themightyant

I've not played tri-force heroes or any of the four swords games. Played all the others. Worst, by a distance, were oracle or ages/seasons.

Almost regret selling my Wavebird, it was the best. But I was hardly using it at the time and sold it for £90 cash boxed. That and my Zelda Wii U basically paid for my Switch. Was a worthwhile trade.

@nkarafo Agreed but could do with a sequel too.

@SilentHunter382 That’s much better, it accurately describes the issue for SOME players. But let’s also not forget only a small number of players are as sensitive to these issues. The vast majority just get on with it and play. Every GTA has had an unstable frame rate yet millions play happily. Blissful ignorance

Though DF and others are so inconsistent. They rave about Retro games and yet didn’t call Ocarina (20fps, 17fps on PAL) or Goldeneye (10-15fps) “unplayable” back in the day.

@SalvorHardin FromSoftware games are a perfect example that validates my point though. I’ve played them all, and platinumed most of them when it’s not a needless grind. Calling them “unplayable” because they have uneven frame pacing is the sort of hyperbole that is unhelpful. Call it what it is.

I’ve become used to 60fps recently but can readjust quite quickly back to 30fps. However I struggle going back to below that.

However good games are still good games even with bad framerates. Digital Foundry, who I’m a fan of generally, and others use terms like “unplayable” when a game has an inconsistent frame rate. It’s total hyperbolic BS.

@Meteoroid Consoles are significantly more expensive in Greece compared to average wages. A mate of mine out there had a PS5 ordered and had to wait over 6 months for it to be delivered. They'd also taken his cash. He could have cancelled and asked for a refund but likely would have had to wait even longer.

Cheaper AND extended warranty... things must be rough!

Would prefer more luminaries from WITHIN the gaming space than these celebrities. I don't think they ever add anything. Financially we're the largest entertainment industry. Why does Geoff feel we need to keep validating ourselves with celebrities from other fields?

Do the Oscars or Grammy's get Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima or Todd Howard to present Best Director or Album awards? No. Why do we need Christoper Nolan or Simu Liu? What message does that send out?

Would also prefer more of a celebration of video game music, musicians and composers over getting in band's he likes.

I appreciate the one man army that Geoff is and everything he has done for gaming, yet I think we need to back our industry more.

Just buy a DS lite (or 2/3DS) if you don’t already have one.

Such a good game! DQ XI S reinvigorated my love of JRPGs that I thought was gone a decade hence. Hearing that wonderful music makes me want to play again.

Honestly I think so many kickstarters just think "We'll add a comic/case/keychain/collectible that will be easy!" but each one of those things requires a lot of work setting up manufacturing, supply etc. all at a reasonable cost. When you're business is video games these are each all new skills and business relationships to foster.

Artistry >>> Graphical fidelity. Botw's graphics age well like Wind Waker.

However they don't have to be mutually exclusive and it would be nice to see a little more of the later in the next hardware!

It looks lovely. Hopefully they stick the landing and there is a little more depth than shown. Looking forward to reviews.

@Kevember it’s no longer a billion dollar company, the last few years, and a few scandals (mouldy baby wipes and not as natural as they say), mean it’s worth less than half of what it was when it first floated.

Though I agree she’s been successful outside acting, though in truth It’s always difficult to know how much celebrities ACTUALLY have to do with the business side of companies like this. Are they just the figurehead that brings in the public or do they have a hand in actually running things. Usually there’s a business brain or two behind the scenes pulling all the strings, it’s mutually beneficial for all.

Regardless Honest Co. has been on a pretty solid downward trend for a while now.

So according to the documentation it's cheaper to kill or maim him by about $40,000,000?

@westman98 I've not played them all but probably not hugely. Though most of them likely did more to innovative their formula than FH5 did over FH4. Which for all it's wonder feels almost identical to the last entry, it's a wonderful game but very iterative.

It takes two in particular is a marvel. The number of brilliant gameplay mechanics that are used once and then you're onto a new one is staggering, must have taken a lot of dev time.

But as I said it wasn't just innovation. Release timing was unfortunate for this particular award as votes likely would been in to be tallied last week, the week it launched.

Ultimately it doesn't matter. You don't need someone else to validate your choices, there's always going to be personal favourites that don't make it.

@Madao Cyberpunk released 10 December 2020. Not September. It's definitely in the right awards, whether it should be there is subjective.

@Entrr_username It's rare that a game not released in the year (usually early nov - early nov) gets a nomination. But in a few cases like Among us the game only gains enough popularity to be noticed so that it is nominated.

@westman98 I get what you are saying about genre but Forza has a couple of other things going against it.

1) Release timing. It came out last week, the jury won't have had much time to play it all before votes were cast
2) Innovation. As good as FH5 is, and it's very very good, it also very familiar to anyone who played FH4 or before. Critics typically prefer risks and innovation for GOTY.

It's not alone. Half Life Alyx missed out on a nod despite scoring even higher than FH5 last year. It joins a long list like Disco Elysium, SSMBU and many others that have scored 90+ and missed out. There's only 6 slots at the end of the day

Regardless it's nominated for 3 awards, which is better than most!

Thanks for the heads up and interview.

@Stocksy "I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it." - Bill Gates (probably not) lol

I don't disagree that devs, or anyone, will find shortcuts to do things, that is working smarter not harder and sensible in most things in life. It's a positive trait. But it's knowing specifically when you can cut corners that is important.

I don't think that is the same as being lazy, which is indolence and sloth and a negative trait. There's a difference between the two.

@Stocksy True. It will be interesting to see if these files are in any of the other versions. If not then it would have been quite deliberate on the part of the developer to include them and not the 'lazy' approach everyone is immediately gravitating towards. But gamers seemingly have to have their pound of flesh...

@BongoBongo Personally i'm happy all the music files are included, makes them much easier to patch back in on PC!

Cute commercial. Love NPH. From Doogie, to Barney to Olaf and many in between.

@Bunkerneath Yes to Starship Troopers great movie!

I don't even play Fortnite but that's pretty dope and will pull in a different crowd. Fortnite really is on another level! Even SSMB impressive roster can't compete with the insane and diverse number of cross-overs.

I was convinced this was bog roll in the picture... bit bummed it isn't

You can send her to my house anytime @KateGray but i'd rather not be uncivil just to make it happen 🤣

@NatiaAdamo "Tencent literally called September 28th 2020 (The launch day for Genshin) "The Darkest day in Video Game History" I know you said put tin foil hat on but do you have a source for that? I googled it and got this comments section lol

I see that MiHoYo has now allowed Genshin on the Tencent store. It seems Tencent were basically salty at the success of a (relatively) young upstart and how MiHoYo initially snubbed the major game publishing channels like Yingyongbao (Tencent), Oppo, Xiaomi etc. making those companies miss out on their 30% cut!

So much BS in the comments calling dev's LAZY for not doing a native Switch port. Met many dev's, not one that's lazy yet, though i'm sure they exist.

The reality is making a Switch port takes a lot more time and money. ESPECIALLY when the target platforms are now next gen consoles and higher end-PC's.

Switch, while a wonderful console, is antiquated in terms of hardware by comparison. You'll see more of this over the next year+ and it has nothing to do with 'LAZY' devs but everything to do with time, money and sensible cost-benefit analysis.

HYPED! In the UK these weren't that big at all. But a mate of mine's parents handled some of the marketing for Force Five (yes it sounds improbable but it's true, lol). I loved it and was my introduction to anime. So he'd always give me Force Five VHS tapes that included this Starvengers, Danguard Ace etc. Happy memories!

Interesting. I like some of these but prefer some of the originals.

E.g. Spiral Mountain was more unique, with that twang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPUn5biib1c

I played this hard when it came out, but fell off quite quickly. It did push me into other forms of exercise though. So absolutely a win.

Having fallen off those in recent months perhaps it's time to return to Ring Fit!

$126.79!!! People will buy anything

@Shadow_Fox As a Developer (not VG) I completely agree code can always be executed in different ways that are more efficient, and Switch ports are often POSSIBLE. Never said anything different.

What I did say is that the COST and TIME associated with refactoring code or rewriting whole systems or even just specific optimisation is often prohibitive for just one platform. It's not that it is impossible, it's that it takes time and money, especially on Switch.

It will depend on the individual game and it's potential size on the market on Switch whether the cost benefit ratio is worth it to go the extra mile.

If it truly is as easy as you suggest why do we:
a) get so many bad ports
b) often get no port
c) get an increasing number of cloud versions

If it's so simple to just DO THEIR JOB as you state, why aren't they?

@Matl It's bizarre. Spend points on Wallpapers... yeah? no!

@Shadow_Fox Witcher 3, Dying Light are the sort of examples I meant by 'Herculean effort'. The W3 port was praised by Digital Foundry and others as a "mobile miracle", not my words THEIRS.

Of course it takes "MONEY AND TIME to port a game", that's the whole point. To go the extra mile and make these ports work as well as they do takes a LOT more dev money and time comparatively which is why we don't see as many ports of this calibre; why we are seeing more Cloud versions; and why there is increasingly no Switch port at all.

There just isn't always enough benefit to spend so much more time and money more on a Switch port. Often this has to be outsourced to a 3rd party studio BECUASE it takes so much additional time. And often to a specialist developer like Saber Interactive that really understands how to get the most out of the Switch. It's not always a sensible financial or time option.

If we want to keep seeing Switch ports then the next Switch 2 needs better specs.

@sanderev There is a difference between making a fixed 3D audio track like this that (yes it sounds cool) and proper REAL TIME 3D audio in a game that requires serious hardware processing to work in real time. Switch cannot do that, or not at the expense of other tasks.

My point is, I think you are being very dismissive of other innovations from others and over-exaggerating Nintendo's innovations.

"MS & Sony are purely hardware based and sell you the same games again and again and again, just with a better coat of paint." Like every Pokemon game ever made, Mario 3D All Stars, Zelda skyward sword or Links Awakening? Nintendo does PLENTY of that too. They just like to charge full price for the convenience!

I love my Switch it's a great piece of hardware in MANY ways, but not being frank about it's flaws and where it struggles doesn't help anyone.

@sanderev So you've played Astro's Playroom on a Dual Sense or Returnal with headphones and 3D audio? These are transformative experiences that enhance the gameplay.

I can literally tell where bullets are coming from in Returnal without seeing them.

@sanderev But that's the problem, it can't play most current gen console games. More and more are becoming cloud version or need a herculean porting effort to make them work. Or like the Outer Worlds strip back so much that you are almost playing another game.

This is only getting more prevalent as devs aim for PS5 and XSX

I don't need it to be 4K.
I don't need it to compete with Sony & MS.

But I do want a little more power. It's seriously old tech now and struggles on many games with more ambition.

Games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 dropped as low as 368p in handheld mode at launch. 368p!!! It looked grainy as hell and the frame rate was bad too.

I wouldn't mind a 720p minimum in handheld and 1080p minimum docked as long as those were minimums.

At a push 1440p docked would be great. It's a really solid resolution that still looks good on 4k screens would be a perfect balance but probably asking too much.

Aside from resolution a better processor and ram to allow better framerates and textures and just enough specs to allow ports of next/current gen games.

Considering how much tech has evolved I don't think this is too much to ask at a similar pricepoint.

@Ralizah "I'm guessing this'll be a cross-gen release with whatever Ninty's next console is. Hopefully around 2023 or so."

HA! i've been thinking this more and more with MP4, Zelda and (presumably) Mario all suddenly taking longer than expected.

It depends on the game, genre and price.
It's also always subjective.

But personally I would almost ALWAYS take a shorter focused experience over a bloated cut'n'paste fetch quest filled time sink

i.e. don't create needless busywork just to artificially extend the length of your game.

Having been a Wii & especially a Wii U owner I was a sceptic!
Glad to see it all worked out.

Gameplay was great!
Story was woeful even if it tried to hit some deeper notes.

Could live with the last but they did a dirty to Samus turning her from the greatest bounty hunter in the universe into a simpering fool crying about Adam and 'The BABY' ad nauseum.

I'm all for creating a deeper character but this was seriously regressive stuff.

TLDR: She became a female manga cliché! #NotMySamus

Many of these were great at the time, but time has not been kind to many.

@nessisonett I wouldn't be too bothered by Dune either... if Denis Villeneuve wasn't the director.

Brilliant from his early stuff like Incendies & Prisoners, to later bigger budget projects like Sicario, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049.

@BloodNinja "If that's the case, we will start to see more evidence, as the story seems to be in it's infancy. If not, then we know it's more hearsay."

I'm not sure this is 100% true. The studio is based in Spain and very few reporters have the contacts or confidants for this sort of access.

It's similar to the very infrequent reports of the state of some of the support studios in Asia. We know it's happening even if there aren't a wave of news about it. On the whole Western news has a very short memory and news cycle, especially for things not on it's doorstep, and it quickly moves on to something else.

In this case it's been reported several times before that the boss does a great job of keeping people quiet through a culture of fear and making a point of ruining people's careers. Yes these were just a couple of new articles and a few anonymous posts on things like Glass Door, Neogaf, reddit etc. It COULD be just a few really disgruntled employees but then why don't we see this after the release of every game with so many other studios. Plus there were similar stories after Castlevania LoS1 & 2, this isn't a new thing.

The Glass Door rating of 2.4 is the lowest I could find for any game studio, even Konami gets a 2.5... lol

Just to further add if you look at this Glass Door reviews it is an abysmal 2.4. That's one of the lowest I could find for a game studio.
Looking at other studios/companies comparatively.

• Mercury Steam - 2.4 / 5 (just 1.8/5 for Culture)
• 343 Industries - 3.0
• Retro Studios - 3.2
• Blizzard - 3.5
• 4A games - 3.6
• The Coalition - 3.7
• N.O.E. - 3.8
• Gearbox - 3.9
• Ubisoft - 3.9
• EA - 4.1
• Nintendo - 4.1
• Bloober Team - 4.2
• Insomniac - 4.3
• Santa Monica - 4.7

IMO Mercury Steam has always been a badly managed studio.

UPDATE: Konami gets a 2.5. So I guess Jim Sterling had it wrong all along, Konami is not actually the worst. lol

@Lordplops "Stress is a part of a lot of jobs, deal with it." BAD take.

Mercury Steam have LOTS of history here. It sounds like the boss is a total tosser. Loads of complaints after Lords of Shadow 1, even more during and after Lords of Shadow 2. Not surprised to see more here.

On the counter side obviously disgruntled employees show things in a bad light, things likely are quite as bad as they say. But that doesn't mean they are good either.

Reading between all the lines it sounds like a bad workplace with a top down toxic culture. That shouldn't be acceptable under "stress is a part of jobs"

EXACTLY what I expected.