Julius

I get where you’re coming from, I really do, and of course I agree that Nintendo’s innovation is great for improving the industry, and one of the main ways they do this is by making gaming feel accessible to everyone (and now, with the Switch, pretty much anywhere). However, I agree with @Helmsly and @Sheikah: I do think that it is unacceptable to have a relatively poor online infrastructure (relative to that of their competitors), especially when they themselves are churning out games centred around an online multiplayer experience, such as Splatoon 2 and ARMS. Like with their often inconsistent quality of communication to their consumers, I feel like this is one of Nintendo’s greatest areas of weakness. Everyone here wants Nintendo to succeed, which I think is made evident by the frustration shared by many of us in this thread; even if you’re not a Nintendo fan, and even if you don’t own a Switch, I think we can agree that competition in this industry only benefits all of us. Does a relatively poor online infrastructure destroy Nintendo’s reputation, and mean people will stop buying their hardware and software? Absolutely not. But on the flip side, could Nintendo stand to gain (even) better footing with third parties and consumers if their online infrastructure was just as good as everyone else’s? Of course. So why shouldn’t they strive do that?

Ouch. Square Enix made two really odd decisions with putting this game and Dragon Quest XI in September. Move those games a month or two up into the middle of the summer and you suddenly have plenty more of your demographic, having taken time off from work/being on school holidays, in a position to comfortably sink tens of hours into a JRPG or spend time with the video game equivalent of a summer action blockbuster. I imagine that the summer months will slowly fill up over the next few years, but SE really missed a trick there.

This is the only one which I think I know that probably comes as a surprise to some people, so challenge accepted it’s been a very, very long time since I played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team, but if I recall, the top rank in the game is Lucario Rank, which requires a LOT of Rescue Points (maybe double that of the previous rank, which was already quite high, but I’m not too sure?), and the reward for attaining that rank is a Lucario statue outside of your house. I don’t think that I actually got the to that rank and got the statue myself, so I might have read it in Pokémon World? Anyways, while Blue Rescue Team was first released on the Nintendo DS, it’s partner game, Red Rescue Team, was released on the Game Boy Advance. I mean, @Glen-i, I suppose that you could make a case for Lucario first appearing on both DS and GBA, in this case, because I believe that both versions were released on the same date? I might be wrong about that, though. Awesome write-up by the way, I learned quite a bit

Honestly, it feels like they’ve brushed their original “NES and SNES games with leaderboards” statement completely under the rug, and I don’t think it’s helped them in this case. It won’t be part of the service at launch, sure, but I think that mentioning that SNES games would be coming to the service in the future as part of that snippet in the Direct could have been a helpful boost for them, and any other systems with games coming to the service beyond that too, because if it’s in the works — well, why not? We’ve seen them do it with Metroid Prime 4 and next year’s Pokémon game, and I don’t think that it tarnishes the possible future “wow factor” of shadow dropping, for instance, SNES games to the service after a Direct next year. It just strikes me as odd: Nintendo has every reason to be confident in their system selling well, just given the records that the Switch has toppled alone, yet they seem a little unsure of themselves (to me) when it comes to announcing their plans for legacy titles — I mean, should we not be expecting SNES titles to come to the Switch now that they’ve seemingly shied away from that, having let it slip last year? Absolutely not, because there’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll be coming. So why not just say something and give their consumers even more of a reason to be confident in their future plans for the Switch, beyond the already revealed first party software coming to the system within the next few years? I don’t mean to come across as negative, I just think that they could have handled this situation a bit better than they have. It’s not the end of the world, but I think that effectively communicating with their consumers is something that they could still wildly improve at — they did a great job with this during the Switch presentation last January, so why the change in formula since? Time and time again we’ve had some heated discussions on here about how Nintendo could handle Online for those already playing Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, etc., which I do think clearly shows a divide between what fans want and expect from Nintendo, but it really feels like a solution to this could have been as simple as offering an extended free trial period (a month as opposed to a week, for instance) or an exclusive discounted NSO pricing for those already heavily invested in those games, and we shouldn’t have needed to have such a heated discussion - as fans and consumers of Nintendo - in the first (or second, or third ) place. I’m totally going to sign up for the service once I get a Switch, just for the ease of use so that I don’t have to worry about my subscription and whether or not I will or will not be able to enjoy a game to it’s full extent, and also because I haven’t played many of those NES games. Now if only they could just start churning out those N64 and GameCube remasters, and get Square Enix to start selling some classic JRPG collections for the Switch...

If accurate, this could mean that we’ve got another five stages to go (I think?)

No-one’s mentioned it yet, but reports in recent days have suggested that Henry Cavill seems to be on his way out from his role as Superman. The spark which supposedly resulted in this was talks of him appearing in Shazam deteriorating to the point of a stand-off. WB has somewhat attempted to deny this, but their official statement seems more like a smokescreen than the genuine truth. This, of course, comes after nearly two years of rumours and speculation that Ben Affleck is on his way out from the Batman role. Rumours have suggested that Michael B. Jordan could be next in line to become Superman if Cavill does leave. There seems to be some element of truth to this, and could even be so simple as contract talks temporarily breaking down between Cavill and WB. Either way, I feel like Cavill is an excellent fit for the Superman role (beyond his obvious physique), and I have to admit that I feel like DC and WB have absolutely shafted him when it comes to his portrayal of the character.

Not too surprising, given that Kaz Hirai has mentioned wanting something to this effect in place before he steps down from Sony.

I’m indifferent to it being turn based, to be honest, though I can understand why some might have liked something else just to shake things up a little. Because, on the other hand, I have a feeling that this game was probably an outlet for Game Freak employees to let loose in a similar turn-based RPG setting to Pokémon, while becoming accustomed to the Switch and the new tools at their disposal.

As revealed in yesterday’s Nintendo Direct comes a whole new IP from Game Freak: Town (working title). Taking place in what was once a peaceful “small village with a secret to hide”, monsters attack in this turn-based RPG, which will be Game Freak’s first non-Pokémon game on a Nintendo console since Pocket Card Jockey, released on the 3DS back in 2013. The entire game will take place in this single village. This was my favourite surprise of the Direct, and I’m a fan of the quirky chibi art style they have going on with the villagers. I’ll be curious to see if, moving forwards, this game (perhaps with full camera control in the overworld?) has some hints as to what will be seen in next year’s core series Pokémon title, too.

Now that we know that they didn’t have much to show during the Direct, I have to say that I am disappointed with Nintendo with regards to Online. I do think that this would be a completely different story had it been available from the very beginning at launch, and if it had been paid for from the very start, but, because it wasn’t, I can’t help but realise that we’ve not seen or heard about anything with regards Online which couldn’t have been prepared for March 3rd of last year. That is to say that I’ll likely pick up a subscription when I do get a Switch anyways (more for the sake of convenience as opposed to popping a game in and finding that I can’t use its only functionality), but I do think that this shows poor management of the situation on Nintendo’s behalf. I would like to think that they’ve waited to listen to what customers want implemented, but there’s ultimately not much different about their service which is launching next Tuesday when compared to what we knew of it at the time of its announcement. And, if that’s the case, then why not just be sincerely honest about the situation from the start, as opposed to dancing around topics like Virtual Console, when you know full well that it wasn’t in store? I’m not upset with the situation (personally, I haven’t played many of these NES games, so I could get a few hours of fun out of them I’m sure), but I am perplexed by some of their decisions in the last 18 months.

That was a strange one, I think. They had some interesting things announced/shown, but it just felt pretty underwhelming — was it just me? Felt like there was a lot of misdirection, but not necessarily the positive kind. For instance, that Luigi’s Mansion 3 teaser trailer. I can’t imagine that there were many people that thought that it was 3 as opposed to a HD remaster of the original game until the title was shown. That Animal Crossing reveal was a weird one too, as I think it might have worked much better the other way around: announcing the new game prior to having Isabelle revealed for Smash. With the way that it was presented, both pieces of information came across worse for wear, in my opinion. Every Final Fantasy game shown in the Direct coming to Switch is going to sell like crazy in Japan, for sure, but I don’t think that it really offered much to those who already own a PS4 and were already interested in (re)playing those games given that all of those main titles are already available on the console. Having only played Final Fantasy VII myself, I really want to play some of the titles released prior to VII before moving on to some of the games released since then (as I frequently read that they are the most accessible for newcomers to the series), and so having those made available on the Switch would have been something I’d also love to see. Oh, and love the look of Town, and it’s great that Game Freak are trying something new (at the very least, to keep them fresh) here. I can’t help but wonder if the game’s engine, or some of its assets, could be a hint of what’s to come with next year’s core series Pokémon game?

Been a while since I’ve popped into this thread... Back in June, as part of Nintendo’s Earnings release, the release window for the game was refined to “Late 2019”. Elsewhere, just last month, Game Freak put out some job postings in an attempt to bolster their work force, seemingly in preparation for next year’s game, with long-term positions having starting dates of this month and additional roles of Planner and Motion Designer also available. I’m really looking forward to learning about the games next year — hopefully earlier rather than later! — with some new Pokémon designs, and seeing if/how Game Freak will next progress the series with a larger step than they’ve been willing to take before.

More Mourinho from today’s press conference:

I don’t quite understand why you need to ask why people are asking for folders? They were available on both the 3DS and Wii U, and I think that they are also available elsewhere, so I would assume that that is why. I don’t see why you feel the need to tell people that what they want is technically not a folder, especially seeing as what you’re suggesting is not a folder in fact is. A folder, in the way that we’re referring to it here with regards to computers, is just a virtual location for documents, apps, data, et al, and they help with storing and organising these items. In actuality, the fundamental difference between the image of the folder that you posted and the image below — a video game folder — is that it has a (more complex) graphical user interface layered over it. On a side note...isn’t the statement “(customisable) category” somewhat contradictory with regards to what a category is defined as being? Because if a category is defined as a class of items with similar characteristics, besides the fact that the items in question are games and are virtual, then surely customising how they are organised would logically contradict the definition of the word? You’d then just be organising them manually, with no particular regard for their characteristics besides your own preference...kind of like you do with a folder.

Just a reminder that there are now less than 24 hours left on the Kickstarter’s Slacker Backer campaign, so today is the last chance to support the Kickstarter if you haven’t already, and also to upgrade your rewards/get some add-ons if you already have. I think it’s also worth mentioning that there has been no official word up to this point on the game being released physically outside of its Kickstarter campaign, so if you are interested in obtaining a physical copy of Shenmue III, there is a possibility that this is your final chance. The Shenmue III Slacker Backer campaign will end at 07:59 BST tomorrow (September 1st 2018). I pre-ordered a physical PS4 copy of the game through the Kickstarter campaign yesterday, which is the first time I’ve ever backed a Kickstarter. I plan to really dig into it later in the relevant thread, but, for now, I’ll let that be the only testament to my enjoyment of Shenmue and Shenmue II. Also, I haven’t seen anyone mention this here yet, so...isn’t that Ren standing to the side at 0:25 of the Gamescom trailer?

The Champions League group stage draw just took place; here are the groups, with English teams underlined: Group A • Atlético Madrid • Borussia Dortmund • AS Monaco • Club Brugge KV Group B • FC Barcelona • Tottenham Hotspur • PSV Eindhoven • Inter Milan Group C • Paris Saint-Germain • Napoli SSC • Liverpool FC • Red Star Belgrade Group D • Lokomotiv Moscow • FC Porto • FC Schalke 04 • Galatasaray S.K. Group E • Bayern Munich • S.L. Benfica • AFC Ajax • AEK Athens Group F • Manchester City • Shakhtar Donetsk • Olympique Lyonnais • 1899 Hoffenheim Group G • Real Madrid • AS Roma • CSKA Moscow • Viktoria Plzen Group H • Juventus F.C. • Manchester United • Valencia CF • BSC Young Boys Groups A, B, C and H in particular look very competitive, which should make for a great group stage.

In terms of quality or quantity? And there’s typically been a bit of a lull, in terms of blockbusters, between late July and the latter months of the year for as far as I can remember. But I’d have to agree that it’s much more noticeable this year, with no real must-see action blockbuster juggernaut (e.g. no Star Wars and no MCU) coming in the last three months of the year.

Wasn’t quite sure where to stick this...so I guess I’ll stick it in here? During yesterday's SEGA-Nama stream, Toshihiro Nagoshi revealed that Yakuza Studio’s new IP will be announced next month, with it being prepared to be a big part of SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show presence, with a stage show that will take place from the 19th to the 23rd. Nagoshi-san also revealed that this will game be very different to Yakuza, and has been in the making for three years; whether that means three years of development or a mixture of planning and development is currently unclear.

I’ve only heard good things about Into the Breach, and have actually been debating picking it up on Steam for a while, but wanted to see if it would come to Switch. Another game added to my “buy when I buy a Switch” list. I need to hurry up and get one before this list gets too long...

I’m as excited as everyone else for Spider-Man, but this does concern me quite a bit. I know that DLC is standard practice in the industry, but to have DLC so soon after release, and to be drip feeding it in this way...it screams of exactly why so many gamers aren’t fans of DLC. Telling us a week prior to release about their DLC plans, especially that it will be teased in the main game, seems like a slap in the face to me. I think that they (read: probably Marvel, or whoever is ultimately in charge of this game) could have handled this so much better. Look, I understand that they’re just doing their fiduciary duty to their corporate overlords, but it’s almost like they don’t get that we really don’t want to be told this stuff before a game is released. Just let us enjoy the game and not feel like we might as well wait for the GOTY version, which will inevitably drop this December. I mean, let’s imagine that they didn’t tell us about those hints in the main game, and vaguely told the public that “we have plans for DLC”. Over a month after release, on October 16th (a Tuesday, giving people a chance to talk about it with their game-loving friends at work during the week and game-loving family during the weekend), you drop a 30 second teaser, which at best hints about what might happen, and let’s us know that they’re going through with the seed that they planted in the main game with Black Cat. Of course, it ends with “releasing next Tuesday, only on PlayStation” and you show the date - October 23rd - that the DLC will drop. Rampant speculation ensues, and everyone is way more interested than if you just randomly let this slide a week before the main game released, because it doesn’t seem like you’re just trying to milk us for all that we’re worth. Heck, end each piece of DLC with a breadcrumb large enough to keep people speculating and you’re golden. But this is undoubtedly just a mess, and now, as a consumer, I’m worried about what else they’ll go out of their way to overtly hint at in the main game just to have it show up in DLC. And statements like these certainly don’t help: Real confidence booster.

I do think that a 2019 release date is at least on the cards, but considering that it’s based on a tabletop RPG called Cyberpunk 2020, I could see it releasing in 2020, too. Either way, unless something goes terribly wrong, it’s not five years off like everyone was making out was the case after the trailer was released and it was shown behind closed doors at E3. I’m actually surprised that people thought that in the first place, to be honest, considering that it has been in development for six years, and their higher-ups have previously talked about how they are envious of Bethesda’s fast turnaround from announcement to release, so I doubt that they came out of hiding only to have us wait another five or six years. Last I checked, they had over 500 people actively working on the game, with 10 different writers. I imagine that these numbers have come down now, as they revealed that the game is playable from start to finish, but requires polishing for the most part. They also mentioned in a brief investor’s Q&A held after their Twitch stream that work has already begun on their next AAA game, though of course their focus is on CP2077 for now. Actually, interestingly enough, they did mention during the same meeting that they will reveal the IP for their next game prior to the release of CP2077. It’s probably too early to go speculating about that, but I’d love to see them realise an ancient civilisation or go hard sci-fi. If they’re going to continue taking on existing IPs and realising them in video games, I’d love to see something like the Condor trilogy (often referred to as China’s Lord of the Rings) given the CDPR treatment. I’m in total agreement with you in that I think this game looks spectacular. I couldn’t get into The Witcher 3 after giving it an honest try, and though I do plan to return to it (hopefully having read the books and maybe even the other games; I really just think that I was missing some context to attach myself to early on), but this has clicked with me completely since we got a first look at it. I’m still curious to see if and how they might implement online functionality (they’ve spoken openly about GTA V’s success before) into the game, too.