While it is all speculation, and we will have to wait 'till the sytems are out a while to know if there is a change in the market, I have been wondering if the price of the PS2 combined with the input device of the Wii might mean we see a shift back to Nintendo as the primary Japanese RPG / SRPG platform.
One of the main reasons I own a PS2 is for Japanese RPGs - plain and simple, it is where most of the developers are. The primary reason? The prolific amount of PS2s in the wild in Japan.
Fast forward to 2007/2008. IF the price of the PS3 negatively impacts its adoption rate in Japan, and IF the price and novelty of the Wii positively impacts its adoption rate in Japan, suddenly I could see a lot of development houses making the following chocies - ignore the PS3 and continue working on PS2 titles (systems seem to last longer in terms of game releases in Japan than they do in the US), or develop Wii titles. The Wii control scheme would likely work well with menu driven (point-and-click) interfaces.
Of course, there are some big ifs there, and of course big dev houses like Square-Enix will likely stick with the PS3 for their primary platform, but polls like the one for this article do lead me to believe such a shift is not all together impossible.
The interesting thing about Pokemon is that, while the current marketing behemoth it has become is unquestionable, it started off (at least in Japan, possibly even in the US) with virtually no advertising - it became popular through word of mouth. So it is not quite analogous to Viva Pinata. With Pokemon, Nintendo started off by trying to make a good game, succeeding, and then setting the marketing machine to work. Viva seems to be trying its best to get the marketing machine going first, and hope this translates into people buying the game...
The more adult and ecchi shows are typically shown on A) subscription channels and B) shown at 2am in the morning. Think of what is on Cinemax after midnight.
Not only that, but in general, scenes that have a lot happening on screen (action sequence, for instance) tend to have minimal dialog. So, it is more like watching the speedometer on your windshield during stretches of narrow roads, and only briefly glancing at it during the curvy bits. And I think I have officially stretched the analogy too far...
You will be happy to hear that I have it on good auhority there is something that quite pleases the music industry! What is this wonderful thing? Why, it is nothing more than screwing! Be it screwing artists, screwing customers, screwing the public domain, or screwing your congress-person in exchange for legislation to feed their habit, those wacky music industrials just can't get enough!
The thing I dislike about Pay as per X-Box Live is that if you want to play online, even with just a couple friends, you have to pay for their service. If there were both free and pay options that allowed you to play online (with all the matching services I don't use on the pay) I would be happy. But for people like myself that prefer mostly single player with occasional online games against people we know, being forced to pay to play online is annoying.
About 14 years ago (I was in 7th grade, I believe), I saved up my paper route money to get my first PC. We had owned TI 99-4a and A couple Apple IIs prior to that. I was tantalized by the rpg prospects on PCs (such as the old d&d gold box games).
Anyway, I got a copy of computer shopper, and together with suggestions from my dad's co-workers, I settled on a 386 with a 40Mhz AMD processor. The company we got it from was called "Quantex". I have no idea if they are still around, or if they have changed from when we dealt with them.
The PC arrived, we got it all set up, and I began as a tech-geek in training. Well, as would happen, I was playing around with the BIOS, no idea what I was doing, and got it so my compy would not boot. A quick call to the companies tech support (which did not have me on hold, and placed me in touch with a seemingly knoweldgeable person), and they quickly ID'd the problem and stepped me through the procedure to fix the BIOS settings.
Not two weeks later, a power surge or faulty component fried the video card. Again, a quick call with virtually no hold time, and the problem was ID'd, and a new card was overnighted, with a postage-paid box to return the old card.
So, yes, at least one person has had a good long distance tech experience, even if it was over a decade ago (^_^)
Your post got me thinking down a path that I hadn't considered: it would be nice to see Vanguard:SoH succeed with many of its innovations. Not because I plan on playing it, but rather because well thought out, popular innovations will then be adopted by other future MMORPGs, MMORPGs that appeal to time-limited gamers.
I already know Vanguard is not for me - it has a lot of nice sounding features, but is wrapped in a, for lack of a better word, hardcore-package. As a time-limited gamer, I really can't justify paying for a game that doesn't let me sit down for 30 - 60 minutes and accomplish something meaningful (just grinding xp is not meaningful). I also can't justify paying for a game where I can't see a significant portion of content because I don't have 2 - 8 consecutive hours to play, or a raid size group to play with. Certainly there are people who have that, and for them Vanguard may be great, but for us time-limited gamers, well I think we may still benefit from any well implemmented, new features Vanguard brings to the genre.
You realize the whole "ethic" behind fansubs is not to support mooches who want something for nothing, right? If you don't like the price *don't buy it*! You are not entitled to something for nothing.
The idea behind fansubs is to generate interest in unlicensed material. *Good* fansubbers stop subbing once something is licensed, and *good* sites stop linking to licensed material. It is individuals such as yourself that put pressure on licensors such as ADV to crack down on fansubbing. And, well, if the fansubbers are distributing lisenced material, ADV and friends should be cracking down on them.
You mention that anime is aired for "free" in Japan. Great, go to Japan, buy the satellite service that shows what you want to watch (you don't think they all appear on broadcast TV do you???), and watch it in the native language, with the commercials. There, you have your "free" anime. Or, buy it direct from Japan where you can get a DVD with 1 - 2 episodes for $40 - $60!
Out of curiosity, what would you think is the best way of handling the Kansai dialect? It is an integral part of the Osaka character, so you can't just leave it out. This comes up a lot with anime dubs when they have to deal with the Kansai dialect. I am not sure what the best way to deal with it is. Usually the character gets a southern or Brooklyn accent. Now this is generalization, but in terms of how denizens of Tokyo view those from Osaka, it is a good parallel with how Northerners view Southerners. So if you have to do something, the souhern accent is probably as good as anything.
Huh, oddly enough 480i and 480p from video game systems look quite nice on my 51" HDTV. So when you say you can't stress how bad it looks, you certainly are saying something quite subjective and hardware dependent.
Now, if everything else is equal (lighting, framerate, AI, etc.) will higher resolution look better? Of course! Will higher resolution make a dull/repetitive/derived game any better? No way.
Right now, that is my biggest problem with the XBox360. Yes, the games look nice and would graphically shine on my TV. But, none of them excite me (well ES:IV does, but I'll get that for the PC). I think it is just I have gamed long enough (TI 99-4a was my first game system, heh) that graphics, honestly, don't matter. So, if there are no games I want, not amount of purty pictures will sway me. Now, I know this is not true for the 14 - 21 demographic Sony/MS are targetting. But, for adults and kids alike, good games can sell regardless of graphics.
Yes, the Rev will not please the hardcore (define that as you will) gamer that is only concerned about graphics. For those hardcore gamers and others that are looking for gameplay, I think the Rev has a good shot. Of course, I can't make a final decision until we see and play the games for the rev. Who knows, maybe XBox360 will end up having the most innovative and fun titles when all is said and done. But, their launch line-up sure doesn't show it...
Ultimately (you see this on HT forums a lot), I think it is easy for HT enthusiast to get trapped in their ivory tower and believe that HD is as important and awesome to the masses as it is to them. But, I think we are a few years away from the general public seeing HD as an important and necessary feature in their gaming system.
It matters to those of us trying to decide which next-gen console to buy who don't like American taste oriented FPS/Sports titles. If the 360 fails in Japan (as the XBox did) we won't see many games that appeal to us. This happened for me with the XBox - great console, but I only have 5 games for it, compared to 20+ each for both PS2 and Gamecube.
Of the 360 "launch period" titles the only two games that look like they appeal to me are either coming out eventually for the PC (ES IV) or from a dev that used to be golden but has been lackluster lately (Rare - and I am not talking about PD:0).
Now, for MS itself, I don't know that it really matters. Sure, they'd love to succeed in that market, but the US/EU market are big enough that they can survive on just those.
One of the biggest problems I've had with MMOs is the focus on "meaningful milestones" far apart instead of many more less significant ones closer together. As a casual gamer, I usually lose interest in these games in the higher levels, where your only milestones come from levels that are massively apart. I would like to see a game where, if it chose to have these massive levels, had sublevels as well, with smaller rewards. Unfortunately, most high level content and game design ignores the casual gamer completely.
Actually, from TFA, it sounds like MadCatz is already signed up. It isn't about quality, it is about ponying up the cash. So all you will be able to by is their stuff ^_^
To give an example of why this is bad... arguably the best soft-pad for DDR games is the RedOctance Ignition 2.0. Now, RedOctane seems to be a smaller company (they've grown recently and actually have their product in retail stores now, but it used to be only attainable through purchase online). There are plenty of small metal pad makers out there as well. How many of these companies will be able to afford the MS tithe?
So, we lose the good quality, specialist pad makers, and all we have left is the MadCatz crap? This is good for the consumer how?
It is not even a matter of how valuable a 23 year old paper. It is a matter of whether knowing they'd be granted a monopoly for life+70 made it any more likely for the author to write and publish the article than knowing they would have a monopoly for life, or even a monopoly for 20 years.
The whole point of the artificial right of copyright is to encourage creators, who put resources into their creation, to create knowing they will have a monopoly on their creation which gives them an opportunity to beneift from their creation (note that copyright does not assure you of benefit, it just allows you the exclusive opportunity to benefit).
Does anyone really believe there is a single creator out their who would say, "Well, I was going to write this song/book/movie, but since I only have a monopoly on it for my lifetime, screw it!"
Would Hollywood suddenly collapse if the media conglomerates only held the copyright on a property for 50 years? Doubtful. In fact, the influx of properties that could be used for free in the creation of new works may even be quite a boon for them. It certainly would be for smaller creative entities.
Copyright as it exists today is a sickening perversion of its original goal and aim. It is not supposed to exist to allow corporations to milk profits from creative works until the end of the Earth. It is unquestionable that society benefits when works enter the public domain - look out how much Shakespeare is used and abused in modern film and theater. In modern copyright, the public is giving up their rights to new works, but the copyright holders are refusing to keep up their end of the bargain and give up their rights in a reasonable time.
Time and time again, we've seen what goes into making a handheld sell:
1) Price
2) Baterry Life
3) Portability (size and protected screen are big factors here)
4) Games - particular ones that can be played in short bursts
It really is no surprise to me that DS is outperforming PSP in marketshare and apparently mindshare, given these factors. (Of course, given these factors, I still maintain that the GBA SP is the best portable system on the market).
Although, I wonder how many of those rabid Naruto fans have deleted their fansubs now that the series is licensed? Isn't there at least one group still fansubbing with some silly rationalization? I think Naruto is a good test of how many fansubbers and watchers really believe the ethic they spout, and how many really just want the free anime...
I watched a lot of Sesame Street growing up. Heck I even saw such educational shows as Reading Rainbow and 3-2-1 contact.
Guess what? I've never committed a violent crime. I've never held up a convenience store. I've never abused a woman or mistreated a woman. I'm a completely normal person earning a great living in a respectable career with no more or worse personal issues than your average fellow.
Of course, the inability to see what harm it did me might be a symptom of the harm it did me...
Interstingly, in recent weeks I've seen a number of people who have ended up back in EQ after following this path: EQ -> EQ2 -> WoW -> EQ.
I think this is because some people are finding they prefer the more "hardcore" elements of EQ, as opposed to the nice "casual friendly" features that most new MMORPGs are offering. Me, I only have the time to play casual friendly games anymore, so I won't ever be returning to EQ. Still, remembering back to the early days of EQ when I did have 5+ hours to dedicate to a gaming session, the game does have a certain feel and appeal that is not present in the current gen of games.
Actually, at the very least, Nintendo has the Trademark leg to stand on. "Super Mario" is a registered trademark by Nintendo. Since trademarks need to be defended or they will be lost, you can bet the Big N lawyers will come-a-callin'
Slashdot Mirror
I've always preferred: The difference between a geek and a nerd is a nerd knows the difference between a geek and a nerd.
I can finally own a TV that shows Octarine!
No, just necrophiliacs.
One of the main reasons I own a PS2 is for Japanese RPGs - plain and simple, it is where most of the developers are. The primary reason? The prolific amount of PS2s in the wild in Japan.
Fast forward to 2007/2008. IF the price of the PS3 negatively impacts its adoption rate in Japan, and IF the price and novelty of the Wii positively impacts its adoption rate in Japan, suddenly I could see a lot of development houses making the following chocies - ignore the PS3 and continue working on PS2 titles (systems seem to last longer in terms of game releases in Japan than they do in the US), or develop Wii titles. The Wii control scheme would likely work well with menu driven (point-and-click) interfaces.
Of course, there are some big ifs there, and of course big dev houses like Square-Enix will likely stick with the PS3 for their primary platform, but polls like the one for this article do lead me to believe such a shift is not all together impossible.
Even better, it can directly buy votes from congressmen, and get the government to use the army to protect its interests.
The interesting thing about Pokemon is that, while the current marketing behemoth it has become is unquestionable, it started off (at least in Japan, possibly even in the US) with virtually no advertising - it became popular through word of mouth. So it is not quite analogous to Viva Pinata. With Pokemon, Nintendo started off by trying to make a good game, succeeding, and then setting the marketing machine to work. Viva seems to be trying its best to get the marketing machine going first, and hope this translates into people buying the game ...
The more adult and ecchi shows are typically shown on A) subscription channels and B) shown at 2am in the morning. Think of what is on Cinemax after midnight.
Not only that, but in general, scenes that have a lot happening on screen (action sequence, for instance) tend to have minimal dialog. So, it is more like watching the speedometer on your windshield during stretches of narrow roads, and only briefly glancing at it during the curvy bits. And I think I have officially stretched the analogy too far ...
You will be happy to hear that I have it on good auhority there is something that quite pleases the music industry! What is this wonderful thing? Why, it is nothing more than screwing! Be it screwing artists, screwing customers, screwing the public domain, or screwing your congress-person in exchange for legislation to feed their habit, those wacky music industrials just can't get enough!
The thing I dislike about Pay as per X-Box Live is that if you want to play online, even with just a couple friends, you have to pay for their service. If there were both free and pay options that allowed you to play online (with all the matching services I don't use on the pay) I would be happy. But for people like myself that prefer mostly single player with occasional online games against people we know, being forced to pay to play online is annoying.
Anyway, I got a copy of computer shopper, and together with suggestions from my dad's co-workers, I settled on a 386 with a 40Mhz AMD processor. The company we got it from was called "Quantex". I have no idea if they are still around, or if they have changed from when we dealt with them.
The PC arrived, we got it all set up, and I began as a tech-geek in training. Well, as would happen, I was playing around with the BIOS, no idea what I was doing, and got it so my compy would not boot. A quick call to the companies tech support (which did not have me on hold, and placed me in touch with a seemingly knoweldgeable person), and they quickly ID'd the problem and stepped me through the procedure to fix the BIOS settings.
Not two weeks later, a power surge or faulty component fried the video card. Again, a quick call with virtually no hold time, and the problem was ID'd, and a new card was overnighted, with a postage-paid box to return the old card.
So, yes, at least one person has had a good long distance tech experience, even if it was over a decade ago (^_^)
Your post got me thinking down a path that I hadn't considered: it would be nice to see Vanguard:SoH succeed with many of its innovations. Not because I plan on playing it, but rather because well thought out, popular innovations will then be adopted by other future MMORPGs, MMORPGs that appeal to time-limited gamers.
I already know Vanguard is not for me - it has a lot of nice sounding features, but is wrapped in a, for lack of a better word, hardcore-package. As a time-limited gamer, I really can't justify paying for a game that doesn't let me sit down for 30 - 60 minutes and accomplish something meaningful (just grinding xp is not meaningful). I also can't justify paying for a game where I can't see a significant portion of content because I don't have 2 - 8 consecutive hours to play, or a raid size group to play with. Certainly there are people who have that, and for them Vanguard may be great, but for us time-limited gamers, well I think we may still benefit from any well implemmented, new features Vanguard brings to the genre.
You realize the whole "ethic" behind fansubs is not to support mooches who want something for nothing, right? If you don't like the price *don't buy it*! You are not entitled to something for nothing.
The idea behind fansubs is to generate interest in unlicensed material. *Good* fansubbers stop subbing once something is licensed, and *good* sites stop linking to licensed material. It is individuals such as yourself that put pressure on licensors such as ADV to crack down on fansubbing. And, well, if the fansubbers are distributing lisenced material, ADV and friends should be cracking down on them.
You mention that anime is aired for "free" in Japan. Great, go to Japan, buy the satellite service that shows what you want to watch (you don't think they all appear on broadcast TV do you???), and watch it in the native language, with the commercials. There, you have your "free" anime. Or, buy it direct from Japan where you can get a DVD with 1 - 2 episodes for $40 - $60!
Out of curiosity, what would you think is the best way of handling the Kansai dialect? It is an integral part of the Osaka character, so you can't just leave it out. This comes up a lot with anime dubs when they have to deal with the Kansai dialect. I am not sure what the best way to deal with it is. Usually the character gets a southern or Brooklyn accent. Now this is generalization, but in terms of how denizens of Tokyo view those from Osaka, it is a good parallel with how Northerners view Southerners. So if you have to do something, the souhern accent is probably as good as anything.
All that said, I am a sub watcher ^_^
Huh, oddly enough 480i and 480p from video game systems look quite nice on my 51" HDTV. So when you say you can't stress how bad it looks, you certainly are saying something quite subjective and hardware dependent.
...
Now, if everything else is equal (lighting, framerate, AI, etc.) will higher resolution look better? Of course! Will higher resolution make a dull/repetitive/derived game any better? No way.
Right now, that is my biggest problem with the XBox360. Yes, the games look nice and would graphically shine on my TV. But, none of them excite me (well ES:IV does, but I'll get that for the PC). I think it is just I have gamed long enough (TI 99-4a was my first game system, heh) that graphics, honestly, don't matter. So, if there are no games I want, not amount of purty pictures will sway me. Now, I know this is not true for the 14 - 21 demographic Sony/MS are targetting. But, for adults and kids alike, good games can sell regardless of graphics.
Yes, the Rev will not please the hardcore (define that as you will) gamer that is only concerned about graphics. For those hardcore gamers and others that are looking for gameplay, I think the Rev has a good shot. Of course, I can't make a final decision until we see and play the games for the rev. Who knows, maybe XBox360 will end up having the most innovative and fun titles when all is said and done. But, their launch line-up sure doesn't show it
Ultimately (you see this on HT forums a lot), I think it is easy for HT enthusiast to get trapped in their ivory tower and believe that HD is as important and awesome to the masses as it is to them. But, I think we are a few years away from the general public seeing HD as an important and necessary feature in their gaming system.
It matters to those of us trying to decide which next-gen console to buy who don't like American taste oriented FPS/Sports titles. If the 360 fails in Japan (as the XBox did) we won't see many games that appeal to us. This happened for me with the XBox - great console, but I only have 5 games for it, compared to 20+ each for both PS2 and Gamecube.
Of the 360 "launch period" titles the only two games that look like they appeal to me are either coming out eventually for the PC (ES IV) or from a dev that used to be golden but has been lackluster lately (Rare - and I am not talking about PD:0).
Now, for MS itself, I don't know that it really matters. Sure, they'd love to succeed in that market, but the US/EU market are big enough that they can survive on just those.
One of the biggest problems I've had with MMOs is the focus on "meaningful milestones" far apart instead of many more less significant ones closer together. As a casual gamer, I usually lose interest in these games in the higher levels, where your only milestones come from levels that are massively apart. I would like to see a game where, if it chose to have these massive levels, had sublevels as well, with smaller rewards. Unfortunately, most high level content and game design ignores the casual gamer completely.
Actually, from TFA, it sounds like MadCatz is already signed up. It isn't about quality, it is about ponying up the cash. So all you will be able to by is their stuff ^_^
... arguably the best soft-pad for DDR games is the RedOctance Ignition 2.0. Now, RedOctane seems to be a smaller company (they've grown recently and actually have their product in retail stores now, but it used to be only attainable through purchase online). There are plenty of small metal pad makers out there as well. How many of these companies will be able to afford the MS tithe?
To give an example of why this is bad
So, we lose the good quality, specialist pad makers, and all we have left is the MadCatz crap? This is good for the consumer how?
Start making games that don't appeal only to what is worst in humanity?
Obviously, they don't make games that appeal to the worst in humanity - they don't seem to be appealing to the politicians and lawyers.
It is not even a matter of how valuable a 23 year old paper. It is a matter of whether knowing they'd be granted a monopoly for life+70 made it any more likely for the author to write and publish the article than knowing they would have a monopoly for life, or even a monopoly for 20 years.
The whole point of the artificial right of copyright is to encourage creators, who put resources into their creation, to create knowing they will have a monopoly on their creation which gives them an opportunity to beneift from their creation (note that copyright does not assure you of benefit, it just allows you the exclusive opportunity to benefit).
Does anyone really believe there is a single creator out their who would say, "Well, I was going to write this song/book/movie, but since I only have a monopoly on it for my lifetime, screw it!"
Would Hollywood suddenly collapse if the media conglomerates only held the copyright on a property for 50 years? Doubtful. In fact, the influx of properties that could be used for free in the creation of new works may even be quite a boon for them. It certainly would be for smaller creative entities.
Copyright as it exists today is a sickening perversion of its original goal and aim. It is not supposed to exist to allow corporations to milk profits from creative works until the end of the Earth. It is unquestionable that society benefits when works enter the public domain - look out how much Shakespeare is used and abused in modern film and theater. In modern copyright, the public is giving up their rights to new works, but the copyright holders are refusing to keep up their end of the bargain and give up their rights in a reasonable time.
Time and time again, we've seen what goes into making a handheld sell:
1) Price
2) Baterry Life
3) Portability (size and protected screen are big factors here)
4) Games - particular ones that can be played in short bursts
It really is no surprise to me that DS is outperforming PSP in marketshare and apparently mindshare, given these factors. (Of course, given these factors, I still maintain that the GBA SP is the best portable system on the market).
Although, I wonder how many of those rabid Naruto fans have deleted their fansubs now that the series is licensed? Isn't there at least one group still fansubbing with some silly rationalization? I think Naruto is a good test of how many fansubbers and watchers really believe the ethic they spout, and how many really just want the free anime ...
I watched a lot of Sesame Street growing up. Heck I even saw such educational shows as Reading Rainbow and 3-2-1 contact.
Guess what? I've never committed a violent crime. I've never held up a convenience store. I've never abused a woman or mistreated a woman. I'm a completely normal person earning a great living in a respectable career with no more or worse personal issues than your average fellow.
Of course, the inability to see what harm it did me might be a symptom of the harm it did me...
I think this is because some people are finding they prefer the more "hardcore" elements of EQ, as opposed to the nice "casual friendly" features that most new MMORPGs are offering. Me, I only have the time to play casual friendly games anymore, so I won't ever be returning to EQ. Still, remembering back to the early days of EQ when I did have 5+ hours to dedicate to a gaming session, the game does have a certain feel and appeal that is not present in the current gen of games.
Actually, at the very least, Nintendo has the Trademark leg to stand on. "Super Mario" is a registered trademark by Nintendo. Since trademarks need to be defended or they will be lost, you can bet the Big N lawyers will come-a-callin'