Nintendo - How One Generation Could Have Changed Everything

If the Wii U is a joke, I don't see the punchline.

I've been a long time defender of the Nintendo Wii U, and the Nintendo brand as a whole, and I stick to my guns that they're the most innovative and enjoyable systems on the market. From the original Nintendo Entertainment System to the Wii U I've enjoyed my time with that beloved plumber and his hardware more than any other machine or mascot.

That's right, read it again.

But even I, the most humblest of internet personalities, have to concede that the Wii U has not lit the world on fire like I had hoped. Numbers don't lie, and the XBox One and PS4 have outsold the Wii U to the extent that a lot of people are worried that the latest Nintendo offering is already on life support.

VGChartz lists the Wii U selling a reasonable 220,732 systems globally the week of Dec. 28th, while the PS4 and Xbone sold 465,686 and 290,762 respectively the same week. If my memory is correct, and God knows it usually isn't, the Xbone and PS4 have already outsold the Wii U, at least in North America, in a few weeks compared to the entire Wii U's life span.

That's just not good news, folks. Unlike the general public, I hold out hope tha
t Nintendo can turn it around though, much like they did with the 3DS and Sony did with the PS3. Both systems got off to a very rough start and both systems, the 3DS especially, has enjoyed great success in the years since their release.

The biggest hurdle Nintendo is facing is the lack of a general direction or personality for their hardware. The big N has always been an innovator, and during the golden era of gaming you knew that the NES and SuperNES was head and shoulders above anything the competition was trying to sell you. Nintendo dominated the charts throughout the eighties and early nineties, but really started to lose its steam when the n64 went toe to toe with the Sony Playstation. That would be the last great battle they would know, as the Gamecube was greatly overshadowed by the PS2 and original XBox. Once the Wii came out Nintendo was already in an uphill battle to stay relevant outside of its handheld division, and though the Wii was a knockout in terms of sales, it greatly hurt their reputation with the so called "real gamers." Though designating someone as a "real gamer" or "casual gamer" is an ignorant argument, it can't be denied that gamers believed the hype and a lot of them turned on the one time titan of gaming.

The Wii U aimed to cater at that hardcore demographic by upping the graphics and third party support while keeping the innovation, but perhaps it was too little too late. It is a cool machine and one that I play quite often, but you can't say that it outsells or gets more attention than Sony and Microsoft's new gear.

And that's where Nintendo screwed up. The Wii U came out a console generation too late. It is superior to the Xbox 360 and PS3 in almost every conceivable way, but it came out in the final years of those systems life spans and just a year before the One and 4 took the game world by storm.

In my opinion, the innovation and sheer enjoyment of the Wii U's library outshines the upgraded ports and lackluster titles the Microsoft and Sony consoles have offered us so far. And that's without even diving into the Wii U's backlog of virtual console titles. It combines nostalgia, innovation, and power in a way that no other system does.

But no one cares, because the XBox One and PS4 are newer, shinier, and strikes a better cord with those so called "real gamers." You know, the ones who call you a faggot online and refer to you as some kind of nigger no matter what color you are.

But imagine if the Wii U had come out at the same time, or perhaps a bit before or after, the Xbox 360 and PS3. In fact, what if we rewrote history a little bit. Let's put the Nintendo family in this order - NES, SNES, n64, Wii, and Wii U.

"But Shannon! The Gamecube was awesome, why take it away? It had Melee!"

Settle down, Porkchop.

The Gamecube was a good system, but aside from a handful of games I really enjoyed I can barely remember its library. Meanwhile the Wii was filled with so much shovelware that it became a permanent black eye on Nintendo despite its success, and compared to the PS3 and 360 the system was woefully under powered and outclassed. Those Gamecube games I did enjoy would have felt right at home on the Wii as the two systems felt so graphically similar, and with the added first rate games from the GC maybe the Wii would have developed a much better reputation. Imagine how embraced and beloved the Wii would have been, back when its innovation wouldn't have been so hampered by its subpar graphics.

The original Wii's graphics would have held its own against the PS2 and Xbox, and it would set the Wii U up as a contender against the next generation systems and their fancy HD graphics and online capabilities.

I also would have changed the name of the Wii U to, I don't know, ANYTHING THE FUCK ELSE. Never have I seen more confusion over a new systems purpose, and that's counting the sudden influx of people referring to the original Xbox as the Xbox One. Nintendo should have just stuck with the horrible "Project Cafe" name. It may sound ridiculous, but at least people would know it was something new and not just an add on or companion piece.

And maybe, just maybe, if the Wii had directly competed with the PS2 and Xbox, and the Wii against the PS4 and 360, that lacking third party support would have resulted in a more even playing field between the three companies.

The Wii was like a beautiful assassin. She blinded Nintendo with her assets while getting a blade behind their back to stab them. For all of its profit it may have sent its parent company into a slow death that is being held off more or less by the success of the 3DS.

But, if it had just come out one generation earlier, I might have been able to boast about my blatant Nintendo bias without the little bastards at my store laughing to my face.

Fucking Nintendo.........I love you.

*hugs Mario doll tightly*

And, as a side note, the sites not dead yet, bitches.

In a few weeks, definitely.

Some Suggestions For The Inevitable Justice League Movie.

  I'm a big fan of the Justice League. I'm not a life-long fan nor do claim to know everything about them. I can't reference things they've done in the comics years ago or obscure characters they've ran across, which is why I tend to claim I'm a fan of superheroes, not necessarily comics. But though my fandom is relatively new, it's no less strong than other fans from the days of say, Snapper Carr(Hey look, obscure!).
 Those characters are really the only one's that keep me regularly interested in superheroes. The exception being Spiderman I guess. Otherwise, my reaction to most "capes" would be "That's kinda cool."
Their powers run the gamut from sci-fi, fantasy, mythology, realistic, to traditional superhero. So I'm pretty much covered. 
Now that I got that out of the way, let's talk a bit about the movies.

 So now that Marvel found success in The Avengers, and even before that, the idea of a Justice League movie was in the works. At one time there was a script that had the movie being all CG(If it was anything like DC Universe Online's CG trailer...I'd have been all in). But since The Avengers WAS successful, it's a pretty sure bet that Warner Brothers is going to attempt a shared movie universe. The big issue here is that WB doesn't exactly have a good track record on the big screen. On TV they've done well enough, especially in animation where they excel.
To be fair, it may not really be a bad track record, since they've really only stuck with Batman and Superman, as much as they just don't throw everything at the wall and see if it works on film.

But with Nolan's Batman finished allowing for more superhero-y takes, and Man of Steel being successful enough to warrant not only a sequel, but the first team up amongst JL members, it appears as though WB is making their move. And after Green Lantern...it ties my stomach up in knots both in excitement and worry.
Green Lantern was...a misstep.
I liked...things...about it. Heck, a lot of it was simply seeing one of my favorite characters finally get a movie. But it just didn't capture what makes the character and that universe cool. Ryan Reynolds was fine. In fact, the cast was fine. The issue was that Green Lantern should've been DC's space opera. Big and sweeping sci-fi with aliens and imagination. But what we got was just kind of a typical comic book movie that, after an embarrassingly short training session, grounded the character to Earth. And it's a shame too because Mark Strong was a great Sinestro, Ryan Reynolds did well enough and can pull off cocky, and clearly a ton of work went into designing the Corps...but since it was a flop, WB may be too afraid that it was the premise itself and not a bad script.
But enough about that, let's get into Justice League.
There's a lot of things about what they should do that I really have no opinion on such as casting or whether they should follow the Marvel pattern and set the characters up first or just jump straight into it. But here's a few things I think they need to think about:

-I'm pretty sure at this point, we all GET Batman and Superman on their own. Them teaming up first is one of the things I had in my head before the team up was even announced. I love their dynamic when they work together or even fight. Superman almost being more human than Batman, being the lawful symbol and example out in the open and Batman being a symbol of fear as a vigilante. I really hope that stuff comes through. So hopefully Zack Snyder digs into those differences in the Man of Steel sequel. Then Batman and Superman can have an existing relationship, whatever it may be, before Justice League. I don't want to have to spend more time on those two than is necessary. I get it. People love Batman. But Justice League needs to spread the love.

-First off and very simply, the tone should differ from The Avengers. I feel like this should be a no-brainer. These are vastly different characters who differ from each other in their own universe. I realize the tone may be difficult to find with characters like Batman being dark and The Flash being light, but still, effort needs to be made to differentiate from your opposition.

-They should come together on their own. No 3rd party. No Cadmus or any other organization. Is it really a big deal if this doesn't happen? I guess not. But it WB wants to separate themselves from Marvel, this subtlety could help. Make them work together because they absolutely must. Not because someone else wrangled them.

-The threat needs to be big enough. There's not much you can do here to differentiate themselves from The Avengers. An invasion type of thing is necessary. Something like Darkseid, Mongul, delve into the Green Lantern spectrum, or heck, something from the multiverse. I'm not too worried about this. They'll figure it out. But an interesting idea could be to use a storyline they've used in the comics and have a secondary threat be Batman's on paranoia and mistrust with him having all the emergency plans in case one of the members goes rogue. Or save that for another movie.

"Just come within arms reach."

-Whatever they do with Green Lantern individually, whether they reboot first or jump straight into JL, like I said, it needs to be...as much as I hate the word...epic. The scale needs to be big and sweeping. Even the Justice League threat could be Green Lantern related since some of the more recent DC universe wide crossovers have originated with the Green Lantern Corps. Just GET THIS RIGHT WB.

-As far as Wonder Woman goes, there's been several efforts to get this character back either on TV or in a movie. Before The Avengers, Joss Whedon was frustrated that WB woulddn't green light his own Wonder Woman script. Just a few years ago, NBC had a failed pilot for a new TV show(which having heard the premise, I'm kind of glad)
I've heard people say the character doesn't translate well to screen. That's a load.
If Thor worked for people, this would easily work. They just need to focus on the "Greek" mythology tone they've been using. There's precedents set for this working in the movies. And as for any controversy surrounding her costume...just for the love of God, use a hybrid of her Amazonian armor and regular costume. It's not that difficult.(I'm well aware she doesn't NEED armor. I'm compromising here)

                                                   

Current costume minus the comforter.

Something like this, minus the cape...

There have been complaints about her costume for years from people who don't even read the comics or put any effort into exposing their eyeballs to the character, despite occasional changes and explanations, yet it still falls back into a form of it's classic look. And speaking as a male who regularly visits message boards, not too many people are focusing on the ogling aspect of it. Wonder Woman is one of those characters that's hard to complain about. She's been treated respectfully throughout the years and remains a strong, independent warrior. Treat her this way on screen and it'll be fine. Contrast her warrior like nature with Superman and Batman and it'll be gold. Avoid 70's Lynda Carter stuff too. And as far as casting goes...she's an Amazon. That doesn't necessarily mean she should look like a body builder, but whoever they get better look tall and sturdy.(I'm fairly certain any suggestions for casting WW will fall on deaf ears and they'll just find some actress who too short and too thin)

Yep, his clothes come out of a ring.

-Make The Flash relatable. He's a regular guy. A cop who gains powers by accident. Green Lantern is cocky, Batman is brooding, Wonder Woman is a fighter, Cyborg is young and inexperienced, so just make The Flash the even tempered guy he is. Like the audience. Plus, I love the idea of arguably the most powerful character being just an average guy...well...average cop.
Also, get creative with his powers. You don't need to, but there seems to be a bunch of guys out there who think: "So...he just runs fast?
"He just...he JUST---?! Are you kidding me?! He moves and thinks faster than anyone...ANYONE. He could incapacitate Batman before he could finish crying "My parents!"
But I digress. With WB's plans to do a Flash spinoff from Arrow, I'm very interested in how that turns out. It'll be the first time since the terrible show in the 90's and a couple of episodes of Smallville that the character gets a chance. I'm pretty excited. Now I apologize for the crassness of the following picture...but it makes me laugh so...

Some exaggeration

 -Cyborg is the new guy in the Justice League since the New 52. If they go with the current lineup, he'll be in the movie. Look, he's a half man, half machine. I don't have much to add here.

"I'm a Cyborg!"

-And that brings me to Aquaman. I don't feel like having to keep defending him...there's no reason to. It's not the 60's anymore. All they need to do is follow Geoff John's run and they'll be fine. They can't be too delicate with the character out of fear that he'll be seen as a joke. Just use the established mythos and it'll work. He's a ruler and shouldn't feel small or like background around the likes of Batman. If there's any sort of nod toward Geoff John's work, it'll be to call attention to his reputation and destroy it.
The sad thing is, the paranoid part of me says if they just use the comic version of the character, despite being the same for a really long time, all the bros will think they're "trying too hard" to make him relevant. Well, they can kindly go screw themselves.

Honestly, that's all I've got. Whoever directs it just needs to keep the no-talent studio guys away. Let people who care about the characters like Geoff Johns, Jim Lee or even Zack Snyder do what they do and I think they'll do fine. If the studios get involved it'll probably come out like either too much of a copycat of The Avengers that it won't feel like it's own thing or it'll sidestep any inspiration the writers/director might have and just be shallow entertainment.

Humans are creative. Be inspired and get creative.

Why am I not excited for Beyond: Two Souls?

      

        
  Beyond: Two Souls came out Tuesday and so far, reception seems to be mixed.

There was a time back when it was announced that I was excited for it. It had big names in Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, it was bound to look fantastic, it was another story driven experience, it had an intriguing supernatural element, and I liked Heavy Rain.

So what changed?
I'm not really sure.

The more footage that came out, the less I "got" what was going on. The plot seemed all over the place.
Heavy Rain was a relatively grounded thriller/mystery. The initial trailer for Beyond: Two Souls seemed, at least to me, to promise another relatively grounded story focused on one character(likely better acted this time) but with a supernatural element.
But then more clips came out and we were seeing her in the CIA, overseas in a 3rd world country, and in combat with camo.
 It just felt jarring and like a change in tone to me.

Now when I said "I liked Heavy Rain". I meant just that. I liked it. I didn't LOVE it.
I was hyped for Heavy Rain because it was fairly unique in what it was. Story driven and laden with choices that effected the outcome. Plus the enjoyment I got out of it was from the moments of tension it created.(Some people call Heavy Rain and B:TS, a return of classic adventure games, but I take issue with that. My experience with adventures games is that they were filled with charm, humor, puzzles and dialogue choices. These modern games are just story driven.)
I only played it once and didn't really feel compelled to play again to see other outcomes. Mine was the one I earned. It wasn't a good one, but those were my choices.

The thing is, one could argue, and many do, that Heavy Rain was somewhat poorly written and contained plot holes. It's much more apparent when you ask yourself, "How would I rate this if it were a movie?"
Admittedly, I'm not too sensitive to those things so I didn't catch on to that stuff during my playthrough. Plot holes rarely effect my enjoyment of a story, unless they're so obvious that a kid could see it.
(David Cage claims Heavy Rain is meant to be played once. Which makes me wonder if he KNEW there were plot holes that would become more obvious  if you played multiple times.)

But to get back to my point, the more I reflected on Heavy Rain, the less interesting and memorable I found the story. Plus, the more I read from David Cage, the more he came off as a wannabe filmmaker/artist blowhard. I can't really point to specific remarks, but he's a guy who's made story in video games his crusade yet seems to fall behind other developers in that aspect who allow more input/gameplay into their games. He wants gamers to pay $60 for what's basically a movie.(Simplistic, I know. But you get my point)


Now it's out, the reviews are mixed and I'm thinking "Neat, maybe people will realize Cage isn't quite the genius some think he is" and "I'll wait until it's cheaper and play it. I'm sure I'll at least enjoy it."
(I know I know, it's petty. But the guy irks me if he thinks his storytelling voice is unique or head and shoulders above other developers)

___

   Story in video games is still in somewhat of a period of growing pains. While there have been games with good stories through the years, it's never been a consistent thing. A lot of gamers still see it as secondary to gameplay. But, I'd say within this generation that's soon to be ending, great progress has been made. I'm guessing it's for several reasons. The age of the average gamer is now squarely in the adult range. Budgets have skyrocketed. And technology has allowed much more believable and nuanced performances from the characters. I like this trend and I hope it continues. But the thing I'm not sure Cage understands(Maybe he does and my limited knowledge of him restricts my view of him) is that you can tell a mature and interesting story in a video game without taking most of the control out of the gamer's hands.
  There have been a number of games that were heavy on action(in the sense that the gamer controlled most of what progressed the plot) without sacrificing the narrative. I mentioned them in a previous blog post but The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite both did that in my opinion. Others include Red Dead Redemption, Resistance 3, the original Bioshock, possibly GTA V, and arguably the Uncharted series(from a more pulp adventure aspect).
 Cage wants to focus heavily on telling mature stories. Fine. Good. Go for it. Don't misunderstand me. I have nothing against a more cinematic approach like Quantic Dream does. That's not my complaint. But if you're going cut out a lot of traditional gameplay, I expect more from your final product. Other developers do it and they don't pretend that the industry isn't interested in story.

There was nothing in Heavy Rain that stuck with me like Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us or Red Dead Redemption. For a game that's focus is heavily the story, that's something you can't allow. Your characters better be fleshed out and your plot better have tension.

So I guess when it comes down to it, I know why I'm not as excited for Beyond: Two Souls as I once was. My expectations are that it'd be $60 and I'd play a story driven game that I'd somewhat enjoy but would just move on and forget about it. On to more action packed games whose stories stuck with me.




Some notes:
-David Cage may be a nice enough person in real life. I have no clue.
-I didn't mention any of the Metal Gear Solid games up there within examples of good story AND gameplay packed games. I'm not sure if the Metal Gear Solid narrative is objectively good or not honestly. Kojima writes interesting stuff. But he needs an editor sometimes. I have to wonder if people just confuse thought provoking plot with "good writing". I'm not saying it's bad. It can just be so...out there...that it's hard to tell.
-Reviews say Beyond: Two Souls is different from Heavy Rain in that the lead character can't die like the characters in HR at various times. And surprisingly, that Ellen Page is better than Willem Dafoe.
-I talk a big game but I can be easily satisfied by stories in movies. But I stand by my thoughts on video game stories.
-All of this may just be me being cynical about games that outright STATE that it's dramatic and story driven.
-I honestly am curious to play it eventually. I'm just trying to keep my expectations in check given who I think is passionate writer/director, but claims more talent than he has.

Fashion Overlaod!

Season 12 of Project Runway has been a drama filled mess. I really don't feel like there has been a season to date with as much personal crap thrown in our face. That aside we are down to the finals. The race to fashion week is in place.

The judges gave our final five designers two tasks in making their decision. The first was an avant-garde look inspired by butterflies. The second, take a loosing look and make it a winner. This second challenge had a lot of impact on Justin LeBlanc who had been technically eliminated himself. I seriously cried during that episode and was ecstatic when Tim used his "Tim Gunn Save" to keep this designer in the running.

Justin chose his own failed piece for a chance to redeem himself, and it resulted in another emotional episode. The man was crying as he wheeled his nightmare back to his work station, and I couldn't help but tear up myself. He has been one of the nicest designers to ever be on Project Runway and he's good at what he does. I want to see Justin make it to fashion week.

The judges had a tough choice this time around. All of the designers did a great job. The only real complaints were some things weren't pushed enough. Pretty and cool, but boring or seen too many times. So who can we see going to the main event?

 Bradon McDonald has been my favorite to win from the beginning. I don't think he has created a look this season that I didn't like at least a little. He won the final challenge with his dress that was a living piece of art and his remake of a failed unconventional challenge. We will be seeing this man's work on the runway, and I'm excited to see what he shows us.

Going with him for sure is Dom Streater, "The Come Back Kid" if you will. She's had her fair share of almost wins and "what were you thinking" moments. But her passion for print has helped her find her path to the main goal and she will get to show us her true voice in the world of fashion. Much like Bradon, Dom is a good person in the work room and didn't start any shit with people, even when their out bursts were causing her delays in her own work. I like that she's usually got a smile on her face, and is willing to give a few words of encouragement if someone needs it. I would be happy to see her win this season as well.


With little surprise the judges have once again given the final fight card. The last three designers will be making collections as well, but it's not yet decided who of them will be showing with the other two. I'm bias and want Justin to be the one, so we have a "Good Person" show, and whoever wins I'll be happy to cheer for.

Our other two final designers are Alexandria Von Bromssen and Helen Castillo.  As designers both women are capable at what they do but I feel that Helen has the stronger voice, well when she can find it any ways. Her little "oh poor me" parties the past few episodes have seriously rubbed me the wrong way. If anything she might not be mature enough for it. I'm tried of Tim and the other designers having to give her pep talks for her to finish her work.

Alexandria on the other hand has annoyed me from the start. Her "I have to be the best no matter what" attitude drives me crazy. It's good to have drive but she almost takes it too far. Like a Japanese high school student that will commit suicide if they don't get into their top choice college. She becomes obsessive and paranoid to the point that she seems to shut down, and that kills her work every time. She's made some great pieces and she's also made some real crap.

Personally I hope both women go home without showing, but we'll see what happens when Tim has his home visits. Maybe they'll change my mind.



With season 12 wrapping up that also means a new season of All Stars will be starting. What will season three bring us? Well from what I've looked at so far a lot of personal make overs for our past designers. There were so many that I knew the name but when I saw their photo I had to do a double take. I didn't recognize so many of them! And the worse part of that is, several where designers that I rooted for during their seasons. One designer has even gone as far as to openly live as a transgender individual now. No wonder I didn't recognize her, she was a he when she first was on runway....

New this time around is the fact that three of the designers are also past winners of their seasons. I can't decide if this is unfair or just a tougher challenge. Just because they won then doesn't mean they'll have a repeat right? All and all it should be a good season and I'm excited to see Seth Aaron Henderson (Season 7 winner), Jeffery Sebelia (Season 3 winner) and Christopher Palu back in action.There are really only two designers I'm dreading seeing again. Both were almost complete bitches on their seasons. Irina Shabayeva was the winner of Season 6, and as much as I loved her work I couldn't stand her as a person. I'm sorry but it's true. Then we have Elena Slivnyak from season 10 who was a complete psycho bitch for 85% of her run, but turned it around her last couple of episodes and was somewhat likable. She's a strange cookie though and I'm scared to she what will happen with her and Irina in the same room. But we'll have to wait a few more weeks for that train wreck.

Still love this look by Jeffery Sebelia

Tom Clancy Passes Away

It feels like another day brings another unexpected death, and this time we lost someone vital to all sides of the entertainment spectrum.

Tom Clancy was an author first and foremost, but from that clever mind of his spawned hit films and blockbuster games that have entertained millions.

As a film enthusiast I'll always be thankful to Clancy for the fantastic adaptations of his work that graced the silver screen. This is the man who gave us Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan in a series of fantastic films, and then also Ben Affleck in one sequel. Oh, and Alec Baldwin vs. Sean Connery in a submarine battle that will stand the test of time, or until they remake it starring Rhianna and Channing Tatum, somehow.

It's going to happen, people.

As a gamer, of course, I'm especially fond of the Rainbow Six series. It was one of my favorites, and I played Rainbow Six Vegas on Xbox 360 until my eyes bled. And let's not forget Splinter Cell, or HAWX, or a multitude of other great games that came from the brilliant mind of one of America's most prolific modern writers.

Tom Clancy passed away in Baltimore, the city where he was born. He was 66.