Topic: Episode 204: James and the Giant Pitch

[Jonnyboy117]

Who knew that Pacifism could lead to war?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/23801

We've got a classic-format episode for you this week. It starts with Greg's run-down of the annual post-E3 event in London, where Nintendo of Europe presents some (not all, unfortunately) of the company's demos for members of the press who didn't make it to Los Angeles. Greg finally has first-hand impressions of 3DS and also gives his much anticipated thoughts on the Metroid: Other M demo. See if he makes it through without saying "the baby"!

James is still mired in Tales of Vesperia, but he did make time for a new and surprising game: MLB 2k10. Turns out that Mr. Jones is a closeted baseball fan, and he gives the pros and cons of not playing one of these simulations since N64's Ken Griffey Jr. game. Meanwhile, Jon got a ridiculous deal on Final Fantasy XIII and has already played more of it than Chrono Trigger. He and Jonny also share tales of their recent co-op exploits in Modern Warfare 2 and ignite a few thoughts on the past and future of cooperative online games for Wii. Jonny wraps the New Business segment with victorious cheers for Bit.Trip Runner, a budding romance with Starcraft 2, and an offering of major props to the new god of Geometry Wars 2, fellow staff member Jared Rosenberg.

After the break, we bust out some awesome Listener Mail, the segment from/by/for our beloved fans. You griped about Netflix aspect ratios on Wii, worried that Apple's handhelds could usurp Nintendo 3DS, requested obscure 2D platformers, and desired entry to the hallowed grounds of F-Zero and Pikmin. Naturally, we felt it our duty to respond.

Don't forget, next episode is the big Mother 3 discussion for RetroActive. If you haven't dropped your thoughts into the official forum thread, there are only a few days left for a chance to have your comment read on the show. We can't be held responsible if you fail to act now now now!

[AV]

great discussion on iphone and 3DS but I still think Nintendo should worry because Brain Age 3 -d sales may come nowhere as close as Brain Exercise Ap on iphone.

[happyastoria]

Jonny, I just listen to 20 minutes of your new podcast and I approve! I have one question: Is this available in iTunes yet? I can't seem to find it. Also, if you didn't find American Movie funny then it means you have no soul.

[AV]

oh yeah I thought Greg could have talked about his impressions in more detail he sort of just glanced over everything.

[Yoshidious]

oh yeah I thought Greg could have talked about his impressions in more detail he sort of just glanced over everything.

Even as it was, my New Business was the longest of all of us this week, so perhaps you can imagine how the editor in me didn't much care for the prospect of me speaking for half an hour before anyone else got a chance to get going - especially as I'd be reeling off a bunch of demos that have already been discussed by the E3 crew. Hence, I decided to keep the focus on 3DS and Metroid: Other M this week, but I intend to discuss my detailed thoughts regarding games like DKC Returns and GoldenEye on future episodes.

[NWR_insanolord]

I basically disagree with everything Jonny said in this episode. First off, and I think Neal will back me up on this, quit badmouthing DSiWare! Sure, there's a lot of iPhone ports on there, but, with the exception of Flight Control, all the ones I can think of are better on the DSi than the iPhone. There are also a lot of quality games there that aren't iPhone ports. Nintendo certainly supports it better than they support WiiWare; the Art Style games on DSiWare, in my opinion, are much better than the ones on WiiWare.

As for the iPhone discussion, I agree with the general consensus you guys came to, that the iPhone and 3DS will coexist relatively peacefully and not really eat into each other's market. You'll have people like me who'll buy both of them, but I don't think there will be many people who will see it as an "either-or" situation. An interesting point to make in regard to the argument that people don't buy gamer games on the iPhone and also that people won't pay higher prices on the App Store is that Square Enix is porting the PSP remake of Final Fantasy Tactics to iPhone, and they intend to charge $20 for it. The game is clearly worth that much money, but it'll be interesting to see how it fares.

Also, I doubt the iPhone will be getting a 3D display anytime soon, for the same reason they didn't put one on the other screen of the 3DS: the effect doesn't work well when you're using it as a touch screen, as it looks like there's depth there but your finger/stylus can't extend into it.

[Halbred]

Well, I think the vast majority of DSiWare is crappolla, as we discuss biweekly on the Newscast.

There are some gems in there, though. Besides the ArtStyle games, there's Dark Void Zero, that Fuse pinball game, SPOTO(!), and...Shantae. Someday.

[NWR_insanolord]

That's true, but the vast majority of games on any platform, whether digital or retail, are crap, so it's a pretty meaningless statement.

[NWR_Neal]

I own 30+ DSiWare games. I'd venture to say at least 20 of the games I own are quality...and then there's a total of 35 recommended DSiWare games from that feature I did back in April.

Also, there's been at least five quality games on the service since then.

DSiWare might not get notoriety, but it has quite a few very good games.


Also, there were two Griffey games on SNES, two on N64, and two on Game Boy (I believe the second one was Game Boy Color only, but I'm not 100% off the top of my head). Angel Studios, the company that made the N64 games, is now called Rockstar San Diego and just got half of its staff laid off/released one of the best selling games of 2010.


EDIT: Also, MLB 2K10 on Wii is a pile of crap. I reviewed it back in March, and it is terrible. As far as I know, it's basically the same crappy game that came out on Wii in 2008.

[Crimm]

That was a good choice, because as I understand it you got far more hands-on time with Other M than anyone at E3 did.

[KDR_11k]

When you talked about iPhone owners playing less DS I thought about my iPod: I bought it for gaming but now barely play the games on it. The main reason is the absolutely abysmal battery life, if you try to play for more than 1-2 hours you run out of battery. For portable entertainment it's mostly a podcast player and in that role it really has displaced my DS, I used to be gaming on the commute, now I listen to podcasts like RFN. YOU are the reason Nintendo is losing money!

You talked about wanting a new Geometry Wars Galaxies, while it's not exactly the same I think unRevolutionary on the Xbox 360 Indie Games channel can scratch that itch, it's level based kinda like GWG with plenty of variety for five bucks. If you want to play it more like a regular twin stick shooter with emphasis on shooting stuff yourself I'd go with the aggressive class path, for more tactical play the passive path is the way to go (the demo gives you the engineer class, that's on the passive path).

[Retro Deckades]

Hey James, I am assuming you never played EA's MVP Baseball '05 for Gamecube, Xbox, or PS2? This game is the complete baseball package. If you simply must have an up-to-date roster, then you might as well count this one out. If not, pick it up used for $5. It would take a long time to list all of the great features of this game, but here's a quick rundown of some of my favourites: Classic players and stadiums, design your own ballpark, excellent and helpful pitching and hitting mini-games, and the ability to charge the mound after being hit by a pitch. It also includes dynasty mode and AA and AAA teams. It sounds like a "jack of all trades, master of none", but it pulls everything off very well. I believe it was EA's last game in which they had access to the MLB Player's Association license before it went exclusive, and I still pull it out and play it often. IGN said that "you may be playing this game until EA gets its third party license back," and so far they have been correct.

[NWR_insanolord]

Yeah, if you're not going to get a PS3, MVP '05 is still the best baseball game available to you, by a pretty huge margin.

[Mop it up]

Yeah, if you're not going to get a PS3, MVP '05 is still the best baseball game available to you, by a pretty huge margin.

And if you do have a PS3?

Mario Super Sluggers is my favourite baseball game, though that's likely because I don't have much interest in the sport.

[NWR_insanolord]

Yeah, if you're not going to get a PS3, MVP '05 is still the best baseball game available to you, by a pretty huge margin.

And if you do have a PS3?

Sony's MLB The Show series is excellent and includes all those online features he liked in the 360 game, paired with a much better game. I'd still probably rather play MVP '05 if I could do it with current rosters, though.

[NWR_Neal]

Yeah, if you're not going to get a PS3, MVP '05 is still the best baseball game available to you, by a pretty huge margin.

And if you do have a PS3?

Sony's MLB The Show series is excellent and includes all those online features he liked in the 360 game, paired with a much better game. I'd still probably rather play MVP '05 if I could do it with current rosters, though.

Hell yea, insanolord! MVP '05 is the best baseball game ever.

The Show is damn good, but it's hard to mess with the greatest baseball game experience ever made.

[Sundoulos]

Just as a small plug for Radio Trivia, one of my favorite obscure platformers  is in the latest episode as the listener request...  You can't really call it a 2D platformer, but it does have a weird mixture of platforming-style combat and RPG gameplay. 

I'm surprised that no one mentioned Blaster Master or Crystalis!  Perhaps I missed them, or perhaps those games (at least the first) aren't obscure enough anymore.

I was happy that someone mentioned Clash at Demonhead.  Awesome, quirky game.

[Jonnyboy117]

Blaster Master was discussed last week. Crystalis is not a side-scrolling game, although I do love it.

[Crimm]

Not the GBC one, though.

[Sundoulos]

I guess I missed the side-scrolling criteria.  Listening while I'm working has it's drawbacks.

I've enjoyed the discussions about FFXIII.  I am a long-time FF fan (as well as being an RPG fan at heart), but I am unable to play XIII because I don't own a PS3.   It's interesing because many of the me of the RPG-centric sites I visit have the full-hate on for XIII; sometimes it's almost to the point where, I'm starting to wonder if XIII will supplant VIII as the most popular Final Fantasy whipping boy among series "fans."  The game's detractors often cite the linearity and the  tutorial nature of the opening chapters (which seems to slowly introduce new tactics or abilities) as two of the major gripes.  Of course, people who seem to enjoy XIII cite some of these same attributes as positives, and seem to like the stream-lined nature of the game.  It's interesting to me that the game seems to be more appealing to people who aren't really close followers of the series, such as Jon and TYP. 

Perhaps I could interpret this as Square Enix's attempt to broaden the Final Fantasy audience. 

[NWR_Neal]

Sundolos, you can get FFXIII on 360. It's not as graphically wonderful as the PS3 version, but I don't think it affects gameplay at all (don't quote me on that. if you consider it, do research for yourself about that).

[Sundoulos]

Sorry, I knew that it was on the 360, but I make the mistake of just automatically associating FF with Playstation these days. 

I don't have a 360, either...at least right now.  Getting married, buying a house, and having kids has wreaked havoc on my gaming funds, so sticking with just one system has been prudent for me.   I intend to buy a 360 or a PS3 (or perhaps a successor) eventually, and I'll catch up on some of those games.  If Sony would ever release the Last Guardian, or if Level-5 releases PS3 version of Ni no Kuni stateside, it might be just enough to push me over the edge.  It's a shame that Tales of Vesperia probably won't make it to the PS3. 

[Crimm]

I did finally beat Vesperia last night. 57 hours...

I inadvertently completed a mini-quest that makes the final boss MUCH harder, without knowing what I was doing. I ran into this buzz saw at level 61. I took him down at 71. And it was by a hair. And I used All Divide, an exceedingly rare item (I found two ALL GAME) that makes the fight far easier.  No question I would lose now that I don't have the item, even with the levels I gained post victory. Lose badly.

Who the hell makes a game where going the extra mile makes the game harder? A few weeks ago I noted that I was upset Vesperia lacked the "something isn't quite right about this game" quirks of other Tales games. Found it! A tricky optional mini-quest that rewards you with seven otherwise unimpressive weapons and puts you in a worse position to win. That's the series I know and love.

I still have the monstrosity known as the 200 floor EX dungeon, but I think I'll take a waiver on that, thanks.

[Sundoulos]

I haven't played Symphonia since it's release, but I do recall getting lost and going to the wrong dungeon, and I know I managed to do the same thing in Tales of the Abyss.   It didn't go that well for me in either case.

How does Vesperia stack up against Symphonia?  Abyss had it's charm, and a couple of characters that I kind of liked, but I preferred Symphonia, overall.

[gojira]

The original F-Zero on the SNES is still my favorite in that series (the first GBA game is pretty similar in gameplay).  I much prefer the skill involved in learning how to take each turn and deciding when to use your very limited boosts.  Whereas X, GX and the second GBA game have the boost/health dynamic.  That's cool, but basically you just memorize where boosts and health are located on the track so you can keep your speed up.  It's a rush, but not as satisfying as taking a corner just right.

F-Zero GX is only balls hard in story mode.  If you play regular circuit mode it isn't more difficult than any other F-Zero game.  Yes it gets insanely hard at the higher difficulty levels, but so does every F-Zero game. 

And my favorite obscure sidescrolling shooter/platformer type game is Metal Storm for the NES.  I go back and play that game all the time.