General Switch Discussion

[Julius]

30 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

A literal, guaranteed multi-million seller that just got completely sat on; at a time where Lucasarts were desperate for a hit! Unbelievable!

I mean, almost any Star Wars game is going to sell millions of units. From what I recall, it wasn't exactly sat on and left to die -- weren't Factor 5 going through some legal issues at the time it was cancelled, in 2008? I'd imagine that's why LucasArts pulled the plug. 

I'm not convinced that LucasArts were desperate for a hit, either. Sure, their golden age for Star Wars games was probably earlier that decade, but I believe that the same year Rogue Leaders was cancelled, The Force Unleashed released, which I imagine was a commercial success -- I just looked it up and it sold over one million units in one month, and over seven million units by February 2010, making it the fastest selling Star Wars game at the time.

It wasn't exactly a critical success, but from your phrasing, I get the feeling you were talking about sales? 

Sadly, I'm with @Ronnie on this. It would be a great bit of goodwill by Lucasfilm, and I think it's a great shout @Hero-of-Time, but I just don't see EA wanting to or caring for this to happen  especially with the starfighter mode in 2017's Battlefront II probably being the only saving grace of the game, and feeling good enough to arguably deserve its own game. 

It's a shame, though, because I'd give an arm and a leg for many of those old LucasArts Star Wars games to come over to Switch, but it just doesn't seem feasible given the direction that the franchise has headed in. The wait for 2023 continues... 

[Kav]

Metroid Dread

[Ronnie]

24 minutes ago, Kav said:

Metroid Dread

Good shout actually

[Hero-of-Time]

The rumour is already starting to do my head in. You've got YouTubers and Twitter personalities talking like they know what it is. Take this as an example of what we are seeing.

Quote

I know what game it is. But it’s so outlandish if I told you what it was you wouldn’t believe me anyways. But when it’s announced I’ll be laughing.

One hint: it’s not a Nintendo game. That is all. I have spoken!

He says this but then follows on with...

Quote

I mean I’m not 100% or anything. But 2 months ago I was told about a cancelled game being revived by Nintendo. And this lines up.

So you know what it is but you aren't a 100% sure? Honestly, I wish this whole leaker, looking for hits on their channel and will say anything to get attention, culture would die. 

[Ronnie]

It's incredibly annoying and underneath it all, really immature.

[drahkon]

Guys, GUYS.

I know something.

But I'm not telling.

Like, comment, subscribe, send nudes.

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The rumour is already starting to do my head in. You've got YouTubers and Twitter personalities talking like they know what it is. Take this as an example of what we are seeing.

He says this but then follows on with...

So you know what it is but you aren't a 100% sure? Honestly, I wish this whole leaker, looking for hits on their channel and will say anything to get attention, culture would die. 

100% agree. It sets up this strange and toxic cycle of:

Influencer teases -> follower expectations run wild -> bar is now higher for whatever they were talking about, so influencer must tease something more extreme -> expectations are now even higher, etc.

It's just silly. I listen to the GI Show where Imran appears on a pretty regular basis, and he doesn't really go out of his way to needlessly tease people like some choose to. As I mentioned here a month or two back, they were in the middle of discussions about the next 2D Zelda game on the GI Show, and Imran says that he knows something but didn't want to say it on air, and would tell the other panelists after the end of recording. It's just about being respectful -- he probably knew what was up going into this Direct, but, being in the gaming journalism industry, it was wise and respectful to tease the most out there thing he could as opposed to just saying "Yeah, Link's Awakening is coming with an art style which is going to split opinion." 

Accurate as Emily Rogers sometimes is, she is one of those needlessly teasing and heightening expectations. She goes out of her way to do it, and remains fairly hit-or-miss. That King Zell guy/gal on ResetEra is probably the only faceless source of info for leaks that I'd put any stock into, because after they've got so much right, it's pretty obvious that they have a contact. 

Were you talking about SMD64 by any chance? I haven't looked the guy up since the Switch came out (for one, he was so far off with the console's internals), but heard the other day that prior to the Direct he practically said (paraphrasing):

Quote

There's a game I know about that will be in the upcoming Direct, and I won't say what it is. But just know that you'll know what game I was referring to when you see it.

I mean, seriously, these guys are the masters of non-statements. I'm not convinced that some of these people are even fans of games. 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Julius

[Ike]

34 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The rumour is already starting to do my head in. You've got YouTubers and Twitter personalities talking like they know what it is. Take this as an example of what we are seeing.

He says this but then follows on with...

So you know what it is but you aren't a 100% sure? Honestly, I wish this whole leaker, looking for hits on their channel and will say anything to get attention, culture would die. 

It's just an easy way to pretend you knew something, all they have to do is wait for an announcement and then say that's what they hinted at, unless they give more details that links to the game.

 

[Ronnie]

It’s also really tough on publishers. Take the Metroid Prime Trilogy rumour. So many people whining about it and demanding Nintendo show it when from their POV they never even hinted at it being a thing. 

Now instead of loads of excitement and positive buzz if/when it does happen it’ll just be met with a snarky “about time” reaction. 

It’s the same with the contents of Directs being spoiled ahead of time. I remember you saying you were disappointed in the previous one @Hero-of-Time cause all the big news from it had been leaked beforehand. 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Ronnie

[Grazza]

Captain Rainbow - Mankini Edition!

[Hero-of-Time]

24 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

It’s the same with the contents of Directs being spoiled ahead of time. I remember you saying you were disappointed in the previous one @Hero-of-Time cause all the big news from it had been leaked beforehand. 

Yup. It's a big reason why E3 has lost a lot of its magic for me. Far too much stuff leaks and it's very hard to avoid, not to mention publishers announcing their games earlier due to fear of leaks. The whole thing is a mess.

[Ronnie]

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Yup. It's a big reason why E3 has lost a lot of its magic for me. Far too much stuff leaks and it's very hard to avoid, not to mention publishers announcing their games earlier due to fear of leaks. The whole thing is a mess.

I think publishers announcing games in the run up to E3 is done more to give their game a bit of time in the spotlight, rather than trying to shout louder than the hundred other games at E3. It’s annoying but I can’t blame them at all. It’s a big reason I feel Nintendo has gone lighter than usual the last few E3 Directs. Why bother competing with everyone else for mindshare and exposure when you get just do your own thing in an April Direct or in the weeks building up to it.

But the fear of leaks probably push more to do it too tbf. 

[Ashley]

4 hours ago, Grazza said:

Captain Rainbow - Mankini Edition!

I'd finally have something to cosplay

[Dcubed]

I reckon it’s probably Scalebound. Makes the most sense by far.

 

Nintendo have already revived a Platinum Games title before; and Kamiya is not directing any of Platinum’s upcoming games... only working as a supervisor... (his last known Directorial role being... you guessed it! Scalebound!)

 

UE4 also generally runs well on Switch, so the porting process would be fairly easy to do.  And Microsoft has a healthy relationship with Nintendo; allowing their IPs (such as Hellblade) on their platform with no issues.

 

Reviving cancelled 3rd party titles and turning them into exclusives is Nintendo’s current MO.  Scalebound is the next obvious candidate.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Dcubed

[Nicktendo]

36 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

I reckon it’s probably Scalebound. Makes the most sense by far.

 

Nintendo have already revived a Platinum Games title before; and Kamiya is not directing any of Platinum’s upcoming games... only working as a supervisor... (his last known Directorial role being... you guessed it! Scalebound!)

 

UE4 also generally runs well on Switch, so the porting process would be fairly easy to do.  And Microsoft has a healthy relationship with Nintendo; allowing their IPs (such as Hellblade) on their platform with no issues.

 

Reviving cancelled 3rd party titles and turning them into exclusives is Nintendo’s current MO.  Scalebound is the next obvious candidate.

You called it 

https://www.nintendo-insider.com/report-scalebound-resurrected-as-a-nintendo-switch-exclusive/amp/#click=https://t.co/X9IVxgpkg8

[MindFreak]

7 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

You called it 

https://www.nintendo-insider.com/report-scalebound-resurrected-as-a-nintendo-switch-exclusive/amp/#click=https://t.co/X9IVxgpkg8

No, @markderoos did it earlier. Also, it's still just speculation from the author. 

[killthenet]

If it is Scalebound then it seems a bit weird to me, Platinum's games don't really sell that well so you'd expect that with Nintendo already funding Bayonetta 3 and Astral Chain then it seems like too much of an investment to me to bring Scalebound back. Saying that though it had been in development for about 4 years before it got cancelled so is probably pretty close to completion, though it would likely have to be scaled back in some respects. 

Were people that excited about Scalebound though? I seem to remember reaction to it being pretty tepid, it seemed that most of the negativity surrounding its cancellation was directed at Microsoft's lack of commitment rather than the potential of the project. Admittedly I don't know much about it though but thats the impression I got.

[Hero-of-Time]

In regards to Hellblade coming to Switch despite it now being part of the Microsoft family, apparently the game was well into development before Microsoft purchased Ninja Theory. Microsoft seem to be allowing games that are already in development when purchasing a studio to be released on other platforms, such as Obsidians new game and We Happy Few releasing on the PS4.

I don't see the value in Scalebound. Nintendo already has Bayonetta and now Astral Chain, both of which seem to be character action games. As @killthenet said, the game wasn't being well recieved anyway and most of the chatter about it was when it got cancelled.

If this rumour of a revived game is true then I do hope it's something else.

[Julius]

2 hours ago, Dcubed said:

I reckon it’s probably Scalebound. Makes the most sense by far.

Nintendo have already revived a Platinum Games title before; and Kamiya is not directing any of Platinum’s upcoming games... only working as a supervisor... (his last known Directorial role being... you guessed it! Scalebound!)

...

Scalebound is the next obvious candidate.

While I think Scalebound is a decent shout (I think I saw @markderoos mention it too -- so good shout to you too!), and is certainly one of the largest AAA cancellations of the last few years...I'm not totally convinced. 

I think @killthenet brings up probably one of the strongest cases for it not being Scalebound, and that is that I can't remember there being too much of a fuss about it either. Granted, we probably weren't shown enough, but I rarely mention read/hear about Scalebound these days outside of it being used to reference Microsoft's relatively poor handling of exclusive games this generation. If there was enough excitement around the game looking back for Nintendo to decide to help revive it, I feel like we would have heard about a publisher like Square Enix trying to scoop it up. I would have suggested that Monolith Soft could have helped them out, but if I recall, the problem with Scalebound wasn't, well, the scale (plus, Monolith Soft are probably busy enough as is -- they've recently expanded, and have hinted that they're working on two games simultaneously: one being their medieval fantasy RPG, and the other likely being the next entry in the Xeno franchise).

On Kamiya, the guy probably has one of the most impressive and alluring CVs in gaming right now, considering how action is more often than not being implemented across the wide range of genres. Unless he has a personal investment in Scalebound still seeing the light of day, I doubt he'd still be on board directing the game at this point. Personally, I'd be much more interested if he took what he learned from that experience into another RPG project. 

Which brings me to my next point: Platinum seem busy enough as is right now. Some looking around (on their official site) tells me that they have around two hundred employees, and I would have to think that they would be strained at that number with all of the projects that they've been working on. Projects planned for release this year are the recently revealed Astral Chain, as well as Babylon's Fall (to be published by Square Enix; if Kamiya isn't working on Bayonetta 3, I wouldn't be surprised if he was working on a new IP like this one); projects pending a release date are Granblue Fantasy: Relink (published by Cygames; think it's worth noting that Platinum officially left the project around a fortnight ago), Bayonetta 3, and two mobile games: Lost Order (Cygames) and World of Demons (Deana). And this isn't to take into account any likely unannounced projects (I'd have to imagine that Yoko Taro is spearheading the development of another game, for example). 

I'd be interested in seeing how Scalebound has involved if it is still kicking, but until we get something remotely solid hinting at it still existing, I have my doubts 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Julius

[FalcoLombardi]

On 2/17/2019 at 11:47 AM, S.C.G said:

Project H.A.M.M.E.R.  it's time!

(hammer time!)

Aw man, I came here to post that but you beat me to it.

[Dcubed]

14 hours ago, Julius said:

While I think Scalebound is a decent shout (I think I saw @markderoos mention it too -- so good shout to you too!), and is certainly one of the largest AAA cancellations of the last few years...I'm not totally convinced. 

I think @killthenet brings up probably one of the strongest cases for it not being Scalebound, and that is that I can't remember there being too much of a fuss about it either. Granted, we probably weren't shown enough, but I rarely mention read/hear about Scalebound these days outside of it being used to reference Microsoft's relatively poor handling of exclusive games this generation. If there was enough excitement around the game looking back for Nintendo to decide to help revive it, I feel like we would have heard about a publisher like Square Enix trying to scoop it up. I would have suggested that Monolith Soft could have helped them out, but if I recall, the problem with Scalebound wasn't, well, the scale (plus, Monolith Soft are probably busy enough as is -- they've recently expanded, and have hinted that they're working on two games simultaneously: one being their medieval fantasy RPG, and the other likely being the next entry in the Xeno franchise).

On Kamiya, the guy probably has one of the most impressive and alluring CVs in gaming right now, considering how action is more often than not being implemented across the wide range of genres. Unless he has a personal investment in Scalebound still seeing the light of day, I doubt he'd still be on board directing the game at this point. Personally, I'd be much more interested if he took what he learned from that experience into another RPG project. 

Which brings me to my next point: Platinum seem busy enough as is right now. Some looking around (on their official site) tells me that they have around two hundred employees, and I would have to think that they would be strained at that number with all of the projects that they've been working on. Projects planned for release this year are the recently revealed Astral Chain, as well as Babylon's Fall (to be published by Square Enix; if Kamiya isn't working on Bayonetta 3, I wouldn't be surprised if he was working on a new IP like this one); projects pending a release date are Granblue Fantasy: Relink (published by Cygames; think it's worth noting that Platinum officially left the project around a fortnight ago), Bayonetta 3, and two mobile games: Lost Order (Cygames) and World of Demons (Deana). And this isn't to take into account any likely unannounced projects (I'd have to imagine that Yoko Taro is spearheading the development of another game, for example). 

I'd be interested in seeing how Scalebound has involved if it is still kicking, but until we get something remotely solid hinting at it still existing, I have my doubts 

He does have a personal investment in Scalebound.  It’s the game that Kamiya has been trying to get made ever since he helped to found Platinum all the way back in 2006.  Hell it actually originally started as a Wii game, where you would control the dragon using Wii Remote gestures!

 

Scalebound is Kamiya’s long-term passion project.  And reviving it as a Switch exclusive not only makes sense from the standpoint of it being a near finished AAA game that fills a hole in Nintendo’s library (that they can get out relatively quickly and cheaply,  since most of the work is already done), but it would also be a huge gesture of goodwill towards Platinum and Kamiya that would secure their undying support forever.

 

In terms of developmental resources, you have to remember that a huge chunk of the game is already done.  They wouldn't be starting from zero; they'd have a mostly finished engine and set of assets to carry on development with (assuming that Nintendo would be acquiring the half-finished assets from Microsoft as part of the deal); so its impact on Platnum's production as a whole would be greatly muted as a result.  Astral Chain is their current main project anyway.

Edited February 19, 2019 by Dcubed

[Dcubed]

Edit: Never mind... It's not new after all  

Edited February 20, 2019 by Dcubed

[S.C.G]

8 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Edit: Never mind... It's not new after all  

Hmm... what's not new? (you've got me curious now)

[Dcubed]

4 minutes ago, S.C.G said:

Hmm... what's not new? (you've got me curious now)

Saw the post on Reset Era about new footage of the cancelled Rogue Leaders game for Wii, got excited and then sad after I realised that I got tricked by a necrobump.

 

Goddammit!! Why can't Rogue Leaders be the game that Nintendo is reviving!? Damn you EA!!

Edited February 20, 2019 by Dcubed

[S.C.G]

4 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Saw the post on Reset Era about new footage of the cancelled Rogue Leaders game for Wii, got excited and then sad after I realised that I got tricked by a necrobump.

 

Goddammit!! Why can't Rogue Leaders be the game that Nintendo is reviving!? Damn you EA!!

See, I don't understand why it just doesn't get released.

I understand that EA have the Star Wars license but... who cares about that, Disney can overrule it if they want and just see the game released surely?

Who actually owns the rights to it now? Factor 5? Disney? I mean, it can't be that difficult.

Ultimately it's money left on the table and we've had Rogue Squadron released again on the PC, although not an ideal port with that one.

Switch owners would buy a collection of all three Rogue Squadron games instantly, I'd pay £50 for a physical copy without even questioning it.

It just makes too much sense.