FirestormCAN

TL;DR - Game journalism is garbage. Nintendo got themselves in trouble with marketing and third party support. I don't care for third parties if they keep letting out shooters and shovelware, no matter the system. Nintendo needs to rethink their relationship with third parties, dropping the system is a terrible idea. THE WII U IS "NEXT GEN," STOP SAYING IT ISN'T. The GamePad is not as terrible as one might think IMO. I'll be uprading to the Wii U down the line, deal with it. "Game journalists." HA. What a fucking joke. Ever since they called Sonic Unleashed a worse game than Sonic '06, I've never trusted them with opinion on games I'm looking into playing. Now I'll admit the way Nintendo's been marketing the Wii U has been a real crapshoot at best. I mean seriously, how did they not consider the fact that people are going to get it mixed up with the older console? Retailers are screwing up ads like crazy, even they don't get the difference between the two. What the heck, guys? Was there really no other brand name you could market this under? But the main problem with getting third parties on board with the Wii U is what's under the hood. The system uses a completely different architecture than its competitors (PowerPC over AMD). As a result, this makes porting games to the Wii U a pain in the ass, making it vulnerable to major bugs that weren't in the original game in the first place. If they'd actually switch to AMD, we could easily see much broader third-party games for the system. Although, the decision to stay with PowerPC probably made to allow backwards compatibility with the Wii, much like the Wii did for the GameCube. These three systems use similar hardware to each other. As much of a nuisance it is to port new games, it makes it easier to allow backwards compatibility with the Wii, which ran on similar architecture. It highlights something I praise Nintendo for doing over the other two: it allows a smooth transition between console generations which is more cost-effective to loyal owners. There's a lot more value in the Wii U than the previous system with the fact that every single Wii controller is compatible for both old and new games. You don't need to buy extra hardware to play the new games, unless the ones you had broke or are missing a key accessory. I know, it limits the capabilities of the hardware moreso than the other two, but need I remind you that it's not the graphics that make a game, it's the bloody gameplay. Angry Joe brought up the Wii U's rough year in his top controversies of 2013, and he points out how Nintendo is suffering from the system's lack of sales and the attitude that third party publishers are showing against it. While third party support is definately something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later, I don't give a shit about these guys, you know why? There's very little variety these days. I despise how saturated the market is with shooter after shooter after goddamn shooter. Not to mention most games, even the ones that are in a different genre, tend to be poorly designed and rushed to market just to make a quick buck. Yes, there are those third party titles that actually try to be good, they actually understand what gamers would like to see, not what a focus group would like to see. But do you really think most third parties are going to care about what gamers like? No, of course not. They're after your money, and they're doing whatever it takes to get their hands on it, at the cost of quality software. This trend is not going away, and no system is immune: not the Wii U, not the PS4 or Xbox One, not the handhelds, not even the PC. Shovelware is everywhere, and no one is safe. Changing the internal hardware isn't gonna do a thing to help, so the only way third parties are going to develop games for this system is if either 1) Nintendo and the gamers show these people how you can take advantage of the GamePad and the controllers properly or 2) They suck it up, take a risk, and try to give one of their franchises a chance on the Wii U. Some of these "journalists" are calling on Nintendo to just drop the Wii U altogether. You know who else thought that dropping their latest hardware was a good idea? Sega. The CD and 32X add-ons were desperate attempts to keep the Genesis competitive against the SNES. Those horrid attempts while the Saturn was being developed got them killed in the long run when they were discontinued. Consumers blasted Sega for tricking them into buying the add-ons, so most of them moved to either Nintendo with the N64 or Sony when they entered the arena with the PlayStation. Not even the Dreamcast, being the most cutting-edge system at the time it came out, could keep that ship from sinking. If Nintendo drops the Wii U, they are shooting themselves in the foot in the long run. Consumers are going to hate them more for just leaving them with unsupported hardware that came out not too long ago than having only a small number of killer apps. Oh, and to the guy who said the Wii U isn't next gen: my god, you sound like such a fanboy. So how do you define "next-gen," hmm? The Wii U is not an enhanced Wii, it's a whole different animal. It's takes a concept that worked, adds HD graphics, and introduces a tablet controller that opens up more control and interface options than any previous console was capable of. Sure it doesn't directly stream to Twitch, sure it can't handle realistic graphics as much as the PS4 and Xbox One, sure it isn't as interactive with your TV as the others. BIG FLIPPIN' DEAL. It's not like it needs those things to make it a game console. What makes a game console are the games. Not all those pointless features that makes them a glorified cable box. I've tried the GamePad at a Toys 'R' Us, and it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. As a matter of fact, it did its job near perfectly. Yes, it's different and runs off the tablet craze, but if it does what it intended to do, that's good enough for me. Being a new owner of a 3DS, I'm opening up to using a separate touch screen for game control. And the games I'm seeing are just beautiful, I've never seen Mario or Zelda so crisp. It is a next-gen console, get over yourself. Down the line, we'll be upgrading to the Wii U. I don't give a shit about what these "hardcore" gamers or these so-called "journalists" have to say about it. I'm playing Nintendo games because, in my honest opinion, they know more about quality games than most other game companies do. Quit the "stop having fun" attitude and look at these systems for what they are.

Well I finally managed to add funds to my account, so I can start taking advantage of the sale. So far I've added: Left 4 Dead 2 (c/o the giveaway that borked Steam) Super Hexagon (gifted by a dear old Neofriend of mine) Worms: Ultimate Mayhem Sonic CD Kerbal Space Program (Now I can live out my astronaut fantasies! :3) I'll be waiting for other games on my wishlist to drop price (namely ASR Transformed and Portal 2) before adding any more.

I'm not big on mobile devices, the only time I need a phone is for when I'm out of the house and something goes wrong with transit and I need a ride home from my folks. While a smartphone or tablet would be useful for work and social purposes, I'm really not out all that often to warrant the need for such devices. As much as I'd like to give Linux a try after what Microsoft's been doing to Windows, the vast majority of my software is meant for XP and later, so switching OSs would be a big pain in the ass. I'll be fine with Windows 7 on my Alienware laptop, thank you very much.

Got my hands on a 3DS with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and I am loving it. I'm hoping to get my hands on Animal Crossing and some other 3DS and Steam games. Gonna have to wait for both shops to settle down before adding funds, though. Hoo boy, today was just not a good day for digital distribution.

Haha, I was only introduced to this series less than five years ago. But I really wish my parents let me watch these films, 'cause they are fantastic. I find the 2nd movie to be my favorite, 'cause I love how it gives ideas about the future, and yet we're seeing very little of it. Self-lacing shoes? Extreme hydration? Hoverboards? Man, wouldn't you just love to have some of that stuff? Sorry, out of luck mate. Though that time train is without a doubt the most badass train I have ever seen. <3

Muppets take it all the way. I like the take on Mickey's, though the Muppets are more memorable for me. That and the Flinstones one.

Not a surprising reveal in the slightest, but I'm glad to see Rosalina becoming more of a regular. She was one of, if not the best aspect of the Galaxy games. Looking at the gameplay, the lumas seem to behave like a mix of Olimar's Pikmin and the Ice Climbers. I wanna say the lumas will have different effects based on their color, but that would probably be overkill seeing as they can fight without 'em. Either way, looking forward to see what this gal's capable of.

The last thing I want is the see the entire gaming industry devolve all the way back to to an era long since passed. Regardless if we we're in the past, present, or future of gaming, there's always going to be at least one game that's an untested, unoptimized, forgettable, or downright broken mess. Some people in this industry just do not learn from past mistakes, regrardless if it's a publisher, an indie developer, or half-assed studio. Be it on a PC or console, it does not matter. There's good games, there's mediocre games, and then there's shitty games. That's not going to change. At least nowadays game consoles have the ability to allow patches for games instead of forcing you to buy a replacement unit. We go back to 80s-style attitude, what's the chance that games are never going to be patched, even the ones with serious problems? The problem the industry has been seeing over the past decade is not only are they focusing more on graphics than gameplay, they're falling into the same traps as the ones from the Atari and NES days: trying to cash in on a fad. Take Microsoft and Sony for example. They tried to catch up with Nintendo after the Wii took off with tens of millions of units, so they made their own motion controllers, the Kinect and Move, respectively. While they sounded great on paper, they couldn't get the developer support they were hoping for and they just couldn't match up with the Wii remote. Ironically, Nintendo's running into the same problems with the Wii U, they're not getting the support they need to push more consoles. And don't get me started on the software. Some people just don't learn from past mistakes. You wanna go back to the 80s? Find a DeLorean and hook up a flux capacitor, then tell me how much better it would be if the whole industry went back to the attitudes they had back then. Until then, I'll just enjoy the games I play as I see fit, no matter what system they're on.

Of course not, costumes are optional. Standard attire is just fine, provided it's appropriate.

Ohhhhhh man, getting flashbacks of childhood yet again. LOOOOOVED the original series, from its charming expressions, spectacular narration (George Carlin ftw) and so many memorable moments. Nowadays... ehhhh, I really shouldn't complain about it being it's for really young kids, but I have to question some of the decisions HIT made. Most kids had the wooden sets, I had the ERTL die casts. Wasted sooooo many hours with those, and combining with blocks and Legos. Hell, I loved it so much I made a whole Tumblr post about it not long after I started my blog: http://firestorm-can.tumblr.com/post/26217651452/saturday-morning-memories-thomas-the-tank-engine