The Negative Edge News Report 09.29.06
Posted by Tommy Coloma on 09.29.2006
SNK's bombshell, my GW Nightfall impressions, Gamerscore annoyances, Cave Story, and more!
Welcome to another edition of The Negative Edge. Can you believe that it's already been 11 weeks since I started writing at 411mania? This week I spent some time going through the past 10 columns so that I can see which segments I liked and which ones I didn't. It's time for me to pull everything together. Change is in the air. Will this be a good thing or a bad thing? Let's find out, shall we?
SNK will finally create new graphics for their next The King of Fighters game.
After years and years of complaints from fighting game fans around the world, SNK has finally broken down and decided to create all new graphics for The King of Fighters XII. I'd just like to say that it's about damn time. Players were hoping that SNK would finally take the plunge when they started to develop games for the Atomiswave arcade system but those hopes were quickly dashed away. I'm guessing that the ultra-weak sales of their last game didn't sit too well with the higher-ups. This is big news as far as fighting game-related news goes. One of the main excuses people make for completely ignoring SNK's offerings is that the graphics are too dated. Nobody can deny that the KOF series is showing its age. Now that the main complaint has been addressed, failure will show that graphics weren't the only things that were causing people to ignore the series. I'm of course hoping that SNK makes something that keeps the 2D fighting scene alive. I don't think that I'm cut out for 3D fighters.
Guild Wars Nightfall Preview Weekend
Sorry that I didn't give you guys a heads up last week. It sort of slipped my mind. For those of you that didn't know, over the weekend ArenaNet allowed anyone to download and play an early version of Nightfall, the next expansion for Guild Wars, for free. This served at least two purposes - it allowed ArenaNet to get feedback so that their developers could tweak the system before the final release in October and it showed gamers what Guild Wars is all about (that may or may not be a good thing). While their last expansion, Guild Wars Factions, had an Asian theme going for it, Nightfall had a "North African inspired setting." If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time an online RPG featured main characters who were black. I'm interested in seeing how well this expansion sells compared to Factions when it is released. As far as gameplay goes, there were quite a few new things that I liked. There is a new RTS-like feature where you can order around at least one of the computer controlled characters. I didn't get too far so I don't know how many you can eventually control. The quests that I went on seemed like more of the same but again I didn't spend too much time with it see any big differences. The one major improvement this game had over the previous one was the fact that the new characters were worth using (i.e. they weren't totally gimped). In addition, the character models looked cool. This is the first time that I liked what the male characters looked like. Maybe it's just me, but the previous ones always looked like total pansies, especially the Factions characters. Unfortunately, the retail version comes out within a few days of when Phantasy Star Universe comes out. Maybe I'll check it out again some time next year.
What Were They Thinking?
There are a lot of things about video games that annoy the hell out of me. Here is where I express that annoyance -
This week's annoyance - The Xbox Live Gamerscore
First of all, I think that games should be made in such a way that the act of playing and winning (or at least trying to win) is what makes them enjoyable. However, there are people that need a point system in their games to make them more interesting. On a per-game basis, I think that Achievement points are ok. Trying to earn them can often give a game more replay value. My problem is that all of the achievements that one has earned for each game he or she has played is added and displayed as that person's Gamerscore. Sorry, but that's a load of bullshit! What does that prove? Lets say that one person only has three games that he plays to death while someone else buys, borrows, and rents games regularly. By default, the second guy will most definitely have a higher Gamerscore because of the fact that most of the games give points for doing almost nothing. What's up with that? Whatever happened to quality over quantity? The three game guy might have gotten most of the achievements from his games while the second guy only played the first level of each game he got his hands on. Would it be right for quantity guy to have more points than quality guy just because he skimmed through more games? Microsoft was pretty smart about implementing Achievements and Gamerscores into the Live experience. However, what does that say about those of us who care about them?
Have a counter argument? Think I'm wrong? Don't hold it in. Maybe I am. Feel free to send me your comments. There, I'm giving you a chance to be heard. To make a difference. To put me in my place!
Hardware Or Software That You Should Know About
I've tried out a lot of peripherals and programs in my time and I think that that knowledge should be shared. What I present here might be something that you should look into or something that must be avoided at all costs. Not everything that I try is good. This week we have something good - Cave Story, one of the best freeware games around. This game was published in December, 2004 by Studio Pixel. Fans of the Castlevania/Metroid formula should enjoy it. Check out the fan-made trailer for the game down below to see it in action!
You can get the fully patched PC version at the tribute site (make sure that you click on "Main Download" or "Mirror Download"). There is also a Mac port. Someone is creating a homebrew GBA version with the original developer's consent but there hasn't been any update on that front for a little while. Maybe some day we'll see this on Xbox Live Arcade or Nintendo's Virtual Console. Until then, enjoy the goodness for free.
Now That Would Make A Good Game
Lots of crappy movie tie-ins are made all the time. Why do companies insist on bastardizing only current franchises when there are years of IPs just waiting to be pillaged? Books, movies, music. Almost anything can be turned into a video game. Every week (or maybe every other week) I will lay out how I would create a game based on a movie, television show, or book. My ideas can't be any worse than the crapfest we are subjected to all the time, right? RIGHT? Next week I'll begin with John Carpenter's They Live from 1988.
The Next Movie You Should Watch
It's time to take break from video games. Why not watch a movie? Might I suggest ...
I'm sure that most of you have already seen this movie so let's just check out wikipedia's awesome description for a quick refresher -
"The film stars former professional wrestler Roddy Piper as a homeless laborer who falls in with a group of shantytown rebels who have invented special dark glasses that enable the wearer to see past the façade the aliens have constructed to prevent their detection."
That description alone should convince anyone who wants to see something different to give the movie a chance. But wait! There's more -
"The story is both science fiction and black comedy, dealing satirically with the perceived notion of a declining economy and the culture of greed and conspicuous consumption associated with the 1980s. It posits a world in which some of the "haves" (the monied elite or the yuppies) are in fact space aliens seeking to oppress the "have nots" (poverty-stricken Earthlings and the desperate middle class) through subliminal advertising in the mass media."
It's a dark comedy, a social commentary, and it contains action. It's entertaining and good for your mental health. My type of movie!
What's On My Desktop
For those of you who are wondering how I can include more than one each week, the simple answer is that I rotate what is on my desktop regularly.
When I first saw this picture the first thing that I thought was that the big mouth ate the little guy's friend or something like that. That sounds much cooler than the mouth just biting the little guy.
The Sato is one of the mags that you can create in Phantasy Star Online. They take a little while to create legitimately so I was a little miffed when mine was lost after my main character got corrupted. This picture is probably the closest I'll ever get to having one again.
I never played Fire Emblem, but I hear a lot of praise for it so I thought that I'd throw it in. I played Chibi-Robo! at Target a few months back and I found it to be fairly entertaining. It wasn't something that I was prepared to pay full price for but at $15 it seems like a good deal.
The Analysis Of A Gamer (formerly "The Analyst's Corner" )
During the first few weeks that I was here I kept indicating that I would roll this segment out but I kept putting it off for one reason or another. I just realized that I've been putting it off for too long so here it is -
A few months back Wedbush Morgan Securites predicted that there would be a four percent drop in software sales for the month of June compared to the previous year. Since I pay attention to game-related news I knew that their prediction was WAY off as that was the month that the DS Lite was supposed to come out. Any gamer could tell you that the DS Lite would sell like hotcakes during its launch and that consequently, people would buy software to go along with their new system. Instead of a four percent drop as WMS predicted, there was a fifteen percent increase. Clearly, anyone that pays attention to the industry can make much more accurate predictions than these "experts." This gave me an idea - I can make stuff up too and I would be just as likely to be right (if not more so) than those so called expert analysts. So that is the gist of this segment - I am going to make up my own predictions based on my non-expert knowledge of the video game industry. I could be wrong. I always am. But I think that my predictions are much more likely to happen than some "video game analyst" that doesn't even play video games.
For this prediction, I went all out and contacted several of the establishments that had a stake in what I was going to talk about. Unfortunately, after reading over what I had written I found that it was too long, boring, and full of holes. That is pretty much why I kept lagging on this section. However, I think it's worth thinking about so I'll just give you a shortened version instead of completely scrapping it -
Who stands to benefit from the PS3's high price-point?
Everywhere people are predicting doom and gloom for all things PlayStation 3 thanks in large part to the system's $600 price point. Fortunately, there is at least one market that can benefit from the high costs of next-generation systems – the video game rental business.
The cost of purchasing all 3 next-gen systems will run between 1050 and 1250. That is a lot more than most casual gamers can afford. Hell, I'm one of the most hardcore gamers that I know and even if I can afford to get all three, I wouldn't. The most likely scenario that I see during the first few years of this generation has most people getting the Wii and/or either the Xbox 360 or the PS3 but not all three. But what about those all important exclusives? That's where places like video rental stores come in. Why pay $400-600 for another system just to play one or two exclusive games when you can just rent the system for a week, beat the game, and be done with it? $40-$50 for a week with your favorite franchise instead of $500-700+ (system + tax + game) seems like a bargain, right? Now, according to my contact at Blockbuster, there are approximately 5,300 Blockbuster stores in the US. If they were to rent out one system per store at $50 per week, they can make close to $14,000,000 in one year per system. If each store rented out one of each, that can get them around $42,000,000 a year. Add to that the extra business that can be made from other family members that came along for the ride plus additional game rentals and that is a nice little chuck of change. But what if they go greed style and just rent systems out for five days at a time instead of a week? The total amount can increase to around $58,000,000 a year. This doesn't even take into account the inclusion of multiple units per system (like having three or four Wiis, 360s, and PS3s available per location). Another possibility would be for the video rental chain to partner with a company like Best Buy or Circuit City. Maybe if the renter liked the system, he or she can get a discount when purchasing a new one. The retail outlet sells a system, Blockbuster gets a cut, and everyone walks away happy. So there you have it - the light at the end of the tunnel (at least for one group of people).
Probability that this can happen - .000001%
Holes in my prediction -
- There aren't any real notable exclusives that will be coming out this year and possibly next year for the PS3. Nobody knows when FFXIII and Metal Gear Solid 4 are coming out. Are any of the release titles worth renting a PS3 for?
- Buying two $400+ systems within a short amount of time of each other probably won't happen for most people but, given time, both systems will be bought if a person is really interested enough. I can totally see people buying an Xbox 360 right now and then a PS3 three or four years down the line when the price comes down or vice versa. Those people can probably wait to play those exclusives. Its not like the big titles will be hard to find anyway. I can still walk into Walmart or Target and pick up a copy of Final Fantasy X at a budget price if I really wanted to and its been years since it was originally released. Then there's always eBay. Then again, are most gamers that patient?
- Is $50+ worth it for only a week with your favorite franchise?
- I don't think that Blockbuster would be able to completely rent out systems all year long. It might happen for the first few weeks after launch or when a big title is released, but not all year long.
- How the hell would Blockbuster get their hands on PS3 systems? They sure as hell won't get any systems directly from Sony. They'd have to force the employees to camp in line to get theirs.
There are a lot of other nails that I can hammer into the coffin but these are some of the main ones. So there you have it. My first prediction and I end up being the one that blasts it. Awe...
A Twisty Maze Of Passages, All Alike
The internet is a big place. Despite this fact, sometimes finding something new and different is hard (weird as it may seem in the age of Google). Luckily, I have a large backlog of links to stuff that I know (hopefully) a lot of you haven't seen before. If you've seen this stuff already, good for you! Here is your chance to walk down memory lane. If you haven't, now is your chance to see something new. Yay!
Cabel's DS Lite Review
Yes. The DS Lite has been out for a couple of months now. However, those of you that are still on the fence might want to check this. This is a fairly entertaining set of videos that someone put together in which he answers many of the questions people may have about the new DS.
If this was a viral marketing campaign (it isn't by the way) I'd give the creator a raise. The videos are that good.
The Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash Movie Treatment
Remember those rumors that were flying around a little while ago about the possibility of there being a Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash movie? Well, they at least got to the stage where a treatment of the possible storyline was written out. If you missed it, here is your chance to read what could have been. I wouldn't have minded if the movie was made as is. It would certainly have been better than nothing!
Questions, comments, difficulties? I'm fielding them all! Use the link down below. Now, it's time for me to see if I can still dodge the Quickman stage's beams of death in Mega Man 2. Should I survive, I will be back again next week.
