Are we at all prepared for a Sonic 4?

February 4, 2010 - Leave a Response

Apparently Sega still thinks they’re a relevant company, because they just made a groundbreaking announcement today. This summer, we will see Sonic the Hedgehog 4 — supposedly a true Sonic sequel — on WiiWare (and XBLA and PSN).

Well, it certainly looks like a true Sonic game. It even sounds like a true Sonic game. But show caution, gentle gamer friends. The question we should be asking ourselves isn’t “is this going to be a good game?” The question we should ask ourselves at this point is “do we trust Sega?”

You see, Sega has a condition. It’s probably medical, but more than likely just a result of poor management and too many yes-men in the ranks. Sega no longer knows how to take care of Sonic. This much is patently obvious if you look at the history, especially just the past couple of years:

  • Sonic the Hedgehog (360, PS3) – a horrendous mess
  • Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) – pointless story, terrible controls and gameplay
  • Sonic Chronicles (DS) – hey, guys! You know what would make a great Sonic game? A TURN-BASED RPG
  • Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) – any game where Toad can outrun Sonic is an instant FAIL
  • Sonic Unleashed (Wii, 360, PS3) – hey, guys! You know what Sonic has been missing all along? WEREWOLVES
  • Sonic and the Black Knight (Wii) – see Sonic and the Secret Rings

Sega quite simply has no freaking clue what to do with Sonic. It’s like handing a gun to a caveman. You just know they’re going to end up beating an antelope with the thing instead of using it correctly. They are handling a property to which they hold no emotional attachment, no discernible history, and absolutely zero insight into what made the games fun in the first place.

But here, we finally get a tiny glimpse of Sega doing something that — at least on the surface — appears like a tentative step in the right direction. But look at that history. Can Sega screw this up?

Yes, I’m certain they can. And here’s my prediction: it’s going to be crazy expensive.

Because Sega simply cannot be trusted to handle Sonic properly, even when finally attempting to stay true to its roots, I have absolute faith in their ability to screw up Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Since they’re going with an episodic model, where each episode will be published independently on the various download services, I think they will probably price the game’s installments too high. Gamers will probably end up paying double buying the episodes separately than if Sega had just put the game on the disc and shipped it out.

That’s my theory, and we’ll see how it turns out since the rumors now circulating peg episode 1 for a July release.

Despite my prediction, I hope you understand just how desperately I want to be wrong on this one.

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Namco Bandai Banks on Nintendo, and Loses

February 3, 2010 - Leave a Response

Namco Bandai has announced a startling financial loss for 2009. $130M loss, compared to a $100M profit just a year before that. It’s a painful realization that our global economic climate is not yet back to where it used to be.

What’s really interesting here, however, is that Andriasang has pulled some of Namco’s unit numbers, and while the data looks impressive on the surface, it points to a story being told here. A story of sadness, of betrayal. A story of attempting to cash in on the success of the Wii and the DS, and in the process, crashing and burning.

Let’s take a look, shall we? I’m sure there’s something impressive to be gleaned from the data.

Here we have a listing of how many titles by system Namco published in 2009, and how many total units were sold on each system.

Titles and units sold by system

Wii: 9 titles, 3,765,000
PSP: 13 titles, 3,351,000
DS: 26 titles, 3,083,000
PS3: 5 titles, 2,015,000
PS2: 4 titles, 1,798,000
X360: 5 titles, 1,256,000

If you look at those numbers, at first glance it appears as though the Wii and DS did really well for Namco. But let’s do some simple number-crunching to guess at what really happened here. Let’s split those unit sold up and divide the total by the number of titles published for each system. While this isn’t necessarily a true reflection of the sales figures, it gives us a good average upon which to base the rest of our pure speculation.

Average units sold by system

Wii: 419,000
PSP: 258,000
DS: 118,000
PS3: 403,000
PS2: 450,000
X360: 251,000

As you can see, while these are nothing more than base estimates, the PS2 was by far the best value for Namco. Only four titles were published, but they sold a whopping average of 450,000 per title, which is pretty good. Especially when you consider that these are essentially last generation games with likely lower than normal production costs associated with them. It just goes to show that sometimes, the lines between this generation and last generation are a tad bit blurry.

The biggest money loser (somewhat ironically, given its near-legendary “money-printing” capabilities) has to be the DS. Sure, they sold over 3 million units, but that’s across 26 different titles. That averages out to about 118,000 units per title, which is atrocious. Even if each of those titles were budget productions, it would still be horrendous. There’s just no way to slice these numbers and make them look halfway decent.

The PSP was no real friend here, either. Namco invested in 13 titles for the Little Handheld that Could™ and sold an average of around 260,000 units per title. That’s a fairly weak showing. Looks like Naruto and mini-Soul Calibur aren’t what PSP gamers are looking for.

It was actually surprising that the Wii averaged 419,000, which should be a decent number. However, the Wii isn’t as cheap to develop for as the PS2, and this was an average on investment in nine titles. It’s important to note that two of those nine titles I’m really looking forward to: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (expected in March) and Tales of Graces (no US release announced). So it’s especially disconcerting to this self-described Nintendo fanboy that these two excellent third-party Wii titles with absolutely top-notch production values are being completely overlooked in Japan. Of course, their fairly niche titles, so I don’t necessarily expect them to do well in the US, either, unfortunately.

So, is there a lesson to be learned here? I honestly have no freaking clue. I just like over-analyzing pointless statistics. I also pray that Namco is still around to release Tales of Graces stateside sometime this year. Because that Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World? That thing was a piece of crap.

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Nintendo’s hopeful 2010 release calendar (for Japan)

January 29, 2010 - Leave a Response

I know we’ve already discussed what Nintendo’s 2010 looks like, but now we have some actual concrete information upon which to base our speculation and conjecture! And that makes all the difference. If by “difference” we actually mean “not much difference at all, but we really want to keep talking about what Nintendo is doing this year”. I think that’s an important distinction to make.

Andriasang has acquired a 2010 release list from Nintendo that includes a lot of the stuff we were already expecting. What is important to note is that this list is purely for upcoming Japan releases. We’ll likely see another list come from Nintendo of America in the next week or so detailing the games we’ll see in the US within the next week after that. Because there’s nothing Nintendo of America hates more than letting people know about upcoming releases.

Let’s look at that list, shall we?
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Nintendo in 2010

January 15, 2010 - One Response

Twenty-ten! The future is finally here, and what a future it is. Flying cars, jetpacks, sensible environmental policy. Yes, we truly live in an age of enlightenment and ridiculously rapid technological advancements. Hooray future!

Those of us actually living in the present, however, still have the same boring tedium to deal with day in and day out. Luckily, Nintendo and a plethora of related companies are busily churning out entertainment to keep us properly sedated and unaware of the upcoming robot uprising.

Nintendo has an absolutely stellar 2010 planned, even if a little less than half of it is actually “officially confirmed”. Let’s go through all the stuff we know about, and some of the stuff Nintendo is trying (and often failing) hard to keep under wraps.

First, let’s talk about the Wii.

Wii HD
The rumblings have been going strong for some time now that Nintendo will release some sort of next-generation Wii unit that is HD capable. Reggie denies that this is the case, and claims that the current Wii console still “has a very long life in front of it.” While that may be true, there is a subtle distinction there that doesn’t necessarily rule out a second HD-capable variation of the Wii running alongside the SD model for an indefinite period of time. I think this is something that has some legs, and we may hear more about it around E3 time.

Netflix for Wii
This one is definitely no rumor, as Netflix and Nintendo revealed earlier this week that Netflix streaming on the Wii will be available this spring. You can already order your free streaming disc on the Netflix website, which will be shipped to you once the service is available. This is fantastic news, especially for me, as we’ve been limited to only streaming Netflix on our computers. To have it available on the television will be a great supplemental feature. While it may not sell Wii owners many new Netflix subscriptions, it will definitely give current subscribers more options, and that’s never a bad thing. Especially when there is no extra cost involved.

No more friend codes
This one is solidly in the RUMOR category, no doubt about it. Ever since Nintendo revealed game-specific friend codes on the Wii, Nintendo gamers craving a more robust online experience sighed in remorse. It’s been a constant battle that has made online play an atrocious mess for over three years now, at least for the few games that actually support it. A comment made in an IGN podcast suggest that Nintendo is seriously looking at the possibility of ditching game-specific codes in favor of just having the Wii system friend code serve as the sole delivery mechanism for online friend connections. Once again, this is pure RUMOR, but it would definitely be something nice to see implemented, even if it is a feature that is woefully late to the party.

Wii Vitality Sensor
We’re still not 100% sure what this thing is going to be doing, but Nintendo apparently plans to show us something that will be VS-capable in July. What that will be and how it will work remains a mystery. I’m placing my bets on it being nothing more than a gimmicky device that will have no solid application in any games I care about. Just my two cents on that.

Wii games
2009 was a fairly paltry year for the Wii, offering a small handful of exceptional games (Muramasa: the Demon Blade and New Super Mario Bros. Wii sticking out most prominently in my mind) amidst a tanker filled to the brim with mediocre content. There is some hope that 2010 will fare better, especially considering what Nintendo themselves have in store for us. Metroid: Other M, a game being developed in conjunction with renowned Ninja Gaiden developer Team Ninja. Super Mario Galaxy 2, the sequel to one of the most brilliant Mario games since Super Mario 64. And a true Wii iteration of Legend of Zelda. It’s insane to think that we actually might see all of the “big three” in one year: Mario, Samus, and Link, but I’m absolutely hopeful for the occasion.

The the potential third-party offerings don’t appear too terrible, either. Red Steel 2 with Wii MotionPlus support. Arc Rise Fantasia, a beautiful-looking new RPG series. Tales of Graces, a new flagship Tales game from Namco Bandai. Trauma Team. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, hopefully an evolved version of the excellent Wii original. Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon. 2010 is looking like it could be a good year for Wii owners.

Now, let’s move on to the powerful handheld that prints money: the Nintendo DS.

DS successor, with motion sensitivity
Alongside the Wii HD rumors comes word from an apparently mistranslated (or maybe not!) report that development on the next DS system is underway, and that it will feature motion control support and a more powerful processor. I think with the DS continuing to print money just as fast as it has, and with Nintendo just getting started pushing the DSi and the DS XL, it’s a bit too soon to start talking about the next next DS. I don’t think we’ll hear more about it at E3 this year, though I’m assuming they will start talking about it before the end of the year. It’s certainly an interesting report, and I’m assuming because of the back-and-forth between the news agency and Nintendo that every bit of it is likely true. We’ll see later this year if Nintendo feels pressured to unveil anything more.

DS games
In my opinion, there isn’t as much on the DS to look forward to in 2010 as there is on the Wii. However, I probably haven’t been paying as close attention recently. That said, Nintendo will hopefully be showing us more than just a teaser of Golden Sun DS this year. Beyond that, I’m looking forward to Okamiden, Dragon Quest XI: Protectors of the Starry Sky, and Infinite Space. I’m sure there’s other titles that I should be paying better attention to, and you’re certainly free to mention them in the comments so I can add them to my radar list.

All in all, 2010 looks to be an interesting year for Nintendo, and Nintendo fans! Lots to look forward to, but also lots that could go wrong. I think this is Nintendo’s last year to really keep a hold on any third-party support that they may have retained so far. If they can’t get anything more than Nintendo properties to sell on the Wii, we could see a successor sooner than we ever thought possible. It’s also likely the last hurrah for the Nintendo faithful still clinging to the Wii as their sole console. If this year ends up as laughably anemic as the last, more of them will likely jump ship to the 360 or PS3 (those that haven’t already, of course).

No matter what happens, you can count on one thing: It’s Dangerous to Go Alone will be there, watching, waiting, and mocking every failed move.

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WiiWare Demos: Too Little, Too Late?

November 19, 2009 - One Response

Nintendo has finally — emphasis on the finally — made some demos available for a select few WiiWare games. This is great news. It should have happened three years ago, but it’s still great to see the big N coming to terms with the fact that this is 2009, and these days, demos are standard. There’s only five WiiWare games with demos available:

  • BIT.TRIP BEAT
  • Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord
  • NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits
  • World of Goo
  • Pokemon Rumble

I’ve already got two of those games (BIT.TRIP BEAT and World of Goo). I tried out the demo for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord last night and came away impressed. Not just by the game itself, which the demo has convinced me I need to purchase, but also by how well the demo was crafted. You get to play just enough to learn what’s going on and get interested in what the game has to offer before it cuts you off gently. A couple of characters in the game plead with you to purchase the full title before the game immediately drop-kicks you back to the Wii Shop channel page for the game where you can make the purchase. It’s handled well, which, I’ll be honest with you, surprised me coming from Nintendo.

But really, this should only be the first step. If this is somehow the end goal for Nintendo, then they have once again missed the point completely. From here, the next logical steps toward progress should be obvious to anyone.

WiiWare demos for ALL WiiWare games

This is a must. It can’t be something they only put together for high-profile games or only titles for which they expect to have exceptional sales. Every single WiiWare title should have a demo available. It’s much more difficult to drop $10 to $15 on a downloadable title than it is to drop $40 to $50 on a retail Wii game because you’ve lost any and all secondary market resale value. So before I plunk down the cash that I will never get back, I need to make sure I’m putting my money into something I will absolutely enjoy. To guarantee that, I need a demo.

It’s already proven successful. I’m definitely planning to purchase My Life as a Darklord now, where before I was skeptical that it was something I would enjoy. But the game is a charming, challenging, and well-crafted combination of tower defense game and SimTower, and it deserves my money. I wouldn’t have known that without a demo. So, get cracking Nintendo. I can’t be alone in thinking this can only be a good thing.

Demos of upcoming Wii retail games

Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. Maybe not every single Wii game needs to have a demo, but we’ve encountered so many unbelievably hokey, half-baked concepts and seriously poorly-designed titles that we’re getting to the point where people just default to not being interested in a new game because they’re scared it’s going to turn out to be nothing more than utter crap. This is fact. The default setting for Wii gamers is that new games are not likely to be enjoyable, so why bother. Demos will allow us to make more informed decisions on what is going to entertain us. This is also fact.

Yes, it’s true, demos will make it so that some games get the shaft. This is done on purpose. The sooner we can sort the wheat from the chaff, the sooner we can get to a more streamlined gaming experience that focuses on having fun and not complaining about poor game design. The lesson here should be for all developers and publishers. You shouldn’t get the news that your game is a disaster from poor sales. Poor sales could be an indicator of many problems from negligent marketing to supply issues. But if you have a demo available, and your game still performs poorly, you can rest assured that poor sales mean your game simply sucks. The lesson there is to make better games.

Nintendo may be three years too late getting on the demo train, and they’re starting off with a severely anemic selection, but they’re here. They’ve arrived at the party, and they’re just starting to find their dance groove. Maybe they will dance really badly and get laughed out of the cool kids’ party. Or maybe they will be a hit. We have to see where they go from here, and whether or not the cool kids invite them to the next party.

Okay, I should really refrain from attempting metaphorical narratives.

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