Dcubed

Doom 64 was the victim of some unfortunate launch timing. Coming after Turok and Quake? It comes across as outdated and behind the times, but it actually ends up aging rather more gracefully than most of its polygon peers on the console. The name is also very unfortunate, as it gives off the impression that it's just yet another port of the original game; when it's actually a completely original Doom title, and really should've been called Doom 3. The shift to a more horror-based oppresive atmosphere, over its metal-inspired predecessors, is also something that would later be co-opted by the actual Doom 3 (which ironically is less of a proper Doom game than Doom 64). While it doesn't re-invent the formula to any major extent (the core gameplay is essentially more of the same) the switch to a true 3D polygon engine now allowed the game and level designers to add proper scripting to each stage, with events now able to be triggered that dramatically alter level layouts in a way that couldn't be done with the original raycasted 2D sprite engine. There's also a few new weapons and enemies not seen in any other Doom game, you can now do things like shoot through grates in walls, shoot switches from a distance, and there are also booby traps like spikes and dart blocks (how very Tomb Raider!). It's a look at what a more conservative jump to 3D would've looked like for the FPS genre (and ironically, its style is now back in fashion as the modern "Boomer Shooter"). If there's any real major flaw with the original game? It's that it's just too bloody dark to see properly! This is something thankfully corrected in the modern Nightdive remaster, but if you've ever played this game on original hardware? It's virtually impossible to play on anything but a CRT (or a high quality modern display with the brightness cranked up to max). This video below was captured on real N64 hardware to give you an idea of how difficult the original version would be to look at properly... Doom 64 is a game that went largely unappreciated in its own time, but has since gained a bit of a cult following; and deservedly so. It's a good quality Doom game that does things a bit differently, without straying far from its series roots. A look at the road not travelled within the genre that ends up being rather unique within the N64 library.

TPC have responded! https://corporate.pokemon.co.jp/media/news/detail/335.html Looks like they're gonna go for it, but it's gonna take some time for them to dig into Palworld's files and make their case.

Looks like Nintendo are cranking out everything they can before the end of the financial year. I suspect that this will be amongst the last original first party Switch games/DLC we will see for the current Switch console outside of remasters/ports/remakes; with full steam ahead for Switch 2 come April.

It's an EA game, nuff said. They don't deserve any further commentary from me.

Oh nice! So this is taking the place of the Nintendo Live Tokyo event that was cancelled then. Will look forward to it

Looks like there's still a few surprise Spirits yet to come!

Death Day for Wii U and 3DS online play is April 8th... ... we should get a few N-E 3DS online nights in before it's all over!

Oh yeah, you're right. Forgot about that. Still, at least some effort was made this time around

Doesn't matter. The original version is already out there and TPC already have the files to comb through. The game would've already been sold with copyright infringing assets. If they find that the model data matches, Pocket Pair are fucked, and will only be extra fucked if they attempt to remove the models now; because then it becomes obvious that they removed it because they knew they'd get caught. We already have the legal precedent for this, and it's what won Nintendo the Unfair Competition claim in the Nintendo VS Enterbrain case.

Doing so would be tantamount to admittence, and the courts would look unfavourably on it (See Emblem Saga Tear Ring Saga). There's no way they'd do something so stupid. If they were to attempt an oh shit! replacement strategy? The time for doing so would've been well before launch (really, before its first trailer). It's too late now to make that change without legal ramifications.

Bit of an odd one for them to review really. I mean... it's exactly what you'd expect, no glaring issues to speak of. Looks and runs exactly as you would expect. The 16:9 cropping is unfortunate, but also expected. Shame that there's no option to just use the original aspect ratio. I will say though that the presentation is really going to be missing something without the stereoscopic 3D effect.

Trademark infringement is much easier to prove than copyright infringement, and Nintendo have already (inadvertently) set a legal precedent that allows for plagerism to take place with so called "spiritual successors", so long as assets are not stolen. Nintendo were able to DMCA take down the Pokemon Palworld mod almost immediately because it was a blatant and inarguable infringement on their existing trademarks, but that's not something that can be applied to Palworld proper because it does not explicitely feature the actual trademarked characters seen throughout the Pokemon series. Even though anyone with a working brain can see what Pokemon characters are being ripped off with Palworld, they're not actually the same characters and thus are technically legally distinct as far as trademark is concerned. Now. There is legal precedent that protects the infringement of Trade Dress with video game mechanics and design, specifically Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc., but Palworld would be unlikely to fall under this form of infringement, because its gameplay mechanics do not steal from Pokemon; only its character designs and models. And as previously determined by Nintendo VS Enterbrain? Similarity in visual design is not enough to prove copyright infringement. If they want to make a legal case, they need to prove that actual Pokemon game assets were stolen or appropriated in such a way that the models seen in Palworld could not have been made in any other fashion. That's not an easy thing to prove, and also comes with potential serious commericial ramifications for them, as well as the entire Japanese video game industry, if they fail to win such a case. It's not impossible though. But it's something that will take time for Nintendo to dig into Palworld's assets and build a legal case against.

Nice to see that the Switch version is a bit less shit this time around; even if it probably should be better. At least Falcom seem to be somewhat trying this time.

The N-E smileys are really quite iconic at this point though, I'd be mortified to see them go. They're my favourite smileys on the interwebs Likewise, I'll always choose to give a "Thanks" rather than a Like because it's the classic N-E response

Also, I'd just like to point out that it's absolutely possible for assets to be ripped and then later modified, but still found to originally be rips... https://www.eurogamer.net/orion-dev-admits-his-game-ripped-off-call-of-duty-assets This has never been tested in court however, and this has also never specifically been tried in Japanese courts before. The closest that we have to this situation is Nintendo VS Enterbrain (Tear Ring Saga), where Nintendo failed to prove that the game to be performing copyright infringement, but did win a settlement where they got Enterbrain to pay a fine for "unfair competition". The kicker here was that no actual assets from a Fire Emblem game were proven to be stolen, but the game was deemed to be close enough to be stealing its trade dress for the purposes of unfair competition; particularily because it was being released on a rival system. I would also like to point out that this particular case is the Japanese legal precedent that allowed for games like Mighty Number 9 and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to be made and released. I do think Nintendo have a case here. However, it would be risky because if they lose? It sets a very bad legal precedent not just for them, but for the entire Japanese video game industry; because the Japanese video game industry will shortly become an asset theft free-for-all. This is probably why they're being so slow to respond publically. Their case will need to really be watertight as the cost of failure would really be severe... However, this is industrial espionage/asset theft on a scale that the industry has simply never seen before, so I think Nintendo will have no choice but to respond with legal action. Palworld is simply too big for Nintendo to consider turning a blind eye to at this point, because the cost of allowing this to happen is at least as bad as what would happen if they were to lose said case.

The gameplay footage does remind me of Puppeteer for the PS3... which is a good thing, because that game was rad! Dying to know who's making this one... NST?

I can't help but feel this game has been delayed for so long that it has kind of missed its window of opportunity now. Sonic Mania, and now even Sonic Superstars, have long eaten its lunch. Still, I'm hoping it's good. Always up for a good Sonic style platformer

I hope you won't be saying anything then when your precious Sony start getting assets stolen from their games; while their competitors flip them for millions of dollars in profit without repurcussions. If Pocket Pair get away with it here with Palworld, you bet that this is going to start happening on a much wider scale with other IPs elsewhere. It's almost as if there's a parable to go along with what's happening here...

Had no idea that Human worked on this one. Man, they really got around didn’t they? Also weird to think that this was one of only two games that Human ever made for the N64.

Agreed. The notion of a game being released in “Early Access” is entirely a misnomer. Your game is “done” as soon as it’s available for sale; and should be judged accordingly. Besides, most AAA games are released in such a blatantly unfinished state that they may as well be called Early Access anyway

Knew it. Knew that if people started ripping the models they'd find the smoking gun. Now they need to start looking at the (surely) stolen character rigs and TPC/Nintendo may well have a case on their hands.

Very cool! Interesting that the design language was already set in so early. Would’ve expected it to more closely evoke the Wii U & 3DS considering that this menu design hails from circa 2015-2016.

Considering the time frame of its release? This honestly looks pretty impressive, especially for a cheap licensed game. 3D platformers are amongst the most difficult types of games to make, but especially in the mid 90s where nothing was standardised and middleware didn’t yet exist. This honestly looks fairly comparable to Croc 1, which is no mean feat. Kudos!

Oh how I miss it so much

Pfft, he's not that hard... Who needs Mia anyway!?