This one is going to be a quickie.
I am a blatant Nintendo fanboy, but even I have to admit there are some things that are done exceptionally wrong. The fact that you can't use a 3DS to work as a stand-in for the gamepad for some games is kind of annoying. The fact that you can't really use two gamepads or more for games... can you imagine how much more accessible NSMBU would have been if two people could have played the game and not been restricted to the same screen?
That's not what I'm going to talk about today. Rather, it is the buttfungled mess that Nintendo has that they're trying to pass off as their eShop, VC, etc.
There is absolutely no reason that we shouldn't be able to play the same game across the board if its available on both systems (with only one purchase!). But further than that, there's also no reason that most of the games that are available on one system shouldn't be available on the other. I understand that there may be some worries that you'd cannibalize your sales, but I have an alternative that would work fine:
If you don't want to allow someone to purchase a game w/o a 3DS or Wii U, you simply link each system to each other. You still have to purchase the game on the system its released for, but once the transaction is made, you can play it on the linked system as well.
Why has this not been done yet? I would be greatly excited to hear about something like this at E3.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Getting real tired of your crap, Microsoft
I'd like to think that I'm a relatively level-headed person. As a "journalist", I try to remain objective, even though sometimes I show a decided bias (diehard Nintendo fan here). I have a PS3, an XBox 360 and a Wii - I endorsed all the systems last generation. Somehow, even though I prefer Sony's exclusives more, and have a lifelong affiliation with Nintendo, I managed to get the majority of my games on Microsoft's system.
I'm thinking that they must have dumped some kind of hallucinogenic into my hardware, because I cannot fathom why I would be so stupid as to willingly make that move. You see...
Despite the XBox 360 offering a comfortable controller, I cannot remember the last time I had a 360 input device that wasn't wonky as hell. Perhaps the reason they pushed so hard for Kinect is because they knew the quality of their controllers had gone to hell. 50% of the time (and I'm being generous here), when I've stopped using the left analog stick, there's still a level of drift... my character's vision will slowly slide to one side of the screen. This isn't particular to one of my controllers, no. I specifically asked for a new one for my birthday last year, and the same thing happened. That's a controller. Arguably one of the most important devices used for playing a videogame.
But wait! What about the system. There have been shitty systems that have come out in the past, but I don't think anyone could argue that the quality of the hardware itself is worse than the XBox 360. We are talking, of course, about the Red Ring of Death. Despite the fact that meeheeheehillions of the damn system were infected with this ticking time bomb of gaming death, Microsoft still managed to crap out 70 million consoles this generation (and rising). When did we, as a society, decide to just bend over and take it? Is Halo really that good that you're willing to deal with that kind of douchebaggery?
Even if you don't have a RROD, there's still no guarantee you're going to have a perfectly functioning system. I bought a brand new game for my girlfriend for her birthday, and lo and behold, when the game was in the system, it could not be read. Of course, I'm the kind of schmuck that went out and bought a NEW 360 when they came out with the slimmer model. My reasoning was that they couldn't possibly have screwed up twice in a row. Well played, Microsoft. Well played.
That you can have a terrible console for an entire generation is baffling in and of itself. But thinking that you can follow up an actual disaster like the 360 with something as abysmally appealing as the X-Box One (hereby known as the xBone) is ludicrous.
Let me break down for you why anyone who picks up the system (at least at launch) is devoid of a speck of intelligence:
They've got their own little Patriot Act going on.
The Kinect is always on, always listening, always plotting against you. Microsoft even patented the ability to use the Kinect to calculate how many people were in a room so that they could block people from watching a movie or a television show - that's real, not some BS I just pulled out of my butt.
You no longer own your games.
Sure, you'll by a disc with a nice little box at retail, but all you're paying for is a long-term rental fee. You see, Microsoft is going to allow you to install "your" game to "your" system. Once it's there, though, you're at the whim of a company with historically bad decision-making skills (see RROD, above). If your internet happens to be out for longer than a 24 hour period, too bad, guess you won't be playing. Microsoft requires you to connect to the internet at least once per day.
And what about when Microsoft decides to close down its servers for the xBone? It's not as if it makes sense to keep a server open forever. I can't go back to Battlefield 2 and play online because those servers don't exist anymore. What this means for you is that your disc is nothing but a paperweight. All you're doing is licensing the ability to play a game - and that license expires when they say so.
Say goodbye to secondhand gaming.
Very much in the vein of the previous qualm I have is that these discs that you pick up won't even work for you the way they do today. If I bought a game today, and brought it to your house, we could play it, because it is mine, and I do what I want.
Microsoft would prefer to change the way any business has ever worked, ever. When you buy a used car, you pay the current owner. You don't pay the original manufacturer, because they had nothing to do with your transaction, and that's a stupid idea. You'll go to them (in one form or another) if you need maintenance or repairs.
I digress. For the xBone, if you buy Halo 5, and play it on your system, it is installed directly into your system. You don't even need the disc at this point. But what if Halo 5 sucks, and you decide to trade it in for a much better game (on a system that won't rob you blind)? The next person who picks up the game, for a smaller amount of money than you spent, gets to walk out of the store with a receipt for a game, a disc, and if they are lucky, a box. Then, when they put the game in their system, a message pops up. They're required to pay a fee to play that game in addition to what they just spent at the store. That is not the way used merchandise works, and if we don't put our feet down and tell companies what we think, then we deserve to be robbed.
Of course, used gaming isn't the only form of secondhand gaming. Rental systems still exist out there. And hell, what if you want to lend a game to a friend. Sorry, friend. You can't play that game until you pay that fee, even though you have the disc.
Say goodbye to the last seven years of gaming.
Unless you don't want to trade in your 360, of course.
Since the Playstation 2 came out, we've been used to the idea of backwards compatibility. It's nice to be able to begin a new console generation with the entire catalog of the previous generation's games to bolster it. The xBone will not allow you to play 360 titles. More shockingly, you can't even carry over your Xbox live Arcade purchases.
This is the kind of bone-headed decision that executives should get fired for making. The only saving grace made from this choice is that Microsoft will feel the pain of eliminating their back-catalog. They're not doing to hot with indie developers right now either, so they have to rely on big studios to push content on their system, and, especially recently, those games aren't coming out as quickly as they used to.
The saddest thing is that there are people out there, who don't work for the company, who actively resist seeing all these things as bad things. You have your blind fanboys who will rage up and down the internet at anyone who tries to point out this foolish abomination that is the xBone.
At this point in time, Microsoft is too far along to shift gears. They've just spent $1 Billion on exclusives, and we don't even know the price of this beta-max doppelganger. They've made exclusive deals with various companies, not the least of which is the NFL.
Don Mattrick presented the system to an audience with a smile on his face. That can mean only one of two things. Either he thinks we're a bunch of idiots who will throw our money to the wind for a system that you can watch TV on (where else can I do that? Oh yeah, my TV!), or, Microsoft is an idiot for thinking they can get one over on us.
Let's show them that it's the latter.
Bonus: Everything that happened during the xBone reveal.
I'm thinking that they must have dumped some kind of hallucinogenic into my hardware, because I cannot fathom why I would be so stupid as to willingly make that move. You see...
Despite the XBox 360 offering a comfortable controller, I cannot remember the last time I had a 360 input device that wasn't wonky as hell. Perhaps the reason they pushed so hard for Kinect is because they knew the quality of their controllers had gone to hell. 50% of the time (and I'm being generous here), when I've stopped using the left analog stick, there's still a level of drift... my character's vision will slowly slide to one side of the screen. This isn't particular to one of my controllers, no. I specifically asked for a new one for my birthday last year, and the same thing happened. That's a controller. Arguably one of the most important devices used for playing a videogame.
But wait! What about the system. There have been shitty systems that have come out in the past, but I don't think anyone could argue that the quality of the hardware itself is worse than the XBox 360. We are talking, of course, about the Red Ring of Death. Despite the fact that meeheeheehillions of the damn system were infected with this ticking time bomb of gaming death, Microsoft still managed to crap out 70 million consoles this generation (and rising). When did we, as a society, decide to just bend over and take it? Is Halo really that good that you're willing to deal with that kind of douchebaggery?
Even if you don't have a RROD, there's still no guarantee you're going to have a perfectly functioning system. I bought a brand new game for my girlfriend for her birthday, and lo and behold, when the game was in the system, it could not be read. Of course, I'm the kind of schmuck that went out and bought a NEW 360 when they came out with the slimmer model. My reasoning was that they couldn't possibly have screwed up twice in a row. Well played, Microsoft. Well played.
That you can have a terrible console for an entire generation is baffling in and of itself. But thinking that you can follow up an actual disaster like the 360 with something as abysmally appealing as the X-Box One (hereby known as the xBone) is ludicrous.
Let me break down for you why anyone who picks up the system (at least at launch) is devoid of a speck of intelligence:
They've got their own little Patriot Act going on.
The Kinect is always on, always listening, always plotting against you. Microsoft even patented the ability to use the Kinect to calculate how many people were in a room so that they could block people from watching a movie or a television show - that's real, not some BS I just pulled out of my butt.
You no longer own your games.
Sure, you'll by a disc with a nice little box at retail, but all you're paying for is a long-term rental fee. You see, Microsoft is going to allow you to install "your" game to "your" system. Once it's there, though, you're at the whim of a company with historically bad decision-making skills (see RROD, above). If your internet happens to be out for longer than a 24 hour period, too bad, guess you won't be playing. Microsoft requires you to connect to the internet at least once per day.
And what about when Microsoft decides to close down its servers for the xBone? It's not as if it makes sense to keep a server open forever. I can't go back to Battlefield 2 and play online because those servers don't exist anymore. What this means for you is that your disc is nothing but a paperweight. All you're doing is licensing the ability to play a game - and that license expires when they say so.
Say goodbye to secondhand gaming.
Very much in the vein of the previous qualm I have is that these discs that you pick up won't even work for you the way they do today. If I bought a game today, and brought it to your house, we could play it, because it is mine, and I do what I want.
Microsoft would prefer to change the way any business has ever worked, ever. When you buy a used car, you pay the current owner. You don't pay the original manufacturer, because they had nothing to do with your transaction, and that's a stupid idea. You'll go to them (in one form or another) if you need maintenance or repairs.
I digress. For the xBone, if you buy Halo 5, and play it on your system, it is installed directly into your system. You don't even need the disc at this point. But what if Halo 5 sucks, and you decide to trade it in for a much better game (on a system that won't rob you blind)? The next person who picks up the game, for a smaller amount of money than you spent, gets to walk out of the store with a receipt for a game, a disc, and if they are lucky, a box. Then, when they put the game in their system, a message pops up. They're required to pay a fee to play that game in addition to what they just spent at the store. That is not the way used merchandise works, and if we don't put our feet down and tell companies what we think, then we deserve to be robbed.
Of course, used gaming isn't the only form of secondhand gaming. Rental systems still exist out there. And hell, what if you want to lend a game to a friend. Sorry, friend. You can't play that game until you pay that fee, even though you have the disc.
Say goodbye to the last seven years of gaming.
Unless you don't want to trade in your 360, of course.
Since the Playstation 2 came out, we've been used to the idea of backwards compatibility. It's nice to be able to begin a new console generation with the entire catalog of the previous generation's games to bolster it. The xBone will not allow you to play 360 titles. More shockingly, you can't even carry over your Xbox live Arcade purchases.
This is the kind of bone-headed decision that executives should get fired for making. The only saving grace made from this choice is that Microsoft will feel the pain of eliminating their back-catalog. They're not doing to hot with indie developers right now either, so they have to rely on big studios to push content on their system, and, especially recently, those games aren't coming out as quickly as they used to.
The saddest thing is that there are people out there, who don't work for the company, who actively resist seeing all these things as bad things. You have your blind fanboys who will rage up and down the internet at anyone who tries to point out this foolish abomination that is the xBone.
At this point in time, Microsoft is too far along to shift gears. They've just spent $1 Billion on exclusives, and we don't even know the price of this beta-max doppelganger. They've made exclusive deals with various companies, not the least of which is the NFL.
Don Mattrick presented the system to an audience with a smile on his face. That can mean only one of two things. Either he thinks we're a bunch of idiots who will throw our money to the wind for a system that you can watch TV on (where else can I do that? Oh yeah, my TV!), or, Microsoft is an idiot for thinking they can get one over on us.
Let's show them that it's the latter.
Bonus: Everything that happened during the xBone reveal.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
EA Can Lick My Taint
That might be a little bit of an overly exaggerated feeling that I have regarding the game company - no, wait, I can assure you it is not.
I don't usually make posts from home, but I've been so enraged by EA's business practices, that I just had to get something off my chest.
Around E3 2011, EA came out and said that they were going to be offering up an "unprecedented partnership" with Nintendo. They touted the shit out of the Wii U, specifically remarking on the online structure, the graphics and the platform.
In 2013, the relationship doesn't seem all that great. There have been plenty of excuses thus far. We know that the install base for the Wii U isn't spectacular right now (partially because they have no games, thanks to companies like EA). There's speculation that the graphics are limiting - some have even said that the system can't run certain engines. This is a bullshit claim, by the way. If you can build your engine for the PS3 or 360, it can run just fine on the Wii U. You just have to tweak some things to work with the system's architecture.
But I digress. Despite any speculation, there's clearly a more venemous umbrage between at least one of these two companies. You don't sever all ties to one of the big three unless you're incredibly butt-hurt, and we've seen very little support from EA since that E3 2011 announcement. Sure, we got their big title, Mass Effect 3 - but we got it without any real shot. The game was delivered without its prequels, and without a fair chance. While other systems got the whole trilogy, Nintendo was left in the dark. And why was this? Because already at this point, EA wanted a scapegoat. The company wanted to be able to condemn Nintendo for low sales and interest.
Why, though, is EA in such a bad way with the company? Electronic Arts is one of the biggest game companies out there. It's been around since at least the early 90's - you'll have to forgive me if I don't care to look up the actual date. I'm being Mike the blogger, tonight, not Mike the faux-journalist. But, even in the 90's, the company has acted like a spoiled, entitled brat that hasn't got its way. EA always wants preferential treatment, usually at the detriment to any other company out there. They've tried to make deals with Sega, and when that company declined, EA took steps to try and get their way to spite them. That should have been when someone cut the head off the beast.
You see, during the days of the Genesis (Sega's, not the Bible's), EA decided they were going to produce their own Sega carts. This is why the EA packaging differed so much from Sega's typical games. The house that Sonic built eventually let Electronic Arts know that they had the capability to block any and all EA games. Rather than make due on that threat, Sega bowed, and came to an agreement with EA that was still better than the other developers of them time.
Twenty years later (damn, I'm old), they had the "unprecedented partnership" with Nintendo - an ultimatum that is currently affecting both companies. You see, EA has a service, called Origin, that was once rumored to be coming to Nintendo. However, this would have put a nigh-unthinkable access to a third party on a console. Eventually, Nintendo came to its senses (same thing happened post SNES with another company, if you recall). But EA, so close to getting in bed with one of the most prolific console designers and game developers, became, in essence, a jilted lover. It took its ball and went home.
It's true that Nintendo's latest console does not have a large install base just yet. 4 million consoles (again, I'm guessing) doesn't look like anything compared to the nearly 80 million each that the PS3 and 360 offer. Even so, you've got to think that your company can only benefit from the inclusion of software on a system. It may be a fledgling now, but some day, it'll be in the same shape as the 3DS, selling hundreds of thousands per month.
And what about the 360 and the PS3 successors? What will EA do regarding them when they don't utilize Origin, and start off with the same slow ascent? It's likely that the other two systems won't inflict as much ire, because discussions never proceeded as far. They've already had their online system in place for some time, and both are fairly robust. Even if they sold more poorly than the Wii U, EA will support them, just to spite Nintendo.
My only hope is that Nintendo responds in kind. There will be a day when EA recognizes that there is money to be made on a Nintendo system. There will be a time when they decide to bury the hatchet, and go back to this so-called "unprecedented partnership".
I can only dream of EA being put in their place. I want to read, at some point in 2014, that Nintendo is ceasing to allow EA published games on its systems. If there was any such thing as karma for a company, that would be it.
I know that there are real people, with necessary jobs at EA, and I wish them all the luck in the world. Still, I wish you that luck at another place of business. One that doesn't employ shady tactics to undermine the industry and its consumers. One that doesn't try to act like a schoolyard bully to get back at a company. Business is business, as they say, and being that you're the worst company in America (2 years running!), I long for the day that your business crashes and burns, and you get what you deserve.
I don't usually make posts from home, but I've been so enraged by EA's business practices, that I just had to get something off my chest.
Around E3 2011, EA came out and said that they were going to be offering up an "unprecedented partnership" with Nintendo. They touted the shit out of the Wii U, specifically remarking on the online structure, the graphics and the platform.
In 2013, the relationship doesn't seem all that great. There have been plenty of excuses thus far. We know that the install base for the Wii U isn't spectacular right now (partially because they have no games, thanks to companies like EA). There's speculation that the graphics are limiting - some have even said that the system can't run certain engines. This is a bullshit claim, by the way. If you can build your engine for the PS3 or 360, it can run just fine on the Wii U. You just have to tweak some things to work with the system's architecture.
But I digress. Despite any speculation, there's clearly a more venemous umbrage between at least one of these two companies. You don't sever all ties to one of the big three unless you're incredibly butt-hurt, and we've seen very little support from EA since that E3 2011 announcement. Sure, we got their big title, Mass Effect 3 - but we got it without any real shot. The game was delivered without its prequels, and without a fair chance. While other systems got the whole trilogy, Nintendo was left in the dark. And why was this? Because already at this point, EA wanted a scapegoat. The company wanted to be able to condemn Nintendo for low sales and interest.
Why, though, is EA in such a bad way with the company? Electronic Arts is one of the biggest game companies out there. It's been around since at least the early 90's - you'll have to forgive me if I don't care to look up the actual date. I'm being Mike the blogger, tonight, not Mike the faux-journalist. But, even in the 90's, the company has acted like a spoiled, entitled brat that hasn't got its way. EA always wants preferential treatment, usually at the detriment to any other company out there. They've tried to make deals with Sega, and when that company declined, EA took steps to try and get their way to spite them. That should have been when someone cut the head off the beast.
You see, during the days of the Genesis (Sega's, not the Bible's), EA decided they were going to produce their own Sega carts. This is why the EA packaging differed so much from Sega's typical games. The house that Sonic built eventually let Electronic Arts know that they had the capability to block any and all EA games. Rather than make due on that threat, Sega bowed, and came to an agreement with EA that was still better than the other developers of them time.
Twenty years later (damn, I'm old), they had the "unprecedented partnership" with Nintendo - an ultimatum that is currently affecting both companies. You see, EA has a service, called Origin, that was once rumored to be coming to Nintendo. However, this would have put a nigh-unthinkable access to a third party on a console. Eventually, Nintendo came to its senses (same thing happened post SNES with another company, if you recall). But EA, so close to getting in bed with one of the most prolific console designers and game developers, became, in essence, a jilted lover. It took its ball and went home.
It's true that Nintendo's latest console does not have a large install base just yet. 4 million consoles (again, I'm guessing) doesn't look like anything compared to the nearly 80 million each that the PS3 and 360 offer. Even so, you've got to think that your company can only benefit from the inclusion of software on a system. It may be a fledgling now, but some day, it'll be in the same shape as the 3DS, selling hundreds of thousands per month.
And what about the 360 and the PS3 successors? What will EA do regarding them when they don't utilize Origin, and start off with the same slow ascent? It's likely that the other two systems won't inflict as much ire, because discussions never proceeded as far. They've already had their online system in place for some time, and both are fairly robust. Even if they sold more poorly than the Wii U, EA will support them, just to spite Nintendo.
My only hope is that Nintendo responds in kind. There will be a day when EA recognizes that there is money to be made on a Nintendo system. There will be a time when they decide to bury the hatchet, and go back to this so-called "unprecedented partnership".
I can only dream of EA being put in their place. I want to read, at some point in 2014, that Nintendo is ceasing to allow EA published games on its systems. If there was any such thing as karma for a company, that would be it.
I know that there are real people, with necessary jobs at EA, and I wish them all the luck in the world. Still, I wish you that luck at another place of business. One that doesn't employ shady tactics to undermine the industry and its consumers. One that doesn't try to act like a schoolyard bully to get back at a company. Business is business, as they say, and being that you're the worst company in America (2 years running!), I long for the day that your business crashes and burns, and you get what you deserve.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
This is not another retirement!
So, if you're here, it's likely because you've noticed that I've not been very attentive to the YouTube reviews. This is because I had to push them to the side for now.
As some of you may know, I recently attempted to run a kickstarter campaign to help me fund the editing for my latest novel. That fell through, which means that I've had to incur that cost on my own - this isn't a huge problem though. I have a job, and I make decent money, but most of that money goes toward bills.
The Enemy Within, my latest novel, is a huge friggin book. It's about twice the size of my other works, which means twice the cost for editing.
The big reason that I can't do any new videogame reviews is that my computer can't handle the new software I needed. Getting a new computer is going to, unfortunately, have to wait until the book is released. We're most likely looking at an August return on that front.
Now, in July, I should be able to get my book ready for release. Once that's done, I'll immediately step back into recording for the retro games. The only thing holding me back from that is time, which is mostly going toward working overtime and providing follow-up and prequel material for my series.
In the meantime, we're still doing the weekly radio show, so if you're interested, head over to tezone.net. I'll also do my best to try and report on E3 this year, and offer my own opinions of what is happening on that front.
Until then, stay cool, and don't be angry at me!
As some of you may know, I recently attempted to run a kickstarter campaign to help me fund the editing for my latest novel. That fell through, which means that I've had to incur that cost on my own - this isn't a huge problem though. I have a job, and I make decent money, but most of that money goes toward bills.
The Enemy Within, my latest novel, is a huge friggin book. It's about twice the size of my other works, which means twice the cost for editing.
The big reason that I can't do any new videogame reviews is that my computer can't handle the new software I needed. Getting a new computer is going to, unfortunately, have to wait until the book is released. We're most likely looking at an August return on that front.
Now, in July, I should be able to get my book ready for release. Once that's done, I'll immediately step back into recording for the retro games. The only thing holding me back from that is time, which is mostly going toward working overtime and providing follow-up and prequel material for my series.
In the meantime, we're still doing the weekly radio show, so if you're interested, head over to tezone.net. I'll also do my best to try and report on E3 this year, and offer my own opinions of what is happening on that front.
Until then, stay cool, and don't be angry at me!
Monday, April 1, 2013
Kickstarter Absorbed My Life
Sorry it's been so long since I've written a blog. You'd be surprised how much work goes into getting your Kickstarter project up and running.
What I wanted to talk about today was Nintendo. I've been a vocal supporter of them in the past (even when I'm audibly discrediting some of their less than impressive games). Recently, however, I've been a little off-put by their choices. These blogs can sometimes be a bit of therapy for me, so allow me to express my dissatisfaction for all to see.
Do Your Homework
First and foremost, as a huge corporation with tons of employees, how is it that not one person looked at what happened with the 3DS and said, hey, you know what, we're kind of going down the same route as before.
Yes, I'm aware that the Wii U's biggest problem currently is its lack of software, but maybe if it wasn't for its poor sales thus far, heavy hitters like the already completed Rayman Legends would have already been released for it.
Here's where Nintendo dropped the ball. Back when the 3DS hit the market, a huge misstep that they had was in the name. Many of the more casual gamers had no idea that it was a new system. It didn't have that same catch that the DS did, and that's because, for a handheld with tons of iterations, the 3DS just sounded like another in a long list of upgrades. Nobody knew that new games were going to require this newer, better hardware. Advertising didn't do a good job of conveying that message either.
Now, with the Wii U out - and after hearing them say dozens of times that they learned from their mistakes with the 3DS - they make the same mistakes. The Wii U sounds like a peripheral you can pop onto your Wii, and the gamepad looks like nothing more than a gimmick. They have a handful of good games out right now, but most people don't realize what the appeal is. A game like Nintendoland is as good, if not better than Wii Sports. It has been the focal point of all of my parties since December. That is a pretty damn good game.
But for some reason, it doesn't have that same word of mouth as Wii Sports or the Wii. Work on it, Nintendo!
You Betta Localize!
Seriously guys, what is the deal with the lack of software. Hell, that's not even the big problem at this point. What is the freaking problem with the lack of release dates? We've known about Pikmin 3, Bayonetta, the Wonderful 101, and Game and Wario for months. Why can't you give us some kind of solid information on them?
Game and Wario was already released in Japan, but we haven't even heard an inkling of news for a NA or EU release date yet. Smooth Moves was one of the Wii's earliest party games - and that's what you're trying to sell here Nintendo. The Wii U is not going to be the next big online system right out of the gate, but you can stick to what you do best.
Assymetric Gaming
Unfortunately, what makes Nintendo fun for the whole family has been restricted to just a few games since the launch window. Nintendoland is fucking bananas. It's one of the best multiplayer games you can play that's out there right now. Especially for local gaming.
The Wii was strengthened by games like Rayman: Raving Rabbids and Wii Play. The Wii U doesn't have a Wii Play equivalent yet, and its Rayman game is not multiplayer friendly. It was like Ubisoft was just trying to churn out a Rabbids game to say they did.
Phew... with that out of the way, I feel like there's still some good things to say about the Wii U.
Who cares about the lack of true Unreal Engine support? Who cares about no Frostbite Engine? If that kind of stuff is that important to you, consider that the graphics argument that you keep making is made completely obsolete by the fact that most of the multiplatform games end up on the PC these days, and the quality is even better there.
If you're buying console games for their graphics, you're doing it wrong.
As long as Nintendo manages to keep a steady stream of titles over the next four or five years, the Wii U is going to pick up steam, and perform well. It's asinine to think it could perform as well as its most immediate predecessor, but as long as it pushes out 50-70k units, I think we can call that a success.
What I wanted to talk about today was Nintendo. I've been a vocal supporter of them in the past (even when I'm audibly discrediting some of their less than impressive games). Recently, however, I've been a little off-put by their choices. These blogs can sometimes be a bit of therapy for me, so allow me to express my dissatisfaction for all to see.
Do Your Homework
First and foremost, as a huge corporation with tons of employees, how is it that not one person looked at what happened with the 3DS and said, hey, you know what, we're kind of going down the same route as before.
Yes, I'm aware that the Wii U's biggest problem currently is its lack of software, but maybe if it wasn't for its poor sales thus far, heavy hitters like the already completed Rayman Legends would have already been released for it.
Here's where Nintendo dropped the ball. Back when the 3DS hit the market, a huge misstep that they had was in the name. Many of the more casual gamers had no idea that it was a new system. It didn't have that same catch that the DS did, and that's because, for a handheld with tons of iterations, the 3DS just sounded like another in a long list of upgrades. Nobody knew that new games were going to require this newer, better hardware. Advertising didn't do a good job of conveying that message either.
Now, with the Wii U out - and after hearing them say dozens of times that they learned from their mistakes with the 3DS - they make the same mistakes. The Wii U sounds like a peripheral you can pop onto your Wii, and the gamepad looks like nothing more than a gimmick. They have a handful of good games out right now, but most people don't realize what the appeal is. A game like Nintendoland is as good, if not better than Wii Sports. It has been the focal point of all of my parties since December. That is a pretty damn good game.
But for some reason, it doesn't have that same word of mouth as Wii Sports or the Wii. Work on it, Nintendo!
You Betta Localize!
Seriously guys, what is the deal with the lack of software. Hell, that's not even the big problem at this point. What is the freaking problem with the lack of release dates? We've known about Pikmin 3, Bayonetta, the Wonderful 101, and Game and Wario for months. Why can't you give us some kind of solid information on them?
Game and Wario was already released in Japan, but we haven't even heard an inkling of news for a NA or EU release date yet. Smooth Moves was one of the Wii's earliest party games - and that's what you're trying to sell here Nintendo. The Wii U is not going to be the next big online system right out of the gate, but you can stick to what you do best.
Assymetric Gaming
Unfortunately, what makes Nintendo fun for the whole family has been restricted to just a few games since the launch window. Nintendoland is fucking bananas. It's one of the best multiplayer games you can play that's out there right now. Especially for local gaming.
The Wii was strengthened by games like Rayman: Raving Rabbids and Wii Play. The Wii U doesn't have a Wii Play equivalent yet, and its Rayman game is not multiplayer friendly. It was like Ubisoft was just trying to churn out a Rabbids game to say they did.
Phew... with that out of the way, I feel like there's still some good things to say about the Wii U.
Who cares about the lack of true Unreal Engine support? Who cares about no Frostbite Engine? If that kind of stuff is that important to you, consider that the graphics argument that you keep making is made completely obsolete by the fact that most of the multiplatform games end up on the PC these days, and the quality is even better there.
If you're buying console games for their graphics, you're doing it wrong.
As long as Nintendo manages to keep a steady stream of titles over the next four or five years, the Wii U is going to pick up steam, and perform well. It's asinine to think it could perform as well as its most immediate predecessor, but as long as it pushes out 50-70k units, I think we can call that a success.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
A New Contender has Arrived
With February 20th now behind us, gamers are able to see the future with a little more clarity. Sony has mostly revealed its latest console, telling us that it will be releasing during the holiday season of this year.
Let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?
Sony's presentation was good, but it wasn't great. We knew that the PS4 (by one name or another) was coming, and we knew that it was going to be graphically superior to the Wii U.
From an objective point of view, I want Sony to do as well as it can. They have decent first party exclusives, in the form of Infamous, God of War, Little Big Planet and whatever Naughty Dog is working on. Their multiplatform offerings are slightly less important, as we know that the Xbox 720 and PC will likely run them as well, if not better. Therefore, it's crucial that the games be as good as they can.
What we saw at the presentation was very little in the form of actual footage. Sure, there were plenty of prerendered cutscenes, but very little actually showed what the system was truly capable of.
Instead, it seemed that the focus of this event was on marketing. There were somewhat huge reveals, including Capcom's Deep Down, Blizzard's support on PS3 and PS4, and of course, Bungie releasing Destiny on Sony's console as well as the tried and true Xbox.
The problem is, most of these reveals are little more than an olive branch to gamers. We received little beyond fluid graphics and a dose of physics. Even when we saw an engine in action, it didn't seem as though it was pushing the system to its limit.
The presentation was marred by missteps like that. Square Enix didn't show anything new. Their demonstration was the same one that they showed us at E3 8 months ago - even though they did promise to show a new Final Fantasy on Sony's machine this June. When it was revealed that Watchdogs would be on the PS4, half an hour later, it was also specified that the Wii U would be getting the game as well.
There were some nice touches that the PS4 had, which helped to salvage an otherwise boring event. The game Knack looks like it could be clever and well-done, and really be a good way of utilizing most of the PS4 hardware. It also has some cool social functions, but it seems that might be using a decent chunk of the PS4's massive 8gb of RAM. They'll also have their own form of remote play that will let you play your PS4 games on your Vita.
Of course, with all these features and high specs, I feel like there's no way the thing is going to be affordable. I would surmise we're going to see a $499 price tag at minimum, but EB games Australia has already posted it as A$899 for preorder. It's a given that it would be a placeholder, but that's one holy hell of a high price. Australia's currency is not that different from the U.S. dollar. The Wii U was only about $70 more down under. EB Games Australia is assuming that Sony will be releasing its newest console at what I would assume is the equivalent of $600-$700. And that could totally happen.
Also, while Sony will not be cutting used games from their list, they are going to be cutting backward compatibility, which is going to severely hamper their launch window. They also are not going to be cutting the price of the Vita in the states, which is a huge kick in the pants now that we've seen the one Japan has received.
In any case, while the Playstation 4's announcement was phenomenally insightful, it leaves me in the same position I was once the Playstation 3 was released. Unless I suddenly fall into a large pile of cash, I'll have to be content to ride the waves just on the perimeter of this release. Then, when one or two price drops help to deflate its likely high price, and a few must-have games land on my radar, I'll have enough incentive to purchase.
Let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?
Sony's presentation was good, but it wasn't great. We knew that the PS4 (by one name or another) was coming, and we knew that it was going to be graphically superior to the Wii U.
From an objective point of view, I want Sony to do as well as it can. They have decent first party exclusives, in the form of Infamous, God of War, Little Big Planet and whatever Naughty Dog is working on. Their multiplatform offerings are slightly less important, as we know that the Xbox 720 and PC will likely run them as well, if not better. Therefore, it's crucial that the games be as good as they can.
What we saw at the presentation was very little in the form of actual footage. Sure, there were plenty of prerendered cutscenes, but very little actually showed what the system was truly capable of.
Instead, it seemed that the focus of this event was on marketing. There were somewhat huge reveals, including Capcom's Deep Down, Blizzard's support on PS3 and PS4, and of course, Bungie releasing Destiny on Sony's console as well as the tried and true Xbox.
The problem is, most of these reveals are little more than an olive branch to gamers. We received little beyond fluid graphics and a dose of physics. Even when we saw an engine in action, it didn't seem as though it was pushing the system to its limit.
The presentation was marred by missteps like that. Square Enix didn't show anything new. Their demonstration was the same one that they showed us at E3 8 months ago - even though they did promise to show a new Final Fantasy on Sony's machine this June. When it was revealed that Watchdogs would be on the PS4, half an hour later, it was also specified that the Wii U would be getting the game as well.
There were some nice touches that the PS4 had, which helped to salvage an otherwise boring event. The game Knack looks like it could be clever and well-done, and really be a good way of utilizing most of the PS4 hardware. It also has some cool social functions, but it seems that might be using a decent chunk of the PS4's massive 8gb of RAM. They'll also have their own form of remote play that will let you play your PS4 games on your Vita.
Of course, with all these features and high specs, I feel like there's no way the thing is going to be affordable. I would surmise we're going to see a $499 price tag at minimum, but EB games Australia has already posted it as A$899 for preorder. It's a given that it would be a placeholder, but that's one holy hell of a high price. Australia's currency is not that different from the U.S. dollar. The Wii U was only about $70 more down under. EB Games Australia is assuming that Sony will be releasing its newest console at what I would assume is the equivalent of $600-$700. And that could totally happen.
Also, while Sony will not be cutting used games from their list, they are going to be cutting backward compatibility, which is going to severely hamper their launch window. They also are not going to be cutting the price of the Vita in the states, which is a huge kick in the pants now that we've seen the one Japan has received.
In any case, while the Playstation 4's announcement was phenomenally insightful, it leaves me in the same position I was once the Playstation 3 was released. Unless I suddenly fall into a large pile of cash, I'll have to be content to ride the waves just on the perimeter of this release. Then, when one or two price drops help to deflate its likely high price, and a few must-have games land on my radar, I'll have enough incentive to purchase.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
No Time for a Title, I've Got Lots to Talk About
I like these long breaks between blog posts, because it gives me a decent amount of material to speak about. Sometimes, though, I wait too long, and there's almost too much to really address. Let's get into it.
Gaming, Part I: Consoles
The first thing I want to address is what's going on with gaming right now. We know that the big reveals for Microsoft and Sony's new consoles are coming. For Sony, it seems like it may be sooner than later, as they're having a much talked about presentation on February 20th.
It won't be long before the next Xbox climbs into the forefront as well, especially with E3 rapidly approaching. Seriously, June is right around the corner.
(ahem... Kev, if you'd be so kind, please acquire a press pass for me?)
But as this incoming round of consoles nears, the rumor trains are speeding ahead at full steam. Most of what we're hearing is not good.
According to speculation, both consoles will completely reject the use of used games. There are some people who don't find this particularly daunting, because they have the means to spend whatever they want on games without endangering their livelihoods.
For some of us, however, we're balancing our checkbooks against mortgages and car payments and other day to day bills. I certainly can't afford to buy every single game that releases at the full price.
And then, you get into the second part of the equation. If the consoles won't allow used games to be played (or at least, not without incurring additional costs), there will be less incentive to trade a game in. That means taking fewer risks on games. This is even more of a problem lately since we know that occasionally, publishers will buy a decent review score - yet when we play it, we know it's not deserving of that score.
What a lot of people don't immediately recognize is that if this becomes the industry standard, it's going to have a profound effect beyond just how often someone goes to GameStop. Game rental will be effectively dead, unless you want to get your game on the floundering Wii U, which is getting very little third party support as of late. Backward compatibility will be a laughable afterthought as well. During the opening few months to a year of a console's lifecycle, content is painfully lacking, as we're seeing right now with Nintendo's system (and as we saw last year with it's handheld). But Nintendo had one thing going for it right out of the gates. It's back catalogue is robust, thanks to the Virtual Console, and the Wii backwards compatibility. Microsoft and Sony had a dreary start, in part due to it's decision to limit backward compatibility. If the Xbox 720 and PS4 abscond from the idea of empowering it's launch window, they're going to suffer even worse than the Wii U is now.
It's also going around now that Microsoft might require a persistent internet connection, as well as making the Kinect a mandatory part of it's equation. This would effectively drive up the price, and force every Microsoft gamer to use their Xbox live service, which is already a huge slap in the face of everyone - and we are blissfully ignorant of it, and happily pay it.
The industry is getting increasingly muddled as of late, and it's scary to see the direction that these consoles could be going. As of now, it remains just speculation, but we may know as soon as February 20th for certain what kind of restrictions or freedoms the next-generation consoles bring to the table. If backward compatibility and used gaming are not in the cards, we may begin to see the industry crumbling from within.
Gaming, Part II: Games
Of course, the most important part of any console is going to be the games they provide. Wii U has been taking an awful lot of flak lately, due to it's very dry Q1 software releases. Pikmin 3 was pushed back, and exclusive software is still a ways off. While they had a decent presentation last month, we know that we aren't going to see very much of Mario/Mario Kart/Zelda until E3.
And then of course last week, Nintendo was hit with a bombshell. Rayman Legends, arguably their most important title at this point, was going to be delayed 7 months to September, to release alongside recently announced PS3 and Xbox versions.
Gaming forums on the internet was ablaze within hours. Nobody really cares that the project went multiplatform. I'm a diehard Nintendo fan, but I would rather some uber PS or Xbox fan get a chance to play a decent game than gloat like a moron that my console has what yours doesn't. The real problem is that delay. This game was supposed to release yesterday. They let us know days before release that they were going to push it back.
It's become public knowledge at this point that the developers are openly against this decision. It seems that Ubisoft's suits and ties department didn't like the numbers involved with releasing strictly on the Wii U, thereby crushing the expectations of its fans, who are ultimately what will get them that number they're looking for.
Microsoft is taking some heat because of this move as well. Though it's just speculation at this point, some people are indicating that Microsoft's publishing policies limit when a game can be released on the console. They reserve the right to refuse a game if it comes out on another system first. While we'll never know for sure what happened, that's a pretty despicable move by both Ubisoft and Microsoft if that is what ultimately transpired.
Of course, this is a business, and exclusivity is as important now as ever... or is it? IGN recently ran an article regarding the state of console exclusives, especially going into the next slew of consoles that are coming out. Nintendo will always have the upper hand, thanks to the plethora of first party mascots that it can churn out. Microsoft and Sony will never have the staying power of Mario, Link, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Samus, Star Fox... and the list goes on and on. But, while Nintendo has this huge catalogue of games to pull from, it's console's power leaves some guessing. You'll always have the die-hard Nintendo fans who will flock to whatever system they put out, just because they want Mario, Link and all the rest. What remains to be seen is whether those games are new enough, innovative enough, and shiny enough to entice beyond the superfan. And hey, this drought isn't even all that bad right now - at least, not just for Nintendo. The multiplatform games that the big N is missing out on haven't been that great as of late - although, that'll all change when Bioshock Infinite passes it up.
For Microsoft and Sony, the stakes are a little different. Both consoles have some pretty impressive excluxive line-ups. Halo, Gears and Fable have been Microsoft's tried and true trifecta for awhile. Sony can reach a little deeper, thanks to Gran Turismo, Uncharted, God of War, Little Big Planet, Infamous, Sly Cooper and so forth and so on. Beyond Kratos and Master Chief, though, the name recognition doesn't go as far on either of these two systems. In fact, Gran Turismo typically pushes further on Sony than any of it's character flagships.
The real strength of the Playstation and Xbox catalogues are in it's third party support, as indicated by their sales of Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty.
Because of this, you run into a problem where those two consoles are so close to each other, that the smaller details become more important. If we're pressured into picking favorites, we're forced into determining what we prefer. Do we like gamerscore over trophies? Do we like the apps offered on Live over the Playstation Network? Is it important that I don't have to pay a monthly service fee just to use the internet that I'm already paying for anyway?
And then of course, the next important detail is where everyone is playing. If your friends typically play everything on the Xbox, chances are, you will too. Likewise for Sony. Therefore, the next round of console strategy has to rely a little more on which console releases first.
It's the culmination of all of these details that makes the decision of which consoles to support this generation that much more difficult. More than ever, our role as consumers will shape which way the industry moves. If we adamantly take a stand against the actions of the big three, they'll be forced to take more consideration with us in the future. They have a lot riding on the next six years, and if they choose incorrectly, we could see one of them dropping from console production completely by the year 2020.
Movies and Television
It's very rare for me to get too into the minutae of the film industry. I pretty much just take this time to endorse movies that I saw that I enjoyed.
With that said, I really do insist that you watch Identity Thief if you're looking for a decent comedy that has the capability to lightly tug on your heartstrings here and there. Jason Bateman is always hilarious, and Melissa McCarthy is showing her star power more and more with every movie she puts out.
With television, I feel like I have a little more to say. When you're a fan of a show, you put a significant investment into it. A single movie doesn't really develop a lasting bond with you. That's why trilogies and other series movies are having such a profound effect on movie-goers lately.
That said, television has a much easier time of telling you to go fuck yourself (as is evident with the weak series finales of shows like Lost and Awake). My most recent experience with this was during Community's Season 4 open. I know that the show switched it's main writers, and is probably going to have to find its feet again, but it felt like a completely different program. Hopefully tomorrow, they show that they only missed a step, and didn't forget how to dance altogether.
On the other hand, I'm constantly reminded of how good some shows can be. Rhianna and I have been watching through Star Trek: The Next Generation, because she missed that show growing up. She's a huge Trekkie at this point, and the season three episode, Yesterday's Enterprise, that we caught last night was a good indication of why. It wasn't a season finale or premiere, but it had a level of quality that could have been used for a feature film. In fact, it's number one on EW's best of Star Trek: The Next Generation list. It really makes me sad to think there most likely won't be any Next Generation films going forward.
Anyway, that's about it for me for now. For more on anything entertainment related, be sure to check me and Kev on tezone.net, and listen to our podcasts, including a weekly review of ABC's Once Upon a Time.
Gaming, Part I: Consoles
The first thing I want to address is what's going on with gaming right now. We know that the big reveals for Microsoft and Sony's new consoles are coming. For Sony, it seems like it may be sooner than later, as they're having a much talked about presentation on February 20th.
It won't be long before the next Xbox climbs into the forefront as well, especially with E3 rapidly approaching. Seriously, June is right around the corner.
(ahem... Kev, if you'd be so kind, please acquire a press pass for me?)
But as this incoming round of consoles nears, the rumor trains are speeding ahead at full steam. Most of what we're hearing is not good.
According to speculation, both consoles will completely reject the use of used games. There are some people who don't find this particularly daunting, because they have the means to spend whatever they want on games without endangering their livelihoods.
For some of us, however, we're balancing our checkbooks against mortgages and car payments and other day to day bills. I certainly can't afford to buy every single game that releases at the full price.
And then, you get into the second part of the equation. If the consoles won't allow used games to be played (or at least, not without incurring additional costs), there will be less incentive to trade a game in. That means taking fewer risks on games. This is even more of a problem lately since we know that occasionally, publishers will buy a decent review score - yet when we play it, we know it's not deserving of that score.
What a lot of people don't immediately recognize is that if this becomes the industry standard, it's going to have a profound effect beyond just how often someone goes to GameStop. Game rental will be effectively dead, unless you want to get your game on the floundering Wii U, which is getting very little third party support as of late. Backward compatibility will be a laughable afterthought as well. During the opening few months to a year of a console's lifecycle, content is painfully lacking, as we're seeing right now with Nintendo's system (and as we saw last year with it's handheld). But Nintendo had one thing going for it right out of the gates. It's back catalogue is robust, thanks to the Virtual Console, and the Wii backwards compatibility. Microsoft and Sony had a dreary start, in part due to it's decision to limit backward compatibility. If the Xbox 720 and PS4 abscond from the idea of empowering it's launch window, they're going to suffer even worse than the Wii U is now.
It's also going around now that Microsoft might require a persistent internet connection, as well as making the Kinect a mandatory part of it's equation. This would effectively drive up the price, and force every Microsoft gamer to use their Xbox live service, which is already a huge slap in the face of everyone - and we are blissfully ignorant of it, and happily pay it.
The industry is getting increasingly muddled as of late, and it's scary to see the direction that these consoles could be going. As of now, it remains just speculation, but we may know as soon as February 20th for certain what kind of restrictions or freedoms the next-generation consoles bring to the table. If backward compatibility and used gaming are not in the cards, we may begin to see the industry crumbling from within.
Gaming, Part II: Games
Of course, the most important part of any console is going to be the games they provide. Wii U has been taking an awful lot of flak lately, due to it's very dry Q1 software releases. Pikmin 3 was pushed back, and exclusive software is still a ways off. While they had a decent presentation last month, we know that we aren't going to see very much of Mario/Mario Kart/Zelda until E3.
And then of course last week, Nintendo was hit with a bombshell. Rayman Legends, arguably their most important title at this point, was going to be delayed 7 months to September, to release alongside recently announced PS3 and Xbox versions.
Gaming forums on the internet was ablaze within hours. Nobody really cares that the project went multiplatform. I'm a diehard Nintendo fan, but I would rather some uber PS or Xbox fan get a chance to play a decent game than gloat like a moron that my console has what yours doesn't. The real problem is that delay. This game was supposed to release yesterday. They let us know days before release that they were going to push it back.
It's become public knowledge at this point that the developers are openly against this decision. It seems that Ubisoft's suits and ties department didn't like the numbers involved with releasing strictly on the Wii U, thereby crushing the expectations of its fans, who are ultimately what will get them that number they're looking for.
Microsoft is taking some heat because of this move as well. Though it's just speculation at this point, some people are indicating that Microsoft's publishing policies limit when a game can be released on the console. They reserve the right to refuse a game if it comes out on another system first. While we'll never know for sure what happened, that's a pretty despicable move by both Ubisoft and Microsoft if that is what ultimately transpired.
Of course, this is a business, and exclusivity is as important now as ever... or is it? IGN recently ran an article regarding the state of console exclusives, especially going into the next slew of consoles that are coming out. Nintendo will always have the upper hand, thanks to the plethora of first party mascots that it can churn out. Microsoft and Sony will never have the staying power of Mario, Link, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Samus, Star Fox... and the list goes on and on. But, while Nintendo has this huge catalogue of games to pull from, it's console's power leaves some guessing. You'll always have the die-hard Nintendo fans who will flock to whatever system they put out, just because they want Mario, Link and all the rest. What remains to be seen is whether those games are new enough, innovative enough, and shiny enough to entice beyond the superfan. And hey, this drought isn't even all that bad right now - at least, not just for Nintendo. The multiplatform games that the big N is missing out on haven't been that great as of late - although, that'll all change when Bioshock Infinite passes it up.
For Microsoft and Sony, the stakes are a little different. Both consoles have some pretty impressive excluxive line-ups. Halo, Gears and Fable have been Microsoft's tried and true trifecta for awhile. Sony can reach a little deeper, thanks to Gran Turismo, Uncharted, God of War, Little Big Planet, Infamous, Sly Cooper and so forth and so on. Beyond Kratos and Master Chief, though, the name recognition doesn't go as far on either of these two systems. In fact, Gran Turismo typically pushes further on Sony than any of it's character flagships.
The real strength of the Playstation and Xbox catalogues are in it's third party support, as indicated by their sales of Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty.
Because of this, you run into a problem where those two consoles are so close to each other, that the smaller details become more important. If we're pressured into picking favorites, we're forced into determining what we prefer. Do we like gamerscore over trophies? Do we like the apps offered on Live over the Playstation Network? Is it important that I don't have to pay a monthly service fee just to use the internet that I'm already paying for anyway?
And then of course, the next important detail is where everyone is playing. If your friends typically play everything on the Xbox, chances are, you will too. Likewise for Sony. Therefore, the next round of console strategy has to rely a little more on which console releases first.
It's the culmination of all of these details that makes the decision of which consoles to support this generation that much more difficult. More than ever, our role as consumers will shape which way the industry moves. If we adamantly take a stand against the actions of the big three, they'll be forced to take more consideration with us in the future. They have a lot riding on the next six years, and if they choose incorrectly, we could see one of them dropping from console production completely by the year 2020.
Movies and Television
It's very rare for me to get too into the minutae of the film industry. I pretty much just take this time to endorse movies that I saw that I enjoyed.
With that said, I really do insist that you watch Identity Thief if you're looking for a decent comedy that has the capability to lightly tug on your heartstrings here and there. Jason Bateman is always hilarious, and Melissa McCarthy is showing her star power more and more with every movie she puts out.
With television, I feel like I have a little more to say. When you're a fan of a show, you put a significant investment into it. A single movie doesn't really develop a lasting bond with you. That's why trilogies and other series movies are having such a profound effect on movie-goers lately.
That said, television has a much easier time of telling you to go fuck yourself (as is evident with the weak series finales of shows like Lost and Awake). My most recent experience with this was during Community's Season 4 open. I know that the show switched it's main writers, and is probably going to have to find its feet again, but it felt like a completely different program. Hopefully tomorrow, they show that they only missed a step, and didn't forget how to dance altogether.
On the other hand, I'm constantly reminded of how good some shows can be. Rhianna and I have been watching through Star Trek: The Next Generation, because she missed that show growing up. She's a huge Trekkie at this point, and the season three episode, Yesterday's Enterprise, that we caught last night was a good indication of why. It wasn't a season finale or premiere, but it had a level of quality that could have been used for a feature film. In fact, it's number one on EW's best of Star Trek: The Next Generation list. It really makes me sad to think there most likely won't be any Next Generation films going forward.
Anyway, that's about it for me for now. For more on anything entertainment related, be sure to check me and Kev on tezone.net, and listen to our podcasts, including a weekly review of ABC's Once Upon a Time.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Still Kicking
No, I haven't died, and no, I haven't been slacking.
A couple of weeks ago, I put up videos for Mega Man 2, and the most anticipated titles of this year. Because I fully believe in coming back to this in a semi-regular fashion, I upgraded my studio a little bit, and decided to get a more streamlined video recorder.
Therein lies the problem. You see, my PC is not powerful enough to handle the MP4s that I have been creating. All weekend long, I was struggling to figure out why the videos that I was making wouldn't work, or were suffering from ridiculous dither or aliasing.
I recorded probably 4 hours of Far Cry 3, and put together a somewhat decent review early last week. However, every time I tried to throw a transition onto the video track, my editing program of choice would crash. After trying everything I could for two days, I decided to try and upgrade to the newer edition of the program in the hopes of having fewer problems. As it turns out, Power Director 8 can't handle the MP4s with the high quality I recorded, but Power Director 11 can.
The new problem that I encountered was the aforementioned dithering and aliasing. While the production video looks and plays without any issue, when I publish it to YouTube, the thing looks like absolute crap. Blocks show up all over the output file, and make what looks beautiful look like it's having a seizure. After messing with settings all morning on Sunday, I finally just threw in the towel. Until I get a new PC, it looks like the videos are going to remain in 720p quality.
That said, the old Power Director program that I had still can't run the video files even in production mode. The version of Power Director 11 that I'm currently using is only a trial version, so it has that nice watermark in the beginning of the video. I can sacrifice some quality, but I'm not going to do that. With that in mind, the more modern videos are going to be put on hold until the middle of February when I get my tax return and can better afford the program. Cross your fingers that it's a big one, and maybe I'll even upgrade my PC so that I can produce files at 1080p as well.
In the meantime, I'm going to try and shift my focus to the retro reviews again briefly. I can still produce them on PD8, and I've got a huge backlog of them to put out there, so be on the lookout for that.
And in other news, the That's Entertainment Podcast wasn't able to record today, thanks to a sickly cohost. With that in mind, a quick rundown of all I was going to talk about during the show:
With that, I'm out peeps!
A couple of weeks ago, I put up videos for Mega Man 2, and the most anticipated titles of this year. Because I fully believe in coming back to this in a semi-regular fashion, I upgraded my studio a little bit, and decided to get a more streamlined video recorder.
Therein lies the problem. You see, my PC is not powerful enough to handle the MP4s that I have been creating. All weekend long, I was struggling to figure out why the videos that I was making wouldn't work, or were suffering from ridiculous dither or aliasing.
I recorded probably 4 hours of Far Cry 3, and put together a somewhat decent review early last week. However, every time I tried to throw a transition onto the video track, my editing program of choice would crash. After trying everything I could for two days, I decided to try and upgrade to the newer edition of the program in the hopes of having fewer problems. As it turns out, Power Director 8 can't handle the MP4s with the high quality I recorded, but Power Director 11 can.
The new problem that I encountered was the aforementioned dithering and aliasing. While the production video looks and plays without any issue, when I publish it to YouTube, the thing looks like absolute crap. Blocks show up all over the output file, and make what looks beautiful look like it's having a seizure. After messing with settings all morning on Sunday, I finally just threw in the towel. Until I get a new PC, it looks like the videos are going to remain in 720p quality.
That said, the old Power Director program that I had still can't run the video files even in production mode. The version of Power Director 11 that I'm currently using is only a trial version, so it has that nice watermark in the beginning of the video. I can sacrifice some quality, but I'm not going to do that. With that in mind, the more modern videos are going to be put on hold until the middle of February when I get my tax return and can better afford the program. Cross your fingers that it's a big one, and maybe I'll even upgrade my PC so that I can produce files at 1080p as well.
In the meantime, I'm going to try and shift my focus to the retro reviews again briefly. I can still produce them on PD8, and I've got a huge backlog of them to put out there, so be on the lookout for that.
And in other news, the That's Entertainment Podcast wasn't able to record today, thanks to a sickly cohost. With that in mind, a quick rundown of all I was going to talk about during the show:
- Still love the Cheesecake Factory. Had a Filet Mignon that melted in my mouth.
- Hansel and Gretel was a decent popcorn flick movie. It's not going to win any oscars, but if you want to see a movie that doesn't take itself seriously but is still ridiculously fun, go to see this.
- Dishonored is the kind of game where even if you're decent at it, you still feel like you're an incompetent fool.
With that, I'm out peeps!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Back in Business
Finally, I've got some really good news.
That's Entertainment has been in a massive upswing for at least the last couple of months. The podcast is back, we've got some games on the site, and I even managed to put up a few videos recently.
I'm going to be able to get back into it a little more, now, however. A few days ago, I purchased a Hauppage HD-PVR device so that I could record software a little easier.
Before, the process was very cumbersome, convoluted and expensive. I had a DVD recorder, which of course had size limitations. I was only able to record about 4 hours worth of material, meaning that I had to be very careful about what I was recording. Typically, I could only fit about two games on each DVD. On top of that, using the DVD recorder meant playing the game with downscaled, standard definition graphics. In order for me to give each game an objective, unbiased review, I had to play through them twice - once in HD, and once in SD. It really was a pain in the ass. On top of that, I had to write the reviews, edit them, record the audio... it was all very time consuming.
Now, I can at least cut back on some of the redundancy. With the Hauppage, I can record in high definition, straight away. My first experience is the most important, because I'm more patient, I'm more eager to find secrets, and I'm taking in all that the game has to offer. Also, because the Hauppage let's me record straight to a PC, the size limitation is practically eliminated.
I had some fears with the device until yesterday. Whenever I recorded, the presentation was fine. The raw production didn't have any issues either. It was only when I was looking at the converted MP4 file that the video looked like absolute dog shit. I wasn't sure what was going on. There was no real reason, as far as I could tell, that the video would be that ugly. I downloaded quicktime to try and see if a different video player would make it look better. No dice. Running through the jungle in Far Cry 3 was like stumbling down the stairs after a drunken night of debaunchery. It looked awful.
Finally, I tried to see what it looked like on my other PCs. Thankfully, everything turned out fine. They're a little more up to date, and even the files that were saved on the PC for recording looked as perfect as they did while I was recording. So, for anyone that has a Hauppage, or is interested in buying one, keep that in mind if your first experience with it isn't positive.
All that said, the device is still a clunky beast, with so many wires it makes the Kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean jealous.
So, with all that said, it's going to be much easier for me to get back into the game a little bit. I'm mostly going to be playing catch up, because software still costs money. Whenever I can, though, I'll get new videos up, in addition to retro reviews and lost gems.
The That's Entertainment YouTube channel may also feature second opinion pieces soon. My girlfriend, Rhianna, is considering offering a more feminine perspective on certain games, like Skyrim, Dragon's Dogma and Dynasty Warriors. It should be interesting, especially considering she gets bad vertigo - don't expect her to review any high speed racing games, is what I'm saying.
Still, despite the growth that That's Entertainment is seeing, the books still have to take up most of my attention. I'll try and be fair to both of my passions, though. While it is a slow march forward, I am coming back to YouTube, and this time, I'll do my best to stick around.
That's Entertainment has been in a massive upswing for at least the last couple of months. The podcast is back, we've got some games on the site, and I even managed to put up a few videos recently.
I'm going to be able to get back into it a little more, now, however. A few days ago, I purchased a Hauppage HD-PVR device so that I could record software a little easier.
 |
| It's like it's scanning my body for weak points. |
Before, the process was very cumbersome, convoluted and expensive. I had a DVD recorder, which of course had size limitations. I was only able to record about 4 hours worth of material, meaning that I had to be very careful about what I was recording. Typically, I could only fit about two games on each DVD. On top of that, using the DVD recorder meant playing the game with downscaled, standard definition graphics. In order for me to give each game an objective, unbiased review, I had to play through them twice - once in HD, and once in SD. It really was a pain in the ass. On top of that, I had to write the reviews, edit them, record the audio... it was all very time consuming.
Now, I can at least cut back on some of the redundancy. With the Hauppage, I can record in high definition, straight away. My first experience is the most important, because I'm more patient, I'm more eager to find secrets, and I'm taking in all that the game has to offer. Also, because the Hauppage let's me record straight to a PC, the size limitation is practically eliminated.
I had some fears with the device until yesterday. Whenever I recorded, the presentation was fine. The raw production didn't have any issues either. It was only when I was looking at the converted MP4 file that the video looked like absolute dog shit. I wasn't sure what was going on. There was no real reason, as far as I could tell, that the video would be that ugly. I downloaded quicktime to try and see if a different video player would make it look better. No dice. Running through the jungle in Far Cry 3 was like stumbling down the stairs after a drunken night of debaunchery. It looked awful.
Finally, I tried to see what it looked like on my other PCs. Thankfully, everything turned out fine. They're a little more up to date, and even the files that were saved on the PC for recording looked as perfect as they did while I was recording. So, for anyone that has a Hauppage, or is interested in buying one, keep that in mind if your first experience with it isn't positive.
All that said, the device is still a clunky beast, with so many wires it makes the Kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean jealous.
So, with all that said, it's going to be much easier for me to get back into the game a little bit. I'm mostly going to be playing catch up, because software still costs money. Whenever I can, though, I'll get new videos up, in addition to retro reviews and lost gems.
The That's Entertainment YouTube channel may also feature second opinion pieces soon. My girlfriend, Rhianna, is considering offering a more feminine perspective on certain games, like Skyrim, Dragon's Dogma and Dynasty Warriors. It should be interesting, especially considering she gets bad vertigo - don't expect her to review any high speed racing games, is what I'm saying.
Still, despite the growth that That's Entertainment is seeing, the books still have to take up most of my attention. I'll try and be fair to both of my passions, though. While it is a slow march forward, I am coming back to YouTube, and this time, I'll do my best to stick around.
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