Before you ask, no I can't post any status updates right now. I haven't been good about posting blogs like I should this month either, so here's some thoughts on some random things happening in the world now.
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This Isn't the NX You're Looking For
I____With Nintendo's recent clarifications about how the NX will be a "...new way to play..." that "isn't a direct successor to the WiiU or 3DS...", my suspicion is that the NX may be Nintendo's leap at VR. Rather than being a new home console or anything, this may be an independent accessory that loads its games via memory card cartridges.
_____But the crazier part of me has yet another theory. Early on in the PS3's lifetime, eyetoy technology was utilized in tandem with modified playing cards to bring Eye Of Judgement to life. It was a card battle game where you make your moves in real life on the game mat, and the camera reads the cards and their placements to reflect and animate your moves on screen. The game itself also kept track of HP and all that, so it was an interesting blend on modern technology and traditional card games. A few years later, Skylanders happened using magnetic readers or something (I'm not doing any research over here) and eventually Amiibo happened in the same line of logic: use real objects in tandem with technology to bring those objects to life virtually, at least to a point.
_____Amiibo is the only true success of the WiiU platform, for whatever reason. It stands to reason that Amiibo is a high priority moving forward for Nintendo's plans, at the very least in terms of making it compatible with new machines. But Nintendo wouldn't build a new platform just for that without something substantially more to it. And I think I know what that may be.
_____Look to the music industry. The country is amisdt a truly remarkable and disturbing time when future technology exists today, and is being used in entertainment venues to bring back the dead. Tupac, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, have been utilized in hologram performances in order for the industry to keep cashing in on their corpses long after the artists could see any benefit. If this technology could be used on a stage at a major venue, could it possibly be brought home?
_____This is what I think Nintendo may be trying to do. I think that they may combine Amiibo and hologram technology to make an entire console built around the premise of the Eye of Judgement. Expenses aside, Nintendo is all about picking up trendy technology and simplifying it for home consoles and then passing that off as innovation. It fits their MO. It also fits their statements on this being so different while not entirely replacing their other options. It's a risky move to pull off without at least something to fall back on, and for all the WiiU's problems it might still be good enough for that.
_____This is probably a crazy theory that could never happen, in no small part because I assume home holograms would be insanely expensive to develop. Then again, with the work being done in VR and the Hololens now, other companies have seen a path to justifying such technology. All the same, even if this is the most ridiculous and impossible thing you've ever heard theorized about the NX, I figured I would share it.
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Opinions In Progress
_____IGN has recently started putting up temporary scores on their reviews in progress. And while IGN might not always handle things with the best ideas, I think this one is actually a real winner. It's not exactly perfect, but I think it's on the right track. Most games and their scores don't give a great sense to the weight the offline and online portions each have in relation to the scores. But games like Uncharted 4 and Doom have recently showed early scores revolving primarily around single player and then modified them after being better versed on multiplayer. And these two elements can be so radically different in a game that it's worth showing the difference each side makes.
_____Ideally, I would like to see a system in place that can showcase the original "in progress" score and what it was based on, and along with it any other updates to the score and what THOSE are based around. For example, the list would go on to show an original score of say "7.8" based on the single player portion, and then the nest item on the list would be a "7.5" reflecting on how the multiplayer affects the overall score. This system would be open to further updates from there however, allowing them to retro-review at a certain point to see how it help up with firmware fixes or things added on via updates. That "7.5" may eventually work its way up to an "8.0" thanks to proper bug fixes and intelligent changes made over time.
_____Whatever the most recent update is would be shown as the current score, but the list of all scores would be given as a "score history'. I can think of a number of games that would be a benefit of this type of idea. Namely The Witcher 3, a game which has seen updates which not only fix major issues with the game such as broken quests, but also rearrange the game's inventory system and even make such simple yet significant improvements like making it less likely to get stuck interacting with the candles when they are positioned near other things. These improvements were not DLC, but still have factored together over time to provide an improved experience now versus launch. If a review is a sort of "buyer's guide", then it would be of a greater benefit to update the score to reflect the game as it currently is, would it not?
_____This is obviously a big endeavor to be used on every game, and I'm not saying they would or should do that for EVERYTHING. But when there is a significance, why not do it? This system is a small step in the right direction towards that kind of review system, and I say good for them.
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Assassin's Misdeed
_____So the new Assassin's Creed movie showed some promise in its trailer, unveiling that it will be set partially in the Spanish Inquisition. I would have preferred that time period for an actual game, but that's not the big problem. The trailer looked promising, and they have been going out of their way to tell AC fans that they care about staying true to the franchise. However. they have also revealed something else which has undermined everything else we've seen about it.
_____The movie is going to spend about twice as much time in the modern era as opposed to its historical setting. That is all the proof I need that this movie is actually going to be terrible. The Assassin's Creed games have never, not once, produced a worthwhile section set in the modern era. In fact, its counter to the entire appeal of the series. Ubisoft has struggled with this idea in the past, but its the truth: the modern era is always the worst part of any and every Assassin's Creed game. The whole appeal of the franchise is the historical eras and cultures being brought to life for us to explore. Now the movie understandably can't let us explore these settings the way a game can, but even from a strictly story standpoint the games have always been more interesting in the history than in the future.
_____I have to wonder who gave them the idea to focus so much on the weakest part of the franchise. Was it Ubisoft? Does Ubisoft still see the modern era stuff as more essential than the history? If so, I can't help but be a bit concerned for the future of the franchise. They were smart enough to recognize how they were overdoing the franchise releases, but it's all for nothing if the next game we get is as riddled with modern era bullshit as the first game or this movie.
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A Month Away, Count The Days
_____It's almost E3, which means that we need to set our plans for it. For those who do not know, every year on the blogs we get together over Skype or something and watch the press conferences together, discussing and joking about everything and anything as we see fit. These group chats have gone a long way to bringing the community closer in the past, and despite our dwindling numbers now I am determined to keep it going. So I will be hosting and setting up a group chat for all of us a few days before the festivities begin.
_____I am today declaring my open invitation to all of you IGN bloggers, past and present, to join us for any of the E3 festivities you wish. Please assist me in spreading the word to everyone you can, including anyone you know who has left the site but still might want to join us.
_____If you want in, you need to make sure I have your Skype username so I can add you as a friend, and therefore also add you to the group chat. I'm going to leave it open so that anyone in the chat can also invite people, but that only works once I've added the first bunch already. So if you want in, please give me your info. If you want to do so more privately, my Skype name is DOJNDO. Feel free to add me as a friend and private message me there. If you're less shy with it, you can leave your Skype username in the comments here, on my wall, or on any of the posts I make between now and E3, all of which will have a blurb about this.
_____Let's keep this tradition alive!
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Feel free to comment below with anything; respond to these topics, submit a request for sexual encounters, insult my intelligence and/or make insinuations regarding my promiscuous level of sanity at your leisure.
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Quote Of The Day
"...often include strange fetishes. Release the octoporn!"
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Today In Music (May 16th)
Piece Of Mind by Iron Maiden released on May 16th, 1983. Also released on this day:
- We Are Motörhead by Motörhead (2000)
- The Big Black by Orange Goblin (2000)
- But Seriously, Folks... by Joe Walsh & Barnstorm (1978)