marks around "marriage" doesn't change the fact that gay couples do, in fact, get married. There is no divine tablet in the sky on which the immutable definition of "marriage" is inscribed - the meaning of the term has been continuously evolving since the beginning of marriage itself, and it will continue to evolve over time.
The game was pretty good - nice atmosphere, and (sorry mcj) excellently written.* No the plot itself is nothing revelatory, but the storytelling itself is very well done.
...And, tbh, the vitriol hurled at it from certain segments of the gaming community actually makes me like it more.
On a side note, I find it kind of hilarious that there are actually people who think that "social justice warrior" is a meaningful insult. It's one of those epithets that says a lot more about the person using it than it does about the person being labeled.
*And I've been playing games since the early 90s. Thanks for asking.
Sorry for the wall of text - that's all I'll say on this subject on this site. For the record, I bear no ill will towards Nintendo for fixing the glitch. I was never particularly interested in the game, but this doesn't affect my opinion at all.
@camerica1618 "But science has not yet proven that there are gay genes."
There may well not be a gay gene. However, numerous scientific studies (not to mention the lived experiences of millions of gay people who rather decidedly did not choose to face the things they face) have shown rather convincingly that ones sexual orientation is a result of a variety of biological and environmental factors. (See, for example, twin studies, digit-length studies, birth order studies, epigenetic studies, and so on.) It's not quite as simple as a "gay gene," but it's still not a choice for a vast majority of people.
"Also, if people really are born with it than why can't men and men or women and women able to reproduce?" This question... Doesn't make any sense. Are you aware that there are many straight individuals who are unable to reproduce?
As a general comment, I really hope that some day more people will see how their words (and actions) affect others. You can say you "love" and "respect" gay people, but the rest of your words are incompatible with either love or respect. We aren't talking about some abstract issue here - we're talking about very real people who live very real lives.
When you condemn a company for "endorsing gays" or declare that you "disagree with homosexuality" (whatever the heck that means) - well, that can hit hard, particularly if you are gay or have a close friend or loved one who is gay. I can only hope that you'll never have to experience what it's like to have that kind of degrading, dehumanizing rhetoric being used against you.
(But to perhaps give you an idea, imagine a major political figure - or even just a group of members on a message board - declaring: "I can respect my Christian friends, but I would never want them to have the same rights as me and I would boycott any company that 'endorsed' their lifestyle or made it seem like it was all right to be Christian. The Christian lifestyle is sinful, and sin makes me feel sick.") (And no, I most certainly do NOT believe that - I'm just trying to get you to see things from a different point of view.)
Of course, ones sexual orientation is not the sole defining characteristic of an individual - but regardless of whether you're gay or straight, who you love IS an important part of who you are.
Please understand: This is NOT an attack on anyone's religion. If someone believes that homosexuality is a sin, they're perfectly entitled to do so. However, this isn't just a matter of "to each his own" - one side is actively trying to hurt people that I love, and so I feel obligated to speak out. Fortunately, there are many wonderful people in my life who are both gay AND Christian (one of them, after living with the same man for more than 30 years, was finally blessed to be able to have his relationship sealed with marriage two years ago), as well as many straight Christians who support the rights of my gay friends.
Yep - this is the "killer app" that is finally going to get me to break down and buy a 3DS. "A Link to the Past" is my favorite game of all time, and that preview made me really nostalgic.
@49 Stark_Nebula - So let me get this straight: People referencing the frequency of the "Damsel in Distress" trope in video gaming irritates you, but the trope itself does not? Sorry if I don't sympathize.
"Another thing I'd like is for everyone to give some thought before reacting. I'm tired of people jumping on bandwagons because they got motivated moments ago. "
Did you ever stop and think that perhaps the people who support this idea have stopped and thought about it? Mind you, I'm sure life is a lot easier when you assume that everyone who holds a different opinion hasn't thought about the issue as deeply - but, in reality, at least some of the people who are concerned about the prevalence of the DiD trope know just as much about video gaming and the development process as you do. Sorry, but those are the facts.
Here's the thing: I don't get too worked up about this sort of thing, but I do support the idea of having more strong female characters in games. No, I nor anyone else is saying completely change every game in development to ensure that there's a playable female character. These are long-term issues that will require long-term solutions. However, by bringing attention to the issue, hopefully developers will be inspired to consider the option for future games. Of course, not EVERY game could or should have playable female characters - but there are plenty of games whose gameplay wouldn't be negatively affected by having stronger female characters.
@72 CaptainSquid - "You don't force change" - perhaps, but it's also true that change often tends to come about only when people are vocal about their concerns.
Also, NEWS FLASH - I doubt this Facebook page is about "forcing" Nintendo to do anything. I'm sure the creators of the group are more than well aware that they don't actually have any power over Nintendo - the idea is to simply show that there is interest in a stronger role for Zelda in the series.
(For the record, I don't necessarily support the idea of a playable Zelda. I'd only support it if it could be well integrated into the gameplay and the storyline without seeming forced.
@83 - pumpkinbunch - Congrats, you successfully named playable female characters in a small minority of games.
Hmm... There's only one Best Buy in my state that will have this, and it happens to be the one about 3 miles from my office. I think I might have to drop in.
@gsmaciel - Well said. Film (along with literature) is the art form I'm the most passionate about, but I always find it annoying to see video games trying to imitate movies. Video games and film are very different art forms (just as film is very different from music and literature is very different from theater,) and games are going to have to develop their own language rather than relying on traditional Hollywood storytelling methods. Extended "cinematic" (I use that term loosely, since the "cinematic" elements of games - cinematography, dialogue, etc. - are usually pretty generic and uninteresting, even if they're superficially "pretty") sequences often just seem like narrative shortcuts because the developers were too lazy to find more innovative, integrated ways to tell their stories.
I'm not saying there should never be film sequences in games, but there's definitely been an over-reliance on them in the past decade or so.
And, of course, I'm also perfectly fine with games that have no story at all. Some of the greatest films ever made have little or no story, and the joy comes in watching the characters interact - or in the sheer artistry of all the elements of filmmaking coming togheter in a unique and beautiful way (and I'm not just talking about the avant-garde, Brakhage/McLaren/Frampton stuff.) On the same note, some of the best and most satisfying (and artistic) game experiences, in my opinion, are those early arcade and NES games that eschew narrative entirely and focus entirely on gameplay. I've also been very impressed by some of the recent independent games that explore the boundaries of the medium and that display a certain amount of self-reflexivity. I think the latter games are some of the strongest signs yet that video games are really beginning to mature as an art form.
Anyways... I agree with the general gist of the article. Nintendo shouldn't abandon their core franchises (not that anyone has suggested they should,) but it would be really nice to see them branch out - probably by courting talented third party developers and offering incentives for them to provide exclusive content. It would also be great to see Nintendo create some entirely new franchises of its own. I love Nintendo and I love the games it makes, but it does sometimes seem like they've been stagnating a bit in recent years.
I own a PS3, and I'll be ordering "The Last of Us" within the next few months - so it's not like I'll be missing out on anything if Nintendo decides to keep on its current course. But the lingering Nintendo fanboy inside me still thinks it would still be nice to see the company diversify a bit - gaining new players while holding onto their core audience.
"A Link to the Past" is (probably) my favorite game, so this is going to be the game that finally pushes me into buying a 3DS (I know I should already have one, but I just don't have a lot of free time nowadays and I'm still very slowly catching up on all the great Wii/PS3/DS games.)
@SunnyShores
Ok, I can see where you're coming from. It does seem like the internet, in general, tends to be a venue for complaining. You either get a lot of uncritical fawning or a lot of nitpicking and complaining about relatively small issues. The internet is proof that it's impossible to please everyone.
In this case, though, I don't think anyone is being too extreme or outspoken in their "complaining." No one is saying (from what I've seen) that all modern games are junk or anything like that. They're expressing dissatisfaction with certain common trends, which I would consider perfectly legitimate complaints.
In general, though, I do agree that a lot of comments sections just devolve into whining (I'm not talking about this site, specifically - I don't read the comments here often enough to know.)
SunnyShores - I'm afraid you're attacking an argument that very few, if any people are making. The point isn't that modern games suck - it's that there are some (what many perceive to be) unfortunate trends in modern gaming. It doesn't ruin the games or make them terrible - it's just that a lot of us could do without the constant hand-holding in the new Zelda games or the extreme easiness of many games.
Don't mistake criticism for condemnation. Of course modern games also do a lot of things really, really well. We're poking fun at some of the weaker conventions of newer games, not condemning all modern games as junk. I'm pretty sure most people here play and really enjoy a lot of new games, but we can still recognize that they aren't perfect.
I'll probably never get it, but it is nice to see more variety than just those compilations of awful pop songs. Webber isn't one of my favorite Broadway composers (I prefer the older classics, along with my namesake), but it's better than nothing.
I still have all these, excepting the Virtual Boy, sitting in my gaming closet. I still play my back-lit SP on a regular basis (seriously, there were a ton of great games for the GBA - and it's compatible with the enormous GB and GBC library of games.
Kirk - It won't be the first time the Dragon Quest series has been a bit "behind" graphically - I haven't played all the games in the series, but the PS1 version mostly looked like a slightly enhanced Super NES game.
Not that I mind. I personally play the DQ games for their retro-style gameplay and their customizability.
@verymetal - "Xbox showed Halo 4, Sony showed the Last of Us, and Nintendo showed...Pikmin 3!"
"The Last of Us" looks amazing, but I'm about 2000x more excited for "Pikmin 3" than "Halo 4." Remember - there's more to great gaming than "photorealistic" graphics and "mature" content (not that those things are bad - people just seem to focus on them too much, ignoring a lot of truly great games.)
When it comes to highly entertaining and innovative gameplay, the "Pikmin" series beats just about anything out there. Nintendo's show was very disappointing, but "Pikmin 3" was one of the highlights of the entire convention.
I would be most interested in seeing "Star Tropics" and "Mystical Ninja" revived. "Ogre Battle" would also be cool, though I'm not as familiar with the series.
I recently started replaying the first Goemon game on the N64 and I've been having a blast with it - it's one of those "childhood favorites" that holds up very well today.
Don't you guys know it's not about the amount of consoles sold or the amount of games sold or the amount of profit Nintendo is making, it's about something something something something something something something something something I know nothing about economics but since I hate Nintendo I'm going to pretend to be an expert something something something something something something something something? In other words, Nintendo is DOOMED!
@Traxx - Except the Wii has sold "on and on" - it has sold tens of millions more than either of the other consoles. And, as we see here, it still sells pretty steadily.
It's not that we "fail to realize" that you can't sell consoles without a constant stream of high quality games - rather it's that the facts actually point to a very different conclusion from the one that you seem to have come to. If this generation has taught us anything, it's that, if you have the right "hook" (the motion controls), you can create an extremely popular console with a relatively small handful of core, must have titles and a huge number of third party titles (regardless of the quality of those third party titles.) Not only will that console sell well in the first few months, it will be an extremely consistent seller - one whose sales far surpass those of the competition. We also realize, unlike all the wannabe economists who are predicting the imminent downfall of Nintendo, that large companies can survive a disappointing year. Heck, they can even survive a disappointing generation.
There have been some worrying trends, of course. The amount of shovelware is appalling. Nintendo's insistence on "gameplay over graphics" is somewhat admirable (gameplay is far more important than graphics - as evidenced by the fact that so many NES and Super NES games are still so enjoyable) - but graphics do help sell games, and it may cause some serious problems in the next generation. Still - the Wii is many things, but it isn't a failure, at least not from a business standpoint. It's an extremely profitable console, and has re-established Nintendo as a household name.
I'm not buying many new games at this point in my life, but I'll buy this because I really don't want Nintendo to get into the old habit of not releasing RPGs in the North American market. (...And also because I really want to play it.)
Comments 105
Re: Feature: Best Nintendo Switch RPGs
@Patron As a strategy RPG, it wasn't eligible for the list. If it were eligible, I'm sure it would have ranked - considering it's one of the best SRPGs to come around in a long time.
Re: The Wizard Is Getting A 30th Anniversary Blu-Ray Release
@VmprHntrD I haven't seen the current Blu-ray, but I've heard the A/V quality on it is pretty awful - barely any better then the DVD.
Here's what blu-ray.com said in their review:
"To be blunt, The Wizard's 1080p transfer is one of the worst Universal, or any studio for that matter, has released. The movie appears heavily processed, with rough and uneven edges, edge halos, regular wobble, and smoothed-over details."
Hopefully this anniversary edition means it'll be getting a proper transfer this time around.
Re: Fire Emblem: Three Houses Patch Revises Sensitive Dialogue
Person A: “I can’t believe Nintendo would commit homicide like this.”
Person B: “Umm… Nintendo making an internal decision to alter a line of dialogue in a game doesn’t qualify as homicide.”
Person A: “Why are you twisting words to mean what you want?! This is homicide!!”
Re: Fire Emblem: Three Houses Patch Revises Sensitive Dialogue
@JayJ Except everything that WynnThornton has said is objectively correct. Regardless of whether or not you agree with Nintendo's choice, it does not fit the actual, established definition of censorship.
I mean - I get that you feel this simply must be censorship, but your feelings don't actually change reality. You frame it in those terms because it makes you feel righteous and noble to be fighting against something self-evidently "bad" like censorship. You're twisting things around to fit your preferred narrative.
There are plenty of valid reasons to criticize Nintendo's decision here - but yours isn't one of them.
Re: The Detective Pikachu Movie Reviews Are In, And It's Actually Pretty Mixed
@RevampedSpider
Eh... The best critics have a far greater understanding of film technique and history - and art in general - than the average viewer. They know quite a bit.
With that said, there are a lot of trashy critics out there too - and responses to art are going to be subjective anyways. Most critics worth their salt will be the first to admit that fact.
In my opinion, the reviews of my favorite critics - whether or not I agree with their assessment - can be helpful in providing context, elucidating themes, and offering a different perspective. But in the end, it still comes down to my personal reaction to the work.
Which is to say... I think it's a mistake to dismiss all critics out of hand - there are some very smart and insightful ones out there - but it's ultimately up to each of us to make up our own minds about a film/game/book/album/etc
Re: Early Impressions Of The Pokémon Detective Pikachu Movie Are Amazingly Positive
For the record, my opinion is that Larson is a pretty good actress who has given one great performance so far—in the underseen “Short Term 12.” “Captain Marvel” was fine but forgettable—just like a vast majority of the superhero movies I’ve seen.
But those aren’t facts. They’re just, like, my opinion, maaan.
Re: Rumour: This Year's 'Budget' Switch Could Take The 2DS Route And Ditch A Killer Feature
Off-topic, but kudos for the "Hudsucker Proxy" reference in the subhead.
Re: Nintendo Forgot That You Can't Complete StarTropics Without The Original NES Manual
@USWITCH64
I don't care at all about this nontroversy, but there are plenty of us who still play NES games.
Re: Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet Won’t Be Released In Europe Or North America
@nessisonett
Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed that. Maybe it's just the ultra hyperpartisan times we live in, but their unthinking parroting of Rightist rhetoric is an embarrassment. Fortunately, I think many of them will grow out of it as they get older and leave their bubbles.
On a related note, I've found it's a pretty safe bet that anyone who mindlessly whines about "SJWs" isn't someone who's going to contribute anything of value to a conversation.
Re: Reggie: Third-Party Gaps In Switch Game Library Linked To Timing Of System Reveal
@JR150
“only the actually good ones”
This seems a bit silly to me. Flawed online mode notwithstanding, “Red Dead” is still a fantastic single-player game—and a massive seller. I can guarantee that Nintendo would love to have it on its console.
It has nothing to do with their standards being too high for one of the most acclaimed games of the generation, and everything to do with the simple fact that it would be really, really hard to port such an enormous and graphically-intensive game to the Switch while still keeping it playable.
Re: Reggie: Nintendo Would "Love" Red Dead Redemption 2 On Switch
I don’t understand all the technical details at play here, but RDR2’s file size alone is several times larger than the Switch’s hard drive. I guess it could come with its own 128 GB SD card, but that would of course significantly increase the price.
In the meantime, I’m happy to keep playing one of my favorite games of the generation so far on my PS4.
Re: Indie Devs Explain Why Their Games Are Successful On Nintendo Switch
I'm not sure where this notion that indies are all just retreads of older games comes from, but it's quite baffling to me.
Yes, there are plenty of filler/shovelware indie titles, just as there are AAA games that fail to give us anything new, but... The best indie games - including some that mimic the graphical styles of older generations - are actually quite innovative and bursting with creative ideas. Others have offered emotional experiences that no AAA game has replicated.
To dismiss everything made by a smaller studio as inferior to bigger games strikes me as being no less misguided than assuming that big budget Hollywood productions are inherently superior to everything else or that John Grisham and Dan Brown are obviously the best writers on the market.
Re: Indie Devs Explain Why Their Games Are Successful On Nintendo Switch
@construx
"For a reason"
Eh, this is a tangent, but I think you're off-track here. There's little correlation between box office success and quality. Some terrible movies make tons of money, while some fantastic movies make very little. And vice versa. That's not because people are dumb - it's because almost anything can be a "blockbuster" if you give it a $100 million marketing push, and because people are simply unaware of anything playing outside their local multiplex.
It's also partially a matter of expectations - Hollywood has trained people to expect certain styles and formulas and special effects. If someone who has only ever watched films with $100 million budgets randomly stumbles upon a film by Andrei Tarkovsky or even a Hollywood hit from 60-years ago, they'll almost certainly be bored. It'd be like trying to read Proust after only reading Dr. Seuss books.
However, if they keep exploring outside the arbitrary boundaries of Hollywood, they'll find that it gets easier and easier to get into the "rhythms" of other styles of filmmaking and appreciate what they have to offer.
The barrier is a cultural one, not an intellectual one.
To put it another way - the worldwide box office charts of the most profitable films of all time are almost exclusively filled with Hollywood films. But anyone who has actually explored the wide, wide world of films made outside Hollywood will realize it's absurd to suggest that almost every single one of the greatest films ever made came from Los Angeles.
And yes, I understand that art is subjective - but even then, the notion that box office success proves a title's worth is silly. Once again, that's not because people are stupid. It's because most people aren't even aware of movies that aren't advertised on TV and billboards.
People aren't objectively evaluating the great Hong Kong action films and finding them inferior to the films of Steven Segal. Rather, they're generally not even aware that the Hong Kong films exist.
As someone who watches both Hollywood blockbusters and many foreign films and indies, I understand that Hollywood makes some great movies - and so do smaller-scale filmmakers like Kelly Reichardt and Mike Leigh and Werner Herzog and Hayao Miyazaki.
Even if someone only wants over-the-top action movies, I know of some French and Japanese filmmakers who do that style of film better than Michael Bay - but their films will still only make a fraction of what the next Transformers retread makes.
In short, Hollywood's stranglehold on the worldwide box office is about marketing and exposure, not about quality. If people were exposed to more indie and foreign films, they would quickly realize there's a great deal of creativity and innovation happening outside the confines of Hollywood mega-studios.
Re: Review: Diablo III: Eternal Collection - More Loot Than You Can Shake A Magical Pointy Stick At
I've never played any games in the series, but I get the impression that it really shines as a co-op game.
As someone without any gaming friends, is this still enjoyable/worthwhile as a single-player experience?
Re: Random: Hollywood Legend John Carpenter Doesn't Think Much Of Nintendo Labo
Haha, I love it. I haven't tried a Labo yet, but I can appreciate an honest reaction like this.
On a side note, in regards to the last sentence of the article - I actually rather like "In the Mouth of Madness." Some of the performances are... Not great, but it's one of the most successful attempts to make a Lovecraftian film that I've seen.
The other two are indeed terrible, tho.
Re: Square Enix Issues A Second Apology As Octopath Traveler Restock Sells Out In Three Hours
@Nincompoop
"Square Enix knew this game wasn't very good and they must be scratching their heads wondering why people like it so much?"
I kind of doubt they'd be surprised or puzzled to learn that not all gamers have the same opinion. Many, many far less interesting and far more monotonous games than this have sold millions of copies.
I also doubt that everyone at Squeenix shares your opinion that the game "isn't very good."
Re: Dishonored And Prey Developer Arkane Studios Seeking Developers With Knowledge Of Switch
After Zelda and Mario, “Prey” was my favorite game of last year. I also enjoyed the first “Dishonored” quite a bit (the second is sitting in my backlog)—so I’m up for whatever Arkane develops next.
Re: Switch Isn't The Right Platform For Yakuza, Says Series Producer
@BigKing @BigKing
"But you don't know, because you didn't play it because you like overhyped games. A bandwagon gamer."
I like how you say "because you like overhyped games" as if being "overhyped" is some sort of intrinsic, objective quality that everyone would agree about.
Of course, that's more than a bit presumptuous. It's nice that you're so confident in your opinions, but the simple fact of the matter is that they're just that - your opinions. Unfortunately, you seem to have mistaken your subjective response to a video game for objective truth.
That BotW is "overhyped" to you doesn't mean it's true for everyone else. In reality, it's quite possible for someone to have played all three of those games, and to still prefer the Switch games to "Yakuza 0."
Take me, for instance - I've played and beaten all three games. "Yakuza 0" was my introduction to the franchise, and I loved it enough to immediately buy "Kiwami" (and 6 as soon as it came out) - yet "Breath of the Wild" and "Super Mario Odyssey" were still more enjoyable experiences for me.
That's not a criticism of "Yakuza 0" - it's just that those two particular Nintendo games are all-time greats, in my opinion. You disagree, and that's fine - but spare us the condescending attitude of assuming that your opinion is the only accurate one, or that anyone who disagrees is a "bandwagon gamer."
"There are tons of great games that didn't sell well and tons of crappy games that sold millions."
Well, this is true, but it doesn't exactly prove your point. As is true with film, literature, music, and the other art forms, there is little correlation between video game sales and quality - some great games sell millions, and some great games sell almost nothing. Some of us are capable of appreciating both the "hidden gems" and the "mega hits" that are actually good.
"Adult games never sell well on Nintendo platforms."
Never? I'm not privy to any non-public sales figures, but I'm pretty sure "Bayonetta" has done decently - as have the Bethesda ports (like "Skyrim" and "Doom.") But you're right, in that it's almost always first party games that are the big sellers on Nintendo systems.
(Incidentally, according to VG Chartz, "Yakuza 0" sold about 570,000 copies worldwide during the first year of its release - while, nine weeks after release, "Bayonetta" had sold 400,000. Not amazing numbers for either game - but not too far apart either, especially when considering the relative userbase size.)
Re: White House Meeting With Industry Execs Focuses On Violence In Video Games
And oh heavens... I just wasted thirty minutes on a Friday night responding to comments about guns on a video game website.
Le sigh.
[Hangs head and walks away from computer.]
Re: White House Meeting With Industry Execs Focuses On Violence In Video Games
The simple fact that all the gun defenders have to ignore is that all these other "issues" - violent media, mental illness, etc. - exist throughout the world. The one thing that makes the US unique amongst developed nations is its lax gun policies. Even places like Switzerland, where there are quite a lot of guns, have far stricter regulations regarding where and how guns can be carried.
There are also, not coincidentally, far fewer people being murdered in those countries - by guns or any other weapon.
So no, as hard as it may be for you to imagine living in a place where you can't carry your own personal arsenal with you everywhere you go, the fact of the matter is that you wouldn't be any less safe as a result. In fact, in almost any other developed nation, you'd be far less likely to become a victim of violent crime. It's always been astonishing to me how terrified some Americans are of the very thought of not being able to carry a deadly weapon with them everywhere - that doesn't reflect well on American culture at all.
Here's the thing: I don't support anything resembling a total gun ban. That genie is out of the bottle here in the US. Yet anyone who thinks that there isn't a problem with guns in this country is in denial.
Of course, I suppose I'm expecting too much by wanting something more incisive here than regurgitated, long-debunked NRA talking points.
Re: White House Meeting With Industry Execs Focuses On Violence In Video Games
"CDC statistic show that 500,000-3 million people saved is staggering in comparison to the 14,000-33,000 killed by firearms, take away suicides and the number of deaths decrease from 33,000 to around 14,000."
Wowzers - this reflects really terribly on American culture. This should make anyone who's thinking of coming to the US run as fast as they can in the opposite direction.
So... You actually believe that there would be 500,000-3 million more people killed every year in the US if it weren't for guns? That'd be a breathtakingly high rate of violent crime that would eclipse that of every other nation on Earth, including wartorn third world countries.
You'd think that all the countries without easy access to guns for civilians would be a bloodbath, what with all those Americans having to defend themselves with guns - yet, somehow, they're actually far safer than we are.
The posts by gun fondlers in this thread are just embarrassing for their poor argumentation and even poorer understanding of statistics.
On a side note: I can only laugh at those who think their personal arsenal is going to protect them if the government goes rogue and decides to turn its missiles, fighter jets, drones, and tanks against the populace.
Re: White House Meeting With Industry Execs Focuses On Violence In Video Games
@GraveLordXD If gun-free zones are so dangerous, how do you explaint the fact that the violent crime and gun violence rates in the US are far, far higher than most of the rest of the developed world?
You act like only already violent third world nations are the only places where guns are strictly regulated - but, in reality, the US is actually quite unique in the developed world for how unregulated firearms are. Guns are pretty ubiquitous here, yet we're considerably less safe than countries where they're far more strictly regulated.
Re: White House Meeting With Industry Execs Focuses On Violence In Video Games
@Yorumi "You make excuses for the FBI, why? Why is that an excuse? How about we fix that problem? No no one seems to care about that, as long as a fake russian investigation keeps going who cares how many people die. What about the ATF? They're failing too."
There are thousands upon thousands of people working at the FBI - anyone who thinks the (very real) Russian investigation is what prevented them from acting on the tips isn't actually thinking at all.
Re: Preview: Going Back to SR-388 in Metroid: Samus Returns
@PanurgeJr Get some perspective, man. Literally every news outlet makes errors occasionally, including ones far more significant than this - the legitimate ones go back to correct and acknowledge the error, as happened here.
And getting the name of a fictional planet wrong is about as minor as such errors get.
Re: UK Media Outlet The Guardian Aims To Settle The 16-bit Console War Forever
Obviously there's never going to be a "definitive" answer to this question, since - beyond some technical aspects - it's all subjective.
With that said, depending on who's invited, it could be an entertaining and informative discussion.
I personally think the Super NES has the vastly superior library - but that's because I love JRPGs, and I've never had much interest in fighters or arcade-style games.
Re: UK Media Outlet The Guardian Aims To Settle The 16-bit Console War Forever
@SLIGEACH_EIRE
The panel is being hosted by the Guardian, but it's apparently going to be made up of various people who actually work in the industry. So the answer is... They probably know a bit.
Re: Review: Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (3DS)
@RatlankAA3 Amen. That review is perfectly legitimate - the issues it raises do matter to some people, and there's nothing wrong with pointing it out. Some here think it's ridiculous to care about that stuff - but then again, I think it's exceedingly ridiculous to respond to a perfectly reasonable review by whining about feminism and "virtue signalling."
If it doesn't bother you, there's absolutely no reason why a moderately negative review of some aspects of the game should detract from your enjoyment or cause you to rant about feminism. That kind of response is just childish and myopic.
Personally, I loved, loved, loved SMT IV - but I do find some of the character designs a little bit over the top. Does that mean I want them to be censored? Nope - it just means the game isn't quite perfect, for me. And that's all right. I'll still be buying Apocalypse, and any future games in the series.
Re: Nintendo Further Explains Fire Emblem Fates Localisation, With Same-Sex Marriages In Each Version
Oh my, it's been a long time since I've seen someone reference "natural philosophy." Flashbacks to my college philosophy courses.
I've read a lot of arguments against same-sex marriage over the years, and I have yet to encounter one that stands up under intellectual scrutiny. Even the arguments presented to the U.S. Supreme Court were exceedingly weak.
As for the "immorality" of it: Concepts like morality (and sin), if they are to have any meaning, must indicate some sort of harm. When someone robs another person, there is a harm done. When someone cheats another person, there is a harm done. (Those are fairly obvious examples - there are more subtle versions of harm than stealing another person's money or hitting them, but they make a point.)
When two men fall in love and decide to form a lifelong commitment to each other, there is no harm done. You cheapen the concept of morality and render it meaningless when you call such relationships immoral.
(Mind you, gay individuals are just as capable as anyone else of committing immoral acts - but there's nothing inherently immoral in a same-sex relationship.)
To use an anecdote: I know two gay couples that have been together for more than 30 years. Collectively, those couples have raised nearly a dozen children, all of who have grown up into wonderful and well-adjusted adults. When I see the way these couples interact with each other, and with their (now adult) children - well, let's just say that there's nothing "immoral" about it. The fruit of their life choices is all good.
Also, just fyi: Putting quotation marks around "marriage" doesn't change the fact that gay couples do, in fact, get married. There is no divine tablet in the sky on which the immutable definition of "marriage" is inscribed - the meaning of the term has been continuously evolving since the beginning of marriage itself, and it will continue to evolve over time.
Best,
Pleb
Re: Gone Home Console Versions Are "Not Actively in Development Any Longer"
The game was pretty good - nice atmosphere, and (sorry mcj) excellently written.* No the plot itself is nothing revelatory, but the storytelling itself is very well done.
...And, tbh, the vitriol hurled at it from certain segments of the gaming community actually makes me like it more.
On a side note, I find it kind of hilarious that there are actually people who think that "social justice warrior" is a meaningful insult. It's one of those epithets that says a lot more about the person using it than it does about the person being labeled.
*And I've been playing games since the early 90s. Thanks for asking.
Re: Nintendo Provides Some Context to 2013's Tomodachi Life Same-Sex Marriage Controversy
Sorry for the wall of text - that's all I'll say on this subject on this site.
For the record, I bear no ill will towards Nintendo for fixing the glitch. I was never particularly interested in the game, but this doesn't affect my opinion at all.
Re: Nintendo Provides Some Context to 2013's Tomodachi Life Same-Sex Marriage Controversy
@camerica1618 "But science has not yet proven that there are gay genes."
There may well not be a gay gene. However, numerous scientific studies (not to mention the lived experiences of millions of gay people who rather decidedly did not choose to face the things they face) have shown rather convincingly that ones sexual orientation is a result of a variety of biological and environmental factors. (See, for example, twin studies, digit-length studies, birth order studies, epigenetic studies, and so on.) It's not quite as simple as a "gay gene," but it's still not a choice for a vast majority of people.
"Also, if people really are born with it than why can't men and men or women and women able to reproduce?"
This question... Doesn't make any sense. Are you aware that there are many straight individuals who are unable to reproduce?
As a general comment, I really hope that some day more people will see how their words (and actions) affect others. You can say you "love" and "respect" gay people, but the rest of your words are incompatible with either love or respect. We aren't talking about some abstract issue here - we're talking about very real people who live very real lives.
When you condemn a company for "endorsing gays" or declare that you "disagree with homosexuality" (whatever the heck that means) - well, that can hit hard, particularly if you are gay or have a close friend or loved one who is gay. I can only hope that you'll never have to experience what it's like to have that kind of degrading, dehumanizing rhetoric being used against you.
(But to perhaps give you an idea, imagine a major political figure - or even just a group of members on a message board - declaring: "I can respect my Christian friends, but I would never want them to have the same rights as me and I would boycott any company that 'endorsed' their lifestyle or made it seem like it was all right to be Christian. The Christian lifestyle is sinful, and sin makes me feel sick.") (And no, I most certainly do NOT believe that - I'm just trying to get you to see things from a different point of view.)
Of course, ones sexual orientation is not the sole defining characteristic of an individual - but regardless of whether you're gay or straight, who you love IS an important part of who you are.
Please understand: This is NOT an attack on anyone's religion. If someone believes that homosexuality is a sin, they're perfectly entitled to do so. However, this isn't just a matter of "to each his own" - one side is actively trying to hurt people that I love, and so I feel obligated to speak out. Fortunately, there are many wonderful people in my life who are both gay AND Christian (one of them, after living with the same man for more than 30 years, was finally blessed to be able to have his relationship sealed with marriage two years ago), as well as many straight Christians who support the rights of my gay friends.
Re: Nintendo Provides Some Context to 2013's Tomodachi Life Same-Sex Marriage Controversy
Refute his arguments if you like, but please, let's not get personal — TBD
Re: Nintendo Unveils New Trailer and Details For The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Yep - this is the "killer app" that is finally going to get me to break down and buy a 3DS. "A Link to the Past" is my favorite game of all time, and that preview made me really nostalgic.
Re: Review: DuckTales: Remastered (Wii U eShop)
"DuckTales" was THE show of my childhood, so just listening to that theme song got me all nostalgic.
Suffice it to say, I'll be picking this up.
Re: Fan Campaign Starts for Princess Zelda to be Given a "Stronger" - Perhaps Playable - Role
@49 Stark_Nebula - So let me get this straight: People referencing the frequency of the "Damsel in Distress" trope in video gaming irritates you, but the trope itself does not? Sorry if I don't sympathize.
"Another thing I'd like is for everyone to give some thought before reacting. I'm tired of people jumping on bandwagons because they got motivated moments ago. "
Did you ever stop and think that perhaps the people who support this idea have stopped and thought about it? Mind you, I'm sure life is a lot easier when you assume that everyone who holds a different opinion hasn't thought about the issue as deeply - but, in reality, at least some of the people who are concerned about the prevalence of the DiD trope know just as much about video gaming and the development process as you do. Sorry, but those are the facts.
Here's the thing: I don't get too worked up about this sort of thing, but I do support the idea of having more strong female characters in games. No, I nor anyone else is saying completely change every game in development to ensure that there's a playable female character. These are long-term issues that will require long-term solutions. However, by bringing attention to the issue, hopefully developers will be inspired to consider the option for future games. Of course, not EVERY game could or should have playable female characters - but there are plenty of games whose gameplay wouldn't be negatively affected by having stronger female characters.
@72 CaptainSquid - "You don't force change" - perhaps, but it's also true that change often tends to come about only when people are vocal about their concerns.
Also, NEWS FLASH - I doubt this Facebook page is about "forcing" Nintendo to do anything. I'm sure the creators of the group are more than well aware that they don't actually have any power over Nintendo - the idea is to simply show that there is interest in a stronger role for Zelda in the series.
(For the record, I don't necessarily support the idea of a playable Zelda. I'd only support it if it could be well integrated into the gameplay and the storyline without seeming forced.
@83 - pumpkinbunch - Congrats, you successfully named playable female characters in a small minority of games.
Re: Link to the Past Sequel Officially Named The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
It's a sequel to my favorite game. I'll get it Day 1.
The title actually doesn't do much for me, but I'll get over it.
Re: Reggie Reveals Wii U Best Buy Games List
Hmm... There's only one Best Buy in my state that will have this, and it happens to be the one about 3 miles from my office. I think I might have to drop in.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Should Aim to Produce Mature, Genre-Defining Storytelling Experiences
@gsmaciel - Well said. Film (along with literature) is the art form I'm the most passionate about, but I always find it annoying to see video games trying to imitate movies. Video games and film are very different art forms (just as film is very different from music and literature is very different from theater,) and games are going to have to develop their own language rather than relying on traditional Hollywood storytelling methods. Extended "cinematic" (I use that term loosely, since the "cinematic" elements of games - cinematography, dialogue, etc. - are usually pretty generic and uninteresting, even if they're superficially "pretty") sequences often just seem like narrative shortcuts because the developers were too lazy to find more innovative, integrated ways to tell their stories.
I'm not saying there should never be film sequences in games, but there's definitely been an over-reliance on them in the past decade or so.
And, of course, I'm also perfectly fine with games that have no story at all. Some of the greatest films ever made have little or no story, and the joy comes in watching the characters interact - or in the sheer artistry of all the elements of filmmaking coming togheter in a unique and beautiful way (and I'm not just talking about the avant-garde, Brakhage/McLaren/Frampton stuff.) On the same note, some of the best and most satisfying (and artistic) game experiences, in my opinion, are those early arcade and NES games that eschew narrative entirely and focus entirely on gameplay. I've also been very impressed by some of the recent independent games that explore the boundaries of the medium and that display a certain amount of self-reflexivity. I think the latter games are some of the strongest signs yet that video games are really beginning to mature as an art form.
Anyways... I agree with the general gist of the article. Nintendo shouldn't abandon their core franchises (not that anyone has suggested they should,) but it would be really nice to see them branch out - probably by courting talented third party developers and offering incentives for them to provide exclusive content. It would also be great to see Nintendo create some entirely new franchises of its own. I love Nintendo and I love the games it makes, but it does sometimes seem like they've been stagnating a bit in recent years.
I own a PS3, and I'll be ordering "The Last of Us" within the next few months - so it's not like I'll be missing out on anything if Nintendo decides to keep on its current course. But the lingering Nintendo fanboy inside me still thinks it would still be nice to see the company diversify a bit - gaining new players while holding onto their core audience.
-
...Sorry, that was a really long post.
Re: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2 Will Run At 60FPS
"A Link to the Past" is (probably) my favorite game, so this is going to be the game that finally pushes me into buying a 3DS (I know I should already have one, but I just don't have a lot of free time nowadays and I'm still very slowly catching up on all the great Wii/PS3/DS games.)
Re: These Screens Show What NES Games Would Be Like Today
@SunnyShores
Ok, I can see where you're coming from. It does seem like the internet, in general, tends to be a venue for complaining. You either get a lot of uncritical fawning or a lot of nitpicking and complaining about relatively small issues. The internet is proof that it's impossible to please everyone.
In this case, though, I don't think anyone is being too extreme or outspoken in their "complaining." No one is saying (from what I've seen) that all modern games are junk or anything like that. They're expressing dissatisfaction with certain common trends, which I would consider perfectly legitimate complaints.
In general, though, I do agree that a lot of comments sections just devolve into whining (I'm not talking about this site, specifically - I don't read the comments here often enough to know.)
Re: These Screens Show What NES Games Would Be Like Today
SunnyShores - I'm afraid you're attacking an argument that very few, if any people are making. The point isn't that modern games suck - it's that there are some (what many perceive to be) unfortunate trends in modern gaming. It doesn't ruin the games or make them terrible - it's just that a lot of us could do without the constant hand-holding in the new Zelda games or the extreme easiness of many games.
Don't mistake criticism for condemnation. Of course modern games also do a lot of things really, really well. We're poking fun at some of the weaker conventions of newer games, not condemning all modern games as junk. I'm pretty sure most people here play and really enjoy a lot of new games, but we can still recognize that they aren't perfect.
Older games weren't perfect either.
Excepting "A Link to the Past," of course.
Re: Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical: Sing & Dance Confirmed for Wii
I'll probably never get it, but it is nice to see more variety than just those compilations of awful pop songs. Webber isn't one of my favorite Broadway composers (I prefer the older classics, along with my namesake), but it's better than nothing.
Re: Feature: A Visual Guide to Nintendo's Handheld Revamps - Part One
I still have all these, excepting the Virtual Boy, sitting in my gaming closet. I still play my back-lit SP on a regular basis (seriously, there were a ton of great games for the GBA - and it's compatible with the enormous GB and GBC library of games.
Re: Dragon Quest X Japanese Bundle Shown Off
Kirk - It won't be the first time the Dragon Quest series has been a bit "behind" graphically - I haven't played all the games in the series, but the PS1 version mostly looked like a slightly enhanced Super NES game.
Not that I mind. I personally play the DQ games for their retro-style gameplay and their customizability.
Re: E3 2012: Our View of Nintendo's E3
@verymetal - "Xbox showed Halo 4, Sony showed the Last of Us, and Nintendo showed...Pikmin 3!"
"The Last of Us" looks amazing, but I'm about 2000x more excited for "Pikmin 3" than "Halo 4." Remember - there's more to great gaming than "photorealistic" graphics and "mature" content (not that those things are bad - people just seem to focus on them too much, ignoring a lot of truly great games.)
When it comes to highly entertaining and innovative gameplay, the "Pikmin" series beats just about anything out there. Nintendo's show was very disappointing, but "Pikmin 3" was one of the highlights of the entire convention.
Re: Feature: Obscure Series That Should Return on Wii U
I would be most interested in seeing "Star Tropics" and "Mystical Ninja" revived. "Ogre Battle" would also be cool, though I'm not as familiar with the series.
I recently started replaying the first Goemon game on the N64 and I've been having a blast with it - it's one of those "childhood favorites" that holds up very well today.
Re: 3DS Hits 4 Million Console Sales in United States
Don't you guys know it's not about the amount of consoles sold or the amount of games sold or the amount of profit Nintendo is making, it's about something something something something something something something something something I know nothing about economics but since I hate Nintendo I'm going to pretend to be an expert something something something something something something something something? In other words, Nintendo is DOOMED!
Re: Nintendo Crows About November Sales for Wii and 3DS
@Traxx - Except the Wii has sold "on and on" - it has sold tens of millions more than either of the other consoles. And, as we see here, it still sells pretty steadily.
It's not that we "fail to realize" that you can't sell consoles without a constant stream of high quality games - rather it's that the facts actually point to a very different conclusion from the one that you seem to have come to. If this generation has taught us anything, it's that, if you have the right "hook" (the motion controls), you can create an extremely popular console with a relatively small handful of core, must have titles and a huge number of third party titles (regardless of the quality of those third party titles.) Not only will that console sell well in the first few months, it will be an extremely consistent seller - one whose sales far surpass those of the competition. We also realize, unlike all the wannabe economists who are predicting the imminent downfall of Nintendo, that large companies can survive a disappointing year. Heck, they can even survive a disappointing generation.
There have been some worrying trends, of course. The amount of shovelware is appalling. Nintendo's insistence on "gameplay over graphics" is somewhat admirable (gameplay is far more important than graphics - as evidenced by the fact that so many NES and Super NES games are still so enjoyable) - but graphics do help sell games, and it may cause some serious problems in the next generation. Still - the Wii is many things, but it isn't a failure, at least not from a business standpoint. It's an extremely profitable console, and has re-established Nintendo as a household name.
Re: Nintendo Crows About November Sales for Wii and 3DS
Nintendo's totally dead. They might as well just get out of the hardware business now.
[/sarcasm]
Re: It's Official: Xenoblade Chronicles is Coming to North America
I'm not buying many new games at this point in my life, but I'll buy this because I really don't want Nintendo to get into the old habit of not releasing RPGs in the North American market. (...And also because I really want to play it.)