zidentia

Award shows are a farce anymore. While industry recognition is nice they usually devolve into politics, money plays or pandering to the LCD. He should have been given more time, but most Japanese developers and Nintendo developers in particular, do not go on long or over share like certain “actors”.

I read an article during the SNES era where they revealed that Nintendo disliked public speaking events due to misperceptions and the difficulty in relating their game design philosophy. It colors their strategy to this day although they have shared more in one on one interviews since the Iwata years. In my opinion TOTK is the best game in a generation and I am not a huge Zelda fan but I appreciate it more as time goes on. BG3 is a moment in time fan favorite that will be mostly forgotten.

A final note. I worked with some Japanese designers back in the day and they are some of the hardest working and loyal friends you could hope to have. They keep their feelings and opinions to themselves unless they trust you to understand because they do not want to offend anyone.

@Teksetter
I normally only purchase physical copies of games so if I pull the trigger on this I will wait to get it. As far as SE making more the issue is still probably Nintendo requiring a set order of cartridges which makes publishers wary of being stuck with unsold inventory. I would assume DQ is a series where they could prebuy with little issue but who knows.

Curious to play and see the price.

This “trend” is so full of misperceptions that there is not enough space to list them all. Young players want digital because they really think it’s easier and they may have only known digital as opposed to physical. Additionally if a company makes available 85% of their inventory as part A and 15% as part B they will say over 50% prefer part A. Really?!? If there was an actual poll I would guess the numbers are closer to 55 to 45 in physicals favor

I think they might approach this the same way they did the DS platform. The next console will simply be a continuation of the Switch line and the patent could be future thoughts on what could be an iteration of this platform.

Nintendo has a delicate balance they need to maintain. The very hybrid concept allows them to market this to handheld and console customers and they need to maintain the momentum they have. In addition if they change the media format from the current cartridge design to something new they risk alienating an entire group of gamers. The current rumors state there are two models, a digital only and possibly a physical media version which makes the most sense so far. Speaking to the backwards compatibility, I feel personally it would be a bad decision to not enable some type of prior generation transition.

If Nintendo does decide to keep the hybrid but break the compatibility aspect this will be my last console from them. I love the Switch and it has become my favorite console besides the DS but there are still a lot of games for this generation that I can get that willl hold me for a while. I am not interested in Sony or Microsoft offerings as I stopped chasing tech upgrades and value gameplay most of all.

I loved the Wii and skipped the Wii U which turned out to be the right decision. The NOS is an okay substitute for the Wii shop but it is not the same and the updates are too slow and too far in between. I do love Nintendo and the risks they take along with their focus on the game and not the tech but the next console would have to be unbelievable if it is not able to play Switch games.

Programmer and designer. I worked at a few companies that really felt like a cohesive group or family. It is nice and it’s easy to create something amazing when it is like that. The larger companies are nice as well because you have more resources and better perks but usually your group is siloed and changes are sometimes not fleshed out before the lead sends them out. That is part of it though.

@NintendoJunkie
I cannot speak to conditions at Epic but the unfortunate reality at many companies including the one I contract with presently is a consistent lack of seeing what is coming. Too many in management are reactive as opposed to being proactive. Many companies went from being constantly understaffed and always in crunch to being flush with people because they were fooled by the pandemic economics.

This is the core issue with most companies in the industry. Another issue is downward pressure from stockholders and board members who lack the requisite skills to understand how the creative process and the interchange between programmers, artists and audio/music just to name some of the contributors works. In other words the upper management has slowly been changing into Interchangeable corporate types who focus primarily on profits as they are reviewed and merited on these metrics so it influences their decision in business direction.

This in turn leads to another prevailing issue. Profits now rule most creative decisions and this can lead to rushed product, questionable game mechanics(micro transactions) and market pressures.

The company I contracted with recently make cuts and reductions for many of the same reasons. The industry is in a slump after an unlikely swell from consumers needing pcs, entertainment and diversions during a particularly stressful time. Any decent CEO and board would realize that this could not last and would not last. Also even someone with a basic grasp of economics would know that forcing billions of people to shelter in place would cause an imbalance in the market structure and lead to a massive readjustment in supply and demand.

As someone who has been in the industry a while I can say with an almost certainty there is no crash coming because the factors and the market are completely different then they were at that time. There is and will continue to be a contraction though and the more likely situation will be one of emerging tech trying to move entertainment, including video games, into a more profitable model without the need for specific or branded hardware possibly. This does not mean cloud gaming because we are several decades away from having the infrastructure to support that. The most likely probability is a localized VR/AI in the form of holographic chambers or projection hardware. The headset model will never be sustainable and true revolution has not been seen in quite a while. The current model of gaming has plateaued and so has the real profit growth. I am not sure what you have seen or experienced but I have been fortunate to have seen what some of the largest companies are looking at for future development and it will be a new industry when it happens. When ,is totally dependent on the hardware side of development. These companies are not what you would consider gaming companies but they have already made baby steps publicly while they continue to work on these ideas.

I also left quite a while ago for family reasons but I came back and I do contracting again. It is the right thing to do and I commend you for that. You cannot get that time back.

@PikaPhantom
Not any more than I already did. It is pretty obvious if you paid attention but that is all I can share.

He has recently left several clues as to what was transpiring behind the scenes at Platinum. It is not surprising and I imagine his gradual loss of control just accelerated the decision. I know what is coming and it should be no shock to anyone paying attention.

Stickers? After the piece of wood fiasco in TOTK I am struggling to see why anyone would support Gamestop now.

The ESA is a separate entity from E3. While the gradual devolution of E3 is indeed sad, it is starting to become apparent that it cannot continue on in its current form. E3 was of its time, very influential and wholly exciting and entertaining. The core of the issue is that E3 failed to see the change that was happening was created by the E3 event itself. The industry continued to grow, innovate and move beyond the simple geographical location based information dispensation.

I miss E3 and the excitement it created but the information age has instead become the information dump of rumor, gossip and misdirection and convinced everyone that the need for community events had faded much like the 8 and 16 bit era that started there.

The ESA will continue but I think they are overlooking the very real and important values of in person events. Additionally in person events continue to thrive and play an important role in allowing industry players to control and cultivate connections with consumers, gamers and potential users.

I do wish that E3 could continue but a full reboot is necessary at this point. A central location should be part of the strategy but they need to incorporate elements that others have started to use such as on line streaming with limited access as well as exclusives for in person attendees.

I will get it even though SMB 3 is the best Mario game. I am also not a Mario game die hard but they are great for quick playtime. I think much of the hype is the result of the lack of solid platformers from Nintendo. The demo looks promising and it does seem to offer quite a bit of replay ability based on what has been shown.

Mario is the OG of course and deserves video game respect but many people crave more complex and/or 3d rendered worlds. I was one of those but I have gradually came back to simpler gameplay as the world becomes more difficult to navigate. I need less stressful games and more happy moments and Mario and Zelda games fill that need for me.

Double Dragon is one of those games I played a lot and have great memories of especially playing with my son. Replaying it recently reinforced those memories but the replay value is not enough I would spend money on another collection. The Contra collection and the Castlevania collection were well worth it though as they still hold up.

@Switch_Pro .
I agree. Disney really f d SW up.

I loved this game and still have it. Play it in a virtual OS. A remaster would be cool and hopefully they can fix some of this issues.

The first was is good but I need to finish it. Is is sequel worthy? Maybe not for me.

I could watch that concert with those mesmerizing Pikachu, smoke a big blunt and sip my juice. Ohhh wait I meant to internalize that. Nothing to see here.

@fpcreator2000
Its very much the imitation game. Companies many times do not innovate, they imitate a once popular game. I get that there are economics to consider but I miss they day when my peers took more chances.

I have mixed feelings about it. It could be good but the simplicity of Punch out and its maddening skill set could easily be smoothed over and just become a one and done game. Punch out could have used better physics but what they had was well implemented.

I have not played much of the Pokemon series but this reminds me of Earthbound.

@progx
Its an idea but pushing into the latest hardware and multifunction devices is antithetical to Nintendo's philosophy. It will not happen. They are a Toy Company at heart.

I had a chance to demo the Alienware handheld at a show for Devs and it was an interesting concept. It ran super hot and drained the batteries in under an hour. It ran a modified version of what looked like Windows S but the reps said they had a Linux one working too. It had too many issues at the time to be feasible but it appeared Windows was the issue.

A better name would "The Mario Kart Expansion" building.

Also, it would be nice to have a demo. The price isn’t bad but there are so many games on my list to get and I need more perspective on this.

It definitely has a Techmo feel to it. It looks promising from the trailer. Hopefully it has a solid arcade component so you can just pickup and play as they mentioned. I stopped playing sports sims a long time ago because they just were not fun anymore. I might check this out.

This game was a gimmicky type based on the same engine. The controls are terrible and the puzzle solving is either lame or impossible due to bugs in the physics coding. After you jump in the air a few times on pink trampoline it becomes old and the weapons were not that great. Looking at the trailer, even though they say its rebuilt in a new engine, it appears they have not added any QOL upgrades and the possibly only fixed the frame rate issues it always had.

The game looks somewhat interesting but the character models just do not do it for me.

That is a great addition to the site.

@jco83
Ah. Thanks a lot. That is one I have not played through all the way yet

That was well done and a lot of editing. Which game is shown at 4:04?

The overuse of the Xray moves makes this boring. Also the use of the environment to create atmosphere makes the fighters and the moves look layered on instead of integral like the cut scenes. Personally I was bored on this one. I will go back to the N64 and play the best one.

The switch is a great console but so freaking soulless and boring. The Wii had so much personality.

It looks just horrible to me. Also why does every game/movie have to have “immortals”? This is not even in the wheelhouse of the original and seems like every other superhero game. I have the original in several formats and the genesis of the game is physical ability and solving puzzles. Not street fighter moves in Arabia. I will pass on this one. For anyone who feels the opposite of me I hope it ends up being a solid game.

@F-ZeroX
I respect your opinion but I disagree. It is best to leave it that. Thanks

@F-ZeroX
That is a weak and unfounded argument. China is not a capitalist society. They have a heavily polluted environment, pay literally slave wages and citizens have very little rights. There is no perfect society and for those advocating for a new world order it has been done and does not work.

I think using the argument that this game somehow represents a flaw in societal norms is a bit of an over reach. Anyone can agree that things have degraded over time but that is an indictment of the human predilection to stop being empathetic and treat others in a less than humanly fashion. This is the same overused tripe about violence in video games causing increased violent acts in society. The research has proven this is not corroborated and the problem lies in the person not having the needed emotional maturity to realize how these acts affect others. I will agree things are much worse than when this game released and people need to care more about others.

I also fail to see the “gross” aspects of this game. At the time of release interest in Wall ST and American capitalism was fairly high. I have never played this but it sounds like it approaches the gamification just about right. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making money and teaching others how to is also a lost art.

If you live in the western world of democracy you currently enjoy the machinations of this profit and loss system that rewards hard work. If people find this gross there are other societies that reward conformity as well.

@6thHorizon
I suppose it could be a generational perspective but the name PlayStation is not used as a euphemism by anyone I have have met for video games. Nintendo, on the other hand, is more normally used especially in light of the fact they have been in the industry almost from the beginning.

The author makes some salient points about the lack of customization. Obviously he has valid reasons for needing this customization as do others. I need remapping as well but this inability to do so is in stark contrast to PC gaming where changing the inputs is really a core part of it.

A previous comment mentioned the Japanese culture and that is certainly part of the approach in game development. It colors the control programming and gameplay. I read an article many years during the NES era and the interviewer asked the same questions about accessibility and the response was they felt it would be impossible to plan for every possible need so they offered button mapping only and then pointed out the aftermarket controllers that could address the issue. I think they are empathetic towards the needs of accessibility but culturally they have not been conditioned to see it as a problem with a singular solution. They see it as the village steps in to assist and this works in Japanese society but not everywhere in the world.

The gruesome and gory content of movies and games is just sad now. No one seems to have any imagination now and these types of injuries are not logical in any sense.

It’s not in the dictionary so it is a saying or slang

@Wheatly
Ok. It was not a word I could find so it is slang of some type. Thanks

What exactly is a “recency bias“?

It really does not bother me or I am unconsciously blocking the effect. With a lifetime of pc gaming frame rate, clipping and slow load times are just part of the industry.

Debating on whether to open it. Maybe I will resell it later

It had been a while since they posted anything so I had a feeling they were shutting down. It was nice to listen to the Nintendo perspective on games but sometimes it was fluff. It is still disappointing to see another avenue of game information from the company going away.

@HammerKirby yea indeed.

That brings back great memories of midnight release for games and consoles and of being together with people having a common identity but still different. Everyone is excited and respectful and amped up for what we all were going to experience together. The world needs more of this.

Great job Zion

I received it today with the amiibo but the case is somewhere in shipping and I did not get the piece of wood either. I may wait to play it since it’s technically a birthday gift. At least that is what I was told. lol

Already grabbed it