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 do 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?

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.

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.

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).

Well, isn't this something? First the Tekken 3 (Arcade/PlayStation) music samples (from Eddy Gordo and Jin Kazama's stages) placed in the N64 original (Jin's theme was removed from the XBOX version), now this:

Considering Conker's adult nature and Satoshi Tajiri's wish to never have Pokemon overtly violent, I am not surprised this was removed by Nintendo's order (confirmed by Chris Seavor). I also wouldn't be surprised if Tajiri saw this and ended up less than pleased, considering Nintendo still allowed Conker to even be released.

While I still wander the joys of Cyrodil, I'm also playing ANOTHER RPG. This time, it's from Japan, on a handheld, and is a remake of my favorite Pokemon games of all time:

That remake:

Been a while since I played a traditional handheld Pokemon game, not since Ruby/Saphire/Emerald (which are still great games, but quite a bit of what game Gold/Silver/Crystal great was stripped, making it my least favorite gen because of it) and fitting I return to a remake of the Johto region. I've started with a Cyndaquil (which has since evolved into Quilava).

It seems a lot of what I remember is still intact from the real-time mechanics (now run by the DS internal clock), to even the music (which has been redone to suit the DS tech), even the biggest d***head of a rival you'll ever meet. Though some environments did get a revision (Sprout Tower is surrounded by water, rather than a forest), and I did forget a few things (like when your criminal rival shows up), but I think a lot of what I remember is still there.

I've gotten two gym badges so far, now to get further.

This is quite a hot topic as Nintendo, who's usually one of the big three attractions of E3 is not doing a major press conference this year. They are still attending, but will present different ways to show off their games (one of them being Nintendo Directs) and will have smaller meetings.

I'm not sure what to quite make of this myself to be honest, but I guess if the news still gets out there. Nintendo has mostly missed Tokyo Game Show on too many occasions and they are still fine then.

But that being said, there are still some critics against this...

...while others defend (this being from a surprising source, considering his quite critical stance on Nintendo, especially since that controversial Skyward Sword review)

Well, to end this blog, I'll ask: Guess which cartoon I've recently watched again after many years?

So a few days ago, we recently got The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 5th Anniversary Edition

Which is pretty much nothing more than this as it has all the story based DLC (Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine):

I remember playing this a few years before on my friend's PS3 and I thought it was fantastic. A lot of the time, all I did was wander around, ignoring even the main story. Now that I'm playing the 360 version, I'm farther in the story than I was before, but even then, I've still been mucking around, this time focusing on other objectives. Currently trying to get all the recommendations I can from the Mages Guilds, already I suffered through Vampirism (got it cured though), among many other goals.

That's it for me! To end on a P.S., thus far the only western Jackie Chan film I can tolerate (and enjoy, though the film could still be better for a few reasons) is The Forbidden Kingdom (his co-op with Jet Li).

My Silver XBL Account

Took a while, but I set up my Silver XBOX Live Account. I can't do much without paying for a Gold Membership (including playing with friends, which is a shame) unfortunately, but my Gamertag is "ACO ZBFAN" (it's even displayed in the lower right side of this account).

Achievements

So, for taking a break on the MAJOR games I'm supposed to be playing (Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, MGS: Peace Walker, and BioShock 1), I've been revisiting not one, but TWO LEGO games. LEGO Star Wars II (which I previously played and beat on the GameCube, and is on my own list on this site, but this time I'm playing the 360 version, which we got during the time I got LEGO LOTR, PDZ, Batman: Arkham City, while others got Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and MGS HD Collection, but I never brought it up) and Lord of the Rings, which are both great games, but out of boredom, I chose to get some achievements, which is what I want to briefly talk about.

Honestly, I never considered them to be an essential reason to pick up said console, nor do I care to get them all for EVERY game and I stand by what I said about me living fine without them, but ever since I got the 360 and got some more achievements for the hell of it when I revisited LEGO LOTR, they can be kind of fun sometimes (Right now, I'm trying to beat the Free Play missions in LEGO Star Wars II without dying as there are several achievements for those, and they can be a challenge to get). Though some achievements can be quite stupid (LEGO Lord of the Rings gives you an achievement for completing a level in co-op. Yay! *sarcasm*), but sometimes clever (LEGO LOTR does poke fun at the Sean Bean "One does not simply" meme). Either way, still nothing big and is there only for the fun of it.

A bad Pokemon design

I admit, as much as I love Pokemon, I've been WAY behind on the games (these days, it's one of my younger brothers playing them), even the remakes of my favorite in the series (HeartGold and SoulSilver are remade versions of Gold/Silver/Crystal). But while I'm looking forward to Pokemon X/Y, there is this new Pokemon design that gets to me. This is what you get when you cross Mewtwo with a Xenomorph from Aliens, a fusion that looks horrible.

That's it for me.

The link to this news (thanks to my favorite radio host). Cause of death being cancer complications at age 70.

I remember first seeing his reviews with Richard Roper (having never seen his stuff with Gene until vids were released on YouTube) as the co-host and like every other critic, I may not have agreed with him on every film (he even wrote a blog on why he didn't think video games can be cIassified as art, and even then I disagree, but that's not what this is about), but I can't deny his respect as a film critic and whenever I did watch that show, I did enjoy it.

RIP.

Replacing Zatch and Kiyo (though like Kitana, it looks like they'll be lingering in the comments for a while, hopefully they don't take as long, because Kitana managed to piss off Edward Elric, Lilith, Joanna Dark, among others until Roronoa Zolo/Zolo dethroned her ) with Ms. Lara Croft (kbaily, I know you probably want my head for this ). I used GS' defaults though (like I did Sarah Kerrigan and Zeratul from Starcraft).

Another thing to note: Lara is the second archaeologist to be featured as my avatar, first being the animated Jackie Chan from Jackie Chan Adventures.

So anyway, here's what I've been playing.

Recently, I beat Red Dead Redemption's main storyline and MAN was it good. Also started a bit of Undead Nightmare, but I also started a bit of Bioshock. No, not Infinite. The original. Thus far, I've gotten a few Little Sisters saved (can't bare to harvest them, and I know they are game characters, but this game actually makes you feel for the fact that they are just KIDS) and I'm already in Arcadia. I also got MGS: Peace Walker's first ending and am working on getting the true one (remind me to NEVER take Paz on a date EVER AGAIN).

This will be my last blog on the whole ordeal.

From: GamesIndustry.biz

While sales of Wii U games could be better, Poix insists that Ubisoft is pleased, relative to the number of consoles out there, that is. Nintendo simply needs more system-selling titles, and Poix believes Rayman will be one of those. "We don't have any disappointments compared to the installed base. We are just hoping that Nintendo's results for Wii U will be a bit bigger, like Iwata-san said," he commented. "Selling a new way of playing can take some time, and we know the power of the brands from Nintendo and we know from the fans that the majority of what will be the system sellers are not yet available. And on our side, Rayman will be one of them for sure. We really expect Rayman to be a huge system seller on the console."

They can't be serious. How can a game that you delayed in order to release it at the same time for a PS3/360 version still be a system seller? There are those who planned on buying a Wii U for this game, but blew that off for the other versions. Not to mention, several Nintendo fans still aren't very happy for how they handled the delay.

Nevermind the fact that the game (no matter what version, but the Wii U version will end up the worst position) is especially going to tank since GTA V releases around the same time...

For the times I've lacked interest in Grand Theft Auto (and still do, but I can honor it for all it did to open-world action-adventure games) and when I called Manhunt 2 for Wii a "meh" game (calling it the worst pre-2012 game I played that year), there is one game I'm playing right now that I think is awesome:

I'm very deep into the main game (I haven't started on Undead Nightmare), but for the most part, I just messed around and did side missions. I have quite high fame, though I spent a lot of my money (this time, I'm saving up for an explosive rifle). I even love the atmosphere the game provides as I was born and raised in the western part of the US (Utah), even though I freaking hate the heat in real life (which makes it weird and maybe hypocritical I'll admit ).

I should be beating the main game soon, but as usual, I'll still be messing around (currently, I'm trying to find a white stallion).

As I'm in a Metal Gear mood thanks to beating MGS3 and loving the hell out of it, going right to MGS: Peace Walker (with Red Dead Redemption on the side, as well as revisiting games I already beat) on the MGS HD Collection, I decided to playthrough Super Smash Bros. Brawl's CIassic mode as Solid Snake.

Enjoy!

I should get to work on my next project though.

 Playing: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD

Not counting the MSX games featured on MGS3, I'm playing the last game to be featured in the MGS HD Collection on 360. Let me say, this is a very well done handheld (PSP) to console port. The game not only looks better in HD, but the way they re-coded the game to make it work with dual analogs making aiming much better (granted, I never played the PSP version, nor do I own said system, but being an N64 fan, I know what playing with a single stick is like).

In a rather geek-out moment, there is something so badass hearing David Hayter and Steve Blum in the same game, both having very awesome voice talent making their characters sound even more badass.

Replaying: Eternal Darkness and Wind Waker

I thought, why not take another branch with this game? I already beat Ulyaoth's path, so I'll go with Xel'loath's path now. Funny, since I'm still playing a Metal Gear game, quite a few of the voice cast in this game make it feel like a Metal Gear reunion. Jennifer Hale (who did hundreds of roles like the female versions of Jaden Korr and Commander Shepard, but in MG she's Naomi Hunter and Emma Emmerich) as Alex Roivas and Xel'loath, Paul Eiding (again, like Hale has a lot of voice work, like Judicator Aldaris and Max Tennyson, in MG he's Roy Campbell) as Paul Luthor and a corrupt monk, Kim Mai Guest (Mei Ling in Metal Gear Solid) as the Cambodian slave girl Ellia, and David Hayter (everyone knows who he is), while not in big roles, still played as background Roman soldiers. Then again, considering Silicon Knights released MGS: Twin Snakes, I shouldn't be surprised.

I've also been re-playing some glimpses of Wind Waker. Still a good game, left at the part where Link has to go triforce hunting and paying that greedy bastard, Tingle.

Well, that's it for me. On a side note, my dad picked this up:

In Gohan's voice (Stephanie Nadolny's version): Time to FINISH YOU OFF!

Anyway, like how I did MGS2, I'm pretty much almost done with MGS3 and I'll say, I liked it a hell of a lot more than MGS2. The storyline is a bit better as I understood what was going on a bit more, a better save assistant (Para-Medic and her movie talks actually give some helpful advice for Naked Snake/Big Boss, unlike Rosemary who just dragged on with her relationship with Raiden, jeez, let the man do his job, would ya?), funnier codec dialogue (When Para-Medic, Snake, and Major Zero were talking about James Bond: From Russia With Love cracked me up), and since the HD version is based on Subsistence, using more camera options to suit your liking (I chose third person behind the character view the most). It still has it's awkward moments (EVA unzips her suit in front of Snake when they just met and the romance between them felt random, though it's funny as hell when the game let's you take a peak at her). 

From sitting through the cutscene before Snake and The Boss have their final confrontation, I'll admit I do feel sorry for her and see why Snake was so close to her through her discussions and her actions. But, like my DBZ reference states, she's got to be dealt with. The first few fights I had with her were freaking difficult though (blasting her with a shotgun, while she lies on the ground isn't helping me like it did with The End and Volgin), but my brother gave me some advice on how he beat her.

After that, since my time with MGS3 was a lot better than MGS2, I'm not sure if I should start right to Peace Walker or play AC1 and/or AC2.

Well, last blog, I said I beat Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. In the comments, my friend, grunt1096 noted that it was weird that I started AC with said game, also recommended I check out AC2.

Well, I got that and more...

We got them at UK game store, CeX for 11 GBP in total. 6 GBP for the first, 5 GBP for the second.

I haven't played any of them yet, but I'm going to wait probably until I beat MGS3 (speaking of which, I beat the part where Snake sneaks into the base as a Russian Raiden look-alike and even sat through that torture scene).

So for my first experience with the AC franchise, I think it's a great game. I like on how the Prince of Persia roots still show with the acrobatic gameplay, but it still has enough to stay on it's own with how the assassin's use their weapons, be it with stealth killing with Stilletto's, using a sword, or in fist fights.

For the sake of Brotherhood though, I do like on how you can recruit new Assassins and have them do missions, earning you more money, calling them for help like coming in on the field to help you fight, and if you have more Assassins, call on an arrow storm to take out the swarm of guards.

If there was anything I didn't like about it though is that the framerate can be a tad bit rough, but it's nothing too bad.

Now to beat MGS3 HD and play some more Tekken Tag 2, though I'll probably try and do some extra stuff in Brotherhood as well as try to get more full synchronizations (you can not get all of them in one try).

Sony's taking potshots at their competitiion in hype of their upcoming PS4 announcement. Most recently, they called out Nintendo saying "Oh look, another Mario game."

Why does this take me back to the 90's (though this sort of advertisement was in the 80's, but note I wasn't born then so that's why I mostly bring up the 90's)? Well...

Here's Sony's Crash Bandicoot ad and here's a cIassic from SEGA (though this dates back when Genesis came out before the SNES). Needless to say, Nintendo wasn't a slouch either.

So, to any of my Australian friends who haven't imported the game yet, MK9 finally gets it's ban lifted. You'll be getting the Komplete Edition too, so no downloading Skarlet, Kenshi, and Freddy Krueger. About time after the Wii U version of Ninja Gaiden III: Razor's Edge (which was published by Nintendo) got approved.

I still don't have the game yet, but I can tell Kitana's a bit anxious to kick Lei's (Tekken character) ass, despite ignoring Raiden's warning about his masterful Five Animal-Drunken styIe and his will to pull off deadly stunts that he'll more then likely live. /bad joke

So... what to finish this blog with? How about some game progress?

Metal Gear Solid 3- Met EVA and boy did things get awkward with the way she randomly unzipped her suit when she and Naked Snake just met. The cutscenes where you have the option to make Naked Snake look at her in a preverted way is kind of funny though. Now to escape young Revolver Ocelot's investigation.

Tekken Tag 2- Beat Arcade mode with Jun (had different teams with Zafina first, then Lei), and spent a lot of time in Ghost Mode (which is similar to Tekken 5's Arcade Mode in that you'll endlessly fight numerous customized characters with "usernames", and at the end of the match you'll pick your next one) with Julia and Lei. Got a few unlockables after participating in special fights, which are a few ending movies and customization options.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood- Did some extra objectives like helping Courteseans, which had me save a fellow Courtesean from getting beat up and humiliating the attacker, a flashback to Ezio's past on how he won over a woman in his younger days (which was kind of creepy in the start), and beat up a guy who poisoned a Courtesean (and boy did that get tricky when you had guards on both you and that girl's tail for it, going as far as killing you both). I also killed a Captain (level 5) by throwing a knife at him (hey, I got tired of him fleeing).

Well, that's it for me.