2014 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Raziel]

 

BTW there is a hard drive but it's only 32 GB.

The 32gb is flash, not a hard drive. The Wii U doesn't have a hard drive.

 

Its a good, and bad, thing.  The good thing is that Flash Drives access faster, and with no moving parts, aren't as prone to failure as HDD's are.  The down side is that they do have a finite amount of program/erase cycles.  

 

So not having a HDD isn't really a bad thing.  Only being 32GB's is. 

[Salads]

Flash > HDD, and you can upgrade capacity by attaching any drive via USB rather than having to get your screwdriver out.

 

Without playing it, I suspect that with multiplayer games, having only one player with the uber-controller puts a damper on the experience.

 

Most multiplayer games are either made for parity with the wiimote (on the assumption everyone has those hanging around), but the best games take that controller inequality and use it. The pro controller is the same as the gamepad sans screen if neither of those are ideal.

 

Where the system's problem is it doesn't have a target audience.

 

It has a target audience, but no way of reaching it. Nintendo don't have the funds to media blitz with advertising to the point where normal people will know what it is (hence not knowing it's out, thinking it's a tablet etc etc) and the enthusiast gaming press exclusively serve a demographic who aren't sympathetic with what Nintendo are trying to achieve even when console war trenches haven't already been dug. And then mainstream outlets rely on the enthusiast bubble for game news. So for example when hacks start writing about Nintendo going third party because they made a loss one year (context) that goes national and parents don't buy the Wii U because they heard Nintendo are going out of business. There's no knowledge middle ground between naive and dork.

[Cliff Hanger]

Finished Zelda: Link Between Worlds today.  It was fun, but didn't have quite the spark of the best of the series.  The "rent your gear" mechanic was frustrating to me, because it felt like some of the achievement of progression was absent.  Did not fill me with the desire to go back and play Twilight Princess and maybe get somewhere this time.

 

VVVVVV on the 3DS is a thing of beauty.  It turns out that, short of maybe an actual C64 this is the ideal platform for it.

 

God help me, I've reinstalled STO.  I don't expect to ever get anywhere, but I guess they eventually instituted a monthly stipend for lifetime subscribers (not the best $200 I spent in 2010, let me tell you) like Champions, because I have something like $125 on my account and I never, ever bought C-store money.  Also, I hadn't played since like 2011 and the game is totally unrecognizable.  I started over, did the first few hand-holdy missions to get up to lv4, and I may or may not play it again tomorrow or ever.

[Death From Above]

I enjoyed it for what it was for a while, but STO absolutely ground me down to a fine powder eventually. I just had to walk away for my own good.*

 

*This is essentially my opinion of the entire MMO genre.

[Antacular]

Nintendo has $8B in cash, that's more than ample funds for a media blitz should they go that route. They were just lazy and assumed their name would sell units. And to be fair, Sony losses incorporate several diverse business segments, not just video games.

[Cliff Hanger]

For me, whether I stick with an MMO or not is largely a function of the people I interact with.  City of Heroes and EQ2, both of which are fairly lackluster games from a design standpoint, kept me occupied for years because they had great communities (and both ended up providing me with real, lasting friendships beyond the 'net friend' or 'guild buddy' level.)  Meanwhile, WOW, SWTOR, and my first try with STO burned me out because I never found that feeling of community.  I've heard people say that Secret World is really good for that but I haven't ever gotten far enough into the game to really be able to comment.  (There's also the fact that, when I was super into CoH and EQ2, I was in college and later living at home looking for work.  It's entirely possible that those social outlets are there in other games, but because I no longer have four hours a day to devote to online gaming and no desire to do so even if I did, I've moved on to a place in my life that I can't get anything out of them)

[TimLivingston]

The problem with the way Xbox One marketed itself was that it was trying to push itself as a multi-media device, where people who buy video game systems want to, you know...PLAY VIDEO GAMES ON IT.

 

Nintendo has had basically the same marketing for years: Entry-level gaming for families and non-die-hards while also offering a nostalgia trip for people who grew up playing video games. And they've been somewhat successful doing that.

[Big Fresh]

The problem with the way Xbox One marketed itself was that it was trying to push itself as a multi-media device, where people who buy video game systems want to, you know...PLAY VIDEO GAMES ON IT.

That's really not true at all anymore. Turn on your 360 and at any given moment half your friend's list will be watching Netflix. Hell, that's true on Playstation also. And I'm not even sure why you brought up X-Box One's marketing in the negative sense when the thing has been sellin like gangbusters.

[AaronMLuke]

My obsession with my world wide rank in Assassin's Creed 4 continues to drive me. I've reached #5 worldwide on deadliest assassin but it's not enough.#1 or bust.

[RIPPA]

Oh great - now JT and I REALLY are in trouble for never playing the Borderlands 2 DLC

[Neil Koch]

Nintendo has had basically the same marketing for years: Entry-level gaming for families and non-die-hards while also offering a nostalgia trip for people who grew up playing video games. And they've been somewhat successful doing that.

 

That's where they fucked up with the WiiU, bascially they just went to the well one too many times and thought the Wii name would sell on its own.  Most of the casual/young kids gamer audience the Wii had has moved on to tablet/phone games.  Why pay $300 for a new system when you already have a tablet and can get stuff like Angry Birds for free?

 

The person on a nostalgia kick isn't really going to pay $300 either.  If anything they can go get a used Wii for $30 or one of the Wii minis for $99.

 

The biggest thing IMO is still the main design and marketing.  Most people don't know what it is.  Is it an add-on for the Wii?  Is it a portable system?  Is it a tablet?  Once people sit down and play with the system, a lot like it, but Nintendo's having a hard time getting people to that point.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

I actually still don't know what it is. Never bothered to look it up.

[ultimoDANK]

My obsession with my world wide rank in Assassin's Creed 4 continues to drive me. I've reached #5 worldwide on deadliest assassin but it's not enough.#1 or bust.

If you make #1 I may be interested in a signed headshot.

Anyways Rayman Legends is spectacular. Playing it on the Wii U with my 7 year old and having lots of fun. The game pad is cool cause she can just control the lil green guy and help me plow through the level.

[Death From Above]

For me, whether I stick with an MMO or not is largely a function of the people I interact with.  City of Heroes and EQ2, both of which are fairly lackluster games from a design standpoint, kept me occupied for years because they had great communities (and both ended up providing me with real, lasting friendships beyond the 'net friend' or 'guild buddy' level.)  Meanwhile, WOW, SWTOR, and my first try with STO burned me out because I never found that feeling of community.  I've heard people say that Secret World is really good for that but I haven't ever gotten far enough into the game to really be able to comment.  (There's also the fact that, when I was super into CoH and EQ2, I was in college and later living at home looking for work.  It's entirely possible that those social outlets are there in other games, but because I no longer have four hours a day to devote to online gaming and no desire to do so even if I did, I've moved on to a place in my life that I can't get anything out of them)

 

 

If you're seeking a decent fleet in Star Trek Online (and joining a new fleet with the number of fleet projects they've got now is, frankly, a waste of time), I will personally vouch for Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom. I was with them when I finally burned out, but they aren't the problem at all. Mostly an older crowd, experienced RPers some going back to pen and paper days, run a good fleet, not pushy at all about demanding anything from people that join them. They should have threads in the fleet sections of the STO forums, and they also are working on setting up their own wbesite now I see: http://alliancecencom.com/

[RIPPA]

I really need to figure out what the fuck I did to my profile that suddenly I am getting random game requests and messages via XBOX Live.

I clearly had to make my profile public somewhere.

Stupid technology

[odessasteps]

Thanks to having Microsoft credits from being a new laptop, I finally got Chapter 1 of the Fables game from Telltale.

 

While the art doesn't totally Buckingham's style, it is close enough to feel like the comic.

[The Natural]

Bought Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag last night (PS3 version).  Looks like I'll be busy with that for awhile...

 

How you finding it knowing how much you like the series?

[RIPPA]

Listening to my son agonize over potential trades in Pokemon X & Y has made me realize he is screwed if we ever move back to a barter system

[Salads]

Nintendo has $8B in cash, that's more than ample funds for a media blitz should they go that route. They were just lazy and assumed their name would sell units. And to be fair, Sony losses incorporate several diverse business segments, not just video games.

 

As recent press has shown having cash in the bank doesn't mean a thing when you're a public company. Nintendo's shareholders want to see profits and growth. If Nintendo were lazy and thought they didn't need advertising then they would have changed that tactic twelve months ago when it was clear it wasn't working, but they can't because they're in the red and they're not part of a major tech company to swallow the loss. Btw that link was only referring to gaming divisions. The early years of the PS3 hit Sony HARD.

 

Nintendo has had basically the same marketing for years: Entry-level gaming for families and non-die-hards while also offering a nostalgia trip for people who grew up playing video games. And they've been somewhat successful doing that.

 

Nostalgia doesn't really play a part in their marketing outside of Mario still being around and wouldn't be effective as a long term tactic if it was. I most often see the term nostalgia used in the same way 'Nintendo fan' is - an indirect knock on the credibility of people who buy Nintendo but whose opinions aren't as easy to dismiss as those of children / old people / women / the rest of Nintendo's 'everyone' demographic. Ie if you want to play games by Bioware or CD Projekt that's completely normal but if you want to play a game by Retro Studios or Intelligent Systems then you must be either be a Yoshi suit wearing member of the Princess Rosalina fan club or have been indoctrinated as a child by Nintendo's predatory use of bright colours and bad ass plumber mascot.

[JRGoldman]

The ads for the Wii U over Christmas were a confused mess. Kids trying to convince the parents for a system that didn't really go in to any reason as to why you needed it over the Wii. The main selling point seemed to be families getting active and playing together, which everyone knows you can simply do with the Wii. Then they tried to market it as the system that cost "only" $300, which is never going to get you anywhere because people who are deal shopping already went out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Lastly, they talked about a new Mario and Zelda game, but it seems like this was Nintendo making the mistake of talking to themselves; the people who are excited about a new Nintendo only game are people who already own a Wii U, or are planning on getting one at some point. 

[Death From Above]

I was actually shocked when I saw the sales numbers on the Wii and how widely successful it was, because the casual impression was that it didn't seem nearly as big as PS3 or that gen's XBox. WiiU struggling is more the impression I had of Nintendo for the last few years, even if it was inaccurate.

[Antacular]

 

Nintendo has $8B in cash, that's more than ample funds for a media blitz should they go that route. They were just lazy and assumed their name would sell units. And to be fair, Sony losses incorporate several diverse business segments, not just video games.

 

As recent press has shown having cash in the bank doesn't mean a thing when you're a public company. Nintendo's shareholders want to see profits and growth. If Nintendo were lazy and thought they didn't need advertising then they would have changed that tactic twelve months ago when it was clear it wasn't working, but they can't because they're in the red and they're not part of a major tech company to swallow the loss.

 

Now you're just being blindly apologetic for Nintendo. ALL shareholders want "profit and growth," that's the very nature of the capitalist system. Without writing up a synopsis of Das Kapital, Marx's equation still holds: Money --> Capital --> Money'. Capital seeks its highest return, etc. etc. Sitting on $8B of cash while you're in the red and earning zero return on the cash balance is what pisses off shareholders, not using it to bolster advertising and R&D in times of need.  The 70% short number just came out this week, and the WiiU has only been out for a year. So to argue that if Nintendo thought a strategy of more advertising would've worked when the system was first released a year ago, prior to knowing the extent of the short fall, is absurd.

[Big Fresh]

First mention of Karl Marx in this topic. Who had "Page 8" in the pool??

[Craig H]

Been playing just a ton of Fallout 2. Sooooo much bigger than the first game. I found the GECK, but now I'm off chasing south to (I guess) San Francisco.

 

Random things I have done that come to mind: Got the car, got my car stolen, paid the bastard to get it back, stole my money back from him, got some fake citizenship papers, killed a few gangsters, stopped a reactor meltdown, blew up a wild west town outhouse and covered half a town in poop, found a cure for Jet addiction, rescued a kid that didn't really need rescuing, rescued another one that did, shot some more gangsters, met some friendly talking scorpions, reloaded if I ran into an Enclave patrol becuz lasers, saved pretty much everyone I met from devastation except the one village I was supposed to save.

 

Still haven't found power armor so clearly I have missed a bunch of stuff. Using a combat shotgun and a sniper rifle, Sulik is rocking the .223 pistol, and I have Vic with an assault rifle but it's starting to suck now. I only have charisma 4 so that's all the followers I can drag around. I have 125% skill in small guns and like 6% in heavy guns and energy weapons because I took the Gifted trait (along with Fast Shot, which is really badass). Something tells me this may be a problem soon.

 

The car being called a Highwayman makes me think of that weird ass song song where Willie Nelson gets hung and Johnny Cash becomes a raindrop.

 

This game is so, so good. Totally worthy of its classic status. Just such a great game world, and so much more fleshed out than the first game which feels almost skeletal compared to this one.

 

Fuck, after reading that, it makes me realize that Fallout 3 wasn't deep enough. I'm hoping Fallout 4 gets back to that level of depth and fuckery where it feels like you can do damn near anything.

[Cliff Hanger]

Finished VVVVVV, which I never managed to do on the PC.  Hell of a little game there, you should play it if you still haven't somehow.

 

Deleted my STO character and re-started, because the game had changed so much since I last played it (Memory Alpha/crafting was brand new) that I basically couldn't cope.  Back up to lv5, still working the tutorial missions.

 

I also downloaded the PS3 version of DCU Online on a lark.  I honestly think that, if I could transfer the expansions (not the character) I purchased in the PC version I might actually play the PS3, since it seems livelier and a better fit for the platform.  But I'm not interested in playing the PC version now, and I'm not willing to re-purchase stuff I bought on the PC (admittedly, it was all with comp money from EQ2) again.