Nicktendo
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Posts posted by Nicktendo
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My fantasy team is ready. Who ran the league last year? Willing to do the same again? We had good numbers last year.
I can do it if no one else wants to?
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Vettel -> Aston Martin basically confirmed. (now confirmed: https://the-race.com/formula-1/our-verdict-on-vettels-aston-martin-f1-move/)
Shame for Perez. Hope he finds a drive for next year. Watching Stroll beat Vettel is gonna ruin his legacy... well whatever was left of it.
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17 minutes ago, Dcubed said:
Buying 12 month XBLG cards to cheat your way into getting 36 months worth of Gamepass Ultimate (with a £276 discount!) was definitely NOT their intention lol!
There's a good reason why they've scrapped the 12 month XBLG cards now!
I honestly think that once people lose access to GamePass after a year or two or three of simply having it there, they'll end up being lifelong customers.
They're essentially beta testers who are gonna be so addicted to this thing once their "free" sub ends, they'll keep coming back.
I reckon MS was gambling on completely changing how these people play games. Once they're in, they won't want out and MS was happy to take the upfront hit of basically giving it away.
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1 minute ago, Sheikah said:
I don't think they have anything to worry about. The vast majority of the most played games on the PS4 are PS4 exclusives (or were at one point).
Sony have a reputation for having the games and nothing so far shows that that's going to be different in the coming generation.
To reword the question, why buy an Xbox when you can buy a PS5 and get all the multiplatform games plus the exclusive games you can't get on Xbox? The best argument right now for Xbox is simply value.
Yeah this is where I'm at to be honest. Nothing that MS has shown so far (bar Infinite) has made me think they'll have anything of note in the next 18 months.
Xbox Series S is tremendous value with GamePass and I would love to have one for the bedroom - but it's going to be an easy way to play indie games and third party games without needing to use Steam Link and piss about with controllers and Apple TV. Forza and Rare Replay would be obvious benefits, but 90% of their first party games are coming to PC anyway...
The Sony presentation was much better than the MS one and the games looked next-gen in the way they didn't in Microsoft's. I've got a couple of PS4 "exclusives" to go through on Steam and have just started Death Stranding. If Sony continue to deliver quality exclusive games (even timed exclusive ones), I'd be pushed towards a PS5 mid-way thorough the gen, but a Series X is completely out of the question. Would much rather get a new graphics card and stick to Steam. -
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20 hours ago, S.C.G said:
1) Switching back to the thread topic, what games are people playing on their Switch at the moment?
2) What's the next game release you're looking forward to?
3) How many people are actually picking up Super Mario 3D All-Stars on day one?
4) Which game are you looking forward to playing first?1) AllStars. Finished 1 and 2, halfway through Lost Levels, which has actually been much easier than expected. Did the 128 lives trick on 1-1 so not using rewinds, but I've only lost about 10 lives so far as of stage 5-1. The game is great to be honest, much better than I remember. It's no harder than Smeagol's Mario Maker levels
Murder By Numbers is still getting rotation, the difficulty has massively spiked now, I'm close to the start of the final chapter.
2) Hyrule Warriors 2. 100+ hours in the Wii U and 3DS games. The BOTW backstory makes this even more interesting. Such a shrewd move on Nintendo's part in making BOTW into a trilogy. While I'm annoyed, to some extent, that this is an asset flip and a sequel to a game that no one really asked for, I'm super excited to play it and learn about what happened 100 years ago... Day one.
3) -1
4) I'm really keen to play both Galaxy games again, and I'd like to go back to Sunshine. I hope these games get a separate release and that they eventually port over Galaxy 2, but I'm not interested in this package as I've made clear countless times already
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40 minutes ago, ArtMediocre said:
So, just to make things clear for me, do you install the games you want through Game Pass, or is it a streaming service where the games are played online? Because if you install it locally, I think I'll get it right away.
I had a look through the list of games, and the library is crazy good!
Install locally
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Just now, drahkon said:
Ah, I see.
So standard stuff, really.
You were completely right until you used that first (
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34 minutes ago, drahkon said:
Hm? What did I do?
This:
On 11/04/2020 at 8:31 PM, drahkon said:Way more enjoyable than the likes of Super Metroid (one of the worst games in history...yes, I'm serious
).
A small subsection of N-Europe provocateurs:
Sane people:
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2 hours ago, will' said:
The issue with Apple is that the iPhone is, for many people, their one computing device, and they are tied into one app store and one store only. It’s not (yet) the case with consoles, as there are multiple physical shops you can buy from - though I don’t think it really makes much difference here.
Even if Apple loses and this suddenly opens up to anyone to make a store you still need to actually get it in front of people. On an iPhone you can make things available via the web but you still have the issue of making them discoverable. I imagine 90% of users are not going to bother with this, they are completely OK with the App Store. On a console how the hell are you going to distribute your new store in the first place? Even if you manage that nobody is going to put their content on it because why would you annoy the first parties? It’s just not going to happen.
As I said in the Fortnite thread, I don't buy this argument. It's their store, their rules. It's exactly the same as walking into Wall-Mart and setting up shop without paying commission. Apple have less the 25% of the Smartphone market. i.e not a monopoly. For people who care about these things, there's Android. The past 15 years saw people flock to Apple and Android because they built the best OS. They shouldn't be punished for that. Apple did this without some of the biggest apps who eventually buckled because their market share become bigger and signed the deal with Apple. This is the market working as intended. No one wants to leave money on the table.
You can still buy subs to Amazon Prime and Netflix and countless other apps through company websites and use the apps without giving Apple a penny. Using the app store has security benefits to the end user. Same with buying an e-shop voucher or game through Nintendo rather than a third party site.A smarter move would have been Epic removing ALL in-app payments on mobile and asking users to pay for v-bucks through the web, Epic Game Store or whatever. They could have even set up a website - v-bucks.com and got everyone to buy v-bucks there as opposed to through ANY store on mobile or console. The have the financial capital and incentive to do this, but this isn't about them making more money, it's all leveraging Fortnite to end Western tech hegemony.
If you are on iOS, you are available to a billion eyes. Now you can argue that discoverability could be better, but I believe that's a separate argument entirely. Apple's business model does not deserve to be destroyed because they did something well which people clearly like.
In regard to the console stores, you can bet your bottom dollar EA, Activision and Ubisoft would set up shop in an instant and make their console stores the only way to buy their games. This is much harder on the PC as their storefronts were garbage compared to Steam. They came crawling back in the end, but they definitely made a go of it. Setting up a simple webpage on a console is not going to be hard, and let's remember a lot of console gamers are kids. To them it won't make an iota of difference. The PC Master Race types are much less likely to be hooked in to setting up yet another storefront, as we've seen with some of the backlash directed at Origin and EGS on PC. Indie games would probably continue on the platform store though as they likely wouldn't have the financial clout to set up a store.
2 hours ago, will' said:I get why people think this but it’s really not an accurate depiction of what they’re taking issue with it.
I'm in agreement with D-Cubed here. Interested to hear how you think it's different.
2 hours ago, will' said:When the App Store started 30% was very fair, and it was a game changer. Now I’m not so sure. Back then people were selling premium games at $10 dollars and it was a one time distribution charge. On mobile the market has moved on and now the platform gets 30% of all your revenue for not really doing very much after the initial download. On console for a full game download I think it’s still fair. Of course the lower amounts would be better though.
Why has it changed? If it was fair then, why isn't it now. Just because the payment model in mobile games has changed, why should Apple be the ones who suffer? Microtransactions are clearly what the public wants (even if we don't). Full price and Fremium games are also stuffed to the brim with this now though, on all three platforms. Should the big 3 also change the 30% as a result?
As I stated in my second post, I think 30% is fair, but I'm open to hearing any argument for a lower number. I don't think that number necessarily has to change, I just don't see how anyone would really benefit from it changing outside of developers who already do very well out of 70% if they build a game people want to play.I suppose the main issue for me with the 30%, and something that I perhaps didn't think about before, was that it makes the platform holders less inclined to curate their content. For them it's better to have an open marketplace with no holds barred and claim a clean 30% on everything. That's why you have ludicrous stuff like 4,000 games being released on Steam in a calendar year and why the e-shop has got slowly worse over time. I would still maintain that the good games will always standout though, but Nintendo, MS and Sony (and Apple for that matter) could do more to highlight the best stuff.
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YES! YES!
YEEEEEEESSSSS!!!-
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Microsoft announce a great price for their console and people still prefer to talk about Sony.
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8 minutes ago, Julius said:
It's been mentioned a bit in the other threads, but as has been discussed before, one of the only ways Nintendo might be able to keep themselves noticeable and competitive this Christmas is to announce a price cut to the Switch. We're 3.5 years in and still haven't seen a permanent price cut!
Yes, there's the Lite, but with the Series S confirmed to be selling for £249.99 when it launches in November, do Nintendo need a price cut? And, more importantly...how low do you they should go if they do?
I think they may go for it. Remember, the Switch is the same price in the US. They will undoubtedly bundle in a game for Xmas or they will reduce the price by $50 or so. Same in the EU.
Regarding the U.K., I'd expect the same and a price cut of £50 to make it £229.
Honestly though, I don't think they really need to do this. They don't have any (announced) big hitters coming up for Xmas outside the ports, but I think they're not after the same market. Yes, some parents will opt for the Series S, but I still think the Switch will sell like hotcakes regardless of the price.My prediction is that the price doesn't move but we see a digital game or two bundled in.
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10 minutes ago, Dcubed said:
Epic/Tencent don't really have a leg to stand on here. They will get completely crushed by Apple, and rightly so.
They are effectively trying to set up a shop inside someone else's shop. The courts are already laughing at them and will continue to do so.
I have no doubt that Epic won't get anywhere with this stunt they're trying to pull. It would be basically the end of the console business model if it did happen.
I'm sure that's what Epic wants. They want to basically take over the three console platforms and set them up as Epic Games Stores (basically exactly what EA tried to pull with Origin on Wii U); but it won't happen. They have no legal leg to stand on with this case.
I agree. I think they'll fail massively, but I'm also worried at what the fallout of a heavy defeat could be. They've definitely got more up their sleeve.
Do we think 30% is fair? Would 25% be better? 15%?
I believe 30% allows the big 3 to price their consoles more competitively and gives them an incentive to do better in terms of how they distribute content. I think it also plays a role in how often we get access to deep sales as 30% of a tenner multiplied many times over is better than 30% of nothing. Overall, I think 30% is consumer friendly, while also being hugely beneficial in allowing the console maker to thrive and reinvest into giving us bigger and better games. I would also argue that 70% is fair to developers as they gain access to a wealth of customers - currently 200 million if they launch on Sony, MS and Nintendo. We've already seen that the EGS store doesn't pass the saving on to the consumer, so while the devs do get more money - more people are still buying the games on Steam (outside of exclusivity) as the service is MUCH better for the average consumer. Who would benefit the most from a 15% cut as opposed to a 30% one? My guess is it would neither be the consumer nor the platform holder. Make a good game and it will make millions, regardless of the cut you get. -
So as we all know, Epic Games is currently suing Apple for "Maintaining a monopoly" on its App Store and Apple products. They believe that the 30% cut platform providers is unfair and argue that they as developers should be able to distribute their own games on smartphones without paying the platform holder a cut of the money for this privilege. A privilege which essentially boils down to access to more than a billion customers.
However, that's not what I'm getting at here, though I encourage anyone who isn't aware of this situation to read up on it as it could affect all digital marketplaces in the future.
I want us to imagine a situation where Epic Games wins this lawsuit - and going forward, platform providers cannot maintain a monopoly over distribution on their products.
Given the recent news that Xbox Series S is launching at £249, it's clear to me that MS is taking a MASSIVE loss on this console in the hope that they can recoup the costs via GamePass subscriptions and, more importantly, digital game sales. The industry standard, outside the EGS, is a 30% cut to the platform provider. This includes, but is not limited to, the following five companies:
Apple (US)
Google (US)
Sony (Japan)
Nintendo (Japan)
Microsoft Xbox division (US)As we know, the final three companies make the majority of their profit from digital sales and subscription passes on their platforms (consoles). The reason these consoles are sold either at a loss, or a very, very thin margin of profit in Nintendo's case, is because they know they will make the rest of that money back in the future. Essentially, they are betting on getting enough people into the ecosystem to make this economic model sustainable. Remember the $599 PS3? That was still sold at a huge loss and people completely baulked. Times have changed, and barring a catastrophe from Sony, it's unlikely they'll go that high again. They can afford to go lower because the future returns are basically guaranteed.
[Enter stage left] Epic Games / Tencent. If they win the lawsuit against Apple, Sony, Nintendo and MS wouldn't have a leg to stand on having their various stores as the only point of access to the end-user of a console.
Think about this - Who has the most to gain from this 30% cut legally being ruled unfair? Who has basically unlimited backing and can afford to run at a loss because they are propped up by a communist state? Which nation is trying to gain a dominant position in the global tech market despite leaking foreign tech companies left, right and centre thanks to COVID, sanctions and tariffs?
Maybe, I'm crazy, but I think Tencent are playing somewhat of a long game here and basically trying to destroy Western tech from the inside out. Their Fortnite propaganda video was a rallying cry to their teenage followers to boycott the "unfair" Apple. Who's to say this will stop there? I think the big 3 console manufacturers are next in their sights, and with it, the dominance of the US and Japan in the global gaming market.
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Seriously tempted by the Series S as a GamePass machine for the bedroom. I cannot believe that price.
Ball's in your court, Sony.
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9 hours ago, will' said:
I almost entirely agreed with @Nicktendo on the Switch Pro stuff aside from the screen res, I just can’t see how they could keep the 720p screen and call it Pro. I think it will be 1080 on device and then the tech stuff to boost it on screen - actually sounds awesome, hope Nintendo are listening to your wise words.
My other thought was that the closing music sounded like the lighthouse family.
I just don't see much benefit going for a higher res on a 6-inch screen. I feel like at the price it could cost, there wouldn't be that much of a benefit for the handheld gamer. But who knows, maybe the difference in production costs is not all that different and with the longer life battery now in the new Switch, they'd still be able to get it to run for a decent amount of time.
I never made that connection before but it does sound a little like Ocean Drive. They're from the same era as Streets of Rage so it makes sense I guess
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I finished Super Mario Bros. (Allstars edition) at 4am last night because I couldn't sleep.
I warped to World 4 from 1-2 and it took me about 40 mins in total. I spammed the hell out of the rewind feature and feel extremely dirty for doing so, but I'll be damned if I'm going to be punished by the Joy-Cons being garbage.
I really adore this remake. The visuals and the remastered music make this game instantly more appealing to me. I love the variety in the backgrounds, especially in 8-3 as you approach Bowser's Castle. The portraits of him hanging in the background of the castle are excellent. As are the Toad animations at the end of each world. I also want to give some love to the BONUS room music. I had completely forgotten that tune to the annals of time, but it took my right back to 1995 the moment it came on. I've dabbled in all four games and I'm up to world 7 in SMB2, I've never finished that one, so will probably do it later this evening.The nostalgia has been extremely strong with this game, more so than any other SNES game I've played so far. I played this game to death back in the day and I got a super strong urge to make a hot chocolate and stick the Super Mario Bros. Super Show on YouTube to fully replicate the wonderful nostalgic feeling. I'll sit down with Captain Lou at some point later this week.
I've played handheld exclusively so far and I'll definitely go back and finish SMB again with the Pokken controller and no rewinds, I need to do the game justice. Overall though, I'm extremely please Nintendo released this game. They really didn't have to with the originals all being available in the NES app, so thanks for that, big N, it really made my weekend.
Just pure unbridled joy playing each of these games.
Edit: Super Mario Bros 2 also finished. Think this is my favourite NES Mario game. Might have to go through 3 again to make sure but I LOVED this game. Finally figured out how to kill Wart. Only took me 25 years. Sorry @markderoos
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Next year will hopefully be better. And the fight for 3rd will be more interesting from now on. Shame the top two are already basically decided.
So happy for Pierre, he was dealt such a shit hand by Red Bull but he’s a cracking driver. His GP2 title season was one of the best I’ve seen, amazing fight with Giovinazzi. I hope when he moves on from Alpha Tauri it’s not to Red Bull, they are locked in with Verstappen for years and that second seat is going to be poison for anyone.
He did so well under immense pressure today. One more lap and he may have lost it. Great restart, in that position on merit thanks to his early stop. No overtaking in the top 5 but it was so tense watching Sainz creep every closer. This is when F1 is at its best. I don’t need loads of overtakes to make a race interesting, but the top three were clearly pushing as hard as they could and it was fantastic to watch the gap get smaller and smaller. Top stuff. Fantastic race and I can’t wait for a new circuit next week.
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What an amazing race!
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4 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said:
Speaking of Chelsea and their spending, don't forget to all get your teams ready for the N-Europe Fantasy Football League!
Has a league been set up to join yet?
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6 minutes ago, Glen-i said:
I definitely want to play this, assuming it's a good remaster. PS4 only, right?
Anyway, main reason I came here is because some nutter with too much time on their hands has made a Tony Hawk Timeline, so you can keep track of that deep THPS lore!
Eric Sparrow is still one of the greatest video game villains.
This is amazing
Truth about Sparrow. I hated that guy so much in THUG.
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16 minutes ago, drahkon said:
I really hope they launch a new Switch version next year with it a nice line up of new games (that are compatible with the current Switch model).
That's my hope too. I think there's absolute merit to what @Dcubed has said about Bandai Namco, and that undoubtedly has had an effect, but as usual there is absolutely zero communication to the end user. It's always hush-hush with Nintendo. Usually that'd be fine, but in this situation (with nothing on the horizon), it's starting to wear thin.
This is made worse by the fact that their stock price and sales keep going up despite them doing bugger all. Where's the incentive to change? Maybe I'm in a minority of people, and I know there are millions of happy Switch owners out there who are either first timers or coming back from the Wii, but as I've said before, it's all be done at the expense of the fans who stuck with them during the Wii U. Of course most of the buzz about the Switch is positive, but the lonely 13 or so million of us who have seen all this shit before are drowned out by the hype and positivity and rightly baulk at the thought of giving Nintendo yet more money for old rope. I'm not buying Mario 64 for the fifth time. Even if Sunshine is there to "sweeten the £50 deal".
If COVID is at all to blame, I still believe Nintendo should take the brunt of the responsibility. Yes, they're secretive. But they're also extremely archaic in how they operate and have proven time and time again that they struggle to keep up with the way technology and the world is changing. Sony and MS are both releasing a new console this year, and while there have undoubtedly been hiccups along the way, they've still delivered a deluge of news and hype (depending on your next-gen leaning) and kept the content flowing for their current systems.
Looking at this year's release schedule makes me nauseous. Is that really the best they can do at they peak of Switch's lifespan? Are 6 ports in one calendar year really acceptable given the lack of original content? This is when I would've expected the Switch to hit its stride, instead Nintendo have let it chug along with a whimper going for the easy money every step of the way. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, and I'm delighted that millions of people will get to play some truly exceptional games from their catalogue, but for me, it's come at a high price without anything really new or exciting to play.
Who's to say if Nintendo's next big move is a Wii U type one (these things often come in cycles) that the ones who stuck with them from 2012-17 will still be there to do it all over again?-
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Honestly, take the fourth year of any console of the past 6 generations (bar Sega’s last two efforts) and it really highlights what a shocking year it’s been for Nintendo.
I’m almost certain a new Switch is coming next year because there is no way they planned for this embarrassment out of anything other than necessity. Covid isn’t an excuse.
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General Switch Discussion
in Nintendo Gaming
Posted
I put 30 or so hours into it before putting it down and getting lost when I came back to it.
It's a solid RPG, with great mechanics, amazing graphics and a superb soundtrack.
The issue for me was the story and the pacing. I don't like how it's broken up into 8 sub-stories. I found myself enjoying some quite a bit and being bored by others. It makes it worse if you cannot invest a lot of time in it over a short period.
However, it's a lovely tribute to 16-bit RPGs and definitely worth playing if you have the time to put into it.