hiptanaka

@norwichred Flip grip https://www.fangamer.com/products/flip-grip

@1UP-HUSKY I think it’s more like a terror balance thing. Every company has a stack of nonsensical software patents so nobody dares suing.

But software patents suck. I hope they go away at some point.

Yes! I’ve been waiting for a proper single player Splatoon.

@Runex2121 Alright, good to know it’s not a trainwreck. Thanks for the info. 🙂

Still waiting for any outlet to review Survival Kids, which I’m curious about and seems like it could go either way.

I thought this looked interesting in the S2 Direct, but it could go either way. Hoping for good reviews.

@Yoshi3 ’Also, yes, budget doesn’t mean quality in any way, I’m saying that through an economics lens. It’s like cinema, movies with higher budgets bet their returns on sales… not raising the ticket prices because they feel the movie “is the best”.’

Gotcha. But there are already ”tiers” of game prices, which come from subjective perception of value and expectations (and budget). I think Nintendo just upped their top tier to $80, rather than saying ”this is the best game”. I agree it is a steep increase though, and I don’t like it either. But I do think it will be the norm going forward. Hopefully Nintendo are serious about flexible pricing and we’ll see some $50-60 games as well.

@Yoshi3 Yeah, they’re a corporation in the end, and they’re good at capitalizing on success.

@Yoshi3 I get what you’re saying, but in the case of MKW, we’ll have to wait and see what it actually offers. If the free roaming is something like an extensive adventure mode, it’s practically two games in one.

I also don’t think it’s entirely fair just to look at game budgets. TotK, to me, is clearly a better game than something like Cyberpunk, which probably cost a lot more to make, so it also has a higher value. I am willing to (to an extent) reward thoughtful design and great ideas even if production wasn’t the most expensive.

Anyway, it’s a complex issue. In the end, I think it’s inevitable that AAA game prices are going up, and Nintendo are the ones that pulled the trigger.

@TAndvig I'm pretty sure this is a character select screen made specifically for the hands-on demo, in part not to spoil things to come in the MK Direct.

@Nico07 Yeah, that’s probably the more important point. But he compares it to Android and iPhone, which are backwards compatible (to a certain extent).

Iwata implied in 2014 that the Switch successors will be backwards compatible:

”Currently, we can only provide two form factors because if we had three or four different architectures, we would face serious shortages of software on every platform. To cite a specific case, Apple is able to release smart devices with various form factors one after another because there is one way of programming adopted by all platforms. Apple has a common platform called iOS. Another example is Android. Though there are various models, Android does not face software shortages because there is one common way of programming on the Android platform that works with various models. The point is, Nintendo platforms should be like those two examples. Whether we will ultimately need just one device will be determined by what consumers demand in the future, and that is not something we know at the moment. However, we are hoping to change and correct the situation in which we develop games for different platforms individually and sometimes disappoint consumers with game shortages as we attempt to move from one platform to another, and we believe that we will be able to deliver tangible results in the future.”

Source: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/events/140130qa/02.html

@Cia The Atari 2600 game "Adventure" is usually considered the first action adventure. It's pretty similar to Zelda in some ways, but far uglier.

Does it really mean the player will be able to change the world? I read it more like the new features will change how you look at and interact with the world.

@basswitch I’ve played SotN plenty already. I hope it’s something new.

Yes. Seems reasonable for a game that took 5-6 years to develop, and is the sequel to BotW.

@Bl4ckb100d Some gameplay was shown earlier this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXtU-9hK4Lc

So "you could argue that Leguizamo has a point", but "it's not really a fair complaint"? Hmm.

Best news in a while!

@ramu-chan I’d say JRPG is a genre descriptor rather than an indicator of origin. The early JRPGs were from Japan, hence the name, but it’s not really useful to limit it only to Japanese games.

No SMT: Strange Journey? One of the most intriguing ones, imo.

@rockodoodle Maybe. My counterpoint would be that Mario Kart hasn’t done anything significantly new since the 90s. It’s basically the same game with a nicer coat of paint. Quality comfort food, perhaps, but not anything to be celebrated as ”of the decade”. I haven’t played much Smash, but it seems similar in that regard.

@rockodoodle Because Dark Souls has been on most game developers' minds since its release? Even if it's not as played as something like Fortnite, its ideas about challenge, storytelling and risk/reward can be seen in so many games, from Shovel Knight to Hollow Knight and Jedi: Fallen Order. I'm willing to bet even Breath of the Wild took a page from Dark Souls, with the way combat works and hand holding being almost eliminated. On top of that, Dark Souls spawned an entire genre of games that almost directly lift systems from it, such as Nioh, Lords of the Fallen, Salt & Sanctuary and Code Vein.

Pretty good list. Even if I don't personally like some of those games, most of them are groundbreaking and highly influential. The ones I would contest are Skyrim and GTA, because they are mostly iterating on what's been done many, many times. However, I recognize that Skyrim basically made RPGs a mainstream thing.

”We just eclipsed 100,000 sales with our last discount of 99 percent off. Only 1 percent of those sales were made when the game was at full price.”

Those 99 percent of sales also accounted for only about 50% of the revenue, making about $9000. Nintendo’s cut is 30%, and I assume the publisher wants something. That doesn’t sound like ”big bucks” to me, if your goal is to sustain yourself doing game development.

"The story is utterly insane"

I don't get this "con". The plot is pretty crazy for sure, but it centers around a cast of quite convincing characters. Something like Xenoblade feels just as insane to me, and less sincere.

@Heavyarms55 Less than half the features? It still has the #1 feature of playing (99% of) Switch games. If you're someone who doesn't really care about playing docked or playing with others on a single switch, it seems like a great deal for $100 less.

As for your other point, I suppose they could've named it Ninten No Switch.

@Cyrax77 Pitching in as a Trials player since Trials HD. Digital gas and brake is perfectly fine, when you get used to it. I play with analog now, but for most of the games, I used the digital face buttons even though the triggers were available. When you need to "feather the gas", you can just repeatedly tap gas instead. Many top players use digital gas.

@PBandSmelly I'm the opposite. I really didn't like how Hollow Knight looks, so it took a while before I even tried it, but then I liked almost everything about it and was hooked.

@Scottwood101 Iconoclasts is completely different, but very good. It feels a bit like the gameplay of Metroid Fusion mixed with a SNES-era JRPG story.

@ThatNyteDaez The combat at least has aged incredibly well. It feels so good in that game. You can tell it's from a company that makes action and fighting games.

@Retupmocnin Wait, what about Dark Souls didn't age well?

A meaty single player mode.

@link3710 I agree. I was replying to a comment saying the Switch touch screen can do anything the DS touch screen can.

I'd love a new and improved Mario Maker that comes with a stylus, btw.

@Orwellianson @Medic_alert That's a good point. But would they sell digital-only games that require a peripheral? Not that I'm against it.

@Medic_alert A finger can't match the precision of a stylus, though. Some games would be almost unplayable.

@Cobalt As much as I'd want it, I don't think Nintendo would grant access to more advanced VC games like Wii and GC for just $20/year. We'll probably see them on the eShop eventually as separate releases.

There are at least 5 NES games I want to play, so those alone are worth the $20 for the first year, plus it's nice to be able to try out the less interesting ones on impulse. If the service keeps expanding with more good NES games and (as seems likely) SNES games, I'm really gonna like it.

A bunch of good games from a variety of publishers. Not bad! I hope they keep up the pace and eventually add more platforms.

@Cobalt I mean, I could also show you this screenshot from the demo level and say it looks pretty good:

https://apollo2.dl.playstation.net/cdn/UP0102/CUSA12385_00/FREE_CONTENTpAChGhh62YtpixlwIFkG/PREVIEW_SCREENSHOT1_168716.jpg

It also seems like sound visual design. Blue foreground on yellow background to separate the layers, outlines to make the enemies pop, etc.

Let's hope the rest of the full game is more like the demo and less like the screenshot you posted.

@Cobalt Holy crap, that’s ugly. Is that a real screenshot? I had only seen the demo level, which has beautiful outdoors areas and OK indoors areas.

@Cobalt Hmm. I think Mega Man 11 has remarkably well made "2.5D". The art style is consistent, and there's a lot of attention to detail in enemy animations. The gameplay is snappy and things like explosions really pack a punch, which is usually not the case where smooth 3D animation is used. The art direction also makes the 2D plane clearly visible at all times, which is required for tight platforming. Capcom knows what it's doing with this one.

Personally, I also think it's quite beautiful at times, with popping colors and large, smoothly animated (but still 2D looking) enemies.

The music is very bland, though.

@Cobalt So do I. I just mean that’s to be expected for bigger third party games.

If I hadn’t been into a bunch of indie games like Hollow Knight and Into the Breach, I would also be disappointed with the 2018 lineup. Lots of Wii U ports and ”usual suspects” from Nintendo. I hope next year is more surprising.

Objectively, though, Nintendo is having a great run. Many ”key” titles coming from various third parties, a steady stream of indie games that seem to do well, and some undeniably big crowd pleasers from Nintendo.

@Cobalt Your ”better perfs on PS4” could be replaced by ”portable on Switch”. That’s a known tradeoff. I do agree it’s a really slow period for actual Nintendo games, though, as someone with little to no interest in Pokemon, Smash or Mario Party.

@AcridSkull For what it's worth, I really like the music. It's quite ambient, but also very atmospheric and matches each situation well. It changes smoothly as you go from the preparation phase to combat, etc.

It's super good. Don't miss out on this one if you like tactics games. It's a game where every turn matters, and each turn comes with hard decisions. It's still brisk, though, because each battle is only about 5 turns, so restarting after a failed campaign doesn't feel like a slog like in other, more drawn out roguelites. It almost feels more like a co-op board game (without the co-op).

It doesn’t just make it more special for others. It makes it more special for me too. Knowing there are things in a game I haven’t found or even probably will never find makes it feel bigger and more mysterious. Dark Souls is the same way.

@hatch The battle system is far from derivative. It’s superficially from Chrono Trigger, but strictly turn-based with interesting synergies and Magic-esque escalation of power for every turn.

It’s a quality game that probably deserved special treatment, but I can’t really fault Nintendo for not giving it that. I guess they have a select few they work closely with, and the rest are on their own.

@Agramonte It's interesting that you bundle the US and EU markets in your comment. I think the Switch has sold about as much in EU as in Japan. You could just as well have said "You're better off using marketing/development dollar to dominating the US/JP market before caring about the European one."

US is the biggest market, but they all count towards the total.

Edit: Being irrelevant in US would be worse than being irrelevant in Japan, but the best position is to be relevant in all regions, which seems to be the case for Switch.