Nintendo Switch: Snap to the Future

Nintendo Switch: Snap to the Future

January 13, 2017

A’Gia Alston

for A State of Gaming

Holy puns on the run Batman. This morning’s Nintendo Switch Presentation crawled slower than mini Toad hit by a storm cloud mid-race. There were more snaps than a bowl of Rice Krispies and a box of Slim Jims combined. I tuned in around 11:45pm EST and almost turned it off ten minutes in. Yes, the stage presence and presenting process was indeed that horrendous. But, I stuck it out for you lovelies so that you did not have to. So, let’s recap the Nintendo Switch Presentation:

1. $299.99 suggested retail price

The Switch *SNAP*  tiptoes along the $300 line mark when it launches March 3rd, 2017. The hybrid console/handheld will have two Joy-Cons (one left, one right), one AC Adapter (they learned), one docking station, and an HDMI cable. The Nintendo Switch website includes a breakdown of additional peripherals and their prices. Customers can choose between the standard black and grey console, or the black console with red and blue Joy-Con controllers. Based on the presentation, the Pro Controller will be sold separately and customers have to pay for a data plan. Social media overflowed as fans lamented concern over the additional data charge. $299.99 is not the $499.99 Sony aficionados spent on the Playstation 3 back in 2007, but for a system that may not have many launch titles to play on day 1, people are worried.

2) Launch Date: March 3, 2017

Prepare to trade in your systems and games at local retailers for credit because you only have a month and a half to get your funds together. On one hand, Nintendo’s ability to launch Switch with such speed-- when it was just announced and revealed last year-- is admirable. However, the downside is that interested buyers do not have a lot of time to grind for launch day. Tack on the holiday season just ending, and I feel Switch sales day 1 will suffer slightly. The other potential issue affecting the Nintendo Switch launch day is…

3) Day 1 Title Line-Up

...or lack thereof. Maybe I missed the memo in the Nintendo Switch Presentation this morning, but the murmur of playable titles accompanying the launch March 3rd could barely be described as a list. Super Mario Odyssey looks stunning, but it is forecasted for a Holiday 2017 release. Ultra Street Fighter II: the Final Challengers-- a game announcement that set my heart a-flutter with pitter patter-- has a new tabletop mode, two new characters, and configurable graphics settings, but no release date. Note: Ono-san and other members of the CAPCOM team are playing this Live on Nintendo Treehouse as I type and I stopped to watch it.

Courtesy of Harrison at Capcom-Unity

Arms, Splatoon 2, and Xenoblade 2, to name a few others, have release dates after launch. As of 1AM EST, only Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2 Switch are blatantly confirmed as available day 1 titles. This is no small feat and my Twitter feed blew up as fans rejoiced for Legend of Zelda, but that was literally the highlight of the whole show. If anyone watching the presentation decided to dip out ten minutes in like I almost did, they would have been left with a lackluster impression.

4) Legend of Zelda

Get hype and stay hyped folks. Breath of the Wild will be released March 3, 2017 for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Wii U. There are three purchasing options: a) buy the game alone for $59.99, b) purchase the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Special Edition, or c) go big for the grand Pubah Master Edition. Both editions are Nintendo Switch exclusive collections. Ready for the bad news? Neither edition comes with the actual system. Why is this a problem? Because…

5) No Bundles

The Nintendo Switch is small and affordable, given the technological advancements it manages to embody. However, gamers have grown accustom to bundle possibilities when systems launch. The Switch will not even come packaged with 1-2 Switch to at least get you started.

6) Third Party and Indie Love

Electronic Arts, Bethesda brings Skyrim, Suda 51 and Grasshopper are hinting at Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes...the Nintendo Switch Presentation may have been campy, but the third party support is there and if the Nintendo Treehouse Live feed is anything to go by, Indie developers will feel right at home.

Takeways

Innovation and fun have always been Nintendo’s modus operandi and I do believe the Switch will be a rewarding experience. The revealed games are fresh and the promotion team made sound decisions showcasing various genres. The dry humor, awkward transitions-- someone messed up Suda 51’s introduction and content display-- and forced enthusiasm made the presentation cumbersome. It felt like a product suggestion a team delivers to their boss hoping it will get green-lighted as opposed to a persuasive, explosive marketing hook. It kept your attention for all the wrong reasons.

If you can ignore the stage presence, Nintendo Switch has promise. The launch day line up will not make it a day 1 purchase for me, but I look forward to bringing it home.

Share your thoughts with the A State of Gaming team via Facebook and Twitter. You can yell at me about how cool Mario’s new hat is, the Fight Game Community’s USFII hype levels, or anything else that popped up via Twitter @Xminess

"Gotta Catch Em All" Together

https://twitter.com/Xminess/status/776191472714612736

With Mrs. Popo following me around, maybe Mr. Popo will finally get the peace and quiet he deserves on Kami's lookout.

Niantic Labs, the creators of "Pokemon Go," added an update a few days ago that allows trainers to carry a buddy with them in-game. We get to relive our childhood dream of watching Pikachu follow us around as we explore Kanto, Johto, and Washington D.C.! 

Sort of. 

Your chosen buddy does not walk next to your avatar in real-time. Instead, you see them stand next to you on your profile page. Once you select a Pokemon buddy via the avatar page menu, that buddy will earn one candy of its type when you have walked a certain number of kilometers. The required number of kilometers you must walk with said Pokemon depends on which one you are paired with. As you might have guessed, the coveted Pokemon require more cardio. As you can see in the link above, I have a Jinx paired with me now. She is going to require 5km. Thus, I would suggest choosing a Pokemon that needs more candy to evolve but, be warned! Switching your Pokemon before they find a candy resets your buddy distance to zero, as others have pointed out.

Now I know what you are thinking:  "Pokemon Yellow," "HeartGold," and "SoulSilver" had this feature, so this is nothing new. To that I say, you are absolutely correct. But who needs a party pooper? Besides, this is your personal avatar we are talking about, not Ash in a coma.

So, who is your Pikachu? Tell me in the comments below, or reply on my tweet with a picture of your partner in PokeCrime!

Until Later Guys,

^_^

Bluesky: Xaimi
Facebook: A State of Gaming

Kingdom Hearts Unchained X (Chi) Zootopia event is OVAAAAA!

The Zootopia Event quest for #KHUx officially ended May 16th at 3:00 A.M. EST! The event began one week ago, offering five event boards and two avatar boards. The avatar boards ran for 3000 jewels a piece- quite a sum when you could spend the same amount for a chance at ten high-powered medals. Some prefer customization, but I am more of a core player. Thus, I attacked this campaign aiming for TOTAL EVENT BOARD DOMINATION! I suffered a frustrating incomplete during the Epic Kingdom Hearts II Event quest by a handful of nodes, so this time it was personal haha.

The Event boards offered wrist and chest accessories for your "stylin and profilin'" avatars, but the true gold this time around was the Munny and Experience Medal board (pictured above). Each event board also contained on Cid Cost Reduction medal for 200 coins. Merge five of those bad boys together and a 6-Star medal drops from 46 Cost to 41 Cost. But alas, we can jump into the fine details later. For now, check out the Event board recap below and let me know how you did this time around!

Until Later Guys ,

^_^

Zootopia Event Recap

Did you miss the event entirely? Then you should peek at these too!

Zootopia Event Quest: Eggcognito
OMEGA Queen Bee Raid Boss

Have questions or comments for me? Leave one below or try the following for a quick reply!

Twitter: @Xminess
Facebook: facebook.com/astateofgaming
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Xminess

Indie Arcade!!

Short post today! I found out at the very last minute that an event called Indie Arcade was taking place from 1pm-7pm at the Smithsonian American Art and Portraiture Museum. The courtyard had been transformed into a beautiful haven of arcade cabinets, consoles, and gaming laptops for kids young and old to enjoy. The event was free and the games were on freeplay as well. From what I could gather, the sponsors of Indie Arcade were familiars in the video game world: MAGfest and Game Lab (American University's gem). 

"Indie" is a term that is thrown about plenty nowadays and its meaning changes depending on who you talk to and which generation you are from. This minifest served as a stage to show the world just how diverse many newcomer developers' ideas are and what they use to start them. Why the classic cabinets like "X-Men" and Tron then? Well, jump back to the early 70s, 80s, and 90s- you know, before EA, Activision, or Ubisoft were big names in every household. The developers from back then were independent (where "indie" stems from) developers at their very cores! Video games were a new platform that many companies had no faith in. Think of the Magnavox Odyssey, created by the pioneer Ralph Baer (who recently passed away and who the gaming industry owes so much). If it were not for him and his small team working against the odds and disbelief of their employers, there would never have been a Magnavox Odyssey or your living room's next-gen console for that matter. Video games from decades long past were the blood, sweat, and tears of individuals and/or teams that had nothing to go on but their daring ideas and willpower with little to no funding. We have their original premise to thank as the guidance for our generations' Indie Developers.

Ahh crap, said I would keep this short didn't I >.<.  Well, thanks for reading and I hope many of you had a chance to enjoy the Indie Arcade like I did.


Until Later Guys,


^_^


Quick thank you to Kotaku.com 's Luke Plunkett who's article is theRalph Baer link referenced above. Also, check A State of Gaming Facebook , A State of Gaming's Youtube Channel, and A State of Gaming's Twitter for clips and footage from the event 

EVO-Nation Hype

EVO-Nation Hype

The weekend of Friday July 11^th was an exciting time for fight gamers everywhere. The annual EVO tournament was held and the competition was intense. This year, EVO was held at the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Second round footage of the fight between Filipino Champ and Apologyman in Ultimate Marvel Versus Capcom 3 left me in complete awe and served as a reminder that I have so much to learn. With only one character left, Filipino Champ managed to chip (PRINGLES!) away at Apologyman’s remaining character’s heath with only seconds to spare. In a miraculous display of technique and finesse, he managed to deal enough damage in approximately ten seconds to cause a draw- resulting in a tie breaker match.

EVO was not just the usual “wombo combos” and trash-talk this year though. Big names in the gaming industry gave us teasers of what to expect in the fighting game world. As some of you may have noticed, A State of Gaming was one of the first gaming news outlets to report that Tekken 7 will be released in 2015! The accompanying game trailer showed that we may finally get to know what really happen to Kazuya’s mother Kazumi. The trailer also implies that the origins of Kazuya’s devil gene may stem from his dear old mum. For those of you that are not familiar with the game and cannot understand the hype surrounding this (seriously...get hype!!!), here is a brief summary:

Kazuya Mishima is the son of Heihachi Mishima who at one point was the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu. As a child, Heihachi throws his son off a cliff and into a ravine, assuming him to be dead. Kazuya, was under the impression his father had killed his mother Kazumi. The games and movie adaptations lead us to believe that Kazuya formed a pact with the devil in order to stay alive after his father’s fatal toss. It is then that the devil gene inside him awakens and Kazuya becomes the raging, red-eyed, devil we have come to recognize. Fast forward a few years and Kazuya has fathered a son with Jun Kazama, a fellow king of Iron Fist Tournament contestant. Jun is of a spiritual variety and is portrayed as the angel yin to Kazuya’s devil yang. Jun eventually discovers that the damning gene had been passed on to Jin via his father. Jin grows up to hate his father and struggles to control the corroding devil gene. His father on the other hand has embraced the power entirely. From Tekken 4 to Tekken 6, we basically see this Three Stooges comedy of Heihachi wanting to kill Kazuya and his grandson Jin in order to get rid of the devil gene; Kazuya wants to kill his dad to avenge his mother and his son because he wants to absorb the devil gene power from him; Jin wants to destroy his father originally because he is tired of the gene wreaking havoc upon his life. This simple plot line twists when Jin takes over the Mishima Zaibatsu with the intent to kill his father, conquer the world, and take the power for himself (or so we are lead to believe...). Kazuya becomes the head of G Corporation, the Zaibatsu’s rival.

Without spoiling the ending of Tekken 6 for those that have yet to play it (shame on you), this is where we are left at in Tekken 6: A seemingly corrupted Jin, a powerful and evil Kazuya, and Heihachi M.I.A.  Tekken 7 going back to the beginning is a bold move. Bandai Namco are shining light on a case that every Tekken player has assumed was closed and shut. This could change the tide of the game completely because what was Kazuya fighting for to begin with then? Kazumi’s bloodline passed the devil gene to Kazuya?! So what really happened to Kazumi? We can only speculate, but we will have our answers in what has been teased as the final chapter/installment in the Tekken franchise in 2015.

In the meantime, EVO was not content with merely satiating our desire for competition and Tekken news; we also received word that new characters would be added to the Super Smash Bros. Wii U roster. As IGN noted around 8pm July 14^th, 2014, Captain Falcon, Lucina, and Robin will join the Smash Bros. line up. For those unaware, Lucina and Robin are from Fire Emblem. There seems to be female and male variants for Robin, but as IGN points out, it has not been reported whether or not these are distinct characters with their own fighting techniques or not.

As always, EVO was quite the treat this year. Man do I have a ways to go in the UMvC3 skills department haha. 

Until Later Guys,

^_^

If you enjoyed this blog, there is plenty more where that came from. You can always check out my work here on my blog, but for the latest in the gaming industry from gamers like you, check for  future  gaming news  at the  A State of Gaming Official Facebook Page. We stay up-to-date on the gaming industry so that you can just enjoy the games.

Soundtrack Nostalgia

Soundtrack Nostalgia

         

No matter which gaming genre you are into, I am sure you have felt this way. Gaming soundtracks have become as essential and important as the games that we play.

For those of you O.G.s (Original Gamers...gosh what were you thinking?), can you imagine what the Famicom’s Mario Bros. would have been like without the music? The original Mario Bros. game only had approximately five songs: above world, underworld, victory, underwater, and Bowser’s Castle. These songs are what clued us in as gamers to the environment our little sprite was about to jump into! As a three-year-old kid, trying to make my way through Bowser’s castles was already intimidating. Add in the creepy I’m-going-to-get-you-MWAHAHA music and now we have been warned that whatever we encounter in these silver castles will be dangerous. Those five simple songs are still iconic today!

The game franchise Bust a Groove, known as Bust a Move in Japan, had equally delicious tunes- most rhythm and dancing games have to since that is what reels their audience in. As my friend Chip pointed out above though: ‘They just suck you in and there’s no getting out once they got a hold of you.”

Yup.

The soundtracks from Bust a Groove and Bust a Groove 2 have followed me for fifteen years now. Every. Single. Song. I have played my fair share of Dance Dance Revolution, In the Groove (Rest in Peace my arrow-y friend), and recently Pump it Up, but unlike the BaG series, only a few of the other games’ songs stay in my head.

Then we have the Final Fantasy franchise. Bloody hell! The compositions that pull at your heart strings, the battle themes, jumping Tonberries!!!

... *takes a break to collect herself*

What made the first 20 years of Final Fantasy great was not just the storylines or impressive graphics; it was the MUSIC, or more specifically, Uematsu Nobuo! Uematsu-san composed the soundtracks for every Final Fantasy game until Final Fantasy X-2. The luscious melodies and energetic boss themes resonated with many gamers. Even players who were not fans of the series have a profound respect and appreciation for Uematsu-san’s musical contribution. So much so, that when he left Square Enix in 2004, many fans of the juggernaut franchise were concerned about how Final Fantasy soundtracks would fare from that point on. I have not personally played any Final Fantasy game after X-2 and Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, but I can tell you that I noticed a significant change in feeling from Final Fantasy X to its direct sequel. Many of the orchestra sounds in FFX that gamers knew were replaced with synthesizer pop, ballads, and a little EDM. Now do not get me wrong, I will always be a fan of YRP, but FFX’s soundtrack will forever resonate with me more than FFX-2’s because I feel more emotion from it. The “Normal Battle” theme from FFX always gets my blood pumping! “To Zanarkand” is one composition that further influenced my goal to play the piano. That song summed up the sadness of knowing that Tidus lost his home and had essentially been used by the Fayth throughout the ENTIRE game just as a means to an end. I could have devoted this article to just Final Fantasy music by itself, but instead I will move along and point out this:

There is a good reason for the insane hype many FFX and FFX-2 fans had when they found out the soundtracks were also going to be in the re-mastered HD release. Just saying.

If that testament alone does not exemplify music in gaming, think about this: Remember the Last of Us? You know that game that won awards for “Best Game of 2013” and “Best Narrative” at the Game Developers Choice Awards? It has little to no music in it. The title screen music is present, but you play most of the game with no soundtrack. The only sounds to comfort you in your moments of conflict, despair, fright, and joy are: ambience, gunfire, bottles clanking, and the unsettling noise of clickers nearby. Why is that? One arc of symbolism is that music represents life and that we are not alone. In a world with music, someone wrote the notes you and I hear and someone is listening to them. It is a sign that we are still amongst the living and with our peers. The Last of Us takes place in a desolate, virus-infected populace where the few humans you encounter most likely want your supplies and everything else is trying to kill you. You are utterly alone. Can you imagine how much our the Last of Us experience would have changed if there was travel music or a battle theme? The scenarios probably would have felt ridiculous. The gaming industry has learned from its movie industry big brother that the presence- or lack there of- of music affects our involvement, enjoyment, and overall remembrance of the game.

Some people remember “Titanic” because of Celine Dion belting out “Heart Will Go On.” I remember Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog 1 because of “Marble Zone Theme”. We take the music we enjoy from the games that we love with us wherever we go.

Sources/Credits:

-Uematsu Nobuo’s Legacy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobuo_Uematsu

-Final Fantasy X/ Final Fantasy X-2 Re-Mastered Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpwr_mRSGFM&feature=youtu.be

-Naughty Dog’s the Last of Us awards: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-last-of-us-wins-gdc-game-of-the-year-award/1100-6418420/

Bust a Groove and Bust a Groove 2 are owned by 989 Studios and Enix (now Square Enix) and the musical scores were developed by Avex Trax.

Thanks to my friend Chip Vaughn for allowing me to use the above screencap from his page of our conversation!

Also big thanks to the guys and gals at A State of Gaming for allowing me to post up this piece there as well. If you are looking for gaming industry news and in-depth reviews of games, definitely check out their Facebook page at the link above. You can also follow them on Twitter: @AStateofGaming

Until Next Time Guys,

^_^