411 Games Fact or Fiction 08.03.07: Racism in Resident Evil 5, Dragon Quest remakes, online co-op, the Wii's dominance, & More!
Posted by Tommy Coloma on 08.03.2007
411's Damian Sarcuni and Mike Minotti tell us what they think about Capcom's response to the Resident Evil 5 racism issue, the reason behind the rumored Xbox 360 price drop, the relevance of the DS Dragon Quest remakes, co-op vs free-for-all gameplay, the Wii overtaking the Xbox 360 in terms of sales, and control scheme changes in future wrestling games in this edition of Fact or Fiction Games!
Get ready for another earth-shattering edition of Fact or Fiction. This week we're featuring column regular Damian Sarcuni and newcomer Mike Minotti.
Every Monday Damian shows us why he's the "hate master" with Angry Gaming. His latest deals with the sick and twisted world of Pokemon. Damian also writes 411 MMA Smacktalk for the MMA section. Check it out to see the latest MMA news and rumors.
For the past few weeks Mike has been filling in for Andrew Mellick with his version of The SIXAXIS. After getting a taste of how great it is to be in the Games section, Mike came out with a column of his own - The Full Circle, 411's weekly Xbox 360-centric news report. In it, you'll find all the 360 news and information that's worth printing. He also writes Can They Be Champ? for the Wrestling section. What are the chances certain wrestlers have at winning the big one? Take a look to find out!
Lets go -
1. Capcom is going to cave in and make some changes to Resident Evil 5 in response to the recent racism issue.
Mike Minotti: Fiction
I think this whole issue is unfounded. Zombies or zombie-like creatures have been fodder for punishment in the Resident Evil series ever since its beginning, and now that the zombies are black it's supposed to be offensive? Why did no one claim Resident Evil 4 was being racist towards Hispanics? Besides, what could they change to calm the issue down? The game takes place in Africa, how could the enemies, who are natives of the land, not be black? The only thing they could do would be to change the game's location, which would mean having to start a lot of things over from scratch. And while the Resident Evil games have a history of being completely remade from the ground up, I don't think they'll do it for this. Besides, we've only seen one location in the game. How do we even know all the zombies (or whatever) are black?
Damian Sarcuni: Fiction
Nah. At best they'll change the color of some boss character in the later stages which they were probably planning on doing anyway. As Mike said, RE4 was all about zombies a espanol, and you didn't see anyone picketing at the Puerto Rican day parade now did you? I will say that this game looks WAY too much like a rehash of RE4 and as a result may lead to a few dropped sales. But at this point, Capcom could probably repaint a bunch of PS1 discs and call it RE6 and it would still sell. STOP TEASING THE FINAL FIGHT WITH WESKER AND JUST DO IT ALREADY YA MONEY GRUBBING BITCHES!!!
Score: 1 for 1
2. The impending Xbox 360 price drop is the result of a knee-jerk reaction to the 60 gig PS3's price reduction. It is not something that was planned out months in advance.
Mike Minotti: Fiction
While the PS3 price drop probably eased their decision, I doubt the 360 price drop was solely done because of what Sony did. The Xbox 360 is about to become a two-year old console. A $50 price drop at this point in a console's lifespan is pretty standard. Besides, Microsoft wants to increase console sales so that they can sell more of those blockbuster games coming this fall. And why would Microsoft be that concerned about the PS3 price drop? First off, it isn't a permanent thing since the $499 PS3 will be abandoned once they're all sold. Secondly, the 360 is still outselling the PS3 by a pretty good margin on a monthly basis in the US.
Damian Sarcuni: Fact
I'm filing an official complaint because this is a two part statement and I only agree with half of it. Was it a knee-jerk reaction? Nope. Was it planned months in advance? No. Microsoft saw the PS3 price cut, but I doubt it scared them at all. They most likely just slapped their foreheads after E3 and said "Oh yeah, I knew we forgot something!" But the fact that they didn't announce it at E3 is proof enough it was not planned. It's not so much related to the PS3 though, it's just time for it.
Score: 1 for 2
3. Gamers outside of Japan will actually care when the Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI remakes for the DS come out.
Mike Minotti: Fiction
While I can't speak for Europe or Australia, the Dragon Quest series has never caught on here like it did in Japan. In Japan the series is loved more than Final Fantasy. Over here they had to bundle Dragon Quest 8 with a Final Fantasy XII demo in hopes of increasing sales, and even then DQ8 didn't sell all that well. That said, releasing remade Dragon Quest games on the current best selling system could surge some new found interest in the series before Dragon Quest 9 gets released. And there will always be hardcore Dragon Quest fans in the US. But is Dragon Quest a mega-franchise here like it is in Japan? Not even close.
Damian Sarcuni: Fiction
Didn't we already see these on Game Boy? Not that we didn't see all those Final Fantasy re-releases on Game Boy too, but people are retarded when it comes to that series. Drawing chibi versions of Shadow and Locke, writing poetry about the lifestream, dressing up like Squall, you people are SICK!! SICK I TELL YOU!! Dragon Quest just doesn't have that epic storyline that grips people in and makes them actually care about their characters. Hardcore gamers will buy the remakes, but they aren't going to make waves.
Score: 2 for 3
4. Co-op is for chumps. It is more fun to play against people than with them.
Damian Sarcuni: Fiction
This is how you can tell I'm an alternate for these questions... I just posted an entire column on this very subject. Very quickly I'll comment: between the hackers, trolls, little kids, and poor sports out there as well as a lack of great multiplayer in general, I would love nothing more than for a real co-op gem to hit the store shelves in the coming months. Games like Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Army of Two claim to have a co-op focus, but in the past very few games have done their co-op correctly. Co-op is like religion. Some believe in it, some don't, and everyone on each side thinks they know something the other doesn't.
Mike Minotti: Fiction
Although I wouldn't say co-op is inherently more fun than competitive play. A good game with well designed co-op is fun. A good game with well designed competitive play is fun. It's all a matter of design and personal preference. For example, I had my most fun with Gears of War playing the co-op, not playing the game online. As Damian said, the generic online trolls can diminish the online gaming experience. However, not all competitive play is online. I have the most fun with competitive games playing fighting games with friends in my living room. And I know it's hard for some people to believe in the age of Xbox Live, but some people still play split-screen.
Score: 3 for 4
5. The fact that the Wii is only a few weeks away from overtaking the Xbox 360 in terms of console sales is surprising.
Damian Sarcuni: Fact
Not that the Wii is a bad system or even a less mainstream one, but where the hell are they getting them?! I'm planning to buy one this month and I've already planned out the day I'm camping out at Nintendo World of Rockefeller Center again at 6 am because I can't find the damn thing. A system with such a small supply is going to outsell a console that has had a consistent sales ratio for over a year now? I'm shocked.
Mike Minotti: Fact
I always believed in the Wii, and even thought in the back of my mind that maybe, just maybe, Nintendo could be the number one console manufacturer again. But did I think the Wii would overtake the 360's sales this early? No, I did not. Of course, given the Wii's amazing and consistent sales for the past few months, it overtaking the 360 became inevitable. Just like the DS before it, the Wii has somehow found a way to tap the casual market. Friends of mine who I know would never buy a new-gen console under normal circumstances have Wii's. I saw a news report on CNN today about illegal Wii modding. What the hell? This kind of thing has been going on with consoles forever, and only now CNN reports on it? Ladies and gentleman, the Wii has gone mainstream. It'll be interesting to see if the 360 or the PS3 will ever be able to catch up.
Score: 4 for 5
6. The removal of button mashing in favor of analog stick movement to get out of holds in the next SmackDown vs. Raw game is a welcome change which should be emulated in future wrestling games.
Damian Sarcuni: Fact
Sorta. It's a welcome change, but putting button mashing in for certain holds isn't something that needs to be phased out entirely. I would love to see what this means for the Wii though, and I'll go out on a limb and predict that Wiimote controls in a WWE game will be the best wrestling genre title we've seen in years. Now if they would only bring back Jet Set Radio. Again.
Mike Minotti: Fiction
I know the term "button mashing" has a negative connotation, but it always felt appropriate to frantically press those buttons when I was applying/getting out of a submission in the Smackdown! games. Besides, there was more to it than button mashing, since the characters damage… colors (I guess that's what you'd call it) factored into his ability to power out of a submission. This new analog submission system… I just don't get it. So the attacker strengthens the hold by pulling down on the analog sticks and the receiver powers out of it by pulling up on his analog sticks? Well how the hell does that work? It's not like someone can pull on his analog sticks better than someone else. Like I said, I don't understand it. Regardless, the Smackdown! series had bigger problems than this. Its submission system was fine the way it was. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Score: 4 for 6
We have a final score of 4 for 6. Don't forget to join us next Friday for more Fact or Fiction. If you forget, it is very likely that the next yashichi you pick up will not give you the boost you need.
