Messages

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TalkBack / Re: North America Not Getting Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 'Professional' Content

« on: July 23, 2011, 07:00:50 PM »

This may not be Nintendo's decision to make.

Remember, this game was developed and published in Japan by SquareEnix. The decision to only publish the core game without the professional content may very well have been made by SquareEnix and taken completely out of Nintendo's hands. It's not really fair to say Nintendo should have just done this or Nintendo should have just done that since they may have had absolutely no control over this decision in the first place.

Of course this does beg the question of why SquareEnix isn't publishing the game in NA themselves..

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TalkBack / Re: Pokémon Ie Tap? Impressions

« on: July 20, 2011, 04:31:20 AM »

Actually, to see a Nintendo franchise on something other than Nintendo licensed hardware you need to rewind to 2003, when Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation: Hiragana Katakana Kakechatta! was released for the Sega Pico.

On topic, it sounds like a poor man's version of Elite Beat Agents. Since I would assume this is being marketed specifically towards children, that would be expected.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo's Tipping Point?

« on: July 05, 2011, 12:39:41 AM »

Microsoft and Sony have made plenty of mistakes this generation.  No one can or will deny that.  The difference is that they have acknowledged their mistakes and have made attempts to repair their relationship with their customers, and they know how to spin these situations in ways that their customers will appreciate (the massive warranty extension and the Welcome Back gifts).  Nintendo talked a good game at E3 about wanting to bring the core back, and look at how that's shaped out with this incident.  As alluded to recently on NWR, these companies also have very public faces and places with Major Nelson and the Playstation Blog, where their fans can have the impression that their concerns reach those who can do something about it (even if the reality is not the case). 

Nintendo has essentially shown its fans on more than one instance that they don't care what they think or what they want, if the demographics don't point to them being a source of big sales.  If you own a Nintendo system, you'll take what Nintendo gives you and be thankful for it.  And as the Almighty God of Gaming, they don't need to communicate with the little people and hear their needs.  Imagine how much better this scenario might have panned out for Nintendo if they had simply come forward and explained their reasoning, rather than essentially a blanket "thanks, but **** you!" comment after several days of build-up.  I know I wouldn't have liked it, but I would have appreciated not just being brushed-off like I didn't matter.

First off, Sony and MS made no mistakes. These incidents were not mistakes. They were premeditated and calculated. They knew exactly what they were doing and they were hoping that gamers would be willing to let them off the hook, and they did.

Calling Nintendo out and then not doing the same for Sony and MS is not only disingenuous, it's down right idiotic.

For Nintendo to have done what gamers wanted them to do this generation would have meant the end of Nintendo. They would have needed to put out and overpowered system that would have cost them a fortune and then dove head long into the bribery wars that Sony and MS have been engaging in to get developers to make games for their systems. In the end they would have lost billions of dollars and been left in a position where they most likely wouldn't have the resources to manufacture a new system.

That is what gamers seem to want. They want Nintendo gone and they want to destroy gaming as a whole. Just look at how many developers have closed shop this generation. And they still haven't managed to get a grip on costs. If Sony and MS leapfrog Nintendo again, which is what everyone is expecting them to do, what do you think is going to happen to developers? Expect what we've seen this generation only a whole lot worse.

Nintendo is the only hardware manufacturer today who knows how to make an actual console that is cost effective and affordable. Sony and MS have no clue in that regard. But they are good at FUD and marketing.

It's just too bad that people are such easy targets for simple solutions.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo's Tipping Point?

« on: July 04, 2011, 11:47:07 PM »

People should be proud to say they use your product.

So... gamers are proud that they purchased Microsoft's broken system, a situation that they didn't even try to fix until the EU started looking into bringing legal action against them? They're proud that they purchase Sony's overpriced system, and even got that second job just to do it, because Sony said they would be? They're proud to have trusted Sony with their sensitive data, which they practically gave away to hackers?

Somehow not localizing 3 games is on the same level... No, no, apparently it's WORSE than what Sony and MS have done in the past. Or is it just that Sony and MS have so much more gamer goodwill, what with how well they've treated them over the years.

Or could it simply be that gamers have almost 0 (zero) long term memory and will forget all about this by the time the Wii U comes out. There isn't even any current or even historic outrage at Sony and MS that matches what gamers are throwing at Nintendo today.

There really is a double standard in the video games industry.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo's Online Network [Armchair CEO Time]

« on: June 11, 2011, 12:44:10 AM »

So maybe it's time us "Armchair CEO's" take a break from our busy schedules and pretend we know how to make it happen better.


So put on your thinking caps and gather your Board of Investors, Designers & Marketers and show us how Nintendo's Online Network should be run.

The issue is that no one seems to be able to think beyond what MS has done, and that's a terrible thing, both in the lack of imagination and in what Microsoft's network actually is. Online for games and consoles right now is terrible. They spend all day and night trying to integrate so-called "social" elements when they are anything but. What's so social about leaving messages or posting pictures? Yes, there are games where gamers are actually interacting with one another but the interaction is usually so juvenial or pointless that, well, it's pointless. How have we not gotten past the point where online is almost exclusively used in games where we shoot one another and then scream into a headset about what a looser that guy I just wasted was? Online has simply been used as a replacement for local multi-player and LAN gaming. And I'm not ashamed to say that multi-player is a whole hell of a lot more fun with real people actually in the same room with you.

No one is trying to push online forward. All we're doing is going around in circles and adding more and more garbage to distract from the fact that since it's inception, online gaming hasn't evolved one iota.

Where are the co-op games? And I don't mean just shooting but even there co-op seems to be ignored. Where are the puzzle and adventure games where you actually have to work together to get through the game? And where the hell are the online games that can't be done any other way? The only type I can think of are MMORPGs and even those suck because everyone is just doing the same damn things.

I want new. I want fresh. I want original. I want online in games and on consoles to live up to it's own promise and not just turn into a new version of Facebook and Twitter. *shivers*

I'm sorry but I'm just sick of gamers lapping up a 3rd rate online system just because they can't get their heads around the idea that there might actually be something better, far better, out there.

And I'm beyond sick and tired of developers refusing to try something new with it just because they're lazy and can't seem to think for themselves.

Now then, are there any Armchair CEO's out there willing to deal with those problems???

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General Gaming / Re: PSP2 - It's coming and it's called Next Generation Portable (NGP)

« on: February 03, 2011, 07:13:02 PM »

I actually think both of those concerns were raised somewhere in this thread and the second one I remember commenting on myself, but I'll try to answer them for you.

1. PS3 games have HD textures to be rendered at resolutions of upto 1080p. I don't know the exact math but I think that will be several time larger than the textures used for a PSP2 game running at 960x544 (1/2 PS3 res?). Also compression techniques are really good nowadays and if Sony's cards are like Nintendo's card (Sony's will likely be some extra-proprietary MemStick variation), they could have cards that are anywhere upto 32GB in size over time.

MGS4 was shown running a cutscene on NGP, but I'm sure they could get the game size down significantly, especially if it required an install from teh main game card onto the storage gamecard/onboard storage(if there is any) to run.

2. I had this same exact question somewhere in this thread... I'll look for it later, but I doubt we are looking at 25+GB for a game. alot of the same games that run on PS3 are possible with on the Xbox360 which only uses 8GB DL DVDs. Alot of the space used on BRDs for PS3 games are duplication of data to minimize seek time because there is so much space on the disc and the 1st gen BRD drives are kinda slow. I'm sure most PS3 games could and probably do fit within 8GB or less and most NGP games (in the first year or so) will likely not be over 2GB to begin with.

Okay, I'm going to get out of this before I get into an argument but you're making a lot of HUGE assumptions here.

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General Gaming / Re: PSP2 - It's coming and it's called Next Generation Portable (NGP)

« on: February 03, 2011, 05:09:38 PM »

I've been trying my best not to respond to this topic, or any topic for that matter, but I have a few questions that no one seems to be thinking about:

1. Can anyone tell me how Sony is going to manage to get PS3 sized games onto a DS sized card without it costing an arm and a leg? PS3 games on disc cost $60. How much more is it going to cost to try and get that onto a card? I just did a quick search and the size of MGS4 is 30 Gigs. And apparently that was one of the games that Sony showed off at the reveal of their new system so it's going to be expected to see it released on it. Since developers can't be bothered to compress games to get them to fit on Wii and WiiWare the idea that they'll just compress them won't fly.

2. Can anyone tell me who is going to be willing to wait hours for these games to download onto this new system? We're talking as much as 25 Gigs plus for a single game. Even if you're downloading them onto your own cards, first you have to buy the cards and then you have to buy the game, which will still be full price if the price of PSPGo games is any indication, and then you have to wait hours for it to download onto that card. And that's not even mentioning how impossible it would be to download such games over WiFi let alone 3G.

Logically this system makes absolutely no sense. It doesn't matter how powerful or what price the system is if the media isn't feasible.

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TalkBack / Re: Wii Owners Need A Voice

« on: February 25, 2010, 03:24:35 AM »

Dude, sorta depressing to have that outlook. T_T

I don't think I can agree to the idea that we should all just throw up our hands and not try to learn, listen to, and understand the market. I don't think anyone will be ever to tell the future, but man... there's a reason that Nintendo's still around after all these years, and there's a reason they're this successful. They try.

You just don't understand how freeing it is to not have to worry about all the little crap that goes on around the internet. All you have to do is buy the games you like and have fun. The problem comes in when you can't have fun because everyone else on the internet is too busy talking about useless things like this. Sure, you can debate the market and discuss trends and whatnot but that's really all that you can do. However that's not all that's going on here. Everyone trying to have their voice be heard, to make their voice the voice of gaming, is permeating into everything and the games are being pushed aside. How about instead we all just have fun. Get over ourselves and have fun.

The problem is quite frankly that the market is not being listened to, third parties prefer to follow the voices inside their heads. So our main voice is failing. Third parties keep making shovelware despite the market telling them to stop, if anything succeeds they clone it over and over despite sales dropping pretty damn quickly (i.e. the market telling them that the first game is enough). Things that work like RE4 or Red Steel are quietly ignored while failures like Madworld or The Conduit are pointed at as "proof" that the market wants only shovelware.

If you need something to cling to then this. This right here. Cling to this and realize that the real voice of gaming is being ignored and try and help that one to be heard. Please stop distracting people. All you're going to do is hurt the real voice... if anything at all. Most likely you're just going to waste your time which is a pity because it could have been used for something really useful.

Madworld & The Conduit were both profitable and Sega was satisfied if not happy with the performance of both of those titles. I also don't think either of those games are shovelware.

KDR_11K is right though, I've seen developers sight those title to try and support the whole games won't sell on Wii argument. It doesn't seem to matter how well Sega feels those games did or whether or not the games are of actual merit, others believe that they should have sold better (whatever that's supposed to mean) and as such they failed in their duty, which apparently was to completely create a PS360 style market on the Wii all by themselves.

The stupidity I see being vomited up by developers in this industry is staggering. Almost as staggering as the amount of useless arguing I see going on on forms such as this one. However, I do have to admit that for the most part this forum does seem to be more civil than most. It's just that the discussions are beginning to go in the wrong direction. Topics like "What Do we want from the wii successor" and "What We want From the Next DS Hand Held" have me very worried. Almost everyone seems to be throwing technology at the problem. I've only seem a handful of people, at that, saying anything about fun games. Hell, saying anything about games at all. If people here had had their way I would never have bought a Wii or a DS.

Gaming is about games first. Not the hardware. Not the grafixz. Not the bluerays. I'd hate to see them die out because people have screwed up priorities.

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TalkBack / Re: Wii Owners Need A Voice

« on: February 25, 2010, 01:36:17 AM »

I think that most tellingly, Nintendo GAVE the console market its voice in the 8-bit age. More than merely reinvigorating the U.S. console market, they actively created and united a consumer culture, especially around the print magazine Nintendo Power. After that, the following generations basically built from and adapted the existing methods of audience connection without needing to re-invent the wheel as much as Nintendo did in the 1980's.

With the Wii bringing about so much change, and in some ways hearkening back to the NES in how it redefines the people who play videogames, I think finding a way to make the voice of the audience more inclusive and more cohesive would be a great help.

Nintendo is following the exact same pattern that you said they followed back with the NES. Why is it so hard for 3rd parties to see that and follow suit? Nintendo has laid out the Wii market for them. They either refuse to see it or simply aren't interested. And considering that there was no need to "make the voice of the audience more inclusive and cohesive" then why would you think it would need to now? Besides, it's impossible to do that. No matter what you do you'll never be able to reach enough people and get enough response to actually ferment this "voice" you're on about.

Actually, there are those on the forum who would argue that that is already happening...

And it will ruin gaming for all. When has listening to a small vocal minority ever been good for the whole? I'm just glad that Nintendo isn't that stupid.

The market is a SPECTACULAR voice, I agree. But it's after the fact. It takes a long time, money, and effort to learn its lessons.

Oh, it's hard to argue with the market showing what doesn't work, sure, but the market is like hindsight. It's always 20/20. And frankly, after three years of "20/20", I'm sure we're all ready for something a little more proactive.

No. Plain and simple no. The market is the only voice of consequence. You may seem to think that there is something else out there but there's not. Yes, there is a voice here and yes, I understand what you are trying to do but it means nothing in the larger picture. You're a whisper in a throng of screaming voices. This "voice" you want, that you want to create, can be little more than that. You will never reach enough people. You will never form a strong enough collective. All you can do is hold on to your little corner of the internet.

And as for 20/20 hindsight. Who would have thought the NES would have taken off let alone completely recreate the video games business in it's image. At the beginning of this generation the Wii was predicted to flop and be Nintendo's last console. Every voice was saying that. Every voice except the one that mattered: The market. The market said nothing. The market showed everything.

All we can ever have is hindsight. Unless you know someone who can predict the future. I don't. No one does.

And the market will go on.

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TalkBack / Re: Wii Owners Need A Voice

« on: February 25, 2010, 12:25:21 AM »

If you don't know there's a voice, then you haven't been lurking enough.

There is no voice that matters anywhere near as much as the market. Everything else is superfluous... and ego.

And as for how long I've been lurking here... I won't even dignify that with a response.

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TalkBack / Re: Wii Owners Need A Voice

« on: February 24, 2010, 06:48:37 PM »

Long time lurker, rare poster... and maybe last time as well.

This is one of the dumbest things I think I have ever heard.

Wii gamers need a voice? Since when? Since when does any console need a voice any louder than the market?

I don't remember gamers needing a voice during the 8bit generation or the 16bit generation or the 32/64bit generation. And the voice this generation was just beginning to form last generation. Where is this so-called voice that the other consoles have that the Wii does not? Or are you talking about the rabbit console fanboys who fall over themselves to listen to every little soundbite that they can find? Because, believe it or not, 3rd parties don't listen to that voice at all. If they did, they'd all be out of business before this generation is over.

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TalkBack / Re: Resident Evil 5 Skipped Wii Due to Developer Ambitions

« on: February 25, 2009, 08:08:08 PM »

Is anyone else picking up that this sounds more like damage control in case the game doesn't sell anywhere near as well as they're expecting it too considering they're basically cutting off half of their possible market?