Ramaniscence
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Posts posted by Ramaniscence
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Reminds me of all the people who were stupid enough to still continue buying SimCity despite the immense amount of press being given to EAs consumer buttfucking.
Sim City 2013 has sold 1.6 million copies. So roughly $60,000,000 not counting DLC.
Tomb Raider 2013 sold about 3.15 million copies before being considered a commercial failure.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II sold 10 million copies.
Obviously there's about a million other factors going on here, but I'd like to think that Sim City is still considered a commercial failure (I doubt EA would ever admit it) and that the consumers not purchasing it means something and that we could see a similar trend with XBONE.
Only time will tell, though.
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I'm also hoping the new Mario Kart will have voice chat and video integration. Could you imagine the amount of cursing that would be going on while playing that game?
AND that's why it won't happen.
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I dunno. I really prefer the PS3's MUCH cleaner UI to the 360's bloated, ad-infested UI that is constantly shoving content in your face that you don't want to see. The PS3 is so smooth and minimal, and it feels about twice as responsive to me.
The original Playstation Store was pretty miserable compared to the XBOX 360 store, but pretty recently Sony made it MUCH MUCH better.
Also: Matchmaking on PS3 for me was pretty similar to the XBOX experience (I played a few games on both because I have friends that own different consoles), though XBOX did handle friends better in general.
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I started playing Plants versus Zombies Adventures yesterday to get an idea of what to expect.
That game has you moving around pretty frequently via Crazy Dave's RV and then defending that RV from zombies in any given area. The areas are in 3D, not 2D, and the zombies travel down preset "paths" from individual spawn points around the zone. You set up plants along those paths and they can fire in a 3 dimensional area around them. Basically: A LOT like traditional tower defense. The music is definitely "plants versus zombies-esque" but not quite as charming, and I expect that it wasn't composed by Laura.
From the trailer, I can expect that at least some of these features (3D, traditional tower defense mechanics, defending the RV) will carry over into PvZ2.
That said: The facebook game isn't bad, but then again I didn't play it long enough to run into a paywall.
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I wouldn't be too worried about that. With how big steam has gotten and is still getting, its only a matter of time till its ported to PC. Everyone kept saying that the creator of Terraria would never come back to add content, and he actually recently did. I'm not saying hold your breath about it, but its just as probable if not more so than it being improbable.
If/when it does get ported to PC, it will likely be on Origin, not Steam. It will likely be ported to Android eventually, and to be fair, so was the original. (Android still doesn't have Zen Garden, and probably won't ever).
Free-to-play definitely sounds like it will be incredibly ad supported and full of strange Nissan/Dove/EA/Dunkin Donuts product placement. Hopefully that is not the case. Also hopefully Laura Shigihara does that soundtrack again, and hopefully it's available for purchase at a reasonable price.
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It is inspired by Fantasia, in that both the film and this game have color and music?
I would assume it's because the motions you do control the music itself, which is feels a lot like every Fantasia scene ever....
...however Fantasia didn't use Bruno Mars, and they do a pretty terrible job of being as "epic" as fantasy is with colored orbs.
Also:
Edit: Ok
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Check out that place in Utah DHS just opened up. This forum, and all others are being monitored for EVERYTHING.
Quietly and behind the scenes Microsoft has been pushing something called 'Common Core' If you haven't been following the political debate you probably don't know much about this. But on its face its a set of standards for national education. In theory this would be a good thing. In practice however it is one of the worst things imaginable. It is already causing teachers to resign in protest, and it is a system that will ruin a child's imagination. Why? Profit.
Chief among the problems with Common Core is a data gathering apparatus that makes the Xboxone look like a fart in the wind. If you think i'm joking look at the recent incident in Florida that involved the involuntary and in my opinion illegal iris scanning of elementary school students. That isn't even directly associated with Common Core. But trust me that would not even be considered an appetizer.
This was taken from an article on theblaze.com
Look out a window. Everything i said concerning the Scandals is true. Bill Gates is one of the Driving forces behind Common Core its data-mining capabilities are VERY well documented at this point.It is very easy at the moment for a hacker to look through a webcam online at your computer and see into the owner's house. Federal government can do it. It can be done through cell phones. It is very startling just how EASY it is to do.
I have used nothing but FACTS in my arguments.
I bring up these concerns so that other users are aware of just what they may be getting if they actually purchase one of these. And if you're only going to fire back with 'fearmongering' without attempting to refute any of my FACTS?
Would it kill you to source like...I don't know, any of this? Telling people to go look up information themselves doesn't prove anything to anyone.
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She probably wrote and filmed all the episodes at once, or at least a few at once. It's no different than how TV does it, and I don't hear anybody complaining about Mythbusters or Dr. Who "sitting on" episodes.
I believe the issue here is that those shows are released on a regular schedule that is made available to the public. If they were not to be released within this schedule then they'd, at very least, release some kind of information letting people know when they could expect them.
As far as I am aware, she hasn't committed to any schedule, nor has she really kept anyone informed on her progress. I'd guess people feel this is a big deal, as some have actually put money toward the project. To some it seems professional to keep those "investors" informed.
Not that she has to do that, but that's the expectation. Similarly so, if an episode of Mythbusters or Dr. Who aired one day, at some time, and then next one would air "eventually", I'm sure it wouldn't go over well. Even more so if the public found out that episode was immediately available for release, but was not. I think also in that situation a little communication would be beneficial.
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also to your earlier point regarding the smartphone comparison, you're not exactly right. it *is* convenient to have a phone that does everything at basic capacity. but why is that convenient? it's because you can do it from anywhere. that's what makes it good.
As someone who has an XBOX, a cable box, and a PS3, let me tell you:
I have my XBOX, PS3, Cable box all hooked up to the TV and then set up to the soundbar. Right away this is like...3 separate remotes which is sucks in itself. That's not including the XBOX/PS3 controllers to control on-screen interface.
We ended up buying a fancy logitech universal remote to switch the input, power up and control the XBOX, and cable box, while still being able to use the other TV features. Luckily the TV has optical out so I don't have to mess with the sound bar or change, god forbid, switch plugs every time I want to switch what I'm doing. And that's without even talking about how many cords and inputs we have going on.
Anyway, I'm not saying XBOX will fix all these things, but shit if my XBOX was my blu-ray player and my cable box and my netflix box and my gaming box. It'd sure as hell make my life a lot easier without ever leaving my living room.
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Someone needs to come up with a list of actually good Android games.
I've found exactly one android game that I actually enjoy (Super Hexagon) and everything else has been terrible, not fun, not interesting, buggy as hell, or some combination thereof. My anecdotal experience has not matched up to zircon's insistence that there are loads of good games on Android, and it's kind of pissing me off that I'm not stumbling across them everywhere.
I want to like something on Android, I really do, but I'm having difficulty finding anything. Help me.
Superbrothers Swords & Sworcery
GTAIII if you're into that kind of thing.
I've been enjoying NBA Jam, but it's better on XBOX.
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I like how this has turned into a discussion about hypotheticals and mobile gaming when this is the thread to talk about the Xbox One.
The discussion is about the viability of gaming-only hardware (which is...I'd guess only Ouya at this point) versus hybrid media hardware (Which the XBOX One is). The example is mobile gaming versus smartphone gaming.
Also, funny that you mentioned Crisis Core (a PSP game) in the same breath as DS games without mentioning that it wasn't a DS game.The platform is irrelevant. The point is it's a common design pattern among mobile games.
zircon and rama get in the android thread and gimme some of these amazing games that I'm totally missing out ondead goddamn serious
To be entirely fair, I've been leaning toward iOS lately, but that's an entirely different discussion.
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But remember, what is true for you or for several people you know is not necessarily indicative of what is true for everyone. Using your experiences as a baseline for market trends is faulty from the start.
Not saying you are, of course.
But also remember that that still represents the vast majority of people out there. Sure Nintendo & Sony are hitting part of their niche market, but smart phones are undeniably eating into their niche market, as well as expanding that market.
Right now there are still people that will by a dedicated gaming handheld, but that number is dropping. That is indisputable. No amount of links, graphs, and figures about how many Nintendo 3DSs have sold world wide is going to change the fact that it's just not as popular as smart phone gaming. You can write off Angry Birds and Temple Run all you want, but they sure as hell make money.
Not to mention DS games were made with mobile gaming in mind, too. They're just a bit more fleshed out. The World Ends with You, the Kingdom Hearts game released on DS, and Crisis Core (all SE, I know) are all short mission-based systems with storyline tied in because it's conducive to the mobile gaming experience. The primary thing holding mobile phone gaming back is their limited control scheme, and don't expect that to hold many publishers back for long.
Also: Come to think of it if Nintendo released an Android 4.0+ based hybrid system that could run Android apps natively with decent resolution, had a headphone jack on the side and had a media library that could compete with the iPod experience...I don't even think this would be a discussion at all, but would certainly prove zircon's point.
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And since everyone has a phone already, maybe kids will be bored and want dedicated game machines for their birthday/Christmas/as a gift. Kids always want stuff.
You add nothing to this conversation with comments like that.
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it is, but then again find me a person who says 'i used to be a handheld gamer but i left that market for smartphones' and i'll give you 20 bucks.
Sure: starla. She owns a Nintendo DS (pink, imported) and used the play the crap out of it (a bit of a Brain Age addict, you see). She hasn't gotten a 3DS, and she hasn't picked up her DS since she got her Android. Why? Mostly because Plants versus Zombies, Osmos, and emulating GBA games have kept her satisfied.
Shael Riley is having a similar experience, though I don't even he even owned a DS. Suzumebachi too.
I know at least 3 IRL friends that are in a similar situation.
In fact...I only know a handful of my friends who payed out to get a 3DS (myself included), and those are all from OCR (Lizz, Ashamee) but most of my friends owned a DS or PSP, and don't really now.
I'm not saying that they don't own a 3DS specifically because they have a smart phone and that's a conscious decision, but I'm saying they decided the price of dedicated gaming hardware is not worth the money and then discovered there are good games available for their phones and are too distracted with those to even follow the handheld market.
I own a 3DS, but I've only played 1 game on it (Hey Ice King) while I've played quite a few games to completion on my iPod Touch (Ghost Trick, Jet Set Radio, Phoenix Wright...)
So don't pretend like it doesn't happen. Like I said it might not be someone declaring I DON'T NEED A 3DS BECAUSE I HAVE A SMART PHONE NOW! but a number of factors makes them uninterested in the idea of a dedicated portable gaming device.
Also: both Nintendo and Apple recognize this.
Do I think there's still a place for dedicated handheld gaming? Sure. Can I acknowledge it's becoming more niche than it once was? Absolutely.
Also: zircon PM the Derrit your paypal, he owes you at least $60 by now.
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I'm telling you exactly what happened. I moved my computer, plugged it in, no internet. Steam refused to do anything, including Offline Mode, because there was no connection. I'm not making this up. I literally could not play ANY games on Steam including ones like FTL, nor could I access Offline mode.
Just google "Offline mode doesn't work unless online" or similar, plenty of people have had the same issue.
http://kotaku.com/you-will-be-able-to-trade-xbox-one-games-online-micros-509140825
Again how is this any different than Steam, which we are all quite used to...?
I had a similar issue with Steam. I couldn't open it AT ALL without being online. I think it was checking for an update and aborting immediately because it couldn't ping, or maybe I had to set it to offline mode manually when I HAD Internet. I don't know but I distinctly remember this because I couldn't play WoW so I wanted to play an offline game and couldn't
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For comparison Tomb Raider sold about 3 million copies (more than Wii U itself) and Tomb Raider was considered a disappointment.
That is potentially an entirely different discussion about cost of production, market penetration, etc.
If something costs $10, and they sell $10 at 1 dollar, that's a disappointment. If something costs $2 and they sell 10 at 1 dollar, than that's not so bad.
Whether or not something is successful is going to be based on ROI, regardless of what the number of sales is, and there's a LOT of factors in that.
tl;dr: SE saying TR is a disappointment is irrelevant.
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I have no skin in the game either way, but I found this to be an interesting article, as someone who runs a brand...
http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2013/05/18/wii-u-two-years-of-negative-brand-momentum/
It makes a strong point. The WiiU has been surrounded with negativity since years before their release, partially because of the negativity surrounding the original Wii over the last few years. Regardless of the merits of the system, its games, etc., it's hard to argue that the WiiU is in a very bad place when it comes to branding, both in and out of the industry. Nintendo needs to seriously rethink the way they are marketing and pitching the system.
What still confuses me is, they put all this effort into the social features of the system...but they're only social within users of the system. The idea of viral marketing and social proof (Facebook Like, Google +1, Shares in general) is for users to share their experience with other users in their social circles and hopefully increase social awareness which in turn will hopefully increase the userbase. By having a social network that exists exclusively for other people who already own the console seems...inane.
And THEN going as far as to take down Let's Play videos. I mean...which one of my friends own a Wii U and/or have shared something from in-game? Heck if I know!
Social media marketing they are not.
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I'm wondering what direction they will take 3D Mario, myself. I would like to see a return of cohesive explorable environments (read: more like SM64 and less abstract like SMG). Definitely will be underwhelmed if they go with a space motif again. I don't want Super Mario Universe.
I agree 100%. While I enjoyed SMG, it never had the same charm that SM64 did. Exploring, and unlocking new parts of the castle where half the fun of the game. I think a return to this format, with larger, more fleshed out stages, would be a nice turn.
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..........Is there any way that you guys to solve this peacefully?
Hopefully.
The Wii use, released in November of 2012 is Nintendo newest console. It offers (arguably) innovative new controls, as well as improved specifications from it's predecessors offering (arguably) comparable graphical experience to other current generation consoles.
Despite this, the console has experienced less sales than Nintendo had anticipated worldwide. While not in dire straights, the company is currently operating at a loss, and has been for the past 2 years. It has also seen a drop in overall revenue. Nintendo, and it's fans, hope to see this trend turn around with the release of their trademark 1st party titles, as well as 3rd party flagship exclusives later this year. However some are skeptic due to previous 1st party titles inability to effectively turn around Nintendo's downward slump.
It is unclear whether this is a new trend, or the beginning of a larger downfall, but it certain that we, as consumers, would be worse off if Nintendo were no longer in the console market.
tl;dr: The console isn't terrible. The sales are pretty bad (right now). The games are pretty great. Nintendo (consoles) probably aren't dying. Even if it did, we'd all (most) continue living.
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Consider that the past two fiscal years are the only two in the history of the company where Nintendo have posted operating losses.
It would seem that they've posted an operating loss, a loss in net sales, and an overall loss of revenue over the past 2 years.
That's not great.
Also, consider that is with the release of a new Zelda, a few new Mario titles (though could any of them be considered "flagship"?), a new Mario Kart title. Possibly others. That's just off the top of my head.
BUT then also consider that's with the initial production of 2 new consoles.
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Yeah, those bar charts are nice. Have a line graph.
So, which one is accurate?
Edit: nm. They're both accurate, but the one you posted is a little misleading. First, It's cumulative, and 2, only goes up to 2011, which is where it starts to level off.
So, from these 2 graphs, it's clear to see Nintendo is not making as much money as they once did, but certainly have money stockpiled. Which, the same could easily be said for Sony. It's also worth noting that Microsoft and Sony do not depend on video games for sales (this graph is specifically from video game sales) while Nintendo's business is dependent on it.
Again, I'm not saying Nintendo is GOING TO FAIL or the console IS FAILING, but it indisputable whether or not Nintendo is making money.
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I'm not going to say if Nintendo is going under or not. I'm not going to say whether or not the Wii U or 3DS is a "failure". I'm not going to say whether or not the games available, or that will soon be available, are good, bad, or whatever.
I AM going to say that, no matter how anyone sees it, this is a real thing:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/24/4260062/nintendo-2012-earnings
Specifically this:
That is not to say that we know all the factors behind this, or even all of the data being considered. That is not to say that Nintendo can, or cannot, turn this around.
Edit: I also believe that Sony, and Microsoft, may also find disappointing sales with the release of the new XBOX and Playstation, but that's just my estimation.
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Wow. It wasn't Mirby. I'm impressed.
That is, of course, nothing against Mirby. I'm just earnestly surprised someone got to it first.
All of the thanks to you.
Xbox One
in General Discussion
Posted
I was looking for some info like this. Unlike feature films, game budgets aren't highly publicized (and searching "SimCity 2013 budget will get you...well not what you're looking for"), and while it SimCity 2013 sold quickly, it didn't sell anything after that. It sold 1.2 million in the first 2 weeks, and barely anything after that. That at least says the internet doesn't forget, but how much did it really effect the bottom line? Is the internet disciplined enough as consumers to really make a different in the difference in the market? (when it comes to NOT buying things, because we already know it does when it comes to buying things). For whatever reason the information just isn't there.
Also: In addition to all the problems and DRM SimCity 2013 had, and still has, a $60 price tag which is outrageous for a digital download PC title (imho). Let alone a mediocre one. Either they thought they could sell more than they did, or they anticipated low numbers and wanted to milk that for as much as they realistically could.