Comments 475

Re: Sega Slashes Full-Year Net Profit Projection By 90 Percent

Technosphile

Getting out of the console business sure did the trick, eh Sega? Abandoning all of us who bought a Dreamcast and and every big game for it domestically, that definitely changed your fortunes and kept the Sega business and legacy alive, right?

Just merge with Nintendo. Two clueless dinosaurs on their way to total irrelevance and extinction, together as one at last. Its like poetry.

Re: Video: New Mighty No. 9 Trailer Aims to Bring Back the Hype

Technosphile

@dadajo @brandonbwii

So buy a game when its released, but don't reward developers for something that is little more than an idea. Throwing money at some concept art and "trust us, its gonna be great" is so asinine to me that I wonder how I ostensibly share the same hobbies with such people. There should be a new rule: developers aren't even allowed to have a Kickstarter fund until they produce a playable demo, for free, available to everyone regardless of whether you are pledging or not.

Now before you say, "b-but without the crowdfunding the game wouldn't get made AT ALL", I ask you this: have you seen what Mighty Number Nine looks like? The video is right up there. I am quite certain that something of its, uh..."caliber" could have been produced with the same budgets afforded to many indie and mobile developers, with no crowdfunding, and with the same end result of PS2 graphics and gameplay that looks dull even to people who just wanted something that plays exactly like Rockman 2.

Also stop using Shovel Knight as your one example of Kickstarter gaming gone right. Shovel Knight was produced by competent people with decades of experience making exactly what Shovel Knight is: a 2D platformer with 8 bit graphics. Who exactly works at Comcept? Even Inafune himself is sort of questionable; Rockman was Akira Kitamura's creation and Inafune has pretty much just been a producer for many years.

Lastly there's nothing at all wrong with 2.5D run n' guns on the PS2 other than looking like one, unintentionally, with your brand new game in 2016.

Re: Lost Reavers Developers Reveal More Details About the Impending Release

Technosphile

One of the very few games on the horizon for any Nintendo system that I'm genuinely excited about, but to my knowledge a western release has not been confirmed.

And with Nintendo's streak lately, I imagine they would force Namco to cover up the blonde. Put her in a nice, zipped up leather jacket instead. And of course the Japanese girl needs to be at least 18 years old, musn't forget that.

Re: Talking Point: As Rumours Come and Go the Desperation for a Nintendo Direct Grows

Technosphile

The Nintendo Direct died with Satoru Iwata.

This was a secretive company that kept things close to the vest during the Yamauchi era; an interesting juxtaposition given Nintendo's creative output. The Directs were an expression of Iwata's outgoing personality and his desire to reach out to the company's dedicated fans. It's fairly certain that the new president, who spent decades in the banking industry, is not kooky or fun. And that attitude is honestly what Nintendo needs right now: back to the Yamauchi style of doing things.

Besides, what is there really to Direct upon? A smattering of indie eShop releases? Yet another StarFox trailer? They're clearly saving their ammo for E3, when they will apparently announce the system that will likely make or break Nintendo's future.

Re: Yes, Fatal Frame's Lingerie Outfits Have Been Removed From The Western Version

Technosphile

To Damien McFerran and anyone else who doesn't get it: it isn't about wanting or needing to have buttcrack and lingerie in this game. It is about censorship. It is about Nintendo publishing a "Mature" game and then deciding its audience is not mature enough to handle sexuality in gaming. It is about a lack of options for the consumer thanks to region lock. It is about deciding, on your own, as a consenting adult, what content you are comfortable with in video games.

I encourage anyone who is interested in this game to play whatever free demo Nintendo provides, and then, when it is time to pay for more, go straight to PSN on your PS3/Vita/whatever and purchase Fatal Frame games there.

End censorship in gaming. End regional differences. End region locking.

Re: It's Official, Hideo Kojima Has Parted Ways With Konami

Technosphile

@IceClimbers Konami forced him to write the worst ending in video game history? Yeah, okay bro. What I'm talking about has nothing to do with Eli or the unfinished chapter. Konami brass probably saw what his method was going to be of retconning the equally stupid ending to MGS4, and just how it was that Big Boss never had a mechanical hand before, and that was the last straw.

I guarantee I know more about Metal Gear than you.

Re: It's Official, Hideo Kojima Has Parted Ways With Konami

Technosphile

After that fanfic-tier ending, I'm glad he was fired. While that was the most egregious problem with MGSV, some other lousy aspects of it prove Kojima truly is the George Lucas of gaming: he doesn't understand what made Metal Gear good.

I couldn't care less what his next move is. In fact, I'd welcome Konami giving a new director a shot to remake the original Metal Gear, with a young Solid Snake kicking ass vs. some, y'know, actual bosses with personality.

Re: Cosplay Dreams Come True With Zelda and Zero Suit Samus Outfits in Fatal Frame

Technosphile

@Zombo begging for scraps and having your intelligence insulted just doesn't make sense, either. So what if Nintendo doesn't localize any more of these games? If they censor "adult content"--which, by the way, is ridiculous in this context--in a game clearly meant for adults, why would you want any more of that, anyway? Go play any of the three (four?) Fatal Frame games on PSN if you're that desperate to play one. Or import the uncut version somehow, though in another brilliant move Nintendo makes that difficult these days.

If the game bombs then Nintendo is free to interpret why in any way they choose; but one look on any forum could clue them in. This is a niche game and if you're going to appease its niche audience, don't jerk with the product too much or you'll find we will be happy to have made Nintendo waste their time and money.

Re: Cosplay Dreams Come True With Zelda and Zero Suit Samus Outfits in Fatal Frame

Technosphile

@hcfwesker maybe its time you asked yourself what it is you want to support with your money.

Do you want to support censorship?

Do you want to support corporations deciding for you what you can and cannot see?

Do you want to support region locking and the brain dead committee thinking that created and enables it?

Stop being "grateful" a game was translated for you and start demanding better.

Re: Analysts Wonder If Super Mario Can Save Nintendo 

Technosphile

The only proven way to make money on mobile gaming is free-to-play with endless microtransactions. If Nintendo doesn't realize this and releases a quality game on mobile with a $19.99 asking price they will fail miserably. Mobile players don't really want to play a game, they want a brief distraction while they sit on the toilet/ride the bus/wait for their meal at a restaurant.

Something like Rusty's Real Deal Baseball is the best option. A Mario platformer, which I guarantee Nintendo would never allow as a free to start download, is a bad idea.

Re: Review: Tecmo Bowl (Wii U eShop / NES)

Technosphile

@Darknyht a better question would be: what is good about it? Developed in the west, it is a cheap imitation of what Tecmo Bowl is supposed to be. The classic mode is the same as the DS version, which in turn is the same as the SNES version, the worst of the first four games. The modern mode is hideous. No license of course, that almost goes without saying. But most of all and most damning is the fact that the Edit mode, the one thing that could have saved it, is awful. Its more egregious of a failure with the DS version, but the fact that nothing was done to fix it says it all for who was behind the modern zombie Tecmo Bowl games.

@Dankykong says a lot about the unique gameplay. Practically every single football game made ever since takes the same sim game approach, with the view always from behind the line, and never any music or whimsy. Tecmo Bowl NES, and to a much greater extent Tecmo Super Bowl NES, were lightning in a bottle.

Re: Feature: Have You Played... ZombiU?

Technosphile

Owned it since January 2013. Completed it in both modes with one survivor.

Its basically a hugely underrated classic, and Nintendo fans should be ashamed of their having not supported it. Consider your current situation with the Pii U and ask yourself: would any major publisher create a AAA exclusive Wii U title today?

Re: Review: Tecmo Bowl (Wii U eShop / NES)

Technosphile

@Blastcorp64 Konami's Run & Gun games are JPN developed licensed NBA titles. In terms of games with an NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL license, the pickings are indeed slim, however in the glory days of Japanese game development many games based on those sports were made in Japan.

This also highlights a key difference in the way Japanese and American game developers view making sports titles. American devs make sims, with micromanaging of depth charts and an fervent desire to make it "realistic". Japanese developers make them fast and arcadey, like an action game with a sports setting. The Tecmo Bowl series is probably the single best example of this.

Re: Review: Tecmo Bowl (Wii U eShop / NES)

Technosphile

Couple things here--

One, are you implying player names are present in this Wii U version? That is not made clear in this review and would be a huge boon for Tecmo fans; to my knowledge this would be the first version of the game with player names present since the Game Boy version almost 30 years ago.

Two, it had nothing at all to do with "the most popular teams" making the cut. These are the playoff teams from the 1987 season.

Re: Chris Pranger From Nintendo Treehouse Discusses Harsh Realities Of Localisation

Technosphile

@Wolfgabe "things would need to be changed"

No. They don't. Cultural differences shouldn't have any effect on anything. This weird obsession with not offending white people, or not upsetting white parents, or altering "Japanese things" in games so that white people will get the joke/reference/point that certain Japanese video game companies have is so bizarre to me. What Hollywood film is ever changed to suit a certain audience's cultural makeup? Practically none. They subtitle it and that's that. So the guy watching in Hong Kong doesn't get the joke about Rabbis performing circumcision. Who cares?

This Chris Pranger sounds like an ass, towing the company line just like Reggie, and Bill, and every other NoA guy who thinks he has all the answers and that the fans know nothing. Hey Chris Pranger, how about you not worry about localization, and just tell your bosses to remove their retarded region lock so we can make up our own minds?

Re: Review: 3D Streets of Rage 2 (3DS eShop)

Technosphile

God bless M2 for including all region versions in one release. Blaze's panty shot, long hidden from the west because WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN, is gloriously present and zero apologies are made for it.

It's interesting, then, how this comes shortly after the censored, Poison-less US version of Final Fight One was once again foisted upon western players; with no option for us to make up our own minds as grown adults with what we want to see in our 2D beat em ups, and say so through our wallets. Even almost 30 years later, Sega is still cooler than Nintendo.