Final Fantasy Wish List December 18, 2015

Today marks the 28th anniversary of the Japanese release of Final Fantasy, and to celebrate the release of this console classic we at this website wanted to share some of our hopes and dreams about what we would like to see from this beloved franchise in the future.  Don’t worry, since Final Fantasy VII Remake was officially announced as in development, it won’t be brought up here.

Like with most of the editorials we write on this site, we have to preface this with the disclaimer that we won’t presume to dictate Square Enix’s future business plans. These are just some desires that Final Fantasy fans have been talking about for some time.

So, with all that out of the way, let’s get started shall we?

Restore Final Fantasy VI’s original 16-Bit Graphics on Android, PC and iOS

I’m bringing this up first because it seems to be a pretty hot button topic right now. Final Fantasy VI was rereleased on the PC earlier this week and immediately brought on a huge fan backlash. The outrage had nothing to do with the game’s quality, Final Fantasy VI is still considered one of the finest games ever made, the backlash was over the “updated” graphics engine Square Enix has continued to use when republishing this game on newer hardware. The PC users are hardly alone in being forced to look at this horrible graphics palate, it had previously been used in the game’s Android and iOS ports. Given the incredible amount of care that went into the game’s original graphics when it was first released on Nintendo’s 16-bit console, it’s a shame the game’s newest players have to look at such awful graphics.  Why doesn’t Square Enix patch the recent games to allow players the option to choose which graphics they prefer?

What are the odds we’ll see this?  Next to zero. The fact that Square Enix continues to use this graphics package in all of these rereleases, even after all its negative feedback, makes me suspect that the graphics engine might have been retooled for either legal or technical reasons and it might be very difficult to restore the original graphics. My advice would be to download the games on either the PlayStation 3 or Wii.

Release the Final Fantasy XV Demo for Everyone on Xbox One and PS4

There’s no bigger multiplatform game on track for release next year than Final Fantasy XV.  People have been looking forward to playing this game since it was first announced for the PS3 in 2006 under the title Final Fantasy Versus XIII. The graphics look amazing and the gameplay looks like a lot of fun. Square Enix included an official playable demo for Final Fantasy XV inside early copies of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD over a year before the final game was expected to release and from what I’ve heard, the demo is really good. In fact many players commented the demo alone justified the purchase. Well, aren’t demos supposed to be freely distributed?  They’re supposed to make you want to buy the full version of the game.  New copies of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD are getting harder to find, and demo codes are running out.  Why doesn’t Square Enix release this demo to the Xbox and PlayStation digital marketplaces?

What are the odds we will see this?  I would give it a 15% chance. Final Fantasy XV‘s developers have stated on several occasions during Final Fantasy Type-0 HD‘s launch that they would only offer the Final Fantasy XV demo to people who bought one of the initial printings of Type-0 HD.  Without a doubt, that improved the sales of the game it was paired with but it left a bad taste in a lot of fan’s mouths.  I hope this policy doesn’t remain perminant as we get closer to XV‘s release, a lot of work went into that demo, and it would be a shame to see it played by so few people.

Re-Release Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX to the PS4 as a Digital Download.

Three numbered Final Fantasy titles were released on the original PlayStation over a decade and a half ago. All three of them are still frequently referenced as staple games in the RPG genre, and many players still debate which is their favorite game from that era.  However, the PlayStation 4 cannot play PS1 games and newer gamers who lack older hardware can find themselves unable to play these staple RPGs.  Meanwhile, Final Fantasy VII was re-released on the PlayStation 4 a week ago. The port was based on a slightly updated PC version, which kept the game’s original graphics mostly intact.  It may be the exact same game players remember playing on the original PlayStation, but is that really a bad thing?  If Square Enix could bring Final Fantasy VII to the PS4, why couldn’t they bring the later PS1 era numbered titles as well?

What are the odds we will see this?  75% For Final Fantasy VIII, 55% for Final Fantasy IX.  Square Enix has already done a modern PC port of Final Fantasy VIII, and it looks pretty good. In theory, that PC-port could be adapted to the PS4. While there currently is no modern PC port for Final Fantasy IX, I’m sure it will end up on the PS4 if the previous games sold well.  So if you want to see more classic Final Fantasy games on the PS4, buy Final Fantasy VII now.

Bring the NES and SNES Final Fantasy Games to the Wii U’s Virtual Console

Some time ago, Nintendo rereleased the original three numbered NES and SNES Final Fantasy titles released to the US on the Wii’s Virtual Console. They’re still available to download at a reasonable price if you have a Wii, but if you’ve upgraded to the Wii U, you can only play these downloadable games on the Wii U’s Wii emulator. Because of that, the games can’t be played solely with the Wii U controller or take advantage of Wii U’s Virtual Console features, like the ability to save at any point.  Why doesn’t Nintendo bring those games to the Wii U’s eShop?

So, what are the odds?  50/50.  Nintendo has been slow to release games on the Wii U’s Virtual Console, but they are doing it. The fact that the games have already been released on the Wii is a good sign Nintendo will eventually make the games Wii U native, but I don’t even want to think about how long we may have to wait before it happens.  I would have to give its chances even odds.

What do you think of the list?  Not enough wishes?  Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2!

Happy Birthday, Final Fantasy December 18, 2015

Today marks the 28th Anniversary of the release of the very first Final Fantasy game in Japan, making today essentially the 28th birthday of the Final Fantasy franchise.

Final Fantasy was intended to be the final project for Square, a company unable to capitalize on the success of the 8-bit Nintendo home console.  With only enough money for one more project, the game’s director decided to make a game he would have been happy to play. It was expected to be a  commercial flop and the final game ever to be released by Square. Instead it became one of the strongest franchises in the history of gaming, and many of the later games would go on to become incredible commercial successes, fan favorites and added to numerous best of lists.

What can we say about this franchise twenty eight years later?  There have been fourteen numbered games (including two massively multiplayer games which are still in operation), two feature-length movies, numerous spin offs, and tons of rereleases and ports to new platforms.

So, raise a glass everyone. Happy Birthday Final Fantasy!

Why it Helps to Date a Nerd at Christmas December 7, 2015

Last year I spent Christmas Eve over at my girlfriend’s house.  We watched Christmas movies, drank coffee, and opened presents with her family.  That night, all of her family members received brand-new SmartPhones as gifts, split evenly between Android devices and the (then) brand-new iPhone 6.  With the exception of my girlfriend’s father, who was an advanced Android enthusiast, neither my girlfriend nor her sister or mother had any idea how to get their new phones to work, and many of them had very important data on their old phones that they wanted to bring to their new ones.  On Christmas Eve, I was their only hope.

I had used iPhones since 2007 and I had a lot of experience upgrading my phones without losing any data.  For those of you who don’t know how to do this procedure I’ll try to explain it quickly. For all I know, you may have to do this yourselves this Christmas.  Any time an iPod, iPad, or iPhone is connected to a iTunes equipped PC or Mac, it will automatically perform a backup of all the essential files on the iDevice.  If a new iDevice is connected to a computer with a proper backup already on file, iTunes will immediately prompt you and offer to install the backup it has on file to the new device. In my experience, most users stupidly ignore this prompt to their detriment, and set up their new devices as new. Doing this can cost them their photos, game progress, settings, and possibly even their entire contacts list.

The other option is to move all your data onto the iCloud service, and then retrieve an iCloud backup on the new iDevice. This may seem like an easier option, and most people take it, but Apple offers very little storage capacity for free and for obvious security reasons I outright refuse to use it. Plus, since none of the iPhone users in my girlfriend’s family had iCloud set up on their devices, it was a pretty moot point.  I was provided two iTunes equipped laptops to handle the iPhone upgrades, while my girlfriend’s father simply took apart his old Android phone, removed its Micro SD card, and put it into his new one.

First priority was to have as recent a backup as possible of the old phones before activating the new ones. I powered on the laptops and began the process of linking them to each user’s iTunes account. Once that was settled, I plugged the old iPhones into the USB ports and began the sync process.

My girlfriend had never owned an iPhone before, but she did have an old iPod Touch. Figuring she would eventually upgrade to the iPhone, I insisted on copying her old phone’s contacts list to her iPod Touch to help make her eventual upgrade easier.  There wasn’t much data on her iPod Touch, and it took barely any time to sync, but my girlfriend now had essential data ready to transfer to her new iPhone.

My girlfriend’s mother had over 32GB of data on her iPhone 4s and while some of it had been backed up earlier, a lot of new data hadn’t been copied. so as her old iPhone continued to back up, I plugged my girlfriend’s new iPhone 6 into her MacBook and started the process of restoring her old data into it.

I quickly realized my girlfriend’s iPod Touch was still using iOS 4, but her mother’s iPhone 4s was using the most recent version of iOS 8, a slightly newer version than what the new phones had installed. I would need to upgrade the iPhone 6 software manually to its most recent version before I could restore any data onto it.  I decided to use the time it would take to upgrade and install over 32GB of data to activate her sister’s new Android phone.

My girlfriend’s sister was previously using an iPhone 4s but unlike her mother and sister, she opted to get a new Android phone instead of a new iPhone. Since iPhone and Android data is not compatible, I was concerned this would cause her to lose everything she had on her phone and force her to reconfigure it from scratch.  She was fine with that.

As I configured the Android, my girlfriend’s father called up their cellular provider and used their automated service to activate his new phone.  It worked, and his new phone was now able to make phone calls and use the cellular data network.  He told me how the process was done, and I performed the procedure on the two iPhone 6 phones once the last of their backup data was restored.  I had to restart both phones, but once that was done, both phones were able to make calls and access the cellular data network.

So with three phones active, all that remained was to activate the Android phone that belonged to my girlfriend’s sister.  I called up the cellular provider and gave them the same information I had done previously, but instead of simply activating the phone, the automated system informed me that in order to activate the new phone I had to remove the SIM card from the iPhone 4s and install it into the new Android to complete the procedure.  This didn’t bother me, I knew how to access an iPhone 4s SIM and I didn’t think this would be a very big deal.  I took apart both phones and moved the SIM to the new one, but the new Android phone would not make calls or connect to the cellular network once I powered it up.

At this point my girlfriend’s sister became visibly upset. Not only would she not be able to bring all of her old apps to her new phone, her new phone wasn’t working at all.  I tried using the automated activation system a few more times to no avail, the new phone just would not connect. I thought a simple call to their provider would resolve the issue, but given the fact it was 10PM on Christmas Eve, I had no idea if this issue could be resolved until the Holiday concluded.

Well, if I see a problem my brain just has to figure it out, and there was no way I was going to leave this issue unresolved. As my girlfriend’s parents did everything they could to keep their younger daughter from crying, I somehow stumbled into a troubleshooting service line during my fifth activation attempt.  Hoping to keep me engaged, her folks made me some really good coffee as I talked to a very nice technician on the other end of the line.

It turned out that the SIM card in her old iPhone 4s was not compatible with 4G equipped phones, and even though the provider’s automated service insisted my girlfriend’s sister use her old SIM card in her new phone, it was a mistake. Thankfully the new phone came with a new 4G-compliant SIM card and after I provided some private serial numbers to the technician, he was able to activate the new SIM card, and the Android was finally able to make phone calls. After I returned the phone to its new owner, I told my girlfriend’s sister she should be able to transfer her contact information using one of her cellular provider’s custom apps.  I’ve been told she loves her new phone.

With the issue resolved I checked on the other phones. My girlfriend’s mother lost absolutely no data in the process and loved the speed boost her new phone provided. My girlfriend had a few redundant contacts in her phone that she needed to clear up, but that could have been caused by either the fact that her backup was restored to a system running a version of iOS four generations newer than what she previously had, or the fact the version of iTunes I had to use to do the transfer was not the most recent one, because my girlfriend would not update her version of Mac OS X just yet.

Within the course of two hours on Christmas Eve I was able to set up and activate three brand new SmartPhones with little to no lost data.  I was also able to resolve an issue that would have otherwise required a trip to a cell provider’s retail store, something that would have not been possible for at least two days.  Essentially, a nerd saved Christmas.  Move over, Ernest.

Pokemon Virtual Console Wish List November 16, 2015

Last week, during a Nintendo Direct, Nintendo officially confirmed that they would be re-releasing the three Pokémon titles originally developed for the Nintendo Game Boy, Pokémon Blue, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Yellow, as a digital download for the Nintendo 3DS.  This is the news I have been waiting over four years to announce on this site and I couldn’t be happier to report it to all of you.  As you may know, I have been asking Nintendo to re-release the first generation (GEN1) Pokémon games on the 3DS Virtual Console for the past four years, and before then I had been hoping Nintendo would re-release the games digitally on the Wii for the past seven.  It sure took them long enough, but I’m glad they finally delivered on this request.

Sadly, Nintendo had very little information to provide alongside this announcement.  We know all three GEN1 titles will be re-released and all of them will support two-player trading using the 3DS system’s wireless communication features, but that’s all we know.  Since the games won’t be coming out until February 2016, we still have to wait a few months until their digital re-release, and I have a few questions and requests I’d like to make before the game comes out.

Offer all Three Games as a Bundled Download at a Reduced Price –   I’m not saying that Nintendo should require players should have to purchase all three games together as a single download, but it would be nice to see Nintendo offer players who want to purchase all three titles the option to do so at a reduced price.  When Nintendo re-released two classic Game Boy Color games,  The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Ages, on the 3DS Virtual Console they offered players interested in purchasing both games the option to buy both titles together at a reduced price for a limited time.  This was a really nice deal to convince early adopters to buy the game digitally, as a sale is always welcome.  It would be nice to see Nintendo offer early adopters a financial incentive to get the games as soon as possible.

Distribute Mew – You thought the original Pokémon games only had 150 Pokémon, well that’s not true, there was actually 151.  The problem was you could not capture Pokémon number 151, Mew, through normal means.  Years before console DLC would be as popular as it has become, Nintendo hosted a special Mew distribution, where they offered players the chance to obtain the exclusive Pokémon at select locations across the world.  Many of Pokémon’s original developers credit the Mew distribution as a huge incentive that pushed sales of the game during the game’s initial release period, and contributed to the game’s massive sales.  Since Nintendo has already confirmed that the game can support wireless trading, theoretically, Nintendo could offer Mew through a limited distribution period.  It would give players a great incentive to buy the game as soon as it is released, and promote whatever method Nintendo chose to distribute the Pokémon.  Currently, Nintendo offers exclusive Pokémon through online distribution methods, and they could offer Mew in a similar way.  At the end of the month, they’ll be distributing the legendary Pokémon Hoopa through McDonald’s restaurants equipped with wireless Nintendo Zone locations, I would love the chance to download Mew the same way.

Allow Color Swap Between Game Boy and Game Boy Color Graphics – While the original Game Boy was only designed to display games in traditional Black and White, Pokémon’s GEN1 titles included a limited color palate for players who wanted to play the games on their Super Nintendo consoles using the Super Game Boy adapter.  A limited color scheme was also included for players who played them on Game Boy Color systems, because Game Boy Color was backwards compatible with original Game Boy titles, and many Pokémon players, myself included, used the Game Boy Color to play the GEN1 games, and fondly remember the game’s color scheme.  While I admit playing GEN1 in B&W would appeal to gaming purists, I would love to at least get the option to choose which color palate I would like to play the game in.  I know Nintendo has offered a color swap option for Virtual Console games in the past, and it would be nice to see that option here.

And finally…

Make the Games Future Compatible With Generation 2 (GEN2) – Let’s face it, if these games sell well, Nintendo will likely offer the GEN2 Games Pokémon Gold, Pokémon Silver, and Pokémon Crystal, which were originally made for the Game Boy Color, on the 3DS Virtual Console.  While neither GEN1 nor GEN2 titles are compatible with the later Pokémon games (Pokémon Bank is only compatible with GEN3 Pokémon at the earliest), the original GEN1 games could trade with GEN2’s games provided that the GEN2 player met some proper prerequisites.  I hope that feature returns when Nintendo eventually re-releases Pokémon’s Game Boy Color titles on the 3DS Virtual Console.

Those are just some of my ideas, but I would like to hear all of yours as well.  What do you think Nintendo should include with their Virtual Console Pokémon titles?  Please post a comment below.  This is a major moment in the history of the 3DS, and I’m sure Nintendo will do us proud, we sure waited long enough to see this day.

The Next Most Requested Pokemon Games October 3, 2015

A few years ago, shortly after the announcement of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y for the 3DS system, in the height of a resurgence of Pokémon Fever, I created a list of game requests for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company which I believed was heavily desired by their long-lasting fanbase.  Now with the second generation of Pokémon Fever starting to cool down, I have a new list of requests for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company that I’ve noticed the fan community has been asking for recently. This is by no means a complete list or is it listed in any particular order, but I think that it is important for Pokémon’s developers to keep their fans’ wishes in mind.

Before we start the list I just want to make it clear that I don’t believe that Pokémon’s developers are under any obligation to follow through with any or all of these requests, these are just titles that I’ve heard requested online and in person from fans all over the world. While I admit that several of the requests will require heavy work to deliver, a lot of them are simple requests which probably would not take too much work to make happen.  I’m also not going to include any games that have already been officially announced, like the real-time Pokémon fighting game Pokkén, Pokémon Go, or the new 3DS game Super Mystery Dungeon.  Nintendo already said they are going to make those titles and there’s no reason for me to mention them here.

Pokémon Snap Remake/Sequel for the Wii U – We’re going to kick off this list with a special request from YouTube celebrity xJerry64x.  He wants Nintendo to create an all new Pokémon Snap game for the Wii U.  To anyone who’s played the original Pokémon Snap, either on the Nintendo 64 or Wii Virtual Console, the Wii U controller’s unique design seems perfect for taking pictures.  You could hold the controller like a camera in a virtual environment, frame your shot using the controller’s internal screen, position yourself for the perfect shot by physically moving the controller around like a camera, and snap pictures of Pokémon with the trigger buttons all while monitoring your current position on your HDTV’s screen.  This is such a perfect controller for taking virtual pictures I’m sure many of you can’t believe Nintendo hadn’t done a game with this in mind already…and you’d be surprised.  Nintendo is going to release the next Fatal Frame game this Halloween as a digital download on the Nintendo eShop, and if early previews are any indication, the game’s controls would translate perfectly to a Pokémon Snap game.  While many would probably prefer that Pokémon Snap’s original analog stick control scheme should remain intact,  and since literally hundreds of new Pokémon have been created since Pokémon Snap released over a decade ago now would be the perfect time to make Pokémon Snap 2 for the Wii U.

What are the Chances We’ll See it?  About 25%.  Now that the Wii U can natively emulate Nintendo 64 titles, it is much more likely we will just see the original game ported to the Wii U’s Virtual Console.  Pokémon Snap was a cute little spin off title that just so happened to have a great following over the years.  While I think it would be a great idea to make a sequel designed specifically for the Wii U platform, it would be an incredibly difficult undertaking.  I say lets hold off on any of those requests until we see how Fatal Frame works out.

Pokémon game for SmartPhones – I neglected to mention this in my last list so I thought I would include it here.  Ever since Apple opened up an App Store for the iPhone, users have been clamoring to see Pokémon titles of any kind appear on the platform.  When you think about it, SmartPhones have a lot in common with Nintendo’s portable platforms, and the same concepts behind Nintendo’s handheld philosophies can be applied to SmartPhones.  People take their phones everywhere, the phones are capable of not just online access but can also interact directly with each other locally.  They have great internal graphical hardware, capable of reproducing 3D and 2D games with great performance.  Even though most lack any physical buttons, their interactive touch pad can replicate almost any control scheme you can imagine.   So why not create a Pokémon game for SmartPhones?

What are the Chances We’ll See it? – Too early for me to post odds on this one folks, but for right now I would give it a less than 5% chance.  I’ve been impressed by the level of cooperation that The Pokémon Company has been allowed to have with publishers other than Nintendo, but up until this point The Pokémon Company has only been able to release free media apps or other free-to-play puzzle games to SmartPhones.  While that was a great show of good faith on their behalf, Pokémon is still one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, on par with and in some cases surpassing Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda.  To be blunt, Pokémon game releases sell handheld systems, and will convince last generation players to upgrade to the newest handheld systems.  They have consistently been the highest selling games on each platform, and it would be highly unlikely that Nintendo would allow one of their biggest exclusive game franchises on a competing platform.  I would really wait until we saw the installation base for Pokémon Go when it gets released next year before I weighed in on this one.

Generation IV (GEN 4) Remake for 3DS – As of this writing, Nintendo has published at least one full remake for the first three generation Pokémon games, it seems very likely that GEN 4 remakes are next. In fact, since the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire last year, a GEN 4 3DS-native remake has become one of the most requested titles from the Poké Amino community.  While the original games will work on a Nintendo 3DS without issue, it has become very difficult and expensive to find decent quality copies of the GEN 4 games on shelves, and new copies cost an astronomical amount of money online.  It would be nice to see these games remade in glorious 3D with a multiplayer mode you could actually play online again.

What are the odds we’ll see this?  Honestly I would give it an even 50/50.  After seeing the overwhelming support for the GEN 3 remakes on the Nintendo 3DS, it seems very likely that Nintendo will remake GEN4.  However, if the previous release schedule is any indication, we may need to wait a while for this.  By the time Nintendo decided to remake the earlier generations, part of the reason they chose to do so was because the original games were either incompatible with the newer titles or it could no longer be played on Nintendo’s most recent handheld system.  Barring the lack of online support after the DS and Wii multiplayer networks were shut down, Diamond, Pearl and Platinum work fine on modern Nintendo handhelds.  So, while I think it’s likely we will get a remake, I don’t think they will be coming any time soon.  Nintendo might want to release a third game in the GEN 6 series, a Nintendo 3DS successor, or even a new GEN 7 series before they get around to remaking GEN 4.

Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon: Gale of Darkness HD Remakes on Wii U – For years many die-hard Pokémon fans have begged Nintendo to release a full fledged Pokémon game they could play on their home console.  Then, more recently, I found out that Nintendo had already made two full fledged single-player Pokémon adventure games and released them on the GameCube nearly a decade earlier, Pokémon Colosseum and its sequel Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.  While they don’t replicate EVERY aspect of the handheld titles, they did a fantastic job of presenting the Pokémon World in glorious 3D nearly a decade before we would see it on the Nintendo 3DS.  Sadly, the Wii U does not have the ability to emulate GameCube games, so even if you have an original copy of the games on disc, you won’t be able to play them on your Wii U.  That said, the Wii U hardware should be able to emulate the GameCube’s graphics without much of an issue, and heck, they might be able to even replicate the game’s Game Boy Advance connectivity with the Wii U controller’s screen.  The best part is since GameCube discs had such a low total storage capacity (about 1.6 GB or so of space) you could fit both games in their entirety on one single Wii U disc.  With third party developers leaving Nintendo’s Wii U platform behind, why doesn’t Nintendo go digging into their back catalog and rerelease these cult classics in glorious HD?

What are the odds we’ll see this?  Less than 10%  Although modern HD remakes are very popular these days, especially for classic games that are either hard to find or unplayable on modern systems, Nintendo has only been able to port a few of its most beloved GameCube titles in HD to the Wii U, including Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.   The GameCube was a beloved console, but it wasn’t a very profitable one for Nintendo, and Nintendo might just prefer to release new games designed specifically for the unique platform than rerelease ports of games people might already own.  The other issue with updating these games have to do with its Game Boy Advance connectivity.  There is just no way for Nintendo to replicate that functionality on new hardware just yet.  We might just need Nintendo to do something else first…

Generation III (GEN 3) Games on Wii U Virtual Console – Gen 3 includes five of the best selling games for the Game Boy Advance platform, including Pokémon Emerald, Pokémon Ruby, Pokémon Sapphire, Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen.  When Nintendo first announced that the Wii U would be able to support the digital purchase and download of Game Boy Advance titles, bringing Pokémon’s Gen 3 titles to the Virtual Console seemed like a no-brainer.  Later versions of the DS and 3DS platforms lack the ability to play original Game Boy Advance cartridges natively, and the pirate market for these titles is so high it has become impossible for collectors to determine legitimate sales.  The Wii U would benefit heavily in both sales and fan goodwill if they offered these classic games up for digital purchase, so why don’t they put at least some of these games for sale on the Wii U’s Virtual Console?

Vegas, what are the odds?  Even bet, 50/50.  You would think that Nintendo would try to take the best selling game for a specific platform and make that game available first as soon as they were able to replicate an online marketplace for those platforms, but Nintendo has held off on rereleasing ANY games in the main Pokémon titles to ANY of their online marketplaces.  It might have something to do with the fact that Nintendo can’t replicate the Game Boy’s 2-player feature on modern hardware, and since the Wii U doesn’t have the local wireless connectivity function the 3DS platform has it would be even harder for multiplayer or trade features to work on a title downloaded on the Wii U, but if you ask me that’s still a pretty poor excuse.  However, what might be holding this back even more than technical issues might be the success of the Gen 3 remakes on 3DS, and Nintendo might be hesitant to rerelease the original Pokémon games, with their original graphics, after rereleasing the games in 3D.  Even without multiplayer functionality, Pokémon has a great single-player campaign and controlling the Gen 3 titles would work perfectly on the Wii U’s controller.  Time will tell if we will ever be able to digitally purchase these games on Nintendo’s marketplace, but I’m still hoping Nintendo will do it.

Well there you have it guys, another list of our most requested Pokémon games.  Did we miss anything?  If we did, feel free to leave a comment below with what you would like to see, and if we like it, it may just turn up in our next article!  Don’t worry, if we use your idea you will get a proper credit!

A Remedy Fan’s Speculation on How Quantum Break’s TV Series Should Be Presented (Part 3: Controls) August 26, 2015

Welcome back to our ongoing essay series where we are speculating about the upcoming Xbox One title, Quantum Break.  The game is being developed by Remedy, the developers of Max Payne, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne and Alan Wake.  You may remember those titles because of their in-depth stories, something that Remedy has routinely delivered for over the past decade.  Now, Quantum Break looks to completely evolve storytelling in a way that games have not dared before, by including a live-action television series which will be fully integrated into the game’s story.

We’ve already discussed the technical issues with creating such a groundbreaking title and shared some of our ideas on how to best present this series to players, but if I may be completely honest there is something that I’ve neglected to bring up until this point and that is control.  How do you best control these sequences?  At this point, there’s so little information available to us and very little precedent I can use for possible examples that control may very well be the hardest thing for me to write about.

Once again I have to remind you all that this article will be written entirely upon my own speculations based on my experiences playing other titles. Under no circumstances do I believe Remedy needs to take any of my recommendations as a mandate, because for all I know, they could come up with different ideas that are better than mine by the time the game is released next year.  This article will strictly focus on what we’ve seen work and not work in other games, and we will name those titles when applicable.

In order for me to tell you my perspective on video game cinematics, I need to tell you this personal story about myself.  In early 2000, I asked my parents for an original PlayStation just so I could play the first Metal Gear Solid on my birthday, and it became one of my favorite games of all time.  A brief time later, Konami announced that they were making a sequel, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty exclusively for the PlayStation 2.  When it came out in November 2001, a brand-new PS2 cost $299 US, something that neither my parents nor myself could afford, so I ended up playing through the game over at my cousin’s house during the times my family visited their house between Christmas and New Year’s.

As I’m sure you know, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has some of the longest story segments in video game history, and the player’s only option to interact with the game during these sequences is to either watch or skip them.  For someone who was an enormous fan of Metal Gear Solid, skipping the cutscenes on my first play through was not an option.  For a person watching these extremely long cutscenes while his family is constantly trying to get his attention to do other tasks like eat or leave, this was difficult.  Nevertheless, I got through the game and was eventually able to get it myself at a later date.

Why bring up Metal Gear Solid when we are talking about a completely different game from a completely different developer made for a completely different platform?  Well, one might argue that if Remedy intends to integrate episodes from the series directly into the game’s presentation, you could think of Quantum Break’s live-action television episodes as a long cutscene, and because of that we could draw some inspiration from games known for their long cutscenes, like Metal Gear Solid.  While I didn’t think I would need a rewind feature while I was gaming, I can’t say how many times I wished I could pause MGS2‘s cutscenes, so I could eat or use the bathroom without having to wait for the scene to end.  Thankfully, times have changed and newer games with lengthy cutscenes will allow you to pause them, like Final Fantasy XIII.  Heck, Kojima added a pause feature for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, something I and my brother-in-law greatly appreciated.

We don’t have to limit our inspiration from just video games, We could also draw inspiration from the ways people can interact with their television shows nowadays.  Since the days of DVD, anyone can binge watch a series of their choice, and have the ability to select any episode, pause, rewind, fast-forward, or skip to their heart’s content.  In the past fifteen years, all that’s changed about this ability is the medium the content has been presented to us whether it be through DVD, Blu-Ray Disc (BD), Digital Video Recorder (DVR), Video On-Demand (VOD), or online streaming services like Netflix.  Now in 2015, consumers expect this bare minimum of functionality when watching television, and this could provide a great benefit if it is brought to Quantum Break.  I think that at bare minimum people are going to want to know if the TV series even be skipped or they may end up calling up the guys over at The Escapist, as someone who would love the chance to rewatch these scenes after I’ve unlocked them I would hope for a lot more.

So, let’s say that we get all of the functionality to control these sequences that we could imagine, including the ability to pause, rewind, and fast forward the game’s television episodes after they’ve been unlocked, how do we control them?  Actually, there’s more options than you’d think, and we’re going to talk about each of them.

Let’s start off with the most obvious option players will have right away, and that is the Xbox One controller.  The Xbox One’s controller is the most obvious option because controllers have been tried and tested to work the best when it comes to video games, and the best part is they have the benefit of you being guaranteed to have one.  A typical Xbox One controller has two analog sticks, several interface buttons, two trigger buttons, and two bumpers.  That is more than enough to navigate through any video, but could other options work better?  There’s a big debate about that.  Some studios have tried to replace the controller, or “improve” it through features like motion control, microphones, or touch screens, but many have argued over the years that the controller is perfect the way it is and nothing could ever replace it.  Next, we’ll talk about some things that could replace it.

If you bought the Xbox One within the first year of its release, you found an optional peripheral included with it which was intended to greatly improve your Xbox One gaming experience, the Kinect.  On it’s face, including the Kinect with all Xbox One units sounded like a great idea, because there was a lot that Microsoft and Xbox developers could do with it.  To improve Xbox One navigation, Microsoft implemented Kinect voice and gesture commands so players could easily launch their games, stream their content online, or save video content to the console’s internal DVR.  Why bother searching for a remote when you can simply say, “Xbox, Pause” to your television, or tell it to go to a specific channel?  If you’re like me and were interested in watching an episode of the Quantum Break series with friends, it would be more convenient to implement voice commands, than to constantly have to look for wherever you left the controller.  It’s also pretty useful for quickly navigating menus, doing gesture commands with the controller, and handling the Xbox One’s dashboard.  I don’t think I need to remind you all that Quantum Break was in development during the time that Microsoft was planning to offer a Kinect with every Xbox One system they sold, and Remedy did post job offers for Kinect experienced developers.  It would be likely to assume that Quantum Break could have SOME Kinect functionality in it, but due to the poor reception of the peripheral, I think many developers are going to try and distance themselves from it.

The next option I wanted to talk about is something you may not even consider a controller, your personal digital device.  That’s right, your SmartPhone or Tablet, regardless of who made it, can be used to interface with the Xbox One through the dedicated Xbox One SmartGlass app.  Games like Dead Rising 3 have used SmartGlass to great effect. If used right, it enhances the game experience, and adds another layer of depth to gameplay.  There’s no limit to what you could do in Quantum Break with a SmartGlass component and it would work very well for players who preferred to control the game or watch the series from a touchscreen.

If you don’t want to use SmartGlass, I mentioned in a previous article that Remedy has several mobile programmers on staff, so it isn’t unreasonable to assume Remedy could create a dedicated app for portable devices that could work as a remote.  Other games like Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes are compatible with a dedicated third party mobile app, so we know that Microsoft will allow non Microsoft programmed apps to connect with the console.  Pause, rewind, stop and fast-forward buttons are trivial to design on a touch screen, and for those who prefer tactile feedback, they could always add a vibration or sound effect every time the user inputs a command.  I would love to see this feature in action.

However they choose to present this groundbreaking series, I’m sure the experts at Remedy will do it right. Until then, you can expect plenty more Quantum Break coverage on this site as new information is revealed.  Hope you enjoyed the series and if you had any ideas you’d like to share feel free to post a comment below.

Quantum Break is coming April 2016 exclusively on the Xbox One.

The Best Downloads for the Nintendo 3DS August 20, 2015

Nintendo released the New Nintendo 3DS XL earlier this year to much fanfare.  It’s a beautiful piece of hardware that can play any retail title from the Nintendo DS or Nintendo 3DS’s grand software library, and grants you access to a great digital marketplace called the Nintendo eShop.

With so much content being offered on the eShop, it can be overwhelming for new 3DS owners to know what they should download, so I’m going to give you some tips on what are the best downloads for the system.  It’s hard to break down a list of some of the best software that is being offered through the eShop since it has been in operation for several years.  With so much content being offered how is a new user going to know what to get?  Well, that’s what we’re here for, this article is going to detail some of the best content to download on the Nintendo 3DS platform.  Some of the content is free, some of it will cost money, but trust me, all of it is worth taking a look at.  Break out your Nintendo 3DS system, turn on your system’s WiFi, update your system software, and fire up the Nintendo eShop app because we are about to get started.

Before we get started I want to give a few points about the rules for this list.  We will be exclusively talking about titles available through the Nintendo 3DS system’s eShop, but DSi-compatible software can get mentioned as long as it will work on the Nintendo 3DS.  Since we’re only going to be talking about 3DS downloadable software, any games that have been released at retail in North America will not be counted here, so titles like Pokémon X, Fantasy Life, or The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds will not be listed, but game demos are perfectly acceptable.  We’re also not going to be mentioning any downloadable titles available through the Virtual Console, because if I did that this entire list would be populated with classic Game Boy, Game Boy Color and NES titles, and most players will already know which titles from those platforms are good or not.  With all that out of the way, let’s get started.

Demos

Here’s a section of demos which in my opinion go above and beyond what is expected of them.  While you can find demos for all sorts of retail titles you might be interested in playing on the Nintendo eShop, you should download these particular demos even if you were planning to get the game at retail anyway because they can either offer exclusive items or feature a section that is not included in the full version of the game.

Bravely Default Demo – All I can say is if you’re even the slightest fan of JRPGs, you need to get this demo right now.  Bravely Default has gone on to become one of the most essential titles for the Nintendo 3DS platform.  It was developed by Square Enix, and draws heavy inspiration from their earlier Final Fantasy titles, including Final Fantasy III.  The game’s demo serves as a prequel to the game and covers events which do not happen in the main title.  This does a great job of setting the stage for the player, and becomes a great use of the player’s time.  You can also unlock exclusive content and items you can transfer to the full game by completing certain goals during the demo, so make sure to keep playing it to its fullest if you want to buff up your party as much as you can once you start the full retail game.

Pokémon Omega Ruby & Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Demo – Because this demo was so unlike any demo Nintendo had released previously on the Nintendo eShop, it was originally only offered exclusively to special players through special promotions.  Thankfully, Nintendo reversed that policy and now anyone can download this awesome demo from the Nintendo eShop, and I would recommend doing that even if you already have a copy of the full version of either game.  This demo, like the one for Bravely Default, takes place before the events of the Generation III remakes, and gives you a first look at one of the later areas in the game.  The demo might seem short at first, but just completing the demo once grants you a Mega Evolution capable Level 40 Glalie you can transfer to the full game.  After that, every time you fire the game back up you’ll be presented with another random challenge you’ll have to complete.  The more you play, the more you can unlock, and that content can be brought into the full version of either Generation III remake using Pokémon Link.  The best part is that unlike other Nintendo demos, there is no limit to how many times you can play this game so play as much as you want.

THEATRYTHEM: Final Fantasy Curtain Call – The 3DS demo for this delightfully fun rhythm game is a must-download for anyone who is a fan of Final Fantasy’s incredible music library.  While the demo does not offer any exclusive songs to play, anyone who plays the demo gets the chance to unlock a playable character early if they pick up the full version of the game.

Applications

That’s right, you can download more than just games for the Nintendo 3DS system, you can also find plenty of useful applications on the Nintendo eShop which can improve your system’s functionality and enable you to do more with your portable gaming system.  Let’s take a look.

Save Data Transfer Tool – This is a very useful tool to download as soon as you get your 3DS online.  It’s designed to take any save data from a retail 3DS game card and permanently transfer it to the 3DS’s internal SD memory.  This will enable retail owners who wish to trade in their games the ability to back up their save and wipe it from the game card before it is traded in.  After that, if the player chooses to purchase the game once again as a digital download off the eShop, they can restore their previous game progress and resume where they left off.  It is a really useful feature for anyone who wants to borrow a friend’s retail copy of a game or trade any retail titles, but just be aware that this is a one-way feature and any save data transferred to the 3DS’s SD Card can only be used by a digital copy of the game, and cannot be installed onto a different retail copy.  It’s still a really useful tool, its free to download, and it doesn’t take up that much storage, so I would still recommend getting it.  Never know when you might need it.

Pokémon Bank – This is the application many Pokémon Trainers have been wishing for since the first Pokémon titles were released in the late 90s.  Pokémon Bank can store any of the Pokémon you’ve captured from the Generation VI Pokémon games, and enable you to use them in other Pokémon titles.  In fact, if you download an extra special application called the Poké Transporter, you can even bring the Pokémon you’ve captured or stored in your Generation V Pokémon games into Generation VI.  While the application is free to download, it does have a $4.99 US a year fee to use the service.  As a safety feature, It will not work unless you have created a save in any Generation VI Pokémon title..

Games

Well, we’ve talked a lot about the 3DS’s downloadable demos and apps, let’s talk about the platform’s download-exclusive titles.  Let me tell you, there is an incredible amount of great games you can download on your 3DS right now, and here are just some of them.

Attack of the Friday Monsters – Are you a fan of Japanese culture, fighting monster movies like Godzilla, and superhero sentai shows like Kamen Rider?  If you are, you need to give this download-exclusive game from LEVEL-5 a look.  You play as a young boy who just moved to Tokyo during the booming popularity of sentai hero shows.  Every Friday, enormous monsters come to do battle, and all the children line up to watch the event and play a special card game.  But is everything exactly as it seems, and are you sure you know your own background?  This game features a great story, relatable characters, and a great art style.  Without a doubt you’ll get a few hours of enjoyment from this game, well worth the price.

Weapon Shop de OMASSE – Another LEVEL-5 exclusive downloadable game, but this one is heavily inspired by RPG games like Dragon Quest and adventure titles like The Legend of Zelda.  The game takes place in a time when warriors, knights, and adventurers of all sorts come together to complete quests all with the hope to defeat an ultimate evil.  However, you don’t play one of those heroes, you play the guy who makes weapons for those heroes to use, and oh boy you’re not going to believe all of the crazy and eccentric people who want to rent weapons from you, just make sure you give them the right one.  The best part is the game has some of the funniest writing I’ve ever heard, with lots of jokes poking fun at RPG clichés, and several attacks on the fourth wall.  If you enjoy parody, or just want to participate in a funny story, this is well worth a download.

Shovel Knight – This 8-bit inspired platformer has won numerous game of the year awards and I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t played it yet…

Pokémon Shuffle – Imagine a puzzle game where you need to group together similar characters to win, only these similar characters happen to be Pokémon.  Each puzzle is devoted to a specific Pokémon, and if you can complete it, you will earn the chance to capture that puzzle’s Pokémon. Any Pokémon you capture can then be used in subsequent puzzles to help you capture more.  This free game is probably one of the hottest downloads on the entire Nintendo eShop and has been so successful on the 3DS the Pokémon Company plans to bring it to smartphones in the near future.  If you ask me it strikes the perfect formula to make for an enjoyable puzzle game.  The best part is new puzzles are added all the time, and special limited puzzles with unique parameters are brought in all the time.

The Starship Damery – Another great downloadable title from LEVEL-5, this one is a science fiction title where you play as a character trapped on a derelict spacecraft.  You’re stuck in a cryopod and your only hope to escape is by taking control of a small autonomous robot.  You’re going to want to play this game to the end, because this game’s got a big twist that I did not see coming.

Dr. Mario Miracle Cure – If you liked Dr. Mario on the original NES or the downloadable title Dr. Luigi on the Wii U, you must download this game.  This is without a doubt the definitive version of Dr. Mario, and not only offers tons of puzzles from either game, but a cool special mode with tons of exclusive puzzles you’ll have to wrap your brain around.  If that’s not enough for you, there’s always online multiplayer.

Honorable Mentions

Here’s a section of game titles and apps which were offered for download on the Nintendo eShop, but are not currently available anymore for one reason or another.  If the apps are ever re-released I would recommend downloading them immediately, but until then here’s some of my favorite apps that unfortunately you may never get to use.

Nintendo Video – Nintendo Video was a small video app which could automatically download as many as four short 3D films to your Nintendo 3DS.  Over the years it showcased popular web videos like the Dinosaur Office series, music videos from bands like Linkin Park, and clips from 3D-exclusive series like Meat or Die and Dream Defenders.  While the app could only hold four videos in memory at any given time and its content lineup at any given time was entirely decided by Nintendo’s programmers, I was charmed by the variety of the 3D videos showcased on the app.  Sadly, Nintendo Video was shut down a few weeks ago, and will no longer function even if you have already downloaded it.  Nintendo has promised that the incredible trove of content they offered on the app will be accessible on the Nintendo eShop from now on, but as of this writing only some of the content the app has showcased over the past three years is watchable in the eShop.  However, if you get the chance I would recommend checking out Shaun the Sheep shorts on the eShop, they’re great.

Pokédex 3D – Pokédex 3D was released as a free Nintendo 3DS download to coincide with the release of Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 on the Nintendo DS back in 2012.  It is essentially a Pokédex for your Nintendo 3DS, and features information on Pokémon from the Generation V games.  While very little content is unlocked from the start, you could unlock new Pokédex entries by scanning AR codes or trading information with your friends. The app was later used as the groundwork for the Pokédex 3D Pro premium app, which added entries for all of the previous generation’s Pokémon and a cool trivia contest.  Sadly, when Pokédex 3D Pro was released, Nintendo discontinued offering the Pokédex 3D app on the eShop for download, and now you will have to pay $15 US to download the Pro version.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary – This DSi-downloadable title is an enhanced port of the original Four Swords bonus game included with all copies of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Game Boy Advance.  In it, you and as many as three other Links have to work together to complete challenges and defeat enemies.  It may sound simple, but it was a lot of fun and inspired many future games in the Four Swords series including The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures.  Sadly, this free game was released for only a short period of time to celebrate The Legend of Zelda‘s anniversary, but it was briefly rereleased last year to celebrate the critical success of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.  I would be happy to recommend this game, but Nintendo is very hush-hush about if they plan to offer it for download again.  Regardless, if it ever goes back up for any amount of time I would recommend getting it as soon as possible.

StreetPass Plaza

Last off, I want to remind all of you not to forget to create a Mii and enable StreetPass Plaza.  There are currently six exclusive games available for purchase through that application and they can only be purchased through the application.  Take my advice, all six of the games are a lot of fun, so your best deal is to buy them as a bundle since Nintendo offers the bundle at a discounted price.  Trust me, once you start visiting Nintendo Zone hotspots you’ll be very happy you bought them.

A Remedy Fan’s Speculation on How Quantum Break’s TV Series Should Be Presented (Part 2: Presentation Options) August 18, 2015

Welcome back everyone.  If you’re just joining us, we’ve been speculating about the incredible options and technical hurdles that are in store for Remedy Entertainment as they prepare for the release of the Xbox One exclusive title Quantum Break early next year.  In the last part of this editorial series, we spent some time talking about the technical complications that can come up if you’re planning to release a video game with an entire live-action television series integrated with it.  If you haven’t read it or would like to reread it, you can read that article here.  Today, we’re going to be talking about all of the different ways this game’s television series might be presented to us, and believe me there are actually a lot of options.  So, grab some popcorn and relax on the couch, we’re going to be talking about some pretty fun ways you might be able to watch Quantum Break’s live-action series when the game is released.

Since the game was announced alongside the Xbox One’s reveal back in 2013, I’ve heard a lot of theories about all of the ways the developers could present the game’s live-action television series, including some pretty fun ones.  Right now, I want to focus strictly on three possible options I can foresee being used to present the series to the game’s players.  Before we start talking about them, I just want to make a small disclaimer right here.  This is by no means a complete list, nor do I think that Remedy is under any obligation to construct their game using any of the options that I am speculating about.  This is just a fun thought exercise for me, and if you have any ideas of your own that you’d like to contribute, I want all of you to feel free to do so using the comments section at the bottom of the screen.

I cannot tell you how many games I’ve played through while I was growing up where simply finishing the game’s story was my sole motivation.  Many nights in my youth I would force myself to stay up late and complete a difficult level just so I could watch the next cutscene and discover what happens next in the story.  I’m sure avid book readers who find themselves reading something so interesting that they are unable to put their books down have had similar moments, but that’s how I feel when I’m playing a good game.  This has the side effect of making the FMV sequences feel like a bit of a mini-reward for your hard work in completing the previous section of the game.  Apparently I wasn’t alone with these feelings, I’ve heard similar comments from JRPG enthusiasts who felt the exact same way I did when playing through Final Fantasy games.

So how can Remedy best present their story to the player?  First off, let’s get the most obvious presentation option out of the way, and that is to simply launch specific episodes of the live-action series at predetermined interludes during the game.  Imagine it would play out like this: you would finish a level or accomplish a specific mission goal, the game would fade out and a specific episode of the live-action series would start.  During the episode you could be prompted to make several decisions until the episode concluded, and once the episode came to its end you would be brought back into the game.  I know that Remedy is planning to tell the TV series from a different character’s perspective, but I know for a fact that they are masterful at story organization so I trust them completely to best know which episodes to play at which points in the game.  The only downside of this option that I can think of is that we just don’t know how long Quantum Break’s episodes are going to be, and because of that we don’t know how long players could theoretically have to wait before the episode ended and brought the player back into the game.  Granted I’m sure anyone who played Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of the Patriots or Metal Gear Solid 4: Sons of Liberty probably wondered the same thing, but I’ll be talking about that more at a later time.  Personally I think this option, while simple and straightforward, has a lot of positives going for it and I totally welcome the option of taking a break from gameplay and grabbing some popcorn between levels to watch an episode.

The second option is to keep your game strictly a game the entire time you’re playing it and have the episodes unlock in the background after reaching certain levels or earning specific achievements in the game. In this case the episodes can unlock just as they would in the first option, but all you’d simply get is an on-screen notification about it in the same manor you would get an achievement or friend request, and you wouldn’t be taken out of the game or be required to watch it until later.  This could help make players who are solely interested in playing Quantum Break as an action game happy and keep an even tone throughout the game.  Episodes would still unlock as if they were a reward, but they would be watched completely by the player’s choice, since the player would have the option to continue progressing in the game until they decided to take a break and quit to a main menu.  I know there are a lot of players who would prefer this option, they’re the same players who push X every time a cutscene starts up just so they can skip it and get back to the action.  While this option has several positives, there are also several negatives as well.  The first downside of this option is that if a player ignores the game’s series, they won’t be able to make choices which could only come up during the show, and those choices will not affect the later portions of their game.  Remedy has mentioned that they will have specific set pieces during gameplay happen differently depending on the choices the player makes during the live-action show.  For example, in one scene you could have to fight your way across the bridge.  If you had been watching the series, there might be a protest on that bridge.  By making the show optional, you are depriving the player of fully experiencing their game and all of the different events that could happen.  To me personally, it would also break the game’s narrative flow if I constantly had to quit my game to the main menu every time I got a new episode notification.

The third option was inspired by information I read in various interviews that Remedy has done, and I think they’ve been seriously considering this option for a while as a secondary option for gamers.  It works like this: once an episode is unlocked during gameplay you could choose to either watch or skip it of your own free will, but if the reason why you’re skipping it is because you don’t have the time or ability to watch the show on your Xbox One, you could still watch the episode on the go by to streaming the show on a portable device like an iPhone or Droid.  This Quantum Break TV on the Go option would be possible through a specific app you would have to install on your mobile device, which could be either Xbox SmartGlass or some other dedicated app.  Theoretically this would probably also work on the PC as well if you were using Windows 10.  I  would consider this an alternate option for players to view the series, so I’m not going to really weigh in very heavily on the pros and cons of it.  I mean, first off it would be a really useful option for gamers constantly on the go, players who would like to rewatch the series, and people who can’t boot up their Xbox One because someone else is using the TV its connected to.  It’s also very possible for Remedy to create a dedicated mobile app for Quantum Break.  Since Death Rally was released on iOS a few years ago, Remedy created a huge smartphone presence.  They already employ dedicated phone programmers to work on games like Agents of Storm, so they certainly have the knowledge, experience and assets to create a dedicated Quantum Break app if they want.  There are a few downsides I can think about, and most of them revolve around added development time, but the game has an established release date, so if they were going to go that route, it wouldn’t add any more development time then they’ve already used.

So, those are some of my options for how Quantum Break’s live-action television series could be presented.  If it is presented right, the video portions of the game’s highly-anticipated television series could start a whole new movement for video games.  Obviously, Remedy is under no obligation to take any of the design routes that I have speculated over, but I do have one big request: Remedy, PLEASE INCLUDE A CUTSCENE VIEWER in the game’s main menu so players can rewatch previously unlocked episodes!  This would be a great feature that could be used to easily show off all of your hard work to gamers who haven’t played it yet.  Personally, I’d love to binge watch the series with Princess Angel.

Before we go, I have one last thought to bring up.  If I may be completely honest there is something that I’ve neglected to bring up until this point and that is control.  How do you best control these sequences?  At this point, there’s so little information available to us and very little precedent I can use for possible examples, that control may very well be the hardest thing for me to write about.  Because of that, I think we’re going to save it for next time.  Hope you’ll join us then!

Quantum Break is coming April 2016 exclusively to the Xbox One.

A Remedy Fan’s Speculation on How Quantum Break’s TV Series Should Be Presented (Part 1: Technical Issues) August 17, 2015

There is no game coming to the Xbox One that I’m looking forward to more than Quantum Break.  As you know, Quantum Break is going to have a live-action TV series included with the game, and we got to see a short preview of that series at this year’s Gamescom.  From the short preview we saw, the production values on this series looks incredible, perfect for viewing on the Xbox One.  The best part is its story is going to be fully incorporated into the game, and the choices you make while watching it will affect the game in lots of different ways.  The Xbox One can output video from a Blu-Ray Disc or streaming video service in native 1080p so it’s reasonable to assume that Quantum Break’s video content was theoretically produced at that resolution.  However, producing and delivering HD video content can still be a technical challenge due to a myriad of problems including disc storage capacities that I will elaborate on later.  Hypothetically, Remedy is going to need to deliver this HD video series to us in a package that is also going to include an entire Xbox One game. How are they going to pull this off, and what is the best way to present this series to the player?  Let’s talk about that shall we?

Now first off I want to preface this article with the fact that everything I’m going to be commenting on is sheer speculation.  With very few exceptions, we know very little about Quantum Break or its game length.  We only know for sure that the game is being developed by Remedy, who you may know from the hit games Alan Wake, Death Rally, and the first two Max Payne games.  They are one of the most driven and professional video game studios in the world, and I’m certain that their engineers have probably thought out all of the possibilities that I will be mentioning over the course of this article.  Most of what I’m going to be talking about here is heavily inspired by the work of other game developers who have already released titles on current consoles (Xbox One and PlayStation 4) and how they chose to present their titles given the rules and limitations of this new generation of hardware.  In a lot of cases, I think other studios have made the wrong decisions when designing their games for new hardware, and I will reference those titles and their bad decisions on a case by case basis.  My hope is that Remedy will learn from other’s mistakes and present the best possible game they can when Quantum Break launches in April.

Let me give a little background to explain what I mean when I say rules and limitations of the current consoles.  Xbox One and PS4 games require a game to be installed to your console’s Hard Drive before it played, even if you’re playing it off of a disc.  It’s really no different than what PC owners have had to go through over the past twenty years.  This installation requirement makes for improved load times and better overall game performance at a cost of your console’s total storage capacity and long wait times for the game’s initial installation and subsequent patches.  Since you can’t play a game on a modern console without installing it first, you can’t simply put in a game for the first time and start it without at least having to wait some time before you can play it.  Typically this installation time can range from a few minutes to an hour, and will eat up storage space on your console’s Hard Drive, something that you cannot upgrade on the Xbox One.

Without trying to rant too hard, I’ve noticed more recently that several games, especially ones on the PS4, will not perform a complete game installation when a game disc is first inserted.  Instead, the game installs a minimal amount of game content during the initial installation so it can get the player into the game as soon as possible.  The rest of the disc’s content would then install in the background during gameplay.  This might have been done as a response to a lot of people in the gaming media with either no patience or limited free time that complained they were unwilling to wait for their games to install, so in response some newer games have been designed to perform a small installation when the game disc is first inserted, and then perform the rest of the game’s installation during actual gameplay.  While this may sound like a great idea on paper it’s difficult for even the newest consoles, with all their processing power, to do a complete game installation and deliver a consistent game presentation at the same time.  What I’ve typically found is these forced background installations make for very poor gameplay performance, audio/video sync issues, and at worst, unforeseen errors and bugs.  Don’t believe me?  Try renting the disc version of The Order: 1886 and playing it on a PS4 that it has not been played on previously.  I remember hearing regular audio pops, seeing occasional lip-sync issues during cutscenes until finally I was hit with a pretty lengthy installation bar at the end of the first chapter.  It didn’t really make for a good initial impact on me.

If you really don’t want users to wait to play their games, you have a few options. I know the Xbox One’s OS allows a “Ready to Play” option, but at least it will continue to perform a game installation in the background of the operating system until the game is fully installed and patched to its latest version.  I thought the “Ready to Play” feature was used to an absolutely awesome level when I first used it on the game LocoCycle.   After the game downloaded a certain small percentage of the game’s total content, I was able to start the game and play the first levels while the rest of the game downloaded at a predictable pace.  At no point did I ever hit a wall where I had to stop playing because the game hadn’t finished downloading the rest of the next levels, and I thought that was really well planned out.  I was very happy with it because it allowed me to play this fun little title before it finished downloading from the Xbox Marketplace.

However, I’ve heard that “Ready to Play” isn’t used as well in other games. In Ryse, if you booted a game up when you were told it was “Ready to Play”, you were simply presented with a nice looking progress bar, nothing more.  Another downside was it would be nearly impossible to work well on a non-linear sandbox style game.  In Batman: Arkham Knight, a sandbox game, you cannot play certain missions until the mission’s content is installed off of the game’s disc.  Even if you want to play a specific mission you can’t until it is installed on your console, so you’ll just have to wait.  In the majority of titles that I’ve seen, even if you got the “Ready to Play” notification, at best you might be allowed to view the game’s menu, but all of the game’s options, including “Start Game”, would be grayed out.  You also don’t have the option to install the content you want in the order you want like you would in a PC game.  Games with lots of features would install exactly the way they were programmed to in the order the developers chose for them, so if you wanted to play a certain game mode first, you better hope that the specific mode you wanted to play was installed first, otherwise you would have to wait.

I guess I just want to say from all of this that I would rather wait however long it took to fully install Quantum Break on my Xbox One, than play a buggy game with poor performance for the duration it took for my Xbox One to install the rest of the game’s content. Even if it meant I could play my game sooner, I would rather wait until it would play perfectly. Trust me, I come from a PC background, I’m used to waiting to play my games.  Heck, it’s August 2015 when I’m writing this, I just installed Windows 10 on several PCs (which can take about 2-3 hours to download, install and tweak depending on your system’s hardware specifications) and I come from the age of dial-up, I have no issue popping my disc into the Xbox One and waiting. I can always just watch Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “We’ll Always Have Paris” and have a few sodas while I wait.

If you want a poster boy in the case of what not to do, look no further than one of Microsoft’s major releases from last year. For those of you who may have picked up Halo: The Master Chief Collection, once you get past the game’s bugs you’ll see many other poor decisions at work. Owners of the game were given exclusive access to a five-part Halo TV series, called Halo: Nightfall. However, for some reason which escapes all logic, the series was not included on the game’s disc.  If you wanted to watch it, you would need to download an app called the Halo Channel, redeem a download code included in your game’s package (assuming someone hadn’t already copied or used it first), and then wait for the episode to be released before you could watch it.  Microsoft may have chosen to do this to save space on their game’s disc, but there was nothing stopping them from including the series on a second disc, especially since they would eventually release the entire series on separate Blu-Ray Disc just a few weeks later.

If you owned only The Master Chief Collection and wanted to actually watch Halo: Nightfall you had to stream it off the web on the Halo Channel. Typically this isn’t much of an issue, but when the game was released the Halo Channel suffered from severe performance and buffering issues even on users with good connectivity so video quality would frequently degrade.  I hate when my streaming quality degrades while I’m watching a file because when you’re sitting on a 105Mbit/s downstream service there simply should not be any buffering.  I don’t have these issues with other paid streaming services.  If I’m paying for a digital video service or using a digital service to rent something I expect consistent quality for streamed files.  If that can’t be guaranteed, the series should have been included on the game disc or a seperate Blu-Ray.  The worst part was you could not even binge watch the series until at least five weeks after the game was released, even though owners were promised the whole series and should have gotten all of it at the time of the game’s launch.

So what are the other options if streaming is a bad idea? Well, the series could be included on the game disc in its entirety. Quality would be GREAT and performance would remain consistent while you were watching it.  In fact, the experience watching it would be no different than if you were watching it off a pristine Blu-Ray Disc.   The downside is this option is that HD video files can take up a lot of space on both the game disc and Xbox One.  For those of you with first generation Xbox One consoles, you only have 500GB of storage for all of your content unless you plan to buy a USB 3.0 compatible external Hard Drive.  A large memory footprint could also increase the game’s initial installation times, making you wait a while before you could start playing it.

In the last generation, I remember a lot of people telling me that many Japanese game developers were adamant about using Blu-Ray Discs for their video games because the extra storage offered by the BD format allowed them to include high-quality uncompressed video files in their games.  DVD just didn’t have anywhere near the amount of storage capacity that a BD disc does, and that’s why several multiplatform games would ship on multiple discs for its Xbox 360 version, and only one disc for its PS3 version.  However, compression has gotten a lot better in the past decade.  Video files encoded in the MPEG4 format, the typical compression used by Blu-Ray Discs, take up much less space than DVD’s MPEG2 format did.  In this generation, it is fully possible for developers to compress their video files at the cost of some possible quality loss with the finished product, and this could be a good option for Remedy to cut down on Quantum Break’s overall storage requirements, but it might offend some video purists.  Of course this would all depend on which compression method Remedy chooses to use, but this might be a necessity.  As far as I’m concerned, as long as the game’s installation footprint can fit under 50GB and the live-action segments are visually on par with a Blu-Ray movie, I can live with it, but I know a lot of others might not be that generous.  As for installation times, I said earlier I can always watch some old episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation while I wait, so that isn’t as big a deal to me either.  Just to be safe, I would still recommend that anyone who hasn’t already picked up the Xbox One console yet and wants to play Quantum Break when it gets released next year take a serious look at the new Halo 5: Guardians version of the console, because at least that version of the console will come with a 1TB Hard Drive pre-installed inside it.

Okay we got some of the technicals out of the way when it comes to getting the series on your console, so in the next part of this featured article we’re going to speculate some possible options for the game to present its live-action series.  This is some really exciting stuff, and you would be surprised just how many options we may have to watch Shawn Ashmore kick some butt.  Stay tuned for that tomorrow, right here.  Thanks for reading and feel free to post a comment below on what your thoughts are about the current generation of consoles.

Quantum Break is coming April 2016 exclusively to the Xbox One.

The Top Ten Most Heartbreaking Moments in Gaming History May 8, 2015

10. The Slow, Downward Spiral of Interplay

Anyone remember Interplay?  Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, I remember this company made some decent games with the Star Trek license, including titles like Starfleet Academy, which brought back George Takei, Walter Koening and The Shatner.  However, Interplay did a lot more than just make Star Trek games. I’m sure many of you will remember them for their contribution to the gaming zeitgeist in the form of the Fallout series, the first two of which are still considered some of the best early PC-RPGs.  As time went on, these guys continued to make a lot of games which stood out to me.  Messiah tried to add a new spin on the third person shooter genre.  Giants: Citizen Kabuto brought humor to what would have otherwise been a run of the mill shooter, and introduced the world to Planet Moon Studios.  Run like Hell had Bawls.  Well, the good times were not to last for Interplay and funding started to dwindle for them while working on their next Fallout title, forcing them to eventually sell the Fallout IP to Bethesda.  Bethesda would go on to make Fallout 3, a game which turned them into an overnight sensation.  This really did not help Interplay’s bottom line, as the rights to Fallout would eventually become completely absorbed by Bethesda.

I know that at one point Interplay was working on an MMO based on the Fallout license, but Bethesda Studios claimed ownership of Fallout and put a stop to that.  I don’t know what Interplay is currently working on, but you can thankfully still buy their games through services like GOG.com, and they are still being supported.  They’re still around, and if you’re interested, they might be willing to let you make some games using one of the franchises they still own for the right price, but that’s about it.  I would love to see a new Run Like Hell game made, but it needs to keep its Bawls.

9. The Incomplete, Buggy Game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was considered one of the greatest titles on the original Xbox and one of the best games of 2003. It showed critics that the Star Wars license could still deliver incredible entertainment experiences even after the utter critical failure of the prequel trilogy, and became a ray of light for Star Wars fans everywhere. The game’s developer, Bioware, had become too busy with other projects to make a sequel for the game, so the game’s publisher, Lucasarts, shifted development of its sequel to the lesser known RPG developer Obsidian and planned to release it within a year.  When Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords was released the hopes for the Star Wars franchise were utterly dashed.  Players bought KOTOR II on the Xbox day one with the hope that the game would explain what happened to the original game’s characters in the time since the original game completed, but sadly no answers would ever come.  Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords shipped with an almost entirely new cast of characters (with the exception of a few secondary characters from the previous game including one fan favorite), and players hoping for a continuation to the original game’s story never really find out what happened to Revan.  I personally remember playing the thirty hour game over the course of four days, and I could not have been more disappointed with the game’s ending.  It just seemed like the game resolved nothing, and that wasn’t good enough for fans who had paid $50 US for it.

When the PC version launched a few months later it was discovered to be a buggy, rushed mess and fans were furious.  The game was never fully fixed by its developers or publisher, but fans have been trying to fix it on their own for years, trying to resurrect whatever incomplete content they can that was cut during the game’s rushed development period.  Years later, Bioware created an MMO based on The Old Republic, essentially dashing my hopes for a third game.

8. The Cancellation of Star Wars 1313

I’ve got another Star Wars related disappointment for you.  Star Wars 1313 was shown privately at E3 in 2012, and it quickly became one of the most anticipated titles of the show.  When it was shown running on next-generation PC hardware, Star Wars 1313’s graphics made even the jaded gaming press drop their jaws.  You would play as a bounty hunter dealing in the seedy underworld of Courisant, an aspect of the Star Wars universe viewers only glimpsed at for brief moments during the prequel trilogy.  The game developers were also holding back a huge secret, the game was going to star one of the fans’ favorite characters, Boba Fett.  After having been burned by overhyped Star Wars games like The Force Unleashed in the years prior, and still stinging from the critical failure of the Prequel Trilogy, the gaming media had high hopes that Star Wars 1313 would restore the Star Wars license to its former glory.  The game was shown one year before the Xbox One and Playstation 4 were even announced, so Lucasarts could not say what their target platforms for the game would be, but gamers everywhere, regardless of platform, were heavily anticipating it.  However, when George Lucas sold his empire to Disney, Lucasarts became unnecessary in the eyes of their new corporate masters, and development ceased.  While many hope that EA could revive the game in the future, it is unlikely this game will ever see the light of day.

7. Panzer Dragoon Saga’s Limited Release

The Sega Saturn was failing and Sega was just about ready to jump ship.  The console was costing Sega too much to keep manufacturing, and plans were already underway to develop a new, more cost efficient gaming console which could launch before Sony could start manufacturing their successor to the Playstation, the Playstation 2.  The problem was developers were still making games for the Sega Saturn, and one game was on track for release just as Sega was going to pull the plug on the Saturn, Panzer Dragoon Saga.  This game was getting incredible reviews and it was on track to become a major system seller, but it could not have been released at a worse time.  Sega pulled the plug on the Saturn, and only manufactured a small initial run for copies of the game with no intention to do another run. Most of the game’s copies were sold to anyone who preordered it, and the game was never re-manufactured despite its praise from critics and players alike.  In the intervening years, the game’s development could be considered a bit of a business conundrum.  If it launched sooner it could have been a huge system seller for Sega, however, would it have been as good if development on it had rushed?  Could any one game really have saved the Saturn?  We really don’t know the answer to that question, but before Sega pulled the plug, there was a nearly perfect storm of bad news coming from the Saturn department.  Consumer confidence in the platform was at an all time low, and retailers didn’t want to stock it given its high price.  I think that after the failure of Sonic Xtreme’s development, Sega felt that the Saturn was too much of a money pit to keep financing it, and one huge game would not be enough to make it profitable again.  A shame really, Panzer Dragoon Saga’s now considered a cult classic, and its popularity alone should merit new ports on the current consoles.

6.  The Failure of the Dreamcast

I just told you a story about a Sega failure to…tell you another story about a Sega failure, the Dreamcast.  Most Sega fans would probably put this event at the top of their list for most disappointing moments in gaming but for me it deserved a place right in the middle of the list.  By all intents and purposes, the Dreamcast should have been a success.  Sega took careful note of all the failures they made during the Saturn era, and they fixed every single problem they had.  They also looked somewhat to the future, knowing that online play was taking off like crazy on the PC, and they included a modem with every Dreamcast with the option for players to upgrade their modem to a network card if they needed that instead.  The Dreamcast had so much going for it, great hardware, wonderful development tools, and one of the best launch lineups of games in video game history.  The advertising campaign behind it was epic, which you can tell because everyone to this day still remembers 09/09/99.  The Dreamcast’s first day sales alone rivaled any product’s launch of its day.  The system sold like crazy at launch, completely selling out on its first day at sale, and Sega just wasn’t prepared for it.

So why is the Dreamcast considered a failure?  The games were great, many of them are considered cult classics to this day.  The hardware was great to work with, and many developers liked making games for it.  It improved on the Saturn in every way but it still failed, and here’s why.  If Sega had made one mistake with the Dreamcast it was in betting on the wrong horse, or in this case, the wrong storage medium.  In the year 2000, the DVD format hit the wide consumer market hard and everyone needed to have it.  It made other formats like VHS completely obsolete (and rightfully so, VHS’s quality was horrible), and with tons of great films being released on the format, consumers were buying up anything and everything that could play DVDs.  Sony’s Playstation 2, which would release a year after the Dreamcast, would not only have an incredible list of highly anticipated exclusive titles for it, it would have the capability to play DVD movies…and launch at the same price point as the standalone DVD players of the time did.  When the PS2 launched the Dreamcast simply could not compete, and sales for the platform tumbled and never recovered.  If there’s any lesson that could be learned from this it is probably that you have to keep a close eye on your competition, and if you have anyone on staff that could faithfully predict the consumer market’s tastes well, listen to them.

5.  The Discontinuation of Xbox Live for the original Xbox

Microsoft released the original Xbox console in 2001 alongside one of the greatest games ever made, Halo: Combat Evolved.  The Xbox came out a year after the PS2 completely dominated the gaming market, but that extra year gave Microsoft the chance to make a lot of improvements so their console could compete against Sony.  Not only could the Xbox play DVD movies (as long as you bought a seperate remote), every Xbox shipped with a network card, making it capable of playing games through a LAN.  This capability turned what would otherwise have been a simple single player console FPS into one of the greatest multiplayer phenomena of all time.  However, the Xbox could not play games online, and home users would have to network multiple systems in their homes to take full advantage of the Xbox’s Network Play feature, dubbed “System Link”.  A year later, Microsoft remedied this problem and launched the Xbox Live service, which allowed Xbox owners to play specific Xbox multiplayer titles online for a fee of $50 US a year.  It was broadband only, but this would guarantee decent game speeds, options for downloadable content, and even offered players the chance to voice chat with their friends.  It took off.  Many could consider the launch of the Xbox Live service in 2002 one of the greatest moments in the history of gaming.  By the time Halo 2 launched in 2004, a game which took full advantage of all of Xbox Live’s capabilities, Xbox owners everywhere had a huge reason to sign up for the service and start paying.

When the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, Xbox Live was the centerpiece of the console, and now all 360 games would take advantage of it, enabling all Xbox 360 games the chance to be patched, and gave players the option for cross-game voice chat with their friends.  It was a great time to be a gamer, the 360 could play a lot of original Xbox games, including titles which used Xbox Live, and as long as the player continued to pay for the service, they could play online on both consoles.  In 2010, Microsoft decided that they just weren’t interested in their original Xbox owner’s money for some reason, and discontinued Xbox Live support for the original Xbox, essentially cutting off Xbox players from the multiplayer gaming service, and preventing players from patching original Xbox titles or redownloading any of the DLC they purchased.  To this day, five years later, I cannot think of a single benefit Microsoft has brought to their consumers that would have necessitated this decision.

4.  The Confusing Legal Status to No One Lives Forever

In the year 2000, 20th Century Fox actually had their own game publishing company, called Fox Interactive.  They initially published games which used their own internal franchises, releasing games like Aliens Vs Predator and The X-Files Game, but later moved on to releasing games made from entirely new IPs.  In 2000, Fox Interactive partnered with game developer Monolith to make some games Fox Interactive would publish which did not use any of their 20th Century Fox properties.  In that year, Fox Interactive released two games developed by Monolith, Sanity: Aiken’s Artifact and No One Lives Forever.  While nobody remembers Sanity, despite the fact it starred Ice-T, EVERYONE seems to fondly remember No One Lives Forever, and rightfully so.  The game put a new spin on the 60s spy genre, instead of creating a gritty world like a James Bond film, No One Lives Forever was a humorous game which had more in common with the Austin Powers movies.  By 2003, Fox Interactive sold out their company to Sierra, who was in the process of being absorbed by a conglomerate, Vivendi Universal.  Monolith went on to create a sequel to NOLF, No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M’s Way, under the Sierra banner in the early 2000s.  The sequel was a game which was, in my opinion, an improvement over the original in almost every way.  A standalone expansion called Contract J.A.C.K. was released shortly after, but it was more of a spin off.  While the game bridged the story between the first two NOLF titles, it was more of an action oriented FPS, with less of the gadgets or humor the franchise was known for and it would sadly end up becoming the final game to be released in the franchise.

After that this story starts to look like a bad series of notations.  Vivendi Universal would go on to be acquired by Activision, who would later merge with World of Warcraft developer Blizzard.  Somewhere along the way, after numerous buyouts, merges, and corporate takeovers, the rights to No One Lives Forever became lost.  Now when I say lost, I don’t mean the studios actually lost the rights, I mean they lost the piece of paper that said they legally had the rights!  WB Interactive, who now owns Monolith, the studio who created the franchise, has been feverishly sending their lawyers against anyone who has been interested in reviving it, even though they themselves do not even know if they have the legal standing to do so.  If any lesson could be learned by this jumbled mess it would be this:  Developers, don’t sell the rights to your IP to publishers, they cannot be trusted with them.  And whatever you do, don’t sell your company.

3.  The Closing of Troika Games

This was a studio who had a reputation for biting off more than they could chew, and it would be their downfall.  Troika Games was responsible for some of the most imaginative and yet grounded RPGs on the PC, but they had a poor habit of releasing these titles in a buggy or unstable state.  In 2004, the same year that Half-Life 2 was released on the PC, Troika released one of my favorite games of all time, Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, which used the same graphics engine.  In the game, the player, a newly sired vampire, would have to survive in modern day Los Angeles.  Everything you thought bumped in the night was real, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, magic and lots more, but above all else you had to keep this a secret from normal people.  The game was quite imaginative, taking the rules from White Wolf’s World of Darkness pen and paper games.  However, developing an ambitious PC RPG on an incomplete graphics engine not originally designed for RPGs was a daunting task, and while Valve was able to eventually stabilize the Source Engine, Troika had to develop their game while that was going on.  Furthermore, delays in the release of Half-Life 2 put a delay on the game’s release, eventually forcing it to launch day and date with one of the greatest PC titles ever made.  Because of that, sales were not good and when the time came for Troika to start their next project, none of the publishers were interested and the studio unfortunately had to close, leaving Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines in a buggy, unfinished state.  Quite a shame, I really wanted to see another game from them.

2. The Closing of Ion Storm Dallas

I know there are going to be a lot of people online who do not consider Ion Storm’s closing to be a bad thing, but after playing the epic game Anachronox, released just before the studio was shut down, I have nothing but sympathy for its developers.  Ion Storm, founded by industry veterans John Romero, Tom Hall and Warren Specter, were a Texas based game studio with the philosophy that good game design was the most important thing about a game.  However, simply being able to design great games is just not enough of a skill to help you manage a multimillion dollar business.  The studio’s flagship title, Daikatana, underwent numerous delays, restarts, and controversies before it would finally get a critically disappointing release in mid-2000, three years after it was initially expected to get released.  The game was critically panned across the gaming media, and sales were poor.  Had Ion Storm Austin not released Deus Ex some time later, a game considered by many to be one of the best PC titles ever made, who knows if publisher Eidos would have even allowed Ion Storm to finish Tom Hall’s epic space PC-RPG, Anachronox? Ion Storm Dallas was forced to close by publisher Eidos after releasing Anachronox in 2002, leaving the game without post-release support and shuttering any chance for a sequel, even though Tom Hall planned for the game to get further titles released, and plenty of work on the game’s sequel was already completed.  Warren Spector’s Austin branch was allowed to continue making titles under Eidos’s watchful eye.

Ion Storm could have been considered a reality check for game publishers, as they discovered pouring unchecked amounts of money into studios helmed by famous developers would not guarantee a decent end product or even good sales.  Now that the suits at the top knew it, it signaled the end of a great time for game development, and studios would find themselves bowing to publisher pressure a lot more often.

1.  The Discontinuation of the Sin Episodes

This is the one that hurt me the most. In 2006, game developers were tired of being completely dependent on game publishers for financing, and they thought for sure they figured out an entirely new business model where they could release a game in sections, called Episodes.  Each episode would represent a small portion of a finished game and would not require a large investment of time to develop.  Once the first episode was released, developer Ritual wanted to use the profits from the sale of earlier episodes to fund new episodes, completely cutting out the need for publisher money.  Since 1998, Ritual had been planning to make a sequel to the cult classic PC game SiN for years, but publishers were not interested in funding the title unless Ritual was willing to give them the rights to the SiN IP.  Ritual had developed several missions for Counter Strike: Condition Zero, one of the first new games released on the STEAM platform, for Valve in 2003 and had just finished work on Star Trek: Elite Force 2 for Activision.  Previously former rivals, by 2004 Valve’s relationship with Ritual was good, and the businessmen at Ritual thought STEAM could be the perfect platform to release a new SiN title, especially since Valve was not interested in the SiN IP.  In fact, Valve was planning to develop expansion packs for Half-Life 2 after its release, and Ritual inspired them to release the Half-Life 2 expansions episodically.  Sin Episode 1 was released in 2006, and Half-Life 2 Episode 1 released shortly afterwards.

The episodes were good, but the pricing model just wasn’t.  Both Ritual and Valve sold their games at a price point of $19 US each, putting it at the price of value software.  Retailers who carried it immediately stuffed copies in the bargain bin, not treating either title as major releases.  The SiN Episodes sold enough to compensate the episode’s development, but didn’t sell enough to fund new episodes.  Ritual, sadly, would not survive and their studio was sold to Mumbojumbo, who had no interest in continuing support for the episodes in any way.  If it wasn’t for the incredible success of the episodic titles coming from developer Telltale Games, the only company able to make the episodic game model work at that time, developers would have written the episodic game model off entirely.  Why did Telltale survive when no one else did?  Because Telltale had the foresight to offer their customers the chance to preorder future episodes of a game at a heavily reduced price, an early version of what we now call a game’s Season Pass.  Neither Valve nor Ritual offered that option, and even though Valve would eventually release Half-Life 2 Episode 2, they released it at retail in a completion of new and previously released games called The Orange Box.  Quite sad, I really wanted to know what was going to happen.  What was the most upsetting thing about this failure?  Not only did it prove that a fantastic developer could not make it big simply delivering a heavily polished budget priced title, it nearly killed all hope in the episodic gaming formula and reminded triple-A developers they would have to continue pandering to the major publishers for the time being if they wanted any hope of continuing to make games.