themblan's blog

Right now, we are almost six months into the first year of Nintendo Switch's life. There is no scientifically agreed-upon number of months for a console's "launch-window," especially when development-times are increasing all the time; but we, as early adopters, have had the unfortunate privilege of enduring port after port. All ports are certainly not created equal, and there are ports that are bad, and ports that are good. What kind of ports are bad? An example of a bad port is games that have already existed on other platforms for months or even years. Examples include Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. This game came out on October 25th, 2016. A one-year-old port is not good. Bad ports include games that don't have the same features as other versions, or the features come way later. The prime example is NBA Playgrounds. The game came out on May 9th. The NS-version was missing a lot of features, like online play. Finally, two months later, NS-owners finally got a pa...

Bored and disappointed with Nintendo Switch's library, I recently went back to PC-gaming. In Q4 of last year, I built a new PC, but I hadn't gamed too much on it. I did copy a few games from my older PC to it: Titanfall, Titanfall 2, and Battlefield 4, while purchasing two new games: Recore, and Rise of the Tomb Raider. However, Daemon Tools messed my computer up. I had to use Windows 10's "Reset this PC" feature because System Restore wouldn't work. This meant I had my files, like my pictures and videos, but all my applications and games were lost. I've been slowly copying my games back from my old computer that has a decent-sized library on it, and the second game I copied to this newest PC was Titanfall. I don't know how it is on Xbone or X360, but it's a sad state of affairs for Titanfall on PC. Attrition, the most boring mode, is the most popular mode, followed by Frontier Defense and Campaign. My favorite lobby - Variety Pack, is a wastel...

I recently got a new mouse. My Logitech G600's left-click began double-clicking. Later I looked into just replacing the spring on the switch itself, and I found that it's possible, and that's what I'll do next time, but before that happened, I ordered a "Corsair Gaming Scimitar Pro RGB Gaming Mouse." I do not like the black look of it; I wish it came in white. To compensate, I made the LEDs white, with the profile-indicating light blue. The click feels very nice. It feels better than the "Teamwolf 8200 RGB Optical Wired Gaming Mouse" I got in the interim. The Teamwolf mouse's click is very high-pitched and requires more effort or has a longer actuation-distance. The scroll-wheel is a segmented, clicky scroll-wheel. It doesn't click left and right like my G600. On my G600, if you tilted the scroll-wheel left and right, you had two extra buttons, but you can't on this mouse. I like how you can adjust the location of the thumb-side bu...

It is so predictable but tiresome. Whenever something is popular, people who are not enlightened are quick to hate on it, without knowledge of its greatness. Final Fantasy VII is a great game - not because it's many people's first RPGs, but because it is good. My first RPG was the first Final Fantasy. I was maybe 6 or 7 years old and I didn't play more than a few minutes of it, but that was my first. Growing up, not everyone gets to play every game that he or is interested in. The first RPG that struck my eye was Secret of Mana, which was not a turn-based RPG, but an action-RPG. I remember beautiful ads in GamePro magazine that stirred a desire within me to play that game, but I never had the wherewithal to purchase it. The first RPG that I actually played to completion was Final Fantasy VII. I went into electronics boutique looking to buy Goldeneye 007 for Nintendo 64, but they were sold out. Final Fantasy VII was my second choice. Looking back, I am so glad that Gold...

I see this brought up all the time on Reddit. Should Metroid Prime 4 have multiplayer modes? The answer is no. Metroid has had multiplayer before, but was it any good? Was it worth it? Did it catch on and last? Metroid Prime 2 had multiplayer, and it was serviceable, but it didn't catch on. No one talks about it now like they did with Halo. Why was this? Halo was a new franchise, and from the get-go, it had a fun campaign and a good multiplayer component, and so it was accepted. Metroid, for years, was a franchise known for its single-player, so for it to have multiplayer for the first time felt opportunistic and disingenuous; it felt like it was trying to capitalize on a fad and trying to be something it was not. Metroid Prime Hunters was designed in the reverse way. It was first designed as a multiplayer game, and then the single-player was tacked on. This is why the multiplayer component made more sense. It was also novel to see an online FPS on a handheld; it was a techn...

I don't know about anyone else, but as I am getting older and wiser, I have been developing an aversion to stress-inducing games. I've beaten many games and accomplished many things. I think to myself, "What's the point?" What is the point in beating another game, or accomplishing something else? We don't get paid. In general, I try to reduce the stress in my life. Videogames are generally fun, but when they teeter on the border between fun and stress, I will simply stop playing. It's not worth it. Of course, I make exceptions. With Sonic Mania, I forced myself to get the seven Chaos Emeralds as Sonic. I had a lot of trouble. I had played Sonic CD's special stage before, but only once or twice, so I was not good at them. I hit a proverbial wall trying to get the third emerald. I replayed that stage more than any other, but by the time I succeeded, I was over the learning-curve and was able to get the rest more easily. But what was the point? Su...

I saw it on food-combining charts and websites everywhere but I didn't believe them: it's hard to digest fat when combined with protein. It seems counter-intuitive. Fat and protein often piggyback each other, especially in the world of animal-food, so it seems like it would be an easily digestible combination; but it's not. I found this out first-hand on multiple occasions. I would over-ingest fat when consuming protein and it would greatly impede my digestive system. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I thought I had intestional parasites. I went on cleanses, I took lots of digestive enzymes and probiotics, but it did me little good. I simply had to wait for my system to deal with the food. Time and patience was all I could rely on. Fat with vegetables is a potent combination for absorbing nutrients, but I found that ingesting fat by itself is very good for the body. It is kind of gross and unappetizing, but it works. One night, I decided to test my theory. I ...

Developers and publishers need to do more post-launch marketing for videogames. It's such a stark difference. Before the launch of games, companies will market the heck out of them, but afterwards, it comes to a screeching halt. I don't know if this is smart. When companies do pre-launch marketing, people can not buy the game immediately. Sure, they can pre-order, but they also can cancel those preorders. Imagine if someone saw marketing for a game, which piqued his or interest in it, and then immediately bought the game. That would be the best scenario. Preorders are done by only the hardcore and it is important to get their commitments, but it is even more important to capture the attention and money of the less-than-hardcore. If there is a finite budget for marketing, divide it up better between the pre-launch and post-launch periods. If companies do not do more post-launch marketing, they're at the mercy of reviewers and the vocal minority. I'm not saying they...

I see it all the time: fanchildren in comments-sections expressing aggressive hate. I think there's a perception out there that hate is more masculine than love, and that's why it's easier to fall into the trap of hate, rather than to choose the path of love. If one is a fanchild, he or she can either love his or her chosen company, or hate the other companies. A lot of children and immature adults choose to hate because it is perceived as more masculine. It is far easier to hate than to take the time and effort to try to understand the other sides. Is hate more masculine than love? No. Perception is different from reality.

Before Wii U, I was a multiplatform-gamer. I had an Xbox 360 before a Wii, and I loved it. In my youth, I was chasing good, fun games more than about being religious to one company or console. I had an NES, then a Genesis, and then an SNES. This balanced gamer-mindset changed after I bought a Wii U. Why did I devolve into a Nintendo-fanchild? I just did not like how companies were treating Wii U, Nintendo, and its fans like they were second-class gamers. I thusly ignored all companies that ignored Wii U or 3DS. Now with four years of fanchildism under my belt, I see the error of my ways. There were many reasons companies ignored Wii U, and they were not evil reasons. I shouldn't have taken their ignoring of Wii U personally. Nintendo-fans often call out other fanchildren for not buying Nintendo-systems even though they have games they want. Bayonetta 2 was a big example on Wii U. A lot of gamers wanted to play that game, especially after it received multiple perfect score...

There is a pejorative term out there in the gaming-space called "graphics-whore." It is someone who will like, play, or buy a game simply because it looks technically impressive. This post is not about such a person. This is about the graphical elitist. He or she will say things like "anything less than 1080p is unacceptable." Months ago, I was watching a Kinda Funny video, and Tim Gettys said such a thing, and I found it ironic and offensive at the same time. In the Kinda Funny crew, he is known as the Nintendo-fanboy so I found it ironic to hear such words coming from him of all people, although he wasn't specifically talking about Nintendo Switch. As we know, NS is certainly capable of outputting 1080p--Wii U was capable of it, too. In real-time game-applications, however, the NS-version often falls short of that standard. So does this mean that Tim Gettys watches every Digital Foundry video and avoids games that specifically fall short of 1080p? Of course ...

When Splatoon 1 launched, I didn't know what to expect from its single-player mode. At the same time, the developers had never developed a single-player mode for the series, either. That's why I loved it so much. It was fresh, new, inventive, creative, surprising, and a lot of fun. This is why I have been so disappointed with Splatoon 2's single-player mode. It is pretty much Splatoon 1's, but better in some areas, and worse in others. I watched NintendoLife's review of Splatoon 2 and they praised it, saying that each level was longer than Splatoon 1's levels, but that's one of the things I dislike about it. They are too long. There are too many keys to collect and enemies to fight sometimes. With Splatoon 1, it was short and sweet, fun and nonburdensome. You can play through Splatoon 2's stages with a greater variety of weapons, but some of them are forced upon you the first time through a stage. I really don't mind this because I am good with a...

Last week, I did what I had wanted to do for a long time: I shoved all my amiibo into my closet. I was tired of looking at them. It was sensory overload in my room with all the characters and colors everywhere. I couldn't take it anymore. Now that I look back upon the amiibo-collecting phase in my life, I feel foolish. At the time, I was overcome with desire and adoration for the plastic things, but now I am filled with regret. I spent hundreds of dollars on these things, and it clashed against my inner nature. I do not like living with a bunch of physical things. I prefer the simple, clean aesthetic that Apple portrays a lot. A lot of gaming-YouTubers shoot themselves in front of game-shelves, but I don't have the room for such shelves, and it would drive me crazy. I came to an epiphany. The mind of a collector is coming from a standpoint of lack, insecurity, and inadequacy. The more you buy things from that mental standpoint, the more you feed it, and the more it n...

Freedom of speech is being threatened by social media. How many times have we seen someone fired for something he or she posted on social media? It's ridiculous, and it's a huge attack on our so-called "free speech." We have the freedom to say things, but when the repercussions include losing our jobs, social ostracization and the like, the purported freedom does not really exist. It is an illusion. Organizations and people firing other people for posting politically-incorrect tweets are overreacting and being just as bigoted as the people who tweeted the controversial things in the first place. In order to not sully the reputation of an organization, people are being fired very quickly without forgiveness or discourse. It is truly a taste of a dystopian world where corporations rule and a person is a tool. If something that is tweeted does not impact the ability for the tweeter to perform his or her job, it should not be punished. Instead of being quick to judg...

Nintendo Switch was the first gaming-platform I was able to play from day-one. I have received or purchased consoles in their respective launch-windows before, but never on launch-day. Being an early adopter really exposed me to my own psychological vulnerabilities. I made so many regrettable game-purchases over the last five months because I was starving for games on my shiny new NS. Every new game that came out on the eShop was a cause for celebration. Every game looked better than they actually were. Prices seemed far more reasonable than they actually were. My post-launch, rose-tinted glasses are now cracked. I can see the real light. I wish I had seen it sooner, but at least I have learned.

Stop double-dipping for games. I often see it on Twitter. A developer has announced a game, and some gamer will proclaim that he or she (the gamer in question) will double-dip for the game. The gamer will effusively thank the developer, proclaim his or her love for the game being released on another platform, and proclaim his or her intention to buy it again. Why? Gamers say they will double-dip like it's something to be proud of. Developers don't really want double-dippers either. They want new customers. Imagine a scenario where a developer sold 100,000 copies of a game, but 50,000 of them were from silly gamers who double-dipped. They don't want to hear that. It's the same with YouTube-videos. Imagine you're just starting out and you posted your first video. By the end of your first week, you have 1,000 views on it. "Hooray," you might exclaim, until you find out that one obsessed super-fan put it on repeat 500 times. Sure, you wou...

Lately, I've been averse to competitive multiplayer. Beating someone else does not give me any pleasure anymore. I used to play a lot of online competitive multiplayer games, and I found a lot of pleasure in winning, and beating people, but now I don't. I feel bad. When I play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe now, I play more like a defensive pacifist. I will hold a green shell behind me, but I don't have the desire to, for example, shoot three red shells. Of course, if I get rocked by five players in a row, I will get angry and lash out, but mostly, I find no desire to even win the race. Am I getting old? Am I enlightened? Even with single-player games, I have beaten so many, I think to myself, "What's the point of beating another one?" Games don't excite me the way they used to. Why is this? A lot of it has to do with Nintendo Switch. I was so excited for this thing, but the games on it have been one disappointment after another. Breath of the Wild is probably ...

We all know the poopshow that is Unsung Story by Playdek. It was marketed as a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics. Long story short, it imploded. The project is not technically dead, but it might as well be. It got me to thinking. What is the point of spiritual successors? They are never any good. The old games are always better. Look at Yooka Laylee. Banjo Kazooie is better. Mighty No. 9. Mega Man is better. Freedom Planet. Sonic the Hedgehog is better. The list goes on, and I am 100% certain that Bloodstained won't be half the game Symphony of the Night is. Just play the old games. Replay the old games. It doesn't take much time or effort. What are we, too lazy to hook up the old console, fire up that emulator, or get an emulated, legal version on a new console? I think it is pathetic that we'd rather wait 5 years for a terrible game than dig up our old consoles and games. Instead of making spiritual successors, we need to use the little time we have in li...

I love Splatoon 1. I made videos about it and posted them on YouTube - something I don't do very much. I still play Splatoon 1 to this day; I prefer it over Splatoon 2. It got me thinking. Why don't I like Splatoon 2? Does true love of something preclude the ability to love something else? I think there is something innate about Splatoon 1 - its development, its release-date, its dire situation on Wii U, and everything about the game itself, that I love. Although Splatoon 2 shares many of the attributes of Splatoon 1, it isn't the same, which is not a bad thing. The bad thing is that Splatoon 2, in my cases, is worse. There are many people that prefer Splatoon 2 over Splatoon 1. When I hear them speak, I realize that most of these people did not love Splatoon 1 as I did. Of course, there are people who liked Splatoon 1 a lot, and also like Splatoon 2 a lot as well, but I have never met someone who had as deep and passionate a love of Splatoon 1 as I do. It is so deep an...

Reddit is nice. You can organize discussions into topics, and registration is free and not curated (unlike neogaf). There is one little thing, however, that threatens to undermine it all: the downvote-button. The downvote-button promotes mob-mentality, discourages independent thought, discourages free speech, and promotes bullying and ganging-up. It's a spiral, whether it's up or down. By default, the comments with the most upvotes land at the top of a discussion, while the comments with the most downvotes are at the bottom. This allows the most popular comments to be even more successful, while it buries the unpopular ones. This is a great disservice to the expansion of the mind, which should be the ultimate goal of people. It doesn't matter whether you're wrong or right, if your comment is unpopular, it is punished, and that's a damn shame. This is typical human behavior, but that doesn't excuse it. Galileo was metaphorically downvoted during his time, a...

When people thank companies for supporting Nintendo Switch, it really bothers me. Why should we be thanking them? They should be begging us for our money; we shouldn't be begging them for an opportunity to "shut up and take our money." I used to be the same way during the days of Wii U. Whenever some developer announced that it was making a game for Wii U, it was such a rare occurrence, that I had to thank them. Now I know that third-party support that is begged for or won through friendship or respect doesn't last. Look at Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Miyamoto and Kojima are friends. Kojima, like most developers, respects Miyamoto, and so after many years, he decided to make games for Nintendo-systems. After MGS:TTS, they did put out some other games like Boktai, Lunar Knights, and MGS3 on 3DS, but nothing after that. Patrick Soderlund gave his son the middle-name of Luigi. We are getting FIFA 18. Will we get FIFA 19? Only if it sells well. I remembe...

Oh boy. The original Resident Evil Revelations came out on 3DS on January 26th, 2012. It was ported to Windows, PS3, 360, and Wii U in May of 2013. Now it will be coming out for Playstation 4 and Xbox One in late August 2017, and late 2017 for Nintendo Switch. The first episode of Resident Evil Revelations 2 came out for PS3, PS4, 360, Xbox One, and Windows on February of 2015. It never came out for Wii U, but it will come out for NS in late 2017. Why Capcom? The first game was a technical marvel on 3DS, and a good first step to returning the series back to its survival-horror roots, but it was not a great game. I do not like jumping between playable characters. I do like playing a whole game through with a different character and getting a different story, but jumping between characters and having to play with a character I do not like just ruins a game for me. Graphically, you could tell it was just an upscaled version of the 3DS-game; it didn't look as good as Resident Evil ...

Splatoon 2 was necessary. Wii U sold like garbage, and so Splatoon 1's days were numbered from the moment it launched. It's a shame, though, because Splatoon 2 should have never been created. Imagine if Wii U had an install-base of 50 million people. Splatoon 2 wouldn't have needed to be made for at least 3 more years. Splatoon 1 would continue to sell, and the developers at Nintendo would continue to support it. From a business-standpoint, Splatoon 2 was necessary, but from a gameplay-standpoint, Splatoon 2 was not necessary. What has changed in Splatoon 2? New Specials? Most of the new Special Weapons are terrible. In Splatoon 1, the Specials felt strong and fun, but in Splatoon 2, after I use one, I wonder why I even bothered. I barely see any new Gear in Splatoon 2. Most of the items on sale are repeats from Splatoon 1. Hisashi Nogami told us that they used new shader-techniques for Splatoon 2. That's great, but I don't think the game looks better than S...