Dcubed

For what it’s worth, Panic Button were involved in this port... and while it’s clearly not up to their usual standards, I’d expect them to improve it over time like with their other ports. That being said? This is an EA game... on a Nintendo console... Don’t expect EA to give much of a shit.

I can’t see that happening with a Japanese publisher/developer though. There are huge governmental, structural & legal barriers in place that are specifically designed to block foreign companies from buying Japanese ones (The idea of Keiretsu in particular is a big blocking factor). It’s not absolutely 100% impossible to overcome, but it’s very unlikely to happen.

Another point to consider with Xbox’s Japanese support is the domestic market factor... long a point of contention with Japanese developers that is very quickly becoming much less of an issue and blocking factor. Playstation has very quickly slipped into near total irrelevancy in the domestic Japanese market; to the point where Playstation has basically cut off almost its entire internal Japanese 1st party development studios (only two studios remain now, compared to Microsoft’s one), and where PS5 software sales are so weak that they can’t even crack the Top 30 on release date. Playstation might as well be Xbox right now when it comes to the domestic market; and amongst those who continue to stubbornly refuse to support Nintendo (be it due to personal grudges, loyalty to Sony or what have you), your only realistic option is to focus on the international market; where it really doesn’t make much sense to make your game Playstation exclusive unless Sony are directly moneyhatting you. All of these factors play into Xbox’s increased share of third party Japanese games and this is only going to increase going forward. It ain’t 2013 anymore, that’s for sure!

No. They’re not at the same level as they were with the Xbox 360’s Japanese support... yet. They’re already leaps & bounds ahead of where they were throughout the majority of the Xbone’s early to mid lifespan though. The point isn’t that they’re suddenly better than Sony with their Japanese support; the point is that they’ve made huge strides forward in the past couple of years and that things are looking good for their future Japanese dev support. They are actually getting most of the major AAA Japanese games released on their consoles now, and usually on the same day as Playstation (barring Altus’ and some of Atlus’ and some of S-E’s games that Sony have specifically bought exclusivity for); though they still need to improve with the more niche games like Guilty Gear Strive, Neo The World Ends With You etc. They’re even starting to get some pretty nice exclusives, be they timed or permanent. Credit where credit is due I say.

All those games I mentioned (aside from DQ11s) are exclusive to Xbox (or in the case of Yakuza LAD; hit the XBox first). And they're now getting most of the big heavy hitting Japanese games at the same time as PS4/5 (not quite everything yet, but it's a big step forward regardless). You definitely wouldn't have seen that even just a couple of years ago; let alone back at the start of the previous generation.

The thing you have to remember is that they're dealing with a pre-existing publisher that already had godknows how many backroom deals and contracts with all of the various console manufacturers, game retailers etc, that they not only still have to honour; but they also need to abide by the NDAs attached to these contracts (and this very likely also includes upcoming games that Bethesda haven't announced yet too). If they could freely talk about exactly how their exclusivity is going to work? They probably would. But they have all of those pre-existing behind the scenes NDAs that will prevent them from discussing things in detail and prevent them from being as transparant as they might otherwise be. As for the bit about "this is about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists"? It's no big secret that Microsoft want both Nintendo and Playstation to allow Xbox Game Pass on their respective platforms; and they have very clearly been in talks with both console manufacturers about having this happen. The notion here is clear. If Nintendo & Sony want to have Bethesda games on their platforms in the future? They need to acquiesce and allow Microsoft to put Xbox Game Pass on their consoles.

They’re making some pretty good strides with securing new titles in the past couple of years. They got PSO2 localised and released exclusively for Xbox in the west, they got timed exclusivity on Yakuza LAD and they got Dragon Quest 11s on Gamepass on day 1 of its PS4 & Xbone launch. They also got Tetris Effect Connected as an exclusive launch title for Series X as well (Granted, not a 100% new game; but the multiplayer component is indeed new). , and they now have Tango Gameworks under their belt as well. There’s a definite sea change on the Japanese support front in general these past few years; and things are definitely looking good going forward

This is pretty clear... They will honour existing contracts and will keep existing games supported where they are available on other consoles. Otherwise? It's exclusive to Xbox. There's no real ambiguity here. They're not gonna sabotage upcoming games like Deathloop & Ghostwire Tokyo, which Sony bought timed exclusivity for, and they're going to continue supporting them post-launch. They're also going to honour existing contracts for things like PSNow (which is why Doom 2016 is currently not on Game Pass, despite all the other Doom games being on Gamepass starting from tomorrow; because Sony have the exclusive streaming/subscription rights to it for now). And they're not gonna block existing Bethesda games from working on PS5 via BC. But future titles will be exclusive to Xbox and any machine that runs Xbox Game Pass (A not so subtle strongarming of Microsoft & Nintendo to allow Game Pass on their platforms if they want these games...).

That's the hip thing these days. Basically all AAA western games do this now and it's terrible. Destiny did it, therefore everyone must do it.

From the Bethesda Roundtable today; commemorating the formal absorption of Bethesda into Xbox Game Studios... https://streamable.com/y2yf4j Hopefully this'll finally bring about acceptance of reality into those still clinging onto hope that future Bethesda games will keep coming to Playstation. Past games will be supported and contracts will be honoured; but past that? You better pony up for an Xbox Game Pass sub and/or an Xbox console.

Bethesda hitting hard on Xbox Game Pass right out of the gate it seems! https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/03/11/20-bethesda-games-now-on-xbox-game-pass/ Not a bad way to kick things off

Well that looks bloody good doesn't it? Fuck me! PROPER 80's Turtles and all! None of that modern shit! About Goddamn time! Gimme!

It’s a better Zelda game than BOTW

Funnily enough, Viva Piñata actually started development in 2001-2002, before the Microsoft buyout! (Was originally being designed for Pocket PC with touch screen controls, before eventually moving to Xbox, then finally Xbox 360; and then eventually coming full circle on the DS with Pocket Paradise). It was the last Rare game to be released that went through the Nintendo-Microsoft transition period. Viva Piñata is a decent little game; though personally I think that Grabbed by the Ghoulies is their best post-Nintendo game. I only played it for the first time recently and ended up absolutely loving it! Very, very underrated and misunderstood game. It's Mr Pants and Sabrewulf GBA are also pretty great. Definitely the best handheld games that Rare ever made; too bad that almost nobody has actually played them. Real hidden gems for the GBA they are. But yeah, I agree that Redshell would like Viva Piñata. I reckon he'd probably enjoy GBTG even more though

Rare are definitely on the up & up ever since the big rebrand back in 2015. They are a completely different company than what they were back in their glory days though... ... that's not necessarily a bad thing mind you. But the Rare of today basically shares no relation to the Rare we used to know and love. 90s Rare could never make something like Everwild for instance (which is such a nebulous concept that even its designers have no idea what it is ); while today's Rare could never make Perfect Dark (as evidenced by the fact that someone else is making the new Perfect Dark!) That's fine though. I'm ok with that. I'd much rather see Rare try to forge a new path forward than try and recapture their former glory days. 90s Rare is never coming back and I came to accept that a long time ago. I'm just glad to see something good finally start to rise from its ashes, be it Playtonic, be it modern day Rare or be it the myriad of Rare IPs being licensed out to other developers now . There's some good stuff on the horizon now; and after so many years of failed attempts to recapture old glory and watching Rare being trapped in the Kinect Dungeon? I'm really glad to see that

Both the DS and 3DS were on the market for 6 years & a couple of months before being replaced by their respective successors. Switch 2 launching in March 2023 would be right on schedule if we're looking at Nintendo's handheld history (the Gameboy is an outlier, and that only happened because Nintendo's first attempt at Project Atlantis was a tremendous failure).

The thing is though, if we were to get a Switch Pro? It really should've already have happened by now. At this point in their respective lifecycles, the PS4 Pro had already been out on store shelves for over a year and the Xbox One X had been out for a good few months as well (We were also starting to get the first bits of information surrounding PS5 & Series X dev kits as well), while the Nintendo DSi was already out in Japan (with the DS Lite already being out for almost 3 years!), and the New3DS having been out for almost a whole year. Quite frankly, it feels far too late for us to be getting a Switch Pro now. We're so late into the Switch's lifecycle that it doesn't make much sense anymore; unless Nintendo really are insane enough to go for a 7-8 year lifecycle, which would be basically business suicide when the industry is already moving onto the next generation of Playstation & Xbox consoles, let alone in 4 years time! 2023 is not an early release; hell, by Nintendo standards it's actually late! Even the mighty DS was replaced after 6 years on the market (and that's with FOUR redesigns & one major hardware revision under its belt!). I can't see it making any sense whatsoever to wait any longer than March 2023; and I can't see any logic behind not saving BOTW2 to launch alongside Switch 2.

To be honest? I'd put 90s Rare over just about anyone; perhaps even Nintendo EAD themselves. They were just absolutely untouchable. 90s Rare is the best developer this industry has ever seen, and probably will ever see. Their falling apart is the biggest tragedy this industry ever saw.

It's bonkers to think that it came out so early in the GCN's life as well! It's absolutely best in class on BOTH consoles it was built for! Oldschool Rare's engineers really were second to none.

No Nintendo console outside of the Famicom has lasted more than 6 years (and even with the Famicom, that was supposed to be replaced in 1988-1989; the SNES was announced more than two years before its release, but production issues kept pushing it back). Even the DS, literally the most successful video game machine of all time only lasted a "mere" 6 years & 2.5 months before it was succeeded by the 3DS. As for the Gameboy? It was supposed to be replaced in 1996, by Project Atlantis (which eventually became the GBA); but, again, production issues & technological limitations of its time prevented it from becoming a reality... and thus, the stopgap Gameboy Color was born in its place. The Gameboy was never supposed to last as long as it did; the only reason it did was because of Pokemon giving it a second life, and because Nintendo's engineers failed to make Project Atlantis a reality (until they finally succeeded with the GBA in 2001). Gameboy was only supposed to last for 6-7 years, not 12! 6 years is already an abnormally long lifecycle for a Nintendo console. 8 years is just comically absurd (hell, we'll probably have PS5 Pro out by then! We might even be hearing our first rumblings of PS6 by then even!). Switch would be dead and buried at retail LONG before its successor would be able to hit store shelves in 2025; that's absolute business suicide! If Switch keeps on selling like this? AYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! You'd make a great spokesperson! Have you given SEGA a call? I hear that they have a console that they need to have dumpstered by every third party and video game retailer out there by publically announcing that your current hot selling console has no future! Of course they're gonna be saying that. They'll keep saying that we're at the midpoint until they publically announce Switch 2; that's literally console marketing 101!

Oh what? You mean the Fourth Best Selling Zelda Game of All Time?

You're taking that statement way too literally. Switch 2 ain't coming out in 2025; that would be an insane 8 year lifecycle! The longest in all of video game console history (longer than any Playstation or Xbox console even!). Nobody who actually wants their current console to keep selling is going to publically say that we're coming to the end of its lifecycle (that's the Bernie Stolar tactic, Mr "The Saturn is not our Future" himself; which did wonders for outright killing the SEGA Saturn literally overnight). Switch 2 coming out in March 2023 (6 years) would already be the longest lifecycle that any Nintendo console has had outside of the original Famicom (7 years); which itself was artificially extended by the Famicom Disk System and the fact that it had basically zero competition until the PC Engine & Mega Drive came along. Waiting any longer than that would be outright suicide; as the console would die off LONG before its successor can arrive. You don't seem to quite understand just how old the Switch is now... By this point in its lifecycle (4 years & 5 days), the Wii U had already been replaced (and its entire library of titles had already been released), the N64 had already been dumpstered with the Gamecube and its launch lineup already having been announced and publically demoed at E3 (with release dates already announced too), the GBA had already been succeeded by the DS for over a year, the DS had already had TWO redesigns on store shelves (and rumblings regarding the original Nvidia version of the 3DS had already begun) and the SNES' successor "Project Reality" had already been announced! Switch 2 coming out in 2023 is the logical point in time for it to happen (given that this is when the crossgen period will end on other consoles, and where Switch's 3rd party support will completely vanish). If anything? A successor would be overdue by that point! To be fair, Nintendo have only ever done this twice (Twilight Princess & BOTW), but I fully expect them to do this again. I don't see a point in wasting BOTW 2 on the current Switch, a console that is basically selling by itself; when Switch 2 needs to absolutely explode out of the gate for Nintendo to continue as a going concern (need I remind you all that Nintendo has no second pillar to fall back on anymore! They cannot afford for Switch 2 to fail, because they have no Gameboy or DS to pick them up if it fails this time around! If Switch 2 is a failure, then Nintendo is DONE). It just makes far more sense to save BOTW2 for Switch 2's launch and guarantee that Switch 2 is a success, than to waste BOTW2 on the current Switch and then have nothing to sell Switch 2 with. Same goes for Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 BTW.

March 2023. Switch 2 launch title (crossgen with Switch 1). Book it.

That is a VERY good thing as far as I'm concerned! Much better for game balance!

New trailers (yes, plural!) and details!! New MHR trailer/deets start from 37:15 onwards Quick breakdown... New monsters shown & more old favourites returning. Hunter Hub is BACK!!! (Gone is the MHW online system, in favour of the classic Hunter Hub) New Hoard battle mode (The Rampage) where you have to defend a village from an onslaught of monsters Seperate Offline & Online quests are back again (ALA classic Monster Hunter) Five main areas to explore (all of which are brand new - AKA, the standard for a new generation of Monster Hunter game) DLC hunter fashion sets Post release monsters are getting added in over time after launch for free! (First one is Chameleos coming in April) New MHR demo out on March 11th