3 Steps Forwards, 2 Steps Back - Nintendo Handhelds

When it comes to handheld platforms, Nintendo manages them about the same way that Capcom handles the Street Fighter franchise. About once a year they take what's already available, add a few new features, drop it in a fresh coat of paint, and rerelease it at full price.

However, the reason Capcom gets away with this bullshit is that, in order to continue playing the latest and greatest in Street Fighter, you need to go out and buy a new disc, or pay for more DLC to upgrade your existing package.  In order to play the latest and greatest in Nintendo handheld games, you need only continue doing exactly what you're doing and have absolutely no reason to go and buy a new cocking console.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm talking about the 2DS today, Nintendo's newest iteration of the dual-screened portable. I understand the marketing theory behind it. They're not trying to capture the audience they already have.  They're trying to engage those that haven't thought about the 3DS or haven't pulled the trigger on buying one yet and, frankly speaking, I feel that the 2DS is the closest they've come to actually pulling it off this time.

The 2DS is exactly what it sounds like.  It maintains all the functionality of the 3DS - WiFi, full compatibility with both DS and 3DS games, etc. - but with one key difference.  The console doesn't have a 3D option.  In addition, it also happens to be missing one other major functionality.

No clamshell.  The 2DS is not a folding console, unlike every other iteration of it's generation as well as the DS before it (and all the way back to the GameBoy Advance SP if you want to be technical).  Reggie Fils-Aime (President of Nintendo of America) describes the console as such: "Imagine a standard 3DS laid all the way flat, and with the depth slider all the way down."  Fantastic Reggie, but explain to me something.  Who the hell's pockets do you think this thing will fucking fit into?  One of the key features of a handheld console is portability.  If it doesn't fit in your average mens jeans pocket or ladies purse, then it's too fucking big.  While I'll admit that the PS Vita is pushing it, since the damn thing rears it's glossy-finished head every time I sit down, I do remember a simpler time when I owned a DS Lite and it fit comfortably in my pocket, folding to a size even smaller than previously owned GameBoys.

But it's obvious that they're not trying to market the 2DS to existing 3DS owners.  Of course not.  They've removed functionality, which is never a step towards upgrading.  In fact, Nintendo has a very specific demographic they're looking to market the 3DS to: Children under 7.

"With the Nintendo 3DS, we were clear to parents that, 'hey, we recommend that your children be seven and older to utilize this device.' So clearly that creates an opportunity for five-year-olds, six-year-olds, that first-time handheld gaming consumer," Said Reggie.

So that's their play.  Nintendo is trying to worm their way into the children's market currently dominated by LeapFrog products.  And what better way than to make their new handheld match the absurd size of one?  However, kids aren't the only ones being targeted by the 2DS.  The console launches in North America at $129.99 USD - about $40 cheaper than a brand new 3DS and a whopping $70 below the 3DS XL.  For those hemming and hawing over the price point of Nintendo's most recent portable, those savings could very easily be the difference between a sale won or lost.

So while it stands to reason that the 2DS is ridiculous - ridiculous in concept, ridiculous in size, and ridiculously lacking in features - it would appear that those of us along this line of thinking aren't the ones Nintendo is looking to sell to.  Nintendo is looking to broaden their market and, if they succeed, this can only mean more good things to come from them.

Until they start tanking again and have to pay a visit to the dead horse stables to flog a few more titles out of Shigeru Miyamoto IPs.

Quotes and Images Source: IGN

(Mostly) Why New IPs Are More Important Than Sequels

A few quick thoughts before we get rolling:

The 2DS is an incredibly stupid concept, and at this point, it seems like Nintendo is trying to make decisions so poor that they make Microsoft look good. It's almost working.

Game of the Year editions: Terrible idea. Punishes the early adopters who actually bought the DLC as well; scummy cash grab at best. Several titles with GOTY editions didn't recieve a GOTY nod from a source worth mentioning, used the moniker anyway... The whole thing is just fucking confusing. Just call it a Complete Edition, or a Bundle Edition, or a Season Pass Edition, or something else entirely.

Blast Corps: With the increased power of current(and upcoming) consoles, I'm surprised this IP hasn't been revisited yet. With engines like GeoMod around, and real-time destruction showing up everywhere, this cult-hit N64 title could make a huge splash in today's market.(That, and I'd like to see something besides a 3rd Perfect Dark and a 4th attempt at Goldeneye, if we revisit anything from the N64 from here out.)

Screen tearing: Lots of complaints about screen tearing lately, mostly in reviews, but sometimes on message boards and in other places. Screen tearing is (counter-intuitively) a good thing. We're nearing the end of a console generation, and we're pushing the GPUs in these systems to their limits(and sometimes beyond), which causes them to come as close to possible on time to render. Sometimes, there's too much going on, and the frame rolls over(and usually all this action won't be over in a single frame). This leaves two options, draw to screen when complete, usually causing a tear, or wait for vertical sync, which causes slowdown(in most engines, things are timed in frames as opposed to real-time). While, at times, screen tears can be horribly jarring, most of the time they're subtle enough to be concealed by the action taking place and drawing your focus. On the other hand, slow down of any kind outside of, for example, the Max Payne series, particularly unintentional(not game mechanics related) slowdowns, are far more jarring, and have a tendency to break focus and any sense of immersion. So, kudos to those willing to take a few points in the reviews and tear their screens, rather than sacrifice quality or speed. It's the right thing to do.

And now for something completely different:

Divekick: Review and Primer Part 2

I know I've talked a lot about Divekick lately, and I know that until you manage to play it for yourself, you'll be skeptical like I once was. So, keeping that in mind, I'm going to try to keep this review short. The remaining seven characters will be covered after the review, which will be just a bunch of bullet points and a score, cause that's how the pros do it, right?

State of the Union - United Saints of America

It's that time to go back to Saints Row!
Bringin' the gang back, it's all Saints go!
Boss is the leader, y'all Saints know?
Is they a man or a woman? Do they has a Saints fro?
Next up we got Shaundi, that little Saints ho
Bringin' heat and a big pair of Saints torpedoes
Then we got Pierce, he's the face of Saints Flow
Who's always got your back, he's a real Saints bro
Kinzie Kensington's back, she's the Saints techno
Computer wiz and mad kinkster, Saints whoa!

We got some new peep to add to the Saints show
First up is somebody from the last Saints Row
Matt Miller returns! Complete with Saints glow,
And a NyteBlayde fetish? Saints gross
He brings with him Asha, helpin' the Saints grow
This british chick with formidable wit
Sounds like Chloe from Uncharted so we call her Saints Clo'!
We comin' up on the end, with just a couple Saints mo'
Ben muthafuckin' King makin' all that Saints dough
He wrote a book, I took a look, and I thought Fo' Saints Sho!
Keith David comin' up to steal the Saints show
Vice President gonna take 'em to the Saints flo'

Last and not least, knockin' at the Saints do',
Johnny Gat?  Awe Saints no!
Back from the dead, we got your old Saints bro,
Back on the crew, he's ready to Saints roll
Now that you understand who's in on Saints Row
It's time to get y'all into the Saints know

Boss is the head muthafucka in charge
We moved into the White House - we livin' it large!
All of a sudden, the sky turns red
Chaos and mayhem and a lotta peeps dead
Aliens saucers? This is like Mars Attacks!
'Cept they're bigger and uglier and lead by Zinyak
But when shit goes down, you know the Saints fight back!

Wake up in a daze, can't remember yo name
Shit's like a 50's TV show - is this some fuckin' game?
Digital Steelport - like the Matrix 'n shit
Boss's got a plan, let's blow up this bitch!
Wreckin' shit in this computer sim
This is how we gonna take down the Zin!

That's the cast and crew and stakes ya know?
So gear it up now f' Saints Row Fo!

Divekick Primer, part 1

Full review is coming on Tuesday, for now, a primer for those of you just getting started in Divekick. I'll cover around half the cast today, and the rest on Tuesday.

First Impressions: Burnout Paradise – Maybe it's better to fade away

Little over a week ago, I ranted about how if EA could get their heads out of their asses and stop beating necrotic equine corpse of Need For Speed, we might see Criterion produce another title in the Burnout franchise. Well, perhaps they shouldn't.

On Divekick(It's out, go buy it.)

Divekick came out today, and I thought I'd just play a few matches, and throw up a review. It turns out that it's even deeper than I thought, and I'm not going to be able to do that tonight. Look for it Thursday. (It doesn't help that I'm on the east coast and PSN updates LATE over here.) Hit the jump for some game play footage(Top 64 play from Evo 2013).

Why We Need A Dreamcast 2

The stage is set for the next generation of consoles, and while the WiiU slowly starves to death in a corner, and the Xbox One continues to beat its head against the wall, it's starting to look a lot like a one-sided battle. While this might be great for Sony, and developers wondering which platform should be the lead development console for multi-plat games, this is invariably bad for the consumers. Any market without viable competitive alternatives tends to lend itself to price gouging and an overall drop in quality.

Coming Soon

The past couple of months have been mostly dead, as they tend to be every year, video game-wise.  Fortunately, all this is about to come to an end, as we begin to move into the holiday season.  For us here at Zero Tolerance, this means adding to the backlog.  However, there are a few things we're really looking forward to in the coming weeks, and you can look forward to our reviews on:

Dragon's Crown - Released earlier this month by Vanillaware (of Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade fame), this fantasy "epic" is set as a 2D, side-scrolling, beat 'em up.  Hey, if you're good at something, why stop?  Vanillaware continues doing what they do best, offering up a beautifully hand-painted world with mechanically sound gameplay.  Accommodating up to 4 players, Dragon's Crown is almost starting to look like the party game that the PS3 really needed.

Saints Row IV - Continuing the legacy of ridiculosity left by Saints Row: The Third, Saints Row IV is looking like it could just live up to its collector's edition title of "Game of the Generation".  The Boss is back, and this time the Third Street Saints are running the country.  When the US gets attacked by aliens, it's up to The Boss and our cast of familiar gangstas to take the extra-terrestrial threat head on.  Saints Row IV ups the ante with all new superpowers and absurd weapons like the "dubstep gun". A ridiculous take on the open-world action genre that this gamer is seriously looking forward to.

Killer is Dead - SUDA51 is back.  Back to doing the things I've loved about his work.  The cel-shading and the completely impossible to follow storyline(s), with the ridiculously awesome character design.  Following in the footsteps of Killer7 and No More Heroes, these are the SUDA51 roots that I really enjoy.  It's hard to know much about this game because so little has been revealed, as per the norm.  Picking it up launch day.

Divekick - The parody fighting game with surprising depth.  2 buttons.  Just 2.  Jump.  And kick.  How can a fighter so simple have so much depth?  Pick it up to find out.

Also worth a mention (and MAYBE a playthrough):
Painkiller: Hell and Damnation (August)
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (August)
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (September)
GTAV (September)
Beyond: Two Souls (October)
Disgaea D2 (October)
Batman: Arkham Origins (October)

And now for something NOT Coming Soon:

Xbox One to these eight countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Microsoft has gone and done it again.  Just when you think things couldn't get much worse for the Xbone, they've once again cut the short list of launch countries for the console.  Their reasoning?  "Ensuring our customers get the best Xbox One experience the first day it is available. To do that, and in order to meet demand, we have adjusted the number of markets that will receive Xbox One in November."

The aforementioned countries that have been cut from the list have been rescheduled to "as soon as possible in 2014".

So, contrary to popular belief, it would appear that Microsoft does NOT want your money.

Source: Xbox.com 

Re-Review: Hotline Miami

I've recently picked up Hotline Miami for PS3 and Vita, and it has quickly become one of the titles that has absorbed a lot of my free time. Set in the late 1980s, with the feel and soundtrack to match, this indie gem has all the difficulty of NES era games, and all the nuance and style of more modern titles. It's not without problems, but, for the most part, they are easily overlooked, and all combine into an incredibly enjoyable experience.

Whose **** do I have to **** to get another Burnout game?

After removing a large chunk of my middle finger last night using only glass bottle and an opener, I took the night off and vented my frustrations through Burnout: Revenge.  My high school nostalgia was at an all-time high as I tried to remember the twisting streets and proper intersection crash patterns.  This got me thinking: what happened to the Burnout franchise?  I know the 3rd installment received high ratings all around, as did Revenge.  While I wasn't a big fan of how Paradise brought the franchise into "open-world", it too was well received.  So what the hell?

Here's a recap on Burnout for those of you not in the know.  Burnout is a racing game.  An adrenaline-fueled, high-octane, violent and explosive racing game.  But it's more than that.  Burnout breaks all the rules.  Slamming into traffic and rival racers isn't just fun and strategic, it's fucking encouraged.  Ram into opposing vehicles enough and you can even get them to crash, getting credited for a "Takedown".  Takedowns add fuel to your boost meter, which can accelerate your vehicle well above 150 mph, in addition to making it longer.

Sure, Burnout has the traditional "be the first to cross the finish line" race mode, along with a few different time trials called "Burning Lap"s, but the fun really starts in it's unique Road Rage and Traffic Attack modes.  Road Rage isn't about reaching the end.  It's about slamming and shunting as many rival cars as possible to achieve a certain number of Takedowns.  Traffic Attack is all about taking out your gridlock frustrations in a digital world.  The streets are lined with rush hour traffic and it's your job to speed through and crush as many vehicles as possible.

In addition to the high-octane "racing styles", Burnout also instituted a "crash" mode, where players are given a larger, more destructive vehicle, an intersection, and instructions to cause several million dollars in damages.  This may sound simple.  It isn't.  Timing your starts, picking the right cars to hit to obstruct the most amount of traffic, and navigating your car's burnt husk around post-explosion is as challenging as it is fun.

So with all this excitement balled up into a single disk, I can't help but wonder what happened?  Why was the franchise practically left to die after Paradise in 2008?  Let's assume that despite it's high ratings, that the open-world concept never really caught on.  There's still a tried-and-true game to return to.  When you try something new in a series and it doesn't pan out, what do you do?  You fucking go back to the way things were when they worked.  Driver levels, pre-built crash zones, Traffic Attack, takedowns - these things are not only what made Burnout so wonderful, but so cathartic as well.  That asshole that cut you off in traffic on your way home from work?  Fire up Burnout and put him and everyone else into the wall!  20 minutes late because of traffic?  Cruise through the streets at 180 mph smashing everything in your way.

Now, sadly, I already know the answer to why.  Or at least part of it.  Instead of raking in money with the unique, destructive style of Burnout, EA has been too busy annualizing and farming up Need For Speed titles.  They've largely tasked developers Criterion and Black Box with spamming the market with a new NFS every year, which has lead to a disappointing LACK of more Burnout.  If NFS is to be EA's premier arcade-style racer, they can't have competition within their own line of games.

This means that, unfortunately, all I can do is sit back and cross my fingers that someday, Electronic Arts raises it's head up out of it's own asshole and realizes the financial potential in releasing another Burnout.

A Request for Feedback

I'm at a point where I'm feeling short of ideas, partly due to the slow summer season, and partly because I don't really know what our readers are looking for.

If you like the more editorial style writing, where I focus on problems I perceive in the industry, and have suggestions as to what you would like to see covered in future installments, feel free to leave me a comment here, or on twitter, @Tsaikotyk.

If you're more into the re-reviews of older/under-covered titles and/or DLC, my main problem right now is that I'm not really sure what game/genre you'd like me to go for. I have some ideas for upcoming ones, after the games in question release, but until then, here's a list of what I've got available, and any other suggestions will be considered for purchase and review.

Review: Borderlands 2

This weekend I finally completed the gunslinging grindfest Borderlands 2.  And no, it wasn't a mad dash straight through the story to the end boss.  Instead I spent over 30 hours ravaging the landscapes of Pandora on my quest for "epic loot".

Player Creativity and Choice

Sorry for being a bit late tonight, I was feeling unwell earlier in the evening and had to sleep it off.

Lately, I've found myself playing a lot of Hotline Miami, and while it is a fairly short experience, it's not a cut and dry, one-and-done game like a Medal of Honor or an Uncharted title. The number of options you have at any given point in a chapter is staggering, and there's always room for improvement upon your scores and tactics, which is what continually draws me back to it in my spare time.

In a lot of ways, this is what keeps games like the Devil May Cry series, the fighting game genre, and, for a non-video example, Magic: The Gathering, popular. The "only constrained by the rules of the game", of which some can be broken, style of freeform expression, be it through digital combat, crafting efficient, stylish, or hybridized combo attacks, or through your choice of deck archetype, and which cards fill which roles, allows the experience to remain fresh on subsequent plays. This is where player skill also comes into the mix, but the sheer openness of these systems, and the availability of meaningful player choices actually elevates the skill ceiling in such a way that rote optimization, such as remembering spawn locations on a map and having the best-in-slot equipment is not the dominating top-tier stratagem that it is in more finite, constrained titles.

The ability for player creativity to exist in a title is not as easily defined as certain other goals, and that's why I worry that as the development process becomes more rigidly defined under the dominant force of AAA publishers, it will continue to shrink, until it is finally focus tested into oblivion.

In most older titles, most indie games, and the occasional big budget title like Dark Souls and Metal Gear Solid, leaving room for player creativity felt like a key design goal. It was a large component as to why those games were so well received, and whether the lack of that in more recent titles is from modern control freak designers, or the simplicity inherent in the older games is why it is disappearing has yet to be seen.

I do find it interesting that a high percentage of titles that allow for meaningful choices, and player creativity, are often considered "difficult" games. With the rise of popularity of gaming in general, and the increase in "accessibility"(read: dumbing down) of AAA titles, this is an interesting correlation, and a possible clue to the cause of our evaporating options.

If that's what you're into, though, don't let me stop you. Go right ahead and turn your brain off, effortlessly walking through whatever title it is you choose. Until there's a game powered by brain waves that can only be completed in your sleep, however, I will keep demanding more options.

WINNERS - Latency's Steam Giveaway

Time's up!

The Facebook contest is over and all in all, I've learned some things.  But that's not important.  What's important is who won what.

I got fewer entries than I thought I would have, so prizing is going to change a bit.

FIRST - Everyone is getting something!  Hooray!  Games for everybody!

SECOND - With the notable exception of Bastion (because I feel that I should hand out as many copies of that game as possible), there will be only one copy of each other game awarded.  That means,

THIRD - A couple people are going to double up.  Consider yourselves the "grand prize winners". =)

And our winners are:

GodsendIV - Bastion
CupcakeTroll - Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
DantelSBeltran - Bastion
MARIANOXDDX - Bastion
Comet - Bastion
OniGouki - Bastion
tehKaida - Bastion, Amnesia: The Dark Descent
fullmetal779 - Bastion, Hotline Miami
drizztfish - Mark of the Ninja
Namelock - Bastion

Friend requests have been sent out to those not previously on my list, so that I can send you your prize.  Afterwards, feel free to delete, remove, block me, etc.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

Latency's Steam Giveaway!

Steam Giveaway is now LIVE folks!  Here's the rundown:

The How:
I've uploaded a contest image to our Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/ZeroToleranceGames
- Like our page
- Share the image
- Comment on the image with your Steam ID (So I know who to send the prizes to)

Once all that's done, all you gotta do is wait. Monday night I'll be announcing winners here on the blog.

The What:
I've got 14 gifts that I'll be giving out over steam. All of them are titles from my Indie-pendence day special.

They are:
- 8 copies of Bastion
- 3 copies of Mark of the Ninja
- 1 copy each of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Hotline Miami and Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

The When:
12:00 Midnight Friday Night/Saturday Morning Pacific time is when the pic will go up on Facebook. You've got until 6:00 PM Pacific before I close it down. And sometime between 9:00 and 10:00 PM is when I'll have randomly selected the winners and posted them up on the blog.

The Who:
Anybody can enter! This is as much a chance for me to give back to the readers as it is for you guys to spread the word about Zero Tolerance Games! Share it with your friends! All of your friends!

The Why:
There were some screaming deals during the Steam Summer Getaway Sale and I just felt like I had to spread some indie love. What better way than to give games away to complete strangers?!

Have a great weekend and best of luck!

On Leveling in Multiplayer Titles

Forcing players to grind for experience points to unlock things is one of the most overused of system mechanics right now, and it's driving me nuts. After spending about a month away from The Last of Us, I went into Factions mode, and found myself completely outclassed; less so in player skill, than in weapon and character skill availability. Call of Duty, while popular, is, in my opinion, the biggest offender here.