Messages

16

General / Re: Opinions on the February 2019 Nintendo Direct?

« on: February 17, 2019, 02:48:30 pm »

Really excited for MM2 as someone who skipped the Wii U. It might finally convince me to buy the Switch's online service.
I have mixed feelings on Link's Awakening as I played through most of that game a few years ago and don't really want to spend 40 dollars (or worse, 60 dollars) to play it again. Though the possible QoL improvements could make me break down and buy it.
I am strongly considering purchases of both DQ games, I think the general Nintendo public is underselling them in comparison to LA.
After that, stuff trails off rapidly. I'll probably play that Yoshi demo eventually but am not really interested in the game, the FF games are expensive for straight ports, and I just don't enjoy Captain Toad enough to put additional money into it. Also no interest in Fire Emblem and I feel bad for the people who do like the series having gotten stuck with a Harry Potter plot and another edition having "choose from one of these three campaigns" as a mechanic. The new franchises will all have to prove themselves to me and I might pick up ACIII two years after release when its going for ten bucks on ebay, as is standard with that series.

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General / Re: January 2019 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: January 05, 2019, 11:14:32 pm »

Boxes for Super Bases Loaded 2 and 3! Horray for rare but valueless pick ups. They are also a slightly forgotten part of gaming history, so its nice to pick them up.

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General / Re: What is the main focus of your collection if you have one?

« on: January 05, 2019, 11:12:18 pm »

I focus, now on CIB NES, SNES and N64. Though I also just through random pickups have a pretty bangin' CIB GB/GBC/GBA collection. Nowhere near complete for any of them but I have most of whats worth collecting for them loose (not true of NES and SNES.) Also have an okay Gamecube collection. Aside from that I have massive amounts of PS, Xbox, Sega etc. stuff that I don't really care for and should probably just sell in order to save space. Also have a bunch of old PC games that I should get rid of, but probably won't. A lot of that is early, starry-eyed pick ups from when I was just starting out, lots from in-person auctions (which have since dried up and become harder to win, the fewer common items I am looking for) or dollar a piece or less flea market buys.

When I started out my main goal was to get a complete N64 collection. By this point in time I have enough money tied up in other stuff that if I were to sell it off, I'd have the cash to just buy one. Well, if I did get that done I guess I'd be moving on SNES anyway.

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Modern Video Games / Re: If Cartridges And Disc Based Games Make a Comeback Would You Buy?

« on: December 21, 2018, 12:24:51 am »

This is, perhaps, a tad different from what the OP thought, but I think there is a market for "virtual console"esque small packaged retro games being sold at store counters, at least in the case of the Switch. The key things you would need to get across are the price (quite low) and size (quite small.) If you've ever walked by the registers at a S&C or Hot Topic you'll notice loads of three, four and five dollar gizmos tempting people to buy them, I do not see why a physical SMW or LttP Switch cart in a little mini-case would be less tempting. We are at a place where media is small and cheap enough to do it. Probably wouldn't work for PS4 and XB1 though, with their full sized discs.

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Classic Video Games / Re: Were Early PC Games Fun To Play( Back IN) the 1990's Or A Complete Pain?

« on: December 17, 2018, 12:03:28 am »

Had a ton of fun playing stuff like SimAnt, SimCity 2000, Lords of the Realm 1 and 2, edutainment stuff like Mischief Makers/Super Sleuths, the Trail games, a couple freeware games, etc. Not exactly graphics powerhouses and we had a Mac back in the day and thus couldn't play a lot of the stuff (and were perhaps a bit too young) but at least they were easy to install. That said, I think I came in right at the start of "modern" computer gaming, where you wouldn't have to figure out how to boot stuff up on DOS.

21

Modern Video Games / Re: Games in 2019

« on: December 13, 2018, 06:11:15 pm »

Sekiro looks really good, shame I don't have a PS4. Kingdom Hearts should get people excited too.

In Switch news, I think Metroid will be a fall release and am excited at the prospect of it. Might get Pokemon too if it looks good (no Go catching mechanics, please.) With how long its been taking, I don't have much hope for Retro's next game being on store shelves, but it would be nice if after 4 or 5 years they finally tell us what they are making for 2020.

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Classic Video Games / Re: N64 collection

« on: December 12, 2018, 10:31:27 pm »

If full collection means CIB, its worth a lot more than 5000 dollars (which would average out to 25 dollars a box, a pretty dang good deal when you factor in everything but sports titles and a few commons going for 20+ and thats not even factoring in systems and controllers, variants, "semi-released" things like NFRS, etc.) If loose, that might be a pretty good deal, depending if they really do have everything there, a few alternate colored systems, etc.

Although, saying that, N64 is pretty cheap to collect loose. The Honus Wagner of the collection, Sculptor's Cut, goes for less than 350 last I checked and games quickly go down in price to around 50/60 after that (and after that its a very steady march to 4/5 dollars.) So if there aren't a full range of colored consoles or a bunch of CIB games, you would be better holding off and buying smaller lots. This should not surprise you, I think we all know that "Buy It Now" prices are a hefty mark-up from what an actual auction would go for.

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General / Re: 2019 Video Game Resolutions

« on: December 03, 2018, 12:58:34 am »

Here's a hard one for me:

Move all the boxed up gaming cartons into storage. This is the year, surely it is. I made it a goal last year but oh well, this year I will accomplish it.

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General / Re: A Year in Review - 2018.

« on: December 03, 2018, 12:56:32 am »

I guess I can do this. Why not!

Favorite 2018 Release: This might end up being Smash Brothers but as of now, Red Dead II.

Least Favorite 2018 Release: I tend not to buy or pay attention to games that I don't think I will like, so its a little tough. I found Octopath Traveller to be a disappointment but I think the concept of Assassin's Creed Odyssey is the most disappointing to me. Reception is positive but it just looks worse than last year's version from everything I have seen of it.

Favorite Game Played in 2018: Setting aside the old standbys, I put 200 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles 2, so I guess thats it.

Least Favorite Game Played in 2018: Octopath.

Sleeper Hit of 2018: Minesweeper, as always. So much time wasted...

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2018: The whole saga around the Grinch leak was hilarious, a real roller-coaster. You could broaden it to Smash hype in general, I guess. Everyone is here!

Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2018: This was, perhaps, a down year for game collecting for me. Usually I have at least one big hit but meh. I did end up going to a game/computer auction up in New Jersey earlier this year and just seeing some of the really rare stuff in person was treat. I feel like I overpaid on some of the few items I got though, oh well, that still the most excited I've been. The only two "good" lots I ended up with this year were both flea market finds, cleaned a guy out on loose N64 games plus an NES in an SNES box (oh well, box is a box,) and then a day later got a good 5200 find (system, joy stick and track ball boxed, 18 or so loose games for like 125, a pretty good deal,) which is a system I had been idly considering acquiring for a few years now. But really, both of those are comparatively small in my opinion.

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Classic Video Games / Re: Which console generation improved the most on the last? (Best Console Gen?)

« on: December 01, 2018, 05:16:21 pm »

Yeah, PS1/N64/Saturn may have aged poorly...but that wasn't the question. The question was, "what was the biggest improvement", not "how does it hold-up today".

Well PS2 generation still plays great today, so its games had the biggest improvement.

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General / Re: Did You Ever Play, Or Try Any Casino, Mind or Video Board Games? Thoughts?

« on: November 30, 2018, 01:12:53 am »

I played the SNES Monopoly back in the day but the game cheated its dice rolls, ruining a lot of the "fun." Competitor AI also was obnoxious for trading. If they wanted your property it was the only deal they would be willing to make with you, you could not trade any other sets of stuff with them. Very annoying.

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General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: November 30, 2018, 12:22:21 am »

Just brought one of those fifteen dollar Switch controllers at Gamestop this Black Friday, but man do I have to say that this thing is trash. I didn't think they licensed out to crappy companies anymore? And this is with Nintendo IP poorly plastered all over it, has Nintendo no dignity left?

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Classic Video Games / Re: Which console generation improved the most on the last? (Best Console Gen?)

« on: November 28, 2018, 09:11:58 pm »

4 to 5 is obviously the biggest jump in options, with 3D going from a rarity to the default but most of those PS1/N64 games have aged poorly. The biggest gameplay improvements were found in the jump from 5 to 6. Dual stick controls as the default, the end of measuring by bits and low polygon "Picasso" characters, online play going mainstream and, in the PS2, we had a backwards compatible console for the first time. Honorable mention goes to the 2 to 3 jump. Going from the main platform, the 2600, having one button to the NES and SMS having two (or 4, if you count start and select, which a lot of games did use for more than just pause,) revolutionized gameplay. Of course, keypad style controllers had taken over in the later half of gen 2, but most games did not use very many of the buttons. Plus, of course, the D pad was a great improvement over the sticks for moving and pressing buttons at the same time.

I think you'd have to be nuts to say that the current generation has had the biggest improvements. I've yet to see a single non-VR game that couldn't have been put on an Xbox 360 with only minor gameplay changes. And, beyond that, I do not feel that the gameplay has evolved either. Now, of course, it is the most capable generation, but that has always been true of any given year's current generation. When was the modern technology ever not going to be able to output the games that came before, if the need arose?

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Classic Video Games / Re: What Is The Highest Price You'll Pay For Generation 2 Video Game (not selling)

« on: November 25, 2018, 10:00:40 am »

I like collecting, so I'd be willing to pay a lot for a rare game, if it was still a comparatively good deal. Think the most I ever paid was 100 for an individual game, but even that was part of a buy one get one half off sale with another expensive game, so together I paid less than that. I also paid 90 once to re-gain ownership of a game that had been stolen from me, though that was also a special case, obviously.

edit: Wait, thats gen 3. No wonder I was "so much" higher than everyone else. Hmm... if it was a comparatively rare or interesting one, maybe 20 or 25 to add it to my collection. Perhaps a bit more than that if it was Oddessey2, which is great fun to collect due to the amazing art direction that system's materials had. Obviously if it was super rare and I found a "steal" at fifty I'd buy it, but might then sell it on, etc.

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Classic Video Games / Re: Pat the NES punk controversy. Thoughts on Pat's "gamers are entitled" remarks?

« on: November 25, 2018, 09:50:48 am »

A bit late but I feel as though I still have a bit to add, so here it goes...

I watched Pat's video shortly after it was released (pretty sure I saw it before PDP released his video) and the only reason I know it got negative feedback, other than this thread, was Reviewtech making a video about it. Shame, I thought Rich was a Pat watcher too, after that, but I guess not. Anyways, my initial reaction to the podcast is that Pat and Ian were both very wrong, especially Ian.

For one thing, Blizzcon is itself a product, people are paying money to be there (and aside from the ticket price are also sacrificing vacation days, travel expenses, etc.) and using the capstone of the week to announce something that these people actively dislike... what did they think would happen? Perhaps not the open mockery but audience boos should have been a given. The April Fools comment, in particular is a reference to Blizzard's yearly April Fools posts, which are a real life thing and, 8 short years ago, actually included trashy looking fake mobile games. It was a Blizzard reference from a Blizzard fan. A super fan, someone who dropped a load of money to come to a week long celebration of Blizzard and their good but very over-rated games. A potential whale. Ian wanting this guy thrown out of the show is stupid, from a business perspective. And of course the presenters (who have little responsibility for the game being greenlit, etc.) had a tough job to do and will hopefully be forgiven for any on-stage snippiness with their fan interaction, but they are ultimately on the clock, they are being paid for this, probably more money than a lot of the Blizzcon attendees make.

A big error from Pat was that he said gamers would get their real Diablo game, regardless of how this turns out. Probably true, but ask the people still waiting for Warcraft 4 whether it actually is. Because its pretty obvious that WoW's success killed the RTS aspect of that franchise. The simple fact is that if this Diablo game is a huge hit, it will have an impact on the main series, probably a negative one. People in this thread have mentioned Pat being unaware of current game trends, I would say that this is a pretty big example of that.

Gamers, like all people who buy products, are not entitled to anything other than what they buy actually doing what it says it will do on the box. Sometimes they don't even get that but in this case I suspect that they will. And yet, they do not have to buy the products on offer either. In this case I hope that they don't. Jim Sterling, in his most recent video, flipped the question on its head. Are these companies not acting entitled too? They give us less choice and variety each year while systemically designing their products to ask for more money, even after they've been paid for. They try to switch to a model where the consumer no longer actually owns what they buy, just a digital license to a digital product that might not work in two years. Why does Blizzard think that it is entitled to sales of a game that already exists, just with Diablo art pasted over it? Why do they think they are entitled to money for "purple coins" or whatever their secondary currency for this game is going to be? Does it cost them more money to produce? I doubt it. They are certainly within their rights to do any of that stuff, but if they do I hope their fans look elsewhere for entertainment.

And, finally, to take it back home to the topic of Pat... I do not like Ian. He whines a lot and I feel that his histrionics take away from the podcast. I dislike hearing him bring his personal politics into retro gaming topics where they are totally irrelevant too, though those moments typically do not make it onto the Youtube clips. As a retro store owner he has a lot to add to the discussions, but his personality sucks and I suspect that his store is one of the ones that has really good inventory because they over-price stuff (you all know the type of place I am talking about.) Most of this discussion was his fault, Pat was just along for the ride.

edit: And there Ian goes again, in the latest video, saying that Microsoft still has some sort of ownership stake in DKC. They do not. They have never. It has always been available for Nintendo to use assets from, and Nintendo has always used assets from it. Ridiculous.