Street Fighter V shows how pessimistic we have become

Putting things straight from the very beginning I'll start this one by stating that I am not defending Capcom or any other company and because of this I am limiting myself to the human factor of this whole backlash and why I am partially against it. I will try to compress my points of view as best as I can, but I will still explain in detail why I think like I do, because otherwise my message may be mistaken, so bear with me.

In the last couple of weeks Street Fighter V has received a lot of bad press from many people on the net and while it is kind of understandable (the game was indeed sold unfinished) the battle cries have been too loud for too long up to a point in which most of us don't know if the latest criticism of the game is legit or just a strategy to get some clicks. Why do I say this? Well on the other side of the spectrum I have seen tons of videos of people just having fun with it, even on its current state (you are not getting off the hook Capcom!) and if there are people that are having fun, then this is a sign that the whole uproar is not as pristine and noble as you might believe.

Half of the problem comes the fanboy factor. Before you throw tomatoes at me I can tell you that I am not stating that everybody who criticizes the game is a fanboy (even I have my own complaints SFV), but after surfing around the net and seen how many people have reacted, I can safely say at least half of this situation is fueled by a sense of fandom. This is actually a phenomenon that is very predominant on this generation, one that I like to call "exclusivity blues" which is when somebody trashes a game just because it wasn't released on their console of choice. It is similar to what happened to games like Bloodborne (some people still say that it isn't a legitimate "souls" game), Halo 5 (trashed by many people without even playing it) and even Driveclub which was fixed and polished over time to be a good racing game, but it is still pictured negatively, regardless of its current fixed state.

Other than fanboy-ism against exclusives (the other half of the problem) we have to admit that we as a community have turned into a very pessimistic one, with some "arguments" that are really short of not making any sense. If we take Street Fighter V as an example, we can mention the fact that some people state that the game should had been delayed until June for it to be released completely. This makes sense in some ways, but if you really think about it... Wouldn't it be the same thing? If you were raised at the same time I did, you would know that sometimes we would had given anything to have a piece of the game early in order to satisfy our hunger while the rest of it was released. We went as far as going around buying demos (Remember those playstation Jampack demo discs?) and I still remember how a group of friends and I played the heck out of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater demo, up until the day it was finally released. It was crazy, but fun as hell even if it was just one stage and 2 skaters. A similar thing happened with Cool Boarders 2, so you can imagine.

My overall point about this subject is that even though criticism is good (anybody who ever read this blog knows that I bash companies a lot), we still need to do it in a precise and close to surgical way. It needs to be like this because we will otherwise sound like an unorganized angry mob instead of an educated group of people pointing out flaws in the products related to our favorite hobby. The pouting attitude doesn't help at all and just unnecessarily throws dirt on top of games that can be good, but are not given the chance just because their first impression was problematic. We have to accept that technology has enabled games to have updates and this means that most of your concerns can and most probably will be fixed in a set amount of time, so have patience and wait a little.

Ready your flame throwers for companies that just plain ignore you. For the rest just give them some time and see how hey react before raining hell on them. We need a lot more patience and positivism if we want the gaming scene to be as enthusiastic and awesome as it once was. Companies are not saints, I know, but we can't afford to make a ruckus that will kill, rather than fix the games we love. Think about this the next time you want to point your pitchforks and torches against a game.

Resident Evil Remake Remastered Edition? This could get interesting.

It seems that Capcom has decided to go back to the Resident Evil franchise roots quite literally. With the announcement of a remastered version of the GameCube Resident Evil remake, came a wave of flaming and frustration especially coming long time fans that feel that Capcom has cheated them again. Everybody agrees that the Resident Evil remake is one of the best things that Capcom has ever done, but many think that bringing it to this generation as an HD port is kind of dumb considering how old the game is. The outcry that is coming from some sectors of the gaming community is understandable to a point, but I think that most people are missing the point about what Capcom may be intending to do with this port and how it could favor us fans in the long run.

It teaches newer generations to appreciate the classic Resident Evil experience.

All those classic style RE games coming from the very first one all the way to Resident Evil 3 and Code Veronica are revered by many and have become the immediate topic that comes around every time there is a conversation about Capcom's survival horror flagship. It is good to reminisce about these games from time to time, but we have to accept that newer generations won't touch any of those games even if their lives depended on it. Because of this, Capcom may be trying to introduce newcomers into the classic Resident Evil experience by giving them something that looks brand new to them. If they manage to hook newcomers into the classic style as they did with us back then, the probabilities of the franchise going back to its roots becomes a lot higher.

The cool thing about the zombies in the remake is that they were very intimidating.

It can fix Capcom's impression about the survival horror genre.

It is said that the Resident Evil remake did not made the sale numbers that Capcom was expecting back in 2002 and that was the main reason why they switched from pure survival horror to a more action oriented style. It is pretty obvious that the game did not performed that well because it was a Game Cube exclusive and unfortunately there weren't many Game Cube consoles out there at the time. Capcom saw it as a decrease in popularity, but the reality about it is that this happened because of the console user base. For a reference example see this comparison below:

Sale figures:

• Resident Evil: (PS ONE): 2.75 m
• Resident Evil Remake (GameCube):  1.35 m
• Resident Evil Code Veronica (Dreamcast/PS2) : 2.54 m

Here we can see how the established PS ONE user base traduced itself into greater sale numbers (for the time) compared with an exclusive title (the remake) and one shared in two platforms that were still young at the time (Code Veronica). Believe me, I am an advocate of game exclusivity, but for some reason, platform exclusivity doesn't work well with Resident Evil. 

Because of this market misconception, Capcom got the wrong impression about the whole survival horror genre and decided to stop supporting it. Now with this port they have the chance to recover not only the losses they had back then, but their faith on survival horror games which also raises the possibilities of the next RE game NOT been just about shooting stuff, running and quick time events.

Hands down one of the scariest parts in any survival horror game.

It keeps the series alive.

Some gamers say that the series needs a reboot, but that isn't necessarily true. The franchise as it is, has a rich storyline chronology that can still spawn very interesting games. They don't have to move it forward in order to make a new game as they can just explore a whole spectrum of events that were happening at the same time the story of the newer games was. They can use characters like Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers or even Billy Coen to go around the story arc a little and give us very interesting scenarios (see Interesting Scenarios that a New Resident Evil Game Could Have if you need some examples.)

Compared to the original, this boss fight was at least twice as tense.

Wrapping it up

A Resident Evil port that can capture newcomers, fix the reputation of survival horror within Capcom and keep the series alive as it is, sounds like a pretty good trio of reasons why this surprising re-apparition of an old game can inject some life into the Resident Evil franchise just in the way we want it. Back in the past, Capcom released 2 versions of the original game (normal and director's cut) and they were successful with it so they have a good chance with this one. This is good opportunity here that what may seem dumb for some, but can end up to be a turning point in the series and the beginning of that new, but awesome Resident Evil game we all deserve. If you have never played a classic Resident Evil game before, this is a must buy and if you are an old school gamer don't dismiss this version yet, at least until further details are announced.

Sources:
GearNuke -Resident Evil Sales Figures

5 JRPG Franchises We May Never See on Consoles Again

Although it is a niche market, role playing videogames (rpg) have always captivated the minds of many gamers around the world. Be it, because of their epic stories, likable characters, secrets to unlock or a deep sense of strategy, this genre is one that may never die. Still, not everything is peachy as Japanese rpg games are still having problems getting into the home console market. This side of the genre has not experienced any type of console boom since the beginning of the previous generation when Microsoft got a lot of j-rpg exclusives for the Xbox 360. Nowadays big scale console j-rpg games can be counted with one hand mostly because most of the fan favorite franchises that rpg gamers would love to see in the current generation have been abandoned, changed completely or downsized to a handheld or casual mobile game. These are 5 of those sagas that we may never see again unless some kind of miracle happens.

Note: This list focuses on the games that are very unlikely to make it to a home console. I know that some handheld titles are superb, but the focus here will be big scale console experiences like Nino Kuni, Tales of Xillia or the Persona series. 

Some will say that turn based battles are slow, but I think that the ATB system makes them fun.

1) Final Fantasy Games (Turn based - Classic Style)

Final Fantasy can basically be called the banner flag of the entire genre. The problem is that the franchise has changed in such a drastic way that many fans won't even recognize it as the saga they knew and loved. Evidence of this change came with the creation of Final Fantasy XIII. That was a time when the creators themselves admitted that they had been influenced by games like Call of Duty a, thing that is still daunting to many players out there. Another thing been that infamous moment in 2008 when the president of Square Enix gave a warning to all employees about the company focusing on mainstream experiences or "facing the consequences". All of this became a wave of change that basically washed off an entire saga away. Up to this day even though Square Enix has pledged to go back to their roots, it is very unlikely to see a full scale turn based FF game ever again on consoles as we did on previous generations.

The Koudelka/Shadow Hearts franchise sort of gave a new face to the genre at the time.

2) Shadow Hearts

Shadow Hearts is an j-rpg series that started with Koudelka which was an horror styled rpg (PS1) then, the game got its name changed to Shadow Hearts and spawned 3 games (keeping the dark undertones that identified it) and making it a series. This is another one of those j-rpg franchises that died off with the PS2 and basically disappeared. Reasons why don't see it nowadays are that its main publisher Midway, went bankrupt and was bought by Warner Bros. Also to put a little more salt in the wound, Shadow Hearts developer, a company called Sacnoth (later known as Nautilus) doesn't exist anymore as it was dissolved by its owner Azure (a pachinko machine company).

Grandia 2 was one of the games that helped the Dreamcast have the initial success it did.

3) Grandia

Grandia was one of those j-rpg games with great visuals, an intuitive and fun battle system and stylish game play. The first Grandia game was made in order to compete to the rpg giant Final Fantasy VII (appearing on both the Sega Saturn and the PS1) and later on, it became one of the most cherished franchises on the genre. The first two Grandia games are considered classics, but many fans believe that from that point on the series went into a downward spiral that killed the franchise popularity as gamers felt that Game Arts was stepping away from the original formula that made the game so popular. Another heavy blow was that the series original creator died in 2011 so the basic essence of the game may had died with him. Up until now there have been no announcements or even comments regarding the revival of this great series. It is important to mention that even though the first 2 Grandia games were the ones that people see as classics, the third one was not bad and it was just a casualty of the decrease in popularity that the series was suffering.

This was one of those with tightly packed towns where you had to play with the camera at all times.

4) Breath of Fire

Breath of Fire was Capcom's contender to the crown back in the j-rpg days, having its own best titles through the 16 to 32 bit eras. It had good anime styled graphics, an excellent story and well developed characters that made us feel like they had a very deep sense of purpose, all in an environment that had a kind of Celtic mystical mood. The series took a dive in Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter (which was praised in Japan, but shunned in America because it went too far from the original formula) and after that, gamers never heard of a new classic Breath of Fire game again. Capcom announced that they would be releasing Breath of Fire 6 in 2014, but the game looks nothing like the original and many fans fear that it will just be a casual mobile game with the Breath of Fire name on it. Right now, as half of Capcom is at sale, there is a slight possibility that an rpg-focused studio could get the rights to the game and make it right again, but it is still a very long shot.

A game that looked beautiful back in the days where pre-rendered backgrounds were still the rage.

5) Legend of the Dragoon

Legend of the Dragoon was one of the most acclaimed j-rpg games on the PS One. It had very advanced visuals for its time (exploiting the pre-rendered background trend), a long and interesting storyline and quality aspects that rivaled those of the Final Fantasy games of the time. The game was supposed to turn into a series and get a sequel, but for undisclosed reasons, Sony broke up the group and just cancelled the project in order to relocate resources. Now at our present day and after almost 15 years since it was first released, Sony hasn't shown any interest in reviving the franchise other than a PSN re-hash of the original game. Even Shuhei Yoshida has expressed that the game is one of his best memories in the time he has been working at Sony as he was part of the original team, but not even Yoshida seems to be able to bring this great j-rpg back from the grave.

My hat is of to Namco, because they have never given up on their Tales saga.

Wrapping it up:

Even though this list looks very pessimistic, I have to tell you people that this list was much larger. This article began with 10 j-rpg games that we may never see on consoles, but was later on reduced to 5 because half of them got at least mentioned or referenced meaning they could still come back, like Wild Arms for example. The j-rpg side of the genre is slowly gaining its strength back and it may be just a matter of time before we see it blooming again. Let's just make sure that we put our money where our mouths are and support the games when they come out.

Interesting scenarios that a new Resident Evil could have.

In the past month, a little bit of nostalgia brought in a Resident Evil marathon with it and after playing some of the games and watching the CGI films, a question came to mind. Assuming that Capcom survives their current ordeal and actually release a new Resident Evil game... What new scenarios could they try? They have mentioned that Resident Evil Revelations and The Last of Us would serve as inspiration for them to bring the franchise back to its survival horror roots, so an action-oriented "final struggle/anything goes" scenario would not fit into that line of thinking. Playing these games and watching the animated movies have shown that they have tried almost any common scenario that a "Bio Hazard" story can develop into, but there are still some of them that would make the franchise look fresh again without the need of a reboot. Let's see some of the crazy ideas that came out of this (get prepared to read, because this is a long one) so let your imagination roll and continue.

In order to get away from the Dead Island's "paradise beach" theme, something like this should work.

The island that was too late to be saved

This scenario would happen some months after Raccoon City has been wiped off the map. The setting would be a fictional artificially made island that was created by some billionaire in order to make his own independent nation. The island would have a significant population and it would include all kinds of services and residential areas, sort of like a small contemporary country state (no futuristic stuff). The problem begins when the billionaire's nephew manages to escape Raccoon City before the bombing, after stealing a defective canister containing the virus. With no other place to go, the nephew goes back to his uncle, but not before getting infected, turning into a zombie and starting an outbreak on the island. The Billionaire, knowing that his nation is in peril, asks the U.S government for help (along with a great amount of money). U.S authorities see this an an opportunity to test an experimental anti-virus/vaccine so they send the protagonist (which is a CDC agent) along with a small team to the island in order to try the anti-virus and attempt to save as much people as possible.

The protagonist arrives on the island by boat and starts administering the anti virus to the survivors as he believes that the island could still be saved, but it doesn't work on most people because of unknown reasons and the outbreak continues to spread. The situation gets even worse when the protagonist boat is stolen by scared people trying to escape the island and get blown off to pieces by the billionaire's personal militia as he snaps and orders a lock up on the island. Now you have to survive not only the infected people, animals and plants, but a crazy man who blames you for what happened.  This would be a back to basics story, focusing on survival and how people's lives are shattered by the outbreak, it could also have twist or a complication happening halfway through the game just to spice things up a little. The player could also be able to try to give anti-virus shots to those infected that haven't turned into zombies as the island is explored, that way receiving weapons, items or information for your troubles.

Remember this movie? That should give your sort of an idea.

Hidden primal horrors

This one happens at the time of Resident Evil 5. On this scenario one of the characters of the series that has not appeared that much in the previous games, will have become a renegade, now working for a drug cartel as life seems to have lost its meaning to him/her (Maybe one of the STARS members we thought to be dead and is alive somehow). The protagonist is sent to the Amazon along with a partner to retrieve a drug shipment that was lost in the area because of a previous botched operation.

The problem begins when they find out that they are not alone in the jungle. Other than the obvious dangers that lurk in the foliage, they find themselves chased by local authorities who somehow became aware of their presence and tried to lure them into a trap. As they run and lose them his/her partner is shot and dies, but the protagonist manages to wound some of the soldiers and makes way to an abandoned native village that seems a little too modern and organized.  Here the protagonist finds the village spreads into a series of abandoned and ran down facilities that seem to have been used by Umbrella in the past and are scattered through the jungle. After exploring for a while the protagonist gets face to face with one of the soldiers, but the soldier asks for them to join forces instead of arresting him because all his remaining partners have been killed by some unknown force. Now the two of them have to look for some way to survive as the sun sets and the night begins.

This one could feature a whole new set of enemies, maybe enemies infected by a failed early version of the T/G-virus and because of the jungle setting, there can be a whole other variety of dangers that can be exploited alongside the normal enemies in the game. The cool thing here would be to keep the player moving back and forth between the several facilities with the use of clever puzzles and different types of hazards so they can become afraid of going outdoors for too long.

This image sort of explains the concept, at least on its advanced stages.

What to do when the place itself is the enemy

This one is really a long shot, but it makes sense if you keep an open mind. Here the protagonist can be a totally new one and it the scenario would be in the same time as Resident Evil 6. On this one, the protagonist is a secret service agent that gets locked in an emergency bunker facility with several VIPs and staff after a false alarm. The thing is that one of those VIPs is working for a terrorist group and he/she releases a deadly unknown B.O.W bomb that basically turns the whole place in to a mutated being, with tissue and mutations everywhere as if it were the insides of a living creature merged with the already existing structure.

Little by little the mutation keeps getting bigger and enveloping everything it its path, while infecting people and spawning its own aberrations. The protagonist then must find a way out of the giant mutating structure while protecting the VIPs. On this scenario the player would have to literally protect the VIPs while making progress as any people lost or rescued in the end may change the ending. At some points the player will have to make split second decisions that can mean life of death for the VIPs. It would also be cool if the VIPs would have some degree of A.I that is enough for them to act on their own, so they some times can, follow you, ignore you, have problems with you, be useful, get infected, find items, tell you secrets etc, all depending on how you play and interact with them. All of this with the added detail that one of them is the terrorist and you don't know who.

Wrapping it up

There you go folks, 3 crazy ideas about possible scenarios that the Resident Evil franchise could take on the new game (if it happens). Note that this is entirely based on personal opinion and creative thinking, so if you have your own crazy Resident Evil scenarios go ahead and share them on the comments section, who knows what kind of other crazy ideas we can come up with.

Capcom for sale: who would buy what

Capcom, a really big embodiment of some of our childhoods is now there for the taking. Any of the big gaming companies can dish out the benjamins and the creative father of games like Mega Man, Street Fighter and Resident Evil can fall entirely into their hands. That is the current situation, but while most people talk about this occurrence as "the sale of Capcom as a whole", the company properties can pretty much be sold in pieces which means that individual franchises can be bought if the other 49% of stock holders agree to it. Now using each of the important companies or individual's situation as a guide, we will mention some of Capcom's greatest properties and see who would buy them and why.

Mega Man

It is a no-brainer that the ideal buyer for this franchise right now is Nintendo. The reason is that they are the only ones that have given some love to the blue bomber in years with his appearance on Super Smash Brothers for 3DS and Wii U. Not only that, but the Nintendo platform is the most suitable one for the her in blue right now. This is because of the style of gaming that is going on in the Wii U and 3DS platforms which is a little more colorful and fantasy based than its competitors.

On a second position as a potential buyer, we have Mega Man's creator himself, Keiji Inafune. It is not known how wealthy he is, but if he gets his hands back on his own creation, he will have a money maker that will greatly return his investment and make him a hero to all Mega Man fans.

Resident Evil - Dino Crisis

On the survival horror department Capcom has two franchises that are currently trending and those are Resident Evil and Dino Crisis (with a possible next-gen comeback). As far as competition goes, the companies that are most likely to tap on these games are Sony and Microsoft. If they decided to buy any of these two franchises it is safe to say that each company would get one and then we would have a survival horror brawl between the PS4 and the Xbox One at a later time.


Street Fighter
This one is most likely going the way of Sony, as they have been showing a very persistent interest in this fighting game franchise even making some subtle references to it on some of the promotional videos that they shown just after they unveiled the console for the first time.

Nintendo is very unlikely to go for this one as it really doesn't fit into their current plans while Microsoft remains a wildcard in the case of this game. Another thing that could happen is that Capcom itself protects this franchise and keep it to themselves as it has greatly profited them (still does).

Darkstalkers

This franchise can go anywhere as we haven't seen anything from it for a long time. If any company does buy it, it can finally spawn the game that its fans have been waiting for years, but there is still the possibility that the franchise will be kept in the shadows of Street Fighter and once again ignored.

If this once great franchise gets some attention, One company that gives a faint impression that they would get it is Atlus. This is because if Darkstalkers were to fall into their hands, they could give it the same treatment they did to Persona 4 Arena, rebooting the series and pleasing its fans.

Ghost and Goblins

The Ghost and Goblins franchise looks like something that Microsoft would pick up. In the course of the Xbox 360 lifespan, we saw some old school franchises featured on the Xbox Live Arcade, and although they weren't exclusives, they had a good following in the Microsoft's machine.

Another company that could shelter this franchise would be Nintendo as they can do all sorts of things with it, from spawning a new Ghost and Goblins game, to featuring Arthur as a new character in Super Smash Brothers. Once again the colorful and fantasy based nature of Nintendo games, puts them as potential buyers for this popular franchise that has been there since the very beginning on Capcom's best times.

Monster Hunter

It is no secret that Nintendo has a stranglehold on this franchise, but if it becomes a sale option and Nintendo doesn't act quick, they can lose it to Sony who really needs it to beef up the sales of the PS VITA which would be a a very productive move, since the franchise helped sell PSP consoles in the past.

Like Street Fighter, Monster Hunter is also one of those franchises that could be protected by Capcom itself, because it is so popular in Japan that it was one of the games that was holding the company afloat, before the stocks were released.

Other games

There are many other franchises (even more than the ones featured on this blog entry) that could be picked up by major companies, but will not be seen at depth because this would mean that the list would go on forever. Just so not many Capcom franchises are left hanging, here is a small list of some other franchises also including the companies that would be most likely to get them:

• Dead Rising (Microsoft)

• Devil May Cry (Anyone, most likely Sony)

• Okami (Nintendo)

• Strider (Anyone, most likely Microsoft)

• Beautiful Joe (Nintendo)

• Power Stone (Anyone, most likely Nintendo or Microsoft)

Wrapping it up

Even though we saw a lot of interesting hypothetical sales on this entry, we have to be aware that it is very possible that no gaming company ever goes forward to buy anything and the stocks end up been bought by some ordinary business man/woman which leaves the company exactly as it was before the stocks became available, so don't get your hopes up. It is also noticeable that not everybody is happy with the possibility of any of the Capcom's franchises becoming exclusive to one gaming platform, but hey it could happen, just be sure to keep an open mind.

Goal! 5 soccer video games for gamers who are not sport fans

The FIFA 2014 world cup has started and soccer once again became a hot topic everywhere. In the video game world there are superb Soccer simulations like EA's FIFA and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series. Games like that give you the feeling of a real soccer game with all the emotion and glory, but on the other side of the equation there are soccer video games that go the way of the arcades with an over the top and often wacky take on the popular sport. Here are 5 of those games that take the goal fest into a different style and can be very fun even if you are not a sports fan.

Take into account that this one came before all the lego related games.

Lego Soccer Mania 

(2002 - PS2, Game Boy Advance, Windows)

This one is the simplest out of the list. It is a simplified version of the soccer game with legos on it, but with the popularity that lego based video games and movies have had, this one is worth a try. The premise on this one is a simple game of Soccer, but including all the things you love about legos as well as some power ups that randomly spawn on the field for the player to use them. In order to simplify the game play itself, the game left out some soccer rules like fouls and offsides, so it is more of a family-arcade type of sports video game with fast paced soccer showdowns and a straight forward game flow.

One expects Sora to come out and play at any minute.

Disney Sports Soccer

(2002 - Game Cube, Game Boy Advance)

Some months before the time when Disney characters had a real come back in the form of Kingdom Hearts, Disney Sports Soccer took some of the most famous Disney characters into the game. This one is a little more serious, but still featuring an arcade style of game play where each of the main players have magic powers they can use to turn the tide of the game into their favor. The Disney characters in this game look similar to how they looked on Kingdom Hearts (with a little less quality) and the various game modes mostly go around a Dream Cup or elimination tournament which are good for a quick and exciting championship, specially if playing with friends.

Sega always finds a way to make everything look "arcade style".

Sega Soccer Slam

(2002 - PS2, Gamecube, Xbox) 

(2003 - Mobile) 

(2008 - Xbox 360 as Xbox Originals)

This Sega crazy take on soccer is an over the top take on the sport. For starters the game almost has no official soccer rules which makes it a near 100% arcade experience. The player can also punch, kick, slam or tackle each other in order to take control of the ball which makes it feel sort of like NBA Jam with no fouls and hectic situations. Each team has a different characteristic that defines how they play like toxic, ice, robotics, fire, water and so on which makes it interesting to try every team and see which one suits you best. The game also features a story mode in which you can earn money to buy new power ups and unlock some cool bonus artwork. In summary, the game is a fun, out of the ordinary soccer experience, just what we would expect of Sega on these kinds of arcade style games.   

A classic one for any Mega Man fan.

Mega Man Soccer

(1994 - Super Nintendo)

This one is classic and a rare and expensive find if you are a video game collector and find a boxed one. Mega Man Soccer took the sport and gave it the Mega Man treatment with many of the franchise famous robot masters and of course the "Blue Bomber" himself. The game is really active with all the robots using their powers in order to take control of the ball and trying to smash the goalie out to score. Every robot in the game has its own stats and are better on some things than others and can be used on the various game modes like exhibition, leagues and tournaments which can be played solo or with a friend to make it more fun and active. The game did not had the best of receptions when it first came out, but if you give it a chance (or are a Mega Man fan) you can really enjoy it.

The art for this game was just awesome!

Super Mario Strikers Charged

(2007 - Wii)

The Mario Bros franchise has been in almost everything, and soccer isn't the exception. Starting in Game Cube, the Mario Strikers games has all been about the characters in the Mario Bros universe battling it out for glory in the field. In Charged, this is more noticeable with more powers and even using the motion control features of the Wii to try to stop the ball as the goalie (on a first person perspective) at certain occasions. This time around Nintendo gave a little more personality to the characters and gave them pretty impressive skills that can be used against your foes (some of them were really exploited, like Boo's skill that goes through the opponent and made it easy to basically bypass the goalie). The game is also very challenging not only while playing with others, but also at the single player mode where the CPU is relentless and can beat you up the moment you make your first mistake. Overall, it is a really good arcade style soccer game that really deserves a try if you have Wii or Wii U. 

Luigi's death stare before it was cool.

Wrapping things up

Here you have it folks. 5 good soccer games for those who are not necessarily fans of the sport. These are games that bend the rules in favor of just having fun and do a very good job at it. From simpler versions of the soccer sport, to playing with super powers and even beating up your opponents, these games can make up for a very fun afternoon of video game soccer, even more so if you play them with friends. So, if you ever get some soccer fever (because of the world cup and stuff), but you don't want to play a simulation game, check these ones out and give it a try.  

Video game releases that never come. Why does this happen?

Right now, If you can think about one or more video games that you have been waiting for since like forever, then you are one of the many that ask themselves why do sometimes some game franchises just vanish, leaving only good memories and a pile of game release rumors.

At first it may seem to be just coincidental business decisions, because like every business, video games must evolve, but if one looks a little further, one can see that almost every game company has a game (or several) that they just abandoned, even when it was a big hit money printing machine.There are many possible reasons that we can think about and we are going to see some of them along with some theoretical solutions. You will be amazed on how different it could be and how perplexing it becomes as the opposite happens.

Note: This article is just a theoretical analysis based on common sense and it does not claim to be a video game business guru. This is more just like one of those thoughtful conversations that you could have with your friends when talking about games over some slices of pizza on a gaming afternoon.

Some companies easily become the Ted Dibiase of the video game industry.

All about the Benjamins

This one is the most obvious reasons so let's get it out of the way. Some games are left in development hell because there are no financial means or financial will "to do it correctly". This happens a lot with games that were pretty ambitious at their time and were only possible because they were cheaper to do back then. By ambitious it doesn't necessarily mean giant worlds or branching game play with a lot of options. It could just mean a game with a style of game play that is complex to do (even on a linear game standard) and takes time and resources in order for it to be interesting which seems to be a problem due to rising development costs.

Solution:

They need to stop thinking about those games in terms of the latest graphics, sound and effects and just make them prettier than their original versions without making a crater on their bank account. Make it look nice enough, but focus on building upon the game play that the game already had. So in summary, the solution is to re-route resources to the core elements of the game itself instead of the visuals and technical aspects. The fans will not mind if the game doesn't look like the a graphic powerhouse, they just want to continue the story, enjoy its game play and just have fun. Gamers fell in love with their creation, meaning story, characters and game play and not its polygons and resolution. An example of this is the new Legend of Zelda for the Wii U that was shown on this year's E3. The game looks gorgeous even on a platform that has a lot less power than the other rival consoles.

A quote that seems kind of hard to accept nowadays.

Change for the sake of change

This one came like a wave that drowned many of the previous fan favorite game franchises, specially between the DC/PS2/GC/Xbox and the PS3/Xbox360/Wii generations. Be it because of a change of president, CEO, owner, etc, some companies dumped great gaming franchises just because they did not fit into their new philosophy even if the game was almost guaranteed to be successful up to that point. Others killed franchises by changing them so much that they became rejected, thus turning them into franchises that did not sold copies anymore. The worst thing is that at the end of the road the blame is put on game itself and not the decisions made by the game company. It's like an army blaming a soldier for a blunder caused by something they ordered him to do. Change is good, but not every time. Sometimes it is best to not try to fix what is not broken.

Solution:

For them to explore the notion of NOT abandoning money making franchises just because they have an urge to make things different for the fun of it. The best thing to do is to assign small teams to make those games while keeping moderate production values and changing formats if needed (digital is cheaper). Make a study of where the fans of that game are lingering and aim for that, followed by clever marketing strategies, viral advertising and a good dose of screen time that could attract new crowds, specially on the web. Take for instance what Square Enix did with Bravely Default. The game was released on handheld where development is cheaper, but carried everything that their JRPG games are known for and became a great success that even changed the philosophy that the company had at the moment.

Moral of the story: Do not play with your fan's feelings.

Games held as trump cards

Some companies give the impression that they know they have a wanted game on their hands, but they sit on it because they expect to use it at a later time if needed. So they hold the game for a long time, limiting themselves to make small announcement and comments just to keep the fans happy and speculating. They let some "leaks" to go public and spawn some articles on the gaming media or maybe make a reference to the game on some random interview, all done with the purpose of keeping the game alive on stasis, sort of like Han Solo frozen in carbonite.

Solution

They need to realize that freezing or delaying a game is something that will only work for 3-5 years tops. Games that go longer than that away from the spot light start to fade, as gamers take refuge in other games and little by little lose interest in the original idea, up to the point when they can begin to see it as something "passe" and just plain ignore it when it finally comes out. This is the case of franchises like Duke Nukem and even the notorious Daikatana in the 90's. If they need to take a temporary break from a franchise, that is understandable, but coming out of the blue with a 10 year old concept and expecting gamers to go crazy over it would be like leaving a lover and saying "I will be back later" then come back 10 years after and expect that person to be single and waiting for you, it just doesn't work that way. So the bottom line is... If history has told us that something doesn't work then why do it?

War never changes, not even on the office.

A civil war of games 

This is one very theoretical reason, but quite possible if one takes into account how humans think. It is in human nature to protect our own things and with video game new I.P's (Intellectual Property) it isn't any different. New developers and rising talents will want to bring their ideas to the table and will most likely repel anything that means them living under the shadow of a successful franchise from the past. One example is the rumored problems that Hideo Kojima was having with the team assembled to create a new Zone of the Enders game as the group was not following his vision and this ended with Kojima losing interest in the project which is now dead. So things been like this mean that newer designers and project managers will try to influence the company into making new things, their things instead of building upon the already established. It is a natural instinct, but it is not always productive.

Solution

To be mindful of each of their employees on the creative/development department and see what are their influences and vision as game developers. Be sure to put the right people in the right projects. Do some assessments to get to know the members of their company and see how they react to different development options. Also get their strongest developers to feel comfortable with what they are doing and see how they influence those around them. Then when they finally have a profile of each of the members of their development team, they can assign teams more efficiently and have an all around better working environment which will make games to turn out better and be developed faster and with greater passion. Otherwise it would be a random affair, like putting plumbers to work as clothing designers.

Some of our childhood heroes are not there as we knew them anymore.

The heroes of the past been long gone

This one is all about the passing of time. As years come and go, some of the great developer teams that made some of our favorite games are little by little disbanding or changing. Other times, big-time developers retire or go into making their own developing studios for various reasons (some of them included in the things previously mentioned). Like Team Silent (original Silent Hill development team) disbanding,  Hironobu Sakaguchi (original Final Fantasy creator) forming his own team with Mistwalker, Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil creator) going solo with The Evil Within, Keiji Inafune (Mega Man's creator) leaving Capcom and even Koji Igarashi (Castlevania creator) leaving Konami in order to make games he wants to make without creative constraints and limitations.

Solution

The masterminds behind games can easily move to greener pastures, but sadly the franchises can't as they are property of the company itself, so what it would be good thing to do is for the game companies to publish the game, but lease the development of that game to its previous creator so that the game keeps its potential and both parties profit from the deal. It is something that will be barely noticed by gamers and all the popularity and loyal following the game has will be left unchanged, making it a win-win situation for everybody. In the case that the artist is not available any more, the best course of action would be to study his creation and come up with a game that feels fresh, but is true to its roots.

Wrapping things up

If you have a game that you crave as a fan, but never see it released, that game could pretty much be part of any of the situations previously explained. The industry is a hard place and the battle between business and creativity still rages on. As gamers, the least we can do is use our greatest weapon which is the net and show the gaming companies that these games are wanted and still mean business. If it worked for the Mass Effect 3 ending and made Microsoft backpedal from of their notorious policies, it could also work to see your favorite game franchises brought back to life.

Become the cavalry!

Don't just reminisce about the games, become active!

Here are some links to communities/petitions you can join/sign to help in the effort of bringing some lost games back to life:

100,000 Strong for Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3

Operation: Akumajo (Castlevania Demon War)

Final Fantasy VII Remake Request

The Last Guardian Petition: Make Toriko fly

Shenmue 3 500K: All Fans Needed

Various miscelaneus video game petitions

Has the gaming industry forgotten about millennials?

Some weird topic that just popped into my head and I thought was good enough to start the blog. it begins with a simple question, Has the gaming industry forgotten about  the so called millennials? Take into account that this comes from a "millennial" point of view since I was born in 1984, so let's go ahead and dig deep into this idea.

One of the great rpg franchises that deserve to come back.

The end of the millennial:

First of all, it would be a good thing to define what a "millennial" is. As they say, a millennial (or generation Y) is a person born in the time span from 1980 to the early 2000's. It is the generation that ranges from the styles of the 80's, the easy going abundance of the 90's and the shock of the early 2000's. From a gaming perspective, millennials have been there from the very beginning of gaming as an industry up to the point where everything changed. As a generation we are criticized for many things, most of that criticism coming without any facts, but if there is one thing in which we never faltered it is our taste for gaming.

It is not as exaggerated as path-cutscene-path, but it doesn't even come close to the designs of old.

Change for the sake of change:

When we talk about change, we mean the ways in which the industry has managed to change from one business model to another. At one point, some people used to say that the video game industry was immune to the effects of the economical crisis and we as gamers were totally believing it, because quality standards were still high regardless of the monetary turmoil. So imagine what a shock it was to see it all change and basically leave hanging a whole generation that grew accustomed to a gaming style that nowadays is called "niche", "core" or worst of all "not feasible". It can't be denied that great games have been released in these newer generations, but the change in style is very noticeable. Let's start by comparing these two styles as past and present and see which characteristics make them differ.

Past:

• Complex game design based on exploration.
• Vast use of various types of resources (graphic, sound and user interaction).
• Strong emphasis on story line.
• Gameplay over graphics.
• Games made to make you think hard in order to progress or develop skills over time.
• Medium to high learning curve.
• Product was almost every time a full game.
• Development cycles ranging from 2-4 years at minimum.
• Fiction topped reality in game content.

Present:

• Simple game design based on presentation.
• Recycling of game resources.
• Strong emphasis on making the player addicted to the game.
• Graphics over gameplay.
• Games made in a way that it doesn't annoy or frustrate gamers in any way (a.k.a easier difficulties).
• Low learning curve.
• Semi-complete product followed by tons of updates and downloadable content.
• Development trend of making games in 1 year.
• Reality tops fiction as visual artists make visual material closer to real life.

Every gaming company has their own Warios, screwing things up for the rest of us.

Change for the sake of money:

Each of the reasons why these two styles are complete opposites come from the same principle which is cheap production costs and maximum profits. Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that gaming in within itself is a business, but if we had to describe these two styles with a phrase, the past one would be "Make a kickass game so it sells well" while in the present it would be something like "Make a game that sells and somehow convince people that it is badass".

This is where millennials exit the scene as the ones who were dropped out as the prime customers of the gaming industry. Millennials lived through the many gaming eras that came to pass starting from the early Atari days and if one thing is to be expected from seen how gaming evolved through time is for games to get better; meaning longer, more challenging and more engaging. Millenials are a generation of gamers that have big expectations about gaming productions and will never forget the growth that the industry had, taking big leaps into better gaming experiences. This kind of thinking did not sounded so well to publishers and company investors because it meant more expenses and high risks.

This is when the people in business suits made the change and took power out of the artists hands and gave it to their "market analysts" or "mechandising people". The result of all this is the refusal to evolve and the embrace of a system that began simplifying games to a point that they mostly resemble a bad game from the 8 bit era, but with nice graphics. All this just because it is cheaper, faster and low risk. It is quite ironic for them to keep treating games like simple toys while at the same time saying that gaming has become a full fledged entertainment media with something for everyone. It just doesn't make sense.

Broken down Zero = how our gaming intelligence is treated.

This way of thinking prevented millennials from passing the torch to the newer generation as the new kids were lead to believe that the game development style from the past was too long, boring and passé while the one of the present was cutting edge and cool. People who still prefer the gaming style of the past are labelled as "hipsters" or called "people who still dwell on the past". Companies became rigid, most of the time ignoring what gamers want and using "modern gaming" as an excuse to give us less for our buck. Then as an excuse to get millennials even farther from having any influence, they began to release HD Remakes of famous games of the past just so they don't sell well and use that as an excuse to say "You see? Those games don't sell well any more. There is no reason to make new ones or follow that style of gameplay..."

The stale paradigm theory:

I have the little theory about how things should had been compared to how they are now. If we look into how the gaming industry was evolving, it would seem that people born in the mid 80's would have the industry at their feet from a content perspective. People who became gamers at that time would grow at the same pace as the industry does. So when they were kids the content of games would be mostly directed toward kids, then when going through their pre-teenage and teenage years the content would still be directed at them, then in early adulthood they would still be the poster children of the industry because now they would be the ones with money to spend and have the bigger enthusiasm toward games.

I apologize for the crappy style point chart he he. Just wanted to show the theory in some visual way.

If you see the small chart above, you can see that the emphasis in gaming content grew as people grew if you were a gamer in the 80's. Proof of this come in the games that were smashing successes at the time for each point on the time spans. In the 80's you could picture Mario, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Loony Tunes games, etc. As soon as the 90's came, more serious and beat them up/fighting/violent games became the norm, and at that time it captivated pre-teens and teens quite nicely. After that it all turned into a cinematic experience with a ton of JRPGs, survival horror and action games, now directed towards the teen-early adults age range. After that when the new millennium came, games became even more serious and adults were able to experience great experiences while still giving good stuff to the teens. 

Now after that, as gaming became entertainment media, it should had kept on the early adults/adults zone but instead it went back to the teens and got stuck there (with the occasional treat to adults over 40 which are points off the chart). Why did this happen? Because those age ranges meant cheaper development and lower risk. Please have in mind that this is just a theory.

Where could all the good stuff be? (btw Child of Light IS good stuff)

To wrap things up:

My conclusion is that millennials were taken out of the gaming scene as the biggest gaming market, because we grew accustomed to excellence and excellence costs more money, money they do not want to spend. So they trained newer generations to love watered down experiences and phased out everything that would resemble the gaming industry standard that lived up for almost 30 years. Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that we should still have games that look and feel exactly like in the past. What would be healthy for the industry is to mix up both old and new, past and present styles of development and come up with games that can show how much we have technically evolved, but without degrading the overall experience.

Currently, that mix between old and new is something that is mostly been done by indie developers, but big time companies are taking the hint like Square Enix, that have learned their lesson with Bravely Default, the people at Capcom who already promised that Resident Evil 7 will return to its "survival horror roots", after seen the franchise's value plunge drastically after Operation Racoon City and Resident Evil 6 or even games like Call of Duty or Titan Fall with new gameplay interactions that resemble the crazy first person shooter experiences of the past. The millennials may be out of the scene, but big chunks of our gaming taste are washing ashore and it is a matter of time until game companies are forced to do something about it.  

There is still hope my friends...