evild_edd • Comments
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Animal Crossing: New Leaf review
Thanks much.
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The Last of Us review
Journey's end.
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Nintendo retreats into its shell at E3
Respectfully disagree. They've been churning the same set of titles for every machine for far too long - Mario, 'New' Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, Donkey Kong - it's just the same games over and over. They are quality titles, but the repetition is galling. One thing I've never understood about the gaming community is why the likes CoD get so criticised for their modest evolutions game-on-game whilst Nintendo get lauded for a very similar thing.
Even the die hard Nintendo fans must be bored by now (whether they admit it or not). I'm sure everyone would love to see some new IP and creative ideas from Nintendo. I think they have the talent and ability, they just need the balls and the desire.
Strange to think that the Gamecube was the last exciting time to be a Nintendo gamer (for home consoles anyway). The machine may have sold (relatively) poorly but at least we got to see the birth of Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion, Metroid Prime, and Animal Crossing. Reply +16
Dark Souls worldwide sales total 2.3 million
Wasn't the expanded edition called the 'Prepare To Die' edition? I think AotA was the name of the expansion/DLC.
Really happy it's sold well (depending on which publisher is judging the figures, of course). I've added one to the 360 sales and am enjoying my first playthrough at the moment :0) Reply +18
Paul Cuisset returns to Flashback with new remake
Looks more like Alan Wake to me. Certainly not how I remembered/imagined him.
Flashback is one of my favourite games of the SNES era, and the video of this remake leaves me very cold indeed. It'll have to score extremely well for me to place my cynicism aside and give it a go. Reply +2
Batman: Arkham Origins announced for PC, PS3, Wii U and Xbox 360
GAME to sell a range of tablets, including iPads
Must admit that I popper into Game (in Welwyn) last weekend and actually found their prices weren't quite as ludicrously over priced as they once were. Brand new titles (Bioshock Infinite, for example) were still going for RRP, but there were some reasonable deals in their sale section. I picked up a copy of Dishono(u)red for £15 new, which was cheaper than Amazon or ShopTo.
Whatever you think of Game's performance over the past several years, it would be nice to see them get their act together and offer a decent proposition on the high street. Reply +11
Square Enix boss leaves as company announces "extraordinary loss"
"Profit forecasts have been slashed in the wake of plans for "major reforms and restructuring" at the company - an effort that will cost 10 billion yen"
...
"The company expected to make 3.5 billion yen (£24.4m) profit, but will now make a 13 billion yen (£90m) loss."
13bn yen loss means a 3bn loss before the adjustment for restructuring. That's still a significant amount.
People are right to be concerned, especially if SE are considering the West as failing them, only to throw counter this by rushing more FF releases. They can release more FF titles, of course - there is an audience for them, clearly - but the hope is that this won't come at the expense of the good work they've been doing with the western IPs. Hitman may have divided opinion, but the TR reboot has been well received, as was Sleeping Dogs and Deus Ex (the latter despite serious reservations). Reply +1
"Square Enix's problem is not just Final Fantasy.
It is the poor performance of previously money-spinning games like Sleeping Dogs, Hitman and, yes, Tomb Raider."
erm... Sleeping Dogs is a new IP and a massive gamble on SE's part. Even if you consider it part Activision's True Crimes series, it doesn't carry that title and TC has never been a big series. Not sure how that can be classed as "perviously money-spinning".
The other two are a fair point, but I'm not convinced that any of these 3 have been flops, rather that they've been below SE's overblown expectations. TR has been the year's biggest new release, and by quite some margin judgeing by Chart Track's vague comments, so not sure how that can be a flop. It's far too early to assess it's overall performance, surely.
I suspect that all 3 titles will have turned a profit for SE, just not enough to satisfy SE's demands to find the next COD - which is what all the big publishers seem to be demanding from each of their releases these days. Reply +7
There was a time when they were able to court the western audience with high budget FF games, but having traditional JRPG mechanics with shinier paint doesn't seem to appeal to the mass market western gamers. But, if they change the formula too much then they'll risk losing their (sizable) home audience.
SE's strategy has also been bewildering. FF XIII's linear structure seemed to alienate everyone and showed a complete lack of understanding about what genre fans want (regardless of territory). The failed MMO FF experiment only compounds their issues, and shows that they don't quite 'get it'. Then you look at their release list and see their strategy as being one of throwing more FF titles at the problem....WTF?
Their western success seems to be coming from the old Eidos titles (Hitman sold well I think, and TR's done great early business). I hope the restructuring allows the Eidos arm to pursue it's current strategy whilst hopefully getting the central SE division to have a proper rethink about how they go about making the most of their existing IPs whilst developing some all-new franchises that will have worldwide appeal.
Despite their failings, the last thing I want to see is another of the major publishers in trouble, especially after the recent THQ collapse. Reply +10
Lego City Undercover review
Isn't it a bit worrying that a recently released console is already imposing tech limitations? It's hardly as though the Lego games are the most technically demanding, either.... Reply -5
EA cans Dead Space series following poor sales of Dead Space 3 - report
1. Unwanted and unnecessary co-op
2. Action-oriented focus
3. Dropping of horror elements
IMO, a lot of games (even those who'd enjoyed DS 1 & 2) were at best hesitant and at worst already looking for an excuse to avoid buying DS3. The micro transactions were just a worthy justification for dodging this title.
Dead Space always felt like the unexpected success EA didn't really know how to handle. They could have grown it into a steady franchise had they held to the original vision, but I wonder whether the board looked at it and thought it was one series they could afford to experiment with and jettison if those gambles didn't pay off. Reply +17
Crysis 3 was running on Wii U but port "had to die"
Erm....Ubisoft? The same Ubisoft that had the most third party launch releases for the console, and the best exclusive with ZombieU? That Ubisoft? Riiiight, yes, they're absolutely intent on killing it.
As for EA, it'll definitely be interesting to see what sort of connection they have to MS and the Next Xbox. Reply +9
Amid growing anger at micro-transactions, CliffyB calls on gamers to vote with their wallets
The hardcore minority (which we all are - even if we don't get much time to actually play games, our visiting EG demonstrates that we're hobbyists at the least, and certainly not casual gamers) may not like some of the directions the industry's exploring, but ultimately consumer demand will drive business. The unpalatable truth is that there are a lot more uneducated casual gamers out there than there are informed hobbyists, but then that's true of every industry, as demonstrated by music and film charts.
The good news is that there will always be a demand for hardcore/traditional gaming experiences, that we hobbyists are loyal to the brands/franchises/companies we respect, and that our 'vocal' nature can be a positive for spreading word about the things that truly inspire us. Even better, modern tech and digital distribution mean it's easier for those developers wishing to target that audience to actually reach them. It's easy to forget that the hardcore enthusiast has been around for decades, the difference now is that they're funding kickstarter projects for whatever they're able and willing to afford instead of spending £150 on a Neo Geo AES cart.
CliffyB is right - if we don't like EA's practices then we just simply shouldn't buy their games. More to the point, we need to spend money on the games and companies that we want to see prosper, to ensure they keep making and releasing the types of games we want to see using the distribution method we prefer. Reply +18
"If those moaning are such a vocal minority, why bother blogging about them?"
Because they're vocal...? Reply +16
Dishonored's new story-based DLC The Other Side of the Coin spotted
Daddy-Doom-Bar's comment reminded me that it definitely took me a couple hours to get into it though. And I definitely preferred the more aggressive play style, just because the violent powers are more fun.
That said, I wouldn't mind making a third attempt for a clean, no kills, no sightings, run through the game. The DLC may just give me the incentive to make a third pass... Reply +1
Spelunky DLC adds eight new playable characters, 24 deathmatch arenas
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance review
Camera issues is a disappointment though. I remember the first Xbox Ninja Gaiden really suffering for similar reasons. This genre seems permanently afflicted with this problem, with the odd exception (Bayonetta was largely free of this issue). Reply +7
Face-Off: Aliens: Colonial Marines
Actually, judging on yesterday's live playthrough, the audio (music and sound effects) is rather spiffing. Unfortunately that appears to be be the sole redeeming feature. Reply +6
Pride and Prejudice review
On the bright side, at least a dumping spared you having to watch the entirety of PAP... silver linings etc. Reply +2
Warner says a new Batman Arkham game will be out this year
"it's 2011's Game of the Year dude" Portal 2 says hello. I'm sure many preferred Skyrim and Dark Souls as well, for that matter. Still, I'm sure I've been neglectfully sitting on a class game for far too long.
Personally I don't find the forumites too negative on EG. Yes, there'll always be someone who doesn't appreciate a particular game, but AC got a lot of the same complaints and criticisms. My concern is that I'm not a huge open world fan, and the switch to that from the more linear AA wasn't to my tastes.
I'll give it an open-minded try after DS though :0) Reply +1
First, however, I've the small matter of Dark Souls to start and 'finish'... Reply 0
Games without demos sell better on Xbox 360
Solution: trailers pre-release and demos later. Get the hype up for day 1 sales and then (hopefully) get a later sales boost from a post-release demo.
Edite: worth saying that agree with above posts that it's different for physical and digital releases. You can return a physical release, but I also much prefer to try before I buy with digital. Reply 0
BAFTA 2013 video game nominations revealed
Action - Halo 4
Artistic Achievement - Journey
Audio Achievement - Halo 4
Best Game - Dishonored
British Game - Forza Horizon
Debut Game - Forza Horizon
Game Design - Dishonored
Family - Minecraft Xbox 360
Game Innovation - Fez
Mobile & Handheld - LittleBigPlanet Vita
Online Browser - Runescape (maybe?)
Online Multiplayer - Halo 4
Original Music - The Walking Dead
Performer - Dave Fennoy (Lee Everett - The Walking Dead)
Sports/Fitness - Trials Evolution
Story - The Walking Dead
Strategy - XCOM: Enemy Unkown
BAFTA Ones to Watch - Pixel Story Reply +1