Source: All About Japan

Gacha games, as of recent, have become a global phenomenon. There is no way around it: they have become a standard part of the industry. Genshin Impact’s rise has led it to game award nominations, of all places. However, what led up to this at all? Well, before we get to that, I think it would be fruitful to delve into the time before the rise of the mobile market. After all, these games didn’t rise up as if some businessman out there thought “We should make player progression based on RNG and money.” Hopefully, by the end of this series of articles, the very history and impact of the industry will be understood; all in one small series rather than scattered around the internet. As part one of this small dip into industry history, we are looking at gachapon and trading cards. Yet, despite being associated with Japan, we have to make a quick trip to North America.

The Grandfather of Gachapon

It’s not a secret that gachapon is an evolution of the classic gumball machine design. Toy vending machines, in fact, were a thing at least since the 1930s. The way these ideas arrived at Japan, however, is extremely muddled, where sources are even contradictory. Around 1963, President of Penny King, Lester Hardman, introduced the classic gumball machine to Pan American Trading Company president Ryuzo Shigeta, the Grandfather of Gachapon. Shigeta perceived the market value of these machines, thanks to their sound and overall convenience. After all, the very name “gachapon” is based on the Japanese onomatopoeia. However, instead of gumballs, what the Japanese got introduced to was capsule toys.

In February 17th, 1965, after market testing, Ryuzo’s brother, Tetsuo Shigeta, established the company Penny Shokai at the behest of Hardman alongside the first machine. With a joint venture by Stanley Charlet and Hisateru Hirose to help with spreading the product around, the first machine was established at the Asakusa district in Tokyo. The machine did okay. It wasn’t massively popular but was successful enough to allow further distribution and production. Gachapon wouldn’t become a cultural icon until 1983 with one of the first lines to become extraordinarily popular, “Kinniku Man Keshigomu.” Based on the manga series, Kinniku Man, these were a series of collectible erasers, so they were both visually neat and a bit useful. Some time afterwards, Gundam would lead the way for popular gachapon lines to this very day.

Source: Eurogamer

As time went on, gachapon would further separate itself from its American origins. The main separation is that quality increased substantially in modern gachapon alongside the price. Starting from a mere 10 yen, the price would rise to a very punchy 200 or even 500 yen. Combined with the fact that a lot of the products were meant for collection and their distinctive nature, what we have here is an industry that only contains the familiar shell of the vending machine. An icon normally seen as a way to buy convenient items at any time of the day turned into this collector’s dream and random nightmare. The popularity of the machines would rise and fall over the years but they forever became a mainstay in the Japanese industry.

That is a rough outline of how gachapon came to be, after comparing multiple sources. For the most part, it really just boils down to someone going “Huh, that’s neat. Let’s make something out of it.” However, gacha games are more than just collecting. Playing into the gacha also meant account progression; even altering your very ability to clear content. For that source, it is time to look at some expensive cardboard.

Trading Card Games: Magic, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh!

In August of 1993, Richard Garfield, founder of Wizards of the Coast, released the world’s first major trading card game, Magic: the Gathering. A project that took ten years to develop and continual play testing, it hit North America and Europe by storm. At this point, dedicated games in general – be it computer games or board games like the then-burgeoning Dungeons & Dragons – were really only played by a particular demographic of people. With Magic: the Gathering, it was the first instance of a game of its kind to reach mass appeal. The card game became so popular that Wizards of the Coast would begin to host official tournaments in order to maintain player retention.

While not the first of its kind, Magic: the Gathering would be the first card game that would popularize continual development of new cards in randomized packs. As such, the game would enjoy an ever-developing metagame that also attracted collectors. However, a particular aspect of the card game was its fairly loose ruleset. While it did release with a rulebook, the core rules only served to provide a foundation on how to play the game. In turn, the way to play into the mechanics was set by the cards themselves. This would be the standard for trading card games as a whole, as seen by the Pokémon TCG and Yu-Gi-Oh!, two trading card games that if you were to ask anyone on the street, you would have a decent chance of the respondent name dropping both alongside Magic: the Gathering.

Source: Wizards of the Coast

Unfortunately, the trading card game explosion would be short-lived. Roughly in 1994, the genre would hit its first snag; there was simply too much for consumers to keep up. The popularity of trading card games would rise so high that stores would eschew role-playing games. This would later bring rise to Wizards of the Coast purchasing TSR’s leading product Dungeons & Dragons itself. The genre was that huge, yet that would also be the reason for a collapse. Far too many card games came out in the ’90s, where most have died off to obscurity. This also went in hand with how Magic: the Gathering had too much product for certain releases, stinging collectors, but new releases also made it more difficult for players to keep up. Then later on, there was an eight month gap for the Alliances pack to come out. This teetering balance was not sustainable in the long term. Now the game prefers to rotate the format completely every couple years.

That said, the genre has endured since then. Wizards of the Coast would be the first company to manufacture cards for the Pokémon TCG in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Yu-Gi-Oh! would later come along and provide a proper competitor to Wizards of the Coast in the form of Konami, albeit via Upper Deck for overseas for a time. Unlike gachapon, all of these are obviously games. Despite that, they are technically an evolution for the industry in this regard. You still have to pay in order to get a random set of collectibles, just this time you are expected to play them as well. Later on, card sets would have internal pack rules that meant you were at least able to get a certain rarity per pack.

Source: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fandom Wiki

Yet, players were still met with needing to pay large sums of money in order to keep up with the meta game. This is the most obvious with Yu-Gi-Oh!, where even in 2002, there were challenges in gathering a deck to compete at high level. Mechanical Chaser was the first notable example, as it was a monster card only released in a tournament pack, was an ultra rare, and had 50 more attack than La-Jinn. 1850 versus 1800 may seem small, but players who had the card possessed a notable advantage over their opponents for the mere fact the weaker monster can be bulldozed over. Mechanical Chaser went up to at least $200 at the day, meaning it was also expensive for someone to get their hands on it. Later on, as the game’s meta developed, using high ATK monsters would be eschewed for those that are slightly weaker, but had powerful effects. In turn, the strategy, Beat Down, would be eschewed in favor of Control, with Beat Down only being seen in competitive play because it is cheaper.

It didn’t help that having more than one copy of a card meant it was easier to access in the deck. By Yu-Gi-Oh!’s very year of release, the format had notable toxic elements. This grew more and more where, by the time after World Tournament 2004 wrapped up, Konami and Upper Deck had to make their first forbidden list, formally banning the cards Chaos Emperor Dragon and Yata-garasu. Of course, if anyone kept up with Yu-Gi-Oh! right now, one will find that problematic aspects in the meta show up time and time again. Even in 2022, cards like Cryston Halqifibrax existed and were a clear problem, yet still ran around with Konami dancing around the problem until very recently. Sometimes, problematic cards like Imperial Order are unbanned and show why they shouldn’t have come back only to be banned once more. Even for trading card games, it should be said that this is relatively extreme, but it does serve to illustrate how bad it can become.

The main takeaway from gachapon and trading card games is their randomness and collector value. Capsule machines and card packs gave randomized products; you don’t know what you are going to get. Even if this was ripe with abuse, and was clearly seen with trading card games, the randomness excited people all the same. Of course, the fact that trading card game players had to buy in to compete at high level didn’t go unnoticed. In addition, the whole issue with oversaturation will become a running theme, which made all of these business ventures from becoming standard.

From here, the seeds were planted, roots ready to trickle down further and further. There were still the matter of distribution, advertising, and monetization to delve into. After all, in order to play card games, you need to know other people as well as a set location. Many times these game sessions last for almost an hour. What if we shrunk these game sessions down to mere minutes along with the ability to play them almost anywhere? For that, it is time for the rise of the mobile market but that is for part two.

The post Before Gacha: Capsules and Trading Cards appeared first on oprainfall.

It certainly doesn’t feel like it, but it’s been five years since I joined the Operation Rainfall team. And during my time here, I’ve had the pleasure to play some outstanding hidden gems that I wouldn’t otherwise have discovered, and talk about titles that have moved me in ways I could never have predicted. I’ve also been given this platform in which I could draw new attention to past greats and other titles that I, personally, felt had gone relatively unnoticed or underappreciated. oprainfall has given me the opportunity to voice my personal opinions in an industry that I am passionate about and which has brought me tremendous joy. It has, and hopefully continues to be, a welcome presence that reminds me that there are those, like myself, who have an adoration for the niche, and that it’s perfectly okay to enjoy any style or genre however one likes. Looking back and thinking about it, it’s been pretty awesome.

And so, I’ll be taking a look back at some of the hidden gems I’ve discovered, old favorites that I’ve reviewed, and mention a few other titles that I’ve played, watched, or read, yet haven’t had the chance to talk about here during these past five years. Or, more simply, this is all about me geeking out about a bunch of stuff.

In the Beginning…

First, I’d like to do a bit of reminiscing regarding my entry point as an oprainfall writer: the TBT Review. Retro reviews by any name are always something I enjoy as they often remind me of my best gaming memories, regardless of when I actually played them. Those games of the 90’s, and many from the 00’s too, possess a unique charm that never fails to draw me in. So much so, that I still revisit them fairly frequently. Really, if anyone were to just mention certain game titles, I start daydreaming and soon start thinking, “I should replay that.” To have the ability to revisit that library of games, talk about why I so love them, and why they should never be forgotten is something that I find truly worthwhile. These are the games that made me a gamer, so yes, I shall geek out over them as often as I can.

Kirby’s Adventure

Strangely enough, it’s not Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, or one of the many other masterpieces that I find myself revisiting the most, but rather it’s Kirby’s Adventure. Not only was this the game that introduced Kirby’s now iconic copy ability, but this has to be one of the most fun and engaging games I’ve played from the early 90’s era. Even for an NES era game, it still looks and sounds amazing and, best of all, its pure action. Plowing through enemies using their own powers, unlocking all of the secrets, and completing the game to 100% remains a satisfyingly fun escapade from start to finish. Video games are meant to be fun and Kirby’s Adventure delivers that aplenty. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to tell myself, “no,” when thinking about replaying it.

Terranigma

Of course, there’s plenty of SNES games worth replaying, many of those titles coming from Enix, and for me, Terranigma is at the top of my favorites list. Many Enix RPGs distinctly possess deeper stories and have this reputation of embracing tragedy and the bittersweet. They teach us that not everything or everyone gets a happy ending, or the type of closure we may feel a particular story or character deserves. It can be eye-opening or even humbling; most definitely profound, given that such diversity in a story and the emotional depth that accompanies it can be achieved in a video game. Terranigma is, to me, the pinnacle example of this, given the hardships and ultimate conclusions that the main character, Ark, must endure. And holy crap, the plot twists. Even though I know what’s to come, there’s always such an impact, every single time. That’s the mark of a fantastic story; that it can continue to deliver and instill such an incredible emotional impact each and every time you experience it.

The Well Known Classics

Although bringing attention to niche and lesser known titles is one of the best aspects of writing for this site, having the opportunity to share my own thoughts on some of the most well-known classics of the past few decades has been equally enjoyable. Not only do I get to share my own experiences regarding some of the best games ever, I get to revisit those moments that have forged deep, lasting memories within me. The first time you hear Frog’s Theme or experience the showdown against Magus in Chrono Trigger. The moment you step into the Forest Temple and get drawn in by the music and atmosphere in Ocarina of Time. Drawing out a rusted sword that causes your exile from home, yet leads you to meeting powerful friends that will shape your being and your destiny, slowly but surely coming to the realization that you can indeed achieve greatness enough to save the world. Yeah, pretty much all of Secret of Mana is one big, fantastic memory for me. Those are the moments I live for as a gamer, and getting to share that with even just one reader is a phenomenal feeling.

Metroid Prime Series

My attention will always be grabbed whenever a developer succeeds in trying something new and drastic. Hence the reason why I can never say enough about the Metroid Prime series. This series continues to impress me with just how well Retro Studios manages to adapt the classic 2D Metroid style to 3D. To have captured that feel, that Metroid charm, so accurately is simply amazing. In fact, I find myself wanting to replay the Prime series far more often than any of the 2D titles. Don’t get me wrong, as a fan, I absolutely love Super, Fusion, and the others. But, the Prime titles offer so much more. Deeper stories, tons of detail and depth through the scanning of nearly everything you encounter, the more complex combat and platforming, I could go on and on. The element that sticks out to me the most, though, will always be the point of view. To be able to see exactly what Samus sees through her visor is still the coolest aspect of the Prime series for me. And while platforming and playing as a sprite in 3rd-person will always have its allure, here we are in the suit, seeing through the visor, and getting right behind her iconic weaponry. Because of that first-person style, we get blood-pumping moments like having to look upwards to take in the sheer scale of the Omega Pirate or Meta Ridley, or the faster-paced battles against Dark Samus where it often dashes out of view to launch attacks in your blind spots. Oh, and to bundle or categorize all of that magnificence with an overtly simple term like FPS would be a sin. The perspective, combined with capturing that Metroid magic, allowed the developers to add new degrees of pace, energy, and fierceness that you just can’t quite get from the 2D titles.

Remakes of Classics

The trend of remaking classics is looking like it will continue into the foreseeable future and, for now, I remain a mix of both hopeful and leery. My personal experience regarding remade classics is a bit limited, yet the two titles I’ve reviewed each left profound feelings. I love the Seiken Densetsu 3: Trials of Mana remake. This 3D remake did not lose nor sacrifice any of the charms of its 2D counterpart regarding story, characters, or gameplay. The visuals kept with that distinguished Mana style, and the remade soundtrack is nothing short of masterful. But then there’s the Secret of Mana remake. While the story and gameplay remain true to their source, I felt the aesthetic decisions nearly ruined the game. Using an overly cartoonish visual style clashed with the many story elements that possess a sad, fearful, or tragic tone and also too often clashed with the moods set by the characters’ feelings. A touch more realism, akin to the visual decisions made for Trials of Mana‘s cast, I feel, would have helped better deliver the emotional impacts of the narrative. The worst of failures, however, remains that egregious soundtrack. The sheer brilliance of the original’s sound score is utterly lost, replaced with an insult of a remix. Just thinking about it upsets me. Well, needless to say, my feelings regarding these remakes are strong. One was an overall success, the other, while satisfactory, had unforgivable mistakes. And those are just the two I’ve reviewed here. So while I can appreciate the fact that a remake or remaster can bring new attention and new fans to these games and series, I shall simply hope that any revisit-efforts do their originals justice.

A Slew of Personal Favorites

From the start, oprainfall has enabled me to review many of my all-time favorites, giving me the opportunity to say exactly why I love these particular games and, hopefully, convince a reader or two to try them themselves. I find it to be fulfilling, in that I get to draw new attention to titles that I feel deserve it. Whether it’s the fun had, the memories made, or the emotional impact left, many of my favorites are ones I find I can talk about endlessly and be easily convinced to play again and again. For example, Supergiant’s Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre, come to mind, as each title has a wealth of action, yet immerses you in deep story and introduce characters that become easy to care for. Also, each of their stories has their moments of joy and melancholy, thoroughly playing with your emotions throughout. To go a bit further, my favorite of the group, Transistor, remains a gaming fixture for me due to its exceptional, clever gameplay, badass main heroine, and its breathtaking aesthetics.

Whereas Supergiant titles are fairly new in my repertoire, reviewing several of the Mana titles brought me back to my childhood, in which I enjoyed these epic journeys across colorful, imaginative worlds teeming with life. Epic hardly begins to explain such experiences, and getting wrapped up in the backstories and the personal reasons for why these characters are willing to travel the world and confront the fiercest of foes is something I take great pleasure in when playing. And of course, there are plenty others, too, that are outstanding in my memory; Darksiders, Bayonetta, Ocarina of Time, and the many SNES classics I’ve gotten to share with this community.

What I hadn’t expected, however, is the bittersweet feeling I sometimes perceive when playing, reviewing, or just thinking about lesser known games. I find myself lingering on the thought of how so many games, and manga and anime too, whether they were once popular, or only had a niche following, have slowly fallen into obscurity. I find myself thinking that my discussing a long-ago released game might be the last time in who knows how long that particular title will receive any kind of attention from the gaming world. Again, the hope would be to bring renewed attention to such games, to encourage conversation, to reignite dormant memories or feelings others may have once had. Yet, it’s a shame that many games will ultimately remain distant memories. For me in particular, I was recently reminiscing about Baten Kaitos. I mean, seriously, when was the last time anyone brought up that game in any kind of conversation, with its fantastical world, card based battle system, and its terrible English dub? Or how about Arc Rise Fantasia, Eternal Sonata, Baroque, and Parasite Eve? My goodness, when was the last time anyone brought up The Last Story or Pandora’s Tower? Remember those? Again, it’s not just games, either. Witch Hunter Robin, .hack//SIGN, Black Cat, Trinity Blood, Claymore, I could keep going. Not every title is a masterpiece, but whether it’s me, or you, or someone out there, any particular title has the ability to become something more to an individual. It’s exactly this fact which causes that bittersweet feeling. It’s a realization that it’s up to us to carry on the conversations, to revisit old favorites, and to hold onto those wonderful memories we’ve been gifted by experiencing them.

New Discoveries

Along with fanboying over old favorites, oprainfall has introduced me to a plethora of new games, many of which I previously never heard about and would have completely missed out on. If it weren’t for the access to developers and their works that this position provides, I would have missed out on titles that I have since called hidden gems in my reviews. Necrobarista is the best example I can think of regarding this, for I had not heard anything about it previously, yet playing it yielded such a deep, heartfelt impression that I’m truly grateful I didn’t miss out. For those unfamiliar, Necrobarista is a visual novel that explores the many topics surrounding death, such as trauma, regret, and the processes of coming to terms with it and, ultimately, letting go. Funny, charming, yet incredibly thought provoking, this is a game I’m glad to have experienced. And I can even say that it’s now a favorite of mine. Virgo Versus the Zodiac is another example of nearly missing out, yet instead I got the chance to discover this fantastic 8-bit stylized RPG. Its story is deceptively deep, Virgo as a main character brings unabated energy, rage, and feistiness, and the consequences of your actions could affect all of creation. Pretty darn epic and again, one I am wholly glad I got to play.

There are plenty of other examples too. Ghost 1.0, for its Metroid-esque platforming and combat, along with an excellent story and tons of humor delivered through impressive voice acting. The Vagrant, for its tragic heroine, ferocious hack-and-slash combat, and its striking visual style that combines destitute with touches of macabre. And, When the Past was Around, for its enrapturing soundtrack and sound effects, as well as its immersive point-and-click gameplay within an artistically charismatic world. These are all games that left that powerful, lasting impression on me that we seek as gamers; those feelings that make you want to replay them time and again. I am grateful that I’ve had the chance to play them.

Drew’s thoughts on other media on page 2 ->

The post Looking Back: Drew’s First Five Years at oprainfall appeared first on oprainfall.

In the annals of gaming history, January 21st, 1999 marks the original launch day of Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo All-Star! Dairanto Smash Bros.). From humble beginnings, the Nintendo party/fighter game released as an unassuming surprise has transformed into a dynasty of video gamedom. It threw Nintendo’s most popular creations into a fighting game that played like no other. And unlike other popular fighters of the late-90s, there was no arcade version: it was only on Nintendo 64. If you were a Nintendo 64 owner of the era, surely Super Smash Bros. caught your fancy. There was nothing like it before: Nintendo freely pitted their lovable characters together to beat the stuffing out of each other, and it was brilliant fun.

Smash Bros. didn’t just come out of a vacuum, inspired by a slew of concepts like sumo and the Japanese game of marbles Ohajiki. Putting these side-by-side with Smash Bros. definitely shows how alike they are, both centered on smashing or sending your opponent outside the thin lines of combat. This came from the mind of none other than Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Kirby’s Dream Land. Together with the help of then-HAL co-worker Satoru Iwata, they worked on a skinflint budget and took the risk of adding Nintendo’s mascots to a generic fighting game concept to sell the idea and bring it to life.

Super Smash Bros. broke all the rules of fighting game convention back in 1999. Instead of health bars, there are percentages. By pummeling your opponents to raise their damage, you could send ’em flying out of the arena. Every playable fighter, from Mario, Link, Kirby, and so forth, felt like they borrowed from fighting game archetypes while adding twists from their own gaming franchises.

Every character shared the same basic controls, but offered enough differentiation to play uniquely. So, Kirby can copy the abilities of others. Samus and Link offered projectile games using their own bombs or lasers, and Donkey Kong was the resident pummeler. And every stage on offer also borrowed from respective Nintendo franchises, like a brawl across from Peach’s Castle or in Saffron City. In turn, each stage has their own hazards that respected the source material, like an Arwing in space set to blast you on top of the Great Fox ship.

With only 12 fighters max, nine stages, and not much else, the original Super Smash Bros. can feel a bit rough around the edges. Besides looking a wee bit dated, a lot of the quality-of-life and gameplay mechanics we take for granted are just not present, making for a drastically different combat experience that’s more limited in scope. That said, the novelty of the core crossover concept is so irresistible that you tend to forget those limits. It was up to its various sequels, starting with 2001’s Super Smash Bros. Melee, to raise the bar on the series’ expectations and quality. Since that watershed sequel, Super Smash Bros. has gotten faster, more intense, and varied in what is possible to see and do. More modes, more characters from Nintendo and outsider companies, and extra collectibles has ballooned the franchise into a far richer experience.

Any Smash Bros. game could be a player’s first touchstone to learning more about video game lore. I should know; when I first played Super Smash Bros., I didn’t know who Samus, Ness, or Captain Falcon were. With later games adding more niche and obscure characters and game worlds to the mixture, this could become an issue for newer generations of players.

As a late-ish N64 release, the original Super Smash Bros. was the perfect party game for a multiplayer-centric console. It offered simple, accessible design with plenty of depth. It also serves as a dedicated love letter and museum to Nintendo history. It’s become a Nintendo staple that pushes the boundaries of content, presentation, and scale for its own series and all others on its respective platform, which is why every new installment was so anticipated by the industry every time. With at least six upcoming DLC characters and stages set to appear in the latest game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate throughout 2019, who knows what Super Smash Bros. will amaze us with next. From a humble original game on the Nintendo 64, Super Smash Bros. has been a DK Barrel full of endless surprises. Here’s to another 20 years.

The post Nintendo’s Great Fray: Super Smash Bros. Turns 20 Years Old appeared first on oprainfall.

During Sony’s 2016 E3 press conference, a big surprise was announced. A brand new Spider-Man game developed by Insomniac and exclusive to the PlayStation 4. The good old web head has been in a plethora of video games, dating all the way back to the Atari 2600. Some are good, and some are really bad, but the concept of swinging around a city and stopping crime has appealed to people as much as wanting to cut people to shreds with lightsabres. So, how does Insomniac’s Spider-Man fair for a die hard fan of this superhero? I dunno, so I’m gonna talk about the PlayStation 1 game instead.

(Also, special thanks to corrupted_save regular Shlotz for my new water mark)

The post Spider-Man – The Amazing Video Game appeared first on oprainfall.

All in-game photos of Altissia were taken either using the PlayStation 4 Share button or by utilizing Noctis’ in-game photo taking options. The photos from Venice were taken by me over a course of several days in May/June 2017. The logo for FINAL FANTASY XV is used courtesy of SQUARE ENIX.

So…come take a look!

Sightseeing and Gettin’ Around Altissia and Venice

Gondolier: “Splendid, where are we off to?”

Altissian Cathedral (Left) / Basilica San Marco (Right)

At the beginning of Chapter 9, Ravus Nox Fleuret, the high commander of the Empire of Niflheim, lies to Niflheim Chancellor Ardyn Izunia in Yureil Plaza about having seen Lady Lunafreya. This betrayal by Ravus sets the gears in motion for the events of this chapter and beyond for Noctis and his Crownsguard.

Yureil Plaza and the church within in Altissia were clearly modeled after Piazza San Marco and Basilica San Marco in Venice, both of which date back to the 800s, and the Basilica San Marco is one of the finest examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture in Europe today.

While the central archway for the church in Yureil Plaza was left fairly plain, with only banners for decoration, the mosaic over the main archway for the Basilica San Marco is an 1800s mosaic of The Last Judgment from the New Testament.

Port Station (Left) / San Marco – Vallaresso (Right)

If you take the Red or Blue Alilaguna lines from the Marco Polo Airport, you will eventually reach San Marco – Vallaresso stop in Venice. In FINAL FANTASY XV, Noctis and the chocobros ride from Cape Caem and arrive in Altissia at Port Station. Clearly, there are direct parallels to be drawn from people arriving at both of these cities from the sea. Additionally, both at San Marco Vallaresso and at Port Station, there are gondolas just idling at the water front, even without a gondolier to pilot them.

View from Unnamed bridge at Port Station (Top) / View from Ponte della Paglia at San Marco (Bottom)

In both Port Station and at the port next to San Marco, there is a bridge that effectively cuts the docking areas in half. While the one in Altissia has a regular and simple bridge viewable from the Port Station bridge’s apex, the Ponte della Paglia has something a LITTLE more spectacular in view…

…The Bridge of Sighs, which is one of the most famous bridges in the world. Construction first began on the Bridge of Sighs in 1600, and it contained the last view of Venice that prisoners would see as they were transferred from the Doge’s Palace (on the left) to be kept in the prison post-conviction (on the right).

Casinos in Altissia (Top) and Venice (Bottom)

Gambling is common in both Altissia and Venice, however they could also not be more different in execution. In Altissia, people go to the Arena Galviano, where they wager Galviano chips in a game called Totomostro on which monsters from all across Eos can outdo and outsurvive the battle. In Venice, there is the world’s oldest casino: the Casino di Venezia, established in 1638. While the battle arena in Altissia is quite large, the casino…is surprisingly demure and rather small, and lacks the flash that you would expect if you’ve spent any time in Las Vegas. Despite this, both can lead to exciting games of chance…If you have the cash to play, of course.

Other Altissian Stations (Top) and Venetian Stops (Bottom)

(Above: Leville and Ministerial Quarter Stations in Altissia. Below: Cimitero and Burano Vaporetto Stops in Venice).

In Altissia, everyone gets around by riding gondolas from breezy and open air stations. In Venice, if you are taking the ACTV public transportation, the grand majority of stops are enclosed and open directly onto the vaporetto. There are some, such as Burano, that are remarkably open with little in the way for protection from the elements.

Assorted Canals Throughout Altissia (Top) and Venice (Bottom)

In both Venice and Altissia, there are no roads. Instead, there are canals. The canal ways in both cities are actually pretty similar, with the exception of the lack of barnacles on the canal walls in Altissia (as there is in Venice – I actually cut my hand open on one at one point), and there are no water wheels lining the canals in Venice as there are in Altissia.

Bridges and Stairs Across Altissia (Top) and Venice (Bottom)

The city of Altissia is defined just as much by the staircases that criss-cross the city as it is by the gondola port stations that dot the waterways. As a result of all of these staircases and bridges to the different parts of the city, it is often easy to either get lost or get frustrated by your destination being JUST out of reach…

Venice, however, could not be more different. The city was built on wood poles that are sunk into a foundation of mud, and there is not much of an elevation change across the city as a result. While you won’t see the soaring staircases of Altissia in real life, you’re able to see where the developers clearly drew their inspiration for the FINAL FANTASY XV city in Venice:

Of course…there is ONE exception to the above: Scala Contarini del Bovolo, just a short walk away from Teatro La Fenice:

This staircase was commissioned around 1400 as an act of prestige, and is a blend of three styles of architecture: Renaissance, Gothic, and Venetian-Byzantine. The spiral staircase lets off onto multiple landings on the way to the top, where you can look down over the city of Venice. If anything was a direct inspiration for the staircase stylings of Altissia, than this would definitely be it:

 Gondolas and Vaporettos

(Left: A gondola in Altissia; Right: A gondola in Venice.)

While the gondola is the main form of transportation between Stations in Altissia, gondolas are used exclusively as an (admittedly overpriced) tourist attraction in Venice. People in real life either operate their own private boat or ride vaporettas between ACTV stops. Despite the differences in purposes for the gondola in the two worlds, it is clear that the FINAL FANTASY XV team drew direct inspiration from the gondolas in Venice for Altissia.

(Below: A Venetian vaporetto as seen from above, with a gondola in frame for a size comparison, and a close up of a vaporetto).

On Page Two, I compare the Restaurants and Dishes of Venice and Altissia…

The post FINAL FANTASY XV – Altissia and Venice: Cities on the Sea appeared first on oprainfall.

For my contribution to our week of Idea Factory International coverage, I wanted to talk about my favorite character from the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, Plutia/Iris Heart, and what makes her my favorite character. Like everyone who really gets into a series (or picks a waifu), there are often very personal reasons for those decisions. So first I’ll give a bit of a character primer on Plutia, and then I will describe why she is so endearing to me. This will be a personal post but I do consider most of the best writing to be personal. So let’s get on with it.

Keeping Plutia happy is a good decision for your mental health.

Plutia was first introduced as a CPU from the past of Planeptune. Initially it can be rather difficult to tell which console she represents, however that is resolved when she finally transforms for the first time. As anyone who plays the series consistently knows, the CPUs and CPU Candidates represent consoles from certain companies. Planeptune represents Sega, so when you see her transform it becomes apparent that she is the Sega Genesis. In her normal form her laziness is even greater than that of Nep-Nep, so apparently it must be something in their genes. In fact, she is so lazy that she wanders around in her pajamas and slippers, and attacks using her stuffed animals. Of course, the stuffed animal attack also takes on a new perspective when you see some other sides of her personality. But initially she is just very sweet and kind and loyal and very easy to get along with or make friends with. Noire was not that keen to help out Neptune when she got trapped in the past, but it was Plutia that adopted the wayward CPU. However, when she transforms a new aspect of her personality comes out. And it is the most drastic change of any of the CPUs in the series thus far.

Serving me is in your best interest.

When she transforms she becomes Iris Heart. Certainly she is very beautiful, but without her even uttering a word, you can tell that she is a CPU cut from a different cloth, and that cloth is leather. That’s right, folks, in this CPU we have our BDSM queen, a Dominatrix. And she does not just wear the outfit, she loves tormenting her girls. Not only does the enemy feel her wrath, but also her companions must be wary lest her whip be turned on them. So, in general, they decide for their own safety that it’s best to keep Plutia calm and only call out Sadie (as she is aptly nicknamed) when things are really desperate. She will destroy the enemy, then grind them into the dust, and then look to her friends for more. Why would the Sega Genesis be represented this way? Well there are a lot of reasons. But my suspicions would be that it is the combination of several factors. The console was a darker and more mature looking black and red compared to the Nintendo consoles of the time. They engaged in an aggressive marketing strategy, in particular focusing on their blast processing and doing things that “Ninten-don’t”. And right from the gates they wanted to focus on more “adult content” for their console, in this case games like Altered Beast, Splatterhouse, and an unedited Mortal Kombat.

Phrases like this are catnip for some individuals.

I actually missed out on Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory the first time around. Although I had owned the previous two games in the series, I had not beaten either of them yet and I was invested heavily in an MMO that was dominating (pun intended) most of my gaming time. So actually I only really got to know her on the fabulous remakes on the PS Vita. She is a playable character on Re;Make 1 and 2, but you don’t have any story or background until 3. I liked her look and her battle quotes a lot in the first two games, but I really fell in love with her once I was able to play her as a main character in Re;Make 3. I ended up loving her so much that it was my only major disappointment with the fantastic Megadimension Neptunia VII that I was not able to play Iris heart again.

It’s okay Iffy, don’t be scared, let me explain.

So why did Iris Heart become my favorite CPU? Honestly, I’m not a very big fan of the Sega Genesis; I was a much larger fan of the SNES and still consider that console to be superior in practically every way. I have gone back and played many of the Genesis games that I missed but they never really captured my heart the same way, especially the Sonic games. So my fondness for her has nothing to do with the console that she represents. It is her personality and design alone. And that attraction for me is almost entirely due to how she represents the BDSM lifestyle. So I’d like to talk about that a bit, both to educate and to enlighten. For the definition of BDSM, I will go with the outline of Tristan Taormino in her book The Ultimate Guide to Kink (pp 4-5) paraphrased. It is one of the better ones that I have come across:

B & D or B/D stands for bondage and discipline. It (isn’t) necessarily meant to denote only bondage and discipline, but rather a range of activities that revolved around power exchange.

SM is the common abbreviation for sadism and masochism or sadomasochism. These terms were coined by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1886 and have appeared frequently since then in psychoanalytic literature to describe sexual pathologies; however, kinky people reclaimed them beginning around the 1970s, and S/M was the most popular term until BDSM gained widespread use by the 2000s.

Embedded in the acronym BDSM is D/s, which represents dominance and submission or Dominant/submissive. Today, D/s is most often used to denote relationships that are built around a dominant/submissive power dynamic where power echange is always or very often present (and may exist without other elements of BDSM). In those D/s relationships where the power exchange is always present, partners inhabit their roles and reinforce the dynamic through various rituals, protocols, and behaviors all the time; these relationships may be referred to as 24/7 D/s, lifestyle D/s, TPE (total power exchange), or APE (absolute power exchange).

I define these things because there is a lot of misunderstanding around them and so that you will know what I am talking about here. Especially to point out “lifestyle D/s” as above. While I am not currently in a lifestyle D/s relationship, I have been in the past, and I respect and value them very much. It should come as no shock that this is a relationship type that is very seldom explored in the world of video games. Not only is that a shame for those of us who are into the world of BDSM and Kink, but it also provides and inaccurate view of adult sexual relationships to avoid it entirely. Franky most studies show that the lion’s share of long lasting relationships will at least delve into the world of BDSM , you can look at a more thorough study here or you need only look at the sales figures for the 50 Shades of Grey to understand how prolific that is.

The very words ‘sadism’ and ‘masochism’ come from the world of novels: Sadism comes from the name Marquis de Sade who wrote The 120 Days of Sodom which features many scenes of sadism (enjoyment at the infliction of pain or asserting control), Masochism comes from the name Leopold von Sacher-Masoch who wrote Venus in Furs and features masochistic tendencies (enjoyment at the receiving of pain or humiliation). I want to spell these things out, not only to educate, but to make the point that if video games want to be considered a high art, like the novel, I expect them to stretch boundaries, not to just exist to make money. I could rant on that one for days.

Pride cometh before the fall.

So why do I love Sadie so much? Because she is an avatar for me. An aspect of me that is seldom explored in this hobby. Sure, I do read a lot of books with BDSM content and I play some visual novels with it as well, but this is one of the few video games that has allowed me that expression. No, I do not dream of Sadie punishing me, while I can switch at times I am mostly a Dominant, but she represents a large part of my personality. And games are often at their best when they are personal, just like writing. The BDSM lifestyle has just as much right to exist in the world of video games as any others that we represent. That is not to say that every developer should insert it into their game to please me. No, I want more content, not less. And I want it to be written by those that have a passion for it. In that respect, it is not a big surprise that it has been coming out of Japan. BDSM clubs and professionals are fairly common in the Land of the Rising Sun (here are some examples of their cultural attitudes for it, or you can watch season 2, episode 7, of Parts Unknown for a more visual exploration). Do I mind that it’s a very strong female character that I see myself as? No, not really. I’m enough of a man to identify with a woman and not feel that my masculinity is in any danger. So those that are looking for strong female characters that meet whatever test or criteria you have set up, feel free to look at Sadie here. Or is she too attractive for you? If so, she will see you in her dungeon; her boots can use a spit shine.

The post Building Character: Let’s Talk About Sadie appeared first on oprainfall.

I’ve been playing video games for decades now, ever since I was a little kid during the NES era (when most games were insane). I don’t consider myself an elite gamer, but I’ve played an awful lot of video games so far in my life and so it’s safe to say I’m a veteran player! I remember hating some of those old games as a kid, like Ghosts ‘n Goblins on NES. My dad beat that game, but I was never able to back then. These games were designed to be super hard to offset how short they were due to hardware limitations at the time, though. Stuff like this may well be the reason why I grew up to dislike extreme difficulty, but it’s also partly just common sense. Video game difficulty is still a huge and polarizing issue today. I may be a veteran player, but you’d be surprised how often I still see poorly designed stuff, even in games by the big, professional video game companies. Some players like their games hard, some like them brutally hard, and some like their games to actually be playable. Making all of these groups happy can be tricky for a game developer.

There are a few major types of difficulty out there in video games. There is fun difficulty, there is punishing difficulty, and there is also artificial difficulty. Fun difficulty is when a game is challenging and makes you want to keep playing until you overcome that obstacle. Punishing difficulty is when a game punishes the player excessively for messing up. Rogue-likes are well known for their punishing difficulty. And lastly, artificial difficulty is difficulty that is added on top of the level itself by other mechanics. For example, in the NES and SNES days, many games gave you a limited number of extra lives or continues. Those extra constraints artificially increase the difficulty of the level(s) that you’re playing. It should be noted that these are not absolute terms though, as everyone is different. So what one person finds easy might seem horribly brutal to another player. The Extra Credits YouTube channel has a video on difficulty in video games, and tons of other videos on game design among other topics.

A game should not make you feel like this guy!!!

Players come in a huge variety of different types. You could divide them by what genres they prefer. In the case of difficulty in video games players differ in some other very important ways. They differ in their experience level at a given game. This is separate from how good a person is at video games in general, as a person who is good at games in general could be really bad at a game that is unlike anything they’ve experienced before. The more you play a given game, the more experienced you get and the more tricks and secrets you uncover which improves your ability to be successful in that game. However, there is another major factor where players greatly differ. You could call it patience or tolerance, or maybe count them as separate things entirely. Some players have tons of patience, while others do not. As a result, a given challenge may cause some players to give up while others keep at it until they emerge victorious.

This can start to generate some animosity on places like forums between skilled players and new players. The new players will generally want things toned down to more manageable levels, while the more skilled players will often want bigger and better challenges. Making both groups happy can be very tricky, but it is far from impossible. In a single player game it comes down to a matter of how well the game teaches its mechanics more than anything else. Multiplayer, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. You don’t want to perfectly balance it, though. For example, many multiplayer FPS games have an item that skilled players tend to dislike because it gives newer players a way to kill more skilled players with relative ease. This is not poor design though, because without it the game would become ruled by skilled players making it very difficult for new players to join (because they would get crushed repeatedly and quit playing).

There are a number of games we could look at as examples. We’ll look at Super Mario Maker first just because it’s one of the most recent examples. Players of the game know that there is a huge number of bad levels out there. This can’t be helped as some are made by kids, some by people who are seriously trying to make good levels, and others by people who just want to make other players mad. This creates a very significant problem in the game’s 100 Mario Challenge mode, though. While the easy and normal difficulties are pretty easy to get through, they still suffer from the annoyance generated by the poorly designed levels. When you move up to Expert and Super Expert modes, the game starts to become a bit broken. These modes draw from levels with lower completion rates, but it feels like these modes need to be tweaked to draw from levels with a little higher completion rates. This would compensate for excessive difficulty and frustration generated by bad levels such as troll levels.

I don’t have any issue with the fact that Nintendo decided to add a Super Expert difficulty level to 100 Mario Challenge mode, but there is one glaring flaw that drives me crazy. The addition of Super Expert mode does help Expert mode slightly, in that the worst levels end up in Super Expert mode now. The overall change in Expert mode is not very noticeable, though. So this has not fixed the original problem, and more importantly the designers made a very poor design choice with Super Expert mode when they decided to exclusively gate about 5 costumes behind that mode. This defeats the whole purpose of trying to fix Expert mode because now they are forcing players to play the worst levels anyway! Don’t get me wrong, I am not in any way saying that Super Mario Maker is a bad game. It is a great game, but it does have some serious flaws, especially if you’re a completionist or like a challenge that is well-designed. It’ll give you a heck of a challenge, but not a well-designed one.

Difficulty can arise in video games for a plethora of different reasons. Another example is how the difficulty curve of a given game is constructed. It should start out gentle, and start to ramp up more and more as the player advances deeper into the game. On the other hand, some games have very steep learning curves. A good example of this is F-Zero GX, a racing game that came out on the Nintendo GameCube. The game had several different classes (or difficulty levels) you could race in, but it seemed like each time you mastered one class and moved up to the next one you’d get crushed again. It took a long while to adjust to the new difficulty and be able to compete with the AI consistently again. So it was as though the difficulty jump between each difficulty class in that game was too large. It was an excellent game, but one that I had a love/hate relationship with because sometimes it could be quite frustrating.

This can also be true in simulation games like iRacing, or flight simulators, etc. These games are trying to be as realistic as possible, and flying a helicopter or driving a NASCAR stock car are things that require a lot of skill in real life, unless for some reason you want to crash into things. These types of games will often have some sort of an easier mode for players who don’t want the full 100% realistic experience. This makes sense because it can be overwhelming to new players who just want to get in and play the game. Some racing games opt for a much more arcade-style experience rather than being as realistic as possible, though.

FZero-GX for Nintendo Gamecube

There are also even more ways difficulty can rear its head. Some people have disabilities such as color blindness. This can make some games impossible for them depending on the degree of color blindness they have. Some people may not have the same dexterity in their hands and fingers as the average person. Any number of diseases and disorders can cause problems like this, but that is a much harder issue to solve as a game developer. Developers can make special modes for color blind people, but it’s much harder to make a special mode for someone who just can’t use a controller like an average person can.

Of course, a lot of disabled people are not gamers anyway, but some are. I made a friend named Tyler in November of last year (2015) who is a bit of a gamer. He can play video video games pretty well, even though he has some impairments because he was born with cerebral palsy. In the future, even completely disabled individuals will be able to play video games if they want. Technology already exists, albeit primitive, that allows some patients to control a computer using their mind alone. That will be an incredible technology as it gets further developed and eventually put into commercial products. Some of these people can’t speak or write, and so this will give them a way to communicate with the rest of the world as well.

The post Difficulty in Video Games: The Good and the Bad appeared first on oprainfall.

I know this may be difficult for some to comprehend, but not every game needs a sequel. I would be perfectly fine with Radiant Historia being a one-off. But is it possible to make a good, respectable sequel to the game?

We go back to a week and a half ago when the game’s director, Mitsuru Hirata, took to Twitter to celebrate the game’s fifth anniversary. And with the celebration came some humility and even wishful thinking. As translated:

“Oh, is it already 5 years! Although it is hard to admit that it was never a hit, I’m really grateful to see that many people still love it. Personally I also have a strong emotional attachment with this title. I’ll always hold onto an attitude ‘someday a new Radiant Historia!’ lol #rh_atlus”

As interesting as the prospect of a Radiant Historia II would be, let’s stop and ask a very important question: what would making a second game accomplish? Were there plot holes that needed to be filled? Was it like The Godfather where a financial windfall called for a series to be created?

The answer to that last question is an unfortunate “No.” There was no financial windfall. The game was probably closer to fiscally even versus raking in the big bucks. This is the unfortunate nature of niche gaming; it’s artistically awesome, but financially lacking.

Which leaves us with two questions: what it would accomplish, and what do we have left from the first game’s plot. The latter first.

To reset the plot of this 50 hour campaign, you play as Stocke, a spy working for the nation of Alistel. During an early mission, he was given the White Chronicle by his boss Heiss and the ability to time travel to certain points in his life by twins Teo and Lippti. Using this, Stocke is able to go back and forth along two timelines to forward the plot of the game and avoid any pitfalls he may have come across. During the game, he finds out that the desertification of the world could be slowed by a royal ritual, Princess Eruca of Granorg had a brother who was supposed to be a sacrifice for the ritual, Stocke is actually Eruca’s brother Ernst, and Heiss is not only the holder of the Black Chronicle but also Eruca and Ernst’s uncle who was supposed to be sacrificed in a previous ritual. And if you did enough of the side quests in the game, Heiss will take Stocke’s place as the sacrifice after watching how everyone’s lives were changed for the better by Stocke, allowing him to come back to the real world.

As for the characters that pretty much stood in their way? They’re pretty much dead. General Hugo was set on fire trying to manipulate time. Both Selvan and Dias, leaders of Granorg, were turned into sand after Heiss drained their mana from them. And Queen Protea was… actually, that wasn’t quite clear, but she didn’t really have any ambition for power, so she wasn’t really much of an obstacle.

So, if they were to make a sequel based in the same time frame with the same characters in the same land, it would be rather limited. But that’s kind of why we liked Radiant Historia in the first place. It was a complete story with all plot holes filled and answered by the time the credits started to roll. Not everyone has the writing chops to pull that off.

But with that in mind, is there a way to pull off a sequel to Radiant Historia?

Again, I go back to my Godfather analogy. The first movie was such a success that the studio practically demanded a sequel. Reluctantly, Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola went to work creating the second novel and movie respectively. And from that development came a story that was both a sequel and a prequel, telling the story of Michael Corleone’s fight to keep his power while his family crumbles around him as well as the early life of Vito Andolini, renamed Vito Corleone, as he grew in power during the Great Depression and cared for his family and friends in the process.

And there is the answer to our question. If Atlus plays its cards right, it could create one or two games in which it tells both a prequel and sequel to the game.

The sequel is pretty easy. Perhaps you lay the ground work of the story with Stocke and Eruca working together to find a solution to the desertification without any more sacrifices. Whether they fix the problem themselves is up to Atlus, but I think it should be something where a future holder of the White Chronicle sees visions of an older time when the two worked together.

What about the prequel? Well, there is a potential story of an old empire that ruled the land before the desertification. The story was teased early on in the game when Stocke’s friend Sonya talked about it. You could learn firsthand about how the empire crumbled and began the events that lead to the first game.

But would there be motivation for a gamer to play a game that they already know how it will end? The game will show the end of the empire and the first sacrifice to slow the desertification. That much is certain and the game hasn’t even started the planning stages yet.

However, you do have to look at things like movies based on books. People who read the book go into the movie knowing full well how it will end as well as what will happen along the way. Granted, some will skip the movie because they will believe that the movie will be inferior to the book. But many more will see it because they want to see how the story is told through the medium. I think this will be the same with a Radiant Historia prequel.

So, is it possible for a Radiant Historia sequel? Yes, but there are few potential options in the same universe. They could go the Final Fantasy route and do a completely different story in a completely different world, but I’d prefer we finish this universe’s story first.

What do you guys think? Is there another possible option for a sequel that you think would be awesome? Let us know in the comments below.

The post MUSINGS: The Only Way a Radiant Historia Sequel Could Work appeared first on oprainfall.

Dear Kimishima-san,

My name is Jeff Neuenschwander. I am currently the Editor-in-Chief for Operation Rainfall. You may know that website name from your time as NOA CEO as the group that was pushing for select games to be localized. I assure you that I write to you today not in anger nor aggression, but in peace and friendship.

I want to congratulate you on your promotion to President of Nintendo Co. Ltd. While it certainly comes as a surprise not only to our contributors but our readers — seriously, we had a poll for who we thought would be the next Nintendo leader and only 2 people voted for you — it’s a welcome sight to see a leader back at the helm after a two month void.

I also write to you today on your first day as President — or perhaps, given the time differences between Detroit and Kyoto, your second day — in order to address a number of points that Nintendo fans have brought up during the past couple years and as part of the discussion as to who would fill the void of your predecessor, Satoru Iwata.

UNLOCKING THE CONSOLES

First things first, one of the biggest complaints about Nintendo consoles in recent years is the controversial region locking. While your predecessor stated that this was an unintended consequence of how the consoles were created, he never seemed to actively pursue ending the practice. He did say that he would look into later consoles being region-free, like the upcoming Project NX. However, until we see it happen, a lot of fans will just think of it as “hollow words.”

The reason we want region-free consoles is fairly simple: not every game is the same across all regions. For instance, a game may become heavily edited and censored as it gets translated for North America and/or Europe in order to achieve a certain rating. While that may make business sense to those that will scoff at a Mature rating, it angers fans that want a more pure experience. Just look at what happened with Fire Emblem Awakening at the Tharja-Towel controversy (look up Tharja censorship on Google to refresh your memory if necessary).

The shot that was apparently too risque for North American eyes.

The second major reason is that some games we want just will not come over. Nintendo’s own Captain Rainbow is one example of a game where a niche group wanted it but not enough support was there to localize the game. Other examples include Craft & Meister’s Earth Seeker, Konami’s Beyond the Labyrinth, Project Zero: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, SEGA’s Yakuza 1 & 2 on the Wii U, and the slew of Dragon Quest games that are on the 3DS — all of which have either not been or have yet to be localized. Giving people the chance to buy these games unlocalized without having to also import a region-locked console would be a major boon for you.

ENDING THE YOUTUBE TIRADE

This is pretty simple: people don’t like that Nintendo is a Multi-Channel Network on YouTube. Furthermore, people are upset with how Nintendo has been engaged in what appears to be a never-ending attack against people playing video games online.

I’m sure this point has been made to you over the years, but I’ll say it again: people don’t watch for the game, they watch for the personalities playing the game.

You don’t have to look farther than Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg — a.k.a., PewDiePie — to see this in action. Kjellberg is a gamer that has the highest subscribed and viewed channel on YouTube with almost 40 million subscribers and over 10 billion views. The guy is so popular, he’s been able to make Let’s Play videos of him Googling his name and have millions of people watch each time. Let me repeat that: he gets millions of views for just messing around with a search engine.

Anyway, there is something called the PewDiePie effect — which is similar to the Oprah effect, but for gamers — in which he, and others like him, will cause spikes in sales for games just by playing a little of them on their channel. You don’t have to look farther than Flappy Bird to understand this phenomenon. Kjellberg played the game on his channel and, pretty soon, the game exploded in popularity. And it doesn’t stop there. The developer of the indie game McPixel was very pleased with the effect Kjellberg and other YouTube personalities had on their game, saying “The largest force driving attention to McPixel at that time were ‘Let’s Play’ videos. Mostly by Jesse Cox and PewDiePie.”

More importantly and to the point for your position, these people have spoken out against Nintendo’s policies on YouTube. And most, if not all, have refused to play your games because of said policies. And for a company that’s sitting in third place in the home console battle, that’s not good, particularly when Sony and Microsoft are not only accepting of gameplay on YouTube but have designed their consoles to support it from the start.

These guys don’t need you to be successful. But you do need them.

Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t protect your IPs. Feel free to go after those that use ROM hacks and Tool-Assisted Speedruns. They hacked the game for a purpose not intended by the creator. I have no qualm about that.

But when it comes to people playing your games online, you need to let it go. If it’s a money thing, you’ll end up making more in the end by letting guys like PewDiePie play your games without monetary interference than by taking any sort of percentage from their income. The other two console companies understand this. Learn from them.

PROJECT NX AND THE eSHOP

I’m sure some people will say that you should go all out on power and drop the touch screen for the new console. I’m not one of those. If you want to just match the current consoles — or even go a little bit past them — that’s fine by me.

What I want to see, however, is more ease of creation for the developers. One of the big things we’ve heard throughout this 8th generation of console gaming is that the Wii U and 3DS are difficult to program for compared to competing consoles. And given how this generation has gone, now is not the time to do your best Hiroshi Yamauchi impression to make a console intentionally difficult to create games for. If it’s a matter of getting the game to work off-TV on the touch screen, offer your help — for free — to make it work for the game.

Speaking of ease, another thing that needs to be changed is the eShop. When the next version of it comes out on Project NX, there needs to be a structure in place so that gamers can find games published long ago. True story, just yesterday, I was looking up games in the eShop on my 3DS and got some interesting results. For instance, the $5 and under tab was missing Wakedas, a puzzle game I’ve been wanting to get but haven’t been able to because I didn’t have money on my account. I know for a fact that the game regularly goes for $2.99. Yet, for some reason, despite having 8 pages worth of games in the tab, the game was not found.

And that’s just the beginning, going through all the tabs, I found it annoying that the only way to find certain games was to go through pages and pages in the Best Sellers tab. I’m talking about games like Sonic Generations, Sonic Lost World, Dillon’s Rolling Western, Sakura Samurai, Pushmo, Ketzel’s Corridors (which didn’t even show up in the Best Sellers… or Indies), Brain Age, and Style Savvy: Trendsetters. The last two aren’t really pertinent to my interests, but I found it interesting nonetheless that two first party titles were buried like that.

Also, why is the Best Sellers tab flooded with Apps? Shouldn’t those be restricted to the Applications tab?

I know people complained about the Wii Shop Channel, but it was easier to find games I’ve never heard about in that store than it is in the eShop. And I can’t be the only one that thinks this. While I know that there are games that aren’t being shown based on the knowledge I’ve picked up being an active gamer, not everyone is like that. They won’t bother to look through pages and pages of the best sellers. And if there isn’t a spot to find them easily, they won’t know about excellent games like Mutant Mudds, HarmoKnight, Jett Rocket II: Wrath of Taikai, and the games I previously mentioned above.

The next eShop needs to have better search filters. There are filters now to search by genre and publisher — which can be done at the same time — but it can be better. 3DS games still don’t have their own filter, leading to DSiWare and Virtual Console titles getting mixed in to any search involving them. Looking at just action games, there are 23 pages and DSiWare takes up 10. Surprisingly, DSiWare and Virtual Console have their own filters — although I’d like to see Virtual Console filtered by original console as well — but the 3DS should have its own. This should be better.

In addition, you should have the team working on the eShop find a way to make each person’s experience a bit more personalized. I know there is the Recommended for You tab, but you can do better. Just look at similar services. Steam has a way where you can add titles to your Wishlist, follow select games, or just completely ignore others. And in doing so, they can better serve each individual gamer by having games that would appeal to that person pop up more often on the front page and in the majority of tabs.

Do this and you’ll make things a lot simpler for your customers, which in turn makes them happy.

BALANCING THE SWAG COLLECTION

Definitely didn’t see that Agnes figure coming to America.

I’m man enough to admit that I’m rather jealous of the swag that our European friends get. I mean, the rewards from Club Nintendo alone were enough to get mad about. But if you look at the shirts, the hats, the little trinkets, it makes you wonder why North Americans can’t get that here.

Of course, we have our own store with trinkets and shirts: the Nintendo World Store… which has no online shopping… But you can go and shop on the Nintendo of America store, which sells games, consoles, accessories, and… actually, that’s it. No trinkets, no hats, no shirts, and, surprisingly, no amiibo.

It honestly makes no sense to me why we’re left out in the cold when it comes to this type of stuff. Sizes are generally universal and can translate in any country. And the words are so minimal that you could easily have one or two people translate in a couple of hours and be done for an entire season of selling.

But this also leads into the final thing you’ll need to work on…

FIXING NINTENDO OF AMERICA

The lack of an online store is just a small problem with the Redmond branch. There’s an entire litany of issues, which include but are not limited to the mess that has been the Devil’s Third localization, seemingly unnecessary edits to games, the lack of taking a chance on several niche games, apparent muzzling of important figures within the division (see Dan Adelman), and a bit of a disconnect between them and the fans.

What doesn’t make sense is that Nintendo of America has been slow at the point of attack when it comes to localizing games the past generation. The trio that we wanted back in the day were just a drop in the bucket. Meanwhile, Nintendo of Europe was proactive in localizing several games that the Americas still to this day haven’t received — which seems to go counter to what has historically happened (I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying that it happened). This makes even less sense when you look at the fact that NOE has to translate into over a dozen languages for the PAL regions while NOA only deals with 3 — it was 4, but then you guys cut ties with Brazil, so no need to have staff learning Portuguese.

This hurts, as the Americas have been a big boon for your company. Systems have historically done better here than in other parts of the world. Over 40% of Wii purchases were here, over 55 million Nintendo DS systems were sold here out of the 154 million, and the Americas pushed sales for the NES/Famicom, GameCube, and Nintendo 64 far enough that it created large gaps between us and the rest of the world, including Japan. The only console that North America hasn’t led in sales is the 3DS, which is being led by Japan’s near 20 million sold.

And frankly, when you get someone (Chris Pranger) going on the record and tearing down fans of the company — even saying some of the more unsavory things said within those walls in Redmond — you know there’s an issue in the room. Put simply, it doesn’t take a contractor to notice that the foundation at NOA is cracking.

While Nintendo has seemed to be following a course of being a family company that changes leaders very little, this may be a time to think more strictly, like a North American company. Over here, when an executive no longer can lead at the top of their game, they get replaced. And while he may be a nice guy, I think it’s time to replace Reggie.

As for who you should look at, I say go with someone who will take chances. There are enough suits around that calculated risks can be properly assessed. Plus, with the advent of digital distribution, there’s no need to force something that may not sell onto costly physical product. I would also suggest looking for someone with a video game background. The industry isn’t new anymore; there’s no need to jump outside of it to find someone with business acumen.

Then again, maybe things turned a corner after 2012 and Reggie has now learned how to open the checkbook. After all, most of what that former employee said stemmed from conversations back during our push that year.

ANYWAY…

I apologize if I seemed to ramble on during this letter. It’s just that these things, though small in number, have a big impact on our (i.e. the fans) view of Nintendo. Changing just one or two of these things to be more consumer friendly will change entire opinions of the company. And if any of the changes mentioned in this letter are already in the works, feel free to ignore those bits.

Before I go, could you do one more thing for us? Could you smile a bit more? I’m sure you smile just fine, but it seems like every image we see, you look frumpy. And, unfortunately, we can’t seem to fix that issue ourselves.

THE HAT! IT DOES NOTHING!

So, that seems to be all I have to say for the moment. I wish you well on your… second day (?)… in your new position.

Sincerely,

Jeff Neuenschwander, Editor-in-Chief, oprainfall

By the way, I don’t know who edited that image. I know forexinfo.it had it but, not knowing Italian, I don’t know if that was one of their shops or an image they saw and posted to their article. If you’re the editor or know the editor of that image, let me know (and where the source of that image comes from) and I’ll make sure you get credit for it.

The post What Now for Nintendo: Fixing a Broken Company appeared first on oprainfall.

Guys, we as a gaming community need to have a serious discussion about what to do about Konami.

We’ve all seen what has happened the past few years. Their output has gone from a steady output of games to only 2 or 3 on major consoles and a handful of arcade games. They’ve pretty much pushed out all the talented developers that built the company into what it was. Based on information revealed earlier this week, reported stories of producers like Koji Igarashi being forced into janitorial work aren’t that far fetched anymore. They’re more interested in creating Pachinko machines with their franchise brands plastered on them than actually creating video games. And with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain representing the final game developed by the company — and I say that knowing that Kojima Productions is now completely independent — we need to make serious decisions.

I’ve read some of the reactions to the news regarding Konami’s practices. Everyone obviously was upset and voiced disapproval. But what was interesting was the debate on whether to purchase The Phantom Pain. Those not wanting to purchase — or at least not purchase new — have had enough of Konami’s actions. Those that want to buy new say that they want to show support for Kojima Productions.

From where I stand, we as a gaming community need to boycott Phantom Pain.

Buying it doesn’t show support for Kojima. He’s not seeing any profits from the game. That all goes to Konami. You really want to show support for him? Send him a supportive tweet or Facebook post the day the game releases. Tell him that you’ll support his future projects, whatever they may be. But you can’t for this one.

And frankly, whether or not you buy the game, it will not matter to Konami. They’ve already made their decision to drop developing console games, even if they aren’t AAA titles.

True story, this is the second time I’ve written this article in the past couple months. The first one didn’t come out due to some timing issues, but in it was an idea that we should go and buy other Konami games new instead of Phantom Pain when it releases on September 1st. And then, we’d sit back and watch the board at Konami dance as they tried to explain away the random jump in sales for games that were many years old while Phantom Pain sales were lower than expected. But, just like those guys wanting to buy the game to support Kojima, it was a foolish idea.

And you know what else is a foolish idea? Those that bring up the pipe dream of Konami selling assets to other companies. Konami, while it doesn’t know how to be a gaming company anymore, does know how to make money. And when it comes to selling assets versus licensing assets, one way makes money once while the other can have money made multiple times. Guess which one Konami is doing. As a matter of fact, they’re already doing it with Hudson Soft’s Momotaro Densetsu, licensing it to Nintendo.

And if that game comes over, we’ll have to have this discussion again. But whether we have it now or later, we need to understand one clear, cold hard fact:

This is it for Konami.

There will be no more games developed by them. You will not be getting a new Metal Gear game on the scale of the last three (Guns of the Patriots, Rising, and Phantom Pain). You will not be getting that Zone of the Enders game you’ve been asking for. Silent Hills isn’t coming back, and who knows what you’ll be getting from the franchise — other than that Pachislo thing. Bomberman will not be freed by a sale to any company. Castlevania will not be coming any time soon — in name. It just won’t happen.

With the company focusing on gambling, creating new Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series, and anything that just isn’t video games, we can agree that there is nothing left to follow. Much like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night, Konami as we know it will go away with the release of Phantom Pain.

And so, as the company we loved for so longer passes away, I cordially invite you to the funeral of “The Video Game Company known as Konami” on September 1st, the day The Phantom Pain releases.

Snake, holding the ashes of a once great developer.

I know it will be difficult for some to move on. It always is when someone or something you love goes away. But we need to do this. We need to say goodbye to the company we grew up loving and, unfortunately, watched as it died a slow death in the casino.

So go out there and tell your friends. Tell them not to buy Phantom Pain — and if they’ve already pre-ordered, tell them to get a refund. And more importantly, tell them that we need to come together as a community on September 1st to mourn the passing of a dear friend.

Do it for the Konami you knew; the Konami that was; the Konami that is no more.

The post MUSINGS: The Day Konami Dies appeared first on oprainfall.

The one thing that I keep coming back to is that Iwata was 55 and on the job for 13 years. While that may seem like a lifetime for executives over here, for a company that’s had few leaders — and who’s previous leader help the position for just about 55 years — that’s not a long time. While I’m sure a contingency plan was in place in case something ever happened (particularly when he started battling cancer), there’s no guarantee that a leader was ever groomed for the position.

Could they go outside of the company for a new CEO? Sure, but it would probably have to be someone who had a good working relationship with Nintendo. Basically, I don’t expect them to poach someone from Sony anytime soon. But while the list of candidates from outside could be lengthy and interesting to discuss, Nintendo seems like a company that would hire from within. And there are legitimate candidates that can lead.

So, with that in mind, here are what I think are the four possible candidates to take over Nintendo.

CANDIDATE #1: THE DESIGNED FAN FAVORITE

A number of rumors popped up right away revolving around Acting Representative Director Shigeru Miyamoto becoming the next President and CEO of Nintendo. And frankly, there is validity to it. After all, his position in the company has been as a manager, directing the software side of the company.

Of course, I don’t really need to talk about his accomplishments but here’s a quick rundown. Created a number of major franchises that are easily recognizable around the world, received numerous awards, and has helmed Entertainment Analysis & Development (Nintendo’s game development arm) for what seems like decades — meaning that he’s been in a management position for a long time, lending to the legitimacy of his candidacy.

But being General Manager of EAD may be the job that Miyamoto prefers to have.

I have an uncle who has worked at GM as an electrical engineer. And over the years, he’s been promoted numerous times and has moved up the ranks. One of the things he’s told me is that as he moves up the corporate ladder, it becomes more about politics and dealing with people and less about engineering. Taking that bit of knowledge, perhaps Miyamoto would fear that taking that final step would prevent him from creating anything new — which is something that he has expressed before.

However, it could lead to more creative and fun games with excellent gameplay coming from the company. After all, his philosophy is about making games that are fun and focus on strong mechanics. Having him take over, even for a short period, could lead to a refocus of that philosophy.

CANDIDATE #2: THE HARDWARE UNDERDOG

Option #2 comes in the form of the other current Acting Representative Director, Genyo Takeda. Takeda has been with the company since 1972 and has been developing hardware as the manager of Research & Development Team 3 — now known as Integrated Research & Development — since 1981.

Some of the earliest projects Takeda’s teams worked on was designing the parts for the arcade cabinets. Later on, he would be instrumental in the design of the save feature in The Legend of Zelda and the analog controller for the Nintendo 64. Furthermore, he took the lead in the development of the Wii, Nintendo’s highest selling home system.

The negatives against him, however, stem from choices he may make as CEO for future hardware. First and foremost, one of the reasons for the Wii being underpowered stems from Takeda’s belief that no one will ever be satisfied with graphics. He also said that consoles can have different levels of performance and style, similar to the automobile industry. While this may be a good thing for the economically savvy customer, this would probably be frowned upon by bigger companies looking to flex their graphical muscles. Also, wanting to go against the current model of console generations — something he’s been vocal about — may have a rather large, unintended side-effect that could derail Nintendo.

But what he does have going for him is the blue ocean known as Quality of Life. This, for those that forgot, is an initiative by Nintendo to create devices for senior citizens to help them continue living at home while having the necessary help they need. Nintendo has already purchased a company to focus on this aspect, so having a hardware guy up top might help in the development of it.

CANDIDATE #3: NOA CHIEF DARK HORSE

No, I’m not talking about Reggie. I’m actually referring to Tatsumi Kimishima, currently Managing Director, Chief Senior Director of Business Administration and Chief Director of General Affairs at Nintendo. Previously, he held the positions of President and CEO of Nintendo of America, the last he held until Mr. Iwata took it over in 2013. He also serves on the NOA and NCL boards.

Kimishima has been with Nintendo for the past 15 years, working first with The Pokémon Company before moving to Nintendo proper, taking over the post of NOA President in 2002 from Hiroshi Yamauchi’s son-in-law Minoru Arakawa. He then took over the NOA CEO position and become Chairman of the Board in 2006. During this time, he is credited for the success of the Wii in North America.

There are two major drawbacks I would bring up when talking about Kimishima as a viable candidate. The first is that he’s a suit — meaning that his background is in business more than game development. Before coming to Nintendo, he worked for Sanwa Bank of Japan for 27 years, which would make his tenure the smallest out of the four we’re talking about today. The other is that he was running NOA as CEO during a time when there were major release droughts, particularly the last two years of the Wii and the beginning of the Wii U.

Does he have a leg up on the competition anywhere? Perhaps, assuming during those 40+ years he’s spent in the West he’s been able to speak pretty good English… yeah, that’s probably a safe assumption.

While there is one more person inside Nintendo that I’ll speak about, there are two other names I’m sure people have thought about that I’ll quickly say why I don’t think they’ll work.

The first is Masahiro Sakurai. One reason that he’s not mentioned here is that he’s not technically part of Nintendo. Sora Ltd. is an independent development studio. But even with that, he doesn’t seem like someone that can run a multi-national company. Remember the time he said he wouldn’t create a story mode for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS because he didn’t want the story to be leaked on YouTube? Imagine having someone like that in charge of a company that could benefit from having Let’s Players show off their content.

And then there’s current Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. I’m sure Reggie is a nice guy and would do a good job. But Nintendo is a conservative company — and comes from the most conservative region in Japan. It’s just not going to happen. He’d have better odds of ascending the peaks of the Himalayas first before ascending to President and CEO of Nintendo.

Which brings us to our final contender from within Nintendo…

CANDIDATE #4: THE OTHER SATORU

…The President of Nintendo of Europe, Satoru Shibata. This is a position he’s held since 2000. He has also held the position of President of Nintendo Australia.

I will be honest, this is probably the hardest executive on Earth to find anything about. Shibata is known to be rather shy, which could work against him being the head of a multi-national company. As a matter of fact, he was seldom seen in public before doing the Nintendo Directs for Europe due to this shyness.

The second knock I would place against him is that he’s another suit. Again, because there’s little to find about him, you can’t see if he had any hand in working on games. But if he had been working on games, we probably would’ve known about it by now.

But even with that said, he has a legitimate case for the Presidency. After all, his division has been able to localize several games that NOA didn’t seem to want to touch (see the Operation Rainfall Trio, just to name three). That even includes having to translate games into multiple languages for his region.

Another big plus is his language skills. From what I can tell, he has a firm grasp of the English language — perhaps better than Iwata did — and should be able to communicate to both his homeland in Japan and the West with ease.

But I think the big thing for me is how he has gone about his business. While the Directs he presents are rather understated compared to the zaniness NOA happens to present (see NOA’s Tomodachi Life Direct for example), he has a style about him that seems very much like the late Nintendo President.

You know how Iwata demonstrated Wii Sports with Reggie and Miyamoto at a past E3? Shibata did so with British tennis stars Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He’s shown off fashions he’s been inspired by after playing New Style Boutique (Style Savvy: Trendsetters for those in North America), cosplayed as Phoenix Wright, and even jammed to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” (which he had stated that he practiced it about 30 times before shooting the clip for the corresponding Nintendo Direct; talk about dedication for a 5 second clip).

MY CHOICE

Kimishima is out in my mind because of what happened those last few years as CEO of Nintendo of America. The company can’t afford to have droughts after a rough home console generation.

Takeda is also out. While I think he’d be fine, I just have a feeling that his views on how to handle hardware releases might make too many voters uneasy.

Miyamoto with his usual translator, Bill Trinen

That leaves us with Miyamoto and Shibata. I think both would do a wonderful job in the void left by Iwata. But there’s three things that make this decision easy: age, language skill, and leaving behind what you were. All three go against Miyamoto. He’s at least 10 years older. He’s a designer that wants to design games. And while he tries his hardest to convey his thoughts to his audience — oh God does he try — he’s just not that good with a language that the majority of his audience speaks natively.

Shibata may not have a history of making games like Iwata, but he has important qualities that his former boss had. Being able to communicate in interesting and informative ways to everyone is key to being a good leader. And while some may question whether his leadership would lead to less creativity, I in turn ask this: should you really question the creativity of a man that cosplayed as Phoenix Wright in the name of promoting a game? He may not be the dream candidate that everyone wants, but he is, in my opinion, the best option to lead Nintendo.

You may want to get used to this image.

Your choice can definitely vary depending on what you feel is the best quality for a leader and what direction you want Nintendo to take. So let us know in the comments below and even vote in the poll. Tell us who you think should be the next President and CEO of Nintendo.

The post What Now for Nintendo: Picking a New Leader appeared first on oprainfall.

There’s a radio show I used to listen to a while back. They had a segment called “People are Stupid” in which they talked about some of the stupid things that at least one particular person did recently. While it was a sports talk show, the people they would talk about would generally be normal people outside of sports that just did dumb things. But, with this being a video game site, while we could do a thing like this, we should probably stick to gaming companies.

…Oh, hello Square Enix. Fancy seeing you here.

Well, I guess it would make sense that a company that is quite confounding with its logic would make it onto an article talking about stupidity.

Here’s the story: In an interview with Polygon at E3, series Executive Producer Yuu Miyake talked about the possibility of games like Dragon Quest VII 3DS, Dragon Quest VIII 3DS, and Dragon Quest X coming to Western regions. From Polygon:

“We want to get them out here,” Miyake said. “We really do! The Dragon Quest games are very text-heavy, so the time and the cost it takes to localize these and do it well is quite something. Business-wise, we have to think quite hard whether we’ll make that money back from localizing to North America. It’s always been a difficult decision. But the more you tell us, the louder the voices, the more likely we are to do it.”

While this has been the go-to statement for getting games like this over, this isn’t too ridiculous. Localizing a text-heavy game takes a lot of resources to get right. Just ask XSEED Games.

But then Miyake takes an illogical jump off the cliff, saying how sales of Dragon Quest Heroes would determine localizations of future Dragon Quest games.

“We’re really using this as a kind of opening up of the market,” he explained. “We can gauge whether the American people might want to go back after Heroes and see some of the other Dragon Quest games. Hopefully we could use that as leverage to get those out over here.”

Because that’s how business works. Gauge interest in three games by using sales from a spin-off that’s on a completely different console from a completely different company that more than likely has a completely different fanbase. You know, instead of comparing how sales went with the predecessor of the console those game would come out on (Dragon Quest IX sold about 1.25 million in the West with both major regions selling over 600,000; both Dragon Quest IV and VI topped 300,000 each with North America topping 200,000 both times). Or even how an RPG of similar style did on the same console (Bravely Default sold over 400,000 copies in North America and about 650,000 total in the West).

To quote the late George Carlin, “This is pretty f***ing stupid.”

The stupidity gets worse, but not for Square Enix. In case you’re not already off somewhere else trying to argue against the logic that Miyake tried to offer, here’s something you may have missed.

The interview with Miyake was done at E3, which we mentioned earlier. However, the article in question didn’t go public until July 6th. Now, it’s not the date I have an issue with. As a matter of fact, I’ve been trying to get a Top 10 E3 2015 moments article together but haven’t completed it yet for a few reason. But the issue I take is this: the article comes out after series creator Yuji Horii let it slip that the 3DS ports of Dragon Quest VII and VIII are being worked on in French, pretty much cementing that the games are coming westward. And there is nothing about it in the Polygon story.

Apparently, rethinking video game journalism also means staying behind the main storyline. Next time Polygon, be aware of continuity.

As for Square Enix, in case my sarcasm was lost on them, let me say it clearly. You cannot use sales for a game — a spin-off game at that — on a console from one company to determine the fate of a game on a console from a completely different company. For one, console companies have their own cult of personality that continues with them from one console to the next. It takes something drastic for them to make the jump to a different company (see Xbox One DRM debacle). And frankly, gamers — even the most hardcore of us — don’t have all the consoles because this is an expensive hobby — which is something you should know very well seeing as how monetary concerns are the reason you haven’t brought over numerous JRPGs despite the demand for said JRPGs.

And you can’t use sales for a spin-off title to determine viability for a mainline game. That’s like saying people don’t like football just because they don’t watch the Arena Football League. Besides, it seems a bit unfair for the series when you’re determining sales based on a crossover with a series that has flooded the market with extreme over-saturation — with its last mainline game selling just over 100,000 in North America and needing the strength of a mega-franchise like Zelda to move over 460,000 units in the same region for a recent spin-off.

For those wanting to argue that Dragon Quest Heroes could match those numbers over here, try this on for size: the game currently has sold about 460,000 units in Japan after being on the market since February. And it’s no longer in the Media Create Top 50. This is in a region that regularly tops 3 million for sales of new mainline Dragon Quest games (save for the MMO Dragon Quest X) as well as over 1 million for remakes.

And for those that are on the fence about this game, don’t buy it if you’re just looking to see the other games get localized. They are coming — so says Yuji Horii. Buy it if you’re interested in this type of gameplay or someone convinces you to buy the game. But don’t buy it if someone is trying to bully you into doing so.

The post MUSINGS: Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Logic Stupidity appeared first on oprainfall.

So, Natsume has revealed a new game in their new self-developed farming simulation series. And because they own a trademark that’s not being used for its original purpose — that being using it on Marvelous’ long-running Bokujo Monogatari series — they are opting to use it again on this series. Meanwhile, Marvelous’ North American arm, XSEED, released the latest game in the long running series that used to go by Natsume’s trademark in the West, calling the new game Story of Seasons. And then they followed it up with the localization of a new spin-off just today.

Anyone else getting déjà vu from last year?

While it seems that people realize this time around that the Natsume series is different than the BokuMono series, some are still a bit confused. It makes sense since Natsume keeps trying to drive the rhetoric of a new evolution of the series — even though the series is new and they probably should say genre. And then there’s the rhetoric of it being a long running series — which is also wrong and probably should say that it’s the newest game to have their long-owned trademark that is being used on a new series.

So with Natsume seemingly releasing new games in this new series every year and constantly wanting to push that rhetoric, it seems that these articles from me talking about Natsume and this series are becoming a yearly thing — starting with one where I accurately said that XSEED would take over the series but inaccurately said that Natsume was in trouble, and then continuing last year where I talked for about 2500 words on the franchise’s history though admittedly taking some artistic liberties with how the whole XSEED acquisition went down. This year’s edition will focus on which games fall where, such as who developed what since some Harvest Moon games pre-split were actually Natsume games.

Let’s start with the pre-Marvelous games. These are those that were done by Pack-In-Video and Victor Interactive, before being bought by Marvelous Entertainment on March 31st, 2003. For now, we’ll talk about the main series since they typically are the same thing: boy gets farmland through some reason, boy meets and courts a girl and they get married, boy grows family and farm, game ends about two years in, you get a score and credits roll. While this is generally how it happens for home consoles, the handhelds generally have both genders to choose from at the beginning. There are also a couple of deviations here and there early on, but you don’t see major changes until later.

• Bokujō Monogatari/Harvest Moon (Japan Release: 1996, SNES)
• Bokujō Monogatari GB/Harvest Moon GB (1997, Game Boy; re-released on Game Boy Color in 1999)
• Bokujō Monogatari 2/Harvest Moon 64 (1999, N64)
• Bokujō Monogatari GB2/Harvest Moon 2 GBC (1999, Game Boy Color)
• Bokujō Monogatari Harvest Moon/Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (1999, PlayStation)
• Bokujō Monogatari GB3: Boy Meets Girl/Harvest Moon 3 GBC (2000, Game Boy Color)
• Bokujō Monogatari Harvest Moon for Girl (2000, PlayStation)
• Bokujō Monogatari 3: Heart ni Hi o Tsukete/Harvest Moon: Save the Farmland (2001, PlayStation 2)

It’s also possible to list Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful Life on that list since they were being developed before Victor Interactive became Marvelous Interactive. However, I’m gonna stick with when they released, so into the next list they go.

Speaking of which, this next list will be games released post Victor Interactive acquisition. During this time, the developer might be listed as either Victor Interactive or Marvelous Interactive. However, the Japanese publisher will be listed as Marvelous Interactive. You’ll also see three remakes of Back to Nature — those being Friends of Mineral Town, More Friends of Mineral Town, and Boy & Girl. You will also see a shift from the series being about how well you do in a specific time to being more about experiencing the simulation. There’s still a time cap on some games, but they are more innovative in how it happens, like with A Wonderful Life going from a 30 day per month calender to 10 days and having each year or so be part of a grander story. This is also when a choice of genders at the beginning for home console games is the standard, although A Wonderful Life needed a separate version for that.

Anyways, here are these games:

• Bokujō Monogatari: Mineral Town no Nakama Tachi/Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (2003, Game Boy Advance)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Wonderful Life/Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (2003, GameCube)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Mineral Town no Nakama Tachi for Girls/Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (2003, Game Boy Advance)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Wonderful Life for Girls/Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (2004, GameCube)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Shiawase no Uta/Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (2005, GameCube)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Colobocle Station/Harvest Moon DS (2005, Nintendo DS)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Harvest Moon Boy & Girl/Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl (2005, PlayStation Portable)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Colobocle Station for Girls/Harvest Moon DS Cute (2005, Nintendo DS)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Kimi to Sodatsu Shima/Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (2007, Nintendo DS)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Yasuragi no Ki/Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (2007, Wii)

Next is the Marvelous Entertainment era. These are the games released after the merger of Marvelous Interactive with the parent company Marvelous Entertainment. Some games may still have the old name Marvelous Interactive, but these are essentially done after the merger. These will be mostly handheld games with only one main series game coming to home consoles. This also features the last game to appear on PlayStation consoles to this point. These will also be games that released before the Marvelous Entertainment-AQ Interactive-Liveware merger. Here are the games.

• Bokujō Monogatari: Kira Kira Taiyou to Nakama Tachi/Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands (2008, Nintendo DS)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Waku Waku Animal March/Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (2008, Nintendo Wii)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Yōkoso! Kaze no Bazaar e/Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar (2008, Nintendo DS)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Sugar Mura to Minna no Negai/Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley (2009, PlayStation Portable)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Futago no Mura/Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (2010, Nintendo DS)

After this, we had the merger that formed Marvelous AQL, which is now known as Marvelous Inc. Only two games appear in this era so far, and they’re both on the Nintendo 3DS. This not only features the final Natsume-published title but the first XSEED-published main series title.

• Bokujō Monogatari: Hajimari no Daichi/Harvest Moon: A New Beginning (2012, Nintendo 3DS)
• Bokujō Monogatari: Tsunagaru Shin Tenchi/Story of Seasons (2014, Nintendo 3DS)

And now that we’re done with the Bokujō Monogatari main series games made by Pack-In-Video/Victor Interactive/Marvelous, we can now move on to the new series by Natsume. This was announced in 2014 with the first game coming to Nintendo 3DS with mixed to negative reviews. Here’s what we have so far.

• Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (2014, Nintendo 3DS)
• Harvest Moon: Seeds of Mysteries (Q4 2015, Wii U/PC/Mobile)

And that is it for the main series games, both for Marvelous’ Bokujō Monogatari and Natsume’s new Harvest Moon. But we’re not done yet. We still have to talk about all the spin-offs.

The post MUSINGS: Harvest Moon: Tracking a Split Farming Franchise appeared first on oprainfall.

Weird things are happening at Konami. I’m sure you all know that, what with the “God-of-vania” games, the Ground Zeroes fiasco, the E3 no-show, the managerial overhaul, recent turmoil surrounding two high profile games and now the delisting from the NYSE. All this from a company that was considered a top 5 gaming company in terms of revenue just a few years ago.

It’s been a rather wild few weeks following Konami, which will all be culminating in the removal of P.T., the playable teaser for the now-cancelled Silent Hills. Interesting fact, this article was going to focus on that before the most recent news. Obviously, this will be more about Konami as a whole rather than one franchise, though I’ll get to it later on.

The past few years, Konami has been in a free fall, specifically on the video game side of its business. Back in 2011, Konami Digital Entertainment, Co. — the video game arm of Konami Corporation — brought in about $1.75 billion in revenue. Last year, that number had fallen to $1.02 billion. This year, it is expected around $840 million. Assuming these numbers hold up, that will be a 52% drop in just a few years for the holding company’s biggest revenue-earning business.

Now, compared to other top third-party Japanese gaming companies, this doesn’t look too bad. Konami is still in front of SEGA at $735 million and Bandai Namco at around $680 million while being behind Square Enix by about $100 million. However, for a company that seems to have Triple-A aspirations for franchises like Metal Gear, Silent Hill and Castlevania, that revenue number is unacceptable. For what Konami is trying to do, they would need to make that $1.75 billion from 2011 consistently, which would put them in the neighborhood of Ubisoft.

The silver lining for Konami seems to be this: as a holdings company, they are making money. The revenue in other areas such as gambling, fitness and other ventures seems to be helping the overall numbers stay relatively even. Overall revenue has been just above $2 billion, total assets over $3 billion and liabilities hovering around $1 billion. These things have been pretty consistent over the past four years.

Shown here: A vestige of gaming’s past, not to be confused with Konami’s future.

So, it’s not like they’ll be THQ, a $2 billion video game company that went belly up quickly when their video games didn’t find favor with people. Konami has enough of a cushion with their other ventures that a potential end won’t be nearly as drastic. But, if things don’t change for them with video games, an end will become more and more probable, whether it’s the whole holdings company or just the video game business.

Early last year, the gaming world was critical of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, a 30-minute proof of concept that was priced at $30. Gamers and critics alike cried foul that a major publisher would charge for something that was essentially a demo for The Phantom Pain. And the reason for the release: they needed to raise money to finish The Phantom Pain.

Moving into June, Konami had a counter that went to absolutely nothing. No presser, no trailer, no welcoming to E3. Combined with the low blow delivered to Sony by releasing The Phantom Pain trailer one day before Sony’s conference, this lead to me calling them the biggest losers of E3. On top of essentially becoming the E3 trolls that we all loathe, I was critical of Konami for having nothing else ready for the biggest event of the year — including not utilizing any of the old Hudson Soft IPs — and their actions tarnished what was once a great company, making it difficult to trust them again.

Should we even bother getting one of these ready for this year?

Truth be told, some time after E3, I expressed worry for the company to a number of contributors on the site. While I was angry about what happened, my mind started to wander, wondering if Konami was pooling all its money into one game because they were losing it elsewhere.

But things seemed to be looking up as P.T. (known as Playable Teaser) was announced and released during Gamescom 2014. This was not only a great proof of concept but was a teaser for the next game in the Silent Hill series, known as Silent Hills. It would be developed by Hideo Kojima, directed by Guillermo del Toro and star Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead. In our yearly wrap-up, I called this a positive step towards rebuilding themselves. This was something that Konami could build upon to recapturing their glory days from long ago.

However, as of today, all of that — Silent Hills, Kojima, del Toro, Reedus, and even the playable teaser for the game — will all be gone. Silent Hills has been cancelled. P.T. is getting removed from PSN today. Reedus’ contract has been allowed to expire. del Toro has been let go. And Konami has been distancing themselves from Kojima, not only removing him from management but also removing his company’s logo from any material for either the Silent Hill franchise or The Phantom Pain. Moreover, the move to cancel was a pretty costly one, though numbers for that are not available at the moment.

Silent Hills, now forever a memory of what could’ve been.

Combine that with the delisting of Konami from the New York Stock Exchange — which has been called a money saving measure since less than 1% of investors are from the U.S. — and you seriously have to wonder whether Konami is in trouble.

How exactly did we get here? Well, all we can do at the moment is speculate. Kojima probably has a non-disclosure agreement somewhere in his contract with the company, which means that any answers from him will be long down the line. We might get some answers from Konami, since their financial report for last year will be coming in a couple of weeks.

They’ve already thrown him under the bus once. What’s another time?

But is it really his fault? From what I can see… not completely. Konami still needs to be held accountable for his actions, since those happened while he was part of the board as well as part of a subsidiary to the company, Kojima Productions — which has been separated and turned into a contractor in the past couple of weeks. The money still comes from Konami. They could’ve stopped him from spending it.

As for Kojima… It’s kind of tough to say. From afar, he seems like the Japanese version of David Cage. He seems like someone that follows an auteur style of development and is completely full of himself — which seems counter to what you would imagine a Japanese developer to be. You look at most of those guys — the Miyamotos, the Onos, the Aonumas — and they seem like they’re rather humble guys just having fun. And even for other auteurs like Swery and Suda, they don’t really seem like they really care too much if a game is super successful. They all just want to have fun and create awesome games — even if it’s only awesome in their mind.

So where do we go from here? Well, I think we can say for certain that the era of Kojima is over. No more Konami as “Kojima and Friends.” But what their next move is will determine how Konami — the gaming company — moves forward.

My suggestions for you, Konami:

1. Think Small. Triple A budgets aren’t worth the hassle if you can’t bring in Triple A revenue. Have your people work on many smaller projects instead of on one big game. Not only do you get more shots at getting money but you can also see what the market wants from you. Which brings me to my other suggestion…
2. Open Up the Library. You do know that you’re more than Castlevania, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear, right? You do know that you have other franchises like Gradius, Rocket Knight, TwinBee, and Contra — just to list some easy games you could make with little translation needed — right? You do know you have the Hudson Soft library — which includes the likes of Bonk, Adventure Island, the Milon games, Far East of Eden, Bloody Roar, Star Soldier, and Bomberman — right? Why not make some game for those series? I’m certain people will buy them.

More of this, please.

But this is just one opinion of a company that looks bad in one part of it while the others look fairly healthy. Again, they’re not THQ. The end will not be swift. And who knows, maybe these changes will bring a renaissance to Konami. Only time will tell.

For now, the Konami that we loved and hated is gone — much like Silent Hills. In it’s place, uncertainty with Konami Digital Entertainment walking a tight rope over a big cushion — a cushion that’s marked Konami Sports & Life Co.

…situated right next to a Pachinko machine.

…and a big screen T.V. showing the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime on loop.

The post MUSINGS: On the Situation at Konami appeared first on oprainfall.

Back in January 2013, we were given a quick teaser for a game that would be developed by Atlus and Nintendo’s Intelligent Systems. It would be a crossover of the Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem franchises, something that you’d think would excite fans of both. After all, both are known for having quality story-driven RPGs. It seemed like a match made in heaven.

And then development started proper and we heard nothing positive about it for over two years. It was heard that both teams were fighting over just what the game would be. And with people coming and going from development, it wasn’t clear whether the game would be coming at all.

But, as it was revealed just a few days ago, the crossover is coming. And if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the reveal.

Raise your hand if that is exactly what you imagined when you first heard about the crossover… PUT YOUR HAND DOWN! I KNOW YOU’RE LYING!!

Well, I shouldn’t be too mean. After all, it’s nothing like I thought it would be. As a matter of fact, this is the closest I got.

Yeah, I couldn’t figure it out past something like Project X Zone — which could be done as an easy crossover, but may not do either franchise justice.

But it seems that there were a number of people that probably would’ve preferred that. Criticism for the trailer primarily comes from the look of the game, with some saying that it looks like Persona and nothing like either Shin Megami Tensei or Fire Emblem.

And I may have to agree. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t look like Fire Emblem or Shin Megami Tensei — and by Shin Megami Tensei, I mean SMT I–IV plus if… and Strange Journey. However, it does look like the larger Megami Tensei franchise, in which Persona does take part in.

I guess they should’ve had the teaser be this instead.

Of course, this was before the recent analysis of the trailer that showed a number of elements that tie into various parts of the entire franchise, but let’s just focus on early impressions to begin with.

First things first, the Megami Tensei franchise — or MegaTen for short — is big. There are several spin-offs to it, including Shin Megami Tensei, which is what the majority of western audiences know the franchise as. There’s bound to be elements taken from each facet, including some that just slap you in the face from the beginning.

For instance, you have the turn-based gameplay that appears throughout the majority of MegaTen. Then there is the 3D exploration, similar to that of later home console games plus SMT IV. The high school element is seen throughout a number of games in the entire franchise, although I think Persona is the one that goes heavy on that setting.

But where I will give the point that it does look like Persona is in two areas. One, the characters seem to take on different personas when they enter the fantasy realm. Second, while both Fire Emblem and MegaTen as a whole are pretty colorful, it seems like Persona goes for sharper contrasts with colors that seem to stand out more than any of the series involved on either side.

Another thing that would fall into the camp that think it looked too much like Persona comes this little nugget: the title of the game in Japan. In case you haven’t heard, the game will be called Gen’ei Ibunroku #FE. Translated, this works out to Revelation of the Illusion #FE or Illusory Revelation #FE, depending on where you hear the name. Why is this important to their argument? Because the original name of the first Persona game was Revelations: Persona — or, as it was known in Japan, Megami Ibunroku Persona (translated as Revelation of the Goddess: Persona).

Is there a point to this rambling? Yes, and it begins with that first word in the Persona title: Megami. It’s the same word that appears in the main franchise. Does it matter that many elements of the gameplay changed? A better question: should a spin-off have to be a carbon copy of the main series (see… oh, I don’t know, Innocent Life compared to Harvest Moon) to be considered part of that franchise? It may not play the same, but it has the same demons, the same magic, the same turn-based combat… Even if it’s not the same as the rest of the franchise, it’s still part of that franchise. If you have a problem with that… well, to be blunt, get over it.

But what if you’re in the camp that was angry about what appeared to be a lack of Fire Emblem elements in the trailer? Well, I direct you to a post by the Serenes Forest blog in which they found numerous references to the series, including the characters transforming into classes found in the series as well as the school crest resembling the Shield of Seals, the legendary shield of Akaneia found in the original games plus Awakening.

Also, the sword Falchion makes an appearance.

But why not more aspects of Fire Emblem? Why not a more fantastical setting? Why not grid-based combat instead of turn-based? Why not have it be like an alternate universe or someone getting pulled into the other series’ universe?

Well, focusing on the combat first, it could’ve been done. After all, Devil Survivor, another MegaTen spin-off, was grid-based. But I still get the feeling that, even as talented as everyone involved in the game is, it would’ve come off feeling like Project X Zone, which was fun but seemed to come off as lazy.

The same can be said for the meeting of the universes. Whether it’s time travel or an alternate universe, it feels like this plot device has been done to death. Plus, if you wanted to see how the MegaTen characters would act in a fantasy setting, it probably would’ve come off like any fantasy movie before Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.

Again, they could’ve worked, but they wouldn’t have done either franchise justice.

As for the look, it’s a bit more difficult. Fire Emblem has yet to appear on an HD console. Therefore, it is unclear what the look would be if/when Intelligent Systems puts the franchise on something like the Wii U. But even without that, the reveal definitely didn’t have the look of Fire Emblem. While something like the Megami Tensei franchise — Persona, especially — has that anime style to it, Fire Emblem has always seemed like a high fantasy movie, whether in its opening videos, cutscenes, or trailers.

Heck, you don’t have to look far for a comparison. Just look at the trailer for the next Fire Emblem game, titled Fire Emblem if in Japan. It may not be something like Lord of the Rings, but it certainly makes my point of having a different look to it than a high-paced trailer with a J-Pop song attached to it (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Check it out.

And in case you missed it, there will actually be three different scenarios to go through. Similar to the recent Shin Megami Tensei IV, you can side with either group or buck both of them and go a third route. So if what you were expecting was a Fire Emblem game with some elements of MegaTen thrown in, there you go. You can buy this 3DS game that has a story with difficult choices that will have serious consequences, similar to what you would get in Atlus’ long running franchise.

There is also one other thing I see from this if this game succeeds: the potential for sequels. Think about it for a second: if this was the average crossover RPG, you would probably see one group of characters go to one universe, followed by all of them hopping to the other universe, which them sees the universes merge and the heroes saving both sides. Then what? You just rehash the formula again for future endeavors? Sure, it sounds like what sequels have been doing forever, but for two series that pride themselves on story and character development, it would be a shame on their legacies. This, however — having modern day students fight in a computerized fantasy world — feels like it could work in multiple iterations as more characters from each franchise get introduced.

…Of course, assuming this is what Atlus and Intelligent Systems have in mind for the first game. After all, this is just the first look at the game.

It may not be what we all expected to see, but it is what it is. And if you have issues with it, there are alternatives — on 3DS, not necessarily on Wii U. But let’s see where this goes. In the end, it could be the successful crossover we wanted two years ago. One that will do both franchises justice.

The post MUSINGS: On the Shin Megami Tensei-Fire Emblem Crossover appeared first on oprainfall.

…For now.

In case you missed the hubbub, here’s the long and short of it: Nintendo announced a business partnership with DeNA (pronounced D-N-A), the mobile company behind the popular cell phone gaming platform Mobage. This will not only bring Nintendo roughly 22 billion yen (about $181 million USD) worth of DeNA stock and vice-versa, but it also will allow Nintendo to make money in the mobile market by having a separate party create games using their IPs.

And almost immediately after the announcement, people bemoaned it so much that you would’ve thought that the upcoming Zelda game would be coming to iTunes instead of places like GameStop.

While there is reason to worry — as there is with everything — let’s wait before shoveling dirt on Nintendo just yet. They’re not dead as a console developer yet. That will probably come a few decades down the line when the internet in the major regions becomes strong enough to make digital the best option available.

Also, let’s not forget that war chest of Nintendo DS and Wii money that Nintendo has. According to… math… Nintendo could lose $500,000,000 a year for 20 years before they were in serious trouble. That’s quite a bit of time for a company to right the ship.

And do not forget this little philosophical nugget: Nintendo likes to view itself as a toy maker. Its most well known toy line? Its video game consoles. This isn’t changing anytime soon, especially with what appears to be something new coming under the project name “NX”.

AND let’s also remember that many of the games coming to the Nintendo consoles have something that would make it difficult to play on mobile… well, two things: size of the game and button controls. Something like a 3D Zelda or 3D Mario game won’t find itself on mobile. And the controls on mobile devices are legendary for how terrible they are for something that requires buttons, making something like a traditional 2D Mario game difficult to play.

So, at the very least, the future home consoles that are still in the minds of the developers are still safe. And I’d imagine that handhelds are safe for the time being for a couple of reasons. For one, Nintendo handhelds have always outsold the Nintendo home consoles. And between the 3DS and the Wii U, the 3DS is the one making the money.

So why jump into the market in the first place… besides the fact that smartphones have become so advanced that you can put full RPGs on them (granted, RPGs that came out long ago like the one above, but still), and that you can make serious bank if you have a game succeed in that marketplace? Wasn’t Nintendo shying away from this type of thing? Well, yeah, but a number of things happened.

The most obvious is that the Wii U didn’t take off like they expected. The problems started with the message way back at E3 2011 when all they showed and talked about was the controller, leaving many people questioning if it was a console or a peripheral for the Wii.

The second thing — and you might have noticed this — is that Nintendo has already been making games that could fit on a mobile platform. The Mii Plaza games are all little bite-sized applications that you can enjoy after a long day of work and passing by people. Kersploosh is an arcade-style game that could work with gyro controls on a tablet or phone. Mario vs. Donkey Kong has you touching the screen to help the minis out and creating your own levels to share.

But there’s another thing that happened as well. And this is one you’ve seen but maybe didn’t connect the dots on until now.

Hearthstone.

In case you are unfamiliar with this, Hearthstone is a card game created by Blizzard Entertainment, the developers behind franchises like Warcraft and Diablo. The game has made Activision Blizzard some serious money as 25 million people have played this free-to-play game and even bought new cards with real money.

Now, let me ask you this question: what does Nintendo own that has something so similar and with a name that’s so big with casuals that it could make that type of money just by having that type of model for a game?

The answer: Pokemon.

More specifically, I’m talking about the Pokemon Trading Card Game, which you can currently find the online version in beta at the Pokemon website. Just download the client and start playing.

This could easily work as a moneymaking machine for Nintendo. Pokemon is a big enough name that people young and old — okay, maybe the just-out-of-college crowd — will flock to it. And those that played the original Game Boy version of the card game will probably have fond memories of it as well. Plus, with the Pokemon Company seemingly coming out with new generations every couple of years, there is potential to make money beyond the first year on the market.

And remember, Nintendo said that they wouldn’t be porting things from the Wii U and 3DS. This is on neither, even though I think it would’ve done well on both.

So, that’s what I think. This happened because of the money black hole that is the Wii U, the creation of bite-sized games by Nintendo themselves, and the rise of the juggernaut known as Hearthstone. And because of this, Nintendo — being deliberate in everything it does — partnered with the biggest mobile gaming company in Japan to enter the market.

But let’s also take into account that Nintendo now has a new avenue to market its “toys”. They can send messages about the Wii U, 3DS, or any other console to people over smartphones just by having them play a Nintendo published mobile game. All the while, they can cover their losses with a new way of making money, just like with amiibo.

At the very least, I’ll trust Iwata, the man that lead Nintendo out of its funk in the early 2000’s to its most profitable period with two of the best selling consoles of all-time. I hope that this new path will allow for Nintendo to keep putting out incredible experiences in the dedicated gaming market. And I wouldn’t be too worried — I’m probably more slightly nervous right now — about the quality of games coming to mobile. After all, Nintendo is still strict about the quality of the games with their logo on it, particularly for their big franchises.

If you have doubts about this, that’s okay. Leave them in the comments below and we can all talk about it.

The post MUSINGS: Keep Calm and Play Nintendo Mobile appeared first on oprainfall.

So, we have the first Nintendo Direct of the new year coming tomorrow. And with that comes speculation as to what will be shown. While we shouldn’t necessarily go off the rails — especially since this will focus primarily on Spring 2015 titles — let’s predict what we think will show up.

First and foremost, let’s get the obvious out of the way. By that, I mean the games that we know from previous Directs will be coming in the early part of the year. Those would be the following:

• The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D
• Code Name S.T.E.A.M.
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
• Splatoon
• Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
• Story of Seasons

These, along with some indies that will release soon — like Citizens of Earth — will have some part in the Direct, ranging from a brand new trailer to a montage of games or collage of names.

Xenoblade will get some sort of mention. As per her sort of tradition, Soraya Saga, wife of Xenoblade Chronicles X director Tetsuya Takahashi, tweeted about the Direct earlier today. So we should expect some sort of Xenoblade coverage, whether it is more information about XCX or a reveal of Xenoblade Chronicles on the New 3DS (which was unveiled in Japan last year).

Speaking of the New 3DS, I fully expect it to be the biggest of Nintendo’s bombs tomorrow. As a matter of fact, a special media event will be held after the Direct, which I fully expect to be full of New 3DS details. There’s too many clues in favor of this happening for it not to happen.

So those are what are more than likely guaranteed to show up. But what else do you think will show up?

The Legend of Zelda Wii U and Star Fox Wii U may show up in some form, as well as Yoshi’s Woolly World. However, I think these will be games for later in the year. If anything, we’ll get a quick glimpse at one but not all three.

The waiting game continues…

Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem may see the light of day, almost two years after being revealed. However, it may be saved for a later date to pack in as much info about soon-to-be-released games.

Speaking of things we haven’t heard of in a while, when will they talk about Art Academy for Wii U again? This could be a good time for that.

Mario Maker is another one of those that may or may not be shown. While I think it’s still some time away from release, I’d put money on this one being shown.

Overall, for Wii U titles, I think the most likely to be shown is Mario Party 10, which will be the series’ first entry on the Wii U. Showcasing how it works on the GamePad as well as the amiibo support in the game will be a focal point for Nintendo.

Moving on to 3DS, there’s only a couple of big games listed on Nintendo’s website that hasn’t released (or been mentioned in this article yet) is Fossil Fighters Frontier. This is the latest game in the series and could see a new trailer release tomorrow.

Another game, on that’s not listed, that could be shown is Hatsune Miku: Project MIRAI Remix. This was revealed to be coming by Sega last July, so an announcement of a release date could be coming soon.

And then…well…if they wanted to talk Nindies again…

Actually, now that I think about it, this is a perfect time to reveal new games for 3DS. You have a new version of the system coming with not many games on the horizon. Revealing some new games will balance out the line-ups a bit and create some hype for the New 3DS.

Yo-kai Watch could make an appearance, since Level-5 wants to bring that over to the West (and maybe a little something extra like Inazuma Eleven 2, please?). A mention of Lord of Magna would be the shot in the arm Marvelous and XSEED need for the coming year. Atelier Rorona 3DS would make a nice announcement. Something Dragon Quest related would be even better.

Any surprises in store? Sure, maybe a new Sonic game will be teased so that people can forget Sonic Boom. Other than that, they’d have to reveal something absolutely no one knows about. Maybe Metroid 3DS.

But as for how I think it will play out, here’s the quick rundown in the order I think it will happen:

• The Legend of Zelda
  • Zelda Wii U
  • Majora’s Mask 3D
• Wii U Games
  • Mario Party 10
  • Mario Maker
  • Art Academy
  • Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
  • Splatoon
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X
• 3DS Games
  • Code Name S.T.E.A.M.
  • Project MIRAI Remix
  • Yo-kai Watch
• Nindie Montage/Collage
• 3rd Party Montage/Collage
• New Nintendo 3DS Unveiled
  • Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
  • New 3DS
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3DS

I could be very wrong and everything I just mentioned and then some gets revealed in some way during the Direct. But for that to happen, this thing would have to be as long as an average E3 conference. Directs typically only go 30 minutes — 40 minutes max.

But that’s how I see it happening tomorrow. Think I’m missing something? Want to spout off your own predictions? Let us know in the comments below.

The post MUSINGS: Speculating On Tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct appeared first on oprainfall.

Actually, that’s exactly what it was. Nintendo announced a brand-new addition to the 3DS family. This new version comes with new shoulder buttons, better stereoscopic 3D, a second analog stick, the ability to use microSD cards, and more power (no information yet on just how powerful it will be).

Of course, with new hardware comes a mix of emotions. Some of the criticism comes from the redesign. At least one gamer has levied concerns over placement of the game card slot. If you haven’t seen the full design yet, the slot will be placed at the bottom of the console, below the left-hand controls.

For those with concerns about the game card accidentally popping out during play, I want you to try something on your current 3DS. Open your console, flip it upside-down, and have your left pinky push against whatever card you have inserted to see how much pressure it would take to pop it out. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised just how much pressure it will take. I’m sure it will be the same when the New 3DS is released.

Now, when I brought this up with one of our managers, Steve Baltimore, he brought up that it might be fine on the XL/LL but could be an issue on the smaller model for people with big hands. Well, as someone who has big hands and the original model, I can see there is a bit of a point. But I also think if I were to get the smaller New 3DS model, I’d be able to adjust my grip to accommodate the new design. Plus, as I said before, I don’t think I’d be able to put enough pressure on the game card with my last two fingers to pop that thing out.

And whenever there is talk about new hardware from Nintendo, you have to talk about the fact that there isn’t a true ID system in place yet. They have been taking steps toward making one over the past couple of years, but it’s not completely there yet. Now, there is still a way to move your stuff from system to system, but it is a bit of a hassle, since you need both consoles and can’t sell the older model before the transfer. Perhaps this will change before the New 3DS launches. We’ll see.

And then there seems to be some confusion about whether this is a brand-new console or just an upgrade to the 3DS. There were even a few calling my 3DS obsolete.

Well, the joke’s on you. My 3DS was already obsolete when the newer models came out. Seriously, go to any local electronics or game store and try to find the original 3DS model.

But let’s look at their argument for a second. The New 3DS will have a faster processor, new buttons, and better 3D. It sounds like it’s going to trump the original 3DS line. And if there wasn’t a precedent for this type of thing, the idea of a new console would definitely be at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

But there are precedents for this. As a matter of fact, there are precedents within Nintendo for this. Back in their early days as a console maker, the NES had a remodel that allowed for things like PAL region games to be played on the console. But let’s go with something a bit more recent: the DSi.

The DSi, of course, was the third iteration of the DS. The major visual change was the inclusion of a camera, which was not on either the DS or the DS Lite. But there were also changes to the inside, as well. Memory was expanded from 4 MB of SRAM to 16 MB of PSRAM. The processor was improved to a faster ARM9 CPU. As for software, there were many changes, with the biggest being the DSi Shop, which included games that could only be played on the new hardware.

And just like Xenoblade Chronicles for the New Nintendo 3DS, there were game cards exclusive to the DSi. Yes, a grand total of four games were released at retail that were DSi-exclusive.

So, yeah, developers didn’t really do the retail exclusive thing for the DSi. They did, however, make games that were DSi-enhanced. These were games that could use the new features of the DSi but were still playable on the previous models. One of them was Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, which had the ability to use the camera when in the DSi but was fully playable on the DS. I’d imagine the Monster Hunter games will be like that for the New 3DS.

So, even with the additional buttons and the anecdotal evidence of the system being more powerful, unless Nintendo comes out and says clearly it is a brand-new generation of hardware, this needs to be treated as the 3DS version of the DSi — a 3DSi, if you will.

Ultimately, this, like the DSi, is a bridge to what will be the next handheld console. It’s a simple way of extending the life of the console by giving old 3DS users and even those on the fence about buying it a reason to jump on the new model. And in four years, when Nintendo is ready, they’ll release the next mind-blowing console to join their legendary handheld line-up.

But I do need to plead with Nintendo on the name. “New Nintendo 3DS” is not what you want. There’s already enough confusion from the names you’ve come up with for hardware. Keep this one simple, and stick with your precedents.

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Not sure if any of you saw last week, but we saw the release of the first trailers for Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley. The trailers came out within a day of each other and highlighted important factors for each game.

For the Story of Seasons trailer, XSEED Games/Marvelous USA kept it simple, showing off the lineage of the series before revealing the new name. As one gamer put it on the Story of Seasons Facebook fan page, XSEED was basically saying “GUYS THIS IS HARVEST MOON WE JUST CANT CALL IT THAT PLEASE REALIZE”!

And it made sense that XSEED would go that route. If you’ve ever played a game in the Bokujō Monogatari series, you should know the basics of the game. And to top it off, we’ve been seeing screens of the game for over a year, well before we even knew XSEED was bringing it over. A focus on the lineage was the right move.

As for Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, not much was known about it other than the name. Natsume was focusing more on describing how it would be a reinvention of the series, since, you know, they don’t actually have the series anymore. They talked about customizable worlds, being in a 3D setting for the first time (which is BS, but I’ll get to that in a bit), and just being an evolution of the series.

But up until last week, we could only guess at what the series would look like. Maybe it would look less like anime than the Bokujō Monogatari franchise. Maybe it would bring new aspects to the series that we haven’t seen before. Maybe…

…it’ll look like Minecraft.

Geez, this looks like they took the Minecraft look, refined the graphics, kept the terraforming, and slapped a farming simulator on top of it. All I can say is I did not expect this.

Okay, let’s hold up for a minute. We shouldn’t judge the game until we get our hands on it. We’ve only skimmed the surface of what is in The Lost Valley.

However, there is one thing I do need to call out. Beforehand, Natsume talked about how this would bring the game to “a three-dimensional setting for the first time.” This is a load of crap. The Bokujō Monogatari series—which, until recently, had been known to us in the West as Harvest Moon—had been in 3D settings before.

You’ve got some isometric 3D games early on with Harvest Moon 64 and Back to Nature. And if you don’t necessarily consider those to be true 3D games (and I wouldn’t really argue that point with you), you have the Wii games Animal Parade and Tree of Tranquility, the PSP game Hero of Leaf Valley, the PS2 game Save the Homeland, and the GameCube and PS2 game A Wonderful Life—and its sister game, Another Wonderful Life. And if I wanted, I could also talk about how Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, a Natsume-published game within the same franchise, had a 3D setting, as well.

So, as you can see, the idea of a 3D setting in a Harvest Moon game is not a new one. But I will say that it does look different. I don’t know if I can attribute that to the Minecraft-like setting or just the fact that it’s a completely different team working on this. But it does looks interesting.

The only thing I’m not liking about the 3D setting is the farming. I would prefer having it like A Wonderful Life, in which the camera switches to an overhead view so you can easily see where you are in relation to your crops.

As for the setting, there is no getting around the Minecraft comparisons. It’s obviously not the same as the indie mega-hit, but it does have similar features. But I think it can work well if, like Minecraft, there are some online features. It doesn’t necessarily have to be co-op, but something where you can explore other players’ lands would be nice.

And while it seems like I might be complaining about certain things, there is an intriguing aspect that was introduced in the trailer.

Instead of the game starting you in spring with farmland that needs work and tutorials that you shouldn’t really skip, you begin in winter. As a matter of fact, The Lost Valley is in an eternal winter when you begin play. This is an intriguing change to the formula, one that makes me excited for the game.

So, now that we have an idea of what the games will look like, we can now properly get hyped for these games. And furthermore, I can get that boxing poster with the two games clashing that I want.

Yep, we’re looking at a solid match-up between these two with nothing getting in the wa—

Oh, crap. We might now have a three-way coming later this year.

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So, with E3 2014 all wrapped up and the final articles coming in, I felt the need to reflect on the past week. From what I can tell, there is no clear-cut winner. Gaming’s big three showed off some great stuff, but it felt like each lacked something.

The same can’t be said for who lost E3. The company that lost needed a strong E3 to make up for mistakes made over the past year. It needed to rebuild confidence in the brand after consumers were burned by one of the worst blunders any company could’ve made. Most importantly, it needed to show that they had more than one game (two if you count their yearly sports game) in their line-up.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this year’s biggest loser at E3 is Konami.

Why not EA or Ubisoft? Well, to be honest, I enjoyed EA’s conference, even though it was filled with prototype footage instead of actual gameplay. As for Ubisoft, while I thought it was the weakest of the Monday conferences, they at least showed up. Say what you will about that presentation, but they didn’t dupe gamers and journalists alike into thinking they would show something.

In case you missed it—although really, there wasn’t anything to miss—Konami had a website that was counting down to something. It appeared to be a presentation of sorts. Unfortunately, for most of North America, the timer was counting down to 6 AM EDT/3 AM PDT. So in order to cover it, we would either need to wake up earlier than normal—or stay up later for those on the west coast (or us night owls in the east)—or have someone outside the United States and Canada follow the event—which we did.

Just one problem—the event never happened.

The recap heading we had set up for Konami, never to be used for its purpose.

I’m pissed off by this. I found the countdown and shared it with the rest of the staff. I saw it and thought we would be getting some sort of recorded event like the past two years.

And it’s not just me I feel sorry for. Charlotte Buckingham, my fellow Editorial Head, took it upon herself to lead the staff in following the “event.” We had at least five people following this, which included all our PAL region staff and one or two in North America. They had their time wasted. They could’ve been doing other, personal things during that time. Instead, they were sitting around for as long as 90 minutes for Konami to show something. Nothing happened.

And furthermore, I feel sorry for our readers. We told them about an event that didn’t come to pass. I’m not sure how many of you decided to show up during that time or went to the site after waking up to see what happened, only to find Konami showing nothing.

I apologize for this, because, quite frankly, Konami has shown over the past year or so that they don’t deserve our free time. I would say shame on them, but clearly the shame is on us.

I forgave them for Lords of Shadow. The Castlevania franchise was stagnating and needed a shot of something, even something that wasn’t initially developed for the franchise. It wasn’t great, but it was an interesting wrinkle on the lore.

I even forgave them when they told us they wouldn’t be localizing any of the games involved with us and Language Automation, Inc. Localization comes with a risk, particularly when it’s for games that don’t draw in large audiences. Even with websites like ours pushing for the games and bringing them to the forefront, it still wouldn’t guarantee a profit. I still wish they’d reconsider.

So what was the first thing they did that made me stop giving them the benefit of the doubt? Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. Selling what is clearly a demo for half the price of a regular game (even after lowering the price from $40 before release) is unforgivable. Claiming a 30-minute game (even if you’re terrible at it) is a product worth any money is ridiculous. When numerous reviewers say not to buy the game, even after saying it had great gameplay, you clearly did something wrong.

Then, there was the trailer for The Phantom Pain Konami showed off on Sunday, a day before it was shown at Sony’s conference. I’m sure SCE Group CEO Andrew House was thrilled about that. He probably was wishing he had something to show for The Last Guardian at that point to switch it out with. And in retrospect, that was a dick move by Konami.

It wasn’t the worst move they made. That would be that countdown that led to nothing.

We’re used to people being tricksters during E3. We know there are people out there who will look to make others look foolish with their rumors. That’s why so many people were brushing off the Mario Maker image that appeared before E3 (and why we don’t trust anonymous Russian sources like a certain major gaming site did). Heck, there were even people disproving Mario Maker’s existence, showing off how the hand was exactly like a hand from a different trailer. Mario Maker turned out to be a real thing, but that doesn’t mean we were wrong in questioning it.

You expect individuals to be dicks during E3. You don’t expect a major company, however, to do the same thing.

That is why we’re mad at Konami and, ultimately, why we should stop trusting them for now. They haven’t given us any reason to trust them. And more importantly, they haven’t given us any reason to follow them.

Konami has become a one-trick pony. Silent Hill hasn’t been good for almost a generation. Castlevania hasn’t had a solid game in a long time. PES is getting beat by FIFA at every turn. DDR is just sad nowadays. And they don’t seem to want to do anything with Hudson’s old IPs. All they have left is Metal Gear.

The Phantom Pain, apparently the only game Konami has going for it.

Konami, you have become the laughingstock of the industry. If you want us to ever take you seriously again—if you want us to watch your events or feature any of your games—you need to rebuild trust with everyone starting today. No more jokes, no more tricks, no more price gouging, and no more uploading trailers other companies are looking to showcase before they get to do so. More importantly, you need to be clear and upfront about your intentions.

We’ve been fooled by you too many times. You get no more free passes. Stop it!

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