Messages

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General Gaming / Re: I for one welcome the glorious return of overconfident E3 2006 Sony.

« on: July 01, 2026, 03:51:41 PM »

Timing the announcement of no more physical games so soon after taking away digital purchases is bizarre.  Like your PR people should be on top of that.  But with this and the earlier GTA6 announcement about the game being a code in a box (did Sony coordinate with Rockstar on that?), it feels like the approach is "yeah, we're doing this.  What are you going to do about it?  Nothing!"  You would figure that this would be something you try to ease your customers into.  Nintendo is sort of doing that with Game Key Cards.  But this is more like a demonstration of power.  Execute some prisoners to keep the rabble down.

I was just at the Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo adding more games to backlog.  Turns out I've just been preparing this whole time for my eventual exit from the videogame industry.  I have enough games to last the rest of my life and it appears I will need them.

Now is the PS6 coming out in 2027?  It is strange to cancel physical releases mid-generation for a system but it makes a lot more sense if they go digital-only with the PS6 and cease making physical PS5 games at the same time.

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TalkBack / Re: Rapidly Analyzing The United States’s 200 Best Selling N64 Games

« on: June 24, 2026, 02:24:11 PM »

I remember a time, probably around the summer of 2001 or so, where my local retro gaming store had at least a dozen copies of Ogre Battle 64 with box and manual for 20 bucks.  Of course it wasn't a retro game then, just a recently released title going through its first surge of trade-ins.  I didn't get it, though I thought about it, because the game seemed intimidating to me.  Honestly, for my game tastes at the time that's a fair assessment.

I eventually got a loose cart of the game for $70 or $80 (all this is CAD) and even that has turned out to be a worthwhile investment.  But it drives me nuts to know I could have had it complete for such an affordable price.

Atlus games did have low print runs in those days, which means we actually benefitted from the Sega acquisition.  But something else that probably hurt the game's sales is how anti-RPG the N64 was and that trickled into the tastes of its owners.  The target audience for that game logically was on the Playstation.  I would encounter N64 owners in those days that would openly crap on the RPG genre, parroting the Nintendo propaganda verbatim.  It's ironic since the DS and Switch lines have been extremely good for RPGs, while Fire Emblem and Xenoblade are regarded as major Nintendo franchises, at least for the type of gamers that follow Nintendo Directs.

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TalkBack / Re: Zelda 40th Anniversary Release Is Ocarina Of Time, Launching This Year

« on: June 09, 2026, 11:31:02 AM »

Nine months between Directs, their "big game" is a remake of an N64 game coming out the same year as another remake of an N64 game and they effectively don't show anything?  What the hell was that?

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TalkBack / Re: Dragon Quest XI Gets Not-Quite-Switch-2-Edition Release, New Dragon Quest Monsters For 40th Anni

« on: May 27, 2026, 03:24:39 PM »

I wonder when "soon" is for the new Dragon Quest Monsters game.  They announced it for both Switch 1 and 2.  I would think that a Switch 1 release wouldn't be years away but they didn't show any footage at all for the game so how far along is it?

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TalkBack / Re: Switch 2 Bundles To Return, Offering Chocie Of Three Games

« on: May 12, 2026, 07:58:57 PM »

Well you have to download Pokopia either way so that would be the one I would pick.

If hardware prices are going to increase because of "market conditions" then software bundles that don't require any increase in manufacturing cost just seem like the logical way for Nintendo to try to balance it out.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Switch 2 Price Increase Beginning September 1

« on: May 08, 2026, 11:49:56 AM »

I didn't feel the Switch 2 was worth the price before and I'm not going to change my mind simply to avoid a price increase.  I can hold out.  I didn't have a Switch 1 until years into the system's life, content to work through my 3DS backlog.  Now it would be nice if to balance things out they lowered the price of games, which had been the worse part since day one.  Hey, Nintendo, if you wanted to get rid of Game Key Cards that would be nice.  Hmmm?

At this point I'm more worried about my Switch 1 breaking and having to spend more money to replace it than I paid the first time, which has never really been a thing in the history of consumer electronics.  But I'm also worried about my laptop and my phone.  The chip shortage is going to affect everything.

On one hand I am eagerly awaiting the AI bubble bursting but there are also concerns that the economy is so propped up by that right now that that would have a huge negative ripple effect.  Is the choice between expensive electronics and Great Depression Part 2?  Ugh.  And of course in all this is the constant fear that AI is going to take my job so buying a videogame system will be the least of my priorities.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Switch 2 Star Fox Reboot In Emergency Star Fox Direct

« on: May 07, 2026, 07:21:41 PM »

"Iansane are we friends on Switch/Switch2?"

We're not but that's not personal.  No one is my friend on the Switch.  I don't have NSO and don't play online games enough to justify it.  Most of the time I'm playing single player RPGs.

Though that's an interesting idea that Nintendo may have rushed this after putting Fox in the Mario movie.  If the goal was to get something out quick, a remake of the most popular game in the series makes tons of sense.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Switch 2 Star Fox Reboot In Emergency Star Fox Direct

« on: May 07, 2026, 01:54:13 PM »

I see a lot of comments online of people comparing the graphics to the puppets from the SNES Star Fox marketing.  I don't see that at all.  Never made the association until someone suggested it.

Something that irritates me about this is the timing.  The Switch 2 is just shy of a year old.  It has a high price and while there are outside factors that contribute to that, Nintendo is still asking us to pay a premium for this new system.  But what are they really offering?  For some dumb reason they held off getting Switch 2 dev kits to third parties so the third party support is not as good yet as I would have expected.  In the first year of the Switch they released Zelda, Mario and Xenoblade 2 and also the Switch 1 port of Mario Kart which to 99% of the userbase was a brand new game.  That's an amazing lineup.  The Switch 2 in comparison really only has Donkey Kong that is a comparable level, maybe Mario Kart World though the hype for that died down quick.

So at this point we're wanting Nintendo to really justify the upgrade to the Switch 2 and they go with a Star Fox 64 remake.  Meanwhile there are also rumours of an Ocarina of Time remake.  So this is what the Switch 2 is for?  Spruced up N64 games and framerate updates for Switch 1 games?  Like when Metroid Prime Remastered showed up on the Switch 1 I was thinking "oh, that's awesome for those you haven't played it."  But we already had Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime 4 was still to come.  It wasn't like "here's your Metroid" and that's it.

They go to all this trouble to have new graphics and create these new cutscenes and multiplayer and such and they don't bother to make new levels?  I don't think that would be that hard.  The trickier part would be in making the game seem "new" enough if the gameplay is the same.  But after multiple failed attempts at tweaking the gameplay with weird controls I think the fanbase would be fine with the same gameplay but with new graphics.  And the irony is that they're not calling it "Star Fox 64" so they're kind of presenting it in a way that obscures that it's a remake so a safe sequel would seem like less of a rehash than what they're doing.

But again it's just the timing.  When we're kind of starved for new Switch 2 games why are we dipping into N64 remakes?  You guys don't have new stuff in the works?  To me this is like what you make late in the system's life cycle because your top teams are working on launch games for the new system.  This isn't what you crank out in year one. 

Though part of it might just be Nintendo's weirdo approach these days to announcing upcoming releases.  This is out next month but by keeping things quiet it makes the upcoming schedule look barren.  I think everything would be better if there was some big holiday 2026 game we all were anticipating but they haven't told us about one yet.  Like as part of big direct I think this would go over better, as part of the upcoming 2026/27 lineup.  With this surprise direct and the release schedule for the last half of the year being unknown it draws more attention and higher expectations to this one game.  Star Fox 64 remake as part of a presentation is good but when you set up a whole show just for it, it seems underwhelming.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Switch 2 Star Fox Reboot In Emergency Star Fox Direct

« on: May 06, 2026, 06:35:27 PM »

Such a whiplash.  I find out about this surprise Star Fox Direct, I'm excited to go check it out and... it's a remake of Star Fox 64.  What?  That's so lame.  Star Fox 64 is already on the Switch 2 with NSO.  They couldn't make a new game instead?  It's Star Fox.  You've got the basic gameplay ready to go so make new levels and make a new game!

There can't be a series that at some point was well regarded that has been so badly botched by their publisher as much as Star Fox.  Nintendo's instincts for what to do with this series is always wrong.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Changes To Pricing Of Switch 2 Games, Ends Price Parity

« on: March 25, 2026, 02:55:07 PM »

This is a very logical idea but, man, Nintendo is rather blatantly trying to steer things towards the all-digital future.  If I ever get a Switch 2 I already figure that I'm going to have to increase my digital purchases significantly unless I want to just miss out on tons of great games.  Now it will be a question of whether it makes sense financially to not do that.

Now how is this going to affect Game Key Card prices?  Are they going to be the higher "physical" price?  Ironically that seems like that would kill the format.  You can imagine physical game enthusiasts willing to pay a premium but why would anyone pay extra for what is essentially a digital version?  But then if GKCs die to push people towards digital purchases they accomplished their goal.

Of course the true result of this is that physical media is outright killed.  Then the prices go up.  Then games you "bought" become rentals.  I feel this has always been inevitable.  It's just unfortunate that Nintendo is so aggressively putting their thumb on the scale after the Switch 1 was actually a very good system for physical releases.

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TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Pokopia Sells 2.2 Million Copies In Opening Weekend, 1 Million In Japan Alone

« on: March 13, 2026, 05:50:38 PM »

I'm going to guess that very few people who are actually aware of what a Game Key Card is wants them.  Buying the game digitally outright where you can literally get it within minutes of buying it, can bring it travelling with you without bringing a bunch of cards, can swap games without having to open the card slot and possibly take the Switch 2 out of the dock, and not have a physical package that actually contains nothing eating up space in your house all seems vastly more convenient.  I imagine the "well I can resell it" crowd is pretty small.  I figure most people have bought these things without fully paying attention to what they're getting and might not even have noticed its not the real deal if the first time they loaded it they were connected to the internet.

After Nintendo said they wouldn't release Game Key Cards for their own published titles they backed out on that and then picked a Pokemon game to be their first title.  That is pretty shrewd.  Pokemon is an ideal title for this because its target audience is kids who don't know better and relatives of kids that probably have no idea that the Switch 2 games on the store shelf actually have multiple variations of Game Key Cards, full physical games and Switch 1 games that update to Switch 2 games.

The game itself is a follow up to Dragon Quest Builders, which is awesome, so I don't doubt for a second that Pokopia is as good as the reviews suggest.  If I had a Switch 2 I would probably get it... as a download from the eShop.

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TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Winds And Waves Announced For 2027 Release

« on: February 27, 2026, 12:18:51 PM »

With this and the new Fire Emblem my brother has realized that a Switch 2 purchase for him is now inevitable, it's just a matter of time.

Despite all of its technical issues Pokemon Scarlett was still one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played.  It was pretty much the Pokemon game I wanted on the Gamecube (with visuals to match lol).  So if this is more of that except the game actually runs half decently, that will be pretty tempting.  But it's not coming out until 2027 so I have lots of time to think about any future Switch 2 purchase.  And I'm pretty infrequent in buying Pokemon games.  I tend to get on board every three generations or so.

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TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Fire Red And Leaf Green To Release On Switch February 27, Pokemon Presents Announced

« on: February 20, 2026, 12:03:52 PM »

On one hand it's really odd that this isn't part of the Nintendo Only GBA titles.  But on the other hand it is rather stupid that Nintendo's retro titles are exclusive to a subscription service with no way to purchase something permanently.  So in that sense this is preferable.

There is segment of the Switch userbase that wants a Virtual Console store to buy the classic titles.  An ideal situation would be to make all the games available in both.  Sign up for Nintendo Online and you get free access to these games but if you want to buy any individual title you can.

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TalkBack / Re: Konami Reveals Multiple Switch Family Titles Including First MGS Ghost Babel Rerelease

« on: February 13, 2026, 11:47:13 AM »

My brother is a big Metroidvania buff.  For reference he suffered through Bloodstained's lousy Switch port.  When I told him there was a new Castlevania at a Sony presentation he was ready to buy a PS5... until I told him it's coming to the Switch as well.

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TalkBack / Re: Mega Man 40th Anniversary Game Highlights Switch 2 And Switch Announcements At Winter Game Fest

« on: December 12, 2025, 11:42:18 AM »

I'm rather delighted that a Switch 1 game has been announced for 2027.  That's a way's off so who knows if they'll bother with it by the time we get there but for now it's cool.  I hope the Switch 1 still gets releases at least up to its tenth birthday.

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TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Legends Z-A Mega Dimension DLC Opens December 10

« on: November 06, 2025, 12:21:45 PM »

Seems way too soon to release DLC.  A lot of the kids that make up the Pokemon target audience have probably not played the game yet because they're going to get it as a Christmas present.  Let them get it for Christmas, play for a few months, then time the DLC with when those kids are just starting to get bored with it but would be interested in new content to spice it back up.  Now I suppose Nintendo might be thinking that the idea is for the DLC to be the Christmas present.

We know what this and the DK DLC are.  They were released so soon after the game's release that you know they were at worst almost finished when the base game launched.  A lot of DLC is just taking a chunk of the game out and charging extra for it.  But Nintendo can be a little more clever about this and not make it so obvious.  Have some patience and wait at least six months.  "We made some more content for that game you love" is such a better sell than "We held back on this to make you pay extra for it."

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Shifting Development Focus To Switch 2

« on: November 05, 2025, 02:05:49 PM »

Pokemon Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 are the two big new releases that are for both Switch 1 and 2 and they were announced as Switch 1 games well before the Switch 2 was revealed.  Development had already been done and they probably didn't want the PR hit from cancelling the Switch 1 versions.  So in that sense Nintendo has been quite good at making sure their new Switch 2 games are exclusive to the platform, far better than Sony or MS have done recently.

Third parties are different though.  I still expect a new third party game announcement to be on both platforms.  It's not universal but I figure those publishers want to cover their bases by not locking out the Switch 1 userbase for the time being.  But then maybe that will change if Nintendo's own efforts steers things more blatantly towards the Switch 2 than Sony and MS do.

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General Chat / Re: The Major League Baseball Thread: Did SI Swipe The 2025 Sports Almanac?

« on: November 02, 2025, 10:59:31 AM »

Losing the finals is the worst feeling in sports.  You can have seasons where you're just garbage the whole year but that's not so bad because you just lose interest and do other things.  But when you lose in the finals you put in the same amount of investment as the fans of the team that won, only you have nothing to show for it.

What frustrates me is of the the four losses, the Jays could have easily won three of them.  Bichette had this brain fart where he was thrown out off base in game 3 because he thought the batter was walked.  Later that very batter made it home, meaning Bichette who should have been in front of him would have made it home and then that game never goes into extra innings with the Jays having an extra run.  In game 6 we've got runners on third and second with no outs.  One hit and the World Series is ours.  Somehow only two more batters come up.  The last out is a double-play because Barger is off base when the ball gets caught.  That's two baserunning mistakes that you would expect out of little leaguers.  How on Earth do professional baseball players mess up like that?

I'm just so frustrated and rather pissed off.  It was in our grasps.  Should have won it.

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General Chat / Re: The Major League Baseball Thread: Did SI Swipe The 2025 Sports Almanac?

« on: October 23, 2025, 07:37:55 PM »

Well, my team is in the World Series.  Been a while since that happened.  I don't know how likely they are to beat the Dodgers but let's give it a go.  My brother is so bummed out about the Mariners though.

Two years ago, Vlad Guerrero was caught napping off the base in the playoffs and got thrown out.  At this point the Jays were making their third appearance in the wild card round, where they were swept every single time.  I was fed up.  I figured Vladdy didn't have it and that they should do something drastic to shake up the roster.  I felt the core were good players that didn't take it seriously when it mattered.  I was thinking of when the Jays won the World Series how they had underachieved with a good roster for years and then made a big trade of McGriff/Fernandez for Alomar/Carter, a lateral move on paper but a shake-up to a stale roster that wasn't getting it done.  When they resigned Guerrero to a big contract I thought it was a questionable move.  Giving a playoff underachiever a big contract is a classic mistake.

Uh, I'm an idiot.  Don't let me run your baseball team.

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General Chat / Re: The Major League Baseball Thread: Did SI Swipe The 2025 Sports Almanac?

« on: September 26, 2025, 02:55:42 PM »

The Jays are my team but with the Mariners being the closet team to me and having gone to games in Seattle many times I have a soft spot for them as well.  My brother is an outright M's fan, so with both teams in the playoffs it could get interesting in my family, if it ends up being him against our dad and I.  It's going to eat a lot into Switch time but it will be nice to watch the playoffs with Dad.  Brings back memories of '92.

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TalkBack / Re: Switch Online Expansion Pack Breaks Glass, Unleashes Virtual Boy

« on: September 12, 2025, 02:06:21 PM »

You have to buy an accessory to play games that you cannot actually buy.  If you're a collector I almost suggest you buy the plastic model.  Though it will eventually become totally useless, they're probably going to sell and make so few of these things that it will probably be a valuable collector's item someday.  I'm thinking like how Pokemon Box was laughed at when it came out and now is a Gamecube holy grail item.

The frustrating thing is that they had a system on the market for years that had glasses free 3D and they didn't re-release these games then.

What they really should do is sell the accessory with the games built in.  You still need a Switch or Switch 2 but no subscription necessary.  For a niche product like this it makes no sense to combine an expensive purchase with a subscription.  For the accessory and all of the games, $100 is not a terrible value.  But the approach they're going with is laughably greedy for a product that's notorious for being a huge bomb.  Will they even sell a thousand of these things?

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TalkBack / Re: Next Nintendo Direct To Air September 12

« on: September 12, 2025, 11:22:53 AM »

Yeah, that Danganronpa 2 remake was rather strange.  That game is already available on the Switch and by extension Switch 2.  And if they're going to remake the series why wouldn't they start with the first one?

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TalkBack / Re: Next Nintendo Direct To Air September 12

« on: September 12, 2025, 10:57:14 AM »

Well this wasn't really worth getting up at 6AM for.  We got the Metroid date and it's this year so that's good!

Switch 1 is still getting a lot of stuff but I can't really think of anything from this Direct that wasn't already announced that I can see picking up.  On the Switch 2 side, there's some interesting stuff.  I haven't gotten into the Fire Emblem series yet but I know it has a strong fanbase.  Monter Hunter Stories 3 looks interesting to me.  Neither of those would convince me to get a Switch 2 though.  Even in regards to the ports I wanted on a Switch 2, we're still not getting them.  I figured we would see games like Metaphor: Refantasio and Visons of Mana - like all the stuff that skipped the Switch 1 but still made the PS4, but they haven't shown up.

Something I really don't like about the format of these things is that they'll show a trailer and then a Nintendo guy will explain the very thing you just saw.  Don't bother with that.  It just drags the presentation on.

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TalkBack / Re: Next Nintendo Direct To Air September 12

« on: September 10, 2025, 02:40:06 PM »

@IANSANE - You don’t want to try Donkey Kong? Or have you yet? It’s such a good game and while I don’t know your tastes any longer I think you would absolutely love it. Phooey on that 8.5! That game is a solid 9.99999999 all the way around! And I don’t just say this as Donkey Kong nutcase, it is really a great game!

It looks like a great game but getting a Switch 2 and a copy of the game would cost me $730 CAD.  With the Switch 1 still getting lots of support and the Switch 2 lineup being pretty thin I can't justify that price.  I need multiple games that I can't get on the Switch 1 and a price cut for both the system and games in my country would help a lot too.  I might need a stronger Canadian dollar to get the second part.

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TalkBack / Re: Next Nintendo Direct To Air September 12

« on: September 10, 2025, 11:56:38 AM »

If we don't get a release date for Metroid Prime 4 this time I'm going to... well I guess I won't not buy the game because my whole reason for caring is from wanting to play it.  And I'm not going to stop buying Switch 1 games.  I could refuse to buy a Switch 2 but I'm sort of already doing that, not really out of a principle but just a lack of justification for the price tag.

Okay, so there is really nothing I'm willing to do to Nintendo.  But I'll be very mad and will badmouth them on the internet, uh, so there!