What games are you currently playing?

[Icemage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Still playing Dragon's Dogma here. There might be huge DLC cash-ins in the future, but what's already on tap is plenty to keep your average player busy. There's something really, really compelling about having your AI pawn come back and bring goodies and knowledge back with it that you didn't have to earn yourself.


Icemage

[Nandito]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

From what I played in the demo of that game,

I think all I'd be doing is throwing things off cliffs.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I want it on a console because of what an awesome experience it was on PS3. The artstyle was a big part of what defined that game, and by moving it to PSP they threw that away how many times do Ray and I have to explain that to you?

The PSP games look like your typical anime, as opposed to the beautiful piece of water-color art that was the original game.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

All the wanting in the world isn't going to change the fact that more people in Japan own handheld than consoles. It is what it is, no one wants to blow millions on console JRPGs that won't sell just for the sake of "art."

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Right, except for the fact that Sony has repeatedly taken such risks with various games and a lot of us are grateful for it.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

What the hell are you talking about?

VC wasn't Sony's risk, just an exclusive. Sony paid for an exclusive and Sega gets a money hat that lowers their financial risk in development. But in this case Sega still didn't break even. Sega CEOs and businessmen liked the critical acclaim, wanted a sure thing with stronger returns that served to do more than give Sony an exclusive.

They kept the series exclusive to Sony, still got money hats and made a handheld sequel that was actually profitable. "Art" for Sony's portfolio did nothing for Sega.

Sony just paid to get Guacamelee as a PS3/Vita exclusive. It's a Metroidvania brawler with a dual reality shift mechanic for its platforming hook. I'm not mad it's exclusive, I'm ok with it because I have another reason to want a Vita besides Persona 4 and FFX HD. But I'm not fooling myself into thinking its a risk for Sony, it's a risk for the developer. Indie games do very well on 360, Steam and a game like this would also shine on eShop.

I'm also not going to swoon over its art style. Luchadors fighting demons and doing Samus Aran kinda stuff. It's cute, but it's no Ico, Limbo or Wind Waker for it.

[Nestama]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Replaying Pandora's Tower to get Endings B, C and D. Thanks to the awesome (it really, really is awesome) New Game+ mechanic, getting those endings won't be horribly frustrating and time consuming.

[Icemage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

What the hell are you talking about?

VC wasn't Sony's risk, just an exclusive. Sony paid for an exclusive and Sega gets a money hat that lowers their financial risk in development. But in this case Sega still didn't break even. Sega CEOs and businessmen liked the critical acclaim, wanted a sure thing with stronger returns that served to do more than give Sony an exclusive.

They kept the series exclusive to Sony, still got money hats and made a handheld sequel that was actually profitable. "Art" for Sony's portfolio did nothing for Sega.

To be fair, Sony takes the most risks of the 3 console holders in terms of what they'll support financially as well as market. Microsoft barely even knows what an exclusive or new IP looks like any more, and Nintendo, while they do still make fantastic exclusive games, also play things very very safe (when was the last time you saw actual new Nintendo IP?).

Sony does its fair share of sequelization (God of War: MCXVIII) and me-too-isms (Super Sma... er... PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale), but then you get off the wall stuff like Journey, Heavy Rain, echochrome and LittleBigPlanet, and seriously WTF things like PixelJunk 4AM and Datura. Not all of the experiments work, but they do at least give these projects a fair shot - and more importantly they put marketing muscle behind the projects so they aren't left to die.

Sony just paid to get Guacamelee as a PS3/Vita exclusive. It's a Metroidvania brawler with a dual reality shift mechanic for its platforming hook. I'm not mad it's exclusive, I'm ok with it because I have another reason to want a Vita besides Persona 4 and FFX HD. But I'm not fooling myself into thinking its a risk for Sony, it's a risk for the developer. Indie games do very well on 360, Steam and a game like this would also shine on eShop.

More specifically Guacamelee is the first indie title I am aware of that's being funded by the Sony Indie Pub Fund, which shells out money for development of Vita and/or PSN exclusive titles.

As for the 360, "some" indie games do well on it (see: Minecraft, Castle Crashers). A lot of others crash and burn, though. Apparently Microsoft's publishing rules on XBLA turn off a lot of indie devs, especially ones who have plans to release multiplatform.

I'm not really sure where the eShop stands in all of this; Nintendo doesn't talk about how well/poorly eShop games sell, and the only estimate I've heard of was somewhat questionable.


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Sony's in deep, deep shit, financially though. They aren't taking risks so much as treading water and doing anything to keep treading it without sinking. This is why their talk of exclusives being "a sign of desperation" quickly vanished in favor of securing exclusives.. I know people love to point to Fl0w, Flower and The Journey, but those are created by thatgamecompany, not Sony. Jenova Chen pays lip service to Sony because he's contractually obligated to. Heavy Rain is a huge pile of shit and its insulting, a huge slap in the face to the likes of Lucasarts and Telltale Games to be treating it as unique, innovative or special. Glorified point-and click adventure and not even a good one.

The last time I saw an actual new Nintendo IP?

Pushmo, Sakura Samurai and Dillon's Rolling Western. All released between December and March. Or do digital games magically not count? It doesn't matter how many new IPs Nintendo generates, no one pays attention when they do. They'll given blast Nintendo for making one new Kid Icarus game after 25 years of not doing so. Never mind the fact is so different from the other games it may as well be a new IP.

-------------------

Angry, I just got banned from a casino for winning too much in Fallout New Vegas. I was winning, getting beer, whiskey and they gave me a cool outfit and then a got to 4,500 chips and the suddenly had a problem with that. So I shot the blackjack dealer.

That aside I'm liking it better than Fallout 3. It has a bit more variety and personality, I can actually make worthwhile money by gambling, the workbench actually means something more than a handful of items, it has weapon mods, combining parts to improve condition and encourages recycling. That and I've had quite a few scares from mutants, raiders and fishmen and geckos. People are a bit faster on their feet and more inclined to to swarm you as opposed to just standing there and letting you shoot them.

[Icemage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

The last time I saw an actual new Nintendo IP?

Pushmo, Sakura Samurai and Dillon's Rolling Western. All released between December and March. Or do digital games magically not count? It doesn't matter how many new IPs Nintendo generates, no one pays attention when they do. They'll given blast Nintendo for making one new Kid Icarus game after 25 years of not doing so. Never mind the fact is so different from the other games it may as well be a new IP.

Digital games do count, but how much marketing was applied to any of the above? Effectively zero. Kid Icarus at least had some heft thrown behind it (but it's not new IP). That's not how you establish new IP; if Nintendo is wondering why no one is paying any attention to what they're doing and why there's a widespread consensus that they're constantly going back to the well, it's because they've given in to the self-fulfilling prophecy of "No one knows what it is, so why spend money marketing it?"

---

Just got to level 42 in Dragon's Dogma after some 40+ hours of on-again-off-again meandering. There's some surprisingly ambiguous decisions you can make in some of the missions and quests. Wasn't expecting this much moral ambiguity from a game that otherwise feels a bit vanilla aside from the great combat.


Icemage

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Does it really matter if Nintendo makes a new IP at this point though? They have enough of them that they can cycle through them and by the time you loop back around you can say "Gee, it's been a long time since the last Star Fox game." The only time they've ever done something like a trilogy has been Metroid Prime (and they released plenty of games between each entry), so that probably helps curb the impression that they've caught sequelitis.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

That's really it. Nintendo does not need new IPs so much as just getting some older ones off the bench. They got Pit out there, Samus is long overdue for another 2D Metroid (not a great need, but it has been eight years and Konami doesn't seem to want Castlevania going there again, jerks). Star Fox is due a game. There's a whole slew of NES era IPs the could remake for eShop like Ice Climbers. Advance Wars hasn't had a game for a bit, but Fire Emblem is back and doing well. Paper Mario and Luigi's Mansion 2 are on the way.

Maybe do something with Earthbound.

[Ketaru]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

You know...it's a Konami game, but I really wish they would've continued localizing Ganbare Goemon/Mystical Ninja games.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

The last one I played was on N64, and it was mediocre at best. Just let that series die off already.

Eagerly awaiting BF3: Close Quarters & the new premium service on monday along with E3. Halo Waypoint also just put out the new pre-order skins & armor permutations and I have to say Best Buy's is by far the best, though I dunno if I wanna get my copy from them just yet.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I don't know what to think of Konami anymore. They don't do things that make me want to boycott them personally, they still have great game I want to support.

Its just it seems like they don't want to support them by letting people know they're coming out.