Malaki-LEGEND.sys

Man, I forgot how pissed off I was about Nintendo censoring and changing the original Fire Temple theme in Ocarina of Time. It isn't the act of censoring the original chanting as much as it was the piss poor job they did at replacing it. Oh well. I still love the 3DS version though. And oh man does Star Fox 64 look pretty. The changes to the battle mode actually make it appealing for once. Too bad there's no online play.

Entire top panel. I think it has anti-reflective coating like my glasses, and that's a pain in the ass to deal with cleaning.

So I have a Hori screen protector for my system, but one problem: The top screen gets smudgey and I can't for the life figure out how to get it clean. Any thoughts?

It isn't just Capcom. I find that there's been a problem within Japanese business culture that just so happens to be glaringly obvious in this generation of gaming. Whether it's a failure to adapt to changing markets, problems with management structures, or something relating to outside influence(like stockholders and whatnot) I can't say, but there has definitely been a drastic decrease in the level of quality that's been coming out of Japan, or maybe Western development has come such a long way that the backwardness of Japanese game development has simply become more evident. Like The Damned mentioned in the 3DS thread, the shit world economy might also have something to do with all this "fan interest" crap. Honestly, in what other generation did this ever come up? If companies had a game to put out, there was no "let's gauge fan interest". They just did it. In another era, maybe Darkstalkers 4, Mega Man Legends 3 and the Ace Attorney games would already be announced and going through localization as we speak. That being said, I also agree with the sentiment that if Mega Man was destined to become another Sonic series, then off with its head. I'd rather have it die in a blaze of glory(debatable whether that happened or not) than be a shell of its former self(with furies). It just seems that the heart isn't there anymore, and everyone loses in that scenario. Regardless of the quality of their current titles, Capcom really has been in the business of making shit decisions lately, which is disappointing to me since Capcom used to be a company that I always associated with consistent quality, which is something I find myself unable to do with most publishers/developers lately.

To be honest, the only thing about that article that I'd readily believe is that Nintendo didn't send out enough dev kits on time, which in my mind is still a huge obstacle for getting out that high-quality 3rd-party software out there. Sucks that so many generations in, console manufacturers still can't get over that hump. The 3DS didn't sell crazy Nintendo numbers because it was overpriced and had a dearth of killer apps at launch, not because it lacks a second analog stick(although it sure would've made me happy as a lefty had they included one originally). On the subject of beating the PSVita, companies really have to stop thinking that everything is a race. It's pretty much agreed upon that FFXIV was rushed out so it would beat Cataclysm, and look at the giant turd that popped out there. Quality speaks for itself, and there's no reason that multiple things can't exist in the same space. Who would ever dream of putting a time limit on Blizzard? Think the Diablo 3 team is worried about Torchlight? Of course not, because their stuff oozes good fun, and many companies could stand to absorb some of the business culture that makes thar possible. Also, being able to swap from OoT 3D to DOA: Dimensions on the same handheld just feels so right.

Looks like I'll be having another Zelda game to play on Thanksgiving as per Nintendo tradition. I put the rest of what I had in store credit towards its pre-order, so I'm set for an arm-flinging workout come Turkey Day.

Herp a derp, guys! I gave the wrong code. >.> It's 4468-1159-3229. This time I triple checked. Yeah I have no idea how I made the same mistake twice, either.

Friend Code is 4468-2259-3229. Add me for some DOA!

So Gamestop had a "get $10 extra in store credit for every 3 games traded in" offer going on and I traded in 15 Wii games, so I got a blue 3DS and Dead or Alive Dimensions. I'll definitely be grabbing Link's Awakening and maybe Super Mario Land once I get some more cash flow later this month. Who do I have to annoy to get Nintendo to release Oracle of Ages/Seasons on the eShop?

I am so hype right now. Now I just need my Asuka announcement and my dream team is set.

Guys. Guys. It's "his".

I see a glaring omission of Halo 3: ODST, Xenogears & Xenosaga(specifically stuff like Zarathustra, Nephilim, the opening movement from Ep.II, etc.), and maybe a Donkey Kong Country medley. The Final Fantasy part sounds pretty good depending on the themes selected. I would hope there's a lot of Sakimoto and Hamauzu in there to keep from the Uematsu tedium(I love Uematsu, but there ARE other FF composers). Other than that(which is just my personal preference), sounds like it'll be a total blast. Wish I could go.

Not much to add to the Project Rainfall episode that hasn't already been said, but as a guy in I/O Psych who is fascinated by the young industry that is videogaming, I'm pretty much in total agreement with Sephire's assertion about adopting other medium's models for many aspects of game development, especially the Pixar model of pre-production. It seems like the potential gains far outweigh any financial losses(which seem very miniscule to me personally) by having different teams working on different aspects of different projects at the same time. By doing that, you should be able to avoid wasting resources, loss of employee motivation, AND potentially be able to increase productivity(ideally).

BOOM. Headshot.

Why are people still being so gloom and doom about this? They had a shit launch, yes, but they got their act together pretty quickly. By the end of the year they'll have a pretty decent library and a price drop in 4 days. Seriously, outside of analysts, ivory tower game journalists and a small section of the hardcore audience, consumers don't really give a fuck about the inner workings of the video game industry, and they sure as hell won't remember the 3DS being $250 bucks at launch. The rest who might care have adopted a "wait and see" stance. On a related note, after heading to a Frys while in Houston this weekend I had a chance to catch a 3DS display in which I was able to tell whether or not I could see the 3D effect. Turns out I can! Gonna grab one at the end of the month with OoT3D and DOA: Dimensions.

Guys, stay with me on this one. You ready? an AR- and pedometer-enabled Katamari Damacy.

Well personally I wouldn't want to have to rely on a third-party extension to get more juice out of the system, but if it gets the job done for $20 bucks and Nintendo doesn't seem to get their act together on making a better battery, then I guess I'm stuck. I don't really see myself laying it on a flat surface, so I doubt that'd be annoying. What worries me is that Nintendo is going to come out with another revision soon enough where the battery life is vastly improved... Then I'll be up shit creek(but not really I guess).

Well, with Nintendo deciding to cut a huge chunk off the price of the 3DS and a lot of their top first-party stuff coming out in the months leading into the holiday season, Sony has yet another problem to face in addition to their almost definite lack of killer apps(which is normal for system launches). I do think however that a $250 US price point for a system with that kind of oomph seems fair, but I think that it's a fair assumption that the 3DS will thwomp the PSVita this holiday season if it does hit this year. That isn't to say I don't still have high hopes for it.

Well lowered prices in computer parts is kind of a given once new revisions are out. PC component manufacturers are far bigger offenders than console ones, so us on the PC gaming side(well, what's left of it) are used to this kind of thing. Besides, when a new revision comes out, it's usually more powerful though, so there's that. What was the battery life on the 3DS again?

And all of a sudden I care immensely about this game. Please Asuka/Lili announcement!

This is usually the problem that a non-Nintendo or SEGA(back when they were developing consoles) console developer would have. Nintendo usually had a quality Mario or Zelda game to back up a hardware launch, even up to the Wii where they purposely withheld Twilight Princess to help the Wii, and it did. Quality speaks for itself and had Nintendo waited until they had Mario 3D Land, Kid Icarus, AND the Ocarina of Time remake out, as well as eShop and Netflix 3D movies(or 3D movies in general), THAT would have ensured the hardcore heeded the call regardless of the competition. What's done is done though and fortunately for them, the PSVita is going to have its own initial dearth of strong software so Nintendo can probably sell quite a few units this Holiday. A lesson I hope that comes out of this is allowing your teams(and third parties) to have much, MUCH more time with the hardware to make sure they can make a great product. Sure there might be info leaks, but hey, maybe companies can turn that around into good PR.

After further rumination, I've decided that I'm going to grab a 3DS after a few killer 3rd-party apps are out. This year's holiday line-up has Kid Icarus, Mario 3D Land, and Mario Kart 3DS, but I need to see proof that there isn't going to be a dearth of 3rd-party stuff during the first year or two of the system's life. The $170 price tag on it definitely makes the deal sweeter. Let's see if I can hold out for more colors and games.

As long as ports and remakes of big titles make money for Nintendo, they'll NEVER stop selling you back your nostalgia. That being said, what's the release schedule like for this holiday season? I hear Kid Icarus and such might be hitting then.

I think using the word "entitled" might be a bit misleading. If anything, the campaign is just designed to soften the blow of being an early adopter, which to be honest is a risk you take. It's good PR for them, but I personally don't think these guys are "entitled" to much. If anything, this whole thing makes me worry about the Wii U's initial sales outlook.

Like Nekofrog points out, Nintendo VASTLY overestimated themselves. They took sales numbers for the Wii/DS and probably translated that into consumer loyalty, so when they decided to release the 3DS at the price point they did, with hardly any software, and having a revision history almost as high as the iPhone, they thought "Meh, whatever. People will still buy our shit, 'cause they love us!" Except that they didn't realize that most of the Wii/DS audience are now playing their casual games on cheaper and more ubiquitous hardware, and the people who would have been loyal don't love them as much anymore. Now they're saying with the Wii U that they "want to bring the hardcore gamer back", but it's going to be a hard sell, especially after the response they gave the hardcore audience regarding Project Rainfall. In the face of the upcoming PSVita storm(which will have its own problems as well), lowering the price of the 3DS is pretty much one of the few things they could do, and that might be the shot in the arm they need if their holiday season has new software instead of the remakes they've been putting out a la Ocarina of Time and Starfox 64. The issue with the N64 is that it was basically already a dinosaur when cheaper and larger CD media was coming into the scene, because Yamauchi was a dick, blew off Sony and then refused to pay royalties to incorporate CDs into their consoles, which pissed off a good portion of third party developers like Squaresoft and the like. On the hardware front, while the system had its fair share of good titles(like OoT and Rogue Squadron), you were required to buy a RAM expansion pack to play some of the better stuff(like Majora's Mask), and by doing that they upped the barrier to entry and split their playerbase. For me personally, the lack of any great third-party RPGs and fighting games are what did the system in, and ever since that generation, Nintendo has fallen into 3rd place among many of the "hardcore" gamers.