Dcubed

It’s PR spin, and you’re falling for it. S-E have a vested interest in making their core business look healthier than it really is, and in puffing up their big new flagship game to make it look popular and appealing to the public. Of course they’re going to say that their sales are “good”, despite being a huge drop from its predecessors. Unless you really think that S-E are happy with spending more than FF15 to achieve less than half of its sales… To put things in perspective… FF16 is getting bitch slapped by Metal Gear Rising in Japan. Meanwhile, FF16 is also on track to become the single worst selling mainline FF of all time in Japan, and the west isn’t picking up the slack. Let that reality sink in…

Well that was a fun night! Great to see the grand return of the Shell Of The Red! Here's a few choice clips...

REDSHELL IS BACK!!!! This is not a drill! I repeat! @RedShell IS BACK!!!!

Part 3 is out now... https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2023/July/Ask-the-Developer-Vol-10-Pikmin-4-Chapter-3-2417256.html Nothing too revelatory this time around, this talks more about visual and sound design.

No, it's Starfleet Academy you're thinking of. That and Elite Force, he played the hell out of that one as well.

In this latest chapter of Blowing Your Mind, I have a tasty treat for your brain hole... The GBA remake of Mario Bros Classic (that was included in all of the GBA Mario Advance releases, as well as Mario & Luigi SS), is actually a port of a SNES game that was never released! It was originally a sample demo made for a special SNES SDK that was given out to Japanese game design universities.

Excellent interview! Here's part 2 (Part 3 comes out tomorrow)... https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2023/July/Ask-the-Developer-Vol-10-Pikmin-4-Chapter-2-2416062.html#section-02 Note that there's a mild spoiler about what Pikmin types show up in Pikmin 4 here in Part 2, but that's it as far as spoilers go. Seems that Miyamoto himself was quite involved in Pikmin 4's development... he has a lot to say here, particularily about game design in general! Everyone else involved in this interview has also worked on the series since Pikmin 2 at the least, so it seems that a lot of Nintendo's old guard have been focusing on this game in particular over the past few years! It's really refreshing to see a modern Nintendo title focus so much on handcrafted game design that is laser focused on providing a very traditional style of "Nintendo-like" gameplay; focused on game design and mechanics ahead of anything else (the polar opposite of Nintendo Switch Sports' disastrous development cycle). Also, surprisingly, it seems that the team are still very much focused on Pikmin 1's gameplay structure over Pikmin 2's here; despite Pikmin 4's gameplay structure being based moreso on Pikmin 2 than anything else. These interviews do a great job of getting me hyped for Pikmin 4. Feels like we're getting a real, proper proper traditional "Nintendo-like" game here

I imagine that Sony got a worse deal than Nintendo, given their position of weakness in negotiations here. CMA have really landed face first over this whole affair. That's what happens when you base your legal case on emotions and ideology over facts and figures though.

So. I had the chance play this with a few friends of mine... ... it's actually not bad at all! We had some fun with it, both in a point n' laugh funny and in a genuinely fun way. The colour matching photography game in particular is pretty darn clever. That Statues game though? That's the stuff of pure nightmares though, that kid's eyes... It's certainly more interesting than the original 1,2,Switch. While it's not gonna be knocking the likes of Jackbox off of its pedestal, I could definitely see it being a good time with a large crowd

Heads up, balance changes!

The 150 million + people who will newly gain access to COD on their platform of choice as a result of this deal will certainly disagree with you.

It’s worth keeping in mind that literally every single publisher & platform holder has been publicly in favour of the deal… except for Sony. Everyone in the industry benefits from this acquisition, with the sole exception of Sony. Can’t say that I’d side with them on this one.

The official Wayforward web page is now open for this game… https://wayforward.com/wayforward-announces-rose-camellia-collection/ There’s a 2 player versus mode!! Oh yes! Can’t wait to see this at Evo

It probably will get a digital release eventually, but this is clearly a passion project for Wayforward; finally giving them closure on a project that was very personal for Matt Bozon and Voldi Way. Gives the game a greater sense of legitimacy to have its initial release be a true retail GBA title alone, as was always intended. For LRG as well? They stand to make much more money on a retail cart release than a ROM dump from collectors as well. So it’s a win-win for both Wayforward and LRG (who are bankrolling the project). But yeah, I’m sure it’ll get a digital release on modern platforms eventually. Still will be copping that GBA cart day 1 myself though!

The ridiculously dated quotes are kind of the game’s charm now though. I say just own it at this point. Let’s just hope that we get the choice between UK and US dubs… History tends to get tainted with an American lens when it comes to video games sadly.

Hilarious that S-E considered the Gex IP more important to hold onto than Tomb Raider or Deux Ex. Of all the hills to die on

What would happen if you took Jane Austen and Punchout and put them into a blender? This bizzare mashup of visual novel and Slapper Simulator is now getting an English localisation courtesy of Wayforward! @RedShell? This stupid shit is right up your alley

Hot off the heels of River City Girls Zero, Wayforward are delivering another EFIGS localisation for a previously Japanese-only SNES game! This time, it’s the original Clock Tower! It’s the original SNES ROM translated into EFIGS, NOT a remake! Will be coming out on all current platforms, including Switch. Retro gaming fans? We eating!

No freaking way!! I’ve always wanted to play that demo, and now they’re actually gonna finish the full game and release it proper!? That’s amazing! Crazy to think that we’re getting a brand new GBA game in 2024, but I am Ret2Go! Edit: This must be the WayForward Nintendo platform exclusive that Adam Tierney teased earlier on this year… It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, that’s for sure!

Seems like the deal is as good as done at this point. The CMA know that they have no leg to stand on, with their argument being flimsier than a wet tissue with clinical depression.

Great job! Now do Round 2…

Night-time Cup is on!

Heads up. 8bitdo are coming out with a new wireless controller... this time replicating the NeoGeo CD controller! Complete with microswitched thumbpad! https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/5/23784157/8bitdo-neogeo-cd-wireless-controller-bluetooth-rechargeable Comes out August 13th. If it turns out good (and it should; 8BitDo rarely miss), it'll be perfect for those NeoGeo Pocket Color games on Switch (and soon to be MiSTer/Analogue Pocket)

Oh yeah, every console manufacturer will have similar internal documents that forecast what their competitors are likely to be doing. Some of it will be based on real leaks (especially if they're sharing hardware suppliers) and some of it will be based on educated conjecture. FWIW, MS and Sony's info on each other will be based on some reliable info (since they share most of the same hardware from AMD and have access to each other's development kits and SDKs), but things like timing, pricing and marketing strategy will be mostly conjecture. Their info on Nintendo will be much more limited however (especially considering how Nintendo are very selective about how they give out prototype hardware & new console dev kits to outside developers).

This Is Cool... A bit of a treasure trove for fans of old SEGA related history, someone has uploaded a ton of Sega of America internal documents from circa 1996; detailing marketing strategy, console manufacturing costs, internal emails and more!