Comments 54

Re: The Games Industry Reacts To The White House's Violent Games Showreel

markie7235

@Smaggthesmug sorry if unclear, I was actually referring to music played on the radio specifically, not albums purchased which you are correct would contain that warning.

Also not indicating music is not or has not been a target in the past. My point, which maybe I didn't connect it very well to my argument, is government tends to scape goat and choose mediums viewed as weaker and with smaller groups of enthusiasts to resist. In the case of music, you're talking about targeting basically every American and major wealthy organizations....in other words, a losing battle. The government views video games, wrongly, as an easy place to target. I don't think Trump understands that gaming is no longer a Japanese inspired hobby maintained by cave dwelling social outcasts, like it was portrayed in the 80s and early 90s. It's a multi billion dollar industry with hundreds of millions of gamers and massive corporation support and sponsorship.

Overall my point was targeting gaming may have been an easier target in the 90s after Columbine, but today it is not...plus all studies done have shown zero psychological evidence that games turn a normal person and make them violent.

Re: The Games Industry Reacts To The White House's Violent Games Showreel

markie7235

This comes up every generation it seems. In the 90s, gamers were a peripheral group and hobby. We existed, but not like it does today. It was looked at the same way people who read comics were viewed...outcasts wasting their time

Today, like comics, video games are main stream and part of our culture. We also have adopted ratings for games to determine age appropriate content, like movies. Not sure if stores still do this, but there was a time where stores wouldn't let you purchase a game if you were younger than the rating recommendation.

Video games can be violent or inappropriate in the same way that movies, tv, and music can be. These are all considered creative mediums and artists like to push boundaries. If the goal is to regulate games, than it's already being done through a rating system. If the goal is to impede on the artist and ban certain content, than why games and not the other media I mention above? Because gamers are still viewed by older generations as a peripheral group....but we are not. Where gamers once counted a couple million, today it's hundreds of millions, and we won't go quietly.

Side note: I don't advocate this, but if you really wanted a scapegoat, why not music? No age rating to play or listen to radio. Efforts to "censor" certain words are laughable at best, and music has been shown to support cultural revolutions, such as in the 60s, 70s, and you could argue 80s and 90s. Point being, it's an artistic medium less regulated and more influential, yet doesn't get the same scapegoating as games, tv, or movies

Re: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Will Light Up The Nintendo Switch This Holiday Season

markie7235

@Expa0 I know what you mean. I liked Pillars of Eternity, but it didn't have the same draw as the Black Isle games of old. I just found your reason for fighting or getting pulled in felt a little too forced. I prefered Torment Tides of Numenera instead personally.

Still, this will be an instant day 1 buy for me. Now hopefully we can get Divinity 2 on the Switch also. Love me some infinity engine games

Re: Random: Counting The Screws In NES Cartridges Is A Big Deal For Collectors

markie7235

It's really not surprising. Collecting is all about variations. If a variation saw enough production to be relevant to track, but small enough to be considered extremely rare, that's the type of stuff collectors go nuts for.

I don't recall how long they used 5 screws over 3, but it wasn't long, so those carts are less common. For purists, you would need the 5 screw version as it would be the original.

I can say for my store though, we don't price them any differently. We cater to collectors and casuals, but I don't know a collector who shops with us yet that cares about screw count, at least not enough to pay more for it

Re: Square Enix Has Been 'Tenacious' in Ongoing Conversations About Final Fantasy XIV on Switch

markie7235

FFXIV is actually a really good MMO. They had a good system for getting PUG going and made it easy to complete group content. That said, the last leg of leveling up like so many MMOs became a grind, and not the fun kind. They may have fixed that since, but it was a pain. Still, a good game.

Honestly would like to see Elder Scrolls Online instead on the Switch. It's an MMO I never grouped with anyone once on and played all the main story archs. I didn't feel like I missed out by not doing the group areas. And the story actually felt personal. Good game

Re: Reggie Fils-Aime Dismisses Threat To Switch From Microsoft's Xbox One X

markie7235

As a gamer and a game store owner, I must admit I am confused by the Xbox One X. I understand what it is just not who it is being marketed to. It feels extremely niche both from what it offers and the price point. The fact that not all games will even hit 60 FPS is also mind boggling. If the aim is high end graphics, I would think then competition is really PC, and I'm not convinced the XOX can win that battle. While the XOX is an impressive piece of hardware, I just don't see millions of people paying to upgrade.

So far this console gen MS seems to be so focused on hardware that they've vastly ignored software. The dominance of the PS4 proves that at the end of the day, systems sell because of games, and exclusive titles are the driving force of which console to buy. It may almost be too late for MS on the current gen at this point.

Re: Stardock CEO Says Nintendo Switch Doesn't Need Third Party Support To Succeed

markie7235

No console in this day and age is ever going to be a one stop shop for all gaming experience. You either buy multiple consoles or pick the one that offers what you most want to play.

Saying Nintendo needs COD, or anything else to succeed is to ignore what Nintendo has. Look at all the open world games there are today on ps4 and xbox1 that nintendo doesn't have. But guess what, those other consoles don't have Breath of the Wild, and having played many of the others, I'd pick having BotW any day over Horizon Zero Dawn.

I know commercially the wii u was a flop, but at the same time I truly enjoyed most of the games I bought for the wii u. I use to own 70 some wii u games, and even after getting rid of many, I still have 40 I just can't part with. To put into perspective, I only have kept 35 ps4 games, and 15 of those are games from limited run games.

Re: Stardock CEO Says Nintendo Switch Doesn't Need Third Party Support To Succeed

markie7235

Well if enough 3ds, wii u, and vita owners all convert, that should start providing a large enough base that many of the large western developers will not be able to ignore the Switch.

Now what that translates into in terms of which games are ported/developed, anyone's guess is as good as mine. I personally don't plan on buying skyrim for the Switch (have 100% the game already on ps3), but I might change my mind as we find out more details. However, I think skyrim will be a litmus test, not necessarily in terms of people buying it, but more so in testing graphic capabilities and ports. If it turns out well, you could see games like red dead redemption 2, and other high end games ported to the Switch.

It's ultimately going to come down to user base and ability to render high end graphics with minimal loss of frame rate. If developers can do it with minimal cost, and there's a large user base, they will be forced to reevaluate

Re: Stardock CEO Says Nintendo Switch Doesn't Need Third Party Support To Succeed

markie7235

The problem is when people talk third party, they really mean Activision, EA, Ubiso ft, etc.

There's plenty of good third party support on 3ds and ps vita that I think will gravitate to the Switch. Atlus, NIS, Square Enix, Exceed, Marvelous, Koei, and Natsume to name a few.

I also believe EA and Ubiso ft will support, at least to some degree. We may not see call of Duty or the like, but I personally don't necessarily see that as a bad thing either

Re: Super Bomberman R Is Getting A Free Content Update This Week

markie7235

I love Bomberman, going back to the SNES days, but they need to make the coins easier to get. Completing a world is maybe 400 to 500 coins, and each additional battle stage is over 2000 coins. While it does push replay ability, it does so in the worst possible way.

The game itself is a great bomberman game, but whoever designed the coin rewards is an ass

Re: Florida Officials Ban Inflatable Mario And Maybe Even Freedom of Speech

markie7235

It really depends on if it's on city property or not. From the picture it looks like it's on the side walk, which is city owned. In that case, they can require him to take it down and it could be difficult to win a lawsuit. If it's on his premises, then I'd say he has a good case on his hands, bolstered by the fact they said he could put a religious or holiday themed inflatable up instead.

Ultimately city ordinance rules in his area and where he chose to place it will be paramount to his ability to win the case

Re: Aonuma Says That Open World Is Here to Stay in Zelda Games

markie7235

It would be extremely disappointing if they returned to the old format.

Zelda was great before, but I hate puzzle games, and Zelda at times could be frustrating in that regard because you had to complete it in order to proceed. Now there's no lack of puzzles in BotW but I felt less obligated to do them, plus they actually helped break up the exploration.

I loved the sense of exploration in Botw. I couldn't put it down because I wanted to see what was over the next hill.

I think the dungeons (talking the divine beasts, not the shrines) were a good length and like the shortness of the shrines.

Despite claims they were open, the prior zelda games were very linear and controlled. It worked in the old games, but for zelda at this time with such a rich world and history, to not allow exploration like this, is like putting the training wheels back on the bike after learning to ride with two wheels...sure, you can still ride it fine, but you lose all sense of adventure

Re: SNES Prototype Quik The Thunder Rabbit Uncovered

markie7235

Ah Titus, they made a bunch of ok but forgettable late releases for snes. Part of the problem was the late release and low print runs on their games, making many of them rare and expensive now for collectors, like Incantation, Oscar, and Ardie Lightfoot. They weren't bad games, just were competing against a lot of other solid and higher print platformer on the SNES

Re: Kickstarter Title Anew: The Distant Light Is Heading To Nintendo Switch

markie7235

@electrolite77 if that's what you got out of my post, then seems like you don't really understand how new hardware launches work. I know it's been several years ago now, but when ps4 launched they made a similar big display of all these indie games coming. What they didn't say is those were the initial developers invited until they open to everyone.

Companies don't give development kits to every developer prior to launch, so only those developers they invite and send a kit to will halve anything right away. There's far too many developers to do that. Instead, they do a selection, and then after launch window open up to all developers for application.

That's not blocking developers, it's just a timed delay. If you want to twist that into developers are being blocked, go for it. If you think Sony or Microsoft are any different, you're wrong

Re: Feature: How Battle Princess Madelyn Is Fulfilling One Little Girl's Dream Of Starring In Ghouls 'n Ghosts

markie7235

This game looks beautiful. I love the background visuals. It looks modern while still respects the retro snes style.

As far as difficulty, I believe it says in the campaign information that difficulty will be adjustable so that hardcore G&G veterans get their fix but also makes it more accessible to newer gamers as well. Honestly if not for this adjustability level, I wouldn't play it. I remember G&G and it ruined my childhood. It was the first nes game I ever played and almost never played another game afterwards, until I tried super Mario next....magic

Re: Kickstarter Title Anew: The Distant Light Is Heading To Nintendo Switch

markie7235

Nintendo isn't really limiting, they just haven't opened up fully yet for general application. I was talking to a developer several weeks back, and for the launch window it was being done by invite only. I believe this was to ensure proper quality control and no issues as could happen. With a new system. Nintendo is expected to open up general application for publishing soon, and then any indie developer can apply and distribute their games through the Switch.

Honestly, this really isn't that unusual, but because it's Nintendo people take it and twist it to fit the narrative that Nintendo has no 3rd party support and is limiting access. Again, look at the list of over a hundred games, many great Indian platforms announced coming to Switch in 2017. There's zero truth to Nintendo blocking developers outside of general application to publish is not open yet.

Re: Reggie Fils-Aimé Promises "A Big E3" For Nintendo This Year

markie7235

I'm hoping for a Metroid announcement, but I'm realistic in knowing that's unlikely. Even if they do, if it's going to be another zelda wii u situation where it's 5 years after they announce it, I'd almost prefer they say nothing at all. I hate when companies announce hypothetical games that aren't even in the works yet (looking at you Zelda wii u, kingdom Hearts 3, etc)

Re: Nintendo's Share Value Jumps Following Report of Switch Manufacturing Being Doubled

markie7235

@NEStalgia though I agree with the point your making, sales forecasts are not exactly made up. There is a certain level of scientific approach to those number which accounts for demand, market, potential customers, etc to derive a number. It's not that the Wii U projections was poor, but the activities that needed to occur to make those projections reality did not happen (proper advertising, explaining the product, software support, etc).

To make sales forecast a reality though, available products (supply) has to align. I'm not sure what Nintendo original forecast for the Switch was. So doubling production is either normal to now meet those forecasts or is an increase (with possible revised forecasts) to meet unexpected demand.

Bottom line, if you project to sell 12M units and only make 8M, you've already ensured you will not meet your forecast

Re: Nintendo's Share Value Jumps Following Report of Switch Manufacturing Being Doubled

markie7235

Companies don't increase production unless they plan to sell those within a certain time line, normally a fiscal year. Also, keep in mind mario comes this year and there's still the holiday season.

I would imagine more software announcements will come from a nintendo direct at E3 as well.

As for stocks and investments, speaking as someone who invests often in stocks a day does fairly well in the market, I would say it's too early to say. Obviously buying now is better because if investors confidence truly goes up then you get in at a lower price. But with technology companies this is always a gamble. Look at AMD, they recently announced their new items and though prices are slightly up on shares, it wasn't anything drastic like what happened with Nvidia shares over the last year. Investors are not so much fickle as they look at two things, long term growth potential and stability and/or short term profit. Nintendo being as old a company as they are, I wouldn't expect massive swings in Stock price. It could happen, but with more stable veteran companies it's not as likely. Last, don't confuse stock prices with company stability. There are many companies doing very well in the market but lose share price. It's not necessarily a reflection of company health, and many times is a multitude of various factors. Look at Disney...their shares dropped over the last year, but when you look at acquisitions between Star wars and Marvel, and blockbuster movies over the last 5 years, plus attractions and other lines, Disney is in no way unstable.

Re: Nintendo Lost 'Maricar' Patent Objection Prior to Recent Copyright Infringement Claim

markie7235

@maceng the difference is Maricar is a company using Nintendo IPs, not likeness but actual costumes of the characters to promote their own business without permission. They are profiting off of Nintendo without authorization to do so. I cannot say whether true in Japan but in the US that infringes on copyright. It also implies a relationship to consumers between the two companies that does not exist.

Don't confuse dressing up for Halloween let's say versus this. The one is done by an individual not representing a company for profit and the other situation is exploiting the creative properties of another company for financial gain. There's a big difference

Re: Nintendo Lost 'Maricar' Patent Objection Prior to Recent Copyright Infringement Claim

markie7235

Nintendo can be a bit zealous when it comes to legal proceedings but I agree with this one. If an accident or serious injury happened at Maricar, given the costumes, it's not a stretch for a typical consumer to believe they are associated with Nintendo. Sure Nintendo would win a lawsuit as they are not associated but from a public relations standpoint it could damage their reputation, especially if God forbid someone got killed.

Re: Video: I Am Setsuna's Nintendo Switch Launch Trailer Piles On The Accolades

markie7235

Because SE outside of final Fantasy doesn't see any of their franchises as popular in the US or English speaking countries to invest in language localization to do it. It's not that they can't, they just dont. So we tend to not get the Dragon Quest games or this in physical forms. Maybe we get the DQ games but wouldn't count on it for a year or so after release in Japan at least.

We never got DQ X, though it is an MMO. Hoping DQ XI comes here but unfortunately SE has a bad track record on their JRPGS outside of FF

Re: Nintendo Switch Will Have A "Lot More Announcements" on Third-Party Games Soon

markie7235

I know now PS4 and XB1 have a bunch of games but if you recall the launch of both those consoles, there were very few games. I think the Switch actually has more launch games then either once you add in eshop...and yes, I'm also accounting for ps4 and Xbox live. Both of those consoles were pretty barren for about 6 to 9 months, and the launch titles for both were "meh". Breath of the Wild, all though also launching on Wii U, is a massive title for launch. Sony for example had Killzone and Xbox had Dead Rising 3 as their big launch titles. Zelda easily is a better launch game.

You can't compare a launch library to the libraries of consoles now 3 to 4 years old

Re: Video: New Nintendo Switch Footage of Minna de Wai Wai! Spelunker Shown Off

markie7235

Would like to see some of these games only confirmed for Japan come to the west with physical release. I hate how so many of these Japanese companies only give us digital if at all. Games that so far are not coming to the west, or digital only for Switch are Dragon Quest X, Dragon Quest XI, Dragon Quest Heroes 1 & 2, I Am Setsuna, and this one. All of these would be fantastic physical release compliments to the retail release library in the West. No region lock is great, but if text is non-English it still makes it difficult outside of the region of localization. Play Asia does on some games have Asian releases with English subs

Re: Pre-Order Puyo Puyo Tetris, Get Some Fancy Keychains

markie7235

I do like that developers so far are 9ffering physical goodies for preorders of retail copies of switch games. Puyo Puyo Tetris is getting Keychain, binding of Isaac first 1000 orders are getting a mystery prize. It's the little things like this that as a collector make me feel good about preordering. Unlike EA and others who publish a $60 game just to reduce the price by 50% a couple weeks later....looking at you Titan fall 2. When publishers do this, it makes people not want to preorder

Re: Unity-Made RPG Moon Child Could Be Coming To Nintendo Switch

markie7235

Guessing English is not their first language because the grammar, word selection, and sentence structure is horrible. I know that may not be a fair criticism, but people do notice these things and it quickly takes the Polish off of what looks like a potentially interesting project. Personally, if you can't take the time to do a proper translation and writing, I can't be bothered to let go of my money and fund it on kickstarter

Re: Soapbox: It's Nintendo's Job To Make Switch A Success, Not EA's, Ubisoft's Or Capcom's

markie7235

@BinaryFragger not to difficult, but high sales does that make a game good. And sadly many of those games get high ratings because of what they are not because they are necessarily good.

I'm not going to get into all the titles you mentioned, but I do have an issue with Fallout 4, and even 3. I love Fallout....Bethesda Fallout games are not Fallout. Fallout 1 and 2 are classics from the PC Era with a dark storyline and strategic combat that was engaging and so many paths to take. Fallout 3 and 4 are nothing like their predecessors. Are they bad games? No, but they are also not Fallout. They just bought out the name of a popular series, dropped it in their elder Scrolls engine, and slapped Fallout onto it

Re: Soapbox: It's Nintendo's Job To Make Switch A Success, Not EA's, Ubisoft's Or Capcom's

markie7235

The problem is people want realism and violence, to emerge themselves in the game. The interesting thing is many people I talk to at conversation tons reference 8 bit and 16 bit games as their favorite titles they ever played.

Someone else said it above, and I've said this for some time, Nintendo would be better off supporting old school arcade style and 16 bit style games with HD graphics to appeal to people's nostalgia and love of classic retro games. Retro gaming is a huge market right now. Don't believe everything me? Look at the rising prices of old games over the last 5 years. It's a market and consumer that plays modern games but few have tried to develop effectively for. Throwback titles like Super Bomberman R is a good start. If I were Nintendo, I'd double down on that and seek developers for throwbacks to the 16 bit and arcade Era.

People can debate me on this last point, but exclusives sell consoles. Respaw. Saying Titan fall 2 won't come to the Switch as a slap to Nintendo made me just smirk and think "and so what?". How many systems need another tired shooter which claims innovation but is basically a reinvisioned Mech Warrior FPS? I don't even buy many AAA titles anymore. I try them for 30 mins, get bored, and never play them again. But I can sit and play old SNES games for hours and then revisit them months later and love them all over again. There's something to be said for that

Re: 1-2-Switch Looks Set To Include At Least 20 Minigames

markie7235

I appreciate what nintendo is trying to do with this game, but 5 or 50 mini games, I still feel it's way over priced. I don't even consider this a video game. From what I've seen, it's more like those board games with a DVD or video component, like Scene It Trivia. There's no actual video game play.

I don't know, it will definitely appeal to some and that's cool. I just think for what it is, it's way over priced

Re: Nintendo Switch Lacks Pack-In Title Because It's $299, Says Reggie Fils-Aime

markie7235

@yorumi while some more tech savvy people might have bought the 32 GB for the black console, many consumers did it for the increased memory size. $50 more for an extra 24 GB of data and a game is not bad. I actually never bought an external HD for my wii u and I have around 65 wii u games, all physical of course.

@TitanX it would be nice for a zelda bundle but honestly it wouldn't save me money. Not sure about in the UK but in the US you can be a reward member with bestbuy.com or as an amazon prime member and get 20% discount on new games. I've never paid full price for a retail release game in the last 3 years. Aside from the fact that I'm a collector, I don't understand why digital still costs the same as MSRP as retail. I pay $48 for a retail release with discount or $60 for retail....hmm, tough decision

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