I've not been a supporter of the kinect. You can read about it twice here and here. Anyways, Microsoft released a kinectless xbox one bundle about 4 months ago. I gotta say, I don't think anyone missed it. No games were really developed for kinect. No games were showcased with kinect features. After releasing the kinectless xbox one, there were some commercials that still showcased kinect, but those lasted a couple weeks and then were forgotten. In fact, until I read this article, I essentially forgot kinect 2.0 existed. And you know what, that's a good thing.
First, I want to talk about what this means for the kinect. You're dead. No one wants you. Amazon doesn't think you're worth their warehouse space, and they stock some stupid things. You'll be sitting alone in a corner along with the unsold kinect 1.0, and playstation eyes and move. Accept your fate and die in the ditch.
OK so now that I've rightfully added insult to injury, what does it mean that I, the most obsessive videogame collector and trivia aficionado I know, say I forgot the kinect bundles existed? I, a gamer who said "I will not buy an xbox one so long as I need to buy a kinect," forgot that the kinect is a thing. Well, it means Microsoft is doing something right. They really alienated consumers with the launch debacle; always online DRM, no used games, and mandatory kinect purchase and use. Well, that's blown over. Now instead of being points of distaste and not buying it, it's a memory of "boy you screwed up." Not being required to have gold to do everything except buy things and play offline is good as well, making it more competitive. I know some people are upset that Microsoft didn't stick to their guns, like Adam Sessler, but it was a goose egg, and best to just get rid of it. So...yeah, Microsoft, good job at making us forget about how you screwed up. It'll be a while before you get my money, but only because you haven't given me any system seller games. Sure, fanboys will continue to bring up the launch failure, I'm sure BlackBusterCritic is still bring it up, but fanboys will be fanboys.
I know it was short, but honestly I don't have much else to say, and I'm pretty tired. Well this has been happy gamer signing off, and if you make a goose egg, get rid of it and pretend it didn't happen, because we'll forget.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Nintendo's history with DLC
Alright, so it's no secret that Nintendo hasn't been to friendly to modern gaming practices, namely online support and DLC. Lots of people complain about online support for good reasons, and it's been mixed with the DLC. Some people applaud Nintendo for not being DLC happy in the 7th gen, others complain about how it drove away 3rd parties. I'm not here to review DLC on Nintendo consoles and handhelds, but rather to give you a history that most people kind of forget, along with a little theory.
OK, so back in the days of the Wii, PS3, and 360, with the advent of internet connected consoles and digital game stores for consoles, there was this thing called Downloadable Content, or DLC for short. This was extra content for a game that was already released, and would extend the life of that game. Things such as new multi-player maps, new characters, new levels, new stories, new other things that weren't included with the original release because it wasn't made at the time, or because the developers wanted more money. Why DLC exists is the topic for another rambling though. Anyways, the PS3 and 360 embraced the concept of DLC. They added sections to their online stores specifically for DLC. However, Nintendo didn't allow DLC on their Wii. With Nintendo games, you couldn't download the extra content, you either had to have it on the game disc or release a second edition. Again, people were mixed about that decision. Well, here's my theory as to why Nintendo didn't do DLC on the Wii.
Many people may think that the first time DLC was really implemented was with the 7th generation of gaming (PS360Wii). While that is when it was really breaking through, Nintendo actually did a form of DLC on the 6th generation, the gamecube and GameBoy Advance. "What? Really? They had DLC on 2 non-internet connected devices?" In a matter of speaking. They did a sort of DLC with the e-reader add-on for the GBA. With certain games, users could connect a GBA with an e-reader to the other game via a link cable, scan special e-reader cards that they bought, and use them to unlock content. Granted, it's not EXACTLY DLC, but the concept of expanding a game through a secondary purchase and downloading the expansion into the game was present in the 6th generation.
"So what does that have to do with Nintendo not having DLC on the Wii?" Well here's the thing, while rather revolutionary, it didn't go over very well. For starters, the e-reader kind of sucked. I have one and I get read error after read error. It's a very finicky device. The next aspect is that it was kind of expensive. I don't remember how expensive the actual e-reader was, but it definitely cost some money. Plus, if you were doing it for GBA e-reader support, you had to have a second GBA, something not everyone had. The other thing is that it wasn't widely adapted. I know I didn't have an e-reader until after the life of the GBA that I found at a garage sale. I didn't know anyone that had an e-reader. It just wasn't well received. There also wasn't a lot of games that supported e-reader. The most notable one is Animal Crossing. Some other games had it, but not many. The somewaht commercial failure of the e-reader and it's "DLC" I think put a bad taste in Nintendo's mouth. But it's only a theory.
Man, I should do a review of the e-reader some day. But not today. Well this has been Happy Gamer signing off, and Nintendo had DLC before the others.
OK, so back in the days of the Wii, PS3, and 360, with the advent of internet connected consoles and digital game stores for consoles, there was this thing called Downloadable Content, or DLC for short. This was extra content for a game that was already released, and would extend the life of that game. Things such as new multi-player maps, new characters, new levels, new stories, new other things that weren't included with the original release because it wasn't made at the time, or because the developers wanted more money. Why DLC exists is the topic for another rambling though. Anyways, the PS3 and 360 embraced the concept of DLC. They added sections to their online stores specifically for DLC. However, Nintendo didn't allow DLC on their Wii. With Nintendo games, you couldn't download the extra content, you either had to have it on the game disc or release a second edition. Again, people were mixed about that decision. Well, here's my theory as to why Nintendo didn't do DLC on the Wii.
Many people may think that the first time DLC was really implemented was with the 7th generation of gaming (PS360Wii). While that is when it was really breaking through, Nintendo actually did a form of DLC on the 6th generation, the gamecube and GameBoy Advance. "What? Really? They had DLC on 2 non-internet connected devices?" In a matter of speaking. They did a sort of DLC with the e-reader add-on for the GBA. With certain games, users could connect a GBA with an e-reader to the other game via a link cable, scan special e-reader cards that they bought, and use them to unlock content. Granted, it's not EXACTLY DLC, but the concept of expanding a game through a secondary purchase and downloading the expansion into the game was present in the 6th generation.
"So what does that have to do with Nintendo not having DLC on the Wii?" Well here's the thing, while rather revolutionary, it didn't go over very well. For starters, the e-reader kind of sucked. I have one and I get read error after read error. It's a very finicky device. The next aspect is that it was kind of expensive. I don't remember how expensive the actual e-reader was, but it definitely cost some money. Plus, if you were doing it for GBA e-reader support, you had to have a second GBA, something not everyone had. The other thing is that it wasn't widely adapted. I know I didn't have an e-reader until after the life of the GBA that I found at a garage sale. I didn't know anyone that had an e-reader. It just wasn't well received. There also wasn't a lot of games that supported e-reader. The most notable one is Animal Crossing. Some other games had it, but not many. The somewaht commercial failure of the e-reader and it's "DLC" I think put a bad taste in Nintendo's mouth. But it's only a theory.
Man, I should do a review of the e-reader some day. But not today. Well this has been Happy Gamer signing off, and Nintendo had DLC before the others.
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