The Eighth Generation

The End.

2016-02-14T22:54:00.001-08:00

This blog is reaching an end.

(PS4 wins the eighth generation by the way)

It has been a good run, but it’s time to move on a broader approach to discussing video games. The industry has gotten so big and has gotten so crazy we can’t limit discussing games to a mere generation. Instead of starting a new blog called Ninth Generation or something like that, I am going to start a blog on Wordpress called 16 Bits and Beyond, which will discuss anything gaming-related---past, present, and future. I will cover all the companies, all the systems that we played, are playing, and will ultimately play.

This new blog will begin in April, right before the E3 and before Nintendo starts unveiling what might be whether the next generation or a bridge to the future.

Thanks to all that supported this blog over the years. See you all in a couple months.

The Uninspired Battle Cries of the Eighth Generation

2016-01-22T09:04:00.001-08:00

There was an episode of Big Bang Theory that accidentally predicted the future of gaming. In one of the sequences, we see Sheldon Cooper desperately struggling to decide between the XBox One and the PS4. He mentions how they both have their strengths, and couldn’t quite figure out which one is the better option (Side-Note: He calls one of the female characters “Grandma” when she mentions the Wii—in case you ponder what Nintendo’s reputation is on the show). The one thing he doesn’t even mention is which one has the better games. Although the concept isn’t explored, one can argue it’s because both consoles have the same exact lineup of games—barring minor, minor differences with indie gaming, backwards-compatibility, and a few first-party exclusives. One major conclusion can and will be reached from all this:

The Console War is extremely stagnant, extremely devoid of change, and the leader out the gate (system that looks and feels like the second place console) wound up conquering it altogether.

The Playstation 4 is a nice machine. The XBox One is a nice machine. The PS4 has performed much better because of the forward momentum from PS3’s surprise finish, the Microsoft PR debacle involving DRM gaming, and because Nintendo killed every ounce of momentum it had during the peak Nintendo Wii period. This has been the case since 2013. And absolutely nothing has changed. It might crash the market, or at the very least make these sales wars extremely predictable. The eighth generation has secretly been far more boring than we could have ever predicted.

We will never have the epic battle that occurred between Nintendo and Sega during the early 90s. The two consoles (SNES and Genesis) shared the lead, exchanged the lead, made drastic changes, threw so much shade at each other that it took years to truly discover the winner. 1994 would ultimately be the turning point when Nintendo started separating itself but the damage was so intense it accidently created a new monster: The Sony Playstation. The mudslinging and backstabbing was so bad that Sony got hurt, and ultimately decided to chime in on the video game market—leading to what we see today.

It is practically impossible to imagine the gaming world if Nintendo had not betrayed Sony and if Sega had not gotten arrogant and refused to cooperate with that same company. The past might be the past, but that console war shoved video games into the economic mainstream, and proved the Wall Street world the potential of money involving video games, and the sheer competition that comes with attempting to enter the wars.

Fast-forward to today. We see Microsoft making good money, Sony making good money, and even Nintendo managing to make decent money despite the WiiU being its biggest failure since the Virtual Boy. Sony has done little to bolster its lead simply because it doesn’t have to. Microsoft hasn’t formed crazy partnerships, hasn’t made epic purchases, and hasn’t made much of a move to try to reach into Sony’s lead. There is no price cut, no special deals, no video game that is going to change the culture of gaming. Microsoft seems perfectly content with the second place positioning, even though the spoils of having the lead is all too obvious.

Sony as a company is literally being saved because of the video game division, especially when the film, television, and computer lines are nowhere near what it used to be. And outside of collecting third-party exclusives like Final Fantasy VII and Street Fighter 5, it really hasn’t had to do much to maintain its lead. Increase software output, and then sit there to collect the profits. It is great for business, extremely boring for the rest of us expecting more of a dogfight.

With the competition already well-established and minimal threats of a shift, the decision-making and the landscape will remain flat. The games won’t be as prevalent, the companies won’t be as aggressive, and in the end all we see are two machines extremely similar and unwilling to separate itself from the other, and a third machine that has been quickly abandoned in favor of an upcoming console.

The Eighth Generation blog had predicted a lot of craziness, but instead we have witnessed years of ho-hum decisions, and a lack of true battling. Even the seventh generation had more craziness, and that was with the Nintendo Wii faaaaaaar outpacing everyone else. This blog is on its final moments, as Nintendo is already looking into the ninth generation. If the Nintendo NX becomes a major success, expect the competitors to follow ship and move along to the next step.

Until then, there isn’t much to say here: Sony is #1, Microsoft is (once again) #2, and Nintendo is (once again) refusing to play by the rules by establishing another unique system that will bend the rules on how we play games.

Its boring, and its not good for gaming. Expect a slow 2016, from this blog and from the entire industry itself…barring a major push from anyone.

(Image Credit: Megamodsplanet.com)

Searching for a new Halo

2015-11-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

Microsoft needs a new Halo. The old Halo just won’t do it anymore. The highly-anticipated Halo 5 came out----was met with a solid but not truly spectacular 1.4 million, and XBox One was still outsold by the PS4 that week. Then the next week, it got outsold very severely by Call of Duty. And soon enough, Fallout 4 will overtake it in sales as well. To be honest, if Halo 5 sells 5 million, I will be shocked.

Halo used to be king. The franchise has six games that have sold over six million copies. Halo: Combat Evolved became the reason why the XBox survived the first couple years. Halo 2 launched with 2.4 million copies sold within the first 24 hours. Halo 3 sold a phenomenal 13 million copies, becoming the best-selling shooter in the history of gaming. On the XBox 360, the Halo franchise sold an incredible 42+ million---easily being the biggest non-Grand Theft Auto franchise in the seventh generation.

Nowadays however, the power isn’t as mighty. Even though the XBox One has sold a respectable 15 million copies to date, good enough for 28% console market share, the power of Halo has dwindled a bit. There was an awesome Halo pack that included four games with updated content, enhanced graphics, and extra movies between the installments, and this excellent deal sold a feeble 2.6 million. While this sounds like great numbers, it is nowhere near the days of when Halo 2 sold that amount in a week. And that was a decade ago, when the XBox only sold 24 million units overall. Halo has become Super Mario---sells decent, but no longer moves hardware sales like it used to.

And when I mean another Halo, I don’t mean another shooter franchise, just any type of new IP that can move units. Sony has once again taken over the third-party market by not only having more friends, but also forking over extra money to have exclusive games. The only way the XBox even has a shot at gunning for the ever-elusive crown, it’s time to shift the focus to a new franchise.

For years the competitors searched for a Halo killer. Nowadays we have Call of Duty, Battlefield, Titanfall, and Destiny encroaching on its historical sales run. Even Splatoon has sold a shocking amount of copies and if Nintendo plays its cards right, the NX and the ninth generation will see more from this new and highly successful IP. The competition has improved, so the next Halo may not even have to be a shooter.

The options on the other hand, remain quite deep. Microsoft still has action-packed franchises like Jet Force Gemini, Perfect Dark, and Blast Corps in its shelf. Titanfall can become bigger. Lost Planet is an unused grouping of games that can be rebooted/revived. Perhaps it’s time to conquer genres that have seen little attention: JRPGs (Could help Microsoft in Japan), adventure/action hybrids (a competition to Uncharted—the Sony darling). Maybe Microsoft can create the next big sandbox game, a Grand Theft Auto killer (I know, good luck).

The point is, unlike Nintendo and their bag of tricks, Microsoft is once again lacking that killer exclusive AAA franchise that can cut into Sony’s lead and even threaten its position on top. It will definitely take a lot more than just one game to defeat the PS4 and the upcoming PS5, but a game can change the entire playing field. Halo did that, as the series would solidify the idea of online gaming and provide the blueprints for doing it correctly. Wii Sports would fling the entire gaming industry into the mainstream—before they moved on to tablet/mobile gaming. In order for the XBox to become the best-seller in the market, they need that huge, huge game that will alter the fanbases. Halo can’t do it anymore, the shooter market got too cluttered. They need something else, soon.

The Giant Elephant in the Nintendo Direct Room

2015-11-24T02:33:00.000-08:00

Nintendo unveiled yet another Nintendo Direct making tons of big announcements, including Cloud being in Smash Brothers (this seriously bears repeating, and will be the focus of a future article), Pokemon’s 20th anniversary resulting in a 3DS re-release of the first gen Pokemon games, updates to surprise-success stories Splatoon and Super Mario Maker, and a slew of other things----including that Star Fox game that is going to suck and is going to flop miserably. It was overall a very fun Direct, and a slightly somber one since it’s the first one since the passing of Satoru Iwata.

But there’s a major Nintendo product that has not been fully discussed for an extremely long time: the Nintendo NX.

It is totally understandable that discussing the Nintendo NX would harm some of the momentum of the WiiU (which may or may not even exist at this point). Totally understandable that discussing the NX would demean some of the games currently making money like Smash, Mario Maker, and Splatoon. Totally understandable that if we totally neglect the WiiU, then that long-anticipated Zelda game will be brushed underneath the hype of Nintendo’s next console.

But here’s the thing: the WiiU is over. It’s all over. It will never create mammoth sales (barring an awesome bundle like Smash Bros. U with ALL the characters), it will never escape the last place hole, and the third-party support for the system is all but over. Can you announce the NX and keep the fans in the loop for the WiiU? Of course you can.

WiiU owners have been rewarded for their loyalty in recent months; with Smash Brothers’ lineup becoming more and more beautiful, Splatoon fixing itself many times, Super Mario Maker becoming bigger and bigger, and overall more games being available in the WiiU Shop. But it’s time to hype the NX, Nintendo needs to go all-out on their upcoming console---whatever it is.

They already have the support of Square Enix with Dragon Quest and maybe (MAYBE) a Final Fantasy VII remake. EA and Ubisoft have also (cautiously) voiced some support for the upcoming machine. Nintendo should continuously reward the few that chose to purchase the WiiU with tons of goodies, surprises, and updates, I am not against that. As a matter of fact, it would be nice to see some more Nintendo Store deals and more HD remakes (F-Zero GX, Star Wars: Rogue Leader, MELEE). However, it’s time for them to look ahead and start giving the NX some attention as we veer closer to what might whether be the tail end of the eighth generation, or the beginning of the ninth.

We need details, we need explanations. Nintendo’s secrecy does help them sometimes, but it also damaged them in the eighth generation as they withheld so much about the WiiU that it became generally assumed that it was an add-on to the original Wii system---leading to its dismally slow start. But gamers are now more informed than ever, and demand information now more than ever. You can’t keep us in the dark for so long. We need to see more. We need to see something.

Give us the Nintendo NX. It is time for it, and we are already waiting.

The Fall and Hopeful Rise of Sonic the Hedgehog

2015-10-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sega has finally, finally realized that Sonic just isn’t the same anymore, and that the fans are pretty much fed up with the direction of the franchise. For the past several years we’ve seen tons of Sonic games unleash a few good ideas and a few good levels, and perhaps even a few glimpses of hope for a true-blue comeback. Nonetheless, the sales haven’t been impressive, the word-of-mouth is just not there, and Sega has yet to truly capitalize on its biggest franchise. It does also hurt them that the games are rather crappy.

The best-selling video game in the Sonic line was Sonic 2, which sold an astounding 6 million copies. The Sonic trilogy sold 12 million copies within the SNES/Genesis death battle in early 90s. However once the new millennium started the console Sonic games just weren’t selling in the high numbers Sega was used to seeing. No matter how many reboots were thrown at Sonic, no new image or attitude could deliver. Sonic Generations couldn’t do it, Sonic Unleashed couldn’t really do it, Sonic Boom is a disaster. Even though the Sonic Adventure games did do surprise-surprise success on the Gamecube, it was far from the days when the hedgehog could be mentioned with the likes of Mario and Donkey Kong.

But if there’s a place where Sega should fully focus on, it should be the handheld market. For some odd reason, Sega is focusing all its efforts on the Playstation and XBox fronts----when this century has seen the best of Sonic in the Nintendo handhelds. Sonic Advance series (great games by the way) has sold 5 million copies on the Game Boy Advance---a handheld that saw tons of software sales but seldom in pure bulk. The Sonic Rush series (which features the best Sonic game in the past decade) sold over 4 million in the DS line. The numbers do exist, and the fanbase is willing to return back to Sonic in the way Nintendo gamers continue flocking to the Mario franchise. It just might not be in the eighth or ninth generation console battles.

Back to basics should be the approach, and scaling Sonic back into the Nintendo handheld market might be the best way to do it. Sonic flourishes best on the DS systems because it has the technology to make the games very fast, intense, and without issues---yet also isn’t strong enough to pull off the console gameplay that we’ve learned to hate. The other reason is because the Nintendo fanbase resonates and accepts Sonic far better than the fanbases of the competitors. Sonic needs to remain in 2-D as the style of gameplay suffers immensely with an added dimension. Mario can work on 2-D and 3-D because speed isn’t its special point—its creativity, variety, and replay value. Sonic’s best work involves furious speed, roller-coaster-like action, and relentless challenge. Pitting Sonic on 3-D and trying to duplicate this style just doesn’t work---you’d have to give them a totally new gameplay mechanic—which would then remove its Sonicness from the equation.

Sonic Rush is where they need to truly focus on if they want to win their fans back. Sonic Rush was lengthy, had big boss battles, elongated levels, and stripped back on storyline in favor of just throwing you tons of content. Sega needs to stop trying to tell a story, they have plenty of other franchises to pull off storylines to interweave with the gameplay. Sonic just needs to go, and keep going. And they need to give Sonic a break from the console market, instead building hype and anticipation through scattered games in the handheld front. Let’s take Pokemon for an example—when they finally upgrade it to the console market with a true official adventure, it will probably become the best-selling Nintendo game since Wii Sports. Sorry, drifting, let me get back on topic.

And once they decide to return back to the Playstation/XBox/Wii world, the path should be more New Super Mario Bros. and less Super Mario Galaxy; more Sonic Adventure 2 and less Sonic Colors. Less story, less exploration, less pointless side-quests (Seriously, the Chaos World was abysmal), and focus mainly on levels, speed, and plenty of characters to roam with. The Sega team does have some ideas, does still have the potential of delivering another classic, but needs more direction and less production. There is hope, nonetheless a restructuring of the franchise is needed. At least Sega knows that something needs to be done.

Admitting it is always the first step……..if only other companies would follow along….

The Random Little Game that (Unexpectedly) Could

2015-10-15T20:37:00.003-07:00

No analyst could have ever predicted this. Not one could have ever seen this coming.

Splatoon isn’t just selling well after minimal advertising and expectations, but it’s become one of the biggest games in WiiU’s history, the best-selling WiiU game in 2015, and the most successful new Nintendo IP since Xenoblade. After seeing multiple sequels based off of the usual Nintendo properties not do well in a quickly-dying console, this game rose out of nowhere and was shoved into the WiiU lineup as a bridge between Smash Brothers and the upcoming Xenoblade sequel (Super Mario Maker wasn’t treated as a major game but has become a hardcore title, but that’s a discussion for another day).

It destroyed multiple notions on its way to over 2 million copies sold (and still counting with bundles and extra goodies on the way). It was assumed that after Goldeneye (I know, reaching farrrr back) and the Metroid Prime Trilogy that shooters no longer sell well on a Nintendo console; with Call of Duty being an absolute bomb in the Wii/WiiU systems while selling millions anywhere else. It was assumed that new IPs just don’t work on Nintendo consoles, as we see awesome ideas and clever newer Nintendo experiences from this century reduced mostly to the handhelds (Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, Golden Sun, Brain Age, Elite Beat Agents, etc.). Lastly, it was assumed that a game that clearly is reliant on Nintendo’s online functionality would fail and burst into flames. Instead, the online community for Splatoon is even more vibrant (and nearly stronger) than that of Smash Brothers WiiU.

There is a chance that it’s a fluke success, which sometimes happens even in the cutthroat gaming industry. In a random example, Just Dance 2 for the Wii sold nearly 10 million copies, more than any Metal Gear Solid game to date. Or, it could be the ultimate proof that Nintendo needs to continue producing these new IPs or at least do a better job bringing some obscure ones out from the dead. This current gaming generation is lacking in many genres, and the third-party shooter genre is one that is extremely rare. Nintendo needs more RPGs (an answer to Final Fantasy), more racers (a response to Forza), more shooters (Advance/Battalion Wars has been quiet lately), and most importantly more mature titles outside the usual suspects of Zelda and Metroid (Eternal Darkness 2 may never happen, but something along these lines).

The main reason for the lack of hardware sales during Nintendo’s eighth generation is the lack of exciting software. Unlike the Wii and especially the DS, there just hasn’t been that many new and innovative titles to convince the disgruntled hardcore and fleeting mainstream gamers to purchase a WiiU. Splatoon however is the ultimate proof that if you throw a good fresh title in the market, the gamers will reward you and will come back in droves. From the ashes of a usually-slow season in gaming, we see Splatoon becoming the sixth best-selling game in all of 2015. Nintendo needs to take note as they prepare for the next generation with the NX, whatever that eventually becomes.

But yea, also expect a Spla2oon in the horizon.

The Unnecessary Departure of Sony (From the Handheld Market)

2015-09-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

So Sony is the latest company to drop out of the handheld race, leaving Nintendo once again in the lead and by an absolute longshot. Joining the ranks of Neo-Geo, Sega Game Gear, Lynx, Gamate, WonderSwan, N-Gage, and many more, the PSP series is going by the wayside after years of slowly disappearing from obscurity. There are dozens of reasons why the other handhelds didn’t work, but Sony’s departure is a bit of an enigma considering if anyone can take on Nintendo, it would be Sony. Sony has the history, the resources, and the fanbase to pull it off.

Sony was in the first for a decade. The PSP despite its less-than-stellar reputation in the United States, still managed to sell a superb 80+ million copies. Japan, that fun little country, accounted for a quarter of the sales. Even though the software sales weren’t a fraction of what the Nintendo DS pulled off (Nintendo DS Games with 7+ million sold: 13. Playstation Portable Games with 7+ million sold: 1), the hardware sales were definitely higher than all the previous non-Nintendo handhelds.

So what happened you ask? Sony claims it’s because the smartphone industry damaged its sales. But that is extremely far from the truth.

The Vita got delayed when it could have really punched the 3DS during the dismal launch. The Vita lacked any major IPs when it could have transferred some of its successful console franchises (Final Fantasy, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, etc.). The Vita could have had some price cuts as opposed to being twice as expensive as the 3DS after you throw in the insane $100 memory cards (A price cut is what SAVED the 3DS). The Vita could have transferred all the PSX/PS2 classics to the handheld to keep the quantity high as opposed to ho-humming its backwards-compatibility. Lastly, Sony could have made adjustments during its extremely tough first year and instead abandoned the handheld into obscurity.

It was left to die.

There is room for success in the handheld industry, as long as you appeal to the correct crowd. The Nintendo 3DS will never reach the astronomical numbers of the original DS because of the meteoric rise of smartphones and tablets, yet has managed 53 million copies. It may not be as big a deal in America, but in Japan there’s nowhere else to go but up. It took the only franchise that made the PSP relevant (Monster Hunter), revved up the amount of software, and made it far more affordable than the PS Vita and also created products that would appeal to both coasts. Argue what you will about all the asinine decisions related to the WiiU, Nintendo figured out how to beat the odds and made the 3DS a device that has earned them more than 10 billion. Sony threw in the towel far too early.

Nintendo’s success and failures has been directly tied to the amount of software it releases for its consoles---not memory power. The Nintendo Game Boy survived nearly a decade against far better-looking options because of games like Tetris, Link’s Awakening, and especially Pokemon. The Nintendo Wii and Super Nintendo were its last two console victories because it had the most games, and most of the best games. The WiiU and Gamecube have been its biggest failures (Virtual Boy isn’t even going to be brought up…ever) because of the lack of software. This is what doomed the Vita: not the competition, not the cheaper options, but because of the sheer lack of reason to spend the money on it.

The Vita is dead. But it didn’t have to die.

The Scary Success of Super Mario Maker

2015-09-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

Super Mario Maker is a fantastic product, and a sure-fire example of a gift that keeps on giving. You can make levels, upload levels, and play random levels made by random people all over the world. As long as it sells its cool few million (the Mario/Nintendo Console attach rate is always extremely strong), there will be an endless supply of new content rolling around in the internet long after you’ve exhausted your creativity. You will find your fun levels, your challenging levels, your confusing levels, and levels that will make you scream bloody mary. Essentially, it’s your typical Super Mario Bros. game on an endless supply of Bane steroids.

Four art styles and gameplay styles to choose from (Each game will indeed play differently depending on which version you have chosen), you can construct any crazy level your heart desires to make. You can have Bowser riding on a wiggler in the very beginning of a level. You can have 7 koopas piled high while lakitus toss flying piranha plants at you. You can have a level in which you have to avoid getting bigger in order to advance to the end. Whatever your mind makes up, there’s a good chance it’s feasible on the WiiU.

And this is awesome for the gamers and the Nintendo fans---this is potentially tough news for the actual company. Nintendo may have created a monster, they may have created a scenario in which the students are about to excel and trample over the teacher. Halfway through the production, Nintendo must have noticed that handing the keys of the franchise to a rabid, dedicated, and quite clever fanbase may yield some consequences down the road. What happens when the aspiring chef starts making better recipes than the head chef? You wouldn’t see Major League Baseball allowing the fans to make major decisions, right? (It would explain all the unanswered letters)

I am deathly serious when I mention that some of the levels I have experienced online contain some of the best level design since Super Mario Galaxy 2 back in the Wii days. I am also serious when mentioning that this is the most excited the gaming community is towards a game since Super Mario Galaxy provided Mario with a fresh new look and feel back in 2007.

What is making the gaming world giddy about Super Mario Maker is that with the ability to randomly play other people’s levels there is no consistency, no rhyme or reason, no formula that has been done to death by Nintendo in recent years with their decent-yet-limited New Super Mario Bros. series. We are seeing creativity that we had been desperately craving in the past decade from Mario games---being truly satisfied in the Super Mario Galaxy franchise but not much noise since. Even the highly rated Super Mario 3D World lacked the hype pop that we used to experience in other platforming games.

Nintendo is about to lose control of the Mario franchise, and it has already noticed the dramatic shift as they have been banning YouTube videos left and right concerning speedruns and the notoriously cruel and clever modded levels in recent days (stupid decision I must add). It has even reached a point in which Miyamoto recently talked about having to move the Mario franchise in another direction. He knows just as well as anybody that the nostalgia and the appeal of Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World is far bigger and more extensive than all the recent Mario platformers. The 2-D Mario games for the WiiU have combined for 10 million copies---which is only half of what Super Mario World sold, and still can’t match the numbers of Super Mario Bros. 3 (17 million)---and both games came out during a time in which the gaming industry was much much smaller.

It’s strange for this article to transform from praise towards a revolutionary and ballsy (especially by Nintendo standards) game to become a cautionary piece about the potential upcoming gloom in a franchise that consistently sells millions, I understand your current confusion. However Super Mario Bros. doesn’t move consoles like it used to. Mario Bros., Mario Bros. 3, Mario World, and ultimately Super Mario 64 looked and played well enough that it convinced you to purchase the console. These were hardware movers. And then there’s the big transitions: Mario Bros. Lost Levels to Mario Bros. 3, Mario Bros. 3 to Mario World, and then Mario World to Yoshi’s Island. Nowadays your rookies into the gaming industry know of Mario, might play Mario, but aren’t really purchasing Mario. A change is indeed needed, and Super Mario Maker’s resounding initial success is evidence of that.

Success is sometimes dangerous. Seeing the cash flow sometimes shields the fact that a change is needed. Major League Baseball needed a few changes, and it took years before finally applying some improvements, even though it was already a multi-billion dollar industry that’s always a few yards away from becoming the most lucrative sports league in the planet. The Super Mario franchise has seen over 200 million copies sold, but it does need a refresher, or better yet, a break. Look at what’s happened to Zelda---running on nostalgia fumes.

Perhaps it’s time for Super Mario to take a slight break, with Super Mario Maker providing the platforming thrills until the next installment rolls in. With its easy accessibility, DLC potential, and (hopefully, DON’T MESS THIS UP) easy transition to the next franchise via remake or spiritual sequel, Super Mario Maker can bring in new gamers, new creators, and tons of ideas for years to come. As long as Nintendo doesn’t pull the plug on this potentially budding spin-off, Super Mario Bros. can live off of Mario Maker while it seeks its next renaissance moment.

Whether it’s a change in lineup, gameplay additions, new power-ups, new storylines, new visuals, new spin-offs (Super Mario RPG 2 would be greatly appreciated by the way) or just absolutely revving up the quantity on the next Mario game (aim for the gold Nintendo, gun for 100 levels), we have reached a point in which the only excitement we truly felt about an upcoming Mario game was one that WE were allowed to design. That’s not exactly a good sign of confidence to the company that usually dishes out the experiences. Hopefully Super Mario Maker will serve as a wake-up call as well to Nintendo about the fanbase, about our commitment to the craft, and about the fact that they might need to step its game up. Until then, we have our official Mario level editor, and it’s definitely a dream come true---and probably Nintendo’s worst nightmare.

Nintendo Should Become Marvel (Phase II)

2015-09-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

Nintendo should become more like Marvel.

I know, this article has happened before, but it was a wildly different direction I was discussing. Before, I had mentioned how Nintendo needs to embrace the IPs and allow them to expand into more merchandise, television shows, movies, and more exposure altogether. Pokemon Company (only partially owned by Nintendo) generated 2 BILLION in 2014 alone. That is just one franchise. Nintendo owns over 30 franchises. If just half of them could come even close to matching the sales from the Pokemon brand we are looking at an extra 15-20 billion that would go straight to Nintendo’s pocket—combined with the sheer happiness from the rabid, picky, yet excruciatingly loyal fanbase.

So how should Nintendo Marvel it up? By combining the universes together, and bringing a more intimate presentation to the fanbase that is notorious for their creativity, Apple-like consumer habits, and respectful attention to detail. The Legend of Zelda franchise is the best example of this: it started out as a simple series of games and transformed into one of the golden meccas of gaming---and it’s been nearly 2 years since its latest major title, and nearly 4 years since its latest console title. Don’t disrespect Zelda in front of Nintendo fans though; it’s the equivalent to insulting Selena in front of Hispanics. The love runs deep, through the good times (1998-2002 epic run) and the dark times (Skyward Sword, despite still managing to sell a cool couple million). So what if we run the Zelda universe within the same universe as other Nintendo franchises? How awesome would that be?

Part of the appeal of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is all the connections between each of the films—through storyline, cameos, details, and moments that cause a ripple effect to future installments. The events of Captain America: Winter Soldier directly influenced not only Avengers: Age of Ultron, but also Ant-Man and the ABC television show Agents of Shield. How wonderful would it be that in the next Nintendo console/handheld, we see the popular Nintendo franchises blending together to create new and potentially innovative experiences? How awesome would it be for certain characters like Link and Kirby enter new genres of gaming?

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars became a subtle hit that resonated with gamers for generations because it took a familiar face and put him on a very different platform. Super Mario up until then was known for being in platform games and a few spin-offs here and there (Nowhere near as much as today, but Super Mario Kart was still selling like hotcakes back in the 90s), but in Mario RPG he was in a role-playing game complete with a unique cast of characters and unfamiliar circumstances (Bowser as an ally? Really?!!?). It sold over 2 million copies despite not having a European release and the Nintendo 64 appearing in the same year. Nowadays, it’s worth the price of modern games on Amazon. This type of success can be duplicated if you are willing to open the borders a little.

Now, imagine Link joining the Golden Sun universe. Imagine the Fire Emblem cast entering Hyrule to help Link in his fight to restore peace. Can you imagine seeing Link potentially in strategy games, turn-based RPGs, maybe even some medieval warfare games? Heck, imagine Link going up to the skies to help Kid Icarus take on some demons. Can you imagine the Wario universe and the Super Mario universe colliding together for the first time in a platformer since 1992 (Mentioned this idea before: Super Mario World 3)? Imagine Yoshi entering Donkey Kong Country to help out Donkey Kong and his pals? Imagine the kids from Earthbound/Mother joining forces with Professor Layton to solve a major crime? You can take the best of both worlds and blend them in to not only allow the universes and their storylines to connect, but to also allow for unique gaming experiences that we had not seen from our familiar cast.

This could also increase value to certain games you would otherwise not by on normal circumstances. Despite Fox’s popularity in the Nintendo universe, he hasn’t had a hit game since Star Fox 64---and the upcoming one really isn’t ruffling any feathers. To be honest it looks terrible. But if you were to point out that it’s in the same environment as F-Zero and Metroid, and all three are linked in different ways, then interest will grow. Imagine Nintendo creating a way so that if you own all three games different achievements you unlock in one game creates a new adventure or a new side quest in another. In this case, it would also help F-Zero, another franchise well-known amongst the Nintendo crowd but not exactly consisting of celebratory sales.

I had previously stated that the Nintendo NX, or whatever the next major console will be, should become extremely personal and extremely interactive with its hardcore audience. Look at the fanfare associated with Super Mario Maker because of the sheer ability to craft your own Mario game. This type of gaming opens new windows and allows for Nintendo fans to connect with each other and show off their skills and their love for the brand. Adding a dash of Marvel interactivity amongst the franchises we all know and love could create new gameplay/storyline/online possibilities that would breathe life into brands that aren’t as strong, and would create new layers to popular IPs already in successful existence.

Bottom Line: If there is gaming company that can create this type of connection between art, artist, and consumer, it’s Nintendo. And with a little imitating of the biggest cinematic name in the business currently, we can see another rebound from the Japanese giant when the ninth generation rolls around.

The IP Situation of the Eighth Generation

2015-08-19T22:23:00.000-07:00

The Console Wars needs to become the IP Wars if the competitors ever want a chance to even come close to matching Sony.

Sony’s Playstation 4 is surviving because of PS3 momentum, great online service, great pricing, and best of all an aggressive strategy to shelling out more dollars to make certain games exclusive—like Street Fighter 5 (Capcom property) and Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix property). The first-party aspect be damned, it’s the suddenly-emerging third-party tidal shift that is helping Sony remain at the top.

The clunky thing is that neither of the competitors are actually financially bleeding, even if they could be doing much better. Microsoft is Microsoft, and will continue to make fantastic money through other means even when and if the XBox One’s American support starts to dwindle. Nintendo’s very deep bank and overwhelming overhaul from the Wii/DS days (255 million between both systems is bound to create some financial ramifications all these years later) allows for them to also find a way to ante up their lineup to compete against Sony.

The eighth generation is pretty much about over, unless the XBox One pulls off a miraculous turnaround and suddenly has Japan’s attention. Sony is going to win, and will probably win with the PS5 as long as they continue their major support for the console industry and continue shaking the right hands and making the right friends. In order for Microsoft and Nintendo to even have a chance, they need to alter their vision:

It is no longer about how the games are played; it’s really about what games they CAN play.

In the 90s, each system had extremely diverse lineups, forcing you to choose sides. The Genesis and Super Nintendo games were so different, even the games they shared (NBA Jam, Aladdin) were very different because of hardware limitations, and different people working on their version of the game. This is why the battles were so vicious, we had two different types of gamers buying games in the same market. This was why Nintendo owned Japan, Sega had Europe, and it was a total showdown in North America.

Nowadays, the games are remarkably similar in every shape or form except for graphics. Even the greatest game in the past few years, Grand Theft Auto V, can be found in the PS4 as well as the XBox One (and if you are a glutton for punishment, PC). Most of the better games have been arriving from third-party companies, they are no longer just knockaround squadrons throwing random games to make a quick buck. Microsoft and Nintendo needs to realize this and stack up its IP lineup and relentlessly build the better resume.

Microsoft has the most money, so they have the highest expectations to bolster the lineup. Rare Replay was amazing evidence as to some of the IPs that the XBox brand has but has hardly used. Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, Blast Corps, Banjo-Kazooie, and Battletoads are all great franchises that have received minimal attention since Rare became Microsoft property. With Konami, Capcom, and Square Enix (among others) needing extra money, this is Microsoft’s chance to continue adding to its mature lineup: Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid (Will admit, that’s a longshot), Adventure Island, Bomberman, Contra, Bloody Roar, Breath of Fire, among other forgotten gems of the past.

The fact that Street Fighter V is not joining XBox One first has to sting, since it’s the biggest non-Smash Bros. fighting franchise on the planet. Final Fantasy VII being Xbox-exclusive could have finally given them an audience in the Far East Coast. Microsoft has to gain some revenge, with special deals with third-parties that aren’t afraid of joining sides.

Then there's the neglected IPs. The XBox One can go after the defunct Burnout and create the prefect partner to the more-realistic Forza. They can also become a sports mecca (I had mentioned this before) and nab Madden, FIFA, Nascar, among others before Sony owners can gain access to them. Unlike Nintendo, Microsoft wouldn’t have to develop these exclusive/earlier-than-thou games, just merely forking the extra money to get them first can be enough to get gamer’s attention.

Nintendo on the other hand needs to go on a massive, massive buying spree. Nintendo is the king in reviving defunct and forgotten franchises, as they have risen Earthbound, Fire Emblem, Metroid (8 year gap is no joke), Advance Wars, Kid Icarus, and others from the dead and from obscurity. If Nintendo were smart, they would go to all the companies with far less money and license or just 100% nab the rights to ideas that haven’t been explored or utilized. Nintendo has excelled in every major category of gaming (Even horror, remember Eternal Darkness?), which is something the competitors cannot claim.

Franchises like Mega Man, Secret of Mana, Bomberman, Earthworm Jim, Plok, Clayfighter, and dozens of others would benefit from a Nintendo facelift, and could potentially give the Big N some more weapons to employ as it can continue bragging its first-party superiority above the others (And even though this has saved Nintendo time and time again, the gap needs to be far bigger to justify the purchase). The gaming industry can take a page from Hollywood and reach into the past and remake/reboot dormant franchises (although Hollywood has been rightfully accused of remaking tons of material that didn't need the facelift, but that's for another article). In the wild and wacky history of gaming, we have seen tons of great ideas trail behind in need of assistance.

Just look back at the 90s and you'll see lots of underutilized ideas in need of expansion: Illusion of Gaia, Chrono Trigger (seriously, where's that sequel?), Maniac Mansion, Castlevania (A little more of a stretch, but this can use some Intelligent Systems love), Golden Axe, Vectorman, Comix Zone, Shining Force, and of course let's not forget Earthbound...it sometimes seems like Nintendo has...

The gaming industry is no longer interested in different ways to play games, we want to play games, and lots of them. There are great games ranging from $5 to $60, and they are flocking to the company that has the most. Sony right now is the leader, but Sony doesn't have to be. Nintendo and Microsoft have been sitting around watching IPs pass them by or float around without an owner; and unless they plan on making a push this scenario will remain the same leading up to the ninth generation.

The PS4 is in the lead, but its no secret why.

How Melee Needs the Street Fighter II Treatment

2015-07-21T21:53:00.001-07:00

Super Smash Brothers Melee was recently part of the mega-popular EVO fighting game event.

Yes, Nintendo Gamecube’s Super Smash Brothers Melee

Let’s keep in mind by the way. It is 2015, and Melee is still a major player in the professional gaming community. That game is over a decade old and has just as many fans and has just as deep a community as your modern Street Fighters and your modern Mortal Kombats. What was originally brushed off as a fun yet hypersensitive brawler has blossomed into one of the most cherished games in the history of all gaming. Melee (a sixth generation game) hanging out with the eighth generation games is the equivalent of a team of 40-year-olds outplaying 20-somethings in basketball. The sheer longevity of Melee in the social gaming circles is beyond impressive.

And Nintendo needs to continue capitalizing on this, especially when the machine it originally came out on is becoming obsolete and slightly harder to come by. We need to preserve this game and transform it into a high-definition and online-friendly component. Whether it be through the WiiU or the NX, or whatever system Nintendo decides to throw for the ninth generation, we need the House of Mario to take a page from 90s Capcom and create a Turbo Edition, or an Alpha Edition to their gem. And this wouldn’t be some cheap way to make extra cash, it’s a way to expand the options of a rapidly growing community of Melee enthusiasts.

In my vision, Super Smash Brothers Melee Tournament Edition would take every single spec of gameplay from the 2001 masterpiece (yes, everything, including the physics and the advanced techniques and individual stats of each fighter) and give it a polish. Remember the re-release of Street Fighter II for the XBox Arcade? That’s exactly what they should be looking for. Do not try to fix perfection (new characters wouldn’t hurt, but at the same time wouldn’t be necessary), just try to give it a facelift. In this day and age, Melee is just an HD facelift away from standing even closer to the modern fighters.

We can even take it a step further and make some arcade machines out of Smash Brothers Melee to give that 90s king of the mountain feel that we used to experience when heading to the arcades to take on the local legend in whatever big game was out at the time. We don’t need the Melee machines everywhere, just in your gaming hotspots like Las Vegas, Orlando, New York City, etc. I can see Nintendo nabbing even more cash by going retro and simultaneously re-introduce Melee into the gaming stratosphere. Honestly though, wouldn’t any university be bursting with excitement upon seeing a Super Smash Brothers Melee arcade machine in their campus?

Throwing Melee into the online gaming world would make it easier for bragging rights, tournaments popping up left and right, qualifying matches that can be held around the world, and much more. Imagine a ranking system that can be viewed at any time in a Smash Brothers Melee Tournament website. Imagine racking up points and rising up your position as you take to the online world and take on fighters from around the world in between major gaming tournaments and conventions. Technically you can pull this off with the other Smash Brothers that have released after Melee, but for some odd reason no matter how many characters and changes you throw at the franchise we just keep coming back to Melee and reminisce its glory.

And on the off chance that you might argue that re-releasing Melee might take away from the sales of the mainstream-friendlier current editions, look at the sales of the Mario games on the Wii:

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Super Mario Galaxy/Super Mario Galaxy 2 (More hardcore titles): 18.71 million
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Family-friendly): 28.05 million
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Both hardcore and casual can definitely exist hand in hand, because everyone wins---those seeking fun have their game, and those seeking to enter a cutthroat world of fighting that we could never have imagined back in 2001 get theirs too. Honestly this would strengthen Nintendo’s relationship with the hardcore crowd and also give gamers of today to experience the sheer mayhem we experienced when we first started playing and loving Melee.

Personally, I believe catering to the still-rampant audience of Melee fanboys would be great for Nintendo, great for the fans, and great for potential new fans. Giving an HD remake to the masses as well as crafting a deep, engaging, and committed online functionality would send Smash Brothers Melee to new gaming heights, and would potentially allow it to progress even more in the professional gaming community. Look at all the revenue League of Legends draws in, as some of their tournaments draws prizes of over 2 million dollars. Dota 2 has tournaments that shell out 10 million in prizes. Games that can develop enough money to warrant such prizes has to be rolling in eternal cash. Not saying Melee can match the PC competitive gaming universe, but can still make a big name for itself with the increased exposure and increased accessibility.

You couldn’t find me a fighting game fan or a Nintendo fan that finds a Melee: Tournament Edition to be a bad idea. It is a gold mine of an opportunity, where the rewards will justify the spending no matter which way you spin it. Make this happen Nintendo, and I will be among the first in line at the door waiting to purchase my copy. Just don’t expect me to fight with the big boys. But don’t worry, there will be plenty of people guaranteed to want to be the King of Smash. And you’ll make millions along the way.

The Ho-Hum Disney/Nintendo Connection

2015-07-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

Disney and Nintendo potentially making a deal together? Makes sense because both have lost their touch with the gaming industry.

We can start with Disney. After a delightful couple gaming generations with hits such as DuckTales, Aladdin, the handheld/console Mickey platformers, and Lion King, the Disney brand disappeared a bit during the Fifth Generation. After the Playstation Generation, besides Kingdom Hearts and Epic Mickey, Disney hasn’t really connected with gamers in spite of the sheer entourage of franchises and licenses it owns.

Disney Infinity has sold 7 million as a franchise overall, but I am sure after the company saw the 40 million pulled by Grand Theft Auto V alone they might be a bit disappointed that they couldn’t pull off more. But it’s not just on this front where Disney hasn’t fully connected with gamers, there’s also the ridiculous DisneyQuest that never quite took off closing down very soon.

DisneyQuest was a quiet disaster hidden underneath the financial success stories within the House of Mouse. After a slow start, Disney let the interactive park slowly die while they tried finding a solution to ease the bleeding. Despite the incredible amount of potential (especially considering the sheer amount of space), Disney just didn’t see that the park was already five steps behind the gaming industry. And in 2015, DisneyQuest still lacks: gaming tournaments, professional gamers competing, gaming conferences, new ways to play games, exclusive arcade games, ability to play seventh/eighth generation games, and much more.

Rest in peace DisneyQuest, you deserved much better. But the House of Mouse remains rather ignorant of the ever-growing and ever-expanding industry that hasn’t quite gotten much attention from Disney. So now they are turning to Nintendo to try to sort out the disconnect.

Nintendo however…..they are also disconnecting from the gamers.

The WiiU is a wreck. The rumored NX is scaring gamers away. The latest E3 was a disaster. Nintendo’s reputation is nearly as low as during the late N64 days. They are losing third-party companies, they are losing hardcore fans, and it’s the mammoth success of the 3DS keeping them afloat. So I am sure they could use whatever help they could possibly get.

That being said, does anybody even win with this partnership? We both know that Disney and Nintendo are downright hostile towards their IPs and would refuse to share them unless the deal was good. It will take everything Disney has to convince Nintendo to make a Mickey/Super Mario game. It will take forever for the Amiibos to become part of the Disney Infinity crew. Even though both companies could use the help, unless they put down their defenses I doubt much can come out of it. Disney will still be extremely restrictive, and Nintendo’s deal with Disney won’t exactly draw any new hardcore gamers unless they pull a Kingdom Hearts-like franchise.

We might see a Disney movie with Mario, and we might see some Disney figurines in future Nintendo games. But until both truly realize that they must change----let’s not get too excited. The deal won’t be that extensive, and won’t rock the gaming industry like it should.

E3 2015's Re-Affirmation of the Console War Standings

2015-06-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

3 Things We Learned From E3:

1) Microsoft is not throwing in the towel
2) Sony is on top of its game and will remain on top for a while
3) Nintendo hates its fans.

E3 2015 has pretty much solidified the standings, as Sony remains on top, Microsoft is following nice and close in second, and Nintendo is all but irrelevant at this point---not even sure how the PR can handle the current backlash. Another major change happening in E3 is the importance of the publishers and developers impressing the media and the attendees. So now there’s much more focus on conferences from EA and Bethesda. With the Top 2 displaying similar lineups, the differences become nothing more than surprises, business decisions, pricing, and additional features within the console.

So with that, and the overwhelming amount of companies that fall off the gaming wars, you’ll see larger developers and publishers rev up the marketing during this weekend. Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront pretty much led the way, taking almost all the attention from the decisions of the Playstation 4 and the XBox One. Never been an EA fan, especially after its legal monopoly on football games, but Battlefront looks darn good.

On to the Big 3. Microsoft shocked the world by offering backwards-compatibility, which was something the XBox had been trying so hard to deviate from. Microsoft had spoken out against it for years, which made this all the more surprising. The XBox One has had an interesting history of backing away from some of its original decisions, with the infamous DRM insanity from a couple years ago being the best example. Can’t blame them for throwing the kitchen sink into keeping the lead in the American market and attempt to creep into the European scene. The XBox 360 had a slew of spectacular games that deserved a second shot with the One, especially during the downtimes as we are seeing less and less major titles being produced nowadays.

The gaming industry is doing a strategy that’s similar to Disney’s cinematic technique: less is more. Less games produced, but throw more money and resources within these games. Grand Theft Auto 5 needed 5 years---but after a good marketing campaign and gamer’s support of the don’t-rush-art approach the game sells over 45 million copies amongst four consoles. So with that, you need software to hold the gamers over while they wait the next major title. Let’s be honest, outside Halo 5 is there any major exclusive XBox title that can move hardware sales? Not really. So backwards-compatibility, reaching into the past is definitely the direction to go, especially when Sony remains hesitant to do the same.

But dear God: The Final Fantasy VII remake. After years of begging and pleading for a remake to one of the last excellent JRPGs (honestly, we haven’t seen much JRPG goodness post-90s), we are finally getting it. Let’s forget the fact that Square Enix’s track record hasn’t been good in in a decade, Final Fantasy VII-2 is a reality. Not only did it remove some of the momentum from WiiU’s exciting Xenoblade Chronicles X, but combined with Shenmue 3 Sony is pretty much conquering the Japanese region in terms of consoles (The 3DS is still wickedly popular over there).

Although Sony won’t budge on their backwards-compatibility, its Playstation TV/Now/Live features cover up most of the damage from being the only console of the three lacking support of previous generations. Sony doesn’t have much to offer this year, but with such a successful run so far and outstanding third-party support the Playstation 4 has very little to worry about. The conference of Sony didn’t deliver the most hits, but delivered the most memorable blow.

As for Nintendo. Good ol’ Nintendo. The WiiU support is about dead, there was no mentioning of Zelda (that should stir the pot because if they can’t reveal anything now, I smell a delay to the next generation), the big Retro Studios announcement was a pure dud, Star Fox Zero doesn’t exactly impress (and no online support? Seriously?), and aside from Mario Maker and Xenoblade, do we really have anything to be excited over? No big surprises, no mention of Gamecube in Virtual Console (a pure miss for the past 5 years), no F-Zero, no major Metroid title, and just nothing that could possibly help Nintendo get out of its funk with the gaming crowd.

Nintendo is on some ugly crossroads. You have Nintendo of America constantly trying to clean up the shenanigans coming from the Japanese department, and you have the Japanese division continuing its bitterly stubborn ways and not trying to adapt and shift into the new age of gaming. At this point, Star Fox Zero not having online support is inexcusable. At this point, fumbling the Metroid franchise YET AGAIN after Other M ruffled the wrong feathers is also inexcusable. Lastly, not a single peek of the upcoming Zelda game is disastrous---and inexcusable. Nintendo did not win any fans during this E3, and really couldn’t give much of a convincing argument as to why you should invest in the WiiU. The system is being abandoned quite hastily—despite Super Mario Maker potentially being the most rewarding video game of 2015.

All in all, this E3 did deliver plenty of goods and surprises. The XBox One all but eliminated its ugly reputation that had been developing a few years ago after the influx of PR hiccups. Sony and the PS4 continues its reign at the top as they continue to pour money into remakes and sequels that we desire for the sake of making them exclusive to increase the value of the console. Then there’s Nintendo, making us sigh repeatedly. If you are a gamer however, there’s plenty to be excited about---even if most of the good stuff won’t come for several months.

The Quiet (Yet Successful) Year of the Playstation 4

2015-06-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

The multimedia aspects that tarnished XBox One’s reputation is actually saving the Playstation 4. Funny how the gaming industry works.

The PS4 is outselling the competition handedly despite not having too many big games out there. And even Sony admitted that their first-party lineup is lacking, and that the rest of this year isn’t going to deliver much hype. So unless the upcoming E3 delivers surprises, don’t expect much in the gaming environment from Sony (and to an extent, Nintendo and Microsoft as well). However the PS4 is surviving mainly because it’s not just a piece of gaming hardware, it’s a multi-media device. Even if you don’t have new games, there’s the online features, the connectivity to the internet, the incredible Playstation Network, and Playstation Now. There are tons of options while awaiting the next big game.

Playstation Now is hands-down the biggest reason for Sony’s success. 300 PS3 games available at your fingertips if you are willing to shell out the bucks for the monthly subscription. Where Nintendo dropped the ball despite the overwhelming history, Sony has utilized fully by offering hundreds of classic and past games to always cover for shortcomings that can and will occur. We are witnessing gaming companies dropping left and right, some to bankruptcy and others to mobile gaming. To have something to fall back on has been nothing but lucrative in Sony’s part. After all, why else would Sony have such a big lead on Microsoft despite having similar lineups?

Microsoft dropped the ball because during the disastrous E3 they made it sound like they weren’t going to focus as much on games. Sony learned that the multi-media external activities should be a clutch, never the main focus. Simply switching the priorities around slightly could have resulted in a closer race. But the Playstation 4 is hands-down the system best geared towards the hardcore and casual gaming crowd. Microsoft may have XBox Live, but Sony has arguably everything else.

Bottom Line: Remember that gamers come first, and that your Plan Bs should be gaming-related, not NFL-related, Netflix-related, or anything that could be accomplished by a laptop. The PS4 has looked and sounded like the premiere system for gamers, and its paying off in dividends for the time being----despite the lackluster lineup. Even with Nintendo having the top game in the past year (Smash WiiU), the year and generation has belonged to the PS4, because of the superior focus.

The Intended Self-Destruction of Konami

2015-05-21T14:56:00.002-07:00

Another one bites the dust.

This one however is a self-inflicted wound.

Konami is about to exit the gaming industry altogether, which is both a shock and a disappointment to gamers everywhere. After over two decades of being relevant (although more relevant in the 90s) and handing us notorious franchises like Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Contra, Pro Evolution Soccer and owning franchises like Bomberman, Bonk, and Adventure Island, Konami’s place in the gaming world is about to disappear.

The beginning of the end didn’t seem obvious at first, but with the controversy surrounding Kojima and Metal Gear Solid 5 we noticed something was brewing. But them pretty much eliminating the console market aspect and focusing more on mobile games and gambling machines was not on our list of potential explanations. Konami is nowhere near as strong as it used to be, so financially and business-wise it makes sense, but as a fan of gaming it hurts quite deep.

Where does Metal Gear Solid go? Especially after firing Kojima and doing whatever it takes to hide the evidence. Where do all the valuable franchises go from here? Unfortunately, they might enter the more mainstream, lower-budgeted, not-as-rewarding mobile market. It would be the equivalent of Applebees transforming into a McDonalds-like place with drive-thru. There are a lot of great ideas and wonderful franchises that might become severely watered-down in the coming years now that you won't see them on a Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo system.

The baffling part is that just a couple years ago they took Hudson Soft and all their franchises. So clearly competing in the console wars was on their radar. What changed? Rising costs, rising competition, and the mere fact that its just much easier to produce and financially profit off of phone games. Although you won't hit GTA V numbers making mobile games, its the much safer option. Its much safer to focus on the Vegas gambling machines. Sadly, this is all at the expense of the gaming community, which spurns lots of hate in the online world.

Konami's disappearing act from the gaming world is following the disappearing acts of Sega and Square Enix. But unlike the other companies recently shifting their focus, Konami wasn't financially unstable, and came very abruptly. It also cost us a potentially flawless Metal Gear Solid 5 (if you don't think workplace drama affects the final product, you haven't actually held a job), cost us a Guillermo Del Toro Silent Hill, and future installments of both franchises alongside Castlevania and Contra (barring a franchise garage sale of some sort).

And this is what frightens hardcore gamers more than anything---the willingness to stop trying to entertain them.

The Nintendo Strategy That Worked, But Was Never Repeated

2015-05-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

Back in 2002, Nintendo tried something unique, something different, and it worked.

And they haven’t done it since.

November 2002 would be the Month of Metroid, as we saw two very different Metroid games on two different systems release in the same day. They each had high-budget commercials, they each had the attention of the gaming community, and if it weren’t for the astounding controversy and success of Grand Theft Auto III/Vice City (as well as the mammoth year of the Playstation 2 overall) it would have been the most-talked about gaming-related thing in the entire holiday season.

Metroid Prime opened to spectacular reviews and sold over a million copies for a system struggling to actually do the same. Metroid Fusion also managed to sell a million, despite being part of a franchise that had been dormant for nearly a decade up to that point. Overall, it was a nice success and bit of good news Nintendo had needed during the rough opening year of the Gamecube.

But this idea was never duplicated again.

To this day we haven’t seen any of the Nintendo franchises have a special day of this magnitude. There was no special Wii/DS combination, there was no special Wii/3DS combination, and to this day we haven’t seen anything of that sort between the WiiU and 3DS. The concept of simultaneous release dates on different platforms should be an idea further explored by Nintendo, for releasing them at the same time creates lots of good marketing, and would prevent from one game hindering the sales of the other.

Take Smash Brothers 3DS for example. It had a release date in late summer, and its bigger brother counterpart had a release date of November. The 3DS version ruined the momentum of the other game because a) both games were eerily similar which was a poor choice I must add and b) way more people owned a 3DS as opposed to the WiiU—prompting the classic question of why taking the next step into getting the new console when I already own a system that has the game I had been yearning for years. 3DS Smash Brothers sold nearly 6 million copies—quietly making it the most successful fighting game in the history of handhelds.

The WiiU version? 3.2 million. The cheaper 3DS is now outselling the WiiU by over 80,000 every single week on average, with the spike attributed to software like Smash Brothers 3DS and Mario Kart 7. Now, there are much bigger issues than just software not receiving the same release date, but it definitely doesn’t help that the 3DS is chewing away at WiiU’s momentum.

Nintendo needs more moments like Month of Metroid. We need to see a day in which the next-gen system gets the brand new 3-D, not Skyward Sword Zelda and the handheld gets a 2-D counterpart. The games not only have to be same franchise, they also stylistically and texturally have to be different. Prime was a 3-D adventure with heavy first-person shooter elements---Metroid Fusion was a Super Metroid-influenced action horror handheld with 2-D gameplay. Same franchise, different games.

It is all about generating the hype, as opposed to spitting games in different release dates all over the year---prompting potential momentum kills. New Super Mario Bros. 2 definitely hampered the sales of the WiiU launch since we saw the more expensive but similar-looking New Super Mario Bros. U be the big launch title. Not a good sign. The 3DS sequel scored 8 million, while the WiiU version around half of that. If they had come out on the same date, we could have seen closer sales. If we saw a Super Mario 64-2 or a Mario Galaxy 3 as opposed to a New Mario U, that also could have helped the launch.

Nintendo in the future needs more Month of Pokemon, Month of Mario, Month of Zelda, etc. These types of events would be fun, and would motivate the fanbases. Month of Metroid resulted in sales of nearly 4 million after an 8-year hiatus and missing an entire generation. They need to invade the news of the gaming world at least temporarily with simultaneous releases of their heavy-hitting games. Random day in August to release a game won’t do you any good. Multiple sequels won’t do us good, we are willing to wait for that one big incredible game (Just ask Rockstar and the results after a 5-year development cycle of GTA V). You need to build the hype, you need to get people excited.

Unlike Microsoft (and Sony technically because the Playstation handhelds are irrelevant) Nintendo has the advantage because they own the handheld market and despite the limited sales of the current console, has a good history in the console wars. Their best franchises have done well in both platforms. Nintendo should further utilize this fact and do these special events more often. Cluster the games more often. Show the world why you should own BOTH the handheld and the console. But spitting random games in random dates won’t do the trick, it does more harm than you would like to believe. The WiiU is in third place, and that’s WITH having a version of Mario Bros., Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and even Zelda.

Month of Metroid back in 2002 was a game-changer, and was quite fun. I did buy both games. We would love to see more of these.

The Delayed, Underrated, Forgotten Legacy of the Nintendo Gamecube (Part 2 of 2)

2015-04-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

The Nintendo Gamecube is a forgotten piece of gold that could have saved or at least delayed the inevitable fail of the Nintendo WiiU. And this forgotten behavior just adds to the legacy of the purple box that housed more hidden gems than disappointments. That poor purple box suffered from gamers’ post-traumatic stress from being N64 owners and also suffered from the giant third-party conquering monster known as the Playstation 2. Now, this blog entry is splitting into two categories: Why it Failed, and Why it Could Have Been Revived. Why it Failed belongs to my Entire World blog, with the Revived entry belonging to the Eighth Generation. Now, without further interruption, my upcoming 3,000 word dedication to the Nintendo Gamecube.

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Here is Part One, in case you missed it
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Why It Could Have Been Revived

The Nintendo Gamecube failed once. Nintendo wasn’t fully at fault on that one, despite some of their controversial and baffling decisions. The Nintendo Gamecube in the 2000s could have been revived, saved, and treasured by a new generation. This, was definitely Nintendo’s wrongdoing. The Gamecube has an entire cluster of excellent forgotten games from the 2001-2005 years that remains in Nintendo’s hands----yet remains only in their hands. We have seen two generations of Virtual Console, WiiWare, and superior technology that could have revived some of these games. We have seen two generations come and go and we still have barely scratched the surface of Gamecube history.

Let’s start with what we did see. We saw Wii-versions of Mario Power Tennis (Not as good as the N64 version, but whatever), Pikmin and Pikmin 2 (random), Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (No…), and the Metroid Prime Trilogy (easily the best choice here, for the WiiMote was the perfect controller for shooters). To say that Nintendo totally forgot about the sixth generation is a total lie.

Now, here was the issue: all the missing games. Eternal Darkness could have been absolutely perfect with enhanced graphics and motion controls—that type of horror would be elevated with more personal control (and lack of) of your actions. F-Zero GX was meant to be handled with that Wii-wheel. Smash Brothers Melee deserved an online tournament mode for the much wider audience. Then there’s Paper Mario, Four Swords Adventures, Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi’s Mansion, and of course the criminally underrated Rogue Leader games.

The issues continue: the Virtual Console did not include Gamecube games not just once, but twice. Only 4 games in the Gamecube sold over 3 million copies, meaning there was a cluster of games that had been played by just an inch of a fraction of gamers. Why not give the base of 70+ million Wii owners the chance to replay these games? Third-party relationships could have improved if Nintendo had reached out and tried to re-release the franchise-best Soul Calibur II, Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil Remake, Tales of Symphonia, Viewtiful Joe (cult gem that did better on Gamecube) among others.

And of course, there’s also the WiiU and the missed opportunity to launch a Gamecube Virtual Console of some sort (ANY SORT) during the early months when the game lineup was stretched absolutely thin. It could have been much better to Nintendo if they had a lineup of 30-50 Gamecube games at cheaper prices while waiting for the next big game. It could have benefited Nintendo if we saw HD versions of Smash Brothers Melee, Luigi’s Mansion (maybe throw in the sequel for good measure?), the Super Mario sports games, Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario Trilogy, Eternal Darkness (Yes, I bring this game up again), and for goodness sakes, give us SOMETHING NINTENDO! Sorry, stopped analyzing and became a disgruntled fan…

Nintendo used to be the best at bringing up the past, and it’s because of a mix of having the best lineup of first-party games and having less issues with third-party companies and licenses (although it will forever be a darn shame that we’ll never have an updated Goldeneye or NFL Blitz 2000). But with Sony revving up its past much better than before, Nintendo has to step its game up. The Gamecube could have been that next level. And it didn’t happen. And although it wasn’t the main reason for the failures of the WiiU, the fact that Nintendo curiously decided to focus on the same NES, SNES, and (eventually…) N64 games (when they could have been transferred from the Nintendo Wii itself, WITH widescreen) was curious and downright…stupid. So Nintendo lost, and the Gamecube remains without a second chance to create memories and a legacy.

Bottom Line: The Gamecube remains a curiously odd chapter that just doesn’t get revisited or mentioned much. It had a slew of great games, a slew of creative games, and they mysteriously get little to no love outside the early 2000s. It is curious, and it is quite sad. This neglecting of 90% of the great Gamecube games has led partially to Nintendo’s broken relationship with the hardcore gamer crowd and has led to weak console sales (handhelds is a totally different, and much happier story). With the new system announced and definitely on the way, this will be Nintendo’s third opportunity to link back to the past and revisit the lost years that Nintendo experienced while under the PS2 shadow. The Gamecube was Nintendo’s last truly hardcore system and until they acknowledge and celebrate this, Nintendo will struggle reaching out to the remaining hardcore crowd.

Microsoft, meet Kojima.

2015-04-14T17:50:00.001-07:00

So now Kojima is unemployed.

Folks, I just mentioned that one of the top developers in the entire gaming world is unemployed. His entire company is separated from the clutches of Konami. Do you know what this means?

It’s time to start courting him. Now. Immediately. Nintendo, Sony, Activision, there’s a very valuable and attractive company looking for a new place to stay.

Microsoft, I am mainly looking at you.

Now, it is an established fact that Japan and XBox do not get along, and it has been this way for three gaming generations. The XBox 360 had a dozen JRPG exclusives for the Far East market and not even that helped. Also didn’t help that the XBox lineup dwindled into the usual suspects towards the end---allowing for Sony’s PS3 to claim second place eventually. The Japanese market is still extremely important because they are still heavily invested in the gaming world.

The PSP and PSVita have been relevant mainly because of Japan. 1 out of every 4 PSPs sold were in Japan, and the Vita has sold 3.7 million copies in the same region---while only 7 million more sold in the rest of the world. The PS3 outsold the XBox 360 by 9 million copies in Japan, allowing it to make up for the dismal performance in the United States. Sony and Japan have been great friends and it has led to wonderful economic success. While the company of Sony is floundering altogether, the gaming division has remained strong thanks to the powerful Japanese support.

Enough about Sony though, this article is about Microsoft and how it should throw whatever money it can to create a partnership with Kojima Productions. The staff has an excellent track record, despite it being limited to Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders. XBox 360’s best-selling Japanese game was Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation---which couldn’t even break 250K. Guess which production company has made 8 games that sold more than 250K in Japan….

Fun Fact I am repeating from a previous article I wrote:

"Whichever system sells the most in Japan wins the generation—it has remained true since the NES sold nearly 20 million copies back in the 80s/90s. The SNES, PSX, PS2, and Nintendo Wii each outsold the competitors in the Asia market and ultimately became the big seller. "

Microsoft needs to hold hands with Kojima, and promise him plenty of money and resources and become an exclusive third-party company that will make and distribute Japan-only games. Kojima Productions consists of a very talented staff with plenty of attention to details. Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid IV are amongst the best games ever made, and their handheld iterations prove that they can deliver a lot of great content with more limited hardware. Metal Gear: Ghost Babel was a phenomenal, phenomenal Game Boy Color game that you need to play if you haven't done so already.

I am sure there are dozens of ideas swirling around Kojima’s head and I am sure each of them can deliver. I can see a Disney/Pixar-like relationship with these two—the big brother provides the financial help and marketing, and the younger brother makes the requested art. And even with Metal Gear Solid staying behind and remaining with Konami, Microsoft can help the production studio recover and move on from the ugly breakup.

This is a win-win situation from all parties involved. Microsoft gets a smaller company with a good track record, Kojima gets his freedom that was clearly disappearing during his final days with Konami. Microsoft can recover from the current disastrous performance outside the United States, and Kojima Productions can start a new chapter in its long career in gaming.

Whoever gets Kojima wins. But if there a company that would benefit the most, it would Microsoft for its lifeless-outside-western-hemisphere XBox One.

Is The Madden Brand Fading?

2015-04-05T19:36:00.003-07:00

Is Madden still a thing? Honestly, is it still a thing?

The Madden brand just doesn’t seem to have the power it used to have, when it was the best-selling game for 2-3 months out of the year every year during the sixth generation. During the PS2 games, it was expected that Madden would sell at least 2 million---and then would scrape up a few more millions with the XBox and (sometimes) the Gamecube.

Then something odd happened. The sales started dropping during the seventh generation.

The XBox 360 became the dominant system for Madden, yet it was averaging just half of what Madden was selling in the PS2 days. Its best-selling Madden edition, Madden 2010, was outsold by the 2006 edition by 2 million copies----and that wasn’t even the best-selling installment. And now that we’ve reached the newest generation, the best-selling Madden in this era is the 2015 edition---which barely passed 1.5 million.

So why is the Madden brand fading? It’s a mix of reputation and the overall decline in sports simulation sales. EA and Madden doesn’t have the positive vibes that it carried in the early 2000s, and by destroying the competition the effort level to enhance the franchise diminished completely. After the NFL 2K5/Madden 2005 incident (still an unforgivable act to this day, forget you EA Games), Madden 2006 began the quality downward spiral that went egregiously out of control with the XBox 360 games. And guess what, reputation goes far in the gaming industry; no matter how successful you were before the streak will end if you unleash bad product. Mortal Kombat suffered from this for about a decade post SNES/Genesis period.

The games aren’t as good anymore, and it took a couple years before gamers realized this and decided to spend their hard-earned money elsewhere. The last final blow the NFL 2K series delivered was that awesome price tag of $20 on the 2K5 edition. Ever since that year, the $50-$60 just looked much more expensive to give to a Madden game that monopolized its way to being your only option. EA never tried to lower its price, and now it’s being outsold by the NBA 2K series even though the NFL grosses about 5 billion more than the NBA.

But sports simulations just don’t sell as well as they used to, with just the FIFA series remaining a major success. The number of sim franchises has diminished severely, and the ones that have stuck around have been stagnant in the past few years because of declining quality and/or declining interest. MLB the Show peaked at the PS2 days and has yet to sell a million copies worldwide. NHL from EA also peaked in the PS2 days and the latest installment just sold 400,000 more than an N64 version of the hockey franchise. The NCAA games thanks to legal issues are non-existent.

It has become harder to justify buying the same game every year. Even Call of Duty at least changes up its story and ways of playing each year resulting in consistently outselling the competition in November (even though this franchise has also been seeing a decline). Then there’s the increasing popularity of the more entertaining, more engaging, and more rewarding fantasy football, which makes Madden look like child’s play. Fantasy sports is not just child’s play, it can also become a career. Fantasy football is a $70 billion dollar business---while Madden 2015 made somewhere over $345 million—which is a far cry from the $405 million they earned in 2005.

So how can Madden ever go back to the dominant sales days in an era where games are making more than ever? The solution is simple: convince gamers that the Madden brand is refreshed and will be worth your money. Madden should be more connected with the NFL stats and should adjust the gameplay accordingly. If you want to truly create the realest experience, you need to find a way for player and team stats to update alongside the gameplay of the consumer throughout the season. EA needs to creep closer and closer to fantasy football within the gaming experience as humanely possible.

The biggest hurdle however is taking on the legend that surrounds NFL 2K5. What made 2K5 such a gem was the presentation and the easy-to-pick-up gameplay. Madden is a pure chore to churn through when trying to survive franchise mode. It needs to loosen the realism and look more like your simpler Blitz/2K games. Too much realism and simulating hinders the experience—video gaming is an escape pure and simple. Gran Turismo might be the most realistic racer in the planet, but it survives because it’s still an easy game to handle. Madden stopped being simple a long time ago, and needs to return to this. It needs a good balance, something the 2K franchise was amazing at.

However, there is a chance that ultimately, the sports simulation franchise just might be a thing of the past. It has to be more than mere coincidence that nearly every sports sim franchise has slipped in sales (FIFA also falls in this category, although 5 million sold on the PS4 is nothing to laugh at). The sales bleeding in Madden might never stop---even if the games finally start improving. A reboot might be necessary, some time off might be required. Skipping a year or two couldn’t hurt EA anything---they still have the rights and still have their fantasy football league to rely on. But staying the course is not the answer, EA has lost too much money. A reboot, drastic change, or massive overhaul is required to return to PS2 Madden sales.

Bottom Line: Madden is not a thing. The lackluster sales and depleting interest is evidence of this. It still makes good money, especially because of lack of competition, but its power grip on the gaming industry is slipping rapidly. Similar to the JRPG genre, it could be a fading trend that not even Kevin Hart can save. Ghosts of NFL 2K5 remain hovering on the games, and believe or not its incredible gameplay and $20 price tag hit EA deeper than we could have ever anticipated. With sports being bigger than ever, Madden should be pulling in Call of Duty numbers. Instead, it’s being outsold by the likes of Just Dance 2015 and Monster Hunter. A change is needed, otherwise who knows how much longer the brand will be around.

All Data Thanks to VGChartz

P.S. I really miss the NFL 2K series....as well as NFL Blitz....

The Foot-Shooting Foolishness of Konami

2015-03-26T18:26:00.001-07:00

Konami, are you kidding me?

Really?

Really really?

Never get rid of the face of the franchise, no matter what. I argued this in baseball, and I am arguing this in business. Never, ever, ever get rid of the face of the franchise unless you have an awesome backup plan. And I am sure that Konami doesn’t have that backup plan. Konami survives on everything BUT gaming, and trust me that can only take you so far if you are one of the biggest gaming companies out there---eventually that expensive tab needs to be paid for.

Konami is nowhere near what it used to be in the gaming industry, they are a long way removed from their Turtles in Time days. Their revenue definitely doesn’t come from their video games because that aspect is down to the bare minimum. They have Silent Hill (seen better days), Pro Evolution Soccer (getting mauled by the FIFA franchise), Yu-Gi-Oh (The Abridged Series has higher ratings) and of course Metal Gear Solid (which may never recover after Kojima’s departure).

Why would you ever manage to lose the man responsible for your best-selling games in the past decade? 4 of the best-selling games in Konami’s history are guess what: Metal Gear Solid games. Why would you get rid of the man that gave you your only two games that sold over 6 million? And even more astonishing is that those Metal Gear games were only on the PS2. Why get rid of the man that has earned you nearly 2 billion in revenue through his creations? Kojima isn’t just a name, it’s a brand, it’s a guarantee that your video game will be good.

It may have been a power struggle within the industry, but Kojima earned his power by being one of the top developers in the industry. Kojima earned this power by providing the effort that the company he worked for could not and did not provide. Konami has been merely playing business chess for years as opposed to improving their brands of Silent Hill, Pro Evolution, Castlevania, and even the acquired franchises like Bomberman, Adventure Island, and Bonk (It has been over 20 years since a true Bonk game….are you kidding me?).

You keep him, you keep the Walt Disney of your company on board. At all costs. There really is no excuse. You know once he goes, most of his talented followers will leave as well. It’s the equivalent of removing five pieces from the center of any jenga set. Kojima is to Konami what Miyamoto is to Nintendo---absolutely irreplaceable, especially when your company doesn’t churn out the Nintendo profits.

Make nice. Buy him a car. Buy him a plane. Give him company stake. Do whatever it takes. Because of Kojima leaves, then Metal Hear Solid will slip and ultimately so will your company.

I am sure Sony (and maybe even Hollywood) is eagerly awaiting his departure……….

The First White Flag of the Eighth Generation

2015-03-22T20:09:00.002-07:00

Nintendo Gamecube Release: 2001
Nintendo Wii Annoucement: 2005

Nintendo Wii Release: 2006
Nintendo WiiU Annoucement: 2011

Nintendo WiiU Release: 2012
Nintendo Successor Announcement: March 2015

Abandon ship gamers. Leave the WiiU right now. Nintendo couldn’t even wait three full years to announce that they have a successor to the rapidly-decaying Nintendo WiiU. And yes it’s just a codename, and yes we all knew this day would come. However, you make these major announcements only when your momentum with the current console starts running out. And after a bit north of two years, the Big N has pretty much unveiled their lack of hope and faith in their third-place system by not announcing a successor, but then even mentioning how its entering the smartphone business after years of denial and refusing to accept the technology.

Run, run away fast Nintendo fans. There is nothing to see here. Yes we have a great Smash Brothers and superb sort-of 3-D Mario game in the console, but besides Zelda (and maybe Star Fox? Where are the details?) what is there to look forward to? I don’t hear of another console Pokemon game, another Donkey Kong game, no Fire Emblem, no F-Zero, no Kid Icarus, no Wario, nothing. It looks like even the first-party lineup has been severely scaled back. The 3DS got an astonishing 3 major Zelda titles. The WiiU couldn’t get 3 of anything. There is a chance that the WiiU by the end of its run won’t even outsell the Nintendo Gamecube; which is a ridiculous shame because the XBox One and the PS4 are selling at record pace and the gaming industry is bigger than ever.

And if you think I might be slightly looking too much into this; this comes after Miyamoto admits that there won’t be a 3-D Mario game. What Nintendo system doesn’t get the big Mario game? One that is being abandoned, that’s what.

Of course Nintendo is going to not reveal any specific details until at the earliest E3 2016, so they can nab whoever might be left in considering to purchase one thanks to Skyrim Zelda looming on the horizon. Not only does the WiiU get consistently outsold by the PS3, but even the Vita is performing better. Third-party companies have already left, and not even a good Wind Waker bundle and a price cut could remedy a positive solution. Unlike what happened with the N64 and Gamecube, Nintendo has decided to quietly pull the plug early before any further damage is done.

Whatever the Nintendo NX becomes, the company needs to learn from the mistakes made in the past five years with the Wii’s final years and the WiiU disaster. If you don’t own a WiiU yet, really think about it before purchasing one. There are good games to be played here, that part is true. However do you really want to now make an investment on a console that slowly but surely being abandoned by pretty much everybody?

The white flag has been raised. The eighth generation has pretty much become a two-console race.

The Shifting Culture of Third-Party Publishing

2015-03-18T22:10:00.002-07:00

Old-school gamers, let it go: the 90s are over.

We will never see what we witnessed in the 90s ever again. The business of gaming has changed far too much. And the latest, greatest example is Sega deciding to ditch console gaming altogether at the same time as Titanfall 2 being announced as multi-platform as opposed to just being an XBox One exclusive like the original.

Those backyard wars days are over. Companies don’t team up anymore, they just join all the parties that want to participate. You now need to fetch extra money to have exclusive material. The XBox and the Playstation has had a similar lineup of games for the past decade. This is why their sales become eerily similar in recent generations and recent times:

PS3: 85 million
XBox 360: 84 million
PS4 (In 2015): 1.5 million
XBox One (In 2015): 650,000

However the close numbers from the 90s was because the entire world was split between choosing the Genesis and the Super Nintendo: two drastically different pieces of hardware with similar power but totally dissimilar lineup of games. You could go with the sports-heavy, more mature, more underground Sega Genesis, or go with the Japanese-friendly, platform-heavy, family-oriented Super Nintendo. Third-party companies were picking sides, trying to figure out the winning team while simultaneously establishing stronger relationships with whomever they picked. Capcom picked Nintendo, EA picked Sega, Square Soft picked Nintendo, and Disney/Virgin Interactive picked Sega.

Nowadays, good luck getting a major third-party publisher choose you and only you. Grand Theft Auto used to belong to just Sony: now the XBox shares the series. Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid are Japanese favorites that found their way to both Playstation and XBox. Nowadays you need a strong first-party lineup and a good slew of indie games to separate from the rest---which fully explains why PS4 is outperforming the XBox One.

Currently the best-selling game in the planet is The Order: 1886, a Sony-published game. The best-selling game of 2015 so far? Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, a Nintendo-published game. Depending on third-party companies to cater only to you is a pipe dream; games have become more expensive to produce and contribute, and why limit yourself to one hardware when you can also make money on the competitive machine?

Titanfall 2 becoming a PS4 game as well as an XBox One game should not have surprised anybody. Although the original did well on the XBox systems with over 4 million sold, wouldn’t it be better to have your game available to 32 million systems as opposed to 12 million? On a business standpoint, it only makes too much sense. Microsoft however needs to see that their first-party offerings must be stronger since their most successful new franchise is now becoming a Sony property.

Those playground arguments nowadays sure are more boring, since the top two systems have nearly the same games to choose from. This is why more focus has been made on graphics and the specs. There is no Mario vs. Sonic—you can actually now find Sonic across all the platforms, console-wise and handheld-wise. There are only a handful of games that each system has exclusive to themselves. Of course there’s Nintendo but it’s consistently remained a third-wheel whether it’s frighteningly ahead of the pack (Nintendo Wii 2007-2009) or far behind (Nintendo Gamecube 2001-2006, Nintendo WiiU 2012-Now).

There is a very thin line between choosing a PS4 over the XBox, and vice versa. This is very contrasting to what was occurring in the 1990s. Even different companies were developing the same game for the system they had chosen; Aladdin was made by Capcom for the SNES and was made by Virgin for the Sega Genesis. Then let’s not forget when pretty much everybody joined the Playstation team, leaving little to nothing for the N64, Gamecube, Dreamcast, and XBox. That third-party lineup of friends for Sony was amazing from 1995-2005. Third-party business now focuses on achieving the most widespread amount of exposure to hit as much money as possible. To accomplish this, you simply can’t pick sides anymore.

Can’t behave like the 90s. Sega is officially gone, Nintendo’s punch is weaker, there is no Midway, there is no Akklaim, there is no Neversoft, and we are close to seeing the end of Capcom if nothing is done to help them. The game has changed. There is much more money involved, from the spending to the earnings. With Sega gone, an entire chapter of gaming history has pretty much reached its final page.

And we never got that sequel to F-Zero GX….

PS2: The Sixth Generation Beatdown That Can Never Be Duplicated

2015-03-05T22:08:00.000-08:00

The Playstation 2 is turning 15 years old, and it seems like just yesterday it was pounding the competition with minimal effort. The PS2 is easily the most successful console in the history of the gaming universe, and although there are some that came close (Nintendo Wii was well on pace, Nintendo DS missed by inches) none could match the hardware and software sales that was attached to that behemoth. As a matter of fact Sony remains afloat in the business world because of what the PS2 accomplished.

There are tons of reasons why the PS2 did so well during the sixth generation (and even the beginnings of the seventh generation). It was a mix of underwhelming competition, hardware options that made it the better sale, much better lineup of games, great third-party relationship, superior marketing campaign, and in the end because its successor took a very long time to warm up to gamers. It was the perfect storm that allowed this system to sell well for two different gaming generations.

Let’s start with the competition during the sixth generation. The Sega Dreamcast was a mix of bad timing, bug-filled launch titles, lack of true PS-like third-party support, and gamers still not forgiving Sega for the Sega Saturn fiasco. The Dreamcast did have plenty of great games, especially in the sports and fighting genres. However, it just couldn’t prove that it was the beginning of a new era, instead looking like a system that was mingling with the fleeting N64 and Playstation. Gamers collectively made the decision to bypass the first system of the new era and instead wait on Sony’s successor.

The XBox didn’t have much of an identity outside of being the ultimate system for FPS fans. Up until 1998’s surprise-surprise hit Goldeneye 007 we didn’t know Americans were ready to embrace the FPS genre in anything other than PC. So with Halo, the Green Machine became the go-to system for action shooters. 7 of the 15 best-selling XBox games were action/shooters, with the two Halo games occupying the top spot and underrated gem Splinter Cell emerging in third place. But of course, with a lack of variety you can’t really grab much of an audience. The Japanese rejected the XBox entirely, also adding to its lackluster sales. The ONLY reason XBox even continued was because Microsoft can afford to be patient, and because Halo showed the world that the XBox brand has a shot at making good money. Outselling Nintendo was also a positive sign.

Which leads us to the Nintendo Gamecube: a mess. Third-party companies were flying away from the Nintendo brand as the House of Mario continued to refuse to abide by the technology being used and stuck with their decision to use smaller disks to make games while simultaneously not put any effort in trying to go online. These two things, plus the lack of backwards-compatibility that benefited the PS2 greatly propelled it to lackluster launch sales, and this bad stench would carry over through the remainder of the generation. Gamecube’s arsenal of cancelled and delayed games also made it easier for Sony to flourish. The final nail on the coffin was when Twilight Princess was getting delayed time and time again while Capcom betrayed Nintendo and sent Resident Evil 4 and Viewtiful Joe to PS2.

PS2’s hardware was definitely the biggest reason why Sony handedly won the generation. It was backwards-compatible, which allowed PS1 owners to easily make the transition and bring their lineup of purchased games to the next generation. So even though PS2 didn’t have many great games to start, you at least were able to keep your games from the past. Then there’s the DVD player, which made the PS2 arguably the first console to double as a sort of entertainment hardware. The DVD boom occurred at around that point, which gave the PS2 even more value than expected. Sony’s decision to use CD disks in 1994 is paying off with interest come 2000.

Third-party support for Sony was at its absolute peak here in the sixth generation. Feeding off the PS1 success, third-party companies wasted no time announcing their allegiance to the PS2 (and in most instances, ONLY the PS2) and gave the system some of the best games in the 2000s. Sony’s first-party lineup was nowhere near as good as the latter systems (especially PS3) but franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Madden, Metal Gear Solid, SOCOM, Need for Speed, and Final Fantasy eased the pain of lack of games coming directly from Sony. And besides, Gran Turismo was all Sony really needed to do (26 million sold between two games). Sony had popular franchises for Japan (Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior), England (Pro Evolution Soccer, Grand Theft Auto), and America (Medal of Honor, Grand Theft Auto, Tony Hawk, Kingdom Hearts).

Better hardware (despite weaker specs and slow online start), much better lineup of games (even though in my eyes Gamecube owned the top game of the sixth generation with Metroid Prime), much more games to choose from, backwards-compatibility, and better value. Anything else? Well, there is one more thing: the Playstation 3’s disastrous launch.

The PS3 looked ugly, it looked big, and it was incredibly expensive. It had a terrible launch marred with controversy over the long lines that ended in disappointment as all the stores wound up getting less copies than promised. Why shell out the $600 to get a new system showing minimal promise when you still have a working PS2 that technically has access to over 800 titles? So with that, the PS2 continued to sell. It was still the best Sony option out there, above the clunky PSP and the still-expensive-and-underperforming PS3. With that, the PS2 was able to continue its record-setting hardware sales. 7 years after its launch, it still managed to release a game that sold 5 million copies (Guitar Hero III).

The PS2 is a type of success that cannot ever be duplicated. No system in the near future will have the overpowering third-party advantage that Sony enjoyed in the early 2000s, which is required to create such sales havoc. The Nintendo Wii’s ridiculous success was marred because it simply ran out of games to deliver to consumers after it peaked at around 2008-2009. Third-party had piggybacked on Wii’s success but jumped ship when the jig was up and the hardware limitations were beginning to become more obvious. First-party games can only take you so far; just ask the first-party heavy Nintendo 64 (tons of masterpiece games, but really lacked on software options overall).

You can duplicate the PS2 formula, you can imitate the controller (probably best controller ever), the design, the marketing campaign, and its method of pricing. But, you won’t ever see the big lead PS2 had on its competition (Combine Dreamcast, Gamecube, and XBox hardware sales and it will still be 100 million short) ever again. When the NES pulled off its 85% market share, which was a near monopoly Nintendo was pulling back then. But under a fair(er) playing field, we won’t see a winner like PS2. The market is tighter than ever, and there are less third-party companies willing to stick to just one system. The Playstation 2 was a special, special system, and would pave the path that the modern gaming industry is trailblazing today.

Happy Birthday PS2, lots of great memories indeed.

Source of my data

The (Potentially Fun) Capcom IP Bidding Wars

2015-02-05T15:29:00.001-08:00

So Sony won the bidding wars to make Street Fighter 5 an exclusive, much to the dismay of XBox One owners. I would also say WiiU owners but a) there aren't that many of them and b) Smash Brothers trumps everything in life. Capcom has become financially strapped yet remains a gold mine of potential with the entourage of franchises within its borders. And with that was a subtle bidding contest which resulted in Microsoft backing out and instead focusing their sights on improving the recently-revived Killer Instinct. Nintendo has pretty much no care in this issue, because Super Smash Brothers is the top-selling fighting game franchise by a country mile. But Capcom now has a curious dilemma: just how much money can they rake out from the competitors?

How much money is Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft willing to pay to get their hands on more exclusives? Do remember what Capcom also has up its broke sleeve:

Devil May Cry
Resident Evil
Viewtiful Joe
Dead Rising
Gargoyle’s Quest
Okami
Monster Hunter
Mega Man
Mega Man X
Ghost n’ Goblins
Bionic Commando
Breath of Fire
Captain Commando
Final Fight
Lost Planet
Phoenix Wright
Power Stone

(This list came from an earlier article about Capcom)

That’s a lot of video games yet to be made, remade, and blessed with sequels and potential spin-offs. And each company can benefit greatly from some of these brands. Sony can try to win back the American market with Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Dead Rising, Viewtiful Joe, and Bionic Commando (Clever game mechanics in need of revamping). Microsoft can try to earn some Japanese trust with Lost Planet, Okami, Power Stone, Breath of Fire, and (especially) Monster Hunter. Lastly, Nintendo can continue its stranglehold on the platform market with Mega Man, Mega Man X, Ghosts n’ Goblins, Captain Commando, and Gargoyle’s Quest.

And of course, Marvel vs. Capcom is most likely also available for the taking.

Capcom might have seen better days, but can develop nice relationships with each of the major companies with its extensive library if it can reach into the past and tap into previous gold. The Big Three can each benefit in a variety of ways if they can pony up the money and help Capcom finance some of these games.

Like previously said, Sony needs more Americans to move away from Microsoft. Resident Evil would be an even bigger devastating blow if they can nab the rights. Take over Resident Evil 7 and go back to basics: become much more horror and much less action. Devil May Cry is another franchise that has seen better days but can still attract the North American crowd---and do remember once upon a time Devil May Cry belonged to just Sony.

Microsoft needs this more than the other competitors. Monster Hunter would be definitely the first and main major step, as it draws mammoth numbers on the 3DS (the latest installment nearly sold 2 million copies in Japan on the first day alone. The XBox One hasn’t even hit 50,000 copies). Then there’s the Japanese-friendlier Viewtiful Joe and Breath of Fire games which can trigger some improvement for the third-generation Green Machine. But if there’s one they can’t afford to forever lose (which...technically is whats going on anyway), it would be Monster Hunter.

Of course, Nintendo should just nab all the Mega Man rights and take the franchise to the next level. With Retro Studios, Intelligent Systems, and Nintendo R&D1 major experts on the genre, Mega Man 11 and Mega Man X12 would make absolute sense being Nintendo-exclusive. I can see Mega Man Classic on the 3DS, with the X series on the major console and perhaps even a 3-D upgrade ala Metroid Prime to attract new audiences. Of course, this is something we call agree on: Nintendo needs something soon, and fast for the WiiU. Mega Man can become that revival ticket.

Bottom Line: Capcom remains a gold mine, and it’s time for all the major companies to step up and nab their share of the treasure. Everybody can win at the time, and gamers in general can also win by seeing the cluster of Capcom classics see new life. There’s a lot of great games and great wealth that can be won in the coming years, it just requires some financial sacrifices and a willingness to work with the sinking ship of a company. Step up everybody, with the right exclusive games the tides can be turned in your favor. And Capcom, with the right business moves and smarts concerning the value of your product you can also see a comeback.

Nobody blow it.

Is There Another End to the Platform Era?

2015-01-29T16:30:00.000-08:00

Are platformers in trouble?

Again?

Sunset Overdrive for the XBox One had platformer elements and didn’t really do much of anything. 8 weeks in and its being outsold by the dismal Nintendo Land and the can’t-believe-I-am-still-in-the-charts Mario Kart Wii. The Super Mario games on the WiiU despite decent software-to-hardware ratio barely moved WiiU sales---combining the sales of both games and they still trail Super Mario Galaxy by at least 4 million copies, and trail New Super Mario Bros. Wii by over 20 million.

In case nobody noticed, but LittleBigPlanet 3 came out. In case nobody noticed, it did quite poorly. It trails the original by 4 million copies and can’t even outsell the Vita version---which didn’t do much better either. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze also came out in 2014, and disappeared off the face of the map by not even hitting its first million copies. The mediocre and jarring Game Boy Color version of Donkey Kong Country sold better for crying out loud.

Last but not least, we have Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker make less than a whisper on the sales charts, not even crossing 500,000 copies. Not saying that I was right in that it should have been a Wario game (the franchise averages 2 million copies per entry, while missing a sequel for the past 6 years), but it does make you think why not label Wario on a game that has you collect money….

Come to think of it, where was Wario on the coin-crazy New Super Mario Bros. 2---which also is part of the downward trend as it sold less than a third of what the original New SMB sold….

So of course, with the sales of the genre on the downward spiral, the question is why, and the next question is how to end the trend? My main theory is that you can find far, far cheaper simple platform games on tablets, on smartphones, on webpages promoting television shows, and many other sources when compared to other genres like sports games, like shooters, and sandbox gems like Grand Theft Auto. Platform games are simpler to create and entertain so therefore you will find plenty of choices cluttering the market, leading to games like Tropical Freeze slide underneath the radar. There are still lots of seventh generation carryover sales, leading to the new-gen games suffering.

The bigger problem is that the high-budget high-profile platform sequels have lately absolutely failed to display why it’s superior to the previous installment and display why you should fork over the money to buy another game in the series. New Super Mario Bros. U was a launch title, yet still looked and played exactly like the Wii version. No level editor, no new characters, no major gameplay changes, and no additional goodies worthy of checking out. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze looked exactly like the Wii (and 3DS) installments, while failing to bring back the popular Kremlings villains that we had grown to love during the SNES days.

The lack of diversity and creativity is tarnishing the platform genre right now. Treasure Tracker might seem clever, until you realize that it’s just a spin-off from another WiiU game (Super Mario 3D World). Sunset Overdrive is at least a hybrid of Tony Hawk, third-person shooter, and platform---total shame it didn’t create Halo or Destiny sales. However Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Sockman, and Mega Man hasn’t seen dramatic changes or improvements in years, while other platform franchises have been eerily quiet for an even longer period of time (Banjo-Kazzoie, Conker, Earthworm Jim, Wario, Gunstar Heroes, Contra). This isn’t the first time the platform genre had a drought (Sixth Generation anyone?) but was saved in the seventh generation because of the influx of new platform franchises and revivals as well as the rise of indie gaming. But the overkill of games may have led to the fatigue.

To get out of the current funk, we need the platform genre to take the next step forward. Mario should find new and innovative ways to get from the beginning to the end, while simultaneously changing the rules on the 3D platform series. Sonic should refocus on speed and intensity, and should stop imitating the others. Wario, COME BACK ALREADY! Wario Land 2 and 3 are some of the finest platform gaming you’ll ever experience because of its extremely unique level design. Lastly on a personal level, I would love to see Earthworm Jim make a comeback and have an image makeover for the new generation.

Bottom Line: The platform genre has seen better days, as 2014 gave us acclaimed games that were outsold by all the competitors and seventh generation installments. It could be the fatigue, it could be the familiar looks that lost appeal to the gamers, it could be the overwhelming competition from all types of technology, and lastly it could be the slow transitioning to the next creative step. Whatever the reason, the sales are sliding, and it’s affecting even deserving games. The Age of the Platformer is done, and unless the designers can concoct some new recipes, it’s going to be this way for a while….

…especially for Nintendo, which thrives on the genre…..