Sunday, October 31, 2010

This Year's (lame) Costume

So I've had some pretty awesome Halloween costumes over the years. Some of the better ones came long after I stopped going door-to-door for candy.

As far as game-related costumes, I was the Luigi to my shorter friend's Mario when I was in college. I was Link two years ago when my wife was Zelda. Last year I was Professor Layton and my wife was "Lucia" ... Luke's long-lost sister =P

This year we had family over Saturday night. It was pretty awesome. We ate finger foods, watched "The King of Kong" and played the Monty Python edition of a card game called "Fluxx."

Today, Amy and I just planned to watch old Halloween specials and chow down on some quality candy. Without much need for costumes, we just threw some (lame ones) together. Amy had some temporary tattoos plastered on her face. I cut out and donned a paper crown. Then I carried around a Kirby plush all night. Can anyone guess who I was this year? ^_^

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What were some of you this year? Did anyone actually get out for trick-or-treating?

Anyone have any awesome game-related costumes over the years?

Tournie info and some new Wallpapers

The current info for the next Tournie has been posted. Feel free to talk it up on the forums to decide some of the details.

Also, my continuing obsession with the Crystal Chronicles series has yielded two more FFCC wallpapers. They can be found in the Extras section.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

High Demolition #001 - NBA Jam

Get equipped with: Web Comic!

Issue #001 is now live and available in the "Extras" section.

(But of course, you could just click the convenient thumbnail below instead.)

I figured we'd start off easy with a nice straight-forward one. All of our strips will have some kind of commentary on gaming culture. The execution of that commentary will vary in its wackyness.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Site Chat Tonight!

Site chat starting in 42 minutes. See you there!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

25th Aniversary Bundle confirmed for the USA and Wii remote Plus price and details

We have 4 things coming out on November 7th from Nintendo.

First is the 25th Anniversary Red Wii bundle.
It will have the Red Wii,Red Wii remote plus and nunchuk,New Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii Sports.It will be $199.99

Second is the Red Anniversary DSi XL with Mario Kart DS for $179.99

Thirdly Wii Remote Plus will be in bundles and in hardware packaging from now on.Also it will be avalable without the hardware for a price of $39.99. Colors comes in White,Black,Blue and Pink.

Last but not least is the Wii remote Plus and Fling Smash bundle for $49.99.
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Well with all this standard is anybody going to go back and grab any Wii motion + games to try them out that you missed out on and if so what games?

Saturday, October 16, 2010

EA Seemlessly Merges Stupidity with Intelligence


Thanks to the NBA Jam fiasco, I'm not a big fan of EA right now. However, Trey Smith from EA had this to say during an interview with MTV:

What do you think is the biggest problem current games suffer from?
I think there are a number of problems we have with the way games are being developed today, but honestly, I think one of the biggest problems right now is the actions and attitude of some of the gamers out there. You know who they are. If they spent less time spewing ignorant hate on the boards and in online games, and more time rallying behind the great games they love and helping to build a thriving community that welcomes everyone that shows up to play with them - everybody wins. Nothing wrong with a little smack talk here and there, just wish gamers respected each other more. I just got back from PAX Prime down in Seattle. I am of the opinion that if the people of PAX ran the world, it would be a much better place. Costumes optional.
[link]


I agree, Trey. I hope in the future more developers and gamers do too.

A Conversation with Epicenter Studios (sort of)


Recently, GoNintendo reported that GameStop no longer listed "Rock of the Dead" as being released for the Wii. [link] This was indicative of another slap in the face of Wii owners since this game was originally announced as a Wii exclusive.

However, Bryan ("roland13x") from Epicenter Studios made the (possibly suicidal) decision to join in an internet discussion on video games. However, (most) everyone was cool and the two of us were able to have this nice conversation on GoNintendo's post...


roland13x
Hey guys, Bryan here from Epicenter studios.

First off, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the passion you guys have for gaming. Even those of you who are saying "Rock of the Dead is the sux!!1!" :) It's that kind of passion that fuels us when we're making games.

For the Wii version of Rock, all I can say right now is don't worry about it. It's coming. We've pretty much had everything go against us for that game, but we won, and it's coming.

So even for those of you who are hating something you haven't given a chance to...hell, especially for those guys, it's coming. Don't know when, but it's coming!


NinSage
roland - thanks for being a stand up guy about all this.

Here are my 2 cents and I hope you reply when you get a chance.

Cent #1. I read about this game in (I believe) Nintendo Power a few months ago. As an avid lover of both HotD and Typing of the Dead I was very interested in this title. Psyched? Maybe only in small amounts. But interested? Abso-freaking-lutely.

Cent #2. When I see any company treat the Wii like a second class citizen it bothers me. (In this case: exclusive > delay > removed listing > "it's coming for realsies!")

Why does it bother me? Because I think the best games of this generation have come out for the Wii and as a guy who was very into the PS1 and PS2, that means a lot.

So when I see all this potential for a platform, and then developers and publishers giving the Wii the cold shoulder (watered-down versions, or no release at all, even when it seems to make poor business sense!), I just get frustrated.

There only seem to be 3 reasons why a company would ignore the Wii.
1) lack of HD
2) lack of processing power on par with the PS3/60
3) lack of a "hardcore" image.

Reason #1 seems real weak to me (Pac-Man is still a pretty fun game.)
Reason #2 makes sense, but then again, doesn't that make it cheaper to develop for???
and Reason #3 is stupid beyond all comprehension ... but the sounds from the echo chamber sure indicate a fixation.

So what I'm hoping, what I'm asking from you is, can you explain to us why things like this happen? Perhaps you can only comment on your own experiences - and that would be fine.

Thank you.


roland13x
@NinSage

Hey NinSage. First of all, a well-written post, so thank you!

While I can't go into detail about the circumstances behind Rock of the Dead's development, I can express what I see happening within the industry in general.

We (Epicenter) has been very supportive of the Wii. In fact, our first two projects (Critter Round-Up for WiiWare and Real Heroes: Firefighter) were exclusive to the Wii. Sure, part of it was because we had smaller budgets and needed the lower-fi platform, but a lot of it was because we believed in what the Wii was as a platform.

However, we've all seen a ton of, well, not great games sell a ton of copies on the Wii. And when publishers see that they can spend $20 million on a PS3/360 title and make $10 million, or they can spend $500k on a Wii game and make $4 million...well, you can see where that ends up. Sure, there are some publishers that put a lot of money into high quality games for the Wii, but most of the Wii's lineup is, well, lower priced titles that have some success. So the cycle continues...

Quick Edit - You wouldn't believe some of the conversations we've had with some publishers. We've been asked to deliver some ridiculously ambitious games at costs that aren't feasible, and then we see these same projects completed (generally poorly) by Chinese or Thai studios. Frustrating.

So while your three reasons are, for sure, valid reasons, I think you're seeing financial reasons dominate what's going on with the Wii software.

Having said that, we certainly didn't intend to treat the Wii with a cold shoulder. We actually really appreciate the Wii because it gives smaller developers with smaller budgets a platform where they can compete. Which is one thing that scares me a bit with the 3DS. The DS might be the last console that will commercially support smaller or 2D style games on a mass market level. But I guess we'll see.


NinSage
@roland13x

More devs should do what you're doing right now: making a connection with their audience. Honestly, I didn't know the name of your company before this discussion (don't feel bad, I *heart* games, not business).

However, I think I speak for a lot of people here when I say that knowing a fellow like yourself is behind the wheel makes us want to familiarize ourselves with that entity.

Based purely on their, for lack of a better term, "philosophy," I will always check out games made by three people: Warren Spector, Jason Vandenberghe and now roland13x (Epicenter). =P

Plus, I don't see 2D gaming going anywhere. And I don't even mean 2D as in no-glasses. I mean 2D like the way Metal Slug, Muaramasa and ABaHBlob are 2D. Frankly, I don't think the simplicity of 2D gaming will ever fully lose its appeal (to devs AND the audience).

We still have print media, we still have radio, we'll still have 2D games. The sky is never falling as much as Michael Pachter insists that it is =P

If you're still checking this, I have s'more questions to add to our discussion ...

1. I think your assessments of the economics at work are accurate. However, that only confuses me further. Given that relationship between development investment and potential profits, wouldn't that make the Wii very attractive to ... everyone?

For example,
High budget Wii -> low or high $$$
HighER budget PS/360 -> low or high $$$
Low budget PS/360 -> low $$$
LowER budget Wii -> low or high $$$

Obviously I'm speaking gross generalities, but it just seems like the Wii would provide lower risks and higher rewards, especially for smaller devs.
But perhaps there is a glitch in my matrix? Care to correct it?

2. Also, I need more enlightenment on just how different the cost to develop on Wii is from the HD consoles?
For instance, if a game like No More Heroes sells 400k units, is that profitable for a studio of their size?
After all, it is a 3D game, it has gameplay and narrative depth, but it doesn't exactly push the technological envelope.

Conversely, how many units would its HD version need to sell before turning the same profit? 600k? Over a million? Ball park figures are welcome.

3. Would the costs of a game like Muramasa or ABaHBlob be significantly cheaper than a No More Heroes? Does the purely 2D really cut the cost? Or does the investment in animation bump it back up?

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Thank in advance. And if you don't feel like continuing the discussion here, feel free to write me!
ninsage@nintemple.com


roland13x
@NinSage

By the way, I'm a HUGE Warren Spector fan. System Shock 2 is still one of my favorite games of all time. I was walking down the street at GDC two years ago and Warren was walking towards me, and I totally choked and didn't say hello and "thank you" to him. Grr....

And I didn't mean to say that 2D gaming was going away, it'll always be around. It's more of the ability for that type of game to A) get made and B) have the potential to find a mass market audience (in other words, be successful) is going to be diminished somewhat with the move to the quite powerful 3DS.

For sure we're speaking generalities here, and my experiences may be different from other devs, so this is pretty much my observations speaking. You are correct, I do think the WIi provides lower risks with potentially higher rewards. But once it's proven that something, for example, Carnival Games, developed at probably 10% of the budget of a lower-end 360/PS3 title, can make itself a 1000% profit...well, you're going to just see a ton of very low budget Wii titles in the hopes that one hits it big. And not that budget and quality are completely directly linked...but that is the case more often than not.

And frankly, I don't think a lot of people still know how to deal with the Wii. When we first started up, the Wii had been out for maybe 2 months. We pitched a couple Wii games to just about every publisher, large and small, and they were all, seriously, all of them, unsure of what was going to happen with the Wii, so they basically ignored it at first. And then they collectively see how successful and "non-fad" it was and everyone jumped on with some good but mostly negative results. The unconventional nature of the platform really handicapped a lot of companies.

So, NMI. If they really sold 400k units, and assuming most of those sales were at the full release price, then most likely someone made a profit on it. The tricky part here is comparing Japanese development with Western development. I've only worked in the West, so most of what I know of Japanese development is through stories or third-party conversations...but more often than not, those guys virtually kill themselves making games. There's a ton of turnover at a lot of the larger companies...in other words, it's often not very pleasant, but they do get a lot from a little if you follow. But assuming it costs them what it'd cost us to make a game like that, I'd say someone made money on it.

If the HD version was basically the same game with higher-res models and textures but virtually the same game, then it probably wasn't too expensive to "up-convert", so I'd say another 400k-600k in HD sales would be very healthy for them. Again, assumptions and generalities...

That's a good question, but I would say yes, a 2D game will most often be cheaper than a similarly-scoped 3D one. The added expense of beautiful hand-drawn characters and animations is probably less than the savings on creating 3D models, landscapes and more complex scripting.


NinSage
@roland13x

Thank you very much for your informative responses.

That's too bad about your Warren encounter. Stick with the biz and you'll get another shot =)

So I checked out the Epicenter website.

I have three things to say:
1. If the Wii version of RotD is not depressingly gimped, you'll have my sale. It would actually motivate me to pick up a silly plastic guitar for the Wii! ... I have two for the PS2 in a closet somewhere ...

As a musician (bass, drums, guitar, piano) the idea of "pretending" to play Sweet Home Alabama never really appealed to me. But the idea of "pretending" to kill zombies with rawk?! To quote myself, "abso-freaking-lutely."

2. Perhaps you were aiming for that broader audience (can't blame you) but "Real Heroes: Firefighters" is really the kind of name that will make long-time gamers ignore your efforts. If only it had been called "Inferno" or "Ember's Glow" or "Disaster: Day of Cri--" ... nevermind that last one.

3. That said, after looking up some videos, there is an infinitely greater chance of me someday playing "Real Heroes: Firefighter" than, say, "G__ of War 5." Take that for what it's worth.


roland13x
@NinSage

Oh man, let me tell you how much I disliked the title of the Firefighter game. All I can say is naming things is hard. Weeding through trademarks and all that fun legal stuff is, well, not fun.


NinSage
@roland13x

I understand... the creative process can often be a battle of attrition.

Thanks again for the good chatter!

Who's JonPonikvar? Dunno. But he's smart.


Saw this on GameTrailers. It's a response to the (rave) review GT gave regarding Kirby's Epic Yarn. So here's what a one "JonPonikvar" had to say...
JonPonikvar said: Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.The Wii is like the artistic third brother in a family of jocks. The two bigger, stronger brothers (PS3 & 360) are both star athletes, regularly outperforming each other with more impressive games. Meanwhile the Wii stays in the art room inside the school, showcasing an incredible level of artistic ability to balance what little physical strength he has. While his brothers are out riling up the crowds with each game they bring to the field, he remains diligent, creating masterpieces of more simplistic beauty that garner the attention of a crowd all his own.

I've had similar thoughts like this for a while now. Perhaps you have too? And sure, it is a generalization with several notable exceptions. But, regardless, I think it's a darn good analogy.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Announcements


1. I've finally perfected the graphics along the left side of the site. Enjoy their awesomeness.

2. There is a new desktop background in the Extras section for "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring of Fates." (I'm on a FFCC kick!)

Also, I redid the SMG2 background... it's exponentially better.

3. I think I've fixed the problem with spammers joining the forums. Time will tell.

4. I may be able to incorporate a site chat directly into the forums that would also work on the Wii. That would be cool because A) it would be convenient for forum users and B) that convenience would likely increase chat usage.

5. The first edition of the web comic strip "Highly Deaf" should be up next week. Watch for it!

6. Good night.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Site Chat Tonight! and Caffeinated Hunting

"CoffeeWithGames" runs a blog of the same name. I've always found his blog interesting, insightful and informative. Well, Maxi and I connected with Coffee a few months ago and found a mutual desire to hunt monstrous things.

Coffee was cool enough to post some videos of these adventures and give a nice shout-out to our site in the process. So let me shout right back:

Check out CoffeeWithGames: [link]
Check out the CWG/NinTemple joint hunt: [link]

~~~

And don't forget, site Chat tonight! 8PM EST! If you wanna just talk that's cool, and if you want to suggest a game for people to play that's cool too!

We'll see you there!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Is online multiplayer good for new titles?

As most of you know I have been playing Monster Hunter Tri since June and well I can't get enough of it. I noticed something in me that I would like to talk about.
I don't think I have purchased a game since I got it so this is where I started thinking about if having online multiplayer in older games is good for newer titles that doesn't have any form of online play.

I think it can be a problem for newer titles because it can prevent you from trying out new games because you are heavily vested into the old game. In the end it is probably bad from a business perspective for other publishers.

Am I alone as far as not getting any new games after being so into a game that I haven't played anything else?
Does anybody else feel wrapped up into a game that you can't stop playing?

Please share your thoughts.