Censorship

The release of Xenoblade Chronicles X in the West is only a couple of days away and with that in mind lets talk about a controversial topic. Censorship.

First things first. I'm absolutely against any form of censorship. That means I am against altering a game or work of fiction and I'm against banning games or works of fiction from store shelves. Of course the second action is the right of every store owner. You can decide what you want to sell, but nonetheless I'm not to fond of shops doing this and probably won't shop there.

And yes I'm also against the censorship of controversial topics or offending depictions. First of all everyone deems different things ''offensive'', and secondly it just limits the creation of new stories.

Censorship is never good. In the best case it blurs the intention of the creator, but in the worst it absolutely butchers the story.

I'm especially against the censorship of Japanese games. I'm not the biggest fan of those games. Of course I'm a huge Nintendo Fan, but I wouldn't consider their games to be classical Japanese. But even as not a Fan I see censorship of these games as problematic. Why would you want to ''Westernize'' such games and destroy one of their biggest appeals.

Yes Fanservice is deeply ingrained into many of these games, but what so wrong about that. All of these outrage towards Fanservice and sexy depictions of women in games, stems from the wrong assumption that those deceptions have a real world influence. It's practically the same nonsense as the Violence debate from several years ago. It has been proven time and time again that violence in video games doesn't breed violence in real life. And I don't see why it should be any different with Sexism.

But let's talk about two recent acts of censorship in Nintendo games.

Fatal Frame (Project Zero) 5:

Here the lingerie outfits for the heroines, which were unlocked after you beat the game, have been replaced by Zero Suit Samus and a Princess Zelda outfit.

Now one might say that a lingerie outfit detracts from the idea of a horror game, but so does a skin tight latex suit, which leaves nothing to imagination. The Problem with this act of censorship is that it's completely unnecessary and doesn't change a thing. It only makes the people, knowing about it, furious. People will always focus on the things, which were taken away. Even if you give them something in return. If they just had added those two new costumes, everyone would be happy.

Because people offended by this:

will also be offended by this:

Source of both Pictures: Fatal Frame 5

Xenoblade Chronicles X:

While the Censorship of lingerie outfits was unnecessary the removal of the boob slider in Xenoblade is truly a stupid move.

In the Japanese Version, when creating a women, you have the possibility to change the breast size of your Avatar. This feature has been removed in the western release.

Now you may say, that this is a needles feature, which would only be abused by teenage boys. And while this is certainly right, it also limits the immersion.

Xenoblade Chronicles X has a massive character creation. And many players will certainly create an Avatar in their image. Be it dream or real. By locking the females to one standard breast size you essentially lock out women with small or big chests. Neither of them can create a version of themselves if they wish. With this Nintendo practically tells them, that they don't exist. At least on Mira. A Planet where even Panda People can exist.

Picture Source: Xenoblade Chronicles X

And of course the feature would have been abused to create huge bouncing Titty-Monsters. But what's so wrong about that? Games should still be allowed to create mindless fun. Let people create women with balloons for tits. Just because there is the possibility for a feature to be ''abused'' in such a way, shouldn't tempt you to remove it. Or we will be looking at a bleak and boring future for video games, where all characers are genderless, amorphous blobs.

In the end I can only say that I prefer this:

Picture Source: Dead or Alive Xtreme 3

over this:

Picture Source: Community

Still: Go Human Beings!

So please developers and publishers alike. Don't censor your games. Don't be afraid of the things you create. Be proud. Show them to the world.

And as always

thanks for reading

Linkle

Video Source: GameXplain/Nintendo

Congratulations to everyone who called her. Linkle finally got announced for Hyrule Warriors Legends on the 3DS. And I have good news for everyone owning the Wii-U Version. Nintendo announced that all characters from Legends will also become available there. The Stories of Linkle and Toon Link, however, will remain exclusive to the 3DS. I don't mind this, as long as I get to play the characters in adventure mode.

I'm still not to keen on Hyrule Warriors 1.5, but at least now I don't have to buy it to experience the new characters. Still I would have preferred an actual Toon Hyrule Warriors for the 3DS and not just this ''updated'' Version of the original game.

But enough of that for now. Today I'd like to talk about Linkle.

She looks awesome!

I have to admit, that her announcement got me pretty hyped. Last year, when her design first surfaced with the Hyrule Warriors artbook, I was pretty sure that we would see her as a DLC character for the game. And in a way I was right.

 Picture Source: Hyrule Warriors Artbook

Linkle looks like a Mid-Range Typ of fighter and a good addition to the rooster. Her crossbows look like interesting weapons and help distinguishing herself from other fighters. Especially the move, where you're shooting enemies, while sidestepping like in a 3^rd Person shooter, looks interesting. (Found at 0:53 in the video). From the looks she also seems like a more agile fighter. Of course she also takes inspiration from Links moveset, but that is to be expected. All in all I'm very happy with her addition and I'm looking forward to trying her out.

Picture Source: Nintendo

Now this was the part, where I talked about the character and her moves. Now comes the part surrounding her. Anyone not interested in Game Politics, Gamergate and things like that, can safely skip this part. Ok? Now then lets start.

Firstly I'll have to say, that, while in no way part of the Gamergate movement, I support their stated goals of more ethics and transparency in game journalism. What does this have to do with Linkle? Well after her announcement some outlets criticized Linkle for her appearance. In their Words she was just a female Version of Link and fitted the Ms. Male Character Trope. For anyone unfamiliar with this Trope, it basically describes a genderswapped Version of a established character. Or to put it into more internet friendly terms. Any rule 63.

Now, while describing Linkle as a Ms. Male, may seem justified at first glance, this does a huge disservice to the character and the people accusing her. Generally I'm not to keen on tropes, because often it simplifies the character, they have their right to exist. It's just that good characters can't be defined with one Trope and doing so proves your ignorance towards the character. Now I'm not saying that Linkle may have a great characterization, but breaking her down on just her visuals is a thing often criticized by the very people doing it. Describing her as genderswapped Link also ignores the snippets of information we already have about her.

When the Artbook for Hyrule Warriors released last year, it was revealed that the developers discussed Linkles relationship with Link. During that time she was considered as Links little Sister or maybe even daughter. Currently Nintendo describes her as a young Women from a certain Village that strives to be like the Hero.

Looking at these three possible backgrounds her attire make sense. If Link is her inspiration, her role model, it makes sense for her to copy his appearance. Even more so if she is his daughter or sister. But she is still her own character. Not acknowledging it and just dismissing her as a Ms. Male is ignorant and stupid. Of course she can end up being just that, but just generating outrage about her looks is ridiculous.

Let me say this. Breaking down a character into a single Trope and ignoring any other traits he, she or it has, is jut plain stupid and helps no one.

One other thing. Why is it that Bows, crossbows and such are suddenly ''Female Weapons''? Firing a Bow takes a lot of strength, but more importantly since when are weapons assigned to a specific gender? This I beyond stupid. Are MG-5 now female guns, while ''real'' men use the AK-47? Declaring weapons to be gender specific just narrows down possibilities. It forces us into predefined paths, when creating new characters.

''Oh no I can't have her using a Bow, because Bows are female weapons and I don't want her to fall into such stereotypes. Better give her a sword... Oh no, now she is a Ms. Male or Fighting Fucktoy...''

This thinking in tropes is harmful to creativity.

Oh and the crossbow critics ignore another important part about Hyrule Warriors.

Picture Source: Zelda.wikia.com

We also have a classic magi user (Lana), a Rapier wielding Queen (Zelda), whatever Rutos Fighting Style is and a girl, who uses giant beetles to squash her enemies (Agitha).

In the end I can only say that I don't understand the outrage against Linkle. It's a mindless reaction, defining everything that doesn't fit into a (very) narrow mindset as problematic, without knowing the circumstances.

Oh and if you want to hear me ranting about Women in Games some more:

http://dilliansthoughthub.blogspot.co.at/2015/04/women-in-games-bayonetta.html

http://dilliansthoughthub.blogspot.co.at/2014/09/female-characters-in-gaming.html

In the end I can only say that Linkle, judging from her trailer, looks like a fun character gameplay wise. As for her story? I can't say anything about this yet, but judging a book by it's cover is never a smart move.

And as always

thanks for reading

Nintendo Direct 12.11.15

Now that we had some days to calm down and look back at this direct without rose tinted Hype glasses, I have to say, that it was a pretty good direct. There was nothing that literally blew my mind and left me speechless, but it had the right amount of announcements and content to keep me satisfied. Of course the 3DS was once again the clear winner and if you like RPGs this Direct was probably the best one in years for you, but even as a more Wii-U centric gamer I didn't feel let down. We got some announcements for 2016 and some remainders for 2015. Yes I would have preferred Twilight Princess HD releasing this year to beef up their Christmas Line-Up, but the way it is, it will provide a good start into 2016 and the 30^th anniversary of Zelda.

We also got a short trailer for Star Fox Zero and a release date. I really like the way the game looks, even though the graphics are really nothing to brag about. But the different vehicles look interesting and should provide different gameplay approaches. And for me Gameplay always matters more than raw graphical horse power.

We also got the final confirmation that Nintendo intends to milk Amiibo for all that it's worth.

I don't want to go into too much detail, but all in all it was a pretty good direct and it ended with a high note. Hands up if you honestly thought that Cloud was a possibility for Smash Bros.

Yeah I thought so...

Anyone who hasn't seen the Direct can take a look at it here.

Amercian Direct:  

European (German) Direct:  

This post today is a little short, but expect a longer one about Linkle in the coming days.

And as always

thanks for reading  

Nintendo Direct 12.11.2015 - What do they have in store?

Picture Source: Nintendo Germany

The drought is finally over. Nintendo just announced a new Direct and the Hype is already skyrocketing. But this is not the time to lose our heads about hypothetical announcements of Twilight Princess HD, Zelda U Information, F-Zero, Metroid and the end of all wars. Already some Nintendo Fans are expecting the mother of all directs and, as a natural consequence, are setting themselves up for massive disappointment.

Let's be reasonable and not expect a second E3 out of this. The direct will likely have one, maybe two, bigger announcements, just like it has always been. Most likely they'll start and finish with a big announcement, while we get information about smaller games and the Ones that will release soon in between.

So with this in mind, here is my prediction for the Thursday direct:

I think they'll start with a first look at Pikmin 4. Miyamoto said that the game is close to completion, and this would a perfect opportunity to show it off. There are quite a lot of Pikmin Fans out there an the Third was great game.

Next they'll probably focus on the titles that are releasing soon. New trailers for Mario and Luige Paper Jam, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Mario Tennis and Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival.

After that some smaller announcements would fit. Maybe even the rumored Twilight Princess HD together with some E-Shop tittles.

Next they'll take a look at some upcoming titles, that are coming out in 2016. Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei, Metriod Prime: Federation Force, etc.

Then it's probably time for Star Fox. It's certain that we'll get new information. A new trailer to show the improved graphics and maybe the announcement of a Multiplayer.

And then it's finally time for Zelda U. It's been nearly a year since we last saw anything and Nintendo has to know that the Fans are starving for new information. It's finally time to show, or at least, hint their vision for an open world.

Also I don't think they'll do a huge tribute for Satoru Iwata. It's not really Nintendos Style. But I'll expect a ''dedicated to the Memory of Satoru Iwata'' message at the end. Or at least something similar, but I expect them to keep it simple.

So what are your thoughts and expectations for the upcoming direct?

And as always

Thanks for reading

Project Zero (Fatal Frame): Maiden of the Black Water Review

Overview:

Only one year after it's initial release in Japan Nintendo finally decided to bring Project Zero 5 (Fatal Frame for our american friends) to the west. After the Japan exclusive 4^th part and the remake of the second, which was only available in Japan and Europe, this is the first time that Nintendo players all around the world can experience the creepy series. But can Project Zeros approach at horror still shock gamers, after the rise of games like Outlast and Five Nights at Freddys?

Story:

The story follows three different characters, and revolves around the cursed Mt. Hikami. The mountain is widely known as suicide mountain, attracting many people, who wish to end their lives. This also turned it into a gathering place for countless evil spirits, which haunt the lonely forests and forsaken buildings of Mt. Hikami. Miu Hinasaki is a young girl searching for her mother. Ren Hojo is a writer, researching the mountain for his newest book, but he also tries to find the truth about a repressed memory, connecting him to the mountain. Finally Yuuri Kozukata is, what you could call, the main protagonist of this game. She has the ability to see ''shadows'' and bring back people and objects from the spirit world. She looks for her mentor Hisoka, who has gone missing on the mountain. The stories of these three characters are, of course, intertwined.

Gameplay:

Project Zero 5 was my first entry in this series, so for me it was all fresh and new, but if you're a veteran, you won't have to learn any new tricks. The core gameplay of the series hasn't been changed since the first part and number 5 follows this tradition. In the shoes of your characters you'll explore different locations on Mt. Hikami and battle it's evil spirits with the help of the Camera Obscura. This mystical Object not only allows you to see hidden objects and make them visible, it also allows you to combat ghosts and thus survive the mountain. It's an universal tool to solve puzzles and generally progress upwards on the cursed mountain.

Using the camera works via the Wii-U Gamepad. The screen of the pad serves as camera lens and by moving the controller you'll target ghosts, items and the boobs of your boss... It works very intuitive and, for me, marks one of the best uses of the Wii-U Gamepad so far. However some players may have problems playing for long periods, because after a while the weight of the Gamepad comes quite apparent.

The Camera itself works just like in previous entries, with the slight difference that you're now able to move, while taking pictures. This makes the battles a bit easier than in previous games.
Most ghosts take more than one hit, and taking a picture of them releases several ghost fragments which work as weak points. Capturing five focus points (Faces, ghost spheres) on one pictures buffs the damage of it quite significantly and awards you with a lot of points. Better pictures provide more points, which can be used to buy items and upgrade the Camera Obscura.

Of course the ghosts won't let you just vanquish them. They have several ways of attacking, teleport around and generally try to ambush you. If a Ghost manages to grab you, there is a small time window, where you're able to counter attack, saving you and giving you a small time frame to take pictures without any penalties.

Because normally there is a waiting time after taking a picture, which leaves you completely vulnerable to ghost attacks. This period differs with the film you use in your camera. The standard film, which is the weakest, but has infinite charges, takes the longest to reload. Then there are three stronger films, but their charges are limited and you should use them wisely. Especially when a boss comes up soon.

There are also several lenses which you can use with you Camera. Each lens provide a special ability, like stunning or shooting 4 pictures at once. Using these lenses wisely and combining them with the films provides essential in taking down stronger ghosts and especially the bosses.

These boss battles are a nerve-racking change from the slower approach the game normally has. They'll put you in a state of constant stress and therefore are a great refresher.

Generally speaking Project Zero is a little to easy on the lower difficulties. Before each chapter you can buy items to help you, but I never had to do this, because the amount you received automatically proved to be more than enough.

Now this are all things that veteran players are familiar with, so what new features does the game contain? Not too many, I'm afraid. Apart from the new controls for the Camera Obscura there are only two notable changes. First on your character now can run through the press of a button. This increases the mobility in fight situations, but still wont let you run away from your attacks. The always present water on Mt. Hikami will slow you down. This also ties directly into the other new feature. The Wetness gauge. Walking through water, under Waterfalls or just outside in the rain will make your character wet. This makes the more susceptible to the spirit world, increasing the damage they deal with the Camera Obscura, but also opens them up to ghostly attacks. Their defense is lowered and they'll encounter more ghosts on their way up the mountain.

The Wetness gauge can be cleared with a new item called the Purifying Flame. This item is also important to remove the ''Yomi Nure'' Status effect. Certain Ghosts can afflict you with this curse which will result in lowered defense, reduced vision and a gradual loss of health.

Presentation:

The Presentation of a Horror game is an important part of the experience, because it determines if the game is successful in building an atmosphere. First let me say that Project Zero does succeed, but also that the graphics are nothing to brag about. The character models are the only thing truly next gen about this game. They look great and extremely detailed. Koei Tecmo once again succeeds in designing beautiful protagonists. The game uses the same engine as Dead or Alive 5, which is obvious through the breast jiggling of the female heroines. Some people may find this distracting in a horror game, but for me it didn't do much. Neither in a positive nor negative sense. Still it should be pointed out that a lot of emphasis is put on showing the females off to the player.

The Ghosts sadly don't receive the same amount of detail. While some of the special ghosts are looking really good (Good in a spooky kind of way, of course) and detailed, the standard enemies often look like they haven't changed since the PS 2 days.

And while not as bad, the areas and surroundings are also not completely up to date. Many textures look blurry and modern things like Anti-Aliasing are also not present. But still the game creates an eerie and dark atmosphere. Especially when played in the dark.

Project Zero takes its time in building an atmosphere. Sound is used sparsely but effectively. The Set pieces are well designed and fit the overarching theme of water and death. Especially the abandoned shrines on Mt. Hikami filled me with an uneasy feeling that I couldn't shake off. However there was never a moment where I didn't want to progress further.

Lastly the voice acting in the game was sufficient. It was nothing memorable, but it didn't impact the game in any negative way, in both, the Japanese and English version.

Bonusround or the game after the game:

Spoiler Warning:

After finishing the game the first time around, you'll unlock nightmare mode. This new mode allows you to play the game again on a higher difficulty. Nightmare mode is quite challenging and if you didn't sweat much on your first play through it certainly will test your skills on this difficulty. Apart from nightmare mode, you'll also unlock the Zero Suit Samus and Princess Zelda outfits for your heroines. This outfits replace the lingerie costumes that you got in the Japanese version.

Lastly you'll unlock a bonus episode staring Ayane from Ninja Gaiden. The Kunochi enters Mt. Hikami to find a girl name Tsugumi Katashina.

Ayanes gameplay is radically different from the other characters in the main game. At the start Ayane get's injured, which takes away her normal movement capabilities. Also she has no way to fight the ghosts. This leads to a different approach in this bonus episode, because she has to rely on stealth. A cloaking spell through on of the Tattoos on her back, hiding her from the Ghosts perception. She also wields an item called the ''Spirit Stone Torch'', which allows her to knock back and stun ghosts.

Conclusion:

Project Zero is a nice change from other actual horror games, which often rely on putting the player in a state of constant terror. It takes it's time in building an eerie atmosphere and doesn't bombard the player with shock moments. Still it is the most action oriented entry into the series. You'll also only find real challenge in the unlockable nightmare mode, because healing items are available in ample amounts.

The graphics are, apart from the characters, not really up to date, with some ghosts looking like they still come from the PS 2 era. The set pieces and environments, while lacking some detail, still create an intense atmosphere and offer enough variety for the game to not become stale.

Some new additions, like the wetness gauge and the ability to run, shake the gameplay up a bit, and generally push the game towards the action route.

Lastly the integration of the Wii-U Gamepad is one of the best to date. It feels very intuitive and is easy to use, but some people may find it hard to hold Gamepad in front of them for longer periods of time.

Conclusion (One Sentence):

Project Zero is a slower and more classical approach to horror games, which will need some time to drag you in, but then reveals a good horror game, without to many innovations.  

Source of all Pictures: Nintendo

Nintendo Investor Meeting

Yesterday Nintendo held one of their investor briefings. Apart from new numbers of sold Wii-Us and 3DS, we also got some very interesting news for the future of the company. But first let us start with some information on sales.

In the first half of this fiscal year (01. April 2015 – 30. September 2015) Nintendo made 86.18 Million Euros (95.22 Million Dollars) in profits.

They also sold 1.19 Million Wii-U consoles (a slight increase over last year with 1.12 Million), bringing the console up to 10.73 Million sold world wide.

The 3DS family sold 2.28 Million consoles in the same time frame, bringing them to a total of 54.34 Million Units sold.

Nintendo also announced that so far 21.1 Million Amiibo have been shipped to retailers. This, together with 8.6 Million Amiibo cards shipped, establishes the figurines as a strong source of income in Nintendos portfolio.

But we're not here to just talk about numbers, because they also announced two important bits of information.

MyNintendo:

Now we finally know what the successor to Club Nintendo is like. The new system will be simply called My Nintendo. With this the company finally fully arrives in the modern era. My Nintendo will work with the new Nintendo Account system, which makes it easier than ever to connect with the world of Nintendo. This account can be connected to your Nintendo ID, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The goal is to make it simple and easy. The Nintendo account will then allow you to make global friend lists, buy games, take a look at your purchase history and save your progress and scores to the cloud. It can be accessed from your tablet, PC, phone and of course your Nintendo consoles.

MyNintendo will work similar to the old club Nintendo. You still earn points for games you bought, but also for playing them. With these points you then can buy various things, ranging from digital content like 3DS Themes or costumes to actual physical goodies. Just like in the old Club Nintendo.

For now that is all the news we got on MyNintendo, but it sounds very promising. The Nintendo account was long overdue. Transferring savegames into the cloud is a standard practice for PS and X-Box users already. As is a account bound purchase history. No more hardware bound digital purchases. They didn't announce any kind of cross buy feature, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did so in the future. All in all the Nintendo account is a long overdue step into the right direction.

When the club Nintendo shut down, everyone was wondering what would come next. MyNintendo feels like a evolution of the old concept. It provides the charm of the old Club Nintendo, with the ability to still buy physical collectibles, but moves it fully to the digital age. I'm very intrigued about the possibility to earn points by playing games. Maybe this ties into some sort of achievment system. Looking at the X-Box and PlayStation we can see that a Trophy System or GamerScore provides a strong motivation to play, and by that extension, buy games. Some people buy games only to increase their GamerScore. And whether you find this sad or it doesn't concern you, as a company Nintendo should take a good look at this customers. Providing an actual use for the accumulated points most certainly will increase the appeal, and in turn lead to more people buying games. You shouldn't underestimate the greed of the common man, when there is a possibility to save money.

Being able to buy DLC with these points is a win-win situation for everyone. People, who wouldn't take a look at it otherwise, get the chance to play the DLC, while others, who don't have the patience, can still simply buy it. Meanwhile Nintendo increases the people, who own the DLC, binding them to their game and system longer.

Now all they have to do is not fall into the trap of locking more and more content behind an arbitrary ''Point Wall''.

Miitomo:

The news about MyNintendo weren't the only ones we got. Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima also announced their first smart phone game. Miitomo will launch in March 2016 and is more of an application than a game. It allows your Mii to connect with other Miis. The goal of Miitomo is to connect people and help shy persons come out of their shell a little. You'll send your Mii out to meet other Miis and talk about various topics, and maybe you meet some person this way.

Now many where disappointed with this announcement. They expected something Mario or Zelda like, but if you think about it, Miitomo makes perfect sense. Nintendo always said that their Smartphone games will not compete with their traditional consoles. Secondly they still work on their Quality of life project. And thirdly... Japan.

Miitomo is a very Japanese app. This country is dealing with the problem of more and more people becoming shut in. Especially young males. They just remove themselves from society. Miitomos Goal is to help these people connect and hopefully take part in the real world again. I wouldn't be surprised if Miitomo will integrate itself into the Quality of Life Project in the future.

We also got the news that Miitomo is free to play and will contain Micro Transactions, but it will be the only Nintendo Smartphone game using this business model. The other four games that will be available till March 2017 will be sold in a classic sense.

For me Miitomo doesn't sound appealing, but I'm also completely uninterested in any kind of Smartphone game.

In the end this was one of the more interesting Investor Meetings. We got a glimpse into Nintendos future plans, and for everyone waiting for more Game centric News, we still got a new Nintendo Direct planned for this year. So you can look forward to that.

What were your thoughts about the Meeting? Are you looking forward to MyNintendo? Does Miitomo catch your interest? Let me know.

And as always

thanks for reading

Source for all pictures: Nintendo

Nintendo NX

I haven't talked about the Nintendo NX so far, because there isn't too much to talk about. Still I wanted to get this out, before we get any substantial info in 2016, for the slim chance of a ''Hah! Told you so.''

The late Satoru Iwata announced this next Nintendo Hardware this March, but apart from that we know hardly anything about it. This is all the information we got so far.

Of course this means that everything I write from here on is pure speculation. So with this in mind let's talk about two patents Nintendo filed earlier this year. Now one important thing to keep in mind is, that a filing a patent doesn't necessarily mean that Nintendo will use it. I'm looking at you Vitality Sensor, but it can give us a small glimpse at Nintendos thought process. At least the deemed the idea important enough to protect it via Patent.

The first one is about a console without any optical disc drive. Does this mean that the NX will be a digital only console? Honestly I think the chances for that are rather slim. For this to work the console would need to have a massive build in memory. Also physical copies are still to relevant. Looking at how conservative Nintendo was with internal safe space so far, I don't see them going full on digital. The only use I can see for this is an alternative Version of the NX or even the Wii-U, which is cheaper than the console with a disc drive and comes with a bigger internal memory to save digital games.

http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20150231511&OS=20150231511&RS=20150231511

The other Patent talks about a new controller concept. By the looks of it, it's still a rather rough sketch. It's just a Wii-U gamepad with some missing buttons. The new feature, and the reason why the controller was filed as Patent, are the shoulder buttons. These would be replaced by wheels, which can be used to scroll through menus or something similar.

Of course this Patents rekindled the flame of speculation, but honestly they don't tell us anything worthwhile. But now with all the sparse facts on the table, we can head into deep speculation territory.

The NX as fusion concept:

Probably the most well known speculation about the NX and also the one I think is pretty likely. The NX is not a single console, but a product consisting of a portable and stationary device. While you are at home you can enjoy games in high definition, and when you leave the house you can continue your play session on the fly. This would also fit Iwatas vision of Nintendo products growing together. Also, if this is true, it would also explain the New Nintendo 3DS. The N3DS was much more than a simple hardware revision, like the Nintendo 3DS XL, but more like a step in between different handheld generations. Of course the reason for this was to increase the life span of the 3DS. And when we think about the NX as a fusion concept it makes sense. Normally we would at least heard about a successor to the 3DS, but if they intent to make the NX a fusion console, they need to squeeze some more years out of their handheld, while the phase out the Wii-U and replace both with the NX. I personally see the New 3DS as biggest reason to believe in the NX as fusion type console.

The fusion concept with both devices as part of a single console, would make sense if Nintendo intends to leave 3^rd Parties truly behind. They have problems sustaining two platforms, but with only one, they could manage it. This would also mean that their teams probably would have more time for new IP, as they only need to create one Mario Kart, etc, each console cycle instead of two.

Still it also poses some problems, like a possible high price for the starter pack, containing two consoles, and turning the NX truly into a Nintendo only machine. Also it would limit the game design. Games on handheld platforms mostly are designed with the aspect of short play sessions in mind. Also it would limit the possibilities of the console games, because they also need to work on the handheld device. This would lead to most people only buying the handheld version of the NX, making the stationary irrelevant.

These are some of the reasons why I don't think that the Handheld NX and Console NX will be one system. I still believe in the fusion concept, but more as two deeply connected consoles, that still work on their own. The consoles will still release at the same time, and maybe there will an expensive package containing both of them, but they won't be the same console, but more like twin brothers. Complementing eachother, while still remaining individuals. There probably will be some games that release on both systems, and I cross buy and cross save will work, but still both consoles will receive their own unique games. Maybe there will be a feature where you can upscale the portable games to the big screen.

While near the console NX the handheld version could act as a sort of Wii-U Gamepad. This would allow Off-TV play and also backwards compatibility. They could also expand on the potential of their Multiplayer games. With several handheld systems, each player has his own screen. This coupled with each ''controller'' possessing processing power, enables countless possibilities.

The NX controller:

The second thing I want to talk about is the controller of the new console. For this I want to take a look at the Wii-Mote and the Wii-U Gamepad and why one worked, while the other failed. Let's start with the failure.

The Wii-U Gamepad is great. That is my personal opinion about it. But even I have to admit, that it looks clunky and uncomfortable at first sight. It's a normal controller with a tablet shoved inbetween. It also doesn't give immediate feedback about it's added value. Let me explain this with an example. You start a game. Most of the time the Gamepad screen and the TV will show the same image. Most of the time this will remain so throughout the game, because Off-TV is the only Gamepad feature. And even if not than you need to learn what the Gamepad does in that specific game. Is it just a map? Used for puzzles, by providing a different perspective? The game needs you to teach the use of the Gamepad. This feels just as clunky as the looks of the controler.

Now let's look at the Wii-Mote. Right of the bat it's something everyone recognizes. A TV-Remote. You start the console and, like most people do with remotes, point it at the screen. You see the pointer and immediately recognize it reacting to your movement with the Wii-Mote. Also inside a game most of the commands with the Wii-Mote feel natural. You point at the screen to aim or strike to use your sword. Also the Wii-Mote provide direct feedback. Shake it and Mario uses his spin ability.

The NX controller should strive for the same natural feeling like the Wii-Mote, if Nintendo intends to make a special control scheme for their new console. Something easy to grasp, providing direct, visible feedback to your actions. Or they should just stick to a regular controller design, like an improved Pro-Controller.

Marketing and Name:

For gods sake let's hope they finally get their marketing right again. The Wii-U is a textbook example of how not to do it. I'm still convinced that most of the Wii-Us failure can be attributed to it's name and abysmal marketing. With the NX they should position them firmly and communicate what this new console is all about. Sony did this perfectly with their ''This is for the players'' campaign. Meanwhile the Wii-U wasn't sure if they wanted to catch the hardcore crowd or try not to lose the Casual market, causing both to fail. For the NX look for a name, that clearly distinguishes the console from it's predecessor, and shows that this is the next big step for Nintendo. And then market the shit out of it.

In the end we don't know anything substantial about the NX so far, but the amount of speculation clearly shows that there is still an interest in Nintendo hardware. They should use this possibility as a blank slate to start over and recapture their leading position in the Industry.

As for now I'm happy with my Wii-U, but can't help but wonder about the future. In any case we'll hopefully know more at E3 2016.

and as always

thanks for reading

Source of Pictures: Nintendo

Star Fox Zero

Yes I'm late to the party and yes I know that there are many things that would need to be covered, but for now let's talk about Star Fox Zero, it delay and what it means for the game.

Like you probably already know Star Fox has been moved from it's original release date of November 20^th to first quarter of 2016. This robs them of their big holiday title, altough they still have a pretty good line up with Project Zero 5, Mario Tennis and Xenoblade Chronicles. Still it also proves a chance to improve some of the criticisms of the game.

First let's talk about what they can (and should improve), before later talking about some of my gripes with the game and some Nintendo games in general.

When Star Fox was first shown at this years E3 it got a lot of flak for it's lackluster graphics. And while I didn't think that the game looked bad, I did notice the lack of detail. Just look at the Corneria gameplay. It all looks very sterile and devoid of life. Still the game looks like a lot of fun, so not everything is bad about it. But I hope they polish the graphics and breath more life into the scenery. This is one of the things they should tackle in the extra time they got. And looking at Super Mario 3D World, I'm pretty hopeful.

The other thing I hope they work on is an online Multiplayer. When Miyamoto announced that there isn't any online feature planned for Star Fox I couldn't help but sigh. This was, sadly, very Miyamoto like. But I hope that the success of Splatoon has helped change his mind. Of course they can't develop an entire mode in such a short time, but a similar model to Splatoon seems possible. The game launches with only a handful of maps, but through steady updates (Free!) you increase the content and keep the game fresh. A 4 on 4 squad battle mode would be a huge draw for the game I bet.

Well this are the two thins they hopefully add to the game, but honestly I only think that Number One is likely. Still I expect them to use the extra time to provide us the Nintendo experience we expect and make Star Fox a truly great game.

But now let's talk about my gripes with the game. Especially the ones they aren't going to fix.

First off I'm not all too happy about the Game Pad integration. The dual screen is obviously perfect for presenting the action from two different angles, but is it really necessary? Couldn't the same be achieved by a simple button press two switch the perspective on the main screen? While playing you will only look at one screen anyway. This isn't a good integration of the GamePad, because the two screens are competing with each other. A good integration should complement the main screen. Let's take a look at one of the best integrations for the Game Pad. Zombi U. Here the Game Pad screen didn't contend with the TV, but enhance the horror experience. By forcing the player to look away from the actual screen the developers enhanced the feel of horror and threat. You could never feel safe. In Star Fox you will probably look on one screen most of the time, because there is no incentive to switch.

The other thing I'm not to happy about is that Star Fox Zero, at least for me, shows that Nintendo lacks ambition with their titles. Now let me explain. From the previews and interviews it looks, and sounds, like Star Fox will be just a retelling of Lylat Wars, which was practically a retelling of the original Star Fox. For all the talk that they first need a good ideat that justifies a new entry (I'm looking at you F-Zero) they barely showed anything that validated Star Fox Zero. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy that they make this game, but it could have been so much more. I'm not saying the game will be bad. It will be a lot of fun probably, but it really shows that Nintendo likes to play it safe with their IPs. I just hope that the success of Splatoon may change that view in the near future. They should take some risks, also with established series. Like they did with Metroid Prime during the Gamecube era.

I'm still looking forward to Star Fox and the delay didn't hurt me in the slightest. Gives me more time to enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles X. But what are your thoughts about the delay and the game in general?

And as always

thanks for reading

Source of all pictures: Nintendo

Super Mario Maker Review

Overview:

After Little Big Planet showed the potential User generated content holds, Nintendo finally decided to join the fray. And for starters they picked their most prominent franchise with the release of Super Mario Maker. Anyone can make it, everyone can play it. With this slogan Nintendo markets the game as the ultimate Mario experience. A Tool, where only your imagination is the limit and everything is possible. But is the game the ultimate Mario experience? Is it worth it's price tag? Or does it bite off more than it can chew?

Gameplay:

Super Mario Maker can be segmented into two parts. Build and Play. The game does so itself on the title screen and I'm not one to argue with that. So first let's take a look at the main part of the game. Building your own Mario courses.

The first thing you'll probably recognize is the missing tools. Because Nintendo once more decided that their customers need to be taken by the hand for everything. You'll start with only the bare bones of tools for level creation and after spending some time with them (roughly 10 minutes) you'll get notified that a new batch of tools will be ready soon. And with soon they mean the next day. Now Nintendo quickly applied a patch, which turned the one day waiting period into 30 Minutes, but for me this simply didn't work. However you can still use the oldest trick in the book and simply adjust the date setting of your Wii-U manually. This is a time consuming move, but still better than waiting a full week till you can start building decent levels.

But once you managed to bypass this restriction, you're finally free to build your own dream course. First of you can choose between four iconic graphic settings. The original Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and the New Super Mario Bros. Series. Each graphics setting looks just like it did in the original and even new additions like Baby Bowser in the older settings fit in perfectly. Each graphics setting also comes with the things that made I unique. For example Mario can only perform his wall jump in the New Super Mario Bros. setting and cannot pick up items in the original graphic style. This of course also means that some levels only will work in a specific graphic style.

The next thing to choose is the levels setting. Plains, Cave, Underwater, Ghost House, Airship and Castle offer different possibilities in designing your course.

The actual designing is very intuitive and you'll grasp it in a split second. Super Mario Maker is also one of the games, where the Wii-U Gamepad truly shines. Simply drag and drop enemies and blocks onto the screen. Create obstacles, ground and warp pipe in a matter of seconds. In other games the editor often was very convoluted and you needed a long time to actually master it, but in Super Mario Maker everyone can grasp the foundation in a matter of seconds. Everything is kept simple. You change objects by simply shaking them. This turns a green Koopa into a red one for example. Want to make something bigger? Just give it a Super Mushroom. Dragging enemies or objects into pipes, will make them spawn from that pipe and by doing the same thing with Mario you can create a Warp Pipe that takes him to a second screen.

Super Mario Maker also allows you to combine things, which you would have never dreamed of before. Bowser riding in a clown cart, with Wings and Hammer Bros on his head? Possible. Terrible to play against, but possible. In that regard Super Mario Maker truly holds his promise. The only limit is your imagination.

But that is not the case everywhere. Because Nintendo implemented some real limitations. Apart from the seven days waiting period there are also some other things that will halt you in your dream of creating your ultimate Mario Course. Some of these limitations are understandable, to make sure that the creations don't get too out of hand. There is, for example, a limit on how many blocks you can place in a level. This can be very frustrating if you want to fill a level with a ceiling and different plattforms, which shouldn't hang freely in the air. The other things I miss are checkpoints, the ability to create water sections (not underwater), more enemy variety, the possibility to make rising lava stages and more than two screens height for creating courses. All of this may seem trivial at first, but only when you really get into creating levels you feel this restrictions. And then they hurt even more.

As it is the level creation is intuitive and easy enough for everyone to understand, still it manages to provide enough depth for some truly great custom courses. It sill could have more depth however. But still the creation of your own Mario courses is a lot of fun and extremely addicting. It's at least as much fun as playing levels, if not more.

And if you're done with your own custom Mario course, then you can share it with the world. You just need to complete your own level once to ensure that no impossible challenges are created. After that it's ready to be played by people from all over the world. Each player can upload up to ten levels at first. However this number increases when you gather a lot of stars, which are way of rating levels. When playing a level from another person you can give it a star, even if you didn't finish. This way gifted level builder can share even more ideas with the world. It's a simple but effective system that works perfectly.

Well then now that we covered the Build aspect of Super Mario Maker, what about the actual gameplay? There is not all to much to say honestly. It's classic Mario Gameplay with perfect controls. Each graphical setting just plays like the real game it comes from. Physics, controls, moveset are perfectly recreated. If you have played a 2D Mario before than you will feel at home from the first button touch.

The content provided with the base game is really sparse, but one could argue that this isn't surprising with a game that relies on it's community this much. Still it's a bit disappointing. The 10 Mario challenge sends you against a set of 8 courses, which you have to beat with only 10 lives. After that the next set of courses unlocks, till you finally get the courses that where shown at the Nintendo World Championship 2015. This pretty much is all there is on Content that is on the disk. After that you'll have to play the levels provided by the community.

They can be tackled in two different ways. Firstly you can just play them regularly. For this the game provides you with different search options. You can either search specific levels via a 16 digit code or do a more broader search for newest levels, levels that got the most stars, etc.
The 100 Mario challenge pits you against 16 random courses from other players. It functions like the 10 Mario challenge, but it comes in three different difficulty settings and if you encounter a particularly unfair course you can swap it with another random course.

All in all Super Mario Maker is at barebones as it gets. Apart from the user created levels there is nothing that will keep you entertained, gameplay wise. However the build aspect is extremely addicting because of how simple it is to use.

Presentation:

Presentation wise this game is top notch. The four graphical styles are recreated faithfully and perfectly. Super Mario World levels look, like they came straight out of the original and that is the biggest compliment you can give. Even Enemies, that never appeared in that specific game, are recreated faithfully to fit the style. Also the switch from one graphical setting to another works seamlessly. Couple all that with a smooth 60fps framerate and your Eyes are in for a perfect nostalgia trip.

The same can be said on the audio front, although not as thorough. The soundtrack of the game includes some iconic and nostalgic Mario tunes, but far less than I had hoped, and nothing new. It's just the same soundtrack you have heard (and loved) countless of times. This would be ok, if you could at least choose with song to play with your level. This is not possible. The background music is tied to the background of the level. So if you make a castle level, it will always have the same background music. This is another wasted opportunity in a game that completely thrives on the ideas of it's community.

Conclusion:

Super Mario Maker is (nearly) everything Nintendo promised it would be. It's neither the ultimate level creating tool, nor the ultimate Mario experience, but it comes very close. It's a game that is completely dependent on the creativity of it's community, because the package you'll buy comes with nearly no content, except for the tools to make your own. It is a level creator after all. But it's a damn good one. All the tools are extremely easy to use and intuitive. There are a lot of possibilitiest. And the Gameplay is classic Mario.

Still there are several things missing, which dipped my enjoyment of the game a little. Things like the standard music and no checkpoints feel like missed opportunities to make this the definitive Mario experience. Still the possibilities are extremely diverse and playing levels from other people all around the world is a lot of fun. (And sometimes very nerv wracking if it's one of the Kaizo courses)

All in all Super Mario Maker is a great tool to make your own Mario courses, but it has some flaws, which become obvious after you delve deeper into it's content. There is also barely any content to play on the disc, because the game entirely depends on its buyers to provide courses. With all of this the pricetag of the game seems a bit too high.

Conclusion (One Sentence):

Super Mario Maker is a great tool for creating your own Mario courses, that lacks some important features, but overall is the perfect way for anyone to go wild and create the level of your dreams.

Authors note: As I mentioned in an earlier post I won't end my reviews with a score anymore, which probably destroys my chances of getting on Metacritic with it, but whatever.

Source of all pictures: Nintendo

Who is Bowser Jr. Mother?

Oh God Miyamoto what have you done. I can already see thousands of Fan Fiction getting writen.

Well that's a short and nonsensical post for today, because I'm currently ill and can't concentrate long enough to write anything substential. But my Mario Maker review will be coming soon and I think Pokemon Go also deserves it's own post.

and as always
thanks for reading

(even if it's nonsensical^^)

The Myth of the objective review

Logo property of Metacritic.com

I'm back from the Holiday and looking forward to Mario Maker. So lets talk about something completely different.

After reading a not so warm review of Metal Gear Solid 5 and the expectable backlash that followed I thought about it. I have already talked about reviews, not taking them personal, but I think it's time for it once more. With Gamergates one year anniversary just passing and their crusade for a more ethical games media still underway, it's a topic that is as fresh as it was one year ago, when the whole movement started.

Firstly let me say once more, don' take reviews personal. Especially not the scores. The score is the thing that's the most irrelevant in a review. It's just a number, without any meaning. I would love it, if it disappears all together. But this is a vain dream. The vast majority of people still wants an easy way to compare Super Mario to Call of Duty, even if the two aren't comparable in the slightest. And it's a lot easier to only see the 9/10 GTA 5 got and fuss over it, instead of reading the whole review.

But enough of that. There are no objective reviews, because there is hardly any objective press. It's always to a degree subjective. Even with things like tech news, where just the specs of a new device are reported, there is a certain degree of subjectivity. The room you give a specific feature, above some other, is a subjective influence on an objective report. Some reporter may think that the backwards compatibility deserves more room than the online features or the shop, while other think the exact opposite. Not because of malice, but because different people have different viewpoints. Because of that a review of, for example, The Evil Within from a writer, who is not a huge fan of horror games, will be completely different than one from a Shinji Mikami enthusiast. Both are ill suited for writing a review, but because of completely different reasons.

And this doesn't only apply to reviews. The recent Jimquisition talked about this in detail.

Everything around us influences us. So even if you try your best to go to a review or preview event with an open mind it will influence you. This events are carefully crafted spaces to provide you with an optimal experience and later, when you write about it, you will associate this with the game.

Ok so there are no objective reviews and previews. What shall we do then? Forget about them all together? Well of course not. The answer is simple. Ethics and honesty. This not only applies to the classic games media, but especially for Youtubers. Just be honest with your audience. If you were invited to a special preview event for Just Cause 3, which started with a sky dive from a plane onto a luxurious island resort, where you played the game for 3 hours and then relaxed a the pool (this is extremely exaggerated of course) then tell this to your audience, either in front of your Video or article. And not only hidden in the descriptions or at the end. Even the, excuse my words, dumbest idiot in the galaxy and beyond shouldn't be able to miss the information. Hiding it only makes you look bad in the eyes of everyone, when it inevitably comes to light, while telling outright gives your audience a valuable information, which may lead them to have a more critical approach to your piece, which is totally fine. Sponsored content, exclusive preview events and such things are all fine. It's how the industry works (even though I would prefer otherwise). Just don't hide it. Your audience isn't dumb. They'll understand it.

And now lastly lets return to the review in detail. I already told you that I don't really like scores at the end, even though I also do it myself. (Which may or may not change in the future. Still undecided.) A review is always an objective piece from it's author. Some may like the art style of a game, while others call the graphics outdated. Still the goal of every review should be to give a complete as possible overview of the game. Detailing the aspects of gameplay, sound, graphics, controls, design, story and characters. Of course every reviewer will weigh things differently. I, for example, don't delve all too deep into the graphics aspect of a game, because the gameplay is much more important to me. But this is ok. As a customer you should, and can, find the review site, which is most suitable for you in terms of style and weighing of factors, but not certainly the one that agrees with you the most.

And lastly I wanted to share with you the review style I would find the most appealing. It's probably not really feasible, because it takes a lot of time and space. I like the concept of the Famitsu, where four people review a game. I would tone it down a little though. Two people should review a game. Not together, but each for him or herself. They both write a review and can give up to five points. After both reviews are written they come together and have a talk about the game, where they discuss it thoroughly. After all that the reviews are both published, along with the discussion and the score (adding both 5 point scores to create a traditional 10 point one). This kind of dual review, while still not objective of course, would give readers a varied outlook on the game.

In the end there is only this to say. There is no such thing as an objective review. But we still should try to be as objective as possible, while reporting. And we should be honest with our audience. Because our respect is the least they deserve.

And as always

thanks for reading