Comments 54

Re: Corpse Party Tetralogy Pack Switch Western Release Cancelled

ValentineMeikin

@RiasGremory Same thing with Sony. The US arm was pressuring for more and/or effective censorship on games, causing people to buy Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3 on Switch for example.

Nintendo of America is making every stupid and anti-consumer move possible and it's only when things like this happen that there's blowback, but it's ineffective.
What Nintendo need is for the Palworld lawsuit to collapse and them to do something even more stupid to attempt to shut down Pocketpair anyway.

Re: Corpse Party Tetralogy Pack Switch Western Release Cancelled

ValentineMeikin

I remember when it was Sony who got blasted for self-censorship, while Nintendo's versions were untouched. Now, Nintendo are outright erasing games from existence because of vague 'content policy' excuses.

FFS, this is why I'm glad most of my games are on XBOX or PC. I've not seen Microsoft get it in the neck for erasing a game just because the leadership changed policy behind our backs.

Re: Pokémon Pokopia Looks Like An Adorable Mix Of Minecraft And Animal Crossing

ValentineMeikin

I'm going to be one of the cynics in this comment thread, and point out that Nintendo could try to use this game's existence as the 1-2 (Falcon) punch to kill Palworld entirely. It's basically the non-battle part of Palworld except with Pokemon.
There's clear signs they rushed it out, meaning they're releasing it 'now' to prepare to use it as Exhibit Q in their lawsuit against Palworld, and any thoughts it exists to give the fans something new and exciting is a load of crock.

I don't trust anything The Pokemon Company release right now since I look at it all and wonder when it will get used in a court filing.

Re: Nintendo's Patent On 'Sub Characters' Could Have Some Dire Ramifications

ValentineMeikin

@Willo567
I know, and this isn't aimed at Monster Hunter, Persona or Final Fantasy. It's a nuke, designed to make sure no-one even thinks of developing a game like Pokemon ever again. Except Nintendo.
If Pocketpair were able to remove the fifth clause, about the sub-character having limited autonomy, they could rework Palworld, removing most of the battle mechanics, and it would give a lot of leeway back to the independent developers.
But as it is, the big companies have enough money to drop a cheque to Nintendo if the patent stands, and/or for Nintendo to offer a exception dependent on some other caveat, like a guaranteed Nintendo Switch 2 version.
But that won't help anyone who doesn't have the million-dollar operating capital to be able to sit with Nintendo and figure out how to manage the patent in the future.

Re: Nintendo's Patent On 'Sub Characters' Could Have Some Dire Ramifications

ValentineMeikin

@Willo567 This is what's known as a 'chilling effect'. Nintendo manages to get this patent confirmed in a court of law, and well, Sega, Square-Enix and the rest will politely remove the mechanics or offer Nintendo a nice settlement to make it go away.
However, the smaller developers will suddenly not be developing that kind of game. And no-one who doesn't have a operating income equivalent to Nintendo's will ever again.

Re: Nintendo's Patent On 'Sub Characters' Could Have Some Dire Ramifications

ValentineMeikin

The problem with this patent involves the concept of 'edge cases', those little loopholes within something that allow for people to develop something that skirts the edge of what's legal.

The problem here?

Nintendo has filled in the edges quite nicely. They've literally said that, on any system, if you summon a player or AI controlled minion and it fights for or alongside you, or otherwise does actions for you, the patent is valid.

It's why Nintendo's recent 'patent clarification' is so toxic. They've taken some of the core mechanics of monster raising and declared 'If you use these concepts, You pay us $1 billion dollars, or we shut you down. And even if you do pay, we reserve the right to do so anyway.'

That's why everyone is up in arms about it. Since the 'bullet points' effectively say that the moment you have a summon, Nintendo could pounce.

Re: Nintendo's Patent On 'Sub Characters' Could Have Some Dire Ramifications

ValentineMeikin

@KingMike And that's why it's so risky. Nintendo only have one real shot with this to nuke Palworld from orbit. If Nintendo manage to get a judgement in their favor, they win. But if they don't, well, they have to go back to the drawing board.
These overly broad 'patents' Nintendo are using are toxic, industry insiders know it, and if this case ends in Palworld's favor, Nintendo will never recover.

It reminds me of a certain conflict. Nintendo have invested too much in this to accept they're losing, so they're firing their WMD, and hoping it works, not understanding that it would also be Mutually Assured Destruction for both sides if it lands.

Re: Nintendo's Patent On 'Sub Characters' Could Have Some Dire Ramifications

ValentineMeikin

This is Nintendo's nuke. If the judge in the lawsuit approves it, Palworld cannot function. Period. Nintendo win by a thousand paper cuts. There is no way that Pocketpair can patch the game to remove this mechanic and still be playable.
But that's why Nintendo have loaded it. All the other patents have failed to get rid of Palworld, so they filed for the riskiest patent going.
If it misfires, Nintendo will piss off the entire industry. If it hits, Nintendo will OWN the entire industry.

Re: Random: Players Are Completely Destroying Donkey Kong Bananza Levels, Because They Can

ValentineMeikin

The people who flatten the entire landscape are probably also the kind of people who look at a Minecraft map and decide there's too much EVERYTHING there, and use every method possible to reduce it down to the bedrock. And, after that layer became able to be mined...

I'm reminded of the end of the first Duck Dodgers cartoon, with this version having Pauline rolling her eyes, as her and DK dangle from the remaining piece of planet, at the fact DK accidentally caused the planet to fall apart due to knocking out too many of the natural equivalent of load bearing walls.

Re: Nintendo Reportedly Banning Switch 2's Using MIG Cartridges

ValentineMeikin

Hell, Brazil right now are suing Nintendo for the 'You break the TOS/EULA, you have an expensive paperweight'. And they have a good reason.

I right now am very reluctant to get a Switch 2. I don't know if the fact I run a semi-legal Japanese account as well as my English account will trip Nintendo's ban hammer. They could put in a check that verifies your account is from the same country as your console and brick systems for circumventing THAT restriction.
And that's why people are terrified of Nintendo's aggressive stance. They want you to do it only one way, and that's Their Way.

Re: Nintendo Reportedly Banning Switch 2's Using MIG Cartridges

ValentineMeikin

The whole situation with Maximillian Dood and Marvel Vs Capcom 2 shows exactly why Nintendo's scorched earth policy is not the kind of mindset we need going forward.

A Japanese preservation group needed to practically use canvassing to get people to realise that there was a high chance of material that cannot be recovered to be lost.
The Internet Archive has multiple publishers breathing down it's neck for having a free library, and the preservation groups are being told that copyright law forbids them from creating copies without copy protection that could render a game unplayable at any time.

The only time, recently, I've seen a game get approval for an eternally free 'private' server was City Of Heroes, with the original developers letting the server hosts know they were willing to make those servers, within tolerances, legitimate.
Other than that, any and all attempts to restore online functionality or circumvent copy protection is, right now, illegal. For pirates or preservation groups.

And if it doesn't change, well, when the copyright terms run out, there won't be anything that can be preserved...

Re: Nintendo Reportedly Banning Switch 2's Using MIG Cartridges

ValentineMeikin

The problem with this is that Nintendo have, outright, shut down Switch emulation. Yay them. But they still want you to ONLY use official hardware, official key cards, official everything, and if they get a sniff of any part of the system isn't 'official', your console becomes an expensive conversation piece.

If, tomorrow, Retroarch's developers released a statement where they declared that 'any and all Nintendo system cores will be disabled and removed due to ongoing legal action', Nintendo would paint it as a victory against piracy, while people like Near would be tossing and turning in their grave, since their preservation efforts would be wiped out in the backlash.

I don't pirate games because I am a dirty pirate. I have several thousand games on an SSD that you won't find anywhere on Nintendo's Switch Online service, but Nintendo don't care about that fact. They see those several thousand games not as 'preservation', but 'piracy', and want them G-O-N-E.

And when that happens, they'll never return.

Re: What's Palworld Dev's Defence Against Nintendo's Lawsuit? Pikmin 3, Apparently

ValentineMeikin

@somnambulance There's two reasons why Nintendo want it gone...

First, due to the fact it's a inflammatory parody of POKeMON. This defence is weakened by the fact that everyone including PETA have done parodies that got less of a reaction from Nintendo.

Second, due to the fact it's making a lot more $$$ than anything Nintendo have put out. This one is blatantly Nintendo's reason, since one of the things they want off Pocketpal is damages way higher than punitive.

Nintendo's POKeMON games have got blasted by fans for being incredibly buggy and not pushing the envelope, while Palworld and similar have gone far beyond the basic game flow Nintendo still insist on using.
That Nintendo's lawsuit is to declare they own the whole act of catching and raising monsters... I could cite games like Monster Rancher as having parts of Nintendo's patents in them... is trying to find a way to shut Palworld down without admitting they're butthurt.

Re: What's Palworld Dev's Defence Against Nintendo's Lawsuit? Pikmin 3, Apparently

ValentineMeikin

@somnambulance If that was the only reason Nintendo were taking them to court, I'd accept that. However, that's not what Nintendo patent trolled them over, and it's the problem that will keep being so for Nintendo.

They effectively declared that capturing, raising and fighting with monsters is '(C) Copyright Nintendo, All Patents Pending'.

Multiple games, not just in China and similar legal safe havens, have had parodies of POKeMON. Nintendo only went after Palworld since they don't want to compete with it, instead they want to bury it, and not innovate one bit with POKeMON Switch 2.

Re: Japan's Switch eShop Will Soon No Longer Accept Overseas Payment Methods

ValentineMeikin

There's been a lot of press if you look in the right place over Japan's banking system cracking down on 'fraud' and any attempt by gaijins and other 'undesirables' being able to use their services.

Seriously, with how the Don is doing anything but making America great, by the end of the year, everyone will have, when they go on holiday, pay a few hundred of the local currency into a bank on day 1, since any attempt to use a non-local card will be instantly fraudulent.

Re: Review: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal World Duel Carnival (3DS)

ValentineMeikin

Konami, You hacked up this game royally 'for localization reasons'... and it's took so long that Zexal is over already...
Way to show the fans how much respect you have for them.
To think, once, Yugioh World Championship was it's flagship property. Now, it's been gutted, literally and figuratively.

Konami, how the **** can you call it World Carnival when it's one player only, never mind that you dummied out over half the cast!

Re: Capcom Is Suing Koei Tecmo For Patent Infringement, Looking For $9.43 million Settlement

ValentineMeikin

OK, So Capcom want to sue Tecmo Koei for successfully releasing the Warriors series with updated versions.

What next? Suing Arc System Works and Namco Bandai too?

They're only doing this since Ultra Street Fighter 4 and Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 are no longer cash cows, so they think EVERYONE isn't able to use that marketing strategy.

Crapcom, you aren't the only people who do post-release content!

Re: Matters Of Import: Wonder Project J2 Brings Masterful 2D To The N64

ValentineMeikin

Wonder Project J and J2 getting a Wii U or 3DS remastering would be great, considering that the controls for both relied heavily on point-and-click, which translates easily to tap-and-drag.

It's similar to how Natural Ultimate Digital Experiment was used to test a similar concept using solely voice control. However, without Kinect, it was far too novelty to work.

Both games, done now, would get a much more accepting customer base, and be able to sell so so much easier.

Re: Twitch Begins New Journey in Pokémon Crystal

ValentineMeikin

Democracy Mode allows for LESS completely random moments where people are causing almost laughable screw-ups by simply countermanding what people actually want to happen.

As the article says, with adding Democracy Mode, they've only had one major clanger, with the trainer's name, and have blitzed through the early game.

Re: Rumour: Mega Man Legends 3's Aero To Live On In Capcom iOS Title

ValentineMeikin

@Kyloctopus
Right now, the Megaman fan base are working with Keiji Inafune to give us the ideal successor to Megaman.

If Capcom added Aero and gave her a 'Megaman' icon tag of some kind, that would be a minor anti-snub. In Street Fighter X All Capcom, the Christmas promotion was based round special versions of Lilith and Roll, recognising two franchises that Capcom have got slaughtered online for their callousness over.

@Retro_on_theGo
Inafune-san won't bring it back, unless Capcom sold the asset libraries to the Mighty No. 9 team. Capcom already said it was 'rubbish', as was the anniversary game they had planned.
That's why they made XOver... Because apparently we didn't want the other one.

Re: NES Remix Miiverse Contest Cancelled Due To Emergence Of Exploit

ValentineMeikin

Many companies visibly ignore outright if someone posts 'impossible' luck on a game, like 99 W 0 L or similar, until they say, for example, you can win $1,000 worth of console hardware for posting the highest score on the leaderboard.

Nintendo are damn well in the right to say that they cannot trust the times. Just like they're damn well in the right when they say that all POKeMON transferred onto the Bank must be genuine and similar.
It makes me sick to go onto any game and find the best time on a time trial is less than a second, when I personally do a time trial with friends and less than a full minute is expert level timing.

I watched someone use bugs and glitches all the time to get lightning fast times on Sonic Generations. What was special about those lightning fast times were they showed the person knew the levels like the back of their hand, not what particular parts of the game had a good-bad bug.

Nintendo closed this competition since the exploit they used was not just a way to 'sequence break' or similar, it was a way to get a score that even the dev team found 'too good'.

Re: Nintendo Disables Swapnote's SpotPass Service Due to Online Safety Concerns

ValentineMeikin

@Memeboy3

I went out, for a entire week, daily due to owning Nintendogs, and got ZERO Streetpass hits, and have only got a dozen in the six months plus that I've owned the console.
Yes, I'd love to try using Streetpass for Swapnotes, but you'd need to first know who you're sending to, and then be able to find them in the area.

As it is, Swapnote is useless for people who don't have their friends just up the road like me.

Re: Nintendo Titles Continue To Be Illegally Peddled On Android Google Play Store

ValentineMeikin

What is WORSE than the fact they're putting it on the service is this...
You look for a emulator on Android, more than half of them are PAID applications, which is effectively making money off a simulated Gameboy, NDS or similar.

Imagine it in the high street, someone going 'Give us $3 and we'll give you a bootlegged Nintendo console, mostly works like the full price one, looks like it too.'
Things like that are what give Customs and Excise a job, and Google is failing to police it properly.

Re: Nintendo Disables Swapnote's SpotPass Service Due to Online Safety Concerns

ValentineMeikin

@Memeboy3
I wish to give a example of Phantasy Star Online 2 by SEGA.
That was to be 'Early 2013'. They recently admitted they cancelled it due to their market research declaring it wouldn't work in America and Europe.

Nintendo just cut off the one guaranteed way for someone to 'chat' with their friends outside of having a game like POKeMON X/Y which has Game Chat, with both of you owning it.
Swapnote was free, to send a note was free, and now... It's as good as dead. Thanks, Nintendo, but no thanks.
I'm glad I use my PS3 mostly now.

Re: Project Sweat Could Come To Wii U if Stretch Goal is Reached

ValentineMeikin

@Einherjar Stretch Goals are more items they didn't plan straight up, so will need to put more work hours into.

The WiiU Dev Kit could be the same price as a retail unit, but they charge several times it so they've got a massive buffer on all the other items they also want to develop. You need to pay £130 for each phone game license on GameMaker Studio for example, and that soon adds up.

Yes, Having them declare that at £2000 they'll consider WiiU is a bit steep, but they're also paying for everything up to that point.

Re: Video: Let's Play Fast & Furious: Showdown

ValentineMeikin

I almost feel like they went -
Realistic physics - Nope. Who needs them?
Play as your heroes - Nope. Would be too expensive.
Drive a hundred highly tuned muscle cars - Nope. EA do that fine.
OK, So, What DO we include?
How about a odd looking car that can send other cars flying into the air like they weigh nothing? Great, Here's your $1m raise!

Re: Sakurai Explains The Reasoning Behind The New Characters in Super Smash Bros.

ValentineMeikin

@PopeReal Very true.

Megaman - Good idea, and a lovely variation on the multi-type that the POKeMON Trainer used in Brawl.
Wii Fit Trainer - A oddity, but could be very interesting.
The Villager - Anything else from Animal Crossing would be rather bland, and it is a major franchise surging up the charts right now.

I'm hoping that Brawl's Marth will be joined by Awakening's Marth. Of course, to say more about the second Marth would be a massive spoiler for anyone who hasn't played Awakening...

Re: Poll: Are You in the DLC Brigade?

ValentineMeikin

@MadAdam81 I feel that on-disc 'DLC' that is time-release, like Alex Kidd on Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed, is fine. I also don't mind Special Edition DLC bundles, since they are content that was meant to be loyalty based.
What I don't like, at all, is like the fact Street Fighter X Tekken's select screen looks like someone took a hacksaw to it in order to make the PS3 exclusives, THEN had the audacity to have anyone who didn't have a PS3 and Vita with copies for both, a £500+ price tag, need to pay for the characters, all formats, Vita players being the only ones who got it free straight up.

It's more that locking away a third of the game for a later pay-off is wrong than DLC is wrong.

Re: Nintendo Blocks 3DS Flashcard With Latest Firmware Update

ValentineMeikin

@S7eventhHeaven I almost wonder if that's why places like Gamestation went bust.
Anyway, I'm in the UK.
I'm buying a PS3 for Super Robot Wars OG2 and Project Diva F, the latter being a completely official release.
I've never been fond of emulation, since several games never work right with a emulator.

Re: Poll: Are You in the DLC Brigade?

ValentineMeikin

My personal stance about DLC is like what happened with Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and is something I adore about Fire Emblem Awakening.
I actually was furious with Capcom over it's policy of making on-disc content that was paid, because it was rarely if ever worth it.
Nintendo, with every piece of DLC I've looked at, have given a damn good reason for the price tag, including that New Super Luigi U is effectively able to be a standalone expansion off it's own green-hatted merit.

If Nintendo asked me to pay $20 for a group of legacy characters they clearly yanked out of the game's roster to get that $20, I'd be furious.
Instead, Every single Paralogue with a character in it is FREE, and I'll never run out of good character combinations before I even touch upon a DLC level, of which I have almost all.

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