Roderick

Having read up on all the rest of the developments and announcements since the presentation, there are a few things that are kind of sort of bumming me out, but not nearly enough to dull my initial excitement. The paid online service is of no interest to me, since I only play singleplayer games, or co-op ones with friends. Party games! Having said that, it's incomprehensible that they're giving away a free game (rental?) and then taking it back after a month. That's kind of crazy. It's the sort of thing that only Nintendo would even dream of doing, locked away in Kyoto and somewhat divorced from the rest of the world. Really, that's the source of both all the cool stuff that they make, and the backwards things. The pricing of peripherals, though much in line with the wayyyy expensive controllers and gewgaws that every manufacturer pumps out, is just silly. 80 euros for a set of Joycons? It'll be really tempting once they put out ones with nicer colors and designs, but damn if that's not a lot of money. On the other hand, I don't understand the need to buy a Pro Controller at all. If you place the Joycons in the grip, then you basically already have exactly that, right? Only for multiplayer would it be a good addition. Then there's the awkward European pricing. Reports say that it's 349 euros in France, 329 euros in most other countries. That seems a lot more than the 300 dollars Americans are paying. I get it, taxes and border stuff and whatever, but even so - this is in my eyes too much. It's crossing a vague threshold between a good price to pay for a gadget and wait a minute, why am I not getting the power of a Playstation 4 for this money? I'm afraid this price point will hurt Switch sales badly. Don't get me wrong, there's still overwhelming enthusiasm from a lot of friends and people I know, so I still think this'll be a success. But 329 is a little too close to the initial price of the Wii U for comfort.

I remember being totally miffed when I discovered about the RDR track when you get to Mexico. Stepping off the boat, I refused to take the horse that was ready for me (which triggered the song), because I first wanted to explore the surroundings a bit. Guess my wanderlust actually got in the way of a beautiful, scripted moment about... wanderlust.

I technically didn't get out of bed to watch the livestream, since I had placed an alarm and then watched it on a laptop from the bed, but holy cow was that worth it. I didn't feel like an idiot at all: I felt part of a global community, spoken to directly by Nintendo. After an amazing hour with almost zero bad moments (I'll get to that in a bit), I felt energized and My Body Was Ready. Okay, first the bad moment. It was when the EA big shot came in and tried so hard (or not at all) to make it an appealing statement that FIFA was coming to Switch. It was as if the guy couldn't even get himself to be excited over this, and I wonder why the hell Nintendo included him at all. Surely no Nintendo-fan watching a livestream in the dead of night is going to be interested in the most milked-out sports game in the world? It may have been better if there had been an actual dev on stage, with some enthusiasm and a few yakuza gang signs like Suda51. The rest was so, so good though. After a slow beginning that understandably reiterated what the Switch was (Nintendo's not taking any chances, y'all), they started with 1-2 Switch and Arms. And, I think this may be the most incredible thing, it explained something about the Switch that I hadn't even thought about before. Something so stupendously obvious that I fail to understand how I overlooked this: you are basically playing with two Wii Remotes. Even beyond the impressive tech they've put in there, this means you can do things like the boxing game and Splatoon and whatnot in a way more active stance. It looks like how you'd use the Nunchuk before, but the inclusion of motion sensors makes this a very different proposition. It had been staring us in the face all this time. I feel very dumb, or at least that Nintendo has some very smart people in the house. I've bemoaned before how Nintendo was probably not going to do colors for the Switch until later in the lifecycle, if at all, but surprise, I was wrong! However, I'm not convinced about the neon blue and neon red joycons just yet. They seem like gaudy colors. Maybe in real life it'll look different and better, but on screen they didn't pop and looked rather unstylish next to the black screen. I'm undecided yet which version I'll take. My girlfriend liked the colors though, so that might factor into the decision. Now, the whole premise of the Switch is that I'll probably be able to buy new colors later on, but considering the market and the tech involved, I expect loose joycons to cost around 40 to 50 euros. So, we'll see. As for the price, Europe was hilariously unmentioned because of all of our weird currencies, but I'm thinking 230 pounds and 250 euros, but that might also shoot up to 300 euros. Expensive, but not an unreasonable price. I was laughing out loud at the explanation of how you could meaasure ice cubes floating in a glass with a joycon. That is a such a smart way to explain how advanced the rumble feature is. Alright, onto the games! Super Mario Odyssey made me absolutely giddy. I've been waiting for a proper Mario game since Galaxy 2, and Odyssey seems a return to specifically the great and underappreciated Mario Sunshine. It's unapologetically weird, it's festive, it already feels like a treat. I can't wait to play it, but unfortunately the wait is going to be a bit under a year. The hat eyes are weird-looking, but I'm pretty sure you'll only see them in cutscenes. For a real graphic snafu look no further than the ugly world in the logo. But otherwise, this seems like a brilliant new thing, a Mario that's once again true to form and pushing some very weird boundaries. I want to toss my hat around and then jump on it like a platform! And is that Bowser in a white fur pimp hat? Splatoon 2 looked like fun, if not totally my genre. The presentation by the dev ok, even if the American translator seemed to start to fumble a bit there. I hope they put a really solid singleplayer campaign in there, that might pull me over. Breath of the Wild still looks really good, though I remain concerned. Whenever there's an aerial shot, the landscape rarely looks as accomplished and lively as, say, Skyrim. Playing is believing, but I wonder if the game world won't feel a little sparse and bleak as you traverse it. Speaking of which, Todd Howard's enthusiastic praise for Nintendo made me warm inside and I remain in a state of looking forward to Skyrim. I've been wanting to replay it ever since my Xbox 360 died after 130 hours of Elder Scrollsing, and this seems the perfect opportunity. I'm curious how good the game will look compared to the PS4 edition. Am I forgetting things? Probably. The announcement of Xenoblade 2 didn't do much for me, neither did really really sparse trailers for Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem Warriors. These are good games to have on a system, but they're clearly holding some surprises back. I'm still hopeful for a Pokémon Stars on the Switch this Summer and also hope that Atlus might be tempted to do something unexpected. It may be too much to ask for a Persona 5 port, but a sequel to Tokyo Mirage Sessions down the line (which I'm currently enjoying like all heck on the Wii U) would be great. Or Catherine 2? For that matter, I'm hoping for all sorts of unique, Japanese games on there, much like how those popped up on the Wii and 3DS. Games like Fragile Dreams, Silent Hill Shattered Memories or Zack & Wiki. Games that may not have broad appeal, but that'll really be special to a select crowd. By the way, a word on the main presenter of the show, Yoshiaki Koizumi. Lead dev on the Switch and overseer of all its software. I got the feeling they're pushing him forward to one day replace Miyamoto, letting him star in a cute magic show unveiling of the Switch. And I totally dig it. I thought he was charming, even though we joked that he had a yakuza-type head at first. We quickly fell in love with yakuza-san. All in all, I loved it. I am allowing myself to be a total fanboy here. This is what Nintendo does to me, more than any other gaming company.

I have fond memories of Jedi Outcast (which started the hilarious colon-naming gig here on the forums). I played it originally on the Gamecube(!) in French(!), which taught me the phrase 'que le Force soit avec toi!' I think if i'd replay it today, I'd find it rather opaque as an experience, and I'd wonder why it wasn't more like The Force Unleashed or something.

Oh certainly, and we all laughed at the random aperture up top that slices shut every few seconds. The most murderous ventilation system ever.

Oh yeah, right, the Ouya! I'd forgotten about that one. Is it dead already, or still somewhere in the fringes? Paradise Lost is something else I'd forgotten about, but the trailer looks bloody amazing. Wouldn't mind playing that if it turns out to be a good game, whether for Switch or PC.

Okay, 180 degrees reversal here, folks. In the past I have been very skeptical or even negative on the VR thing. The tech demos I played never really convinced me of its potential and the Drive Club game was a shitty experience. But on new year's eve I played some games on a friend's Playstation VR that I thought were completely magical. The first was the platforming level with the little Playstation robots. It's basically Mario, and your head is the camera. This was simply magical. To be able to look around you to find secrets in the level, and having the poison ivy react as it hits your head when entering the cave, took my breath away. I was really in the level. I could glance down and get closer to the architecture in a way I had never done before. Afterwards I played the rollercoaster horror game with the clowns and the guns, which was a bit less interactive but still a very fine (and scary) thing to play. The inertia of the ride coupled with having to hit targets and avoid obstacles with your head (not to mention being constantly unnerved) was, again, really good. So despite this equipment still costing way more than I want to pay for it, I can see its potential. I get it now.

I actually love the architecture of Star Wars (or more specifically the empire). It's an utterly vertical building style full of endless pits and steep climbs and precarious ledges. It's one of the things that visually ties the universe together and makes for excellent video game levels. I think it'd be a mistake to try to figure out why this was built the way it is. It's pure fantasy in the way that weird elven towers are. Star Wars is full of blast pits and chasms and steel chutes, which is a visual language without much coherence if you try to piece it together in a real world sense, but boy is it exciting to watch.

I remember the final boss as being tricky, but since I played it with someone, the additional help of Waddle Dee might've made it a little easier for me. I love how they handled the inclusion of Waddle Dee, who has such a different play style. The levels will add some specific challenges that aren't there for solo Kirby (the grasping hands). At other times though, Waddle Dee makes things that would be tough for Kirby alone a piece of cake. Helping out with bosses occassionally counts in that regard as well.

I loved it. I both wrote a lenghty piece on it and recorded a podcast special, however both are in Dutch. The short version of it would be... I thought this was a very tight movie, nicely smaller of scale. I loved that it was self-contained, without the need to bring characters over into sequels and whatnot. It was tonally well done (the nuts and bolts, administrative side of the Empire) and I thought accomplished its goal well of having a sort of 'Inglourious Basterds' gang of people, but set in Star Wars. Since I knew nothing about the film going in, I was extremely surprised and enthused by the inclusion of Mads Mikkelsen. The films has a ton of things to point at and laugh or groan: CGI Tarkin, the forces inclusion of several characters from A New Hope and Krennic's bad-looking cape. But damn if Rogue One didn't eject me from the theater more giddy and happy than any other blockbuster film in the last two years.

Watchdogs 2 has piqued my interest enough to give it a try at some point in my life. Apparently it is the game Watchdogs was always supposed to be.

This is always a terrible moment in the year, where I realize a. how few games I've actually played, and b. how many of those games weren't from 2016, but classics or fare from recent years So I always feel like I couldn't possibly give you a comprehensive list. Aww, I'll just fudge it. Games from 2016 I played and liked - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: Loved this iteration! A carefully crafted story with great gameplay pacing. It had a cohesiveness that went beyond what Dual Destinies offered, absolutely hilarious characters and I would rate it just below Trials & Tribulations. It shot upwards to be one of my favorites in the whole series. - Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans: I love that this counts as a 2016 game. As far as adventures go, this is a supremely mediocre one. Short, with shallow or nonsensical puzzles and rarely a satisfying moment. However, I have been wanting to play this for over seventeen years and I enjoyed every last moment of it. Beyond that, it's a super interesting look at a pre-World of Warcraft Warcraft. The way Blizzard has imagined the universe at this particular point in time is so superbly wonky and off-beat, that that only alone merits a look. - Firewatch and Inside: These two are closely linked to me. Both heavy storytelling games that use a grand sweep of atmosphere and setting to tell their tale. Moreover, I happened to play both in one or two sittings at a friend's when I would sleep over, so there's an additional nice memory attached to them. Games from earlier years that I still played this year and liked - Shadow of the Colossus: I had always wanted to play this and boy, the HD remake did not disappoint. What a wonderful experience, and, surprisingly, so much less difficult than I had imagined it! Maybe it's the 'Dark Souls Effect', where stuff that seemed hard in the past doesn't anymore in comparison. But, really, it's a joyous, meditative experience to figure out how to get to the colossi and then battle them. - The Dark Eye: Memoria: this is a follow-up to what quickly became one of my favorite adventures I ever played, Chains of Satinav. Memoria is a direct sequel and even though I took a half-year break from it in the middle, when I returned I couldn't keep my eyes (and brain) away. A lovely trip through a lovely realized world. Daedalic is at the peak of their game here, and I love it just so much that they have found a way to bring the classic adventure genre to the modern world without it feeling anachronistic. They make stunning-looking games that just ooze with care and love for their craft. - Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush: this was an unexpected delight. Over the Summer I bought a Wii U and have been playing on it every evening since then. Kirby looks so good in clay, and the game is both delightful, laid-back and chock full of fun touches. There's a gallery of collectible statues that have the most knowing, cheeky descriptions I've seen in a while. Looking back, I sure played a ton of adventure games this year. For 2017, I expect much the same. I don't have a lot of money to spend, but I do have a huge backlog of games still to play, and I'll certainly get a Switch somewhere after its launch. Looking very much forward to it!

Rooting for you, Gormongous. I hope things'll go better soon!

I found that whole article very hard to parse as a non-tech guy. No idea what it might mean for the games, but what is ultimately important is whether the games work or not. I'll just wait and see. 40% of the clock speed sounds like a huge jump down, but who knows what's related to the screen resolution and whatnot? The whole idea of the Switch is that it would be a seamless transition from console to portable, so it'd be weird if they didn't take that as their main target to hit.

Of note here is of course that the person that stabbed Royal was that same buddy that afterwards took him to the hospital. O, no doubt that Royal is an amazing character, as are some of the other cast. I think with Wes Anderson, your personal preference in the kind of stories and tones that you like inform a lot of which one you'll like most. The Life Aquatic was a direct hit for me because it mixed David Bowie, Jacques Cousteau and Bill Murray into a cocktail seemingly tailormade.

Hey, that is indeed a cool bridge

Yes, Portal is the tighter experience. If you like the story-world of Portal though, part 2 is pretty fucking amazing. I have no comments on the gameplay side (I liked it, but Cordeos was disappointed, so make up your own mind), but the story was very well told. Some of the best and funniest dialogue/monologue/characterizations I've ever seen in a video game, and the Portal world is developed in all sorts of interesting ways.

Don't, just don't ever stop this stream and making four-worded quality Twitch extracts.

Ah yes, the Swift Sail and the nerfed Triforce collect-a-thon (which I don't remember ever having such a problem with in the first place, though!) are huge quality-of-life improvements. I had a copy of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but last August it was stolen from my house during my birthday party. That induced me into a 'turn everything upside down to find it' frenzy that lasted four days, but I had to admit it was really gone. Quite upsetting. I mean to re-purchase the game at some point, if I find the heart (and cash) for it.

Damn. And just when I was enjoying the laid-back Kirby so much. Currently I'm playing Wind Waker HD, which is a really good experience. Love being back in the world, it looks beauitful. My gf said something to the tune of 'wow, all you do is kinda sail around', and I went 'yes, that's the purpose of this game, it is very relaxing'. Also striking is how much easier the game is than how I experienced it the first time, but that has been true for all the (3D) Zelda remakes. When you're young they're pretty tough, but when you've been through Dark Souls it's a walk in the park.

Wait, are people watching the stream actively waiting for Nick to take a break so they can invade and pummel him? This is Day Z all over.

Yesterday I watched The Royal Tenenbaums and now I only need to see Bottle Rocket to complete my Wes Anderson bingo card. It's an interesting thing, since TRT was the movie that, at least in my eyes, propelled Anderson to his current status as an auteur filmmaker of note. It's the first of his modern day styled movies, and yet watching it now it felt like the half-way point. You can easily see the stylistic and narrative choices from his later work, but it's still a lot more 'generically' cinematic, whilst at the same time lacking some of the cohesiveness of, say, The Life Aquatic (that followed up this film). The Royal Tenenbaums meanders a bit more in its plot, and some of the stuff stuck out in a slightly off way. Danny Glover doesn't seem like a good fit for the Wes Anderson universe, and Owen Wilson's character wasn't fleshed out in a satisfying way. That's not to say I didn't like it! But in my head I had worked this movie up to be one of Anderson's best, while I now view it as a springboard for favorites like The Life Aquatic and The Grand Budapest.

This is so, so good.

No, but just in case. (I'm being random, that's all! )