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Worth Reading: 11/16/12

A few thoughts on Wii U just days from its launch, pondering the impact of YouTube broadcasters on games writers, and your regular assortment of games, articles, and random links.

Whether Wii U connects with an audience outside the Nintendo faithful remains the big question.
Whether Wii U connects with an audience outside the Nintendo faithful remains the big question.

We’re just days away from the Wii U launch, and much about the platform remains unclear. The online features are being rushed to completion, resulting in the delay of TVii into, at least, December, and a promised patch to introduce Miiverse, the eShop, and other features, remains in limbo, as of this writing. Whether the Miiverse ends up moving the needle will mean little to Wii U’s success.

Thanks to a shipping snafu, I might not have a chance to bring my Wii U with me over Thanksgiving. Wii was a huge hit with my parents and friends, and I was hoping to use them as outside-the-bubble barometer of this machine’s appeal. I’ve given up on declaring whether or not a Nintendo-made machine is going to be a mainstream success or not, since the last decade has seen Nintendo manage to succeed against all odds (DS, Wii) and weirdly flop when seemingly destined for triumph (3DS).

In any case, Wii U won’t be a flop in the literal sense, it’s just a matter of whether it’s perceived as such after Wii’s pop culture phenomenon. If Wii U ends up GameCube-like, appealing to a devoted Nintendo audience and not much more, that will hardly be enough to keep shareholders happy, and increase the demand for Nintendo and Apple to find harmony on iOS or something equally crazy. Nintendo won't change its ways until it absolutely has to, though.

The armchair analysis, ultimately, means very little. Nintendo continues to produce quality games, and I will both buy and play them. If that’s all Wii U amounts to, I’ll be getting of hours out of it.

Hey, You Should Play This

No Caption Provided

Here’s an experiment: take a game usually self-sold on your website and make the whole thing available for free on Newgrounds. You earn money when people play on Newgrounds, making the site itself a form of DRM. That’s what Magical Time Bean did with Soulcaster, and if you like what you’ve played, you can pick up the sequel for only a few bucks on the company’s website. It’s free-to-play without sacrificing the developer’s need to make money, even if the amount of money the developer’s making is a fraction per unit. The parallels to music and Spotify are interesting.

And You Should Read This, Too

No Caption Provided

One of the more interesting challenges facing future games writers will be rise of YouTube broadcasters. Blogging leveled the playing field of games writing to an extent, even if it didn’t allow that many people to make a living doing it. It remains to be see if enough amateur broadcasters can make money that it becomes a career pipeline for folks. Hell, part of the reason I started doing Spookin’ With Scoops from my apartment is because I wanted to have a better sense of how streaming works, what it’s like to talk on your own, and to engage directly with an audience.

Inspired by montages of no-scope sniper kills, Tom first armed himself with a capture card four years ago - going through several false starts before hitting the big-time when he knuckled down with The Syndicate Project. "At the time there were maybe a few hundred other people doing it on YouTube - because it was pretty expensive," he explains. "You had to get a recording device that was in Standard Definition. There was a guy called Shaun Hutchinson, also known as Hutch, and he didn't just post these sniper kills just as kills - he did a commentary over it. He talked about his life and gameplay. You'd learn about who he was - you'd grow a personality around him. You'd become a fan of who he is, and what he stands for. I still look up to him to this day."

If You Click It, It Will Play

I Don’t Know About This Kickstarter Thing, But These Projects Seem Pretty Cool

Valve Just Launched Greenlight, So Here’s Some Games That Don’t Look Terrible

Wii U Launches on Sunday, And People Are Writing About It

Oh, And This Other Stuff

Patrick Klepek on Google+

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patrickklepek

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Edited By patrickklepek
Whether Wii U connects with an audience outside the Nintendo faithful remains the big question.
Whether Wii U connects with an audience outside the Nintendo faithful remains the big question.

We’re just days away from the Wii U launch, and much about the platform remains unclear. The online features are being rushed to completion, resulting in the delay of TVii into, at least, December, and a promised patch to introduce Miiverse, the eShop, and other features, remains in limbo, as of this writing. Whether the Miiverse ends up moving the needle will mean little to Wii U’s success.

Thanks to a shipping snafu, I might not have a chance to bring my Wii U with me over Thanksgiving. Wii was a huge hit with my parents and friends, and I was hoping to use them as outside-the-bubble barometer of this machine’s appeal. I’ve given up on declaring whether or not a Nintendo-made machine is going to be a mainstream success or not, since the last decade has seen Nintendo manage to succeed against all odds (DS, Wii) and weirdly flop when seemingly destined for triumph (3DS).

In any case, Wii U won’t be a flop in the literal sense, it’s just a matter of whether it’s perceived as such after Wii’s pop culture phenomenon. If Wii U ends up GameCube-like, appealing to a devoted Nintendo audience and not much more, that will hardly be enough to keep shareholders happy, and increase the demand for Nintendo and Apple to find harmony on iOS or something equally crazy. Nintendo won't change its ways until it absolutely has to, though.

The armchair analysis, ultimately, means very little. Nintendo continues to produce quality games, and I will both buy and play them. If that’s all Wii U amounts to, I’ll be getting of hours out of it.

Hey, You Should Play This

No Caption Provided

Here’s an experiment: take a game usually self-sold on your website and make the whole thing available for free on Newgrounds. You earn money when people play on Newgrounds, making the site itself a form of DRM. That’s what Magical Time Bean did with Soulcaster, and if you like what you’ve played, you can pick up the sequel for only a few bucks on the company’s website. It’s free-to-play without sacrificing the developer’s need to make money, even if the amount of money the developer’s making is a fraction per unit. The parallels to music and Spotify are interesting.

And You Should Read This, Too

No Caption Provided

One of the more interesting challenges facing future games writers will be rise of YouTube broadcasters. Blogging leveled the playing field of games writing to an extent, even if it didn’t allow that many people to make a living doing it. It remains to be see if enough amateur broadcasters can make money that it becomes a career pipeline for folks. Hell, part of the reason I started doing Spookin’ With Scoops from my apartment is because I wanted to have a better sense of how streaming works, what it’s like to talk on your own, and to engage directly with an audience.

Inspired by montages of no-scope sniper kills, Tom first armed himself with a capture card four years ago - going through several false starts before hitting the big-time when he knuckled down with The Syndicate Project. "At the time there were maybe a few hundred other people doing it on YouTube - because it was pretty expensive," he explains. "You had to get a recording device that was in Standard Definition. There was a guy called Shaun Hutchinson, also known as Hutch, and he didn't just post these sniper kills just as kills - he did a commentary over it. He talked about his life and gameplay. You'd learn about who he was - you'd grow a personality around him. You'd become a fan of who he is, and what he stands for. I still look up to him to this day."

If You Click It, It Will Play

I Don’t Know About This Kickstarter Thing, But These Projects Seem Pretty Cool

Valve Just Launched Greenlight, So Here’s Some Games That Don’t Look Terrible

Wii U Launches on Sunday, And People Are Writing About It

Oh, And This Other Stuff

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outerabiz

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Edited By outerabiz

oo i like these

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sgtsphynx

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Edited By sgtsphynx  Moderator

Something to occupy me for the next hour.

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artsandrules

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Edited By artsandrules

@Fraz: I love yesterdays. And thanks again Patrick for this amazing feature!

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finnith

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Edited By finnith

Please ignore the Globe and Mail article. The Globe isn't that great a paper and it doesn't sound like the author(s) played the game.

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abendlaender

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Edited By abendlaender

Is the 3DS really a "flop"? I mean come on, it already sold more units than the PS3 in Japan (almost), that can't be so bad, right?

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SirOptimusPrime

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Edited By SirOptimusPrime

That Windows95 tumblr is factually terrifying.

EDIT: actually, that second page is just funny.

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downtime58

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Edited By downtime58

Actually the Globe and Mail is riled up on the same continent - it's one of Canada's national newspapers. They make a couple of historically valid points, but it's clear the writer either hasn't played the game or is blind to the host of historical distortions that exist in Assassin's Creed games, both current and past.

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Edited By LiquidPenguins

"A parent discusses the problems of getting kids hooked on handheld games."

LOL

This is just some control freak who doesn't understand their son doesn't want to play videogames with his parents. Hilarious read.

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CaptainNovolin

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Edited By CaptainNovolin

Patrick, I can walk to America and I'm not the messiah, canada isn't overseas :(

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aceofspudz

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Canada: maple syrup and moral superiority.

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fisk0

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Edited By fisk0  Moderator

Wow, that new "If Doom was made today" video was excellent.

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Blackout62

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Well clearly someone forgot about Desert Bus for Hope starting tonight.

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Edited By MrMazz

that Soulcaster game is pretty fun

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Edited By Shaanyboi

@Abendlaender said:

Is the 3DS really a "flop"? I mean come on, it already sold more units than the PS3 in Japan (almost), that can't be so bad, right?

Out of the gate? Yes. But no, the 3DS is doing fine. In Japan, it's fucking killing. It's doing less than expected here, but nowhere near "panic" levels.

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smallmanoncampus

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Edited By smallmanoncampus

Canada: An ocean away.

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Oldirtybearon

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Edited By Oldirtybearon

@CaptainNovolin said:

Patrick, I can walk to America and I'm not the messiah, canada isn't overseas :(

Well done. I popped pretty hard for that comment.

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Edited By evanbower

Thanks for the recommendations again Patrick! On the topic of Wii U, though, any plans of checking out Little Inferno for Wii U on Sunday or any time after? Seems like an interesting little title from the World of Goo guys, and it might be nice to spread the launch love to some of the indies.

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Levio

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Edited By Levio

That video regarding "Doom if it were made today" is really spot on.

The old "show don't tell" rule is a good way to summarize how old games communicated key ideas to players. Nowadays, games show AND tell, which is often overkill.

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Edited By danKRANE
@CaptainNovolin I'm missing where Patrick says anything about overseas, he said "different parts of the world."
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Edited By Animasta

you didn't type out the full name of the barkley sequel, which is the best part:

The Magical Realms of Tír na nÓg: Escape from Necron 7 – Revenge of Cuchulainn: The Official Game of the Movie – Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa

(no I didn't copy it what are you saying)

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CaptainNovolin

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Edited By CaptainNovolin

@danKRANE: It got corrected

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Edited By Hailinel

If by "different parts of the world" you mean "Canada," then sure. It seems silly that they'd complain about the lack of Canadian history in a game set against the American Revolution. (But then, I'm an American, so what do I know, other than hamburgers and gun crime?)

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Edited By PillClinton

Always like this feature. Thanks, Trick.

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Aint that just like them silly canucks!

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DarkbeatDK

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Edited By DarkbeatDK

Oh there's no Miiverse at launch? Weird. It comes out on the 30th in my end of the world.

Anyway, I think it's ridiculous that EVERYONE expects every new console to sell like the Wii did. Consumers does it and Publishers does it. The 3DS took a year to take off, but that's how it is... I don't know why people expected otherwise or why Nintendo felt apologetic and lowered the price. It takes a while to get killer apps out there and it's extremely rare for anyone to have that for launch day and even as a pack-in like the Wii did.

People give the Vita a hard time and I do too, because the only game I've felt warranted my purchase of the machine so far is Gravity Rush. I don't really get why everyone seems to be so excited for a port that they might already have played before, but I guess it's something.

Maybe it won't take so long for the Wii U to take off. At least I know that there are thingsthat I am excitedforalready and I'm hoping we will see even more awesome games for it over the next year.

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crushed

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Edited By crushed

@Hailinel said:

If by "different parts of the world" you mean "Canada," then sure. It seems silly that they'd complain about the lack of Canadian history in a game set against the American Revolution. (But then, I'm an American, so what do I know, other than hamburgers and gun crime?)

The threat of Britain invading through Canada, or America counter-attacking Canada, was very real during the American Revolution.

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Uberdubie

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Edited By Uberdubie

Apologies for the bold font (which refuses to to go away).

I'm hardly aNintendo fan, but it's getting tiresome reading over andover about how Nintendo's brief delay of a few United States-exclusive extra features (which in reality are hardly the console's key selling points) is something every gamer out there needs tobe very concerned about, if not outright dissuade us from buying a Wii U. I wouldn't have said anything after just reading this, but after seeing Alex'sarticlelong-winded alarmist rant which tries so hard to put Wii U in a bad light that it even has an inaccurate title... we know you're angry but that's a bit much.

So some minor icing-on-the-cake features have been delayed a few weeks in one country for a console that isn't even officially released yet, and wecan expect some patches. Doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary for a console launch, in fact it sounds smoother than most console launches. It'll be okay, Giantbomb. Really it will.

@danKRANE: He pulled a fast one on you. Patrick has since attempted to save face by editing-out the stupid mistake without owning up to it, hoping few would notice; which is par for the course with Patrick.

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Check 'em has nothing to do with American Psycho and this slightly upsets me.

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Edited By Tennmuerti

@fisk0 said:

Wow, that new "If Doom was made today" video was excellent.

Came in to say this :)

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Edited By audioBusting

I get what that ACIII article is trying to say, but somehow they wrote a lot about history without mentioning that the game itself is about a crazy magical generations-spanning world-dominating conspiracy.

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oueddy

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Edited By oueddy

@Tennmuerti: likewise, it also introduced me to brutal doom via a linked video, which is quite insane

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GabrielCantor

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Edited By GabrielCantor

Man, the Windows 95 tips tumblr spread really fast didn't it? The guy that made it (Neil Cicierega) seems to have a knack for that.

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Edited By jackelbeaver

oh my fucking god. modern doom video.

as someone who just beat doom 1 and 2 for the first time ever, back to back, on ultra violence (the original games) and had, as it could be referred to as: "The best damn shooter experience of my life", this just makes my SKIN FUCKING CRAWL.

why are modern games so TERRIBLE. jesus this isnt a movie or a cartoon, tell your story using the game without ruining what makes games interesting. everything nowadays has just gone so far away from core game feel that it just blows my mind how anyone can have fun with a call of duty style game.

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Edited By Pie
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Edited By colourful_hippie

That dude has some serious balls (or just an idiot) for attempting Dyad on 14 grams of shrooms. Weed is no problem and actually makes me play the game better but fuck playing that on shrooms, I would be afraid of warping my mind.

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Grandma will be confused by the Wii u and will resist playing it as much as possible. Grandma wants to bowl.

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Edited By Anthony

That Globe and Mail article on Assassin's Creed is funny. Looks like they just read the back of the box and came up with some faux indignation nonsense.

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deactivated-61356eb4a76c8

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Delicious Canadian butthurt.

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Edited By ManMadeGod

@audioBusting said:

I get what that ACIII article is trying to say, but somehow they wrote a lot about history without mentioning that the game itself is about a crazy magical generations-spanning world-dominating conspiracy.

Also to add: The British Empire has quite the history of not giving a shit about natives. Their lip-service through treaties means nothing. They didn't want to spend anymore money fighting in NA so they signed that Royal Proclamation of 1763. It was in their own interest, not the natives. It's not like they were some benevolent force to the First Nations in Canada after the war anyway.

The game is also about one native american assassin. How does that "suggest indigenous peoples rallied to the side of the colonists"? Sounds like someone needed shit to complain about.

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TheVideoHustler

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The Magical Realms of Tír na nÓg: Escape from Necron 7 – Revenge of Cuchulainn: The Official Game of the Movie – Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa?

I will be sending them a blank check made out to cash.

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Trilogy

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Edited By Trilogy

@rebgav said:

@Hailinel said:

If by "different parts of the world" you mean "Canada," then sure. It seems silly that they'd complain about the lack of Canadian history in a game set against the American Revolution. (But then, I'm an American, so what do I know, other than hamburgers and gun crime?)

Well, I've neither read the article nor played the game but I'd guess that they're referring to the Seven Years War which was fought in the colonies as much as anywhere else and led to French involvement in the American Revolution due to resentment over their losses in Canada and North America. Many of the indigenous tribes/nations of Canada and the North-East were allied to the French or the British during this time and many of those people were forced into British Canadian territories following the revolution in the colonies, along with the Loyalists.

Now, why any of that would be reflected in a videogame about secret societies and stabbing dudes I don't know. Assassin's Creed has never been remotely accurate in its treatment of historical events so why would anyone expect them to start now?

Because this time its set in colonial America! So it's uhhh... different and stuff! Your "Ameriphilla" is probably just clouding your judgement. Think of the Canadian school children! How will they learn history if not through a video game!??!?!

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Edited By Aoi

@Abendlaender: 22 million units in around a year and a half.... If that's a flop, the entire industry is god damned boned.

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civ2boss

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Edited By civ2boss

Wow I didn't know JP: Operation Genesis went open source, that's awesome. There already exist a pretty huge mod for it though: http://modgenesis.forumlaunch.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=2807

I wonder what this new mod will add, it doesn't really go into that much specifics.

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Edited By SatelliteOfLove

and weirdly flop when seemingly destined for triumph (3DS).

Paaaaaaaaaaaa-triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick, come out of the Echo Chamber! Head towards the light! Grab my hand! Live, dammit, LIVE!!!!

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probablytuna

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Edited By probablytuna

I don't get why people are still calling the 3DS a flop since apparently it's doing even better than the DS in the same timeframe. Unless you're referring to the beginning when it didn't pick up much steam in terms of sales then I guess that's a valid point.

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EXTomar

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Edited By EXTomar

@Abendlaender said:

Is the 3DS really a "flop"? I mean come on, it already sold more units than the PS3 in Japan (almost), that can't be so bad, right?

Considering cheaper and more powerful things like the Nexus 7 and iPad Mini are going going to blow past let alone the bazillion of phones people in Japan buy it I'd say "Yes, the 3DS is a flop".