The Death of “Secretive” Games – How ‘A Boy and His Blob’ and ‘Black Ops 2’ are keeping a sinking style afloat
Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, General Gaming, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
The birth of the internet has brought about the death of “secretive” game design, but what is it, and can a few developers keep it on life support long enough for a resurgence?
Author: Austin
It might be the most common legitimate complaint among game-players this side of DLC being exploited to high heaven: Games nowadays are just too easy. We used to live in a golden age of toughness, and now our hands are held through even the most simplistic of tasks. We used to spend weeks or months trying one particular part in a game before we beat it. We used to get satisfaction from figuring these things out. Now you never spend more than half an hour on any given task before looking up the answer online and continuing on with the game. After all, anything that gets in the way of you having fun right this second is bad for the game, right?
Maybe. There’s no use starting off on a tirade about how easy games are bad, or how games built for constant stimulation are degrading the industry. There is then, similarly, no use in preaching the power of difficulty, or making the falsely “bold” claim that every game needs to be as hard as Mega Man 2. They don’t, and they aren’t. Any declaration of any type of game being intrinsically superior to any other type of game should be– though usually isn’t– ignored in lieu of fostering somewhat more positive discussion about a hobby and/or passion most of us share.
No, the problem is not that ridiculously easy games exist. The problem isn’t really even that ridiculously hard games don’t exist. The problem is that ridiculously hard games don’t exist in the same way that they used to.
8 pages of Hyrule Historia in English
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 0 comments
Dark Horse shared a public preview of its Hyrule Historia localization. Eight pages from the upcoming book can be found in the gallery above.
Hyrule Historia launch to be celebrated at Nintendo World Store next Friday
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Next Friday, a special event will be held at the Nintendo World Store to celebrate the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia. Fans can gather between 6 PM and 8 PM to purchase the lengthy book in both standard and limited edition formats. Hyrule Historia officially goes on sale on January 29.
A few activities are planned for the launch party. At the time being, Nintendo has only mentioned a costume contest, but additional items are on the agenda.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Nargacuga screenshots and details
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Capcom is continuing to highlight creatures from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. The latest, Nargacuga, is a Flying Wyvern in the game.
Nargacuga screenshots and details are posted below, straight from Capcom-Unity.
Disney Infinity will be “a very different experience” on 3DS
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
Disney Infinity was finally unveiled this week. We know how the game will play out on the Wii U and Wii, but nothing has been said about the 3DS version.
Avalanche Studios chief creative officer John Blackburn did offer a few nuggets in an interview with Destructoid, noting it will offer “a very different experience” on Nintendo’s handheld.
Blackburn explained the type of gameplay that Disney Infinity offers on 3DS:
“The 3DS is a very different experience. They memory can’t handle all that stuff, so technologically we couldn’t do the same thing there. It’s more of a game you expect on a 3DS: You build teams with characters and they each have a mini-game that comes along with them. You can go and build out the different play fields that you’ll go through with your team, so there is a strategy component when you play with someone else.”
Armillo isn’t Fuzzy Wuzzy Games’ only Wii U project
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
Fuzzy Wuzzy Games confirmed Armillo for the Wii U eShop yesterday. This isn’t the indie dev’s only project, however.
Along with Armillo, the team is working on another project that is being kept under wraps for now. Fuzzy Wuzzy’s James Saito would only divulge that it is “going to be unique in its own ways, instead of being more of a throwback like Armillo.”
Saito teased:
“Yes, but nothing official yet that we want to announce. One project has been in the planning stages for a few months and will soon approach prototyping. I won’t say anything except that it’s going to be unique in its own ways, instead of being more of a throwback like Armillo. But for now, our focus is on finishing Armillo and making it as good as we’d like.”
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate will take 16 hours to complete, says producer
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments
MercurySteam is packing in a hefty amount of content into Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. Producer David Cox estimates a 16 hour play-through for those experiencing the title for the first time. Cox also believes it could take another 12 hours to finish a second time.
If you play Mirror of Fate to 100% completion, the play-through time will rise. You’ll be able to unlock a secret ending if you see and do everything the game has to offer.
Writing on Twitter, Cox said:
@cjviscito – Average first play thru is 16 hours. If you want to collect everything 100%? its longer, second play thru are around 12 hours
— Dave Cox (@CastlevaniaLOS) January 11, 2013
