gamingeek said:

edgecrusher said:

I always get the impression that Rare is one game away from being dissolved by Microsoft. If it wasn't for their legacy, AND how much money MS spent to get them, it likely would have already happened.

What happened to them? Okay, so some left for Free Radical. But was it the sale to MS that saw a lot of them jump ship?

Why did Nintendo sell them when they were so prolific in the N64 era? Did they foresee the stagnation there and get a good deal? I remember back when they were sold we were all like and now in hindsight we see it as Nintendo getting a good deal for a flagging developer.

The only thing I can figure is Nintendo saw the decline in Rare's output, and the quality of their games in development....on top of the main guys behind their FPS team leaving to go to Free Radical & Zoonami (wtf have they done?!) and decided to sell them off for a pretty penny before anyone realized the decline, instead of spending time and money on re-stocking the talent there.

I still think Rare would have remained a much better developer with Nintendo because the big N knows how to get the most out of its studios, PLUS the said re-stocking of talent. Its a shame really that they let this happen to such an important developer, and one that saved their N64 console. I'm guessing Nintendo saw the emergence of Retro Studios as a chance to get similar quality from a western developer at a much lower cost.

They paid 1 million for Retro right? And made 375 million off Rare?

gamingeek said:

New Halo: Reach Campaign trailer drops

Looks fucking awesome, Bungie is really going all out!!

As someone who thought Halo 1 was incredible, I was really let down by Halo 2. It was GOOD, but not GREAT and after a 3 year wait I was pretty upset they couldn't deliver a game as epic as the original. Then Halo 3....again, while it was a better game than Halo 2, it still had that jar-jarified vibe that Halo 2 had, and the campaign was still not as strong as Halo 1. Really thought the production values could have been better as well.

Halo ODST I feel was a big step in the right direction....it was different, yet still very Halo, and had more of the secluded "OMG we're fucked" vibe that Halo 1 had, and I loved the way the story was told.

Now, Halo Reach looks to be the first game in the series to possibly dethrone Halo 1. The campaign looks epic as fuck, the story looks dark and disturbing, the multi-player has a full featured editor like they should have had way back on Halo fucking 1, and the production values are that of a high level modern game.

Interested.

Updating again.

ASK_Story said:

I honestly don't think Team Ninja knows what they're doing right now. They're adding everything what "they feel" would make a kick-butt game, but they may be doing too much to it.

I'm worried Metroid Other M will be a disappointment. I just don't trust Team Ninja. I really don't. I still want the game because I love Metroid...but I'm not going in this with any expectations other than the thought of "Yay! I a new Metroid game for the Wii!"

I feel the same. If it was Nintendo first party I would have more confidence. This looks quite disparate at times and the controls worry me. From the videos and previews it sounds like they wanted to make a game that superficially looked cool, regardless of control.

Yeah. It's like they're focusing so much on making it look cool that they're sacrificing traditional Metroid gameplay design to make her fight like a ninja.

Key things that also worry me:

• Is it atmospheric like the other Metroid games? Retro nailed it masterfully with Prime.
• Does the game make you feel lonely? Metroid always felt lonely, and that's how it's supposed to be.
  
• Is there a lot of exploration and backtracking? Is it open-world? I have no idea if Other M will be open world or if it's chapter-based like Ninja Gaiden. I hope not.

Can Team Ninja pull this off? I'm very skeptical right now.

ASK_Story said:

gamingeek said:

Sure its the game and not your system?

BTW, what difficulty should I be playing Bayonetta on? I gave up on Ninja Gaiden because of excessive difficulty.

I was intimidated by the difficulty at first because I know it's the same guy that did Devil May Cry 3 which literally made me cry because it was so brutal!

But Bayonetta on easy is too easy and not fun at all. You never get to appreciate or experience the masterfully designed gameplay and crazy action moves Bayonetta can do if you play on easy.

So I started over on normal and although it is challenging, the game truly shined! It was awesome. And when you die or mess up in the game, it's not because it's too hard but it's your fault.

It's really good game design and I recommend it on normal. It will be pretty challenging but you'll truly appreciate the game more if you play it that way.

Sounds like I need something between easy and normal. Damnit, when can we get analogue difficulty sliders?

ASK_Story said:

Damn freaking Fracture demo froze my 360 on the start-up screen!

If the developers can't even make a working demo, no wonder the whole game sucked!

It's not worth it.  I played the first 40 minutes of the game, it's not enjoyable.  

Iga_Bobovic said:

For the last fucking time. Other M is designed by Sakamoto and his team in collaboration with Team Ninja. You may know Sakamoto from some little games like Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Zero Missions.

SAKAMOTO, remember it, and stop blaming Team Ninja for all the things that you do not like.

I have said this a million times before and if I catch anyone of you making the same fucking "Team Ninja is making this game" mistake again, I will kill a puppy! I am not afraid to do it.

End of transmissions.

Given how the Japanese gaming royalty are treated I am sure Sakamoto has as much to do with this as Miyamoto had to do with Retro's Metroid games.  They are making them, once a month he tells them where they are fucking up.

Same with Kojima and his involvement on the new Castlevania.  Team Ninja is making the game, Sakamoto is a fig leaf to lend the project some decency.

*puts on slicker to avoid puppy blood*