Dcubed

Pre-orders won't sell out they say?

Yeah I just caught that, lovely surprise! I switched it on and thought... wait a fucking moment! THAT'S ROBO'S THEME THEY'RE PLAYING!!!!! That being said? Very strange that Nintendo are a complete no-show here for the opening ceremony... Considering how much they pushed to associate themselves with the Tokyo Olympics when it was first announced (I mean, they got President Abe to come out of a fucking Warp Pipe in a Mario costume FFS!), and with how much they've pushed to get Super Nintendo World open alongside the Tokyo Olympics? Their silence here is absolutely deafening! I wonder if Nintendo pulled out from the games completely after the controversy started regarding them opening the games up in the face of a worsening situation regarding COVID in Japan?

Hey, you know what game is awesome? Dicey Dungeons! Guess what I just completed and wrote a review for? You'll never guess what score I gave this game... Go on! Click the pic and enjoy! Also, I happened to finish another game... Ace Attorney: Justice For All is the second game in the Ace Attorney series. It's a fairly typical Capcom "more of the same" sequel, you know, like the endless barrage of very similar Mega Man sequels or PS1 era Resident Evil titles. However, while that kind of sequel can start to burn you out very quickly, oddly enough, the same isn't really true of the Ace Attorney series. And I think that comes down to the fact that within the Ace Attorney series, like I previously mentioned, the story IS the gameplay; as the way in which you prove whodunnit is wildly different in each game & case. As such, each game feels distinct & fresh, despite all making use of very similar mechanics & assets. So how is Justice for All different from the first game? Well, the first and most major addition is the introduction of Psyche Locks; a much needed expansion of the fairly rudimentary Investigation portions of the original game, where you are tasked with pressing people to reluctantly open up about events related to the case by presenting the right facts & evidence at the right time. It's a brilliant mechanic that would go on to become one of the key defining features of the series going forward, and rightly so. I'm sure she's legit... The Psyche Locks are a natural extension of the supernatural elements seen in the first game, and naturally, so too does the story delve deeper into the nature of the psychic powers held by the Fey Clan. As such, the story might disappoint some who preferred the more grounded aspects of the original game; but personally I don't mind that. So long as a story doesn't pull its punches and fully commits to its supernatural elements, I'm cool with it. What I do mind however is the wonky logic presented throughout the game. The Ace Attorney series is kind of unfairly maligned for having somewhat questionable logic with its use of evidence; where you know the answer, but can't present that evidence at that time, or where the story goes off the rails and is either full of holes, or doesn't make sense logically with what you have in your court record... However, that criticism is definitely applicable with Justice for All; especially in Case 3, which feels like it really needed an extra editing pass at the very least. There are plenty of times where you're given a clue that doesn't really lead anywhere, or at least doesn't lead anywhere where you can actually go to at the time; and the courtroom scenes can be frustrating when you're working with some very flimsy logic that doesn't feel intuitive. It's Justice for All that gives the series that reputation in particular and it's unfair to the rest of the games in the series, which handle things much better in that regard; here though? It can feel a bit rough. Everything about this scene is incredibly stupid That being said though? Case 2 & 4 are pretty great fun! Case 4's scenario in particular... ... is fantastic! Also, I actually forgot that there was some more clever use of legalese in this game... Also another clever bit of foreshadowing that I totally forgot about... There are some fantastic moments throughout Case 4 in particular; and it's mostly very well done all throughout. It's a shame then, that those rough moments throughout the game and the occasional bit of wonky logic (of which, Case 3 is especially guilty of), end up spoiling some of that enjoyment. Overall though? It's an important step forward for the series. It's probably the weakest game in the entire series, but it gave us the series defining Psyche Lock mechanic, and Case 4 is a genuine corker. So it's hard to be too mad at it. Also it gave us Pearl, and what kind of heartless monster DOESN'T love Pearl!? And with that?

It's on PC as well (Came out on PC first; came to Switch afterwards). Is also coming to mobile eventually.

Oh! Knew I forgot something! Cheers for the shameless plug @Vileplume2000 But yeah, it's amazing. It's a Switch console exclusive and it's one of the absolute best games on the system. And it's 50% off!? Go buy the crap out of it RIGHT NOW!!

Wrong Jelly Boy Nintendo!

So now that I’ve finished Dicey Dungeons, I’ve started SSHD and have just finished Skyview Temple… So far? I’m very happy with the port! The motion controls are exactly the same as the original Wii version; they haven’t unnecessarily mucked around with them in any way, which is great! Only issue is that you need to recalibrate more often in this version than in the original, but without a sensor bar in place? That was inevitable. 60FPS is very weird to see in a 3D Zelda game, but it feels fantastic! And there’s no weird animation/physics bugs or any wonkiness that I’ve noticed (which is a common occurrence when increasing the frame rate of a game that was originally designed for 30FPS). Tantalus have done a great job in that regard! The reduction in flow-stopping interruptions from Fi is appreciated… but it does also make the adventure also feel a bit lonely in some places. One little oddity though is with the fast text option… There are certain cutscenes where it just flat out doesn’t work, and it can feel a bit arbitrary where and when it actually allows you to speed up text. I’m guessing that this was blocked selectively in order to prevent cutscene animation/timing bugs? The right stick camera is also implemented well; and doesn’t seem to cause any glitches with the original auto-camera either. So far? Very well done! Another little bonus is the loading times, which are much faster than the original version. Much appreciated The 5.1 surround mix is also very good; and one of the best on the Switch! My surround setup is very pleased! (Especially after the disaster that was Xenoblade DE’s 2.0 stereo-only mix!!). Overall? I’m very pleased with the port so far! It’s basically exactly what I wanted Only real wish that I have is that I wish that they made the watercolour stippling effect stronger, and my only real complaint is that they didn’t update the Wing Ceremony text to reference the Zelda 35th Anniversary (it still references the 25th). Come on! How did you miss that trick!?

The battery is propiatary; it's not an off the shelf part. No other device uses it. AFAIK, the Switch will not run without a battery; even when plugged in. So if your battery completely dies, or explodes or whatever, the rest of your Switch is also dead.

Mean Bean Machine is a cracking puzzle game, even though it's far from the best version of Puyo Puyo available today. I played it for the first time when I got Sonic Mega Collection on the Gamecube. I wasn't expecting all that much from it, but was blown away by its addictive multiplayer gameplay and fell in love with it! Ended up being probably my most played game in that collection outside of S3&K! Nowerdays, I'd turn to other, more fleshed out takes on the Puyo Puyo series, as the first game is a bit basic. But I can't deny that I have a real soft spot for MBM, including its surprisingly good soundtrack! Was thrilled to bits to see it appear in Sonic Mania!

Nope, they never did. Real scumbucket move, but I'm guessing that they just didn't want to pay for the QA involved with testing the other EU versions for the Wii U VC release.

Every language version should be accessible from any EU eShop. Might have to search for it though.

Words of Wisdom from Iwata; circa March 2006...

In more FucKonami news, PES is now dead. Long live eFootball! https://www.ign.com/articles/efootball-pes-2022-free-to-play-renamed-release-date Free 2 Play GAAS platform, no more retail releases, game is built for mobile first & consoles second with cross platform play between everyone, 9 teams at launch, single player modes bought at a premium, control scheme now copies FIFA. Fuck you PES fans!

Yup. Most NES, SNES and Gameboy games never got FIGS localisations at all; it was usually English or Japanese only. And in the rare case that a Gameboy game did get a FIGS localisation? (Basically Pokémon and Zelda only) they always got separate cartridge releases because of storage space limitations. N64 was the first Nintendo console where EFIGS became the standard; and games came with all languages included on the one cartridge. GBA mostly followed suit with a few notable exceptions (Golden Sun/Golden Sun TLA being the two big ones - This actually caused a bit of a stink back on Wii U as NOE only released the English version on the Wii U VC; leaving non-English speakers SOL).

So... More stuff has just come out from that old Gigaleak... https://www.resetera.com/threads/update-super-mario-64-and-oot-source-leaked-massive-nintendo-data-leak-source-code-to-yoshis-island-a-link-to-the-past-f-zero-and-more.254724/page-77 A few tidbits... Prototype Wii Remote designs! Hilarious proposed names for the Nintendo Revolution, before it became Wii! Pretty wild that Captain Rainbow used to be a GCN game! (Also, confirmation that everything we heard about Retro Studios prototyping an action game starring Sheik was absolutely true!). Oh and yes, it seems that one of the versions of the previously cancelled Metroid Dread was for Wii! (Perhaps that ended up becoming Other M instead?)

I didn’t even know there was an official Android port of Sonic Advance! And it even takes advantage of the higher resolution to increase the field of view!? Shame it still uses touch controls though…

Big words, but similar words were said when DQ9 was supposed to be a multiplayer Action RPG too…

I haven’t posted it because I’m too busy playing the game where that music comes from lol! And yes, the whole soundtrack is HOT FIRE!

Oh snap! Not Sumo… Honestly? I’m shocked that Microsoft didn’t buy them out first! I would’ve thought they’d be a prime target! There goes the last major independent UK developer…

I can’t agree with your sentiment regarding L&R compared to the original. Basically every change made to the game from the N64 original was for the worse, and I would even argue that the new visuals are worse than the original’s too; as the more realistic visuals lose the whole “fairy tale cartoon world gone wrong” appeal of the original game. L&R isn’t a terrible version of BFD, but it is the inferior version in almost every respect. That being said though? I agree with you 100% regarding Grabbed by the Ghoulies. Right little gem of a game that sadly came out on the wrong console at the wrong time. It deserves much more love than it gets!

Not often that Nintendo actually respond to rumours and speculation; so you know that they really wanted to nip that report in the bud!

Sounds like it’s gonna be more of a business management technique book than a biography; but hopefully there will be some fun anecdotes in there too

I think it definitely sets the floor for what we can expect from Switch 2 in 2023. Nintendo could certainly do even better than this if they wanted to, even at the $299.99 price point; but they have to want it… and that’s a big ? coming from the Big N… DLSS is undoubtedly going to be the Switch 2’s secret sauce, it’s what will allow it to punch above its weight and compete with PS5/Series X|S; and it’s something that the Steam Deck, or any other console, can’t offer. The Switch 2’s ARM CPU will also offer a huge advantage in performance per-watt over X64 Zen 2; while it’ll also have the advantage of native console development and APIs (as opposed to running on Windows, or even worse, Steam OS/Linux with its Proton/Wine compatibility layer reducing performance even more so). On top of that, Steam Deck is limited to UHS1 MicroSD cards (same as the current Switch), while Switch 2 could easily spring for UHS3 or even SDUC support to nicely bridge the gap in loading times between itself and the PS5/Xbox Series. Oh, and speaking of storage… Steam Deck is limited to having full fat PC games with heavily bloated file sizes… those SD cards aren’t going to go nearly as far as they do on Switch, let alone Switch 2! The only real unassailable advantage that the Steam Deck will have over the Switch 2 in terms of hardware is the fact that it’s so stonkingly HUGE! There is no way that Nintendo will accept making the Switch 2 as big & heavy as this monstrosity; which in turn will limit what hardware they can shove into the Switch 2. Nintendo can definitely outdo what Valve is offering here, even if they end up being conservative with the hardware they launch in 2023, and even at the $299.99 price point… But Nintendo is known for making incredibly stupid & boneheaded decisions when they’re coming off of a successful console generation; so they could just as easily shit the bed completely knowing them However, the Steam Deck will be able to play games that will absolutely never come to a Nintendo console for political reasons (no matter how powerful Nintendo make their next console, or how successful it ends up being, it’ll never get proper western 3rd party support, or proper support from developers like Namco, Falcom and Atlus); plus it can also be used as a desktop PC. So regardless of where Nintendo do decide to aim for with Switch 2, the Steam Deck fills a unique niche.

But why? They're no doubt looking at the Switch and thinking they can do better to produce what is more or less a Switch Pro but for PC games. Because that’s a wildly unrealistic expectation. This is not a mass market device, and Valve aren’t going to be expecting console level sales for this thing. They are most likely forecasting something more like 3-5 million at best (something similar to their VR hardware); which is still a great result for them!

I expect they'll want it to sell pretty well, otherwise there's not much point of them making it. It's clear that they were going for a form similar to a Switch so comparisons with it are fair. There's a very big range between 100 million seller and 5-10 million seller... Valve would likely be over the moon if they got 5+ million sales with this thing!