Who Will Define The Next Year of Nintendo? February 25, 2014

On March 18th, 2014 the Year of Luigi will officially end. The Year of Luigi, originally announced a year ago, was one of the best promotional events in the history of Nintendo and brought a character typically seen in the background up front and center as he happened to star in several major games that got released over the course of that year, including Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, New Super Luigi U and Dr. Luigi.

With the year wrapping up soon, and with all the positive press from the promotion, I started to wonder if Nintendo might try the event again with a new character for 2014.  Luigi was chosen because he was a background character that hadn’t got as much appreciation as Nintendo’s biggest mascot, Mario. He was also chosen because Nintendo had planned an entire lineup of games which featured him to release within that year, including several games he would star in. So it would be logical to assume Nintendo may want to promote some other secondary character once the Year of Luigi concludes.

But which character?  With a bit of speculation, and a bit of conjecture lets take a look at some of the options.

Samus Aran – The third major Nintendo property has not seen much love from Nintendo in this current generation.  Since the release of Metroid: Other M, we haven’t heard a peep from the franchise’s hero Samus Aran, despite the demand for new Metroid Prime games.  Short of releases of the original Metroid games on the Wii U and 3DS platforms, and a fantastic bunch of minigames in the Wii U launch title Nintendo Land, there have not been any new Metroid games released on the current Nintendo platforms. I think the time is right for some new Metroid games, all it would take is a new game’s announcement.  In the meantime, Metroid Fusion has already been confirmed as an early title for the Wii U’s first GBA Virtual Console releases, and Samus was one of the first characters confirmed for the next Super Smash Bros game.

Donkey Kong – Could this year be on like Donkey Kong?  It’s already started up.  One of the original mascots of the Nintendo company, Donkey Kong would be a great contender to dedicate the next year.  With Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze releasing this month on the Wii U, the lineup is already in place.  He has also been confirmed as one of the first playable characters for the next Super Smash Bros game and Mario Kart 8.  However, even I have to admit the timing may be wrong for Donkey Kong this year.  With the new Donkey Kong Country game getting released while we are still officially in the Year of Luigi, it may have been too soon to dedicate the next year of releases to him.

Bowser – A role once played by Dennis Hopper, next to Mario or Luigi, Bowser is one of the most iconic characters from the Super Mario series, and if Nintendo wanted to devote another year to a lesser appreciated character from the Super Mario franchise, Bowser would probably be the most likely candidate. While typically the villain of nearly every Super Mario Bros game, Bowser has occasionally joined Mario with his battles, like in Super Mario RPG, or joined him with his recreational activities, like Golf or Go Karting.  Interesting to note that not only will he be returning as a playable character in Mario Kart 8, all the Koopalings will be coming with him.

Pikachu – The most iconic mascot for one of the most popular game franchises in history could find a year dedicated to him.  Yes I know that Nintendo already released the sixth generation Pokémon games in 2013, but Nintendo doesn’t need to launch a new Pokémon generational game, they could be in development of new spin-off titles like a new Pokémon Ranger game.  On top of that, there have been rumors for a few months now that an interactive game starring Pikachu is under development and will be the next game Nintendo releases in the Pokémon series.  Could this Pikachu game be the flagship title of a year of Pikachu like Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon was for The Year of Luigi?

The Year of Luigi ends March 18th, 2014.  I guess we’ll find out what will be coming in less than a month.  Until then, speculate away.  I’ll see you on Miiverse.

Why I Left the PC February 20, 2014

I got my first PC in late 1996. It was a Pentium machine clocked at 133mHz with 16MB of RAM running Windows 95. The store my dad bought the computer from included a CD-ROM with the computer which had over one hundred different DOS shareware demos. Every game demo you could imagine as staples of the gaming industry was on that disc. Wolfenstein 3D, Commander Keen, and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis were just some of the games I could start playing, and my computer, while a dinosaur by today’s standards, could run all these demos without the slightest hitch. When I loaded up the first shareware demo, the computer’s speakers began to roar. The last time I had played a video game was on the original NES and as the flight simulator loaded up, it looked hundreds of times better than any game I had ever seen before. On that day, I became a PC Gamer. Ten years later, that ended.

Throughout the late 90s, the PC had so much more that it could offer gamers than the consoles of the day could. It had better graphics hardware, a wider variety of control options, and online capabilities. But to me, the single thing that made the PC the best gaming platform was its ability to improve itself through the form of patches and mods. PC game developers could release new features, fix bugs, and support user modifications with just a simple download.

The tide had begun turning against the PC starting around the launch of the original Playstation. While it was clear that the PC could deliver a better gaming experience than the consoles of the day could, it was clear that the consoles would compete by offering some amazing exclusive games that would never see a release on the PC. By the time the PS2, Xbox and GameCube launched, publishers turned nearly all their focus to developing games on those consoles. Even LucasArts, who had one of the biggest catalogs of PC games, was no longer porting games to the PC. PC games were still being developed, and any game’s PC version would clearly offer the superior gaming experience over the console version, fewer games were coming to the platform. Unless the game was pushing technology past something the consoles could do or was a best selling game, it wouldn’t come to the PC.

But a lack of key exclusive titles was not enough to turn me away from the PC, it was the decisions made by the game publishers. To them, the PC was a pit, at least, that’s how it seemed like they felt. Valve released Half-Life 2, one of the best games ever made, in 2004. In every copy of Half-Life 2 was a program called Steam, and it would run every time Half-Life 2 did. The Steam program required online access to function, but once you gave it the game’s CD-Key, it would keep Half-Life 2 up to date, keep an online friend’s list of all the Half-Life and Counter Strike players, making it easier for you to join friend’s games, and provided one of the PC’s first online digital marketplaces. Many PC players were against its existence, but it offered me a lot of really useful benefits, so I had no issue with it. Little did I know that other publishers would see the success of the Steam platform and its acceptance by players like myself, and, not knowing or caring about all the benefits that Steam offered players, actively engaged in anti-consumer practices to protect their own bottom lines.

In 2007, publishers started to ship PC games which, like other games that shipped with Steam, required online activation to play. However, unlike Steam, they offered absolutely no benefits whatsoever to customers who bought games that required online activation, not even automatic game patching. In fact some of the games it shipped with, like the original Bioshock, had no multiplayer component. So, why did it have to be included? The worst part of this development was that the publishers limited the amount of times you could perform an online activation! The internet went into an uproar by this point. PCs can break or get computer viruses very suddenly and unexpectedly, forcing players to perform system wipes, costing them an activation in the process. Meanwhile, while Steam wasn’t going anywhere, there was no way to tell how long the activation servers that verified these games would continue to run, or if they would go down due to heavy use. The concerns turned out to be fully justified. Even legitimate PC game reviewers encountered problems with these limited activations.

Forced online activations became the norm by 2008. Games including Mirror’s Edge, Red Alert 3 and Dead Space all required online activation. I was most sad to see Red Alert 3 would be DRM locked, I was actually planing to buy that game, but I knew all it would take would be three system wipes and I would have to rebuy it.

Meanwhile the newest consoles were looking more and more attractive by comparison. With the wide adoption of HDTVs, the game consoles could offer high definition gaming in surround sound, perfect for gamers interested in setting up a home theater system in their home. Also, with the wider adoption of high speed internet, console games could be patched, giving consoles one of the biggest advantages the PC held over it. Unified console marketplaces also made it possible to deliver downloadable content, digital games and even feature films!

The tide against the PC had turned and I knew that if I wanted to stay a gamer, I could no longer be loyal to just one platform. Some of the best games I’ve played in the past ten years were console exclusives. I never thought I would make that statement.

The PC still claims dominance in graphical fidelity but with its cost, complexity, and the restrictive self imposed procedures publishers are forcing on their customers, it is getting harder and harder to justify those slightly less jagged edges or extra frames per second during gameplay.

I will miss the PC. But I’m a gamer.

Subs vs. Dubs, For Gaming February 18, 2014

For as long as media has been imported overseas there has been a never-ending discussion from fans of other country’s media how the imported content should be localized for the region it is being brought to should be presented.  One option, by far the most used by mainstream media distributors is referred to as “dubbing”.  This is done by doing a complete translation of a script to the language spoken by the region it is being brought to, hiring a new cast of native voice actors, and redub all of the content’s dialog.  The other option is referred to as “subbing”, which keeps the content’s dialog exactly as the original creators intended, with its original voice actors presented in its original language.  Only subtitles are provided to help non native speakers understand what is going on.  While this is a cheaper option for foreign distributors, this option is typically preferred by importers and many devoted consumers.  This debate, lovingly referred to by either side as, “Subs vs. Dubs”, has been happening for a long time.  Now, the conversation is happening all over again for video games and it looks to be completely changing the rules on how international video games are localized.

Let’s be honest here, regardless of how you feel about subs or dubs, there are valid arguments on both sides.  People arguing for subtitled content argue that a content should be presented in its original medium exactly the way that its creator, regardless of their country of origin, intended.  On top of that they cite that in a lot of cases foreign dubbing just isn’t very good and can wreck an otherwise fantastic work.  People in favor of dubbed content have their own points.  Subtitles can distract the viewer from what is happening on the screen, and if time and effort is taken by the right localization studio, a properly translated work performed by decent voice actors can be obtained in any country regardless of a language or cultural gap.

Up to this point, any localized content provided from overseas development studios have typically made the decision to fully translate and localize any of their game’s content to the region they release their game to.  It is a difficult process, as it means an entire reworking of a game’s menu systems, script, and can require an entirely separate team of voice actors and directors be hired and recorded.  It can be an expensive process, especially for dialog heavy games.  Because of that, some companies have sadly chosen not to even bother releasing many popular games overseas, like Mother 3, because they didn’t believe the development costs of localizing their content would pay off once the content was released to a new market, or because they wouldn’t be able to release a game into the market before a new platform would launch.

Consumers on the “sub” side of this argument have not been happy with this status quo.  In fact, I remember there was a huge desire for Catherine to be brought to the US in its original language.  The guy who did the voice of Vincent in the original Japanese version is apparently a very famous voice actor in Japan, with many fans here in the US.  Sadly, the version of Catherine that came to the US only included a localized English audio track, and even though I enjoyed it tremendously in my own native language, this upset many people who preferred to hear it spoken with the game’s original dialog by the original voice actors.

However, as of this past year I have personally had something of a resurgence in my interest in foreign content, and I have noticed that the trend of “dubbing” all localized content is beginning to change.  The Nintendo 3DS downloadable title Attack of the Friday Monsters (A Tokyo Tale) was entirely subbed.  This decision worked on many levels, especially since the game took place in Japan.  Even though it was just a cute little downloadable title that never got a retail release, for the first time I can think of, a video game studio chose to present localized content for a North American game release in the form of subtitles instead of redubbing the original voice over work.

I believe the best decision that could have been made to solve this debate is to give consumers a choice between the two and release games that offer players either option.  Back in the days of VHS, this wasn’t an option, but with the storage space offered by Blu-Ray Discs, and its ability to be used as either a game or a film storage medium, and with online streaming services and DLC, consumers can get both options without having to rebuy the same content multiple times.  Heck, you don’t always need a large enough disc to do it.  Bravely Default’s full version can be played in the original Japanese language (among several others including English and Italian), they just couldn’t fit all the different languages into the game’s demo version.  The North American retail version of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII does not include the game’s original Japanese voice over on the game disc, but Square did release the game’s original Japanese audio track for free as DLC, and it can be downloaded right now by anyone with a copy of the full version of the game who wants to hear it.  Support for this decision this must have been very positive, as Square Enix plans to do it again with the next Drakengard game, and will give DLC codes for the game’s original Japanese voice over audio for free to anyone who preorders the game early enough.

With current technology making it possible for movies, television and video games to offer consumers either option for how they want to view their content, perhaps this debate may finally be coming to an end.

The Scourge of the Season Pass February 10, 2014

With all the paid DLC coming out for major game releases, why not pay for all of a game’s content at once and get all the DLC at a reduced price?  Since around 2011, publishers started offering players the chance to buy a Season Pass with their game.  For the customer, they sound good in theory.  Not only can it be cheaper for your wallet, it can be a lot easier than having to navigate though a dozen individual downloads, sorting through downloadable videos, demos and avatar clothing, and being really careful not to repurchase any redundant content by accident.  Just buy a Season Pass and all the downloadable content will unlock in your game automatically as it gets released.  Every time you boot up your game you’ll get a small pop up when new content is available.  From there you can immediately download it without having to pay any extra money.  It couldn’t be simpler.  It also works well for the game’s developers.  By getting money in advance for content they are working on, it can finance future game development and ensure post-release content for a game will be more likely to see a release.

So if Season Passes are a win on both sides, why is this article titled The Scourge of the Season Pass?  Well because not everything in theory works when put into practice, and as I plan to explain further in this article, every once in a while game developers and publishers can get a bit greedy.  This system, once a benefit for gamers, is now becoming an issue.  Let’s look at our recent gaming history and find out why.

Season Passes are nothing new to the gaming industry.  Episodic games have used a similar payment option since games were delivered by shareware, and more recently when Telltale Games started work on the first season of Sam & Max in 2006.  Instead of charging for each game episode individually, Telltale offered a second payment option while the episodes are still under development and promised customers who paid for this second option access to all the game’s episodes as soon as they got released.  The price for this second payment option would still be a reasonable amount more than just one episode would cost, but less than what the consumer would have paid had they bought each episode individually as they got released.  By offering this simple common sense payment option, Telltale Games became a powerhouse during the Episodic Gaming Boom, whereas other larger developers like Valve Software and Ritual Entertainment failed to capitalize in it.  To this day, I still stand by the statement that had the SiN: Episodes offered a similar payment plan, Ritual Entertainment would still be around and further SiN: Episodes would have gotten developed past the first one.

So what are the problems with Season Passes?  First off, they’re getting incredibly overpriced, especially for games on the latest consoles. The Season Pass for Dead Rising 3 costs $29 US, and while Capcom is promising to release a series of Single Player expansion missions for that game, the Dead Rising 3 Season Pass is still ten dollars more expensive than the Season Pass prices of most other games are, even other games on the Xbox One.  Dead Space 3 also offered a Season Pass right after it was released, but all that was included with it was some extra weapons and armor that EA had already released on Day One and was planning to sell individually.  You’re not exactly paying in advance for future content when it is already out on Day One.  Since EA was already bundling DLC codes for similar content inside new copies of the game, EA should have released their Season Pass’s content free to anyone who preordered the game (or bought the game’s ultra rare Dev Team Edition).  Some extra weapons and armor didn’t make for much of a Season Pass.  When EA released Dead Space 3’s Single-Player expansion pack to wrap up the game’s cliffhanger ending, they charged separately for it.

There are other concerns with Season Passes being offered for sale so early, and that is “what if the game’s developer cancels future DLC development due to poor sales?”  It’s almost like a catch-22.  You don’t know if you should pay the developer in advance for extra content after a game’s release because if the developer cancels their post-release content you don’t know what will happen to your money, meanwhile the developer can’t fund post release content for their game because not enough of their customers purchased Season Passes.  Recently, there has been a lot of news about this problem because WB Games has cancelled all future DLC for the Wii U version of Batman: Arkham Origins, even though they were selling a Season Pass for it.  Fortunately, Wii U gamers who had purchased a Season Pass for Batman: Arkham Origins were automatically refunded their money, but there’s no guarantee in a digital market what can happen to your money if a publisher can’t deliver on it’s promises, even if they already have your money.  The default stated policy on digital content through the various online marketplaces is NO REFUNDS.

Then there are the other times when the content covered by the Season Pass just stops for no reason.  For some reason the final DLC for Halo 4 was not included with the Season Pass, forcing Season Pass adopters to have to shell out an extra ten dollars for the game’s last downloadable content release.  If you’re going to sell me a Season Pass, INCLUDE EVERYTHING!  If you can’t include everything, don’t offer the Pass at all.  Many other Season Passes, like the Season Pass for Gears of War 3, while it offered new multiplayer maps and a single player expansion, it did not include any of the premium weapon skins that were put for sale at launch.  If you wanted to obtain them, you had to buy them separately, and since there were a lot of them up for sale on the day of the game’s launch, buying all of them could be quite expensive.  Since the weapon skins serve no function other than aesthetics, I’m sure a lot of players were angry Epic dared to charge for them for it in the first place.  They should have been unlockable content, or offered with the Season Pass.

Well, how do we make this better?  Well, I believe a Season Pass should be included with all Collector’s Edition releases of a game.  Obviously if the game in question is not getting a Collector’s Edition release, you don’t need to include a Season Pass with a regular edition, but if the game is getting some form of a CE at a premium price point, a Season Pass code should be bundled with it.  Since Halo 3’s Legendary Edition was released in 2007, Collector’s Editions have gotten incredibly expensive, and in a lot of cases recently their high price cannot justify the exclusive content that was included with it.  By including a Season Pass with the game’s Collector’s Edition, you will probably get more demand for the premium release at launch, and consumers will consider it a very good deal.  Games like Halo 4, God of War: Ascension, heck even Forza Motorsport 5, released with Season Pass codes bundled inside their Collector’s Edition releases, and they greatly justified their prices along with the rest of the exclusive content that came with each game.  Sure the redeemable codes included with the Collector’s Editions were labeled something other than Season Passes, but the codes offered the same function a Season Pass did.  Why isn’t this done with every Collector’s Edition?

Also, as I said earlier, if you’re going to offer a Season Pass for sale, make sure it includes everything the game offers.  The Season Pass for The Last of Us, while not included with the game’s Collector’s Editions, is without a doubt one of the best Season Passes currently offered on the market.  Not only are both of the game’s multiplayer map packs included with the Season Pass, an entirely new single-player campaign, an exclusive feature-length making-of documentary and all of the paid premium multiplayer avatar content is included with the Pass.  Naughty Dog really did a good job planning that one out, and it puts into question why couldn’t Gears of War 3’s Season Pass offer the premium weapon skins?

Or you know, you could just go back to the early PC days and make all of a game’s DLC free.  People have been asking about that since Horse Armor was put up for sale in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.  Offering post-release DLC without charging extra for it isn’t like offering the content for no money.  People still would need to purchase the full version of your game to use the DLC, but if you continue to support your game, more and more players will want to pick it up just based on word of mouth.  It would increase goodwill and bring loyalty to your studio, publisher and brand.  The Witcher‘s developers had that philosophy when they were developing the first game on the PC, and any time they rereleased the game at retail with new content, they offered that content for free on their website to anyone who had previously purchased the game.  Recently, the only way I’ve seen players get a game’s DLC as part of purchasing a game new is by purchasing a Game of the Year Edition.  While a GOTY version of a game can be a good deal for new adopters of a game, it is a bit of a disrespectful slap in the face to players who paid full price for the game on day one.  In fact, I’ve purchased several Game of the Year Editions of games I already owned (and in some cases already bought $100+ Collector’s Editions of) just because rebuying a GOTY edition of the game at retail was a better financial deal then buying all of the game’s DLC was online.  When having your customers rebuy your game is a better deal than purchasing all the downloadable content for it, developers need to take a step back and look at the new market they have created.

Please, do it quickly.

Best Console Launch Titles…Ever February 5, 2014

No matter what console you’re planning to launch, any smart game developer knows that a video game console isn’t sold based on its technical merits alone, but by the games it plays that you can’t play anywhere else.  If you want your console to sell, it needs to have a killer app and fast.

Today, we’re going to be talking about some of the greatest launch titles for game consoles in the history of video games.  They could be groundbreaking in their own right, show off the technical capabilities of the system that they launched with, or just provided a great experience you couldn’t find anywhere else.

Game Boy – Tetris

Tetris is without a doubt one of the most addictive games ever made. Even my own father, who never played a video game before in his life (and hasn’t since) played this game on my original NES to the point he would have dreams about it. So it was logical for Nintendo to bring one of the most popular games for the NES to their flagship handheld console, the Game Boy. While this game was not a launch title on the Game Boy’s initial Japanese release, it was ready in time for the Game Boy’s North American launch.  Through a clever bit of foresight, a copy of Tetris was bundled with each new Game Boy and for really good reason.  There was no title at the time that could have better shown off the Game Boy’s 2-player functionality and by bundling each Game Boy with a copy of Tetris and a Link Cable (which was needed for multiplayer), it encouraged early adopters to use all the features the Game Boy offered and set a high bar for the platform that Nintendo’s competitors could never reach.

SNES – Super Mario World

I believe that Super Mario Bros 3 perfected the Mario platformer formula, but Super Mario World cranked it up to eleven.  After the tremendous success of the Super Mario Bros series, Nintendo had one of the most iconic mascots of any medium at their disposal, and they were going to use that momentum to sell their brand new 16-Bit system, the Super Nintendo.  All the classic Mario features were back, but now the Super Nintendo could bring even more.  There were more levels, new enemies, new power ups, and a whole new world to explore.  Nintendo knew that by taking a character we all knew and loved and bringing him to the new system as a launch title, Nintendo could show just how much more powerful their new console was over the NES.

N64 – Super Mario 64

This is the game that defined the 3D platformer, and to this day there are still imitators that aren’t able to do it as well as Nintendo did.  This can be considered by many to be Nintendo’s entry into the first official 3D graphics generation, and Nintendo would set that bar as high as they could.  You could do everything Mario was known for, only now you could do it in 3D.  The control was darn near perfect.  You could run, jump, swim and even fly.  In fact, this game was so good, it transcended its success one more time to one other platform. Nintendo wanted to show off how great their new DS was,  so they ported Super Mario 64 to the DS.  When people saw the DS could replicate the features of a Nintendo 64 by bringing one of its best titles to the new handheld platform, it became a best selling title and contributed to a lot of early DS adoption.

Xbox – Halo: Combat Evolved

The year was 2001.  One of the most successful companies in the world was entering a field they have never been a part of previously.  They needed to sell as many consoles as they could quickly in order to be competitive against the industry heavyweights of Sony and Nintendo, especially in the wake of the overwhelming success of the Playstation 2.  Their answer was to take one of the highest anticipated titles for the PC, buy its development studio, and bring the title they were working on to their new platform.  When the original Xbox launched, there was no title that showed off the console’s capabilities better than Halo: Combat Evolved.  The control was perfect.  The graphics were superior to anything that could be done on their competitors’ systems at the time.  But the most enduring legacy it has is it brought the formerly PC-centric ritual of the LAN Party to console users.  The game continued to be a best seller for years after the console’s launch.  In fact, according to author Steven Kent, years after the game’s release the Xbox continued to be referred to as the Halo Delivery System.  It was only removed from the console’s top 10 sales lists when its sequel was released in 2004.

Playstation 3 – Resistance: Fall of Man

Sony’s first entry into this list was the reason I got a PS3.  The game was hardly considered groundbreaking or revolutionary for its time, and many didn’t think the graphics were even that good, but for everything this game did, it sure did it well.  I’m a huge fan of History Channel and Discovery Channel documentary series, and this game presented its story in a way that felt customized specifically to my tastes.  In fact, I once wrote the game’s opening narration on a High School blackboard and asked a class to identify where it came from.  They all thought the narration was from a real-world event.  True to developer Insomniac Games’s pedigree, it had some of the most unique weapons ever seen in a console FPS.  It also had some of the best multiplayer I have ever played on a console.  Everything felt well balanced, and new players could be competitive against grizzled veterans.  Sadly, Sony has announced their intention to discontinue the game’s multiplayer permanently pretty soon.  Sad, I never could make it to level 60.

Wii – Wii Sports

Nintendo made their entry into the first ever HD console generation a sub-HD game console with a control system unlike anything consumers had ever seen before.  To make it clear to the consumer what their unique console was capable of, Nintendo chose to bundle a game with it that fully took advantage of all the console’s motion control capabilities and their avatar maker (affectionately dubbed Miis).  Their decision was one for the history books as it propelled the Nintendo Wii to become one of the best selling consoles of all time, and made the game that was bundled with it, Wii Sports, one of the best selling titles of all time.

Wii U – Nintendo Land

Nintendo’s first entry into the HDTV world was another unique console which brought the capabilities of the Nintendo DS to the home system.  To fully embrace this unique touch screen control system and pay homage to all of the classic franchises they have produced over the years, Nintendo released Nintendo Land as a bundled game with all of the premium launch models of the Wii U.  The game offered tons of different minigames to explore, each one modeled after a classic Nintendo property.  While the Wii U is currently sitting in last place in this generation’s console war, I still think it’s a great system and I recommend this game to anyone interested in picking one up.

Things To Do While Waiting for Bravely Default February 3, 2014

If you’re planning to pick up Bravely Default on the 3DS when it gets released later on this week I recommend downloading the game’s demo off the Nintendo eShop before giving the full version a try.  It covers a portion of the game that’s not in the full version and depending on how far you progress in the demo, you can unlock items that will carry over to the full game.

If you want access to some of the best items and equipment the demo offers, you’re going to need to check out the demo’s SmartPhone inspired mini game, and restore the town of Norande.  It can be accessed by tapping on the arrow on the left side of the lower 3DS screen, and clicking on the icon that looks a little bit like a house from the menu that just opened up.  In the Norende minigame, you assign workers to complete various tasks that need to be done, like clearning rocks which will allow you to work on new areas or building and upgrading shops, which will allow you to buy the demo’s best items from save points.  By completing this minigame, not only will this allow you to purchase the best items and equipment from any of the game’s save points, it will unlock yet another set of free items you can bring with you to the full version of the game.  Trust me, you’re going to want the game’s most powerful equipment if you want any chance of defeating the demo’s final bosses.

The downside is restoring the town of Norende can take a lot of time to accomplish, especially if you’re working by yourself.  In fact I’ve heard figures taken that could amount to over 60 hours of real-time if you are just doing it by yourself with help from no extra workers, but with just four workers helping me out I was able to restore the town in less than a day.  While this time issue isn’t much of a problem for SmartPhone games that make use of a similar system, the 3DS has several limitations that can make waiting for these tasks to finish more of a chore than they should be.  You cannot quit the game or turn off the 3DS while the town is being restored, as either of those actions will cause the timers to stop.  You can however play the game or put your system in sleep mode while the game is running and the timers will continue to run in the background.

So if you are trying to restore the town, you’re going to want to do something else while the 3DS is asleep working its magic.  Here are a few things you can do while waiting for Norende to be restored.

• Play the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII demo or watch our Lets Play of it.  The demo can be downloaded right now on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
• Read all of 8-Bit Theater.  If you ever wondered what the story of the original Final Fantasy game would be like if all the characters were idiots (and the Princess was secretly evil) you should give the webcomic a read.  While the series is finished, there are well over a thousand pages to read.
• Read The Grand List of Role Playing Game Clichés.
• Check out MistareFusion’s Final Fantasy Memories series.
• Watch The Spoony One’s hilarious Final Fantasy game reviews. As of this writing, Spoony has reviewed Final Fantasy VIII, X, X-2, and XIII. He goes really in depth about a lot of these games flaws, but they didn’t make me enjoy the games any less. In fact, his reviews made me seek out the games to give them a try myself and I haven’t regretted it.  Spoony plans to review Final Fantasy XIII-2 some time down the road.
• Check out GameTrailers.com’s Final Fantasy Retrospective.
• Check out my RPG Memories video.

Don’t forget, you can always make these tasks take less time by simply assigning more workers to the same task, and you can get more workers by coming into close proximity with other 3DS players who are also playing the demo.  If you don’t come across 3DS players during the course of your normal day, you can always check out a Nintendo zone hotspot. Anyone who uses the hotspot who has also played the demo will relay the demo’s StreetPass information along with their Miis.  Obtaining just three other players’ StreetPass data through this process saved me 40 hours.  The final version of the game will allow you to carry over a maximum of 20 workers from the demo that you’ve acquired through StreetPass.

Bravely Default is coming February 6th, 2014 exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS.

The Decline of the LAN Center January 7, 2014

The first time I ever walked into a LAN Center was well over ten years ago.  A friend of mine heard a new business was opening about a half hour from where we lived and wanted to check it out.  Counter Strike: Source had just started a closed beta testing phase, and Valve was making it available to LAN Centers a week before they brought it to home users for wider testing.  As I stepped into the door of the newest business on the block I was surrounded by rows of computers, a bar that served the latest energy drinks, and great people.  For the first time in my life, I felt like I was where I belonged.

In a world where gamers don’t have a place where they can interact in person with each other, my local LAN Center gave me the chance to have that place.  Sadly, despite their benefits, it is my experience that LAN Centers have not had a very good track record as a business, particularly in my neck of the woods.  In fact, the LAN Center I just spoke of only lasted for a brief six months, and closed suddenly just before a New Year’s Eve event.  From the research that I have done, it seems like they are doing far better internationally, but even LAN Centers running abroad have noticed declining revenue recently.  So if the business is so good and competition is small at best, why have we seen a plummet in the availability of LAN Centers over the past few years?  Well, LAN Centers are expensive to operate and the income they generate in a lot of cases cannot offset the cost to keep them operating.  There are a few success stories, particularly the ones near college campuses, but from where I live if a LAN Center even opens at all it is short-lived, and it is quite a shame.

As I spoke of in my tips for how to host a great LAN Party, there are a ton of benefits to playing games on a LAN instead of through the internet.  Console users don’t need a Playstation Plus or Xbox Live Gold account to play a game locally, it is easier for teams to communicate as your other players will be right next to you, and finally the connection speed is much faster to play on a local network than if you were to play online.  There are other benefits for playing in a LAN Center.  You have the chance to rent time playing games you don’t yet own to see how you like playing them on PCs that can provide a much better gaming experience than the one you have at home.  The biggest reason for me to like LAN Centers was that it gave me the chance to interact with the other players in my area.  Having no technically literate family members and only a few technically literate friends, short of online social networking or crowded conventions, there really isn’t really a place for gamers to hang out and meet other like-minded people in a real life social environment.  A LAN Center became that place for me.

In order to figure out why LAN Centers are declining we need to take a look at each of a LAN Center’s issues step by step.  First off, the cost of setting up a LAN Center and operating it are pretty high.  Power, equipment, rent, and high-speed internet all cost money which have to be paid on a regular basis.  Obviously you will have monthly bills to pay as you would for any business, but given the high cost of power usage by all the equipment you would be running and the air conditioning costs to keep all this heat generating equipment cool, your bills may be higher than your neighbor running the local coffee shop.  High-end computers capable of producing better graphics than most home PCs are expensive, even if they were all custom-built at cost,  individual game prices for new games are also quite expensive when you need to factor them over an entire fleet of PCs or have to pay monthly licenses per system for Steam access, and lets be honest even if you buy top of the line PCs at the time you launch, you’re going to have to replace all those PCs every couple of years.  The income to offset all of these costs come from the fees paid to rent use of the equipment, or from the sales of beverages, food, or paraphernalia a player can purchase while playing.  A player can come in, rent time on a PC or console, and play whichever game the LAN Center offers during the duration of the time they rented.

In theory this can seem like a great deal for both the business and the potential customers.  So if a LAN Center is unable to fill such an uncontested niche market, why are they in decline?  Who are they actually competing against?  Well, they’re competing against homes.  Just like the arcade had to compete with the home market by the mid 80s, LAN Centers now have to compete against homes that in a lot of cases can be just as well equipped for individual gamer as they are.  People have computers at home, and even high-end computers are not as expensive as they used to be.  What could previously only be afforded by major companies and cutting edge colleges, home high-speed networks are also very common now.  I remember arguing with all the ISPs in my area for years to bring support to where I lived, but even I had high-speed internet access by 2004.  Since installing high-speed internet, I personally have upgraded my home network three times to account for improved network speeds and with the equipment I have running right now, I could run a decent LAN from my own home without much issue.

So costs are high and income is difficult, surely there must be a better way to make this work?  There are a few success stories about business owners who have been able to make this work.  A guy in Canada who previously ran a video game store was able to open up a successful chain of LAN Centers in his home country.  So how do you subsidize all of these expenses and generate more income for your business?  Well, you mobilize your market and make them aware that you exist, and sometimes that can be an expensive proposition as well.  You will probably need to advertise.  Location is important.  You want to have your business located in a safe area people don’t have an issue visiting on the fly.  Close proximity to other popular business, like a coffee shop or video game store can help there.  Long hours also help.  People have jobs or have to go to school, and gaming hours are precious for many.  The Canadian business owner I mentioned earlier operated his LAN Center 24 hours a day, but sadly many shared business parks in my neck of the woods have fixed business hours that renters are not allowed to operate past, cutting them out of potential income from what could be considered later than usual peak hours.

Sadly, the future does not look good for LAN Centers.  A cursory glance of the local businesses in my area which have STEAM Cyber Café licenses was not promising.  I know for a fact that at least one of the businesses listed on their official website no longer existed.  The majority of the other businesses I was not aware of no longer had functioning websites, even though they were still listed on STEAM’s Cyber Café list.  However, I did see one glimmer of hope, a new LAN Center opened up not too long ago near a college campus I used to work at every summer.  The new LAN Center was more than just a cyber café, it also sold board games, energy drinks and collectibles.  Being across the street from a major college will hopefully help them get regular customers, but it was not without a few drawbacks.  The players using the computers they hosted mostly were playing MMOGs, which gain no benefits from LAN play.  Heck, they couldn’t even stock Bawls.

The original point of creating a LAN Center or Cyber Café was to offer people internet access while on the go and providing access to some of the latest PC games, that need is becoming smaller and smaller with every passing day.  Everyone nowadays has either an internet equipped smart phone or tablet on them which if connected to a cellular data plan can provide internet access at all times while on the go, and can play a lot of the latest mobile games to boot.  Any coffee shop can provide free wireless access to their customers’ personal electronic devices while they enjoy their beverage or baked good without the need to provide computers.  In fact, I’ve learned from personal experience that the need to provide internet accessible PCs is not really a market anymore for US consumers, even in major cities.  After talking to some friends I know who happen to run businesses in the city, the only demand for internet equipped PC access on the go is from foreign tourists!

With the always online requirement hanging over PC game purchases like a Sword of Damocles since 2004, and new game titles shipping without any LAN or System Link options at all there doesn’t seem like there’s much room for LAN play in today’s modern gaming industry.  Not only have these decisions been bad for consumers it has made it more difficult for LAN Centers to operate as well.  We already live in a time when the costs to operate these businesses can outpace its potential earnings.  Perhaps we have hit a time when this once great business opportunity is no longer viable.  Quite a shame as it was the only place I ever truly felt like I belonged.

How To Host a LAN Party December 30, 2013

With New Year’s Eve creeping up on us, what better way for us gamers to spend quality time with each other than by having one huge gaming party, and trust me there’s no better way to celebrate our love for gaming together than by hosting a kick ass LAN Party!

For those of you who don’t know what a LAN Party is, it is an event where gamers get together in the same location, network their PCs or game consoles together on a local network using LAN or System Link, and play multiplayer games with your closest friends.  There are a lot of benefits to playing locally as opposed to playing your games online.  You won’t need a Playstation Plus or Xbox Live Gold account to play your game locally, you can communicate with other members of your team easier as they will be right next to you, and finally the connection speed is much faster to play local than if you were to play online.

If you’re planning to host a LAN Party for the first time, here is some information that you may need in order to host the best LAN Party possible.  Trust me, I’ve hosted plenty and attended a few.  If you want to host the best, here are some tips on how to keep all your guests happy and have a great time.

First off, you’re going to need to set up in advance before even the first guest arrives.  Your job as a host is to provide each player with enough space to play, power, and a network they can plug their systems into.  That means pulling out all the folding tables, chairs, routers, and switches you can get your hands on.  You will want to use the biggest room in your house for this, but if you must, there is nothing wrong with playing in your basement so long as there’s no risk of water leaking down there.  Make sure that whatever room you use has plenty of wall outlets.  It’s not a good idea to daisy chain surge protectors as you may end up overloading the room’s power requirements and cause the room to black out.  If users are bringing PCs, make sure they bring their surge protectors with them from home and plug them directly into your wall outlets.

Now let’s talk about networking all these systems together.  Most home routers that you can find today will allow four wired connections.  If you plan to host more people, you’re going to want to buy some extra switches (which can allow as many as 32 connections).  Make sure to buy gigabit (10/100/1000) capable equipment and have plenty of spare CAT-6 cable for optimal speeds.  As many games don’t even support that many simultaneous players (Halo: Combat Evolved for example only supported 16 players playing off of 4 systems), you may be able to run several different games or game tournaments at the same time, depending on how many guests are attending, and what they want to play.  Finally, even if this is a local network party, if you can provide internet access through your network, I recommend doing it.  Sometimes other users don’t have the benefit of having the most up to date versions of their games installed, and while that shouldn’t be an issue, I have noticed that different versions of multiplayer games can be incompatible with each other.  If everyone at least has online access, they can patch their games automatically upon startup.

If you can’t get your hands on any extra switches, using a wireless network can work, although just be aware that a wireless connection is nowhere near as fast as a wired one.  Most modern consoles and laptops have built-in wireless network capability out of the box, but a lot of the first generation hardware will not.  If you plan to have everyone play wirelessly, just tell your guests to check in advance how old their system is and to determine before the party starts if they will need to get a wireless adapter before bringing their systems over.

Your other job is to make sure there is enough food and refreshments for everyone who may be attending.  Finger food works best, as having a sit down meal can distract from gameplay.  If your guests would like to bring food for everyone, let them, but you may need to have a kitchen ready to warm up anything they may have brought.  Common etiquette is to keep the food area separate from the gaming equipment, and ask everyone who may be playing to not bring food into the play area for sanitary reasons, although you can use your own discretion for beverages.

Speaking of beverages, its a really good idea to have a mini-fridge in the play area.  You can stock it with individual bottles or cans of whatever beverages you or your guests may like, and keep them cool.  Individual cans and bottles work best in a party.  Guests can simply open a fridge and grab whatever they want with less of a spill risk.  Classic LAN Party drinks include Mountain Dew, Bawls, Jolt and TAB.  You may have some guests that prefer to drink diet sodas, so don’t forget to get some diet sodas as well, but depending on your guests, I wouldn’t recommend buying more than a third of the amount of diet soda as you would buy of the regular kind.  There’s also nothing wrong with making tea, coffee or espresso for your guests if they request it and you have the resources to make it.  If you are only having adults in attendance you may wish to provide alcohol, but I have never done that.  Remember, we’re here to play games, and alcohol may impair your guests’ gaming skills.

Just because you’re the host doesn’t mean you’re expected to provide everything, so try to get players to bring their own equipment.  If they have their own consoles, great, tell them to bring them.  If they want to bring their PC or laptop, let them.  If they have their own monitors, HDTVs, or projectors they would like to bring, let them!  If you’re planning to do a console gaming party, at the very least try to get players to bring their own controllers or memory cards.  The hardest thing for people to bring with them will likely be their display.  You may have some old TVs or monitors laying around in your basement, and so long as you aren’t trying to hook them up to the PS4 or Xbox One, they should work fine.  On top of that, a lot of modern flatscreen computer monitors will offer HDMI connections, if you have any monitors that aren’t being used, they can double as gaming screens.  On top of that, since modern computer monitors are designed to have the quickest refresh rates possible, there’s less of a risk of image lag that many HDTVs can suffer from.

Okay, now that your guests are arriving, lets talk about how to set up your players.  A modern console can theoretically host as many as 4 players, wheras a PC will usually max out one player, and can take up more space than a console.  Try to get players to set up their systems in close proximity to other players who plan to play the same games.  This can make it easier for them to communicate (or trash talk) other players enjoying the same game.  This will likely be the same area where most of your network traffic will be taking place, so make sure the players in this area are connected on the same switch or router for optimal speed.

It’s always a good idea to have a dedicated system running a fighting game, regardless of whatever that game is.  Recently, Killer Instinct came out for the Xbox One and if you don’t mind only playing as a single character, it can be downloaded for free, but if you don’t happen to have an Xbox One on hand, I’m sure any decent fighting game will work.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had guests who had never played games before signed up for the latest fighting game tournament and loving every second of it.

Another possibility is to have a console dedicated for the latest rythem game, like Rock Band or Guitar Hero.  I know a lot of people probably have old instrument controllers laying around collecting dust, and this is a great time to dust them off and use them again.  I have to admit, this would be the best choice to use for a room that has a surround sound system installed.  If you have any older HDTVs you plan to use for this area, they will work, just make sure to enable GAME MODE for less latency, otherwise you may have a problem with button response time.

Don’t forget, we also had two major console launches at the end of this year.  It’s also a good idea if someone has brought the newest game console (like the PS4 or Xbox One) to connect it to the best screen in the house in case anyone who hasn’t been able to play games on that system yet will get the chance to see it for the first time in the best possible quality.  On top of that, neither the PS4 nor the Xbox One has any analog video output, and have to be connected to a HDMI-equipped HDTV to be able to function at all.  Keep that in mind if someone plans to bring one of those systems over.

Here’s some final information for you all.  Keep in mind any modern router, regardless of how many hard-wired connections the router may offer, has a maximum of 255 individual systems it can connect to.  If you plan to have more guests than that, you’ll need to be running multiple networks.

Oh and just remember, according to Fargo, a hot girl and her sister must be in attendance.  Happy New Year and have fun!

Ten Things To Do in Anticipation for the Xbox One Launch November 21, 2013

With the Xbox One launching at midnight tonight, I’m sure that there are many of you who are chomping at the bit to get your newest Microsoft console, but just be aware there is plenty of stuff that you can do right now to make the process of playing it all the faster.  We already did something like this with the PS4’s launch, and now it’s the Xbox One’s turn.

1. Watch our Xbox One Preparation Video, which has a lot of the most recent information on the Xbox One for anyone who plans to pick up the console at launch.
2. Get those last Xbox 360 Achievements in now, because while your Gamerscore will carry over to the Xbox One, the Xbox One will not be able to play Xbox 360 games.
3. Buy a Xbox Live Gold Prepaid card if your subscription is due to expire soon.  GameStop informed me a few days ago that Microsoft was planning to release a Day One Xbox Live Gold prepaid card that was solid metal during the Xbox One launch, so if you would prefer to get one of those, just wait.
4. Pick up any of the games for the system that are already out and have no street date, like Call of Duty: Ghosts.  Or pick up the extra peripherals that have already been released including the Xbox One Controller or Play and Charge Kits.
5. Make sure you know your Xbox Live login information so you can transfer your GamerTag and profile quickly to the Xbox One.
6. Download the Xbox One SmartGlass App to your Android iOS or Windows Device.  Microsoft chose to release a separate companion app for the Xbox One instead of upgrading the current one.  SmartGlass functionality will be used in some of the Xbox One’s launch titles including Dead Rising 3, so be sure to download it.
7. Make your cable or satellite provider upgrade your HD box to one that is equipped with HDMI if it is old.
8. Stock up on plenty of Mountain Dew or Game Fuel if your area is carrying it.
9. Clear some space in your living room for the new Kinect.  Got a table in the middle of your living room for no reason?  Yeah, move it.  The new Kinect will not require as much open space as the first model did, but you’re going to need some open space with no obstructions between you and the camera to make full use of it during gameplay.
10. Make a list of all the Xbox Live friends you would like to add to your friends list but can’t due to the Xbox 360’s 100-friend limit.  The Xbox One is going to allow a 1000 user Friend List so expect plenty of friend requests from old acquaintances to come.

The Xbox One is launching tonight at Midnight for a price of $499 US.

Top Ten Things To Do Before the Playstation 4 Launch November 14, 2013

At midnight tonight, the fourth generation Playstation will be released.  This is going to be an incredible occasion marked with celebration across the country.  I’ve already got a preparation video to help anyone interested in picking up a launch console, but like with anything there are always last-minute things you can do before picking up your console to make the setup a faster process.  Because, like you know, you’re just going to want to get to the games.

So here are a few things you can do before midnight tonight to help you get your PS4 ready for gaming just a little bit sooner.  These are not listed in order of priority, so don’t worry about one step being more or less important than the other.

So, read on PS4 player.  Your next-gen games await.

1. If you don’t have a Sony Playstation Network account, sign up for one.  They’re free.  However, if you have a PS Vita, PSP or PS3, you likely already have one.
2. Sync your Trophies so you have all your PS3 stats on your PSN account.  You may not be playing PS3 for a while.  Just turn on your PS3, log into your PSN account, hit the triangle button when highlighting the trophies option, and select “Sync With Server.”
3. Preorder any games you plan to purchase online on your PS3.  You can do this from the Playstation Network Store.  Almost all Day One PS4 games, including some multiplatform titles are available for preorder.  Granted, these preorders are for the digital versions of games, not retail ones.  You’ll need to preorder retail games at your local game store.
4. Free up one HDMI slot on your HDTV or HD receiver.  PS4 requires HDMI connection and has no analog connection for video or audio output.  However, it does have a digital optical audio output for legacy surround sound systems.
5. If there are any PS3 games you currently own that you would like to upgrade to a PS4 version, hold onto them.  Sony is offering digital version of PS4 games at HEAVY discount to players who currently own the PS3 version of the game.  Check the Playstation Network store for which games are currently being offered at this discount.
6. Buy an extra Dual Shock 4 controller or Playstation Camera at retail right now.  They’re actually out and you can pick them up early.  Heck, there are even some PS4 games that you can get at retail right now like Call of Duty: Ghosts.  Price is around $59 US each.
7. If you have a Playstation Vita, update your Vita’s firmware to the most recent version.  The updated firmware is required for PS4 to Vita game streaming.
8. Download the Playstation App to your Android or iOS Device.  It’s free, and you can log into your PSN account and manage your trophies without a PS4.  Just search for “Playstation App” on your device’s respective online store.  It is required to make use of the PS4’s Second Screen capabilities.
9. Sign up for Playstation Plus.  It is now required to play PS4 games online.  You can do that in the Playstation Store or just buy a prepaid card at retail.  Price is $49 US per year.
10. Download the PS4 1.5 Firmware (Day One Patch) to a USB storage device.  While Sony will make the update available online as well, there may be a mad dash to update it immediately, and downloading it in advance and installing through USB may be a faster option.  You can download the update, and read the instructions on how to install it here.