After giving the news some time to sit and digest, I think it's time I shared my thought on this year's E3.
While not quite as underwhelmed this year as I felt with last year's show, I still don't think I saw anything at this show that has me wishing the summer away for new game releases in the fall. There's lots to look forward to, don't get me wrong, but still nothing in this new generation of games to make me go absolutely wild like I remember going in the past.
I'll start with Microsoft. While I found their conference was probably one of the smoothest of the entire show, and their entire show was laser-focused on games, there still wasn't much that surprised me or grabbed my attention. I'm a big fan of the Halo series, and the teaser for 5 looked very cool, but not enough to completely tip the scales in Microsoft's favour just yet. The Master Chief Collection looks cool too, but wasn't a surprise. Definitely solid fan service though. I'm anxious to see the new live action series too.
Aside from Halo, Sunset overdrive seems like it's going to buck the trend a bit. When the trailer started, I'll admit they caught me hook, line, and sinker. As I watched, I thought to myself "Oh great, another gritty army dude shooting his way to victory. Next!" and watching the Sunset Overdive dude kick his way through the door and grind/parkour his way around the warehouse was really fun. I'd love to get a hands-on with the game and see how the motion and fluidity affect the gameplay, but I think it'll be interesting for sure.
Scalebound is another game that caught me by surprise. As the main character faced up to the dragon I thought "lovely, another game where you kill giant dragons... when are we going to get to team up with these things and take on even bigger monsters?" As if reading my mind, that's exactly what happened next, with the trailer revealing that the first dragon is indeed the partner/pet of the Beats-wearing protagonist. It looks like you can teacup with other dragon riders too, making this a gritty version of How to Train Your Dragon. I have high hopes, but will wait for more than a CG trailer.
The final thing that grabbed my attention at the Xbox One show was Crackdown 3. I admit, I skipped Crackdown 2. The first game was fun, and I really loved running and jumping around the city, gaining new powers and making my super cop stronger and stronger as I did, but I didn't want more of the same wight he second instalment. I just went back and played the first one again for a few hours and moved on with my life. Depending on how much they can add with the new hardware, Crackdown 3 could be an amazingly fun, destructive, open-world mayhem simulator that's a blast to play, or it could be a slightly prettier version of the first two games, and something I skip completely.
Moving on to Playstation 4, Sony's press conference was a little too long for my liking, especially airing so late on the east coast, and I felt that they had a lot of great points, but a lull in the middle, some weird missteps in focus, and some technical glitches made it the weakest show from a presentation standpoint. Content-wise, they were on the ball. Games like The Order and Bloodborne make Playstation the place to go if you never want to sleep again. Grim Fandango being remade brings high hopes that we'll see old adventure greats like Full Throttle get the same treatment. Full Throttle alone would make me purchase a PS4, no questions. Someone make that happen.
Since I didn't get a PS3 last gen, the HD remake of The Last of Us and GTA5 are appealing to me, and Rachet & Clank always seemed cool when my brother would play them, but I've never really spent much time on those games personally, so those new/old experiences might be tipping my interest a little bit more toward Sony for this gen. The new Uncharted makes me want to go back and buy a PS3 just to catch up on that series, because I feel like I'm missing out on some great adventures, and the new one, even from a short teaser, looks fantastic. Here's hoping they do an HD remake package of the first games before the next one comes out, as that seems to be the current trend to make up for lack of backwards compatibility.
Destiny was one of the games of the show for me. No matter what console I end up getting, I imagine I'll spend a significant chunk of time getting to know that universe. The white PS4 bundle and exclusive Playstation content are making it appealing to go with Sony, but again, it's not a completely deal breaker for me to miss out on a new gun or something if I went with an Xbox One. This leads in to my next topic, cross platform stuff.
When I compare the list of exclusives that interest me, Sony comes out on top, but only slightly, and partially thanks to not owning a PS3 and being able to experience games I missed last generation. Most of the games I'm really interested in for next gen are cross platform. Evolve, Assassin's Creed: Unity, Far Cry 4, The Division, Rainbow 6, Mortal Kombat X, Arkham Knight and, as mentioned above, Destiny, are going to be available no matter if I chose super gaming box 1 or super gaming box 2. There are other games I can add to that list, but those are just a few off the top of my head, and as they get closer to release and the REAL builds start to come out, my interest in some of those titles might increase, or as it is with a lot of games that have promising early showings at E3, they could end up as shitty games with awesome trailers.
For me, and, after talking with my brother a bit on the subject, some other people as well, waiting seems like the best option at this point. That's sad to say a year after these new consoles were launched. I'm certainly not tempted to get both Xbox One and PS4. Maybe, just maybe, if Destiny is amazing, I'll consider grabbing the white PS4 bundle in the fall, but otherwise the only game that was making me itch for a fall purchase (Arkham Knight) has been pushed back to 2015. With all of these cross-platform games, I'm waiting to see what friends are doing too, because with so many multiplayer and coop games, I'd like to be able to play with people I know. Until then, I'll stick with my Wii U and my largely unused Xbox 360 and play the waiting game.
Speaking of Wii U, let's segue in to Nintendo's conference presence. I can't say their presentation because they did a digital event again this year, but that was only part of their overall approach to E3. The live streamed stuff the ENTIRE TIME! While it was impossible to keep up with it and watch it all, I really loved the approach they used and enjoyed tuning in when I could to see what the heck was happening at any given point on the show floor. It's the next best thing to being there, I think.
I enjoyed their Digital Event, and thought the Robot Chicken introductions, the epic battle between Reggie and Iwata, and other little odd bits were vastly different from the super serious "we're so powerful" feel that often comes through in competitors shows. Nintendo's whole thing felt fun. We saw Smash Bros, which got pushed back for 3DS and got a more solid "holiday season" release window for Wii U. I honestly don't mind the push for 3DS as long as it's a solid experience. As much as I would have loved to chill out at the cottage after a day of swimming and stuff and enjoy some Smash on the go with my brother and cousins, I wouldn't want that experience to be buggy.
The holiday 2014 release for Smash Wii U makes sense, and I would assume they are going full steam to make sure they hit that. With the announcement of Amiibo, Nintendo's answer to Skylanders and Infinity, they need to get both the figures and the game (which will be the first one to utilize the figures) out and in the hands of parents looking to grab stocking stuffers. I've posted about Nintendo doing something cool with NFC and figures before, so I'm very excited to see some really cool Nintendo figurines. I'm not entirely sure if I'll want to use them in Smash Bros, but I'll get the figures for display purposed if nothing else. They look really great.
For the rest of Nintendo's show, games like Yoshi's Wooly World and Captain Toad's Adventures look like cute, classic Nintendo fun, and from what I've heard about both, I'm very excited. Bayonetta looks very cool, and I'm happy to see Nintendo loan out character costumes. This is a tactic I think could work really well for other third party games, and I hope we'll see more things like this and Hyrule Warriors in the future. Games like Devil's Third and Splatoon seemingly came out of nowhere, and I'm looking forward to both, although cautiously, especially for Devil's Third. More games for the Wii U are a good thing though.
Of course, the big highlight, and the game of the show for me, was Zelda Wii U. Without an official name, details on gameplay, or a release window of any sort, Nintendo built up and got me so excited for this new Zelda that nothing else really mattered. Starting by talking about open worlds and exploration, trial and error, and the excitement of being able to chose a path and see where it takes you was such a great way to build up the game. Zelda has always been about this. The first Zelda allowed players to go in any direction and discover things. Often times you'd run in to a monster you couldn't defeat yet, forcing you to run away (or die) and come back when you had better gear, but as consoles continued to grow, technology limited the scope of the worlds and made them surprisingly more linear, instead of more open. Recent games like A Link Between Worlds brought Zelda flack to its roots, both by using the same over world as Link to the Past, but also by letting people chose the order they explored the dungeons in. I think that was a small taste of what this game is going to offer, and I can't wait to see more. Nintendo, for me, won the show based on that promise alone. It wasn't a perfect show for them. Code Name Steam wasn't the game I wanted them to focus on for 90 freaking minutes as a new 3DS game. I wanted Mario Galaxy 3D, or something of that AAA calibre. Splatoon finished their show on a weird note, but people are saying good things. I think voice chat could make or break that game online, and with Nintendo's hesitation to allow voice of any kind except with trusted friends, I can't see cooperative multiplayer being engaging when it's all silent. There are also not a ton of games to look forward to in 2014. Smash excluded, it's pretty bare. Mario Kart 8 and other backlogged games will keep me going for a while, but my fall could be pretty boring if Smash gets pushed back or I don't buckle and buy a new console.
So there you have it. My thoughts on this years E3. What did you think? I know my brother and the rest of the guys over at BFGC did Podcasts and thought on all of the press conferences. You can find and subscribe to their podcast here
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-bfgc-podcast/id856606332?mt=2
Follow them on Twitter too @the_bfgc and for the hell of it, check out their Youtube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-dUF4q5mGsWEubdRWfXosQ
That's it folks! Until next time, follow me on Facebook at my Joystick Monkey page and on twitter @markcarabin
Showing posts with label Wii u. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wii u. Show all posts
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Gimmicks Shmimicks
With the announcement that Microsoft will be releasing a version of Xbox One without Kinect at $100 less than the current retail package, I'm going to go ahead and say the customers have spoken, and gimmicks aren't going to sell systems.
We've actually been seeing this coming for a while. Even the Wii, which was hugely successful, was a disappointment for a lot of people. Not because it was underpowered and standard def when everyone else was going HD, although that was disappointing enough, but because we never really got that 1:1 experience we all expected to have, where we swung the remote around like a real sword fight and our on-screen counterpart did the same. Instead we mostly got to waggle the controller around a bit and hope we didn't develop tennis elbow. That's not to say the Wii was without any quality software, but most of the games I enjoyed either used very little motion control, or let me plug in a Classic Pro and drop the Wii Remote completely. One area I did enjoy the Wii Remote was FPS games, using the pointer for pixel-perfect aim, and they released somewhere around 2-3 decent ones through the entire console's life. Go figure.
The 3DS was priced too high when it was released and people lashed back, saying they didn't want glasses free 3D anyway, so they weren't going to pay a premium for the technology. Nintendo answered first with a price drop, and more recently with the 2DS, which drops 3D from the system altogether. Personally, I like 3D in most games, and think it adds a bit of depth and makes the experience more immersive in some cases, but I figured I'd make the point that the 3D gimmick was NOT a system seller. It wasn't until the system built a library of some of the best games on the market that people started buying the it. Games sell systems, not gimmicks.
Nintendo is falling prey to this line of thinking once again with the Wii U. "Hey, we have a Gamepad with a touch screen and some cool features" they're saying, while not releasing a single piece of software that sells anyone on the tech. So far the best use of the Gamepad I've seen has been off screen gaming, which is fantastic if, like me, you like to play while someone else is watching TV, but useless if you have a dedicated TV for gaming or something like that. It's been cool to have a map in my hands, and there have been some neat uses for inventory and stuff like that, but there's absolutely nothing about it that screams "you need this to play games!"
Microsoft, as they tend to do, saw another company's success and said "me too!" What they didn't seem to realize was the Wii was an anomaly, and priced to kill when it was released. With Kinect, they have some cool ideas for sure, but 9.9 times out of 10 people are going to opt for the simple press of a button rather than flailing around their living rooms like a spider just landed on their face. And talking to your TV never makes you look cool. If I can quietly press a button to do the same function as yelling at a little black box, I'm going to chose the button, for fear that the men in white coats will come after me. I haven't played around with an Xbox One, but I'm sure the voice commands work wonderfully in a quiet setting, but I have a feeling I'f use them once or twice, then forget about it and go back to a controller for input.
Sony seems to have caught on to this, and just released a super powerful system with a standard controller that just works right out of the box and plays and controls like every game system before it but just looks better. And that brings us to the problem...
After all my ranting and ripping companies apart, what does this all mean for gamers? Personally, I think it's both good and bad. On the good side, I think when developers don't have to worry about integrating gimmicks in to their games, especially cross-platform games, they can focus on just delivering quality content and more resources can go to things like story and graphics. The same thing can be said for the console makers. When they don't have to spend time and money coming up with gimmicks, they can focus on making top quality consoles that are powerful and less expensive. Clearly, with Microsoft cutting a full $100 off the price of their console just for taking out Kinect, there is some room to save costs when you're not paying for a product you're likely not going to use much anyway.
On the bad side, it kind of kills the innovation. If Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony all stop gimmicks and put out ultra powerful consoles with pretty similar looking, standard controllers, where is innovation in the industry going to come from? Is all innovation just going to be graphical? If so, I think we're hitting a bit of a limit. I remember the jump from SNES to N64 and being blown away by real 3D graphics. I remember the jump from N64 to Gamecube and PS2 that smoothed out those rough edges and blocky textures and made things feel more real. I remember the jump to HD with Xbox 360 and PS3 that upped the realism and made things look amazing on my brand new HDTV. This recent jump to Xbox One and PS4... meh. Things looks amazing, don't get me wrong, but I don't think we're even going to experience those types of dramatic jumps where anyone, even someone that's never played a game in their life, can look and say "wow, that looks so much better than before".
That's why I love Nintendo. They don't care. They swing for the fences every damn time, and hope something connects. For the Wii, they had a home run. For the 3DS, it took some time, but they got there. Especially in a world where I can download a great looking game like Infinity Blade 3 to my phone in a couple of seconds, the success of the 3DS is a testament to Nintendo's quality. The Wii U might be flailing a bit now, but if they look at it like the 3DS, consider a price drop, and get some quality software out there, it'll be ok. At least they stick to their guns, and I can't wait to see what they come out with next.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has been just coming off as spineless this entire generation. Last year's E3 was embarrassing. I loved my 360, but have been strongly considering switching to PS4 for this gen simply because MS doesn't seem like they have a clear plan. They say something, get their ass handed to them, then say "yeah, we're going to do what they're doing too. We're still cool, right?" Make a choice and stick with it. Even this announcement is all over the place. I read something basically saying "we're dropping Kinect but we still think it's an integral part of our strategy". If it's integral, leave it in there. If you need to play catchup, drop the price and take a loss for a bit. Don't flop around and make desperate decisions. An art teacher I had in high school would always say "make a decision. Make a choice, even if it's the wrong one, and go with it." and I always try to remember that in life. You're going to make dumb calls. You're going to do things that don't make sense, or that other people don't get right away, or at all. But you made that choice. Follow it through. I think Microsoft could learn from both Nintendo and Sony. Right now, it's trying to have the best of both worlds, and it's not doing the best at either.
We've actually been seeing this coming for a while. Even the Wii, which was hugely successful, was a disappointment for a lot of people. Not because it was underpowered and standard def when everyone else was going HD, although that was disappointing enough, but because we never really got that 1:1 experience we all expected to have, where we swung the remote around like a real sword fight and our on-screen counterpart did the same. Instead we mostly got to waggle the controller around a bit and hope we didn't develop tennis elbow. That's not to say the Wii was without any quality software, but most of the games I enjoyed either used very little motion control, or let me plug in a Classic Pro and drop the Wii Remote completely. One area I did enjoy the Wii Remote was FPS games, using the pointer for pixel-perfect aim, and they released somewhere around 2-3 decent ones through the entire console's life. Go figure.
The 3DS was priced too high when it was released and people lashed back, saying they didn't want glasses free 3D anyway, so they weren't going to pay a premium for the technology. Nintendo answered first with a price drop, and more recently with the 2DS, which drops 3D from the system altogether. Personally, I like 3D in most games, and think it adds a bit of depth and makes the experience more immersive in some cases, but I figured I'd make the point that the 3D gimmick was NOT a system seller. It wasn't until the system built a library of some of the best games on the market that people started buying the it. Games sell systems, not gimmicks.
Nintendo is falling prey to this line of thinking once again with the Wii U. "Hey, we have a Gamepad with a touch screen and some cool features" they're saying, while not releasing a single piece of software that sells anyone on the tech. So far the best use of the Gamepad I've seen has been off screen gaming, which is fantastic if, like me, you like to play while someone else is watching TV, but useless if you have a dedicated TV for gaming or something like that. It's been cool to have a map in my hands, and there have been some neat uses for inventory and stuff like that, but there's absolutely nothing about it that screams "you need this to play games!"
Microsoft, as they tend to do, saw another company's success and said "me too!" What they didn't seem to realize was the Wii was an anomaly, and priced to kill when it was released. With Kinect, they have some cool ideas for sure, but 9.9 times out of 10 people are going to opt for the simple press of a button rather than flailing around their living rooms like a spider just landed on their face. And talking to your TV never makes you look cool. If I can quietly press a button to do the same function as yelling at a little black box, I'm going to chose the button, for fear that the men in white coats will come after me. I haven't played around with an Xbox One, but I'm sure the voice commands work wonderfully in a quiet setting, but I have a feeling I'f use them once or twice, then forget about it and go back to a controller for input.
Sony seems to have caught on to this, and just released a super powerful system with a standard controller that just works right out of the box and plays and controls like every game system before it but just looks better. And that brings us to the problem...
After all my ranting and ripping companies apart, what does this all mean for gamers? Personally, I think it's both good and bad. On the good side, I think when developers don't have to worry about integrating gimmicks in to their games, especially cross-platform games, they can focus on just delivering quality content and more resources can go to things like story and graphics. The same thing can be said for the console makers. When they don't have to spend time and money coming up with gimmicks, they can focus on making top quality consoles that are powerful and less expensive. Clearly, with Microsoft cutting a full $100 off the price of their console just for taking out Kinect, there is some room to save costs when you're not paying for a product you're likely not going to use much anyway.
On the bad side, it kind of kills the innovation. If Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony all stop gimmicks and put out ultra powerful consoles with pretty similar looking, standard controllers, where is innovation in the industry going to come from? Is all innovation just going to be graphical? If so, I think we're hitting a bit of a limit. I remember the jump from SNES to N64 and being blown away by real 3D graphics. I remember the jump from N64 to Gamecube and PS2 that smoothed out those rough edges and blocky textures and made things feel more real. I remember the jump to HD with Xbox 360 and PS3 that upped the realism and made things look amazing on my brand new HDTV. This recent jump to Xbox One and PS4... meh. Things looks amazing, don't get me wrong, but I don't think we're even going to experience those types of dramatic jumps where anyone, even someone that's never played a game in their life, can look and say "wow, that looks so much better than before".
That's why I love Nintendo. They don't care. They swing for the fences every damn time, and hope something connects. For the Wii, they had a home run. For the 3DS, it took some time, but they got there. Especially in a world where I can download a great looking game like Infinity Blade 3 to my phone in a couple of seconds, the success of the 3DS is a testament to Nintendo's quality. The Wii U might be flailing a bit now, but if they look at it like the 3DS, consider a price drop, and get some quality software out there, it'll be ok. At least they stick to their guns, and I can't wait to see what they come out with next.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has been just coming off as spineless this entire generation. Last year's E3 was embarrassing. I loved my 360, but have been strongly considering switching to PS4 for this gen simply because MS doesn't seem like they have a clear plan. They say something, get their ass handed to them, then say "yeah, we're going to do what they're doing too. We're still cool, right?" Make a choice and stick with it. Even this announcement is all over the place. I read something basically saying "we're dropping Kinect but we still think it's an integral part of our strategy". If it's integral, leave it in there. If you need to play catchup, drop the price and take a loss for a bit. Don't flop around and make desperate decisions. An art teacher I had in high school would always say "make a decision. Make a choice, even if it's the wrong one, and go with it." and I always try to remember that in life. You're going to make dumb calls. You're going to do things that don't make sense, or that other people don't get right away, or at all. But you made that choice. Follow it through. I think Microsoft could learn from both Nintendo and Sony. Right now, it's trying to have the best of both worlds, and it's not doing the best at either.
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
The State of Nintendo
Nintendo posted an annual operating loss of $457 million for the past year. They sold only 2.72 million Wii U consoles, missing their expectation of 2.9 million (which itself was lowered from 9). 3DS continued to basically keep the company afloat, selling 12.24 million units. Most people reading this will likely know how much I love my Wii U, but I know Nintendo can do better and I really think they've been their own worst enemy the past few years, making weird decisions and ignoring fans for the most part. They've stated that going forward they have a lot of work to do (duh) and they want to focus on titles that showcase how the Gamepad is different that anything else on the market, and also to make use of things like NFC (near field communications), which is built in to the Gamepad and is the same technology Skylanders use to make the figures communicate with the base stations. I actually ranted last year about how Nintendo is ignoring NFC and came up with a couple of very simple but cool uses I think could show juts how different the system is. If you'd like to read that to catch up, click here http://joystickmonkey.blogspot.ca/2013/11/smash-bros-nfc.html
I think Nintendo is shooting itself in the foot in a couple of other key ways as well, and of course, I'm going to list them here and I'd love to hear what you think as well.
So, aside from the ignoring NFC problem, one of the main things that bugs me about my Wii U is the lack of Virtual Console support. Didn't they solve this with the Wii (sort of)? I could write an entire post about the VC and how I've always wanted to see more titles with steadier releases, dating right back to the Wii, but even ignoring that I still don't understand how nearly 2 years after launching the Wii U, I can't just move my entire existing VC library over to the new console. There have been a few NES and SNES titles released, but where are the N64 and Sega titles? I love playing Mega Man X, Super Mario World, Zelda and the other handful of games on my Gamepad while watching TV. Having to switch in to Wii mode and play the other VC games that way is a pain and a nuisance, and instead of porting over GBA games (which are awesome, don't get me wrong) I think Nintendo should be focusing all of its porting power on getting N64 games running on their current machine. Retro gaming is huge, just look to the success of games like NES Remix and you'll see Nintendo is at least vaguely aware that it's past library is still as popular as ever. Stop porting over crappy NES games, bring your SNES and N64 libraries up, and get Sega in on the mix. I'm not even going to complain about the Wii U upgrade fee, because I don't care, just let me play the games.
The Virtual Console is the main focus of my next point as well. I think Nintendo needs to bite the bullet and stop double-dipping. If they sold 12.24 million 3DS units this year, giving them a total of a little over 43 million sold altogether, they're sitting on a HUGE potential audience that can be at least a little more tempted to buy a Wii U if their damn purchases were transferable! I'm not talking about every eShop game being able to port to and from both systems, despite that working for a lot of titles, I'm sure, since there are effectively two screens on both. Just allow people to buy Super Mario Bros 3 ONCE and have it on both systems, and I'm sure there will be at least a few of those 43 million people that say "ok, might as well get a Wii U if it lets me play my retro titles at home". It would be awesome to do save and/or freeze state transfers like I can do between my iPhone and iPad on certain titles, but I really don't think they have to go that far. If I'm paying $5 for a game that's 25 years old, put it on both of my systems, shut up, and take my money. As it stands now, aside from a couple of games that I'll buy pretty much any time they're released (I'm looking at you Super Mario Bros), I am really really picky when I have to decide if I want something on my 3DS or Wii U. I'm not spending the money twice regardless, but if I had it for free on both, I'd tell my friends about it.
The last thing I'll mention are the games. I know, I know, everyone says Nintendo needs more games, and I agree. The problem is Nintendo can only make a few games at a time, and good games take time. I really think Nintendo needs to dip in to its MASSIVE cash stocks and start paying developers to do exclusives. Seriously, Nintendo could have flop systems for the next 20 years and still not run out of money. Use that cash. Start paying developers to make games for your system. Sponsor indies. Do whatever it takes to make your platform attractive. Pimp out your characters, even if it's just as simple as being able to wear something resembling a Link costume in an Assassin's Creed game, having Mushroom coloured gun skins in Call of Duty, WHATEVER. Look back to the Gamecube, which wasn't Nintendo's best selling console, but games like Soul Caliber did fantastically well on that system, in a large part because Link was a playable fighter. Have I bought a SC game since? Hell no, but I was there to grab that game day one, and I would again.
There are many more things I could mention that Nintendo could do, like going back in time and changing the name from Wii U to literally anything else. Seriously at this point I think the Nintendo Game-a-tron would be a better name. However, I'll stop with those three things and ask what, if anything, you think Nintendo can do to make the Wii U more appealing to people.
I think Nintendo is shooting itself in the foot in a couple of other key ways as well, and of course, I'm going to list them here and I'd love to hear what you think as well.
So, aside from the ignoring NFC problem, one of the main things that bugs me about my Wii U is the lack of Virtual Console support. Didn't they solve this with the Wii (sort of)? I could write an entire post about the VC and how I've always wanted to see more titles with steadier releases, dating right back to the Wii, but even ignoring that I still don't understand how nearly 2 years after launching the Wii U, I can't just move my entire existing VC library over to the new console. There have been a few NES and SNES titles released, but where are the N64 and Sega titles? I love playing Mega Man X, Super Mario World, Zelda and the other handful of games on my Gamepad while watching TV. Having to switch in to Wii mode and play the other VC games that way is a pain and a nuisance, and instead of porting over GBA games (which are awesome, don't get me wrong) I think Nintendo should be focusing all of its porting power on getting N64 games running on their current machine. Retro gaming is huge, just look to the success of games like NES Remix and you'll see Nintendo is at least vaguely aware that it's past library is still as popular as ever. Stop porting over crappy NES games, bring your SNES and N64 libraries up, and get Sega in on the mix. I'm not even going to complain about the Wii U upgrade fee, because I don't care, just let me play the games.
The Virtual Console is the main focus of my next point as well. I think Nintendo needs to bite the bullet and stop double-dipping. If they sold 12.24 million 3DS units this year, giving them a total of a little over 43 million sold altogether, they're sitting on a HUGE potential audience that can be at least a little more tempted to buy a Wii U if their damn purchases were transferable! I'm not talking about every eShop game being able to port to and from both systems, despite that working for a lot of titles, I'm sure, since there are effectively two screens on both. Just allow people to buy Super Mario Bros 3 ONCE and have it on both systems, and I'm sure there will be at least a few of those 43 million people that say "ok, might as well get a Wii U if it lets me play my retro titles at home". It would be awesome to do save and/or freeze state transfers like I can do between my iPhone and iPad on certain titles, but I really don't think they have to go that far. If I'm paying $5 for a game that's 25 years old, put it on both of my systems, shut up, and take my money. As it stands now, aside from a couple of games that I'll buy pretty much any time they're released (I'm looking at you Super Mario Bros), I am really really picky when I have to decide if I want something on my 3DS or Wii U. I'm not spending the money twice regardless, but if I had it for free on both, I'd tell my friends about it.
The last thing I'll mention are the games. I know, I know, everyone says Nintendo needs more games, and I agree. The problem is Nintendo can only make a few games at a time, and good games take time. I really think Nintendo needs to dip in to its MASSIVE cash stocks and start paying developers to do exclusives. Seriously, Nintendo could have flop systems for the next 20 years and still not run out of money. Use that cash. Start paying developers to make games for your system. Sponsor indies. Do whatever it takes to make your platform attractive. Pimp out your characters, even if it's just as simple as being able to wear something resembling a Link costume in an Assassin's Creed game, having Mushroom coloured gun skins in Call of Duty, WHATEVER. Look back to the Gamecube, which wasn't Nintendo's best selling console, but games like Soul Caliber did fantastically well on that system, in a large part because Link was a playable fighter. Have I bought a SC game since? Hell no, but I was there to grab that game day one, and I would again.
There are many more things I could mention that Nintendo could do, like going back in time and changing the name from Wii U to literally anything else. Seriously at this point I think the Nintendo Game-a-tron would be a better name. However, I'll stop with those three things and ask what, if anything, you think Nintendo can do to make the Wii U more appealing to people.
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Smash Bros NFC
It's been a while since I made a post. New job, busy, blah blah, crappy excuses. I've been writing, which is the weird thing, but most of it's gone in the Day 1 journal app I've been testing out, and none of that gets pushed online. Anyway, I'm hoping I can find a better balance between here and there and get some more thoughts out in the universe. Ok, enough on that, this one's been brewing in my head for a while.
As I've said countless times, I love my Wii U. I use it all the time, and after a bit of a bumpy year, there are some truly great games out for the system, and more on the horizon. The Gamepad is awesome for someone like me! I enjoy spending evenings playing video games and chilling with my girlfriend and our puppy. We have a TV upstairs too, but it's nicer to spend some time together. The Gamepad allows me to play off-TV if she doesn't feel like watching what I'm playing, and if she does feel like watching, or is reading or something, the Gamepad has some other cool features that some games take advantage of, and some don't. And that's fine, as long as the game plays well, I really don't car if a developer shoehorns in some new, exciting way to use the gamepad screen. One thing that has been bugging me, however, is the lack of attention that the NFC reader is getting. I think I've come up with a pretty cool solution for that problem.
Nintendo loves when people get together in the living room and play games. They're all about being in the same physical space, interacting, and having fun with real human beings. Online is improved with Wii U, but Nintendo is still doing it a little differently. Again, that's fine. I'm digging MiiVerse and any game I've played online so far works really well. Back to the living room thing. With Wii, we could upload a handful of our Mii characters to a Wii Remote and take that to a friends house. I think you might see where I'm going with this. The Gamepad is a little (ok, a lot) too big and fragile to start lugging around to a friends house. Plus you can't sync up more than one. Therefore, I think Nintendo should release what I'll call a Mii Coin. This little coin, preferably shaped like a coin from Mario, but really there could be multiple styles from different franchises (a Rupee from Zelda, a Star Fox inspired military badge, a Metroid inspired lightning bolt coin, a pokeball shaped coin, etc), would store not only you Mii's information, but also profile data from compatible games. I'm inspired by the Wii Fit Meter, which is now always attached to my hip, to think of something small and cheap, that would always be on you and easy to take from one friends house to another, keeping your stats and experience wherever you go.
For an example, I thought of Smash Bros for Wii U. Imagine this. You buy your coin alongside the game. It's $10 - $20 to keep in line other NFC toys (Skylanders/Infinity) and not too expensive to if you lose it you're going to lose sleep over it. You go home, pick your favourite character and start learning moves, customizing your controls to the way you like them, and building your stats. Maybe there's a levelling system in this version, that allows you to unlock new features, characters, or costumes depending on your level. That weekend your friend invites you over for a Smash tournament. You start up the game, click Transfer on the home screen, and tap your Mii Coin on the Gamepad's NFC square, transferring your stats, control preferences, etc over to the the Coin instantly, and you're good to go. When you get to your friends house, fire up the game, hit the transfer button, and the game tells each person to tap their Coins (if they have them). After the tournament, simply reverse the process, collect your stats, and sync back up when you get home. When you transfer your stats, your friend also has the option of saving your Mii character to their system, so they'll see you when they're playing Wii Sports HD, etc.
Obviously this example is just scratching the surface of what this thing could be used for. Custom made characters and stages in games could be brought with you anywhere you go. Profiles in FPS games could be transferred over so two people can play online and you don't have to use "Guest 1's" crappy default load outs. It's a simple idea, but it's something that I think would get people excited about going to a friends house to play games, keep their progress and records, and actually use a pretty cool feature that's literally just sitting there under our thumbs.
What do you think? Can you think of any uses for Mii Coins that maybe I missed completely? Dumb idea, cool idea. I want to know!
As I've said countless times, I love my Wii U. I use it all the time, and after a bit of a bumpy year, there are some truly great games out for the system, and more on the horizon. The Gamepad is awesome for someone like me! I enjoy spending evenings playing video games and chilling with my girlfriend and our puppy. We have a TV upstairs too, but it's nicer to spend some time together. The Gamepad allows me to play off-TV if she doesn't feel like watching what I'm playing, and if she does feel like watching, or is reading or something, the Gamepad has some other cool features that some games take advantage of, and some don't. And that's fine, as long as the game plays well, I really don't car if a developer shoehorns in some new, exciting way to use the gamepad screen. One thing that has been bugging me, however, is the lack of attention that the NFC reader is getting. I think I've come up with a pretty cool solution for that problem.
Nintendo loves when people get together in the living room and play games. They're all about being in the same physical space, interacting, and having fun with real human beings. Online is improved with Wii U, but Nintendo is still doing it a little differently. Again, that's fine. I'm digging MiiVerse and any game I've played online so far works really well. Back to the living room thing. With Wii, we could upload a handful of our Mii characters to a Wii Remote and take that to a friends house. I think you might see where I'm going with this. The Gamepad is a little (ok, a lot) too big and fragile to start lugging around to a friends house. Plus you can't sync up more than one. Therefore, I think Nintendo should release what I'll call a Mii Coin. This little coin, preferably shaped like a coin from Mario, but really there could be multiple styles from different franchises (a Rupee from Zelda, a Star Fox inspired military badge, a Metroid inspired lightning bolt coin, a pokeball shaped coin, etc), would store not only you Mii's information, but also profile data from compatible games. I'm inspired by the Wii Fit Meter, which is now always attached to my hip, to think of something small and cheap, that would always be on you and easy to take from one friends house to another, keeping your stats and experience wherever you go.
For an example, I thought of Smash Bros for Wii U. Imagine this. You buy your coin alongside the game. It's $10 - $20 to keep in line other NFC toys (Skylanders/Infinity) and not too expensive to if you lose it you're going to lose sleep over it. You go home, pick your favourite character and start learning moves, customizing your controls to the way you like them, and building your stats. Maybe there's a levelling system in this version, that allows you to unlock new features, characters, or costumes depending on your level. That weekend your friend invites you over for a Smash tournament. You start up the game, click Transfer on the home screen, and tap your Mii Coin on the Gamepad's NFC square, transferring your stats, control preferences, etc over to the the Coin instantly, and you're good to go. When you get to your friends house, fire up the game, hit the transfer button, and the game tells each person to tap their Coins (if they have them). After the tournament, simply reverse the process, collect your stats, and sync back up when you get home. When you transfer your stats, your friend also has the option of saving your Mii character to their system, so they'll see you when they're playing Wii Sports HD, etc.
Obviously this example is just scratching the surface of what this thing could be used for. Custom made characters and stages in games could be brought with you anywhere you go. Profiles in FPS games could be transferred over so two people can play online and you don't have to use "Guest 1's" crappy default load outs. It's a simple idea, but it's something that I think would get people excited about going to a friends house to play games, keep their progress and records, and actually use a pretty cool feature that's literally just sitting there under our thumbs.
What do you think? Can you think of any uses for Mii Coins that maybe I missed completely? Dumb idea, cool idea. I want to know!
Monday, 16 September 2013
Disney Infinity
Apparently I took half of the summer off of writing. Now that the fall gaming flood is upon us, I figure I should probably get back to it. I'll start with a sort of review of Disney Infinity. I haven't played through all that Infinity offers yet, so this is more along the lines of an in-depth impression, since I have put several hours in to the game.
I'll start off by saying I'm a bit fan of Skylanders. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. I like the simple platforming/action gameplay, I think the character designs are cool, and I think it was such a great idea to make real life toys come to life in the game. I am fully aware the toy thing is a gimmick, but I find Activision really found a way to make it feel less gimmicky. The ability to use your Skylanders figures essentially as you "lives" in the game makes swapping and choosing figures an integral part of the experience. I haven't gone crazy collecting every single figure like some people have, but I have a few and like I said, it's a guilty pleasure when I'm looking for a simple game.
With that out of the way, I wasn't 100% sold on Disney Infinity when it was first announced, and to be honest, even after launch it took me a while to warm up to it. It just felt like a "me too" kind of deal, and I was already happy with Skylanders, so why did I need a new "figure" game? After my girlfriend caught wind of Infinity and realized what it was all about, she was actually the one that talked me in to getting it. I'll get in to the different sets and things in a bit, and I have to say, overall I've been enjoying the game, but it does feel like more of a gimmick than Skylanders does so far. I can say, for the most part, the comparisons between Skylanders and Infinity pretty much start and end with the use of figures. The games are completely different in style, execution, and pretty much every other aspect I can think of.
The problem I'm having with Infinity it is that the toys are only playable in their own sets. The game comes with 3 toys and 3 sets, Monsters U, Pirates, and The Incredibles. Sadly, you can't just go ahead and take Sully or Mr. Incredible in to the Pirates play set and have them sail the seas with Jack Sparrow, so if you want to play multiplayer you're forced to spend another $30-35 on an extra set of characters. Unlike Skylanders, which allows you to swap out characters at will, once you place your figures on the Infinity base and start your game, there's really no reason to move them until you want to play another set. Like I said, I felt like swapping characters in Skylanders helped me feel like having a collection of figures played in to the strategy of the game. With Infinity I'm reminded how useless the figures are most of the time. I'm aware you can save experience on your figures, and bring them to a friends house, so I suppose if I was doing that sort of thing I'd like it better, but my figures stay at home.
The only way Infinity redeems itself with the use of figures is in the Toy Box. In Toy Box, you're basically left to do whatever you want. You can create worlds, games, and pretty much anything your imagination can come up with. You can also download created worlds directly from Disney and other players. In this mode, you can also swap figures when you want, and all the characters can play together from different sets. This mode is really cool, and I haven't even scratched the surface of it to be honest, so I won't talk about it too much more.
Overall, I find Infinity's use of figures a little bit gimmicky, but to be honest I'll be fine with that as long as they keep releasing sets that expand the game without having to buy a new base or main disc. It can be pricey, but it's fun and there's a ton to do. Like I said, the sets are $35 each, and each of them gives you a full game to add to your collection. Each individual set is like picking up a whole new game. The Pirates set is an action adventure game with platforming, wall running, swashbuckling action, AND awesome sea battles. Incredibles is a straight old school beat em up. I love it! Monsters U is more of a stealth prank game, with some really fun and different tasks to achieve. These three packed in games are really like getting three separate games, so the price really seems to be worth it when you factor that in, plus remember the endless possibilities of Toy Box mode. Purchasing the Cars set gives you two characters and an open world racing game for $35. It's not bad at all, and I think I'll keep getting different sets based on some of my favourite movies as long as they keep releasing them.
To close, I think Infinity is a great game. It's a little expensive to get things set up, but once you have the main set and some extra figures for multiplayer, and realize how much there is to do in the game, it really has a great value. Buying extra sets for $35 is cheaper than buying a new game, but feels like one. One final gripe I do have with the game is the use of power disks for in game items and exclusive power ups. I actually don't mind the concept of power disks too much, but they come in blind bags. At $5 for a bag of two, they're not too bad, but buying 4 bags over the past few weeks I've ended up with three duplicates of one disk, and two duplicates of another. I will not buy another blind pack. Screw that, I have other things to spend my hard-earned money on. Open the packs up, let me chose which ones I want, and I'll spend the money, but until then, sorry, I'll deal with the built-in power ups and items. Despite a few kinks, I think Disney Infinity is going to be a fun game and a good value overall, and I think it's going to be a great success. Now just bring on the Marvel sets, shut up, and take my money!
- Mark
I'll start off by saying I'm a bit fan of Skylanders. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. I like the simple platforming/action gameplay, I think the character designs are cool, and I think it was such a great idea to make real life toys come to life in the game. I am fully aware the toy thing is a gimmick, but I find Activision really found a way to make it feel less gimmicky. The ability to use your Skylanders figures essentially as you "lives" in the game makes swapping and choosing figures an integral part of the experience. I haven't gone crazy collecting every single figure like some people have, but I have a few and like I said, it's a guilty pleasure when I'm looking for a simple game.
With that out of the way, I wasn't 100% sold on Disney Infinity when it was first announced, and to be honest, even after launch it took me a while to warm up to it. It just felt like a "me too" kind of deal, and I was already happy with Skylanders, so why did I need a new "figure" game? After my girlfriend caught wind of Infinity and realized what it was all about, she was actually the one that talked me in to getting it. I'll get in to the different sets and things in a bit, and I have to say, overall I've been enjoying the game, but it does feel like more of a gimmick than Skylanders does so far. I can say, for the most part, the comparisons between Skylanders and Infinity pretty much start and end with the use of figures. The games are completely different in style, execution, and pretty much every other aspect I can think of.
The problem I'm having with Infinity it is that the toys are only playable in their own sets. The game comes with 3 toys and 3 sets, Monsters U, Pirates, and The Incredibles. Sadly, you can't just go ahead and take Sully or Mr. Incredible in to the Pirates play set and have them sail the seas with Jack Sparrow, so if you want to play multiplayer you're forced to spend another $30-35 on an extra set of characters. Unlike Skylanders, which allows you to swap out characters at will, once you place your figures on the Infinity base and start your game, there's really no reason to move them until you want to play another set. Like I said, I felt like swapping characters in Skylanders helped me feel like having a collection of figures played in to the strategy of the game. With Infinity I'm reminded how useless the figures are most of the time. I'm aware you can save experience on your figures, and bring them to a friends house, so I suppose if I was doing that sort of thing I'd like it better, but my figures stay at home.
The only way Infinity redeems itself with the use of figures is in the Toy Box. In Toy Box, you're basically left to do whatever you want. You can create worlds, games, and pretty much anything your imagination can come up with. You can also download created worlds directly from Disney and other players. In this mode, you can also swap figures when you want, and all the characters can play together from different sets. This mode is really cool, and I haven't even scratched the surface of it to be honest, so I won't talk about it too much more.
Overall, I find Infinity's use of figures a little bit gimmicky, but to be honest I'll be fine with that as long as they keep releasing sets that expand the game without having to buy a new base or main disc. It can be pricey, but it's fun and there's a ton to do. Like I said, the sets are $35 each, and each of them gives you a full game to add to your collection. Each individual set is like picking up a whole new game. The Pirates set is an action adventure game with platforming, wall running, swashbuckling action, AND awesome sea battles. Incredibles is a straight old school beat em up. I love it! Monsters U is more of a stealth prank game, with some really fun and different tasks to achieve. These three packed in games are really like getting three separate games, so the price really seems to be worth it when you factor that in, plus remember the endless possibilities of Toy Box mode. Purchasing the Cars set gives you two characters and an open world racing game for $35. It's not bad at all, and I think I'll keep getting different sets based on some of my favourite movies as long as they keep releasing them.
To close, I think Infinity is a great game. It's a little expensive to get things set up, but once you have the main set and some extra figures for multiplayer, and realize how much there is to do in the game, it really has a great value. Buying extra sets for $35 is cheaper than buying a new game, but feels like one. One final gripe I do have with the game is the use of power disks for in game items and exclusive power ups. I actually don't mind the concept of power disks too much, but they come in blind bags. At $5 for a bag of two, they're not too bad, but buying 4 bags over the past few weeks I've ended up with three duplicates of one disk, and two duplicates of another. I will not buy another blind pack. Screw that, I have other things to spend my hard-earned money on. Open the packs up, let me chose which ones I want, and I'll spend the money, but until then, sorry, I'll deal with the built-in power ups and items. Despite a few kinks, I think Disney Infinity is going to be a fun game and a good value overall, and I think it's going to be a great success. Now just bring on the Marvel sets, shut up, and take my money!
- Mark
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Wii U Problems
I'm going to start this off by saying I absolutely love my Wii U. I don't regret the purchase at all, and I've played some great games on the system so far. I think the Game Pad offers some great new ways to interact with games, and at the very least, being able to play games off screen in the TV is being used is amazing. That being said, I understand why Nintendo is having a crap time selling them. Their latest financial report showed they only sold 160,000 units in the last 3 months. That's bad. They actually sold more Wii systems over that same time period. It's understandable though, for a couple of very simple reasons.
The first, price. The Wii U Deluxe bundle is $350, only has a 32 GB hard drive, and compared to the much more powerful PS4 that's coming in at $400 in a couple of months, it's not a great bargain. Nintendo shot themselves in the foot with the high price of the 3DS, and now people are expecting a similar price drop for the Wii U. I know people that are holding out anticipating a price drop, and I think even dropping the price by $50 could do a lot for Nintendo's public image. $50 cheaper than a much more powerful system doesn't entice many people to buy. $100 cheaper could give the Wii U the same kind of advantage with younger audiences whose parents just want a babysitter for their kids and will go with the cheapest option. The PS4, as it stands now, is worth the $50 for a Bluray player alone. $100 cheaper could also mean core gamers won't have a problem picking it up as a secondary system just for the Nintendo exclusives, which leads in to my next point...
GAMES! Bloody hell I've been making the most out of any Wii U game I've picked up. New games are coming, but not much that will entice people to pick up the game until later in the fall. There are some cool games coming out in the next couple of weeks, and I know I'm excited for Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101, but I don't think they're system selling games. However, a price drop now could make some people, like the many people I know that are waiting for either a price drop or Super Smash Bros (or both) pick up the system now, just to make sure they get one before the holiday rush, and they'll likely pick up a few games as well, helping software sales and showing third parties that developing for the Wii U isn't a losing battle.
Nintendo has stated before that they sell Wii U at a loss. That's not uncommon for game systems, for anyone that doesn't know, because they eventually bring the costs of technology down and recoup their costs with licensing fees and volume over time. Nintendo isn't used to selling systems at a loss, but they've also said they recoup the cost if they sell one game with the system. Dropping the price a bit will make their loss per system a little worse, but with a lot of great looking games coming out over the next few months, there's little chance they won't be selling 1, 2, or even 3 games per system. They just have to get the system in people's homes. Hell, they could even do a fall promo. Buy and register two games, get $10 eShop credit for free. This kind of thing could not only encourage people to pick up multiple games, but also encourage them to try out the digital games on the eShop or Virtual Console, helping bring indie developers to the systems, or showing off how great older games play on the Game Pad.
I think the Wii U has a lot of potential, and I hate seeing poor sales due to Nintendo being stubborn on a price point that seemed high before the PS4 was announced, and now just seems ridiculous. Learn from the 3DS. It's arguably the best system out there right now, but it had to get past its growing pains, horrid sales, and a massive price drop to get there.
I don't think the Wii U's price needs to drop that much, $50 should work, $100 would be a no-brainer. What do you think? If you haven't picked up a Wii U, what would encourage you to do so, if anything?
The first, price. The Wii U Deluxe bundle is $350, only has a 32 GB hard drive, and compared to the much more powerful PS4 that's coming in at $400 in a couple of months, it's not a great bargain. Nintendo shot themselves in the foot with the high price of the 3DS, and now people are expecting a similar price drop for the Wii U. I know people that are holding out anticipating a price drop, and I think even dropping the price by $50 could do a lot for Nintendo's public image. $50 cheaper than a much more powerful system doesn't entice many people to buy. $100 cheaper could give the Wii U the same kind of advantage with younger audiences whose parents just want a babysitter for their kids and will go with the cheapest option. The PS4, as it stands now, is worth the $50 for a Bluray player alone. $100 cheaper could also mean core gamers won't have a problem picking it up as a secondary system just for the Nintendo exclusives, which leads in to my next point...
GAMES! Bloody hell I've been making the most out of any Wii U game I've picked up. New games are coming, but not much that will entice people to pick up the game until later in the fall. There are some cool games coming out in the next couple of weeks, and I know I'm excited for Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101, but I don't think they're system selling games. However, a price drop now could make some people, like the many people I know that are waiting for either a price drop or Super Smash Bros (or both) pick up the system now, just to make sure they get one before the holiday rush, and they'll likely pick up a few games as well, helping software sales and showing third parties that developing for the Wii U isn't a losing battle.
Nintendo has stated before that they sell Wii U at a loss. That's not uncommon for game systems, for anyone that doesn't know, because they eventually bring the costs of technology down and recoup their costs with licensing fees and volume over time. Nintendo isn't used to selling systems at a loss, but they've also said they recoup the cost if they sell one game with the system. Dropping the price a bit will make their loss per system a little worse, but with a lot of great looking games coming out over the next few months, there's little chance they won't be selling 1, 2, or even 3 games per system. They just have to get the system in people's homes. Hell, they could even do a fall promo. Buy and register two games, get $10 eShop credit for free. This kind of thing could not only encourage people to pick up multiple games, but also encourage them to try out the digital games on the eShop or Virtual Console, helping bring indie developers to the systems, or showing off how great older games play on the Game Pad.
I think the Wii U has a lot of potential, and I hate seeing poor sales due to Nintendo being stubborn on a price point that seemed high before the PS4 was announced, and now just seems ridiculous. Learn from the 3DS. It's arguably the best system out there right now, but it had to get past its growing pains, horrid sales, and a massive price drop to get there.
I don't think the Wii U's price needs to drop that much, $50 should work, $100 would be a no-brainer. What do you think? If you haven't picked up a Wii U, what would encourage you to do so, if anything?
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
E3 Post Presentation Thoughts
The big console makers have had their presentations, E3 is officially off and racing, and us gamers are left to gather our thoughts after receiving a mind-blowing amount of information over a 48 hour period. So... THOUGHTS!
I've already posted on the Facebook page about my initial impressions from some of the events so far. My overall feeling is... underwhelmed. I was a bit shocked by this feeling, so I went back and read about the announcements and watched some videos of things that transpired over the last couple of days to try to figure out why this E3 just isn't getting my motor running like it has in previous years. There were some great looking games shown. Two new systems are hitting the market this fall. Why am I not jumping up and down like a 4 year old in Disney World? I think the answer is... the Internet.
The online world, bloggers, news sites, social networks, even MiiVerse. They all contributed to my expectations being set a little too high I think. You can't really hide much these days. Nintendo, a company that used to be great at hiding things, have had to show pretty much every card they have leading up to E3, because they need reasons for people to buy a Wii U, and showing off upcoming games could be one of them. We knew of pretty much every game except Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. We hadn't seen footage up until now of Mario World or Smash Bros, but we knew they were coming. Mario 3D Land was one of the best mobile games I've ever played. I think I need hands on to convince me that a cat suit and shiny graphics are going to live up to, or surpass, the amazing console experience I got from Mario Galaxy. Mega Man in Smash Bros was a huge announcement that I didn't actually expect to see, but with Mega Man games hitting the Virtual Consolea every week, I kind of figured Nintendo and Capcom were up to something, and even had a chat with some people a couple of weeks ago about how likely his inclusion was.
Sony and Microsoft, as I've said many times before, are going to keep butting heads about the future of high powered gaming consoles. For me, it's become a little boring. Sure, the games all look amazing, but most of the games shown I had already heard about, read about, seen, etc. Many were current gen games with a coat of shiny polish. New COD, new Battlefield, new "Insert Sports Title here", usual batch of launch title racing games... Is that enough for me to jump on a new bandwagon right away? Do graphics really add anything new to the amazing experiences we've seen on 360 and PS3? Judging by how many technical issues both companies had in their presentations, maybe not. Especially in the case of Xbox One, if my Internet goes down or gets a little choppy, will my game run as smoothly with the cloud there to help? Will Xbox One gain as much traction this gen as it did in the last? I got an Xbox 360 because that's what my friends got. It was cheaper, and had Halo and Gears of War and Live was a great service. With so many restrictions, will people care, or will they move to Sony?
Clearly Sony has the upper hand now, after taking so many public shots at Microsoft, but Halo is a system-seller, and MS was smart to at least show a tease for that. I'll probably hold off on getting those new systems and see how things pan out. I picked up a second hand 360 last gen, and never got a PS3. We'll see how it works out this time.
All of this, the unsurprising games, the lack of enthusiasm for having to shell out $400-500 for a new system, have made this E3 one of the least impressive ones in recent memory for me. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm going to log somewhere around 8 million hours in the new Smash Bros, but I wish Nintendo had pulled a "one more thing" type deal and even just shown a logo for a new Metroid FPS with online multiplayer. I think I'd be excited about Halo if MS didn't piss me off with so many of their used game restrictions, high price, and useless "TV" features. Give me an Xbox One for $400 that doesn't include dumb features I'll never use, and we'll talk.
Until then, I'll be impatiently awaiting Smash Bros and losing track of time in Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
- Mark
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Pre-E3 Thoughts
With E3 less than a week away, I want to hear your predictions of what will happen.
Here's a few of mine:
Microsoft and Sony will continue their pissing contest about which console is more geared towards gamers. I've never been a huge Sony fan, but I think their PS4 unveiling was done MUCH better than Xbox One, which was basically just people saying "TV" and "Sports" a bunch of times. Guess what, I just cancelled my cable subscription because there's nothing on TV I can't download, and I don't watch sports. Also, as cool as Kinect seems, simply pressing a button on a remote is much easier than waving my arms like a Power Ranger on meth and screaming at my Xbox to change the channel. Combine that with not being able to play my old Xbox 360 games (my current 360 is making funny noises, I was banking on the new one for an upgrade) and the, in my opinion, non-revolutionary graphics updates, and I think I'll be skipping this next gen for a couple of years unless the price is incredible. That's really all I want from both of these companies. They'll show some shiny new games, talk about how powerful their systems are, fine, whatever, tell me how much it costs so I'll know how long I'll be eating nothing but KD and dog treats so I can afford one.
That brings me to my next bit. Wii U. Nintendo's little engine that so far couldn't. I'll be the first to say, I love my Wii U. I play it almost every day, LOVE that I can go back and play my Wii games (Mario Party 9 and Wii Sports Resort are still weekly regulars at my house) and have been upgrading my Virtual Console library as they come. I play Mega Man X and Super Mario World on the Game Pad pretty much any time the TV is occupied by anything else. I think this E3 could make or break the system though. I really think Nintendo has to come out swinging. Let MS and Sony duke it out over their powerhouses. Nintendo needs to remind people why they play games. Like I said, the graphics updates shown at the One unveiling were decent, but not enough to convince me to shell out for a new system. Wii U has some cool new experiences that people really need to be shown hands on. Nintendo screwed up big time with the Wii U release so far. I was confusing, the name sucks, and the lack of new games was a hard pill to swallow. I already owned half the games that came out on other systems. I'm not going to buy Lego Batman 2 again just so I can see a map on the gamepad. What Nintendo needs from this E3 is to come out with new games that aren't trailing other systems. They don't all have to be new IPs, just as long as they come out at the same time as the 360 and PS3 versions.
Nintendo also needs to show some of their heavy hitters. I think Nintendo can "win" this E3 easily. Here's how:
Reggie comes out on stage. "Welcome to E3. Here's Mario, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, a sneak peak at Zelda, as well as more info on the Wind Waker update. Here's some new stuff from Sega and our third party friends. Oh, and Retro is making a new Metroid game. Here's that too. Peace". Done! Almost... I think a price drop is needed too. There are rumors of the PS4 and One coming in at under $400. If that's true, Nintendo can't hope to compete. If they come in at $500, Nintendo is ok with a $150 price difference. At a $50 price difference, Nintendo is insane if they think people will chose them by comparison. Stop selling an 8 gig unit, release the Deluxe in white, drop the price to $300 and call it a day. It worked wonders for the 3DS, a system I can't leave the house without, so offer some sort of free VC game deal to "Ambassadors" as you did with the 3DS if you need to, or don't, I'm still happy with my purchase. Either way, Nintendo already has its system in the wild. It has a distinct advantage over the "keeping too many secrets, just tell us the price and the date already" Sony and MS. It's going to be an interesting E3, no matter what.
Just don't bring us another Wii Music and I think we'll be fine.
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Downloadable games
I'm a big fan of downloadable media. Years of collecting movies and games have left me with bookshelves full of plastic cases, and I simply don't have room for another giant shelf to store another generation worth of plastic. I've grown used to getting my content through streaming or downloading, thanks largely to Apple's ecosystem. I can download games to my iPhone or iPad, stream movies to my Apple TV, and access my music anywhere, any time. I've used the Nintendo eShop to download a number of titles on my 3DS, and not just download-only games. The last couple of top-tier games I bought, I chose to download rather than get the physical copy in a store. Portable titles, however, seem to be where the convenience hits a turning point for me.
The other night I saw that Ubisoft was having a 30% off sale on the Wii U eShop. "Perfect!" I thought! "This is a perfect chance to get Assassin's Creed 3 on sale, and get some points for my Wii U digital promotion deal". The purchasing of the game was as easy as it could be, but possibly due to other people thinking along the same lines that I was, or maybe due to some other issue, the game hit errors 3 times during the download. I didn't notice these errors right away either. If I had wanted to play this game quickly, it would have been much easier to drive to a store, buy the game, come home, cook a turkey, eat, change in to some post turkey dinner sweat pants, and sit down to play. At the point the downloadable game might have hit its second error message.
What I'm really trying to say is the convenience isn't really there. With mobile titles, the sizes are small enough that I can wait a couple of minutes, grab a drink, and play my game. It's easy. With a console title, like AC3, the size (16 gb in this case) makes it so even on my super fast FibreOp connection, I still have to wait a long time. PS4 seems to have the right idea, claiming you can play while you download, but I'll wait to see this in action before I start singing it's praises.
That's my rant for the day. I love downloading games, hate long wait times, and believe that a better solution needs to be found before people really embrace digital content. What do you think? Do you download now? If so, what are your thoughts, and if not, what would make you consider switching to digital?
The other night I saw that Ubisoft was having a 30% off sale on the Wii U eShop. "Perfect!" I thought! "This is a perfect chance to get Assassin's Creed 3 on sale, and get some points for my Wii U digital promotion deal". The purchasing of the game was as easy as it could be, but possibly due to other people thinking along the same lines that I was, or maybe due to some other issue, the game hit errors 3 times during the download. I didn't notice these errors right away either. If I had wanted to play this game quickly, it would have been much easier to drive to a store, buy the game, come home, cook a turkey, eat, change in to some post turkey dinner sweat pants, and sit down to play. At the point the downloadable game might have hit its second error message.
What I'm really trying to say is the convenience isn't really there. With mobile titles, the sizes are small enough that I can wait a couple of minutes, grab a drink, and play my game. It's easy. With a console title, like AC3, the size (16 gb in this case) makes it so even on my super fast FibreOp connection, I still have to wait a long time. PS4 seems to have the right idea, claiming you can play while you download, but I'll wait to see this in action before I start singing it's praises.
That's my rant for the day. I love downloading games, hate long wait times, and believe that a better solution needs to be found before people really embrace digital content. What do you think? Do you download now? If so, what are your thoughts, and if not, what would make you consider switching to digital?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)