themblan's blog

Interesting... On Thursday, May 12th, SemiAccurate.com reported that Nvidia-chips may be in NX. The following day, famed Nintendo-reporter Emily Rogers blogged about the horsepower of the NX. Both rumors seemed to be able to coexist, meaning they didn't necessarily clash and contradict each other. As far as Nvidia goes, they don't make CPUs for desktops like AMD and Intel, but make SOCs for mobile devices and automobiles. This coincides with what Rogers wrote about how NX won't be x86 and won't blow the socks off of XB1 or PS4. There are four avenues that Nintendo can travel: 1. Handheld-only (no TV-output) 2. Home-console-only 3. Handheld-console hybrid (TV-output w/ possible docking-station or SCD) 4. Both a handheld and home-console Let's look at each possibility and weigh the likelihoods of each. 1. A handheld-only future is definitely possible. Wii U has sold like garbage, while 3DS has sold very well. It makes financial sense to quit mak

Star Fox Zero would have been much better-received if it was a new IP. As much as retelling the origin-story of Star Fox was very nostalgic and appreciated by many fans, I fear it set the game up for failure as well, because it would draw comparisons to SF64 and SF, when things were simpler. By distracting people and saying it's not Star Fox, they would have given the new gameplay-mechanics a fairer chance. It might have sold less, but then again, it might have sold more (e.g. Splatoon). With NX, I think Nintendo should, and will be more brave in making new IP and not just relying on their old ones. Remember that all their IPs were once new.

I despise how the peanut gallery, with enough vociferation, can become the "general consensus" of the internet. Case in point: Twilight Princess. Twilight Princess was excellent on Wii. The motion-controls did not detract from the experience, were not difficult to execute, but instead edified the experience and made it more immersive. Skyward Sword's motion-controls did detract from the experience, were difficult to excute, and instead of making it more immersive, which was the goal, made me focus on the mechanics of how precisely to use the controller to execute what I wanted to execute; this was the opposite of immersion. I played the Gamecube-version first, because I could not find a Wii. Although there's nothing wrong with it, the Wii-version was better because on the Wii-version, you could map one more item to the plus-pad on the Wii-remote, aiming was motion-based and more intuitive and smooth; swinging the Wii-remote to swing the sword was fun and immersi

Action Henk Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures 2 A.N.N.E. Antipole DX Assault Android Cactus Axiom Verge Back to Bed The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 Chromophore: The Two Brothers Director's Cut forma.8 Hive Jump Jotun Kerbal Space Program LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Mighty No. 9 The Next Penelope PONCHO RIVE Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero Slain! Soul Axiom Super Meat Boy Terraria Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Tumblestone Yooka-Laylee Source: http://www.nintendo.com/games/coming-soon/

Sometimes it's really toxic reading things on the internet. There is so much criticism and cynicism. Where has gratitude and apprecation gone? Some people want everything they had in the past, all over again, as if it comes freely and easily; as if we're entitled to it. No, we are not entitled to anything, and we should be appreciate of and thankful for what we get, not because we should passively accept things the way they are. On the contrary. We should actively search for things to be grateful for. I wasn't always like this. Maybe this is a maturity and wisdom coming from age and experience. Looking at it another way, things can always be worse. Instead of focusing on what we don't have, we should focus on what we do. In terms of Wii U, some people focus on how its library game-for-game doesn't match up to Gamecube or Wii, but I don't look at it from that perspective. I see a company that tried its hardest to develop, publish, and deliver as many an

I'm reading Emily Rogers's twitter-feed and I realize that some people just love to argue. Doctre81 is the same way. For me, I don't care enough to try to convince people they're wrong beyond one or two tries at most. The only mind I care about is my own. I feel like it's wasted energy. They're also often not arguing about the same exact thing. They will present an opinion as fact, and then rebut with another opinion presented as fact, with a fact that is unrelated to that opinion. They're really logically flawed. It's kind of a train-wreck to read. Some people are physically incapable of telling apart opinion from fact, so it becomes pointless to argue with them. Some people are physically incapable of agreeing with anyone else in front of someone else's face, so it becomes pointless to argue with them. It's worse than talking to a wall, because at least a wall doesn't spit out inane opinions back. It's telling when they don

I've been playing Link to the Past recently on my "new" 3DS. A lot of people call it their favorite game of all time - people like Reggie Fils-Aimé and James Rolfe. But my favorite game of all time is Ocarina of Time. Some games and genres work better in 3D or 2D. Racing-games work better in 3D. I don't know how you can objectively say Super Mario Kart is better than the 3D games. You may like it more because you played it first and you were wowed by it, and the others never delivered that same wow-factor, but to say it's better is wrong. Zelda works better in 3D; the combat is better. The combat in 2D Zelda is just not fun. You walk in 8 directions but most weapons only work in 4 directions. If a fast enemy is chasing you, you have to walk away for a few seconds and then face him or her. It's not fun. The sense of exploration is better in 3D. When I first played OoT, it was so immersive because it was a behind-the-back perspective. Now I'm not say

@playeressence I wish the Star Fox franchise would emphasize more on online multiplayer. I think it would widen the appeal of Star Fox more. — Emily Rogers (@ArcadeGirl64) May 4, 2016 Of course, it would have been better if Star Fox Zero had online multiplayer. Of course it would have widened the appeal of Star Fox. But that is not the point. There is a finite amount of time and resources Nintendo could have put into the Star Fox Zero project. Adding online multiplayer would probably have added at least a year to development-time. It would have come out on the NX. Would we have wanted that? I don't know about you, but I would not. This brings me to my next point, which is what do I want from Star Fox? I do not want a generic, online multiplayer shooter like Star Wars Battlefront. Maybe that's what some other people want, but not me. Star Fox Zero was precisely the game I wanted, which was a reimagining of the origins of the Star Fox franchise with new control-mechanics

People are moaning and groaning about Nintendo's gloom and doom for launching NX in March 2017, but we don't even know what it is yet. It might be the handheld. 3DS launched in North America on March 27th, 2011. The original Game Boy launched on April 21st, 1989 in Japan, and July 31st, 1989 in North America. Game Boy Advance launched on March 21st, 2001 in Japan, and June 11th, 2001 in North America. There was also that poll that Emily Rogers linked that mentioned NX being 900p. Only a handheld would have a fixed resolution. To be clear, the poll was real, but the information in it was not set in stone. There were various what-if scenarios and different specs and resolutions presented, and poll-takers were asked to react to them. Beyond what anyone wants the NX to be, the evidence might point to it being a handheld only, or the handheld launching first in March.

A few days after the disappointing news from the investor-meeting, Nintendo announced the new Splatoon amiibo. Coincidence? I think not. They knew exactly what they were doing, and it kind of worked. I'm very excited to purchase those new amiibo. Even if they had no new games coming out, (which is not true, even for Wii U) Nintendo can tread water these next 11 months by releasing amiibo and trickling out more Virtual Console games. Please release more SNES-games on "new" 3DS. "Perfect Pixel Mode" is the best thing to happen to gaming in a long time. Speaking of Virtual Console, it's a gold-mine that Nintendo has not really exploited to its fullest. Of course, when they were developing their systems in the past, they did not have VC in mind until Wii. Backwards-compatibility came on the Game Boy line of hardware and DSes because the past chips were built-in. Now with the NX, they have a chance to have forwards and backwards-compatibility on all devices g

Alison Rapp was fired from Nintendo of America for holding a "second job" that was "in conflict with Nintendo's corporate culture." But how did they find out? Obsessed, evil people with too much time on their hands dug through any and all things that was public about her on the internet and sent it to Nintendo. If it were not for them, they would not have found out. So what's the right thing to do here? Should Nintendo ignore the evidence presented to them because it comes from despicable people? Because if it were not for them, they would not have found out. My opinion is that it shouldn't matter what someone does on the hours he or she is not doing his or her job for Nintendo. Is everything on-limits as long as it's out there? What happens in a thousand years when thoughts become readable? Are people gonna be fired for their thoughts? This is ridiculous. What NoA did is not righteous or fair. If they fired Ms. Rapp for holding a second job in c

The short answer is no. Here's the long answer: A lot of people grew up with Game Boy, GBA, or DS. Some do not know a Nintendo before handhelds existed. But during the NES-era, Nintendo was on top of the world without Pokémon or Animal Crossing. They had exclusive third-party support from the East and West. A lot of that was because of domineering business-practices, but that is beside the point. Even when they encountered stiff competition with the Genesis, they were #1 worldwide. People say Genesis had more sports-games, and that is true, but after a certain year, SNES got all the sports-games from EA as well. We certainly have a more mobile society now. We have smartphones and cellular data, laptops are cheaper than ever, and gas-mileage is better than ever. But right now, multi-purpose smartphones with cellular data dominate. Unless Nintendo makes their own smartphone, they will lose to them. Should they make their portable games for smartphones instead? No, I wouldn't

Is Nintendo too good for their own good? I'm not saying third-party games don't sell well on Nintendo-systems; look at Monster Hunter and Yo-Kai Watch. But third-party games don't sell as well on Nintendo-systems. The last time when a Nintendo home-console was on par with the competition was the Gamecube. If you compare sales of third-party games with the same title across PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox; Gamecube usually, but not always, lagged behind. Of course, PS2 had a larger install-base, but even Xbox, which was almost dead-even with Gamecube throughout its life, outperformed in genres like sports-games and Western action-games. Why is this? It's because Nintendo's own games outshine the others. They sought to give third-parties the spotlight during the 3DS's launch, but it backfired on them. I bought a 3DS within a week of its launch. What games did I get? Street Fighter and Dead or Alive. I didn't get Pilotwings, Steel Diver, or Nintendogs. Having no a