• 6Jun 13

  Why asking Nintendo to be multiplatform is asking for even more trouble

  I already made a blog stating my thoughts in the matter in more brief terms years ago, but it was getting to a point where I need to write a bigger blog on this. I admit, Nintendo wasn't doing so hot with the 3DS (though in Japan at least, it did pick up massively) and right now, they aren't doing any better (like they said they would) with the Wii U, but I still have my hopes that Nintendo will pick things up for that console. Will Wii U be as successful as the Wii? Probably not, but it is possible to still be popular and not sell as well as it's predecessor (see: Game Boy Advance compared to Game Boy).

  That being said, even if Nintendo picks things up like they do, it still doesn't stop the continual demands (even from industry insiders both former and current, more recently coming from Eidos life president, Ian Livingstone) for them to be like their former competitors, SEGA (more noted) and Atari (less noted), and be a third party developer/publisher either because their consoles like N64, GameCube and Wii U aren't selling like they should or the hardware just doesn't appeal to them and only play it because of exclusives.

  Sure you could defend that you would be spending less money on more hardware, but that seems to be the only real benefit... if they don't fade away in many other aspects much like SEGA and Atari.

  Let's look at what happened to other two...

  SEGA had wide success with the Genesis/Megadrive, but reception with their hardware was starting to fade with the CD/32X add-ons and degraded even further with horrible Saturn sales (though to be fair, N64 was struggling too, but that ended up being more popular) and with it, the company was struggling financially. As short lived as the Dreamcast was, it still proved that SEGA had positive reception among gamers, but all that went downhill when they had no choice but to drop the Dreamcast due to a mix of more financial struggles, major hardware flukes like really easy piracy, and the hype for the PS2.

  I remember reading an issue of Nintendo Power in Elementary School that Sonic was making a Nintendo appearance on the Game Boy Advance and I remember being very excited myself, but me being a kid back then, little did I know of the dark times that would come for that poor blue hedgehog.

  

  Sonic the Hedgeog 2006 not only confusingly uses the name of the SEGA Genesis/MegaDrive cIassic (which seems to be a trend with these reboots, see the later released Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider), but uses it insultingly due to a horrible storyline (with a major note being Sonic and a human female named Elise's relationship) and overall being more broken than the previously panned Shadow the Hedgehog (On Shadow's game, yours truly likes this one but more of a guilty pleasure these days, but that doesn't mean I can't note the mass hate around it).

  Even a port of the cIassic game damaged them even further...

  

  Much like the GBA port of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (titled Mortal Kombat Advance), Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis broke what made the original great by having massive slowdown and game breaking bugs, most of which randomly kill you when they shouldn't.

  Even many of their other IP's faced some sort of struggle, we haven't seen a new Jet Set Radio, Panzer Dragoon or Shenmue since the XBOX, the last Nights game on the Wii was a bomb and the only return we ever saw of the characters from those games were in a crossover kart racing series with Sonic which so far, only spans two games (Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing and Transformed). Add one more franchise before I move on, despite it being more recent... Bayonetta. Just this announcement alone sparked controversy (which put it not only on SEGA's shoulders, but Platinum Games and Nintendo share it as well) and is more then likely a sign of what's to come for that game (and Nintendo's already facing an uphill battle into the M rated market after bad sales of Eternal Darkness and Geist, both for the GameCube).

  On to Atari, who had it even worse with their consoles especially after the video game crash of the 1980's. Their then newer systems (7200 and Jaguar) failed and the last time we ever saw the likes of Pong or Breakout were on the PlayStation. By then, they became mostly known (in North America at least) for localizing many games from a popular anime/manga franchise created by Akira Toriyama (being a fan of this franchise myself, I do own a few games, although they aren't mentioned). But it all ended for them when Namco Bandai (though I believe the Bandai half has been licensed off of franchises for games and toys for years) took over NA distribution rights.

  Atari did publish other games like Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, but how many people even remember NYPD Det. Carla's case in the diner murder compared to having many interactive versions of Goku fighting his rival Vegeta or the epic moment when he transforms into a Super Saiyan and takes his revenge on Frieza?

  While there are gems to be had in there (not only to DBZ fans love it, but many people in the fighting game community did too)...

  

  ...there was still too much shovelware

  

  

  

  

  To conclude, how would Nintendo's own stuff even fare up to systems with audiences with very different appeals? Would Pokemon be holding it's own against Final Fantasy, Tales, and many other JRPG's? Would Smash Bros still be noted on the same consoles that have more Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Tekken and Guilty Gear games? Would Mario be that memorable of a platforming series compared to Little Big? I have my doubts.

  Well, there's my thoughts on the matter and probably my longest post to date. Comment below and tell me your thoughts?

  • Posted Jun 6, 2013 12:44 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 22May 13

  Certain gaming news and my thoughts

  First news...

  Microsoft showed off the XBOX One in a rather unimpressive showing (it's just like their past E3 presentations), and gave it a confusing name. How confusing? Watch AVGN's Chronologically Confused videos and find out. Already, there are other things that bug me about it, like paying a fee to play a used game.

  In other news...

  Mortal Kombat 9 is announced for PC after two years, though the port isn't directly handled by Netherrealm Studios. Instead it's... High Voltage Software. The SAME High Voltage Software who was just as guilty as other developers in developing a crap tons of Wii shovelware as well as have a hand in the piece of garbage known as Kinect Star Wars. Admittedly I DID like the Conduit, but even through Wii's limited shooter library, there were still better games (like the CoD4 port done by Treyarch and Eurocom's Goldeneye Remake was great too).

  I really hope Netherrealm knows what they are doing.

  Now a rumor...

  A rumor appeared on TSSZ (shared by GoNintendo) that the new Super Smash Bros (co-developed by Namco) may not only have Sonic return, but may feature an appearance from Bayonetta. Should this rumor be true... why Bayonetta? Yes you could argue it's because of Nintendo's involvement in Bayonetta 2, but here's another issue, Bayonetta left no legacy to Nintendo gamers (at least not yet), so it would still make no sense to add her. Say what you will about Solid Snake's appearance in Brawl after the Metal Gear franchise being more present on PlayStation consoles, but at least Snake has left a deeper legacy with Nintendo deeper than Bayonetta ever will.

  ***SPOILER***

  Metal Gear games that have appeared on Nintendo systems (pre-Brawl):

  Metal Gear (NES) - Hideo Kojima despised this port

  Metal Gear 2: Snake's Revenge (NES) - Not the cannon Metal Gear 2 as Hideo Kojima did not know this existed, he worked on the cannon one for MSX2 though.

  Metal Gear: Ghost Babel/Metal Gear Solid (GBC) - An(other) alternate continuity after Metal Gear on MSX2, but this had Kojima's involvement

  Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes (GameCube) - A remake of the PlayStation original that was handled jointly by Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Silicon Knights (no wonder several members of Eternal Darkness' voice cast was a reunion of this series )

  To end on something not news related, I was being really nerdy when playing Oblivion and named by enchanted Electric Akaviri Dai-Katana after Raiden (Metal Gear agent/cyborg ninja, not Mortal Kombat's Earthrealm thundergod) and I started playing Assassin's Creed 1.

  • Posted May 22, 2013 8:10 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 14May 13

  A couple bits of new Pokemon X/Y info

  So, since the revelation of the new mainline Pokemon revealing that the series is going 3D in a new generation (Black and White was short lived, wasn't it?), some more info on the games have surfaced.

  (Obviously) new Pokemon. One of them being a martial arts panda bear named Pancham. There has to be some Mythological or Literary story on fighting panda bears, considering prior to this, Ling Xiaoyu has a pet Panda in Tekken, Jack Black has voiced a Panda named Po (with Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, David Cross, Lucy Liu, and Seth Rogen voicing as animals based on various kung-fu animal forms, Dustin Hoffman being their master) in Kung Fu Panda, and Blizzard made the Pandarians in World of Warcraft. Now Pokemon is jumping in on this.

  Trainer customization. Though what's seen so far looks like nothing more than swapping skin tones and hair colors, it's a start. After playing Pokemon Battle Revolution, I have wondered why Game Freak hasn't adapted to character customizations in their main Pokemon games, considering most playable Pokemon trainers have little to no personality but still allow customizations to your Pokemon team, I think customizing trainers should be there to add more character based on how the Player feels.

  Still eagerly seeing how this turns out. Still should get a 3DS so I can play it (preferably an XL for more battery life).

  • Posted May 14, 2013 7:33 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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