The Jimquisition Thread

[S.C.G]

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm surprised Todd Howard isn't dizzy with the amount of spin he put on some of those comments/answers.  

 

[S.C.G]

Jim's pretty much spot on with this video, highlighting to meagre the offering of Nintendo Switch Online NES games is.

This is essentially what we've been saying for a while now and Nintendo can't be oblivious to it... surely?

Especially not after sending out surverys on Nintendo Switch Online, one which I got myself and well... I certainly responded...

Quote

Paying around £17.99 a year to play games online get access to a library of NES games and get exclusive titles such as Tetris 99 plus discounts on certain purchases is a reasonable package but it is certainly held back by more than a few less desirable elements.  Mainly the fact that you have to use an app on a smartphone in order to use voicechat on your Nintendo Switch, this is excluding a lot of people including myself who either don't own one and don't want to plus people who do own one and just want to be able to use voice chat on the Switch without all the extra hassle of setting up chat on a completely different device and on its own application.

There are certain games which allow for voice chat just from using a standard headet as I understand it, so I don't see why this isn't technically possible for all games?

This is an area where I feel that Nintendo is clearly failing its consumers and this comes from a place of love as I've been a Nintendo fan for a long time, I'd put more but there's a character limit, so we'd like SNES, N64, GC games please, as part of the online library if possible, also the ability to play with friends online on Super Mario Maker 2 would be nice, with or without leaderboards.

The Nintendo Switch Online NES is certainly a good starting point but it could be so much more, especially considering that Nintendo used to have a huge Virtual Console library on previous consoles, so if this online only model is to continue, then I would say that it would be best to start adding SNES games to the lineup now so that you're at least offering three NES titles and three SNES titles a month, then start adding Game Boy games, Game Boy Color games, Game Boy Advance games and possibly N64 games as well, all at a later date but not too late so as to lose interest from your subscribers.

It might end up being too much to consider N64 games and GC games as part of this service, but those games could be re-released on the Switch in some form at the very least, or... dare I say it? N64 Classic... there's plenty of money left on the table, Nintendo just has to do the right things to improve its online service and offering of certain classic games and fans will likely pay for it.

I got 50 platinum points for taking the survey and who knows, Nintendo might actually do something with the feedback.

Yes, I realise that around E3 time, SNES games or extra features for Nintendo Switch Online might be just around the corner but they chose to send out the survey right now, so I gave them my opinion in as polite a manner as possible but while also being as honest and constructive as possible because it really is about time that they really start giving people at the very least the basic features that they really want, lest they want to start losing subscribers.

Ultimately, I'll probably still keep my subscription because it comes down to one question...

Do I still want to play Mario Kart 8 DX, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate online for the forseeable future?

The answer to that would be a resounding "Yes!"

But please Nintendo, you know it makes sense to improve the service now rather than wait for another generation.

[Hero-of-Time]

My issue with the service isn't so much what games they are offering but rather the lack of features it actually has. Honestly, I would trade in the NES service in a heartbeat for the ability to actually message and chat with friends on the Switch itself.

[Glen-i]

I think he saw the Bethesda E3 conference.

Haven't watched it yet, but will edit my thoughts in when I do.

Edited June 10, 2019 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

6/10, needs more WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ronnie]

To add to the crunch at Nintendo chat on the previous page

Quote

And so for Nintendo, when asked about their perspective on crunch, it comes down to giving their creative teams the breathing room they need.

“The crunch point is an interesting one,” Nintendo of America’s president Doug Bowser told me at E3. “For us, one of our key tenants is that we bring smiles to people's faces, and we talk about that all the time. It's our vision. Or our mission, I should say. For us, that applies to our own employees. We need to make sure that our employees have good work-life balance.”

“One of those examples is, we will not bring a game to market before it's ready. We just talked about one example [in Animal Crossing’s delay]. It's really important that we have that balance in our world. It's actually something we're proud of.”

From IGN

[Sheikah]

NoA can say what they like, I'd bet anything that where all the work happens to make the game in Japan that the staff are putting in crazy hours, extended deadline or no. Japan has a dangerous attitude to work and I've no reason to disbelieve for one moment the guy who worked intimately with Miyamoto.

[Ronnie]

I figured you'd ignore any evidence to the contrary. I've no reason to disbelieve Doug Bowser's more recent quote for one moment. He's specifically talking about game development, and the recent delaying of Animal Crossing doesn't point to overworked devs.

[Sheikah]

I figured you'd ignore any evidence to the contrary. I've no reason to disbelieve Doug Bowser's more recent quote for one moment. He's specifically talking about game development, and the recent delaying of Animal Crossing doesn't point to overworked devs.

 

It's not evidence to the contrary, that's NoA's own take while the games are mostly all made in Japan. It also specifically talks about delaying games, but a lot of companies do that and still have crunch.

 

Also he talks about bringing a game to market (presumably USA), not about developing the game. Sounds more like what they do at NoA (translating and launching it there).

[S.C.G]

 

[Ronnie]

Glad to see Nintendo to set their record straight re: crunch

[Sheikah]

Glad to see Nintendo to set their record straight re: crunch

But what about the actual Japanese game dev who says Miyamoto expects people to work crazy hours? At best you can say this is mixed messages rather than clearing anything up. 

 

Maybe they don't crunch/up their hours to meet a deadline but if the "standard" working day in Japan is to work all hours then Nintendo are just as bad as the rest in terms of poor work/life balance.

 

It's hard to bring Nintendo into the equation on this one because most crunch articles have focused on US/European developers where the work culture is different to Japan.

 

I would love to see senior programmers come forward from Nintendo and describe their typical working hours.

[Happenstance]

15 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

Maybe they don't crunch/up their hours to meet a deadline but if the "standard" working day in Japan is to work all hours then Nintendo are just as bad as the rest in terms of poor work/life balance.

 

It's hard to bring Nintendo into the equation on this one because most crunch articles have focused on US/European developers where the work culture is different to Japan.

I bet the conversation is completely different with crunch in Japan. As you say the standard working hours over there are different already. They'd probably consider crunch hours over here as a bit of extra work.

[Sheikah]

I bet the conversation is completely different with crunch in Japan. As you say the standard working hours over there are different already. They'd probably consider crunch hours over here as a bit of extra work.

It's true that the conversation (and situation) is no doubt different over there but I do feel that it's deceitful for us to quietly accept the commentary that Nintendo are this trendsetter who give their employees a great work/life balance because they have this crunch policy. 

 

And FWIW, I don't see this as a problem specific to just Nintendo - it's an issue for many Japanese workplaces. It doesn't surprise me that Japan notoriously has one of the highest suicide rates for such a developed country.

 

Articles right now are doing a good job of slamming these heavy "crunch" periods instigated at many studios, but sustained long working hours should receive just as much, if not more, scrutiny.

[S.C.G]

 

[S.C.G]

 

[Dcubed]

On 6/17/2019 at 4:46 PM, S.C.G said:

 

Of course Devolver won, they always win; and rightfully so!

 

Surprised that he was so generous to Microsoft here; especially considering how 2020 heavy it was.

[Hero-of-Time]

When this story broke the other day I knew that Jim would be all over it.  

[S.C.G]

 

[Dcubed]

God, the likes of Stadia and X-Cloud absolutely chill me to the bone... It really is a dystopian nightmare for any form of preservation!

 

Praying with all my heart that these streaming initiatives completely crash and burn! They cannot be allowed to utterly destroy the medium’s history like this!

Edited June 25, 2019 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

I think it's one of the best episodes he's put out. Both the start (Surprise Mechanic character) and end (going on about the lawnmowers) were hilarious.  

35 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Praying with all my heart that these streaming initiatives completely crash and burn! They cannot be allowed to utterly destroy the medium’s history like this!

Sadly, I can see this being the future. You just have to look at how other entertainment is being consumed by customers to see that's how most people want to experience things. I imagine these kinds of services would already be more common place in gaming if the internet infrastructure was in place for it. I already dislike the rise of digital gaming and if the likes of these subscription services do eventually take over, then that would be me done with the hobby, at least in terms of new releases. 

[Sheikah]

Yeah I think streaming is inevitably the route gaming will eventually go (by and large). Once internet reaches crazy speeds across the board (in a long time) there'll be little reason not to.

[Hero-of-Time]

Android Wilson.  

This whole push towards the live service/GaaS model isn't needed at all and most publishers are already starting to see that they can't compete with Fornite. Both Sony and Nintendo have shown that players are quite happy with single player experiences but obviously these types of games ( buy it once and that's it ) aren't enough for a lot of publishers because there's no way for them to get more cash out of you once you have made that initial purchase.

There was a good article by Polygon that was published the other day about publishers chasing the GaaS model.

https://www.polygon.com/2019/6/24/18683652/single-player-games-as-service-fortnite-anthem-apex

With most of the big publishers trying to have their own Fornite, the whole thing is just not sustainable. People like Jeff Gertsmann, Colin Moriarty and Jim Sterling have said for ages now that this bubble is going to burst if every publisher tries to design their games in a way that has players needing to sign in and play every single day. There's only so much free time that a person has to play a game and it can't be spread across numerous titles that all play in the same way.

[S.C.G]