Topic: Episode 249: Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

[Yoshidious]

Games, emails, and controversy -- what more could you want in a Nintendo podcast?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/27073

We don't often get to deliver impressions of unreleased games in New Business, but James does just that with Solatorobo. It's a fantastically pretty 2.5D game that XSEED is bringing to America, and we do our best to save it from obscurity. James also has a few thoughts on completing Ocarina of Time 3D, and he has some quick comments on an equally quick game, GO Series: 10 Second Run on DSiWare. Jon seeks redemption by starting and completing a game in the span of just one week -- it's Halo: ODST, and despite it being a spin-off, he finds it to be quite typical of the franchise formula. Jonny finally digs into Shantae: Risky's Revenge, and it is indeed a Castlevania-style adventure full of exploration and character upgrades. The boobs are maxed out from the start, though. Per a fan's request, Jonny also reports on Kotaku's localization of Retro Game Master (a.k.a. Game Center CX), the wacky Japanese TV show that spawned our beloved Retro Game Challenge for DS. Finally, Greg celebrates (mourns) yet another delay and platform change for the new Pikmin by checking out the New Play Control version of the first game.

In the second segment, we start with a lengthy and passionate analysis of the ongoing drama over Nintendo's apparent decision to withhold American releases for Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower. Since this recording, Nintendo of Europe has confirmed all three games for release in that territory, meaning that English translations will be completed regardless. Surprisingly, we got no emails on that subject, but you did write in about jet packs & grappling hooks, expectations for multiplatform games on Wii U, Nintendo's plan to sell more accessories in the next generation, and the RFN crew's take on Infamous and Metal Gear Solid.

Finally, we are happy to announce a special live call-in event to celebrate our fifth anniversary and 250th episode! Please join us online for a couple of hours starting Saturday, July 9 at noon Pacific, 3pm Eastern (8pm GMT). We'll set up a live audio stream and chat room here on the site, and also provide Skype info so you can call in and speak with the RFN gang. We would love to hear your thoughts on the state of Nintendo and answer your questions about the show or gaming! The whole webcast will be recorded and included with our normal recording for Episode 250, releasing just one day later. We hope to see (and hear) you there!

[Shaymin]

I'm not seeing why OoT 3D is a sign that Ocarina itself needs a break - I mean, it's not like they've done full-price retail re-releases of it before (2 ROM dumps given away as incentives for purchasing other products, and one VC release). Then again, I lack the necessary tools to play the 3Dmake. Still, Ocarina's the last Zelda I bothered to play through and I get 100% completion on it, so I guess that makes me more willing to defend it.

James's eShop issue: What. The. Hell. As if we needed more proof that Nintendo's online plan should involve backing several trucks up to Valve HQ.

Who does that ODST tropper think he is, Charles Nelson Reilly?

When Jonny's New Business began, I saw the skies open up, and I could hear all the way to Alaska... and I heard Zach cheering. Also, Retro Game Challenge 1 is on Amazon.com for $12.71, so you're officially running out of excuses. Unfortunately, the editor of 2's fan translation (Ray Barnholdt) just got let go from GamePro, so there may be some more progress on it soon.

As it relates to OpRainfall, the thing that I don't get from a profit/loss perspective for NOA is based around the accounting concept of goodwill. (Jonny mentioned it in relation to Squenix, but with a different meaning.) Loosely, it's defined as the value of a brand's reputation with its clients (thank you, Wikipedia). Right now, Nintendo's reputation is getting raked over the coals by the very people - us - who are likely to promote Nintendo to our friends and family. I can't promote a company to my family if I don't trust them to release the content that I want to play on it. It'd be interesting to see if we get a writedown on that with Nintendo's next set of financials.

[Enner]

Good show.

In Metal Gear Solid, I think the Patriots some how have affected everyone so that whenever they are mentioned some people only hear La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo. The lengthy cut scenes and codec segments are always a point of contention with the series; I for some sick reason have always enjoyed them. I think it's because having such long breaks in game play are so wrong and games really shouldn't do them that I find the continuing audacity of the Metal Gear Solid series to have them to be always novel.

As for the controls, they do take some getting used to because the game allows you to do so much. Arguably, there are too many unnecessary things the controls allow for that really hurt how the game controls. At least they can make for funny Youtube videos of players pulling off crazy tricks.

I think the reason The Twin Snakes's cut scenes get the shaft from fans is not because they are crazy but because Solid Snake is the one doing crazy things. Solid Snake is the grounded person of the series, the straight man, the sane man in the asylum and such. I don't think fans ever envisioned him as a flamboyant super hero soldier. That's understandable, but I still like The Twin Snake's cut scenes being so gloriously silly.

[Bboy]

Rain drops keep fallin' on my brain ~ Jay-Z
I had no idea what that was referencing... until now.

Does anyone else think that FFVI is maybe somehow NoA trying to compensate for the missing games?

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

We will have to agree to disagree on Mega Man 6. I think, at this point, the level design was feeling serious fatigue. And the music is sadly unmemorable. Plus, there are little things that really started to grate on my nerves, like the slower screen wipe (yes) and the animation that tried to play every time you put on a Rush Adaptor.

For the record, I hold Mega Man 5 in much higher regard. It may even be my favourite of the NES sextuplet of Mega Man games. MM6 has nothing on Gravity Man's awesomely trippy stage.

[Jonnyboy117]

Bboy, sounds like you need to catch up on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!

[Scatt-Man]

Just a quick appreciation post. Thoroughly enjoyed the Operation Rainfall chat, chaps. I'm not one for participating in these things, but I love hearing about it all.

[KDR_11k]

Grappling hooks and jetpacks are good because they add a form of movement that's heavily skill based. You can follow the regular boring path and just do safe swings or you flip out and go crazy, traversing difficult sections in mere seconds where a single misplaced grapple will send you into a bottomless pit. It's one of the reasons Ninja Cop is awesome.

BTW, Terraria has both grappling hooks (both in the single and triple variety) and rocket boots.

[Enner]

I'm curious to know what you meant when you said that the Metroid Other M was done "kind of unprofessionally"? I've been trying to figure out what aspects of the localization could be considered unprofessional and had no luck so far. The closest I could think of is that the Japanese director of the game was very close to the English localization and that made the it a more literal translation rather than an adaptive one.

Reminds me of English-language anime and manga fans that cry for more literal translations that keep as much of the Japanese-ness as possible.

[Jonnyboy117]

I was referring to the voice acting and how it was poorly coordinated with the writing, which was a horrible translation (if perhaps accurate in a literal sense) in the first place.

[KDR_11k]

I really don't think it was the fault of the marketing that Other M flopped. Reggie not understanding that **** games don't sell is only a testament to him being a non-gamer. He doesn't recognize it as ****, he thinks it's full of cutscenes and no fun to him so the hardcore gotta love it.

I believe NoE switched to translating straight from Japanese for all languages a while ago to speed up the localization process and reduce delays between the US and the PAL release.

[Enner]

I was referring to the voice acting and how it was poorly coordinated with the writing, which was a horrible translation (if perhaps accurate in a literal sense) in the first place.

Ah, "poorly coordinated" as also in poorly directed? Or that the actors, actresses and directors didn't seem to be able to talk things out with the writers? For some nitpicking reason, I'm not sure if it's right to call Metroid: Other M's English localization unprofessionally done. Then again, some of the results were bad and it seems silly to say, "You made a bad product, but did a good job." I guess this is something for me to wrap my head around for a while.


EDIT: Forgot to add an interview with a voice actress for Other M:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-voice-metroid-other/707254
Maybe it will provide insight to the development of the voice work for Metroid: Other M.

[TJ Spyke]

I really don't think it was the fault of the marketing that Other M flopped. Reggie not understanding that **** games don't sell is only a testament to him being a non-gamer. He doesn't recognize it as ****, he thinks it's full of cutscenes and no fun to him so the hardcore gotta love it.

**** games can sell well, just like shitty movies can do well (*cough*Wedding Crashers*cough*). Good marketing (like being the only good parts of something into the trailer to trick people into thinking the whole product is that good) can help a bad product do well.

Operation Rainfall was a longshot at BEST, it's like when a basketball player shoots the ball from the other end of the court at the end of the game. There's like a 1% chance it will work, and nobody should be surprised if it doesn't work. The campaign was not gonna have any influence on Nintendo's decision, especially when a better organized campaign like from Starmen.net hasn't worked. I do hope those three games will come out here eventually, but my faith in the company isn't shaken.

I don't expect as many Wii U accessories as Wii had since it will use existing Wii accessories (Wii Remote/Wii RemotePlus, Nunchuk, and Wii Balance Board are already confirmed).

[KDR_11k]

**** games can sell well, just like shitty movies can do well (*cough*Wedding Crashers*cough*). Good marketing (like being the only good parts of something into the trailer to trick people into thinking the whole product is that good) can help a bad product do well.

The first step for that is to have a product that looks appealing at first. Other M didn't do that.

[alegoicoe]

Ninja Gaiden bosses suks, this games are made for masochists.

[ShyGuy]

I think you guys are on to something talking about how NOA brought over Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter to North America but are ignoring these latest titles and several others. I think Nintendo of America has a very simple formula that they are applying to there releases. They look at the amount of Japanese sales and if they meet their minimum, they bring the game to NA.

The problem is, the Japanese and American markets have different tastes in games, so they are missing out.

[Ceric]

I think you guys are on to something talking about how NOA brought over Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter to North America but are ignoring these latest titles and several others. I think Nintendo of America has a very simple formula that they are applying to there releases. They look at the amount of Japanese sales and if they meet their minimum, they bring the game to NA.

The problem is, the Japanese and American markets have different tastes in games, so they are missing out.

Their new plan is instead of addressing the problem head on they are going to introduce a series of TV Programming and Water Additives to just turn the NoA Region into Japan 2.  Thus expanding the Glorious Nippon Empire.

Once proven successful with this new large population of Nihon-jin next will be Korea and then NoE.

[Stardust]

Really great show.


No seriously, good show.


no, im not kidding.


okay, im done.


Anyway, this whole discussion got me so motivated to go to op rainfall's blog and join in the fight against NOA, now im gonna send nintendo a letter along with spamming their walls on facebook with "why nintendo, why?"because (even though i love the work NWR does for nintendo) i am one of those nintendo guys who only picks up his wii for VC and the occasional zelda game.

[noname2200]

I think you guys are on to something talking about how NOA brought over Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter to North America but are ignoring these latest titles and several others. I think Nintendo of America has a very simple formula that they are applying to there releases. They look at the amount of Japanese sales and if they meet their minimum, they bring the game to NA.

My guess is that Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest are only getting some attention from NoA because of a mandate from NCL. Perhaps I'm just jaded, but I have a hard time believing NCL didn't have to sweeten the pot somewhat for Capcom and Squeenix to get even the small amount of support they've received from those two companies. Since there probably wasn't any such push from NCL on the Rainfall games, NoA is fine with pretending they don't exist.

Now, part of me understands the business logic behind this. None of the Rainfall games are going to sell jack, comparatively speaking, and NoA seems to be bizarrely obsessed with only having mega-hits this generation. I completely agree with Jonny and Greg as to why they'll sell poorly, but the time to fix that was four years ago, not today.

Of course, as someone who really wants to play Xenoblade none of this stops me from feeling bitter. Nor does their spotty localization record this generation give me much faith for the 3DS and Wii U. I'm prepared to import the game(s) and mod my Wii to get my fix, but I have to wonder if NoA's fixation with only localizing "sure things" will come back to haunt them. It's already helped to eliminate all my enthusiasm for Wii U, but realistically I'm one of maybe a few dozen people who feel this way, so I'm guessing the answer is "no."

[NWR_Neal]

For the record, I'm not a Nintendo apologist. I'm pissed off about this, too. I'm just trying to be more realistic and trying to comprehend NoA's actions. Yes, it is all ultimately NoA's fault, but regardless: these games very likely would not sell at all. It sucks, but that's what the Wii has become in the States.

[ShyGuy]

If you look at the PS3, they had plenty of first party "failures" at the start of this generation, but they kept on plugging away, and they are in a much better position now when it comes to an attractive software library.

[Jonnyboy117]

I hope it was clear that I wasn't calling Neal an apologist. (Our podcast has a colorful history with that term!) That argument is just one part of the apologist's perspective on this issue, and Neal happened to be the first person I saw throw it out there (on Twitter). He seemed to do it reluctantly, too.


Regardless, my stance remains that Nintendo could sell these games and make them a success if they really wanted to. It would require a totally different marketing strategy than they have used before, but we are talking about at least three games that could justify such effort, not to mention all the potential titles that could be on the way for Wii U. The recent listener suggestion of "black label" games as a sub-brand is one of many ways NOA could tackle this opportunity. Certainly it would be easier if they had any momentum at all with the target demographic, but it's never too late to start. I say again that millions of such gamers already own a Wii, so it's really not a big leap to convince them to turn it on and play a new game that looks and sounds awesome. If Nintendo can't sell a "AAA" game to an existing userbase, what does that say about the company's effectiveness?

[NWR_Neal]

No worries on my end, Jonny. You made it pretty clear, but I still felt the need to clarify for anyone.

It honestly comes down to the fact that I'm sad that NoA wouldn't be able to market these games to NA as they are now. It's almost as if NoA stopped caring about people like me (and the NWR audience) because, well, we'll buy whatever games they put out for us. We'll eat up whatever Iwata Asks bullshit they throw at us, etc. etc.

The people they seem to be focused on are everyone, but they never actually learned/remembered how to effectively market to a big, constant segment of the gaming populace. I hope they get their **** together, but they need a much bigger fall than the lackluster 3DS post-launch period to learn the error of their ways. Who knows, maybe they'll never have that wake-up call, and maybe they'll succeed while alienating us even more. We'll bitch about it, but let's get real: we're all getting Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS however we can. We all want the new Mario and Zelda games.

It's just ultimately frustrating...

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Seeing Nintendo of Europe go to this effort has me curious as to how they plan to market this trio. Or maybe they don't have a plan. Maybe it'll be three soft launches, as with select DS games like the oft-mentioned Jam With The Band and the craziness with Inazuma Eleven. I'm so glad they're being released here, but it's probably not a smart venture.

[motang]

I am glad to hear that I am no alone in thinking inFAMOUS is a good game, just too damn repetitive. I have to beat that game, but just go tired of it a moved on to Uncharted then to Prince of Persia (yes I am new owner of a PS3 so I am playing through a huge back catalog of awesome games), and next up is Batman Arkham Asylum.