Do you understand, that Switch 2 is a hybrid console, right? It can be docked, but ultimately it's a handheld, so there's no way it can perfrom at the same level as PS5 or Series X. If you compare apples to apples, $500 handhelds don't outperform it, be it Steam Deck or Asus ROG Xbox or anything similar. So yeah, Shadows running on a HANDHELD is pretty damn impressive.
I like remasters like this - when you play them with all the impovements, it feels like the game you remembered the original was, not like the game it actually was. When you really boot up the original you just feel puzzled over how the hell you were able to play it back in the day. So yeah, time for a nostalgia dive.
Being realistic, I understand the sitation as follows:
Costs of a large corporation are a complicated thing. More so for Sony, MS, and Nintendo, which are palform holders. You can't just say that Switch 2/PS5 Pro/Xbox Series components cost $XX to purchase hence the price of the console shoud be $XX + 10% of their margin. A lot of costs not directly related to components are distributed to each unit's sales price (marketing, logistics, infrastructure development, part of the costs of game development).
Inflation in recent years has been fierce. One can see how prices of components have gone up on ANY electronics you can think of. Consoles are no exception, there have been quite a few price INCREASES for the existing hardware and the mid-gen update PS5 Pro debuted at eye-watering EUR 799 in my region.
When we easily say "corporations just should decrease margins!", it really sounds like a Marxist oversimplification. They have their costs structures, most of them have already decreased part of their costs by laying off staff and in any normal corporation there's no Scrooge McDuck-like vault of money from which they can just take some. On stable markets with robust competion margins are very rarely huge. If a company makes good money off something, they normally invest it, don't just keep it on their accounts.
Nintendo was cutting edges on the Switch 2 not to let it go beyond the psychologically important threshold of EUR/USD 500. One obvious compromise is the screen. Is it top-shelf? No. But does it look good enough? Yes. Will there be an inevitable OLED version revision in 2-3 years? For sure, when costs of the actual hardware go down a bit. This is how business works in our turbulent time.
I sometimes wonder if there's a "expert burnout" effect in gaming. I mean, when you get too good in seeing and understanding the technical side of games, you kinda loose part of enjoyment of actually JUST PLAYING. As they say, you see trees and not a forest. You see an ugly texture, a dropped frame, an input lag...but you miss the overall experience of firing up Wind Waker or Soul Calibur 2, or, say, Perfect Dark JUST the way it was back in the day. Even with the CRT scanlines! I literarilly time-travelled. This is where joy is, I dare say, not in a odd dropped frame.
I'm constantly emphasyising it, but the era of cheap electronics sold in the global scale is over.
The global world of the 2000-s and 2010-s has ended. The demo version was during the pandemic, now we see how global economic ties rip apart. The Trump tariffs are only the visible-to-everyone manifestation of what has happened. The global economy is crumbling right before our eyes. I won't dive into the political part of the matter, but, put simply, no one cares what it's going to cost economically, because politics go first these days. It's not "good" or "bad" per se, it's just what is prioritized. It drives the costs, costs drive inflation, inflation drives prices - hell, tensions between China and the US alone mean costs going up for virtually everyone. We won't see prices on electronics from the past 20 years compared to an average income for QUITE some time, if ever. Political tensions mean that relatively free flow of resourses is only possible within blocks, not on a global scale. This is by definition less cost-efficient than what was possible globally. Imagine that you bake cakes for sale and cheapest eggs are in a shop two blocks away. You have been buying the eggs from there and everything works fine. Then the local administration makes the passage to the shop physically impossible by putting up the fence. You do what? Buy eggs elsewhere and adjust the cake's price. Reasons for the price hike are not economical in their root case, the reason is the fence. We are now putting up fences actively on the global scale.
I remember that DK64 has been notoriously difficult to emulate for quite some time. One could decently emulate all Rare games for the N64 as early as 2004-2005 on the PC, even Conker's Bad Fur Day and Perfect Dark, but not DK64. Yes, they got it working on the WiiU, but the Switch has a different architecture, so it might be purely technical stuff. After all, it's hard to say that the NSO N64 emulation has been perfect with no technical hiccups.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (yes, despite the Temple of the Ocean King).
2. Animal Crossing: Wild World.
3. Super Mario 64 DS.
4. GTA Chinatown Wars.
5. Metroid Prime: Hunters.
But frankly, there was SO much cool stuff on the DS. Like Dragon Quest IX, which was almost unimaginable technically, or the cult classic Hotel Dusk. Hell, I didn't even mention Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 days. And those majestic Castlevanias! And TWEWY. And Mario Kart DS with online play!
Man, THE memories of playing this game! It's December 1994, it's my 7th birthday and my parents get me DKC. I played it to death, I really can't count the number of times I have beaten it and 103%'d it over the 30 years that have passed. On our CRT TV the graphics seemed soo increadible, the gameplay sooo smooth and Cranky so...cranky that it really felt like playing an animated film. I think I can beat it blindfolded by now. Hope to scratch that itch with DKC Returns in January.
Question: how easy can the game be made? I've been playing videogames since 1991, but I sick so hard at, well, harder games.
E.g., Soulslikes are out of what I'm capable of. I play most games on Easy difficulty, because I like to relax playing games and not to challenge myself to death. I get the fun of a challenge, but it's not for me, I'm too easy to get discouraged by it. Echoes of Wisdom was all right, maybe a little tad too easy on Normal. I got through Luigi's Mansion HD as well, and it was a tad too hard on it's only difficulty on later levels.
I don't ming grinding, but I really hate it when a boss can fully wipe your party after, like, half-an-our battle. So if I set the game to Draco difficulty anf turn on the auto-battle option, am I going to get a relaxing - albeit grindy - experience? By "relaxing" I mean "you know where to go and how in principle to beat a boss, but you might want to grind a couple of levels.
I'd give it a solid 9. It looks fantastic on the Switch, much like your DreamWorks film, runs like a charm, is of solid length and has the usual Nintendo replayability with collecting everything possible on each mission. While I respect other opinions, I personally don't give a single fik about it being a remake. And yes, I played it and beat it on the 3DS.
@Kirgo Well, I see your point and I acknowledge it as absolutely valid, no questions here. The thing is, in my logic, I'm not just SACRIFICING money to Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft/Valve, I spend them on my own value anyway. Sometimes value is not about just getting the best price, no matter how and when. I mean, I can wait, of course, and see if, say, Nintendo gets the message. Maybe it will - but maybe not. Anyway, not playing a game I want to play - and the one I'm able to afford financially - for a chance to maybe teach Nintendo a pricing lesson is sacrificing my own value of spending a good time with the game immidiately. Of course, it will not thwart me to depths of a severe depression, but I still lose something I don't necessarily have to lose. Would I be sure that it will SURELY, like, 100% help me pay less for future remakes, than the game might have been worth the candle. But I've grown up and realistic enough to understand, that there are too many factors involved, and my own decision influences a large multinational corporation marketing decisions only to a very limited extent. So, there's a big chance that I'm not getting to play DKC HD at launch AND that, say, Twilight Pricess HD that might be coming as a next Switch remaster also releases for $60.
I don't get it, why people judge a price tag of a game by its being a remaster or not. Nobody's OBLIGED to buy any game, right? There might be people who didn't play it and will get it. There might be people who are willing to replay it and will get it. The production value seems to be the only criteria that is more or less objective (although i doubt anyone would say that Forespoken is better than Stardew Valley), and even based on this alone both Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and DKC Returns HD are top-shelf Switch releases. Well, they DID sell Metroid Prime Remastered for less - but what of it? Every remaster should be $40 because one was? I think it should really be based on an individual game's value. Say, I have never played RDR before the Switch release, I played through it, genuinely enjoyed it and never felt I have paid too much, just because it was a game from 2008. It was a FUN game and it's all that mattered.
As a grown-up person who is a very casual player for multiplayer shooters, I can only say that's it's surprisingly good so far. Sure, it's barebones, but complicated is not automatically better. You can literarilly pick this one up and play. It also runs really well on Switch. I didn't hit any paywalls yet, as I'm not really interested in playing as a specific character despite being a huge SW fan. I mean, there's no Luke, Vader, Obi-Wan or other Canon characters anyway.The progression itself doesn't seem to be obstructed, you can play and upgrade your available characters fairly, which definitely is a good thing. Might be an 8 actually, I've been playing it for first 2 days without losing interest, which is a rather rare case for me as far as multiplayer arena-based shooters go.
I bought both games and I didn't finish any of them.
As a Zelda fan from the times of The Link to the Past, I shaply disliked the new survival elements. For me, it's a huge distraction when I have to think about how my sword may break down and how I need to keep my stock of everything. I also hate the very idea of a game allowing you to encounter a boss/enemy that is too difficult for you and who will surely kill you. I miss the times when you could concentrate on solving a puzzle knowing that THERE SURELY IS A WAY of solving it to proceed forward. The two Zeldas in question are just too much for me, too many mechanics at play, too much freedom, too much frustrated poking around with this "find your own solution" feature, too much time investment needed. At certain stage I felt overwhelmed and just put both games away.
As much as I feel sad about it, I surely won't be buying any future open-world Zelda games.
I don't see the price as an issue here. Isn't any publisher free to price any game in the way they see fit? Sales figures and revenue will say it all. I paid the price for a technically very well executed RDR experience on Switch.
I jumped in, as I never played the original and I never negotiate prices. I take it or I leave it. Performance-wise, let us not forget that the Switch is marginally more powerful than the X360/PS3 and it easily could have been a botched job - it's not the same as making it run well on the PS4. But I'm pleasantly impressed by the technical side so far. As for gameplay - well, it's RDR, one of Rockstar's finest, so there's no complaints.
The sales numbers are there, so objectively one can judge by them.
But subjectively, for me personally, it would be the N64/GBC generation.
I always preferred the N64 over PS1. The jump to 3D was jaw-dropping for the 10-year-old me, and the N64 graphics always looked (and objectively is) way better than what the PS1 had on offer. While there's no dispute that the PS1 is home for legendary games, N64 holds up very well even in comparison to this jaggernaut - I mean, Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time plus Golden Eye and Perfect Dark, as well as Star Fox, Banjo-Kazooie and Conker (when I became mature enough to understand the gags).
What I liked about the N64, that, despite the marvellous technical leap compared to the SNES, it still retained that "cozy" feeling of the games. No multimedia stuff (which always seemed kinda unnecessary to me; I lived and live outside the wealthy Western world and still don't remember a family that could afford a game console but not a CD audio player around 1997-8), no online, no open worlds in the modern day meanining of this term - just technical (by the 1997 standards) and gameplay perfection, tailor-made for linear, single-player enjoyment, with an odd same-coach multiplayer title. That's what I miss in modern games, and that's why I love something like Bayonetta 3 to this day. It was like the SNES on steroids: massively more powerful, mind-blowing, with stellar games that were easy to pick up and play. Even the controller didn't seem that odd.
As for the GBC, it wasn't a massive breakthrough, but I have good memories of playing Pokemon, Rayman, the GBC version of MGS, DKC ports.
There REALLY has been an issue with the technical side of GameFreak games since the jump to 3D. Game Boy entries were very, very solid in terms of graphics and performance, even impressive. But with the DS something went wrong. Diamond and Pearl looked like a GBA game, period. With Black and White they kind of managed to incorporate 3D backgrounds - when we already had full-3D Zeldas, Dragon Quest IX, Okamiden, Dementium. They reached this level only with Pokemon X and Y, for Pete's sake - which was a 3DS game that looked like totally like a DS game. They never actually cought up, their 3DS engine was very questionable. On Switch we do have outstanding open-world games, from Breath of the Wild to Xenoblade Chronicles 2-3. It's really a matter of hiring better technical specialists.
I'm not a blind Nintendo fan who just downplays any non-Nintendo hardware, but I've had a chance to use the Steam Deck. It's not bad per se, no, but - how to put it? - it's not really a game console, it's a portable Linux-based, gaming-oriented PC. Valve has never been about the elegance of use of consoles, it has always been about the flexibility of the PC. So, while technically you can emulate the Switch on the Steam Deck and play games with higher resolutions (and maybe framerates?), I would prefer to wait for my pre-order and play it on the original hardware the way it was designed. First, gotta support the creators. Xenoblade games are huge, can't imagine how log it takes to create such detailed worlds, with NPCs and stuff. Second, I seem to be getting too old to care about emulation and all the tweaking and even carrying around the larger Steam Deck. Switch OLED has a lagre enough screen (and is ALMOST too bulky for my taste) and the graphics in most games are sharp enough to enjoy them. Don't get the point of targeting the best graphics no matter what it takes, I've been a console player all my life and always had to put up with technical limitiations of console games compared to PC versions in the technical department. Never felt bad about it.
Maybe I'm getting old, but to pay $100 to a shady guy on eBay to get a game - presumbly, a great game, but still - a week earlier? Not even a week, shipping also takes up a few days, so it's 4-5 days earlier... Stop the Earth, I'm getting off.
Yeah, but those beefier consoles are not free, you know. I bought an OLED Switch at launch as well as millions of other people. It would be quite disappointing to see Nintendo burn through their Tegra chips stock within, like, 9 months of 2022 and release a "New Switch" a mere year after the OLED model.
Maybe I'm too old, but what's the big idea of palying a game not the way it's designed to be played? There are unfare designs, yes (like pay-to-win), but it's a premium Nintendo game, there's absolutely no need to pay extra for palying it properly.
Metro-Metro-Metro. I'm a Russian and live in Moscow, so the setting is really appealing. Played Last Light on the PS3, the Redux collection on the PS4 (as Metro 2033 was only released on Xbox 360, which I did not own), but will gladly replay both. The said setting is kinda strange, though - the game looks more like Moscow and the Moscow metro from 80-s/early 90-s rather then the present day city and the subway.
Ohhh, bother! I was looking forward to this one - being a huge Ice Age fan as I am. Would it have been at least a 6, I’d go ahead and get it. But alas, poor Scratty!...
Oh, they've managed the port quite well, I'm definitely buying it. While I have a PS4, I don't have 100+ hours to complete at least the storyline on a big screen. Since I have much more time for portable gaming, this version is a no brainer. 540p should be alright on my Switch Light.
@itslukec That's exactly what I'm very close to doing
As for confusing aspects, that's what I clearly remember:
Your stamina decreases very quickly and there's nothing to do near your farm. The very first quest sends you off to introduce yourself to the locals - and makes it rather difficult by the mentioned stamina meter. I believe this is intended as a feature, part of the "life simulation" aspect of the game, but it's irritating at the very early stage of learning the basics. I remember the same feature in Lost in Blue on the DS, but there you also were introduced to the food mechanics very early in the game, so that you could go exploring to certain extent. In Stardew Valley the constantly dropping stamina meter makes me nervous.
It's unclear how to make money. You plant your first crops, but they take time to grow. OK, again, that's farming simulation, no objections here. But apart from crops, it's unclear how to make some quick buck for the basics. In Animal Crossing you can manage that by picking up stuff under your feet. Here you can do it as well - but then the stamina meter kicks in, making you chose: you are either foraging or go on with introductions.
Fishing mechanics are strange. Maybe it's an iOS version issue, but the reaction of the "fishing meter" to screen taps seems almost random. This exacerbates the money making problem.
Touch screen controls were downright baffling in the initial iOS release.
Seems legit, it's up for pre-order at certain Russian retailers as well. The release date they list is February 7, 2020. I'll double-dip for sure - played both on the PS3 and they were great.
Hmm... Maybe a double-dip, then. I tried it on iOS and could not even get into it because of mechanics being too overwhelming. I immensely enjoy Animal Crossing (the original on N64/GC, Wild World, New Leaf, City Folk), and the big thing for me is how it introduces the "second life" mechanics step by step. Stardew Valley is TOO open to my taste, "go where you like, do what you like" style, and I like certain guidance in games, otherwise I feel lost. It can be Elder Scrolls series-like: here's the main, "guided" line of gameplay, but you are free to wander off to any side quests. Maybe the 1.4 update is adding something along these lines. In this case I'm sold. Otherwise even the super-simple initial introduction task feels too overwhelming.
While I loved Breath of the Wild, I was somewhat irritated by its open world mechanics. Like yes, I know it's actually going back to the roots of the very first game, but it felt TOO open. You could easily get to a way too strong boss area and get killed by the boss, you could wander to colder regions and get killed by cold. So you could never really tell if you can't get to a particular area or just need new clothes/more sticks/hot tea/whatever. While it's a dream for exploration lovers, it's not exactly THE LoZ we've had since A Link to the Past for many-many years (starting with A Link to the Past and ending with Skyward Sword).
This title for me is THE LoZ I love. You CAN wander off for side business, but - and it's very important to me - you always understand where to go and you are clearly walled off from areas, where you are not supposed to go to. So in case I can't skip two holes at a time I understand that I just don't have an item for that, and it's not my lack of skill or absence of a generic consumable in certain quantity. For a person with limited time for gaming it just feels as a more robust experience.
So it's nice to see that such "old-school-but-not-NES-style-old-school" Zelda titles are in high demand. Maybe it will open the way for Oracle of../Minish Cap remasters, even DS titles remade!
Ahhh, this one's was actually pretty good on iOS. The low-light setting was really refreshing, and lighting was superb. One of the few actually memorable mobile games I have played.
Having never played the original on the PSOne, I eagerly got the trilogy on the Xbox One X at release...and was shocked how boring the first game was. Maybe I should have played it back in the day to feel the charm, but I wasn't able to bring myself to finish it. On a side note, the same happened to me with Crash Bandicoot. The first game of the collection was entertaining, but very hard - hard as nails - and controls felt very...boxy. Apparently, retro remasters are not my thing.
Ahhh, dang! I know that the MegaDrive version of Alladdin is better (I've played it back in the day on my friend's MegaDrive and emulated it countless times), but I've grown up with the SNES version, and I really want it. On the other hand, Lion King versions are virtually identical (well, as far as you can overlook technical differences of the platforms). I understand all the difficulties of licensing, but still...
@Anti-Matter Oh, I see. While my own perception is different, I'm sure Nintendo must be happy (hell, even proud) to have such a fan, you're really one in a million.
Man, I don't mean to count your money, to each their own and everyone is free to do whatever makes him or her happy, - but that's one hell of investment. You really can modify your 3DS just to make it region free. That would technically allow piracy, but nobody makes you pirate your games if you don't want (and thumbs up for that!). It's not that gaming experience is different on a 3DS of a different region, you get the same user experience on a Japanese 3DS with Japanese game cards... So, what's the point?
While I understand preferences may vary, I'm all for the 2DS XL.
The (New) 3DS XL looks and feels old now. It has bulky design, the lower screen is bumping above the lower panel, and the upper screen bezels are huge enough to land an airplane. Yes, this was the norm in 2011 or 2013, but come on, it's a monster in 2019. We're in the era of sexy looking gadgets, and the 2DS XL is as sexy looking as the hardware that old can possibly be.
Stereoscopic 3D is a flopped technology. Yes, it looked like it could become in thing back in the day, but it never has. Consumers clearly don't want it, so there's no point for Nintendo to keep it. It's what you call a gimmick - I think only Super Mario 3D Land uses it for actual gameplay. The Switch has clearly showed Nintendo is giving up on it - as has Sony, Microsoft, Nvidia and all the makers of 3D-enabled TVs.
Features, axed in the 2DS XL, are actually useless. Come on, a 0,3 MP camera? The cheapest smartphone out there has better ones now.
I, for ones, got a Lime Green 2DS XL after owning a New 3DS (non-XL) and feel like it's quite an upgrade.
Yes, but that's what happens when a small, enthusiast-driven industry attracts serious money. Not that it has not happened in, say, the film industry. Again, I'm not happy with that, but that's what's happening. The more money are needed to make a game, the more large corporations are involved, the more "heartless" their approach is. You need a safe product which will bring revenue on your investment.
I personally absolutely dislike loot boxes, but we have to admit they are not going anywhere.
The reason is simple - costs of development. They keep growing, but raising MSRP for AAA-titles becomes increasingly difficult. It's $60 now for a standard edition, making it $70 would cause an uproar. So we have it - half-heated remasters (aka selling the same game twice), DLC, games as a service (updating content for one game instead of working on its sequel or a new title) - and loot boxes. For mobile it's as hard as Free-to-Play, because mobile gamers apparently don't stomach premium prices. This will only be resolved trough streaming, I believe.
As a Russian Nintendo gamer, I'd like to say a few words in Yasha's defense. Disclaimer: I have met him in person only once in the beginning of his career in Russia and can't say I'm a huge fan of his. My brother has worked in the Russian office of Nintendo for a few months, so I know a few things from inside as well.
First and foremost, the guy got the Nintendo business in Russia running more or less properly. The Switch and main games are easy to buy virtually in any place where video games are sold. When I wanted to buy a GC back in 2004, it was on sale in 1 (one!) place in Moscow, officially. With a whopping 5 (five!) games to chose from. The Nintendo 64? NO official sales at all as far as I know, or just nominal, impossible to come by. The GBA? Just the system, the games were all knockoffs. Like really, selling the system and not selling the games. It got marginally better with the DS and the Wii (the DS Light was even officially launched in Russia with a sort of launch event, followed by the Wii), a couple of games were localized, but the whole thing has died down pretty quickly to the GC state. With the 3DS launch under Yasha it got light years better. With the Switch, every major retailer both online and offline has a decent selection of the system variants and the games. They are actually advertised on TV and promoted in the Internet. Major titles are getting localized into Russian. The eShop and the Switch firmware are localized. Yes, it's nothing compared to Japan or to the West, but it's a mountain huge progress in less than 10 years.
Then we should understand that Nintendo is a Japanese company, run in a very Japanese style. I myself work in the Russian local entity of another Japanese company very similar in management style. Boss yelling (yep, we are talking about Japanese guys yelling at Japanese guys as well) is absolutely normal for the Asian corporate culture. 2/3 of what has been said about Yasha's management style is not about Yasha, but about how a big, conservative Japanese company is run. I can bet my money on Yasha's bosses endorsing this style of management. Mind you, there's no Nintendo of Russia, it's Nintendo of Europe's regional office. And Nintendo of Europe management is still very Japanese.
Then, let's not be whining millennials. A boss yelling at you? So what? The wages in Nintendo of Russia (let's call it that way for the sake of simplicity) are 1.5 higher compared to the market average. Japanese corporate management style is all about subordination and carrying out orders (almost literally military-style), creativity is not what is expected or endorsed. This mumbling about how younger people want to be creative and developing themselves is their problem, not their employer's. You are paid money, you do what you are told, it's that simple. When my brother worked there, employees somehow had the wrong idea that their "business improvement" ideas mattered for NoE. They did not. They were supposed to carry out their duties diligently instead of wasting time for "creative" ideas no one requested.
Finally, being an active member of Russian Nintendo community, I believe I more or less understand what it is like. Yes, these are true Nintendo enthusiasts, who went through everything to get Nintendo systems when they were not easily available and they, step by step, have created the soil for the current Nintendo development in Russia. But they are also very picky. First they ask for localizations, then they don't like them because of the Russian translation being "too creative". They don't like the "Whole game in Russian" mark on the boxes, so they import European boxes "to look good" in their collection. They say they want the eShop in Russian, with Ruble price and accepting cards issued by Russian banks, but they buy games in Turkish or Argentinian eShops, because prices there are lower (local currencies' fluctuations, I guess). So the community is very vocal and very picky. Outside of the community, "general gamers" are familiar only with most basic Nintendo mascots. Mario, Link and yes, Pikachu. Yasha is probably right - the very notion of Evee's existence is generally very weak outside of the Pokemon and Nintendo community minority.
I don't mean to say Yasha is the next Jesus and is doing everything just perfectly, he also seems a rather short-tempered and even somewhat arrogant person, but shaming him in the comments without knowing the broader picture is unfair, I believe. Given his achievements, my guess is that he is staying.
@Windy. It's more complicated. In a word - no, the Switch is NOT a Mercedes Benz in terms of price here. Part of the problem is that people are still not completely used to the concept of paying for software - piracy was so rampant even 7-10 years ago, that very few people realized games also consume part of their budget. It was a "pay for the hardware - play games for free" concept. Than, the audience - those who play most are not ready to fork out $60. Those who are don't play that much.
@Anti-Matter, I was talking about PERCEPTION, not the actual games. Think of it as an image of flagship Nintendo for the general gaming public. Definitely not my own opinion.
Being a Russian and an avid Nintendo gamer, I can assure you it's been a very strange relationship that's getting better thanks to Yasha and his team (met him in person, a very dedicated person).
The "problem" with Nintendo has always been piracy. It's not the initial price of the hardware, it's price of the games that limits Nintendo products popularity. You see, for PC Steam has regional prices for Russia, so absolutely legit games are dirt cheap, even more so on their sales. Console makers do not. This alone puts the PC in a very advantageous position.
Traditionally, the console with easiest piracy ruled. Thus Sony got great foothold with the PSOne and the PS2. The PS3 was a tougher sell, but there came sales, the PSN Plus and second-hand disks. Much of the same can be said about the PS4. Xbox was on fire with the 360 and its pirated disks, but the One sells badly: too little exclusives, and cross-platform titles are dirt cheap on Steam.
As for Nintendo, the GBA and the DS were relatively popular, but the DS was overshadowed by the PSP: Sony got a huge fanbase and yes, easy piracy with better presentation for most games. The 3DS was first eclipsed by the Vita, but with Sony abandoning it rather soon and smartphone gaming failing as a concept, the heads gradually turned to the 3DS. And yes again, it got hacked by that time. The Switch is taken seriously, and is considered the only proper portable platform. You finally have no problem finding the actual console and games at big retailers and online (the thing unheard of previously), big releases arrive timely even on physical media. The biggest issue is game prices - the main audience for gaming are still school and university students and young adults. They don't have enough income for launch-day prices. 30+ guys who do, like me, are the minority. Yet the ad is aimed at us: you played NES knock-offs when you were a kid in the 90-s, the DS in the 00s, now all those characters are back. But "grown-up" titles are a must to sell it to 30+ guys like me with a PS4 under their TVs. Skyrim, Doom, LA Noir and Bayonetta helped a lot, Nintendo franchises except Mario and Pokemon are still too niche and are considered "childish".
@SDF
Unlikely. Cloud saves are tied to My Nintendo account here. Unless you are going to play the US version with an Australian My Nintendo account which does not make much sense. If you are an Android user you MIGHT be able to tinker with local save files (copy the "Australian" local save files, delete the "Australian" copy of the game, do a clean install of the "US" copy of the game and then physically replace "US" saves with "Australian" ones), but there is no guaranty of success.
So, I've tried the Android version on the Galaxy S8 (the APK version is 0.9.0).
Good news for Android users is that the APK floating in the Net is NOT hacked. It seems to be the one uploaded to the Australian Google Play with no modifications. It does not require any suspicious permissions and is able to download data from Nintendo servers. It also does NOT check your IP, so you won't need a VPN to fake your location to Australia to play.
As for the game itself, it definitely feels like a scaled down AC (in a good way). The familiar graphic style and animations are there, it just has the "open town" from "proper" games broken down to several smaller "camps". Have yet to see how bad the microtransactions are.
P.S. For people with limited data plans: the initial APK is around 58 Mb, later in the game it downloads 2 packs of data about 80-90 Mb each.
@Danpal65 Sorry, but no. The A8 is found in the iPhone 6/6 Plus. The iPhone 5 is based on the Apple A6, which is not bad per se (the graphics are handled by the Power VR SGX543MP2), but it might not support several "modern" graphical technologies, like the latest Open GL and/or shaders. Yet, having installed the game myself, I don't see anything that the A6 can't handle.
Comments 62
Re: Review: Assassin's Creed Shadows (Switch 2) - An Ambitious Port Of A Captivating Series Refresh
@romando
Do you understand, that Switch 2 is a hybrid console, right? It can be docked, but ultimately it's a handheld, so there's no way it can perfrom at the same level as PS5 or Series X. If you compare apples to apples, $500 handhelds don't outperform it, be it Steam Deck or Asus ROG Xbox or anything similar. So yeah, Shadows running on a HANDHELD is pretty damn impressive.
Re: Nightdive Studios Reveal "Definitive" Re-Release Of 'Heretic + Hexen' On Switch
I like remasters like this - when you play them with all the impovements, it feels like the game you remembered the original was, not like the game it actually was. When you really boot up the original you just feel puzzled over how the hell you were able to play it back in the day. So yeah, time for a nostalgia dive.
Re: "One Of The Slowest Modern LCDs I've Ever Seen" - Digital Foundry's John Linneman On Switch 2's Display
Being realistic, I understand the sitation as follows:
Re: Video: Switch 2's GameCube Emulation Apparently Has Underlying Issues Nintendo "Desperately Needs To Fix"
I sometimes wonder if there's a "expert burnout" effect in gaming. I mean, when you get too good in seeing and understanding the technical side of games, you kinda loose part of enjoyment of actually JUST PLAYING. As they say, you see trees and not a forest. You see an ugly texture, a dropped frame, an input lag...but you miss the overall experience of firing up Wind Waker or Soul Calibur 2, or, say, Perfect Dark JUST the way it was back in the day. Even with the CRT scanlines! I literarilly time-travelled. This is where joy is, I dare say, not in a odd dropped frame.
Re: Shuhei Yoshida On Higher Switch 2 Game Prices: "It Was Going To Happen Eventually"
I'm constantly emphasyising it, but the era of cheap electronics sold in the global scale is over.
The global world of the 2000-s and 2010-s has ended. The demo version was during the pandemic, now we see how global economic ties rip apart. The Trump tariffs are only the visible-to-everyone manifestation of what has happened. The global economy is crumbling right before our eyes. I won't dive into the political part of the matter, but, put simply, no one cares what it's going to cost economically, because politics go first these days. It's not "good" or "bad" per se, it's just what is prioritized. It drives the costs, costs drive inflation, inflation drives prices - hell, tensions between China and the US alone mean costs going up for virtually everyone. We won't see prices on electronics from the past 20 years compared to an average income for QUITE some time, if ever. Political tensions mean that relatively free flow of resourses is only possible within blocks, not on a global scale. This is by definition less cost-efficient than what was possible globally. Imagine that you bake cakes for sale and cheapest eggs are in a shop two blocks away. You have been buying the eggs from there and everything works fine. Then the local administration makes the passage to the shop physically impossible by putting up the fence. You do what? Buy eggs elsewhere and adjust the cake's price. Reasons for the price hike are not economical in their root case, the reason is the fence. We are now putting up fences actively on the global scale.
Re: Poll: Okay, It's Time To Ask The Obvious - Will We Get Donkey Kong 64 On NSO?
I remember that DK64 has been notoriously difficult to emulate for quite some time. One could decently emulate all Rare games for the N64 as early as 2004-2005 on the PC, even Conker's Bad Fur Day and Perfect Dark, but not DK64. Yes, they got it working on the WiiU, but the Switch has a different architecture, so it might be purely technical stuff. After all, it's hard to say that the NSO N64 emulation has been perfect with no technical hiccups.
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Top 5 Nintendo DS Games?
1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (yes, despite the Temple of the Ocean King).
2. Animal Crossing: Wild World.
3. Super Mario 64 DS.
4. GTA Chinatown Wars.
5. Metroid Prime: Hunters.
But frankly, there was SO much cool stuff on the DS. Like Dragon Quest IX, which was almost unimaginable technically, or the cult classic Hotel Dusk. Hell, I didn't even mention Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 days. And those majestic Castlevanias! And TWEWY. And Mario Kart DS with online play!
Re: Anniversary: Donkey Kong Country Is Now 30 Years Old (SNES)
Man, THE memories of playing this game! It's December 1994, it's my 7th birthday and my parents get me DKC. I played it to death, I really can't count the number of times I have beaten it and 103%'d it over the 30 years that have passed. On our CRT TV the graphics seemed soo increadible, the gameplay sooo smooth and Cranky so...cranky that it really felt like playing an animated film. I think I can beat it blindfolded by now. Hope to scratch that itch with DKC Returns in January.
Re: Review: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (Switch) - Square Doesn't Drop The Ball, Just Some Frames
Question: how easy can the game be made? I've been playing videogames since 1991, but I sick so hard at, well, harder games.
E.g., Soulslikes are out of what I'm capable of. I play most games on Easy difficulty, because I like to relax playing games and not to challenge myself to death. I get the fun of a challenge, but it's not for me, I'm too easy to get discouraged by it. Echoes of Wisdom was all right, maybe a little tad too easy on Normal. I got through Luigi's Mansion HD as well, and it was a tad too hard on it's only difficulty on later levels.
I don't ming grinding, but I really hate it when a boss can fully wipe your party after, like, half-an-our battle. So if I set the game to Draco difficulty anf turn on the auto-battle option, am I going to get a relaxing - albeit grindy - experience? By "relaxing" I mean "you know where to go and how in principle to beat a boss, but you might want to grind a couple of levels.
Re: What Review Score Would You Give Luigi's Mansion 2 HD?
I'd give it a solid 9. It looks fantastic on the Switch, much like your DreamWorks film, runs like a charm, is of solid length and has the usual Nintendo replayability with collecting everything possible on each mission. While I respect other opinions, I personally don't give a single fik about it being a remake. And yes, I played it and beat it on the 3DS.
Re: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Costs $60 On Switch
@Kirgo
Well, I see your point and I acknowledge it as absolutely valid, no questions here. The thing is, in my logic, I'm not just SACRIFICING money to Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft/Valve, I spend them on my own value anyway. Sometimes value is not about just getting the best price, no matter how and when. I mean, I can wait, of course, and see if, say, Nintendo gets the message. Maybe it will - but maybe not. Anyway, not playing a game I want to play - and the one I'm able to afford financially - for a chance to maybe teach Nintendo a pricing lesson is sacrificing my own value of spending a good time with the game immidiately. Of course, it will not thwart me to depths of a severe depression, but I still lose something I don't necessarily have to lose. Would I be sure that it will SURELY, like, 100% help me pay less for future remakes, than the game might have been worth the candle. But I've grown up and realistic enough to understand, that there are too many factors involved, and my own decision influences a large multinational corporation marketing decisions only to a very limited extent. So, there's a big chance that I'm not getting to play DKC HD at launch AND that, say, Twilight Pricess HD that might be coming as a next Switch remaster also releases for $60.
Re: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Costs $60 On Switch
I don't get it, why people judge a price tag of a game by its being a remaster or not. Nobody's OBLIGED to buy any game, right? There might be people who didn't play it and will get it. There might be people who are willing to replay it and will get it. The production value seems to be the only criteria that is more or less objective (although i doubt anyone would say that Forespoken is better than Stardew Valley), and even based on this alone both Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and DKC Returns HD are top-shelf Switch releases. Well, they DID sell Metroid Prime Remastered for less - but what of it? Every remaster should be $40 because one was? I think it should really be based on an individual game's value. Say, I have never played RDR before the Switch release, I played through it, genuinely enjoyed it and never felt I have paid too much, just because it was a game from 2008. It was a FUN game and it's all that mattered.
Re: Review: Star Wars: Hunters (Switch) - A F2P Hero Shooter That's Fast, Fun, And Force-ful
As a grown-up person who is a very casual player for multiplayer shooters, I can only say that's it's surprisingly good so far. Sure, it's barebones, but complicated is not automatically better. You can literarilly pick this one up and play. It also runs really well on Switch. I didn't hit any paywalls yet, as I'm not really interested in playing as a specific character despite being a huge SW fan. I mean, there's no Luke, Vader, Obi-Wan or other Canon characters anyway.The progression itself doesn't seem to be obstructed, you can play and upgrade your available characters fairly, which definitely is a good thing. Might be an 8 actually, I've been playing it for first 2 days without losing interest, which is a rather rare case for me as far as multiplayer arena-based shooters go.
Re: Zelda Producer Responds To Fans Who Want A More "Traditional Linear" Adventure
I bought both games and I didn't finish any of them.
As a Zelda fan from the times of The Link to the Past, I shaply disliked the new survival elements. For me, it's a huge distraction when I have to think about how my sword may break down and how I need to keep my stock of everything. I also hate the very idea of a game allowing you to encounter a boss/enemy that is too difficult for you and who will surely kill you. I miss the times when you could concentrate on solving a puzzle knowing that THERE SURELY IS A WAY of solving it to proceed forward. The two Zeldas in question are just too much for me, too many mechanics at play, too much freedom, too much frustrated poking around with this "find your own solution" feature, too much time investment needed. At certain stage I felt overwhelmed and just put both games away.
As much as I feel sad about it, I surely won't be buying any future open-world Zelda games.
Re: Review: Red Dead Redemption - A Fine But No-Frills Switch Port, For A Fistful Of Dollars
I don't see the price as an issue here. Isn't any publisher free to price any game in the way they see fit? Sales figures and revenue will say it all. I paid the price for a technically very well executed RDR experience on Switch.
Re: Round Up: The First Impressions Of Red Dead Redemption Are In (Switch)
I jumped in, as I never played the original and I never negotiate prices. I take it or I leave it. Performance-wise, let us not forget that the Switch is marginally more powerful than the X360/PS3 and it easily could have been a botched job - it's not the same as making it run well on the PS4. But I'm pleasantly impressed by the technical side so far. As for gameplay - well, it's RDR, one of Rockstar's finest, so there's no complaints.
Re: Best Of 2022: Which Is The Absolute Best Nintendo Console Generation?
The sales numbers are there, so objectively one can judge by them.
But subjectively, for me personally, it would be the N64/GBC generation.
I always preferred the N64 over PS1. The jump to 3D was jaw-dropping for the 10-year-old me, and the N64 graphics always looked (and objectively is) way better than what the PS1 had on offer. While there's no dispute that the PS1 is home for legendary games, N64 holds up very well even in comparison to this jaggernaut - I mean, Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time plus Golden Eye and Perfect Dark, as well as Star Fox, Banjo-Kazooie and Conker (when I became mature enough to understand the gags).
What I liked about the N64, that, despite the marvellous technical leap compared to the SNES, it still retained that "cozy" feeling of the games. No multimedia stuff (which always seemed kinda unnecessary to me; I lived and live outside the wealthy Western world and still don't remember a family that could afford a game console but not a CD audio player around 1997-8), no online, no open worlds in the modern day meanining of this term - just technical (by the 1997 standards) and gameplay perfection, tailor-made for linear, single-player enjoyment, with an odd same-coach multiplayer title. That's what I miss in modern games, and that's why I love something like Bayonetta 3 to this day. It was like the SNES on steroids: massively more powerful, mind-blowing, with stellar games that were easy to pick up and play. Even the controller didn't seem that odd.
As for the GBC, it wasn't a massive breakthrough, but I have good memories of playing Pokemon, Rayman, the GBC version of MGS, DKC ports.
Re: Pokémon Fans Vent Frustrations Online About Scarlet & Violet's Technical Issues
There REALLY has been an issue with the technical side of GameFreak games since the jump to 3D. Game Boy entries were very, very solid in terms of graphics and performance, even impressive. But with the DS something went wrong. Diamond and Pearl looked like a GBA game, period. With Black and White they kind of managed to incorporate 3D backgrounds - when we already had full-3D Zeldas, Dragon Quest IX, Okamiden, Dementium. They reached this level only with Pokemon X and Y, for Pete's sake - which was a 3DS game that looked like totally like a DS game. They never actually cought up, their 3DS engine was very questionable. On Switch we do have outstanding open-world games, from Breath of the Wild to Xenoblade Chronicles 2-3. It's really a matter of hiring better technical specialists.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Has Leaked And Is Fully Playable On The Steam Deck
I'm not a blind Nintendo fan who just downplays any non-Nintendo hardware, but I've had a chance to use the Steam Deck. It's not bad per se, no, but - how to put it? - it's not really a game console, it's a portable Linux-based, gaming-oriented PC. Valve has never been about the elegance of use of consoles, it has always been about the flexibility of the PC. So, while technically you can emulate the Switch on the Steam Deck and play games with higher resolutions (and maybe framerates?), I would prefer to wait for my pre-order and play it on the original hardware the way it was designed. First, gotta support the creators. Xenoblade games are huge, can't imagine how log it takes to create such detailed worlds, with NPCs and stuff. Second, I seem to be getting too old to care about emulation and all the tweaking and even carrying around the larger Steam Deck. Switch OLED has a lagre enough screen (and is ALMOST too bulky for my taste) and the graphics in most games are sharp enough to enjoy them. Don't get the point of targeting the best graphics no matter what it takes, I've been a console player all my life and always had to put up with technical limitiations of console games compared to PC versions in the technical department. Never felt bad about it.
Re: PSA: It Looks Like Copies Of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Are Out In The Wild
Maybe I'm getting old, but to pay $100 to a shady guy on eBay to get a game - presumbly, a great game, but still - a week earlier? Not even a week, shipping also takes up a few days, so it's 4-5 days earlier... Stop the Earth, I'm getting off.
Re: Nintendo's Boss Shuntaro Furukawa Warns Of Switch Supply Issues In 2022
@NinjaGuy69
Yeah, but those beefier consoles are not free, you know. I bought an OLED Switch at launch as well as millions of other people. It would be quite disappointing to see Nintendo burn through their Tegra chips stock within, like, 9 months of 2022 and release a "New Switch" a mere year after the OLED model.
Re: Duplication Glitch Discovered In The Pokémon Diamond And Pearl Remakes
Maybe I'm too old, but what's the big idea of palying a game not the way it's designed to be played? There are unfare designs, yes (like pay-to-win), but it's a premium Nintendo game, there's absolutely no need to pay extra for palying it properly.
Re: Metroid Dread Version 1.0.3 Is Now Available, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@Clammy This! A simple optional saving between his phases whould make it way more manageable.
Re: Video: 12 Exciting New Games Coming To Nintendo Switch In February
Metro-Metro-Metro. I'm a Russian and live in Moscow, so the setting is really appealing. Played Last Light on the PS3, the Redux collection on the PS4 (as Metro 2033 was only released on Xbox 360, which I did not own), but will gladly replay both. The said setting is kinda strange, though - the game looks more like Moscow and the Moscow metro from 80-s/early 90-s rather then the present day city and the subway.
Re: Review: Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure - You'd Have To Be Off Your Nut To Play This
Ohhh, bother! I was looking forward to this one - being a huge Ice Age fan as I am. Would it have been at least a 6, I’d go ahead and get it. But alas, poor Scratty!...
Re: Review: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition - An Incredible Action-RPG Stands Strong On Switch
Oh, they've managed the port quite well, I'm definitely buying it. While I have a PS4, I don't have 100+ hours to complete at least the storyline on a big screen. Since I have much more time for portable gaming, this version is a no brainer. 540p should be alright on my Switch Light.
Re: Stardew Valley Creator Outlines Next Update, Improves "Every Aspect" Of The Game
@Panopticon Wow, thank you! That’s super helpful! Seems like I’m giving the game another try after all
Re: Stardew Valley Creator Outlines Next Update, Improves "Every Aspect" Of The Game
@presenttense Thanks for the heads up! I figured that much, just didn't have patience to wait
Re: Stardew Valley Creator Outlines Next Update, Improves "Every Aspect" Of The Game
@itslukec That's exactly what I'm very close to doing
As for confusing aspects, that's what I clearly remember:
Re: Metro Redux Listed For Nintendo Switch By Portuguese Retailer
Seems legit, it's up for pre-order at certain Russian retailers as well. The release date they list is February 7, 2020. I'll double-dip for sure - played both on the PS3 and they were great.
Re: Stardew Valley Creator Outlines Next Update, Improves "Every Aspect" Of The Game
Hmm... Maybe a double-dip, then. I tried it on iOS and could not even get into it because of mechanics being too overwhelming. I immensely enjoy Animal Crossing (the original on N64/GC, Wild World, New Leaf, City Folk), and the big thing for me is how it introduces the "second life" mechanics step by step. Stardew Valley is TOO open to my taste, "go where you like, do what you like" style, and I like certain guidance in games, otherwise I feel lost. It can be Elder Scrolls series-like: here's the main, "guided" line of gameplay, but you are free to wander off to any side quests. Maybe the 1.4 update is adding something along these lines. In this case I'm sold. Otherwise even the super-simple initial introduction task feels too overwhelming.
Re: Link's Awakening Sold More Than 430,000 Copies Across Europe In Its First Three Days
This is great news!
While I loved Breath of the Wild, I was somewhat irritated by its open world mechanics. Like yes, I know it's actually going back to the roots of the very first game, but it felt TOO open. You could easily get to a way too strong boss area and get killed by the boss, you could wander to colder regions and get killed by cold. So you could never really tell if you can't get to a particular area or just need new clothes/more sticks/hot tea/whatever. While it's a dream for exploration lovers, it's not exactly THE LoZ we've had since A Link to the Past for many-many years (starting with A Link to the Past and ending with Skyward Sword).
This title for me is THE LoZ I love. You CAN wander off for side business, but - and it's very important to me - you always understand where to go and you are clearly walled off from areas, where you are not supposed to go to. So in case I can't skip two holes at a time I understand that I just don't have an item for that, and it's not my lack of skill or absence of a generic consumable in certain quantity. For a person with limited time for gaming it just feels as a more robust experience.
So it's nice to see that such "old-school-but-not-NES-style-old-school" Zelda titles are in high demand. Maybe it will open the way for Oracle of../Minish Cap remasters, even DS titles remade!
Re: Light And Shadow Guide The Way In Candleman, A Pretty 3D Platformer Headed To Switch
Ahhh, this one's was actually pretty good on iOS. The low-light setting was really refreshing, and lighting was superb. One of the few actually memorable mobile games I have played.
Re: Review: Spyro Reignited Trilogy - A Blast From The Past That's Still Got Wings
Having never played the original on the PSOne, I eagerly got the trilogy on the Xbox One X at release...and was shocked how boring the first game was. Maybe I should have played it back in the day to feel the charm, but I wasn't able to bring myself to finish it. On a side note, the same happened to me with Crash Bandicoot. The first game of the collection was entertaining, but very hard - hard as nails - and controls felt very...boxy. Apparently, retro remasters are not my thing.
Re: Aladdin And The Lion King Are Reportedly Being Remastered For Switch
Ahhh, dang! I know that the MegaDrive version of Alladdin is better (I've played it back in the day on my friend's MegaDrive and emulated it countless times), but I've grown up with the SNES version, and I really want it. On the other hand, Lion King versions are virtually identical (well, as far as you can overlook technical differences of the platforms). I understand all the difficulties of licensing, but still...
Re: Nintendo's North American Website Now Only Advertises The 2DS Line
@Anti-Matter
Oh, I see. While my own perception is different, I'm sure Nintendo must be happy (hell, even proud) to have such a fan, you're really one in a million.
Re: Nintendo's North American Website Now Only Advertises The 2DS Line
@Anti-Matter
Man, I don't mean to count your money, to each their own and everyone is free to do whatever makes him or her happy, - but that's one hell of investment. You really can modify your 3DS just to make it region free. That would technically allow piracy, but nobody makes you pirate your games if you don't want (and thumbs up for that!). It's not that gaming experience is different on a 3DS of a different region, you get the same user experience on a Japanese 3DS with Japanese game cards... So, what's the point?
Re: Nintendo's North American Website Now Only Advertises The 2DS Line
While I understand preferences may vary, I'm all for the 2DS XL.
I, for ones, got a Lime Green 2DS XL after owning a New 3DS (non-XL) and feel like it's quite an upgrade.
Re: EA CEO Defends Microtransactions, Says It’s "Actually Possible" To Do It Right
@Realnoize
Yes, but that's what happens when a small, enthusiast-driven industry attracts serious money. Not that it has not happened in, say, the film industry. Again, I'm not happy with that, but that's what's happening. The more money are needed to make a game, the more large corporations are involved, the more "heartless" their approach is. You need a safe product which will bring revenue on your investment.
Re: EA CEO Defends Microtransactions, Says It’s "Actually Possible" To Do It Right
I personally absolutely dislike loot boxes, but we have to admit they are not going anywhere.
The reason is simple - costs of development. They keep growing, but raising MSRP for AAA-titles becomes increasingly difficult. It's $60 now for a standard edition, making it $70 would cause an uproar. So we have it - half-heated remasters (aka selling the same game twice), DLC, games as a service (updating content for one game instead of working on its sequel or a new title) - and loot boxes. For mobile it's as hard as Free-to-Play, because mobile gamers apparently don't stomach premium prices. This will only be resolved trough streaming, I believe.
Re: Russian Nintendo CEO Caught Ranting On Official Live Stream As Management Breaks Down
As a Russian Nintendo gamer, I'd like to say a few words in Yasha's defense. Disclaimer: I have met him in person only once in the beginning of his career in Russia and can't say I'm a huge fan of his. My brother has worked in the Russian office of Nintendo for a few months, so I know a few things from inside as well.
First and foremost, the guy got the Nintendo business in Russia running more or less properly. The Switch and main games are easy to buy virtually in any place where video games are sold. When I wanted to buy a GC back in 2004, it was on sale in 1 (one!) place in Moscow, officially. With a whopping 5 (five!) games to chose from. The Nintendo 64? NO official sales at all as far as I know, or just nominal, impossible to come by. The GBA? Just the system, the games were all knockoffs. Like really, selling the system and not selling the games. It got marginally better with the DS and the Wii (the DS Light was even officially launched in Russia with a sort of launch event, followed by the Wii), a couple of games were localized, but the whole thing has died down pretty quickly to the GC state. With the 3DS launch under Yasha it got light years better. With the Switch, every major retailer both online and offline has a decent selection of the system variants and the games. They are actually advertised on TV and promoted in the Internet. Major titles are getting localized into Russian. The eShop and the Switch firmware are localized. Yes, it's nothing compared to Japan or to the West, but it's a mountain huge progress in less than 10 years.
Then we should understand that Nintendo is a Japanese company, run in a very Japanese style. I myself work in the Russian local entity of another Japanese company very similar in management style. Boss yelling (yep, we are talking about Japanese guys yelling at Japanese guys as well) is absolutely normal for the Asian corporate culture. 2/3 of what has been said about Yasha's management style is not about Yasha, but about how a big, conservative Japanese company is run. I can bet my money on Yasha's bosses endorsing this style of management. Mind you, there's no Nintendo of Russia, it's Nintendo of Europe's regional office. And Nintendo of Europe management is still very Japanese.
Then, let's not be whining millennials. A boss yelling at you? So what? The wages in Nintendo of Russia (let's call it that way for the sake of simplicity) are 1.5 higher compared to the market average. Japanese corporate management style is all about subordination and carrying out orders (almost literally military-style), creativity is not what is expected or endorsed. This mumbling about how younger people want to be creative and developing themselves is their problem, not their employer's. You are paid money, you do what you are told, it's that simple. When my brother worked there, employees somehow had the wrong idea that their "business improvement" ideas mattered for NoE. They did not. They were supposed to carry out their duties diligently instead of wasting time for "creative" ideas no one requested.
Finally, being an active member of Russian Nintendo community, I believe I more or less understand what it is like. Yes, these are true Nintendo enthusiasts, who went through everything to get Nintendo systems when they were not easily available and they, step by step, have created the soil for the current Nintendo development in Russia. But they are also very picky. First they ask for localizations, then they don't like them because of the Russian translation being "too creative". They don't like the "Whole game in Russian" mark on the boxes, so they import European boxes "to look good" in their collection. They say they want the eShop in Russian, with Ruble price and accepting cards issued by Russian banks, but they buy games in Turkish or Argentinian eShops, because prices there are lower (local currencies' fluctuations, I guess). So the community is very vocal and very picky. Outside of the community, "general gamers" are familiar only with most basic Nintendo mascots. Mario, Link and yes, Pikachu. Yasha is probably right - the very notion of Evee's existence is generally very weak outside of the Pokemon and Nintendo community minority.
I don't mean to say Yasha is the next Jesus and is doing everything just perfectly, he also seems a rather short-tempered and even somewhat arrogant person, but shaming him in the comments without knowing the broader picture is unfair, I believe. Given his achievements, my guess is that he is staying.
Re: Manticore: Galaxy On Fire Finally Cleared For Take-Off On April 19th
Owww, that's nice! Kept my preorder, will be happy to play next week. GoF3 reworked as a premium title is a very good game in my book.
Re: Manticore: Galaxy On Fire Will Swoop Onto Switch On 22nd March
Which one is it? A premium version of Galaxy on Fire 3: Manticore, or the port of Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising?
Re: Feature: Nintendo Is Finally Taking One Of The World's Biggest Countries Seriously
@Windy. It's more complicated. In a word - no, the Switch is NOT a Mercedes Benz in terms of price here. Part of the problem is that people are still not completely used to the concept of paying for software - piracy was so rampant even 7-10 years ago, that very few people realized games also consume part of their budget. It was a "pay for the hardware - play games for free" concept. Than, the audience - those who play most are not ready to fork out $60. Those who are don't play that much.
Re: Feature: Nintendo Is Finally Taking One Of The World's Biggest Countries Seriously
@Anti-Matter, I was talking about PERCEPTION, not the actual games. Think of it as an image of flagship Nintendo for the general gaming public. Definitely not my own opinion.
Re: Feature: Nintendo Is Finally Taking One Of The World's Biggest Countries Seriously
Being a Russian and an avid Nintendo gamer, I can assure you it's been a very strange relationship that's getting better thanks to Yasha and his team (met him in person, a very dedicated person).
The "problem" with Nintendo has always been piracy. It's not the initial price of the hardware, it's price of the games that limits Nintendo products popularity. You see, for PC Steam has regional prices for Russia, so absolutely legit games are dirt cheap, even more so on their sales. Console makers do not. This alone puts the PC in a very advantageous position.
Traditionally, the console with easiest piracy ruled. Thus Sony got great foothold with the PSOne and the PS2. The PS3 was a tougher sell, but there came sales, the PSN Plus and second-hand disks. Much of the same can be said about the PS4. Xbox was on fire with the 360 and its pirated disks, but the One sells badly: too little exclusives, and cross-platform titles are dirt cheap on Steam.
As for Nintendo, the GBA and the DS were relatively popular, but the DS was overshadowed by the PSP: Sony got a huge fanbase and yes, easy piracy with better presentation for most games. The 3DS was first eclipsed by the Vita, but with Sony abandoning it rather soon and smartphone gaming failing as a concept, the heads gradually turned to the 3DS. And yes again, it got hacked by that time. The Switch is taken seriously, and is considered the only proper portable platform. You finally have no problem finding the actual console and games at big retailers and online (the thing unheard of previously), big releases arrive timely even on physical media. The biggest issue is game prices - the main audience for gaming are still school and university students and young adults. They don't have enough income for launch-day prices. 30+ guys who do, like me, are the minority. Yet the ad is aimed at us: you played NES knock-offs when you were a kid in the 90-s, the DS in the 00s, now all those characters are back. But "grown-up" titles are a must to sell it to 30+ guys like me with a PS4 under their TVs. Skyrim, Doom, LA Noir and Bayonetta helped a lot, Nintendo franchises except Mario and Pokemon are still too niche and are considered "childish".
Re: You Can Play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Right Now, But There's A Catch
@SDF
Unlikely. Cloud saves are tied to My Nintendo account here. Unless you are going to play the US version with an Australian My Nintendo account which does not make much sense. If you are an Android user you MIGHT be able to tinker with local save files (copy the "Australian" local save files, delete the "Australian" copy of the game, do a clean install of the "US" copy of the game and then physically replace "US" saves with "Australian" ones), but there is no guaranty of success.
Re: You Can Play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Right Now, But There's A Catch
So, I've tried the Android version on the Galaxy S8 (the APK version is 0.9.0).
Good news for Android users is that the APK floating in the Net is NOT hacked. It seems to be the one uploaded to the Australian Google Play with no modifications. It does not require any suspicious permissions and is able to download data from Nintendo servers. It also does NOT check your IP, so you won't need a VPN to fake your location to Australia to play.
As for the game itself, it definitely feels like a scaled down AC (in a good way). The familiar graphic style and animations are there, it just has the "open town" from "proper" games broken down to several smaller "camps". Have yet to see how bad the microtransactions are.
P.S. For people with limited data plans: the initial APK is around 58 Mb, later in the game it downloads 2 packs of data about 80-90 Mb each.
Re: You Can Play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Right Now, But There's A Catch
@Danpal65
Sorry, but no. The A8 is found in the iPhone 6/6 Plus. The iPhone 5 is based on the Apple A6, which is not bad per se (the graphics are handled by the Power VR SGX543MP2), but it might not support several "modern" graphical technologies, like the latest Open GL and/or shaders. Yet, having installed the game myself, I don't see anything that the A6 can't handle.
Re: Metroid: Samus Returns Makes Modest Chart Debut in Japan, as Switch Still Dominates
I wonder how many people have just pirated the game at this point.