Dcubed

I don't even care if the graphics are "outdated" I honestly don't give a toss. I'd be happy with what we saw before at 1080p, hell I'd be happy if looked no better than SOTC running in 1080p and played like it too; I just want to play it already

Nintendo wouldn't be the ones who decide on when to announce the game directly, that would be The Pokemon Company's duty. If TPC would rather wait till E3, then that's what they'd do. Obviously they want to save the first footage till then, but still wanted to get the word out before then (probably to not let it get overshadowed by anything else during the event. It's not like Pokemon isn't big enough in of itself to generate hype without the backing of a big event like E3 - and Pokemon games are very rarely announced during E3 itself anyway).

Please? Would also like to see Santa Monica work on a new IP (yes I know that Stig's game was cancelled, but I'd still like to see something else that is not another God of War game) Though a cheeky GOW3 1080p/60 re-release on PS4 wouldn't go amiss Otherwise I just want some surprises from Sony. Show me something that I wouldn't expect!

Over the last month I've been mostly playing... Silent Hill Shattered Memories (cool game, not quite as good as it could've been, but still good. Surprisingly it felt more like Heavy Rain than anything else, not what I was expecting!) Zone of the Enders (pretty much a glorified tech demo, stretched out into a 5 hour game, but it's a fun tech demo when it isn't bogged down by its padding) Zone of the Enders 2 (Fixes most of the problems I had with the first game but also breaks most of what I thought it did right as well. You have the enemy and environmental variety that I thought the first game lacked, but they completely redid the camera system and now it's totally broken. It's so incredibly fast paced that it's actually too fast now and it's virtually impossible to tell what the fuck is going on. Frustrating for all the wrong reasons and I think I'm gonna give up on it - a shame, because I think there are mounds of potential here but it's just not fun at all because of all of these problems ) Panzer Dragoon (fantastic game! Amazingly atmospheric experience, but feels like it could've done with a more interesting scoring system) Panzer Dragoon Zwei (more fleshed out than its predecessor and shares the same great qualities as the first game, but it's a bit too easy and still lacks a strong scoring/combo system that keeps you coming back for more) Panzer Dragoon Saga (a one of a kind RPG experience like no other that, while great - with its own great qualities, unique gameplay mechanics that would go on to inspire the creation of Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia and brilliant music - also feels like it doesn't reach its full potential. So many great mechanics go un-utilised like the distance sensitive context sensitive actions and the dragon form changing in battle) Cosmic Smash (simple, addictive just-one-more-go arcade goodness ) Dynamite Deka/Die Hard Arcade (same as Cosmic Smash ) Advance Wars (check out the Let's Talk Games archive if you can be arsed) Metroid Fusion (ditto - also I did the 1% challenge again for bragging rights on Miiverse ) And then lots of Boom Street (we recently really got back into it again for when me and my friends play multiplayer), with a side of Mario Party for good measure. Phew! Been busy this month!

I've seen quite a few rumblings about that too, mostly going off the fact that announcement video mentions a "dramatic new world". Bit weird of them to call Hoenn a "new" world... But nah, I don't think it'll be redesigned too significantly really. Of course changes will be made, what with it being 3D now and all, but not THAT dramatic (unless there's also another smaller region to go along with it...)

I can't be arsed to repeat all the same arguments I've said over the years a thousand times but in short... They can't compete in terms of money hatting, not by a long shot. Their brand is utterly toxic to the 12-25 KGOY market that MS, Sony, the gaming media and most 3rd parties cater directly to. Their legacy carries with it so much baggage that they could never hope to shake off the grudges that the major 3rd parties and other key stakeholders (large audience subsets, the gaming media etc) hold against them. Their skill set is utterly incompatible with the typical "AAA" way of making games or the popular genres that dominate this audience. Their very way of making games and their desired vision of the future is completely at odds with what the rest of the industry wants to see happen. The list is endless and there's nothing more for me to say that I haven't said a million times before. So I'm just gonna call it quits. There's nothing more that I can really say that will ever convince you at this point so why fucking bother? My word has no fucking value at this point and I'm bored of the same old cyclical arguments. Just put me on your ignore list and be done with it.

If you're asking if they have what it takes to compete directly against the titans of the "traditional" industry (Microsoft and Sony) then the answer is simply no. That's exactly why they sidestepped them with the Wii to begin with. The only way that they're ever going to be able to carry on is if they continue to move to the beat of their own drum (successfully the next time!) And besides, Nintendo have always prided themselves on introducing new forms of gameplay with each subsequent console and all of their games are designed around what new gameplay possibilities are brought to the table by each piece of new hardware. That's what has kept their IPs fresh for so long. We've gone beyond the point where raw horsepower alone could fuel new forms of gameplay, so hardware "gimmicks" are now the only way that they can continue to innovate in that same fashion as before. Their entire development culture is facilitated around exploiting the unique features of their hardware (in overt and subtle ways); that's what Iwata means when he talks about their "integrated hardware and software business". You take away the Nintendo hardware and you lose the Nintendo software too. Put simply they have no choice but to carry on making hardware if they wish to continue to produce the software they want to. In order to survive though, their hardware must stand out on its own and differentiate itself from the competition though as they simply cannot win in a head on fight.

IS have been hinting at them making a new AW game ever since releasing FEA and it has been long enough since then for that same team to be able to release their next project this year... IS typically develop 3-4 games of varying sizes (including collabs with Nintendo SPD on things like Game & Wario) at the same time. We're due at least one new retail game (maybe even 2 retail and a smaller downloadable one if we're lucky!) this year from them going by their usual schedule and yes I do think that one of them will be Advance Wars 3DS. Why would anyone consider the series "dead" anyway? They're solid sellers that always get 1-2 entries per generation. Not necessarily at the start (in fact FW and SFW both came very late in their respective generations), but at some point. And I think that time is looking to come very soon

Sorry to crush your hype but that quote means nothing. Miyamoto looks over all of EAD's games; it doesn't mean that he's directly involved in any of them.

You're right, that isn't what I meant at all. Sorry if I upset you. I just want to see the game do well (hell I just want to see Nintendo do well in general; especially right now when they need it the most) and I'm just trying to look at the bright side of things here. Oh and just for the record, I'm fully supporting of anyone who is LGBTQA. Nothing against anyone who is (hell some people in my own family are openly bi!) and apologies to anyone who I may have upset the other day, that wasn't my intention at all.

Excellent! (I imagined that to be the case as there isn't much room for mis-interpretation here really, but still! ) Looking forward to the rest of that Q&A. I bet there are some juicy tidbits in there for sure! (Hell we've already heard about the multiple Wii U E3 games AND supposedly that they're no longer selling Wii U hardware at a loss, so we're already off to a good start )

I'd say that Advance Wars 3DS and Majora's Mask 3D are near enough dead certs. Otherwise, I'd expect E3 to mostly consist of localisations of games like Yo-kai Watch and Fantasy Life and maybe some smaller games from Nintendo that are eShop only. Most of their focus this E3 will be on the Wii U I reckon (and rightly so, it needs it more and the 3DS is already looking to have a great looking lineup this year anyway)

Still waiting on the official translation myself but if that guy is right... ... then I'm getting rock hard for this E3. That is EXACTLY what I wanted to hear!

Personally I think that Zero Mission is actually the best 2D Metroid anyway :p

Much more than a simple flick of a switch. Like I mentioned earlier, adding in gay marriage would also instigate a need to include features like adoption, civil partnerships and everything that goes along with it (as well as another complete round of QA testing too). It would be a significant investment of time that takes away from the development of Nintendo SPD's games they currently have in production too. It's not really a cultural issue. It's not like there aren't loads of Japanese games with gay characters or target a gay subset (Cho Aniki immediately springs to mind), it just wasn't a priority throughout development and it's a non trivial thing to add in after the game has already been finished now.

Well rather it was a matter of it not being coded in to allow same sex couples since it would have to be specifically programmed in to work, but of course the player wouldn't see it from that perspective... so I see your point. Bit of a rock and a hard place here. You know what I mean here! :p (i.e not another Mass Effect type situation) I wouldn't really say "Poor Nintendo" here though. With the whole issue resolved, it basically amounts to more exposure for the game and that's always a good thing Exactly! Well said Thankfully though this is a scenario where Nintendo are not being forced to make changes to their game and the dev team aren't being asked to change their vision, but instead are given a starting point for a potential sequel (Yoshio Sakamoto is no stranger to including gay overtones in his games - the Wario Ware series alone is proof of that - so it's not like it's something that he wouldn't want to include in a potential sequel...). This statement would've been vetted through NCL before being put out (hence the delay) since it involves discussing a potential unnannounced sequel; which would also mean discussion with the original dev team, who would have to agree to this before such a statement could be put out

On the plus side this fiasco means more exposure for the game. More eyeballs = more potential sales!

Funnily enough, that's more or less what they just literally said now... I still think it's not a good idea to make a promise like that as it binds the development team to a demand for a specific feature (no way could they get away without including it now!). But on the other hand it does give them a starting point for a potential sequel I guess... At least it means that they're not gonna alter the game they're currently releasing against their will Also on the plus side, going by the fact that they mentioned the possibility of a sequel, it implies that they'll have a localisation in mind from the outset! It's not ideal, but at least they're not giving up their artistic integrity here (indeed it's pretty much the usual sequel process - ideas that don't make it into the current game get saved for the next one - but just made public in this case)

So games can't have racist characters now? Only movies and books are allowed to feature characters who are racist now? Ok... Hell might as well wipe out Punchout from existence then...

Several Fire Emblem characters are openly gay or lesbian (I forget which ones though) and Birdo's gender gets retconned in almost every game (he's male in Mario Golf WT I believe), it's a long running gag at this point. A lot of Nintendo's characters are also genderless (Kirby, Yoshi - who should really be biologically female but whatever, most Mario enemies etc). Several gay characters also appear in Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland too. Oh and I never said that the reasoning for these two groups' actions were the same but rather that the methodology involved and the result are the same. These groups are asking the developers to change their game to fit their demands, regardless of whatever vision the developer had for it originally. In both cases there is that same question of artistic integrity (intentional or otherwise). It doesn't matter what they're arguing for here or who is asking, but rather WHAT they are asking from the developer here. In both cases, they are asking their respective developers to go back and alter their games to fit their demands. Same thing, regardless of the reasoning why (and likewise, Nintendo implementing gay marriage into Tomodachi Life would instigate the same precedent that changing Mass Effect 3's ending has done to Bioware)

Gay couples don't make a game M rated, they make it T rated AFAIK (and yes I agree that it's terrible). Oh and the "gay badgers" was a typo (DAMN YOU IPHONE AUTOCORRECT!!!) I meant to say "gay bashers" (who shouldn't be given the time of day by anyone). But the point about them having to give into other groups isn't a matter of sociopolitical or humanitarian matters, but rather artistic integrity. People demanding Nintendo to implement gay marriage into the game (which is not a trivial thing to do for reasons I have stated before) are no better than those who demanded Bioware to alter the ending of Mass Effect 3 after release. It's effectively the same thing (for different reasons but the effect is essentially the same. People are demanding the developers to alter their vision of their game to fit the demands of a vocal minority). It's a slippery slope that they no doubt don't want to be dragged down, so while it might be a good gesture for them to make (that would of course win them some PR brownie points now), it will damage them significantly in the long run. That's why I don't think it's worth them doing it. It's not a matter of them not caring (and there are LGBT characters in Nintendo games to prove it - along with characters who are welcome to cross dressers and the like - especially in Animal Crossing) but it's just not the right thing for them to do in this case. For their own sake it's better to keep out of it as it would damage them in the long run.

If the Miis choose the baby themselves, then people would complain about not having a choice and about the feature being half arsed (which it would be, since it would blatantly just look like a mixture of the two gay Miis). They would then start demanding that they should be able to choose which baby Mii to adopt ("it is a life simulator after all! Why can't I simulate MY life?") It's a never ending rabbit hole. One simple feature then ends up ballooning into lots of other small features and before you know it, it becomes unfeasible for a localisation like this (and then you have the future ramifications once outside groups start playing armchair game designer with Nintendo's future games...) It would be a bad move from both a development standpoint and from a PR standpoint (sure they win brownie points for now, and also lose some from a select few, but it sets a precedent that wouldn't be able to escape from...)

That wouldn't work because the Mii child that gets created is based off the two parent Miis (the female Mii also gets pregnant - so they'd have to re-code the game to change that and remove the period of pregnancy too). Then people would complain that the feature is half hearted (and thus discriminatory) so they'd have to implement some sort of adoption facility where you can select the baby you want (on the plus side this could work for all couples, but it would be a LOT more dev work involved still). You'd also no doubt have people complaining about the presence of gay marriage as well so they may also decide to include civil partnerships too in order to keep the other group happy (even more work and QA testing now...) It's not as simple as flicking a switch for a quick and lazy fix because that would just piss off the LGBT community even more... (Not to mention the potential future ramifications on future games too...) Quite simply, it's not worth it. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose by responding to this movement. What they should do is keep out of this argument and just implement LGBT relationships when/if they make a sequel in the future.

Nintendo is right to stay out of this, it's a losing battle either way. If they bowed down to pressure and implemented it for the western release, then there's a ton more development work involved (you now have to deal with implementing civil partnerships, adoption, all sorts of other things and so much more QA work along with a guaranteed T rating in the US - ESRB recognises gay relationships as "explicit sexuality", while heterosexual relationships are merely implicit; sounds stupid but it's true). All this kind of stuff that they didn't consider including because they were just making a simple game and had other priorities rather than getting bogged down implementing all this stuff and making the game more complicated. Could be another 6-12 months development work potentially (which of course also takes away development resources from Nintendo SPD's upcoming games like a potential 2D Metroid, at which point is a localisation of Tomodachi even worth it anymore?) And not only that but it also sets a bad precedent for all of their future games. If they bow down to one pressure group, then now every other pressure group gets a free pass (otherwise that's a form of discrimination in of itself). PETA could complain about Mario wearing "cat fur" and then point to the example of them giving into the gay activists, so they should bow to this too. Or even angry fans who don't like the look of Link in the next Zelda and demand him to be re-designed, or they don't like certain gameplay mechanics and force them to change them; where does it end!? If they made a definitive statement the other way then they're made out to be gay badgers and lots of people would refuse to work with them in the future (the reverse may also be true to some extent). It's not appropriate for them to take a side and it's not in their interest to do so...

Looks pretty neat. Similar to Infamous but with a more comical approach (and borrowing some elements from Dead Rising) Might be decent