Messages

1776

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Are 'savvy consumers' a threat to the industry?

« on: May 12, 2010, 07:22:42 PM »

Are 'savvy consumers' a threat to the industry?

Educated consumers are always a threat to any industry. Products are sold through hyperbole. People that see through that are obviously harder to sell to. Marketing doesn't like those people. Companies don't like those people. Capitalism doesn't like those people.

1777

TalkBack / Re: Extra Life #3: LostWinds

« on: May 12, 2010, 07:19:54 PM »

I play a good chunk of the game back when it was initially released. It was pretty fun. I eventually got stuck in a crevice in one of the caves however. There was a clipping issue and I couldn't get out of the corner. I had played up to that point in just one sitting and got frustrated in having to restart the game do to such a stupid bug. I never did get back around to it. :\

1778

General Gaming / Re: Anyone doing the humble indie bundle?

« on: May 09, 2010, 10:42:42 PM »

I had read about this several days ago. I already own all of the games listed except for Lugaru HD and Aquaria. The idea makes for a great promotion. DRM-free, cross-platform games are always welcome anyway. I'd say that the bundle is well worth at least several dollars and anyone's time.

1779

TalkBack / Re: Iwata Talks 3DS Piracy, Health Fears of 3D Gaming

« on: May 08, 2010, 09:57:22 PM »

The companies spend a lot of money in R&D on new protection schemes. Schemes that are all cracked sooner or later. That cost may not be directly passed on to the customer, but it's absence could certainly help a lot in lowering the cost of games. I'm willing to bet that developers would see a better financial outcome from lowering product prices than they would from failing to stop piracy.

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TalkBack / Re: Iwata Talks 3DS Piracy, Health Fears of 3D Gaming

« on: May 08, 2010, 08:26:58 PM »

Does Sony, Apple and Microsoft suffer from the same problem? If so, how bad?

Everyone suffers from it, and to what would apparently be the same extent. I'd actually look for Sony to see an increase in piracy. Now that they aren't supporting the Other OS option, the homebrew scene is going to have to find a workaround. Unfortunately, workarounds can always be used for piracy at some point or another as well. Again, that's just another example of a business hurting itself and its legitimate customers by chasing around unstoppable and/or non-existent bogeymen.

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TalkBack / Re: Iwata Talks 3DS Piracy, Health Fears of 3D Gaming

« on: May 08, 2010, 06:02:59 PM »

Oh, and on the topic of piracy: like I have mentioned before, I don't think lower retail prices will any significant effect on piracy, as long as it's still so darn easy to pirate games.

No, it wouldn't have any real effect on piracy. It would increase sales amongst honest consumers however. If you could buy two games for $60 instead of just one, I guarantee you'd not only purchase more games, but would be more willing to take a chance on little-known titles and more obscure genres.

Pirates are not customers and should not be thought of as customers. Most never have the intention of purchasing the games they pirate. Even if they did, they financially could not. I'd imagine most average people purchase several games per year (I tend towards about one per month, for example). How many games do you think a pirate downloads? When you don't have to worry about money and everything is merely a click away, it's easy enough to add a game to your list here and there. While it's easy to download a dozen games in a day, no one could really afford to buy that many in that amount of time. Furthermore, most pirates are simply going to grab things on a lark without ever actually even playing it. What might have sounded interesting enough to add to the download list may not stand out enough in ones memory once it's actually downloaded. It'll sit on their hard drive and never be touched again, just like countless other media files.

That's what these companies need to realize. Pirates will never be customers. Restrictive systems and copy protection only end up inconveniencing and hurting the legitimate customers, while costing the companies money in development time. Don't worry about non-customers. Make a better, more appealing product for your real audience.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo vs Apple: FIGHT!!!

« on: May 08, 2010, 11:30:16 AM »

If what Nintendo wants is to compete with Apple, then they don't need to make a better product, they just need to market it better. The Wii is already shiny and white, already has a stupid name, and already has limited functionality in comparison to its rivals... See, it's just like an Apple product!

1783

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Could Charge for Online Play

« on: May 08, 2010, 11:25:50 AM »

No one would pay for Nintendo's online service as is. There are barely even a handful of games that include the most basic of features. You can't even communicate with the other players in many of these games. All you're doing it simply connecting and playing a fairly anonymous person. It's like being back in 1996, playing Quake online for the first time... except we could chat then! A lot of console players apparently feel that something like Xbox Live is worth paying for however, so go figure. In any case, Nintendo would have a hard time getting by with their primary audience by instituting pay-to-play as a mandatory service. Kids and casual gamers will not pay.

1784

TalkBack / Re: Iwata Details Super Mario Galaxy 2 DVD

« on: May 08, 2010, 11:19:23 AM »

Despite having lived here this long, I still don't quite understand why Japanese gamers don't play 3D Mario games....

Because 3D platformers have a track record of controlling like crap. Mario isn't much better in many ways.

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TalkBack / Re: Iwata Talks 3DS Piracy, Health Fears of 3D Gaming

« on: May 08, 2010, 11:18:12 AM »

One of the primary issues Iwata raised is what he feels is a growing tolerance of piracy. He worries that "a kind of thinking is become widespread that paying for software is meaningless", adding that Nintendo has "a strong sense of crisis" regarding piracy in general.

Game developers should lower their prices or find other ways to increase the value of their games then. Of course, it's never their problem, now is it? They'll just throw more money away on trying to fight the inevitable, and pass the bill on to legitimate customers. One pirated pieces of software in no way equates to a lost sale anyway. Try telling that to greedy corporations though.

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General Gaming / Re: Five Things the Gaming Community Needs to Stop Obsessing Over

« on: May 07, 2010, 06:36:36 PM »

Gamers should start obsessing over more important topics, like DRM.

1787

TalkBack / Re: WiiWare Super Meat Boy Lacks Additional Content

« on: May 04, 2010, 07:00:57 PM »

But that was Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy is the sequel.

Which share mostly the same graphics, just slightly more detailed.

I think I missed the sequal detail in the NP article about it.

Only slightly improved? They look a helluva lot more detailed than that found in the original flash game. I don't expect Super Meat Boy to look like pixelated crap when blown up to full screen on my monitor.

1788

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Wii Zelda

« on: May 03, 2010, 02:27:34 PM »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhTJRPP0ON8&feature=related
 
It looks as though the Las Plagas have invaded Hyrule and taken over Link and Zelda.

That's hilarious. At least some interesting modding came out of that horrible PC port that Capcom **** out.

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General Gaming / Re: PS3 losing Linux

« on: May 02, 2010, 07:31:12 PM »

Can't find or afford? I just found dozens on eBay with "Buy It Now" prices of around $20. All it took was a one word search. Nintendo should have provided a better Classic Controller for the Wii. The Wavebird still stands as one of the more comfortable console controllers around.

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TalkBack / Re: Activision and Bungie Teaming Up For a Multiplatform Series

« on: May 01, 2010, 10:22:43 PM »

I've been playing the StarCraft II beta for a while now. I was never too heavy into the first game, but was exposed to it enough through the love my siblings had for it. I still suck at the series, and I generally feel that it is because I cannot properly balance resource gathering and troop management. I always end up with a huge, sprawling base that's fully upgraded, yet has very little in the way of actual troops. Whether that's the fault of my play style or not is questionable, but it would certainly be refreshing to be able to focus more on strategy than resource gathering.

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General Gaming / Re: PS3 losing Linux

« on: May 01, 2010, 06:16:00 PM »

Why would anyone want to use the Classic Controller when they could be using a WaveBird? I mean, really. Nintendo's take on the Classic Controller is barely any better than an SNES gamepad. It's not comfortable and having to plug it into the Wii-mote is cumbersome.

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TalkBack / Re: Activision and Bungie Teaming Up For a Multiplatform Series

« on: May 01, 2010, 06:13:21 PM »

Does this mean that they can go back to making little-known Mac games now?

1793

General Gaming / Re: Marvel vs. Capcom 3

« on: April 23, 2010, 10:24:38 PM »

I'm seriously puzzled that everyone wants this game on Wii. We just got Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. It's a Wii exclusive! It's not coming to the other systems! That's GOOD, isn't it?

The problem is that Tatsunoko vs. Capcom isn't really even as entertaining as Marvel vs. Capcom 2... an almost ten year old game.

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TalkBack / Re: Capcom Announces 2011 North American Releases

« on: April 20, 2010, 09:46:01 PM »

I think I had a nergasm just reading the title "Marvel vs. Capcom 3".

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Red Steel 2 Megathread!

« on: April 19, 2010, 09:07:26 PM »

Ubi was 90% troll this gen, so 90% of Nintendo fans (aka not us) might not give this game a chance just because of that.

We can never be pleased. Ever.

Is that only Nintendo fans? Given the increasingly horrific DRM that Ubisoft is throwing into their PC games, I wouldn't be surprised in they loose the interest of yet another demographics.

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General Gaming / Re: 3D Dot Game Heroes = Legend of Zelda?

« on: April 17, 2010, 07:12:44 PM »

I think the more important question is why hasn't Nintendo done this themselves? It looks to be a pretty brilliant concept, actually.

1797

TalkBack / Re: Violent Femmes Make Their Rock Band Debut

« on: April 16, 2010, 07:56:22 PM »

Regardless, =P I'm ecstatic that the song released is NOT Blister in the Sun.  Though, Country Death Song or Kiss Off would have been even better decisions in my opinion.

But what about "Gimme the Car"?

1798

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Descent is coming to WiiWare!!!

« on: April 15, 2010, 08:13:16 PM »

I just installed Descent 3 on my netbook the other day! Using the Wiimote could be an intriguing novelty.

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TalkBack / Re: Wii Netflix Service Begins Today

« on: April 13, 2010, 09:31:17 AM »

I've had the disc for a few weeks now. It works pretty well. It doesn't do anything more than you'd expect it to do, but then again, it doesn't really have to. I never much liked streaming my films through Netflix though. It feels too temporary.

1800

General Gaming / Re: New Additions to the Console Wars

« on: April 05, 2010, 09:00:25 PM »

As much of a xbox hater as I am, I find the idea of a xbox portable quite appealing. The idea of playing Halo, Gears of War, Mass Effect and Fable on the go seems pretty good.

I can already play all of those on the go. It's called a laptop!