Category: Video Game Musings

Nintendo Won’t Stock Classic Systems Beyond 2018

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/12/14/nintendo-will-not-make-more-nes-snes-classic-consoles/

In fairness to Nintendo, 2018 was a good year if you wanted to hunt for the NES or SNES Classic Edition systems since they were much easier to find in stores. A recent trip to a couple Walmarts around town still had a couple in stock, so they weren’t impossible to find. Regardless, Nintendo not planning on making more beyond the current stock shouldn’t have been a surprise since they’ve said as much for a while now, but people are still going to complain about it because… well, it’s social media.

There used to be a time when I saw someone bitch about the NES Classic being released at all because it meant Nintendo had no plans for the holidays back in the day and the Switch was still months away. Now that Switch is here and has its Online component with classic titles – even if they are the same paltry NES titles that have been re-released more times than Atari 2600 compilations and plug-and-play systems have seen the light of day – there’s no need to be for these systems to be around… at least in Nintendo’s mind.

Personally, I would’ve liked to have seen these last a little while longer. Not everyone is going to want a Switch or 3DS and these would’ve been a nice little side source of income for the company. And while I’m not clamoring for a N64 Classic like most people are, maybe a side line of classic console PnPs wouldn’t have been such a bad idea.

In any event, if you want an NES Classic or SNES Classic, best get them while they’re in stock because once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

But look on the bright side. At least the Playstation Classic is a thing now. That has to be cool, right?

Right?

Street Fighter V Will Now Include In-Game ADS!

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/12/09/street-fighter-v-ads-december-11th/

So Street Fighter V is an interesting beast. Released back in 2016 in a half-finished state, receiving lukewarm reception, and taking close to two years to implement a goddamn Arcade Mode that had been standard in past Street Fighter games as well as any fighting game worth their weight in gold. And just when we finally got Street Fighter V up to respectable levels, Capcom is now going to introduce ads that you have to sit through if you want to unlock certain bits of tat.

In all honesty, I’ve not played much Street Fighter V even with the Arcade Edition upgrade. My interest waned quickly and really, once the Street Fighter 30th came along, SF5 was just a thing taking up hard drive space before I uninstalled the fucker. But with all that having been said, the fact that Capcom wants to implement ads in a game you paid full price for is yet another means of the bloated games industry trying to ruin the modern gaming scene.

Naturally, the pro players who make money off this shit as well as the diehard fans who will buy any pile of crap with the Street Fighter name on it will defend this practice and even praise Capcom, but for the sensible folks out there, you pay a premium on certain free-to-play mobile games to REMOVE the ads, not add more of the fucking things.

Let’s hope this sort of practice doesn’t leak into other Capcom games. I very much like to run through Mega Man 11 without being interrupted by stupid ads for Amway.

Star Wars Battlefront II To Get Geonosis Map… Wait, What?

Source: http://www.theforce.net/story/front/Star_Wars_Battlefront_II_Battle_Of_Geonosis_Official_Trailer_182542.asp

But I thought you already had Geonosis in Battlefront II… and you played as Mace Windu, not Obi-Wan… what the hell, Lucasarts?

Oh wait… right… not Battlefront II, but the gambling-encouraging money pit that is using the name of a genuinely good game to get people going.

Meh… you know what? I’m up for some Battlefront, actually.

Nintendo Dropping Their Creators Program From Youtube… A Good Thing?

Source: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/11/please_understand_nintendo_is_replacing_its_controversial_creators_program_with_new_guidelines

So Nintendo has decided to drop their Creator Program thing where Youtube folks had to send videos and channels for approval to be monetize and opted for more loose guidelines for people to follow. So I guess that means Nintendo reviews will be up and about, right?

I’ll take a wait and see approach on this one. Right now, the planned reviews for the final stretch are picked out, but who knows what comes forth next year?

Gameband Officially Cancelled…

Pretend that Steve Austin is the Gameband people and that Vinny Mac is the suckers who gave them money.

Source: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Atari-Gameband-officially-cancelled-Kickstarter-backers-may-not-receive-refund.366656.0.html

More source: https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gameband-killed-off-1203030711/?fbclid=IwAR32FzSZcbDNH8Cr3_HjmD5SaWuaJcsJNEzVYt-zwnmzhc_gUzEjboOF3I8

So, once upon a time, there was a thing called Atari Gameband that was kickstarted because people are stupid. A gaming watch? Sure, I’ll go with that. Somewhere along the way, Gameband lost its Atari branding because even the clueless putz running today’s shell of the former company had the sense to get away from that nonsense and focus on their Linux machine disguised as a video game system. Now Gameband is officially cancelled and all those suckers who donated money might not even get a refund.

You poor, deluded fools.

All failed mocking aside, I feel bad for the folks who donated money to this thing… well, almost. And it only serves to reinforce why I have a hard time putting my faith (and dollars) into these crowdfunding bits unless the people holding it have something of a track record behind them. I’ve contributed to a couple of these things and can say that I’m satisfied with what I’ve got… but only because they’ve delivered goods in the past and proven trustworthy as a result.

Atari started a Kickstarter for their gamewatch thing and then bailed on the people making it. And despite their so-called runaway success with Ataribox’s campaign, nigh a word was mentioned since then beyond a couple signings here and there. And then there was attempt to get investors to send them money so they can release a mobile version of Roller Coaster Tycoon onto Switch despite the mobile versions being reviewed poorly. Not quite a track record worthy of forking over money.

A shame, really. That would’ve been a neat gimmick for people to presumably mock and not actually buy.

Fortnite Racks 200 Million Players… And I'm Not One Of Them

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/27/fortnite-200-million-players/

What can I say? Modern FPS games or just mass multiplayer games in general don’t appeal to me in the slightest, so it’s been the easiest thing in the world to avoid Fortnite like the plague. Looks like a fun game, but honestly, never had the patience or time for that sort of thing. Still, nice to see it gain enough traction to gain that sizable player base.

The Japanese Playstation Classic Game List… Is Not Much Better

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2018/10/29/the-japanese-playstation-classic-has-a-much-better-line-up-of-games-and-includes-armored-core/#6419b1131461

So the list that was posted yesterday was the International release. This is the list of games included on the Japanese Playstation Classic… and it’s not that much better, either.

Arc the Lad
Arc the Lad 2
Armored Core
Biohazard Director’s Cut
Final Fantasy VII International
G-Darius
Gradius Gaiden
Intelligent Qube
Jumping Flash
Megami Ibunroku Persona: Be Your True Mind
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Parasite Eve
Ridge Racer Type 4
SaGa Frontier
Super Puzzle Fighter IIX
Tekken 3
Toshinden
Wild Arms
XI [sái]

Mind you, there’s a couple good entries in there that makes this much more enticing than what we’re getting, such as Gradius Gaiden and Armored Core. But again, the lack of any Castlevania disappoints me and while some might appreciate the wider selection of RPGs, I’d prefer a little more variety and some games that made Playstation worthwhile.

Once again, it’s a hard pass for me. Even that C64 Mini seems to have a more worthwhile selection of games and I don’t particular care for the hardware all that much. (I was more of a VIC-20 fellow; and even then, most of my time was spent writing up little programs in BASIC.)

Your Playstation Classic Game List… Is Pretty Disappointing

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/29/playstation-classic-game-list/

For those wondering what games will be featured on Sony’s upcoming Playstation Classic mini plug and play system, here’s the game list:

Battle Arena Toshinden
Cool Boarders 2
Destruction Derby
Final Fantasy VII
Grand Theft Auto
Intelligent Qube
Jumping Flash
Metal Gear Solid
Mr Driller
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
Rayman
Resident Evil Director’s Cut
Revelations: Persona
Ridge Racer Type 4
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Syphon Filter
Tekken 3
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
Twisted Metal
Wild Arms

Well, that doesn’t quite excite me. I’m rather surprised that they coaxed Konami into allowing Metal Gear Solid onto the package, but no Symphony Of The Night. Certainly would’ve been a nice way to sell some units to Castlevania fans not excited by Requiem’s use of the revised PSP version. The lack of Gran Turismo is rather surprising as well as any semblance of a proper Street Fighter game. Surely, you could’ve stuck Alpha 3 on there. Could’ve done without Rainbow Six as well; that game and its ilk are a dime a dozen and playing it on non-analog PS1 is just ridiculous.

I don’t know, kids. This game list doesn’t quite excite me enough to fork the hundred beans over for a mini Playstation gimmick. I might as well buy some of this stuff off the Playstation Store and play them on my PS3. Sorry, Sony… but this is a very easy pass for me.

So About Those ATGames Blast Things…

So sometime ago, the Immortal John Hancock reviews one of these Blast things – the HDMI sticks that has built-in games and wireless Mega Drive controllers – and the version had featured a number of Namco arcade games. However, it turns out that this version was never intended for retail purchase and what people in stores got instead when buying these things were the lesser NES versions, with even lesser emulation quality. From the few videos I’ve seen, the sounds seemed a bit lower pitch and the framerate wasn’t quite up there.

I haven’t seen these things in stores myself; lessons learned from the Genesis Flashback not selling gangbusters, I suppose. Even the usual flea market outings are content not touching these and sticking with the much older Genesis plug-and-play things and bootleg NES and Super NES mini consoles. But yeah… featuring arcade screenshots on your box and including inferior ports on the actual hardware? Pretty scummy move. Even the casual shopper picking this up as an impulse buy would be smart enough to put two and two together and realize that one does not look like the other.

Don’t get me wrong; the NES versions aren’t generally too bad contrary to what most folks will tell you. But when people expect arcade emulation and you don’t deliver, that doesn’t exactly help your already tattered street cred.

A shame, really. But I suppose it’s just another day in the office for ATGames.